Since the publication of the first
edition of this pamphlet, or rather, on the same day
on which it came out, the King’s Speech made
its appearance in this city. Had the spirit
of prophecy directed the birth of this production,
it could not have brought it forth, at a more seasonable
juncture, or a more necessary time. The bloody
mindedness of the one, shew the necessity of pursuing
the doctrine of the other. Men read by way of
revenge. And the Speech, instead of terrifying,
prepared a way for the manly principles of Indépendance.
Ceremony, and even, silence, from
whatever motive they may arise, have a hurtful tendency,
when they give the least degree of countenance to
base and wicked performances; wherefore, if this maxim
be admitted, it naturally follows, that the King’s
Speech, as being a piece of finished villany, deserved,
and still deserves, a general execration both by the
Congress and the people. Yet, as the domestic
tranquillity of a nation, depends greatly, on the
CHASTITY of what may properly be called NATIONAL MANNERS,
it is often better, to pass some things over in silent
disdain, than to make use of such new methods of dislike,
as might introduce the least innovation, on that guardian
of our peace and safety. And, perhaps, it is
chiefly owing to this prudent delicacy, that the King’s
Speech, hath not, before now, suffered a public execution.
The Speech if it may be called one, is nothing better
than a wilful audacious libel against the truth, the
common good, and the existence of mankind; and is
a formal and pompous method of offering up human sacrifices
to the pride of tyrants. But this general massacre
of mankind is one of the privileges, and the certain
consequence of Kings; for as nature knows them NOT,
they know NOT HER, and although they are beings of
our OWN creating, they know not US, and are become
the gods of their creators. The Speech hath
one good quality, which is, that it is not calculated
to deceive, neither can we, even if we would, be deceived
by it. Brutality and tyranny appear on the face
of it. It leaves us at no loss: And every
line convinces, even in the moment of reading, that
He, who hunts the woods for prey, the naked and untutored
Indian, is less a Savage than the King of Britain.
Sir John Dalrymple, the putative father
of a whining jesuitical piece, fallaciously called,
“THE ADDRESS OF THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND
TO THE INHABITANTS OF AMERICA,” hath,
perhaps, from a vain supposition, that the people
here were to be frightened at the pomp and description
of a king, given, (though very unwisely on his part)
the real character of the present one: “But”
says this writer, “if you are inclined to pay
compliments to an administration, which we do not complain
of,” (meaning the Marquis of Rockingham’s
at the repeal of the Stamp Act) “it is very
unfair in you to withhold them from that prince by
WHOSE NOD ALONE THEY WERE PERMITTED TO DO ANY
THING.” This is toryism with a witness!
Here is idolatry even without a mask: And he
who can calmly hear, and digest such doctrine, hath
forfeited his claim to rationality an apostate from
the order of manhood; and ought to be considered as
one, who hath not only given up the proper dignity
of man, but sunk himself beneath the rank of animals,
and contemptibly crawl through the world like a worm.
However, it matters very little now,
what the king of England either says or does; he hath
wickedly broken through every moral and human obligation,
trampled nature and conscience beneath his feet; and
by a steady and constitutional spirit of insolence
and cruelty, procured for himself an universal hatred.
It is NOW the interest of America to provide for
herself. She hath already a large and young family,
whom it is more her duty to take care of, than to
be granting away her property, to support a power
who is become a reproach to the names of men and christians YE,
whose office it is to watch over the morals of a nation,
of whatsoever sect or denomination ye are of, as well
as ye, who, are more immediately the guardians of
the public liberty, if ye wish to preserve your native
country uncontaminated by European corruption, ye
must in secret wish a separation But leaving
the moral part to private reflection, I shall chiefly
confine my farther remarks to the following heads.
First. That it is the interest
of America to be separated from Britain.
Secondly. Which is the easiest
and most practicable plan, RECONCILIATION OR Indépendance?
With some occasional remarks.
