Sagittarius's letters and political speculations. Extracted from the Public ledger. : Humbly inscribed to the very loyal and truly pious Doctor Samuel Cooper, Pastor of the Congregational Church in Brattle Street. : [Seven lines of Scripture texts]

Sagittarius's letters and political speculations. Extracted from the Public ledger. : Humbly inscribed to the very loyal and truly pious Doctor Samuel Cooper, Pastor of the Congregational Church in Brattle Street. : [Seven lines of Scripture texts]

Table of contents

Title page

LETTER I.

LETTER II.

LETTER III.

LETTER IV.

LETTER V. Substance of the American Papers read before the House of Commons on Saturday, and which are to be debated upon this day, 14th March, 1774, (WITH REMARKS)

LETTER VI.

LETTER VII.

LETTER VIII.

LETTER IX.

LETTER X.

LETTER XI.

LETTER XII.

HINTS TO A YOUNG POLITICIAN.

LETTER XIII.

LETTER XIV.

LETTER XV.

LETTER XVI.

LETTER XVII.

LETTER XVIII.

LETTER XIX.

LETTER XX.

LETTER XXI.

LETTER XXI.

LETTER XXII.

LETTER XXIII.

LETTER XXIV.

LETTERS, &c.

§

§

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SAGITTARIUS's LETTERS AND POLITICAL SPECULATIONS. EXTRACTED From the PUBLIC LEDGER.

HUMBLY INSCRIBED To the VERY LOYAL and TRULY PIOUS Doctor SAMUEL COOPER, Pastor of the Congregational Church in Brattle Street.

Ye HYPOCRITES, well did Esaias prophesie of you, saying. THIS PEOPLE draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. Matth. xv. 7, 8.

If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the Land.—But if ye Refuse and REBEL, ye shall be devoured with the SWORD: For the MOUTH of the LORD hath spoken it. Isaiah i. 19, 20.

BOSTON. Printed By Order of the SELECT MEN and sold at [...] Hall, for the Benefit of the distressed Patriots. MDCCLXXV

LETTER I.

[Page]

IF we were to credit the complaints of the faction at Boston, we must think them the most oppressed people in the world; if we were to judge of them from their own behaviour, we must believe them the most factious and seditious subjects in the universe. They and their Agents loudly declare, that they are a PACEABLE PIOUS and LOYAL people: but their transactions impress upon us no other idea than that of a people in an open state of rebellion. The praise with which they bedaub themselves is, undoubtedly, a strong proof of their modesty; and the outrageous abuse they throw out against Government, is a stricking instance of their good temper, good sense, and moderation. It surely cannot be deemed unfair or unjust to compare their professions and their actions together: By their PROFESSIONS we shall be able to determine what sort of folks they would wish us to believe them to be; by their ACTIONS we shall be convinced what kind of people they really are.

The Boston Faction, or more properly Doctor Franklin's Faction at Boston, have professed themselves to be of a PACEABLE and QUIET SPIRIT, and to act always according to Law. As a proof of this declaration, they pulled down and plundered the Lieutenant Governor's house, broke open the Secretary's house, and demolished the Stamp and Admiralty Offices. Notwithstanding this evidence against them, they still averred that they were influenced solely by the spirit of Law, and the spirit of Meekness, and that all the mischief committed amongst them was done by Boys and Negroes. A COURTIER is proverbial with us for promising to do a favour, and not performing it▪ but a BOSTONIAN quite [Page] eclipses him, he will do you a capital injury, before your face, and [...]hen grave [...]y deny it.

We shall now give an example of Bostonian PIETY. Boston Smugglers are far above lurking on the coast, and running their goods clandestinely. Under the cherishing wings of the Faction, they boldly push along-side the wharfs, walk deliberately to the Custom house. TAKE THE NECESSARY OATHS with the utmost composure and unlade their cargoes: If any Officers of the Revenue attempt to interfere, the whole Board of Commissioners, Collectors▪ Comptrollers, and Inspectors, all are knocked down, or driven put of town. Upon this they affirm, that as these Officers have abdicated, as they call i [...], they have no right to return; and that all their business seemed to be to disturb the peace and quiet of the town. The pious Bostonian derives [...]is right of cheating the Revenue, and of perjuring himself, from the example of his fathers and the rights of nature.

As to their loyalty their continued opposition to acts of Parliament afford full conviction of it. Besides, when troops were sent to protect the King's Officers in the execution of the Laws, they published and dispersed over a [...]l America such blustering resolves, that people, WHO DID NOT KNOW THEM, believed when the troops arrived a dreadful carnage would ensue; but these people soon found they had form [...]d a very erroneous opinion; the tro [...]ps landed* without the least obstruction, to the amazement of the Southern Colonies, who said, that as BOSTON WAS TAKEN without any resistance, they had best be quiet too.

Instead of the desperate opposition they had so often threatened, they had recourse to the WAR OF WORDS; in News-Papers, under the direction of the Faction, the Officers and Soldiers were reviled in the most oppr [...]brious language; it was said they were only sent to vex and harrass them, and to contaminate their morals. The Officers laughed at all the abuse thrown out against them, and kept the troops quiet. This good order disappointed the Faction; they wanted to excite the Soldiers to some outrage, in order to around a pretence for their removal. Finding railing ineffectual, they proceeded to personal insults and personal attack; when an Officer or Soldier was met with at night, he seldom escaped without very barbarous treatment. [...] difficult to discover the offenders, and if discovered, the influence of the Faction preserved them from punishment. Several instances of this occurred; when some of [Page] these Boston Rioters were apprehended, numbers of volunteer witnesses offered themselves, and always swore that the Soldiers were the aggressors From trials of this kind in which they always met with impunity, they advanced to insults and assults in open day, urged on by a notion that the [...]roops would not fire upon them without the orders of a Magistrate; and they all knew, that, let them act ever so outrageously no Magistrate would proceed to such extremity, many of them being of the Faction, and the rest intimidated by the weakness of Government. Urged on by this notion, they thought it would be an easy matter to disarm the Soldiers, and turn them out of town. They began their operations by a concerted attack on the Centinel at the Custom▪House; the Soldier, when almost overpowered, made a signal to the main guard; the Captain of the guard marched with a few men to his rescue; but the Faction continuing the assault with redoubled violence, and some of the Soldiers being knocked down, and their muskets nearly wrested from them, fired, and killed and wounded some of the Rioters.

The consequence of this insurrection was, that the troops were, by some very deep scheme of politics, ordered down to Castle Island, and the Laws and Officers of the Revenue left to shift for themselves.

Since the above period, the Faction have kept the town in a continued state of disorder, confusion, and riot. By a variety of artifices, they have gained the House of Representatives. The Council, being chosen by the House of Representatives, naturally inc [...]ine to the party which gives them existence: Besi [...]des some of the Leaders of the Faction, have a strong motive for joining in oppsition to the Laws of trade, they have acquired very large fortunes by ILLEGAL TRAFFIC, and they continue to encrease them by the same means: Thus the substance of all the writings in their behalf is ‘Take away the troops, the ships of war, and the Commissioners, and put us in our former situation of SMUGGLING without risk and without penalties, otherwise we will continue mutinous and rebellious.’

Can it be supposed, that these people would wish to see laws in vigour, and reverenced, which would, at once, cut off their immense gains? The exemption against taxation, claimed by this* part of the faction, is only a mask to cover [Page] their interested designs. The act lowering the duty on the tea from England, contained in itself a powerful reason for their opposing it. The bringing tea cheap from England, would have at once annihilated their exorbitant profits While importation of tea from England was interdicted by the Almighty Boston Committee, that very conscientious Committee sold their own smuggled stuff at the very moderate profit of cent per cent. From this true state of the case, the destruction of the East India Company's tea is not surprising. It arrived in a town where the laws had no force, where they were even condemn [...]d; where the faction had repeatedly declared to all the world that they had despised England and her Acts of Parliament; in a town from whence they had banished his Majesty's Civil Officers with every mark of contumely; from whence even his Majesty's troops had been dismissed with disgrace; where no Magistrate durst appear but on the side of faction; where those who did appear were themselves the faction, abetted by the Representatives and the Council. In such a situation, it is not to be wondered at, that the faction finding themselves omnipotent at Boston, committed that daring act of insolence and rebellion.

A [...]l the above enumerated outrages and rebellions, are, what the Faction at Boston call ENGLISH LIBERTIES▪ and which they have often as foolishly as impudently declared, they would die in defending. But they may easily and effectually be restrained and regulated; when they see and feel, that this country has taken a fixed determination, they will shrink from all but word-of-mouth opposition; and that, like all other unfounded clamour, will soon expire of itself.

But this good and much wished for end will not be obtained, till the laws and acts of trade, which have been so often violated and trampled upon, are supported with vigour [...]are rendered respectable, and have a real operation.

Thi [...] same ministry which faction has been so long telling us, are destroying our Liberties, seem for some time past to have indulged the Bostonians with too many; yet their moderation is commendable, and suitable to the spirit of our laws and of our costitution, which do not admit of those [Page] immediate, however efficacious, remedies, that are administered in unlimited monarchies and despotic states.

It might too probably be thought, [...]hat the evils which reigned in Boston, would work their own cure, and heal of themselves; or that the laws would recover of their relaxed state But the experiment has been made, and Government, in that province, has been found totally debilitated, and the laws without energy There appears now no other remedy adequate to the disease, but the correcting hand of the supreme Legislature.

Notes

*

Anne, 1768.

↵

*

There are others of the faction pupils of the learned Dr Franklin, who are really mad enough to think of an [...] and total independence on the mother country. The great Dr. is the father of this extrava [...]ant idea, he feasts his fancy on it, and already conceits himself in imagination at the head of his meek Senate.

↵

LETTER II.

FROM the conduct and claims of the NEW ENGLANDERS, they appear the most reasonable, moderate, and modest of subjects. They have no [...] displayed the least irregularity in their behaviour, nor the least arrogance in their claims; their actions are all forcibly marked with gratitude, affection, and loyalty. Their Agents and Writers also support their interest here, with the most engaging candour and politeness, with the strictest truth and justice No person that has eyes to see, ears to hear, or has learned to read, can doubt this, for they have ass [...]red us of it themselves

Can there be a greater proof of their openness and candour than their telling us so often, that they owe us FIVE MILLIONS and that they will not pay us till we have humbly submitted to all their demands? Can there be a stronger example of their modesty, than their saying, that we have always been obliged to them, but they never were so to us?

I think at the conclusion of the last peace, we found ourselves loaded with an enormous debt of One Hundred and Forty Millions; one half of which we contracted in protecting and defending America▪ and now to pay the interest of it, we all are, from Beggars to Peers annually taxed Yet they positively assert, that they have always been at the charge of their own establishments, and that they have always protected and defended themselves and that we never were at any expence on their account And all this we must swallow without a wry face, upon their single ipse dixit, otherwise their GREAT MEN, and [...]heir GREAT WRITERS, will abuse us in all the News Paper.

Their fathers went to America, which they say, is out of the jurisdiction of England, therefore they are a free and a separate state, and not under the contron [...] of our legislature. And we must not deny this, else they will call in the aid of [Page]some fereign State to reduce us to reason. If any person had said so much of them, he would have gained no credit with the world: but it is one of their own PUBLIC RESOLVES which they printed and published themselves, and which they have puffed off and circulated over all America.

Their doctrine is both ingenious and convincing. We have their leave to expend our blood and treasure, to tax, and to ruin ourselves for their protection and defence; but they are neither bound in gratitude to thank us, nor in honour or honesty to contribute a single sh [...]ing to relieve our necessities or to pay for their own government.

They too have found out a NEW WAY TO PAY OLD DEBTS. A Mr. Rome goes over to America to collect £50 000 owing his House in London. The Judges there, in league with the debtors, render his errand abortive. He complains of this in a letter to a friend. This letter is stolon by SOMEBODY and transmitted to America. A printed copy of it is produced in Court against him, and the debtors imprison their CREDITOR for daring to complain of their collusive de [...]i [...]quenc [...].

Another House in London sent him powers to demand £.26 000 of debts long due to them; but when he consulted his lawyer, he received the following short advice, ‘Not to put himself to any expence, until Parliament had made a proper alteration in their government.’ Will not this convince the English merchant, that the American Judges should be rendered independent of the people? and the merchants of London would have done a much wiser act four years ago▪ if instead of petitioning parliament to take off American Taxes, they had implored Parliament to REFORM AMERICAN CHARTERS.

The late bankruptcy of the oldest and most considerable American Houses in Bristol, and perhaps in England, is the melancholy effects of American outstanding debts.

The British merchants have but dreary prespects from the other side of the Atlantic; they know that every vessel from that quarter brings a renewal of disappointments, and a renewal of promises, which latter never will be fulfilled Their case is affecting but it was not unforeseen nor unforetold; several years ago they were warned publicly and repeatedly of the ruinous state of American credit. They were told; that the MILLIONS which this generous kingdom lavished last war on the wilds of America, had raised pedlars and ploughmen to the rank of merchants; that this sudden influx of wealth had turned the heads of these dunghill traders; [Page] that a few years of peace had reduced these mushroom merchants to their primitive insignificancy; that the Americans were over stocked with English goods; that the English merchants might be convinced of it from looking into their public prints, from the daily auctions advertised in every quarter of every great town on that continent; that most of those who now traded on credit were either fast declining, or raw striplings just out of their apprenticeship; that American commerce, which had overflowed so extensively, was now reverting fast back to the more contracted channel in which it had glided before the war; therefore that the English merchants should be cautious who they credited. But experience is the best teacher. And sorry I am to say it, that the banks of the Ohio and Missisippi will be cultivated at the expence of the English merchants, and with the produce of unpaid English goods.

What an unhappy delusion have we laboured under for near two centuries! How many millions have we spent in the cause of an ungrateful people! And has not the blood of our bravest men streamed through all their continent, from the icy [...] of Canada, to the burning sands of Florida? Can an Englishman forget the carnage of his brave countrymen on the banks of the Mononghahela, before the intrenchments of Ticonderoga, or the loss of the gallant Wolfe on the plains of Abraham, that day of triumph and mourning, when the rugged soldier wept amidst his conquests? No, he will never forget them; neither, while memory lasts, will he forget American gratitude!

Thus the Pelican tears her breast for the support of her young; they grow vigorous, and fatten on her blood: when she is exhausted, away they fly; and she is left to expire.

LETTER III.

THE following is an account of the late and present state of the Town of Boston, I beg that you will give it a place in your paper on Monday. (7th March 1774) It will appear on that day with peculiar propriety, the American papers being then to be laid before the House of Commons.

IF it is true, that people are never in a more desperate state than when they are left to their own devices, we are gone past recovery. The situation we have been in for these nine years past has been truly deplorable; the lovers [Page] of peace and good order have been for years groaning [...] der a worse than Egyptian bondage; it is even unsafe to be neutral. One must either take an active part in all the rebellious meetings and actions of the faction, or at least seem to countenance them, otherwise he is branded as an enemy to the country, and his effects, person, and family, in danger of being sacrificed. Indeed the most loyal of us are convinced, by what we have already seen, and by the risk, we have already run, that it is better for us seemingly to coincide with the faction, than to be tarred and feathered, to have our houses pulled down, our goods plundered, and ourselves and our families totally ruined. This terrifying situation has arisen from parliament taking up our [...] seriously, and then dropping them after a few ineffectual resolves.

It is to be sure time for us to be quiet; for after seeing the factious smugglers surprise and burn his Majesty's ships, destroy the East India Tea, and not only deny, but oppose the authority of parliament with impunity, we have no choice left.

I am lost in amazement, and can hardly form a rational conjecture, why parliament should overlook so many flagrant insurrections. Here it has had a very unhappy effect: we are presumptuous, because we think we are safe. The inattention of parliament has made the faction arrogant and insolent beyond all bounds. The recent destruction of the tea may convince all the world of it; and yet according to custom, after the commission of any mischief, they are now dreadfully frightened. But I make no doubt they will receive the usual comforting letters from their agents in London, that their friends are increasing, and that they have nothing to fear from the ministry or the parliament. Indeed if parliament allows us to go on as we have done for some years past, his Majesty will not have one real subject in these colonies, for the faction will force every person to join and act with them, and what is strange, I have seen some of these pressed men become more violent and turbulent than the veterans of the faction.

The Moderator of one of the Town meetings about the time the tea was destroyed, was called a Tory some years ago, and in such disrepute with the faction, that when his house was on fire, the Liberty Boys swore that he and it might burn together, if it was not for the danger the rest of the town would be in. Now is he set at [...] head in the most momentuous times, by the recommendation [Page] no doubt of his kinsman Dr. Franklin. At present the licentiousness of the lower people is almost insufferable: If you employ a tradesman he will at least charge you double, and you dare not complain for fear of having your windows broke, and yourself insulted and pelted in the streets as an enemy to the country. In short, a person who inlists with the faction, though formerly a Tory, a knave, or an Atheist, instantly becomes a Whig, an Honest Man, and a Saint. Faction here, as well as with you in London, covers all sins. One of our most bawling demagogues and voluminus writers is a crazy Doctor, whom some years ago they were going to banish out of Town for professing himself an Athiest.

But the principle man amongst them was once our Tax Gatherer, and spent about two thousand pounds lawful money belonging to the Town; but he was forgiven this and made representative, and clerk to the House of Representatives, on account of his seditious writings. Another great patriot not long ago brought milk into Town to sell. From these specimens you may judge what unprincipled fellows and [...]mighty men our patriots are. It is true the smugglers are the main body, but they generally keep out of sight, and present such men as the above to execute their resolves.

I am not surprised that their Agents should write such accounts from London as they know will be agreeable, without regarding the conformity of them to truth, because they are paid for it. But that such a man as Pownall, one who was so universally despised and ridiculed while our Governor, should contribute his mite to keep up the fire of rebellion, is to me incomprehensible. It is conjectured here that he wants to come out again Governor, but if they were weak enough to appoint him at home, he would find little comfort or case here, whatever his vanity may induce him to think. Our Faction only makes a tool of him, and whatever encouragement their letters may give him he would be thoroughly mortified to hear the foolish dirty anecdotes that are given of him here. In the pamphlet inclosed, intitled The History of Sir Thomas Brazen, you will find some account of him. When he was ordered home he prevailed upon the House of Representatives (who then were ready enough to vote what did not belong to them) to compliment him with the Province ship of war to carry him to England, but the body of Merchants to whom the vessel belonged. [Page] and who had a hearty contempt for him, absolutely refused to concur, and so he did not receive this much coveted honour.—I had a most forgot to tell you, that he prints his own speeches and sends them out to us, to shew us how much he is our friend, but some of us much question whether ever they were spoke.

I shall be much obliged to you, if you will let me know by the first opportunity, if Parliament are likely to do any thing for us. If the many insurrections and rebellions amongst us, for these last nine years, do not work a regulation and amendment in our Charter this winter, those who have hitherto respected the mother country will be forced, for their own safety, to join the faction, or to fly the province.

LETTER IV.

THE Americans and their advocates would wish to perswade the people of England that they are not under the controul of Parliament, nor bound in duty to obey its Acts. Under the specious pretext of combating against slavery, a pretext which has a singular effect on Englishmen, they imagine we will always continue blind to our own interest and to their insidious designs.

The reasons they give to prove themselves an independent people, are founded on the most extravagant and impudent absurdities. According to them, ‘the Laws of England do not reach America.’ This extraordinary doctrine scarcely needs a refutation; its weakness and want of solidity is evident without investigation. An Englishman leaves England and settles in North America, a country discovered by an Englishman, and appertaining to the crown of England, and therefore American logic places him out of the line of our legislature. To [...]ver this seriously, is either folly, impudence, or madness. An inhabitant of Middlesex by moving to the Isle of Man or the islands of Scilly might, with as good authority, declare himself out of the dominions of England.

But let us grant them their assertion: If Americans are not of this kingdom, why do they claim the priviledges of Englishmen? why do they claim the protection of England? Why have they put this kingdom to the expence of so many MILLIONS to defend them? But I suppose, when they resorted to this defence against taxation it was the first that occurred to them, and they did not reflect on the objections [Page] that might be raised against it; and they also surely forgot that old maxim of Law, Reason, and Justice, quoted by their own dearly beloved Farmer, the celebrated Mr Dickinson, one of their greatest Champions,

Qui sentit commodum, sentire debet et onus.

They who feel the benefit, ought to feel the burthen.

Driven from one idle appeal, they are accustomed to set up another; they say ‘they cannot be legally taxed by the British Legislature, because they are not represented in the British Parliament; for that taxation and representation cannot be separated’ This has been often refuted The large manufacturing towns of Manchester, Brimigham, Sheffield, and the millions of people in the kingdom who have no votes in the election of members, are unanswerable arguments against this assertion.

Their next silly defence is, ‘that Government ought to make a requisition of a stipulated sum, and their Assemblies would grant it if they were able and thought it expedient.’

As to their ability, we know and have seen the common porters in that country, living, as to all kinds of provisions, much more luxuriously than the first merchants here; and as to the higher orders among them, they enjoy the present moment, leaving futurity to care for itself. Their having large families does not furnish them with reflection; they swim along thoughtless, with the tide of fashion, in profusion and gaiety, abandoning their offspring to providence and the fertility of the soil. This is the reason that so many of them die insolvent, and that so many heavy debts remain unpaid to the English merchants. Now if taxes were raised among them equivalent to their incomes in trade, it would have the happy effect of rendering them more punctual, attentive, and industrious.

As to expediency, it has been tried, and they did not think it even expedient to send us an answer. Though the circumstance of the Mother Country applying to all her different petty colonies is rather humiliating and disgraceful, yet even this has been done. The result is too well known to be denied. The Colony Agents were acquainted by Mr. Greenville, ‘that a revenue would be required from them to defray the expences of their protection’ The House of Commons to forward this just and reasonable measure, resolved, "That a stamp duty might be necessary." Mr. Greenville earnestly recommended to the Colonies the making grants by their own assemblies; or if they disliked stamp [Page] duties, to propose any other effectual made of raising money, and carry it into execution themselves; but all in vain. The Colonies raised no fund among themselves, they made no offer, no grant, nor laid any tax. Parliament therefore passed the stamp act next year.

In the course of the altercations and complaints concerning this act, the Americans held forth upon every occasion, the doctrine, ‘that representation and taxation should accompany each other:’ Upon this several hints were given, that even on that ground any proposals would be seriously and candidly attended to. Then they flew from their own clamourous exception, and shamefully declared, ‘that their local situation effectually debarred them from a representation in the British Parliament;’ and their factious adherents, both at home and abroad, most vociferously and violently declaimed against the absurdity of the idea, though they themselves were the very first people that suggested and enforced that idea.

To pursue them through all their incoherences, contradictions, tergiversations, and complaints, is mere children's play. Their first declaration is, that they are not English subjects; when this is disproved, then they agree that they are English subjects but that they ought not to be taxed. When it is urged, why do they claim the benefit and reject the burthen? Because, they say, they are not represented. When representation is held forth to them.—Oh, then their locality is an insuperable hindrance; but when England wants money from them, a requisition should be made to their Assemblies. A requisition was made by Mr. Greenville and they did not grant a shilling; and the whole empire was disturbed and disgusted with their scurrilous complaints, their vainglorious threatenings, and their mean ostentatious [...]-applause Like a termagant woman they thought to gain their point, from their incessant clamour and raving. Indeed so ridiculous are their assertions and their claims, that a refutation would not be necessary, but for the credulity of some good people, who think that they must be aggrieved because they complain.

The truth is, the Americans do not doubt either the right or power or justice of England in taxing them; they are fully conscious of all these things in their own minds, and will often confess them in private, though they deny them in public. Their aim is, to keep their money and their f [...]e trade, or rather their illicit trade, as long as they can, as was candidly consest by one of the greatest merchants in New England. [Page] In reply to this confession, their duty and gratitude to the Mother Country, and a regard to their own peace, were urged; but our merchant said laughingly, they were all very well agreed to keep their money, and to make the most of their present advantages in trade, as long as they possibly could and that they would not submit till they were forced; in the mean time some commotions might arise in Europe, or some disturbances in England, or their friends might come into the ministry, either of which would ocasion the discountenance of the taxation scheme; that there were many chances in their favour, if they strenuously persisted in opposition; but if they once acquiesced, they could never renew the struggle with any prospect of success.

From this state of facts, but more from their own conduct. England may now, after a trial of ten years, be fully convinced of the intentions and dispositions of the Americans. They will acknowledge no dependance; they will not admit even the right of taxation; they say acts of trade hurt their commerce; in short, they disclaim any connection with us. What the final determination of all these rebellious declarations will be, any man of common penetration may foresee. There ought to be in every government, a subordination in the subject, and a reverence for the laws; there ought, in every government, to exist somewhere a regulating and contro [...]ling power, to be employed on all occasions for the good of the whose empire; one part of the kingdom ought not to be permitted to act independent of, or in direct opposition to the laws, while the other part is forced to act in strict conformity to them: The refractory Colonists must therefore be brought back by FORCE within the line of the laws; lenient measures have been long ineffectually tried, they have only given encouragement to further arrogance and encroachment: The Empire, to be sure, will resound with their pretended grievances, their heavy oppressions, their gross reproaches, and their noisy complaints; but as now we all are thoroughly convinced of their hypocrisy and turbulence, their seditious outcries will have no avail.

Like an unbroken colt when first bound in the traces, they will doubtless be very unruly, and will make many efforts to disengage themselves from their enforced subserviency to the laws; but as long custom is very powerful, and often reconciles us to great hardships, it is to be hoped that, in time, duty to their Sovereign, respect for the Laws, and affection to the Mother Country, will universally prevail amongst them.

[Page] IT is thought that Dr. Franklin's new Colony Grant has not yet gone through all the necessary forms of office, and if that is the ease, and it should stick in the passage, so much the better for Britain; we have already more Colonies than we can manage; should the Grant be cancelled, this artful scheme of the Doctor's to accelerate the independency of his beloved country, we hope will never be brought forward again. As to this Colony in idea, it is so happily situated as to be totally out of the reach of Britain, and if we should be so very good natured as to credit our Manufactures to people settled there, it would be hardly possible to send them to this American Paradise, but at an expence ten times exceeding the original value. Their abstracted situation in this new world, would necessarily impel them to manufacture for themselves, and they would afford an asylum for every vagrant and runaway from the other Colonies. Was a man in debt, he might sell off his stock and clamber over the American Alps with the money in his pocket, and there he would be nearly as safe from his creditors in England a [...] if he was beyond the verge of nature. Great consolation it would be to England to hear by every vessel from America, of the rapid increase of VANDALIA, from the retreat of your debtors bag and baggage over the almost inaccessible Allegany Mountains. Was another man inclined, by one capital stroke, to make his fortune, all he had to do was to order 10 000l. or 20 000l worth of goods, and when they arrived from London, sell them off by auction, or any other speedy method, and then troop off to the fertile [...] of the Ohio.

It was lately asserted in a morning paper, that his Majesty was now fully convinced of Dr. Franklin's innocency. This is only an impudent puff of the Doctor's own composing, his Majesty has been for years past well informed, and fully convinced of the Doctor's seditious and traiterous designs, and the Doctor himself knows in his own conscience, (if he is not too much of a philosopher to have one) that his dismission and disgrace are justly merited.

All that has been said here in vindication of the Bostonians militates against them, for every vessel from thence brings an account of some confounded riot, which flatly contradicts the praises which their Agents in England are always unluckily bestowing on them. Thus the anonymous Writers who figure away in the front of the News-Papers, and sometimes in the rear of them, are fairly overset by a [Page] plain matter of fact, simply narrated in the middle. That same Mr Ma [...]colm, whom the Bostonians employed a boy to run his fl [...]d against, in order to make a quarrel with him, happens only to be a Custom House Officer and as the valiant Bostonians had already driven off the Commissioners, they thought it best to send the inferior Officers after them. Now let any man sitting by his own fire-side, surounded by his family, read the treatment this unfortunate man met with, and let him conceive himself in his situation, and then let him judge what punishment is due to the miscreants at Boston, who used him so barbarously; and what credit should be given to their Writers and Agents here, when they tell us "they are an orderly and regular people".

This poor man having retreated to the upper floor of the house he had taken shelter in, was followed by the mob and seized; a rope was fixed round him, and he was lowered out of the garret window to the riotous multitude below, then stript naked, annointed with tar, covered over with feathers, and placed in a cart, in which he was driven through the principal streets of the town, and after that a mile out of town to the gallows, to which he was tied, cruelly beat and whipt. When the man was almost expiring, it being the middle of the Winter, they carted him back again, and left him in the street to the mercy of whoever chused to take care of him.

This attrocious deed, barbarous as it is, is far from being uncommon at Boston. That seditious town has been in the very same disorder for these last ten years. And after a thousand instances of riot, sedition, and rebellion, their writers here have the effrontery to tell us, "they are a humane, peaceable, and loyal people."

LETTER V. Substance of the American Papers read before the House of Commons on Saturday, and which are to be debated upon this day, 14th March, 1774, (WITH REMARKS)

THESE papers consist of copies, and extracts of letters from the Commander of the Forces, and from the several Governors in America; of threats and prophetic warnings to the gentlemen to whom the tea was consigned; narratives of transactions; of copies of letters from the several consignees at Boston to a ringleader of the faction in that town; of votes of the town of Boston, previous to the [Page] arrival of the tea: of a petition of the consignees to the council of the Massachusett's, praying ‘that they and their property might be taken under their protection,’ with the absolute denial of the council (observe, of his Majesty's Council) to afford the least support or assistance, or even a promise of it; of notes from the India House; of letters from the Admiral commanding in Boston harbour, and from Lieutenant Colonel Leslie, of the 64th regiment, in barracks at Castle William; of a proclamation of the Governor's against the factious meetings of the inhabitants, which they treated with ineffable contempt; of copies of treasonable papers printed in America; of a copy of the transactions of the Massachusett's council, condemning the destruction of the tea, and advising legal prosecutions against the perpetrators, which they well knew no person would dare to carry on, and expressing their own abhorrence of the unjustifiable dead, although they would not take any previous step to prevent it, even when petitioned for that very purpose.

