—THE first Colonists who peopled North-America, devoted themselves, in the beginning, entirely to agriculture. They soon perceived that their exports did by no means enable them to pur­chase what they stood in need of, and they found them­selves obliged to attempt some coarse manufactures. This innovation was thought to clash with the interests of the mother-country. It was complained of to Parliament, where it was discuss'd with all the attention it deserved. There wanted not members bold enough to defend the cause of the Colonists. They urged, that as the labour of the fields could not give constant employment to the inhabitants throughout the year, it would be rank ty­ranny to force them to waste in inaction that portion of their time, which the soil did not demand; that as what they earned by agriculture and hunting was not commensurate to their wants, to prevent their supply­ing the deficiency by a new species of industry, was to bind wretchedness upon them; in fine, that the prohi­bition of manufactures had a direct tendency to raise the [Page 6] price of goods in an infant state, to diminish if not to­tally obstruct the sale of them, and to discourage new settlers.

The evidence of these principles was incontrovertible. It prevailed after very warm debates. The Americans were permited to manufacture their own cloathing, but under such restrictions, as betrayed the reluctance of an avaricious spirit thro' an exterior of equity. All com­munication in this respect amongst the provinces was se­verely interdicted. They were forbid, under heavy pe­nalties, to send from one to another any kind of wool, either raw or wrought. Some manufacturers of hats however broke thro' these barriers. To put a stop to this terrible disorder, as it was called, Parliament had recourse to the expedient of regulations, at once little and cruel. No workman could exercise his trade till after an apprenticeship of seven years; no master was allowed to have more than two apprentices at a time, or to em­ploy any slave in his work-house.

The mines of iron, which one would think might ab­solve men from all dependency, were subjected to restric­tions still more severe. It could only be exported to the mother-country in the rude form of pigs or bars, with­out furnaces to cast, machines to mould, or sledges and anvils to forge it. The converting it into steel was yet more peremptorily prohibited.

Their importations were hampered with a variety of shackles. No foreign vessel, unless it be in evident dan­ger of ship-wreck, or loaded with bullion, can enter any of the ports in North-America. Even English ships are not admitted if they come directly from a harbour of the nation. The merchantmen of the Colonies trading to Europe, must bring no commodities back with them, but what have been purchased from the capital, except the Wines of Madeira and the Azores; and what salt is ne­cessary for the fisheries.

[Page 7]Formerly all their exports were to touch at England. Weighty considerations have since disposed government to relax a little of this excessive rigour. The Colonies are now permitted to carry directly to the Southward of Cape-Finistere, grain, flour, rice, pulse, fruit, salt-fish, planks and timber. All their other products go exclu­sively to the mother-country. Even Ireland, which of­fer'd an advantageous out-let to the wheat, flax, and lumber of the Colonies, was shut up by an act of Par­liament in 1766.

The senate which represents the nation, insists on the right of directing commerce through all the vast extent of the British dominions. On this principle it assumes the power of regulating the connections between the capital and the Colonies, of maintaining a communication, a beneficial and reciprocal re-action, amongst the scatter­ed parts of an immense empire. In fact, some one pow­er ought to determine, in the last resort, on those rela­tive circumstances which may injure or promote the ge­neral good of the whole system. Parliament alone can claim this transcendant prerogative. But Parliament should exercise it to the mutual advantage of all the members of the social confederacy. This maxim always inviolable, is peculiarly so in a state, the movements of which have been all instituted and adjusted, with a spe­cial view to national liberty

But they departed from this great principle of impar­tiality, which alone can preserve an equality of inde­pendance among the members of a free government, when they obliged the Colonies to pour into the capital all their products, even those which were not to be con­sumed in it; when they forced them to take from the capital all their merchandize, even those which were brought into it from foreign nations. This imperious and sterile constraint, loading the sales and purchases of the Americans with useless charges, a mere dead loss, [Page 8] which hath naturally and necessarily checked their acti­vity, and of course hurt their circumstances; and it is purely to enrich some merchants or some brokers of the capital, that the rights and interests of the Colonies are sacrificed. Yet they owed nothing more to England for the protection she had afforded them, than a preference in the sale and importation of such of their commodities as she could consume; and in the purchase and expor­tation of such merchandises as she manufactured. With­in this line the submission of the Colonies was grateful acknowledgement; beyond it every restraint was down­right violence.

