2Z4VV4GJ

1Spelling and grammer are modern day conventions designed to limit ones own understanding and comprehension.
2By makeing these rules, and restricting to them hampens learning the ablity to decypher information.
3Those that have succumbed to this subversive control measure against problem solveing targeted to impressionalbe minds, are often incapable to decern any meaning in a sentance that contains even one error. Despite the wealth of clues and the contextual information available to fill in this blank. Let alone if the error of text was a simple typo, or phonetic spelling.
4It has aldo given arize to the phenomenon of 'Grammer Nazis'.
5That will hunt down violaters, and claim that due to an 'error' in formating, renders all subsenquent information as incorrect.
6An institution synonymous with discrediting people for the whole of their work sue to an unrelated error, or later disproven theroy in past.
7It's an deliberate act to stifle the advancement of knowledge and learning. Not a testiment of it.
8
9_________________________________________________
10
11-Methodoligy denoteing logic. A walk through Gentic knowlege, expressed by non DNA methods. 
12
13
14Square peg, round hole.
15Concepts are just holes looking to get pegged.
16Objects will try to fit into any concept if you're not looking.
17So focus on the object must be a priority. 
18
19There is case where you'd allow a peg to permiscue.
20When it's more likely to have been miss measured, than the acrobatics that may explain it.
21
22If it talks like a fag and it's shit's all retarded. Something's wrong.
23
24
25There are scores of lose quoteations and refrences to other works, people, and anaticdotes. 
26So I go into depth here, to give a slew of my knowegebase. as if it can give for un made citations. 
27
28I don't beleve that I have solely chanced upon this 'theroy' by any clear distinction to orignality.
29But I feel that I am the first to try and relate the premise in a way that is attainable for the laymest of Man to get the gist. 
30 
31Observations and philosiphal quierys. The storys and mesurements are alluding to this. 
32The nature of being, of man, and of existance is a all permiating question. 
33They say that the theroy of Atoms were 'know' pre romean  era. That the Mesoamerican Long Count calendar,
34suspoisidly is calculagted from the precession of the milkyway. 
35Sounds incredable. That Observers without optic lenses could measure these macro and micro poles. 
36Atomic theroy I think was from pure deduction. 
37
38Obvious mechanisms that must exist eo expalin substances. How does water flow, and that the soft compresses into itself?
39The presession of a galaxacy is harder to attain, as how can a single generation witness the 
40deviation of galactic bodys and structures in a singlie lifetime, letalone without a stable platform with a telescopic sights to survey such a thing?
41
42The same reason we honor the dead, both our fathers and mothers. 
43We honor thoes that pointed to better ways. 
44
45Given if you were technocally isolated. And wanted to check a thing. Something that'll take longer than you have to see it yourself. 
46Would't you spend the 5 mins enscribeing witness marks on a stone. And telling your grandson to pop back in on it when he gets the chance. Mayby his sons too. 
47Not like there's imidiatly pressing issues preventing a 'pilgramage to honor the will of dead'. 
48
49
50
51This 'truith' of generational study and measurement came about when I was attempting to diseminate what multable dimensions are in relation to us, as my attempt to be as concise and incomplicated lead to a mention of 'I'd become Prometheus if this got out'.
52As it was a Analogy of learning of Telsaverse existance if you were bound to Edision U laws of Voltages and Amp measurement. 
53That it was a 'trick' of stealing energy from the higher verse by stealing half it's value. As that half isn't banned from existing. 
54
55
56That with this, I see our forbears dropped their knowlege in recursive ways. 
57That we might start to 'pick up what they're dropping', when the books are more filled with language and twig and brance explination. 
58That their 'skizto' thoughts be cyphered into a relatable way. rationalized to the times it exists in. 
59That in a world pre coveted to standerd education for all children, that their knowlege will pass on as tales.
60Epics and words of morality with metaphorical conundrums. 
61Where language does not exist to corrilate the phantasm tangable to their concept. 
62These are incredable resources for makeing current science theroy more tanagble. 
63I firmly see insight with these fables, the ramblings of many wise men. Of things without a word. 
64But of things that do certinly exist. Just not with a logical rout to define them with a word.
65Untill recently. English. The most fuck all contrived notions of acceptable word inclusion and interpritation conformidity. 
66If it needs definition, English can put, cannabalize, or phonetism suggestion; new formulation of lettering to suggest clear definition when used to the concept it was birth from.  
67Theoretical lexicography awaiting Syntagma
68
69For every good plan there's a neigh sayer decrying fallacys. For every bad plan, nobody questiond it, untill it fails. 
70
71This knowege was perverted when the renaissionce came. 
72A destructive mentality amoung the educated came to flroush. 
73That thoes that existed before then, were less knowlegeable then the wealth before us now. 
74The sentance isn't incorrect. But the common interpritation has crippled many. 
75Books are knowlege. But it's the ablity to do with that, that's intelegence;
76Not in knowing of things, the way they are known to be. 
77But Legacy alumni candidate Tommy Abercrombe doesn't ever hear that, much like his father before him. 
78
79
80This gives into a historical account of the Sophist, Hippias.
81Hippias, a /know it all/ is credited with originating the idea of natural law. 
82So much was Hippas well versed, that Plato saw him as vain and arrogant.
83
84For Plato to have fallen into the trap set by a Sophist built of pure Rhetoric, and Virtue.
85That the great preacher of thoes mechanisms and knowlege paths. 
86Became fork tounged when seeing proper practition of his own ideals. 
87That it's correct adaptation, kicked all of Platos dogs and called them fuck off. 
88The birth of dismissing the person to reject the knowlege they present. 
89
90I will not accept dissmissal.
91Dismissal is the Mind-Killer. 
92Dismissal the little-death that brings total ignorance.
93I will face dismissal. 
94I will permit it to accost me and to attempt adhearance. 
95When it falls off my breast, I'll turn wrath to its origins.
96Where dissmissal has failed, there will be knowlege if I remain. 
97
98
99Hippas being a Jack of of trade, master of none. Only espoused one thing that trancends technoligiocal advance. 
100According to Hippias, natural law was never to be superseded as it was universal. 
101He saw natural law as an entity that humans take part in without pre-meditation. 
102He regarded the elite in states as indistinguishable from one another
103Thus they should perceive each other as so.
104
105
106To take part without pre-meditation. This is somewhat a definative statement. That there is no free will...
107What could draw such a conclusion?
108A tale of the Titans. 
109Prometheus, Trick at Mecone.
110
111The Gods asked for negioation of the division of sacrifice. 
112It's thought that Prometheus sucessfully tricked Zeus. 
113That Zeus had chose the lesser valuable division. This is in my eyes false. 
114This is often considered a "Man from clay" myth. 
115I see that this is a metophorical instance aludeing to Mans lack of forsight, despite forethought.
116That Man was given a choice. To divide scarifice. The Gods divadends of the relm they have controll of.  
117
118Prometheus was disposed to preconception and limited scope. Prometheus only saw the literal interpritation of what was to take place. 
119That the Gods asking Man what would be fair between their realms was just mear materalism. Not a offer of asention. 
120
121Prometheus saw that if he carved a beast into two piles, that he can give Man a desirable cut. 
122The flesh he tore from the carcass, savioring all offle. 
123He took the entails to cover the meat pile to appear as if foul. The bones were polished with fat, so they glint like gems in comparasen.
124
125Zeus was not fooled in the least by this. In fact Zeus was angered. That a Titan act in place of Man, and as if in Mans best intrest. 
126To lie in Mans stead, to act as if he was knowlegeable of outcome before full knowlege of the implications. of the task were even made evident of the things that were to be decided. 
127
128Zeus had to take the 'trick' pile in order to punish Prometheus for his self-importance pretense to aspiration. That Man was without ablity if the Titans wern't to act for them. 
129
130Zues too the bones. As they were the bargaining token to controll of the structure. The fat polished upon the bones gave ability to make the stucture sliperary, to be without grasp. 
131With this division between the Gods and Man. Zues was able to make it so that Prometheus was punished most befittingly. 
132For his shortsight. The structure's power was twisted so that Prometheus was to forever bound to a rock, where each day an eagle, the emblem of Zeus, was sent to feed on his liver, which would then grow back overnight to be eaten again the next day.
133
134From skeleton frameworks, and all that entrails. 
135He was doomed to his own error. That his miss interpritation of the meetings matter to be decided. That his introvention to something not of his concern and that false thought, of what it was about entirely. 
136Became his fate. Interjection where nothing was known beyond a division of Ox between Man and Gods was known. 
137Going off half cocked, he made thoes he saught to see him as acting in their intrest. 
138Lose a acention to from their own reality. 
139Purely from assumption of what a oxen being divided Man and Gods only meant of worldy possesion. 
140That never could it had been if it were quially divised, that Man can rise to Zues postion. 
141
142That's what I've conferred from that story. 
143But it's only made of relavance in the face of greater understanding of what it is I presume to /exist/.
144To be in and of a system, that to act upon that system as but just a man is to assume the lower potental can exert a force on the more massive mechanisms intertwined. 
145That is in essance "Manifest destiny". 
146It waould seem that effort rewards with desired result. 
147But thoes efforts are also measureable mechanisms to where a result were acheved.
148None of that without causeality. 
149
150!!~~~~~~~xxXSuiseisekiXxx~~~~~~~!!
151
152
153----------------------------------------------
154"The Adventures of Lone Wolf Scientific"
155------------------------------------------
156An electronically syndicated series that
157follows the exploits of two madcap
158mavens of high-technology. Copyright 1991
159Michy Peshota. All rights reserved.  May
160not be distributed without accompanying
161WELCOME.LWS and EPISOD.LWS files.
162-----------------------
163EPISODE #14
164
165
166           A Smart Bomb with a Language Parser
167
168>>>S-max attempts to thwart The Last Words Bomb's language
169parser, but to no avail.  He discovers that program code is
170often more stubborn than human will.<<
171
172                      By M. Peshota
173
174     "Whoever heard of a smart bomb with a language parser?"
175he heard him grumble.  Austin watched his wild-haired
176officemate, his bull-like features creased into a scowl,
177hunched over stacks and stacks of thesauruses, whipping
178their pages, cursing bitterly.  "Only a nudnik programmer
179would think of making a bomb verbally context-sensitive," he
180growled.
181
182     Earlier in the evening, the computer builder had come
183to him, his condescending eyes moist with humility, his
184normally Napoleanic upper lip quivering helplessly, and
185begged the hollow-eyed wizard to recode Andrew.BAS's guided
186missile software.  Specifically, he wanted him to recode it
187so that the computer would not screech alarms and its screen
188flash bright red whenever he keyed in at its screen prompt
189the declaration "Gus Farwick is a testosterone-less simp
190with eel toes for brains!"  But, as much as the assembly
191language savant would have liked to become involved in such
192a worthwhile project, he was too preoccupied at the moment
193with his many neurotic frets, especially his fear of the
194possible return of the ghost of Alan Turing to his former
195domicile in Austin's office coat closet, to be able to do
196anything but gape zombie-like into the flourescent-white
197night air and drool down the front of his checked shirt
198until eventually the computer builder shuffled away.
199
200     Still gaping, Austin could hear him pawing through the
201section of the thesaurus that listed synonyms for
202"testosterone-less simp."  "Ninnyhead.  Puddingbrain.
203Knucklenoggin," he recited in his nasal drone.  He
204laboriously typed them one by one into the guided missile
205software, then groaned as the screen flashed red in response
206and the alarm bells chimed.  "This is what I get for having
207familiarized that twit programmer with my entire range of
208verbal invective," he grunted, flinging open another
209thesaurus.  He raised his head and mused, "Maybe if I tried
210some alternate spellings...."  After some thought, he typed
211into the machine "Gees...Farwoook...is...a...
212Tusktossturoon-Mess Imp...Wif...Eeeel-Tooeys...4...Brains!"
213The computer responded with a long, slow gag, then flashed
214its screen red and chimed like a maimed pinball machine.
215The computer builder slammed his fist on the desk in rage.
216
217     Tired, the assembly language savant nestled his head on
218the worn ivories of his keyboard and listened to his
219officemate's wild, futile linguistic manipulations until
220late in the night.  Eventually he fell asleep.  In his
221troubled dreams, he thought he saw the flyblown profile of
222the ghost who dogged him, who terrified him day and night
223with his incessant ravings about long-forgotten computer
224memory registers, the irrepressible ghost of Alan Turing,
225the father of programming.  Turing materialized, tweed suit,
226shabby wingtips, cobwebbed copy of <<Byte>>, battered
227bicycle and all, in back of the computer builder's zebra-fur
228cloaked chair.  With a devil-may-care glower that was not
229unlike the computer builder's own condescending smirk, he
230extended shadowy hands over the latter's shoulder.  He took
231hold of the computer builder's Hanswurst knuckles, and, with
232the impassioned vigor of a symphonic conductor, guided them
233into a manic dance across the terminal's keys.
234
235     The computer builder, unaware of the ghost's presence,
236watched his gamboling hands, aghast.  When his finger were
237finally still, lying in an artistically spent, twisted heap,
238like the hands of Beethoven on the numeric keypad, he looked
239at them in surpise, then glanced up at the screen.
240"Omigod!" he gasped.  "I have done it!  My genius has won
241out again!  I have found a way to disable Andrew.BAS's kooky
242language parser!"  He smiled with pride at the string of
243inscrutable algorithms marching across the screen.  "Gawd,
244how I wish I could understand what those are," he clucked,
245typing into the missile software "testosterone-less simp,"
246adding "with eel toes for brains."  He pressed 'enter' and
247listened closely, but heard no warning bells, nor did he see
248the screen flash red.  He smiled, "Gus Farwick, prepare to
249read your epitaph in the sky."  The ghost nodded with
250approval, got on his bike, and disappeared, and the computer
251builder leaped from his chair and hopped from foot to foot
252like a wound up harlequin.
253
254
255                          <Finis>
256
257
258>>Is trouble on the way when Dingready & Derringdo Aerospace
259demonstrates their latest crop of computer-guided weapons to
260military nabobs?  Find out in the next episode of 'The
261Adventures of Lone Wolf Scientific.'<<
262
263
264______________________________________________________
265
266
267                                      1776
268                                  COMMON SENSE
269                                by Thomas Paine
270                               February 14, 1776
271INTRODUCTION
272  INTRODUCTION
273
274  PERHAPS the sentiments contained in the following pages, are not yet
275sufficiently fashionable to procure them general favor; a long habit
276of not thinking a thing wrong, gives it a superficial appearance of
277being right, and raises at first a formidable outcry in defence of
278custom. But tumult soon subsides. Time makes more converts than
279reason.
280  As a long and violent abuse of power is generally the means of
281calling the right of it in question, (and in matters too which might
282never have been thought of, had not the sufferers been aggravated into
283the inquiry,) and as the king of England hath undertaken in his own
284right, to support the parliament in what he calls theirs, and as the
285good people of this country are grievously oppressed by the
286combination, they have an undoubted privilege to inquire into the
287pretensions of both, and equally to reject the usurpations of either.
288  In the following sheets, the author hath studiously avoided every
289thing which is personal among ourselves. Compliments as well as
290censure to individuals make no part thereof. The wise and the worthy
291need not the triumph of a pamphlet; and those whose sentiments are
292injudicious or unfriendly, will cease of themselves, unless too much
293pains is bestowed upon their conversion.