In support of the first, I could,
if I judged it proper, produce the opinion of some
of the ablest and most experienced men on this continent;
and whose sentiments, on that head, are not yet publicly
known. It is in reality a self-evident position:
For no nation in a state of foreign dépendance,
limited in its commerce, and cramped and fettered
in its legislative powers, can ever arrive at any material
eminence. America doth not yet know what opulence
is; and although the progress which she hath made
stands unparalleled in the history of other nations,
it is but childhood, compared with what she would be
capable of arriving at, had she, as she ought to have,
the legislative powers in her own hands. England
is, at this time, proudly coveting what would do her
no good, were she to accomplish it; and the Continent
hesitating on a matter, which will be her final ruin
if neglected. It is the commerce and not the
conquest of America, by which England is to be benefited,
and that would in a great measure continue, were the
countries as independant of each other as France and
Spain; because in many articles, neither can go to
a better market. But it is the indépendance
of this country of Britain or any other, which is now
the main and only object worthy of contention, and
which, like all other truths discovered by necessity,
will appear clearer and stronger every day.
First. Because it will come to that one time
or other.
Secondly. Because, the longer
it is delayed the harder it will be to accomplish.
I have frequently amused myself both
in public and private companies, with silently remarking,
the specious errors of those who speak without reflecting.
And among the many which I have heard, the following
seems the most general, viz. that had this rupture
happened forty or fifty years hence, instead of NOW,
the Continent would have been more able to have shaken
off the dépendance. To which I reply, that
our military ability, AT THIS TIME, arises from the
experience gained in the last war, and which in forty
or fifty years time, would have been totally extinct.
The Continent, would not, by that time, have had a
General, or even a military officer left; and we,
or those who may succeed us, would have been as ignorant
of martial matters as the ancient Indians: And
this single position, closely attended to, will unanswerably
prove, that the present time is preferable to all
others. The argument turns thus at
the conclusion of the last war, we had experience,
but wanted numbers; and forty or fifty years hence,
we should have numbers, without experience; wherefore,
the proper point of time, must be some particular
point between the two extremes, in which a sufficiency
of the former remains, and a proper increase of the
latter is obtained: And that point of time is
the present time.
The reader will pardon this digression,
as it does not properly come under the head I first
set out with, and to which I again return by the following
position, viz.
Should affairs be patched up with
Britain, and she to remain the governing and sovereign
power of America, (which, as matters are now circumstanced,
is giving up the point entirely) we shall deprive
ourselves of the very means of sinking the debt we
have, or may contract. The value of the back
lands which some of the provinces are clandestinely
deprived of, by the unjust extension of the limits
of Canada, valued only at five pounds sterling per
hundred acres, amount to upwards of twenty-five millions,
Pennsylvania currency; and the quit-rents at one penny
sterling per acre, to two millions yearly.
It is by the sale of those lands that
the debt may be sunk, without burthen to any, and
the quit-rent reserved thereon, will always lessen,
and in time, will wholly support the yearly expence
of government. It matters not how long the debt
is in paying, so that the lands when sold be applied
to the discharge of it, and for the execution of which,
the Congress for the time being, will be the continental
trustees.
I proceed now to the second head,
viz. Which is the easiest and most practicable
plan, RECONCILIATION or Indépendance; With some
occasional remarks.
He who takes nature for his guide
is not easily beaten out of his argument, and on that
ground, I answer GENERALLY THAT Indépendance
BEING A SINGLE SIMPLE LINE, CONTAINED WITHIN
OURSELVES; AND RECONCILIATION, A MATTER EXCEEDINGLY
PERPLEXED AND COMPLICATED, AND IN WHICH, A TREACHEROUS
CAPRICIOUS COURT IS TO INTERFERE, GIVES THE ANSWER
WITHOUT A DOUBT.
The present state of America is truly
alarming to every man who is capable of reflexion.
Without law, without government, without any other
mode of power than what is founded on, and granted
by courtesy. Held together by an unexampled concurrence
of sentiment, which, is nevertheless subject to change,
and which, every secret enemy is endeavouring to dissolve.
Our present condition, is, Legislation without law;
wisdom without a plan; a constitution without a name;
and, what is strangely astonishing, perfect Indépendance
contending for dépendance. The instance
is without a precedent; the case never existed before;
and who can tell what may be the event? The property
of no man is secure in the present unbraced system
of things. The mind of the multitude is left
at random, and seeing no fixed object before them,
they pursue such as fancy or opinion starts.