So far relative to the MASSACHUSETT's.

The papers written and printed from the other Colonies are exactly of the same nature. They are the regular official informations of the different Governors transmitted to the American Secretary of State, with copies of all the inflammatory fugitive Papers, Hand Bills, Alarms, Resolves of Town Meetings, and Minutes of Council. In short, the whole budget of abuse that has been vented against Parliament and the ministry from New England to the Carolinas, was read to themselves on Saturday last.

As there was no outrage committed but at Boston, it would be superfluous to narrate all the incendiary scribbling and printing in the different Colonies; it may suffice just to observe, that all the printed bills read were fully larded with the phrases of "desperate plans of despotism," "ministerial designs to ruin their Liberties," "Slavery," "galling fetters," "forging infernal chains," "Popery," "despotic rule," &c.

The Massachusett's council appeared in a very Jesuitical point of view: They would not give the least assistance or protection to the Consignees, or to the East India Company's property: They would not even take into consideration the landing and scuring the teas. By their replies it would seem, that they rather rejoiced in the opposition formed by the faction; and if they did not openly range themselves on its side, at least by their neutrality, and the purport of their [Page] answer, it was sufficiently evident, that they did not even wish to interpose as mediators. The Consignees ‘prayed to resign themselves and the property entrusted to their care, to the council, not only as their guardians and protectors, but also those of the people at large.’ But these worthy gentlemen thought proper to have nothing to do with them; and rather hinted that the tea scheme was calculated to disturb the peace of the town and province.

The letters from the different Governors contain a minute and regular detail of the state of their different provinces, but particularly of the Capitals of each, from the first intelligence of teas being shipped at home, to its arrival in America and return back or destruction.

Above all the rest of the advices, Governor Hutchinson's letters are the most precise, exact, and circumstantial. He endeavoured both to soothe and intimidate the faction. It was he himself who advised the Consignees to apply to the council for their personal safety, and security of their property; for his two eldest sons were two of the Consignees. He also, during the height of their turbulent, unlawful and seditious assemblings, before the destruction of the tea, sent the sheriff to the town meeting at Boston, commanding them to break up and depart. When the sheriff Mr. Greenleafe arrived in the Hall, and intimated ‘that he had a paper to read from the Governor,’ the faction put it to vote "whether he should be permitted to read it or not?" After some debate; permission was granted, and the sheriff accordingly pronounced the Governor's orders for them to disperse. The instant he had finished, the faction saluted him with an universal hiss, which continued, and accompanied him out of doors. The proclamation was afterwards published in the Gazette from whence it was copied into the other papers, and criticised and commented upon with every mark of contempt and indignity. Before the arrival of the tea, the Governor, who is very insinuating, appeared to have taken every measure that prudence could suggest both for the safety of the India property and the safety of the Consignees. The principal leader of the faction was applied to; he commanded the Governor's Company of Cadets, but it was not to be expected that the leader of the faction would muster the Cadets to oppose his own party and his own plots The applications, of course, had no effect. Perhaps acquiescence was not expected, though it might be deemed proper, in point of duty, to make the request, o [...] rather to issue the order.

[Page] By Governor Hutchinson's letters, the people of the town, or the faction, obliged Mr. Rotch, the owner of Captain Hall's vessel, to demand a clearance outwards from the Custom-House, in order that the tea might be carried back. Mr. Rotch resisted a long time, but his person being threatened, nay his life, at last made him comply. The Custom House refused to grant him an illegal clearance, the Governor was then applied to for a pass, without which the vessel would have been stopped at Castle William; but this was also refused to Mr. Rotch, because it was totally inconsistent with the duty of a Governor to grant a pass to a vessel that had not been regularly cleared at the Custom-House. This [...]negociation, or insurrection, or rebellion, came to a crisis about the middle of December. The faction, sitting in town-meeting▪ heard the account of the refusals above mentioned, from Mr. Rotch. It appears they expected such answers, and were prepared for the event; for immediately after Mr. Rotch's account, signals were given both from within and without the meeting. A number of men, disguised, boarded the vessels containing the tea, and, as it is said, threw the whole into the sea, though some unbelievers may think that not a little of it might be purloined, and that MADAM THETIS had not so strong a dish of tea that evening as some people may imagine.

This is a recollected Summary of what was heard with regard to to the facts, as they happened in regular progression. The opinions of the Writers, as far as may be judged from what is expressed in their letters, now come to be mentioned.

Upon the face of the whole transaction, in every colony where the tea arrived, it is evident that the Governors acted with the utmost prudence and circumspection. It happened the ship bound for Boston was the first that reached her destined port: Every civil precaution seems to have been tried to preserve the peace of the town; his Majesty's Council, the Cadets, and the Militia, were all applied to without effect; the sheriff read a proclamation to the factious, commanding them to dissolve their assembly, and this proclamation was immediately afterwards inserted in the Gazette: Both the sheriff and the proclamation were treated with insult. The people of Boston seem, on this occasion, to have been fairly tried; the Governor seems to have taken, from the beginning, a determination not to call either on the Naval or Military Force, then in the Bay and at Castle Island. The loyal and peaceable people of that town were [Page] altogether left to the exercise of their own judgment, and they have given all the world a notable proof of it, by wantonly destroying a valuable property, when all they had to do was to keep firm in their resolution, not to buy or drink any of it; they will, however, pay for their outrageous pastime; they must make good the loss; and they will feel the indemnification the more bitter, as they must pay for a commodity which they declare they did not taste, and which they pretend to abhor.

The other Governors, after the accomplishment of the Boston exploit, wisely agreed to let the tea be carried back, as what had already happened was sufficient to rouse the English nation and parliament; and by this prudent conduct they put it out of the power of the people under their Government to act in the same foolish and frantic manner as the people of Boston.

As to Governor Hutchinson, if it had not been for his resolution not to irritate the people, by calling in the assistance of the Navy, the tea would have been saved; but, as the Bostonians always made great complaints of the interposition of the Navy and Army, and not only declared, but SWORE, they had always begun every disturbance, every rational man will be glad to find that their Governor gave them no such plea on this occasion: They were left to their own will and pleasure, and behaved ten times worse than ever.

It appears, by all the letters from America, that nothing can be done there by Officers, Civil Military, or Naval, to effectuate the re-establishment of peace in that country; they can make no movement, even the most trifling, but what is exclaimed against by the licentious Bostonians, as an infringment of their Liberties. They have therefore remained, for these last three years, in total inactivity, submitting to the insults of faction with the most patient endurance, in hopes that Parliament, by an alteration and regulation of their absurd Charters, will at least relieve them, and all the rest of his Majesty's good subjects in the Colonies.

Governor Hutchinson's settled opinion is, ‘that no effort in the Colonies by any body of men civil or military, can remove the evils that now reign amongst them. It is Parliament, and Parliament only, which can restore that turbulent country to peace, and bring order out of confusion.’ And it is said, that his letters for these [Page] six years past have uniformly inculcated and held forth the same doctrine.

POLICY OF GREAT BRITAIN WITH REGARD TO AMERICA.

All forcible, as well as pacific measures, will be nugatory and ineffectual with the Boston rebels unless their CHARTER is VACATED. It is the spring and source of all their insolent and unjustifiable acts. The council being chosen by the people yearly, must vote according to their pleasure, so that, in fact they are not the Counsellors of the King, but Tools of the faction. The people of Massachusett's Province are also over represented; the number ought to be reduced to a fourth part of the present. Boston, instead of sending four members should send but two at most, though one would be better. Without this previous necessary step, every other attempt to bring them to reason will be fruitless, nay, will be inflammatory, whether the method be gentle or vigorous; it will only be pruning and watering the tree of Sedition, instead of striking at its root.

The Charters of Connecticut and Rhode Island should also be vacated. The people in those Colonies chuse their Governors, Judges, Assemblymen, Counsellors, and all the rest of their Officers; and the King and Parliament have as much influence there as in the wilds of Tartary.

IT is a certain fact that all the old American merchants are of late become very cautious whom they credit in America Their losses have taught them wisdom. They have left off that general and indiscriminate credit, which they had some years ago so injudiciously plunged into; now they trust only their old tried customers; and they will not accept of recommendations, even from them, of any new beginners, unless these recommendations are accompanied with securities to the full extent of the credit required. The decrease of our exports to America has not arisen from their boastful resolves not to import our goods, but from their disinclination to pay for what we have already sent them; for the greatest patriots are those very merchants who are most backward in their payments. It is a very disagreeable circumstance for a capital house here to fail for want of remittances from Boston, that very patriotic and honest town; but it is not surprizing that patiots do not pay their debts. Men who dedicate their whole time to the interest [Page] of the community, are far above attending to their own private interest, or to the interest of their creditors; and an American resolution not to import our goods, always implies a resolution not to pay for those they have already imported. That a merchant of this city, a man of spirit, knowledge, acuteness, and industry, should be obliged to undertake a voyage to the land of Patriotism, civilly to ask a great Patriot to pay nine or ten thousand pounds long due to him, is probable enough, and it is also very probable, that after the utmost exertion of his ingenuity, and residing in the town of Boston for some months, that at last he should find himself obliged to return without bringing a single farthing of the debt along with him. The debtor at the same time reputed the richest man in Boston, and also positively known to be one of the principal leaders of the faction, and a notorious detected smuggler.

The merchants of England, when they hear of a New England insurrection, listen to it as they would to any other article of news, never reflecting what a fatal effect American uproars and rebellions may have on their trade. For till that country is brought into subjection to the laws, their Charters taken away and new modelled, and their Judges, Counsellors, and Governors appointed by the King neither peace nor loyalty will inhabit Rhode Island, Connecticut, nor Massachusett's, nor will the merchants residing there pay their debts due here. This is fully exemplified in Rhode Island, where 76, 000l. pounds is due only to two houses in London, and in the three Provinces, at least a million more may be added on a moderate computation. The reason why the debts cannot be recovered, is paticularly stated in the printed letters from America. The Judges are chosen annually by the people; they must therefore act in such a manner as to preserve the good will of the people, otherwise at the next election they are turned adrift. Is it to be expected that such Judges will give judgment in their Courts in favour of an Englishman, against their own [...]electors? If the merchants of England wish to have a chance for recovering their American debts, let them petition Government for an amendment of American Charters.

As smuggling is one of the many causes of American rebellion, it would be advisable in Government to station a number of small vessels of little draught of water along the coast of America, on purpose to make captures of all [...] traders. This would undoubtedly occasion heavy complaints from that quarter of the interruption and embarrassment [Page] of trade, but our very good friends ought to remember, that when they over leap the bounds prescribed to subjects, that they must expect to suffer the penalties awarded by the laws.

LETTER VI.

IN the days of George the third the Puritans of New England are exactly the same people as their forefathers were in the days of Charles the first. They are factious and turbulent, and ever in opposition to legal government.

When their licentious conduct requires reprehension or punishment, then they are the most misrepresented people under heaven; and they obtest the whole world to be witnesses of their orderly and holy deportment, and of the grievous [...]vactions and oppressions of their enemies. This is always the whining cant of hypocrisy. They do not expect that people, who are really well acquainted with their mutinous actions and treasonable plots, should give credit to their own account of themselves, but by their piteous complainings, they think to impose on the compassionate, and on that part of the public who are uninformed of their real character.

Uneasy and arrogant, they left their native country, under the pretence of enjoying civil and religious liberty. Established in America, they persecuted, banished, or hanged all that differed from them in opinion: That liberty which they claimed in England, they denied to others in America; and after having fled from persecution, they themselves became Persecutors. In the very first year of their settlement they manifested their hatred to the religion of their Mother Country; and forcibly banished some of their companions who wished to follow and practice the rites of the Church of England. Imprisonment, banishment, and death, soon rid them of all disturbers and opponents; and the commotions that soon after followed in England, gave them leisure to model their government on the fullest principles of INDEPENDENCY.

After the restoration, this generous country afforded them every assistance; we were proud and pleased with our growing children; we admired even their independent notions, their turbulent petulance, and their declared opposition to our laws. In fact, like over-fond parents we spoilt our children, we ourselves encouraged them to rebel against us, and now we are reaping the fruits of our foolish indulgence.

The New Englanders plead an exemption from taxation, as if they were not subjects; and they bring forward their [Page] CHARTER granted by our Kings, as a proof of their independence. The most contemptible argument often repeated, makes an impression on some people. The claims of America at one time gained ground in this kingdom, not from their validity, but from the impudence with which they were urged. The generality of people did not know that at first the Colony of New England was governed by a Council established at Plymouth; and that the Hudson's B [...]y Company, the East India Company, or any other chartered Company, might as well arrogate to themselves an independency on this kingdom, as the vain and blustering Bostonians. Their first Charter ‘only freed them from Taxes, Subsidies, and Customs, in New England, for SEVEN years; and from Taxes and Impositions on goods imported or exported for twenty one years;’ and this they and their wise and modest partizans here construe into a compleat INDEPENDENCY.

This requires only to be mentioned; the appeal is made to their Charter; let it be consulted; conviction must follow of course.

LETTER VII.

IT has already been proved from the first Charter of the Massachusets, itself, that the Colony of New England was to be governed by a Company established at Plymouth, in the County of Devon, and that the New Englanders were' to be freed from Taxes for the first Seven years only:—This to be sure is a solid foundation on which to build their independency.

From the first moment of their settlement they displayed their fractious and refractory spirit, as appears by an order of the Lords of Council in 1632. ‘Whereas his Majesty hath lately been informed of great distraction and much disorder in the Plantations in the parts of America called NEW ENGLAND.’ It also appears, that in their early days they were accustomed to contradict the charges brought against them, just as they do at present, for the order says that "most of the things informed were denied:" yet they were allowed to escape, least the settlement should be discouraged; ‘their Lordships not laying the faults or fancies of some particular men on the general government.’ The next year, 1633, we find them in the same disorderly state, from another order of the King in Council, which mentions, that ‘such confusion and distraction is already [Page] grown there, as besides the ruin of the Plantation, cannot but highly tend to the ruin both of the Church and the State here.’

When they were at peace with the Indians, and were not occupied in railing at the Mother Country, their restless inflammable disposition shewed itself in internal commotions. In 1634 they quarrelled with Mr. Winthrop their Governor and their God almighty, ‘concerning his receipts and disbursements for the public;’ but he vindicated himself with great honour, and concluded his defence with ‘heartily blessing the Lord our God for his gracious acceptance of his services for his Church and people, which he esteemed an abundant recompence.’ They have since often shewn the same ingratitude to many of their best friends.

Searching their history about this period, we find their notions of independency openly professed. They imagined they had a right to plant Colonies, to establish what order of government they thought proper, and to form a new State as fully to all intents and purposes as if they had been in a state of nature: and on that account they stiled themselves a COMMONWEALTH. They denied the jurisdiction of England over them, because, as they said they were out of the realm, yet they very consistently claimed an authority over the Colony of Connecticut, because the fettlers there had formerly resided some time among them, though they were then evidently without the juridiction of Massachussets.

The Bostonians have incessantly pestered us with their great merit in cultivating the barren wilderness; but we all know, that we do not owe this to their good will, but to their fears: They would not stay, and face danger along with the men of spirit of their own party at home, but made off to hide themselves in the woods of America. Mr. Cotton their Prophet, immediately after the emigration, when highly blamed by his friends in England for deserting them replied, that it was the duty of the young and able bodied to run away, if they had opportunity, for that God called only the old and infirm to witness to the truth unto death.

In 1635 his Majesty, on account of the factious state of the Massachusets, thought proper to grant a Commission for regulating the Plantations to several of the principle Officers of State. These Commissioners were empowered to inflict punishment on all offenders, ecclesiastical or civil. ‘either by imprisonments or other restraints, or by loss of life or members, the Royal Assent being first had and obtained; they were, to new and growing evils and perils to apply [Page] remedies, so often as they should appear to them necessary and expedient: they were to remand all Officers or Governors to England who did not suppress ALL REBELS; they were to examine the Letters, Patents, or other writings, granted by the King or his predecessors, and if, upon view thereof, it appeared they had been surreptitiously or unduly obtained, or that any of the priviledges or liberties therein granted were hurtful to the Kingdom, the Crown, or Prerogative, they were to cause the same, according to the laws and customs of our realm of England, to be revoked, him to do all other things which should be necessary for the wholesome government and protection of the Colonies, and our people therein biding.’

It is evident from this Commission, that in the most early days of our Colonies there were offenders and growing evils, and that the Letters Patent or Charters granted them were even then suspected to be contrary to the Laws and Customs of England: After one hundred and fifty years conviction, it is now surely time to apply the proper remedies; forbearance and affection on our part, have hitherto only roused, in Massachusets, presumption and defiance; and though our Army and Navy may bring the rebellious Bostonians to submission, yet, till their Charter is vacated, and another given them, more suitable to our Constitution, every other expedient will only be temporary.

THE instigators and promoters of the rebellious Bostonians, after having led them to commit the most outrageous excesses, think now by blustering to ward off merited vengeance. The Charter of Massachusets with them, is too sacred to be touched by our legislature. Before they promulgated this impudent doctrine, they should have reflected that subjects, when they have acted in defiance of all law, justly forfeit every priviledge granted them; for certainly persons who infringe the rights of the community, and by their outrages endanger its welfare, instead of favour and protection have nothing to look for but disgrace and punishment. If their Charter as they say, authorises them to oppose the power of Parliament, and places them above its jurisdiction, it must immediately occur to every rational man to enquire from whom they received this extraordinary Charter? Why then they tell us they had it from the King. But they should consider that the King is only a third part of our legislature, and that he cannot alienate any part of his dominions without the consent of the whole. If therefore the King has [Page] granted a Charter which militates against the good of the state, it is both just and necessary that he should recall it, and that another should be given them more conformable to the constitution of his kingdom. That Parliament may address his Majesty on this important occasion, and that the Attorney General may be directed to bring a Quo Warranto against this very surprising Boston Charter is greatly to be wished. The threats of an old factious Agent, who vomits out his venom in the news papers are utterly contemptible; he owes his safety not to his innocence, but to the lenity of our laws. In a neighbouring kingdom [...] seditions and his life would have ended together at the Place de Greve. In England, however, we act with greater moderation; instead of taking the worthless life of a traitor, we give him our contempt.

It is an old custom for the most depraved characters to take merit to themselves by addressing the truly respectable, as if they were the supporters of their opinions. Rationalis therefore, or, in other words, the Bostonian traitor, appea [...]s to Sir George Saville in a late paper. No two characters ever before exhibited such a contrast; the one the most virtuous citizen of England, and the other the most worthless of America. The noble Yorkshire Baronet, it is known, is not an admirer of Colonies; history and experience have convinced him that they are rather detrimental than serviceable to the parent state: Hence his refusal to sit a member of the East India committee in the House of Commons—But, to return to the modest Bostonian: He says, ‘it is scurrility to assert the supremacy of Parliament over America, and that, if his Majesty was to make a trip to Boston, those loyal peaceable subjects, if his Majesty would make known his wants, would give and grant supplies, as well as the Parliament of Ireland.’ Can any man, who reads this, believe that Rationalis is any other person than that worthy Bostonian who insists that ‘England must soon become a province tributary to America;’ who urges the exemption of Boston and the Colonies from taxes, though we are now Seventy Millions in debt on their account; and who now tells us, that Boston wont pay a shilling towards their own defence and protection, unless his Majesty ‘takes a short trip’ (as he calls it) to that Town, and makes known his wants. The Doctor, in his comparison between Boston and Ireland, seems to have forgot that Ireland, though conquered, is still a kingdom of itself, and that his rebellious Townsmen have not yet arrived at the dignity of a separate [Page] state; they are English subjects, and under the controul of Parliament as much as the unrepresented six millions of people dwelling in this Island; and his Majesty might as well be sent to every petty corporation in England to ask their consent to supplies, distinct from Parliament, as to the pitiful ostentatious Bostonians.

WE must give up the evidence of our own senses whenever a Bostonian pleases to insist upon it. When he is detected in smuggling, we must believe him to be a fair trader; when he perjures himself at the Custom House, we must entertain no doubts of his piety; when he knocks down the King's Officers, and tars and feathers them, he is the most peaceable subject in all his Majesty's dominions; and he is then most faithful and loyal when he acts in direct opposition to the laws of his country. Let him pull down a house, and carry off the furniture, and the very next moment he will assure you, he is the most honest man in the world; let him, along with the rest of his townsmen, assemble expresly for the purpose of destroying the East India Company's Tea, and let him do it before your face, and then he will gravely tell you it was destroyed by a parcel of Mohawks. But if you are resolved to credit the conviction of your own senses, and will not implicitely believe all that he tells you, why then you are a friend to tyranny and oppression, he instantly votes you an enemy to the rights and liberties of the great town of Boston, and if you are not very alert, hoists you into his cart of tar and feathers, and drives you to the gallows, at the same time most hypocritically baw [...]ing out, that he is the most ill used and distressed poor creative in the universe, though the most dutiful and affectionate [...] subjects

No minister ever had before, to the most popular measure, so unanimously and heartily the concurrence of all ranks of people, as Lord North has to the Bill for punishing the Boston incendiaries. In the House, opposition itself has given up the cause of the rebels. They are conscious, that if they were in power they would support government and the supreme right of Parliament; without doors the people at large are very sensible that the minister is supporting their own cause. They feel the heavy load of debt under which we are all labouring, and at the same time reflect that it was contracted in the defence of America. In short, on one side there are only two or three hired Agents of the Bostonian rioters, and on the other, Kings, Lords, and Commons, and all the people of England.

[Page] A late writer very justly observes that the Colonists ought to bear a proportionable share of all national burthens imposed by the supreme legislature The taxation of the Colonies, therefore, may be reduced to the four following Articles:

1. That the exports and imports in the Colonies should be brought as near as circumstances will admit to the same rates as those in Great Britain.

2. That no tax should ever be imposed on the American Colonies by Parliament, without one of the same kind being imposed on Great Britain in a proportionable degree.

3. That the Land-tax should be ever at the same rate both in the Mother Country and in America.

4 That taxes of luxury, or sumptuary taxes, ought ever to be the same in both countries, under which class stamp duties may very properly be ranged, independent of their great utility in regulating many domestic concerns.

Certainly the Colonists, as they enjoy the priviledges and protection of this country, ought in reason to bear a part of our national Taxes.

Every real well-wisher of England hopes, that the priviledges of the Town of Boston will not be restored, till these foolish vapouring subjects have, in their General Court not only passed an act to make good the damage done the East India Company, but also another, expressly acknowledging the full power and authority of this kingdom to make laws and statutes of sufficient force and validity to bind the people of America, subjects to the crown of Great Britain, in all cases whatsoever.

LETTER VIII.

EVERY page of the history of Massachusets exhibits convincing testimony of the violent commotions and lawless conduct of that turbulent Colony; what opinion then must we form of a Petition lately presented to his Majesty in Council, in which it is boldly ass [...]rted, ‘that perfect harmony subsisted between Great Britain and the Colonies until it was disturbed by the errors and innovations of his Majesty's Ministers!’ Surely if this Petitioner has read the history of that Colony, the orders of Council, and the Acts of Parliament made and issued solely for the purpose of remedying the disorders and distractions among them, and to restrain them within the bounds of law and good government, he must be possessed with the most astonishing confidence to [...] to utter before his Prince, an assertion so opposite to [Page] truth. Yet we must either give him credit for his astonishing confidence or believe him altogether ignorant of the history and state of that people for whom he is Agent; he himself has [...] us no other alternative

To recapitulate the orders of the King in Council, and the Commission granted to certain Lords for the better regulation of New England, would be superfluous, as they may be seen in my former letter. These orders, which fully prove, that disorders and confusions existed there previous even to the very birth of his Majesty's Ministers, clearly overthrow the confident declaration (not to give it the harsh term of falsehood) of the Agent of his Majesty's Council in the Massachusets Bay: The intelligent reader will no doubt observe here the decency, propriety, and loyalty of his Majesty's Council in America employing their Agent to petition his Majesty's Council in England against acts of Parliament, against the authority of the supreme legislature, and against the undoubted righ [...]t [...] and welfare of this nation.

But to proceed with the cursory account of the Massachusets:

In 1636. Mr Vane afterwards the famous Sir Henry Vane, was chosen their Governor; for at that time they had the priviledge of electing their own Governors. These dissatisfied people were greatly pleased with him at first, but they soon manifested their restless disposition, his Government was only to last one year; he was a man of their own choice, and yet they were weary of him in six months. He offered to resign; the Boston Church made objections to his resignation, and signified them to the Court then sitting. Cautious of occasioning an internal rupture in the Colony, he agreed to preside there for the short remaining time; but sailed for England two months after the expiration of his government.

The jealousy of Mr. Winthrop, their former Governor, and then Deputy Governor, contributed to hasten his departure. The religious as well as the political doctrines of these two men very widely differed. Mr. Winthrop was strenuous for denying admittance to all English subjects, who were suspected to differ from them in opinion, and encouraged the most factious in their ideas of forming an independent state. Mr. Vane, on the contrary, very justly asserted the right that every English subject possessed, of residing in any part of his Majesty's dominions, and of moving from any one part of these dominions to another, as best suited him, whilst he continued in subjection to the laws; for that, by pursuing Mr. Winthrop's plan, the Colony would exceed the limits [Page] of his Majesty's grant, and forfeit the priviledges, government, and lands, which they challenged to be their own.

These substantial reasons had no effect on those stubborn independents; and immediately after his departure for England, every person, man or woman, who were supposed to be of his opinion, were disfranchised, imprisoned, and banished.

Finding themselves possessed of power, they were above giving any reasons for their despotic exercise of it; and they even considered the questioning their authority as an insufferable insult. This was strongly examplified in the trial of Mrs. Hutchinson, who held both the religious and political opinions of Mr. Vane: She was examined before the Governor, Assistants and Clergy, and sentenced to be banished, and imprisoned till she could be sent away.

During her trial she urged, ‘that, as the clergy were her principal accusers, they ought to give their evidence on oath.’ One of the Judges, in reply to her demand, said, ‘admit they should mistake you in your speeches’ (for she was tried only for her opinions, amongst which toleration in religion was her capital offence) ‘you would make them to sin, if you urge them to swear.’ Another of her Judges was very angry with her, for ‘not believing al the Godly Ministers without an oath.’ The Deputy Governor said, ‘he was sure she was deluded by the devil, and that they should be all sick with fasting.’ And when the Governor pronounced, ‘The sentence of the Court is, that you are banished out of our jurisdiction, as being a woman not fit for our society, and are to be imprisoned till the Court shall send you away,’ she very naturally asked, ‘I desire to know wherefore I am banished?’ to which the mild sagacious Governor replied, ‘Say no more! the Court knows wherefore, and is satisfied. ’

She was accordingly banished, and retired to the woods out of the jurisdiction of these persecutors, where she and her family, to the amount of sixteen persons, were murdered by the Indians, except one daughter.

At present, however, the rebellious Bostonians proceed in a more summary way; those who deny their independency, and who believe in the supremacy of the British legislature, are driven out of their holy and peaceable town, without being called even to town meeting; and if, unfortunately, they should be slow in their retreat, they are seized, stript naked, besmeared with tar, stuck all over with feathers, then carted to liberty tree, or to the gallows, and after having undergone [Page] the ceremony of whipping, according to the Levitic [...] law, they have the oath of banishment administered to them.

Thus we see the Bostonians have proceeded from bad to worse; instead of reforming they have degenerated; the sons far outdo their forefathers in rioting and rebellion; and instead of a public mock trial, they give a public Mob Punishment.

But to return again to their ancestors.

In the year 1637, after the expiration of Mr. Vane's Government, as many people of his way of thinking were expected from England, the general court of Massachusett's assembled at Boston, and passed a very extraordinary act. ‘A penalty was laid on all persons who should entertain in their houses, any stranger who came with an intent to reside, or should allow the use of any lot or habitation above three weeks, without liberty from one of the standing council or two other assistants. The penalty on private persons was forty pounds, and twenty pounds besides for every month they continued in the offence; and any town which gave or sold a lot to such stranger, was subject to a penalty of one hundred pounds.’

Of old the Bostonian Puritans by this law denied their fellow-subjects admittance to their sanctified districts; and in our days, their sons refuse access to our goods, and submission to our laws. Yet, in the face of this conviction, their advocates have the modesty to affirm, ‘that a perfect harmony always reigned between them and Great Britain, till the errors and innovations of his present Majesty's ministers.’ Can folly or impudence go farther?

That the above recited law might be all powerful, they immediately passed another ‘to punish any person by fine, imprisonment, or banishment, who should defame any court, or any of their sentences.’ By this act, even freedom of speech was adjudged criminal by the Government of Massachusett's. This new law drove numbers into voluntary banishment; others were formally disfranchised, and banished by the court. The ruling party, prayed and thanked GOD for having rid them of their enemies, and they assured HI [...], that they inflicted punishment solely ‘for his honour and glory, and for the firm establishment of his Kingdom.’ And to compleat their great work, toleration was every where preached against, as a damnable sin in rulers, which, if permitted, would bring down the vengeance of heaven upon the holy land.

Previous to the above laws the New Englanders earnestly [Page] entreated stra [...]gers to come amongst them, that is to say [...] such as had money, and of them they made great advantage. To these new comers a milk▪cow was sold at 25% or 30% which enriched the first planters; but when the strangers effects were nearly exhausted, or when any of their leading men grew jealous of their abilities, they were tried for broaching tenets contrary to the Kingdom of GOD in New England, sentenced to be banished, and their goods were confiscated for the expences of their condemnation, and to keep them alive in prison till they should be sent away.

