[]

A SEQUEL TO COMMON SENSE: OR, THE AMERICAN CONTROVERSY CONSIDERED IN TWO POINTS OF VIEW HITHERTO UNNOTICED.

FIRST.—That Parliaments cannot be ſupreme in all caſes whatſoever, without being infallible alſo.

SECOND.—That Colonies, when they find themſelves competent, that is, come of age, may, in conſequence of an unanimity, nay, a majority of voices, throw off all ſubjection to the originating parent ſtate, a power derived from God, and authorized by the neceſſity of things.

BY THEOPHILUS PHILADELPHUS.

Inutiles amputans feliciores inſerit.

The SECOND EDITION, corrected and enlarged.

DUBLIN: Printed by ALEX. STUART, in St. Audeon's-Arch. MDCCLXXVII.

PREFACE.

[iii]
Were Deſpotiſm's life not ſhort as vile,
Biography's chaſte pages to defile,
Exiſtence were a curſe from God's right-hand,
And everlaſting Juſtice at a ſtand.

THE Freedom of the Preſs is our glory and palladium. It is, indeed, our national breath of exiſtence, as a free independent State. It is the Heart of the Body-politic, through which conſtitutional Life circulates freely and vigorouſly, giving ſtrength, exertion, and activity, to every member. When it is obſtructed partially, or totally deſtroyed, diſeaſe, or death inevitable, enſues. All nations, in proportion as they enjoy a FREE-PRESS, enjoy the ineſtimable bleſſings of perſonal Liberty, and proprietary poſſeſſion. Some have it perfect and unlimited, for inſtance, BRITAIN, and BRITISH AMERICA: Britain and America are, therefore, perfectly and without limitation, a free people. Some in a qualified and diſcretionary degree, like France; whoſe ſubjects accordingly taſte the exquiſite delights of Freedom, juſt as the ruling Powers are diſpoſed, from a well-conditioned though ever-varying ſenſe of right and juſtice, to fix the preciſe point of diſcretion [iv] and qualification. Others, again, in the moſt abſolute terms of deſpotic prohibition, of which the Pontifical States are an example: Rome and Italy, of courſe, are, at this preſent time, in the moſt deplorable ſtate of ſtupified ignorance, and brow-fallen ſubjection, a ſtate infinitely worſe than if they had not exiſted as a people at all.

From this ſhort repreſentation it is plain, that no people now upon earth are poſſeſſed of Freedom, in any ſenſe worthy of Men and Chriſtians, but BRITONS, in which term I would comprehend Great-Britain and Ireland, America, and all their widely ſpread dependancies, now (alas!) in a violent convulſive ſtate of being torn and rent aſunder, by the councils and machinations of wicked and abandoned men!—Wonderful and diſhonourable tale! that nine parts of ten, of our habitable globe, ſhould have paſſively and patiently worn away the progreſſive ſeries of more than fifty centuries, only to become the very reverſe of what God, the Creator, intended Man to be! The contemplation of this ſubject plunges the human mind into a fathomleſs reverie, from which it never emerges, without that irreſiſtible influx of ſtrong ſenſibilities, the effect of which is always pain and debaſement, beyond the picturation of words. Eſpecially is the reflective philoſophical ſoul wounded in its feelings, when it is conſidered, that ſo enormous a diſproportion of our ſpecies all along ſuffered themſelves to be ſunk into ſo wretched and brutal a ſtate, for the ſake of a few individuals (I mean kings) who in the graſp of the people, had the people retained any portion of the Divinity among them, would have been no more than the cruſh of a midge under an elephant's foot.—A ſort of two-fold conſideration tends to deepen and inveterate this wound.

[v]Kings, for being ſuch, far leſs to become tyrants, had no original natural right whatever; no right, in ſhort, excluſive of the free election of the People, but what the barbarian, the ruffian, the robber, and the murderer, may aſſume. This matter is ſet in a clear uncontrovertible light, in conſequence of knowing the will and appointment of Heaven. The will and appointment of Heaven, we, that are Chriſtians, and, what is more, Proteſtants, with the New Teſtament in our hands, know perfectly. Let it be premiſed, that what latterly has been found the moral intentions of God, reſpecting the grand line of conduct among nations and individuals, was always the moral intentions of God, tho' not promulgated. Neither is the juſtice of God impeachable here, for not promulgating them ſooner, by expreſs Revelation; becauſe the univerſal or endemic diſeaſe did not ſooner arrive at its criſis to be cured; and becauſe, in reality, ſuch a promulgation actually took place at the creation of Man; under the vigorous effect of which, it is well known, that for many ſucceſſive ages after our race had been created, the Patriarchal ſtate of equality, or the ſhepherd erratic ſtate, ſubſiſted and flouriſhed, without any ſubordination, but what ſpontaneouſly, and in the courſe of things, reſulted from parental ſeniority, venerable gravity, piety, wiſdom and experience.

True, matters altered for the worſe very ſoon; bad diſpoſitions diſcovered themſelves; bad habits were contracted; envy, avarice, jealouſy, and ambition, ſeized on the human mind, as a ſort of prey; virtuous unſuſpicious equality ceaſed, and Government, with its appending evils, and proneneſs to degenerate, began. The firſt promulgated moral intentions of Heaven were, conſequently, ſuperceded, declining gradually, till, at length, [vi] they became totally forgotten, and abſorpt in the abandoned vices and idolatry of the Heathen world.—But this brings not the Moral Law, firſt imprinted on the heart of man, into diſpute; for the ſame objection lies againſt Revelation itſelf, which, in its ſpirit and legiſlative government of the Chriſtian world, has been as much abuſed, corrupted, neglected, and ſet aſide, as the Primary Law of Nature, the creational ſtandard of conduct, ever was by the Heathen world.—Having, I hope, pretty clearly evinced this point; the will and appointment of Heaven, with regard to the preſent circumſtances of nations, remains to be aſcertained.

In times poſterior to the Great Chriſtian Lawgiver, our teſt and proof muſt be taken from the Scriptures undoubtedly. CHRIST'S little kingdom, at firſt, conſiſted of himſelf and his twelve Apoſtles. Dictating in this kingdom, which will one day be ſupreme over all, this is his explicit command, as conveying the will and appointment of Heaven throughout all generations. The princes of the Gentiles (Heathens, Pagans) exerciſe dominion over them, and they that are great, exerciſe authority upon them: but it ſhall not be ſo among you; but whoſoever will be great among you, let him be your Miniſter; and whoſoever will be chief among you, let him be your ſervant. Now, the point of diſcuſſion here is, whether this remarkable precept, ſo clearly expreſſed, be a general, or a partial one; that is, comprehenſive of Kings, Rulers, and Governors, or barely reſtricted to individuals, in obſcure, ſocial life: or to give it another face ſtill; whether Emperors and Kings are not as ſtrictly and minutely bound down to the performance of all the Chriſtian virtues, of which mercy, placability, forbearance, juſtice, equity, truth, ſelf-denial, and univerſal benevolence, are the principal, as the [vii] meaneſt of thoſe that are ſtyled their ſubjects. Who dare affirm they are not? I dare affirm, however novel and unpopular the affirmation, they are. To admit the contrary involves concluſions, ruinous to the peace, welfare, and happineſs of ſociety. If Kings and Magiſtrates are not included in the Chriſtian code of moral precepts, or have an indemnification, peculiar to their order, for tranſgreſſing them, then are tyranny and oppreſſion, the ravages of countries and devaſtations of kingdoms, carried forward, and needs muſt be carried forward through all future ages, under the auſpices and protection of Heaven. An Alexander, a Nero, a Charles XII, a Lewis XIV, not to mention any more of the butchers and plunderers of the world, would have felt themſelves perfectly beatified in the thought.

But the argument need not be extended. God knows no artificial complex bodies; ſuch bodies can have no identity, or reſponſibility, in the aggregate, in another world. A king will be judged, not as a king, but as a man: his kingly acts were not appointed by God, but his acts as a man, are, on the contrary, the expreſs appointment of God, and are indiſpenſable. State neceſſity, the arcana imperii, or the accommodable municipal law of nations, will not bring Kings off, any more than a critical urgent train of circumſtances, into the embarraſſment of which he has voluntarily brought himſelf, will excuſe an individual guilty of violence, robbery or blood. The law of nations, and the ſecrets and policy of ſtates, are the inſtitutions of mere men acting as their own lawgivers, without precept or injunction from Heaven; therefore, can avail nothing as a juſtification in inſtances where a ſuperior law has been broken and trodden under foot.

[viii]This is clearly the ſtate of things on the great Chriſtian ſcale of required duty; ſo that, modern kings have but one alternative, in the midſt of their aſtoniſhing artificial greatneſs, either to deny they are Chriſtians, throw off the appellative altogether, or confeſs that the ſame ſimple, pure, unaffected, diſintereſted morality, in all caſes whatſoever, is as much required from them, and thoſe they depute in authority under them, as from the very loweſt of the people; thoſe they proudly call their ſubjects and vaſſals. Nor can a king, with any proſpect of being heard, retire to his cloſet to aſk God forgiveneſs for his ſins, if he has, by the medium of his fleets and armies, ſhed the blood of one man, or taken his property from him, wrongfully, not to mention the blood of thouſands, perhaps, lying at his door, whoſe ghoſts are now ſoliciting reſtitution from, and vengeance upon him, in the inviſible world.

Very true, he cannot be called to account in this life, except by another king, haply as flagitious, bloody-minded, and inexorable as himſelf; while in the mean time, he is ſurrounded and kept in countenance by his generals and ſoldiers, his courtiers and clergy. What then? Theſe with himſelf ſhall, in the natural courſe of things, be reduced to that duſt they now tread upon, as inſignificant in memory as the monarchs and miniſters of ſtate before the flood.

A higher authority than any king's has ſaid, Requite not evil, but rather return evil for good. This is addreſſed to ſovereigns, as well as to beggars; nor have I the ſmalleſt doubt, that ſhould a king's duty as a Man, and a Chriſtian, eſſentially interfere with his duty as a king, or an elected head of a community, that he ſhould unqueſtionly prefer the firſt to the laſt: And ſhould it even [ix] come to that grand deciſive declaratory point, by which he muſt either ceaſe to be king, or wound his own conſcience by diſobeying God, however importunate the faſtidious and ſelf-created exigencies of a court might be that ſhould impel him to act contrarily, he ought, undoubtedly, to reſign his ſceptre and his crown, for the ſame reaſon that a miniſter under him ſhould give up his commiſſion, and emoluments annexed, when any thing has been officially injoined him inconſiſtent with his honour, virtue and integrity.—I believe, not one inſtance of the former has occurred in the annals of our world, and of the latter, comparatively, very few. But the paucity, in either caſe, eſtabliſhes no precedent. The ſuperior exertions of diſintereſted greatneſs, and heroic excellence, though ſeldom, very ſeldom occurring, to ennoble our nature, are, notwithſtanding, ſtill within the requiſitions of Chriſtianity.

The deſtruction of freedom, in ſo many Chriſtian kingdoms (I may ſay in all, except Great-Britain) the natural birthright of men, and in the defence of which taking the life of another is no crime, by princes and kings, is an accumulation of guilt upon their head, which they may ſupport for a few years, by means of adventitious aids, but which muſt aſſuredly overwhelm them, when they ſtand common naked ſpirits in another world. The extinction of Freedom is the extinction of every noble, manly, generous virtue, as well as Chriſtian grace. All tyrants, therefore, have this additional guilt lying heavy on their ſouls, however inſenſible they are of it. To deface the image of God in millions, and from day to day prevent them from recovering it, is an enormity of the firſt magnitude, but it wants a name. Multitudes of nefarious execrable deeds, in the primary movements of every ſtate, according as it is more or [x] leſs tyrannical, have no appropriate terms in our dictionaries. They are too black and horrid, and too induſtriouſly hid behind Tartarian veils from the inſpection of the people, to be admitted into the language of humanity. But of all the deeds of darkneſs, and inſolent outrage on the privileges of mankind, to deſtroy the Liberty of the Preſs, is ſurely the moſt diabolical. It is laying an embargo on the human mind; ſaying to its divine faculties, hitherto ſhall ye come, and no farther. The ſame ſpirit, were it competent to the act, would lay an embargo on the ſun, and ſay to the heavenly brightener of our habitations, hitherto ſhalt thou come, proud luminary, and here ſhall thy proud beams be ſtaid. Nay, the very air we breathe, in ſweet and pure diffuſion, could the ſame ſpirit ſtop or confine its circulation, it malignantly would.

The fact, however, is this. What is juſt, right, and fit, in England, is juſt, right and fit, in France, Germany, Turky, and in all the kingdoms of the earth. Nations may be called great individuals under the eye of Nature's ſovereign Lord, ſubject to eternal laws ſuperior to themſelves, which they may not, on any pretence whatſoever, relax, accommodate, or explain away, to ſerve their own partial local circumſtances. Were ſuch a pre-eminent immutable law ſuppoſed not to exiſt, let the intelligent reader mark the conſequences. Every nation muſt be conſidered as abſolutely ſupreme and infallible in itſelf, not with reference to man only, but with reference to God, the Creator of man. This abſurdity is too mighty to be ſwallowed. Another prepoſterous concluſion likewiſe follows. The cuſtoms, faſhions, peculiarities, caprices, prejudices, ſoil and climate, of different countries, would be ever varying the religion and virtue of each place; ſo that men ſhould have as [xi] many ſtandards independent on each other, of virtue and religion, as there are independent ſtates; whereby truth and moral rectitude ſhould become a mere political engine, a mere miniſterial manoeuvre of the ſtate. Such unavoidable concluſions need only be barely mentioned, with the keeneſt effect of ridicule to flaſh men in the face.

This bleſſed deduction, however, which ought to afford ſuch comfort, and not ignoble triumph, to every Britiſh boſom, would amply ſoothe the writer's trouble, had he taken more to expoſe them. Need he mention it? Every grateful freeborn Briton will at the inſtant anticipate it in his thoughts. It is this, that wherever deſpotiſm, dark ſullen deſpotiſm, ſlavery, and oppreſſion, ſubſiſt now in Europe, THERE the liberty of the preſs is deſtroyed, abſolutely annihilated. A ſtigma of ineffable infamy on all tyrants, had they time to be ſtruck with it, from the indulgence of their vices and ſenſualities: — they can only make men ſlaves by keeping them in impenetrable darkneſs and ignorance, no remove from inſtinctive tameneſs, and beſtial ſtupidity. As ſoon as ever men aſcend a degree above beaſts of burden, and brutes that feed on graſs, in happy light and knowledge, they begin to be conſcious of ſelf-dignity; feel the long ſmothered fire of heaven, the incitements of immortality, ſtir in their boſoms; look upon their tyrant oppreſſors and tax-maſters, with indignant and diſdainful eye dragging them to inſtant account, as delinquents of the moſt capital atrociouſneſs, though pavilioned in all the terror and awfulneſs of majeſty and empire.