Accordingly, Contraband was the offspring of this ty­ranny. Transgression is the first effect of iniquitous laws, wherever despotism hath not trampled on codes, forms and tribunals; sole rampart, legitimate and sacred of that independency which is the birth-right of man. In vain were the Colonies told a hundred and a hundred times that smuggling was contrary to the fundamental principle of their establishment, to political wisdom, to the express intent of the laws. In vain was it proved in a variety of publications that the citizen who paid the duties was op­pressed by the one who did not, and that the fraudulent trader robb'd the fair merchant, by disappointing him of his lawful profits. In vain were precautions multiplied to prevent, and chastisements to punish, such transgres­sions. The voice of interest, of reason, of equity, was an overmatch for the hundred mouths and the hundred paws of the revenue-hydra. Foreign commodities, smug­gled into the northern parts of English-America, amount­ed to a full third of what paid the duties.

A freedom of trade undefined, or only restrained within just bounds, would put a stop to these illicit prac­tices which excite such an outcry. Then would the Co­lonies attain that measure of affluence, which would en­able them, not only to shake off the weight of four mil­lions [Page 9] Sterling, which they owe the mother-country, but to take from her annually upwards of two millions worth of merchandizes, which their present consumption de­mands. But in place of this pleasing perspective, which should naturally arise out of the English constitution, by what fatality is it that a claim unwarrantable in a free state, hath carried under the harsh form of taxation into the centre of the Colonies, a root of trouble and dissen­sion, perhaps a constagration by no means so easily ex­tinguished as lighted up?

England had just concluded a war, which might be called a universal one, in the course of which her fleets had hoisted the flag of victory in every sea, while her con­quests had enlarged her dominions by an immense acqui­sition of territory, in both the Indies. This sudden and unexpected growth gave her a brilliancy in the eyes of other nations, which made envy and admiration speak, or astonished them into silence; yet within herself she was compelled to mourn incessantly over her splendid tri­umphs. Crush'd by the pressure of a debt of one hundred and forty eight millions, the interest of which amounted to four millions nine hundred and sixty three thousand four hundred and forty four pounds, with a revenue of ten millions she could scarcely provide for the current expences of the state; and this revenue, without a chance of increase, was in danger of sinking.

The Land-tax was rated higher than it had ever been in time of peace. New duties on Houses and Windows injured that kind of property; an augmentation of re­venue on the registry of deeds, bore heavy on real estates. The veins of luxury had been exhausted by additional taxes on wrought plate, cards, dice, wine and ardent spirits. Nothing more could be expected from commerce, already loaded with duties in every port, to every port, on the merchandizes of the East, on the products of the We [...] ­on groceries, on merc [...]ry-wares, in a word, on all sub­jects [Page 10] of ex—or importation, whether raw materials or manufactures. The curb of the Excise had happily check'd the abuse of spirituous liquors, but at the ex­pence of the public revenue. A compensation had been look'd for from one of those resources which are readily found, but not safely sought, in the articles of general consumption and greatest necessity: The excise had laid hold of the ordinary drink of the people, of malt, cyder and porter. Every spring had been forced. All the muscles of the political body strain'd at once to too violent a tension, had started from their places. The price both of materials and of workmanship, had risen so pro­digiously, that rival and even vanquished nations, who till then could not withstand the competition of the Eng­lish, were come the length of supplanting them in all markets, even in their own ports. The whole of the profits which Great-Britain derived from her commerce with every part of the globe could not be estimated at more than two millions and a half; and out of this balance was to be deducted the sum of one million five hundred and sixty thousand pounds, payable to foreigners yearly on fifty two millions which they had in the public funds.

The crisis was difficult and dangerous. The People must get leave to breathe. They could not be relieved by a lessening of the public expences. These were ine­vitable, whether occasion'd by the view of turning to ac­count, acquisitions purchased by so much blood, so much treasure, or of curbing the resentments of the House of Bourbon irritated to the last degree by the disgrace of the late war, by the sacrifices of the late peace. In the want of every other means of insuring present security, and future prosperity, the idea suggested itself of calling in the Colonies to the succour of the capital, by obliging them to bear a part of it's burthens. A determination appa­rently founded on incontestable reasons.

