colonies, New-Hampshire and Rhode-Island, were so very reasonable,
when disputes arose about the dividing lines; nor do I believe any
of his disinterested readers will think his bare ipse dixit, however
peremptory, a sufficient evidence of it. - It seems in the
estimation of Chronus and his few confederates, all are "intemperate
patriots ", who will not yield the public rights to every demand,
however unjust it may appear. - Thus a whole General Assembly is
branded by this writer, with the character of "wrong-headed
politicians ", for not surrendering a part of the territory of this
province to New-Hampshire and Rhode-Island, because they demanded
it. It is no uncommon thing for those who are resolved to carry a
favorite point, when they cannot reason with their opponents, to
rail at them. -I shall not take upon me at present to say, whether
the claims of those governments were right or wrong; but if the
governor of the province, & a majority of the two houses, whom
Chronus does not scruple to call "pretended patriots ", then judged
them to be wrong, their conduct in contending for the interest of
the province, affords sufficient evidence, that they were real
patriots. These instances are bro't by Chronus to show the wisdom
"of scorning the influence, and rejecting the rash and injudicious
clamour of pretended patriots, and wrong-headed politicians," in the
present assembly; who by their "indecent treatment of his Majesty's
governor, are pressing him to comply with measures contrary to his
instructions": But if his Majesty's governor's instructions are
repugnant to the Rights and Liberties of his Majesty's subjects
of this province, and those who are elected by the people to be the
guardians of their rights and liberties, are really of that mind;
especially if they also think that such instructions are design'd to
have the force of laws; is it reasonable or decent for Chronus, tho'
he may think differently, to call them mere pretended patriots, which
conveys the idea of false-hearted men, for protesting against such
instructions, as dangerous innovations, threatning the "very being of
government", as constituted by the Charter? Chronus and his brethren
would do well to consider, that "a high handed opposition and
repugnance, ('tis a wonder he did not in the style of his friend
Bernard, call it 'oppugnation') to government ", is as dangerous when
level'd at the representative body of the people, as at "his Majesty's
Governor": An attack upon the constitution especially in that silent
manner in which it has of late been attacked, is more dangerous than
either. - He says that those "wretched politicians ", "have made the
Governor's subsistence to depend upon his compliance with measures
contrary to his instructions." If this had been true, it would have
been treating the Governor in a manner in which the British
parliaments, when free, have treated their sovereign: No supplies
till grievances are redressed, has been the language of those "wrong
headed politicians ", the British house of commons in former, and
better times, than these - If the commons of this province have at
any time withheld their grant for the support of a governor, till he
should comply with measures contrary to his instructions, they
looking upon those instructions, as they have been, in fact,
repugnant to the very spirit of the charter, and subversive of the
liberty of their constituents, who can blame them? They are in my
opinion highly to be commended, for making use of a power vested in
them, or rather reserv'd by the constitution, & originally intended
to check the wanton career of imperious governors - A power, in the
due exercise of which, even KINGS, their masters, have sometimes
been brought to their senses, when they had any. But Chronus cannot
show an instance of this conduct in the house of representatives for
many years past, I dare say. It must therefore be a mistake in him
to suppose that this conduct of "our intemperate patriots", has
"occasion'd his Majesty to render him more independent, by taking
the payment of his governor upon himself." I make no doubt but some
other motive occasion'd the minister to advise an independent
governor in this province, which will in all probability take place
in every colony throughout America. - The motive is too obvious to
need mentioning - If Chronus will make it appear that a governor's
being made independent of the people, is not repugnant to the
principles of the charter of this province, or any free government,
he will do more than I at present think he or any other can - Till
this is done, it is in vain to flatter a sensible people with the
prospect of enjoying "peace, happiness or any other blessing they
have reason to desire," and right to expect from good government,
while the measure is persisted in.
CANDIDUS.
ARTICLE SIGNED "CANDIDUS."
[Boston Gazette, December 9, 1771.]
