II-3
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<strong>2.3 THOUGHTS ON THE PRESENT STATE OF AMERI AFFAIRS</strong>In the following pages I offer nothing more than simple facts, plain arguments, and on sense; and have no other Prelimio settle with the reader, than that he will divest himself of prejudid prepossession, and suffer his reason and his feelings to determine for themselves; that he will put ON, or rather that he will not put OFF the true character of a man, and generously enlarge his views beyond the present day.
Volumes have been written on the subject of the struggle between England and America. Men of all ranks have embarked in the troversy, from different motives, and with various designs; but all have been iual, and the period of debate is closed. Arms, as the last resource, decide this test; the appeal was the choice of the king, and the ti hath accepted the challenge.
It hath beeed of the late Mr. Pelham (who tho an able minister was not without his faults) that on his being attacked in the house of ons, on the score, that his measures were only of a temporary kind, replied "THEY WILL LAST MY TIME." Should a thought so fatal and unmanly possess the ies in the present test, the name of aors will be remembered by future geions with detestation.
The sun never shined on a cause of greater worth. Tis not the affair of a city, a ty, a province, or a kingdom, but of a ti - of at least oh part of the habitable globe.
Tis not the of a day, a year, or an age; posterity are virtually involved in the test, and will be more or less affected, even to the end of time, by the proceedings now.
Now is the seed-time of tial union, faith and honour.
The least fracture now will be like a name engraved with the point of a pin oender rind of a young oak; the wound will enlarge with the tree, and posterity read it in full grown characters.
By referring the matter frument to arms, a new aera for politics is struck; a new method of thinking hath arisen.
All plans, proposals, &c. prior to the eenth of April, i. e. to the e of hostilities, are like the almanacs of the last year; which, though proper then are superseded and useless now. Whatever was advanced by the advocates oher side of the questioerminated in one and the same point. viz. a union with Great-Britain: the only differeween the parties was the method of effeg it; the one proposing force, the other friendship; but it hath so far happehat the first hath failed, and the sed hath withdrawn her influence.
As much hath been said of the advantages of reciliation which, like an agreeable dream, hath passed away a us as we were, it is but right, that we should examihe trary side of the argument, and inquire into some of the many material injuries which these ies sustain, and always will sustain, by being ected with, and depe o Britain: To examihat e and dependence, on the principles of nature and on seo see what we have to trust to, if separated, and what we are to expect, if dependant.
I have heard it asserted by some, that as America hath flourished under her former e with Great Britain that the same e is necessary towards her future happiness, and will always have the same effect.
Nothing be more fallacious than this kind ument.
We may as well assert that because a child has thrived upon milk that it is o have meat, or that the first twenty years of our lives is to bee a pret for the wenty.
But even this is admitting more than is true, for I answer roundly, that America would have flourished as much, and probably much more, had no European power had any thing to do with her. The erce, by which she hath enriched herself, are the necessaries of life, and will always have a market while eating is the of Europe.
But she has protected us, say some. That she has engrossed us is true, and defehe ti at our expense as well as her own is admitted, and she would have defeurkey from the same motive, viz. the sake of trade and dominion.
Alas, we have been long led away by a prejudices, and made large sacrifices to superstition. We have boasted the prote of Great Britain, without sidering, that her motive was I not ATTAT; that she did not protect us from OUR ENEMIES on OUR AT, but from HER ENEMIES on HER OWN AT, from those who had no quarrel with us on any OTHER AT, and who will always be our enemies on the SAME AT.
Let Britain wave her pretensions to the ti, or the tihrow off the dependence, and we should be at peace with Frand Spaihey at war with Britain.
The miseries of Hanover last war ought to warn us against es.
It has lately been asserted in parliament, that the ies have ion to each other but through the parent try, i. e. that Pennsylvania and the Jerseys, and so on for the rest, are sister ies by the way of England; this is certainly a very round-about way of proviionship, but it is the and only true way of proving enemyship, if I may so call it.