Nothing is criminal; there is no such thing as treason;
wherefore, every one thinks himself at liberty to
act as he pleases. The Tories dared not have
assembled offensively, had they known that their lives,
by that act, were forfeited to the laws of the state.
A line of distinction should be drawn, between, English
soldiers taken in battle, and inhabitants of America
taken in arms. The first are prisoners, but the
latter traitors. The one forfeits his liberty,
the other his head.
Notwithstanding our wisdom, there
is a visible feebleness in some of our proceedings
which gives encouragement to dissensions. The
Continental Belt is too loosely buckled. And
if something is not done in time, it will be too late
to do any thing, and we shall fall into a state, in
which, neither RECONCILIATION nor Indépendance
will be practicable. The king and his worthless
adherents are got at their old game of dividing the
Continent, and there are not wanting among us, Printers,
who will be busy in spreading specious falsehoods.
The artful and hypocritical letter which appeared
a few months ago in two of the New York papers, and
likewise in two others, is an evidence that there
are men who want either judgment or honesty.
It is easy getting into holes and
corners and talking of reconciliation: But do
such men seriously consider, how difficult the task
is, and how dangerous it may prove, should the Continent
divide thereon. Do they take within their view,
all the various orders of men whose situation and
circumstances, as well as their own, are to be considered
therein. Do they put themselves in the place
of the sufferer whose ALL is ALREADY gone, and of
the soldier, who hath quitted ALL for the defence
of his country. If their ill judged moderation
be suited to their own private situations only, regardless
of others, the event will convince them, that “they
are reckoning without their Host.”
Put us, says some, on the footing
we were on in sixty-three: To which I answer,
the request is not now in the power of Britain to comply
with, neither will she propose it; but if it were,
and even should be granted, I ask, as a reasonable
question, By what means is such a corrupt and faithless
court to be kept to its engagements? Another
parliament, nay, even the present, may hereafter repeal
the obligation, on the pretense, of its being violently
obtained, or unwisely granted; and in that case, Where
is our redress? No going to law with nations;
cannon are the barristers of Crowns; and the sword,
not of justice, but of war, decides the suit.
To be on the footing of sixty-three, it is not sufficient,
that the laws only be put on the same state, but, that
our circumstances, likewise, be put on the same state;
Our burnt and destroyed towns repaired or built up,
our private losses made good, our public debts (contracted
for defence) discharged; otherwise, we shall be millions
worse than we were at that enviable period. Such
a request, had it been complied with a year ago, would
have won the heart and soul of the Continent but
now it is too late, “The Rubicon is passed.”
Besides, the taking up arms, merely
to enforce the repeal of a pecuniary law, seems as
unwarrantable by the divine law, and as repugnant
to human feelings, as the taking up arms to enforce
obedience thereto. The object, on either side,
doth not justify the means; for the lives of men are
too valuable to be cast away on such trifles.
It is the violence which is done and threatened to
our persons; the destruction of our property by an
armed force; the invasion of our country by fire and
sword, which conscientiously qualifies the use of
arms: And the instant, in which such a mode of
defence became necessary, all subjection to Britain
ought to have ceased; and the independancy of America,
should have been considered, as dating its aera
from, and published by, THE FIRST MUSKET THAT WAS FIRED
AGAINST HER. This line is a line of consistency;
neither drawn by caprice, nor extended by ambition;
but produced by a chain of events, of which the colonies
were not the authors.
I shall conclude these remarks with
the following timely and well intended hints.
We ought to reflect, that there are three different
ways by which an independancy may hereafter be effected;
and that ONE of those THREE, will one day or other,
be the fate of America, viz. By the legal
voice of the people in Congress; by a military power;
or by a mob It may not always happen that
OUR soldiers are citizens, and the multitude a body
of reasonable men; virtue, as I have already remarked,
is not hereditary, neither is it perpetual. Should
an independancy be brought about by the first of those
means, we have every opportunity and every encouragement
before us, to form the noblest purest constitution
on the face of the earth. We have it in our power
to begin the world over again. A situation,
similar to the present, hath not happened since the
days of Noah until now. The birthday of a new
world is at hand, and a race of men, perhaps as numerous
as all Europe contains, are to receive their portion
of freedom from the event of a few months. The
Reflexion is awful and in this point of
view, How trifling, how ridiculous, do the little,
paltry cavillings, of a few weak or interested men
appear, when weighed against the business of a world.