An established maxim of all civil societies, and of all [Page 11] ages, binds on the different members which compose an empire, an obligation to contribute to [...]e expences of it in proportion to their respective abilities. The security of the American Provinces calls for such aids from them as may enable the mother-country to protect them on all occasions. It was to deliver them from tormenting dis­quietudes, that she engaged in a war which hath mul­tiplied her debts; they should therefore assist her in bearing or in lessening this additional load. Safe from the enterprizes of a formidable neighbour, now happily for them removed to a distance, can they without injustice refuse to the pressing exigencies of their deliverer, that treasure which the care of their preservation hath cost him? The encouragements which this generous protector gave for a length of time to the rich productions of their soil, the gratuitous advances which he still lavishes to those regions which are not yet cleared; such and so many good and kind offices, are they not intitled to a return of cordial sympathy and essential services▪

Such were the considerations which convinced the British government that they had a right to lay internal taxes on the Colonies. They seised the opportunity af­forded by the last war, to exhibit a claim so dangerous to liberty. For who ever attends to it must see, that war, whether prosperous or the reverse, furnishes evermore the pretext for the various usurpations of governments, as if the rulers of belligerant nations had it infinitely more at heart to enslave their subjects than to vanquish their enemies. The American Provinces were accord­ingly ordered to provide the trooops sent from the capi­tal for their defence with a part of their necessaries. The dread of interrupting that internal harmony which is so essential in the midst of surrounding enemies, in­duced them to second the intentions of Parliament; but with the deep policy of taking no notice of an act, which they could neither reject without exciting civil dis­sention, [Page 12] nor acknowledge without endangering rights too precious not to be tenderly cherished. NEW-YORK alone, ventured to refuse all compliance. Though the transgression was venial, she was punished as for obsti­nate disobedience, by a suspension of her privileges. This blow given to the liberty of one colony ought, one would think, to have excited the clamours of all the others. Whether through want of attention or fore­sight, not one rais'd its voice. Their silence was consi­dered as the result of fear or of voluntary submission. The peace which should have lowered the imposts throughout produced, in 1764, the famous Stamp-act, which laying certain duties on stampt paper prohibited at the same time the use of any other, in any kind of deed or public writing, whether judiciary or extra judi­ciary.

The whole of the English Colonies in the new world rose up against this novelty; and their discontent broke out in a very remarkable manner. A kind of conspira­cy, perhaps the only kind which is suited to a civilized and of course moderate people, was entered into; a for­mal agreement amongst all the Colonists to deprive them­selves of all sorts of wares manufactured in Great-Bri­tain, till the offensive act should be repealed. This in­direct and passive mode of resistance, which should serve as a model to all nations who feel themselves trampled on by the abuse of power, had its effect. The English manufacturers who had scarce any other out-let for their goods, throughout the universe than the national colo­nies, fell into that dispair into which the want of em­ployment must naturally plunge them; and their cries, which government could neither stifle nor elude, made an impression salutary for the colonies. The Stamp-act was repealed after two years of a convulsive agitation, which in the days of fanaticism would have been a civil war.

[Page 13]But the triumph of the Colonies was of short durati­on. Parliament had not retreated without extreme re­pugnance. It was evident that they had not renounced their claims, when in 1767, by way of equivalent for what the Stamp-act was expected to have produced, they layed a tax on glass, lead, tea, painters colours, paste-board and paper, exported from England to America. Even those patriots who seemed to carry the supremacy, of the capital over the colonies to the greatest length, could not help condemning a tax, the operation of which must ultimately recoil upon the whole nation, by turn­ing to manufactures those hands which it was her inte­rest to have kept confined to agriculture. The Colo­nists were as little duped by this innovation as by the former one. In vain was it alledged that government had an indubitable right to lay on exportations what du­ties they thought proper, while they did not deprive the colonies of the liberty of manufacturing for them­selves, such goods as were subject to this new tax. This subterfuge looked like a mockery in regard to a people, who, habituated to tillage alone and restrained from all commerce but with the mother-country, could neither procure by their own labour nor a foreign trade, those necessaries which were sold to them at so high a price. They saw clearly that whether a duty was paid in the old or in the new world, words could not alter the nature of the thing, and that their liberty was equally attacked by an impost on wares which they could not do without, as by a tax on stampt paper which they were compelled to make use of. This enlightened people plainly per­ceived that government wanted to deceive them, and they did not think it their duty to be imposed on, either by force or cunning. They rightly judged that the most decisive mark of imbecillity and of meanness in a nation, must be the connivance of subjects at the frauds and vio­lences employed by government to corrupt and enslave them.