Frand Spain never were. nor perhaps ever will be our enemies as AMERIS, but as our being the subjects of GREAT BRITAIN.
But Britain is the parent try, say some. Then the more shame upon her duct. Even brutes do not devour their young, nor savages make on their families; wherefore the assertion, if true, turns to her reproach; but it happens not to be true, or only partly so and the phrase PARENT or MOTHER TRY hath beeically adopted by the king and his parasites, with a loistical design of gaining an unfair bias on the credulous weakness of our minds. Europe, and not England, is the parent try of America. This new world hath been the asylum for the persecuted lovers of civil and religious liberty from EVERY PART of Europe. Hither have they fled, not from the tender embraces of the mother, but from the cruelty of the monster; and it is so far true of England, that the same tyranny which drove the first emigrants from home, pursues their desdants still.
In this extensive quarter of the globe, we fet the narrow limits of three hundred and sixty miles (the extent of England) and carry our friendship on a larger scale; we claim brotherhood with every European Christian, and triumph in the generosity of the se.
It is pleasant to observe by what regular gradations we surmount the force of local prejudice, as we enlarge our acquaintah the world. A man born in any town in England divided into parishes, will naturally associate most with his fellow-parishioners (because their is in many cases will be on) and distinguish him by the name of NEIGHBOUR; if he meet him but a few miles from home, he drops the narrow idea of a street, and salutes him by the name of TOWNSMAN; if he travel out of the ty, a him in any other, he fets the minor divisions of street and town, and calls him TRYMAN, i. e. TRYMAN; but if in their fn excursions they should associate in France or any other part of EUROPE, their local remembrance would be enlarged into that of ENGLISHMEN. And by a just parity of reasoning, all Europeaing in America, or any other quarter of the globe, are TRYMEN; fland, Holland, Germany, or Sweden, when pared with the whole, stand in the same places on the larger scale, which the divisions of street, town, and ty do on the smaller ones; distins too limited for tial minds. Not ohird of the inhabitants, even of this province, are of English dest.
Wherefore I reprobate the phrase of parent or mother try applied to England only, as being false, selfish, narrow and ungenerous.
But admitting, that we were all of English dest, what does it amount to? Nothing. Britain, being noen enemy, extinguishes every other name and title: And to say that reciliation is our duty, is truly farcical. The first king of England, of the present line (William the queror) was a Fren, and half the Peers of England are desdants from the same try; therefore, by the same method of reasoning, England ought to be governed by France.
Much hath been said of the urength of Britain and the ies, that in jun they might bid defiao the world. But this is mere presumption; the fate of war is uaiher do the expressions mean any thing; for this ti would never suffer itself to be drained of inhabitants, to support the British arms iher Asia, Africa, or Europe.
Besides what have we to do with setting the world at defiance? Our plan is erce, and that, well atteo, will secure us the pead friendship of all Europe; because, it is the i of all Europe to have America a FREE PORT. Her trade will always be a prote, and her barrenness of gold and silver secure her from invaders.
I challehe warmest advocate for reciliation, to shew, a single advahat this ti reap, by being ected with Great Britain. I repeat the challenge, not a single advantage is derived. Our will fetch its pri any market in Europe, and our imported goods must be paid for, buy them where we will.
But the injuries and disadvantages we sustain by that e, are without number; and our duty to mankind at large, as well as to ourselves, instruct us to renouhe alliance: Because, any submission to, or dependen Great Britain, tends directly to involve this ti in European wars and quarrels; as us at variah nations, who would otherwise seek our friendship, and against whom, we have her anger nor plaint. As Europe is our market for trade, we ought to form no partial e with any part of it.
It is the true i of America to steer clear of European tentions, which she never do, while by her dependen Britain, she is made the make-weight in the scale of British politics.
Europe is too thickly planted with kingdoms to be long at peace, and whenever a war breaks out between England and any fn power, the trade of America goes to ruin, BECAUSE OF HER E WITH ENGLAND.