Preſcient of what monſters kings would eventually turn out, as free agents, in the progreſs of time, is it any wonder that God repeatedly refuſed a king to his own people, the Jews, and that when [xii] he was importuned by Samuel to grant them one, the gift was tacked with his hot diſpleaſure, and with the denunciation of endleſs woes and miſeries that unavoidably muſt accompany it? The language of Heaven is ſo ſtrong, declaratory, pointed, and irreſiſtible, that the writer, in ſelf-vindication, cannot but tranſcribe it here. Now therefore (ſays God to Samuel) hearken unto their voice (the voice of the people) howbeit, proteſt ſolemnly unto them the manner of the king that ſhall rule over them. THIS SHALL BE THE MANNER OF THE KING THAT SHALL RULE OVER THEM.—He will take your ſons and appoint them for himſelf, for his chariots, and to be his horſemen, and ſome ſhall run before his chariots: and he will appoint him captains over thouſands, and captains over fifties; and will ſet them to till his ground, and to reap his harveſts, and to make his inſtruments of war, and inſtruments of his chariots: and he will take your daughters to be confectionaries, and to be cooks, and to be bakers: and he will take your fields, and your olive yards, even the beſt of them, and give them to his ſervants: and he will take the tenth of your ſeed, and of your vineyards, and give them to his officers and to his ſervants: and he will take the tenth of your men ſervants, and your maid ſervants, and your goodlieſt young men, and your aſſes, and put them to his work: and he will take the tenth of your ſheep, and ye ſhall be his ſervants; AND YE SHALL CRY OUT IN THAT DAY, BECAUSE OF THE KING WHICH YE SHALL HAVE CHOSEN, AND THE LORD WILL NOT HEAR YOU IN THAT DAY.—

Modern monarchy and tyranny, wherever they are aſſociated, are here depicted to the life; indeed, ſo perfectly exact and literal, that no mortal can miſtake the prophetic deſcription and fulfilment. Perhaps, not one in a thouſand has attended [xiii] to this [...]aſſage, ſignificant and ſtriking as it is, and coming even from Almighty God himſelf: for, it cannot but be remarked, on account of the multitudes of Cl [...]rgymen among us, that take upon them the utterance of Inſpiration, to ſave mankind the trouble, hat a thouſand remarkable and important portions of the Word of God are as little known among [...]s, as little attended to, as if they were really paſ [...]ages of the Turkiſh Alcoran, or the Empreſs of [...]uſſia's new code of laws for her ſubjects.—This reproachful ignorance it is, that renders us ſuch willing ſubmiſſive ſlaves to corruption and vice, to arbitra [...]y kings, and inſolent ſtateſmen.

Britons, upon the whole, cannot but ſee the indiſſoluble connection, fa [...] beyond that of kings and ſubjects, or even the ties of fleſh and blood, between light, knowledge, and the preſervation of freedom; and that the only means, ſhort of a miracle, of perpetuating ligh [...] and knowledge, and diffuſing them equally around, is moſt religiouſly to preſerve the liberty of the preſs, from the rude impious check of kings, and the contaminating breath of the ſervants of king [...].

The liberty of the preſs brought about the Reformation: the ſame Liberty of the Preſs effected the thrice glorious Revolution: and the tranſcendent, unſpeakable bleſſings of both can alone be preſerved, and tranſmitted to a grateful poſterity, by the liberty of the preſs. With reſpect to every advocate and ſtickler for reſtrictions on a free preſs, he need only be aſked, in plain honeſt language, would you be a papiſt? Would you be a ſlave? A wretch degraded from your rank in Creation, to kiſs the Pope's toe? Or a wretch no leſs degraded from the ſame rank, to drink, without trial, the tyrant's poiſoned draught, or ſtoop without [xiv] aſking a queſtion, to the bowſtring of a Mute?—

There is no medium here: the p [...]eſs muſt be totally free, or not at all. Whenever its freedom comes to be defined or circumſcribed, we muſt forthwith apply to my lord Chamberlain to know if God has permitted us to feel or not, to think or not, and to expreſs our tho [...]ghts and feelings. Britons will never condeſcend to this, till they become Italian monks, or d [...]ſpicable Muſſelmen. The noted Ovidian ſaying, [...]n medio tutiſſimus ibis, is here a mean proſaical falſehood, and holds a falchion at the throat of Britih Liberty, and Britiſh Independence.

The half-conditioned friends of our conſtitution, and thoſe ſagacious politic [...]ans that would take in our Liberties and Properties with half an eye, will be ready to exclaim here, What! is not the Preſs become the noted vehic [...]e of ſcandal, ſlander and defamation? is any thing ſacred from its attempts, even Kings, Lords, o [...] Commons?—All this is acknowledged, and that ſcandal, ſlander, and defamation, are evils that require ſpeedy diſcountenance and ſuppreſſon. What then? theſe, and other evils inſeparable from a free preſs, if injurious to private character or property, are all actionable at common law, and cognizable by a jury of peers. Here then is an inſtant remedy for the diſeaſe: but would you deſtroy the human body, that is, take away a man's life, becauſe that body is liable to infection and malady? The ſun has been, and will be, the wicked cauſe direct of many formidable natural evils; would you deprive us of the ſun? The earth is often guilty of volcanos and earthquakes, would you diſpoſſeſs us of the earth to ſtand upon? Even the air around us, times without number, has been highly culpable, in affording [xv] a menſtruum and vehicle to plague and peſtilence, by which millions of our ſpecies have been cut off; would you rob us of the air, the pure, ſalubrious, life-ſuſtaining air? And, to have done with particulars, many kings of England have been tyrants, perſecutors, and ruffians, not behind the moſt ſavage in oppreſſion and cruelty; would you diſinherit England of kings, the anointed of the Lord, the breath of our noſtrils, and thus leave the Lords, and Commons to fight it out, like the dogs in the fable, pell-mell, harum-ſcarum, rantum-ſcantum, higgledy-piggledy, topſy-turvy? This laſt is addreſſed to prime-miniſters, an argumentum ad hominem.

Perhaps, no degree of levity becomes the writer on ſo ſolemn and momentous an occaſion: he aſks the reader's pardon, therefore, for the indecorum.—Indeed, our times, and the preſent critical ſituation of public affairs, would ſeem objects that cannot be too ſeriouſly contemplated, by the true lover of his country, the good Proteſtant, and the virtuous good man. The whole force of the Empire exerted, and more than its own force, to ſubdue three millions of people placed by Providence on an immenſe Continent, three thouſand miles off, who only originally offended reſpecting the mode, not the matter of taxation, is an unparalleled, awful period in Engliſh hiſtory, and eſpecially affecting, as the event is abſolutely contingent and precarious, hid deep in the boſom of futurity, though the probability of ſucceſs would ſeem much againſt the mother country riſing againſt her children; the old and infirm, againſt the young and vigorous. The reflecting brow, and penſive countenance, ſhould be characteriſtic of Britons at preſent, however unaccompanied by the example of our rulers, who, mean time, are hyeing to farces, pantomimes and [xvi] maſquerades. Only a tyrant, a glutton, and a ſavage, played on his fiddle, when Rome was in flames.— Papiſts have ceaſed to perſecute and maſſacre Proteſtants, ſtung at laſt with compunction and remorſe. Proteſtants in the full poſſeſſion of this long-wiſhed cardinal bleſſing, fall out among themſelves, ſnatch up the weapons which papiſts had laid down, and deſtroy and murder one another. Let us hear no more of Popiſh cruelty, and Popiſh devaſtations.—Add to this. A whole bench of Proteſtant biſhops, in the ſenate, either promoted or abetted this horrid, this ruinous, this accurſed ſocial war, except one or two illuſtrious and divine ſpirits, illuſtrious and divine in ſpite of their mitres: while the whole repreſentative body of the clergy petitioned the King (ſuſpecting him to be naturally prone to juſtice and mercy) to unſheath the ſword of ſlaughter, and plunge it in the boſoms of brethren, citizens and countrymen. The ſcene is of a piece, criminally aggravated, portentous, unprecedented, black and deformed throughout. It is a national call upon GOD to behold a ſpectacle he hates and abhors; one ſet of human beings butchering and deſtroying another. For what? That the vanquiſhed may adorn the triumphal entrance of Victory, dragged at her chariot wheels, or led through the ſtreets in chains before her ſaturated eye.—For what? To ſatiate the longings of revenge, the cravings of corrupt avarice, the unſufferable pride of power, and the unextinguiſhable thirſt of Empire, and of human blood.

In the foregoing ſtrictures on Kings, and any that may afterwards occur, the writer would not be underſtood to involve the Monarch on the throne. Whether the eventful and yet unknown operation of thoſe vaſt armaments now fitted and gone out from Great Britain, ſhall diſcover that [xvii] his ſervants have acted wiſely and faithfully towards him, or groſsly deceived and abuſed his confidence, God only knows, and a meſſenger from God can only tell. The world thinks differently on this vaſt and intereſting ſubject. The writer's ſentiments may be collected from this Preface, and what follows. Whatever they may be termed, he cannot ſuppreſs them, without wounding his inward convictions, and laying an embargo on his mind; for doing which, as a Freeman, and a Proteſtant, Kings or miniſters of ſtate, might reward him, were he of conſequence enough, but could not recompenſe him.

The diſeaſes of a ſtate, like many of thoſe that attack the human conſtitution, are almoſt always chronical, that is, run through an indeterminate period, not within the political phyſician's calculation, before they end fatally, nevertheleſs, are as ſure in their progreſs as they are ſlow. While ſuch numbers are daily permitted, in the news-papers, even by patent royal, to deliver their thoughts of all diſorders incident to our ſpecies, on which immediately depend the lives of his majeſty's liege ſubjects, and to preſcribe their noſtrums accordingly; ſurely individuals may with the utmoſt licenſe ſtep forward on the theatre of public notice, to remark on the conſumptive habit and decline of the body politic, on which depend the liberty and property of his majeſty's liege ſubjects, and propoſe without fee or reward, that regimen, and thoſe palliatives, which have been found moſt uſeful to ſuch a conſtitution; the chief of which are theſe; A perfect conqueſt of the royal paſſions—a total relinquiſhment of extraordinary royal cares and worldly acquiſitions—peace and tranquillity of the royal mind—temperance, patience, reſignation, and contentment with regard to the grand viciſſitudes of [xviii] the world, under the direction of Providence, and ſuperior to the councils of Kings.—Authors writing on ſuch a ſubject, have a plea in their favour, beyond medical ſpeculatiſts, and all patentee-doctors; a plea really amounting to ſelf-preſervation, ſince writing on the diſeaſes of the body politic, they undoubtedly write on their own diſeaſes, being members of the body politic, which every man has an indiſputable right to do, even independent of royal patent, as a denizen of a popular ſtate. The matter reſts here; and here would reſt the writer's apology for the boldneſs and unreſervedneſs of his remarks; ſeeing the ſame ſacred voluntary right that placed GEORGE III, and continues him, on the throne of England, in preference of an arbitrary, Roman-catholic diſcarded prince, privileges the preſent writer, and every writer of the Britiſh Empire, to deliver his opinions freely, of public meaſures, and public exigencies. Nor can this Preface be concluded in a more ſuitable manner, than by moſt fervently wiſhing GEORGE III, the appointed and recognized firſt magiſtrate of theſe realms, far more than the tumultuous crowded reflections of fluctuating empire,—wiſhing him the preſent and the future conſolations of a juſt and honeſt man, the only character GOD attends to, connected with his being the tender-hearted and affectionate father of his people, independent of all ſelfiſhneſs and jealouſy about the defence or extenſion of mere perſonal prerogative, hitherto undefined, and to all eternity undefinable, except by the people.—To have done,

The Sequel to Common Senſe, is an adventurous and unceremonious production (like its forerunner) but, I hope, is calculated to give Britons and Iriſhmen an idea and feeling of liberty, which, as to the writer it appears, very few of them have had [xix] before, at leaſt, if they really have it, they act, eſpecially our repreſentatives in Parliament, the delegates of the people, as if they had it not, which is infinitely worſe than brutiſh inſenſibility. Liberty, civil and religious, is the ſum of human good, and the ever preſent object of every man's ambition, who has not been previouſly acted upon and ſtupified, deprived of all principle, manhood, virtue, dignity and ſpirit, by the deadening ſqueeze of Corruption's torpedinous hand.—We ſeem to have loſt all duty to God, our Maker, Governour, and Judge, all conſideration of his Moſt Excellent Majeſty, in our prepoſterous, ſhameful, ſenſeleſs, impious idolatry of Kings, and the vicegerents of Kings: expending on the duſt and rags of mortality, called royal and imperial, thoſe high epithets, thoſe ſuperlatively auguſt titles (Moſt Dread Sovereign, Moſt Sacred Majeſty, Moſt Excellent Majeſty, &c. &c.) which alone belong to the God of Heaven, and the Lord of univerſal nature. On this account, though little attended to (God is a jealous God) added to our vicious morals, and the univerſal profligacy of our manners, while we are mocking God in Cathedrals, Churches, and Chapels, with the conceit, mummery and flippery of worſhip, ſome awful revolutional puniſhment, if not ſpeedily deprecated and warded off, certainly awaits our nation.

A SEQUEL TO COMMON SENSE, &c.

[20]

NOTWITHSTANDING what has been written, by the inquiſitive, the ingenious, the learned, and the induſtrious, on American affairs, and that moſt people think the ſubject exhauſted, to me it appears (I have no vanity on the occaſion) there are two conſiderations hitherto untouched, that tend to throw a deciſive air on the whole: that is, if we take our rule of judgment from firſt principles, original rights, and general rectitude, confirmed and illuſtrated by that excellent morality delivered to us in Revelation, and not from the narrowed corporational maxims of a particular ſtate or kingdom, even with admired and idolized patriotiſm on our-ſide, which muſt always give place to humanity, and reverence for Heaven. Nor do I think it would reflect any diſcredit on the greateſt monarch, or greateſt ſtateſman, to be inſtructed in his duty from Heaven, leſs than the meaneſt private individual: but ſurely it realizes a diſgrace on modern times not to be gilded over or concealed, that the grand movements of government are now conducted on the ſame confined, partial, mercenary, deſpotic, unjuſt, cruel ſcale, that was the ſtandard of Pagan times and Heatheniſh manners; nay, I will be bold to affirm, on a worſe ſcale in many particulars. Our European kings are now called Chriſtian, and many of them have pompous Chriſtian epithets appended to their armorial titles: Is there any idea annexed to the term Chriſtian? [21] Or is it a mere convenient deſignation of popular honour to flouriſh at a market-croſs, in the mouth of an herald or king at arms? Our MOST CHRISTIAN KINGS are as little Chriſtian, except in the raree-ſhow of public worſhip, bordering upon idolatry and romance, impoſed upon them by fellow mortals, as any that reigned a thouſand years before Chriſt. From ſuch premiſes we muſt not draw our concluſions; from ſuch models we muſt not finiſh our copies. There is a ſtandard beyond the etiquette of a court, the records of Parliament, or the ſecreted ſchedules of a Cabinet Council, that will always determine the true philoſophical politician, or political philoſopher. By this ſtandard, the ſtandard of humanity, inforced by Chriſtian ethics, the following pages muſt be judged, as, indeed, it is confeſſed, they cannot abide any other. I have no object but the eſtabliſhment and elucidation of truth, as leaning on general primary axioms, not on mere territorial authority, and Machiavelian uſage. I have no lucrative expectations from any perſon in power, nor would I accept of remuneration from any government upon earth, in the light of a hireling penſioned writer. I am in a profeſſionary ſituation to live. What can a monarch or his prime miniſter ſay more? Let my judges be the ſpecies at large, let me have an appeal to Heaven, and let Lord North try me when he pleaſes.

While ſomething more tremendouſly definitive than ſpeculation, is now carrying on between the principals in the grand conteſt, the ſons of leiſure and literature may be indulged in the exerciſe of the pen; unſupported and unſanctified by which, the ſword, even ſuppoſing a Caeſar, or an Alexander to wield it, had better have repoſed in its ſcabbard, covered with ruſt, and edgeleſs from diſuſe. [22] The longeſt and ſtrongeſt ſword may precipitate all things before it in this world. But what is this world in compariſon with exiſtence to come? No more than a hillock of ants in the front of a ſultan's palace, or in the midſt of his gardens, deſtroying one another, did ants deſtroy one another like men. The ſword forms no defence in a future world, nor is it admitted as evidence. Even upon earth a man with a ſword in his hand would not be ſuffered to approach a bar of juſtice or aſſize. No! he muſt there appear diſarmed, if any perſon can be ſaid to be diſarmed, who truſts his cauſe to judicial trial, on the manly principles of right reaſon, and convincing argument. But not to loſe ſight of the two conſiderations we ſet out with; let them be mentioned.—They are theſe.