Notwithstanding a very great opposition, the new laws, as already mentioned, were passed, and violently carried into execution; for the complete establishment of their independent commonwealth weighed more with the majority, than the advantage of the strangers money.

Such laws and practices would be deemed by men of candid, upright minds, never to have had a being, if they were not upon record. Mr. Vane, in his answer to Mr. Winthrop, discloses their iniquitous proceedings; they were not for banishing any person [...] they had made the most of his effects: "Why," says he, ‘should any in higher place speak in open court? Let us have their money first.’

Yet if we chuse to listen to the clamours of hypocrisy and deceit, and to believe them too, there are people who will publicly assure us, ‘that the Bostonians always were, and at this time are, a mild, equitable, Godly, loyal, and humane people; that they never committed any illegal acts, any unjustifiable outrages, any wanton cruelties, any deliberate barbarities; and that all the flagrant and attrocious insurrections and enormities with which they are charged, are merely the vile suggestions of Satan, and their enemies, who envy and persecute the poor people of GOD, even in the howling wilderness.’

LETTER IX.

FROM the first establishment of the Massachusett's colony to the present times, every information concerning the settlers there, as well as their own public acts, evince their intention of forming an independent state, and of throwing off their allegiance to this kingdom. In a letter from America, written in the last century, we are told, ‘that it was not new discipline which they aimed at, but Sovereignty; and that it was accounted perjury and treason in their general court, to speak of appeals to the King.’

[Page] It was also an avowed doctrine of theirs one hundred and forty years ago, ‘that as their common wealth was founded by free consent, every member thereof was tied to seek out and entertain all means that might conduce to the welfare of the incorporation.’ To this it was rationally and judiciously replied, ‘that they ought not to seek out all means that might conduce to the welfare of the incorporation, but all lawful and due means, according to the Charter they hold from the King.’ Such replies as this mightily offended them, and all who owned allegiance to England were fined and banished their dominions. In our days we find their offspring holding the same principles, for every loyal subject is driven out of their territories.

About the year 1646, a Que Warranto was brought against their Charter, in which all their different illegal and oppressive acts are enumerated; amongst the rest, that of their taking sums of money for admission into their company, and disfranchising whom they pleased and turning them out of the company. This alluded to the members of the church of England, and to those who allowed their dependence on the Crown and state of England. How then can the Bostonian agents aver that perfect harmony always subsisted between the Massachusett's and this country till within these last ten years? Is their banishing the members of the church of England, and those who owned allegiance to England, after stripping them of their effects, a proof of this perfect harmony? Surely the worthy Boston Agents must have lost all memory and recollection when they advanced such a known public untruth.

They were required to send home their patent soon after the Quo Warranto was brought against it. Then they displayed the same hypocritical submission and the same rebellious disposition that they do at this present time. In one part of their answer, they said, they ‘humbly prostrated themselves at the footstool of supreme authority;’ in another part they declared, that ‘if their patent should be taken from them, the common people would conceive themselves freed from their allegiance and subjection, and thereupon would be ready to confederate themselves under a new Government; and which would be a dangerous example to other plantations.’ The troubles which arose in England immediately after prevented the necessary regulations then intended. Indeed by our divisions and quarrels at home, Government has always been prevented [Page] from paying due attention to the proper regulations of the colonies.

There never was any thing more evident than that the people of Massachusett's intended to establish a separate state, and to exercise a despotic power over the neighbouring colonies. All means that tended to forward this plan were greedily taken hold of.

In 1641, they gave some of their people who were removing out of their colony, a very surprizing commission. They confessed in the preamble to this commission, that the lands designed to be taken possession of, were without the commonwealth of the Massachusett's, and that certain noble personages in England challenged jurisdiction there by virtue of a patent from the King; yet as they thought it was necessary to take possession of that country, they granted authority to their people to settle upon those lands, which they acknowledged did not belong to them, to form a Government, and to make war with every other power, civil and military.

To elucidate this extraordinary conduct (tho' no appology can be made for their seizing and occupying lands which they agreed belonged to others of his Majesty's subjects) it is necessary to observe, that they obliged every inhabitant of their colony to take an OATH of FIDELITY to THEIR COMMONWEALTH; and it was gravely determined in their general court, that this Oath of Fidelity should be binding; even though the persons should no longer reside within their limits. It was upon this principle that they granted the above-mentioned strange commission to the Connecticut settlers, tho' at the very same time they declared, as they themselves were out of the realm of England, it could claim no jurisdiction over them. From this, their encroaching, rapacious, and rebellious disposition is undeniable. They denied allegiance to the mother country, where it was due, and voted themselves, and usurped an authority over a neighbouring colony, where they themseves, in their own commission, confess they had no right, tho' afterwards, in defiance to their own commission, they voted in their own general court, they had a right. Inconsistency, self-contradiction, and robbery, they never minded, provided it answered their purposes of self-interest. Many instances of the same spirit occur in their history.

Every person who refused to coincide with their opinions, either religious or political, was treated in a most savage and inhuman manner. A Citizen of London happening to come to [Page] Boston, and differing in some trivial points of religion from the professing godly there, was summoned before their court of inquisition, and so terrified, that he thought it most prudent to remove to Plymouth, a town about forty miles distant; there however Bostonian recommendations followed him, and he was publicly whipped and driven to Rhode Island. His persecutors still following him with their kind christian recommendations, at Rhode Island he was first imprisoned, then whipped, and afterwards banished; from thence he fled to the town of Providence; but his persecutions were not at an end, the Bostonians sent what they called a warrant or notification to all the people of Providence, requiring them to submit to the jurisdiction of the Massachusets. To this it was replied, that they had no authority over Providence. But the poor distressed man, with some others, to be out of the reach of Bostonian cruelty, and to avoid further ill-treatment, went into the country, and purchased some lands of an Indian Chief, for which he paid forty pounds. Even to this retreat did the malice of his enemies pursue him. The Bostonians set up a claim to the lands purchased, and ordered him and his company to appear at the court of Boston. After the barbarous usage they had received, it is not to be supposed that they would willingly comply with this order. They sent back therefore a message, ‘that they were out of the Massachusets jurisdiction, and would acknowledge subjection to none but the state and government of Old England.’ This declaration exasperased the Bostonians; they sent an armed force, which after resistance carried them captive to Boston, where a charge was exhibited against them in these words.

‘Upon much examinantion and serious consideration of your writings, with your answers about them, we do charge you to be blasphemous enemies of the true religion of our Lord Jesus Christ and his holy Ordinances, and also of civil authority among the people of God, and particularly in this jurisdiction.’

This charge brings to our memory a transaction that happened several years ago in the island of Jamaica. A Scotch Officer, with several others of his corps, engaged in a billiard match with some Jews. The children of Israel, it seems, were much too expert at that game for the Caledonian and his companions. The latter; after having lost some money, mustered their whole joint stock, and staked it against the Sons of Circumcision: The game was played; the Scot lost; but he swept the stakes into his hat, drew his [Page] sword, and protected by his friends, retired, calling out, ‘Damn yere sauls, ye scoundrels, yere a' enemies to the Lord Jesus Christ.’

But to return to the people of God in New England.

The persecuted Londoner and his companions were brought before the merciful Bostonian Court; their writings were produced against them; the Governor agreed with them in their explanation of their writings, and seemed inclinable to acquit them, but was opposed by the rest of the court. Their sentences will ever remain a record of infamy against the town of Boston

They were condemned to work in jail, to wear such bolts and irons as might hinder their escape, and i [...] they broke confinement, or maintained any of the blasphemous abominable heresies with which they had been charged by the general court, or should reprove the Churches of our LORD JESUS CHRIST in these united colonies, or the civil Government, upon conviction thereof, and trial by jury, they should suffer death.

The Boston hypocrites, even in their own sentence, say that their general court charged them with blasphemy, but they do not say that they proved it.

They were confined one winter, then banished the jurisdiction of the Massachusets, and the lands they had purchased of the Indians, their goods when they were taken prisoners, were seized, sold, and disposed of as follows: To the people who took them captive, and destroyed their settlement; to pay the expences of their trial, and to support them in prison.

In 1665 they preferred a petition to the commissioner sent by the King to regulate the plentations, for redress of their wrongs, alledging that, besides all the cruelties they had suffered, eighty head of cattle had been taken from them. The Bostonians, in their answer, charged them with heretical tenets, and said that the goods seized did not pay for their prosecution; yet they could not vindicate themselves for seizing persons and goods without the limits of their jurisdiction. The poor sufferers, however, never obtained any redress.

It is observable, that the manners of large bodies of people and nations change greatly in a century or two: But this cannot be said of the Bostonians; they still are cruel oppressors and persecutors of all who deny their Sovereign Authority, or who acknowledge any dependance on England: Besides the unjustifiable injuries committed on the [Page] property and persons of individuals, they have treated with the most daring insults both the Officers of Government and the acts of the State. Can the security of property, or personal safty, be expected in a colony where the laws of the parent state have no vigour nay, even where they are spurned at? Can redress be looked for by injured individuals, when the supremacy of the Legislature itself is not only disputed, but denied and opposed?—In short, a thorough reformation must be made in the constitution of the Massachusets, or the authority of this kingdom will be covered with contempt.

The dreadful bravadoes and threats of the Bostonians, when vigorous measures are taken with them, will all evaporate in smoke; instead of boldly and rebelliously manning their batteries, they will skulk to their town meeting, and there with religious grimace and holy phrase, they will vote us all, Enemies of the LORD JESUS CHRIST, and of the great town of Boston.

THROUGHOUT all nature it is observable, that animals of cruel and deceitful dispositions are the least susceptible of gratitude. This observation may with justice be carried into human life. It has been exemplified in the Bostonians. The merchants, not only of London, but over all the British Dominions, in the year 1766, strenuously exerted all their interest to obtain the repeal of the Stamp Act. To this struggle they were principally excited by the piteous complaints of the Bostonians, who held forth to them fallacious views of emolument. Unhappily their exertions were successful; they, and their country, have since felt it; and now are convinced of it. The mistaken merchants, administration, and the whole kingdom, expected gratitude would be deeply rooted in the breasts of the Bostonians for the signal successful effort they had made in their favour. But the obligation was too great for their narrow souls to comprehend in its full extend; administeration wished the Bostonians to receive the repeal, granted at the earnest request of the whole mercantile body of Great Britain, with moderation and thankfulness. The merchants of London, impressed with the same ideas, wrote cautionary letters to their principal correspondents, not to shew any undue signs of exultation. But the repeal had been granted, and their monitions were treated with contempt. Their [...] quest over the parent state, instead of being received [...] modest affection, was celebrated [...] the most illiberal [...] their General [Page] Indecent triumph; bells rung, bonfires blazed, taverns were opened, and houses illuminated. The rejoicings on the conquest of Canada, comparatively speaking, were no more to these than the feeble glimmering of a rush [...]ight to the broad [...] of the sun at noon-day. Every dirty fellow, just risen from his kennel, congratulated his neighbour on their glorious victory over England; and they were so intoxicated with their own vast importance, that the lowest wretch amongst them conceived himself superior to the first English merchant. Aye, said they, we have shewn our spirit, we have convinced them of our consequence; they feared [...]; they repealed their foolish act; they durst not do otherways, if they had we should have ruined them These were the literal expressions of the grateful, dutiful, and loyal people of Boston. These were the answers they returned to the sensible men amongst them, who [...] decency, decorum, and gratitude. They could hardly prevail upon themselves to write a few cold complimentary letters to the English merchants who had acted so vigorously in their cause.—An unfortunate vigour indeed for Britain!—They bestowed their favours without wisdom; and they have reaped the fruit of ingratitude.—The s [...]ake that they have warmed in their bosoms, has now reared its ven [...]mous crest against them. Such are always the effects of ill bestowed, injudicious, and unnatural obligation.

FROM the tremendous News-paper threats of the pitiful Bostonians, people, who did not know them, would be apt to believe them a very powerful city. Mighty they are, indeed, if all they have told us is true: to them ancient Nineveh and Babylon would seem but villages. The truth is, that this very great town of Boston contains of men, women, children, and negroe slaves, about fifteen thousand souls. What, cries our good people here, negroe slaves in Boston! It cannot be! It is nevertheless very true. For though the Bostonians have grounded their rebellions on the "immutable laws of nature," and have resolved in their Town Meetings, that ‘It is the first principle in civil society, founded in nature and reason, that no law of society can be binding on any individual, without his consent given by himself in person, or by his representative of his own free election.’ Yet notwithstanding the immutable [...] of nature, and this public resolution of their own in [...]own Meeting, they actually have in town two thousand [...]. [Page] Negroe slaves, who neither by themselves in person, nor by representatives of their own free election ever gave consent to their present state of bondage. That this great Town of Boston, which contains about 3000 able, but not willing men to fight has disturbed the whole British empire for these last ten years with their seditious clamours is certainly fact. This however is not asserted in praise of our vigour, but in praise of our moderation. Like cowards unopposed they have pushed their insurrections and treasons to the last extremity, and are now awaiting their punishment. Notwithstanding all their bravadoes, the faction there does not amount to a fourth part of the inhabitants. If there had been any vigour in the magistracy many of their outrages might have been prevented; but there unhappily prevails among the most loyal subjects of that town, an opinion that they can do nothing of themselves, without the intervention of the supreme legislature here. So that the faction, tho' small when compared to the rest of the inhabitants, have hitherto carried every thing before them. Their late mad action has brought their affairs to a crisis; and no man can be a friend to his country who opposes their punishment. Indeed punishment it cannot be called, they are only at present to pay for the tea they have wantonly destroyed. But it is ardently wished by every lover of peace and good order, that some salutary regulations may take place in the Massachusetts.

LETTER X.

ALTHOUGH the original pretences which the Bostonians held forth for their emigration from this country, were the enjoyment of civil and religious liberty, yet we have shewn that they not only denied the enjoyment of these liberties to many of their fellow subjects, but that they persecuted them in the most illegal, oppressive, and unrelenting manner. Indeed hypocrites are the most cruel of all persecutors.

But the exercise of their oppressions and cruelties were not confined to individuals. Whose Colonies felt the unjust exactions of the haughty and tyrannical Bostonians. In 1649 a dispute arose between Massachusetts and Connecticut about supporting a fort erected by the latter. The neighbouring Colonies of Plymouth and Newhaven were appe [...]ed to as Umpires to decide the cause. The Bostonians suspecting judgement would be given against them, passed a [...]aw in their [Page] General Court, imposing a duty upon the other Colonies, of which the following is an extract.

It is therefore ordered by this Court, and the authority thereof, that all goods belonging or any way appertaining to any inhabitants of the jurisdiction of Plymouth, Connecticut or Newhaven, that shall be imported within the Castle, or exported from any part of the Bay, shall pay such custom as is hereafter expressed, viz. all skins of beaver, otter, mouse, mouse deer, &c. two pence per skin; and all goods packed in hogsheads or otherwise, ten shillings a ton; corn and meal two pence a bushel; biscuit six pence per hundred, on pain of forfeiture.

We shall now give a comentary on this extraordinary usurpation of supreme power over the adjoining Colonies, written by one of their own historians. Had, says he, the Massachusets laid a duty on goods from Connecticut only, as they had the dispute with them, they might have had at least a colour to justify them; but to extend their resentment against the other two colonies, no excuse can be framed for it. It was a mere exertion of power, and a proof of their great superiority, which enabled them in effect to depart from the union or combination of the Colonies for their mutual defence, whensoever they found it for their interest; and if done by a single magistrate would have been pronounced tyrannical and oppressive.

Upon the passing this law, the two Colonies of Plymouth and Newhaven, being too weak to contend with the power of the Massachusetts, observed in reply, that a burthensome custom had been imposed on them, though they were not interested in the dispute, but had interfered at the request of the Massachusetts, and had impartially considered the matter and given their opinion; therefore they recommended it to the General Court of the Massachusets, seriously to consider whether such proceedings agreed with the law of love, and the tenor and import of the articles of their confederation.

This is strong evidence of their grasping, encroaching, and despotic principles. The troubles then in England left them at full liberty to act as they pleased, and to exercise their sovereign authority over their neighbours, as best suited their will and pleasure. In our days, we find them still deceitful and oppressive. Four years ago they stopped all intercourse with New Hampshire and Rhode Island, because these provinces imported goods from England publickly, whilst they themselves, the professing Bostonians, imported [Page] a thousand times the quantity privately, and were anathematizing and driving out of their hypocritical town every person who refused to join in their unwarrantable measures.

Another "principal end of their plantation" according to their own professions, was the glorious propagation of the Gospel among the poor Heathen Their methods of conversion were truly Spanish; they propagated the Gospel by the sword; they seized the Indian lands, that these poor Heathen might have nothing to care for but their salvation, and then cut their throats for the good of their souls: Even the tenderness of females was no protection, no safeguard, against the rapacious inhuman cruelty of those holy hypocrites; men and women, without discrimination, and without pity, fell sacrifices to their lust of acquisition. Soon after their first intrusion they took several captives; the men were put to the sword upon the spot, and the Indians in alliance with them claiming the women, they murdered them also to end the dispute.

The treatment of Miantonimo, a famous Indian Sachem, will sufficiently display New England treachery and barbarity. Under the pretence that he was their enemy, and was plotting their ruin, they exhibited articles of complaint against him, and required him to come to Boston to give satisfaction. Miantonimo possessed a noble and manly spirit; he came in person to the Court, and demanded, ‘that his accusers should be brought face to face, and that, if they failed in their proof, they should suffer death as he himself would have deserved that punishment, if he had been guilty’ His composed, ingenuous and spirited [...] our confounded his accusers; the Connecticut people, to finish the trial, were going to fall upon him and destroy him, but were prevented by the Massachusetts. Thus he was saved at this time, but marked out for future murder.

About three years after, he was unfortunately taken prisoner by the Indians, and carried alive as an acceptable sacrifice to the New Englanders. The Commissioners of the united Colonies were then assembled. After keeping him a considerable time in prison, they ordered the Indians to carry him out of their jurisdiction, and slay him. This sentence was immediately executed, several of the New Englanders accompanying the Indians to see the murder duly performed.

Whilst he remained in prison he was fed with the hopes of life, provided his subjects would contribute a sufficient ransom. The poor Indians had nothing but their wampum [Page] and their furs; of these they raised to the value of forty pounds: the whole was brought to Miantonimo, and by him given to the deceitful New Englandmen; who after having cheated and stript the subjects of their property, infamously murdered their Prince.

Such deceitful barbarity roused the resentment of the Indians. The Commissioners of the Colonies to prevent a war, entered into what they called an examination of the allegations against themselves; and the following is what they thought proper to publish in defence of themselves and their countrymen.

‘Some loose discourse had passed, that for such quantities of wampum, and such parcels of other goods, to a great value, there might have been some probability of sparing his life; yet no such parcels were brought, not any ransom agreed, nor so much as any serious treaty begun, to redeem their imprisoned Sachem: and as to the wampum and goods, they were but small parcels, and scarce considerable for such a purpose, so they were disposed of by Miantonimo himself, to sundry persons, for courtesies received during his imprisonment, and upon hope of future favour.’

Every person of common sense and common humanity will shu [...]der, his b [...]ood wild run [...], when he reads this detestable defence; indeed, defence it is not; it is a compleat confession of their treacherous, murderous guilt.

The present faction at Boston seem to be possessed with the infernal spirit of their forefathers: they carry their cruelties as far as their dread of retribution will allow them. It is not their humanity [...]hat prompts them to save the lives of the Custom House Officers, whom they strip naked, cover with tar and feathers, and whip at the gallows, but their fear of punishment.

THERE is such a superlative degree of effrontery in the faction of Boston, and in their defenders here, that if we had not the fullest proofs of their outrageous treasons, we very probably might be led to conceive that all the truths told us of [...] were only, as they call them, the misrepresentations of their enemies. It is an old stale trick of the Bostonians, in their public votes, to stigmatize with the name of enemies all who speak of them in their real character. Impudence and falshood never before were carried to such a heigth as by them and their confederates Governor Pow [...]all rises in the House of Commons and assures the members [Page] that the Bostonians are a loyal and peaceful people, even in spite of the conviction which they themselves have forced upon us by their opposing acts of Parliament [...] and destroying the India Company's Tea. This worthy gentleman does not expect to be believed because he knows that his assertions are absolute untruths; but he is enraged at administration because he is out of place. A bad advocate and a bad cause afford no prospect of success. The writers without doors are equally unfortunate with the speakers within. They retail to the public the vile suggestions, braggadocios, and [...], transmitted them from Boston, intermingled with their own flummery, absurdities, and threats. They declare, that the measures of Parliament to bring back the Boston rebels to their duty are worse than Star Chamber proceedings, adopted without accusation, or even shadow of evidence. Surely the flowery agent who hazarded these assertions, imagined that his single anonymous affirmation would outweigh truth itself. Has not the town of Boston been the seat of sedition, riot, and robbery, for these ten years? Have not the rebels there pulled down and plundered houses, expelled the King's Officers, destroyed a valuable property, and denied the authority of the laws? Yet after all those villanies and treasons we are told, there is no evidence against them. There is one thing, however, in which every rational man will agree with Mr. Agent▪ that is, that ‘the tea was destroyed by the avowed enemies of the town of Boston;’ for no set of men but the faction at Boston, who have always been the avowed enemies both of their town and country, would have, for these many years back committed so many cowardly and infamous acts of abuse and oppression. Knaves and traitors are always enemies to the community in which they reside. It would have been extremely injudicious in the Governor to have called in either Military or Naval assistance. If he had been so unwise, the Bostonians would have had their old excuse, ‘that the behaviour of the soldiers and seamen irritated the inhabitants and brought on the destruction of the Tea, and the stripping, tarring, feathering, and whipping of the Custom House Officers; for that till they were called upon by the Governor, the town had been in perfect peace’ Formerly they complained that their orderly behaviour was disturbed by the troops, and now they complain that their disorderly conduct was not prevented by the troops. Faction will always be clamorous, and will utter the grossest absurdities and contradictions, rather than be silent. The governor [Page] would have been unpardonable, had he required the assistance of the Admiral The Bostonians in their Town Meeting, in their House of Representatives, and even in his Majesty's Council, have always publicly declared that the Posse Comitatus was sufficient to preserve good order and to enforce the laws; the Governor therefore wisely left the regulation and protection of the Town to the Posse Comitatus assembled at [...] Hall. There after annulling the Act of Parliament relative to the Tea, by a vote of their own, in a most unanimous and respectable manner, they proceeded to destroy the Tea; and then, by way of celebrating their victory over the Mother Country, they indulged themselves in the old recreation of tarring, feathering, and whipping the Revenue Officers. After having committed any mischief, the Bostonians always result to the miserable subterfuge of protesting their innocence and their peaceable behaviour, and throwing the blame of their own villany on strangers, Boys, Negroes, and Mowhawks. Thus after a daring insurrection in the last century, Darforth, one of the Council, wrote to their Prophet, Dr. Mather, ‘ [...] that the business was acted by soldiers that came armed into Boston from all parts, to the great astonishment of all beholders’ Some years ago, when the faction pulled down and robbed several houses, they published, that the townsmen had been in perfect, quiet, and that the outrages and robberies had been committed by strangers, boys, and negroes, to the great amazement of all beholders; and recently, after having determined the destruction of the Tea in their Town Meeting, and immediately afterwards destroying it, they assured us of their innocence, and in [...]i [...]ed that the deed was perpetrated by Mohawks, no doubt to the great amazement of all beholders. Now, notwithstanding all their hypocritical and lying pretences, they are, to the joy of every good subject under the correcting hand of Parliament; and the minister, if he carries into effectual execution the laws for their present punishment and future restraint, will be revered as long as England exists.

LETTER XI.

MANY instances have already been given of the oppressive and tyrannical disposition and actions of the people of Boston and the province of Massachusets. Though they fled to America under the pretext of enjoying [...]ivil and religious freedom, yet no sooner were they arrived [Page] in that country than we find them the most intolerant and cruel inquisitors. Antinomians and A [...]nabaptists were fined, imprisoned, banished, and their goods confiscated: The members of the Church of England were treated in the same despotic inhuman manner. Quakers met with yet more barbarous usage—they were hanged.

The neighbouring Colonies were overawed and taxed by them; and they murdered the Indians to make way to the possession of their lands Thy denied the authority of England, because, as they said, they were out of the kingdom; yet they claimed and exercised sovereign sway over the adjoining Colonies, even while they confessed these Colonies were out of their jurisdiction. These multifarious crimes are not the idle suggestions of fancy, but are authenticated facts, drawn from their own public acts and records.

During the whole course o [...] their history i [...] is evident that instead of being governed by the Crown of England, and acting dutifully as subjects, they have been always governed by a faction among themselves; and that they have uniformly refused subjection to the supreme legislature of this kingdom. Being ignorant perhaps, or rather not willing to own, that an Englishman wherever he goes, always carries his alleigance along with him.

When they discovered a fertile country they immediately took possession of it without either have or purchase from the Indians; pretending that ‘the Dutch* would probably seize it i [...] the English did not; and that it was too good for any but friends;’ intimating by this, that the lands were too good for the Dutch or Indians, though they were the absolute property of the latter Upon a discovery of this fort they wrote to Boston ‘that the Providence of God had guided them to an excellent country.’ And when they had seized it by force, they hypocritically declared that ‘it has pleased God further gracioussly to crown their poor endeavours with success.’

Their sentiments with regard to the Indians may be fully comprehended by reading the following extracts from the opinions of Governor Winthrop, relative to, and in vindication of some of their wars.

‘For clearing of this point I desire you seriously to consider an argument or two. First, He is either a neighbour or no neighbour If he be not a neighbour, then he is no relation to us by the second Table, and then we may [Page] rob, beat, or kill him, without the breach of any commandment. Nor are we, in this case, to stand upon the justice of the quarrel.’—Human nature shrinks back with horror, on the perusal of such diabolical doctrines. Here is the holy Governor, the Guide, and Shepherd of the Lord's people, logically proving, from the Decalogue itself, that [...] flock may innocently, and without sin, commit all forts of Injuries. Villanies, Robberies, and Murders!

Now (says he) for the point of danger. There is no course or voyage undertaken by us, but may expose the undertakers to peril, and may occasion displeasure and danger to us from abroad; but such dangers have not hitherto deterred us from any probable way of our safety or advantage, nor have we sustained any harm, hitherto, by easting ourselves upon the LORD and his good providence in such cases. I will remember you of some: When we first set up reformation in our church-way, did not this expose us to as great an hazard as we could run, both from abroad and at home? Did not our friends in England forewarn us of it, ere we came away? Did not some amongst ourselves, and those no mean ones, inculcate our inevitable dangers at home; from no small company left out of Church Fellowship, and Civil Offices, and Freedom, hitherto? Yet we trusted in GOD, though there appeared no means of safety, and went on our way, and the Lord hath preserved us, and frustrated all counsels and attempts against us.

Again, when, upon grievous complaints against us to the Lords of the Privy Council, of such civil innovations amongst us as we could not justify by the laws of that state, a strict order and command was sent on us to deliver up our Patent, or else to expect to have it fetched by force. What greater danger could there be towards us, than appeared in not obeying this command? Yet we had then courage enough to return an answer, without our patent.

When we undertook a war against the Piquots, which no necessity put us upon, but only in point of conscience, for they had done us no injury, our friends of Plymouth complained of it; so did our friends of Connecticut, laying forth the dangers we had exposed them unto by it, wishing we had forborne to a fitter season: Yet in due time the Lord's hand appeared in it, to the good of the whole country, and we felt but little of those great dangers which were justly to be feared.

Admit we should have stepped aside out of our way, [Page] doth the favour and protection of our GOD wholly depend upon our perfect walking?

The above extracts contain a full view of their encroachments, their knaveries, their hypocrisies, their persecutions, their independent notions, their detestable injustice to the Indians, and their horrid blasphemies; for the Supreme Being was always brought in by them as their director and conductor, even to their most dreadful crimes.

From these confessions of their Governor, under his own hand, we perceive that they never omitted any probable means of advantage, whether good or bad; that they called their persecutions of the members of the church of England reformation; that as early as their first settlement they denied the authority of the English Legislature; that they acted in opposition to its laws; that they gloried in their disobedience; that they made such innovations as they could not justify by the laws of England; that they made wa [...] on the peaceable Indians who had done them no injury, well knowing the superiority of their fire arms over bows and arrows; and that they crowned all their infamous transactions, with hypocritically and blasphemously pretending, ‘that† they had an aweful respect to divine rules, endeavouring to walk uprightly and inoffensively; that they came into these parts of the world with desire to advance the KINGDOM OF THE LORD JESUS CHRIST; to enjoy his ordinances in peace; that their Redeemer was the Lord of Hosts, the mighty one in battle; that all the shields of the earth were in his hands, and that in him they put their trust.’

The rebellious sons are now playing the same game against England, which their rebellious fore-fathers did in the last century; but happily at present we have leisure and vigour enough to correct them. We advance nothing but on the very best foundation; and to convince the public shall give some extract; from the instructions of the town of Boston to their representatives, dated May 17, 1770.

No period since the perilous times of our venerable forefathers, has worn a more gloomy and alarming aspect

The dreadful catastrophe threatens universal havock, and presents an awful warning to hazard all.

For many years past we have with sorrow beheld the [Page] Approaching Conflict; various have been the causes that have pressed on this decisive period; and every thing now conspires to prompt full exertion of our utmost vigilance, wisdom, and firmness; and as the exigencies of the times require not only the [...] abilities of true policy, but the more martial virtues conduct, valour and intrepidity; so Gentlemen, in giving you our suffrages at this election, we have devolved upon you a most important trust.

