The crisis. Number XXVIII. By His Excellency Thomas Shaw, protector and defender of the Magna Charta, and the Bill of Rights. A proclamation.

The crisis. Number XXVIII. By His Excellency Thomas Shaw, protector and defender of the Magna Charta, and the Bill of Rights. A proclamation.

Table of contents

THE CRISIS. NUMBER XXVIII.

A PROCLAMATION.

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THE CRISIS. NUMBER XXVIII.

By his Excellency THOMAS SHAW, PROTECTOR and DEFENDER of MAGNA CHARTA, and the BILL of RIGHTS.

A PROCLAMATION.

WHEREAS the infatuated multitudes of royal Neronian dependants, catamites, pimps, and parasites, too many to be enumerated; have long conducted themselves as parricides and traitors in a fatal progression of crimes against the constitutional liberties of the British empire, and have at length proceeded to avowed and open rebellion against the laws of the land, and the lives of Englishmen in England and America, and the good effects which were expected to arise from the patience and lenity of the people, have been often frustrated, and remonstrance proved ineffectual and now rendered hopeless, from the obstinacy and cruelty of the sovereign, by the influence of their infernal counsels, and confederacy, it only remains for the people, who have the supreme power, as well for the punishment of those guilty parricides, as for the protection of the innocent, to prove they do not bear the sword in vain.

[Page] The infringements which have been committed upon the sacred rights of Magna Charta, and the people of Great-Britain and America, are too many to enumerate on one fide, and all too attrocious, too infamous, and too diabolical to be palliated on the other. All unprejudiced, unpensioned, and unplaced Englishmen, who have been witness, (or even heard) of the late transactions, in this kingdom and America, will find, upon a transient review, marks of premeditation and conspiracy to destroy the constitution of the British empire, that would justify the fullness of chastisement; and even those who are least acquainted with facts, cannot fail to receive a just impression of the enormity, in proportion as they discover the arts and assiduity, by which their bloody designs have been falsified and concealed. Those parricides, the authors of the present bloody measures and unnatural revolt from the laws, never daring to trust their cause, or their actions, to the judgment of an impartial public, or even to the dispassionate reflection of their followers and adherents, have uniformly placed their chief confidence in the suppression of truth; and while indefatigable and shameless pains have been taken to destroy the real interest of the people of England and America, the grossest forgeries, calumnies, and absurdities, that ever insulted human understanding, have been imposed upon their credulity, by the King, and those miscreants. The Press, that distinguished appendage of public liberty, and when fairly and impartially employed, its best support, has been invariably prostituted by those pensioned rascals, Hume, Johnson, Kelly, Shebbeare, and other ministerial hirelings, to the most contrary [Page]purposes. The animated language of ancient and viriuous times, calculated to vindicate and promote the just rights and interests of mankind, have been applied by the King's minions, to countenance the most abandoned violations of those sacred blessings and not only from the flagitious ministerial prints, but from the slavish harangues of prostituted Peers, and venal Senetors, men have been taught to depend upon activity in shedding of blood, for the security of their places, pensions, and persons, till to complete the horrid profanation of terms and of ideas, the name of God has been introduced in addresses and in the pulpit, by a groupe of rotten Popish Bishops, to excite devastation and massacre.

The minds of men, such as Gage, Percy, Burgoyne, Clinton, and Howe, and the King's mercenary soldiers, having been thus gradually prepared for murder, a number of armed troops to the amount of eighteen hundred, and upwards, on the 19th of April last, at Concord, cowardly attacked about sixty peaceable Americans, who not expecting so consumate an act of savage barbarity, unprepared for vengeance, and willing to decline it, made use of their arms only in their own defence. Since that period, the mercenaries, deriving confidence from impunity, have added insult to outrage; have repeatedly fired upon, and barbarously killed many of their fellow subjects with cannon and small arms; and with a preposterous parade of military arrangement, they try to frighten, and mean if possible to enslave America, while part, of their body make daily and indiscriminate invasions upon private property, and with a wantonness of cruelty, peculiar in this reign, and ever incident to lawless power, [Page]carry depradation and distress where ever they turn their steps. The action of the 19th of April, and the cruel, bloody, and inhuman circumstances attending that day's carnage, are of such notoriety, as must baffle all attempts to contradict them; and the flames of buildings, the cries of helpless infirm old men, women and children, wantonly slaughter'd in cold blood, spread, and will for ever stand a melancholy confirmation of the subsequent assertions.

