ADDRESSED
To the Inhabitants of the Province of Massachusetts Bay,
February 13, 1775.
MY DEAR COUNTRYMEN,
I OFFERED to your consideration, last week, a few extracts from the law books, to enable those that have been but little conversant with the law of the land, to form a judgment, and determine for themselves, whether any have been so far beguiled and seduced from their allegiance, as to commit the most aggravated offence against society, high treason. The whigs reply, riots and insurrections are frequent in England, the land from which we sprang; we are bone of their bone, and flesh of their flesh.—Granted; but at the same time be it remembered, that in England the executive is commonly able and willing to suppress insurrections, the judiciary to distribute impartial justice, and the legislative power to aid and strengthen the two former if necessary; and whenever these have proved ineffectual to allay intestine commotions, war, with its concomitant horrors, have passed through the land, marking their rout with blood. The bigger part of Britain has at some period or other, within the reach of history, been forfeited to the crown, by the rebellion of its proprietors.
Let us now take a view of American grievances, and try, by the sure touchstone of reason and the constitution, whether there be any act or acts, on the part of the king or parliament, that will justify the whigs even in foro conscientiæ, in thus forcibly opposing their government. Will the alteration of the mode of appointing one branch of our provincial legislature furnish so much as an excuse for it, considering that our politicians, by their intrigues and machinations, had rendered the assembly incapable of answering the purpose of government, which is protection, and our charter was become as inefficacious as an old ballad? Or can a plea of justification be founded on the parliament's giving us an exact transcript of English laws for returning jurors, when our own were insufficient to afford compensation to the injured, to suppress seditions, or even to restrain rebellion? It has been heretofore observed, that each member of the community is entitled to protection; for this he pays taxes, for this he relinquishes his natural right of revenging injuries and redressing wrongs, and for this the sword of justice is placed in the hands of the magistrate. It is notorious that the whigs had usurped the power of the province in a great measure, and exercised it by revenging themselves on their opponents, or in compelling them to enlist under their banners. Recollect the frequency of mobs and riots, the invasions and demolitions of dwelling houses and other property, the personal abuse, and frequent necessity of persons abandoning their habitations, the taking sanctuary on board men of war, or at the castle, previous to the regulating bill. Consider that these sufferers were loyal subjects, violators of no law, that many of them were crown officers, and were thus persecuted for no other offence, than that of executing the king's law. Consider further, that if any of the sufferers sought redress in a court of law, he had the whole whig interest to combat; they gathered like a cloud and hovered like harpies round the seat of justice, until the suitor was either condemned to pay cost to his antagonist, or recovered so small damages, as that they were swallowed up in his own. Consider further, that these riots were not the accidental or spontaneous risings of the populace, but the result of the deliberations and mature councils of the whigs, and were sometimes headed and led to action by their principals. Consider further, that the general assembly lent no aid to the executive power. Weigh these things, my friends, and doubt if you can, whether the act for regulating our government did not flow from the parental tenderness of the British councils, to enable us to recover from anarchy, without Britain being driven to the necessity of inflicting punishment, which is her strange work. Having taken this cursory view of the convulsed state of the province, let us advert to our charter form of government, and we shall find its distributions of power to have been so preposterous, as to render it next to impossible for the province to recover by its own strength. The council was elective annually by the house, liable to the negative of the chair, and the chair restrained from acting, even in the executive department, without the concurrence of the board. The political struggle is often between the governor and the house, and it is a maxim with politicians, that he that is not for us is against us. Accordingly, when party run high, if a counsellor adhered to the governor, the house refused to elect him the next year; if he adhered to the house, the governor negatived him; if he trimmed his bark so as to steer a middle course between Scylla and Charybdis, he was in danger of suffering more by the neglect of both parties, than of being wrecked but on one.
In moderate times, this province has been happy under our charter form of government; but when the political storm arose, its original defect became apparent. We have sometimes seen half a dozen sail of tory navigation unable, on an election day, to pass the bar formed by the flux and reflux of the tides at the entrance of the harbour, and as many whiggish ones stranded the next morning on Governor's Island. The whigs took the lead in this game, and therefore I think the blame ought to rest upon them, though the tables were turned upon them in the sequel. A slender acquaintance with human nature will inform, experience has evinced, that a body of men thus constituted, are not to be depended upon to act that vigorous, intrepid and decisive part, which the emergency of the late times required, and which might have proved the salvation of the province. In short, the board which was intended to moderate between the governor and the house, or perhaps rather to support the former, was incapable of doing either by its original constitution. By the regulating act, the members of the board are appointed by the king in the council, and are not liable even to the suspension of the governor; their commissions are durante bene placito, and they are therefore far from independence. The infant state of the colonies does not admit of a peerage, nor perhaps of any third branch of legislature wholly independent. In most of the colonies, the council is appointed by mandamus, and the members are moreover liable to be suspended by the governor, by which means they are more dependant, than those appointed according to the regulating act; but no inconvenience arises from that mode of appointment. Long experience has evinced its utility. By this statute, extraordinary powers are devolved upon the chair, to enable the governor to maintain his authority, and to oppose with vigor the daring spirit of independance, so manifest in the whigs. Town meetings are restrained to prevent their passing traitorous resolves. Had these and many other innovations contained in this act, been made in moderate times, when due reverence was yielded to the magistrate, and obedience to the law, they might have been called grievances; but we have no reason to think, that had the situation of the province been such that this statute would ever have had an existence—nor have we any reason to doubt, but that it will be repealed, in whole or part, should our present form of government be found by experience to be productive of rapine or oppression. It is impossible that the king, lords or commons could have any sinister views in regulating the government of this province. Sometimes we are told that charters are sacred. However sacred, they are forfeited through negligence or abuse of their franchises, in which cases the law judges that the body politic has broken the condition, upon which it was incorporated.
There are many instances of the negligence and abuse, that work the forfeiture of charters, delineated in law books. They also tell us, that all charters may be vacated by act of parliament. Had the form of our provincial legislature been established by act of parliament, that act might have been constitutionally and equitably repealed, when it was found to be incapable of answering the end of its institution. Stronger still is the present case, where the form of government was established by one branch of the legislature only, viz. the king, and all three join in the revocation. This act was however a fatal stroke to the ambitious views of our republican patriots. The monarchial part of the constitution was so guarded by it, as to be no longer vulnerable by their shafts, and all their fancied greatness vanished, like the baseless fabric of a vision. Many that had been long striving to attain a seat at the board, with their faces thitherward, beheld, with infinite regret, their competitors advanced to the honors they aspired to themselves. These disappointed, ambitious, and envious men, instil the poison of disaffection into the minds of the lower classes, and as soon as they are properly impregnated, exclaim, the people never will submit to it. They now would urge them into certain ruin, to prevent the execution of an act of parliament, designed and calculated to restore peace and harmony to the province, and to recal that happy state, when year rolled round on year, in a continual increase of our felicity.