Should we neglect the present favourable
and inviting period, and an Indépendance be hereafter
effected by any other means, we must charge the consequence
to ourselves, or to those rather, whose narrow and
prejudiced souls, are habitually opposing the measure,
without either inquiring or reflecting. There
are reasons to be given in support of Indépendance,
which men should rather privately think of, than be
publicly told of. We ought not now to be debating
whether we shall be independant or not, but, anxious
to accomplish it on a firm, secure, and honorable
basis, and uneasy rather that it is not yet began upon.
Every day convinces us of its necessity. Even
the Tories (if such beings yet remain among us) should,
of all men, be the most solicitous to promote it;
for, as the appointment of committees at first, protected
them from popular rage, so, a wise and well established
form of government, will be the only certain means
of continuing it securely to them. WHEREFORE,
if they have not virtue enough to be WHIGS, they ought
to have prudence enough to wish for Indépendance.
In short, Indépendance
is the only BOND that can tye and keep us together.
We shall then see our object, and our ears will be
legally shut against the schemes of an intriguing,
as well, as a cruel enemy. We shall then too,
be on a proper footing, to treat with Britain; for
there is reason to conclude, that the pride of that
court, will be less hurt by treating with the American
states for terms of peace, than with those, whom she
denominates, “rebellious subjects,” for
terms of accommodation. It is our delaying it
that encourages her to hope for conquest, and our
backwardness tends only to prolong the war. As
we have, without any good effect therefrom, withheld
our trade to obtain a redress of our grievances, let
us now try the alternative, by independantly redressing
them ourselves, and then offering to open the trade.
The mercantile and reasonable part in England, will
be still with us; because, peace with trade, is preferable
to war without it. And if this offer be not accepted,
other courts may be applied to.
On these grounds I rest the matter.
And as no offer hath yet been made to refute the
doctrine contained in the former editions of this
pamphlet, it is a negative proof, that either the doctrine
cannot be refuted, or, that the party in favour of
it are too numerous to be opposed. WHEREFORE,
instead of gazing at each other with suspicious or
doubtful curiosity; let each of us, hold out to his
neighbour the hearty hand of friendship, and unite
in drawing a line, which, like an act of oblivion
shall bury in forgetfulness every former dissension.
Let the names of Whig and Tory be extinct; and let
none other be heard among us, than those of A GOOD
CITIZEN, AN OPEN AND RESOLUTE FRIEND, AND A VIRTUOUS
SUPPORTER OF THE RIGHTS OF MANKIND AND OF THE FREE
AND INDEPENDANT STATES OF AMERICA.
To the Representatives of the Religious
Society of the People called Quakers, or to so many
of them as were concerned in publishing the late piece,
entitled “THE ANCIENT TESTIMONY and PRINCIPLES
of the People called QUAKERS renewed, with Respect
to the KING and GOVERNMENT, and touching the COMMOTIONS
now prevailing in these and other parts of AMERICA
addressed to the PEOPLE IN GENERAL.”
The Writer of this, is one of those
few, who never dishonours religion either by ridiculing,
or cavilling at any denomination whatsoever.
To God, and not to man, are all men accountable on
the score of religion. Wherefore, this epistle
is not so properly addressed to you as a religious,
but as a political body, dabbling in matters, which
the professed Quietude of your Principles instruct
you not to meddle with. As you have, without
a proper authority for so doing, put yourselves in
the place of the whole body of the Quakers, so, the
writer of this, in order to be on an equal rank with
yourselves, is under the necessity, of putting himself
in the place of all those, who, approve the very writings
and principles, against which, your testimony is directed:
And he hath chosen this singular situation, in order,
that you might discover in him that presumption of
character which you cannot see in yourselves.
For neither he nor you can have any claim or title
to POLITICAL REPRESENTATION.
When men have departed from the right
way, it is no wonder that they stumble and fall.
And it is evident from the manner in which ye have
managed your testimony, that politics, (as a religious
body of men) is not your proper Walk; for however
well adapted it might appear to you, it is, nevertheless,
a jumble of good and bad put unwisely together, and
the conclusion drawn therefrom, both unnatural and
unjust.