In this exigency of Neronian cruelty and complicated calamities I avail myself of the last efforts within the bounds of my duty, as a peaceable subject, to spare the effusion of blood; to offer, and I do hereby, in the name of the whole people of England and America, offer and promise a most gracious pardon, to all the mercenaries who shall forthwith lay down their arms, and return to the duties of peaceable subjects and faithful Englishmen, loyal to the laws and the constitution, excepting only from such pardon, John Stuart, Earl of Bute, and William Lord Mansfield, the authors and promoters of bloodshed and cruelty, whose crimes are of too flagitious a nature to admit of any other consideration than that of condign punishment.

And to the end that no person within the limits of this proferred mercy may plead ignorance of the consequences of refusing it, I by these presents proclaim not only the persons above named and excepted, but also their adherents, associates, and abettors, meaning to comprehend in those terms, all and every person and persons, of what class, denomination, or description soever, who have appeared in arms against the sacred laws and constitution of the British empire, and shall not lay down [Page]the same as aforesaid; and likewise all such as shall so take up arms after the date hereof, or who shall in any wise protect or conceal such offenders, or assist them with money, provisions, cattle, arms, ammunition, carriages, or any other necessiry for subsistence or defence, or shall hold secret correspondence with the mercenary murderers, by letter, message, signal, or otherwise, to be rebels and traitors to the British coustitution, and as such to be treated.

And whereas, during the continuance of the present bloody and unnatural civil war in America, justice cannot be obtained by the common law of the land, the course whereof has for a long time past been violently impeded, and wholly interrupted by the King and his paracidial minions and military cut throats, from whence results a necessity, in order to preserve the dear bought rights of Englishmen and hallowed constitution of the empire, for using and exercising the Lex Talionis or Law of Retaliation; I have therefore thought fit by the authority invested in me by Magna Charta as a Freeman, to publish, and I do hereby publish, proclaim, and order the use and exercise of the Lex Talionis, or Blood for Blood, within and throughout Great-Britain and America, so long as the present unhappy occasion shall necessarily require, till the sons of freedom shall gain a decisive victory over tyranny and lawless power, till each parricide and traitor shall be brought to the block or the gallows, or otherwise fall a sacrifice by the hands of a much injured and enraged people, and till the liberties of England and America are settled upon a sure and lasting foundation, not to be again shaken [Page]by any tyrant of the house of Brunswick; whereof all true Englishmen are hereby required to take notice, and arm themselves—with a resolution as well to maintain their rights, as to resist, encounter and subdue the mercenaries and traitors above described.

To these inevitable, but I trust salutary measures, it is of a far more pleasing part of my duty to add the assurances of protection and support to all who in so trying a Crisis shall manifest no allegiance to tyrants, but an affection for the sacred constitution of their country; So that such persons as may have been induced to join in the present royal and ministerial measures for destroying the laws, liberties, and lives of their fellow-subjects in America, may return to their respective callings and professions, be no longer the instruments of murder and public ruin, but stand distinct and separate from the parricides of the constitution, till God in his mercy shall turn the hearts of tyrants, and restore peace to this distracted land, now polluted with innocent blood.

Given at London, the 28th day of July, in the 15th year of the tyrannical reign of his merciful Majesty George the third, Defender of the Romish faith, traitors, and murderers, &c. Anno Domini, 1775.

THOMAS SHAW.

By his Excellency's command, THOMAS BRADHAW, Secretary.

GOD SAVE AMERICA.