The Quebec bill is another capital grievance, because the Canadians are tolerated in the enjoyment of their religion, which they were entitled to, by an article of capitulation, when they submitted to the British arms. This toleration is not an exclusion of the protestant religion, which is established in every part of the empire, as firmly as civil polity can establish it. It is a strange kind of reasoning to argue, from the French inhabitants of the conquered province of Quebec being tolerated, in the enjoyment of the Roman Catholic religion, in which they were educated, and in which alone they repose their hope of eternal salvation; that therefore government intends to deprive us of the enjoyment of the protestant religion, in which alone we believe, especially as the political interests of Britain depend upon protestant connexions, and the king's being a protestant himself is an indispensable condition of his wearing the crown. This circumstance however served admirably for a fresh stimulus, and was eagerly grasped by the disaffected of all orders. It added pathos to pulpit oratory. We often see resolves and seditious letters interspersed with popery here and there in Italics. If any of the clergy have endeavoured, from this circumstance, to alarm their too credulous audiences, with an apprehension that their religious privileges were in danger, thereby to excite them to take up arms, we must lament the depravity of the best of men; but human nature stands apalled when we reflect upon the aggravated guilt of prostituting our holy religion to the accursed purposes of treason and rebellion. As to our lay politicians, I have long since ceased to wonder at any thing in them; but it may be observed that there is no surer mark of a bad cause, than for its advocates to recur to such pitiful shifts to support it. This instance plainly indicates that their sole dependance is in preventing the passions subsiding, and cool reason resuming its seat. It is a mark of their shrewdness however, for whenever reason shall resume its seat, the political cheat will be detected, stand confest in its native turpitude, and the political knave be branded with marks of infamy, adequate, if possible, to the enormity of his crimes.
MASSACHUSETTENSIS.
ADDRESSED
To the Inhabitants of the Province of Massachusetts Bay,
February 20, 1775.
MY DEAR COUNTRYMEN,
IT would be an endless task to remark minutely upon each of the fancied grievances, that swarm and cluster, fill and deform the American chronicles. An adeptness at discovering grievances has lately been one of the principal recommendations to public notice and popular applause. We have had geniuses selected for that purpose, called committees upon grievances; a sagacious set they were, and discovered a multitude before it was known, that they themselves were the greatest grievances that the country was infested with. The case is shortly this; the whigs suppose the colonies to be separate or distinct states: having fixed this opinion in their minds, they are at no loss for grievances. Could I agree with them in their first principle, I should acquiesce in many of their deductions; for in that case every act of parliament, extending to the colonies, and every movement of the crown to carry them into execution, would be really grievances, however wise and salutary they might be in themselves, as they would be exertions of a power that we were not constitutionally subject to, and would deserve the name of usurpation and tyranny; but deprived of this their corner stone, the terrible fabric of grievances vanishes, like castles raised by enchantment, and leaves the wondering spectator amazed and confounded at the deception. He suspects himself to have but just awoke from sleep, or recovered from a trance, and that the formidable spectre, that had froze him with horror, was no more than the creature of a vision, or the delusion of a dream.
Upon this point, whether the colonies are distinct states or not, our patriots have rashly tendered Great Britain an issue, against every principle of law and constitution, against reason and common prudence. There is no arbiter between us but the sword; and that the decision of that tribunal will be against us, reason foresees, as plainly as it can discover any event that lies in the womb of futurity. No person, unless actuated by ambition, pride, malice, envy, or a malignant combination of the whole, that verges towards madness, and hurries the man away from himself, would wage war upon such unequal terms. No honest man would engage himself, much less plunge his country into the calamities of a war upon equal terms, without first settling with his conscience, in the retired moments of reflection, the important question respecting the justice of his cause. To do this, we must hear and weigh every thing that is fairly adduced, on either side of the question, with equal attention and care. A disposition to drink in with avidity, what favours our hypothesis, and to reject with disgust whatever contravenes it, is an infallible mark of a narrow, selfish mind. In matters of small moment, such obstinacy is weakness and folly, in important ones, fatal madness. There are many among us, that have devoted themselves to the slavish dominion of prejudice; indeed the more liberal have seldom had an opportunity of bringing the question to a fair examen. The eloquence of the bar, the desk and the senate, the charms of poetry, the expressions of painting, sculpture and statuary have conspired to fix and rivet ideas of independance upon the mind of the colonists. The overwhelming torrent, supplied from so many fountains, rolled on with increasing rapidity and violence, till it became superior to all restraint. It was the reign of passion; the small, still voice of reason was refused audience. I have observed that the press was heretofore open to but one side of the question, which has given offence to a writer in Edes and Gill's paper, under the signature of Novanglus, to whom I have many things to say. I would at present ask him, if the convention of committees for the county of Worcester, in recommending to the inhabitants of that county not to take newspapers, published by two of the printers in this town, and two at New York, have not affected to be licensers of the press? And whether, by proscribing these printers, and endeavouring to deprive them of a livelihood, they have not manifested an illiberal, bigoted, arbitrary, malevolent disposition? And whether, by thus attempting to destroy the liberty of the press, they have not betrayed a consciousness of the badness of their cause?
Our warriors tell us, that the parliament shall be permitted to legislate for the purposes of regulating trade, but the parliament hath most unrighteously asserted, that it "had, hath, and of right ought to have, full power and authority to make laws and statutes of sufficient force and validity to bind the colonies in all cases whatever," that this claim is without any qualification or restriction, is an innovation, and inconsistent with liberty. Let us candidly inquire into these three observations, upon the statute declaratory of the authority of parliament. As to its universality, it is true there are no exceptions expressed, but there is no general rule without exceptions, expressed or implied.
The implied ones in this case are obvious. It is evident that the intent and meaning of this act, was to assert the supremacy of parliament in the colonies, that is, that its constitutional authority to make laws and statutes binding upon the colonies, is, and ever had been as ample, as it is to make laws binding upon the realm. No one that reads the declaratory statute, not even prejudice itself, can suppose that the parliament meant to assert thereby a right or power to deprive the colonists of their lives, to enslave them, or to make any law respecting the colonies, that would not be constitutional, were it made respecting Great Britain. By an act of parliament passed in the year 1650, it was declared concerning the colonies and plantations in America, that they had "ever since the planting thereof been and ought to be subject to such laws, orders and regulations, as are or shall be made by the parliament of England." This declaration though differing in expression, is the same in substance with the other. Our house of representatives, in their dispute with governor Hutchinson, concerning the supremacy of parliament, say, "It is difficult, if possible, to draw a line of distinction between the universal authority of parliament over the colonies, and no authority at all."
The declaratory statute was intended more especially to assert the right of parliament, to make laws and statutes for raising a revenue in America, lest the repeal of the stamp act might be urged as a disclaimer of the right. Let us now inquire whether a power to raise a revenue be not the inherent, unalienable right of the supreme legislative of every well regulated state, where the hereditary revenues of the crown, or established revenues of the state are insufficient of themselves; and whether that power be not necessarily coextensive with the power of legislation, or rather necessarily implied in it.