294  The cause of America is, in a great measure, the cause of all
295mankind. Many circumstances have, and will arise, which are not local,
296but universal, and through which the principles of all lovers of
297mankind are affected, and in the event of which, their affections
298are interested. The laying a country desolate with fire and sword,
299declaring war against the natural rights of all mankind, and
300extirpating the defenders thereof from the face of the earth, is the
301concern of every man to whom nature hath given the power of feeling;
302of which class, regardless of party censure, is
303
304                                                  THE AUTHOR.
305
306Philadelphia, Feb. 14, 1776.
307  OF THE ORIGIN AND DESIGN OF GOVERNMENT IN GENERAL. WITH CONCISE
308REMARKS ON THE ENGLISH CONSTITUTION
309
310  SOME writers have so confounded society with government, as to leave
311little or no distinction between them; whereas they are not only
312different, but have different origins. Society is produced by our
313wants, and government by our wickedness; the former promotes our
314happiness positively by uniting our affections, the latter
315negatively by restraining our vices. The one encourages intercourse,
316the other creates distinctions. The first is a patron, the last a
317punisher.
318  Society in every state is a blessing, but government even in its
319best state is but a necessary evil in its worst state an intolerable
320one; for when we suffer, or are exposed to the same miseries by a
321government, which we might expect in a country without government, our
322calamities is heightened by reflecting that we furnish the means by
323which we suffer! Government, like dress, is the badge of lost
324innocence; the palaces of kings are built on the ruins of the bowers
325of paradise. For were the impulses of conscience clear, uniform, and
326irresistibly obeyed, man would need no other lawgiver; but that not
327being the case, he finds it necessary to surrender up a part of his
328property to furnish means for the protection of the rest; and this he
329is induced to do by the same prudence which in every other case
330advises him out of two evils to choose the least. Wherefore, security
331being the true design and end of government, it unanswerably follows
332that whatever form thereof appears most likely to ensure it to us,
333with the least expense and greatest benefit, is preferable to all
334others.
335  In order to gain a clear and just idea of the design and end of
336government, let us suppose a small number of persons settled in some
337sequestered part of the earth, unconnected with the rest, they will
338then represent the first peopling of any country, or of the world.
339In this state of natural liberty, society will be their first thought.
340A thousand motives will excite them thereto, the strength of one man
341is so unequal to his wants, and his mind so unfitted for perpetual
342solitude, that he is soon obliged to seek assistance and relief of
343another, who in his turn requires the same. Four or five united
344would be able to raise a tolerable dwelling in the midst of a
345wilderness, but one man might labor out the common period of life
346without accomplishing any thing; when he had felled his timber he
347could not remove it, nor erect it after it was removed; hunger in
348the mean time would urge him from his work, and every different want
349call him a different way. Disease, nay even misfortune would be death,
350for though neither might be mortal, yet either would disable him
351from living, and reduce him to a state in which he might rather be
352said to perish than to die.
353  Thus necessity, like a gravitating power, would soon form our
354newly arrived emigrants into society, the reciprocal blessings of
355which, would supersede, and render the obligations of law and
356government unnecessary while they remained perfectly just to each
357other; but as nothing but heaven is impregnable to vice, it will
358unavoidably happen, that in proportion as they surmount the first
359difficulties of emigration, which bound them together in a common
360cause, they will begin to relax in their duty and attachment to each
361other; and this remissness, will point out the necessity, of
362establishing some form of government to supply the defect of moral
363virtue.
364  Some convenient tree will afford them a State-House, under the
365branches of which, the whole colony may assemble to deliberate on
366public matters. It is more than probable that their first laws will
367have the title only of Regulations, and be enforced by no other
368penalty than public disesteem. In this first parliament every man,
369by natural right will have a seat.
370  But as the colony increases, the public concerns will increase
371likewise, and the distance at which the members may be separated, will
372render it too inconvenient for all of them to meet on every occasion
373as at first, when their number was small, their habitations near,
374and the public concerns few and trifling. This will point out the
375convenience of their consenting to leave the legislative part to be
376managed by a select number chosen from the whole body, who are
377supposed to have the same concerns at stake which those have who
378appointed them, and who will act in the same manner as the whole
379body would act were they present. If the colony continue increasing,
380it will become necessary to augment the number of the representatives,
381and that the interest of every part of the colony may be attended
382to, it will be found best to divide the whole into convenient parts,
383each part sending its proper number; and that the elected might
384never form to themselves an interest separate from the electors,
385prudence will point out the propriety of having elections often;
386because as the elected might by that means return and mix again with
387the general body of the electors in a few months, their fidelity to
388the public will be secured by the prudent reflection of not making a
389rod for themselves. And as this frequent interchange will establish
390a common interest with every part of the community, they will mutually
391and naturally support each other, and on this (not on the unmeaning
392name of king) depends the strength of government, and the happiness of
393the governed.
394  Here then is the origin and rise of government; namely, a mode
395rendered necessary by the inability of moral virtue to govern the
396world; here too is the design and end of government, viz., freedom
397and security. And however our eyes may be dazzled with snow, or our
398ears deceived by sound; however prejudice may warp our wills, or
399interest darken our understanding, the simple voice of nature and of
400reason will say, it is right.
401  I draw my idea of the form of government from a principle in nature,
402which no art can overturn, viz., that the more simple any thing is,
403the less liable it is to be disordered, and the easier repaired when
404disordered; and with this maxim in view, I offer a few remarks on
405the so much boasted constitution of England. That it was noble for the
406dark and slavish times in which it was erected is granted. When the
407world was overrun with tyranny the least therefrom was a glorious
408rescue. But that it is imperfect, subject to convulsions, and
409incapable of producing what it seems to promise, is easily
410demonstrated.
411  Absolute governments (though the disgrace of human nature) have this
412advantage with them, that they are simple; if the people suffer,
413they know the head from which their suffering springs, know likewise
414the remedy, and are not bewildered by a variety of causes and cures.
415But the constitution of England is so exceedingly complex, that the
416nation may suffer for years together without being able to discover in
417which part the fault lies, some will say in one and some in another,
418and every political physician will advise a different medicine.
419  I know it is difficult to get over local or long standing
420prejudices, yet if we will suffer ourselves to examine the component
421parts of the English constitution, we shall find them to be the base
422remains of two ancient tyrannies, compounded with some new
423republican materials.
424  First.- The remains of monarchical tyranny in the person of the
425king.
426  Secondly.- The remains of aristocratical tyranny in the persons of
427the peers.
428  Thirdly.- The new republican materials, in the persons of the
429commons, on whose virtue depends the freedom of England.
430  The two first, by being hereditary, are independent of the people;
431wherefore in a constitutional sense they contribute nothing towards
432the freedom of the state.
433  To say that the constitution of England is a union of three powers
434reciprocally checking each other, is farcical, either the words have
435no meaning, or they are flat contradictions.
436  To say that the commons is a check upon the king, presupposes two
437things.
438  First.- That the king is not to be trusted without being looked
439after, or in other words, that a thirst for absolute power is the
440natural disease of monarchy.
441  Secondly.- That the commons, by being appointed for that purpose,
442are either wiser or more worthy of confidence than the crown.
443  But as the same constitution which gives the commons a power to
444check the king by withholding the supplies, gives afterwards the
445king a power to check the commons, by empowering him to reject their
446other bills; it again supposes that the king is wiser than those
447whom it has already supposed to be wiser than him. A mere absurdity!
448  There is something exceedingly ridiculous in the composition of
449monarchy; it first excludes a man from the means of information, yet
450empowers him to act in cases where the highest judgment is required.
451The state of a king shuts him from the world, yet the business of a
452king requires him to know it thoroughly; wherefore the different
453parts, unnaturally opposing and destroying each other, prove the whole
454character to be absurd and useless.
455  Some writers have explained the English constitution thus; the king,
456say they, is one, the people another; the peers are an house in behalf
457of the king; the commons in behalf of the people; but this hath all
458the distinctions of an house divided against itself; and though the
459expressions be pleasantly arranged, yet when examined they appear idle
460and ambiguous; and it will always happen, that the nicest construction
461that words are capable of, when applied to the description of
462something which either cannot exist, or is too incomprehensible to
463be within the compass of description, will be words of sound only, and
464though they may amuse the ear, they cannot inform the mind, for this
465explanation includes a previous question, viz. How came the king by
466a power which the people are afraid to trust, and always obliged to
467check? Such a power could not be the gift of a wise people, neither
468can any power, which needs checking, be from God; yet the provision,
469which the constitution makes, supposes such a power to exist.
470  But the provision is unequal to the task; the means either cannot or
471will not accomplish the end, and the whole affair is a felo de se; for
472as the greater weight will always carry up the less, and as all the
473wheels of a machine are put in motion by one, it only remains to
474know which power in the constitution has the most weight, for that
475will govern; and though the others, or a part of them, may clog, or,
476as the phrase is, check the rapidity of its motion, yet so long as
477they cannot stop it, their endeavors will be ineffectual; the first
478moving power will at last have its way, and what it wants in speed
479is supplied by time.
480  That the crown is this overbearing part in the English
481constitution needs not be mentioned, and that it derives its whole
482consequence merely from being the giver of places pensions is self
483evident, wherefore, though we have and wise enough to shut and lock
484a door against absolute monarchy, we at the same time have been
485foolish enough to put the crown in possession of the key.
486  The prejudice of Englishmen, in favor of their own government by
487king, lords, and commons, arises as much or more from national pride
488than reason. Individuals are undoubtedly safer in England than in some
489other countries, but the will of the king is as much the law of the
490land in Britain as in France, with this difference, that instead of
491proceeding directly from his mouth, it is handed to the people under
492the most formidable shape of an act of parliament. For the fate of
493Charles the First, hath only made kings more subtle not- more just.
494  Wherefore, laying aside all national pride and prejudice in favor of
495modes and forms, the plain truth is, that it is wholly owing to the
496constitution of the people, and not to the constitution of the
497government that the crown is not as oppressive in England as in
498Turkey.
499  An inquiry into the constitutional errors in the English form of
500government is at this time highly necessary; for as we are never in
501a proper condition of doing justice to others, while we continue under
502the influence of some leading partiality, so neither are we capable of
503doing it to ourselves while we remain fettered by any obstinate
504prejudice. And as a man, who is attached to a prostitute, is
505unfitted to choose or judge of a wife, so any prepossession in favor
506of a rotten constitution of government will disable us from discerning
507a good one.
508  OF MONARCHY AND HEREDITARY SUCCESSION
509
510  MANKIND being originally equals in the order of creation, the
511equality could only be destroyed by some subsequent circumstance;
512the distinctions of rich, and poor, may in a great measure be
513accounted for, and that without having recourse to the harsh,
514ill-sounding names of oppression and avarice. Oppression is often
515the consequence, but seldom or never the means of riches; and though
516avarice will preserve a man from being necessitously poor, it
517generally makes him too timorous to be wealthy.
518  But there is another and greater distinction for which no truly
519natural or religious reason can be assigned, and that is, the
520distinction of men into KINGS and SUBJECTS. Male and female are the
521distinctions of nature, good and bad the distinctions of heaven; but
522how a race of men came into the world so exalted above the rest, and
523distinguished like some new species, is worth enquiring into, and
524whether they are the means of happiness or of misery to mankind.
525  In the early ages of the world, according to the scripture
526chronology, there were no kings; the consequence of which was there
527were no wars; it is the pride of kings which throw mankind into
528confusion. Holland without a king hath enjoyed more peace for this
529last century than any of the monarchial governments in Europe.
530Antiquity favors the same remark; for the quiet and rural lives of the
531first patriarchs hath a happy something in them, which vanishes away
532when we come to the history of Jewish royalty.
533  Government by kings was first introduced into the world by the
534Heathens, from whom the children of Israel copied the custom. It was
535the most prosperous invention the Devil ever set on foot for the
536promotion of idolatry. The Heathens paid divine honors to their
537deceased kings, and the Christian world hath improved on the plan by
538doing the same to their living ones. How impious is the title of
539sacred majesty applied to a worm, who in the midst of his splendor
540is crumbling into dust!
541  As the exalting one man so greatly above the rest cannot be
542justified on the equal rights of nature, so neither can it be defended
543on the authority of scripture; for the will of the Almighty, as
544declared by Gideon and the prophet Samuel, expressly disapproves of
545government by kings. All anti-monarchial parts of scripture have
546been very smoothly glossed over in monarchial governments, but they
547undoubtedly merit the attention of countries which have their
548governments yet to form. Render unto Caesar the things which are
549Caesar's is the scriptural doctrine of courts, yet it is no support of
550monarchial government, for the Jews at that time were without a
551king, and in a state of vassalage to the Romans.
552  Near three thousand years passed away from the Mosaic account of the
553creation, till the Jews under a national delusion requested a king.
554Till then their form of government (except in extraordinary cases,
555where the Almighty interposed) was a kind of republic administered
556by a judge and the elders of the tribes. Kings they had none, and it
557was held sinful to acknowledge any being under that title but the
558Lords of Hosts. And when a man seriously reflects on the idolatrous
559homage which is paid to the persons of kings he need not wonder, that
560the Almighty, ever jealous of his honor, should disapprove of a form
561of government which so impiously invades the prerogative of heaven.
562  Monarchy is ranked in scripture as one of the sins of the Jews,
563for which a curse in reserve is denounced against them. The history of
564that transaction is worth attending to.
565  The children of Israel being oppressed by the Midianites, Gideon
566marched against them with a small army, and victory, through the
567divine interposition, decided in his favor. The Jews elate with
568success, and attributing it to the generalship of Gideon, proposed
569making him a king, saying, Rule thou over us, thou and thy son and thy
570son's son. Here was temptation in its fullest extent; not a kingdom
571only, but an hereditary one, but Gideon in the piety of his soul
572replied, I will not rule over you, neither shall my son rule over you,
573THE LORD SHALL RULE OVER YOU. Words need not be more explicit;
574Gideon doth not decline the honor but denieth their right to give
575it; neither doth be compliment them with invented declarations of
576his thanks, but in the positive stile of a prophet charges them with
577disaffection to their proper sovereign, the King of Heaven.
578  About one hundred and thirty years after this, they fell again
579into the same error. The hankering which the Jews had for the
580idolatrous customs of the Heathens, is something exceedingly
581unaccountable; but so it was, that laying hold of the misconduct of
582Samuel's two sons, who were entrusted with some secular concerns, they
583came in an abrupt and clamorous manner to Samuel, saying, Behold
584thou art old and thy sons walk not in thy ways, now make us a king
585to judge us like all the other nations. And here we cannot but observe
586that their motives were bad, viz., that they might be like unto
587other nations, i.e., the Heathen, whereas their true glory laid in
588being as much unlike them as possible. But the thing displeased Samuel
589when they said, give us a king to judge us; and Samuel prayed unto the
590Lord, and the Lord said unto Samuel, Hearken unto the voice of the
591people in all that they say unto thee, for they have not rejected
592thee, but they have rejected me, THEN I SHOULD NOT REIGN OVER THEM.