We have for a long time beheld with grief and astonishment the unwarrantable practice of ministerial instructions to the commanders in chief of this province. It is high time, Gentlemen, for this matter to be searched into and remedied

It is repugnant to the very first principle of true Government, th [...] a remote power not only much disconnected, but often different in interest, should undertake at pleasure to controul, nay command, in affairs of the last moment for the benefit and relief of the people A power three thou and transmarine miles distant, not only ignorant of our true welfare, but if perchance discovered, interested to oppose it; not only attempting to oppress but actually oppressing;—at will to fix the residence of our Parliament, and order that Parliament when and how to proceed; again, as it were, sword in hand to demand our property. These are doctrines and political solecisms which may take root and spring up under the meridian of modern Rome, but we trust in God will not flourish in the soil and climate of British America. We therefore charge you not to grant any supplies to the instruments of Government.

It is now no time to halt between two opinions—the demands of fraud, violence, and usurpation are insatiable.

If the Bostonians had not published this bombast treasonable stuff themselves, and transmitted it to us, we should have been inclined to believe it had been issued from St. Luke's.

Notwithstanding the frantic publications of the faction, there are many worthy and loyal subjects in Boston, but the dread of the discipline of tarring and feathering, and the copious administrations of the treasures of Cloacina upon their houses, even so as to form a complete blockade, have for some years past terrified them into a seeming acquiescence with the rebels.

[Page] We are; it seems, a "remote power," not only much disconnected but of different interest, and have neither a right to controul nor command them—no—not for their own benefit and relief. His Majesty's instructions to his Governor are unwarrantable acts. The laws passed by our three estates are the demands of "fraud, violence and usurpation." And they are determined to hazard all in the approaching conflict and decisive period. Their ravings and threats are only the vapourings of arrant cowardice. We know them too well to believe a syllable of their bravadoes, or of their wisdom, martial virtues, conduct, valour, or interpidity. In the days of their just chastisment, instead of putting themselves in battle array, these blustering rebellious knaves will croud to Fane [...]il Hall, and to their Meeting-Houses, there, a [...]ter expressing their wonder and mortification, that the King and Parliament should treat such dutiful subjects with such unexampled rigour, they will modestly vote themselves innocent of the charges brought against them; they will remit their cause to the Lord, to preserve themselves from danger, and will lovingly consign over the whole island of Great Britain to the Devil and [...] Angels.

Notes

*

Counsellor Stought [...]n's letter to the Governor.

↵

†

Declaration of the Confederate Colonies of New England, published at Boston, after the Murder of Miantonimo.

↵

LETTER XII.

THERE is a good sense and candour inherent in human nature when not b [...]assed by prejudices. Superior to all other nations these endowments prevail in the minds of Englishmen. In a question debated before the tribunal of the public, it is only necessary to ground it on the principles of common sense and of law, and they immediately are masters of it; for common sense and the law of the kingdom are nearly allied. It must however be allowed that the fully arguments of vanity and self-interest very often betray us into a temporary opposition to our own welfare. Insidious deceivers hang out to us false notions of our rights, at the very time they are robbing us of our long-boasted privileges. The hireling, of faction thunder out against us delusive threats, that they may more readily lead us into measures destructive to our real interest. The good of the state is their bane: they can only live in troubled waters; and therefore when hunger presses, they endeavour to instil into us fears formed in their Garret Manufactory. We are; it seems, to be ruined if we punish the outrageous Bostonians for [...] repeated rebellions. England is to be undone if she presumes to introduce order and government into the [Page] Province of Massachusets: Surely no Englishman in his senses can be swayed with such empty menaces. The housebreaker and the murderer, when punishment is awarded, might as well threaten us with the downfall of our constitution, and upon as good grounds, as the traiterous Bostonians and their agents. Individuals corporations, and Colonies, are all equally amenable to the laws; and when any of them endanger the welfare of the state, they are not only liable to, but deserving of, punishment. It would be considered as a very extrardinary defence at the Old Bailey, if a culprit on trial there, for breaking open Mr. Sheriff's house on Tower Hill, should declare that as he had never given his consent to the laws against Burglary, either by himself in person, or by a representative of his own choice, that therefore he could not be legally condemned. Notwithstanding this Bostonian defence, he would certainly he brought in guilty; and in spite of all his clamours for a vote in the choice of representatives for the City of London, I fancy that the most patriotic gentlemen of the London Tavern would not endeavour to rescue him from undergoing the punishment of his crimes [...] Tyburn.

This is only designed as a preparatory hint to those gentlemen who are such warm advocates in defence of the rebellion at Boston. Their future fate depends on their future good behaviour. For no reasonable man surely would wish to animadvertion, or to expose, these persons, who are sensible of the delinquency of their Constituents: [...] if certain persons are in a proper state of mind, it would be best proved by their silence.

And now for the venerable forefathers of the loyal Saints of Boston.

The tyranny, iniquities, and rebellious conduct of the venerable patriarchs of New England, as well as of their hopeful progeny, the present Bostonians, have already been strongly elucidated. From their own public declarations we have seen, that to serve their own plundering inhuman purposes they brought the sacred Commandments of the Almighty to authorise their depradations and cruelties towards the poor Indians. They first proved, to their own satisfaction, that the Indians were not their neighbours; and then they proceeded to "rob and kill them," as opportunity offered.

When the minds of these venerable miscreants were loaded with such a weight of oppressive guilt, it is not to be supposed they would boggle at trivial crimes. Their continued [Page] tyrannic exertions, exercised in an inferior degree, served to alleviate and deaden the recollection of their more dreadful barbarities. Constant action was absolutely necessary in order to stem the incessant tide of heartrending reflection. Their unjustifiable oppressions of those who followed the rites of the English Church were therefore to them a relief from care, and served as a mere pastime.

In 1646, several persons of note, members of the Church of England, presented a petition to the General Court at Boston, complaining ‘That the fundamental laws of England were not owned by the Colony as the basis of the Government; that they were denied the enjoyment of their religious privileges; that they were debarred from all civil employments, without any just cause, not being permitted to hear the least office, though it could not be denied they were well qualified; that they had not even a vote in choosing magistrates, o [...] other civil or military Officers, notwithstanding they had expended their youth, borne the burden of the day, wasted much of their estates for the subsistence of these poor plantations, paid all assessments, rates, taxes, at least equal, if not exceeding others; yea, when the war was denounced against the Narrowgan [...]et Indians, without their consent, their goods were seized on far the service, themselves and servants, especially, forced and impressed to serve in the war, to the hazarding of all things most dear and near unto them: That therefore they desire that civil liberty and freedom be forthwith granted to all Englishmen, without imposing any oaths or covenants on them, which could not be warranted by the Letters Patent, and which seemed not to concur with the Oath of Allegiance imposed by Parliament, or, at least, detracted from their native country and laws, which were stiled foreign, and this place termed rather a free state, than a Colony or corporation of England. We at least intreat, that the bodies of us and ours may not be impressed, nor our goods forcibly taken away. Further, that none of the English nation be banished, unless they break the laws of England.’

Under such circumstances of oppression as the petitioners laboured, surely their grievances could not be more mildly expressed, or more rationally enforced: They claimed only the legal privileges which all good subjects ought to enjoy, whilst they act in obedience to the laws—personal safety, security of property, and liberty of conscience. All these are undoubted privileges of every Englishman residing in any [Page] part of his Majesty's dominions. The persecuting independents of Massachusets, however, entertained far different opinions But it is candid to allow them a fair hearing, and they shall speak for themselves.

The General Court of the Massachusets, sitting at Boston, issued the following declaration, in answer to the above receited petition.

§

In this petition, which is the first of the sort that we have received, and, as we conceive, without precedent in this COMMONWEALTH we first observed, It were a dreadful, daring presumption, if the blessed name of the Most High God (whose honour is so often avouched to be their alm in this design) should be made to serve so corrupt a project; and we put them in mind, how dangerous it is to engage the great name of the Almighty to advance their corrupt and uncharitable designs, It is not safe to dally with things sacred. Our polity and fundamentals are framed according to the laws of England, and according to the Charter; so that the petitioners, if they have not cast off all modesty, must needs be ashamed of their complaint: If they cannot charge us with any thing morally evil, they are impudent slanderers. But let us pull off their mask:—Some have lived in Virginia, and other plantations, where the Government hath not been so easy to them as here; others have lived in KENT, under the laws of Gavelkind, more repugnant to the common laws of England than any of ours; others have had to do in Maritime affairs; others in causes of Testamentry, and Matrimonial; others in chancery, and others in London and other corporations: One is a Doctor, a Batchalor, and [...]only a Sojourner; a second, a Church Member, but no Freeman; a third, a Freeman, but no Church Member; a fourth, a Clerk in the Prothonotaries Office; a fifth, a young merchant little acquainted with Commonwealth affairs; a sixth was taken up by accident; a seventh is an old London Grocer. If this be their head, sure they have an unsavoury head, not seasoned with much salt.—Another matter which troubles them is, that they are compelled, under a severe fine, every Lord's day to appear at the Congregation. The law which they account severe is this: Any two assistants may fine or imprison such persons, inhabiting here, as shall usually absent themselves from church meetings upon the Lord's day, so as the fine exceed not five shillings for one offence. In their conclusion, these remonstrants prognosticate what [Page] peace and fel [...]city we may certainly expect, both in church and commonwealth, if their petitions be granted, viz. That every man be left to his own liberty. From such peace, unity, and prosperity, the Lord deliver us and all the seed of Israel, to the coming of Christ Jesus! Amen.

Signed, by Order of the General Court, ISAAC NOWELL.

The above declarations of the Great and General Court of the Massachusets conveened at Boston is, at once, ridiculous, laughable, and detestible. The Petition, they say, was the first of the sort, and of consequence without precedent. It was also a daring presumption in those who believed and practised the mode of worship according to the English Churches, to beg leave to praise God according to their own consciences!—Nay, it was an uncharitable, corrupt, and dangerous project That it was dangerous, indeed, the poor Church of Englandmen soon severely felt. The Rebels of Massachusets impudently declared, that their constitution was framed according to the laws of England, at the very moment they refused the Petitioners leave to worship God after the manner of the Church of England. And what was still more arbitrary, the Episcopalians were fined every Sunday five shillings if they did not attend the Bostonian independent meeting houses, to hear their own church government and religious principles reviled in the grossest terms of abuse. The Petitioners in the General Court declaration are called impudent slanderers, because they could not charge the professing Saints with any thing morally evil: Yet it is plain the Petitioners had charged them with vile imoralities, for one part if the reply of the Godly Bostonians is as follows:

And for that shameful disease they mention, we may see how ready they are to publish any thing to our disgrace. They might have covered this blemish, being the first of this kind we have known in this country, and no guilt thereof lying upon the government, or upon the country that we can find. There came, indeed, the last year out of England a lewd person infected with this disease, who stayed not long with us, but since his departure some others have been infected, but by what means we cannot find.—But this was more observeable wherein the Remonstrants might have seen the good hand of the Lord towards us, that a stranger coming into the country at [Page] that time, who had a special skill in that malady, thro' the blessing of God soon cured them.

Signed, by Order of the General Court, ISAAC NOWELL.

Here we find the General Court vindicating the Government (which indeed was not charged) from any suspicion of its being affected with the foul disease alluded to. They confess, however, that a lewd person from England had been admitted amongst them; and that even after he had departed, several of them had been infected, they could not tell how. But still keeping up their blasphemous hypocrisy, they bless the Lord for sending into their unpolluted land, a skilful stranger who speedily cured all the seed of Israel.

But it is time to animadvert upon the other parts of the General Court declaration.

It seems that some of the Petitioners having resided formerly in Virginia, in Kent, and in London; their being concerned in maritime affairs, in testamentary, matremonial and Chancery cases, were sufficient reasons for the Pharisaical Bostonians refusing them civil and religious liberty. Any tittle, circumstance, or situation in life appears to have been urged at a solid reason against the Petitioners. Protection, safety, and tolera [...]ion, were denied them, because they were Doctors, Batchelors, Sojourners. One was rejected because he was one of their own Church Members, another because he was a Freeman, others as they were Clerks, or Merchants; and amidst the multitude of their wi [...]e valid reasonings, innocent old age was to be persecuted only because the Petitioner was an old London Grocer.

After the Great and General Court had sent abroad the above learned Manifesto, they summoned the Petitioners before them. The charge against them was contemptuous and seditious expressions. In vain they urged their right to Petition; in vain they claimed an appeal to the Courts in England: they were all severely fined. And besides this punishment, the Reverend New England Saints, headed by Prophet Cotton, thundered out damnation against them from all the pulpits throughout the Holy Land.

Many of the Petitioners resenting the severity of their persecution and punishment, resolved to go home and complain of the Lord's people. But these Pharasees entreated the Lord to confound them, and he heard their prayers; for their persons were apprehended, their houses plundered, and their papers seized: So that through the Lord's gracious assistance, [Page] the evil designs of Satan and his emissaries were disappointed, and the dear Saints of God triumphed.

HINTS TO A YOUNG POLITICIAN.

THE political scriblers who range themselves on the side of England in opposition to the loyal town of Boston, are the dullest wretches nature ever produced; they are such fools as to believe positive facts, in contradiction to the positive falshoods daily retailed by the Bostonian Agents; they are so weak as to think that the Boston people have actually destroyed Tea to the value of 15,000 l. merely because the Governor of the Massachusets, and the Admiral commanding there, have affirmed it in their letters to the Secretary of State, Now these fellows must be altogether devoid of true genuine patriotism, who give credit to any thing advanced by the servants of Government. Your only men to [...] trusted are those honest men who beseech you not to be led [...]astray by the evidence of your own senses, but to be led by the [...] by themselves, just wherever they please. Infinite advantages will acrue to you, if you are once possessed of this sort of political faith; you have no occasion either to think or to reason; the Boston Agents will save you that trouble; they will give you a Creed; they will furnish you with their arguments: When the New-Englanders burn his Majestys ships, refuse to pay their debts, imprison their creditors, pull down the houses of the King's Officers, and commit acts of piracy, they will teach you to refute them all at once, by a simple negative; or, if you chuse to be eloquent, you must declare that all the truths brought against the Boston Saints are misrepresentations, lies, and illiberal abuse. Let ever so many cogent proofs be brought against you, never keep silence, never forget those few magical words, for they will have a wonderful effect on every person that is as ignorant as yourself. The more ignorant you are, you will of course be the more obstinate; for ignorance is the mother of obstinacy. If you chuse to be industrious, and to make converts, you must never strive to elucidate your cause, but to puzzle your antagonist: For example; if the province of Massachusets are rebellious, you must declare they have a right to be so, because they are oppressed with taxes, and because the King has granted them a Charter. Should it be replied, that there is no exemption from taxation in their Charter, you must then say their Charter implies it; although it should be an untruth; for perhaps your opponent has never seen the Charter, and then he cannot contradict you. But [Page] i [...] he should be too knowing even in this, you may assert any other absurdity. Absurdities are innumerable.—The King has given a Charter, and he cannot take it away. Nay, he is only one of the three Estates, and yet not all three can abrogate a Charter granted by one of them. The Charter is an excuse for rebellion, it is a shield, against punishment. Though it is true, that it is given the subject to limit him to do nothing repugnant to the laws of England, yet you are to insist that it absolutely gives him a power to throw off his allegiance to England. In short you can never want something to say as long as you can speak; and there is another happiness in this world, that every where there are fools, some of whom will believe what you say merely because they do not understand you. To be incessantly loquacious is therefore a great chance in your favour. If you cannot reason, at least you can bawl: thunder out the captivating words, "Oppression," "Slavery," "Liberty," and "Polital Constitution." If you should be asked what constitutes the political constitution of the Massachusets? answer; their Charter, which authorises the Bostonians to be guilty of all sorts of injuries, perjuries, and treasons. Let them tell you that no Charter or political constitution can vindicate crimes—never mind that— [...]oar out that the loyal Bostonians are oppressed. If it is proved, that they are not the oppressed, but the oppressors, deny it; and alternately ring the changes on the words "loyal Subjects," "Godly Subjects," "intollerable grievances," "illegal impositions," and "tyrannic Government," and many fools, and many knaves will join in the cry; as opportunity offers you may confederate with the latter to cheat the former, but be sure all the while yon are pillaging and betraying them, hypocritically to cry out; like a true Bostonian—The Lord rebuke Satan.

LETTER XIII.

PEOPLE possessed of generosity and candour, though the most easily misled, though [...] often sacrifice their own internal feelings to the artful insinuations of bad men, yet they are not to be deceived for a length of time. The rectitude of their hearts soon revolts at the u [...]due measures of their seducers; and after many uneasy doubts and struggles, and many close examinations and scrut [...]ies into the pretended virtue and patriotism of their false bosom friends, they vigorously assert their own right of judgment, and most asiduously oppose those very men, whom, at first, they so warmly [Page] supported, This is the real private and public character Englishmen.

The unanimity, therefor of the public, relative to the measures pursued by Parliament, for the indemnification of the India Company, and for the regulation and preservation of the province of Massachuse [...]s, is far from surprising; it is natural, and from the beginning of the business, was reasonably to be expected. The people of Boston themselves have pressed upon us full and repeated proofs of their dangerous commotions, insurrections, and unjustifiable acts. They have even forced conviction upon those, who were most unwilling to believe any thing to their prejudice—their best friends.

Granting compensation for the tea destroyed is but a matter of justice to the India Company; blocking up the port of Boston till the inhabitants say they are peaceable and return to their duty, is a just, but a temporary expedient. The constitution of their internal government must be altered, that the people hereafter may be restrained within the due bounds of law; for all liberty without the circle of the law, is licentiousness.

To accomplish the great purpose of restoring the laws to their primitive vigour and operation, the Charter of the Massachusets must be annihilated. It is constructed on principles much too democratic, and subversive of all peace, good order, and government; it is held forth to us by the Bostonian rioters not only as their warrant for the commission of all sorts of criminal violence, but also as their shelter and defence against just chastisement.

This Charter, upon which so many flagrant riots and insurrections have been grounded and vindicated, should surely undergo proper revision and alteration. The Governor by this Charter, considered as distinct from the Council, has [...]o power. The Council consists of twenty eight members, annually chosen by the House of Representatives; without the advice and consent of seven Counsellors the Governor cannot act. To the appointment of Judges, Commissioners of Oyer and Terminer, Sheriffs, Provost Marshlls, Justices of the Peace, and other Officers belonging to the Council and Courts of Justice, the Governor must have the voice of seven Counsellors: now, though these Counsellors to his Majesty's Governor are sworn to the due and faithful performance of the duties of their office, yet as they are annually chosen by the people, on every emergency they act rather as Counsellors of the mob, than as supporters of law and government. [Page] The choice of the Council ought therefore most certainly to be solely vested in the crown, as it is in most of the other provinces

Another necessary regulation is the abolishing of Town Meetings: the herd of Fools and Knaves collected together in Faneuil Hall, we have been convinced are capable of the most rebellious resolutions; they have shewn the will, but happily they wanted the power actually to revolt. They should only be authorised once a year to meet to chuse their Town Officers; this is sufficient employment for the rabble that muster in the Town Hall at Boston, and is in fact their only proper business when assembled there; but the smugglers among themselves, and the desperadoes of faction here, have taught them to repeal acts of our supreme legislature. Indeed the Boston Town Meeting has only been the tool of the learned Agent, who is himself the tool of the infatuated repealers of the Stamp Act.

The Town Meeting at Boston is the [...] of sedition. It is there that all their dangerous insurrections are engendered; it is there that the flame of discord and rebellion was first lighted up and disseminated over all the provinces; it is therefore greatly to be wished that Parliament may rescue the loyal inhabitants of that town and Province from the merciless hand of an ignorant mob, led on and inflamed by self-interested and profligate men.

As the Town Meetings are only frequented by the smugglers and the seditious, it may easily be conjectured what sort of men are chosen to serve on juries. The Town Meeting at present possesses the power of electing Jurors. The most factious, abandoned, and shameless are therefore always presented to this Office, so that they often fit on the grand Jury, to examine evidences against themselves, and on the petit Jury, to try their own misdemeanors and crimes. The issue of the trial cannot be doubted. There is no such thing as publishing an adherent of the faction. It would be wonderfull indeed if a knave and plunderer was to give a verdict against himself.

About seven years ago, one of the present representatives of the Town of Boston, and also one of their select men, and the idol of the faction, thought proper to exercise the Bostoman liberty of running a cargo of Madeira wine. This breach of the laws was carried on in the most open audacious manner. Two Custom House Officers on board the vessel were put [...] confinement. The Representative and Magistrate himself was present, and caroused with his party [Page] till this exertion of general freedom was accomplished; next day the vessel was seized; but the faction mustered their raggamuffins, attacked the Custom House Officers, knocked down with brickbats and bludgeons the Collector and his Son, the Comptroller and Inspector. The first, an elderly, venerable gentleman, has not to this day recovered their barbarons treatment.

As this assault and riot was committed in open day, the persons concerned were well known; it was resolved to prosecute them in law: but the faction effectually put a stop to this intention; at Town Meeting they chose the Rioters themselves Grand Jurymen: the prosecutions were withdrawn of course, for it would have been ridiculous to have expended time and money in a cause where the delinquents were to be their own Judges.

The Jurors ought to be appointed by the Sheriff.

Can peace, obedience to the laws, and loyalty be expected amongst people under such an absurd injudicious constitution of government? where criminals are placed by their guilty companions on the seat of judgment in order to acquit themselves; where his Majesty's Counsellors are chosen by the people, and unrestrained even by the solemnity of their oaths, always vote in direct opposition to his authority and to the authority of the laws Similar would be the absurdity if our House of Commons were annually to elect our House of Peers. The Upper House depending on the Lower House for its political existence, would instantly lose all its dignity, weight, impartiality and independence. Thus his Majesty's Counsellors in the Province of Massachusets, are only the despicable and willing tools of the factious independents and smugglers.

For all these reasons, and that good order and government may be established in that long distracted Provinces, their Town Meetings should be abolished, their Juries should be chosen by the Sheriffs, his Majesty's Counsellors by himself, and their present foolish inconsistent Charter, which will reflect indelible disgrace on them who penned and passed it, should be cancelled, vacated, and anihilated, and another granted them more conformable to the constitution of England.

LETTER XIV.

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FACTIOUS men engaged in a political contest, when the weakness and absurdity of their claims and arguments are refuted and exposed, generally resort to clamour and falshood to support and prop their dying cause. Never was a truth of this kind so strongly examplified as in the present dispute betwixt the English nation and the dirty Mechanics and Smugglers of Boston. The adherents of the Boston rabble, with the most intrepid effrontery declare ‘that perfect harmony between Great Britain and the Colonies continued untill it wad disturbed by the errors and innovations of his present Majesty's Ministers.’ If to deny the authority of the King and Parliament of this kingdom, and to banish, plunder, and murder English subjects, merely because they were old London Grocers and citizens of London, and because they acknowledged alleigance to the Mother Country, is a proof of perfect harmony, these modest consistent hirelings are in the right. That such were the atrocious practices of the venerable forefathers of the present Bostonians have been proved from the public acts of their Great and General Court. What idea then must we form of that man who within these few weeks asserted, in the face of Majesty, that ‘perfect harmony always subsisted between Britain and her Colonies, untill the innovations of his present Majesty's Ministers.’ Some people gradually fink to a degree of depravity, which on serious reflection must even strike themselves with abhorrence. What sort of harmony subsisted between the Province of Massachusets and England in the year 1722, may be seen from the following letter written by Mr. Dummer their Agent, containing the sentiments of Lord Carteret respecting the conduct of the General Court assembled at Boston.

STATE PAPER.

March 10, 1722.

Sir,

I have something to communicate from my Lord Carteret, who is one of his Majesty's principal Secretaries of State, and [...] the care of the Plantations within his Province; I beg [...]eave therefore to acquaint the General Court by you, that I waited on the Minister to engage his good offices in behalf of our Charter, against which I had sufficient reasons to believe some designs were forming, and that his Lordship having first assured me, that there would be no proceedings against us for the present, and that in [Page] general neither the King nor any of his Ministers had any inclination to violate our priviledges; I say, having given me these assurances, he the [...] desired me to write to the Assembly, that they would so behave themselves for the future, as not to provoke the Government to bring the matter of their Charter before the Parliament; for if they did, he said, that it was his opinion it would be dissolved without opposition.

His Lordship was pleased to give me for an example a [...] instance of what had lately happened in relation to the right of judicature claimed by the House of Lords in Ireland, which they had long been possessed of, without admitting any appeal from their decrees to the House of Lords here; but upon some offence, which they had lately given, a Bill was brought into the House to annul that right. It was entitled, A Bill for the better securing the dependance of Ireland on the Crown of Great Britain, and it passed without a division: This his Lordship said would be our fate on a like occasion.

I told his Lordship that his Majesty's subjects in New England were a virtuous industrious people, and universally loyal. His Lordship answered in a very obliging manner. That he really believed we were in the main that good people I had represented, but then made this advantage of it, that it was the more grievous to the government here to receive ill treatment from those who were in other respect so dutiful and loyal to his Majesty.

I prayed his Lordship to instance in what we had offended, and was answered,

That we denied the right of the Crown to the woods.

That we invaded the prerogative in refusing the Governor's negative power, though settled and vested in him by Charter.

That by several votes and resolutions of the Lower House, printed in their Journals, we shewed an inclination to be independent of administration here.

That we treated the King's commands as waste paper, particularly in not settling a proper salary on our Governors, which the rest of the King's Provinces had done, and which had been often and earnestly recommended to us by the Crown.

And to these things his Lordship added, that we treated Colonel Shute the King's Representative, with great contempt, notwithstanding we could not reasonably expect [Page] a better Governor, unless we intended to nominate one ourselves.

These were the matters which his Lordship chiefly insisted upon:

To all which I made the best answers I am able; especially as to the two articles of the right of the woods and the negative power; in both which I always thought, and do still think, that the Assembly may be justified. Yet I hope I shall be pardoned, if I say, from the long experience I have had in your affairs, that when we are never so much in the right, it is our true interest to defend that right with modesty, and conduct it with prudence.

For a conclusion, his Lordship was pleased to say, if I was able to acquit the Assembly of any evil intentions and wilful faults, yet they were at least chargeable with great imprudences.

And he then desired me again to recommend to them, for their own sakes, a more discreet conduct.

(Signed)

DUMMER, A [...]T.

(AUTHENTIC EXTRACT)

After the perusal of the many flagrant enormities and crimes committed by the provincial assembly of the Massachusets, and of the above authentic extract, will any candid and honest man say, that these people have always been dutiful and loyal? If the question was put to the father of the lies himself, he would hesitate and blush amidst his infernal horrors, before he answered it in the affirmative.

Their Agent, thought it was evidently his interest to excuse his constituents, in every point, of their bad conduct, totally gives them up with regard to their bad usage of their Governor, their not appointing him an adequate salary, their treating his Majesty's commands as waste paper, and their votes and resolutions of Independency.

Concerning the Negative power, and the right of the King to the woods, which Mr. Agent declared the assembly might be justified in denying, no doubt, in order to preserve their favour, the best answer that can be given will be to quote the Charter itself.

‘And we do, by these presents, for us, our heirs and successors, establish and ordain, That in the framing and passing all such Orders, Laws, Statutes and Ordinances, and Elections and Acts of Government whatsoever, to be passed, made or done by the said General Court, or assembly, or council, the Governor of our said province or [Page] territory of the Massachusets-Bay, in New-England, for, the time being, shall have the negative voice; and that without his consent or approbation, signified or declared in Writing, no such Orders, Laws, Statutes, or Ordinances, or Elections, or other Acts of Government whatsoever, so to be made, passed or done by the said General Assembly, or in Council, shall be of any force, effect, or validity.’

The clause relative to the woods shall now be given.

‘And lastly, for the better providing and furnishing of Masts for our Royal Navy, we do hereby reserve to Us, our Heirs, and Successors, all Trees of the diameter of twenty-four inches, and upwards of twelve inches from the ground, growing upon any soil or tract of land within our said province or territory.’

After reading these two extracts from the Charter, the most artful son of Loyola would find it an insuperable [...], to convince us that the Governor had no right to the Negative Power, and the King no right to the woods.

The above letter, and some other wholsome advice sent the Great and General Court, so exceedingly displeased them, that the House of Assembly dismissed Mr. Dummer, without paying several years salary which they owed him; and, notwithstanding he published a pamphlet in defence of their Charter, on purpose to ingratiate himself into their good graces, all the compensation he had was a vote of their House, declaring ‘that it was not for the interest of the province to continue him their Agent.’

Whenever the Agents of the Bostonians fail in procuring the submission of England to their mad seditious claims, they are all discarded as unskilful, and unfaithful negotiators. The dear Saints of God, along with their virtue, loyalty and righteousness, possess an infinite share of low cunning: They are for the most part in arrears to their Agents, and, therefore, the charges they bring against them of inability and per [...]idy, serve as a sufficient reason for with-holding their salaries. It is, however, shrewdly suspected, that some of their Agents now thoroughly understand their deceitful characters; and endeavour by weighty packets of flattery, misrepresentation and falsehood, to open the hearts and purses of the Lord's people. What their success will be, time only can determine; but from the hungry growlings and grumblings in the News-papers, one would be apt to imagine, that the holy men of Boston had forgot to make remittances. However, the worthy Agents may be assured, that if the [Page] virtuous and godly Bostonians should after all their labour▪ neglect their temporal welfare, that they will be more ardent with regard to their spiritual, for they will certainly at least nobly pay them, as they have done many of their former Agents, by fervently praying that they may be gloriously rewarded by the God of New England.

LETTER XV.