Firſt, Parliaments cannot be ſupreme in all caſes whatſoever, without being infallible alſo. Secondly, Colonies when they find themſelves able, that is, come of age, may, in conſequence of an unanimity, nay a majority of voices, throw off all ſubjection to the originating parent Sate, a power derived from God, and authorized by the neceſſity of things. To ſuppoſe the negative of either of theſe, would be to ſuppoſe contradictions admiſſible.—Of theſe in their order.

Till it is impoſſible for Parliaments to err, to be tyrannical, to be cruel and unjuſt, the abſolute ſupremacy of Parliament is—vox et preterea nihil. A word indeed of infinite ſonorous energy in the mouth of him whoſe higheſt ambition looks but upward to a place, or who wiſhes to preſerve the place he has already got. But witneſſes of this kind are to be accounted partial and ſuborned.—Since then it is poſſible for Parliaments to err (all hiſtorical evidence proves it) it follows of courſe, that a power to detect that error exiſts ſomewhere in [23] the aggregate body. Otherwiſe one error, how fatal ſoever eſteemed, would beget another, and yet another, until the conſtitution ſhould actually fall by the hands of its own guardians and protectors. But who is to judge of the emergency? The party aggrieved doubtleſs. Suppoſing, however, that party inconſiderable. What is to be done? Why it muſt ſubmit merely from neceſſity and the duty of ſelf-preſervation; but with an abiding conſciouſneſs of having been deeply injured, connected with the conſolation of a future appeal, where arbitrary inforcement, and ſuperior numbers, avail nothing, unleſs it be to give aggravation to offence, and crimſon to guilt. Farther, admitting the party aggrieved nearly on a par with the high-handed inſolent aggreſſors; in ſuch a caſe, all the laws of God and man authorize a ſpirit of defence, reſiſtance, repulſe, and repriſal. If unſucceſsful in the attempt, the want of ſucceſs by no means tends to infer delinquency, rather indeed the contrary in moſt caſes, as people unworthily diſpoſed always wiſh to carry by numbers and dragooning violence what they are well aware the juſtice and integrity of their cauſe could never effectuate.

This latent unrepreſſible ſpirit pervading the ſeveral parts of a mighty empire, is in truth its baſis and ſecurity. For did not the governing powers decree and act, under the intimidation and eventual interference of a greater power in diffuſo, every ſtate would become deſpotic, and every Prince a tyrant. The very freedom of a ſtate is a ſtanding recognition, a tacit acknowledgment, of a mightier power than the governing and the legiſlative, exiſting in the body of the people. In this ſenſe, the common adage—vox populi, vox Dei— has both ſignificance and propriety.

[24]According to this repreſentation, it is plain, that only deſpotic governments can, in any appropriate ſenſe, be called ſupreme or infallible, that is to ſay, irreprehenſible and uncontroulable by any cotemporary power upon earth; for could their legiſlation be reprehended and controuled, they ſhould not any longer be deſpotic, but free.—To draw matters to a point.

Great Britain is a free popular ſtate. This is acknowledged on all hands, and remains an inſtance of her conſummate wiſdom, perſevering virtue and heroiſm, truly reſpectable and venerable. Her freedom and popularity then, amidſt ſurrounding arbitrary nations, ſerve as an illuſtrious and irrefragable proof, that her legiſlation may be diſputed, and her executive powers reſiſted, in many poſſible caſes. When they happen, every member of the empire (not to mention great provincial diviſions of it) has an undoubted right to judge for himſelf. If inadequate to the momentous riſque of reſiſtance, to do himſelf juſtice, after every intermediate moderate ſtep has been taken in vain, he has a clear right to annihilate his connections with ſuch a ſtate, and commence a freeman in any latitude, or upon any ſhore, more kindly to his proſpects, and more congenial with his ſentiments. God, the ſupreme king and governor of all nations, to whom monarchs are as ſubject as ſlaves, inveſts him with this paramount privilege, from the ſame principle of benignity and fitneſs he has planted the ſtrong ſenſe of ſelf-preſervation in his breaſt, to avoid the tyger and the lion, when he finds himſelf unable to ſubdue either.—To throw one's ſelf in the way of a lion or a tyger, when a method of eſcape preſents itſelf, would not be gallantry or ſpirit, but fool-hardineſs and bedlamiteiſm.

[25]It is granted, people may often imagine themſelves aggrieved with little or no reaſon, and that it is an heinous offence to diſturb the peace and tranquility of a ſtate: but then, the poſſibility of the reverſe becoming a neceſſitous duty, lays a foundation of contingent reſiſtance, even in the moſt correct and guarded theory. I ſhall beg leave to give an exemplification in point. Suppoſe Parliament ſhould conceive the idea, and put it into operation, of depriving a particular county of its two repreſentatives, yet nevertheleſs continue to levy taxes and all public burdens upon its inhabitants; would not ſuch a county have ſufficient cauſe to think itſelf moſt injuriouſly treated, and conſequentially authorized to run thro' all the mediums petitional of retributory redreſs, even undiſmayed by the laſt reſort, inſurgency againſt its oppreſſors, though no leſs high in official department, than high in the flagitiouſneſs of offence? And if unable, with any probable views of ſucceſs, to carry matters in this way, would not the inhabitants of ſuch a county merit the higheſt elogiums due to ſpirit and magnanimity, ſhould they nobly take the reſolution of removing their effects, and emigrating beyond ſeas, to a more hoſpitable and righteous clime, the ſeat of common right and independence?—God, in the firſt inſtance, is the giver of property, and the great protector of property; to whom there lies an appeal from all mankind, how great ſoever, when it is unjuſtly and violently invaded, and to whom we muſt be circumſtantially accountable for its uſe and abuſe, its embezzlement and preſervation; as property, aptly ſecured and judiciouſly laid out, is effective of excellent ends and purpoſes in this world. Perſons that have an important truſt or depoſit in their hands, if from indolence, careleſſneſs, want of ſpirit, or want of [26] fortitude, they ſuffer it to fall a prey to wicked men, private pilferers, or open robbers, however at firſt theſe wicked men varniſhed over their intentions with plauſibility, ſuch perſons are betrayers of their truſt, unworthy of generous confidence, and chargeable with the worſt of crimes at the bar of juſtice and equity. All our poſſeſſions we hold from God in truſt: it cannot be ours abſolutely and indefinitively, becauſe that ſame power whoſe gift or transfer the poſſeſſion is, diſpoſes likewiſe of the poſſeſſor's life, either ſooner or later: therefore, to ſuffer property to be leſſened or taken away, without our aſſent and concurrence, is diſloyalty and unfaithfulneſs to God. Duty to kings (magiſtrates or agents of our own ſelection and recognition) cannot ſupercede or ſet theſe aſide.

Something of the ſame nature with the foregoing was actually ſeen to happen, not long ago, in Ireland, reſpecting not a county alone, but a whole province, the province of Ulſter. The Diſſenters, making by far the moſt conſiderable body in that province, without being either repreſented, or having perſonal votes in veſtries, were made ſubject to be taxed, by act of parliament, for the repairs and ornaments of churches (places of worſhip againſt their conſciences) at the diſcretion of people too much diſpoſed to hold them in durance and contempt. It is true, an act ſo arbitrary, ungenerous, and unmanly, was no proof of the ſpirit of the times. It originated with a ſingle perſon, a great eccleſiaſtic (eccleſiaſtics have always been at the bottom of ſlavery and oppreſſion) and was ſuffered to paſs ſomewhat unaccountably, through the negligence of ſome, and the ſupine inattention of others, in which circumſtances moſt dark and wicked ſchemes are puſhed into form.

[27]The Diſſenters to a man were irritated and alarmed, being conſcious of no defaulture. They had ſeveral meetings and conſultations, touching the neceſſity of declaring their united ſentiments on ſo critical an occaſion, and at length unanimouſly agreed to petition Parliament. They did ſo, from their reſpective pariſh diſtricts, in a decent, diſpaſſionate, but able manner. The prayer of their petitions was heard by a ſenſible, liberal-minded majority in the Houſe of Commons; the obnoxious act repealed, and peace and ſecurity reſtored to a vaſt body of opulent, well-affected people; who, otherwiſe, might have been precipitated into that ſpecies of ill-humour and diſcontent which every wiſe government will always appeaſe and ſoothe in the firſt inſtance, where a uſeful and numerous ſet of men are concerned.

Indeed it cannot but be obſerved here, that the procedure of the governing powers, with reference to the Veſtry-Act, contradicted their general line of conduct in American affairs. The Veſtry-Act, and the right of internally taxing the Colonies, proceeded on the ſame principle. The oſtenſible cauſe of the one, was the delinquency of a riotous mob in the town of Boſton; of the other, a refractory diſpoſition ſhewn by a few diſſenting congregations, with regard to the repair of churches. In both caſes, how inadequate the cauſe to the effect! how diſproportionate the puniſhment to the offence!— When the Hearts of Steel committed ſuch diſturbances in two or three Northern counties, had Government ſent fleets and armies to puniſh Ireland, by the demolition of her towns, and the deſtruction of her inhabitants, what braſs-complexioned courtier would have held up his face to juſtify the deed? The inſtances are exactly parallel. I cannot poſſibly look upon them in any other light. For the [28] ſame reaſon that America is now ſurrounded with predatory fleets and invaſive armies, and the taxation law againſt the Diſſenters was enacted; the trade of Ireland ſhould now be deſtroyed, her maritime towns thrown into conflagration, and her children ſlaughtered by an unpitying ſoldiery, on account of the acts of inſurgency and violence committed by the Steel-Boys.

Politicians may refine away the ſimilarity, as politicians have before now refined away private judgment and the liberty of the ſubject, into indefeaſible right, non-reſiſtance, and church authority: but all ſuch refinements are only thoſe of Satan to eſtabliſh his kingdom upon earth. On the ground of general humanity, the law of nations, juriſprudential rectitude, and political integrity, ſubject to a teſt paramount to them all, the Divine Law, (for ſure we call ourſelves Chriſtians) I invite any one to prove that the above cited caſes are not perfectly in point, and his arguments ſhall have fair play. Should ſuch a perſon object to the invitation, being anonymous, let him make his beſt efforts on the ſubject, and the writer hereof promiſes, to ſtep forward, in reply, with his name at full length to his book; not begrudging him the full advantage of all that the learned doctors Johnſon and Shebbeare have declaimed on the ſame ſide with himſelf.

It is true, the Americans ſtand itemed Rebels in the Parliament records, and in the K—'s ſpeeches; but with the moſt dutiful reſpect for the S—, and veneration for the Council of the nation, I do aver it, that no K— or Parliament upon earth, has authority to fix the meaning of language for me, or alter the nature of things, by a particular arbitrary uſe of terms. Many great and good men about the K—, and in parliament, [29] reprobated the term, and proteſted againſt the application of it. Are no men honeſt but ſuch as are paid for being diſhoneſt, I mean, thoſe in lucrative places and on the penſion liſt, not to mention the unmarſhalled tribe ſtanding on the tiptoe of court expectation?—I may take my licenſe of ſpeech, and nickname thoſe rebels and traitors to the then crowned and ſceptred monarch, that brought WILLIAM into England, and afterwards ſet him upon the throne; in conſequence of which GEORGE now inhabits a royal palace, and reigns over a mighty (would to God they were a united) people. Will their lordſhips B—, N—, M—, S—, G—, H—, &c. &c. give me credit for my term? if not, why ſhould I, a free member of the Britiſh empire, though not in any place at court, give them credit for theirs? Language is common to the ſpecies, and cannot be monopolized, or unalterably fixt, till our legs and necks ſhall be firſt fitted to the yoke and the fetters. In ſuch a caſe, language would be of no uſe to us, more than to the ox or the aſs; for were we to upbraid our tyrants, it would only be to have our tongues cut out of our heads, leſt in the aggrievement and indignation of our ſpirits, we ſhould ſpit upon them next.—This matter may require a farther diſcuſſion, the diſcuſſion of Common Senſe and common honeſty.

What government, led at the diſcretion of lords North, Mansfield and company, now calls rebellion, ſhould be ſtyled, by the ſame legiſlative authority, directed by a Chatham or a Camden, a neceſſary laudable ſpirit of reſiſtance; that identical ſpirit which ſeated GEORGE III. on the throne of the Britiſh empire, and excluded for ever the lineal heir of theſe realms. Are the former noble lords endued with infallibility, in their interpretation [30] of words, beyond the latter? Who that thinks or reads beyond a Primmer, other than a penſioner, or the hungry expectant of a penſion, will take upon him to aſſert this? Oh, will it be replied by our legal vociferators of rebellion, that the latter noble lords are out of place and would ſtretch every nerve to get in: hence their abhorrence of what they affect to call our preſent court idioms, and juntonian phraſeology. Even allowing this its utmoſt validity (which I would never allow but for argument's ſake) ſtill it amounts to a preſumption only, a bare begging of the queſtion. The now vernacular uſage of ſpeech, crying out rebellion! rebellion! within the environs of St. James's, reſts upon the proof of the ſame arbitrary, diſingenuous, time-ſerving kind, actually poſitive. The miniſterial exclaimers of rebellion have all, in ſubſtantial poſſeſſion, places, penſions, douceurs, gratuities, almoſt beyond arithmetic: the above, therefore, is one of theſe unfortunate proofs that have two edges, the one obtuſe and harmleſs, the other keen and cutting. Thoſe aſſailants that uſe it, fondly imagining they are doing wondrous execution, and dealing wounds and death around them, never advert to the circumſtance of their having miſtaken the ſide, deeply wounding and mangling themſelves, without once piercing even the ſcarf-ſkin of thoſe they aſſail.—My lords Chatham and Camden poſitively will not call the Americans rebels, becauſe they want places at court: my lords North and Mansfield reiterate the odious appellation, and paſte it in capitals on the back of the Americans, becauſe they have places: ergo, a negative muſt take place of an affirmative, or elſe the former Right Hon. Peers have indeed adhered to the chaſteneſs, purity, dignity, and manlineſs of language. The court and its dependants uſing [31] the abominable hue-and-cry terms rebels, traitors, in doubtful caſes, and by no means univerſally acknowledged, is the ſame thing as two perſons met on the ground, in ſingle combat, and the one calling the other a raſcal and a ſcoundrel. What lord in Adminiſtration, ſo critically ſtationed, would call his antagoniſt a raſcal or a ſcoundrel? Should any lord act ſo unlike himſelf, before he diſcharged his piſtol, or made his lounge, he would deſerve to be treated with ſilent but manly contempt, or to be horſewhipt by his adverſary's coachman, rather than indulged with the honourable event of a duel.—It may be argued, that the conſtitution muſt be preſerved at any rate, and whatever the expence of blood and treaſure its preſervation may require, if we would exiſt as a nation or people at all. Agreed: but the true way of preſerving the conſtitution, is to know preciſely the diſeaſes it is liable to, and, when they happen, to apply the proper remedies; otherwiſe, political death muſt enſue of courſe, as natural death, when the human body labours under a diſorder for which there is no cure. Moreover, the Americans are the people, at preſent, that are preſerving the conſtitution, by defending the principle on which it is founded, the right of aſſent and conſent in taxation, either perſonal or ſubſtitutional; without which no ſtate can ſubſiſt free, but ſoon ſink into abject ſlavery, even through the medium of its own taxational largeſſes. Supremacy of Parliament on the one hand, and unconditional ſubmiſſion on the other, are the dogmas and language of Turks, not of Britons. God himſelf requires not unconditional ſubmiſſion from his creatures, but ſubmiſſion on the cleareſt moral evidence and internal conviction. G—III. and his high-prieſts N—h, M—s—d, G—m—ne, we ſuppoſe, are Beings of ſuperior order to their MAKER.