593According to all the works which have done since the day; wherewith
594they brought them up out of Egypt, even unto this day; wherewith
595they have forsaken me and served other Gods; so do they also unto
596thee. Now therefore hearken unto their voice, howbeit, protest
597solemnly unto them and show them the manner of the king that shall
598reign over them, i.e., not of any particular king, but the general
599manner of the kings of the earth, whom Israel was so eagerly copying
600after. And notwithstanding the great distance of time and difference
601of manners, the character is still in fashion. And Samuel told all the
602words of the Lord unto the people, that asked of him a king. And he
603said, This shall be the manner of the king that shall reign over
604you; he will take your sons and appoint them for himself for his
605chariots, and to be his horsemen, and some shall run before his
606chariots (this description agrees with the present mode of
607impressing men) and he will appoint him captains over thousands and
608captains over fifties, and will set them to ear his ground and to read
609his harvest, and to make his instruments of war, and instruments of
610his chariots; and he will take your daughters to be confectionaries
611and to be cooks and to be bakers (this describes the expense and
612luxury as well as the oppression of kings) and he will take your
613fields and your olive yards, even the best of them, and give them to
614his servants; and he will take the tenth of your seed, and of your
615vineyards, and give them to his officers and to his servants (by which
616we see that bribery, corruption, and favoritism are the standing vices
617of kings) and he will take the tenth of your men servants, and your
618maid servants, and your goodliest young men and your asses, and put
619them to his work; and he will take the tenth of your sheep, and ye
620shall be his servants, and ye shall cry out in that day because of
621your king which ye shall have chosen, AND THE LORD WILL NOT HEAR YOU
622IN THAT DAY. This accounts for the continuation of monarchy; neither
623do the characters of the few good kings which have lived since, either
624sanctify the title, or blot out the sinfulness of the origin; the high
625encomium given of David takes no notice of him officially as a king,
626but only as a man after God's own heart. Nevertheless the People
627refused to obey the voice of Samuel, and they said, Nay, but we will
628have a king over us, that we may be like all the nations, and that our
629king may judge us, and go out before us and fight our battles.
630Samuel continued to reason with them, but to no purpose; he set before
631them their ingratitude, but all would not avail; and seeing them fully
632bent on their folly, he cried out, I will call unto the Lord, and he
633shall sent thunder and rain (which then was a punishment, being the
634time of wheat harvest) that ye may perceive and see that your
635wickedness is great which ye have done in the sight of the Lord, IN
636ASKING YOU A KING. So Samuel called unto the Lord, and the Lord sent
637thunder and rain that day, and all the people greatly feared the
638Lord and Samuel And all the people said unto Samuel, Pray for thy
639servants unto the Lord thy God that we die not, for WE HAVE ADDED UNTO
640OUR SINS THIS EVIL, TO ASK A KING. These portions of scripture are
641direct and positive. They admit of no equivocal construction. That the
642Almighty hath here entered his protest against monarchial government
643is true, or the scripture is false. And a man hath good reason to
644believe that there is as much of kingcraft, as priestcraft in
645withholding the scripture from the public in Popish countries. For
646monarchy in every instance is the Popery of government.
647  To the evil of monarchy we have added that of hereditary succession;
648and as the first is a degradation and lessening of ourselves, so the
649second, claimed as a matter of right, is an insult and an imposition
650on posterity. For all men being originally equals, no one by birth
651could have a right to set up his own family in perpetual preference to
652all others for ever, and though himself might deserve some decent
653degree of honors of his contemporaries, yet his descendants might be
654far too unworthy to inherit them. One of the strongest natural
655proofs of the folly of hereditary right in kings, is, that nature
656disapproves it, otherwise she would not so frequently turn it into
657ridicule by giving mankind an ass for a lion.
658  Secondly, as no man at first could possess any other public honors
659than were bestowed upon him, so the givers of those honors could
660have no power to give away the right of posterity, and though they
661might say, "We choose you for our head," they could not, without
662manifest injustice to their children, say, "that your children and
663your children's children shall reign over ours for ever." Because such
664an unwise, unjust, unnatural compact might (perhaps) in the next
665succession put them under the government of a rogue or a fool. Most
666wise men, in their private sentiments, have ever treated hereditary
667right with contempt; yet it is one of those evils, which when once
668established is not easily removed; many submit from fear, others
669from superstition, and the more powerful part shares with the king the
670plunder of the rest.
671  This is supposing the present race of kings in the world to have had
672an honorable origin; whereas it is more than probable, that could we
673take off the dark covering of antiquity, and trace them to their first
674rise, that we should find the first of them nothing better than the
675principal ruffian of some restless gang, whose savage manners of
676preeminence in subtlety obtained him the title of chief among
677plunderers; and who by increasing in power, and extending his
678depredations, overawed the quiet and defenseless to purchase their
679safety by frequent contributions. Yet his electors could have no
680idea of giving hereditary right to his descendants, because such a
681perpetual exclusion of themselves was incompatible with the free and
682unrestrained principles they professed to live by. Wherefore,
683hereditary succession in the early ages of monarchy could not take
684place as a matter of claim, but as something casual or complemental;
685but as few or no records were extant in those days, and traditionary
686history stuffed with fables, it was very easy, after the lapse of a
687few generations, to trump up some superstitious tale, conveniently
688timed, Mahomet like, to cram hereditary right down the throats of
689the vulgar. Perhaps the disorders which threatened, or seemed to
690threaten on the decease of a leader and the choice of a new one (for
691elections among ruffians could not be very orderly) induced many at
692first to favor hereditary pretensions; by which means it happened,
693as it hath happened since, that what at first was submitted to as a
694convenience, was afterwards claimed as a right.
695  England, since the conquest, hath known some few good monarchs,
696but groaned beneath a much larger number of bad ones, yet no man in
697his senses can say that their claim under William the Conqueror is a
698very honorable one. A French bastard landing with an armed banditti,
699and establishing himself king of England against the consent of the
700natives, is in plain terms a very paltry rascally original. It
701certainly hath no divinity in it. However, it is needless to spend
702much time in exposing the folly of hereditary right, if there are
703any so weak as to believe it, let them promiscuously worship the ass
704and lion, and welcome. I shall neither copy their humility, nor
705disturb their devotion.
706  Yet I should be glad to ask how they suppose kings came at first?
707The question admits but of three answers, viz., either by lot, by
708election, or by usurpation. If the first king was taken by lot, it
709establishes a precedent for the next, which excludes hereditary
710succession. Saul was by lot, yet the succession was not hereditary,
711neither does it appear from that transaction there was any intention
712it ever should. If the first king of any country was by election, that
713likewise establishes a precedent for the next; for to say, that the
714right of all future generations is taken away, by the act of the first
715electors, in their choice not only of a king, but of a family of kings
716for ever, hath no parallel in or out of scripture but the doctrine
717of original sin, which supposes the free will of all men lost in Adam;
718and from such comparison, and it will admit of no other, hereditary
719succession can derive no glory. For as in Adam all sinned, and as in
720the first electors all men obeyed; as in the one all mankind were
721subjected to Satan, and in the other to Sovereignty; as our
722innocence was lost in the first, and our authority in the last; and as
723both disable us from reassuming some former state and privilege, it
724unanswerably follows that original sin and hereditary succession are
725parallels. Dishonorable rank! Inglorious connection! Yet the most
726subtle sophist cannot produce a juster simile.
727  As to usurpation, no man will be so hardy as to defend it; and
728that William the Conqueror was an usurper is a fact not to be
729contradicted. The plain truth is, that the antiquity of English
730monarchy will not bear looking into.
731  But it is not so much the absurdity as the evil of hereditary
732succession which concerns mankind. Did it ensure a race of good and
733wise men it would have the seal of divine authority, but as it opens a
734door to the foolish, the wicked; and the improper, it hath in it the
735nature of oppression. Men who look upon themselves born to reign,
736and others to obey, soon grow insolent; selected from the rest of
737mankind their minds are early poisoned by importance; and the world
738they act in differs so materially from the world at large, that they
739have but little opportunity of knowing its true interests, and when
740they succeed to the government are frequently the most ignorant and
741unfit of any throughout the dominions.
742  Another evil which attends hereditary succession is, that the throne
743is subject to be possessed by a minor at any age; all which time the
744regency, acting under the cover of a king, have every opportunity
745and inducement to betray their trust. The same national misfortune
746happens, when a king worn out with age and infirmity, enters the
747last stage of human weakness. In both these cases the public becomes a
748prey to every miscreant, who can tamper successfully with the
749follies either of age or infancy.
750  The most plausible plea, which hath ever been offered in favor of
751hereditary succession, is, that it preserves a nation from civil wars;
752and were this true, it would be weighty; whereas, it is the most
753barefaced falsity ever imposed upon mankind. The whole history of
754England disowns the fact. Thirty kings and two minors have reigned
755in that distracted kingdom since the conquest, in which time there
756have been (including the Revolution) no less than eight civil wars and
757nineteen rebellions. Wherefore instead of making for peace, it makes
758against it, and destroys the very foundation it seems to stand on.
759  The contest for monarchy and succession, between the houses of
760York and Lancaster, laid England in a scene of blood for many years.
761Twelve pitched battles, besides skirmishes and sieges, were fought
762between Henry and Edward. Twice was Henry prisoner to Edward, who in
763his turn was prisoner to Henry. And so uncertain is the fate of war
764and the temper of a nation, when nothing but personal matters are
765the ground of a quarrel, that Henry was taken in triumph from a prison
766to a palace, and Edward obliged to fly from a palace to a foreign
767land; yet, as sudden transitions of temper are seldom lasting, Henry
768in his turn was driven from the throne, and Edward recalled to succeed
769him. The parliament always following the strongest side.
770  This contest began in the reign of Henry the Sixth, and was not
771entirely extinguished till Henry the Seventh, in whom the families
772were united. Including a period of 67 years, viz., from 1422 to 1489.
773  In short, monarchy and succession have laid (not this or that
774kingdom only) but the world in blood and ashes. 'Tis a form of
775government which the word of God bears testimony against, and blood
776will attend it.
777  If we inquire into the business of a king, we shall find that (in
778some countries they have none) and after sauntering away their lives
779without pleasure to themselves or advantage to the nation, withdraw
780from the scene, and leave their successors to tread the same idle
781round. In absolute monarchies the whole weight of business civil and
782military, lies on the king; the children of Israel in their request
783for a king, urged this plea "that he may judge us, and go out before
784us and fight our battles." But in countries where he is neither a
785judge nor a general, as in England, a man would be puzzled to know
786what is his business.
787  The nearer any government approaches to a republic, the less
788business there is for a king. It is somewhat difficult to find a
789proper name for the government of England. Sir William Meredith
790calls it a republic; but in its present state it is unworthy of the
791name, because the corrupt influence If the crown, by having all the
792places in its disposal, hath so effectually swallowed up the power,
793and eaten out the virtue of the house of commons (the republican
794part in the constitution) that the government of England is nearly
795as monarchical as that of France or Spain. Men fall out with names
796without understanding them. For it is the republican and not the
797monarchical part of the constitution of England which Englishmen glory
798in, viz., the liberty of choosing a house of commons from out of their
799own body- and it is easy to see that when the republican virtue fails,
800slavery ensues. My is the constitution of England sickly, but
801because monarchy hath poisoned the republic, the crown hath
802engrossed the commons?
803  In England a king hath little more to do than to make war and give
804away places; which in plain terms, is to impoverish the nation and set
805it together by the ears. A pretty business indeed for a man to be
806allowed eight hundred thousand sterling a year for, and worshipped
807into the bargain! Of more worth is one honest man to society, and in
808the sight of God, than all the crowned ruffians that ever lived.
809  THOUGHTS OF THE PRESENT STATE OF AMERICAN AFFAIRS
810
811 IN the following pages I offer nothing more than simple facts,
812plain arguments, and common sense; and have no other preliminaries
813to settle with the reader, than that he will divest himself of
814prejudice and prepossession, and suffer his reason and his feelings to
815determine for themselves; that he will put on, or rather that he
816will not put off the true character of a man, and generously enlarge
817his views beyond the present day.
818  Volumes have been written on the subject of the struggle between
819England and America. Men of all ranks have embarked in the
820controversy, from different motives, and with various designs; but all
821have been ineffectual, and the period of debate is closed. Arms, as
822the last resource, decide the contest; the appeal was the choice of
823the king, and the continent hath accepted the challenge.
824  It hath been reported of the late Mr. Pelham (who tho' an able
825minister was not without his faults) that on his being attacked in the
826house of commons, on the score, that his measures were only of a
827temporary kind, replied, "they will fast my time." Should a thought so
828fatal and unmanly possess the colonies in the present contest, the
829name of ancestors will be remembered by future generations with
830detestation.
831  The sun never shined on a cause of greater worth. 'Tis not the
832affair of a city, a country, a province, or a kingdom, but of a
833continent- of at least one eighth part of the habitable globe. 'Tis
834not the concern of a day, a year, or an age; posterity are virtually
835involved in the contest, and will be more or less affected, even to
836the end of time, by the proceedings now. Now is the seed time of
837continental union, faith and honor. The least fracture now will be
838like a name engraved with the point of a pin on the tender rind of a
839young oak; The wound will enlarge with the tree, and posterity read it
840in full grown characters.
841  By referring the matter from argument to arms, a new area for
842politics is struck; a new method of thinking hath arisen. All plans,
843proposals, &c. prior to the nineteenth of April, i.e., to the
844commencement of hostilities, are like the almanacs of the last year;
845which, though proper then, are superseded and useless now. Whatever
846was advanced by the advocates on either side of the question then,
847terminated in one and the same point, viz., a union with Great
848Britain; the only difference between the parties was the method of
849effecting it; the one proposing force, the other friendship; but it
850hath so far happened that the first hath failed, and the second hath
851withdrawn her influence.
852  As much hath been said of the advantages of reconciliation, which,
853like an agreeable dream, hath passed away and left us as we were, it
854is but right, that we should examine the contrary side of the
855argument, and inquire into some of the many material injuries which
856these colonies sustain, and always will sustain, by being connected
857with, and dependant on Great Britain. To examine that connection and
858dependance, on the principles of nature and common sense, to see
859what we have to trust to, if separated, and what we are to expect,
860if dependant.
861  I have heard it asserted by some, that as America hath flourished
862under her former connection with Great Britain, that the same
863connection is necessary towards her future happiness, and will
864always have the same effect. Nothing can be more fallacious than
865this kind of argument. We may as well assert, that because a child has
866thrived upon milk, that it is never to have meat; or that the first
867twenty years of our lives is to become a precedent for the next
868twenty. But even this is admitting more than is true, for I answer
869roundly, that America would have flourished as much, and probably much
870more, had no European power had any thing to do with her. The commerce
871by which she hath enriched herself are the necessaries of life, and
872will always have a market while eating is the custom of Europe.
873  But she has protected us, say some. That she hath engrossed us is
874true, and defended the continent at our expense as well as her own
875is admitted, and she would have defended Turkey from the same
876motive, viz., the sake of trade and dominion.
877  Alas! we have been long led away by ancient prejudices and made
878large sacrifices to superstition. We have boasted the protection of
879Great Britain, without considering, that her motive was interest not
880attachment; that she did not protect us from our enemies on our
881account, but from her enemies on her own account, from those who had
882no quarrel with us on any other account, and who will always be our
883enemies on the same account. Let Britain wave her pretensions to the
884continent, or the continent throw off the dependance, and we should be
885at peace with France and Spain were they at war with Britain. The
886miseries of Hanover last war, ought to warn us against connections.