TO be reduced to the miserable necessity of combating known and established facts, is of all situations the most distressing; yet such is the voluntary unhappy condition of the defenders and agents of the rebellious Bostonians. The promised and expected pay of their traiterous employers wholly depends upon their vigorous efforts here; and what case can be more humiliating and deplorable than that of these men whose interest and party engage them to support a cause in direct contradiction to their own reason and feeling! not possessed of honesty and spirit sufficient to decline the infamous task, they continue to labour and to drudge in the fruitless and shameful defence of their treacherous and perfidious associates and constituents. Virtuous humanity must pity, and rigid honour spurn at such deep depravity. The Bostonian writers in the News-papers, and the Bostonian Speechifiers in Parliament may be both justly included in the above description.

Leaving then the public to the recollection of the enormities and barbarities already laid before them, committed by the holy men of the Province of Massachusets, it shall be the present business to examine the conduct of these pretended loyal subjects, respecting their allegiance to the Crown of England.

During the administration of that enlightened statesman, Lord Carteret, we find that his Majesty's subjects in New England were as virtuous and universally loyal as they are at present.

They denied the right of the Crown to the woods, though that right was expressly reserved to the Crown by the Charter.

They invaded the prerogative of the King in refusing the Governors negative power to Laws, Statutes, and Acts of Government, made or done by the Council or Assembly, though settled and vested in him by the Charter.

They voted and resolved themselves to be a people Independent on England, though they were English subjects, [Page] settled in a country discovered by an Englishman, and appertaining to the Crown of England.

They treated the King's commands as West Paper.

They would not settle a proper salary on their Governors, though it had been often and earnestly recommended to them by the Crown.

They at that time treated Colonel Shute, the King's representative, with great contempt, as they have ever since done all their Governors, because they were not nominated by themselves.

And when their Agent was called upon and examined relative to their treasonable intentions, votes, and actions, without entering into a particular vindication of their crimes, he, like their present Agents, made, to use his own words, "the best excuse he was able," by confidently asserting ‘that they were a virtuous people, and universally loyal.’ And this vague, general, false assertion, was by them always deemed a sufficient apology for all their rebellious acts.

When the virtuous and universally loyal Saints of Massachusets made the above daring encroachments on the prerogative of the Crown, and manifested their designs to throw off their allegiance, Colonel Shute was their Governor; and if any Governor sent from this country could have pleased them; he certainly would have been the man. He and his family were dissenters; he had served under King William and the Duke of Malborough, and had been wounded in one of the principal battles in Flanders; he was universally esteemed amongst his acquaintance, and at Court, and like a true English soldier, was open, and generous, humane; and a friend to liberty. But all his good qualities had no effect on the hypocritical traitors of Boston.

At this time these loyal subjects made another flagrant attack on the rights of the Crown. The House of Representatives directed the Governor to give orders to all the* officers in command to pay proper deference and obedience to the votes and orders of the House concerning the regulation and management of the forces. This authoritative usurpation the Governor justly excepted against, and made it a charge against the House to the King.

The malignity and villainy of the professing Saints will be clearly discovered by the following fact. As they could not bend the Governor to their purposes they were determined to murder him. ‘As he sat in one of the chambers of his [Page] house, the window and door of a closet being open, a bullet entered through the window and door passages, and passed very near him.’ This was called by the righteous an accident. But the truth is, that it was a designed villainy to prevent him from going home to represent their usurpations and treasons. Immediately after this horrid attempt he embarked secretly, and, on his arrival in England exhibited the following articles of complaint against the House of Representatives for encroaching on his Majesty's prerogative.

Their denying the right of the Crown to the trees reserved for masts for the Royal Navy though expressly mentioned in their Charter.

Refusing to admit the Governor's negative upon their choice of a speaker.

Assuming power to appoint days of fasting and thanksgiving.

Adjourning themselves to a distant day by their own act.

Dismantling forts, and directing artillery and warlike stores to other than the custody of the Captain General, or his order, and usurping the command of the forces, the sole right of the Governor as representative of the King.

Suspending military Officers, and refusing their pay.

Appointing Committes of their own to direct and muster his Majesty's forces.

Their then house (like many of their late houses of representatives, who have assumed the liberty of repealing acts of Parliament) voted the above complaint groundless, tho' substantially proved from their own public votes [...] resolutions; and ordered the amazing sum of one hundred pounds sterling to be remitted to their Agent, to enable him to varnish over the rebellious proceedings of the house, and to excuse them as well as he was able.

Mr. Cooke, who had been the principal adviser, and at the head of all the measures complained of in the above memorial, was assigned the very difficult task of defending his traiterous confederates. His notorious abilities, and the one hundred pounds, were, by the House of Representatives, supposed fully adequate to the accomplishment of this grand point.

The light in which his Majesty's Ministers viewed Mr. Cooke and the traitors of Massachusets, will be evidently seen by the perusal of the following:

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AUTHENTIC STATE PAPER. An interesting conference, held between the Lord President of his Majesty's Council, the Right Hon. Lord Townshend, Secretary of State, and Elisha Cooke, Esquire, Agent for the Province of Massachusets.

Friday, April 30, 1725.

REPORTS and several papers relating to the Colonies having been read to the Lords of his Majesty's Privy-Council in private, Mr. Cooke was sent for in, to shew a reason why a representation might not be made of the whole affair to the King?

Mr. Cooke. The Report of the Attorney and Solicitor General is drawn up by men of learning; and, as I do not pretend to express myself in a suitable manner before such great men, I hope your Lorships will allow me to make use of learned Counsel to defend the Province.

Lord President of the Privy-Council. Had you not Counsel allowed you, when your matters were heard before the Attorney and Solicitor General?

Mr. Cooke. Yes, my Lord; but I hope to make it appear that Mr. Attorney and Solicitor General have made some mistakes in their report, if your Lordship will allow me to be heard by Counsel.

Lord President of the Privy-Council. Have you any thing new to offer, which has not been offered to the Attorney and Solicitor General?

Mr. Cooke. Yes, I have something to say about a certificate from the Secretary of the Province, sworn to by one Mr. Armstrong, concerning Governor Shute's ordering the Committee to be paid for mustering the forces.

Lord Townshend, Secretary of State. Hark you, Mr. Cooke! I speak to you now as a friend. If you insist on being heard by Counsel, no doubt the Lords will hear you; but then I advise you to think well of it before you ask it, for I cannot answer where it may end. The expence and trouble you will bring on yourself will not be little, especially if it come into Parliament; and you will play a very bad game, if, seeking to be Solemnly heard, you have nothing but trifles to offer in excuse of a Province that has invaded the King's prerogative in every article of Government, both Civil and Military.

You have taken upon you to demolish forts, to march armies, to muster troops, and to disband them when you please, without any regard to the King's authority.

Depend upon it you will find yourself mistaken, if you [Page] think a certificate about one single circumstance will excuse all your undutifulness to the Crown.

Mr. Cooke I hope, my Lord, it will appear that the people of New England are as loyal as any of his Majesty's subject,!

Lord Townshend. How does that appear, when you are every day affronting the King in his governor, and treating the orders of the Government, from hence, with contempt?

As to Colonel Shute he is out of the case: You have brought things to that pass that the question now is, who is King of New England? Whether the King, or your house of representatives?

Mr. Cooke. Sir, I hope we have no such inclination as your Lordship supposes.

Lord Townshand. Why all that you have said in your justification, so far as appears in the papers now read to the Lords, makes against you.

How do you excuse the province as to the things laid to your charge? You bring Precedents to shew that they have done the same things in twenty instances before, some of which are more criminal than the things complained of. This is a very odd way of justifying the conduct of your representatives; and depend upon it the blame will fall very heavy somewhere, if you have nothing to offer but trifles in your vindication.

As I said before, if you insist on being heard, no doubt the Lords will grant it; but assure yourself, you will play a very bold game to urge being heard without something very material to say in the justification of the province.

Mr. Cooke. My Lords, if we have made any mistakes, or taken any wrong steps, I hope it will be imputed to the construction we thought we had reason to put upon the Charter.

Lord Townshend. As to your Charter you have forfeited every article of it over and over. There is not one article that you have not broke through, whenever it stood in the way of carrying on your encroachments on the King's prerogative.

Pray, Mr. Cooke, let me ask you, are you that Elisha Cooke so often mentioned in the papers read to the Lords?

Mr. Cooke. Yes, my Lord, I am.

Lord Townshend. Why then you have had a notable [...] in what has passed in New England, and can answer [Page] the Lords one question: Pray what is your opinion: do you think the Governor has a power to negative the Speaker of your House of Representatives?

Mr. Cooke. Yes, my Lord, I believe the Governor has power to negative a Speaker.

Lord Townshend. Well, and what security or assurances can you give to the Government, supposing the Lords should be disposed to recommend the people of New England to the King's favour; what assurances can you give that your House of Representatives will not dispute the King's authority in this or any other point?

Mr. Cooke My Lord, I have no power to give any assurances of that nature.

Lord Townshend. "Pray what power have you?

Mr. Cooke. "My Lord, I am only Agent.

Duke of Newcastle Are you not one of the House of Representatives there?

Mr. Cooke. "No, my Lord.

(Upon a signal given by the Lord President.)

Clerk of the Council. "Gentlemen, withdraw"

After a few minutes Mr Cooke being sent for again, desired four or five days to consider of what their Lordships had said to him. Upon which they gave him till Tuesday next.

Mr Cooke afterward on mature consideration, thought proper to withdraw his Petition.

The encroachments and usurpations upon the King's prerogative are so fully and explicitly stated in the preceding conference, that to give any observations or reasoning upon it, would be meer matter of repitition. We still find the people of Massachusets amidst all their crimes and disloyalties, boldly [...]claring, that they were as loyal as any of his Majesty's subjects; which notorious falshood appears to be all their learned Agent had to say in their vindication.

Notwithstanding all the strong proofs against this turbulent Province, nothing more was done by administration than to pass an explanatory Charter, expressly declaring the Governor's power to negative the Speaker of the House of Representatives, which was thought not to be sufficiently clear i [...] the Charter itself.

This explanatory Charter the General Court readily accepted and submitted to. They were afraid that the whole controversy would be carried into Parliament; they knew they were generally condemned in England, that the Ministry [Page] were highly displeased with them, and they dreaded that the consequence of a Parliamentary enquiry would be an act to vacate the Charter of the Province.

A BAD cause confounds the best advocates; it cannot then be strange to find American writers perplexed, and advancing arguments which serve to destroy their own cause. They tell us that since the American Tea act the Colonists have turned smugglers, and have furnished themselves with Teas from the French and Dutch, and not only with Teas, but with Wines, Brandy, Silk, Spices, Cambricks, and Linen printed and plain. And because their Constituents have thus acted illegally, and in defiance of the Laws, they wisely advise the British legislature to [...]ow before the Boston smugglers, and to repeal whatever of its acts the undutiful Bostonians shall direct. For the Supreme Legislature to surrender all its authority, and humbly to prostrate itself to a parcel of American smugglers, is to be sure a new way of securing the obedience and dependance of the Colonies, and effectually proves to us the great m [...]desty and the great genius of the Boston writers. Since the people of America, from the public confession of their own writers, are such universal smugglers, a very different method of proceeding with them will very naturally suggest itself to every sensible man, and that is, vigorously to support the revenue Officers in the strict and vigilant performance of their duty. Their having been hitherto left without protection to the tender mercies of the riotous Bostonians, has been the true cause of the great increase of smuggling When part of the Revenue Officers were driven away, and the rest of them intimidated, smuggling of [...] became general, and the sweets of it once tasted, it became policy in the smugglers to keep up the riotous spirit of the people, and to foment commotions and insurrections, that they might preserve the enjoyment of their clandestine traffic. It is a well known fact, that besides various sorts of goods run into the port of Boston from France and Holland, and from many of the French and Dutch islands, that in the year 1769, no less than Eight Hundred Chests of Tea were smuggled into that Province from St. Eustatia. The smugglers when possessed of this Tea, by their ranting speeches about oppression and slavery, persuaded the ignorant populace to mob all the merchants, except themselves, who imported from England, and to take the Tea into custody. By this artful manoeuvre Tea soon became searce, and as the smugglers only produced theirs in small [Page] quantities at a time, as the remains of what they had imported before the non-importation agreement, the price of Tea rose in a very short space of time, from two shillings and three pence, to four shillings and six pence a pound. This was proved by authentic letters read in the House of Commons, in 1770, when American affairs were the subject of debate. It was worth the attention of the smugglers to be at some trouble in raising riots, when the consequence was to be a continuance of their exorbitant gains. It was curious too that they made the very people, whom they cheated, the instruments to cheat themselves.

Notes

*

During this time they were at war with the Indians.

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LETTER XVI.

EVER since the first settlement of the Massachusets, the inhabitants of that Province have evidently manifested a design to throw off their alleigance to the Crown of England.

Government here were far from being insensible of their intentions; for the several administrations of this country, for these hundred and forty years past, have heartily endeavoured to provide and to guard against such a foolish, inconsiderate, and disloyal attempt. Yet, unhappily for this kingdom, the provisions of our former ministers were always temporary: Provided they obtained a momentary quiet they were satisfied, or appeared to be so; they plumed themselves on the present efficacy of their measures, and they left future ministers to struggle with the difficulties in which they had involved the state. Thus the compleat regulation of the turbulent and rebellious New-Englanders was always left as an encumbered legacy to their successors. They acted like timid men, who just assert their claims that their right may not expire, but who leave the trouble, the expence, and the danger of the contest to their heirs. Such has been the weakness, the timidity, and the pitiful procrastination of all our former Ministers.

As the people of New England found, that amidst all their daring encroachments and their breaches of alleigance, the good men of England were easy to be deceived by hypocritical professions of loyalty; they were always provided with a plentiful stock of verbal obedience, whilst at the very same time they were assidiously endeavouring to lay the foundation of their independency.

To be over-reached by the finesse of our natural enemies as negociators, has always been the characteristic of the English [Page] nation; can it then be wondered at that we have so long been trepanned by the holy dissimulation of our own offspring?

The indolence of our Ministers, or rather the dread of giving rise to even unjust clamours against themselves, has fostered the pride of the Bostonians, that now they have not only insolently asserted their ideas of their own independence, but also have proceeded to overt acts of opposition to the legislature of this kingdom.

That the Bostonians have ever been turbulent and rebellious, appears not only from the Acts of our King in Council, and from Acts of Parliament, but from their own Acts.

The Town of Boston was first settled in the year 1630, and two years afterwards [...] were great disturbances and disorders amongst them, though at that time the Town consisted of but a few houses.

Next year there were both religious and political confusions and distractions among them, and such as had nearly ruined the plantation.

In 1634 they raised a violent commotion in Boston, and brought their own Governor, whom they had chosen themselves, to a public trial.

At this period they called themselves a Commonwealth; and threw off their alleigance, though their Charter, which only exempted them from taxes for seven years, was but five years old.

It was found necessary in 1635 to appoint some of the principle Officers of State Commissioners, who were empowered to examine Charters granted by the King or his precessors, &c.

In pursuance of this Commission, a Quo Warranti was brought against the Massachusets Charter, in 1636, for their oppressive, illegal, and rebellious acts, which are enumerated by Sir John Banks, the then Attorney General. Some of them are as follows.

Charges exhibited in the Quo Warranto brought against the Charter of the Massachusets.

That all the Massachusets Company named in the Patent, for three years last past and more, used, in several parts beyond the seas, out of England, without any Warrant or Royal Grant, the Liberties, Priviledges, and Franchises following:

To make and to swear a Governor and Deputy Governor of themselves, and to name and swear, out of themselves, so [Page] many Officers in England, and abroad in the Massachusets Bay, as they please, and, at their wills, to displace and change any of them.

To admit whom they please into the said company, as well aliens as others, and to take sums of money for such admissions, and, at their wills, to disfranchise whom they please, and turn them out of the company.

To hold to themselves all his Majesty's territory of Massachusets Bay, in New England, and the same to sell, give, or dispose of, as they please, and have the sole Government of all that country, and all persons coming or trading thither.

To hold Courts, and in such Courts to make such laws and statutes against the laws and customs of England, and all such as are disobedient to the same to imprison, fine, and amerce, and to levy and convert to their own use.

To transport, against the laws and statutes of England, merchandizes and other things prohibited.

To exact of all persons trading there, his Majesty's subjects, sums of money at their wills, and imprison such as refuse to pay the same.

To have the sole importation of all merchandizes from thence into England, and, by their own authority, prohibiting any of their Company to export out of England.

To lay fines and amercements on such persons trading with goods thither, and to imprison their persons, and lay such mulcts on their merchandize as they pleased.

To use beyond seas, and on the high seas, at their pleasure, martial law.

To examine on oath any person in any cause touching life and member, and to proceed to trial, sentence, judgment, and execution, touching life. member, lands, tenements, goods, and chattles, against the laws and customs of England.

After this the Lords of the Council sent an order requiring them to send home their patent.

To this letter they made their usual answer, that is, great professions of loyalty and godliness, which served their purpose at that time, and they were allowed to retain the Charter.

After this escape the wars in England prevented them being attended to, and they spent the forty ensuing years in quarrelling amongst themselves, in robbing and murdering the Indians, in oppressing the neighbouring Colonies, and in establishing their independency.

[Page] In 1679 they passed a law declaring ‘the acts of trade an invasion of their rights, liberties, and properties, they not being represented in Parliament,’ For this law they suffered the loss of their Charter, notwithstanding they repeated all their former hypocritical professions of duty and loyalty, and appointed many days of fasting and prayer, to obtain the King's favour, and the smiles of Heaven.

To defend their Charter, they sent home Agents who in their first letter acquainted them, ‘that his Majesty was greatly provoked, and desired the General Court to consider whether it was best to hazard all rather than satisfy his Majesty as to the mode of Submission to the laws for regulating trade.’

In 1683, the QUO WARRANTO arrived, accompanied with a declaration from the King, that if the Colony would make full submission, he would regulate their Charter for his service and their good, and with no further alterations than should be necessary for the support of the Government there.

This favourable declaration had no effect; they refused to surrender the Charter, and therefore, in 1684, judgment was entered up against it.

Even in the height of the disobedience they had the wonderful assurance to ask favours of the King; but they were told by their correspondents in England, that it was not probable any thing would be done for them till the regulation of the Charter, and that the Colony was brought under such an actual dependence upon the Crown as became his Majesty's subjects

They remained without a Charter till after the revolution, when they sent over Agents to procure the restitution of their old Charter, but without success.

A draught of a new Charter was made out and shewn to the Rev. Mr. Mather, their Agent, who was so dissatisfied with it, that he declared he would sooner part with his life than consent to it. Reply was made to him, ‘that the consent of the Agents was not desired; the Agents of New England were not plenipotentiaries from a Sovereign state; if they declared they would not submit to his Majesty's pleasure, the King would settle the country, and they might take what followed.’

When the Charter was granted, Mather accepted it, but Cooke, the other Agent, refused. It was, however, accepted by the Province, and from its inaccuracy, confusion, and ill construction, has been one of the principal causes of all [Page] the commotions and disturbances in Massachusets for these last eighty years.

From this period to the year 1722, the Province was a scene of dissention, and in a continued ferment. The character they then held in England, and with administraton, may be seen in the opinions of Lord Carteret, and the Lords of Council, already printed, by which it is fully proved against them, that they had usurped upon every article of the King's prerogative.

At this time they had great occasion for their old canting professions, and accordingly made great use of them. Their answer to every charge brought and established against them was, ‘that they were a virtuous, godly people, and universally loyal.’

Yet this answer, ridiculous, impudent, and false as it was, it seems, had its effect, though absolutely contradicted by the whole tenor of their conduct,. for near a century back. For with all this cloud of evidence before them, nothing more was done by the ministry than to confirm to the Crown the power of negativing the Speaker of the House of Representatives, which when so much was necessary to be done, was in a manner doing nothing.

Indeed administration all along seemed to be exceedingly willing to get rid of them and their affairs, and therefore were content to put up with their deceitful promises to be quiet and dutiful.

From this time till the administration of Mr. Grenville, many were the instances they gave of their refractory and seditious spirit. Their criminal excesses need not at present be recounted. In the midst of their insurrections Mr. Grenville lost his place, and unhappily for England the men who afterwards were so infatuated as to repeal the Stamp Act, succeeded. To try to obtain a temporary quiet, they condescended to submit to the mandates of the Boston rioters, and dastardly gave up their country's best and dearest rights.

The following motion made by Mr. Rigby, together with Mr Charles Townshend's Speech, will shew their opinion of the Bostonians and of American Charters.

§

June 30. 1766.

A motion was made by Mr. Rigby, and the question being put, that a humble address be presented to his Majesty to express the earnest wish and desire of this House.

That his Majesty would be graciously pleased to suspend any prorogation of this Parliament, until positive assurance shall be received from the several Governors of the respective [Page] Provinces in North America, that the people were returned to a due sense of their duty and obedience to the laws.

That this House is the more earnest in their pressing sol [...]icitations to his Majesty to grant this their humble request, as they apprehend many of the fatal consequences of the rebellious dispositions of his Majesty's subjects in those parts might have been prevented, if the Parliament had been called last year as soon as the accounts of the disorderly and tumultuous conduct of the Americans came to the knowledge of his Majesty's Ministers.

To assure his Majesty that this House is determined to support the legal authority of the Crown and the just rights of the British legislature over all parts of the British dominions, and when permitted to offer their advice, to guard the honour and dignity of his Crown and Government from all insults whatsoever.

This motion passed in the negative, after a very long debate, which was closed by Mr. Charles Townshend as follows:

Summary of Mr. Charles Townshend's Speech on American Charters.

That it had long been his opinion that North America should be regulated and deprived of their militating contradictory Charters, and that the several Colonies on that continent should be reduced under one system, governed and directed by persons of capacity, honour, and virtue.

That now after such a scene of disobedience, tumult and violence, in some of the American Colonies, which had been followed with the most gracious and unparalleld instances of grace, lenity and favour, he did expect that the persons entrusted with the present administration would, be unanimous in employing the recess of Parliament about the necessary and previous steps to compass so requisite and so desirable an event.

That the frenzy and madness of the Colonies required the attention of the supreme and Sovereign authority.

That the Colony Charters had been elsewhere considered, and declared by the Judges of the Realm as inconsistent and incompatible, ab origine.

That the late and very recent conduct of some Colonies had actually forfeited the rights and privileges of their Charters, by the most audacious and unpardonable resolves of several of their subaltern subordinate Assemblies, who had presumed to encroach and usurp upon the [Page] stile, dignity and power of a House of Parliament, by a [...] affectation and apery that was rediculous and profligate.

That the regulation of North America was so essential to Great Britain, and to the Colonies, so equally necessary and beneficial to both, that it should be no longer delayed, as there now appeared some danger in trusting any longer to the accidental good behaviour of the Coloni [...]es.

That if, from what he now said, he should be found different in opinion from the principal persons of the present administration, he must now publicly declare that he must withdraw, as he could no longer co operate with persons of such oblique and narrow views of Government; but that he hoped and expected otherwise, rather believeing that he should be instrumental amongst them to prepare and bring forward a new system, of police, to be administered upon principles, with reciprocal advantage to Great Britain and her American Colonies.

That the Governors, Judges, and Attorney Generals, delegated in America must be rendered free and independent of the humour and caprices of the people; and the laws and ordinances of this kingdom must be observed, and dispensed with a more suitable impartiality, reverence, and solemnity.

Notwithstanding this speech, which neither needs elucidation nor commentary, nothing was done for the regulation of the Massachusets Charter or any other American Charter.

By such weak inconsistent procrastination, former Ministers have transmitted down to the present minister, "the holy Bostonians," with all their accumulated falshoods, hypocrisies, and rebellions about them.

THE great men who support the cause of the righteous at Boston are always convicting themselves. The more they struggle to veil over their cause, the more they expose its nakedness to public view. Because the Colonies raised some thousands of men in the height of their fears to help to defend themselves, during the last war, it is said that they have borne their full proportion of expence at all times towards the support of the state. It is impossible for any assertion to be more unjust and fallacious than this; for the Agents themselves in their impudent publications confess, that England reimbursed the Americans. Granting however that they were at some expence to defend themselves last war, is that to be pleaded and sustained as an exemption from [Page] their bearing any part of the public charge in time of peace? Or is it to weigh with us as an exculpation of their insurrections, and uniform resistance to the authority of the King in Parliament. If it was possible to prove, which however it is not, that they bore their share of expence in the last war, to what would such a proof amount? Why merely to this, that to preserve themselves, they had acted in their own defence. Therefore, to produce the foolish story of their having raised men to assist in protecting themselves, in order to vindicate their denial of the Supremacy of the Legislature of England, is weak and contemptible in the highest degree, and a giving up of their cause.

LETTER XVII.

FROM the review of transactions of Massachusets, from the year 1764 to 1769, it appears, by the report of the Lords Committees, that the people of that Colony have, during that period, acted in constant opposition to the Sovereignty of his Majesty, in his Parliament of Great Britain, over that Province.

They in defiance of the Laws, publicly carried on illegal traffic; they voted, in their Assembly, their right to combine against Acts of our Legislature; they admonished the other Colonies to follow their example; they declared they ought not to be taxed, because they were not represented; they immediately after insisted that they could not be represented in Parliament, and therefore that they ought not to be taxed, they claimed all the immunities and privileges of British subjects, whilst they denied the authority of Britain over them, and they voted money to promote a Combination against the Laws of Britain; they, in their Town Meetings, in their House of Assembly, and in their Council, openly encouraged and protected those Criminals who had been guilty of the most unjustifiable enormities, and they as openly proscribed and condemned all the Crown Officers who had exerted themselves in the execution of the Laws; they, in their House of Assembly, passed an act of free and general pardon and indemnity to the Miscreants who had pulled down and robbed houses and public offices, and burnt the public records; they also voted, in their House of Assembly, that Acts of Parliament were infringements of their natural rights; they, in their Council, ever refused assistance and protection to his Majesty's Revenue Officers; they always gave advice, encouragement, and support, to those who [Page] acted in direct violation of the Laws of Trade; they commanded the Governor to dismiss the ships of war from the harbour, as these ships interrupted their clandestine trade; and they passed votes, ordering the inhabitants of the Province to arm themselves, on purpose to oppose the landing of his Majesty's troops in the Town of Boston.

All these facts are taken from the report of the Lords Committees, and are incontrovertible.

In consequence of these many complicated crimes and treasons, his Majesty, in a speech from the Throne in 1768, desired the concurrence and support of both Houses of Parliament to defeat the mischievous designs of those turbulent and seditious persons, who under false pretences had but too successfully deluded numbers of his subjects in America; and whose practices, if suffered to prevail, could not fail to produce the most fatal consequences to his Colonies immediately, and in the end to all the dominions of his Crown.

The address of the Lords, in reply, mentioned, that they had felt the most sincere concern tha [...] any of their fellow subjects in America had been misled by factious and designing men into acts of violence and resistance to the execution of the law, attended with circumstances that manifested a disposition to throw off their dependence upon Great Britain; that they most [...]eignedly gave his Majesty the strongest assurances that they should ever zealously concur in support of every just and necessary measure to repress that daring spirit of disobedience, and to enforce a due submission to the laws, and that they considered it as one of their most essential duties to maintain inviolate the supreme authority of the legislature of Great Britain over every part of the dominions of his Majesty's Crown.

A few days after, all the American papers were laid before the House of Peers, and their Lordships resolved,

That the votes, resolutions, and proceedings of the House of Representatives of Massachusets, respecting several late Acts of Parliament were, so far as they imported, a denial of the power and authority of his Majesty in Parliament to make laws and statutes of sufficient force and validity to bind the Colonies and people of America subjects to the Crown of Great Britain, in all cases whatsoever, illegal, unconstitutional, and derogatory of the rights of the Crown and Parliament of Great Britain.

That the resolutions of the said House of Representatives of Massachusets, to write letters to the several British Colonies on the Continent, desiring them to join with the said [Page] House of Representatives of Massachusets, to deny the right of Parliament to impose duties and taxes upon his Majesty's subjects in America, are proceedings of a most unwarrantable and dangerous nature, calculated to inflame the minds of his Majesty's subjects in the other Colonies, tending to create unlawful combinations repugnant to the laws of Great Britain, and subversive of the constitution.

That the Town of Boston, in the Province of Massachusets, has been in a state of Great disorder and confusion, and that the peace of the said Town has been disturbed by riots and tumults of a dangerous nature, in which the Officers of his Majesty's Revenue have been obstructed by acts of violence in the execution of the laws and their lives endangered.

That neither the Council of the said Province, nor the civil Magistrates, did exert their authority for the suppressing said riots and tumults.

That in these circumstances the preservation of the public peace, and the due execution of the laws, became impracticable without the aid of a military force to support and protect the civil Magistrates, and the Officers of his Majesty's Revenue.

That the declarations, resolutions, and proceedings of the Town Meeting at Boston. on the* 14th of June, and the† 12th of September, were illegal and unconstitutional, and [Page] calculated to excite seditions and insurrections in his Majesty's Province of Massachusets.

That the appointment of a convention to be held at Boston to consist of Deputies from the several Towns in the Province, and the issuing a Mandate by the Select men of Boston to each of the said Towns, for the election of such Deputies, were proceedings subversive of his Majesty's government, and evidently manifested a design in the inhabitants of Boston, to set up a new and unconstitutional authority independent of the Crown of Great Britain.

That the elections, by several Towns in the Province of Massachusets, of Deputies to sit in the same Convention, and the meeting of such† Convention in consequence thereof, were daring insults offered to his Majesty's authority, and audacious usurpations of the powers of government.

That nothing could be more immediately necessary either for the maintenance of his Majesty's authority in the said Province, or for guarding his Majesty's subjects therein, than to proceed in the most speedy and effectual manner for bringing to condign punishment the chief authors and instigators of the late disorders, therefore to beseech his Majesty to direct his Governor of Massachusets to take the most effectual methods to procure the fullest informations of all Treasons or misprision of Treason, and to transmit the same to England, that his Majesty might issue a special Commission for hearing and determining the said offences within this realm, pursuant to the provisions of the Statute 35 Henry VIII.