[32]In ſhort, it would not be our Country, or the general intereſts of the ſpecies we ſhould aſſiſt, by taking our conſtruction of words from the noble lords North and Mansfield, even with the erudite lexicographical critic, Dr. Johnſon, at their elbow, in preference of the ſtill nobler lords, Chatham and Camden; but the prime miniſter for the time being, and his ſatellitary circle. Had lord Chatham or lord Camden, directed the helm of affairs for ſome time paſt, the inglorious and deſtructive emergency which now ſerves as an apology for official deſpotiſm and miniſterial depredation, to the honour of our ſpecies, and the glory of Britain, would not have marked the hiſtorical page of the times with civil blood, nor ſent abroad through the land, among kinſmen, citizens and neighbours, the horrid, the infernal cry of murder!—The plain Engliſh, therefore, of the whole is this; A ſenatorial majority (let them tell from what ennobled, diſintereſted, ſelf-denied principle) feel themſelves pertinaciouſly diſpoſed to ſupport the lords Mansfield and North, in preference of the lords Chatham and Camden. Is this the amount of Parliamentary integrity? Parliamentary public ſpirit? Parliamentary affection for GEORGE III, and the Proteſtant ſucceſſion? Or ſhall a Murray or a North, in point of pre-eminent rectitude of intention, ſolidity of honeſt talents, and celebrity of fame, ſtand unbluſhing competitors with a PITT or a PRATT?—The latter (laſt war) reduced the haughty Spaniard and the Gaul to the humility of ſoliciting peace at the footſtool of GEORGE III, and ſpread the conquering names of BRITONS to the fartheſt parts of the earth: Let us be told what the former have done to excite admiration and gratitude, if we except their ſuperlative merit in plunging us into all the complicated horrors and [33] miſeries of civil war, a war among kinſmen, brethren and friends!—Compare them together. — Nay rather, let every freeborn Briton lay his hand on his untutored heart, and generouſly exculpate the Americans (who have as true a right to property from God, as the Premier or his maſter) in their CONGRESSIONAL reſiſtance to a tyrannical, rapacious, vindictive Miniſter; who is now convulſing a mighty, and hitherto a glorious, empire, in order to glut a herd of needy dependants with rapine and plunder; the rapine of virtuous citizens, and the plunder of genuine Proteſtants.—

A private writer taking ſo much upon him, with ſuch freedom and boldneſs, will, no doubt, be ſeverely cenſured by thoſe who are accuſtomed to think differently on the ſubject, perhaps, find their account in ſo doing. It may be ſufficient, in reply to this, to obſerve, that many writers, on the contrary ſide, have written, at leaſt, with equal boldneſs and freedom, with a ſtrain of acrimonious dogmatiſm, and abuſive inflation of language ſuperadded, not to be imitated by writers that have no partial views or private inducements—not to be imitated by the preſent writer. To ſpeak in the firſt perſon of allowable egotiſm; though a private and an anonymous writer, I am a denizen of the Britiſh empire, not to mention a higher title ſtill, a denizen of GOD's univerſal empire, the world. I ſupport in my place, and variouſly circumſtanced, the exigencies of the ſtate; help to pay the army and navy, thoſe brave fellows that hitherto have been prodigal of their blood in the defence of Liberty, pure and uncorrupted from court pollution. Nay, to aſcend in my importance, I help to maintain GEORGE III, to feed him, to clothe him, and incircle his perſon with majeſty, by contributing [34] to pay the public taxes. What were GEORGE III, king of England, without his thouſands, and his ten thouſands, like me, to pay their quotas into the national treaſury?—True, what I pay is but a mite compared with the proportions of others; but a levied mite had once an high compliment paid it, and by a good judge. I alſo gratefully acknowledge, that I have, full value received in preſent protection and freedom, for every tax I pay, even to the light that ſhines through my window, and the fire that burns on my hearth. What then?—this very circumſtance creates an anxiety not to be repreſſed, looking forward to the preſervation and continuance of this protection and freedom; without which the preſent poſſeſſion would be little beyond a purſe of gold in our pockets on Hounſlow-heath. This gives me alſo and ſanctifies my right to ſpeak freely of public meaſures, in which I am as truly concerned as any Prime Miniſter of the land. If the Britiſh empire be loſt, leaning on its firſt principle, virtuous, equal liberty, I loſe my all. In the immediate, or even the remote proſpect of this, ſhall I hold my tongue, becauſe I have not a paltry penſion or miniſterial bribe for ſpeaking?—My right to ſpeak and write, ſo far as I refrain from injuring private characters, and private property, (which I ſhall ever do) is beyond that of a member of Parliament, or privy counſellor. By that original and divine authority which makes all kings, members of Parliament, and privy counſellors, I write; and were it not for this tranſcendant and unalienable right, lodged with Man by the great Creator of heaven and earth, kings, members of Parliament, and privy counſellors, inſtead of applying annually to the People for the very breath of their noſtrils, the very meat they eat, and the cloaths they [35] wear, would in the perſons of bailiffs and conſtables, enter our—more than royal palaces—our virtuous habitations; empty our coffers into their pockets, the fruit of our honeſt induſtry; and, perhaps, in an act of uniform familiarity, raviſh our wives and debauch our daughters.—There is a time for national reſt, and conſtitutional ſlumbers: but there is likewiſe a time (would to God, it were not what now throws ſhadows on our dials!) for the thunder-clothed vehemence of the mouth, and the lightning-kindled enthuſiaſm of the pen. The cannon, even under the match of a Briton, cannot ſilence the one, nor the ſword, even wielded by a Briton, cannot outflaſh the other.—Long, eternally long, may the experiment remain to be tried, and Britain, [...] almoſt imperceptibl [...] in the internal poiſe of its three equipolent eſtates, be like the earth, with nothing material or viſible to ſupport it, yet balanced unmoveably on its own axis!—

From the above induction of particulars, it would appear, that the ſupremacy of Parliament is in fact nothing elſe, in our corrupt degenerate day than the ſupremacy of the Prime miniſter; whoſe ſupremacy can be no farther abſolute, than that of the enthroned Roman Pontiff, and his no more reſpectable than the ſweat and filth of his toe, however extended for adoſculation.—There are many things Parliament cannot do, with all its height of pretenſion, and magnificence of claim. It cannot ſet aſide the verdict of a Jury in a criminal cauſe. It cannot interfere in the buſineſs of elections for its own members, otherwiſe than by its Speaker iſſuing writs. It cannot take away from the King the power of a negative on all its legiſlative acts. It cannot impoſe taxes of interior operation, where there is no deliberative aſſent of the people, either [36] perſonally or repreſentatively preſent. Nor, to mention no more inſtances, can it prolong itſelf beyond its octennnial term of exiſtence. With all theſe marks of impotence and non-efficiency on its forehead, to hear of Parliamentary ſupremacy, i. e. omnipotence and infallibility (they are convertible ideas) forces one (however unwilling) to picture to himſelf a ſnail carrying its little ſhell about with it, but aſſuring the limacious circle around, that it is indeed an elephant with a cohort of ſoldiers on its back: or an ephemeron ſtepping into exiſtence to-day, and out of it to-morrow, but at the ſame time declaring itſelf immortal.—All theſe acts of parliamentary impotence juſt now ſpecified are, however, reſiſtleſs acts of ſpontaneity in the people at large, whenever they are ſtruck with the expedience and neceſſity of interpoſing; i. e. whenever court meaſures and miniſterial edicts, have a direct inſtant tendency to iſſue in their ſlavery. At ſuch an awful critical period, God, the Monarch paramount of the world, calls upon the people to do their poſterity right, by emancipating themſelves from thoſe bolts and fetters they were neuer created for.—God—under whom the greateſt emperor that wears a diadem, is no more than a viceroy or governor of a province under an earthly king; and both no more, when compared with the majeſty and almightineſs of the ſebjects at large, than a maſter-ſheep at the head of the flock, with a bell about his neck.—Such a renunciation of tyrannical maſters, the elaſtic recovery of a people to the original poiſe of their own rights, were ſuch a ſentimental exertion of duty to God, the alone ſupreme king of all the earth, as the Jews would have exhibited, when they got a king from Heaven in wrath, had they thrown themſelves upon the clemency and providence [37] of God, by once more recognizing him as their alone king and governor. Hear their own appropriate language to Samuel. Pray for thy ſervants unto [...] Lord thy God (they durſt not call him our God) that we die not, for we have added unto our ſins THIS EVIL—to aſk a king.—The people being thrown into diſorder and confuſion, in conſequence of this re-aſſumption of original rights, is no objection to the effort againſt voluntary ſlavery, as nothing can be pure, that owes its exiſtence to art, without a previous fermentation; and as no future ſyſtem can become perfect and permanent, without the experience of former ſyſtems having been imperfect and precarious. Beſide, men would always wiſh to ſuffer with hope (if ſuffer they muſt) rather than to ſuffer without it: there is no hope, however, in ſlavery, but—death, —Let it be underſtood here, to blunt the edge of outrageous remark, that the writer would not inſinuate the lawfulneſs or expediency of an effort in the people, till the laſt extreme, the impaſſable and unſurmountable extreme ſhall call them forth, like a voice from Heaven, to the field.

The People alone, therefore, not kings or parliaments, can with any decency challenge the high prerogative of being ſupreme, that is, ultimately deciſive and unreſponſible. Kings and parliaments are in the laſt inſtance reſponſible to thoſe that made them—the People. Who made the People? —God!—Nihil vero verius—Kings and Parliaments otherwiſe would be of no uſe to the People, but rather a curſe and a ſcourge. It is owing entirely to their being controulable and accountable in the dernier reſort, that freemen could derive any advantage from their rulers and governors; for, unqueſtionably, no body of men would be ſo ſtupid and ſenſeleſs as to chuſe a ruler or governor [38] to deteriorate their condition, or render their right to or poſſeſſion of property more ambiguous and periclitated, than in a ſtate of nature. The ſocial compact, and the complicated form of government grounded upon it, commenced for the greater ſecurity of life, perſonal freedom, and property: but if, in ſuch a ſituation they become leſs ſecure, then is the ſtate of Nature preferable to that of ſociety and government.—To deſcend from general to local views, from great to little objects.

The Rev. JOHN WESLEY'S arguments, and thoſe of all writers on his ſide, wrought in JOHNSONIAN tiſſue as they are, muſt paſs for nought, till the above leading data are diſproved. Picking ſtraws off the ſurface will never gratify genuine ambition, while ineſtimable beds of pearl below deride our want of courage, or want of apparatus, to dive for it. Political expedience connected with a particular ſyſtem, chiefly lucrative to men officially employed, and general rectitude, involving the common concerns of mankind, and referable to God as the ſupreme arbiter and judge, are two diſtinct things; nor was it becoming a Chriſtian divine (he would be thought ſo) to ground his deductions on the former, and not on the latter. His deductions, indeed, they cannot be called. The Rev. John Weſley is a plagiary, without being honeſt enough to apologize for it. Dr. Johnſon not only furniſhed him with his reaſonings (if ſuch they may be called) but his language alſo. True, we are told * he could not adopt better on the ſide he [39] took: but ſhall a man counterfeit the current coin of a kingdom, from the circumſtance of his not having more valuable models to take his impreſſions from? Nor was it a ſeemly excuſe for robbing a great and growing people of their rights and franchiſes, that he had before robbed a celebrated author of his writings.—Our ſecond Conſideration remains to be brought before the reader .

[40]COLONIZATION is the voluntary deliberate act of a few leaving the parent country, to begin an adopted one in a diſtant region, under the inſtant diſadvantages of an unknown ſituation (inhabited [41] by hoſtile natives) paucity, expoſure, want of order, and want of form. The parent country is no leſs naturally induced to protect, cheriſh and [42] fondle this infant colony, than parents of another kind to protect, cheriſh, and fondle their puling offspring: nor would a dereliction of duty and kind affections, in the one caſe, be a greater crime than in that of the other. As our children run through the progreſſive ſtages of infancy, childhood, youth, manhood, &c. and demand attentions from their parents applicable and appropriate to each ſtage; ſo do colonies, from their firſt ſettlement to their ripening into internal ſubordination and Empire; and are certainly intitled to attentions of a ſimilar nature from the mother ſtate. But by the police of all well conſtituted kingdoms, a certain time arrives, which we are accuſtomed to call the age of adultneſs, when nonage ceaſes, when children become independent of parents, and privileged to commence, in their own perſons, poſſeſſors of property, under no parental limitation or controul. In a correſpondent way Colonies, by the perſevering exerciſe of virtue and induſtry, the melioration of their lands, and the extenſion of their commerce, added to the capital circumſtance of a prodigious, ſtill increaſing, population, are authorized by the law of Nature and Providence, the only original binding moral law, to ſtand on their own legs, and to do for themſelves, unconnected feudally or legiſlatively with the parent State. In their political nonage, indiſputably, they felt, and grew beneath the protecting hand of the parent; who in return for protection, and by way of entire indemnification, beheld a concentration of the children's commercial goods and property annually pouring into her coffers: but ſhall this monopoly be ſtill inſiſted on and inforced, this ſtated requital for favours received, when the favours are no longer needed or required? Real children, under age, owe paſſive obedience to parents, as a return for [43] ſupport and maintenance; but come of age, paſſive obedience ceaſes of courſe with the ſupport and maintenance being no longer requiſite. In both caſes the neceſſity of the thing ought to ſtrike us with the full force and energy of truth.

Did not children at a certain time become independent of their parents, with regard to free agency and moral accountableneſs, there would happen in an indefinite number of inſtances, ſuch an accumulation of domeſtic government, as would ſoon grow to be loaded with all the miſeries and abominations of the feudal ſyſtem, perfectly oppreſſive and unſufferable, even to the deſtruction of national police, and ſocialcompact. A father might live to be a great-grand-father, and under his abſolute dominion in one houſe, at the ſame time, have two or three hundred children, grand-children, and great-grand-children, accommodated and employed reſpectively as he himſelf ſhould arbitrarily dictate, often, perhaps, only influenced by the reſtleſs luſt of rule, caprice, ſpleen, or unaccountable prejudice. In this way children ſhould be incapacitated to act as free members of a free ſtate; ſo that ſuch a monopolization and perpetuation of domeſtic authority, would not only interfere with, but end in, the total abolition of municipal freedom, political ſubordination, and perſonal property. Wiſely therefore have all governments, in ſelf-preſervation, fixt the term of maturity, and the boundaries of adoleſcential ſubjection: in ſhort, ſet children free from all tyes to parents, but thoſe of reverence, gratitude and affection, which are ſpontaneous conditional duties, always at the command of an excellent and deſerving object.

With regard to Colonies, the preciſe period of political adultneſs, has not been aſcertained. For what power is competent to aſcertain it? There are [44] no viſible exiſting powers, that we know of, above the kingdoms of this earth. It is therefore the alone province of Heaven to take the lead in this magnificent and magnitudinous affair; to fix the ne plus ultra of ſupremacy on the one hand, and of ſubmiſſion on the other. Heaven, indeed, has not left the exact limits upon record, ſo as not to be miſtaken: but the ſenſe and will of Heaven may be clearly made out from the plaineſt deductions of reaſon and common ſenſe, which in many intricate and doubtful caſes are our only guides, and the only infallible ſtandard men have upon earth, in penetrating the art and diſguiſe of things; bringing forward primordial privileges, and authenticating the ſtamp of derived and delegated power, from that poſſeſſively underived and undelegated, except from Heaven.