887  It hath lately been asserted in parliament, that the colonies have
888no relation to each other but through the parent country, i.e., that
889Pennsylvania and the Jerseys, and so on for the rest, are sister
890colonies by the way of England; this is certainly a very roundabout
891way of proving relation ship, but it is the nearest and only true
892way of proving enemyship, if I may so call it. France and Spain
893never were, nor perhaps ever will be our enemies as Americans, but
894as our being the subjects of Great Britain.
895  But Britain is the parent country, say some. Then the more shame
896upon her conduct. Even brutes do not devour their young; nor savages
897make war upon their families; wherefore the assertion, if true,
898turns to her reproach; but it happens not to be true, or only partly
899so, and the phrase parent or mother country hath been jesuitically
900adopted by the king and his parasites, with a low papistical design of
901gaining an unfair bias on the credulous weakness of our minds. Europe,
902and not England, is the parent country of America. This new world hath
903been the asylum for the persecuted lovers off civil and religious
904liberty from every Part of Europe. Hither have they fled, not from the
905tender embraces of the mother, but from the cruelty of the monster;
906and it is so far true of England, that the same tyranny which drove
907the first emigrants from home pursues their descendants still.
908  In this extensive quarter of the globe, we forget the narrow
909limits of three hundred and sixty miles (the extent of England) and
910carry our friendship on a larger scale; we claim brotherhood with
911every European Christian, and triumph in the generosity of the
912sentiment.
913  It is pleasant to observe by what regular gradations we surmount the
914force of local prejudice, as we enlarge our acquaintance with the
915world. A man born in any town in England divided into parishes, will
916naturally associate most with his fellow parishioners (because their
917interests in many cases will be common) and distinguish him by the
918name of neighbor; if he meet him but a few miles from home, he drops
919the narrow idea of a street, and salutes him by the name of
920townsman; if he travels out of the county, and meet him in any
921other, he forgets the minor divisions of street and town, and calls
922him countryman; i.e., countyman; but if in their foreign excursions
923they should associate in France or any other part of Europe, their
924local remembrance would be enlarged into that of Englishmen. And by
925a just parity of reasoning, all Europeans meeting in America, or any
926other quarter of the globe, are countrymen; for England, Holland,
927Germany, or Sweden, when compared with the whole, stand in the same
928places on the larger scale, which the divisions of street, town, and
929county do on the smaller ones; distinctions too limited for
930continental minds. Not one third of the inhabitants, even of this
931province, are of English descent. Wherefore, I reprobate the phrase of
932parent or mother country applied to England only, as being false,
933selfish, narrow and ungenerous.
934  But admitting that we were all of English descent, what does it
935amount to? Nothing. Britain, being now an open enemy, extinguishes
936every other name and title: And to say that reconciliation is our
937duty, is truly farcical. The first king of England, of the present
938line (William the Conqueror) was a Frenchman, and half the peers of
939England are descendants from the same country; wherefore by the same
940method of reasoning, England ought to be governed by France.
941  Much hath been said of the united strength of Britain and the
942colonies, that in conjunction they might bid defiance to the world.
943But this is mere presumption; the fate of war is uncertain, neither do
944the expressions mean anything; for this continent would never suffer
945itself to be drained of inhabitants to support the British arms in
946either Asia, Africa, or Europe.
947  Besides, what have we to do with setting the world at defiance?
948Our plan is commerce, and that, well attended to,will secure us the
949peace and friendship of all Europe; because it is the interest of
950all Europe to have America a free port. Her trade will always be a
951protection, and her barrenness of gold and silver secure her from
952invaders.
953  I challenge the warmest advocate for reconciliation, to show, a
954single advantage that this continent can reap, by being connected with
955Great Britain. I repeat the challenge, not a single advantage is
956derived. Our corn will fetch its price in any market in Europe, and
957our imported goods must be paid for buy them where we will.
958  But the injuries and disadvantages we sustain by that connection,
959are without number; and our duty to mankind I at large, as well as
960to ourselves, instruct us to renounce the alliance: Because, any
961submission to, or dependance on Great Britain, tends directly to
962involve this continent in European wars and quarrels; and sets us at
963variance with nations, who would otherwise seek our friendship, and
964against whom, we have neither anger nor complaint. As Europe is our
965market for trade, we ought to form no partial connection with any part
966of it. It is the true interest of America to steer clear of European
967contentions, which she never can do, while by her dependance on
968Britain, she is made the make-weight in the scale of British politics.
969  Europe is too thickly planted with kingdoms to be long at peace, and
970whenever a war breaks out between England and any foreign power, the
971trade of America goes to ruin, because of her connection with Britain.
972The next war may not turn out like the Past, and should it not, the
973advocates for reconciliation now will be wishing for separation
974then, because, neutrality in that case, would be a safer convoy than a
975man of war. Every thing that is right or natural pleads for
976separation. The blood of the slain, the weeping voice of nature cries,
977'tis time to part. Even the distance at which the Almighty hath placed
978England and America, is a strong and natural proof, that the authority
979of the one, over the other, was never the design of Heaven. The time
980likewise at which the continent was discovered, adds weight to the
981argument, and the manner in which it was peopled increases the force
982of it. The reformation was preceded by the discovery of America, as if
983the Almighty graciously meant to open a sanctuary to the persecuted in
984future years, when home should afford neither friendship nor safety.
985  The authority of Great Britain over this continent, is a form of
986government, which sooner or later must have an end: And a serious mind
987can draw no true pleasure by looking forward, under the painful and
988positive conviction, that what he calls "the present constitution"
989is merely temporary. As parents, we can have no joy, knowing that this
990government is not sufficiently lasting to ensure any thing which we
991may bequeath to posterity: And by a plain method of argument, as we
992are running the next generation into debt, we ought to do the work
993of it, otherwise we use them meanly and pitifully. In order to
994discover the line of our duty rightly, we should take our children
995in our hand, and fix our station a few years farther into life; that
996eminence will present a prospect, which a few present fears and
997prejudices conceal from our sight.
998  Though I would carefully avoid giving unnecessary offence, yet I
999am inclined to believe, that all those who espouse the doctrine of
1000reconciliation, may be included within the following descriptions:
1001  Interested men, who are not to be trusted; weak men who cannot
1002see; prejudiced men who will not see; and a certain set of moderate
1003men, who think better of the European world than it deserves; and this
1004last class by an ill-judged deliberation, will be the cause of more
1005calamities to this continent than all the other three.
1006  It is the good fortune of many to live distant from the scene of
1007sorrow; the evil is not sufficiently brought to their doors to make
1008them feel the precariousness with which all American property is
1009possessed. But let our imaginations transport us for a few moments
1010to Boston, that seat of wretchedness will teach us wisdom, and
1011instruct us for ever to renounce a power in whom we can have no trust.
1012The inhabitants of that unfortunate city, who but a few months ago
1013were in ease and affluence, have now no other alternative than to stay
1014and starve, or turn out to beg. Endangered by the fire of their
1015friends if they continue within the city, and plundered by the
1016soldiery if they leave it. In their present condition they are
1017prisoners without the hope of redemption, and in a general attack
1018for their relief, they would be exposed to the fury of both armies.
1019  Men of passive tempers look somewhat lightly over the offenses of
1020Britain, and, still hoping for the best, are apt to call out, Come
1021we shall be friends again for all this. But examine the passions and
1022feelings of mankind. Bring the doctrine of reconciliation to the
1023touchstone of nature, and then tell me, whether you can hereafter
1024love, honor, and faithfully serve the power that hath carried fire and
1025sword into your land? If you cannot do all these, then are you only
1026deceiving yourselves, and by your delay bringing ruin upon
1027posterity. Your future connection with Britain, whom you can neither
1028love nor honor, will be forced and unnatural, and being formed only on
1029the plan of present convenience, will in a little time fall into a
1030relapse more wretched than the first. But if you say, you can still
1031pass the violations over, then I ask, Hath your house been burnt? Hath
1032you property been destroyed before your face? Are your wife and
1033children destitute of a bed to lie on, or bread to live on? Have you
1034lost a parent or a child by their hands, and yourself the ruined and
1035wretched survivor? If you have not, then are you not a judge of
1036those who have. But if you have, and can still shake hands with the
1037murderers, then are you unworthy the name of husband, father,
1038friend, or lover, and whatever may be your rank or title in life,
1039you have the heart of a coward, and the spirit of a sycophant.
1040  This is not inflaming or exaggerating matters, but trying them by
1041those feelings and affections which nature justifies, and without
1042which, we should be incapable of discharging the social duties of
1043life, or enjoying the felicities of it. I mean not to exhibit horror
1044for the purpose of provoking revenge, but to awaken us from fatal
1045and unmanly slumbers, that we may pursue determinately some fixed
1046object. It is not in the power of Britain or of Europe to conquer
1047America, if she do not conquer herself by delay and timidity. The
1048present winter is worth an age if rightly employed, but if lost or
1049neglected, the whole continent will partake of the misfortune; and
1050there is no punishment which that man will not deserve, be he who,
1051or what, or where he will, that may be the means of sacrificing a
1052season so precious and useful.
1053  It is repugnant to reason, to the universal order of things, to
1054all examples from the former ages, to suppose, that this continent can
1055longer remain subject to any external power. The most sanguine in
1056Britain does not think so. The utmost stretch of human wisdom
1057cannot, at this time compass a plan short of separation, which can
1058promise the continent even a year's security. Reconciliation is was
1059a fallacious dream. Nature hath deserted the connection, and Art
1060cannot supply her place. For, as Milton wisely expresses, "never can
1061true reconcilement grow where wounds of deadly hate have pierced so
1062deep."
1063  Every quiet method for peace hath been ineffectual. Our prayers have
1064been rejected with disdain; and only tended to convince us, that
1065nothing flatters vanity, or confirms obstinacy in kings more than
1066repeated petitioning- and nothing hath contributed more than that very
1067measure to make the kings of Europe absolute: Witness Denmark and
1068Sweden. Wherefore since nothing but blows will do, for God's sake, let
1069us come to a final separation, and not leave the next generation to be
1070cutting throats, under the violated unmeaning names of parent and
1071child.
1072  To say, they will never attempt it again is idle and visionary, we
1073thought so at the repeal of the stamp act, yet a year or two
1074undeceived us; as well me we may suppose that nations, which have been
1075once defeated, will never renew the quarrel.
1076  As to government matters, it is not in the powers of Britain to do
1077this continent justice: The business of it will soon be too weighty,
1078and intricate, to be managed with any tolerable degree of convenience,
1079by a power, so distant from us, and so very ignorant of us; for if
1080they cannot conquer us, they cannot govern us. To be always running
1081three or four thousand miles with a tale or a petition, waiting four
1082or five months for an answer, which when obtained requires five or six
1083more to explain it in, will in a few years be looked upon as folly and
1084childishness- there was a time when it was proper, and there is a
1085proper time for it to cease.
1086  Small islands not capable of protecting themselves, are the proper
1087objects for kingdoms to take under their care; but there is
1088something very absurd, in supposing a continent to be perpetually
1089governed by an island. In no instance hath nature made the satellite
1090larger than its primary planet, and as England and America, with
1091respect to each Other, reverses the common order of nature, it is
1092evident they belong to different systems: England to Europe- America
1093to itself.
1094  I am not induced by motives of pride, party, or resentment to
1095espouse the doctrine of separation and independence; I am clearly,
1096positively, and conscientiously persuaded that it is the true interest
1097of this continent to be so; that every thing short of that is mere
1098patchwork, that it can afford no lasting felicity,- that it is leaving
1099the sword to our children, and shrinking back at a time, when, a
1100little more, a little farther, would have rendered this continent
1101the glory of the earth.
1102  As Britain hath not manifested the least inclination towards a
1103compromise, we may be assured that no terms can be obtained worthy the
1104acceptance of the continent, or any ways equal to the expense of blood
1105and treasure we have been already put to.
1106  The object contended for, ought always to bear some just
1107proportion to the expense. The removal of the North, or the whole
1108detestable junto, is a matter unworthy the millions we have
1109expended. A temporary stoppage of trade, was an inconvenience, which
1110would have sufficiently balanced the repeal of all the acts complained
1111of, had such repeals been obtained; but if the whole continent must
1112take up arms, if every man must be a soldier, it is scarcely worth our
1113while to fight against a contemptible ministry only. Dearly, dearly,
1114do we pay for the repeal of the acts, if that is all we fight for; for
1115in a just estimation, it is as great a folly to pay a Bunker Hill
1116price for law, as for land. As I have always considered the
1117independency of this continent, as an event, which sooner or later
1118must arrive, so from the late rapid progress of the continent to
1119maturity, the event could not be far off. Wherefore, on the breaking
1120out of hostilities, it was not worth the while to have disputed a
1121matter, which time would have finally redressed, unless we meant to be
1122in earnest; otherwise, it is like wasting an estate of a suit at
1123law, to regulate the trespasses of a tenant, whose lease is just
1124expiring. No man was a warmer wisher for reconciliation than myself,
1125before the fatal nineteenth of April, 1775 (Massacre at Lexington),
1126but the moment the event of that day was made known, I rejected the
1127hardened, sullen tempered Pharaoh of England for ever; and disdain the
1128wretch, that with the pretended title of Father of his people, can
1129unfeelingly hear of their slaughter, and composedly sleep with their
1130blood upon his soul.
1131  But admitting that matters were now made up, what would be the
1132event? I answer, the ruin of the continent. And that for several
1133reasons:
1134  First. The powers of governing still remaining in the hands of the
1135king, he will have a negative over the whole legislation of this
1136continent. And as he hath shown himself such an inveterate enemy to
1137liberty, and discovered such a thirst for arbitrary power, is he, or
1138is he not, a proper man to say to these colonies, "You shall make no
1139laws but what I please?" And is there any inhabitants in America so
1140ignorant, as not to know, that according to what is called the present
1141constitution, that this continent can make no laws but what the king
1142gives leave to? and is there any man so unwise, as not to see, that
1143(considering what has happened) he will suffer no Law to be made here,
1144but such as suit his purpose? We may be as effectually enslaved by the
1145want of laws in America, as by submitting to laws made for us in
1146England. After matters are make up (as it is called) can there be
1147any doubt but the whole power of the crown will be exerted, to keep
1148this continent as low and humble as possible? Instead of going forward
1149we shall go backward, or be perpetually quarrelling or ridiculously
1150petitioning. We are already greater than the king wishes us to be, and
1151will he not hereafter endeavor to make us less? To bring the matter to
1152one point. Is the power who is jealous of our prosperity, a proper
1153power to govern us? Whoever says No to this question is an
1154independent, for independency means no more, than, whether we shall
1155make our own laws, or whether the king, the greatest enemy this
1156continent hath, or can have, shall tell us, "there shall be now laws
1157but such as I like."
1158  But the king you will say has a negative in England; the people
1159there can make no laws without his consent. in point of right and good
1160order, there is something very ridiculous, that a youth of
1161twenty-one (which hath often happened) shall say to several millions
1162of people, older and wiser than himself, I forbid this or that act
1163of yours to be law. But in this place I decline this sort of reply,
1164though I will never cease to expose the absurdity of it, and only
1165answer, that England being the king's residence, and America not so,
1166make quite another case. The king's negative here is ten times more
1167dangerous and fatal than it can be in England, for there he will
1168scarcely refuse his consent to a bill for putting England into as
1169strong a state of defence as possible, and in America he would never
1170suffer such a bill to be passed.