[Page 14]The aversion which they expressed for these new im­positions did not arise from their excessive weight, see­ing they could not be estimated at more than sixteen-pence a head. This was not an object to startle an im­mense population, whose public expenditure hath ne­ver exceeded one hundred and sixty thousand pounds annually.

It was not the dread of finding themselves in less easy circumstances. The security they derived from the ces­sions extorted from France; the increase of their trade with the Indians, the extension of their whale, cod, and seal fisheries, the right to cut wood in the bay of Cam­peachy, the acquisition of sundry Sugar-islands, the greater facility of carrying on an illicit intercourse with the Spanish settlements, to which they were become nearer neighbours; so many inlets of wealth were an ample compensation for that trifle of revenue which go­vernment wish'd to draw from them.

It was not an apprehension that the colonies would be drained of what little specie remained in circulation a­mong them. The pay of eight thousand four hundred Regulars, which the capital maintains in North-Ameri­ca, must bring in more cash than this tax could possibly carry out.

It was not an indifference for the parent-state. The colonies, so far from being ugrateful, had evidenced such zeal for her interests during the last war, that Par­liament from a principle of equity, remitted them very considerable sums, by way of restitution or indemnifica­tion.

Nor was it in fine, an ignorance of the duty which sub­jects owe, or of the obligations which they stand under to government. Had the colonies not thought themselves bound to contribute to the liquidation of the national debt, though perhaps they had occasioned the greatest part of it, they knew very well that they were bound to [Page 15] contribute to the expences of the navy, to the mainte­nance of the different establishments in Africa and Ame­rica, in a word to all those common charges which had relation to their safety and prosperity, as well as to those of the mother-country.

If the new world refused to succour the old, it was because that was exacted which it would have been suf­ficient to have asked; because that must be held on the footing of her obedience, which should have only been solicited from her liberty. Her non-compliance was not caprice, but just jealousy of her rights. Rights which should not, cannot be contested.

During the course of two centuries that the English have had settlements in North-America, their country hath sustained many expensive and bloody wars, hath been disturbed by enterprising and tumultuous Parlia­ments, hath been governed by daring and corrupt mi­nisters, ever ready to exalt the dignity and prerogative of the throne, on the ruin of the rights and privileges of the people. Yet, ambition, avarice, factions, ty­ranny, all of them in their turns have recognized, all have respected the liberty which the colonies enjoyed of laying on themselves every tax for the purpose of creat­ing a revenue.

A solemn contract supported this prerogative so na­tural in itself, and so conformable to the fundamental end of all reasonable association. The colonies might appeal to the charters of their establishments which em­power them to tax themselves in the manner most con­venient for them. These compacts, it is true, were no­thing more than conventions with the crown; but even allowing that the King had exceeded his powers by grants from which, most certainly, he derived no pri­vate emolument, doth not a long possession, tacitly a­vowed and recognized by the silence of Parliament, form a legal prescription?

[Page 16]The Provinces of the n [...]w world have titles still more authentic in their favour. They insist that an English subject, no matter which hemisphere he dwells in, is not to contribute to the charges of the state but by his own consent, given by himself in person, or by his re­presentatives. It was to defend this sacred privilege, that the nation hath so often deluged her fields with her own blood, that she hath dethroned her Kings, that she hath excited or braved storms without number. Can she deny to two millions of her children a blessing which hath cost her so dear, which perhaps is the sole basis of her independence?