The war may not turn out like the last, and should it not, the advocates for reciliation now, will be wishing for separation then, because, rality in that case, would be a safer voy than a man of war.
Every thing that is right or natural pleads for separation. The blood of the slain, the weeping voice of nature cries, TIS TIME TO PART.
Even the dista which the Almighty hath placed England and America, is a strong and natural proof, that the authority of the one, over the other, was he design of Heaven. The time likewise at which the ti was discovered, adds weight to the argument, and the manner in which it eopled increases the force of it. The reformation receded by the discovery of America, as if the Almighty graciously meant to open a sanctuary to the Persecuted in future years, when home should afford her friendship nor safety.
The authority of Great Britaihis ti, is a form of gover, which sooner or later must have an end: And a serious mind draw no true pleasure by looking forward uhe painful and positive vi, that what he calls "the present stitution" is merely temporary. As parents, we have no joy, knowing that THIS GOVER is not suffitly lasting to ensure any thing which we may bequeath to posterity: And by a plaihod ument, as we are running the geion into debt, we ought to do the work of it, otherwise we use them meanly and pitifully. In order to discover the line of our duty rightly, we should take our children in our hand, and fix our station a few years farther into life; that eminence will present a prospect, which a few present fears and prejudices ceal from ht.
Though I would carefully avoid giving unnecessary offense, yet I am ined to believe, that all those who espouse the doe of reciliation, may be included within the following descriptions.
Ied men, who are not to be trusted; weak men, who OT see; prejudiced men, who WILL NOT see; and a certai of moderate men, who thier of the European world than it deserves; and this last class, by an ill-judged deliberation, will be the cause of more calamities to this ti, than all the other three.
It is the good fortune of many to live distant from the se of sorrow; the evil is not suffit brought to their doors to make THEM feel the precariousness with which all Ameri property is possessed.
But let our imaginations transport us far a few moments to Boston, that seat of wretess will teach us wisdom, and instruct us for ever to renounce a power in whom we have no trust.
The inhabitants of that unfortuy, who but a few months ago were in ease and affluence, have now, no other alternative than to stay and starve, or turn and beg. Endangered by the fire of their friends if they tihiy, and plundered by the soldiery if they leave it. In their present dition they are prisoners without the hope of redemption, and in a general attack for their relief, they would be exposed to the fury of both armies.
Men of passive tempers look somewhat lightly over the offenses of Britain, and, still hoping for the best, are apt to call out, "E, E, WE SHALL BE FRIENDS AGAIN, FOR ALL THIS." But examihe passions and feelings of mankind, Bring the doe of recilia<bdo></bdo>tion to the touchstone of nature, and then tell me, whether you hereafter love, honor, and faithfully serve the power that hath carried fire and sword into your land? If yon ot do all these, then are you only deceiving yourselves, and by your delay bringing ruin upon posterity. Your future e with Britain, whom you either love nor honor will be forced and unnatural, and being formed only on the plan of present venience, will in a little time fall into a relapse more wretched than the first.
But if you say, you still pass the violations over, then I ask, Hath your house been burnt? Hath your property beeroyed before your face! Are your wife and childreute of a bed to lie on, or bread to live on? Have you lost a parent or a child by their hands, and yourself the ruined and wretched survivor! If you have not, then are you not a judge of those who have. But if you have, and still shake hands with the murderers, then are you unworthy the name of husband, father, friend, or lover, and whatever may be your rank or title in life, you have the heart of a coward, and the spirit of a sycophant.
This is not inflaming or exaggerating matters, but trying them by those feelings and affes whiature justifies, and without which, we should be incapable of discharging the social duties of life, or enjoying the felicities of it.