The end or design of government, as has been already observed, is the security of the people from internal violence and rapacity, and from foreign invasion. The supreme power of a state must necessarily be so extensive and ample as to answer those purposes, otherwise it is constituted in vain and degenerates into empty parade and mere ostentatious pageantry. These purposes cannot be answered without a power to raise a revenue; for without it neither the laws can be executed, nor the state defended. This revenue ought, in national concerns, to be apportioned throughout the whole empire according to the abilities of the several parts, as the claim of each to protection, is equal; a refusal to yield the former is as unjust as the withholding of the latter. Were any part of an empire exempt from contributing their proportionable part of the revenue, necessary for the whole, such exemption would be manifest injustice to the rest of the empire; as it must of course bear more than its proportion of the public burden, and it would amount to an additional tax. If the proportion of each part was to be determined only by itself in a separate legislature, it would not only involve in it the absurdity of imperium in imperio, but the perpetual contention arising from the predominant principle of self-interest in each, without having any common arbiter between them, would render the disjointed, discordant, torn, and dismembered state incapable of collecting or conducting its force and energy for the preservation of the whole, as emergencies might require. A government thus constituted, would contain the seeds of dissolution in its first principles, and must soon destroy itself.
I have already shewn, that by your first charter, this province was to be subject to taxation, after the lapse of twenty-one years, and that the authority of parliament to impose such taxes, was claimed so early as the year 1642.
In the patent for Pennsylvania, which is now in force, there is this clause, "And further our pleasure is, and by these presents, for us, &c. we do covenant and grant to, and with the said William Penn, &c. that we, &c. shall at no time hereafter set or make, or cause to be set, any imposition, custom, or other taxation, or rate or contribution whatsoever, in and upon the dwellers, and inhabitants of the aforesaid province, for their lands, tenements, goods or chattels within the said province, or in and upon any goods or merchandise within the said province, to be laden or unladen within the ports or harbours of the said province, unless the same be with the consent of the proprietors, chief governor, or assembly, or act of parliament."
These are stubborn facts; they are incapable of being winked out of existence, how much soever, we may be disposed to shut our eyes upon them. They prove, that the claim of a right to raise a revenue in the colonies, exclusive of the grants of their own assemblies, is coeval with the colonies themselves. I shall next shew, that there has been an actual, uninterrupted exercise of that right, by the parliament time immemorial.
MASSACHUSETTENSIS.
ADDRESSED
To the Inhabitants of the Province of Massachusetts Bay,
February 27, 1775.
MY DEAR COUNTRYMEN,
BY an act of parliament made in the twenty-fifth year of the reign of Charles 2d. duties are laid upon goods and merchandise of various kinds, exported from the colonies to foreign countries, or carried from one colony to another, payable on exportation. I will recite a part of it, viz: "For so much of the said commodities as shall be laden and put on board such ship or vessel; that is to say, for sugar, white, the hundred weight, five shillings; and brown and Muscovados, the hundred weight, one shilling and six pence; tobacco, the pound, one penny; cotton wool, the pound, one half-penny; for indigo, two-pence; ginger, the hundred weight, one shilling; logwood, the hundred weight, five pounds; fustic, and all other dying wood, the hundred weight, six-pence; cocoa, the pound, one-penny, to be levied, collected, and paid, at such places, and to such collectors and other officers, as shall be appointed in the respective plantations, to collect, levy, and receive the same, before the landing thereof, and under such penalties, both to the officers, and upon the goods, as for non-payment of, or defrauding his majesty of his customs in England. And for the better collecting of the several rates and duties imposed by this act, be it enacted that this whole business shall be ordered and managed, and the several duties hereby imposed shall be caused to be levied by the commissioners of the customs in England, by and under the authority of the lord treasurer of England, or commissioners of the treasury."
It is apparent, from the reasoning of this statute, that these duties were imposed for the sole purpose of revenue. There has lately been a most ingenious play upon the words and expressions tax, revenue, purpose of raising a revenue, sole purpose of raising a revenue, express purpose of raising a revenue, as though their being inserted in, or left out of a statute, would make any essential difference in the statute. This is mere playing with words; for if, from the whole tenor of the act, it is evident, that the intent of the legislature was to tax, rather than to regulate the trade, by imposing duties on goods and merchandise, it is to all intents and purposes, an instance of taxation, be the form of words, in which the statute is conceived, what it will. That such was the intent of the legislature, in this instance, any one that will take the pains to read it, will be convinced. There have been divers alterations made in this by subsequent statutes, but some of the above taxes remain, and are collected and paid in the colonies to this day. By an act of the 7th. and 8th. of William and Mary, it is enacted, "that every seaman, whatsoever, that shall serve his majesty, or any other person whatever in any of his majesty's ships or vessels, whatsoever, belonging, or to belong to any subjects of England, or any other his majesty's dominions, shall allow, and there shall be paid out of the wages of every such seaman, to grow due for such his service, six-pence per annum for the better support of the said hospital, and to augment the revenue thereof." This tax was imposed in the reign of king William 3d. of blessed memory, and is still levied in the colonies. It would require a volume to recite, or minutely to remark upon all the revenue acts that relate to America. We find them in many reigns, imposing new duties, taking off, or reducing old ones, and making provision for their collection, or new appropriations of them. By an act of the 7th. and 8th. of William and Mary, entitled, "an act for preventing frauds and regulating abuses in the plantations." All former acts respecting the plantations are renewed, and all ships and vessels coming into any port here, are liable to the same regulations and restrictions, as ships in the ports in England are liable to; and enacts, "That the officers for collecting and managing his majesty's revenue, and inspecting the plantation trade in many of the said plantations, shall have the same powers and authority for visiting and searching of ships, and taking their entries, and for seizing, or securing, or bringing on shore any of the goods prohibited to be imported or exported into or out of any of the said colonies and plantations, or for which any duties are payable, or ought to be paid by any of the before mentioned acts, as are provided for the officers of the customs in England."
The act of the 9th of Queen Ann, for establishing a post-office, gives this reason for its establishment, and for laying taxes thereby imposed on the carriage of letters in Great Britain and Ireland, the colonies and plantations in North America and the West Indies, and all other her majesty's dominions and territories, "that the business may be done in such manner as may be most beneficial to the people of these kingdoms, and her majesty may be supplied, and the revenue arising by the said office, better improved, settled, and secured to her majesty, her heirs, and successors." The celebrated patriot, Dr. Franklin, was till lately one of the principal collectors of it. The merit in putting the post-office in America upon such a footing as to yield a large revenue to the crown, is principally ascribed to him by the whigs. I would not wish to detract from the real merit of that gentleman, but had a tory been half so assiduous in increasing the America revenue, Novanglus would have wrote parricide at the end of his name. By an act of the sixth of George 2d. a duty is laid on all foreign rum, molasses, syrups, sugars, and paneles, to be raised, levied, collected, and paid unto, and for the use of his majesty, his heirs, and successors. The preamble of an act of the fourth of his present majesty declares, "that it is just and necessary that a revenue in America for defraying the expences of defending, protecting, and securing the same," &c. by which act duties are laid upon foreign sugars, coffee, Madeira wine; upon Portugal, Spanish, and all other wine, except French wine, imported from Great Britain; upon silks, bengals, stuffs, calico, linen cloth, cambric, and lawn, imported from particular places.