1171  America is only a secondary object in the system of British
1172politics- England consults the good of this country, no farther than
1173it answers her own purpose. Wherefore, her own interest leads her to
1174suppress the growth of ours in every case which doth not promote her
1175advantage, or in the least interfere with it. A pretty state we should
1176soon be in under such a second-hand government, considering what has
1177happened! Men do not change from enemies to friends by the
1178alteration of a name; and in order to show that reconciliation now
1179is a dangerous doctrine, I affirm, that it would be policy in the
1180kingdom at this time, to repeal the acts for the sake of reinstating
1181himself in the government of the provinces; in order, that he may
1182accomplish by craft and subtlety, in the long run, wha he cannot do by
1183force ans violence in the short one. Reconciliation and ruin are
1184nearly related.
1185  Secondly. That as even the best terms, which we can expect to
1186obtain, can amount to no more than a temporary expedient, or a kind of
1187government by guardianship, which can last no longer than till the
1188colonies come of age, so the general face and state of things, in
1189the interim, will be unsettled and unpromising. Emigrants of
1190property will not choose to come to a country whose form of government
1191hangs but by a thread, and who is every day tottering on the brink
1192of commotion and disturbance; and numbers of the present inhabitants
1193would lay hold of the interval, to dispose of their effects, and
1194quit the continent.
1195  But the most powerful of all arguments, is, that nothing but
1196independence, i.e., a continental form of government, can keep the
1197peace of the continent and preserve it inviolate from civil wars. I
1198dread the event of a reconciliation with Britain now, as it is more
1199than probable, that it will be followed by a revolt somewhere or
1200other, the consequences of which may be far more fatal than all the
1201malice of Britain.
1202  Thousands are already ruined by British barbarity; (thousands more
1203will probably suffer the same fate.) Those men have other feelings
1204than us who have nothing suffered. All they now possess is liberty,
1205what they before enjoyed is sacrificed to its service, and having
1206nothing more to lose, they disdain submission. Besides, the general
1207temper of the colonies, towards a British government, will be like
1208that of a youth, who is nearly out of his time, they will care very
1209little about her. And a government which cannot preserve the peace, is
1210no government at all, and in that case we pay our money for nothing;
1211and pray what is it that Britain can do, whose power will be wholly on
1212paper, should a civil tumult break out the very day after
1213reconciliation? I have heard some men say, many of whom I believe
1214spoke without thinking, that they dreaded independence, fearing that
1215it would produce civil wars. It is but seldom that our first
1216thoughts are truly correct, and that is the case here; for there are
1217ten times more to dread from a patched up connection than from
1218independence. I make the sufferers case my own, and I protest, that
1219were I driven from house and home, my property destroyed, and my
1220circumstances ruined, that as man, sensible of injuries, I could never
1221relish the doctrine of reconciliation, or consider myself bound
1222thereby.
1223  The colonies have manifested such a spirit of good order and
1224obedience to continental government, as is sufficient to make every
1225reasonable person easy and happy on that head. No man can assign the
1226least pretence for his fears, on any other grounds, that such as are
1227truly childish and ridiculous, viz., that one colony will be
1228striving for superiority over another.
1229  Where there are no distinctions there can be no superiority, perfect
1230equality affords no temptation. The republics of Europe are all (and
1231we may say always) in peace. Holland and Switzerland are without wars,
1232foreign or domestic; monarchical governments, it is true, are never
1233long at rest: the crown itself is a temptation to enterprising
1234ruffians at home; and that degree of pride and insolence ever
1235attendant on regal authority swells into a rupture with foreign
1236powers, in instances where a republican government, by being formed on
1237more natural principles, would negotiate the mistake.
1238  If there is any true cause of fear respecting independence it is
1239because no plan is yet laid down. Men do not see their way out;
1240wherefore, as an opening into that business I offer the following
1241hints; at the same time modestly affirming, that I have no other
1242opinion of them myself, than that they may be the means of giving rise
1243to something better. Could the straggling thoughts of individuals be
1244collected, they would frequently form materials for wise and able
1245men to improve to useful matter.
1246  Let the assemblies be annual, with a President only. The
1247representation more equal. Their business wholly domestic, and subject
1248to the authority of a continental congress.
1249  Let each colony be divided into six, eight, or ten, convenient
1250districts, each district to send a proper number of delegates to
1251congress, so that each colony send at least thirty. The whole number
1252in congress will be at least three hundred ninety. Each congress to
1253sit..... and to choose a president by the following method. When the
1254delegates are met, let a colony be taken from the whole thirteen
1255colonies by lot, after which let the whole congress choose (by ballot)
1256a president from out of the delegates of that province. I the next
1257Congress, let a colony be taken by lot from twelve only, omitting that
1258colony from which the president was taken in the former congress,
1259and so proceeding on till the whole thirteen shall have had their
1260proper rotation. And in order that nothing may pass into a law but
1261what is satisfactorily just, not less than three fifths of the
1262congress to be called a majority. He that will promote discord,
1263under a government so equally formed as this, would join Lucifer in
1264his revolt.
1265  But as there is a peculiar delicacy, from whom, or in what manner,
1266this business must first arise, and as it seems most agreeable and
1267consistent, that it should come from some intermediate body between
1268the governed and the governors, that is between the Congress and the
1269people, let a Continental Conference be held, in the following manner,
1270and for the following purpose:
1271  A committee of twenty-six members of Congress, viz., two for each
1272colony. Two members for each house of assembly, or provincial
1273convention; and five representatives of the people at large, to be
1274chosen in the capital city or town of each province, for, and in
1275behalf of the whole province, by as many qualified voters as shall
1276think proper to attend from all parts of the province for that
1277purpose; or, if more convenient, the representatives may be chosen
1278in two or three of the most populous parts thereof. In this
1279conference, thus assembled, will be united, the two grand principles
1280of business, knowledge and power. The members of Congress, Assemblies,
1281or Conventions, by having had experience in national concerns, will be
1282able and useful counsellors, and the whole, being empowered by the
1283people will have a truly legal authority.
1284  The conferring members being met, let their business be to frame a
1285Continental Charter, or Charter of the United Colonies; (answering
1286to what is called the Magna Charta of England) fixing the number and
1287manner of choosing members of Congress, members of Assembly, with
1288their date of sitting, and drawing the line of business and
1289jurisdiction between them: always remembering, that our strength is
1290continental, not provincial: Securing freedom and property to all men,
1291and above all things the free exercise of religion, according to the
1292dictates of conscience; with such other matter as is necessary for a
1293charter to contain. Immediately after which, the said conference to
1294dissolve, and the bodies which shall be chosen conformable to the said
1295charter, to be the legislators and governors of this continent for the
1296time being: Whose peace and happiness, may God preserve, Amen.
1297  Should any body of men be hereafter delegated for this or some
1298similar purpose, I offer them the following extracts from that wise
1299observer on governments Dragonetti. "The science" says he, "of the
1300politician consists in fixing the true point of happiness and freedom.
1301Those men would deserve the gratitude of ages, who should discover a
1302mode of government that contained the greatest sum of individual
1303happiness, with the least national expense."- Dragonetti on Virtue and
1304Rewards.
1305  But where says some is the king of America? I'll tell you Friend, he
1306reigns above, and doth not make havoc of mankind like the Royal of
1307Britain. Yet that we may not appear to be defective even in earthly
1308honors, let a day be solemnly set apart for proclaiming the charter;
1309let it be brought forth placed on the divine law, the word of God; let
1310a crown be placed thereon, by which the world may know, that so far as
1311we approve of monarchy, that in America the law is king. For as in
1312absolute governments the king is law, so in free countries the law
1313ought to be king; and there ought to be no other. But lest any ill use
1314should afterwards arise, let the crown at the conclusion of the
1315ceremony be demolished, and scattered among the people whose right
1316it is.
1317  A government of our own is our natural right: And when a man
1318seriously reflects on the precariousness of human affairs, he will
1319become convinced, that it is in finitely wiser and safer, to form a
1320constitution of our own in a cool deliberate manner, while we have
1321it in our power, than to trust such an interesting event to time and
1322chance. If we omit it now, some Massenello* may hereafter arise, who
1323laying hold of popular disquietudes, may collect together the
1324desperate and the discontented, and by assuming to themselves the
1325powers of government, may sweep away the liberties of the continent
1326like a deluge. Should the government of America return again into
1327the hands of Britain, the tottering situation of things, will be a
1328temptation for some desperate adventurer to try his fortune; and in
1329such a case, what relief can Britain give? Ere she could hear the news
1330the fatal business might be done, and ourselves suffering like the
1331wretched Britons under the oppression of the Conqueror. Ye that oppose
1332independence now, ye know not what ye do; ye are opening a door to
1333eternal tyranny, by keeping vacant the seat of government.
1334
1335*Thomas Anello, otherwise Massenello, a fisherman of Naples, who after
1336spiriting up his countrymen in the public market place, against the
1337oppression of the Spaniards, to whom the place was then subject,
1338prompted them to revolt, and in the space of a day became king.
1339
1340  There are thousands and tens of thousands; who would think it
1341glorious to expel from the continent, that barbarous and hellish
1342power, which hath stirred up the Indians and Negroes to destroy us;
1343the cruelty hath a double guilt, it is dealing brutally by us, and
1344treacherously by them. To talk of friendship with those in whom our
1345reason forbids us to have faith, and our affections, (wounded
1346through a thousand pores) instruct us to detest, is madness and folly.
1347Every day wears out the little remains of kindred between us and them,
1348and can there be any reason to hope, that as the relationship expires,
1349the affection will increase, or that we shall agree better, when we
1350have ten times more and greater concerns to quarrel over than ever?
1351  Ye that tell us of harmony and reconciliation, can ye restore to
1352us the time that is past? Can ye give to prostitution its former
1353innocence? Neither can ye reconcile Britain and America. The last cord
1354now is broken, the people of England are presenting addresses
1355against us. There are injuries which nature cannot forgive; she
1356would cease to be nature if she did. As well can the lover forgive the
1357ravisher of his mistress, as the continent forgive the murders of
1358Britain. The Almighty hath implanted in us these inextinguishable
1359feelings for good and wise purposes. They are the guardians of his
1360image in our hearts. They distinguish us from the herd of common
1361animals. The social compact would dissolve, and justice be
1362extirpated the earth, of have only a casual existence were we
1363callous to the touches of affection. The robber and the murderer,
1364would often escape unpunished, did not the injuries which our
1365tempers sustain, provoke us into justice.
1366  O ye that love mankind! Ye that dare oppose, not only the tyranny,
1367but the tyrant, stand forth! Every spot of the old world is overrun
1368with oppression. Freedom hath been hunted round the globe. Asia, and
1369Africa, have long expelled her. Europe regards her like a stranger,
1370and England hath given her warning to depart. O! receive the fugitive,
1371and prepare in time an asylum for mankind.
1372  OF THE PRESENT ABILITY OF AMERICA, WITH SOME MISCELLANEOUS
1373REFLECTIONS
1374
1375  I HAVE never met with a man, either in England or America, who
1376hath not confessed his opinion, that a separation between the
1377countries, would take place one time or other. And there is no
1378instance in which we have shown less judgment, than in endeavoring
1379to describe, what we call, the ripeness or fitness of the Continent
1380for independence.
1381  As all men allow the measure, and vary only in their opinion of
1382the time, let us, in order to remove mistakes, take a general survey
1383of things and endeavor if possible, to find out the very time. But
1384we need not go far, the inquiry ceases at once, for the time hath
1385found us. The general concurrence, the glorious union of all things
1386prove the fact.
1387  It is not in numbers but in unity, that our great strength lies; yet
1388our present numbers are sufficient to repel the force of all the
1389world. The Continent hath, at this time, the largest body of armed and
1390disciplined men of any power under Heaven; and is just arrived at that
1391pitch of strength, in which no single colony is able to support
1392itself, and the whole, who united can accomplish the matter, and
1393either more, or, less than this, might be fatal in its effects. Our
1394land force is already sufficient, and as to naval affairs, we cannot
1395be insensible, that Britain would never suffer an American man of
1396war to be built while the continent remained in her hands. Wherefore
1397we should be no forwarder an hundred years hence in that branch,
1398than we are now; but the truth is, we should be less so, because the
1399timber of the country is every day diminishing, and that which will
1400remain at last, will be far off and difficult to procure.
1401  Were the continent crowded with inhabitants, her sufferings under
1402the present circumstances would be intolerable. The more sea port
1403towns we had, the more should we have both to defend and to loose. Our
1404present numbers are so happily proportioned to our wants, that no
1405man need be idle. The diminution of trade affords an army, and the
1406necessities of an army create a new trade. Debts we have none; and
1407whatever we may contract on this account will serve as a glorious
1408memento of our virtue. Can we but leave posterity with a settled
1409form of government, an independent constitution of its own, the
1410purchase at any price will be cheap. But to expend millions for the
1411sake of getting a few we acts repealed, and routing the present
1412ministry only, is unworthy the charge, and is using posterity with the
1413utmost cruelty; because it is leaving them the great work to do, and a
1414debt upon their backs, from which they derive no advantage. Such a
1415thought is unworthy a man of honor, and is the true characteristic
1416of a narrow heart and a peddling politician.
1417  The debt we may contract doth not deserve our regard if the work
1418be but accomplished. No nation ought to be without a debt. A
1419national debt is a national bond; and when it bears no interest, is in
1420no case a grievance. Britain is oppressed with a debt of upwards of
1421one hundred and forty millions sterling, for which she pays upwards of
1422four millions interest. And as a compensation for her debt, she has
1423a large navy; America is without a debt, and without a navy; yet for
1424the twentieth part of the English national debt, could have a navy
1425as large again. The navy of England is not worth, at this time, more
1426than three millions and a half sterling.
1427  The first and second editions of this pamphlet were published
1428without the following calculations, which are now given as a proof
1429that the above estimation of the navy is a just one. (See Entick's
1430naval history, intro. page 56.)
1431  The charge of building a ship of each rate, and furnishing her
1432with masts, yards, sails and rigging, together with a proportion of
1433eight months boatswain's and carpenter's sea-stores, as calculated
1434by Mr. Burchett, Secretary to the navy, is as follows:
1435
1436       For a ship of 100 guns          L35,553
1437                      90                29,886
1438                      80                23,638
1439                      70                17,785
1440                      60                14,197
1441                      50                10,606
1442                      40                 7,558
1443                      30                 5,846
1444                      20                 3,710
1445
1446  And from hence it is easy to sum up the value, or cost rather, of
1447the whole British navy, which in the year 1757, when it was as its
1448greatest glory consisted of the following ships and guns:
1449
1450   Ships        Guns       Cost of one      Cost of all
1451      6         100          L35,533          L213,318
1452     12          90           29,886           358,632
1453     12          80           23,638           283,656
1454     43          70           17,785           746,755
1455     35          60           14,197           496,895
1456     40          50           10,606           424,240
1457     45          40            7,758           344,110
1458     58          20            3,710           215,180
1459     85 Sloops, bombs, and
1460        and fireships, one
1461        another,               2,000           170,000
1462                                             ---------
1463                                Cost         3,266,786
1464                    Remains for guns           229,214
1465                                             ---------
1466                               Total         3,500,000
1467
1468
1469  No country on the globe is so happily situated, so internally
1470capable of raising a fleet as America. Tar, timber, iron, and
1471cordage are her natural produce. We need go abroad for nothing.