The two first pages, (and the whole
doth not make four) we give you credit for, and expect
the same civility from you, because the love and desire
of peace is not confined to Quakerism, it is the natural,
as well the religious wish of all denominations of
men. And on this ground, as men labouring to
establish an Independant Constitution of our own,
do we exceed all others in our hope, end, and aim.
OUR PLAN IS PEACE FOR EVER. We are tired of
contention with Britain, and can see no real end to
it but in a final separation. We act consistently,
because for the sake of introducing an endless and
uninterrupted peace, do we bear the evils and burthens
of the present day. We are endeavoring, and
will steadily continue to endeavour, to separate and
dissolve a connexion which hath already filled our
land with blood; and which, while the name of it remains,
will be the fatal cause of future mischiefs to both
countries.
We fight neither for revenge nor conquest;
neither from pride nor passion; we are not insulting
the world with our fleets and armies, nor ravaging
the globe for plunder. Beneath the shade of our
own vines are we attacked; in our own houses, and
on our own lands, is the violence committed against
us. We view our enemies in the character of
Highwaymen and Housebreakers, and having no defence
for ourselves in the civil law, are obliged to punish
them by the military one, and apply the sword, in
the very case, where you have before now, applied
the halter Perhaps we feel for the ruined
and insulted sufferers in all and every part of the
continent, with a degree of tenderness which hath
not yet made its way into some of your bosoms.
But be ye sure that ye mistake not the cause and
ground of your Testimony. Call not coldness
of soul, religion; nor put the BIGOT in the place of
the CHRISTIAN.
O ye partial ministers of your own
acknowledged principles. If the bearing arms
be sinful, the first going to war must be more so,
by all the difference between wilful attack, and unavoidable
defence. Wherefore, if ye really preach from
conscience, and mean not to make a political hobbyhorse
of your religion convince the world thereof, by proclaiming
your doctrine to our enemies, FOR THEY LIKEWISE BEAR
ARMS. Give us proof of your sincerity
by publishing it at St. James’s, to the commanders
in chief at Boston, to the Admirals and Captains who
are piratically ravaging our coasts, and to all the
murdering miscreants who are acting in authority under
HIM whom ye profess to serve. Had ye the honest
soul of BARCLAY ye would preach repentance to YOUR
king; Ye would tell the Royal Wretch his sins, and
warn him of eternal ruin. Ye would not spend your
partial invectives against the injured and the
insulted only, but, like faithful ministers, would
cry aloud and SPARE NONE. Say not that ye are
persecuted, neither endeavour to make us the authors
of that reproach, which, ye are bringing upon yourselves;
for we testify unto all men, that we do not complain
against you because ye are Quakers, but because ye
pretend to be and are NOT Quakers.
Alas! it seems by the particular tendency
of some part of your testimony, and other parts of
your conduct, as if, all sin was reduced to, and comprehended
in, THE ACT OF BEARING ARMS, and that by the people
only. Ye appear to us, to have mistaken party
for conscience; because, the general tenor of your
actions wants uniformity And it is exceedingly
difficult to us to give credit to many of your pretended
scruples; because, we see them made by the same men,
who, in the very instant that they are exclaiming
against the mammon of this world, are nevertheless,
hunting after it with a step as steady as Time, and
an appetite as keen as Death.
The quotation which ye have made from
Proverbs, in the third page of your testimony, that,
“when a man’s ways please the Lord, he
maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him”;
is very unwisely chosen on your part; because, it
amounts to a proof, that the king’s ways (whom
ye are desirous of supporting) do NOT please the Lord,
otherwise, his reign would be in peace.
I now proceed to the latter part of
your testimony, and that, for which all the foregoing
seems only an introduction viz.
“It hath ever been our judgment
and principle, since we were called to profess the
light of Christ Jesus, manifested in our consciences
unto this day, that the setting up and putting down
kings and governments, is God’s peculiar prerogative;
for causes best known to himself: And that it
is not our business to have any hand or contrivance
therein; nor to be busy bodies above our station,
much less to plot and contrive the ruin, or overturn
of any of them, but to pray for the king, and safety
of our nation, and good of all men That
we may live a peaceable and quiet life, in all godliness
and honesty; UNDER THE GOVERNMENT WHICH GOD IS PLEASED
TO SET OVER US” If these are REALLY
your principles why do ye not abide by them?