Should we leave the deciſion of the matter to parent ſtates, the term of Colonian puberty would never arrive. States, as regulated by mere men, are as ſubject to a wretched poverty of intellect, a ſordid narrowneſs of ſpirit, a ſelfiſh mediocrity of conceſſion, as individuals. Selfiſhneſs, though variouſly habited and diſguiſed, is the characteriſtic of poliſhed cultivated humanity, except in punctilious attentions to one another, among members of official departments, at levees, and in drawing-rooms. Where ſhall we find an individual who will coolly and willingly relinquiſh to another what he looks upon as his ſole property, and the chief ſupport of his perſonal ſignificance among mankind? Or where ſhall we find a great kingdom that will coolly and willingly relinquiſh to a Colonian rival or cotemporary in power, what it looks upon as its ſole property, and the chief ſupport of its territorial ſignification among nations? We muſt not ſeek for either inſtance in the latitudes of our [45] earth. Yet the negative of conduct thrown into interrogation here, with reſpect to individuals, is the opprobrium of our nature, and the malady of all ſocieties; one ſet of men gorged to the throat with luxury, another ſet ſtarving but for our alms on our dunghills: and with reſpect to nations, the ſame negative was the deſtruction of the Grecian and Roman empires; which, inſtead of ſupporting themſelves at the zenith of power and glory by the means that acquired them, internal virtue, temperance and piety, vainly thought to conſolidate univerſal dominion by exorbitant exactions, and arbitrary ſtretches of authority, in their diſtant provinces and colonies; whereby they rouſed up ſuch a ſpirit of diſſatisfaction and reſentment, in the members againſt the head, as ſoon iſſued, aſſiſted by interior vice, immorality and licentiouſneſs, in their final ruin and extinction. Particular kingdoms, therefore, muſt not be admitted umpires to decide the weighty and momentous queſtion of Colonian maturity, or ripeneſs for ſelf-government.

A kingdom to all eternity (were kingdoms eternal) would no more give up its Colonies to the liberty and independence itſelf enjoys, than a tyrannical unnatural parent would wiſh to liberate a ſon from his juriſdiction, were he not liable to be forced by the law of his country, and, indeed, in moſt caſes, by the neceſſity of the thing itſelf. But let the conſequences be ſeriouſly and candidly marked.

Were there no compulſory ſtatutes for the liberation of children from their parents, at a ſpecified time, parents, even the moſt opulent, would not be able to maintain their ſucceſſions of offspring, except in wretchedneſs and penury; which in a very few generations would reduce the wealthieſt nations to the condition of Indians, living on the uncultivated [46] fruits of the earth, and the unſolicited fiſh crowding to their ſhores. And even ſhould induſtry be admitted to take place between a father and his ſons, ſtill the admiſſion is ſhackled with an abſurdity impoſſible to be thrown off, which would ſhortly annihilate the whole pater-familial dynaſty. In inſtances of diſagreements between father and ſon, diſagreements not in the nature of things to be avoided, ſtrength, bodily ſtrength, would be the lex ultima judicandi, as force is confeſſedly the ultima ratio regum. A ſon might be very often ſtronger than his father, or two or more ſons might conſpire againſt a father, and ſubdue him, whereby the whole domeſtic chain of government would be unlinked, while brawny limbs and athletic ſhoulders, not wiſe heads and experienced hoary locks, would bear off the chaplet of victory, and the younger reign in the elder's ſtead.—

Thus it appears, that the adult domeſtic period has been eſtabliſhed in all well regulated States, with a degree of ſapient foreſight on which their exiſtence, as well as property, depends. The adult period of Colonies comes next to be conſidered. Such a period, it has been obſerved, would never arrive, were it left to the option and diſcretion of the Colonian parent. But notwithſtanding this peeviſh, impoveriſhed, and jaundiced maxim of State, ſhall it never arrive? This is juſt ſaying, with more illiterate dogmatiſm than truth, that States ſhall never grow old, diſeaſed, enfeebled, and decrepit; i. e. it is an attempt to ſtop the courſe of Nature, arreſt the progreſs of mortal labefaction, and check the material diſſolution of parts; ſuſpend the attrition of wheels, and counteract the wearing of machinery. States are ſubject to all the viciſſitudes of the human body; like it muſt increaſe, decreaſe, and moulder into duſt. [47] Shall an old palſied man then wreſtle with the young and vigorous? the diſeaſed with the healthy? the weaker with the ſtronger?—In other words, ſhall parent States be eternal? and ſhall Colonies never become parent States? Abſurd and fanciful indeed!—Mark the extravagance and ſelf-deluſion here. In many ſuppoſable caſes, not to mention caſes that have really happened, Colonies may become greater, wealthier, and more powerful, than the birth-giving State. At ſuch a criſis, what is to be done? Shall the leſſer legiſlatively controul the greater? The poorer the wealthier? Or the weaker the ſtronger?—The queſtions would ſeem to anſwer themſelves, and may be left to Lord North himſelf, if he has not altogether abandoned the ſterling currency of Idea and Language (the reverſe of his conduct with regard to the coin) and has not folded up, for ever and for ever, the un-corporational rectitude and integrity of things, in the plaitings of his Aulic-robe, or the duplications of his Blue Ribbon.

All nations upon earth were once Colonies, except the firſt ſtationary ſpot of its inhabitants: and even that may be called a Colony from Heaven, at leaſt ſo long as the diſpoſition of Heaven reigned there, peace, love, friendſhip, and content. All nations were once in the moſt helpleſs condition of infant territory, and naſcent civilization. How have theſe Colonies expiated the guilt of their becoming great and flouriſhing kingdoms, the terror and admiration of the world, the Ethiopic, the Grecian, and the Roman? Lord North and his conclave of Senators ought to write maledictory epitaphs to their memory; ſend ſome of their order from their ſilent, or abuſed ſeats in Parliament, upon an eaſtern tour; and there inſtead of falling down on their knees, with ſepulchral [48] decency, unutterable conſciouſneſs, and holy admiration, ſpurn the aſhes of their dead Generals, Heroes and Orators; trample on the marmorean relics of their glory, and deface the ingravements of their unenvied immortality! They ſhould find no interruption in the ſolitude of their exploits (as their conſciences were left behind them) but from the remonſtrances of awakened echoes, or the inarticulated murmurings of paſſing winds!

The progreſs from Colonian nonage and imbecility to the adultneſs and luſtihood of empire, has been as obſervable, ſince the beginning of time, as the growth of the human body from infancy to manhood. The world may be called a great body made up of continents, iſlands, empires, kingdoms, principalities, and ſtates, its individuals in a figurative ſenſe; a kingdom likewiſe is a great leſſer body, made up of men and women, its individuals in a real ſenſe. Men and Women have a progreſſion of growth from birth to the period of legal maturity. Nothing can obſtruct or limit this regular growth without doing violence to God and Nature, as well as ſociety; a crime, multiform and penal, equal to mutilation, maiming, diſmembering, partially robbing life of its ſubſiſtence, or totally deſtroying it. Empires, kingdoms and ſtates, have likewiſe a progreſſion of increaſe from their firſt colonizing exiſtence to the ripened aera of their independence: nothing can obſtruct or limit this regular increaſe, without doing violence to God in the firſt inſtance, the King of all kings, and the Lord of all lords; a crime for which kings, miniſters, and parliaments muſt be one day as reſponſible, as thoſe tyrants and monſters that would, by external implements [49] and force (a thing quite poſſible) ſtop the growth of an infant to a child; of a child to a youth; or of a youth to a man.

This ſeems to be the true and unaffected view of the ſubject, unwarpt by party, and unallied to worldly hopes and fears; which alas! too often ſerve to ſilence the voice of truth, fully its brightneſs, or muddy its channels. It is ſo obvious and reaſonable, that I cannot help wondering it does not ſtrike every mind left to its own freedom, and not abaſhed to borrow light from Chriſtianity; that admirable, but not half enough admired ſyſtem of right conduct, pure equity, diſintereſted juſtice, genuine ambition, refined morals, exquiſite philoſophy, gentle affections, and generous principles; without which, adopted and revered in courts and cabinets, no kingdoms can riſe to greatneſs, become greatneſs, or ſecure greatneſs, any more than individuals. This I would aſſert, and hand down to poſterity (could any thing of mine reach poſterity) under every circumſtance of diſcouragement and unpopularity; and notwithſtanding the accommodated reaſonings of Dr. Johnſon, Dean Tucker, and Sir John Dalrymple, without forgetting to mention our little tabernacle politician, though indeed nothing better than a dangling ſatellite at the belt of Jupiter. Though blunt and bold truths coming unawares upon men, and overturning accuſtomed modes of thinking, at firſt rather tend to fix the character of extreme ſingularity on the author, than to convince the reader; yet a time will come, when the unreſtrained powers of reflection, and the natural good ſenſe of mankind, will take the lead of habit, faſhion and prejudice, like re-action recovering, that is, reinſtating, what was loſt by ſimple action or preſſure: or to ſpeak more Juſtly, like condenſed air, and concentrated ſunbeams, regaining that medium and expanſion, [50] made their natural properties by the great Creator, and beſt accommodated to general uſe and benefit.

Many people, in the official departments of the State, who ſomehow or other imagine themſelves called upon to defend Government at all hazards, whether right or wrong, will probably be very ready to exclaim againſt the bold and free ſpirit of theſe remarks, not ſpying the beam in their own eye. Politicians, indeed, are not obliged to be good Chriſtians. They will call them Republican, and in their latitude and tendency dangerous to civil Adminiſtration, as well as diſreſpectful to the K—. Yet ſuch perſons will as probably never reflect, that while the foregoing remarks can only do imaginary harm, even upon their own ſuppoſition of their being dangerous, they themſelves do ſubſtantial irreparable harm to the State, to their King and Country, by the diſſoluteneſs and profligacy of their live. It ſcarcely can be denied, that moſt of our Rulers are men of groſs morals and irreligious private conduct. It may be argued, they are not worſe than other members of the State: But if they are no better, they are virtually worſe; as perſons in power and truſt ought to be exemplary for ſuperior and uncommon virtues. The routine of public worſhip is not religion, though from the throne to the cottage it unaccountably paſſes as ſuch.

Luxury, effeminacy, and ſenſuality, theſe are the hydra evils that hurt a State, ſap the foundations of Government, and undermine ſlowly but ſurely, the platform of municipal freedom; while the Eſſay Writer, with the worſt intentions, only gives the world an opportunity to examine, and in caſes of error in his poſitions, of confuting him. Hereby Government, in truth, acquires additional ſtrength, ſplendor, and beauty, inſtead of being [51] injured. No theoretical reaſoning, or ſpeculative opinions, can diſturb or periclitate a State, though they may diſturb and periclitate men in the poſſeſſion of abuſed power, and ill-acquired opulence. If bad, they are eaſily anſwered, and as aſſignable to oblivion, as rockets and ſoap-bubbles into air. If good, that is, founded on unalterable maxims, and the general convictions of mankind, no oppoſition can ſuppreſs them; nay, the oppoſition of courts and hierarchies, will add to their currency and effect. But what remedy can radically conquer national degeneracy, a depravity of manners infecting the whole body-politic, with faſhion and breeding and the Clergy, their grand allies?

The command of the powers of a State, and ſelf-command, being at the head of Government, and at the head of ſelf-government, are quite different things. Miniſters, without the laſt, can never acquit themſelves honourably or ſucceſsfully, with reſpect to the firſt. Private virtue is the only foundation of public, as the whole can no other way be made up, but of the parts; and public virtue is the only ſecure baſis of national peace, freedom, proſperity and glory. To looſen the links of this chain, were to disjoin vegetable circulatory life and the growth of the oak, or to ſeparate light and heat from the body of the ſun.— Alas! while the oſtenſible friends and ſervants of Government are ſending out mighty fleets and armies, to ſupport what they are pleaſed to call the honour and character of the nation, they tarniſh its true honour and character in the private paths of life: i. e. while they ſtick a feather in Britannia's cap, they are aiming a dagger at her heart, by the vicious diſſipation, corrupt prodigality, and pleaſurable extravagance, of their lives. Fleets and armies, in this caſe, are no more than the bravadoing of preſumption [52] and confidence; and demonſtrate a mode of procedure in our rulers totally inconſiſtent and a-jar with itſelf.—What their fleets and armies may be ſuppoſed to do abroad, our gubernatorial great men are more than undoing at home, by their ſcandalous vices and glaring immoralities. Are theſe the pillars of the realm? Of government? Of monarchy? Yes; but they are rotten pillars, that muſt ſhortly give way, and bury in their ruins the glorious and ſuperb ſabric of Britiſh Liberty, without even the conſolation of one truly valiant, virtuous man, like him of Gaza, to conſecrate the mighty devaſtation.

While our parliamentary court leaders, our cabinet and privy counſellors, by means of the baſeſt venality, breach of honour, and breach of integrity, to their conſtitutional maſters, the People, get the public money into their hands, to ſquander away on parade of living, a falſe ſtyle of life, profuſion, licentiouſneſs and libertiniſm, (the overthrow of the once illuſtrious empires of Greece and Rome) to ſquander away on paraſites, ſycophants, miſtreſſes, lackies, horſes and dogs; they can never ſucceed or proſper in any undertaking, except in deſtroying, ſooner or later, our happy and envied conſtitution.—They are, with veritable ſadneſs it may be ſaid, the real libellers and defamers of king and government, and juſtly may be ſtyled rebels and traitors of the moſt dangerous, becauſe the leaſt ſuſpected kind; the dark though ſmiling aſſaſſins, the certain though inſidious underminers of their country; and not the writer who aſſerts ſtrong facts and bold truths, that offend more by their novelty, than any error or danger they contain.

The power of the delegated branches of the ſtate, of the crown, privy councils, and parliaments, has been ſtretched ſo fatally high, by a variety [53] of popular court writers of late, writing for pay, not for immortality; that it is become the unavoidable duty of every free member of the empire, to counteract the obvious intention of their writings. Dr. Johnſon in particular, a man of genius, erudition, and celebrity, has dipt his (once admired) pen ſo deep in prerogative poiſon, and ariſtocratic infection, that every generous unpenſioned quill in the kingdom ſhould be exerted to prepare an antidote againſt him, before his poiſon ſpread with canine velocity, and the infection become epidemical throughout the land.—How has the ſublime ethic philoſopher fallen into the foul ſuds of politics! How has the admirable critic, and claſſical wit, ſunk in the mire and dirt of a court! Hid himſelf behind the ſhadow of my Lord North, in a voluntary eclipſe, whoſe brightneſs, primary and diffuſive, might have illuminated a whole kingdom, and thrown even a Court into occultation!—The morning ſun, ſerene and radiant, ſuddenly loſing itſelf in the fogs and vapours of night!—The pure unruffled element, that always returned true pictures of objects around, nay, heightened repreſentations of beauty, diſturbed and muddied by the blackening tempeſt!—

Born with a poignant philoſophic taſte,
Bright his ideas, his conceptions chaſte;
Born with a fancy ethic heights to ſoar,
Where rob'd in light but angels ſoar'd before:
Born with thoſe maſculine ſuperior pow'rs,
No ſchools beſtow, the gift of heav'n, not ours;
To trace the mazes of the human mind,
And all the ſecret ſprings that move mankind;
Whether of friendſhip, love, of hope or fear,
With perceant inſight, accuracy ſevere:
The bard admired, the critic ſternly dread,
Form'd each at inſpiration's fountain head;
To mark thoſe beauties, that creation new,
Shakeſpear from his exhauſtleſs treaſures drew;
[54]Depaint with art's whole lore, but nature's ken,
The ſhining glories of the claſſic pen;
The Attic, Roman genius to pervade,
In all its bold reſults of light and ſhade;
Nay, while his eye o'er their rich landſkips thrown,
To ſketch out finer landſkips of his own;
[...]his diction with invention's noon tide glowing,
With grace, ſtrength, energy, majeſtic flowing:
Such once was Johnſon, e'er diſeas'd and poor,
He ſat a pauper at St. James's door;
Poor poor in ſpirit, in his ſoul diſeas'd,
With alms like other wretched beggars pleas'd;
The offals of ambition, Lord North's crumbs,
His broken ſweet-meats, fragment ſugar-plumes.
Johnſon, the mighty Johnſon, mighty wit,
With tops and marbles now like ſchoolboy ſmit;
A penſion'd purchaſe, as the Indian ſells,
His furs and ores for trinkets, beads and bells.
A drudge juntonian, a badg'd pamphleteer,
For (pottage-meſs) three hundred pounds a year,
Aſperſing and belying, like a ſlave,
Three Millions of the virtuous, free, and brave.
O! piteous lapſe of faculties divine,
A diamond on the muzzle of a ſwine!
A Bacon's lapſe from ſame, moſt vile, moſt wiſe,
And Lucifer twice fallen from the ſkies! ANON.