In opposition to the colonies it is urged that Catho­lics living in England, are excluded from the right of voting, and that their lands are subjected to a double tax. But why, they answer, do the Papists refuse to take that oath of allegiance which the state requires? rendered by this suspected, the distrust which they in­spire justifies the rigour which they experience. Why do they not abjure a religion so contrary in its princi­ples to the free constitution of their country, so cruelly favourable to the pretensions of despotism, to the en­croachments of royalty on the rights of the people? Why this blind and obstinate attachment to a church hostile to all others? They well deserve the penalties which the government that consents to tolerate them, thinks fit to lay such intolerant subjects under. But the inhabitants of the new world would be punished without having committed an offence, if they must cease to be Ameri­cans before they can be considered as citizens of the empire.

With some effrontery these faithful Colonies have been told, that England nourishes in her bosom a mul­titude of subjects that have no representatives, because they have not that extent of property which is requisite to qualify them as voters for members of Parliament. [Page 17] On what grounds do they pretend to privileges greater than what the citizens of the parent-country enjoy? No, reply the Colonies, we ask not a superiority, we only claim an equality with our brethren. In Great-Britain, the man who possesseth a freehold of forty shillings a year hath a voice in taxation; and he who owns in America, immense tracts, shall not have the same pre­rogative? No, what is an exception to the law, a dero­gation from the general rule in the Capital, should not be a fundamental constitution for the Colonies. Let the English, who wish to deprive the provinces of the western world of the exclusive right of taxation, sup­pose for a moment the House of Commons, no longer the creature of their choice, to be nothing more than an hereditary and permanent tribunal, or one arbitrarily appointed by the King; if a body thus constituted could levy money on the nation at large, without consulting the public opinion or asking the general consent, must not the English, on such a supposition, own themselves to be as complete slaves as their neighbours? Yet five hundred men in the midst of seven millions of fellow-subjects, would probably be kept within the bounds of moderation, if not by a principle of equity, by the well-founded dread of the public indignation, which pursues the oppressors of a people even beyond the tomb. But the lot of the Americans, taxed at the discretion of the senate of the capital, would be hopeless and forlorn in­deed. Too remote to be heard, they would be crushed by heavy imposts without the least attention to their complaints. Even the tyranny which crushed them would be decorated with the fair name of Patriotism. Under the pretext of relieving the mother-country, the Colonies would be loaded with impunity.

This frightful prospect will never allow them to part with the exclusive right of taxing themselves. While they continue to regulate the public revenue, their in­terests [Page 18] must be respected, or should their rights be at any time infringed, they will obtain a speedy redress of their grievances. But their remonstrances will lose all their efficacy with government, when they are no longer backed by the right of granting or refusing their money to the exigencies of the state. The power which hath usurped the right of fixing the imposts, will easily usurp that of administring them. Sole judge of the levy it will become the arbiter of the expenditure; and funds destined, in appearance, to the safety of the people, will be employed to enslave them. Such hath ever been the solemn pace of empires. No civil community hath preserved even a shadaw of liberty, when it hath once lost the privilege of voting in the sanction and promul­gation of revenue laws. A nation is for ever a slave, when it no longer boasts an assembly or body of men, vested with power to defend its rights against the en­croachments of the authority which governs it.

The provinces of English America have every thing to fear with respect to their independence. Their un­suspecting confidence may betray them, may deliver them up bound into the hands of the mother-country. They are inhabited by an infinity of plain and honest people. They do not even suspect that those men who hold the reins of an empire, may be carried away by passions unjust and tyrannical. Their old country they suppose under the influence of no other than those ma­ternal sentiments, which accord so well with her true interests, with that love and veneration they entertain for her. With the blindness of these upright citizens, who indulge so pleasing an illusion, coincides the silence of those who think they should not disturb their tran­quility, on account of some light and trival imposts. These indolent men do not discern that it was meant, at first, to lull their vigilance to repose by the smallness of the imposition; that England only seeks an example of [Page 19] submission, to found a title on in future; that if Par­liament can levy one shilling, it may one hundred thou­sand; and that there can be no better reason for limit­ing this claim hereafter, than their is now for resisting it. But a class of men, the most pernicious to liberty, are those ambitious people who, disuniting their happi­ness from that of the public and of posterity, burn with a desire to augment their credit, their rank, and their riches. The British ministry, from which these miscre­ants have obtained or expect advancement, finds them always ready to promote their detestable schemes, by the contagion of their luxury and of their vices, by the craft of their insinuations, by the insidious pliancy of their manners and address.