Thus, my friends, it is evident, that the parliament has been in the actual, uninterrupted use and exercise of the right claimed by them, to raise a revenue in America, from a period more remote than the grant of the present charter, to this day. These revenue acts have never been called unconstitutional till very lately. Both whigs and tories acknowledged them to be constitutional. In 1764, Governor Bernard wrote and transmitted to his friends, his polity alluded to, and in part recited by Novanglus, wherein he asserts the right or authority of the parliament to tax the colonies. Mr. Otis, whose patriotism, sound policy, profound learning, integrity and honour, is mentioned in strong terms by Novanglus, in the self-same year, in a pamphlet which he published to the whole world, asserts the right or authority of parliament to tax the colonies, as roundly as ever Governor Bernard did, which I shall have occasion to take an extract from hereafter. Mr. Otis was at that time the most popular man in the province, and continued his popularity many years afterwards.
Is it not a most astonishing instance of caprice, or infatuation, that a province, torn from its foundations, should be precipitating itself into a war with Great Britain, because the British parliament asserts its right of raising a revenue in America, inasmuch as the claim of that right is as ancient as the colonies themselves; and there is at present no grievous exercise of it? The parliaments refusing to repeal the act is the ostensible foundation of our quarrel. If we ask the whigs whether the pitiful three penny duty upon a luxurious, unwholesome, foreign commodity gives just occasion for the opposition; they tell us it is the precedent they are contending about, insinuating that it is an innovation. But this ground is not tenable; for a total repeal of the tea act would not serve us upon the score of precedents. They are numerous without this. The whigs have been extremely partial respecting tea. Poor tea has been made the shibboleth of party, while molasses, wine, coffee, indigo, &c. &c. have been unmolested. A person that drinks New England rum, distilled from molasses, subject to a like duty, is equally deserving of a coat of tar and feathers, with him that drinks tea. A coffee drinker is as culpable as either, viewed in a political light. But, say our patriots, if the British parliament may take a penny from us, without our consent, they may a pound, and so on, till they have filched away all our property. This incessant incantation operates like a spell or charm, and checks the efforts of loyalty in many an honest breast. Let us give it its full weight. Do they mean, that if the parliament has a right to raise a revenue of one penny on the colonies, that they must therefore have a right to wrest from us all our property? If this be their meaning, I deny their deduction; for the supreme legislature can have no right to tax any part of the empire to a greater amount, than its just and equitable proportion of the necessary, national expence. This is a line drawn by the constitution itself. Do they mean, that if we admit that the parliament may constitutionally raise one penny upon us for the purposes of revenue, they will probably proceed from light to heavy taxes, till their impositions become grievous and intolerable? This amounts to no more than a denial of the right, lest it should be abused. But an argument drawn from the actual abuse of a power, will not conclude to the illegality of such power, much less will an argument drawn from a capability of its being abused. If it would, we might readily argue away all power, that man is entrusted with. I will admit, that a power of taxation is more liable to abuse, than legislation separately considered; and it would give me pleasure to see some other line drawn; some other barrier erected, than what the constitution has already done, if it be possible, whereby the constitutional authority of the supreme legislature, might be preserved entire, and America be guaranteed in every right and exemption, consistent with her subordination and dependance. But this can only be done by parliament. I repeat I am no advocate for a land tax, or any other kind of internal tax, nor do I think we were in any danger of them. I have not been able to discover one symptom of any such intention in the parliament, since the repeal of the stamp-act. Indeed, the principal speakers of the majority, that repealed the stamp-act drew the line for us, between internal and external taxation, and I think we ought, in honour, justice, and good policy, to have acquiesced therein, at least until there was some burdensome exercise of taxation. For there is but little danger from the latter, that is from duties laid upon trade, as any grievous restriction or imposition on American trade, would be sensibly felt by the British; and I think with Dr. Franklin, that "they (the British nation) have a natural and equitable right to some toll or duty upon merchandizes carried through that part of their dominions, viz: the American seas, towards defraying the expence they are at in ships to maintain the safety of that carriage." These were his words in his examination at the bar of the house, in 1765. Sed tempora mutantur et nos mutamur in illis. Before we appeal to heaven for the justice of our cause, we ought to determine with ourselves, some other questions, whether America is not obliged in equity to contribute something toward the national defence: whether the present American revenue, amounts to our proportion: and whether we can, with any tolerable grace, accuse Great Britain of injustice in imposing the late duties, when our assemblies were previously called upon, and refused to make any provision for themselves. These, with several imaginary grievances, not yet particularly remarked upon, I shall consider in reviewing the publications of Novanglus; a performance which, though not destitute of ingenuity, I read with a mixture of grief and indignation, as it seems to be calculated to blow up every spark of animosity, and to kindle such a flame, as must inevitably consume a great part of this once happy province, before it can be extinguished.
MASSACHUSETTENSIS.
ADDRESSED
To the Inhabitants of the Province of Massachusetts Bay,
March 6, 1775.
MY DEAR COUNTRYMEN,
NOVANGLUS, and all others, have an indisputable right to publish their sentiments and opinions to the world, provided they conform to truth, decency, and the municipal laws, of the society of which they are members. He has wrote with a professed design of exposing the errors and sophistry which he supposes are frequent in my publications. His design is so far laudable, and I intend to correct them wherever he convinces me there is an instance of either. I have no objection to the minutest disquisition; contradiction and disputation, like the collision of flint and steel, often strike out new light; the bare opinions of either of us, unaccompanied by the grounds and reasons upon which they were formed, must be considered only as propositions made to the reader, for him to adopt, or reject as his own reason may judge, or feelings dictate. A large proportion of the labours of Novanglus consist in denials of my allegations in matters of such public notoriety, as that no reply is necessary. He has alleged many things destitute of foundation; those that affect the main object of our pursuit, but remotely, if at all, I shall pass by without particular remark; others, of a more interesting nature, I shall review minutely. After some general observations upon Massachusettensis, he slides into a most virulent attack upon particular persons, by names, with such incomparable ease, that shews him to be a great proficient in the modern art of detraction and calumny. He accuses the late governor Shirley, governor Hutchinson, the late lieutenant governor Oliver, the late judge Russell, Mr. Paxton, and brigadier Ruggles, of a conspiracy to enslave their country. The charge is high coloured; if it be just, they merit the epithets dealt about so indiscriminately, of enemies to their country. If it be groundless, Novanglus has acted the part of an assassin, in thus attempting to destroy the reputation of the living; and of something worse than an assassin, in entering those hallowed mansions, where the wicked commonly cease from troubling, and the weary are at rest, to disturb the repose of the dead. That the charge is groundless respecting governor Bernard, governor Hutchinson, and the late lieutenant governor, I dare assert, because they have been acquitted of it in such a manner, as every good citizen must acquiesce in. Our house of representatives, acting as the grand inquest of the province, presented them before the king in council, and after a full hearing, they were acquitted with honour, and the several impeachments dismissed, as groundless, vexatious, and scandalous. The accusation of the house was similar to this of Novanglus; the court they chose to institute their suit in, was of competent and high jurisdiction, and its decision final. This is a sufficient answer to the state charges made by this writer, so far as they respect the governors Bernard, Hutchinson and Oliver, whom he accuses as principals; and it is a general rule, that if the principal be innocent, the accessary cannot be guilty. A determination of a constitutional arbiter ought to seal up the lips of even prejudice itself, in silence; otherwise litigation must be endless. This calumniator, nevertheless, has the effrontery to renew the charge in a public news paper, although thereby he arraigns our most gracious Sovereign, and the lords of the privy council, as well as the gentlemen he has named. Not content with wounding the honour of judges, counsellors and governors, with missile weapons, darted from an obscure corner, he now aims a blow at majesty itself. Any one may accuse; but accusation, unsupported by proof, recoils upon the head of the accuser. It is entertaining enough to consider the crimes and misdemeanors alleged, and then examine the evidence he adduces, stript of the false glare he has thrown upon it.