—It is no matter who are the encouragers of ſuch writings, and at the bottom of our national diſgrace, whether a Caledonian jacobite Thane, or an Anglican tory Lord: both have adulterated ideas of liberty, unworthy conceptions of their ſpecies, and an affected, unvirtuous, illiterate diſregard for Poſterity, a death or life-giving Poſterity, into whoſe temple no tyrant or ſatrap of a tyrant is admitted.—It may be juſt mentioned here, that even the clergy have taken an active part againſt Revolutional freedom and the rightful poſſeſſion of property, by petitioning the K— in behalf of violent invaſion, praedatory conqueſt, carnage and blood. —O ſhame, everlaſting ſhame, on our Engliſh and Scottiſh meſſengers of mercy, and miniſters of peace! [55] —Time it is to look about us, when our pulpit teachers, a ſet of men we create, feed and clothe, would cut our throats in cold blood, and ſeize on our poſſeſſions like public robbers.—If reformation of morals and manners be the ſalvation of a corrupt and vicious ſtate, deliberate, juſtified, gloried-in acts of piracy, plunder and manſlaughter, would ſeem a bad preparative for it: the times of war, a war among friends, fellow citizens, and compatriots, a moſt unfortunate ſeaſon: a war without an object, ſuch as Virtue and Chriſtianity cannot petition Heaven to bleſs, ſtretching into boundleſſneſs, and without any probable termination. Is this the clerical period for reformation? for the chaſte exerciſes of a meek, quiet, holy, ſelf-denied ſpirit, forbearing one another, and forgiving one another?—The Clergy of all times and nations have been alike: ſtudying to ſet men by the ears; to partake of the ſpoils, and profit by the miſeries and ravages of mankind. Nor will Dr. ROBERTSON'S hiſtorical fame, fair and admired as it is, ever wipe off that black ſpot from his character, as a Miniſter of the Goſpel of peace, which it contracted by moving for and ſigning the General Aſſembly's Petition to the K—, to write out his ſubjects ſentence with Draco's pencil dipt in blood.— Rather,—to call in the gentle aid of the Muſe,

PEACE to the Man, Peace to his latter End,
To his Example may all Worlds attend,
Who to reform the Age, and SAVE the State,
Reforms himſelf firſt ere reform too late.
Were this the leading care of one, of all,
At Self-conviction's honeſt boſom call;
Soon would the State grow better, ſave itſelf,
From its worſt Foes,—pride, pleaſure, gaming, pelf.
Pelf, to which prieſts ev'n elevate the Eye,
More than to Stephen's Viſion-op'ning Sky.
[56]All Projects elſe, e'en morally refin'd,
Are but fine Pictures offer'd to the Mind;
Which Indolence, conſtrain'd by Taſte, admires,
But feels no kindling imitative Fires:
A Moonſhine Sea ſide Landſkip all ſerene,
No Breeze to interrupt the ſolemn Scene,
Stealing in Languor on the paſſive Soul,
Controul'd moſt in the Abſence of Controul:
Not ſo when that proud Element enrag'd;
With warring Winds and counter Tides engag'd;
It wakes Senſation, all Life's active Springs,
Into precautious inſtant Motion brings.
Virtue in private Life is public Fame,
But the reverſe—uncoverable Shame.
Vice, low-born Vice, unmans the Human-kind,
And throws a ſick'ning Torpor o'er the Mind;
Holds ev'ry gen'rous Paſſion in controul,
And checks the nobler Sallies of the Soul;
Unſpokes ſublime Ambition, melts away,
That hardy Valour nothing ſhould diſmay.
Hence, dries up Patriotiſm's holy Springs,
And to the Life of Freedom murd [...]rous clings.
Fleets, Armies, are the Bugbears of a State,
Tho' held at Court unconquerably great;
The Bullies and Prize-fighters of the Land,
By Calms, Diſeaſes, Panics, at a Stand;
Objects immenſe of ſov'reign ſneer to Foes,
If Virtue ſteers not while the freſh Breeze blows;
Should Piety nor ſpread nor trim the ſails,
To catch Heav'n's Friendſhip—more than Tides or Gales;
Inſpirit not, beyond the luſt of Gain,
The glitt'ring Legions on the martial Plain.
This Superſtition?—this Enthuſiaſt's Zeal?
Well—be it ſo—may no Court Fogs conceal:
No cinders, Aſhes, from St James's blown,
On the immortal quenchleſs Flame be thrown.

Were Politicians Philoſophers, and Philoſophers genuine Chriſtians; or did Philoſophy and Revelation, as well as politics, conſpire to form a patriot K. and ſtateſman; kings and ſtateſmen would not only conſider the legiſlative ſupremacy of a ſtate as definable, but the Limits of Empire likewiſe terminable. Generally ſpeaking, the leſs extended and ſtretched [57] any of them be, on the juſter and ſurer baſis it reſts. If one has a right to aſſume juriſdictive Omnipotence in all caſes whatſoever, every State hath, however different in internal conformation, wiſdom, virtue and policy: but no ſtate can have it but from Colonian derivation, teritorial increment, and gradual accretion of numbers aſſociating together; therefore, all Colonies that can keep off the attacks of foreign invaders, let them be who they will, whether quondam friends or hereditary enemies, ſo as to attend uninterruptedly to interior improvement and cultivation, may attain to that opulence and ſtrength, on which alone the ſo much boaſted ſupremacy of ſtates can be founded. The ruling legiſlative powers of one ſtate, indeed, may truly be ſtyled ſupreme and infallible, with regard to the ruling powers of any other ſtate; but that theſe ruling powers ſhould arrogate ſupremacy in a ſtate within which they originated, and are contingently liable to be curtailed and deſtroyed, is ſuch an inſtance of extreme human vanity in rulers and governors, as will ſerve to ſanctify all the execrable Tyrants that have ever deformed and diſhonoured the Earth, or ever ſhall.

We have already ſeen, that all Kingdoms without exception were once Colonies: it is only ſtepping high enough up in the Records of Time to be as certainly convinced of this, as that every Man was once a Boy, and every Parent once a Child. Even Great-Britain itſelf, now ſtanding on the pinnacle of Self-eulogy and Self-idolization, is an example of it. What was right, fit, lawful, neceſſary, expedient, and practicable, two, four, ſix thouſand Years ago (if we may ſuppoſe the World ſo old) is right, fit, lawful, neceſſary, expedient, and practicable now, in the Year MDCCLXXVI. of the Chriſtian aera. If Politicians and Courtiers [58] can advance any thing in redarguation, they muſt recur to that pitiful policy which we call Corporational, by way of ſtigma and reproach: a policy which would ſtimulate Great-Britain to plunder and deſtroy France, Spain, Germany, and all the nations of the Earth, WERE SHE ABLE. For one Kingdom has no more right from God, the Guardian and Protector of Kingdoms, to rob and deſtroy another, than one individual has to rob and deſtroy another individual. In the latter caſe, it would be private felony and murder; in the former, public, complicated, unbounded, undefinable, Felony and Murder. With regard to the private commiſſions of offences ſo atrocious, all civilized States have appointed the moſt awful Tribunals, and exemplary puniſhments, indeed, in ſimple ſelf-preſervation, as Robbers and Murderers unchecked, would throw all Kingdoms into uproar, diſtraction, and miſery. Is it to be ſuppoſed then, that in public national Commiſſions of the ſame atrocious offences, God, the King and Judge ſupreme of all the Earth, will take no cognizance, appoint no judicial Bars of Trial, no final punitive award? Then ſhould God exhibit himſelf to Creation as inferior to an earthly Sovereign, in ſagacity, foreſight, and prudence; as in conſequence of theſe public enormous commiſſions, if unreſtrained by his unſeen, but Almighty Interference, his general dominion of our World, conſiſting of all the Governments now eſtabliſhed among mankind, would be thrown into anarchy, tumultuation, and blood; while one daring, ſucceſsful tyranny would overſpread the face of the whole Earth, and ſwallow up his providential, and gradually evolving, plans of future peace, virtue, and happineſs. The analogy cannot be broken without breaking the entire chain of Nature and Things.— [59] Chaſte and enlightened ideas of our ſpecific ſituation as ſubjects of God, who not only reigns over us, with a jealous anxiety about the performance of our duty to Him, but who created us alſo, muſt always be our rule of conduct, when contemplating ourſelves the ſubjects of an earthly Prince, who under God, equally his King as ours, has no farther right to claim Subjection from us, if at any Time claſhing with our Subjection to God, the higher Power, than a Viceroy or Embaſſador has to claim Subjection manifeſtly and of right only claimable by Him they repreſent. The analogy ſtands upon impregnable ground.

Implicit, unexaminable ſubmiſſion to Kings and Governors, i [...] really excellent, by taking their line of Adminiſtration from God, the ſupreme King and Governor, might be ſafely acquieſced in, and ſubmitted to: but when or where has the world hitherto found, when or where ſhall the world in future find, ſuch prodigies?

A ſtrange Phenomenon—a Black-bird white,
Owls baſking joyous in the blaze of Light!
Extraord'naries indeed—Soot chang'd from black,
And Down and Plumage on a Hedge-hog's Back.

An excellent King would be one of the moſt marvellous ſpectacles upon Earth, as temptations nearly infinite, and almoſt invincible, ſolicit him on all hands to be the very reverſe. A bad King is as conſequentially to be expected, as that frail fragile mortals will generally give way to the ſeductions of power, pleaſure, voluptuouſneſs and flattery. Perhaps half a million of Kings have reigned in the various parts of the earth, of whom it may not uncharitably be ſaid, that ſcarce a thouſand have been truly excellent. This diſproportion is immenſe; but not more immenſe than within the boundaries of fair calculation. Let it be remembered [60] that our term of calculational compariſon is —truly excellent: and if not truly excellent, there certainly lies an appeal from all Kings, let their extrinſic Glory, Majeſty and Terror, be what they may, to a higher Power, not barely in Truth excellent, but the Moſt Excellent. Every individual is judge of this appeal. If the conviction of its neceſſity and rectitude ſhould expoſe him to preſent pains and amercements, he has that indemnification in his own boſom which no tyrant, or arbitrary court, can take away, becauſe they can neither ſee it, nor feel it, as an object of envy, jealouſy, or appetency: And even ſhould it expoſe him to the loſs of life, ſtill the loſs of life would be an acquiſition compared with the loſs of conſcience, not to mention, that the loſs of life would but the ſooner ſend him to that tribunal, and to that judge, who inſtituted the appeal, and will impartially hear it.

Upon the above principles, Colonies have an heaven-imparted right, prior and paramount to all Charters, to become Empires, when they can; that is, in conſequence of internal exertion and induſtry, without invading the home property, and imperial immunities, of other countries or kingdoms. This inference is alſo obvious, that to contravene and impede them, under any pretext whatſoever, in their progreſs from the non-age to the full-age of Empire, would be the ſame thing as to lay the impious hand of Deſpotiſm, on Arts and Science; on Virtue and Induſtry; on Agriculture and Manufactures; on Trade and Commerce; the eventual unfoldings of the Human Mind divine, the diverſified operations of Genius and the Underſtanding: the unavoidable ſpontaneous reſult of all which, in the courſe and iſſue of things, is — Dominion, Empire, Independence. In conſequence [61] of theſe, the Creation of God, inſtead of being rude and untrodden, a wild and howling wilderneſs, becomes a ſecond time the Garden of Eden, and a prelude to the grand final Reintegration of Nature. Let theſe be confined to one ſpot, one iſland, or one continent, the reſtoration of things would never happen; three parts out of four of our earth would be a dreary unhoſpitable region, not fit for a ſun-burned Indian to make his way thro', inſtead of a God to reviſit; and the greateſt proportion of mankind be wretched ſlaves, or more wretched ſycophants. But when God reviſits our earth, in any ſpecial manifeſtation of himſelf, it will not be to caſt his eye around on ſlaves, but to reign among Freemen, and not to behold Monarchs raiſed as a ſort of rival-gods above ſubjects, but to behold them levelled with ſubjects, and all alike His ſubjects.—To ſtop the courſe of Colonization, therefore, towards independence, is to ſupercede the decrees of Heaven, and obſtruct the neceſſary evolutions of Divine Providence. All empires and kingdoms degenerate into tyranny. Tyranny is the plethoric diſeaſe of ſtates, as the gout or jaundice is of corpulency. The laſt ſtate upon earth muſt be abſolutely and perfectly free, becauſe the remove from that to Heaven will be immediate. It is a counter-action then of the ſublime revolutionary ſcheme of Heaven to prevent the progreſs of infant Colonies and States, when we are not actually attacked in our property at home, which juſtly ſpeaking, is a Nation's only rightful property, every thing elſe being the effect and acquiſition of conqueſt, violent poſſeſſion, barbarity, rapine and blood. Nor can I help deploring, that Great-Britain is now effectually puniſhed, by an inviſible hand, through the medium of that very Continent which ſhe unjuſtifiably took poſſeſſion of, [62] at firſt, from the unoffending native inhabitants, who had as good a claim of property to that Weſtern Continent, as we to any part of the Northern. —This will be called ſuperſtition perhaps. Yet I am no Moravian or Methodiſt; no high or low church-man; no Puritan, or Seceder; but, in ſhort, a ſimple believer, without having confeſſed or articled myſelf to any Sect: ſo that no ſect or party need be at the trouble to aſſume the honour of me, or throw off the diſcredit of me. I have never broken the Peace, nor ever will, while in my wits and ſenſes. I love my Country and King, and aſſiſt both with my purſe, whenever they have any legitimate demand upon it; and ſhould they ever be involved in the defence of true Liberty, whether religious or civil, with foreign aſſailants, I will reckon my life as taxable as my purſe. Yet notwithſtanding all this profeſſionary detail, I cannot ſuppreſs my ſentiments on American affairs; cannot help thinking we are wrong, kicking againſt the pricks, and fighting againſt God, in ſo far as we would deſtroy the freedom and property of a great people, placed in a diſtant quarter of the world, and haſtening faſt, under the eye of an auſpicious Providence, to political maturity and hardihood; whom we would ignobly depreſs and retard in their ſhooting out into the vigour of a free and independent Government, becauſe we have abuſed and adulterated true Government ourſelves, ſtretching our depredations and maſſacres, not only to the Eaſtern, but Weſtern world: as if the Supreme Lord of the world, by whom Kings reign, and Princes decree juſtice, will not avenge blood, the blood of thouſands, and ten thouſands, under whatever pretence ſhed, ſhort of actual ſelf-preſervation. Were the Aſiatic or the North American Indians, inſulting our borders, or pirating on our coaſts? No! their ignorance [63] of Navigation ſecured them from the guilt of murder and robbery in ten thouſand inſtances, now crying aloud for vengeance on the head of Great-Britain.—Put up thy ſword into its ſheath, for they that take the ſword, ſhall periſh by the ſword. — Vengeance is mine, and I will repay it, ſaith the Lord.—Scripture to my Lord North's or my Lord Mansfield's nerve of hearing, will be quite unparliamentary, unforenſic, and untechnical: but,— Scripture is the politics of Heaven, nor can I ſuppoſe, with all their courtly refinement and breeding, that any noble Lords in Adminiſtration will take upon them to aver, that the politics of St. James's are the politics of Heaven. If not, let them then refrain from palming their intolerant plans of taxational policy, on diſtant latitudes and regions that poſitively will not accept of them, becauſe they cannot, as Freemen born, and Truſtees accountable to Poſterity, unleſs by force, violence, and bloodſhed, overpowered by numbers, and reduced to ſlavery; in which depreſſed degraded ſtate they ſhould ſeem little worth the acceptance of a great, generous, virtuous and pious Monarch. To rule over ſlaves is the ſpirit and ambition of Satan, who views a freeman with the ſame contorted countenance, and ſquint-eyed malignity, that he would view an angel from Heaven.—Let then our high-prerogative ſenators, our boaſtful aſſerters of ſupreme Legiſlation, be told, that to deny colonies the freedom they themſelves enjoy, without deſerving it better, is a coloſſian ſtride towards defpotiſm, the diſgrace of manhood, and the degradation of our ſpecies; beſide being ſuch an over-exertion of authority as a Parent would be juſtly condemnable for, who would attempt to over-rule his children's free-agency, after they had come of age, that is, been accounted competent, by the [64] laws of God and man, to will and act for themſelves.