The Lords Committte report, that the above resolutions, censuring the proceedings of the Province of Massachusets, and the conduct of the Council, and other civil Magistrates, did not produce the* good effect that reasonably might have [Page] been expected; as a disposition to deny the authority, and resist the laws of the supreme Legislature continued to prevail, not only in flagitious publications, but also in a variety of violent and unwarrantable proceedings of those Merchants and others who had subscribed to the agreements for non importation of goods from Britain.

These† ass [...]ciators published the names of all who refused to join with them in their unlawful combinations in the public news papers, as enemies to their country; and the mandates and decrees of their committees met with a respect and obedience denied to the constitutional authority of Government.

After a Review of the transactions, of the Massachusets, surely no honest man ought to oppose the regulation of that long distracted and rebellious Province.

Notes

*

In these resolutions they declared that they were governed and taxed by laws without their consent, and that their trade and navigation were obstructed by an armed force. This alluded to the seizure of Hancock's vessel for smuggling four days before, when the Officers of the Customs were assisted by a [...] from the Romney man of war, on which occasion the professing loyal Saints of Boston, nearly murdered several of the principal Custom House Officers.

↵

†

In these resolves the dutiful Saints asserted, that levying money upon them, without the consent of their Parliament was illegal: They also claimed the privileges of British subjects, but denied their obligation to pay taxes: They insisted that sending troops amongst them to inforce Acts of the British Parliament, was an infringement of their natural constitutional rights, and that the keeping a standing army, in time of peace was against Law They also issued precepts for the whole Province to take up Arms, as they expected a war with France, yet voted the expected English regiments a violation of their rights as it was pro [...]ound pea [...]e. The consistency and good sense of the Boston faction m [...]y surely be found out amidst these shame, [...] contradictions.

↵

†

The intention of the Meeting of this treasonable Convention, which they first stiled the Committee of Safety, was to plan measures to oppose the troops; but the courage of the righteous only consisted in blustering, for the morning that the troops landed the [...] broke up and ru [...]hed out of Town like a herd of scalded hogs.

↵

*

The factions at Boston were at first a little intimidated, but soon finding that no other notice was to be taken of them, than what was contained in the above resolutions, they grew more haughty and riotous than ever; they made a jest of the resolves of both Houses, and annulled them in their own opinion by passing counter resolves in their Town Meetings and House of Representatives.

↵

†

Though the hypocrites at Boston persecuted and banished [...] who refused to confederate with them against importing, yet the Leaders in this plot imported an immense quantity of goods in upwards of One Hundred Vessels. It is true these goods were taken into the possession of the Committee, but then it ought to be observed, that this Committee always consisted of the owners of the goods, if these owners were of the Faction, so that they received their goods into their own Custody, and sold them publicly as goods imported previous to the agreement against importing.

↵

LETTER XVIII.

THE Bostonian Agents and Writers are now driven into the regions of absurdity and contradiction, yet their folly never will be silent. They continue to assure us, that if England asserts her just authority over the Bostonians, that they will not pay their debts; that if the Port of Boston is blocked up, all the West India Planters will be starved; [...] they will throw themselves under the protection of some other European power; that they will establish an independant state; that they are now much more numerous and formidable than either the Swiss or the Dutch when these nations [...] off the Austrian and the Spanish yoke: that our men of war may take all their vessels for a twelvemonth to come, but these captures will not pay a third of their debts: that the second year they will not ship any of their produce, and so we shall all become bankrupts; yet [...] all this treasonable trash they tell us, that the Bostonians [Page] are distinguished for their duty and loyalty to their Mother Country and Sovereign. Now when they convince us that loyalty and rebellion are the same, we shall certainly believe them.

They have given us many specimens of their loyalty in the Appeal to the World, published by order of the Town of Boston. In this Appeal they set out with abusing Governor Bernard, General Gage, Commodore Hood the Commissioners of the American Board of Customs and all others who, from their employments, were unfortunately obliged to reside amongst them.

A few of their assertions may be entertaining.

Nothing can be more false and malicious than to represent this Town as disaffected to his Majesty's Government.

That the people should entertain the highest disgust of a Board, instituted to superintend a revenue to be raised from them without their consent, which was, and still is, exacted with rigour, is natural.

But it cannot be said, with the least appearance of truth, that they set at defiance the King's Authority.

Governor Bernard's declarations to his Majesty's Ministers are grounded on vague, idle reports

The ordering two regiments from Halifax to this Town, for a purpose for which military power was certainly never designed—a very dangerous purpose, and abhorrent to the British constitution, and the spirit of a free Government, namely, to support the civil authority.

They give the following account of a riot, in which they nearly murdered the Collector and Comptroller of the Customs.

‘The Collector and Comptroller indeed represent it as a numerous mob, but they being particularly interested, their fears might deceive them. It was occasioned by the unprecedented and unlawful manner of seizing a vessel.’—What they call unlawful manner, was the assistance given by a man of war's boat. After they had driven the Commissioners out of Town, they called their enforced absence a "voluntary exile," though the faction had assembled purposely at Liberty Tree, as their own Notification expressed, ‘to clear the land of the Vermin which were come to devour them.’

In defence of their Town Meetings, they say,‘Such an Assembly has ever been the Dread—often the Scourge of Tyrants.’

[Page] But the most capital part of this Appeal, not to the King or the Parliament, but to all the world, is, their declaration against all Acts of the British Parliament. It shall be given in their own words.

Their rights are invaded by these Acts, therefore untill they are all repealed, the cause of their just complaints cannot be removed. In short, the grievances which lie heavily upon us, we shall never think redressed, till every Act passed by the British Parliament is repealed, till the American Board of Commissioners of the Customs is dissolved, the troops recalled, and things are restored to the same state they were in before the late extraordinary measures of administration.

After reading this Manifesto against all Acts of Parliament for raising a revenue amongst them, no person will wonder at their various commotions and insurrections, but will be surprised that the regulation of such a rebellious people wa [...] not undertaken long ago, and effectually carried into execution.

LETTER XIX.

A VARIETY of specimens of the literary merit, the virtue and the loyalty of the Meetings, Assemblies, and Councils, held at Boston, have already been given. At present the observations of the Merchants of Boston on several Acts of Parliament shall be taken into consideration. The Merchants of Boston form a part of those seditious herds of Fools and Knaves which assemble on all important occasions in Faneuil Hall, in the House of Representatives, or in the Council Chamber, at Boston; in which places, with the most sanctified countenances, they preface their wise and learned harangues, and their treasonable Votes and Resolves, with humbly beseeching the Almighty to stand forth the champion of rebellion,

This being the case, it is not surprising that the observations of the merchants should coincide with the seditious determinations of the above mentioned Assemblies.

The Boston Merchants set out with telling us, that ‘their representative body have fully and repeatedly remonstrated against several Acts of Parliament passed in the fourth, sixth, and seventh years of his present Majesty's reign, as unconstitutional, and as infringing the rights and privileges of the subject.’

These Acts are deemed by the Boston Merchants unconstitutional, [Page] and an infringement of their rights, because they are calculated to impede their clandestine traffic, and because they raise a small revenue on them and the other Colonies, amounting nearly to fifteen thousand pounds yearly, which is again spent amongst themselves, whilst England is at more than twenty times that expence yearly for their protection and defence.

By these Acts certain rates and duties are imposed on Molasses, Sugars, Wines, Tea. To collect this revenue the Government is at a very great expence, equal at least, and including the charge of men of war and cutters to guard the coast, vastly superior to all the revenue that can be collected had our trade bee [...] as extensive as it was before these Acts were made, which is not the case now, and never will be while they remain in force.

All this is exceeding plain, these Acts of Parliament greatly restrain their illicit trade; and as Government is at a greater expence in guarding their coast than the revenue collected by these Acts, they modestly propose that these Acts shall be repealed that England may bear the whole burthen herself. An Englishman, however, will not think in this manner; he will naturally be of opinion, that it is but just and reasonable that additional taxes should be laid upon the Americans, in order that they may pay all the charges of their own Government.

When the duty on Molasses was six pence sterling a gallon, as there was no appropriation made of that duty, it was well known in England the Officers of the Customs connived at the importation; but since the duty on molasses has been reduced, the whole, though grievous, has been regularly paid.

Granting this insinuation of the dishonesty of the former Custom House Officers to be true, and that they connived with the Boston smugglers in running Molasses; the truth of such connivance is surely not a good argument to obtain a licence to continue it. It operates clearly on the opposite fide of the question, and is a strong reason for more strictly enforcing and executing the laws of trade. The duty on molasses was at first six pence a gallon; on the representations and petitions of the people of Boston it was lowered to three pence; still they were unsatisfied, but said, if the duty was reduced to one penny a gallon, the smallness of the duty would take away all inclination to smuggle that commodity, and therefor the revenue would increase. This request was also granted them, and now they tell Parliament that the molasses Act [Page] is grievous, unconstitutional, and as infringement of their rights.

The duty of the five shillings per hundred on brown, and twenty-two shillings on white sugars, is a great burden on our trade to the foreign Islands: That, should we be allowed the free importation of foreign sugars, even for our own consumption, the trade of Great Britain would not be injured, but greatly benefitted; for in this case more of the sugars made in the English Islands might be carried to Great Britain, and what they did not consume would be exported from thence to foreign markets.

With the Boston Merchants, every regulation, restriction, or tax, is a grievous unconstitutional burden: one penny, as well as five shillings, is a great burden. If they were allowed the free importation of foreign sugars, it might probably be advantageous to them; so might the free importation of tea and cordage from Holland, and open trade with all the world: But if the English sugars now consumed in British America were all brought to England, on account of the Americans supplying themselves from the French, the market would be glutted, the commodity would become a drug, and our West-India Planters would be ruined.

The Custom-House bonds, certificates, oaths, and fees, are also great discouragements and embarrassments to the trade of America.

The appointment of an almost incredible number of inferior Officers, as Tidesmen, Boatmen, Waiters, and others, is another cause of complaint.

The liberty these fellows take, of searching vessels, is not only illegal, but impudent.

Another intolerable grievance is, the appointment of Officers of the Customs on board the men of war, cutters, and other armed vessels.

That Smugglers should think bonds, certificates, oaths, and fees, intolerable grievances, and wish to be relieved from all legal restraints, is natural enough; but that they should write a pamphlet, on purpose to convince England that their unlawful goods should be protected from the jaws of these devouring monsters, Custom-House Officers, certainly manifests a most extraordinary degree of assurance and folly.

What the Colonists have a right to expect is, a Repeal of all the Acts imposing duties on any kind of goods imported into the British Colonies, for the purpose of raising [Page] a revenue in America, as being inconsistent with their rights as free subjects.

If the Boston merchants will be pleased to consider the heavy load of debt under which England labours, they, instead of a Repeal of all the Acts of Trade and Revenue, have a right to expect that Parliament will pass a few more, in order to raise from amongst themselves a sum sufficient to pay for their own defence.

What follows, is the conclusion of this very curious publication of the Boston merchants.

‘The embarrassments, difficulties, and insupportable burdens, under which this trade,’ (no doubt meaning their illegal trade)‘has laboured, have already made us prudent, frugal, and industrious; and such a spirit in the Colonists must soon, very soon, enable them to subsist without the manufactures of Great Britain, the Trade of which, as well as its Naval Power, has been greatly promoted and strengthened by the luxury of the Colonies, consequently any measures that have a tendency to injure, obstruct and diminish the American Trade and Navigation, must have the same effect upon that of Great Britain, and in all probability prove her ruin.’

The Boston Merchants display a filial affection towards us, for having luckily discovered, that if England forces them to contribute ever so small a pittance to the support of the state and their own protection, that such conduct will in all probability prove her ruin; they have been at the great trouble and expence of writing a twelvepenny book on purpose to inform us of our approaching danger.

In some respects, however, the Boston Merchants differ widely in sentiment from the rest of the Saints. The generality of the people of Massachusets have for the best part of two centuries declared, that they were a pious, prudent, frugal, and industrious people, but the Boston Merchants assert, that till the fourth year of the present reign they were imprudent, prodigal, idle, and luxurious. These accounts rather contradict each other, and there appears no other way of explaining them, than by believing that the Boston Saints and Boston Merchants will say any thing rather than port with their money and their clandestine trade.

Respecting their manufactures, Great Britain has nothing to fear from them. It is not to be supposed that their manufactures will be very formidable, till unoccupied lands become dear and scarce, of which there is at present but a very distant prospect. It is true they have a large Manufactory [Page] House at Boston, but the principal Manufacturer ever they had in it was an old Irishman, a Manufacturer of Twine, which he himself hawked about the streets, and not being able with all his industry to procure a livelihood, he fitted up part of this house of labour for the accommodation of a Spouting Club, and this Club was succeeded by a Dancing Assembly, consisting of the Boston Saints and Patriots, who, having quarelled with the Commissioners, left them in possession of Concert Hall, and metamorphosed their Boasted House of Industry into a temporary residence for dissipation and intrigue.

LETTER XX.

IN the year 1645, a civil dissention disturbed the whole Colony of Massachusets, for when they were at peace with their neighbours they always quarrelled amongst themselves. It was occasioned by a difference in sentiment concerning the identity of a swine which was claimed by a poor woman as having strayed from her some years before, and her title being disputed by a person of more consequence, not the Court only, but the whole country were divided and inflamed. The identity of the famous Martin Guerre was not more controverted in France in the preceding century. Pity for the poor woman influenced the common people against right. At last the Magistrates, who supported the opposite side, for the Magistrates were divided too, prevailed upon the right owner, who had recovered judgment, to relinquish the animal that the public tranquillity might be restored.

This Hog Controversy brought on a political contest between the Assistants or Council and Deputies or Representatives, but as each House was equally tenacious of their opinions, they could not come to an agreement: The matter, in dispute, which respected their manner of voting conjunctly, and the executive powers exercised by the Assistants or Counsellors during the recess of the General Court, were therefore referred to the serious consideration of their wise and holy Saints and Prophets the Parsons, whose determination was acquiesced in by both Houses as they began to be sick of the contention.

This same year they still continued to persecute all those who differed from them either in religious or political opinion. The celebrated Sir Henry Vane, afterwards beheaded for being one of the Regicides, in a letter to Governor Winthrop, [Page] gently and seasonably reproves them for their oppressions and persecutions. As this letter is short, and as the opinions of such a great man are both curious and interesting, the whole letter shall be given in the original orthography.

AUTHENTIC PAPER. Copy of a letter from Sir Henry Vane to Governor Winthrop.

Honoured Sir,

I received yours by your sonne, and was unwilling to let him returne without telling you as much. The exercise and troubles which God is pleased to lay upon these kingdomes, and the inhabitants in them, teaches us patience and forbearance one with another, in some measure, though there be difference in our opinions, which makes me hope that, from the experience here, it may also be derived to yourselves, least, while the congregational way amongst you is in its freedom, and is backed with power, it teach its oppugners here to extirpate it, and root it out, from its own principles and practice.

I shall need say no [...] more, knowing your sonne can acquaint you particularly with our affairs.

Sir,

I am, Your affectionate friend, And servant in Christ, H. VANE.

June 10th, 1645.

Pray commend me kindly to your wife, Mr. Cotton and his wife, and the rest of my friends with you.

The mildness shewn in this letter is the more remarkable, as Winthrop had forced Sir Henry Vane to leave the Colony of the Massachusets, and this letter was written when Sir Henry's interest in Parliament was very great.

Next year a complaint was exhibited in England against the Colony, by a number of members of the Church of England, for having taken the undue liberty of presenting a petition to the General Court of the Massachusets, praying,

That they might be allowed the free exercise of their religion, according to their own mode of worship:

That they might be freed from the heavy Taxes imposed upon them:

That they might be freed from the illegal impresses made of them, their children, and servants, into the war:

That the fundamental laws of England might be made the basis of their Government, according to the Charter:

[Page] That they might be suffered to enjoy Civil and Religious Liberty.

This petition roused the wrath of the Pharisees and Tyrants of Massachusets. The petitioners were apprehended, tried, and convicted of the High crime of presenting the petition. Their houses were rifled, their papers seized; Prophet Mather thundered reproaches against them from the pulpit, calling them Hamans, Judases, and sons of Korah; he intreated the Lord to confound them, and then, as if he had received immediate inspiration from Heaven, he denounced the judgments of God upon them. The consequence of their conviction was, heavy fines and imprisonment, for the Saints of Boston always had a precious regard for the money of those they oppressed; and they also secured their persons, that they might not have an opportunity to complain.

Some of the petitioners, however, made their escape, and drew up a representation of their case and sufferings, to which they added the following queries:

Whether the patent of the Massachusets was confirmed by Parliament, and whether it was not necessary it should be?

Whether the Court may forfeit their Charter?

Whether, if treason be uttered in the pulpit, or in the Court, and not questioned, the Court do not consent to that treason.

Whether it be not high treason, as well in New England as in Ireland, to endeavour to subvert the fundamental laws of England, to take away the liberties of the English nation, to say the Massachusets is a free state?

Whether the oath of allegiance be not binding in New England?

Whether the Boston ministers may publicly vilify the English nation and laws, and not be questioned?

Whether the petitioners ought to be hindered from settling in a church way, according to the churches in England?

From the above petition, and the queries subjoined to it, the tyrannic and rebellious acts of the venerable forefathers of the Bostonians clearly appear; and it may not be unnecessary to add, that the present traitors are worthy of such progenitors.

The Boston hypocrites instructed their agent to make the best defence he could against these petitioners. The distracted state of England prevented any relief being granted the petitioners, or any regulation undertaken for the better government of that refractory Colony.

Soon after this, that tyrant, Governor Winthrop died, it [Page] was observed, that at the first settlement of the Colony he was of a more tolerant and catholic spirit than many of his associates, but that every day he grew more contracted, bigoted, and persecuting. Under the cover of religious zeal and persecution, he pushed all his political views. The man however had some virtues, the Bostonians called him the father of the country; and though he put in execution all their oppressive schemes, yet they at times both traduced and calumniated him, which made a deep impression on his mind. The year before his death the first witch was executed. On his death-bed he was struck with remorse for his manifold oppressions and cruelties, and gave strong proof of it before he expired, by refusing the Lieutenant Governor, who was pressing him much to sign an order for the banishment of an heretic, saying, ‘He had done too much of that work already.’

The modesty and the merit of some of the gentlemen who [...]avour us with their visits here from America are quite captivating. [...] some of them are exceedingly laborious in instructing [...] politics, and daily assuring us, that if the British Parliament raises one shilling in America, the ruin of Britain must ensue; others come with a Parson in their train, and with uplifted eyes, and hands in mendicant strains supplicate the good people of England, liberally to bestow their charity for the worthy purpose of fattening and enriching some rogues of American projectors. These enterprising gentlemen have no notion of confining their genius, for Way and means, to their own Hemisphere; they are more adventurous, and range the Globe in quest of prey: To them a voyage of three thousand miles to the land of good nature is the pleasantest of all employments; their heads teem with ideas of the riches they shall acquire, and bags bursting wit [...] money [...] before their eyes. Thus a Person Wheelock will plan a Connecticut Indian College, and detach to England a Whitaker, his confederate, along with his tawny Indian Occum, whom he had taught to preach and to pray, as a juggler learns a dog to play at Cards, a Monkey to walk a minuet, or a Bear to dance a hornpipe, in order to levy contributions on the public. To see and hear a converted Heathen, a man in the colour of the Devil, speaking English and solemnly from the pulpit expounding the sacred oracles, was altogether irresistable. The plan was well laid—well executed—had its effect—The White American preacher, and the Black American preacher, after having [Page] ransacked England, Scotland and Ireland, retreated happy with their plunder, leaving the inhabitants of three kingdoms to wonder at their own folly. It would have saved the deluded people of this country some thousands, if the sooty intepreter of the Scriptures and his deceitful guide had met with the same fate which befel an ingenious Bostonian artist many years before their pious and profitable expedition. This artist toiled assiduously a whole twelvemonth in carving an image in wood of the famous Mohawk, King Hendrick. When this great work was finished it was the admiration of the Bostonians, and the ladies themselves viewed with rapture a naked male figure nine feet high, though surrounded with the implements of riot, murder, and war. To have circumscribed such a proof of genius, within the continent of British America, would have been extremely injudicious; his own countrymen would gape and wonder, but they never willingly part with the Cash Warm therefore with hopes of an immense fortune, he embarked for England, and in due time arrived at Plymouth, landed his wooden monarch, and distributed his hand bills; but O dire misfortune! there happened to be a hot press. Mr Welsh being threatened to be laid hold of as a vagrant, and forced against his consent to serve his living Majesty King George the second, instead of voluntarily exhibiting his deceased Majesty King Hendrick of America, thought proper to decamp. But it would be great injustice to the Americans to rest all their merits on their Indian preachers and their carvers of images; they are possessed of many other talents; they are Merchants or Miners, whenever they meet with any credulous gentlemen that will sell them goods, for which they never will pay, or who will purchase of them shares of New England Mines, to the amount of several thousands of pounds, which Mines never will be worked. This will, no doubt, both surprise and shock many gentlemen, who have within these three last years, advanced considerable sums to a supposed American Mine proprietor. The Mines lay no where but in his tongue, and with that he undermined them. It is true, he produced specimens of rich ore, but it was easy, to speak in Doctor Franklin's [...], to "obtain" rich specimens of ore, and much easier too, than to "obtain" private letters; for the specimens of ore might be purchased in five thousand places, but the Letters could only be taken from one place. But to return to the Creator of Mines, though really a thick skulled fellow, he possest infinite versatility, a great share of low cunning, and no blush ever dawned [Page] on his impudent countenance. He was proprietor of all sorts of Mines: If the person he was treating with wished to purchase a share in a Copper Mine, he had the richest in the world; if another chose a Silver Mine, the answer was the same; those who were for Lead or Gold, were also accommodated: whether in London or in the Country, he diffused general satisfaction; and, in a smaller degree, the South Sea and Missisippi schemes were revived. In confirmation of all he said, his rich specimens were shewn, and he left his foolish purchasers indulging in golden dreams, whilst he retired with their real property. With merchants he was a merchant, which some will unhappily feel the effects of. In his tour through this island he happened, at a large manufactoring Town, to meet in company a Merchant, who intended to retire from trade as soon as he could sell off his stock: The moment our Miner heard this, he was one of the most extensive merchants in America; he dealt in every thing, and could dispose of any thing: Thus, the Merchant being ready to sell, and the Miner as ready to buy, a bargain was soon struck, and all the ware▪house full of goods, to a very great amount, was packed up, old and new, wholesale and retail: They were immediately after shipped for America, but the remittances are yet to come. What has been given above is with the best intention of informing the public of some past impositions upon them, and that they be guarded against any present or future deceptions To build and endow a College for the instruction of youth, the advancement of knowledge, and the general good of a very distant country, would, no doubt be a noble and laudable act, provided we could afford the expence, and also provided the people preaching and praying for our assistance were objects deserving our regard The amazing success of the Reverend White Mr. Whitaker, and the Reverend Black Mr. Occum, has at this present time allured into this kingdom two gentlemen from Philadelphia, a Physical Dr Williamson,* and a curse of Souls the Reverend Mr. Ewing. The important business which these gentlemen have taken the trouble to visit us upon, is, that at Philadelphia, Dr. Franklin's residence, when in America, they have an inclination to build a College, and to endow it; they do not want learned men and Professors, for these are already prepared amongst themselves; [Page] they only want magnificent apartments and good salaries; and to obtain these necessary comforts of life, they have boldly risked the dangers of the Atlantic On week days, the Physical gentleman is to talk us out of our money, if he can; and on Sundays the Reverend gentleman is to preach us out of it, if he can. The American AEscusapius is the leader and conductor of this great, wise, and modest expedition; and of all men amongst the loyal and dutiful inhabitants of Philadelphia, one more unfit could not have been found. He may, perhaps, be quite profound in his profession, but however that may be, he is almighty in politics: He holds it as incontrovertible, that England has no authority over the Colonies: He talks with a sneer of contempt of the diminutiveness of this Island, and with a tone of authority of the vast magnitude of America; he speaks with feigned regret of the approaching downfall of Britain, and, with an air of protection and triumph, offers its inhabitants shelter in the Colonies; and, notwithstanding all this, he thinks that he acts with the greatest prudence and circumspection, because he does not condescend to enter into an argument: Reason he will not; but after delivering his sentiments with oracular pomposity, he gathers himself up in his chair with an air of the greatest importance, erects his head, and looks over his long nose at the rest of the company, with a serenity and dignity of countenance only becoming a Gulliver amidst his Lilleputians. Thus the loyal and consistent Constituents of Doctor Franklin, at Philadelphia, who deny the authority of our supreme Legislature, who refuse to contribute a farthing towards their own protection, who call us tyrants and plunderers, and who, at this very time, are establishing illegal Post-Offices, in opposition to those of Government, that they may lay their hands on all our letters private as well as public, have sent over a couple of their wise and holy men to abuse us to our faces, and then to beg our money; which obtained, they will retire to their beloved America, and there with their associates, they will wanton in luxury at the expence of English Generosity.

Notes

*

This Doctor was one of the Sage advisers to the destruction of the Tea at Boston, and was rewarded with a gratis passage to England in one of their Patriots ships.

↵

LETTER XXI.

IT has been the usual practice of the people of New England, when they were called to account for their undutiful behaviour and their disobedience to the State, to instruct their Agent to crave further time, that they might be enabled fully to clear themselves of the misdemeanors and crimes [Page] laid to their charge. At the expiration of the period granted, the request was again renewed, upon the pretence of their not being fully prepared; and their Agent was desired, in the mean time, to make the best excuse he was able for them, and to represent them as a pious, virtuous, and universally loyal people, and these vague general declarations was all the defence they ever made.

They rested their exculpation on the chapter of accidents, hoping that a change of Ministers might happen, or that England might be involved in a civil commotion, or might be forced into a war; in any of which cases, their treasons and cruelties might probably be overlooked, neglected, or forgotten; and experience has proved, that in their conjectures they were generally in the right.

During the time of the civil wars, they gave the same trouble to the Commonwealth, that they have ever given this country under its Kings, as may be seen from the following

STATE PAPER. Copy of a letter from Edward Winslow, Esq Agent for the Province of Massachusets Bay, to the Commissioners of the United Colonies.

Gentlemen,

Yesterday, as I am informed, Mr. Coddington had something done for him at the Council of State; which I believe was his Patent confirmed. The truth is, since I perceived by letters from Plymouth, that, after another years warning, nothing is likely to be done in reference to the old order of the Lords and Commons sent over in 1647, as I take it, I looked upon it as a vain thing to strive against the stream, when as indeed that was the material main objection, above a twelvemonth since; and if I could not then answer it, how much less now, after another year if not eighteen months expiration; but the will of the Lord must be done! However, I suffer in my reputation here; to make so great a bustle at first, and then to let all fall at last; had I not received particular instructions from Plymouth herein, I had never stirred in it; but I shall be more wary hereafter, how I engage in business of that nature; yet, when I have said it, shall not dare to neglect the least service wherein any or all of the United Colonies are concerned.

Here is great murmuring at the great provision of powder and shot; the several shins get licence for, year after [Page] year, forty barrels of powder, and fifty barrels is an ordinary proportion to a ship, nay sometimes a hundred, and lead and arms proportionable.

It is laid to our charge, that, being Custom free, we enrich ourselves by furnishing Barbadoes and Virginia, though enemies, with that and other commodities; and there hath been, on that very account, a serious debate about revoking our free Custom and Excise.

I have laboured in it, and satisfied many of the Parliament and Council of State of your care not to suffer any powder, more than ships store, to be transported away; that we are fain to land all we bring hither, for fear of firing the ships in the river, and we must get license for that also, upon return; that the Master is forced to take license for more than he buys, that he may bear out his passengers particular stores.

I have shewed them, that we only had suffered with and for them; and, for their sakes, were hated of all the English abroad.

This hath made a present stop: But I assure you it concerns the country to take notice of it, and be careful that our merchants, and such as trade thither, abuse not the freedom we enjoy; nor know I better to whom to impart it than to you, the Commissioners, that are Representatives of the united Colonies.

I pray God direct you herein, amongst other the weighty occasions of the country.

Gentlemen,

Your humble Servant, (Signed) EDW. WINSLOW, Agent.

London, April 17, 1651.

(AUTHENTIC COPY.)

By this authentic letter we find, that the confederated New England Colonies paid as little respect to the orders of the Lords and Commons, during the time of the Commonwealth, as they now pay to Acts of Parliament. The orders of the Lords were, to send home their Patent for a renewal, a [...] an acknowledgment of the powers then in being; and that all processes in the Colony should be in the name of the Keepers of the Liberties of England The refractory Independents of Massachusets, however, complied with neither of these orders.

If this Agents of theirs was not the most clear and distinct writer, at least he [...] regard for [Page] his reputation, and a due sense of honour, by his complaints of the conduct of his constituents, even to themselves: But rightly judging that his injured character would receive no reparation from them, like an honest sensible man, he declares he will be more cautious, in future, how he undertakes any business for them, and then, like a good Christian, rests his case with the Lord.

Indeed, whenever their Agents implicitly followed their directions, they always involved them in falsehoods, in dirty work, and in disgrace. They never were so well provided in that respect as they are at present; they have got a country-man of their own, and one of a mind congenial with themselves.

At this period of time Barbadoes and Virginia held out against the Commonwealth, yet we find that the Bostonians supplied them with powder, shot, and arms, which occasioned serious debates in Parliament, and the Council of State, about revoking their free custom.

By their Charter they were only freed from paying or yielding any custom or subsidy, either inward or outward, for the space of seven years, from its date, which was March the 4th, 1629, so that their exemption from customs and subsidies was expired about fifteen years.

