discover'd so much of the malignancy of treason against his people,
in making them to sin against the supreme Being upon whose power and
protection the welfare of nations as well as individuals so
manifestly depends, and by whose goodness that people in particular
were so greatly oblig'd, that one would have thought, they would
upon a retrospect of their folly, in being thus seduc'd, have
testified to future generations their just resentment and
indignation, by at least dethroning so impious a traitor. Perhaps
they relented when they consider'd that their Governor was "born and
educated among them": But this heightened his wickedness; as it
might have convinc'd them, that he was as destitute of the common
feelings of love for one's native country, as he was of religion and
piety. This, and many other instances of later date may serve to
show, that the people have no solid reason to depend upon every man
that he will be a good Governor, merely because of his having had
his birth and education among them; as well as the folly and
wickedness of priests and minions, who would from such a
circumstance endeavor to dupe the people into a perswasion of their
security under any man's administration. - The sin which the people
of Israel were prevail'd upon by Jeroboam the son of Nebat to
commit, respected their religious worship on a Thanksgiving day: He
had ordained a solemn festival to be kept at Bethel; in which, it
seems, he had a particular view to serve a political purpose: And
the people knew it, although he had artfully endeavored to colour it
with a plausible appearance. At this festival, through his
influence, they sacrificed unto Calves! This was the dire effect of
their foolish adulation of their Governor, while they professed to
observe a day set apart in honor to the King of kings. - Their
thanksgiving began with prophaness & ended in idolatry; or rather it
began & ended with both. There is no question but the priests were
the vicegerents of the Governor, or his heralds to publish his
impious proclamations to the people. But is it not strange that the
people were so king-ridden and priest-ridden, especially in matters
which concern'd their Religion, as to look upon the joint authority
of their Governor and Clergy, sufficient to justify them in sinning
against the authority of God himself: and in acting in open violation
of his law, revealed to them from Heaven with signs and miracles at
Mount Sinai, and register'd in their book of the law, as well as
engrav'd on the tables of their hearts! - It is no unusual thing for
people to complement their Governors with the sacrifice of their
consciences, after they have surrender'd to them their civil liberty,
which had been the folly of that people long before; for they grew
weary of their liberty in the days of Samuel the prophet, and
exchanged that civil government which the wisdom of heaven had
prescribed to them, for an absolute despotic monarchy; that they might
in that regard be like the nations round about them. - Even in these
enlightened times, the people in some parts of the world are so
bewitched by the enchantments of priest-craft and king- craft, as to
believe that tho' they sin against their own consciences, in
compliance with the instruction of the one, or in obedience to the
command of the other, they shall never suffer, but shall be rewarded
in the world to come, for being so implicitly subject to the higher
powers: And the experience of the world tells us that there are, and
always have been various ways of rewarding them for it in this world.
On the contrary, if they hesitate to declare a blind belief in the
most palpable absurdities in government and religion, they are sure to
fall into the immediate hands of spiritual inquisitors, to be whipped
and tortured into an acknowledgment of the error, or threatened with
the further pains of eternal damnation if they persist in their
contumacy. Thanks be to GOD, there is not yet so formidable a junction
of the secular and ecclesiastical powers in this country; and there is
reason to hope there are but few of the clergy who would desire it.
Yet such is the deplorable condition we are in, and so notorious is it
to all, that should any man, be he who he may, tell me that our civil
liberties were continued, or that our religious privileges were not in
danger, I should detest him, if in his senses, as a perfidious man.
And if any clergyman should in compliance with the humours or designs
of a man in power, echo such a false declaration in the church of GOD,
he would in my opinion do well seriously to consider, whether an
excessive complaisance may not have betrayed him into the sin of
Ananias and Saphira, in lying against the Holy Ghost! This is a most
weighty consideration: But the times require plain dealing. We hope
and believe, nay we know that there are more than seven thousand who
will never bow the knee to Baal, or servilely submit to Tyranny,
temporal or spiritual: But are we not fallen into an age when some
even of the Clergy think it no shame to flatter the Idol; and
thereby to lay the people, as in the days of Jeroboam, the son of
Nebat, under a temptation to commit great wickedness, and sin
against God? Let us beware of the poison of flattery - If the people
are tainted with this folly, they will never have VIRTUE enough to
demand a restoration of their liberties in the very face of a
TYRANT, if the necessity of the times should call for so noble an
exertion. And how soon there may be such NECESSITY, GOD only knows.