MESSIEURS EDES & GILL,
"Whene'er from putrid Courts foul Vapours rose,
with vigorous wholesome Gales
The Winds of OPPOSITION fiercely blew,
Which purg'd and clear'd the agitated State"
If the liberties of America are ever compleatly ruined, of which in
my opinion there is now the utmost danger, it will in all
probability be the consequence of a mistaken notion of prudence,
which leads men to acquiesce in measures of the most destructive
tendency for the sake of present ease. When designs are form'd to
rase the very foundation of a free government, those few who are to
erect their grandeur and fortunes upon the general ruin, will employ
every art to sooth the devoted people into a state of indolence,
inattention and security, which is forever the fore-runner of
slavery - They are alarmed at nothing so much, as attempts to awaken
the people to jealousy and watchfulness; and it has been an old game
played over and over again, to hold up the men who would rouse their
fellow citizens and countrymen to a sense of their real danger, and
spirit them to the most zealous activity in the use of all proper
means for the preservation of the public liberty, as "pretended
patriots," "intemperate politicians," rash, hot-headed men,
Incendiaries, wretched desperadoes, who, as was said of the best of
men, would turn the world upside down, or have done it already. -
But he must have a small share of fortitude indeed, who is put out
of countenance by hard speeches without sense and meaning, or
affrighted from the path of duty by the rude language of
Billingsgate - For my own part, I smile contemptuously at such
unmanly efforts: I would be glad to hear the reasoning of Chronus,
if he has a capacity for it; but I disregard his railing as I would
the barking of a "Cur dog".
The dispassionate and rational Pennsylvania Farmer has told us, that
"a perpetual jealousy respecting liberty, is absolutely requisite in
all free states." The unhappy experience of the world has frequently
manifested the truth of his observation. For want of this jealousy,
the liberties of Stain were destroyed by what is called a vote of
credit; that is, a confidence placed in the King to raise money upon
extraordinary emergencies, in the intervals of parliament. France
afterwards fell into the same snare; and England itself was in great
danger of it, in the reign of Charles the second; when a bill was
brought into the house of commons to enable the King to raise what
money he pleased upon extraordinary occasions, as the dutch war was
pretended to be - And the scheme would doubtless have succeeded to
the ruin of the national liberty, had it not been for the
watchfulness of the "intemperate patriots ", and "wrong-headed
politicians" even of that day.
How much better is the state of the American colonies soon likely to
be, than that of France and Spain or than Britain would have been
in, if the Bill before mention'd had pass'd into an act? Does it
make any real difference whether one man has the sovereign disposal
of the peoples purses, or five hundred? Is it not as certain that
the British parliament have assumed to themselves the power of
raising what money they please in the colonies upon all occasions,
as it is, that the Kings of France and Spain exercise the same power
over their subjects upon emergencies? Those Kings by the way, being
the sole judges when emergencies happen, they generally create them
as often as they want money. And what security have the colonies
that the British parliament will not do the same? It is dangerous to
be silent, as the ministerial writers would have us to be, while such
a claim is held up; but much more to submit to it. Your very silence,
my countrymen, may be construed a submission, and those who would
perswade you to be quiet, intend to give it that turn. Will it be
likely then that your enemies, who have exerted every nerve to
establish a revenue, rais'd by virtue of a suppos'd inherent right in
the British parliament without your consent, will recede from the
favorite plan, when they imagine it to be compleated by your
submission? Or if they should repeal the obnoxious act, upon the terms
of your submitting to the right, is it not to be apprehended that your
own submission will be brought forth as a precedent in a future time,
when your watchful adversary shall have succeeded, and laid the most
of you fast asleep in the bed of security and insensibility. Believe
me, should the British parliament, which claims a right to tax you at
discretion, ever be guided by a wicked and corrupt administration,
and how near they are approaching to it, I will leave you to judge,
you will then find one revenue act succeeding another, till the
fatal influence shall extend to your own parliaments. Bribes and
tensions will be as frequent here, as they are in the unhappy
kingdom of Ireland, and you and your posterity will be made, by
means of your own money, as subservient to the will of a British
ministry, or an obsequious Governor, as the vassals of France are to
that of their grand monarch. What will prevent this misery and
infamy, but your being finally oblig'd to have recourse to the
ultima ratio! But is it probable that you will ever make any manly
efforts to recover your liberty, after you have been inur'd, without
any remorse, to contemplate yourselves as slaves? Custom, says the
Farmer, gradually reconciles us to objects even of dread and
detestation. It reigns in nothing more arbitrarily than in publick
Affairs. When an act injurious to freedom has once been done, and
the people bear it, the repetition of it is more likely to meet with
submission. For as the mischief of the one was found to be
tolerable, they will hope that the second will prove so too; and
they will not regard the infamy of the last, because they are
stain'd with that of the first.