Many people, affecting to be thought ſenſible and knowing, ſhrewdly remark, that the Americans have begun a century too ſoon, to ſet up the ſtandard of INDEPENDENCE. Such ſhrewd remarkers muſt ſuppoſe that right and juſtice have a growth, a ſtate of unripeneſs and maturity, like animals and vegetables, and that actions eſſentially criminal now, will not be ſo an hundred years hence; in other words, what is actual rebellion now, will in a few generations become heroic ſpirit, and virtuous magnanimity. By the ſame proceſs of reaſoning, white will become black in due time, and ſnow hot; a courtier honeſt, and a play-actor ſhame-faced.

Opinions, manners, faſhions, change with times,
The caſt of virtues, and the caſt of crimes;
But HONESTY, God's image in the ſoul,
Changes but with the needle and the pole.

So uncomprehenſive a knowledge of things, ſo ſhallow an acquaintance with the hiſtory of nations, the progreſs of ſociety, and origin of government, would ſeem ſcarcely worth recital, much leſs an elaborate refutation. Remarks indeed of this kind are generally in the mouth of men that enjoy emoluments under the crown, but who would wiſh to have the appearance of candor and moderation; i. e. hug their filthy lucre at the ſame time that they would not be thought ſeduced from truth and integrity by filthy lucre. The duplicity every mortal perceives but themſelves.

It is truly a laughable circumſtance in a ſerious affair, that Great-Britain ſhould firſt qualify and enable the colonies to do for themſelves, independent of the parent that begat them, and then cry out on their undutifulneſs and ingratitude, for acting [65] in this line of qualification and capacity. Should a father give his ſon a patrimony or capital to carry on the buſineſs or trade he had inſtructed him in, and afterwards reprimand and puniſh him for diſobedience, becauſe he made uſe of that very capital, and applied himſelf effectually to buſineſs: what might we think of ſuch a father? The anſwer to the queſtion involves the deepeſt crimination of the preſent miniſtry. The charge of ingratitude lies not at the door of the colonies, but the charge of inconſiſtency and prepoſterous conduct lies at the door of the Premier and his conclave, ſpeaking in the name of Great-Britain, but like many other interpreters, ſpeaking intereſtedly, arbitrarily and deceitfully.

Providence has great and important revolutions to bring about in the world, before it become what we are aſſured by the prophetic Spirit it muſt become, before the termination of all things. God originally was the only acknowledged King among mankind; but as ſoon as vice, wickedneſs and idolatry, began to prevail, men in different ſocieties and dynaſties, appointed Kings for themſelves. God continuing to be their King by the embaſſadorial medium of teachers and prophets, would have been a conſtant troubleſome admonitory check on their enormities, an awful living evidence againſt them. Reſolved, therefore, upon immorality, and the groſſeſt corruptions, they agreed to emancipate themſelves from Heaven, and chooſe Kings and rulers, that they well knew would be as immoral and corrupt as themſelves, nay, in many inſtances take the lead in every abomination. The Jewiſh nation was one remarkable inſtance of this: we have it upon the moſt authentic record. While they preſerved primaeval innocence and ſimplicity, they rejoiced and were bleſſed in their theocratic [66] polity: but when they became debaſed and polluted by the Heathen nations around, and captivated with their vain kingly pageantry, they boldly and riotouſly demanded an earthly king from Samuel the meſſenger of Heaven, as they themſelves expreſs it, that we may be like all the nations, and that our king may judge us, and go out before us and fight our battles. The degeneracy of the Jews, and their luſt after a viſible temporal King, in imitation of the Pagan world, commenced together; which demonſtrates a degree of analogy between kingly domination, and the unreſtrained practice of private vice and corruption, not to be reſiſted. As immediate communications with Heaven would always have had the effect of controuling baſe and unworthy paſſions; therefore, ſo ſoon as mankind wiſhed freely to indulge them, they were reſtleſs and unhappy till that communication was cut off. Since that fatal and degrading epoch, things have continued in the channel of licentiouſneſs and debauchery to this day. Courts, generally ſpeaking, are the centre and licenſed purlieus of corruption, vice and immorality, with a gauze-thin decorum and breeding, indeed, that would gild and varniſh the want of virtue and integrity. But things will not, cannot laſt long in this retrograde path of reformation and moral improvement. As the world firſt began with the theocratic form of government, it will certainly alſo end with it, how far ſoever we really are at preſent from it. Kings and kingdoms are oppoſing and counter-acting one another, while they all alike wallow in the fouleſt vices and crimes. Thus in the end they will deſtroy one another, or be deſtroyed by formidable evils from Heaven; till the inſuperable neceſſity ſhall ſtare men in the face, of recurring to the firſt inſtitution of all, Theocracy, in the mean time fitting themſelves for [67] it, by the practice of moral virtues, and piety towards God.

Before this glorious and happy renovation, however, can take place, mankind muſt have the moſt generous, pure, and exquiſite conceptions of Liberty, quite the reverſe of what it is at this ignominious day throughout the world, if we except thoſe critical, unparalleled and aſtoniſhing ſtruggles in one great continental diviſion of it. God cannot act ſentimentally in arbitrary governments or among ſlaves, till he firſt work a miracle by inſtantaneouſly changing mens minds. Such inſtruments would never puſh forward ſchemes deſtructive of themſelves, which all ſchemes of manly freedom, virtuous independence, and moral ſelf-denial would be; nor can a thorough reformation of manners and principles take place in any State, where a political eſtabliſhment of religion ſubſiſts; becauſe ſuch a reformation would be an act of diſſent and non-conformity, altogether ſubverſive of that eſtabliſhment. Beſides, in all national eſtabliſhments the ſhowy appearance of duty, pompous rites and ceremonies, take off from mens reverence for the reality, nay, actually ſupercede it in nine hundred and ninety inſtances of a thouſand. When we have proved to our fellow-creatures that we are religious, by going to the ſame place of public worſhip, and uttering over and over the ſame reſponſes with them, we ſeldom think of any thing farther: I keep my neighbour in countenance, and my neighbour keeps me; over and above that, my neighbour is always before my eyes, but God is inviſible. Great-Britain and Ireland, therefore, (with ſorrow and pain I make the obſervation) can never be made inſtrumental to bring about thoſe grand political reſtorations, and religious reforms, which ſome time or another certainly muſt [68] happen. Should they ever be effected in theſe kingdoms, it muſt be through the medium of perſons unconnected by corruption with the court, and by creeds with a national hierarchy. Courts and hierarchies ſwear and take bribes, to preſerve inviolate their reſpective inſtitutions; how then can they be made inſtruments to perjure themſelves, and ſave highway-men the trouble, by picking their own pockets? moreover, Truth requires no forms of adjuration among its friends, nor Virtue any undue influence to be uſed to inſure its practice. Heaven is not reduced to ſuch pitiful ſhifts.

There are now two great quarters of the globe occupied by Chriſtian freemen; many of them Britons, or the deſcendants of Britons, undebauched by a corrupt and vicious court, and unembarraſſed by a religious eſtabliſhment: I mean our commercial territory in the Eaſt Indies, and the vaſt Weſtern Continent of America, eſpecially the latter. Great, mighty, and illuſtrious things may be expected from America; where men have not ſworn and ſubſcribed to one another, to limit their municipal and religious knowledge; conſequently, are open and unengaged for the inſpirations of Heaven, the manly exertions of generous enterprize, and the illimitable extenſions of improvement on every object of literary diſcuſſion, and ſcientific reſearch. There unoccupied territorial boundleſſneſs, furniſhed with every thing Nature can produce, or Art require, except gold and ſilver mines, the pandemonium of ſtates, affords infinite reſources to a bold, free, brave, ſpirited, ingenious, quick-ſighted, adventuring people. A people undebaſed by hereditary ſubjection to civil or religious tyrants, haughty pampered ſtateſmen, or biſhops no leſs haughty and pampered. Bleſſed ſituation! enviable clime!—Such would ſeem a theatre [69] ſomewhat worthy a Divine Being to act upon, and not an inſular corner of the earth poſſeſſed by a people quite corpulent and diſeaſed with luxury —corrupted and debauched by their nobles and gentry, their corrupters and debauchers themſelves abandoned to gaming-tables and horſe-races, and proſtituted to maſquerades and brothels—their parliaments pinned to the miniſter's ſleeve, and their elections carried on by perjury and Aſiatic gold.—An inſular nook—where the inhabitants have not elbow-room, without emigrating by thouſands to diſtant ſhores, nor their conſciences fair play, but through the tolerating grace and favour of ſpiritual lorders over the Heritage of God, my lords the Biſhops—where art has got the better of innocence, and hypocriſy of virtue—and where every thing ſells at an high marketable price, but—wiſdom and integrity.—From this glorious Continent, doubtleſs, in due time, Civil and Religious Liberty, light and knowledge, will ſpread over all the nations of the world, now moſtly merged in diſgraceful ſlavery; groaning under royal deſpots, the curſe of their ſpecies, or kiſſing the obſcene toes of inſolent time-ſerving eccleſiaſtics.— Such an infinity of human beings ſeeming content and happy in their worſe than beſtial ſervitude, is no proof of their being ſo. In many caſes, their torpid acquieſcence and inſenſibility, is an aggravation, or rather the emphaſis, of their miſery, the dead ſign-poſts of their bondage, the ante-ſepulchral eſcutcheons of their unutterable wretchedneſs.

Whether the period is now, that America ſhall ſtand forth high and reſpectable on the ſcale of nations, or an hundred years hence, it matters not, nor does it affect our general argument. Whenever it happens, Great-Britain muſt yield the palm [70] of Empire; and whether ſhe yields it now, or a century hence, is a point of no material conſequence to a true patriotic philoſopher, or philoſophical Briton, who would aſpire to have a ſtandard beyond times and ſeaſons—one thing, however, cannot eſcape preſent animadverſion. Leſt PROVIDENCE ſhould miſtake the proper criſis, to call forth the Americans to Empire and Independence, Lord N. and his Conclave have thought it meet to puſh them to the grand eclairciſſement by anticipation, backed by his myrmidons of the quill, Dalrymple, Shebbeare, Tucker, Johnſon, not forgetting his Lordſhip's gooſe-feather champion, the Rev. John Weſley, M. A. §

In truth, our diſpute with the Colonies ſeems to be a quarrel of the Miniſter's, from official pique, reſentment and mortification, rather than a war upon noble, manly, equitable principles. And however it may caſt up on the wheel of contingencies, the diſinvolution of which, often times depend on mediums of diſcernment, and teſts of ſcrutiny, ſeldom within the reach of mortals (tho' [71] the events of war have hitherto been moſtly in favour of the Americans) the Miniſter can never deſcend to his grave in peace, ſhould he not have previouſly made it up with his God (for faſhion's ſake we will ſuppoſe a Prime Miniſter acknowledges a God) for the ſlaughter of his creatures, the robbery of their poſſeſſions, and the deſtruction of their habitations.—The caſting vote of parliament, or a privy council, nay, even the approbatory ſmile of his Sovereign, will not, cannot acquit him, at the tribunal of his Maker (perhaps not far off) for want only and vindictively imbruing his hands in the blood of fellow men—not merely fellow men, but fellow Chriſtians—not merely fellow Chriſtians, but fellow Proteſtants.—For what? —becauſe the deſcendants of Britons, would not prove themſelves leſs than Britons, or unworthy of the name, by ſubmitting to be amerced and dragooned like ſlaves into ſubjection, unmindful of their parentage, and unconſcious of the image of God (Freedom) in their foreheads.—It may likewiſe be remarked here, that Kings, however at preſent ſurrounded with ſycophants and flatterers, pledging themſelves he is right, whoſe reigns have been marked with ſuperſerviceable war, and ſtained with unneceſſary blood, the blood of their EQUALS in every reſpect, except a crown, which the moſt worthleſs and abandoned oftentimes wear, generally die unlamented, and are ſeldom recalled to mind by poſterity, a diſcerning, impartial, equitable (becauſe an uncloſeted and unpenſioned) Poſterity, but to be execrated.

Vice, weakneſs, folly, firſt ſeduc'd mankind,
Body (alas!) triumphant o'er the mind,
To chooſe that thing of pageantry and ſtraw,
We call a king, law's guardian without law:
When good, kings more than humanly excel,
Bad—are the repreſentatives of—hell.

[72]All the palladiums of the ſtate ſeem to be giving way one by one, inſomuch that, very ſoon, it will have nothing to exhibit, but the effigies or mummy of what it once has been: the dead lion kicked and inſulted by every long-eared animal paſſing by (of a particular ſpecies) that knows to trudge on, humble and ſubmiſs, in the trammels of a Miniſter, or hold up its obſcene mouth in the Houſe, to bray for a penſion.—A ſyſtem of corruption has pervaded the entire body politic, as certainly to conſume and deſtroy it, as a putrifactive taint the human, circulating with its juices, and debilitating its ſolids. From the Premier to the meaneſt clerk in office, from the court at St. James's down to the pooreſt country village, the fatal infection prevails and diffuſes itſelf; the firſt miniſter and confidant of royalty bribed for his talents and oratory, and the forty-ſhilling freeholder bribed for his vote at elections. A conſtitution thus ſupported, in oppoſition to the faith, truth, and integrity of things, which amounts to a defiance of Heaven, cannot laſt long, and, really, the ſooner it comes to an end, provided its internal powers of reſtoration and reform are ſunk beyond hope and expectation, whatever may be the previous convulſion, the better infinitely. GOD, the patron of virtue, probity and rectitude, not only authorizes the total deſtruction of ſuch a ſyſtem, but will likewiſe propitiate and guarantee the renovation. Even our world put on its preſent beauteous and glorious form in conſequence of a chaos; nor would the deluvian period ever have happened, but as a remedy for the irrecoverable wickedneſs and depravity of mankind before the flood. The power that made and has all a long ſuſtained a conſtitution, if, in the hands of unfaithful and arbitrary governors, it counteracts its original purpoſes, and [73] has a certain unequivocal tendency to overthrow the perſonal freedom of the ſubject, for the guardianſhip of which it was alone conceived and elaborated, ſuch a power, I ſay, may and ought to unmake and break it to pieces, in order to throw the materials into a more perfect mold, to produce a more perfect impreſſion. The People, the aggregate power-giving body of the ſtate, are the almighty and unreſponſible cauſe, here alluded to, as alone adequate to ſuch an effect.