The crimes are these; the persons named by him conspired together to enslave their country, in consequence of a plan, the outlines of which have been drawn by sir Edmund Andross and others, and handed down by tradition to the present times. He tells us that governor Shirley, in 1754, communicated the profound secret, the great design of taxing the colonies by act of parliament, to the sagacious gentleman, eminent philosopher, and distinguished patriot, Dr. Franklin. The profound secret is this; after the commencement of hostilities between the English and French colonies in the last war, a convention of committees from several provinces were called by the king, to agree upon some general plan of defence. The principal difficulty they met with was in devising means whereby each colony might be obliged to contribute its proportionable part. General Shirley proposed that application should be made to parliament to impower the committees of the several colonies to tax the whole according to their several proportions. This plan was adopted by the convention, and approved of by the assembly in New York, who passed a resolve in these words: "That the scheme proposed by governor Shirley for the defence of the British colonies in North America, is well concerted, and that this colony joins therein." This however did not succeed, and he proposed another, viz. for the parliament to assess each one's proportion, and in case of failure to raise it on their part, that it should be done by parliament. This is the profound secret. His assiduity, in endeavouring to have some effectual plan of general defence established, is, by the false colouring of this writer, represented as an attempt to aggrandise himself, family and friends; and that gentleman, under whose administration the several parties in the province were as much united, and the whole province rendered as happy as it ever was, for so long a time together, is called a "crafty, busy, ambitious, intriguing, enterprizing man." This attempt of Governor Shirley for a parliamentary taxation, is however a circumstance strongly militating with this writer's hypothesis, for the approbation shewn to the Governor's proposal by the convention, which consisted of persons from the several colonies, not inferior in point of discernment, integrity, knowledge or patriotism to the members of our late grand congress, and the vote of the New York assembly furnishes pretty strong evidence that the authority of parliament, even in point of taxation, was not doubted in that day. Even Dr. Franklin, in the letter alluded to, does not deny the right. His objections go to the inexpediency of the measure. He supposes it would create uneasiness in the minds of the colonists should they be thus taxed, unless they were previously allowed to send representatives to parliament. If Dr. Franklin really supposes that the parliament has no constitutional right to raise a revenue in America, I must confess myself at a loss to reconcile his conduct in accepting the office of post-master, and his assiduity in increasing the revenue in that department, to the patriotism predicated of him by Novanglus, especially as this unfortunately happens to be an internal tax. This writer then tells us, that the plan was interrupted by the war, and afterwards by Governor Pownal's administration. That Messieurs Hutchinson and Oliver, stung with envy at Governor Pownal's favourites, propagated slanders respecting him to render him uneasy in his seat. My answer is this, that he that publishes such falsehoods as these in a public newspaper, with an air of seriousness, insults the understanding of the public, more than he injures the individuals he defames. In the next place we are told, that Governor Bernard was the proper man for this purpose, and he was employed by the junto to suggest to the ministry the project of taxing the colonies by act of parliament. Sometimes Governor Bernard is the arch enemy of America, the source of all our troubles, now only a tool in the hands of others. I wish Novanglus's memory had served him better, his tale might have been consistent with itself, however variant from truth. After making these assertions with equal gravity and assurance, he tells us, he does not advance this without evidence. I had been looking out for evidence a long time, and was all attention when it was promised, but my disappointment was equal to the expectation he had raised, when I found the evidence amounted to nothing more than Governor Bernard's letters and principles of law and polity, wherein he asserts the supremacy of parliament over the colonies both as to legislation and taxation. Where this writer got his logic, I do not know. Reduced to a syllogism, his argument stands thus; Governor Bernard, in 1764, wrote and transmitted to England certain letters and principles of law and polity, wherein he asserts the right of parliament to tax the colonies; Messieurs Hutchinson and Oliver were in unison with him in all his measures; therefore Messieurs Hutchinson and Oliver employed Governor Bernard to suggest to the ministry the project of taxing the colonies by act of parliament. The letters and principles are the whole of the evidence, and this is all the appearance of argument contained in his publication. Let us examine the premises. That Governor Bernard asserted the right of parliament to tax the colonies in 1764, is true. So did Mr. Otis, in a pamphlet he published the self-same year, from which I have already taken an extract. In a pamphlet published in 1765, Mr. Otis tells us, "it is certain that the parliament of Great Britain hath a just, clear, equitable and constitutional right, power and authority to bind the colonies by all acts wherein they are named. Every lawyer, nay every Tyro, knows this; no less certain is it that the parliament of Great Britain has a just and equitable right, power and authority to impose taxes on the colonies internal and external, on lands as well as on trade." But does it follow from Governor Bernard's transmitting his principles of polity to four persons in England, or from Mr. Otis's publishing to the whole world similar principles, that either the one or the other suggested to the ministry the project of taxing the colonies by act of parliament? Hardly, supposing the transmission and publication had been prior to the resolution of parliament to that purpose; but very unfortunately for our reasoner, they were both subsequent to it, and were the effect and not the cause.
The history of the stamp act is this. At the close of the last war, which was a native of America, and increased the national debt upwards of sixty millions, it was thought by parliament to be but equitable, that an additional revenue should be raised in America, towards defraying the necessary charges of keeping it in a state of defence. A resolve of this nature was passed, and the colonies made acquainted with it through their agents, in 1764, that their assemblies might make the necessary provision if they would. The assemblies neglected doing any thing, and the parliament passed the stamp act. There is not so much as a colourable pretence that any American had a hand in the matter. Had governor Bernard, governor Hutchinson, or the late lieutenant governor been any way instrumental in obtaining the stamp act, it is very strange that not a glimpse of evidence should ever have appeared, especially when we consider that their private correspondence has been published, letters which were written in the full confidence of unsuspecting friendship. The evidence, as Novanglus calls it, is wretchedly deficient as to fixing the charge upon governor Bernard; but, even admitting that governor Bernard suggested to the ministry the design of taxing, there is no kind of evidence to prove that the junto, as this elegant writer calls the others, approved of it, much less that they employed him to do it. But, says he, no one can doubt but that Messieurs Hutchinson and Oliver were in unison with governor Bernard, in all his measures. This is not a fact, Mr. Hutchinson dissented from him respecting the alteration of our charter, and wrote to his friends in England to prevent it. Whether governor Bernard wrote in favour of the stamp act being repealed or not I cannot say, but I know that governor Hutchinson did, and have reason to think his letters had great weight in turning the scale, which hung doubtful a long time, in favour of the repeal. These facts are known to many in the province, whigs as well as tories, yet such was the infatuation that prevailed, that the mob destroyed his house upon supposition that he was the patron of the stamp act. Even in the letters wrote to the late Mr. Whately, we find him advising to a total repeal of the tea act. It cannot be fairly inferred from persons' intimacy or mutual confidence that they always approve of each others plans. Messieurs Otis, Cushing, Hancock and Adams were as confidential friends, and made common cause equally with the other gentlemen. May we thence infer, that the three latter hold that the parliament has a just and equitable right to impose taxes on the colonies? Or, that "the time may come, when the real interest of the whole may require an act of parliament to annihilate all our charters?" For these also are Mr. Otis's words. Or may we lay it down as a principle to reason from, that these gentlemen never disagree respecting measures? We know they do often, very materially. This writer is unlucky both in his principles and inferences. But where is the evidence respecting brigadier Ruggles, Mr. Paxton, and the late judge Russel? He does not produce even the shadow of a shade. He does not even pretend that they were in unison with governor Bernard in all his measures. In matters of small moment a man may be allowed to amuse with ingenious fiction, but in personal accusation, in matters so interesting both to the individual and to the public, reason and candour require something more than assertion, without proof, declamation without argument, and censure without dignity or moderation: this however, is characteristic of Novanglus. It is the stale trick of the whig writers feloniously to stab the reputation, when their antagonists are invulnerable in their public conduct.