The beloved Patriot further observes, "In mixed governments, the
very texture of their constitution demands a perpetual jealousy; for
the cautions with which power is distributed among the several
orders, imply, that each has that share which is proper for the
general welfare, and therefore that any further imposition must be
pernicious". The government of this province, like that of Great
Britain, of which it is said to be an epitome, is a mixed
government. It's constitution is delicately framed; and I believe
all must acknowledge, that the power vested in the crown is full as
great as is consistent with the general welfare. The King, by the
charter, has the nomination and appointment of the governor: But no
mention being therein made of his right to take the payment of his
governor upon himself, it is fairly concluded that the people have
reserv'd that right to themselves, and the governor must stipulate
with them for his support. That this was the sense of the
contracting parties, appears from practice contemporary with the
date of the charter itself, which is the best exposition of it; and
the same practice has been continued uninterruptedly to the present
time - But the King now orders his support out of the American
revenue: Chronus himself, acknowledges that he is thereby "render'd
more independent of the people." - Consequently the balance of power
if it was before even is by this means disadjusted. Here then is
another great occasion of jealousy in the people. No reasonable man
will deny that an undue proportion of power added to the monarchical
part of the constitution, is as dangerous, as the same undue
proportion would be, if added to the democratical. Should the people
refuse to allow the governor the due exercise of the powers that are
vested in him by the Charter, I dare say they would soon be told,
and very justly, of "the mischief that would be the consequence of
it." And is there not the same reason why the people may and ought
to speak freely & LOUDLY of the mischief which would be the
consequence of his being rendered more independent of them; or which
is in reality the same thing, his becoming possessed of more power
than the charter vests him with? For the annihilating a
constitutional check, in the people, which is necessary to prevent
the Governor's exercise of exorbitant power, is in effect to enable
him to exercise that exorbitant power, when he pleases, without
controul. A Governor legally appointed may usurp powers which do not
belong to him: And it is ten to one but he will, if the people are
not jealous and vigilant. Charles the first was legally appointed
king: The doctrines advanced by the clergy in his father's infamous
reign, led them both to believe that they were the LORD'S anointed
and were not accountable for their conduct to the people. - It is
strange that kings seated on the English throne, should imbibe such
opinions: But it is possible they were totally unacquainted with the
history of their English predecessors. - Charles, by hearkening to
the council of his evil ministers, which coincided with the
principles of his education, and his natural temper, and confiding
in his corrupt judges, became an usurper of powers which he had no
right to; and exercising those powers, he became a Tyrant: But the
end proved fatal to him, and afforded a solemn lesson for all
succeeding usurpers and tyrants: His subjects who made him king,
called him to account, dismiss'd and PUNISH'D him in a most
exemplary manner! Charles was obstinate in his temper, and thought
of nothing so little as concessions of any kind: If he had been well
advis'd, he would have renounced his usurped powers: Every wise
governor will relinquish a power which is not clearly
constitutional, however inconsiderable those about him may perswade
him to think it; especially, if the people regard it as a PART
OF A SYSTEM OF OPPRESSION, and AN EVIDENCE OF TYRANNICAL DESIGNS.
And the more tenacious he is of it, the stronger is the reason why
"the SPIRIT OF APPREHENSION" should be kept up among them in its
utmost VIGILANCE.
CANDIDUS.
ARTICLE SIGNED "CANDIDUS."
[Boston Gazette, December 16, 1771.]