Let the genuine patriots then straggle, with unremit­ting firmness, against prejudice, indolence, seduction; and let them not dispair of coming victorious out of a conflict in which their virtue hath engaged them. It may perhaps be attempted to lure their integrity, by the specious offer of admitting to Parliament the Deputies of America, to regulate, in conjuction with those of the capital, the national supplies. And in truth, such are the extent, the population, the exportations, in a word the importance of the colonies, that the legislature of the empire cannot possibly superintend them with suffi­cient wisdom and security, without being enlightened by the details, and assisted by the counsels of their repre­sentatives. But let the Americans beware how they ever empower such deputies to decide, with respect to the property or the contributions of their constituents. Their voices, feeble and few, would easily be overpow­ered by the multitude of the British representatives; and the Provinces, of which they were the organ, would find themselves loaded in consequence of this clashing of interests and of votes, with a share of the common burthens, grievous and inequal. The right [Page 20] of fixing, of apportioning, and of levying their taxes, should, therefore, reside exclusively in the provincial as­semblies of the new world. They ought to be peculiar­ly jealous of this essential right at this time, that the fa­cility of depriving them of it, seems to have been aug­mented by the conquests of the last war.

The parent-country hath derived from her new ac­quisitions, the advantage of extending her fisheries and of encreasing her connections with the savage natives. Yet, as if all this were nothing in her eyes, she is incessant­ly repeating it, that she had no other view in this enlarge­ment of possession and derives no other benefit from it, than the giving stability to the peace and security of the colonies. The colonies, on the other hand, contend that their lands, on which their wealth intirely depend­ed, have sunk considerably in their value since this im­mense extension of territory; that their population di­minishing, or not advancing, their country must be more exposed to the ravages of invasion; that their provinces have found a formidable rival, the more northern ones in Canada, those to the southward in the Floridas. The Colonists enlightened, with regard to future times, by the history of the past, even insist that the military government established in the new conquests, that the numerous troops dispersed through them, that the forts constructed in them threaten, one day, to fasten chains on countries which have flourished, which have pros­pered but by the influence of liberty.

Great-Britain enjoys in her Colonies all that autho­rity which [...] should desire. She hath a negative on all the laws which they enact. The whole of the exe­cutive power is in the hands of those to whom she dele­gates it. An appeal lies to her tribunal in all civil causes. It is her sovereign will that decides with respect to all commercial intercourses which the Colonists are permit­ted to form and keep up. To hang weights on the [Page 21] yoke of a domination so wisely combined, would be to plunge again a new continent into a chaos, from which it hath with difficulty emerged by the efforts of two ages of unremitting labour; it would be to compel the sons of toil, who have clear'd and cultivated it, to arm themselves in defence of those sacred rights which they hold equally by nature's charter and by social compacts. The peo­ple of England—that people so passionately fond of li­berty, as on some occasions to have protected it in regions remote from their climate and unknown to their interests, shall they abandon those sentiments which their glory, their virtue, their instinct, their safety, render it their eternal duty to adhere to? Can they so far betray those rights which are so dear to them, as to aim at re­ducing their brethren and their children to slavery? Should factious spirits however form so deadly a con­spiracy, and in an hour of madness and intoxication, prevail on the mother-country to adopt it; what ought the resolutions of the colonies to be, to save themselves from falling into the most detestable dependence?

Previous to their throwing their eyes forward to this subversion of the political system, let them revolve in their thoughts all the benefits which they derive from their original country. England hath ever been to them an out-work of defence against the potent nations of Europe. She hath serv'd them as a guide and a governor, to prevent or to heal those civil dissensions, which mutual jealousy and emulation are too apt to excite amongst infant colonies growing up in each other's neighbour­hood. To the influence of her excellent constitution are they indebted for that peace and prosperity which they enjoy. While the colonies continue to live under a rule so salutary and so gentle, they must go on pro­gressively in that boundless career, which the vigour of their industry will stretch even to the remotest desarts.