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Notwithstanding the Royal lying Gazette has given us an account, signed by that bloody monster in human shape, Gen. Gage, of another massacre in America, on the 17th of June last, wherein this modern Kirk exto [...]s his officers and mercenary soldiers, stimulated by liquor, and promises of plunder,[Page]to slaughter their fellow subjects, for their valour and bravery, and boasts his having gained something like a victory, over the brave and virtuous Americans, fighting for liberty, whom that wretch calls rebels; yet the Public may depend this pretended superiority of his troops, conduct of his officers, and mighty victory is a LYE; and it will soon be proved, from unquestionable authority, that he has lost some hundreds of his men, more than is mentioned in the Gazette, which contains the most notorious falshoods, and infamous impositions on the Public, calculated to deceive the people here, and to spirit up the few remaining troops we have in England, to embark with the greater readiness to the field of slaughter in America, there to fall a just sacrifice to the injured laws, and glorious liberties of the Brtish empire: It will likewise appear that Gen. Gage's army with all the advantage of artillery, and the assistance of several ships of war, and armed vessels, was obliged to retreat to their barracks and sneaking holes in Boston, under the protection of the men of war.

If it was ever necessary to rouse the sleeping genius of England, to excite a generous emulation of our warlike forefathers and to animate every Briton, by their example, to fight valiantly, to conquer nobly, or perish gloriously in defence of his country—This is certainly the time.

If it was ever necessary for the people of England to rise altogether as one man and [...] a torrent on the bloody tyrannical invaders of their lives and liberties, and overwhelm them in the midst of their fancied insolent security—it is surely at this time.

If it was ever necessary for the people to enter into an association, to express and fully explain in a Manifesto the causes of their discontent; and to declare they take up arms to put a stop to the encroachments of those who govern in the King's name; to bring to condign punishment the betrayers of their country; to preserve their rights and liberties from farther violations; to restore the laws [Page]and the constitution now tottering to its base, to their pristine vigour; to prevent the inhuman slaughter of their fellow subjects in America by the hand of lawless power; to enforce a due obedience to Magna Charta from the King and his ministers; to oblige his Majesty to dismiss those parricides and traitors who surround his throne, and to restore the ancient independence and freedom of parliaments: If such a measure was ever necessary to preserve the people and kingdom from slavery and ruin.—it is NOW. But alas! It is (I fear) in vain to appeal to the reason or to the passions of Englishmen, they seem to have lost their very nature and genius, they seem to have forgot the arts of war, and the blessings of freedom; they have fatally degenerated into luxury and vice, and at last become insensible to every generous sentiment of public liberty; they have lost the virtue, the courage, and bravery of their glorious ancestors; and are now looked upon by surrounding nations, as a herd of pusillanimous drones, devoted to slavery, or doomed to destruction.

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LONDON: Printed and published for the Author, by T. W. SHAW, in Fleet-Street.

NEW-YORK: Re-Printed by John Anderson, at Beekman's Slip.

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Title statement

The crisis. Number XXVIII. By His Excellency Thomas Shaw, protector and defender of the Magna Charta, and the Bill of Rights. A proclamation.

Shaw, Thomas.

Publication

Publisher

Text Creation Partnership,

Place of publication

Ann Arbor, MI :

Date

2011-05.

ID [DLPS]

N11044

ID [TCP]

N11044

ID [STC]

Evans 13994

ID [NOTIS]

APV9241

ID [IMAGE-SET]

13994

ID [EVANS-CITATION]

99004863

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Series

Early American Imprints, 1639-1800 ; no. 13994.

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(Evans-TCP ; no. N11044)

Transcribed from: (Readex Archive of Americana ; Early American Imprints, series I ; image set 13994)

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Source

— The crisis. Number XXVIII. By His Excellency Thomas Shaw, protector and defender of the Magna Charta, and the Bill of Rights. A proclamation., Shaw, Thomas..

Extent

p. [1], 230-236 ; (8vo)

London: printed and published for the author, by T.W. Shaw, in Fleet-Street. New-York: re-printed by John Anderson, at Beekman's Slip.,. [New York] :: [1775]. (Caption title.) (Imprint from colophon. Date of publication supplied by Evans.)

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