Messieurs EDES & GILL,
I Profess to be more generous than to make severe remarks upon the
apparent absurdities that run through the whole of Chronus's
performance in the last Massachusetts-Gazette. He tells us that "he
seldom examines political struggles that make their weekly
appearance in the papers ". If by this mode of expression he means
to inform us, that he seldom reads the papers with impartiality and
attention, as every one ought, who designs to make his own
observations on them, I can easily believe him; for it is evident in
the piece now before me, that thro' a want of such impartiality or
due attention, to the political struggles which he examines, he
mistakes one writer for another, and finds fault with Candidus for
not vindicating what had been advanc'd by Mutius Scaevola. I am no
party man, unless a firm attachment to the cause of Liberty and
Truth will denominate one such: And if this be the judgment of those
who have taken upon themselves the character of Friends to the
Government, I am content to be in their sense of the word a party
man, and will glory in it as long as I shall retain that small
portion of understanding which GOD has been pleas'd to bless me
with. If at any time I venture to lay my own opinions before the
public, which is the undoubted right of every one, I expect they
will be treated, if worth any notice, with freedom and candor: But I
do not think myself liable to be called to account by Chronus, or
any one else, for not answering the objections they are pleased to
make to what is offered by another man, and not by me. Whatever may
be the opinion of Mr. Hutchinson, as a Usurper or a Tyrant or not,
or as Governor or no Governor, if Chronus had fairly "examined the
political struggles" which have appeared in the papers, he must have
known that I had not published my sentiments about the matter; I
shall do it however, as soon as I think proper. - I would not
willingly suppose that Chronus artfully intended to amuse his
readers, and "mislead them to believe ", that his address to the
publick of the 28th of November, was particularly applicable to me,
as having advanced the doctrine which has given so much disgust to
some gentlemen, and from whence he draws such a long string of
terrible consequences. Whether the denying the governor's authority
be right or wrong, or whether upon Mutius's hypothesis it be
vindicable or not, it is a "maxim," (to use his own word) upon which
it no more concerned me to pass my judgment than it did any other
man in the community. Had Chronus then a right to press me into this
"political struggle," or to demand my opinion of what he had so
sagely observed upon a subject which I had never engag'd in? Yes, by
all means; says he, "I pointed out some of the mischiefs that would
inevitably follow upon denying the Governor's authority, if that
maxim should be generally received"; and adds, "what now has
Candidus reply'd to all this? Why truly nothing, but - altum
silentium" in English, a profound silence; that is in the words of
an honest Teague on another occasion "he answered and said nothing"
- But notwithstanding the deep silence that I preserv'd when I made
my answer, it seems that "I assured him that the way of peaceable,
dutiful and legal representations of our grievances had already been
tried to no purpose": With the most profound Taciturnity I "was
pleas'd most largely to expatiate upon this point", & with all my
"altum silentium" my "interrogations follow'd one another with such
amazing rapidity, that he (poor man) was almost out of breath in
repeating them." - Here, gentle reader, is presented to you a group
of ideas in the chaste, the elegant style of CURONUS, which required
much more skill in the English language than I am a master of, to
reduce to the level of common sense. Thus I have given you a short
specimen of the taste of Chronus, who is said to be the top hand on
the side of the ministry: For want of leisure I must omit taking
notice of his "method of reasoning" till another time.
CANDIDUS.
MEMORANDUM.
[MS., Samuel Adams Papers, Lenox Library.]
Decbr 18 I771.
This day I waited on Mr Harrison Gray junr to acquaint him that I
had been informd that he had told John Hancock Esqr that he heard me
say in a threatning manner that Mr Hancock might think as he pleasd,
Mr Otis had friends & his (Mr Hancocks) treatment of Mr Otis would
prejudice his (Mr Hancocks) Election. Mr Gray declard to me that he
did not hear me mention a Word of Mr Hancocks Election - that a
conversation happend between Mr John Cotton & my self (Mr Gray being
present) relative to Mr Otis - that Mr Cotton said Mr Otis' Conduct
must be the Effect of Distraction or Drunkeness - that I said I did
not think so - but that it rather proceeded from Irritation - that
he (Mr Gray) said if Mr Otis is distracted why should Mr Hancock
pursue him - & that I answerd that Mr Hancock might be stirred up by
others to do it, but I thought he had better not or it was a pity he
should. This Mr Gray declared was all that I said relative to Mr
Hancock, in answer to his Question as is before mentiond & that it
did not appear to him that I discoverd the least Unfriendliness
towards Mr Hancock. He further said he was willing to give his oath
to the truth of this his declaration. Upon which I told Mr Gray that
it was far from my Intention to make Mr Hancock displeasd with him,
that I was satisfied that Mr Hancock understood him differently & I
should let Mr Hancock know what he now said, & asked him to repeat
it which he did precisely as before - & told me he was freely
willing that I should repeat it to Mr Hancock that if Mr Hancock &
myself desired it he would thus explain it in presense of us both.
ARTICLE SIGNED "CANDIDUS."
[Boston Gazette, December 23, 1771.]
Messieurs EDES & GILL,