May HE grant them FORTITUDE as well as SOUND PRUDENCE in the day of
TRIAL! He who can flatter a despot, or be flattered by him, without
feeling the remonstrances of his own mind against it, may be
remarkable for the guise and appearance of sanctity, but he has very
little if any true religion - If he habitually allows himself in it,
without any remorse, he is a hardened impenitent sinner against GOD
and his COUNTRY. Whatever his profession may be, he is not fit to be
trusted; and when once discover'd, he will never be trusted by any
but fools and children. To complement a great man to the injury of
truth and liberty, may be in the opinion of a very degenerate age,
the part of a polite and well-bred gentleman - Wise men however will
denominate him a Traitor or a Fool. But how much more aggravated
must be the folly and madness of those, who instead of worshipping
GOD in the solemn assembly, "in spirit and in truth," can utter a
lie TO HIM!! -in order to render themselves acceptable to a man who
is a worm or to the son of a man who is a worm.
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. 187-189.]
BOSTON Novr 13 1771.
MY DEAR SIR, - Several Vessells have lately arrivd from London, but
I have not had the pleasure of a Line from you by either of them.
Since the Resolve of Council, by which Junius Americanus was so
severely censurd, there has been a proclamation issued by the
Governor with their Advice, for a general Thanksgiving which has
been the practice of the Country at this time of the year from its
first Settlement. The pious proclamation has given the greatest
offence to the people in general, as it appears evidently to be
calculated to serve the purpose of the British Administration,
rather than that of Religion. We were the last year called upon to
thank the Almighty for the Blessings of the Administration of
Government, in this Province, which many lookd upon as an impious
Farce. Now we are demurely exhorted to render our hearty & humble
Thanks to the same omniscient Being for the Continuance of our civil
& religious Privileges & the Enlargement of our Trade. This I imagine
was contrivd to try the feelings of the people; and if the Governor
could dupe the Clergy as he had the Council, & they the people, so
that the proclamation should be read as usual in our Churches, he
would have nothing to do but acquaint Lord Hillsborough that most
certainly the people in General acquiescd in the measures of
Government, since they had appealed even to God himself that
notwithstanding the faction & turbulence of a party, their Liberties
were continued & their Trade enlargd. I am at a loss to say whether
this measure was more insolent to the people or affrontive to the
Majesty of Heaven, neither of whom however a modern Politician
regards, if at all, so much as the Smiles of his noble Patron. But
the people saw thro it in general, & openly declared that they would
not hear the proclamation read. The Consequence was, that it was
read in but two of all our Churches in this Town consisting of
twelve besides three Episcopalian Churches; there indeed it has not
been customary ever to read them. Of those two Clergymen who read
it, one of them being a Stranger in the province, & having been
settled but about Six Weeks, performd the servile task a week before
the usual Time when the people were not aware of it, they were
however much disgusted at it. The Minister of the other is a known
Flatterer of the Governor & is the very person who formd the fulsome
Address of which I wrote you some time ago - he was deserted by a
great number of his Auditory in the midst of his reading. Thus every
Art is practisd & every Tool employd to make it appear as if this
people were easy in their Chains, & that this great revolution is
brought about by the inimitable Address of Mr Hutchinson. There is
one part of the proclamation which I think deserves Notice on your
side the Water, & that relates to the Accommodation with the
Spaniards in the Affair of Faulkland Island. This must have been
referrd to under the Terms of the preservation of the peace of
Europe. From what I wrote you last you cannot wonder if the Governor
carrys any thing he pleases in his Divan here. His last Manoevre has
exposd him more than any thing. Ne lude cum sacris is a proverb.
Should he once lose the Reputation which his friends have with the
utmost pains been building for him among the Clergy for these thirty
years past, as a consummate Saint, he must fall like Samson when his
Locks were cut off. The people are determind to keep their Day of
Festivity but not for all the purposes of the infamous proclamation.
I beg you would omit no Opportunity of writing to me & be assured
that I am in a Stile too much out of fashion
Your Friend
ARTICLE SIGNED "COTTON MATHER."1
[Boston Gazette, November 25, 1771.]
MESSIEURS EDES & GILL,
Mucius SCAEVOLA, a writer whom I very much admire, tells us, "A
Massachusetts Governor the King by Compact may nominate and appoint,
but not pay: For his support he must stipulate with the people, &
until he does, he is no legal Governor; without this, if he undertakes
to rule he is a USURPER." - These sentiments have given great disgust
to the Governor & Council, and the publisher, it is said, is to be
prosecuted: But if he has spoken the words of truth and soberness,
why should he be punished? Is there any man in the community that
can procure harm in a process of law, to him who speaks necessary
and important truths? If there be such a man, mark him for a Tyrant.