Their Agent seems to have made a very ingenious excuse for their exporting such great quantities of powder and other warlike stores, but unluckily happened to be mistaken; for the Commissioners for the United Colonies confess, in their reply, dated September 11th, in the same year, ‘with respect to the trade of powder, we cannot but fear it hath been too exorbitantly managed by some, though the welfare of the Colonies in many respects are deeply concerned and hazarded.’

If they were hated, as they tell us themselves, in the last century, by all the English abroad, it may be said with the greatest truth, that in our days, their general character is universally despised over all the Continent of British America. Though the other Colonies will confederate with them against the payment of taxes, yet that does not obliterate the contempt and detestation which they entertain for the hypocritical Saints of Boston.

Their Agent takes leave with a very proper admonition to the merchants, not to abuse the freedom which they enjoyed, and prays GOD to direct them. Instead of taking his advice, they continued to break through all restraint, and have till this hour continued refractory and rebellious.

LETTER XXI.

[Page]

IN the days of Oliver, the Bostonian Pharisees and oppressors out canted that long practised and through paced Hypocrite himself. As they stiled themselves the family of God wrestling with the wants of a wilderness, in the ends of the earth, Cromwell took compassion upon them, and having entirely conquered Ireland he was very desirous of removing the dear Saints of God, from their barren desarts, to the Irish Canaan, which he had just subdued.

Upon this occasion the Bostonian Hypocrites were caught in their own snare Their complaints, concerning their poor and mean condition, were not designed to obtain a removal and a new settlement, but were intended to impress the state with an opinion of their poverty, in order that they might preserve themselves from paying Customs and Taxes, as the years of their exemption from both, by their Patent, were long expired.

The Family of God having thus, by their hypocritical whimpering, brought themselves into such a dilemma, they were under the necessity of assembling together, for the mortifying purpose of contradicting all their past representations, on purpose to prevent their re-transportation. They accordingly met, and drew up the following

STATE PAPER, Addressed to the Right Honourable His Excellency the Lord General Cromwell.

Right Honorable,

Wee acknowledge ourselves in all dutie bound, not only to take due notice of that tender care and undeserved respect your Excellence hath, upon all occasions, vouchsafed unto the poor despised Colonie of the Massachusets in New England, but also to acknowledge ourselves ever obliged to serve you, and to improve that interest which, through Grace, we have obtained in Jehovah, the God of Armies, to prosper you, and your great and godly undertakings to his glorie and your everlasting comfort.

Your readiness, Right Honorable, to doe us good, hath occasioned these lines to be presented to your Excellence, to the end, that no priuat information may occasion your Honor, contrarie to your aymes and ends, to preiudice this Colonie, by inviting over many of the inhabitants thereof to be transplanted into Ireland; wherein, although we verilie beleeve that your Honor aymes at [Page] the glorie of God, and the welfare of this people, yet, with favor, we conceave it will tend to the contrarie, for these following reasons:

That we did professe we came into these remote partes of the earth to enjoy the Liberties of the Gospel, in their puritie, which hitherto, we have, through the Grace of Christ, had, without restraint, these twenty-three years and above.

That God hath blessed the country with plentie of food of all kindes, generallie through the land, insomuch that there are many thousands of bushels of graine, and other provisions of beef and pork, yearly transported to other places. And where there be any poore people, through age, or weaknes, or losses by fire, or other hand of God upon them, or their estates, the churches, or towns, or both, doe contribute to their wants. So that povertie cannot, truly, be alleaged to be a ground of remouall.

That God is pleased hitherunto to maintayne unto us all his Ordinances, both in Church and Commonwealth, whereby spreading errors in judgement are suppressed.

That God hath made this Colonie to be instrumentall in the Conversion of some of the Natives amongst us: And that worke is brought to this perfection alreadie that some of the Indians themselves can pray and prophesie, in a comfortable manner, to the rest, with great gravitie, reverence, and zeale, and can write and read English and Indian comfortably.

Furthermore, we humbly petition your Excellence to be pleased to shew us what favor God shall be pleased to direct you unto, on our behalfe, to the most honorable Parliament, unto whom we have now presented a petition. The copy of it, verbatim, we are bold to send herewith, that, if God so please, we may not be hindered in our comfortable proceedings, in the Work of God, here in this wilderness. Wherein, as for other favors, we shall be bound to pray, that the Captain of the Host of Israell may be with you, and your whole Army, in all your great enterprises, to the glory of God, the subduing of his and your enemies, and your everlasting peace and comfort in Jesus Christ. In whom we are,

Right Honorable,

Your most obliged Servants, JOHN ENDICOT, Governor, In the Name, of the Court.

(AUTENTIC EXTRACT.)

[Page] Supposing Oliver really to be an Enthusiast, the General Court of the Massachusets set out very artfully; they pretend, that through the holiness of their life they had obtained great influence with the Almighty, the God of Battles, and that out of Gratitude for Oliver's tender care of them, they would use their interest with Jehovah, that all his great and godly undertakings might prosper. Setting aside the blasphemous impudence of this pretension—what could be better calculated to gain the favour of a religious and military Enthusiast?

It has always been the practice of the people of the Massachusets, when the state here undertook to regulate them, to say, that the information, upon which Government proceeded, was given by their enemies, when, in truth, it was founded on their own authentic publications and public acts. At this time, however, it was necessary for them to deny all that they had published of the barrenness of the wilderness they inhabited, that they might, with the better grace, decline the invitation given them of transplanting themselves to Ireland.

Now, therefore, the barren d [...]sart was instantly transformed into a land flowing with milk and honey. God had blessed them with plenty of food of all kinds, and that in such superabundance, that they yearly exported thousands of bushels of grain, and other provisions of beef and pork. They could support all their aged, their sick, and their poor. They could afford to re-establish all those who suffered by fire, or other accidents, by contributions. So that poverty could not truly be alleged as a reason for transplanting them. The present Hypocrites and Rebels of Boston proceed exactly in the same manner at this time. When Parliament lays a tax upon them, they cry out bitterly, that ‘the Revenue Officers are devouring monsters, who suck their very life blood while it is streaming from their veins;’ and yet, soon after, they tell us, with an air of disdain, ‘that Parliament had better repeal the Tax, as the duty does not pay the expence of raising it.’ A Bostonian never minds what contradictions and falsehoods he utters, provided he can carry his point.

As to the Liberties of the Gospel, they might have enjoyed them in as great purity in Ireland.

It is true, that they maintained all their Ordinances, both in Church and Commonwealth, by fining, imprisoning, whipping, banishing, or hanging, all who dissented form [Page] them in matters either civil or religious; which was their method of suppressing errors in judgment.

Previous to Cromwell's invitation, whilst they were murdering the Indians for the sake of their lands, they always [...] bewaild their own dangerous situation, exposed, as they were, to the ravages and cruelties of the barbarous Heathen Savages; but now, when a proposal was made for their removal to Ireland, where there were no Indians, and where they could live in safety, these bloody Barbarians of Indians were, in a moment, converted to the Religion of Jesus Christ; they could read and write English comfortably; and they could also pray and prophecy, in a comfortable manner, with great gravity, reverence, and zeal.

As the Commonwealth Parliament had, at this very time, ordered, that all processes should be in their name, and that the Massachusets Patent should be surrendered, and a renewal of it accepted, as a proof of the submission of the Colony to their authority; the dear Saints of God inclosed, in their letter to Oliver, a copy of their petition to Parliament, in which they refused to submit to either to these orders, saying, that they did not discern the need of obeying such injunctions: In order to ward off punishment for such an avowed disobedience, they beseech Oliver to use his interest in their behalf, that the Work of God in the Wilderness might not be obstructed, and, in return they promise their interest with the Captain of the Host of Israel, the God of Armies. Whether Cromwell, on account of this pretended interest with the God of Battles, gave up his own project, and used his influence with the Parliament, or whether the civil war, which still continued, and the other very important objects they were engaged in, diverted their attention, cannot be said positively,—but as to this period we hear no more of transplanting the Saints to Ireland, or of recalling their Patent.

IF your correspondent, who signs himself a White man, had attended to the very first line of the Speculation relative to American Adventurers, he would not have charged the Writer with general reflections on a whole country; for in that first line, the modesty and merit of some of the American gentlemen are mentioned; now some cannot mean the whole, and therefore cannot be a general reflection. It is readily allowed, that there are many gentlemen of integrity, abilities, and loyalty, in the various parts of British America, and especially in the Massachusets; but it is as certain, [Page] that, at Boston, these very great and good qualities render them objects of factious rage and persecution. Of this we have a recent instance in the treatment of Judge Oliver, whose firmness, integrity, and abilities, would do honour to the first citizen of any country.

Concerning the money-collecting expedition of the Reverend triumvirate, the two White Parsons and the Black one, their design in raising contributions might be pious, but the usefulness of it may be doubted The American Clergy have been drawing money from this good natured country for more than a century past, for the laudible purpose of Gospelizing the Heathen, and they have indulged us, at last, with the single and singular exhibition of that Reverend Divine Indian, the Sooty Mr. Occum. After all, it is not so much the misapplication of the money when collected, that is found fault with, as the folly of our having contributed to it.—Respecting that "ingenius Impostor," the Miner, your correspondent of Saturday is probably mistaken, with regard to that rogue's having no recommendations; for it is a certain fact, that he was fitted out by that wise head of the Faction, Mr. Hancock, who also complimented him with the use of the cabbin of one of his vessels bound to this country: So that we are obliged to that great Boston patriot for whatever honour and advantage we received from the visit of his townsman, the American Phoenomenon. If we had money to spare, if the Americans were dutiful, if all our own poor were only provided with bread, exclusive of learning, Doctor Williamson and his Reverend Companion (who is really a good sort of man) might have some plea for asking subscriptions towards the establishment of a "Seminary of Literature" at Philadelphia: But circumstanced as we are at present—America in rebellion, ourselves bending under the heavy load of taxes incurred in defence of America, and numbers of the most industrious members of our community, with their families, begging in the streets—in such a situation to part with our money, on purpose to institute a seminary of literature in America, would not be a proof of our generosity and wisdom, but of our blindness and folly.—That the money, when collected, would be applied to the purpose for which it was raised, need not be doubted: It is not the misapplication of the money, but the collection of it which is dreaded. It is true that the Doctor and his Reverend companion are out of England, because they are at present in Scotland, no doubt with an intent, as the General Assembly is now siting, to procure its sanction and recommendation to the Clergy [Page] of the different parishes throughout that kingdom, that collections may be made in all the Churches, as was the case in Whitaker and Occum's expedition. But if the Scotch, amidst the wreck of their affairs, and whilst their very Banks are becoming bankrupt, contribute a farthing towards the Doctor's scheme, we ought to rebuild the Roman wall, and confine them with their folly and their paper credit, to their own barren mountains That men, supposed to have common sense should plan such an excursion, and think to succeed, considering our present situation with regard to America is really unaccountable and marvelous. The Americans refuse to contribute either to their own protection, or to the support of the State; and yet they send off a party to beg our money for the institution of a College. If all was right in America, it would be but just in us to assist them, even if by that assistance we should be put to some difficulties ourselves. That such time may soon arrive must be the sincere wish of every good subject. When peace and unanimity are restored, every individual in the Mother Country will manifest their affection for the Colonies; for the generosity and humanity of the English nation are boundless as the heavens.

THE Saints professing loyalty and godliness at Boston, send us, by every vessel from their Port, accumulated proofs of their treasons and rebellions. That mighty wise Patriot, Mr. John Hancock, from the old South Meeting House, has lately repeated a hash of abusive, treasonable stuff, composed for him by the joint efforts of the Reverend Divine Samuel Cooper, that Rose of Sharon, and by the very honest Samuel Adams, Clerk, Psalm-finger, Purlonier, and Curer of Bacon. This great and honourable Master Hancock is very well known in London to many; indeed, unfortunately for them, too well known; for they would now esteem themselves happy, if they had never heard of him before this frantic Oration. When he was in London about twelve years ago, he was the laughing-stock and the contempt of all his acquaintances: instead of attending and pushing his mercantile interest, visiting the different curiosities in and about Town, and forming reputable connections, as a young man of his great fortune ought to have done, he kept sneaking and lurking about the kitchen of his uncle's correspondent, drank tea every day with the house-maid, and on Sundays escorted her to White Conduit House. People unacquainted with Mr. Hancock's natural condition thought, that his [Page] close attendance and attention arose from an amorous connection; but his old school-fellows and intimates knew, that though nature had bestowed upon him a human figure, she had denied him the powers of manhood. The girl was therefore in perfect safety, though unconscious of it. The sense of his incapacity could not however hinder him from thinking; perhaps the Fair Sex took possession of his head, and no doubt he loved them as well as he was able. When he arrived in America, his uncle, who knew his weakness and want of capacity, kept him at a distance form company; but as soon as he died, Flatterers, Rogues, and Knaves of all ages and all professions, flocked about him, as Vultures, Cormorants, and Carrion Crows flock abaut a dead Carc [...]se: It is a melancholy consideration, that good natured folly should be plundered and stript by such a nest of Villains as he associates with. His fortune has long been in the wane. Such is the character, and such the situation of this simple Creature, who has been persuaded to form the extravagant scheme of conquering England in the Pulpit of the Old South, and in the Desk of the Boston Town Hall. This Bostonian Orator sets out with telling the seditious Starers and Gapers around him, with what awe, their attentive gravity, their venerable appearance, and the dignity on their countenances, struck him! It will readily be believed that they were very attentive to their own praise, with which it must be said he plentifully beplastered [...]; but it may be suspected, that the venerable appearances were nothing more than the grins of grey headed folly. As to this dignity in their countenances, it would have been an entertaining and highly ludicrous sight, to have seen the greasy rebellious Rogues swelling themselves up, and struggling to assume an air of consequence. We agree with the Orator, when he confesses his want of ability and unworthiness, which is one of the few truths in his traiterous Oration. This speechifying Fool assures his Rebel Audience, that it would be to the last degree vicious and infamous in them to attempt to support the Government of England; that a traiterous plot is devised by the mother country against them; that Great Britain has omitted no means of procuring their destruction; that Great Britain has declared she has full power to make laws of sufficient validity to bind the Colonies; that she has exercised this pretended right by imposing on them a Tax; that she has sent her fleets and armies to enforce her mad pretensions; that he himself glories in publicly avowing his eternal enimity to British tyranny; that he prays perpetual infamy may be entailed [Page] upon that villain who advised the execrable measure of taxing them, and of sending troops to enforce obedience to Acts of the British Parliament, which neither God nor man ever empowered them to make: That the Soldiers were unfeeling ruffians, who viciated their morals—who broke in upon their solemn devotions in their temples, on the day hallowed by Heaven, and set apart by God himself for his peculiar worship—who taught their youth idleness and luxury, extravagance and effeminacy; and that he was compelled to acknowledge that even the noblest, fairest part of all the lower creation did not entirely escape the snare.—Such a train of falsehood, madness, and rebellion, needs neither commentary nor explanation. The ringleaders ought to be taken up, and hanged round their own Town Hall; and, if there is a man in this kingdom so infamous, and so lost to all sense of loyalty, as to stand forth their champion, he ought to be treated as the parricide of his country.

When Orator Hancock, the nominal head, yet the wretched and plundered tool of the Boston rebels, charged the Army with ensnaring their wives and daughters, he ought to have established the fact, by producing, at least, one evidence of the truth of it; but the truth is, that this aspersion was only thrown out to abuse the troops, and to keep up the aversion of the people; for so far from giving the Officers and Soldiers access to their houses, their wives, and their daughters, the factious professing Saints would not even provide any kind of quarters for the regiments—no, not even a covering, not a common shed, from the inclemencies of the weather. After a long, desultory, false, and treasonable preamble, the prompted idiotic Orator proceeds to the transaction which occasioned his appearance in the pulpit of Rebellion, ‘on that dismal night when Hell was suffered to take the reins, when Satan, with his chosen band, opened the sluices of New England's blood, and sacraligiously polluted the land with the dead bodies of her guiltless Sons.’ These guiltless sons were five of the faction, who assembled with many hundereds of their confederate rebels, to drive the soldiers out of town, and to plunder the Custom-House chest of all the Revenue raised in America. One of them, who lived some days after he was wounded, repeatedly and solemnly declared, on his death bed, that he had often seen riots in Ireland, but that he had never in his life time seen soldiers suffer such a violence of attack, and such an extremity of bad usage so long, without firing. In short, the [Page] whole was a villianous plot of the faction; they imagined that the troops would not dare to fire without the orders of a magistrate, and therefor, that they would be able to turn them out of Town without any danger. These guiltless Sons had knocked down some of the soldiers, were wresting their muskets from them, and were pushing into the Custom House at the time they were fired at; and one of these glorious, immortal, free-born sons of New-England, was an able bodied Moiatto slave. The faction at Boston, although they had fomented and conducted the insurrection and attack on his Majesty's troops and Custom house, yet they endeavoured, by the evidence and perjuries of upwards of fifty of the rioters themselves, to establish a proof that the soldiers were the aggressors; but the perjuries were so contradictory, barefaced, and glaring, that they failed in this their wicked attempt. Upon this failure they tried another attrocious villainy, which was to prove against some Custom-house Officers, that during the assault on the troops, several of the Officers had fired on the rioters from the Custom-house windows, and for this damnable purpose they suborned several of their adherents to perjure themselves; and likewise by threats, imprisonment, and promises of reward, so intimidated a servant of one of the Revenue Officers, as to oblige him to swear that his Master, and several others, fired from the windows of the Board of Customs. But all these suborned and perjured evidences were controverted, in the clearest, and most satisfactory manner, by positive proofs being brought that the Officers charged, were long before the time of the firing, at the time of the firing, and long after it, at a house half a mile distant from the Custom-house: other witness a proved, that the Officers were not in the Custom-house that night; and besides, several of the most respectable merchants in Boston, one of whom was shot through the arm, gave in evidence, "that they were [...]ully satisfied no such firing could have happened while the soldiers were there, without their observing it; that they stood opposite to the Custom-house in full view of it, from the time the soldiers first came down there, until all the guns were discharged; that they were satisfied the whole firing was from the street, and that all above was quiet." This strong, substantial, exculpatory proof was undeniable, more especially as the subornation of perjury was positively proved against a principal leader of the faction; in consequence of which, the principal evidence against the Custom-house Officers, was sentenced to be whipt at the public whipping post. But this punishment could not [Page] [...]e inflicted for some time, on account of the violence of the faction, till the Officers of Justice watched an opportunity on a day not usual for public punishments, to execute in a hasty manner the sentence of the law! Therefore, Orator Hancock's long rebellious Oration, in commemoration of this traiterous insurrection, and of the shocking designed villainy and perjury of the faction, only serves to keep alive the remembrance of their own most detestable infamy and prostitution.

THE daemons of Folly, Falshood, Madness, and Rebellion, seem to have entered into the Boston Saints along with their Chief, the Angel of Darkness. Their Orator, Hancock, that almost natural fool, raves from his pulpit, that the white and black rioters, who fell in the concerted attack they made upon the Custom-house, were killed [...] pursuance of a plan laid by Lord Hillsborough. The following are a few of the flowers which grace this frantic Oration, and some of the polite epithets bestowed on the army, on the really loyal subjects in Boston, on the Parliament, the King, and the whole English nation. Reader attend!—"Ye bloody butchers! ye villains high and low! ye wretches! murderers! ye obdurate of heart! miscreant host! happy it is for you that your naked bones are not now piled up an everlasting monument of Massachusets bravery: Ye dark designing Knaves! ye guilty villains! ye murderers! ye patricides and traitors! ye common enemies! un [...]e [...]ling ruffians! sceptered robbers! tyrants, unfit to live in civil society! ye serpents! ye adversaries! ye of restless malice and disappointed ambition, of hypocrisy, of canning, chicanery, and falshood! ye debauche [...]s! ye cruel savages! ye unmannerly pillagers! ye impudent thieves with dirty hands! ye inveterate enemies! ye Philistines! ye ungrateful enraged tyrants! ye noxious vermin! ye den of thieves!" If this mad rebellious Oration had not come to us fully authenticated by themselves, being composed, spoken, printed, published, and transmitted to us by their own desire, it would have been but a rational conjecture in us to have doubted the genuiness of this outrageous production, and to have considered it either as the composition of some arch rogue who intended to ridicule them, or the effusions of some mad man's brains; but as it was solemnly delivered in the pulpit of the Old South meeting-house, by that modern Demosthenes, Master John Hancock, to the men, brethren, and fathers of Boston, who heard it with attentive gravity, venerable appearance, and dignified countenances; and also [Page] printed and published, at the request of the freeholders and other inhabitants of the Town of Boston, we cannot withhold our assent to its authenticity. Having thus given the Bostonian opinion of the King, Parliament, and English nation, we shall now proceed to give their character of themselves, which is equally curious, impudent, and unjust. They tell us they are "a generous people: that Boston was ever faithful to the British crown; that they are moral, religious, and loyal; that they are solemn in their devotions: that their ears have been unaccustomed to impious oaths and blasphemies; that they knew nothing of idleness, luxury, extravagance, and effeminacy, till the arrival of the troops; that great Souls and magnificence of Spirit actuate their noble bosoms; that they are patriotic, humane, and compassionate; endued with noble affections; that their hearts flutter no more at the sou [...] of war, than did those of the immortal band of Persia, the Macedonian phalanx, the invincible Roman legions, the Turkish Janes [...]ries, the Gens d' [...] of France, or the well known Grenadiers of Britain; that no militia ever appeared in a more flourishing condition than theirs; that they had one common case to fight for, their houses, their lands, their wives, their children, for their liberty, themselves, and their God; that they are a wise and a brave people; they were possessed of an illustrious roll of reverend patriots, whose names shall grace the annals of America; that they are virtuous asserters of the rights of mankind; that they will play the man for their God, and the cities of their God; and that they will pray, act, fight, and even die, for the prosperity of their Jerusalem" Their character of the people of England is as false and scurrilous as their character of themselves is meanly ostentatious, [...]alle, and impudent; and no wonder they were attentive when they were so highly praised. They certainly display their bravery and the greatness of their souls▪ by hundreds of them attacking a single Custom-house Officer, and treating him more barbarously than ever savage beast was treated. It is impossible for real courage to exist in people who are so ridiculously lavish in their own praise. We still remember their pompous vauntings, blusterings, and rhodomantadoes in the year 1768, before the arrival of the two regiments from Halifax, and we also remember their abject pusilanimity on the landing of these troops. Instead of putting their trust in the arm of flesh, they threw the burthen of their defence on the Lord; and on that dreadful day, when the Philistenes, the English re [...]ments, triumphed over Israel and the dear Saints of God, [Page] the holy wariors, though they were far from being formidable in front, were exceedingly offensive in the rear. On their day of prayer, set apart to implore the Almighty to send his winds, his storms, and his tempests, to fight their battles and to destroy their enemies, one of their congregational parsons,* a man of i [...]finite wit and humour, who knew their cowardice, and laughed at their bravadoes, gave out to be sung in the afternoon that Hymn of Doctor Watts, which begins,

Whence do our mournful thoughts arise?

And where's our courage fled?

These mournful lines the intrepid Saints sung with great solemnity and dejection, whilst their ingenious parson no doubt smiled at their humiliation.

The temper and abilities of the rebellious Saints in Boston, are easily discoverable in Hancock's Oration, who at his delivery of it, was attended by most of his Majesty's Council, the majority of the Representatives then at Boston, the Select men, most of the Justices of the Peace, and the rest of the rebellious herd of Calves, Asses, knaves, and Fools, which compose the Faction. As to the foolish Orator himself, whenever and wherever he appears, he exhibits a compleat figure of idiotism personified.

Notes

*

Reverend Doctor Byles son.

↵

LETTER XXII.

SOME time after the people of New England had declineed transplanting themselves to Ireland, Cromwell conquered Jamaica; and upon this acquisition, he again invited the people of Massachusets to remove and settle on that island; but the People of the Lord remained firm in their determination not to depart out of their own Israel.

Cromwell's arguments to induce them to move were both curious and artful; he endeavoured to persuade them both by worldly and religious considerations;* he apprehended that the people of New England had as clear a call from the Lord to transport themselves from thence to Jamaica, as they had from England to New-England, in order to the bettering their outward condition, God having promised his people should be the head and not the tail; besides the design [Page] had its tendency to overthrow the man of sin. These ingenious reasons, however, had no effect on the Saints; their Agent answered, that the body of the people, all things considered, lived more comfortably like Englishmen than any of the rest of the Plantations. There was now to talk of their Poverty in the howling Wilderness. Whilst Cromwell and the Agent were canvassing this matter together, a Member of the Council of State came in, and hearing the conversation respecting New England, he expressed himself greatly against the [...]rigidness and persecutions there, and thought that his Highness ought to interpose his authority.

At this time many complaints were made to the Protector against the Colony of Massachusets, for their violent and unjust encroachments and usurpations on their neighbours, particularly in the eastern parts adjacent to New England, where they had forcibly seized lands and provinces, which had been previously granted to others by Patent.

In the General Court's letter to Oliver, excusing themselves from removing to Jamaica, they seemed to be aware of these just complaints, which they stiled according to their present method, clamours and calumnies; and they promised Oliver never to cease praying for him, provided he continued to believe all they said, and to befriend them.

They also wrote a letter to Mr. Hopkins, a gentleman in great favour with Oliver, assuring him, that though they had not hitherto returned him their grateful acknowledgments for the many singular expressions of his faithful love, yet their best desires at the throne of grace had not been wanting to implore a rich recompence of reward on his head and heart, as well as on many others whom the Lord had stirred up to wish well to his exiled ones in these parts; that they were not without hope that the Lord would more and more encourage him, according to the mercies he received; and that the Lord, who was and would be a rich paymaster in the end, put into his hands opportunities of acting for his service whilst here. They then beg his continued helpfulness and assistance to Leveret, their Agent, in promoting their affairs with his Highness the Lord Protector, and his honourable Council, and conclude with telling him, that they offer up daily prayers for his prosperity.

Vindicating the oppressions and persecutions of the Pharisees of Massachusets, giving credit to the excellent character which they gave of themselves, and refusing redress to the many just complaints preferred against them, was in their [Page] opinion acting in the service of the Lord and the Lord's people.

As their usurpations were numerous, so were the representations against them. This occasioned the General Court to draw up instructions to their Agent, some of which are as follow:

§

You are desired to take the first convenient opportunity to present the Letter from this Court unto his Highness, and upon all occasions to let his Highness understand how thankfullie we accept, and at all tymes readilie acknowledge, his Highnesses favour and clemencie towards us, and to assure him of our real and syncere affection towards his Highness, and readiness upon all occasions to be serviceable to him to the utmost of our power and abilitie.

These professions of real and sincere affection and service, were only from the teeth outward; for they scarcely ever obeyed any one of his commands.

That you also humbly desire, on our behalf, that as we have many enemies in the world, that all complaints made against us by one or other, may take no place in his Princiely breast, but be suspended from all belief till we may have knowledge thereof and opportunity to answer for ourselves.

This has generally been the only answer they made to the many complaints brought against them. They always craved time to reply, and after that was expired, they continued to petition for further time, till the complaints were forgot, or till war or other important business occasioned them to be neglected.

If peace be concluded betwixt England and France, and the French Forts, in these parts, included therein, and that you find a propensity in his Highness to gratifie New England with the same, that you improve your best interest and opportunitie for the obtaining thereof, provided they be free from charges and other engagements.

This is exactly their conduct in our times; rapacious to, seize every advantage within their reach, but refusing to be at the smallest expe [...]ce, or to submit to any engagement or, authority, but that of their own will and pleasure.

If any complaint be made of our entrenching upon what is called the Province of Legoma, you may, for the present, make the best answer you can; which, if it satisfie not, you may crave liberty for our further answer.

By the Court, Edward Rawson, Secretary.

[Page] Such replies and vindications as these to be sure are convincing. When they seize a province to desire their Agent to make the best answer he can, and when they invade every prerogative of Majesty to tell him to make the best excuse he is able, was always their method of procedure, and when joined to their common phrase, that they were a virtuous, godly and uninversally loyal People, was all the defence they ever made for their many crimes and treasons.

THE Select men of Boston, who have fomented so many dagerous and traiterous insurrections, and who have given such continued trouble to our supreme legislature, are after all the most ignorant, assuming, and despicable fellows in the Creation. One of them is a Bankrupt Merchant; a second a noble Tinman; a third, an old retailer of Wine and Cyder, but who now acts as Shopman to his wife; a fourth, that poor plucked gawky, Orator Hancock; and a fifth, a redoubtable Taylor, who shall be the subject for the day, This valiant Taylor had the honour, a few years ago, to be Lieutenant Colonel of the Boston Militia, whose ragged figures and aukwardness far outstrip our City Train Bands. At that time an English gentleman in Boston had a curiosity to obtain a list of certain Toasts, which were given in the Council Chamber on his Majesty's Birth Day, and having some knowledge of this warlike Taylor, sent a Card to him, requesting a copy of the Toasts in writing. The answer of this Taylor, Soldier, and Select man, is exactly as follows:

Coll [...]. Marshall's compliments waits on Mr.—to leet him know he cant give a [...]ortin list of the tosts that pasd at the Councell Board not being their abuse 15 minits, but heard, say, vizt, the King, the Queen and Royal Family; Onion betwon Great Britton and hur Colloneys; his Majestys Ministers of State; the Governor and Provence. when the Gards and Rigement and Train of Artilery ware dismis after the firings the Capt. marchd. their respecktive Companys to their own Houses whare they provided jonteel dinners for their Officers and other Jontlemen of the Town and after dinner a number of Loyal Tofts, concluded the day.

If you have a mind to be more perfecktly informed of To [...]t at the Councel Bord Mr. Sherrif Greenleaf would inform you, their was not any body at Funevel Hall.