Let their love of the parent-country however be at­tended [Page 22] with a certain jealousy respecting their own li­berty. Let their rights be continually examined, ex­plained, discussed; let them accustom themselves to cherish those who, on every occasion, remind them of these rights, as their best citizens. This restless and anxious spirit becomes all free states; but it is indispens­able in complicated constitutions, where freedom is mingled with a certain degree of subordination, such as naturally results from a connection between countries separated by an immense ocean. This vigilance must prove the surest guardian of that union, which should bind inseparably the mother-country and her colonies together.

Should administration, for ever composed of ambitious men, even in the freest states, attempt to augment the power of the crowm, or the opulence of the capital, at the expence of the colonies, they should oppose an in­vincible resistance to such usurpation. Every encroach­ment of government repel'd by vigorous remonstrances, is almost constantly check'd; while those grievances, the redress of which the people have not the courage to insist on, are uniformly followed by new oppressions. Na­tions in general are more formed to feel than to think; they have no other idea of the legality of a power than the very exercise of it. Habituated to [...]mplicit obe­dience the most of them become familiarised to the harshness of their particular governments; and ignorant of the true origin or object of civil society, they have no conception of the limits of authority. Above all, in states where the principles of legislation are confounded with those of religion, even as one extravagant tenet, is sufficient to introduce a thousand other to minds already deceived, so the first encroachment of government opens a door to every succeeding one. Who believes the most believes the least; who can do the most can do the least; it is by this double abuse of credulity and of power that [Page 23] all the absurdities and iniquities in matters of religion and of politics, have crept into the world to debase and crush mankind; happily that spirit of toleration and of liberty which hath hitherto reign'd in the English colo­nies, hath preserved them from this extremity of weak­ness and of misery. They feel the dignity of human nature sufficiently to resist oppression, were it at the hazard of their lives.

This enlightened people know very well that violent measures and the last appeal can only be justified, when every gentle means of conciliation hath been tried in vain. They know also that reduced to the dire alter­native of slavery or civil war, if they must take up arms in defence of liberty, it is their duty to avoid fullying so fair a cause by the horrors and barbarities which are the attendants of sedition: and that with the determin­ed purpose of never sheathing the sword till they have recovered their rights, they should deem the re-esta­blishment of their original their constitutional independ­ence, a sufficient fruit of their victory.

And in fact we should be cautious how we confound that resistance which the English colonies ought to op­pose to the mother-country, with the fury of a people driven by a lasting and intolerable oppression to revolt against their sovereign. When once the slave of despo­tism hath burst his chains asunder, hath committed his fate to the decision of the sword, he is obliged to mas­sacre his tyrant, to exterminate his race and his posteri­ty, to change the form of that government of which he had been the victim through successive ages. If he durst not do all this, sooner or later he would be pu­nished for possessing but a half-courage. The yoke would fall back upon his head with additional force and pres­sure; and the feigned moderation of his tyrants would prove but a new toil in which he would find himself caught and entangled forever. Such is the curse of [Page 24] factions in an absolute government, that neither prin [...] nor people can know any bounds in their resentmen [...] because they have not known any in the exercise of au­thority. But a well poised constitution, like that of [...] English colonies, carries in its principles and the lim [...] ­tations of its different powers, a preservative and anti­dote against the evils of anarchy. When ever the m [...] ­ther country hath removed the ground of their co [...] ­plaints, by re-establishing them in their original situa [...] ­on, they should rest contented, that being, on the whole the happiest to which a wise people could justly aspire.

They could not embrace a system of absolute ind [...] ­pendence without bursting the bands of religon, of oaths, of laws, of language, of blood, of interest, [...] commerce, of all those habitudes, in fine, which ho [...] them united among themselves, under the peaceful in­fluence of their common parent. Who sees not, tha [...] such rending to pieces must reach the entrails, [...] heart, the very life of the colonies? Should they hav [...] the good fortune to escape the fatal extremity of [...] wars, would it be an easy matter for them to agree on [...] new form of government? Was every colony to beco [...] a distinct and separate state, what endless divisions [...] ­mongst them? One may judge of the reciprocal enm [...] ­ties which would originate from such a separation, [...] the fate of all societies bordering on each other. Sh [...] such a number of little common-wealths, where the [...] ­versity of laws, the inequality of riches, the variety [...] possessions must sow, in secret, the seeds of an oppo [...] ­tion in interests, be disposed to form a confederate [...] ­nion, how adjust the rank which each should hold [...] and the influence which each should possess, in pr [...] ­portion to their respective risks and importance? j [...] ­lousy, and a hundred other passions, which so early d [...] ­vided the wise states of Greece, would not these sprea [...] discord through a multitude of colonies, rather asso­ [...]ed [Page 25] by resentment and indignation, which are but tran­ [...]ry and galling ties; than by the sober well-weighed [...]nciples of a natural and permanent union? All these considerations seem to evince, that an eternal divorce from the capital would be a great and grievous misfor­tune to the English colonies.