I mean not to exhibit horror for the purpose of provoking revenge, but to awaken us from fatal and unmanly slumbers, that ursue determinately some fixed object. It is not in the power of Britain or of Europe to quer America, if she do not quer herself by DELAY and TIMIDITY. The present winter is worth an age if rightly employed, but if lost lected, the whole ti will partake of the misfortune; and there is no punishment which that man will not deserve, be he who, or what, or where he will, that may be the means of sacrifig a season so precious and useful.
It is repugnant to reason, to the universal order of things, to all examples from fes, to suppose, that this ti longer remain subject to aernal power.
The most sanguine in Britain does not think so. The utmost stretch of human wisdom ot, at this time, pass a plan short of separation, which promise the ti even a years security. Reciliation is NOW a fallacious dream.
Nature hath deserted the e, and Art ot supply her place. For, as Milton wisely expresses, "never true recilement grow, where wounds of deadly hate have pierced so deep." Every quiet method for peace hath been iual. Our prayers have beeed with disdain; and only teo vince us, that nothing Batters vanity, or firms obstina Kings more thaed petitioning-and nothing hath tributed more than that very measure to make the Kings of Europe absolute: Witness Denmark and Sweden. Wherefore, sihing but blows will do, fods sake, let us e to a final separation, and not leave the geion to be cutting throats, uhe violated unmeaning names of parent and child.
To say, they will tempt it again is idle and visionary, we thought so at the repeal of the stamp-act, yet a year or two undeceived us; as well may we suppose that nations, which have been once defeated, will never rehe quarrel.
As to gover matters, it is not in the power of Britain to do this ti justice: The business of it will soooo weighty, and intricate, to be managed with any tolerable degree of venience, by a power so distant from us, and snorant of us; for if they ot quer us, they ot govern us. To be always running three or four thousand miles with a tale or a petition, waiting four or five months for an answer, which when obtained requires five or six more to explain it in, will in a few years be looked upon as folly and childishness--There was a time when it roper, and there is a proper time for it to cease.
Small islands not capable of proteg themselves, are the proper objects for kingdoms to take uheir care; but there is something very absurd, in supposing a tio be perpetually governed by an island. In no instah nature made the satellite larger than its primary pla, and as England and America, with respect to each other, reverses the on order of nature, it is evident they belong to different systems; England to Europe, America to itself.
I am not induced by motives of pride, party, or reseo espouse the doe of separation and independance; I am clearly, positively, and stiously persuaded that it is the true i of this tio be so; that every thing short of THAT is mere patchwork, that it afford no lasting felicity, --that it is leaving the sword to our children, and shrinking back at a time, when, a little more, a little farther, would have rehis tihe glory of the earth.
As Britain hath not maed the least ination towards a promise, we may be assured that no terms be obtained worthy the acceptance of the ti, or any ways equal to the expense of blood and treasure we have been already put to.
The object, tended for, ought always to bear some just proportion to the expehe removal of North, or the whole detestable junto, is a matter unworthy the millions we have expended. A temporary stoppage of trade, was an invenience, which would have suffitly balahe repeal of all the acts plained of, had such repeals been obtained; hut if the whole ti must take up arms, if every man must be a soldier, it is scarcely worth our while to fight against a ptible ministry only.
Dearly, dearly, do we pay for the repeal of the acts, if that is all we fight for; for in a just estimation, it is as great a folly to pay a Bunker-hill price for law, as for land. As I have always sidered the independancy of this ti, as a, which sooner or later must arrive, so from the late rapid progress of the tio maturity, the event could not be far off. Wherefore, on the breaking out of hostilities, it was not worth while to have disputed a matter, which time would have finally redressed, unless we meant to be in ear; otherwise, it is like wasting ae on a suit at law, tulate the trespasses of a tenant, whose lease is just expiring. No man was a warmer wisher for reciliation than myself, before the fatal eenth of April 1775, but the moment the event of that day was made known, I rejected the hardened, sullen tempered Pharaoh of England for ever; and disdain the wretch, that with the preteitle of FATHER OF HIS PEOPLE unfeelingly hear of their slaughter, and posedly sleep with their blood upon his soul.