These gentlemen were all of them, and the survivers still continue to be, friends of the English constitution, equally tenacious of the privileges of the people, and of the prerogative of the crown, zealous advocates for the colonies continuing their constitutional dependance upon Great Britain, as they think it no less the interest than the duty of the colonists; averse to tyranny and oppression in all their forms, and always ready to exert themselves for the relief of the oppressed, though they differ materially from the whigs in the mode of obtaining it; they discharged the duties of the several important departments they were called to fill, with equal faithfulness and ability; their public services gained them the confidence of the people, real merit drew after it popularity; their principles, firmness and popularity rendered them obnoxious to certain persons amongst us, who have long been indulging themselves, in hopes of rearing up an American commonwealth, upon the ruin of the British constitution. This republican party is of long standing; they lay however, in a great measure, dormant for several years. The distrust, jealousy and ferment raised by the stamp act, afforded scope for action. At first they wore the garb of hypocrisy, they professed to be friends to the British constitution in general, but claimed some exemptions from their local circumstances; at length threw off their disguise, and now stand confessed to the world in their true characters, American republicans. These republicans knew, that it would be impossible for them to succeed in their darling projects, without first destroying the influence of these adherents to the constitution. Their only method to accomplish it, was by publications charged with falshood and scurrility. Notwithstanding the favorable opportunity the stamp act gave of imposing upon the ignorant and credulous, I have sometimes been amazed, to see with how little hesitation, some slovenly baits were swallowed. Sometimes the adherents to the constitution were called ministerial tools, at others, kings, lords and commons, were the tools of them; for almost every act of parliament that has been made respecting America, in the present reign, we were told was drafted in Boston, or its environs, and only sent to England to run through the forms of parliament. Such stories, however improbable, gained credit; even the fictitious bill for restraining marriages and murdering bastard children, met with some simple enough to think it real. He that readily imbibes such absurdities, may claim affinity with the person mentioned by Mr. Addison, that made it his practice to swallow a chimera every morning for breakfast. To be more serious, I pity the weakness of those that are capable of being thus duped, almost as much as I despise the wretch that would avail himself of it, to destroy private characters and the public tranquility. By such infamous methods, many of the ancient, trusty and skilful pilots, who had steered the community safely in the most perilous times, were driven from the helm, and their places occupied by different persons, some of whom, bankrupts in fortune, business and fame, are now striving to run the ship on the rocks, that they may have an opportunity of plundering the wreck. The gentlemen named by Novanglus, have nevertheless persevered with unshaken constancy and firmness, in their patriotic principles and conduct, through a variety of fortune; and have at present, the mournful consolation of reflecting, that had their admonitions and councils been timely attended to, their country would never have been involved in its present calamity.
MASSACHUSETTENSIS.
ADDRESSED
To the Inhabitants of the Province of Massachusetts Bay,
March 13, 1775.
MY DEAR COUNTRYMEN,
OUR patriotic writers, as they call each other, estimate the services rendered by, and the advantages resulting from the colonies to Britain, at a high rate, but allow but little, if any, merit in her towards the colonies. Novanglus would persuade us that exclusive of her assistance in the last war, we have had but little of her protection, unless it was such as her name alone afforded. Dr. Franklin when before the house of commons, in 1765, denied that the late war was entered into for the defence of the people in America. The Pennsylvania Farmer tells us in his letters, that the war was undertaken solely for the benefit of Great Britain, and that however advantageous the subduing or keeping any of these countries, viz. Canada, Nova-Scotia and the Floridas may be to Great Britain, the acquisition is greatly injurious to these colonies. And that the colonies, as constantly as streams tend to the ocean, have been pouring the fruits of all their labours into their mother's lap. Thus, they would induce us to believe, that we derive little or no advantage from Great Britain, and thence they infer the injustice, rapacity and cruelty of her conduct towards us. I fully agree with them, that the services rendered by the colonies are great and meritorious. The plantations are additions to the empire of inestimable value. The American market for British manufactures, the great nursery for seamen formed by our shipping, the cultivation of deserts, and our rapid population, are increasing and inexhaustible sources of national wealth and strength. I commend these patriots for their estimations of the national advantages accruing from the colonies, as much as I think them deserving of censure for depreciating the advantages and benefits that we derive from Britain. A particular inquiry into the protection afforded us, and the commercial advantages resulting to us from the parent state, will go a great way towards conciliating the affections of those whose minds are at present unduly impressed with different sentiments towards Great Britain. The intestine commotions with which England was convulsed and torn soon after the emigration of our ancestors, probably prevented that attention being given to them in the earliest stages of this colony, that otherwise would have been given. The principal difficulties that the adventurers met with after the struggle of a few of the first years were over, were the incursions of the French and savages conjointly, or of the latter instigated and supported by the former. Upon a representation of this to England, in the time of the interregnum, Acadia, which was then the principal source of our disquietude, was reduced by an English armament. At the request of this colony, in queen Ann's reign, a fleet of fifteen men of war, besides transports, troops, &c. were sent to assist us in an expedition against Canada; the fleet suffered ship-wreck, and the attempt proved abortive. It ought not to be forgot, that the siege of Louisbourg, in 1745, by our own forces, was covered by a British fleet of ten ships, four of 60 guns, one of 50, and five of 40 guns, besides the Vigilant of 64, which was taken during the siege, as she was attempting to throw supplies into the garrison. It is not probable that the expedition would have been undertaken without an expectation of some naval assistance, or that the reduction could have been effected without it. In January, 1754, our assembly, in a message to governor Shirley, prayed him to represent to the king, "that the French had made such extraordinary encroachments, and taken such measures, since the conclusion of the preceding war, as threatened great danger, and perhaps, in time, even the entire destruction of this province, without the interposition of his majesty, notwithstanding any provision we could make to prevent it." "That the French had erected a fort on the isthmus of the peninsula near Bay Vert in Nova Scotia, by means of which they maintained a communication by sea with Canada, St. John's Island and Louisbourg." "That near the mouth of St. John's river, the French had possessed themselves of two forts formerly built by them, one of which was garrisoned by regular troops, and had erected another strong fort at twenty leagues up the river, and that these encroachments might prove fatal not only to the eastern parts of his majesty's territories within this province, but also in time to the whole of this province, and the rest of his majesty's territories on this continent." "That whilst the French held Acadia under the treaty of St. Germain, they so cut off the trade of this province, and galled the inhabitants with incursions into their territories, that OLIVER CROMWELL found it necessary for the safety of New England to make a descent by sea into the river of St. John, and dispossess them of that and all the forts in Acadia. That Acadia was restored to the French by the treaty of Breda in 1667." That this colony felt again the same mischievous effects from their possessing it, insomuch, that after forming several expeditions against it, the inhabitants were obliged in the latter end of the war in queen Ann's reign, to represent to her majesty how destructive the possession of the bay of Fundy and Nova Scotia, by the French, was to this province and the British trade; whereupon the British ministry thought it necessary to fit out a formal expedition against that province with English troops, and a considerable armament of our own, under general Nicholson, by which it was again reduced to the subjection of the crown of Great Britain. "That we were then, viz. in 1754, liable to feel more mischievous effects than we had ever yet done, unless his majesty should be graciously pleased to cause them to be removed." They also demonstrated our danger from the encroachments of the French at Crown Point. In April, 1754, the council and house represented, "That it evidently appeared, that the French were so far advanced in the execution of a plan projected more than fifty years since, for the extending their possessions from the mouth of the Mississippi on the south, to Hudson's Bay on the north, for securing the vast body of Indians in that inland country, and for subjecting the whole continent to the crown of France." "That many circumstances gave them great advantages over us, which if not attended to, would soon overbalance our superiority of numbers; and that these advantages could not be removed without his majesty's gracious interposition."