1472Whereas the Dutch, who make large profits by hiring out their ships of
1473war to the Spaniards and Portuguese, are obliged to import most of the
1474materials they use. We ought to view the building a fleet as an
1475article of commerce, it being the natural manufactory of this country.
1476It is the best money we can lay out. A navy when finished is worth
1477more than it cost. And is that nice point in national policy, in which
1478commerce and protection are united. Let us build; if we want them not,
1479we can sell; and by that means replace our paper currency with ready
1480gold and silver.
1481  In point of manning a fleet, people in general run into great
1482errors; it is not necessary that one-fourth part should be sailors.
1483The privateer Terrible, Captain Death, stood the hottest engagement of
1484any ship last war, yet had not twenty sailors on board, though her
1485complement of men was upwards of two hundred. A few able and social
1486sailors will soon instruct a sufficient number of active landsmen in
1487the common work of a ship. Wherefore, we never can be more capable
1488to begin on maritime matters than now, while our timber is standing,
1489our fisheries blocked up, and our sailors and shipwrights out of
1490employ. Men of war of seventy and eighty guns were built forty years
1491ago in New England, and why not the same now? Ship building is
1492America's greatest pride, and in which, she will in time excel the
1493whole world. The great empires of the east are mostly inland, and
1494consequently excluded from the possibility of rivalling her. Africa is
1495in a state of barbarism; and no power in Europe, hath either such an
1496extent or coast, or such an internal supply of materials. Where nature
1497hath given the one, she has withheld the other; to America only hath
1498she been liberal of both. The vast empire of Russia is almost shut out
1499from the sea; wherefore, her boundless forests, her tar, iron, and
1500cordage are only articles of commerce.
1501  In point of safety, ought we to be without a fleet? We are not the
1502little people now, which we were sixty years ago; at that time we
1503might have trusted our property in the streets, or fields rather;
1504and slept securely without locks or bolts to our doors or windows. The
1505case now is altered, and our methods of defence ought to improve
1506with our increase of property. A common pirate, twelve months ago,
1507might have come up the Delaware, and laid the city of Philadelphia
1508under instant contribution, for what sum he pleased; and the same
1509might have happened to other places. Nay, any daring fellow, in a brig
1510of fourteen or sixteen guns, might have robbed the whole Continent,
1511and carried off half a million of money. These are circumstances which
1512demand our attention, and point out the necessity of naval protection.
1513  Some, perhaps, will say, that after we have made it up with Britain,
1514she will protect us. Can we be so unwise as to mean, that she shall
1515keep a navy in our harbors for that purpose? Common sense will tell
1516us, that the power which hath endeavored to subdue us, is of all
1517others the most improper to defend us. Conquest may be effected
1518under the pretence of friendship; and ourselves, after a long and
1519brave resistance, be at last cheated into slavery. And if her ships
1520are not to be admitted into our harbors, I would ask, how is she to
1521protect us? A navy three or four thousand miles off can be of little
1522use, and on sudden emergencies, none at all. Wherefore, if we must
1523hereafter protect ourselves, why not do it for ourselves? Why do it
1524for another?
1525  The English list of ships of war is long and formidable, but not a
1526tenth part of them are at any one time fit for service, numbers of
1527them not in being; yet their names are pompously continued in the
1528list, if only a plank be left of the ship: and not a fifth part, of
1529such as are fit for service, can be spared on any one station at one
1530time. The East, and West Indies, Mediterranean, Africa, and other
1531parts over which Britain extends her claim, make large demands upon
1532her navy. From a mixture of prejudice and inattention, we have
1533contracted a false notion respecting the navy of England, and have
1534talked as if we should have the whole of it to encounter at once,
1535and for that reason, supposed that we must have one as large; which
1536not being instantly practicable, have been made use of by a set of
1537disguised tories to discourage our beginning thereon. Nothing can be
1538farther from truth than this; for if America had only a twentieth part
1539of the naval force of Britain, she would be by far an over match for
1540her; because, as we neither have, nor claim any foreign dominion,
1541our whole force would be employed on our own coast, where we should,
1542in the long run, have two to one the advantage of those who had
1543three or four thousand miles to sail over, before they could attack
1544us, and the same distance to return in order to refit and recruit. And
1545although Britain by her fleet, hath a check over our trade to
1546Europe, we have as large a one over her trade to the West Indies,
1547which, by laying in the neighborhood of the Continent, is entirely
1548at its mercy.
1549  Some method might be fallen on to keep up a naval force in time of
1550peace, if we should not judge it necessary to support a constant navy.
1551If premiums were to be given to merchants, to build and employ in
1552their service, ships mounted with twenty, thirty, forty, or fifty
1553guns, (the premiums to be in proportion to the loss of bulk to the
1554merchants) fifty or sixty of those ships, with a few guard ships on
1555constant duty, would keep up a sufficient navy, and that without
1556burdening ourselves with the evil so loudly complained of in
1557England, of suffering their fleet, in time of peace to lie rotting
1558in the docks. To unite the sinews of commerce and defence is sound
1559policy; for when our strength and our riches, play into each other's
1560hand, we need fear no external enemy.
1561  In almost every article of defence we abound. Hemp flourishes even
1562to rankness, so that we need not want cordage. Our iron is superior to
1563that of other countries. Our small arms equal to any in the world.
1564Cannon we can cast at pleasure. Saltpetre and gunpowder we are every
1565day producing. Our knowledge is hourly improving. Resolution is our
1566inherent character, and courage hath never yet forsaken us. Wherefore,
1567what is it that we want? Why is it that we hesitate? From Britain we
1568can expect nothing but ruin. If she is once admitted to the government
1569of America again, this Continent will not be worth living in.
1570Jealousies will be always arising; insurrections will be constantly
1571happening; and who will go forth to quell them? Who will venture his
1572life to reduce his own countrymen to a foreign obedience? The
1573difference between Pennsylvania and Connecticut, respecting some
1574unlocated lands, shows the insignificance of a British government, and
1575fully proves, that nothing but Continental authority can regulate
1576Continental matters.
1577  Another reason why the present time is preferable to all others, is,
1578that the fewer our numbers are, the more land there is yet unoccupied,
1579which instead of being lavished by the king on his worthless
1580dependents, may be hereafter applied, not only to the discharge of the
1581present debt, but to the constant support of government. No nation
1582under heaven hath such an advantage as this.
1583  The infant state of the Colonies, as it is called, so far from being
1584against, is an argument in favor of independence. We are
1585sufficiently numerous, and were we more so, we might be less united.
1586It is a matter worthy of observation, that the more a country is
1587peopled, the smaller their armies are. In military numbers, the
1588ancients far exceeded the moderns: and the reason is evident, for
1589trade being the consequence of population, men become too much
1590absorbed thereby to attend to anything else. Commerce diminishes the
1591spirit, both of patriotism and military defence. And history
1592sufficiently informs us, that the bravest achievements were always
1593accomplished in the non-age of a nation. With the increase of commerce
1594England hath lost its spirit. The city of London, notwithstanding
1595its numbers, submits to continued insults with the patience of a
1596coward. The more men have to lose, the less willing are they to
1597venture. The rich are in general slaves to fear, and submit to courtly
1598power with the trembling duplicity of a spaniel.
1599  Youth is the seed-time of good habits, as well in nations as in
1600individuals. It might be difficult, if not impossible, to form the
1601Continent into one government half a century hence. The vast variety
1602of interests, occasioned by an increase of trade and population, would
1603create confusion. Colony would be against colony. Each being able
1604might scorn each other's assistance: and while the proud and foolish
1605gloried in their little distinctions, the wise would lament that the
1606union had not been formed before. Wherefore, the present time is the
1607true time for establishing it. The intimacy which is contracted in
1608infancy, and the friendship which is formed in misfortune, are, of all
1609others, the most lasting and unalterable. Our present union is
1610marked with both these characters: we are young, and we have been
1611distressed; but our concord hath withstood our troubles, and fixes a
1612memorable area for posterity to glory in.
1613  The present time, likewise, is that peculiar time, which never
1614happens to a nation but once, viz., the time of forming itself into a
1615government. Most nations have let slip the opportunity, and by that
1616means have been compelled to receive laws from their conquerors,
1617instead of making laws for themselves. First, they had a king, and
1618then a form of government; whereas, the articles or charter of
1619government, should be formed first, and men delegated to execute
1620them afterwards: but from the errors of other nations, let us learn
1621wisdom, and lay hold of the present opportunity- to begin government
1622at the right end.
1623  When William the Conqueror subdued England he gave them law at the
1624point of the sword; and until we consent that the seat of government
1625in America, be legally and authoritatively occupied, we shall be in
1626danger of having it filled by some fortunate ruffian, who may treat us
1627in the same manner, and then, where will be our freedom? where our
1628property?
1629  As to religion, I hold it to be the indispensable duty of all
1630government, to protect all conscientious professors thereof, and I
1631know of no other business which government hath to do therewith. Let a
1632man throw aside that narrowness of soul, that selfishness of
1633principle, which the niggards of all professions are so unwilling to
1634part with, and he will be at once delivered of his fears on that head.
1635Suspicion is the companion of mean souls, and the bane of all good
1636society. For myself I fully and conscientiously believe, that it is
1637the will of the Almighty, that there should be diversity of
1638religious opinions among us: It affords a larger field for our
1639Christian kindness. Were we all of one way of thinking, our
1640religious dispositions would want matter for probation; and on this
1641liberal principle, I look on the various denominations among us, to be
1642like children of the same family, differing only, in what is called
1643their Christian names.
1644  Earlier in this work, I threw out a few thoughts on the propriety
1645of a Continental Charter, (for I only presume to offer hints, not
1646plans) and in this place, I take the liberty of rementioning the
1647subject, by observing, that a charter is to be understood as a bond of
1648solemn obligation, which the whole enters into, to support the right
1649of every separate part, whether of religion, personal freedom, or
1650property, A firm bargain and a right reckoning make long friends.
1651  In a former page I likewise mentioned the necessity of a large and
1652equal representation; and there is no political matter which more
1653deserves our attention. A small number of electors, or a small
1654number of representatives, are equally dangerous. But if the number of
1655the representatives be not only small, but unequal, the danger is
1656increased. As an instance of this, I mention the following; when the
1657Associators petition was before the House of Assembly of Pennsylvania;
1658twenty-eight members only were present, all the Bucks County
1659members, being eight, voted against it, and had seven of the Chester
1660members done the same, this whole province had been governed by two
1661counties only, and this danger it is always exposed to. The
1662unwarrantable stretch likewise, which that house made in their last
1663sitting, to gain an undue authority over the delegates of that
1664province, ought to warn the people at large, how they trust power
1665out of their own hands. A set of instructions for the Delegates were
1666put together, which in point of sense and business would have
1667dishonored a school-boy, and after being approved by a few, a very few
1668without doors, were carried into the house, and there passed in behalf
1669of the whole colony; whereas, did the whole colony know, with what
1670ill-will that House hath entered on some necessary public measures,
1671they would not hesitate a moment to think them unworthy of such a
1672trust.
1673  Immediate necessity makes many things convenient, which if continued
1674would grow into oppressions. Expedience and right are different
1675things. When the calamities of America required a consultation,
1676there was no method so ready, or at that time so proper, as to appoint
1677persons from the several Houses of Assembly for that purpose and the
1678wisdom with which they have proceeded hath preserved this continent
1679from ruin. But as it is more than probable that we shall never be
1680without a Congress, every well-wisher to good order, must own, that
1681the mode for choosing members of that body, deserves consideration.
1682And I put it as a question to those, who make a study of mankind,
1683whether representation and election is not too great a power for one
1684and the same body of men to possess? When we are planning for
1685posterity, we ought to remember that virtue is not hereditary.
1686  It is from our enemies that we often gain excellent maxims, and
1687are frequently surprised into reason by their mistakes. Mr. Cornwall
1688(one of the Lords of the Treasury) treated the petition of the New
1689York Assembly with contempt, because that House, he said, consisted
1690but of twenty-six members, which trifling number, he argued, could not
1691with decency be put for the whole. We thank him for his involuntary
1692honesty.*
1693
1694*Those who would fully understand of what great consequence a large
1695and equal representation is to a state, should read Burgh's
1696political Disquisitions.
1697
1698  To conclude: However strange it may appear to some, or however
1699unwilling they may be to think so, matters not, but many strong and
1700striking reasons may be given, to show, that nothing can settle our
1701affairs so expeditiously as an open and determined declaration for
1702independence. Some of which are:
1703  First. It is the custom of nations, when any two are at war, for
1704some other powers, not engaged in the quarrel, to step in as
1705mediators, and bring about the preliminaries of a peace: but while
1706America calls herself the subject of Great Britain, no power,
1707however well disposed she may be, can offer her mediation.
1708Wherefore, in our present state we may quarrel on for ever.
1709  Secondly. It is unreasonable to suppose, that France or Spain will
1710give us any kind of assistance, if we mean only to make use of that
1711assistance for the purpose of repairing the breach, and
1712strengthening the connection between Britain and America; because,
1713those powers would be sufferers by the consequences.
1714  Thirdly. While we profess ourselves the subjects of Britain, we
1715must, in the eye of foreign nations, be considered as rebels. The
1716precedent is somewhat dangerous to their peace, for men to be in
1717arms under the name of subjects; we on the spot, can solve the
1718paradox: but to unite resistance and subjection, requires an idea much
1719too refined for common understanding.
1720  Fourthly. Were a manifesto to be published, and despatched to
1721foreign courts, setting forth the miseries we have endured, and the
1722peaceable methods we have ineffectually used for redress; declaring,
1723at the same time, that not being able, any longer to live happily or
1724safely under the cruel disposition of the British court, we had been
1725driven to the necessity of breaking off all connection with her; at
1726the same time assuring all such courts of our peaceable disposition
1727towards them, and of our desire of entering into trade with them. Such
1728a memorial would produce more good effects to this Continent, than
1729if a ship were freighted with petitions to Britain.
1730  Under our present denomination of British subjects we can neither be
1731received nor heard abroad: The custom of all courts is against us, and
1732will be so, until, by an independence, we take rank with other
1733nations.
1734  These proceedings may at first appear strange and difficult; but,
1735like all other steps which we have already passed over, will in a
1736little time become familiar and agreeable; and, until an
1737independence is declared, the continent will feel itself like a man
1738who continues putting off some unpleasant business from day to day,
1739yet knows it must be done, hates to set about it, wishes it over,
1740and is continually haunted with the thoughts of its necessity.
1741APPENDIX
1742  APPENDIX
1743
1744  SINCE the publication of the first edition of this pamphlet, or
1745rather, on the same day on which it came out, the king's speech made
1746its appearance in this city. Had the spirit of prophecy directed the
1747birth of this production, it could not have brought it forth, at a
1748more seasonable juncture, or a more necessary time. The
1749bloody-mindedness of the one, show the necessity of pursuing the
1750doctrine of the other. Men read by way of revenge. And the speech
1751instead of terrifying, prepared a way for the manly principles of
1752independence.