But admitting that matters were now made up, what would be the event? I ahe ruin of the ti. And that for several reasons.
FIRST. The powers of g still remaining in the hands of the king, he will have a ive over the whole legislation of this ti. And as he hath shewn himself su ie eo liberty. and discovered such a thirst for arbitrary power; is he, or is he not, a proper man to say to these ies, "YOU SHALL MAKE NO LAWS BUT WHAT I PLEASE. And is there any inhabitant in America so ignorant as not to know, that acc to what is called the PRESENT STITUTION, that this ti make no laws but what the king gives leave to; and is there any man so unwise, as not to see, that (sidering what has happened) he will suffer no law to be made here, but such as suit HIS purpose. We may be as effectually enslaved by the want of laws in America, as by submitting to laws made for us in England.
After matters are made up (as it is called) there be any doubt, but the whole power of the will be exerted, to keep this ti as low and humble as possible? Instead of going forward we shall go backward, or be perpetually quarrelling or ridiculously petitioning.
--WE are already greater than the king wishes us to be, and will he not hereafter endeavour to make us less? T the matter to one point.
Is the power who is jealous of our prosperity, a proper power to govern us? Whoever says No to this question, is an INDEPENDANT, for independancy means no more, than, whether we shall make our own laws, or whether the king, the greatest ehis ti hath, or have, shall tell us "THERE SHALL BE NO LAWS BUT SUCH AS I LIKE." But the king you will say has a ive in England; the people there make no laws without his sent. In point ht and good order, there is something very ridiculous, that a youth of twenty-one (which hath often happened) shall say to several millions of people, older and wiser than himself, I forbid this or that act of yours to be law.
But in this place I dee this sort of reply, though I will never cease to expose the absurdity of it, and only ahat England being the Kings residence, and Ameriot so, makes quite another case. The kings ive HERE is ten times more dangerous and fatal than it be in England, for THERE he will scarcely refuse his sent to a bill for putting England into as strong a state of defense as possible, and in America he would never suffer such a bill to be passed.
America is only a sedary obje the system of British politics, England sults the good of THIS try, no farther than it answers her OWN purpose. Wherefore, her own i leads her to suppress the growth of OURS in every case which doth not promote her advantage, or in the least interferes with it. A pretty state we should soon be in under such a sedhand gover, sidering what has happened! Men do not ge from eo friends by the alteration of a name: And in order to shew that reciliation now is a dangerous doe, I affirm, THAT IT WOULD BE POLI THE KING AT THIS TIME, TO REPEAL THE ACTS FOR THE SAKE OF REINSTATING HIMSELF IN THE GOVER OF THE PROVINCES; in order, that HE MAY APLISH BY CRAFT AND SUBTLETY, IN THE LONG RUN, WHAT HE OT DO BY FORD VIOLEN THE SHORT ONE.
Reciliation and ruin are nearly related.
SEDLY. That as even the best terms, which we expect to obtain, amount to no more than a temporary expedient, or a kind of gover by guardianship, which last no lohan till the ies e of age, so the general fad state of things, ierim, will be uled and unpromising. Emigrants of property will not choose to e to a try whose form of gover hangs but by a thread, and who is every day t on the brink of otion and disturbance; and numbers of the present inhabitants would lay hold of the interval, to dispense of their effects, and quit the ti.
But the most powerful of all arguments, is, that nothing but independence, i.e. a tial form of gover, keep the peace of the ti and preserve it inviolate from civil wars. I dread the event of a reciliation with Britain now, as it is more than probable, that it will be followed by a revolt somewhere or other, the sequences of which may be far more fatal than all the malice of Britain.
Thousands are already ruined by British barbarity; (thousands more will probably suffer the same fate) Those men have other feelings than us who have nothing suffered. All they NOW possess is liberty, what they before enjoyed is sacrificed to its service, and having nothing more to lose, they disdain submission. Besides, the general temper of the ies, towards a British gover, will be like that o<cite></cite>f a youth, who is nearly out of his time; they will care very little about her.