The assembly of Virginia, in an address to the king, represented, "that the endeavours of the French to establish a settlement upon the frontiers, was a high insult offered to his majesty, and if not timely opposed, with vigor and resolution, must be attended with the most fatal consequences," and prayed his majesty to extend his royal beneficence towards them.
The commissioners who met at Albany the same year, represented, "that it was the evident design of the French to surround the British colonies; to fortify themselves on the back thereof; to take and keep possession of the heads of all the important rivers; to draw over the Indians to their interest, and with the help of such Indians, added to such forces as were then arrived, and might afterwards arrive, or be sent from Europe, to be in a capacity of making a general attack on the several governments; and if at the same time a strong naval force should be sent from France, there was the utmost danger that the whole continent would be subjected to the crown." "That it seemed absolutely necessary that speedy and effectual measures should be taken to secure the colonies from the slavery they were threatened with."
We did not pray in vain. Great Britain, ever attentive to the real grievances of her colonies, hastened to our relief with maternal speed. She covered our seas with her ships, and sent forth the bravest of her sons to fight our battles. They fought, they bled and conquered with us. Canada, Nova Scotia, the Floridas, and all our American foes were laid at our feet. It was a dear bought victory; the wilds of America were enriched with the blood of the noble and the brave.
The war, which at our request, was thus kindled in America, spread through the four quarters of the globe, and obliged Great Britain to exert her whole force and energy to stop the rapid progress of its devouring flames.
To these instances of actual exertions for our immediate protection and defence, ought to be added, the fleets stationed on our coast and the convoys and security afforded to our trade and fishery, in times of war; and her maintaining in times of peace such a navy and army, as to be always in readiness to give protection as exigencies may require; and her ambassadors residing at foreign courts to watch and give the earliest intelligence of their motions. By such precautions every part of her wide extended empire enjoys as ample security as human power and policy can afford. Those necessary precautions are supported at an immense expense, and the colonies reap the benefit of them equally with the rest of the empire. To these considerations it should likewise be added, that whenever the colonies have exerted themselves in war, though in their own defence, to a greater degree than their proportion with the rest of the empire, they have been reimbursed by parliamentary grants. This was the case, in the last war, with this province.
From this view, which I think is an impartial one, it is evident that Great Britain is not less attentive to our interest than her own; and that her sons that have settled on new and distant plantations are equally dear to her with those that cultivate the ancient domain, and inhabit the mansion house.
MASSACHUSETTENSIS.
ADDRESSED
To the Inhabitants of the Province of Massachusetts Bay,
March 20, 1775.
MY DEAR COUNTRYMEN,
THE outlines of British commerce have been heretofore sketched; and the interest of each part, in particular, and of the whole empire conjointly, have been shewn to be the principles by which the grand system is poized and balanced. Whoever will take upon himself the trouble of reading and comparing the several acts of trade, which respect the colonies, will be convinced, that the cherishing their trade, and promoting their interest, have been the objects of parliamentary attention, equally with those of Britain. He will see, that the great council of the empire has ever esteemed our prosperity as inseperable from the British, and if in some instances the colonies have been restricted to the emolument of other parts of the empire, they, in their turn, not excepting England itself, have been also restricted sufficiently to restore the balance, if not to cause a preponderation in our favour.
Permit me to transcribe a page or two from a pamphlet written in England, and lately republished here, wherein this matter is stated with great justice and accuracy.