A political conſtitution is like a clock or a watch, as being of artificial ſtructure and durability. Without any imputable guilt or feeling of remorſe, the artiſt takes the latter machinery aſunder, when the wheels and ſprings have been obſtructed or worn down beyond repair, and ſubſtitutes new in their place. The former piece of machinery, though of the higheſt order of human device and fabrication, muſt likewiſe be taken aſunder, as often as its defects become irreparable, and its waſtes unſuppliable; neither is there delinquency, or any cauſe for compunction, in the one caſe more than the other. Indeed, as they differ pre-eminently in excellence and value, the care, the accurate inſpection, the delicate demur, the deliberative matureneſs of final judgment, ſhould in an equal degree be preeminent, reſpecting the one inſtance above the other. By the unqueſtionable analogy between the firſt and the laſt, ſtaring them in the face in all free ſtates, the executive ſervants of government, the official members of the empire, are kept in order, and long effectually prevented from running into the exceſſes of tyranny and ariſtocraticiſm. The whole poſition is rational, and perfectly conſiſtent with itſelf.

Kings and ſtateſmen, without the People to feed, clothe, and defend them, ſhould be nothing more [74] reputable or ſtable, in their high ſituations, than corks blown about by the winds on the ſurface of the waters, or buoys cut away from their anchors. Kings and miniſters of ſtate, while they ſo unaccountably idolize themſelves and accept of idolatry from all around them, (the abject homage paid them deſerves no other name) think not of the above humiliating, circumſtance, which reduces them, from their recept-offices of incenſe, to the butter-fly, deprived of his wings, or the maſter bee diſarmed of his ſting.

The elected, repreſentative, magiſtratical departments of ſociety have preſumed ſo extravagantly on their derived and adventitious greatneſs, have taken ſuch gigantic ſtrides in office towards deſpotiſm, that they muſt indeed be brought to their proper level, proſtrate in ſubmiſſion at the footſtool of their creators—the People.

By the People I would not be underſtood to mean, a riotous mob, a tumult at the market-croſs, or a county inſurrection, (from which at all times, good God, deliver us;) but the honourable and reſpectable, Yeomanry of the realm, the middle claſs of citizens and country gentry, whoſe wealth, in the groſs, is the principal wealth of the nation, and ſupport of government, and whoſe education, principles, ſtudies and manners, qualify and intitle them to direct the loweſt orders of ſociety, and controul the higheſt, ſhould theſe to any dangerous length exceed their delegated truſt, or thoſe diſcover a forwardneſs to ruſh into haſty aſſociation, and violent inſurgency.

Nothing can be a ſtronger proof of our degeneracy, infatuation, and ripeneſs for ſome revolution, that will ſeverely puniſh while it brings us to our ſenſes and reforms us, than two conſiderations which ſhall now be mentioned with brevity, but [75] pointedneſs. While the Britiſh empire is in the ſtate of being rent like a garment from top to bottom, while Britiſh glory has been brought under a total eclipſe, and Britiſh honour paſſes as a problem among the nations, the ſons of Britain, in a diſeaſed trance of ignoble ambition, are ſoliciting and procuring vain empty titles from the crown, which, in the abſence of virtue, are no more than the colours flying of a ſhip, after its hulk has been eaten through and through with worms, or her rudder, cables and anchors, loſt in a Storm. The m— o—t—t, after having brought his own into diſpute, and endangered the real honour of the nation, by graſping at too much power and dominion, and ſet one part of his ſub— to rob and murder the other, conſoles himſelf with throwing away fictitious nominal honours (the diſpoſal of which was lodged with him by the People for a quite different purpoſe) on men whoſe only merit conſiſts in humouring and flattering him in Par—s and Priv— Coun—s. This conſideration at once ſerves to point out the political diſeaſe of the times, and its apparent eventual termination. The other is this, In the above recited melancholy ſituation of public affairs, our nobles and gentry, inſtead of being rouſed to ſelf-reformation, and hereby (the only poſſible method) recommending the fleets and armies of Britain to the protection and bleſſing of Heaven, are hurrying into every ſcene of vice, folly, diſſipation and debauchery, horſe-races, cock-fights, gambling tables, maſquerades, pantomimes, farces and ſtews: while the public teachers of the land, the clergy, either look on with total unconcern, or actually partake themſelves of ſuch ill-timed pleaſures and amuſements, the lawn-ſleeve biſhop, and his powdered chaplain, equally loſt to a ſenſe of honour and duty. This is a fact notorious to [76] every eye, and in the face of the ſun calls upon Heaven to puniſh us as a nation and People. GOD, however, brings good out of evil. He has made us inſtruments to render a great Continent wiſe at our expence, to check the inhabitants in their career of luxury, and recal them to the almoſt deſerted paths of piety and virtue, and hereby opened an immenſe future aſylum for the good of all nations, the diſtreſſed and perſecuted of all regions.—It is acknowledged, in the midſt of this black and diſmal proſpect, the Colonies (defending themſelves) in a ſtate of formidable revolt, and France and Spain ready to take advantage of our blundering and diſtracted councils, our wretched national nakedneſs and imbecility; that the faſhionable routine of public worſhip (like moſt other faſhions) on ſundays and holidays, goes regularly on: but alas! in this reſpect, we are no better than the Jews were of old, ſcribes and phariſees, hypocrites, when CHRIST delivered this prediction, which was afterwards literally accompliſhed. Maſter, fee what manner of ſtones, and what buildings are here! Jeſus ſaid unto him, ſeeſt thou thoſe great buildings? (our Cathedrals and Churches) There ſhall not be left one ſtone upon another, that ſhall not be thrown down!—It is likewiſe acknowledged, that we have had a public faſt-day appointed, by authority, for Great Britain and Ireland, the Priv— Coun— of E— obliged, though fomewhat unbecomely late, to follow the example of the Americans, without the pure piety, and virtuous patriotiſm, of theſe determined Continentaliſts: but Almighty God has condemned and reprobated (for ever) all ſuch deceitful hypocritical ſervice, the mere flouriſh of ambitious, temporizing eccleſiaſtics, impoſing on the facile unexamining ſpirit of their S—; the mere rant [77] of a party, the mere hue-and-cry of a mercenary political eſtabliſhment. Here follow the words of inſpiration, which ought to ſtrike all k—s, priv— coun—s, proclam—s, Right and Moſt Rev. Biſhops, dumb for ever. Behold YE faſt for ſtrife and debate, and to ſmite with the fiſt of wickedneſs. YE SHALL NOT faſt as YE do THIS DAY, to make YOUR voice to be heard in high! Is it SUCH a faſt as I have choſen?—A day for a man to afflict his SOUL? —Is to bow down his head as a bull-ruſh, and to ſpread ſack-cloth and aſhes under him?—Is not THIS the faſt that I have choſen?—To looſe the bands of wickedneſs?—To UNDO the heavy burdens, and to let the OPPRESSED GO FREE, AND THAT YE BREAK EVERY YOKE?—To conclude the whole.

However unfaſhionable, unpopular, and uncourtly the introduction of Scripture into a political tract, I cannot help tranſcribing here another ſtriking paſſage from the moſt venerable book in the world. From which it appears, that the ordinary buſineſs of life going on in its accuſtomed progreſſive channel, added to the moſt ſoothing and flattering ideas of home-ſecurity, inſtead of forming a barrier againſt overwhelming general calamities, rather tend to create ſuſpicions of their approach, when a nation has loſt its internal character of integrity, temperance, truth, virtue, juſtice and clemency. Notwithſtanding our preſent ſeeming tranquility and ſafety, in Great Britain and Ireland, it is certain that the effort towards overturning the principles of our once happy and envied conſtitution has been made, the ſtroke of deſpotiſm ſtruck, in AMERICA.—The Americans are Britons by deſcent as well as we; in ſpirit our equals, in genuine patriotiſm our ſuperiors: every article of freedom we enjoy, they have an equal right to enjoy; therefore, miniſterial oppreſſion exerting [78] itſelf there, is the ſame thing, with regard to the ſafety and ſtability of the empire at large, as if it had been exerted here. Tyranny failing in its attempts on the other ſide the Atlantic, we ſhall be ſafe at home: ſhould it however, ſucceed, we ſhall as ſurely be undone, with the ſatisfaction indeed, the exquiſite ſatisfaction, of being the laſt, indulgently, that ſhall be devoured by the hideous monſter. —But what an act of folly and madneſs, not to be alarmed when our neighbour's houſe is on fire, becauſe the flames have not as yet catched hold of our own!—Theſe are the words of a Perſonage above all kings and legiſlators whatſoever.—They did eat, they drank,—they married wives—they were given in marriage—until the day that Noah entered into the ark, and the flood came and deſtroyed them all. Likewiſe alſo as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat— they drank—they bought—they ſold—they planted— they builded—but the ſame day that Lot went out of Sodom, it rained fire and brimſtone from Heaven, and deſtroyed them all.

FINIS.
Notes
*
The Critical Reviewers would ſcreen him moſt ſhamefully, by alledging he could not find better thoughts or expreſſions: an excuſe for all literary theft, even did a new ſet of Reviewers ariſe, pilfer the Critical, and vend their monthly labours as their own.

It may not be improper to mention here, the outlines of two Gentlemen's opinions that have figured, but widely differed, in the diſpute between England and America, I mean EDMOND BURKE, Eſq and Dr. TUCKER, Dean of Glouceſter. Notwithſtanding the latter affects to deſpiſe the exploſive effects of the former's rhetorical thunder and lightning, the moſt curſory reader cannot but remark, that the Rev. Dean found himſelf violently ſcorched by the one, and ſonorouſly rouſed to wounded ſelf-conſequence by the other. He expreſſes great deference for the Houſe of Commons, and modeſtly hints his regret in entering on a queſtion then before that Houſe; but reſpecting Mr. Burke, a member thereof, he profeſſedly looſens himſelf from all ceremony, and, indeed, would notably reduce him to a mere ſenatorial mummy of ſplendid diction, ſimile, and metaphor. Where is the Dean's decorum or conſiſtency here? It is not the Houſe that covers the members, but the members that conſtitute the Houſe, that ought to be conſidered in connection with the Dean's idea of auguſtneſs. For the ſame reaſon that the Houſe of Commons is intitled to deference and reſpect, Mr. Burke is, whether in or out of the Houſe. In either caſe his identity is the ſame; and as he is confeſſedly one of the moſt ſuperior ſpeakers there, both with regard to the weight of argumentative ability, and maſterly diſplay of elocution, he certainly compriſes, in his ſingle perſon, a degree of auguſtneſs and pre-eminence beyond the one half of that aſſembly, made up of mere monoſyllabic yeas and noes; who, if they have capacity, cannot diſcover it, and if they have knowledge, cannot communicate it. The learned Dean, therefore, while he pays his tribute to the Houſe of Commons, and, at the ſame time, would withhold it from Mr. Burke, undoes with his right hand what he had endeavoured to do with his left. This muſt either be the amount of our Dean's attempt, or he muſt be underſtood to mean, that the ſtone and mortar of the Houſe of Commons, and the benches on which the members ſit, actually conſtitute the houſe.

Waving, however, the point of contrariety between the Houſe and Mr. Burke, to me it appears no breach of deference or reſpect for the auguſtneſs of the repreſentative body, in Parliament aſſembled, to take up and canvas any ſubject, though inſtantly in deliberation before that body. The Clergy are always exceſſively complaiſant and well bred. The ſame right that authoriſes us to ſend repreſentatives to Parliament, authorizes us to think, ſpeak, and write, even antecedent to the deciſions of that aſſembly. Every member of a free ſtate, ſits in a greater than any Parliament Houſe — in the area of Humanity, a theatre only bounded by the poles; where he ſits and deliberates in right of a ſummons from the great CREATOR, inſtead of a writ iſſued by the Speaker of a popular, local aſſembly. Reſpect and deference in durance to the latter, and not to the former, in their conſequential ſtages of advance, always arrive at that obſequiouſneſs and ſubmiſſion, which the deſpot cannot but contemplate with ſatisfaction, and the vain empty man ever accepts of with avidity.

With regard to a plan of Coloniſtic accommodation, the point agitated between theſe two Gentlemen, ſingularly important and intereſting as its conſequences would ſeem, it can never be brought to any iſſue, ſo as to carry conviction to either of their boſoms: they proceed on different data, and oppoſite principles. The Great Senator maintains that the Colonies are not in rebellion, but urged to ſelf-defence, and irritated to hoſtile repulſion, by arbitrary exaction, and high-handed aſſeſſments. On this ground the excellent ſpeaker has held forth a plan of accommodation, judicious, ſolid, pertinent, and ſalutary, alike becoming freemen to offer, and freemen to accept. The learned Dean, on the contrary, falls in with the miniſter's majority in Parliament, and conſiders the Americans as rebels, flying in the face of the parent ſtate, and aiming at a traitorous independence; hence have ſubjected themſelves to all that parliamentary indignation and reſentment, which have been avowed and put into executive force againſt them. The Rev. Dean has quite forgot here, that no one is a rebel till he has been proved ſuch on trial before his peers, and at common law; and that to nickname and puniſh a man as a rebel or traitor, prior to his being tried and found guilty, is the ſame thing as to puniſh an individual, as a robber or murderer, before he has been proved ſuch. A royal proclamation can neither make, nor ſet aſide law, except in France or Turkey: if it ſupercedes trial at bar or by jury, it ſupercedes courts of juſtice, and renders Parliaments uſeleſs — In ſhort, the Dean's reaſonings and concluſions, in general, and to ſay the utmoſt of them, reſt upon one pillar only—the ſupremacy and omnipotence of Parliament: if the ſubſtruction can be removed, the ſuperſtructure falls of courſe. Nothing can be ſupreme or omnipotent, without being infallible alſo. Till Parliaments become abſolutely infallible (I believe it will not happen in our day) Parliaments are—un-omnipotent and un-ſupreme. To ſay that Parliament is ſupreme and omnipotent in all caſes whatſoever, is ſaying that Lord North, or the oſtenſible miniſter for the time being, is ſupreme and omnipotent in all caſes whatſoever. While the miniſter holds the national bag, as Judas did his Maſter's, he turns Parliaments at pleaſure, as the winds turn the weathercock, but not (alas!) with the ſame innocence and want of conſciouſneſs.—It is no leſs notorious, than the falſe grandeur, gaming, diſſipation and ſhameful luxury of the times, that placemen, penſioners, and military ſervants, always make up the determining majority in both Houſes, a packed, diſqualified, un-conſtitutional junto, not excepting the Right Rev. Bench. Can ſuch be called competent, equitable judges, any more than jurymen or witneſſes, in trials of life and death and property, who have been bribed and ſuborned?—The analogy is pointed and deciſive, and evinces with what matureneſs of judgment, as well as ſuperiority of talents, the oratorial light of the Britiſh ſenate revolved his ſubject. But, alas! the aera, the honourable and ineſtimable aera, of accommodation is now over, in deſpite of a CHATHAM and a BURKE; whoſe reaſonings, one would have thought, were ſufficient to illuminate a world, inſtead of three inſular ſpots: the Americans have declared themſelves INDEPENDENT; while our egregious rulers, ſitting on their hobby-horſe of ſupremacy and omnipotence, have the ſweets of a ſugar plumb to roll in their mouths, for loſing one half diviſion of a great empire, hitherto, in conjunction with AMERICA, the arbitreſs of Europe, and empreſs of the ſeas.

§
That excellent philoſopher, critic, and politician, Lord KAIMS, has diſcovered ſo ſagacious and prophetic a ſpirit, with regard to America, in his Sketches of the Hiſtory of Man, article, "Progreſs of States," that I cannot reſiſt the temptation of inſerting it here. It was probably compoſed before our troubles began. "Our North-American colonies are in a proſperous condition, increaſing rapidly in population and opulence. The colonies have the ſpirit of a free people, and are inflamed with patriotiſm. Their population will equal that of Britain and Ireland in leſs than a century: and they will then be a match for the mother country, if they chuſe to be independent: every advantage will be on their ſide, as the attack muſt be by ſea, from a very great diſtance." Sketches of the Hiſtory of Man, article, Progreſs of States. Book II. Sketch IV.
Distributed by the University of Oxford under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License