Such are the great abilities and learning of the mighty [Page] men of Boston, whom their Agents tells us will overthrow the British Empire; and Jerathmeel Bowers, Representative for Swanzey, whom the Faction have so often elected one of his Majesty's Council, but who has been as often negatived much to the honour of Goverors Bernard and Hutchinson, is yet still more deplorably ignorant, for he can hardly read; and it is a most dreadful piece of business for him, when he is under the necessity of trying to write his name. This favourite of the Boston Faction is also singularly notorious, for many very extraordinary mercantile exploits, both on the American Continent, and in the West India Islands. In short, the whole of the Faction is composed of two Classes, the foolish and the infamous.

TO induce us to submit to the knaves and rogues who lead or drive the geese, calves, and asses, that compose the Boston Faction, their hoary hireling, the learned Doctor Franklin, of Philadelphia, avers, that if we decline to acquiesce in such measures as he shall dictate to us from his rebellious constituents, that the Empire of Britain shall disappear from before the face of other nations, like the baseless fabric of a vision, and that she shall sink, never more to rise; yet according to this learned Gentleman, we may, in a moment, not only make the rebels at Boston quiet, but affectionate; to restore peace, force is unnecessary; as he tells us, in his "intended Speech before the House of Lords," that we have only to indulge the Bostonians in doing whatever they please, and then they will favour us with their good opinion; that by such means we gained and long preserved their affection; and that we lost that affection when we required them to pay a trifle towards their own support. Can any thing be more reasonable than what this wise Philosopher asks for his constituents; They will condescend to speak well of us, if we will be such fools as to defend them against all their enemies, without insisting that they shall pay any part of the expence. It is surely a conclusive argument against taxing America, to tell us, that former Administrations never thought of it, that England had always been liberal to the Americans, had granted bounties on many of their commodities, had reimbursed them the expences of last war, and had, at all times, defended them against their enemies, at an expence ruinous to herself:—All these, on the contrary, are powerful reasons why the people of America should not be allowed to remain any longer untaxed; nothing can be more just and equitable, than that they should pay [Page] their due proportion towards the support of the State [...] When it was recommended to them to raise a revenue by their own Assemblies, many of them would not so much as send Administration an answer, and those Assemblies which did, sent a negative It would be political suicide in this country any longer to bend under a load of taxes, incurred by the protection of America, without obliging them to participate the burden. If, in England, a hard working, half-starved, Labourer or Manufacturer, encumbered with a large family, makes Twenty Pounds a year, one half, at least, goes in taxes; whi [...]st the turbulent American fattens in the midst of plenty, and has, till lately, enjoyed a freedom from Taxation. The speechifying Doctor is outrageous with Administration for withdrawing the American Governors and Judges from the influence of the people; for this, indeed, he has good reason, because, by this most necessary regulation, his traiterous deceitful Constituents will now be forced to pay their debts, if they are able; whereas formerly, when the Judges were under popular controul, they were reduced to the dismal necessity of losing their salaries, or of deciding contrary to their consciences. Mr Rome's letter, published by the foolish Traitors of Boston themselves, fully evinces, that an English Creditor had no chance of obtaining a verdict against a New-England Debtor, when the Judges were chosen by the New-England Debtors. Of this unjustifiable conduct other instances may hereafter be given.—The opinion that the Speechifier has expressed, of our dishonesty, will certainly tend to make us believe, the more readily, all his arguments: His Threats, Flatteries, Prayers, Prophecies, his stating the Massachusets as a seperate nation and a powerful state, and his many contradictions are so frequent, so glaring, and so ridiculous, that any farther observation upon them, than this, is unnecessary—That, on account of the oppressive threepenny duty on Tea, Heaven is to interpose in favour of the Boston Saints, and to punish us for our impiety, in presuming to tax the Seed of Israel, the Chosen of the Lord, the Mighty in Battle—In reply to this anathema (as we, like, good Christians, ought to return blessings for curses, and good for evil) we shall frequently pray, that Old Treachery, whose upper story seems, by his writings, to be much out of repair, may, in God's own time, be restored to his right mind; and that, when he has repented of all his iniqu [...]ties he may take flight to the Regions of Bliss, and may rest for ever in the Bosom of Abraham, Amen!

[Page] LETTERS from Boston observe, that the temper of the Sam [...]s may be easily conceived from the apparent respect, with which they received General Gage, a gentleman whom they had most scurrilously abused some years ago and whom their Council, House of Assembly, and Town Meeting had passed the most virulent public censures upon in their votes, charging him with being the author of false, scandalous, infamous, virulent, malicious dangerous, pernicious, incen [...]ary libels upon the inhabitants of Boston, of the Province, and of the Continent; and the Select men were directed to prosecute the wicked author, and bring him to condign punishment.—These are the exact words and polite phraises of their votes; and all this scurrility, so disgraceful to the voters of it, was thrown out against the General for an observation of his in a letter to Lord Hillsborough, couched in these words. ‘In truth, my Lord, there is very little Government in Boston.’ The severity of this remark consisted in the truth of it; for it is an indisputable fact, that there has been little or no Government in that seditious town for these last ten years. Yet this Gentleman, whom they had so illiberally and unjustly treated, and voted an enemy to their Town, Province, and Continent, they have received with the utmost demonstrations of respect and submission. Indeed, on his first appointment, abstracted from his intimate and thorough knowledge of the Bostonians it was thought a fine stroke of Policy, and a punishment in itself, in his Majesty to make choice of a Gentleman to preside over that rebellious Province, which had so unjustly abused him. Those who were best acquainted with the disposition of the Boston Faction, and who have a regular correspondence with many in that Colony, though they never imagined that the Bostonians would resist unto blood, yet they as little thought that the new Governor would be received with every appearance of joy and exultation, and that he would be complimented, and treated at the expence of the rebellious Saints. Many sensible people in England were afraid that some blood would be shed on the arrival of General Gage; for they had no conception that people descended, from Englishmen would, after so many dreadful rhodomontadoes, shrink into Bobadils: They were led into this mistake by not knowing the education which the Holy Warriors of Boston receive in their youth; the generality of the young Bostonians are bred up hypocrites in religion, and pettifoggers in law, most of them are possessed of a Bible, and a Provincial Law Book, [Page] and it is well known, that whenever hypocrisy takes root, and is further supported by a constant practice of the lowest and most infamous chicaneries, common to petty practitioners in law, that all the good and manly qualities given us by nature are soon eradicated. The most ancient Patriarch of New England, the Rev. Mr. Cotton, publickly recommended and defended hypocrisy; "Hypocrites," said that holy man, "Give God part of his due, the outward man." What has been [...]aid above only respects the Faction, and is intended to illustrate their real character; for in Boston there are many good, as well as many bad people; but unfortunately for the former, the latter have always, borne sway. Neither is any reflection meant against the study of the law: it is a noble, liberal profession; and men of character ought not to be blamed, because they cannot keep knaves out of the practice of it.

THE Writers in defence of the Bostonians, finding their News-paper publications to have very little [...], have now changed their method of procedure, and attack us in shilling and eighteen-penny pamphlets. One of those ingenious productions the author has thought proper to entitle, ‘A Speech intended to have been spoken on the Bill for altering the Charter of the Massachusets Bay;’ and he has also chosen to circulate a report, that the intended Speaker was, that Right Reverend Father in God the Bishop of St Asaph, who last year, to the utter astonishment of the Society for the propagation of the Gospel in foreign parts, delivered to them, from the pulpit of St. Mary le Bow, a factious political sermon, instead of informing them of the progress of the Church of England in America, and instead of instructing them by an illustration of that portion of Scripture which he had taken for his text. It is, however, more probable, that the intended Speech is the fruits of the midnight labours of the great and loyal Doctor Franklin, who has only played off the Bishop upon us, as a literary deception, in order to give the greater currency and weight to his own wild reveries and lucubrations. The reasons for imputing this intended speech to Doctor Franklin are, that it contains all that low cunning which so peculiarly marks his writings; that affected moderation; that feigned regard for peace; that compassion for the madness of Britain in refusing to humble her neck to the feet of the Bostonian rebels; that grave impudence, which always places America in the light of a separate, independent, powerful State; that false prophecying, which croaks out [Page] threatenings of ruin to our peace, commerce, and kingdom, if the smallest tax is laid on his darling America; and that foolish assurance, which promises us more wealth and power, and permanent greatness than the world ever saw, if we will only fall down and worship his rebellious constituents—For all these reasons the Speech shall be considered as Doctor Franklin's. In the advertisement prefixed to the Speech, the modest Author assures us, that, prompted by ‘a warm desire of serving his country, he will suggest some useful truths, which great men are apt to overlook.’ The first useful truth he tells us is, that ‘he has the misfortune of differing in opinion from some men of as much virtue and ability as this kingdom affords.’ To this useful truth we may readily subscribe; and we may also naturally suppose that, respecting the late acts for regulating the Massachusets, the men of virtue and ability are in the right, and that our Speechifier is in the wrong. He next suggests a doubt, ‘whether any point ought to be pursued, which cannot be carried by perswasion.’ When the legislative body of Great Britain are converted to the religion of the Yeas and Nays, and have taken their degrees at Philadelphia, we may then, and not till then, expect them to be influenced by such a doubt. Mr. Greenville tried to perswade the Americans so contribute a small pit [...]ance of their wealth towards the exigences of the State, and gave them a whole year to consider of the proposal; but he could not prevail by persuasion, and therefor passed the Stamp Act, which the next administration most unwisely repealed. This doubting gentleman is really exceedingly civil to us; we are only to persuade the Bostonians to pay a [...] of the expences of government, and if they refuse, as they have always done, why then, for the sake of peace, and that those wordy wariors may not ruin us we must continue their slaves [...]ear the whole burden of their protection, and be very subm [...]ssive, grateful, and obedient to them, least they should refuse to pay us their debts, and least they should send a formidable squadron of their dung-boats and fishing smacks, properly loaded, to tar and feather us. So much for the Advertisement.—Our author, in his Speech, sets out with telling us, that he hopes to contribute something towards a reconciliation ‘between the Colonies and this unhappy country:’ And, gentle reader, what do you think his charitable contribution amounts to? Just to this—Repeal the taxation law; the four acts passed the last Session or Parliament relating to the Massachusets; resolve never to tax America▪ let Britain continue to defend that country, [Page] and be at all the charges of its Government;—and, in return, America, no doubt, will continue to trade with us, for what they cannot get any where else; will; discharge their debts at their own time; and will continue a nominal union with us, till they are able to erect themselves into an Independent State. This is the principal subject of the useful truths, and contributions of somethings, comprised in this impudent, intended Speech.

Notes

*

Conversation between Cromwell and Leverett, the Massachusets [...].

↵

LETTER XXIII.

THE numerous and well-founded complaints laid before the King in Council soon after the restoration, against the Colony of the Massachusets, for their various oppressions and murders, and also their contumacious disobedience and resistance to every order and regulation of Government, occasioned the Agent of that Colony to be asked, by the Lords of the Council, in the course of his examination before them, Whether the Massachusets if they durst, would not throw off their allegiance and subjection to the Crown of England? To which question he only replied, That his constituents were honest men; and that if he entertained such a thought of them he should be very uncharitable.

When, likewise it was proved against him, upon oath, that he said the Massachusets, rather than allow of appeals from their Courts of Justice to England, would sell their country to the Spaniards; the same Agent both denied and confessed the charge; which drew the following observation from their Lordships, that they did not consider the sentiment and speech so much his own, as the spirit of New-England.

When the Agent sent his constituents intelligence of this examination, and of the opinions formed of their conduct in England, the General Court, dreading that their Charter would be vacated, immediately proclaimed Charles the Second, which they had not hitherto done; they a so voted an address to his Majesty, and resolved to send home two additional Agents to attempt to varnish over their crimes moral and political.

Their address is in the same canting hypocritical stile of all their other addresses.

His Majesty was ‘the best of Kings; one of the Gods among men, who delighted to conform himself to the God of Gods; they presented to his compassionate eye a bottle full of tears washed in their Jeshimon; their Churches sat [Page] in sackcloth, until he held forth to them the sceptre of life; they prayed that God might preserve his Majesty from all emissaries agitated by an infernal spirit; his Majesty was enthronized in their consciences; he was their Lord and their Saviour; they were again poor Mephibosheth prejudicially misrepresented, praying to be permitted still to sing the Lord's song in a strange land; they appealed for their innocence to God, to Angels, to his Majesty, and to all good men; and lastly, they prayed, that the Lord might be with his most excellent Majesty, and make his throne both greater and better, than the throne of David.’

The above vile nonsense the General Court voted to be sent home to his Majesty, deeming it a sufficient exculpation of all their usurpations, persecutions, and illegal acts.

The same year two Agents (Mr. Bradstreet and the Rev. Mr. Norton) were sent home to Petition, the Lord the King, for a confirmation of their privileges: They were also to represent them as loyal and obedient subjects; to take off all scandal and objections which had been, or should be made against them; to do nothing prejudicial to the Patent; and to give a regular account of their proceedings. These are the whole instructions given their Agents on their departure; by which it is evident, that the Colony relied more upon the abilities of their Agents, than upon any proofs or attestations of their innocency—of these last, indeed, they had none to send—their whole plea, in ex [...]enuation of their guilt, consisted of stale professions of loyalty and Godliness.

Their Agents set out with fear and trembling, uncertain what would be their fate when they arrived in England; in fact, they could hardly be prevailed upon to embark. After many delays and objections, which were all obviated by the Committee of the General Court, Parson, Norton, the most terrified of the two, played off a most pious artifice; he feigned sickness; took to his bed, and informed the Committee, "that his voyage as yet solely depended upon God." Upon this the Committee drew up several letters, which they addressed to sundry noblemen, and others in England, and apologized for not sending Agents according to his Majesty's desire, with declarations, that after they had made choice of two meet persons, ‘it was the good pleasure of him who ruleth all things, to frustrate their designs, by visiting one of the Messengers with sickness; but it seems the second day after the Lord was wonderfully pleased to encourage and strengthen the heart of the Reverend Mr. Norton,’ [Page] so that he was perswaded to embark, and the vessel instantly sailed.

A few months after their Agents sailed, the General Court voted and published what they called,

A Declaration of their Rights.

The General Court have full power and authority, both legislative and executive, for the government of all people here, whether inhabitants or strangers both concerning matters civil and ecclesiastical, and without appeals to England.

This Government is privileged by all fitting means, yea If need be by force of arms, to defend themselves both by land and sea, against all such person or persons as shall at any time attempt the invasion, detriment, or annoyance of the Plantation.

We conceive any imposition prejudicial to the country, to be an infringement of their rights.

Nothing can be plainer than this declaration; though they were dreadfully alarmed, they endeavoured by their boastings, to cary their point regarding appeals; and as to impositions, they means the payment of Customs, and the regulations and restrictions they were laid under by the navigation act.

Their Agents met with a very favourable reception at Court, which far exceeded their warmest expectation, and were, in a short time, sent back with a most gracious letter from his Majesty.

Substance of his Majesty's Letter.

That although the licence of the late ill times had an influence on the Colony of the Massachusets, in which they had swerved from the rules prescribed, and even from the government instituted by the Charter, yet we do most graciously rather impute their deviation to the iniquity of the time, than to the evil intents of the hearts of those who exercised the government there.

And we do further publish and declare our free and gracious pardon to all our subjects of that our Plantation, Provided always, and be it in our declared expectation.

That all such Laws and Ordinances as are, or have been, made there, which are contrary or derogatory to our authority and Government shall be annulled and repealed.

That the rules and prescriptions of the said Charter for [Page] administring the Oath of Alleigance, be henceforth duly observed.

That the administration of Justice be in our name.

That since the principle and foundation of that Charter was and is the freedom of liberty of conscience, we charge you that liberty be given to all who desire to use the Book of Common Prayer, and to perform their devotion after the manner established in the Church of England; that they be admitted to the Sacrament, and their children to Baptism.

That although we have declared that the Charter shall be observed, yet, if the number of Assistants be found to be inexpedient, as we are informed it is, we then dispense with the same, and declare our will, for the future, that the number of the said Assistants shall not exceed eighteen, nor be less at any time than ten.

That in the election of Governor and Assistants, consideration only be had of the wisdom and integrity of the persons to be chosen, and not of any faction, with reference to opinion and profession.

That all freeholders, though of different professions concerning Church government, have their votes in the choice of all Officers, civil or military.

That this letter be published, that our subjects may know our grace and favour to them,

And that we will be ready, upon application from them to advance the interest, the good, and the trade of the Colony, presuming they will merit the same by their duty and obedience.

Given at Hampton Court, June 28th, in the fourteenth year of our reign,

By his Majesty's command ED. NICHOLAS.

From this it appears, that they had broke through their Charter; but that his Majesty pardoned them on condition that they repealed their illegal and presumptuous Acts, which were derogatory to his prerogative and his authority in Parliament; that they, in future, administered faithfully the Oath of Alleigance; that they constituted their Courts of Justice in his name; that they ceased persecuting the members of the Church of England; that they acquiesced in the regulation of the number of their Counsellors; that they elected men of integrity, and not the adherents of Faction; that they allowed all Freeholders to vote, and that they merited [Page] their conditional pardon, and his future favour, by their duty and obedience.

Let us now see how well the Massachusets deserved his Majesty's gracious pardon for all their crimes, and how well they fulfilled the conditions of that pardon.

It is true, they published the letter, but they not only put off the consideration of the requisitions contained in it, but also subjoined to the republication of it, the following cautionary remark; ‘That inasmuch as the letter hath influence on the Churches as well as Civil State, all manner of actings, in relation thereto, shall be suspended until the next General Court.’

At the next Sessions of the General Court, all we find they did in compliance with his Majesty's letter, was giving directions, that the administration of Justice should henceforth be in his Majesty's name. And these grasping and ungrateful independents of Massachusets, because their Agents could not procure them all the extraordinary and undue liberties, which, out of their great modesty, they had chosen to demand, were so dissatisfied, that they censured and reproached them with having laid ‘the foundation of the ruin of their liberties. ’This unmerited abuse greatly affected the Reverend Mr. Norton, whose voyage to England had considerably enlightened him; he saw the evil spirit of his countrymen, and told them in the General Court, ‘that if they complied not with the King's letter, the blood that should be spilt would lie at their door.’ Soon after he grew melancholy, and died suddenly.

Every person, who was a good subject and a well-wisher to England and to this refractory Colony, whether in or out of Office, seems to have been sensible of the turbulence of the Massachusets, and of the intention of that people to throw off their dependence on the Crown of England. A gentleman (Sir John Wolstenholme) having occasion to write to the Secretary of the Massachusets on public business, respecting the Act of Navigation, against which the Massachusets grievously complained judiciously observes, that ‘if we do not maintain here the honour and reputation of his Majesty and the nation, which must be by our navigation and shipping, which are our walls, the Plantations will be subject to be devoured by strangers: and, therefor, he earnestly desired them to preserve and keep them faithful to his Majesty's Crown, and in subjection, as true English men to the civil government.’

LETTER XXIV.

[Page]

NOTWITHSTANDING the several acts of Parliament passed in the 12th 15th, 22d, 23d, and 25th years of the reign of Charles the second, for the better securing the plantation trade to this kingdom, yet the Massachusetts, finding the breach of these laws more profitable than the observance of them, still continued their illicit trade with many of the nations of Europe.

To remedy this disorder, as well as many others, Mr. Randolph was dispatched in 1676 to New England with a letter from his Majesty to the Governor and Council of the Massachusetts, commanding them to send home agents to answer the complaints made against them particularly those relating to their usurpations of the province of May [...]e and New Hampshire, claimed by Mr. Gorges and Mr. Masoa, With this command they thought it prudent partly to comply, and sent two Agents to England.

The reception Mr. Randolph met with from the Governor and Council, will be best shewn by his own account transmitted to his Majesty, of which the following is the substance:

STATE PAPER.

On his arrival at Boston, he immediately waited on the Governor, Mr. Leverett, acquainted him with the cause of his coming, and that he had brought a letter from his Majesty to the Magistrates of the colony.

The same day he attended the Governor and Council, and delivered his Majesty's letter; after the perusal of which, the Governor observed to the Council, that the matters therein contained were very inconsiderable things, and easily answered, and it did no way concern the government to take any notice thereof.

Soon after his arrival, a report was artfully raised to amuse and distract the people about domestic troubles in England, that the Duke of York and many of the Nobility had left the Court discontented, had applied to the city for assistance, and that all was in confusion at home: This intelligence was reported with much confidence, was said to come from some very good people in London, and therefore must be true.

The next visit he paid the Governor he told him, that several ships were arrived at Boston from France, Spain, [Page] the Streights, and from other parts of Europe, and also from the Canaries, contrary to his Majesty's laws for encouraging navigation, and regulating the trade of the plantations.

To this the Governor made answer, that the laws made by his Majesty in Parliament obliged them to do nothing but what consisted with the good of the colony; that the legislative power rested solely in them, to act and make laws by virtue of their charter; that all matters in difference were to be concluded by their final determination, without any appeal to his Majesty; that his Majesty ought not to retrench their liberties, but might enlarge them if he pleased; and that his Majesty could do no less in reason than let them enjoy their liberties and their trade.

About a month after his arrival at Boston he went into New-Hampshire belonging to Mr. M [...]son, where the whole country complained of the oppression and usurpation of the Magistrates of Boston, for [...] ministers upon them, not admitting them to the [...]crament denying baptism to their children, and liberty of choosing their own Magistrater and officers, because they were not members, of the congregational churches; that as a farther mark of the power and sovereignty of Boston over them, Magistrates were sent twice a year from Boston to keep courts for trying of causes; that these Magistrates laid what impositions, fines and taxes they thought proper, upon their estates persons and trade, contrary to the laws of England; that they earnestly expected to be delivered from the oppressions of the Massachusetts Bay, and that his Majesty would be graciously pleased to give them relief, according to the promises made them by his Majesty's commissioners in 1665, who declared them not to be under the government of Boston.

That the principal inhabitants of the province of Mayne, belonging to Mr. Gorges, but now called Yorkshire, since seized by the Bostoners, made the same complaints to him as those of New Hampshire; that they had intreated him to represent their condition to his Majesty, several of them having been suffered to be rui [...]ed by the Indians for having formerly expressed their duty to his Majesty.

That he also visited the colony of New-Plymouth, at the request of Governor Winslow, a gentleman of great courage, conduct and loyal principles, who expressed great dislike at the carriage of the Magistrates of Boston [Page] towards his Majesty's person and government; at their encroaching upon the rights, trade, and possessions of the neighbouring colonies; at their laying what rates they pleased on the commodities and products of the other colonies imported into their harbours; and their daily breach of his Majesty's laws concerning trade and navigation; at their trading with and encouraging all nations to trade with them, to the great prejudice and detriment of his Majesty and his kingdom; and that New-England could never be secure, flourish, nor be serviceable to his Majesty, until the several colonies and plantations were reduced under his Majesty's immediate government; and that the colonies of New-Plymouth and Connecticut would readily and willingly submit to his Majesty's pleasure and commands, in the disposal and settlement of their civil government.

That, during his residence at Boston, the principal inhabitants complained of the arbitrary government and oppressions of their Magistrates, and hoped his Majesty would free them from their bondage, by establishing his royal authority among them, and governing them according to his laws.

That upwards of an hundred of the principal inhabitants, about ten years ago, had subscribed and presented to the General Court a petition, confessing his Majesty's right of jurisdiction and sovereignty over them and praying submission of the Court to his Majesty's orders; for which loyal petition they received a severe check, their petition was voted scandalous, they were stiled the betrayers of the liberties of that colony, and ill affected to that government; and some of them, for this petition, suffered greatly in their estates, and ever since had been subject to many inconveniencies, not being admitted to any offices of the government, or to the choice of the Magistrates; and that by desire of the chief persons, he had sent his Majesty a copy of this petition.

That before his return to England, he waited on the Governor for his dispatches, who entertained him with a sharp reproof for publishing the contents of his Majesty's letters to the inhabitants of Boston, New-Hampshire and Mayne, telling him that he designed to make a disturbance and mutiny in the country, and to withdraw the people from their obedience to the Magistracy of that colony, and the authority thereof; that the Governor then gave him a letter directed to the Right Honorable Mr. Secretary Coventry, [Page] saying to him, that was the answer which the Council thought sit to give to his Majesty: So that, although his Majesty had named him, in his royal letters, to solicit a determination of the business depending, yet he must wholly refer to their own letter, they not having acquainted him with the contents.

And that at his departure both the Governor and Magistrates severally intreated him to give a favourable report of the country, and the Magistrates adding, that those that blessed them God would bless, and those that cursed them God would curse; and that whatever reports were raised against them by wicked and evil-minded men, yet they were a people truly fearing the Lord, and very obedient to his Majesty.

Few observations need be made on the above letter to his Majesty, it may only be observed, that the Magistrates of the Colony of Massachusets displayed the same opposition to the laws and authority of the King in Parliament, which they had uniformly made for near half a century before; and that on this occasion they also shewed their usual absurdity effrontery, and hypocrisy.

To say that his Majesty's commands were inconsiderable and easily answered, and yet that it no way concerned the Colony to take any notice of them, was acting consistently with themselves; their having usurped two Provinces was quiet a trivial affair to them. Though the Governor and Magistrates treated his Majesty's letter with such indignity, they voted to thank his Majesty for his gracious letter, at the very time they refused to obey its contents.

False rumours from some very good people in London they continue to circulate to this day, and these rumours always are true till experience contradicts them▪ and then other reports are spread, adapted to the design of the factious.

The Massachusets Governor was, at least, very open in denying acquiescence to the Acts of Trade, and in asserting, that the Colony decisions were final without appeal; but we cannot think him very modest for insisting, that his Majesty in reason ought to allow them the enjoyment of their unlawful trade.

What opinion the neighbouring Colonies entertained of their conduct, is sufficiently obvious from the conversation with the Governor of New Plymouth, and he seems, at that very distant period, to have been inspired with the same salutary opinions which actuated Parliament during the last Sessions

[Page] It is not surprising that the Governor [...] Council, or Magistrates, reprimanded Mr. Randolph severely for complying with his Majesty's instructions, which they said, tended to raise a mutiny against their authority; but it may well be wondered at, that after showing so much ill humour, both with the message and the messenger of his Majesty they should have the effrontery to intreat him to give a favourable report of them; to promise him the rewards of Heaven if he granted their request, but if he refused, to denounce against him the Curse of GOD; and to close the whole in their impudent, hypocritical way, by assuring him, after their abuse and disobedience, that they were a People truly fearing the Lord, and very obedient to his Majesty.

Thus we see their own public Acts; the letters and remonstrances of their best friends; the official papers of our different administrations; the examinations and orders of the Lords of the Council; the Acts of Parliament, and the letters of the Sovereign himself, all contributing to form a mass of incontestible evidence, illustrating the turbulent and rebellious disposition of the people of Massachusets, from the [...] moment of their settlement of the present day.

Information about this book

Title statement

Sagittarius's letters and political speculations. Extracted from the Public ledger. : Humbly inscribed to the very loyal and truly pious Doctor Samuel Cooper, Pastor of the Congregational Church in Brattle Street. : [Seven lines of Scripture texts]

Mein, John.

Publication

Publisher

Text Creation Partnership,

Place of publication

Ann Arbor, MI :

Date

2007-10.

ID [DLPS]

N11269

ID [TCP]

N11269

ID [STC]

Evans 14255

ID [NOTIS]

APV7375

ID [IMAGE-SET]

14255

ID [EVANS-CITATION]

99002903

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This keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the Early English Books Online Text Creation Partnership. This Phase I text is available for reuse, according to the terms of Creative Commons 0 1.0 Universal. The text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission.

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Early American Imprints, 1639-1800 ; no. 14255.

Notes

(Evans-TCP ; no. N11269)

Transcribed from: (Readex Archive of Americana ; Early American Imprints, series I ; image set 14255)

Images scanned from Readex microprint and microform: (Early American imprints. First series ; no. 14255)

Source

— Sagittarius's letters and political speculations. Extracted from the Public ledger. : Humbly inscribed to the very loyal and truly pious Doctor Samuel Cooper, Pastor of the Congregational Church in Brattle Street. : [Seven lines of Scripture texts], Mein, John., Cooper, Samuel, 1725-1783..

Extent

[2], 127, [1] p. ; 19 cm. (4to)

Printed: By order of the Select Men and sold at Donation Hall, for the benefit of the distressed patriots.,. Boston. :: MDCCLXXV. [1775]. (Attributed to Mein by Evans. See also Alden, John E. "John Mein: scourge of patriots." Publications of the Colonial Society of Massachusetts 34 (1937-1942): 571-576.) (The letters first appeared in the Public ledger, London, in 1774.)

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EEBO-TCP is a partnership between the Universities of Michigan and Oxford and the publisher ProQuest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by ProQuest via their Early English Books Online (EEBO) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). The general aim of EEBO-TCP is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic English-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in EEBO.

EEBO-TCP aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the Text Encoding Initiative (http://www.tei-c.org).

The EEBO-TCP project was divided into two phases. The 25,363 texts created during Phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 January 2015. Anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source.

Users should be aware of the process of creating the TCP texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data.

Text selection was based on the New Cambridge Bibliography of English Literature (NCBEL). If an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in NCBEL, then their works are eligible for inclusion. Selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. In general, first editions of a works in English were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably Latin and Welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so.

Image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. Quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in Oxford and Michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet QA standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. After proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. Any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. Understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of TCP data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. Users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a TCP editor.

The texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the TEI in Libraries guidelines.

Copies of the texts have been issued variously as SGML (TCP schema; ASCII text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable XML (TCP schema; characters represented either as UTF-8 Unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless XML (TEI P5, characters represented either as UTF-8 Unicode or TEI g elements).

Keying and markup guidelines are available at the Text Creation Partnership web site.