Why do ye not leave that, which ye call God’s
Work, to be managed by himself? These very principles
instruct you to wait with patience and humility, for
the event of all public measures, and to receive that
event as the divine will towards you. Wherefore,
what occasion is there for your POLITICAL TESTIMONY
if you fully believe what it contains? And the
very publishing it proves, that either, ye do not
believe what ye profess, or have not virtue enough
to practise what ye believe.
The principles of Quakerism have a
direct tendency to make a man the quiet and inoffensive
subject of any, and every government WHICH IS SET
OVER HIM. And if the setting up and putting down
of kings and governments is God’s peculiar prerogative,
he most certainly will not be robbed thereof by us:
wherefore, the principle itself leads you to approve
of every thing, which ever happened, or may happen
to kings as being his work. OLIVER CROMWELL
thanks you. CHARLES, then, died not by the hands
of man; and should the present Proud Imitator of him,
come to the same untimely end, the writers and publishers
of the Testimony, are bound, by the doctrine it contains,
to applaud the fact. Kings are not taken away
by miracles, neither are changes in governments brought
about by any other means than such as are common and
human; and such as we are now using. Even the
dispersion of the Jews, though foretold by our Saviour,
was effected by arms. Wherefore, as ye refuse
to be the means on one side, ye ought not to be meddlers
on the other; but to wait the issue in silence; and
unless ye can produce divine authority, to prove,
that the Almighty who hath created and placed this
new world, at the greatest distance it could possibly
stand, east and west, from every part of the old,
doth, nevertheless, disapprove of its being independent
of the corrupt and abandoned court of Britain, unless
I say, ye can shew this, how can ye on the ground
of your principles, justify the exciting and stirring
up the people “firmly to unite in the abhorrence
of all such writings, and measures, as evidence a desire
and design to break off the happy connexion we have
hitherto enjoyed, with the kingdom of Great-Britain,
and our just and necessary subordination to the king,
and those who are lawfully placed in authority under
him.” What a slap of the face is here!
the men, who in the very paragraph before, have quietly
and passively resigned up the ordering, altering,
and disposal of kings and governments, into the hands
of God, are now, recalling their principles, and putting
in for a share of the business. Is it possible,
that the conclusion, which is here justly quoted, can
any ways follow from the doctrine laid down?
The inconsistency is too glaring not to be seen; the
absurdity too great not to be laughed at; and such
as could only have been made by those, whose understandings
were darkened by the narrow and crabby spirit of a
despairing political party; for ye are not to be considered
as the whole body of the Quakers but only as a factional
and fractional part thereof.
Here ends the examination of your
testimony; (which I call upon no man to abhor, as
ye have done, but only to read and judge of fairly;)
to which I subjoin the following remark; “That
the setting up and putting down of kings,” most
certainly mean, the making him a king, who is yet
not so, and the making him no king who is already one.
And pray what hath this to do in the present case?
We neither mean to set up nor to pull down, neither
to make nor to unmake, but to have nothing to do with
them. Wherefore, your testimony in whatever light
it is viewed serves only to dishonor your judgement,
and for many other reasons had better have been let
alone than published.
First, Because it tends to the decrease
and reproach of all religion whatever, and is of the
utmost danger to society to make it a party in political
disputes.
Secondly, Because it exhibits a body
of men, numbers of whom disavow the publishing political
testimonies, as being concerned therein and approvers
thereof.
Thirdly, because it hath a tendency
to undo that continental harmony and friendship which
yourselves by your late liberal and charitable donations
hath lent a hand to establish; and the preservation
of which, is of the utmost consequence to us all.
And here without anger or resentment
I bid you farewell. Sincerely wishing, that
as men and christians, ye may always fully and uninterruptedly
enjoy every civil and religious right; and be, in your
turn, the means of securing it to others; but that
the example which ye have unwisely set, of mingling
religion with politics, MAY BE DISAVOWED AND REPROBATED
BY EVERY INHABITANT OF AMERICA.