1753  Ceremony, and even, silence, from whatever motive they may arise,
1754have a hurtful tendency, when they give the least degree of
1755countenance to base and wicked performances; wherefore, if this
1756maxim be admitted, it naturally follows, that the king's speech, as
1757being a piece of finished villainy, deserved, and still deserves, a
1758general execration both by the congress and the people. Yet as the
1759domestic tranquility of a nation, depends greatly on the chastity of
1760what may properly be called national manners, it is often better, to
1761pass some things over in silent disdain, than to make use of such
1762new methods of dislike, as might introduce the least innovation, on
1763that guardian of our peace and safety. And perhaps, it is chiefly
1764owing to this prudent delicacy, that the king's speech, hath not
1765before now, suffered a public execution. The speech if it may be
1766called one, is nothing better than a wilful audacious libel against
1767the truth, the common good, and the existence of mankind; and is a
1768formal and pompous method of offering up human sacrifices to the pride
1769of tyrants. But this general massacre of mankind, is one of the
1770privileges, and the certain consequences of kings; for as nature knows
1771them not, they know not her, and although they are beings of our own
1772creating, they know not us, and are become the gods of their creators.
1773The speech hath one good quality, which is, that it is not
1774calculated to deceive, neither can we, even if we would, be deceived
1775by it. Brutality and tyranny appear on the face of it. It leaves us at
1776no loss: And every line convinces, even in the moment of reading, that
1777He, who hunts the woods for prey, the naked and untutored Indian, is
1778less a savage than the king of Britain.
1779  Sir John Dalrymple, the putative father of a whining jesuitical
1780piece, fallaciously called, The address of the people of ENGLAND to
1781the inhabitants of America, hath, perhaps from a vain supposition,
1782that the people here were to be frightened at the pomp and description
1783of a king, given, (though very unwisely on his part) the real
1784character of the present one: "But," says this writer, "if you are
1785inclined to pay compliments to an administration, which we do not
1786complain of," (meaning the Marquis of Rockingham's at the repeal of
1787the Stamp Act) "it is very unfair in you to withhold them from that
1788prince, by whose NOD ALONE they were permitted to do anything." This
1789is toryism with a witness! Here is idolatry even without a mask: And
1790he who can calmly hear, and digest such doctrine, hath forfeited his
1791claim to rationality an apostate from the order of manhood; and
1792ought to be considered- as one, who hath, not only given up the proper
1793dignity of a man, but sunk himself beneath the rank of animals, and
1794contemptibly crawl through the world like a worm.
1795  However, it matters very little now, what the king of England either
1796says or does; he hath wickedly broken through every moral and human
1797obligation, trampled nature and conscience beneath his feet; and by
1798a steady and constitutional spirit of insolence and cruelty,
1799procured for himself an universal hatred. It is now the interest of
1800America to provide for herself. She hath already a large and young
1801family, whom it is more her duty to take care of, than to be
1802granting away her property, to support a power who is become a
1803reproach to the names of men and Christians. Ye, whose office it is to
1804watch over the morals of a nation, of whatsoever sect or
1805denomination ye are of, as well as ye, who are more immediately the
1806guardians of the public liberty, if ye wish to preserve your native
1807country uncontaminated by European corruption, ye must in secret
1808wish a separation But leaving the moral part to private reflection,
1809I shall chiefly confine my farther remarks to the following heads:
1810  First. That it is the interest of America to be separated from
1811Britain.
1812  Secondly. Which is the easiest and most practicable plan,
1813reconciliation or independence? with some occasional remarks.
1814  In support of the first, I could, if I judged it proper, produce the
1815opinion of some of the ablest and most experienced men on this
1816continent; and whose sentiments, on that head, are not yet publicly
1817known. It is in reality a self-evident position: For no nation in a
1818state of foreign dependance, limited in its commerce, and cramped
1819and fettered in its legislative powers, can ever arrive at any
1820material eminence. America doth not yet know what opulence is; and
1821although the progress which she hath made stands unparalleled in the
1822history of other nations, it is but childhood, compared with what
1823she would be capable of arriving at, had she, as she ought to have,
1824the legislative powers in her own hands. England is, at this time,
1825proudly coveting what would do her no good, were she to accomplish it;
1826and the Continent hesitating on a matter, which will be her final ruin
1827if neglected. It is the commerce and not the conquest of America, by
1828which England is to be benefited, and that would in a great measure
1829continue, were the countries as independent of each other as France
1830and Spain; because in many articles, neither can go to a better
1831market. But it is the independence of this country on Britain or any
1832other which is now the main and only object worthy of contention,
1833and which, like all other truths discovered by necessity, will
1834appear clearer and stronger every day.
1835  First. Because it will come to that one time or other.
1836  Secondly. Because the longer it is delayed the harder it will be
1837to accomplish.
1838  I have frequently amused myself both in public and private
1839companies, with silently remarking the spacious errors of those who
1840speak without reflecting. And among the many which I have heard, the
1841following seems the most general, viz., that had this rupture happened
1842forty or fifty years hence, instead of now, the Continent would have
1843been more able to have shaken off the dependance. To which I reply,
1844that our military ability at this time, arises from the experience
1845gained in the last war, and which in forty or fifty years time,
1846would have been totally extinct. The Continent, would not, by that
1847time, have had a General, or even a military officer left; and we,
1848or those who may succeed us, would have been as ignorant of martial
1849matters as the ancient Indians: And this single position, closely
1850attended to, will unanswerably prove, that the present time is
1851preferable to all others: The argument turns thus- at the conclusion
1852of the last war, we had experience, but wanted numbers; and forty or
1853fifty years hence, we should have numbers, without experience;
1854wherefore, the proper point of time, must be some particular point
1855between the two extremes, in which a sufficiency of the former
1856remains, and a proper increase of the latter is obtained: And that
1857point of time is the present time.
1858  The reader will pardon this digression, as it does not properly come
1859under the head I first set out with, and to which I again return by
1860the following position, viz.:
1861  Should affairs be patched up with Britain, and she to remain the
1862governing and sovereign power of America, (which as matters are now
1863circumstanced, is giving up the point entirely) we shall deprive
1864ourselves of the very means of sinking the debt we have or may
1865contract. The value of the back lands which some of the provinces
1866are clandestinely deprived of, by the unjust extension of the limits
1867of Canada, valued only at five pounds sterling per hundred acres,
1868amount to upwards of twenty-five millions, Pennsylvania currency;
1869and the quit-rents at one penny sterling per acre, to two millions
1870yearly.
1871  It is by the sale of those lands that the debt may be sunk,
1872without burden to any, and the quit-rent reserved thereon, will always
1873lessen, and in time, will wholly support the yearly expense of
1874government. It matters not how long the debt is in paying, so that the
1875lands when sold be applied to the discharge of it, and for the
1876execution of which, the Congress for the time being, will be the
1877continental trustees.
1878  I proceed now to the second head, viz. Which is the earliest and
1879most practicable plan, reconciliation or independence? with some
1880occasional remarks.
1881  He who takes nature for his guide is not easily beaten out of his
1882argument, and on that ground, I answer generally- That INDEPENDENCE
1883being a SINGLE SIMPLE LINE, contained within ourselves; and
1884reconciliation, a matter exceedingly perplexed and complicated, and in
1885which, a treacherous capricious court is to interfere, gives the
1886answer without a doubt.
1887  The present state of America is truly alarming to every man who is
1888capable of reflection. Without law, without government, without any
1889other mode of power than what is founded on, and granted by
1890courtesy. Held together by an unexampled concurrence of sentiment,
1891which is nevertheless subject to change, and which every secret
1892enemy is endeavoring to dissolve. Our present condition, is,
1893legislation without law; wisdom without a plan; a constitution without
1894a name; and, what is strangely astonishing, perfect Independence
1895contending for dependance. The instance is without a precedent; the
1896case never existed before; and who can tell what may be the event? The
1897property of no man is secure in the present unbraced system of things.
1898The mind of the multitude is left at random, and feeling no fixed
1899object before them, they pursue such as fancy or opinion starts.
1900Nothing is criminal; there is no such thing as treason; wherefore,
1901every one thinks himself at liberty to act as he pleases. The tories
1902dared not to have assembled offensively, had they known that their
1903lives, by that act were forfeited to the laws of the state. A line
1904of distinction should be drawn, between English soldiers taken in
1905battle, and inhabitants of America taken in arms. The first are
1906prisoners, but the latter traitors. The one forfeits his liberty the
1907other his head.
1908  Notwithstanding our wisdom, there is a visible feebleness in some of
1909our proceedings which gives encouragement to dissensions. The
1910Continental Belt is too loosely buckled. And if something is not
1911done in time, it will be too late to do any thing, and we shall fall
1912into a state, in which, neither reconciliation nor independence will
1913be practicable. The king and his worthless adherents are got at
1914their old game of dividing the continent, and there are not wanting
1915among us printers, who will be busy spreading specious falsehoods. The
1916artful and hypocritical letter which appeared a few months ago in
1917two of the New York papers, and likewise in two others, is an evidence
1918that there are men who want either judgment or honesty.
1919  It is easy getting into holes and corners and talking of
1920reconciliation: But do such men seriously consider, how difficult
1921the task is, and how dangerous it may prove, should the Continent
1922divide thereon. Do they take within their view, all the various orders
1923of men whose situation and circumstances, as well as their own, are to
1924be considered therein. Do they put themselves in the place of the
1925sufferer whose all is already gone, and of the soldier, who hath
1926quitted all for the defence of his country. If their ill judged
1927moderation be suited to their own private situations only,
1928regardless of others, the event will convince them, that "they are
1929reckoning without their Host."
1930  Put us, says some, on the footing we were in the year 1763: To which
1931I answer, the request is not now in the power of Britain to comply
1932with, neither will she propose it; but if it were, and even should
1933be granted, I ask, as a reasonable question, By what means is such a
1934corrupt and faithless court to be kept to its engagements? Another
1935parliament, nay, even the present, may hereafter repeal the
1936obligation, on the pretence of its being violently obtained, or
1937unwisely granted; and in that case, Where is our redress? No going
1938to law with nations; cannon are the barristers of crowns; and the
1939sword, not of justice, but of war, decides the suit. To be on the
1940footing of 1763, it is not sufficient, that the laws only be put on
1941the same state, but, that our circumstances, likewise, be put on the
1942same state; our burnt and destroyed towns repaired or built up, our
1943private losses made good, our public debts (contracted for defence)
1944discharged; otherwise, we shall be millions worse than we were at that
1945enviable period. Such a request had it been complied with a year
1946ago, would have won the heart and soul of the continent- but now it is
1947too late, "the Rubicon is passed."
1948  Besides the taking up arms, merely to enforce the repeal of a
1949pecuniary law, seems as unwarrantable by the divine law, and as
1950repugnant to human feelings, as the taking up arms to enforce
1951obedience thereto. The object, on either side, doth not justify the
1952ways and means; for the lives of men are too valuable to be cast
1953away on such trifles. It is the violence which is done and
1954threatened to our persons; the destruction of our property by an armed
1955force; the invasion of our country by fire and sword, which
1956conscientiously qualifies the use of arms: And the instant, in which
1957such a mode of defence became necessary, all subjection to Britain
1958ought to have ceased; and the independency of America should have been
1959considered, as dating its area from, and published by, the first
1960musket that was fired against her. This line is a line of consistency;
1961neither drawn by caprice, nor extended by ambition; but produced by
1962a chain of events, of which the colonies were not the authors.
1963  I shall conclude these remarks, with the following timely and well
1964intended hints, We ought to reflect, that there are three different
1965ways by which an independency may hereafter be effected; and that
1966one of those three, will one day or other, be the fate of America,
1967viz. By the legal voice of the people in congress; by a military
1968power; or by a mob: It may not always happen that our soldiers are
1969citizens, and the multitude a body of reasonable men; virtue, as I
1970have already remarked, is not hereditary, neither is it perpetual.
1971Should an independency be brought about by the first of those means,
1972we have every opportunity and every encouragement before us, to form
1973the noblest, purest constitution on the face of the earth. We have
1974it in our power to begin the world over again. A situation, similar to
1975the present, hath not happened since the days of Noah until now. The
1976birthday of a new world is at hand, and a race of men perhaps as
1977numerous as all Europe contains, are to receive their portion of
1978freedom from the event of a few months. The reflection is awful- and
1979in this point of view, how trifling, how ridiculous, do the little,
1980paltry cavillings, of a few weak or interested men appear, when
1981weighed against the business of a world.
1982  Should we neglect the present favorable and inviting period, and
1983an independence be hereafter effected by any other means, we must
1984charge the consequence to ourselves, or to those rather, whose
1985narrow and prejudiced souls, are habitually opposing the measure,
1986without either inquiring or reflecting. There are reasons to be
1987given in support of Independence, which men should rather privately
1988think of, than be publicly told of. We ought not now to be debating
1989whether we shall be independent or not, but, anxious to accomplish
1990it on a firm, secure, and honorable basis, and uneasy rather that it
1991is not yet began upon. Every day convinces us of its necessity. Even
1992the tories (if such beings yet remain among us) should, of all men, be
1993the most solicitous to promote it; for, as the appointment of
1994committees at first, protected them from popular rage, so, a wise
1995and well established form of government, will be the only certain
1996means of continuing it securely to them. Wherefore, if they have not
1997virtue enough to be Whigs, they ought to have prudence enough to
1998wish for independence.
1999  In short, independence is the only bond that can tie and keep us
2000together. We shall then see our object, and our ears will be legally
2001shut against the schemes of an intriguing, as well as a cruel enemy.
2002We shall then too, be on a proper footing, to treat with Britain;
2003for there is reason to conclude, that the pride of that court, will be
2004less hurt by treating with the American states for terms of peace,
2005than with those, whom she denominates, "rebellious subjects," for
2006terms of accommodation. It is our delaying it that encourages her to
2007hope for conquest, and our backwardness tends only to prolong the war.
2008As we have, without any good effect therefrom, withheld our trade to
2009obtain a redress of our grievances, let us now try the alternative, by
2010independently redressing them ourselves, and then offering to open the
2011trade. The mercantile and reasonable part of England will be still
2012with us; because, peace with trade, is preferable to war without it.
2013And if this offer be not accepted, other courts may be applied to.
2014  On these grounds I rest the matter. And as no offer hath yet been
2015made to refute the doctrine contained in the former editions of this
2016pamphlet, it is a negative proof, that either the doctrine cannot be
2017refuted, or, that the party in favor of it are too numerous to be
2018opposed. Wherefore, instead of gazing at each other with suspicious or
2019doubtful curiosity, let each of us, hold out to his neighbor the
2020hearty hand of friendship, and unite in drawing a line, which, like an
2021act of oblivion, shall bury in forgetfulness every former
2022dissention. Let the names of Whig and Tory be extinct; and let none
2023other be heard among us, than those of a good citizen, an open and
2024resolute friend, and a virtuous supporter of the RIGHTS of MANKIND and
2025of the FREE AND INDEPENDENT STATES OF AMERICA.