Is there any man whose publick conduct will not bear the scrutiny of
truth? he is a Traitor, and it is high time he was pointed out.
I have upon this occasion looked into the Charter of the province in
which the COMPACT between the King and the people is contain'd, and
I find not a single word about the King's paying his Governor. If
therefore the Charter is altogether silent about it, Mucius is
certainly to be justified in saying that by the compact the King may
not pay him; that is, there is nothing in the Charter to warrant it.
But it is asked, whether the King may not pay his Governor
notwithstanding? And ought it not to be looked upon as a mark of
royal bounty and goodness, thus to save the people from being
"burdened by a tax upon their polls and estates for a Governor's
support?" This is the Court language; and great pains have been
taken by some gentlemen, whose particular business it is to ride
through the several counties, to spread it in every part of the
province. But it has a tendency to mislead and ensnare. It no doubt
sounds very agreeably in the ears of an unwary man, that by this
ministerial manoeuvre, the province have a saving of a thousand
pounds sterling every year, for the support of a Governor. Let us
consider the matter a little. Did not our ancestors, when they
accepted this Charter, understand that they had contracted for a
free government? And did not the King on his part intend that it
should be so? Was it not understood, that by this contract every
power of government was to be under a check adequate to the
importance of it, without which, according to the best reasoners on
government, and the experience of mankind in all ages of the world,
that power must be a tyranny? Undoubtedly it was the sense of both
parties in the contract, that the government to be erected by the
Charter, should be a free government, and that every power of it
should be properly controuled in order to constitute it so. I would
then ask, what weight remains in the scale of the democratick part
of the constitution to check the monarchick in the hands of the
governor, if the king has not only an uncontroulable power to
nominate and appoint a governor, but may pay him too? If any one
will point out to me a sufficient weight to balance the scale, I
will differ from Mucius: But until that is done, I must be of his
mind, that the king has no right to pay his governor: "For that, he
must stipulate with the people;" otherwise our civil constitution is
rendered materially different from what the contracting parties
intended it should be, viz, a free constitution. It places the
governor in such a state of independency as must make any man
formidable. - It puts it in his power in many instances to act the
tyrant, even under the appearance of all the forms of the
constitution. The man who is possessed of a power to act the tyrant
when he thinks proper, let him become possessed of it as he may, is
at least an USURPER of power that cannot belong to him in any free
state - Power is intoxicating: There have been few men, if any, who
when possessed of an unrestrained power, have not made a very bad
use of it - They have generally exercised such a power to the terror
both of the good and the evil, and of the good more than the evil -
While a governor is possessed of a power without any other check
than that which the constitution has provided, upon a supposition
that the king by charter may pay him as well as appoint him, for
aught I can see, under such an administration as the present, I mean
in England, he may make the people slaves as soon as he pleases and
keep them so as long as he pleases. I have heard it asked, What! may
not the king make a present to his governor of fifteen hundred
sterling every year, if he sees fit? Is not his MAJESTY allowed to
be upon a footing with even a private subject? This reasoning is
very plausible, but I think not just. In some respects the king is
more restrained than the lowest of his subjects. He may not for
instance, turn a Roman Catholic, or marry one of that religion and
hold his crown: He forfeits it by law if he does. And why? Because
it has been found that the Roman Catholic principles are
inconsistent with the principles of the British constitution, which
is the rule of his government. And there is the same reason why the
governor who is appointed by the crown, should stipulate with the
people for his support, if that mutual check among the several
powers of government, which is essential to every free constitution,
is otherwise destroyed. - If the king's paying or making yearly
presents to his governor, renders him a different being in the state
from that which the Charter intends he shall be, and that to the
prejudice of the people, the king by the compact may not pay him,
for in such a case, it would be inconsistent with the principles of
our constitution - No king can have a right to put it in the power
of his governor to become a tyrant, or govern arbitrarily; for he
cannot be a tyrant or govern arbitrarily himself.