One may go a little farther, and assert, that were it [...] the power of the European nations who reign in the new world to bring about this great revolution▪ it would not be their interest to wish it. This may be a paradox, perhaps, in the eyes of those states who see their colonies continually menaced by an invasion at their doors. [...]hey conclude, no doubt, that if England was not so strong in America, they would there enjoy in peace, those riches, which she envies and often ravishes from them. It cannot be denied that England derives the influence she is mistress of, especially in the new world, from the extent and population of her northern colo­nies. It is they who put it in her power to attack at [...] times, with advantage, the isles and the continent of other nations, to conquer their lands or to ruin their commerce. But let it be considered that this crown hath, in the other quarters of the globe, interests which may run counter to her progress in America, which may hamper or retard her enterprizes there, which may annihilate her conquests by the necessity of restitutions.

Cut the knot which ties old Britain to the new; soon would the northern colonies alone possess more force [...]n they have now united to the mother-country. This vast continent set loose from every convention in Europe [...]ould enjoy the liberty, the command of all her own movements. It would then become a measure of equal importance and facility for her to seize those lands whose treasures might supply what the mediocrity of her own productions denies her. Her independent position would enable her to complete the preparations for invasion, [Page 26] before the rumour of them could reach our climate [...] ▪ Her warlike operations would be conducted with a [...] energy peculiar to new societies. She might chuse her enemy, the field, and the moment of her victories. Her thunder would always discharge itself on coasts whe [...] was least expected, on seas but feebly guarded by dista [...] states. Those countries, for the defence of which for [...] were sent over, would be conquered before they co [...] be succoured. They could neither be recovered by tre [...] ­ties without great sacrifices, nor prevented from fall [...] again under that yoke from which an enfeebled ha [...] had delivered them. The colonies of our abso [...] monarchies would hasten, perhaps, to acknowledge master, who could offer them no condition so vexation as that of their own government; or else, animated by [...] example of the English provinces, they would break [...] chain which fastens them so shamefully to Europe.

Let nothing then induce the rival nations of Engla [...] to precipitate by their secret counsels, or by clandestin [...] succours, a revolution which can only deliver them fr [...] a neighbouring enemy, by giving them at a distance one much more formidable. Why accelerate an event which must one day fall out from the inevitable concurrence of so many others? for it would be against the natu [...] of things, that provinces subordinate to the domina [...] nation should remain under her empire, after they have risen to an equality in population and in opulence Thus every thing conspires to that great dismembering the precise moment of which it is not given us to foresee Every thing leads to it, the progress of good in the new hemisphere, and the progress of evil in the old.

Alas! the prompt and rapid decline of our morals and our strength, the crimes of kings and the calamities of the people, must render even universal that fatal ca­tastrophe which is to disunite one world from the other. The mine is already prepared under the foundations of [Page 27] [...]r tottering empires; the materials of their destruction [...]e made up and accumulated of the ruins of our laws, [...] the collision and fermentation of our opinions, of the [...]bversion of our rights which supported our courage, [...] luxury of our courts, and of the misery of our [...], of the inexpiable hatred which for ever subsists [...]ween the feeble, the heartless and unworthy, who [...]ess all the wealth, and those robust, nay virtuous m [...]n [...]o have no longer any thing to lose but their lives. In portion as the [...] nations of Europe mutually weaken [...] sink under each other, population and agriculture [...]nce in America; the arts transplanted by us take [...] there and will speedily flourish; that vast country [...]ng out of nothing burns to figure in its turn on the [...] of the globe and in the annals of the world. O [...]rity, perhaps thou shall be more fortunate than thy [...]hed and despicable fathers! may this last wish be [...]omplished, and console the expiring generation with [...] hope of a better to succeed!