2026  EPISTLE TO QUAKERS
2027
2028  To the Representatives of the Religious Society of the People called
2029Quakers, or to so many of them as were concerned in publishing a
2030late piece, entitled "THE ANCIENT TESTIMONY and PRINCIPLES of the
2031people called QUAKERS renewed with respect to the KING and GOVERNMENT,
2032and Touching the COMMOTIONS now prevailing in these and other parts of
2033AMERICA, addressed to the PEOPLE IN GENERAL."
2034
2035  THE writer of this is one of those few, who never dishonors religion
2036either by ridiculing, or cavilling at any denomination whatsoever.
2037To God, and not to man, are all men accountable on the score of
2038religion. Wherefore, this epistle is not so properly addressed to
2039you as a religious, but as a political body, dabbling in matters,
2040which the professed quietude of your Principles instruct you not to
2041meddle with.
2042  As you have, without a proper authority for so doing, put yourselves
2043in the place of the whole body of the Quakers, so, the writer of this,
2044in order to be on an equal rank with yourselves, is under the
2045necessity, of putting himself in the place of all those who approve
2046the very writings and principles, against which your testimony is
2047directed: And he hath chosen their singular situation, in order that
2048you might discover in him, that presumption of character which you
2049cannot see in yourselves. For neither he nor you have any claim or
2050title to Political Representation.
2051  When men have departed from the right way, it is no wonder that they
2052stumble and fall. And it is evident from the manner in which ye have
2053managed your testimony, that politics, (as a religious body of men) is
2054not your proper walk; for however well adapted it might appear to you,
2055it is, nevertheless, a jumble of good and bad put unwisely together,
2056and the conclusion drawn therefrom, both unnatural and unjust.
2057  The two first pages, (and the whole doth not make four) we give
2058you credit for, and expect the same civility from you, because the
2059love and desire of peace is not confined to Quakerism, it is the
2060natural, as well as the religious wish of all denominations of men.
2061And on this ground, as men laboring to establish an Independent
2062Constitution of our own, do we exceed all others in our hope, end, and
2063aim. Our plan is peace for ever. We are tired of contention with
2064Britain, and can see no real end to it but in a final separation. We
2065act consistently, because for the sake of introducing an endless and
2066uninterrupted peace, do we bear the evils and burdens of the present
2067day. We are endeavoring, and will steadily continue to endeavor, to
2068separate and dissolve a connection which hath already filled our
2069land with blood; and which, while the name of it remains, will be
2070the fatal cause of future mischiefs to both countries.
2071  We fight neither for revenge nor conquest; neither from pride nor
2072passion; we are not insulting the world with our fleets and armies,
2073nor ravaging the globe for plunder. Beneath the shade of our own vines
2074are we attacked; in our own houses, and on our own lands, is the
2075violence committed against us. We view our enemies in the characters
2076of highwaymen and housebreakers, and having no defence for ourselves
2077in the civil law; are obliged to punish them by the military one,
2078and apply the sword, in the very case, where you have before now,
2079applied the halter. Perhaps we feel for the ruined and insulted
2080sufferers in all and every part of the continent, and with a degree of
2081tenderness which hath not yet made its way into some of your bosoms.
2082But be ye sure that ye mistake not the cause and ground of your
2083Testimony. Call not coldness of soul, religion; nor put the bigot in
2084the place of the Christian.
2085  O ye partial ministers of your own acknowledged principles! If the
2086bearing arms be sinful, the first going to war must be more so, by all
2087the difference between wilful attack and unavoidable defence.
2088  Wherefore, if ye really preach from conscience, and mean not to make
2089a political hobby-horse of your religion, convince the world
2090thereof, by proclaiming your doctrine to our enemies, for they
2091likewise bear ARMS. Give us proof of your sincerity by publishing it
2092at St. James's, to the commanders in chief at Boston, to the
2093admirals and captains who are practically ravaging our coasts, and
2094to all the murdering miscreants who are acting in authority under
2095HIM whom ye profess to serve. Had ye the honest soul of Barclay* ye
2096would preach repentance to your king; Ye would tell the royal tyrant
2097of his sins, and warn him of eternal ruin. Ye would not spend your
2098partial invectives against the injured and the insulted only, but like
2099faithful ministers, would cry aloud and spare none. Say not that ye
2100are persecuted, neither endeavor to make us the authors of that
2101reproach, which, ye are bringing upon yourselves; for we testify
2102unto all men, that we do not complain against you because ye are
2103Quakers, but because ye pretend to be and are NOT Quakers.
2104
2105*"Thou hast tasted of prosperity and adversity; thou knowest what it
2106is to be banished thy native country, to be overruled as well as to
2107rule, and set upon the throne; and being oppressed thou hast reason to
2108know now hateful the oppressor is both to God and man. If after all
2109these warnings and advertisements, thou dost not turn unto the Lord
2110with all thy heart, but forget him who remembered thee in thy
2111distress, and give up thyself to follow lust and vanity, surely
2112great will be thy condemnation. Against which snare, as well as the
2113temptation of those who may or do feed thee, and prompt thee to
2114evil, the most excellent and prevalent remedy will be, to apply
2115thyself to that light of Christ which shineth in thy conscience and
2116which neither can, nor will flatter thee, nor suffer thee to be at
2117ease in thy sins."- Barclay's Address to Charles II.
2118
2119  Alas! it seems by the particular tendency of some part of your
2120Testimony, and other parts of your conduct, as if all sin was
2121reduced to, and comprehended in the act of bearing arms, and that by
2122the people only. Ye appear to us, to have mistaken party for
2123conscience, because the general tenor of your actions wants
2124uniformity: And it is exceedingly difficult to us to give credit to
2125many of your pretended scruples; because we see them made by the
2126same men, who, in the very instant that they are exclaiming against
2127the mammon of this world, are nevertheless, hunting after it with a
2128step as steady as Time, and an appetite as keen as Death.
2129  The quotation which ye have made from Proverbs, in the third page of
2130your testimony, that, "when a man's ways please the Lord, he maketh
2131even his enemies to be at peace with him;" is very unwisely chosen
2132on your part; because it amounts to a proof, that the king's ways
2133(whom ye are so desirous of supporting) do not please the Lord,
2134otherwise, his reign would be in peace.
2135  I now proceed to the latter part of your testimony, and that, for
2136which all the foregoing seems only an introduction, viz:
2137  "It hath ever been our judgment and principle, since we were
2138called to profess the light of Christ Jesus, manifested in our
2139consciences unto this day, that the setting up and putting down
2140kings and governments, is God's peculiar prerogative; for causes
2141best known to himself: And that it is not our business to have any
2142hand or contrivance therein; nor to be busy-bodies above our
2143station, much less to plot and contrive the ruin, or overturn any of
2144them, but to pray for the king, and safety of our nation, and good
2145of all men: that we may live a peaceable and quiet life, in all
2146goodliness and honesty; under the government which God is pleased to
2147set over us." If these are really your principles why do ye not
2148abide by them? Why do ye not leave that, which ye call God's work,
2149to be managed by himself? These very principles instruct you to wait
2150with patience and humility, for the event of all public measures,
2151and to receive that event as the divine will towards you. Wherefore,
2152what occasion is there for your political Testimony if you fully
2153believe what it contains? And the very publishing it proves, that
2154either, ye do not believe what ye profess, or have not virtue enough
2155to practice what ye believe.
2156  The principles of Quakerism have a direct tendency to make a man the
2157quiet and inoffensive subject of any, and every government which is
2158set over him. And if the setting up and putting down of kings and
2159governments is God's peculiar prerogative, he most certainly will
2160not be robbed thereof by us; wherefore, the principle itself leads you
2161to approve of every thing, which ever happened, or may happen to kings
2162as being his work. Oliver Cromwell thanks you. Charles, then, died not
2163by the hands of man; and should the present proud imitator of him,
2164come to the same untimely end, the writers and publishers of the
2165Testimony, are bound by the doctrine it contains, to applaud the fact.
2166Kings are not taken away by miracles, neither are changes in
2167governments brought about by any other means than such as are common
2168and human; and such as we are now using. Even the dispersing of the
2169Jews, though foretold by our Savior, was effected by arms.
2170Wherefore, as ye refuse to be the means on one side, ye ought not to
2171be meddlers on the other; but to wait the issue in silence; and unless
2172you can produce divine authority, to prove, that the Almighty who hath
2173created and placed this new world, at the greatest distance it could
2174possibly stand, east and west, from every part of the old, doth,
2175nevertheless, disapprove of its being independent of the corrupt and
2176abandoned court of Britain; unless I say, ye can show this, how can
2177ye, on the ground of your principles, justify the exciting and
2178stirring up of the people "firmly to unite in the abhorrence of all
2179such writings, and measures, as evidence a desire and design to
2180break off the happy connection we have hitherto enjoyed, with the
2181kingdom of Great Britain, and our just and necessary subordination
2182to the king, and those who are lawfully placed in authority under
2183him." What a slap in the face is here! the men, who, in the very
2184paragraph before, have quietly and passively resigned up the ordering,
2185altering, and disposal of kings and governments, into the hands of
2186God, are now recalling their principles, and putting in for a share of
2187the business. Is it possible, that the conclusion, which is here
2188justly quoted, can any ways follow from the doctrine laid down? The
2189inconsistency is too glaring not to be seen; the absurdity too great
2190not to be laughed at; and such as could only have been made by
2191those, whose understandings were darkened by the narrow and crabby
2192spirit of a despairing political party; for ye are not to be
2193considered as the whole body of the Quakers but only as a factional
2194and fractional part thereof.
2195  Here ends the examination of your testimony; (which I call upon no
2196man to abhor, as ye have done, but only to read and judge of
2197fairly;) to which I subjoin the following remark; "That the setting up
2198and putting down of kings," most certainly mean, the making him a
2199king, who is yet not so, and the making him no king who is already
2200one. And pray what hath this to do in the present case? We neither
2201mean to set up nor to put down, neither to make nor to unmake, but
2202to have nothing to do with them. Wherefore your testimony in
2203whatever light it is viewed serves only to dishonor your judgment, and
2204for many other reasons had better have been let alone than published.
2205  First. Because it tends to the decrease and reproach of religion
2206whatever, and is of the utmost danger to society, to make it a party
2207in political disputes.
2208  Secondly. Because it exhibits a body of men, numbers of whom disavow
2209the publishing political testimonies, as being concerned therein and
2210approvers thereof.
2211  Thirdly. Because it hath a tendency to undo that continental harmony
2212and friendship which yourselves by your late liberal and charitable
2213donations hath lent a hand to establish; and the preservation of
2214which, is of the utmost consequence to us all.
2215  And here, without anger or resentment I bid you farewell.
2216Sincerely wishing, that as men and Christians, ye may always fully and
2217uninterruptedly enjoy every civil and religious right; and be, in your
2218turn, the means of securing it to others; but that the example which
2219ye have unwisely set, of mingling religion with politics, may be
2220disavowed and reprobated by every inhabitant of America.
2221
2222
2223                                 -THE END-
2224
2225
2226
2227_____________________________________________________-
2228
2229
2230
2231
2232  81647 06001 61452 49192 17321 72147 72350 14144 19735 68548
2233  16136 11573 52552 13347 57418 49468 43852 33239 07394 14333
2234  45477 62416 86251 89835 69485 56209 92192 22184 27255 02542
2235
2236  56887 67179 04946 01653 46680 49886 27232 79178 60857 84383
2237  82796 79766 81454 10095 38837 86360 95068 00642 25125 20511
2238  73929 84896 08412 84886 26945 60424 19652 85022 21066 11863
2239  06744 27862 20391 94945 04712 37137 86960 95636 43719 17287
2240  46776 46575 73962 41389 08658 32645 99581 33904 78027 59009
2241
2242  94657 64078 95126 94683 98352 59570 98258 22620 52248 94077
2243  26719 47826 84826 01476 99090 26401 36394 43745 53050 68203
2244  49625 24517 49399 65143 14298 09190 65925 09372 21696 46151
2245  57098 58387 41059 78859 59772 97549 89301 61753 92846 81382
2246  68683 86894 27741 55991 85592 52459 53959 43104 99725 24680
2247
2248  84598 72736 44695 84865 38367 36222 62609 91246 08051 24388
2249  43904 51244 13654 97627 80797 71569 14359 97700 12961 60894
2250  41694 86855 58484 06353 42207 22258 28488 64815 84560 28506
2251  01684 27394 52267 46767 88952 52138 52254 99546 66727 82398
2252  64565 96116 35488 62305 77456 49803 55936 34568 17432 41125
2253
2254  15076 06947 94510 96596 09402 52288 79710 89314 56691 36867
2255  22874 89405 60101 50330 86179 28680 92087 47609 17824 93858
2256  90097 14909 67598 52613 65549 78189 31297 84821 68299 89487
2257  22658 80485 75640 14270 47755 51323 79641 45152 37462 34364
2258  54285 84447 95265 86782 10511 41354 73573 95231 13427 16610
2259
2260  21359 69536 23144 29524 84937 18711 01457 65403 59027 99344
2261  03742 00731 05785 39062 19838 74478 08478 48968 33214 45713
2262  86875 19435 06430 21845 31910 48481 00537 06146 80674 91927
2263  81911 97939 95206 14196 63428 75444 06437 45123 71819 21799
2264  98391 01591 95618 14675 14269 12397 48940 90718 64942 31961
2265
2266  56794 52080 95146 55022 52316 03881 93014 20937 62137 85595
2267  66389 37787 08303 90697 92077 34672 21825 62599 66150 14215
2268  03068 03844 77345 49202 60541 46659 25201 49744 28507 32518
2269  66600 21324 34088 19071 04863 31734 64965 14539 05796 26856
2270  10055 08106 65879 69981 63574 73638 40525 71459 10289 70641
2271
2272  40110 97120 62804 39039 75951 56771 57700 42033 78699 36007
2273  23055 87631 76359 42187 31251 47120 53292 81918 26186 12586
2274  73215 79198 41484 88291 64470 60957 52706 95722 09175 67116
2275  72291 09816 90915 28017 35067 12748 58322 28718 35209 35396
2276  57251 21083 57915 13698 82091 44421 00675 10334 67110 31412
2277
2278  67111 36990 86585 16398 31501 97016 51511 68517 14376 57618
2279  35155 65088 49099 89859 98238 73455 28331 63550 76479 18535
2280  89322 61854 89632 13293 30898 57064 20467 52590 70915 48141
2281  65498 59461 63718 02709 81994 30992 44889 57571 28289 05923
2282  23326 09729 97120 84433 57326 54893 82391 19325 97463 66730
2283
2284  58360 41428 13883 03203 82490 37589 85243 74417 02913 27656
2285  18093 77344 40307 07469 21120 19130 20330 38019 76211 01100
2286  44929 32151 60842 44485 96376 69838 95228 68478 31235 52658
2287  21314 49576 85726 24334 41893 03968 64262 43410 77322 69780
2288  28073 18915 44110 10446 82325 27162 01052 65227 21116 60396
2289
2290
2291
2292
2293  From a table of pi to 10,000 decimals, calculated on the IBM 704 by Cie IBM,
2294France, Institut de Calcul Scientifique.  Limited space does not permit the
2295presentation of the entire table.
2296
2297
2298---
2299  All of the above was copied from: "The Lore of Large Numbers," chapter titledº"The Long Trail Contnued" pages 72 and 73.  Regrettably, the name of the
2300author was not noted when it was photocopied.
2301
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