I beg leave to make a supposition; If his Holiness the Pope, for the
sake of once more having a Catholic King seated on the British
throne, should make him a present yearly of eight hundred thousand
pounds sterling, for the support of himself and his household, it
would be a great saving indeed to the nation; but would the people,
think you, consent to it because of that saving? Should we not hear
the faithful Commons objecting to it as an innovation big with
danger to the rights and liberties of the nation? I believe it would
be in vain to flatter them that their constituents would be eas'd of
a burden of a tax upon their polls and estates, by means which would
render their king thus independent of them, and place him in a state
of absolute dependance, for his support, upon another, who had
especially for a long course of years, tried every art and
machination to overthrow their constitution in church and state -
Would not the people justly think there would be danger that such a
king thus dependent on the pope, and oblig'd by him, would be as
subservient to the admonitions of his Holiness, or his Legate in his
name, as a certain provincial governor, we know, has been to the
instructions of a minister of state, upon the bare prospect of his
being made independent of the people for his support.
COTTON MATHER.
1 Attributed to Adams in the Dorr file of the Gazette.
ARTICLE SIGNED "CANDIDUS."
[Boston Gazette, December 2, 1771.]
Messieurs EDES & GILL,
No methods are yet left untried by the writers on the side of the
ministry, to perswade this People that the best way to get rid of
our Grievances is to submit to them. This was the artifice of
Governor Bernard, and it is urg'd with as much zeal as ever, under
the administration of Governor Hutchinson. They would fain have us
endure the loss of as many of our Rights and Liberties as an
abandon'd ministry shall see fit to wrest from us, without the least
murmur: But when they find, that they cannot silence our complaints,
& sooth us into security they then tell us, that "much may be done
for the publick interest by way of humble & dutiful representation,
pointing out the hardships of certain measures" - This is the
language of Chronus in the last Massachusetts Gazette. But have we
not already petition'd the King for the Redress of our Grievances
and the Restoration of our Liberties? - have not the House of
Representatives done it in the most dutiful terms imaginable? - Was
it not many months before that Petition was suffer'd to reach the
royal hand? - And after it was laid before his Majesty, was he not
advis'd by his ministers to measures still more grevious and severe?
Have any lenient measures been the consequence of our humble
representations of "the hardship of certain measures," which were
set forth by the house of assembly in the most decent and respectful
letters to persons of high rank in the administration of government
at home? Did not the deputies of most of the towns and districts in
this province met in Convention in the year 1768, when Bernard had
in a very extraordinary manner dissolv'd the General Assembly? - Did
they not, I say, in the most humble terms, petition the Throne for
the Redress of the intolerable grievances we then labor'd under? -
Has not the Town of Boston most submissively represented "the
hardship of certain measures" to their most gracious Sovereign, and
petition'd for Right and Relief? - Was not petitioning and humbly
supplicating, the method constantly propos'd by those very persons
whom Chronus after the manner of his brethren, stiles "pretended
patriots ", and constantly adopted till it was apparent that our
petitions and representations were treated with neglect and
contempt? - Till we found that even our petitioning was looked upon
as factious, and the effects of it were the heaping Grievance upon
Grievance? - Have not the people of this province, after all their
humble supplications, been falsly charg'd with being "in a state of
disobedience to all law and government?" And in consequence of
petitioning, has not the capital been filled with soldiers to quiet
their murmurs with the bayonet; & to murder, assassinate & plunder
with impunity? -Have we not borne for these seven years past such
indignity as no free people ever suffer'd before, and with no other
tokens of resentment on our part, than pointing out our hardships,
and appealing to the common sense of mankind, after we had in vain
petition'd our most gracious Sovereign? - And now we are even
insulted by those who have bro't on us all these difficulties, for
uttering our just complaints in a publick Newspaper! Pointing out
the hardships of our sufferings, and calling upon the impartial
world to judge between us and our oppressors, and protesting before
God and man against innovations big with ruin to the public Liberty,
is call'd by this writer, "a stubborn opposition to public authority,"
and "a high hand opposition and repugnancy to government" For God's
sake, what are we to expect from petitioning? Have we any prospect in
the way of humble and dutiful representation? Let us advert to the
nation of which this writer says we are a part. Are not they suffering
the same grievances, under the same administration? Have not they
repeatedly petitioned and remonstrated to the throne, and "pointed out
the hardships of certain measures," to the King himself? And has not
his Majesty been advised by his ministers, to treat them as imaginary
grievances only? And yet after all, against repeated facts, and common
experience to the contrary, we are told, that "much might be done
for the public interest, by way of hunible and dutiful
representation!" If there were even now, any hopes that the King
would hear us, while his present counsellors are near him, I should
be by all means for petitioning again; but every man of common
observation will judge for himself of the prospect.