And a gover which ot preserve the peace, is no gover at all, and in that case we pay our money for nothing; and pray what is it that Britain do, whose power will he wholly on paper. should a civil tumult break out the very day after reciliation! I have heard some men say, many of whom I believe spoke without thinking, that they dreaded an independence, fearing that it would produce civil wars.
It is but seldom that our first thoughts are truly correct, and that is the case here; for there are ten times more to dread from a patched up e than from independence. I make the sufferers case my own, and I protest, that were I driven from house and home, my property destroyed, and my circumstances ruihat as man, sensible of injuries, I could never relish the doe of reciliation, or sider myself bound thereby.
The ies have maed such a spirit of good order and obedieo tial gover, as is suffit to make every reasonable person easy and happy on that head. No man assign the least pretence for his fears, on any rounds, than such as are truly childish and ridiculous, viz. that one y will be striving for superiority over another.
Where there are no distins there be no superiority, perfect equality affords ation. The republics of Europe are all (and we may say always) in peace. Holland and Switzerland are without wars, fn or domestic: Monarchical govers, it is true, are never long at rest; the itself is a temptation to enterprising ruffians at HOME; and that degree of pride and insolence ever attendant al authority, swells into a rupture with fn powers, in instances, where a republi gover, by being formed on more natural principles, would iate the mistake.
If there is any true cause of fear respeg independe is because no plan is yet laid down. Men do not see their way out-- Wherefore, as an opening into that business, I offer the following hints; at the same time modestly affirming, that I have no other opinion of them myself, than that they may be the means of giving rise to somethier. Could the straggling thoughts of individuals be collected, they would frequently form materials for wise and able men to improve into useful matter.
LET the assemblies be annual, with a President only.
The representation more equal. Their business wholly domestid subject to the authority of a tial gress.
Let each y be divided into six, eight, or ten, ve districts, each district to send a proper number of delegates to gress, so that each y send at least thirty. The whole number in gress will be at least 390. Each gress to sit and to choose a president by the followihod. When the delegates are met, let a y be taken from the whole thirteen ies by lot, after which, let the whole gress choose (by ballot) a president from out of the delegates of that province.
In the gress, let a y be taken by lot from twelve only, omitting that y from which the president was taken in the former gress, and so proceeding on till the whole thirteen shall have had their proper rotation.
And in order that nothing may pass into a law but what is satisfactorily just not less than three fifths of the gress to be called a majority-- He that will promote discord, under a gover so equally formed as this, would have joined Lucifer in his revolt.
But as there is a peculiar delicacy, from whom, or in what mahis business must first arise, and as it seems most agreeable and sistent, that it should e from some intermediate body between the governed and the governors, that is, between the gress and the people. let a TIAL FERENCE be held, in the following manner, and for the following purpose.
A ittee of twenty-six members of gress, viz. two for each y.
Two Members from each House of Assembly, or Provincial vention; and five representatives of the people at large, to be chosen in the capital city or town of each province, for and in behalf of the whole province, by as many qualified voters as shall think proper to attend from all parts of the province for that purpose; or, if more ve, the representatives may be chosen in two or three of the most populous parts thereof. In this ferehus assembled, will be uhe two grand principles of business KNOWLEDGE and POWER. The members of gress, Assemblies, or ventions, by having had experien national s, will be able and useful sellors, and the whole, being empowered by the people, will have a truly leg<samp></samp>al authority.
The ferring members bei, let their business be to frame a TIAL CHARTER, Or Charter of the United ies; (answering to what is called the Magna Carta of England) fixing the number and manner of choosing members of gress, members of Assembly, with their date of sitting, and drawing the line of business and jurisdi between them: (Always remembering, that our strength is tial, not provincial:) Seg freedom and property to all men, and above all things, the free exercise ion, acc to the dictates of sce; with such other matter as is necessary for a charter to tain. Immediately after which, the said fereo dissolve, and the bodies which shall be chosen able to the said charter, to be the legislators<tt>..t> and governors of this ti for the time being: Whose pead happiness may God preserve, Amen.