"The people of England and the American adventurers, being so differently circumstanced, it required no great sagacity to discover, that as there were many commodities which America could supply on better terms than they could be raised in England, so must it be much more for the colonies, advantage to take others from England, than attempt to make them themselves. The American lands were cheap, covered with woods, and abounded with native commodities. The first attention of the settlers was necessarily engaged in cutting down the timber, and clearing the ground for culture; for before they had supplied themselves with provisions, and had hands to spare from agriculture, it was impossible they could set about manufacturing. England, therefore, undertook to supply them with manufactures, and either purchased herself or found markets for the timber the colonists cut down upon their lands, or the fish they caught upon their coasts. It was soon discovered that the tobacco plant was a native of and flourished in Virginia. It had been also planted in England, and was found to delight in the soil. The legislature, however, wisely and equitably considering that England had variety of products, and Virginia had no other to buy her necessaries with, passed an act prohibiting the people of England from planting tobacco, and thereby giving the monopoly of that plant to the colonies. As the inhabitants increased, and the lands became more cultivated, further and new advantages were thrown in the way of the American colonies. All foreign markets, as well as Great-Britain, were open for their timber and provisions, and the British West-India islands were prohibited from purchasing those commodities from any other than them. And since England has found itself in danger of wanting a supply of timber, and it has been judged necessary to confine the export from America to Great-Britain and Ireland, full and ample indemnity has been given to the colonies for the loss of a choice of markets in Europe, by very large bounties paid out of the revenue of Great Britain, upon the importation of American timber. And as a further encouragement and reward to them for clearing their lands, bounties are given upon tar and pitch, which are made from their decayed and useless trees; and the very ashes of their lops and branches are made of value by the late bounty on American pot-ashes. The soil and climate of the northern colonies having been found well adapted to the culture of flax and hemp, bounties, equal to half the first cost of those commodities, have been granted by parliament, payable out of the British revenue, upon their importation into Great Britain. The growth of rice in the southern colonies has been greatly encouraged, by prohibiting the importation of that grain into the British dominions from other parts, and allowing it to be transported from the colonies to the foreign territories in America, and even to the southern parts of Europe. Indigo has been nurtured in those colonies by great parliamentary bounties, which have been long paid upon the importation into Great Britain; and of late are allowed to remain, even when it is carried out again to foreign markets. Silk and wine have also been objects of parliamentary munificence; and will one day probably become considerable American products under that encouragement. In which of these instances, it may be demanded, has the legislature shown itself partial to the people of England and unjust to the colonies? Or wherein have the colonies been injured? We hear much of the restraints under which the trade of the colonies is laid by acts of parliament for the advantage of Great Britain, but the restraints under which the people of Great Britain are laid by acts of parliament for the advantage of the colonies, are carefully kept out of sight; and yet, upon a comparison the one will be found full as grievous as the other. For is it a greater hardship on the colonies, to be confined in some instances to the markets of Great Britain for the sale of their commodities, than it is on the people of Great Britain to be obliged to buy the commodities from them only? If the island colonies are obliged to give the people of Great Britain the pre-emption of their sugar and coffee, is it not a greater hardship on the people of Great Britain to be restrained from purchasing sugar and coffee from other countries, where they could get those commodities much cheaper than the colonies make them pay for them? Could not our manufactures have indigo much better and cheaper from France and Spain than from Carolina? And yet is there not a duty imposed by acts of parliament on French and Spanish indigo, that it may come to our manufacturers at a dearer rate than Carolina indigo, though a bounty is also given out of the money of the people of England to the Carolina planter, to enable him to sell his indigo upon a par with the French and Spanish? But the instance which has already been taken notice of, the act which prohibits the culture of the tobacco plant in Great Britain or Ireland, is still more in point, and a more striking proof of the justice and impartiality of the supreme legislature; for what restraints, let me ask, are the colonies laid under, which bear so strong marks of hardship, as the prohibiting the farmers in Great Britain and Ireland from raising upon their own lands, a product which is become almost a necessary of life to them and their families? And this most extraordinary restraint is laid upon them, for the avowed and sole purpose of giving Virginia and Maryland a monopoly of that commodity, and obliging the people of Great Britain and Ireland to buy all the tobacco they consume, from them, at the prices they think fit to sell it for. The annals of no country, that ever planted colonies, can produce such an instance as this of regard and kindness to their colonies, and of restraint upon the inhabitants of the mother country for their advantage. Nor is there any restraint laid upon the inhabitants of the colonies in return, which carries with it so great appearance of hardships, although the people of Great Britain and Ireland have, from their regard and affection to the colonies, submitted to it without a murmur for near a century." For a more particular inquiry, let me recommend the perusal of the pamphlet itself, also another pamphlet lately published, entitled, "the advantages which America derives from her commerce, connection and dependance on Great Britain."
A calculation has lately been made both of the amount of the revenue arising from the duties with which our trade is at present charged, and of the bounties and encouragement paid out of the British revenue upon articles of American produce imported into England, and the latter is found to exceed the former more than four fold. This does not look like a partiality to our disadvantage. However, there is no surer method of determining whether the colonies have been oppressed by the laws of trade and revenue, than by observing their effects.
From what source has the wealth of the colonies flowed? Whence is it derived? Not from agriculture only: exclusive of commerce the colonists would this day have been a poor people, possessed of little more than the necessaries for supporting life; of course their numbers would be few; for population always keeps pace with the ability of maintaining a family; there would have been but little or no resort of strangers here; the arts and sciences would have made but small progress; the inhabitants would rather have degenerated into a state of ignorance and barbarity. Or had Great Britain laid such restrictions upon our trade, as our patriots would induce us to believe, that is, had we been pouring the fruits of all our labour into the lap of our parent and been enriching her by the sweat of our brow, without receiving an equivalent, the patrimony derived from our ancestors must have dwindled from little to less, until their posterity should have suffered a general bankruptcy.
But how different are the effects of our connection with, and subordination to Britain? They are too strongly marked to escape the most careless observer. Our merchants are opulent, and our yeomanry in easier circumstances than the noblesse of some states. Population is so rapid as to double the number of inhabitants in the short period of twenty-five years. Cities are springing up in the depths of the wilderness. Schools, colleges, and even universities are interspersed through the continent; our country abounds with foreign refinements, and flows with exotic luxuries. These are infallible marks not only of opulence but of freedom. The recluse may speculate—the envious repine—the disaffected calumniate—all these may combine to excite fears and jealousies in the minds of the multitude, and keep them in alarm from the beginning to the end of the year; but such evidence as this must for ever carry conviction with it to the minds of the dispassionate and judicious.
Where are the traces of the slavery that our patriots would terrify us with? The effects of slavery are as glaring and obvious in those countries that are cursed with its abode, as the effects of war, pestilence or famine. Our land is not disgraced by the wooden shoes of France, or the uncombed hair of Poland: we have neither racks nor inquisitions, tortures or assassinations: the mildness of our criminal jurisprudence is proverbial, "a man must have many friends to get hanged in New England." Who has been arbitrarily imprisoned, disseized of his freehold, or despoiled of his goods? Each peasant, that is industrious, may acquire an estate, enjoy it in his life time, and at his death, transmit a fair inheritance to his posterity. The protestant religion is established, as far as human laws can establish it. My dear friends, let me ask each one whether he has not enjoyed every blessing, that is in the power of civil government to bestow? And yet the parliament has, from the earliest days of the colonies, claimed the lately controverted right, both of legislation and taxation; and for more than a century has been in the actual exercise of it. There is no grievious exercise of that right at this day, unless the measures taken to prevent our revolting, may be called grievances. Are we, then, to rebel, lest there should be grievances? Are we to take up arms and make war against our parent, lest that parent, contrary to the experience of a century and a half, contrary to her own genius, inclination, affection and interest, should treat us or our posterity as bastards and not as sons, and instead of protecting should enslave us? The annals of the world have not yet been deformed with a single instance of so unnatural, so causless, so wanton, so wicked a rebellion.
There is but a step between you and ruin: and should our patriots succeed in their endeavours to urge you on to take that step, and hostilities actually commence, New England will stand recorded a singular monument of human folly and wickedness. I beg leave to transcribe a little from the Farmer's letters.—"Good Heaven! Shall a total oblivion of former tendernesses and blessings be spread over the minds of a good and wise people by the sordid arts of intriguing men, who covering their selfish projects under pretences of public good, first enrage their countrymen into a frenzy of passion, and then advance their own influence and interest by gratifying the passion, which they themselves have excited?" When cool dispassionate posterity shall consider the affectionate intercourse, the reciprocal benefits, and the unsuspecting confidence, that have subsisted between these colonies and their parent state, for such a length of time, they will execrate, with the bitterest curses, the infamous memory of those men whose ambition unnecessarily, wantonly, cruelly, first opened the sources of civil discord.
MASSACHUSETTENSIS.