Should any body of men be hereafter delegated for this or some similar purpose, I offer them the followiracts or that wise observer on govers DRAGOI.
"The sce" says he "of the politi sists in fixing the true point of happiness and freedom.
Those men would deserve the gratitude of ages, who should discover a mode of goverhat taihe greatest sum of individual happiness, with the least national expense. [Dragoi on virtue and rewards] But where, says some, is the King of America? Ill tell you.
Friend, he reigns above, and doth not make havoankind like the Royal Brute of Britain. Yet that we may not appear to be defective even ihly honors, let a day be solemnly set apart for proclaiming the charter; let it be brought forth placed on the divine law, the word of God; let a be placed thereon, by which the world may know, that so far rove of monarchy, that in America THE LAW I<s></s>S KING. For as in absolute govers the King is law, so in free tries the law OUGHT to be King; and there ought to be no other. But lest any ill use should afterwards arise, let the at the clusion of the ceremony, be demolished, and scattered among the people whht it is.
A gover of our own is our natural right: And when a man seriously reacts on the precariousness of human affairs, he will bee vihat it is infinitely wiser and safer, to form a stitution of our own in a cool deliberate manner, while we have it in our power, than to trust su ii to time and ce.
If we omit it now, some [Thomas Anello otherwise Massanello a fisherman of Naples, who after spiriting up his trymen in the public marketplace, against the oppressions of the Spaniards, to whom the place was then subject prompted them to revolt, and in the space of a day became king.] Massanello may hereafter arise, who laying hold of popular disquietudes, may collect together the desperate and the distented, and by assuming to themselves the powers of gover, may sweep away the liberties of the ti like a deluge. Should the gover of America return again into the hands of Britain, the t situation of things will be a temptation for some desperate adveo try his fortune; and in such a case, that relief Britain give? Ere she could hear the news, the fatal business might be done; and ourselves suffering like the wretched Britons uhe oppression of the queror. Ye that oppose independenow, ye know not what ye do; ye are opening a door to eternal tyranny, by keeping vat the seat of gover. There are thousands, and tens of thousands, who would think it glorious to expel from the tihat barbarous and hellish power, which hath stirred up the Indians and Negroes to destroy us; the cruelty hath a double guilt, it is dealing brutally by us, and treacherously by them.
To talk of friendship with those in whom our reason forbids us to have faith, and our affes wouhrough a thousand pores instruct us to detest, is madness and folly. Every day wears out the little remains of kindred between us and them, and there be any reason to hope, that as the relationship expires, the affe will increase, or that we shall agree better, when we have ten times more and greater s to quarrel over than ever? Ye that tell us of harmony and reciliation, ye restore to us the time that is past? ye give to prostitution its former innoeither ye recile Britain and America. The last cord now is broken, the people of England are presenting addresses against us.
There are injuries whiature ot five; she would cease to be nature if she did. As well the lover five the ravisher of his mistress, as the ti five the murders of Britain. The Almighty hath implanted in us these uinguishable feelings food and wise purposes.
They are the guardians of his image in our hearts. They distinguish us from the herd of on animals. The social pact would dissolve, and justice be extirpated the earth, or have only a casual existence were we callous to the touches of affe. The robber, and the murderer, would often escape unpunished, did not the injuries which our tempers sustain, provoke us into justice.
O ye that love mankind! Ye that dare oppose, not only the tyranny, but the tyrant, stand forth! Every spot of the old world is overrun with oppression. Freedom hath been hunted round the globe. Asia, and Africa, have long expelled her--Eurards her like a stranger, and England hath given her warning to depart. O! receive the fugitive, and prepare in time an asylum for mankind.
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