The Crisis III
Thomas Paine
[An open letter to the Citizens of the United
States of America, 19 April, 1777]
IN THE progress of politics, as in the common occurrences of life,
we are not only apt to forget the ground we have travelled over, but
frequently neglect to gather up experience as we go. We expend, if I
may so say, the knowledge of every day on the circumstances that
produce it, and journey on in search of new matter and new
refinements: but as it is pleasant and sometimes useful to look
back, even to the first periods of infancy, and trace the turns and
windings through which we have passed, so we may likewise derive
many advantages by halting a while in our political career, and
taking a review of the wondrous complicated labyrinth of little more
than yesterday.
Truly may we say, that never did men grow old in so short a time!
We have crowded the business of an age into the compass of a few
months, and have been driven through such a rapid succession of
things, that for the want of leisure to think, we unavoidably wasted
knowledge as we came, and have left nearly as much behind us as we
brought with us: but the road is yet rich with the fragments, and,
before we finally lose sight of them, will repay us for the trouble
of stopping to pick them up.
Were a man to be totally deprived of memory, he would be incapable
of forming any just opinion; every thing about him would seem a
chaos: he would have even his own history to ask from every one; and
by not knowing how the world went in his absence, he would be at a
loss to know how it ought to go on when he recovered, or rather,
returned to it again. In like manner, though in a less degree, a too
great inattention to past occurrences retards and bewilders our
judgment in everything; while, on the contrary, by comparing what is
past with what is present, we frequently hit on the true character
of both, and become wise with very little trouble. It is a kind of
counter-march, by which we get into the rear of time, and mark the
movements and meaning of things as we make our return. There are
certain circumstances, which, at the time of their happening, are a
kind of riddles, and as every riddle is to be followed by its
answer, so those kind of circumstances will be followed by their
events, and those events are always the true solution. A
considerable space of time may lapse between, and unless we continue
our observations from the one to the other, the harmony of them will
pass away unnoticed: but the misfortune is, that partly from the
pressing necessity of some instant things, and partly from the
impatience of our own tempers, we are frequently in such a hurry to
make out the meaning of everything as fast as it happens, that we
thereby never truly understand it; and not only start new
difficulties to ourselves by so doing, but, as it were, embarrass
Providence in her good designs.
I have been civil in stating this fault on a large scale, for, as
it now stands, it does not appear to be levelled against any
particular set of men; but were it to be refined a little further,
it might afterwards be applied to the Tories with a degree of
striking propriety: those men have been remarkable for drawing
sudden conclusions from single facts. The least apparent mishap on
our side, or the least seeming advantage on the part of the enemy,
have determined with them the fate of a whole campaign. By this
hasty judgment they have converted a retreat into a defeat; mistook
generalship for error; while every little advantage purposely given
the enemy, either to weaken their strength by dividing it, embarrass
their councils by multiplying their objects, or to secure a greater
post by the surrender of a less, has been instantly magnified into a
conquest. Thus, by quartering ill policy upon ill principles, they
have frequently promoted the cause they designed to injure, and
injured that which they intended to promote.
It is probable the campaign may open before this number comes from
the press. The enemy have long lain idle, and amused themselves with
carrying on the war by proclamations only. While they continue their
delay our strength increases, and were they to move to action now,
it is a circumstantial proof that they have no reinforcement coming;
wherefore, in either case, the comparative advantage will be ours.
Like a wounded, disabled whale, they want only time and room to die
in; and though in the agony of their exit, it may be unsafe to live
within the flapping of their tail, yet every hour shortens their
date, and lessens their power of mischief. If any thing happens
while this number is in the press, it will afford me a subject for
the last pages of it. At present I am tired of waiting; and as
neither the enemy, nor the state of politics have yet produced any
thing new, I am thereby left in the field of general matter,
undirected by any striking or particular object. This Crisis,
therefore, will be made up rather of variety than novelty, and
consist more of things useful than things wonderful.
The success of the cause, the union of the people, and the means of
supporting and securing both, are points which cannot be too much
attended to. He who doubts of the former is a desponding coward, and
he who wilfully disturbs the latter is a traitor. Their characters
are easily fixed, and under these short descriptions I leave them
for the present.
One of the greatest degrees of sentimental union which America ever
knew, was in denying the right of the British parliament "to
bind the colonies in all cases whatsoever." The Declaration is,
in its form, an almighty one, and is the loftiest stretch of
arbitrary power that ever one set of men or one country claimed over
another. Taxation was nothing more than the putting the declared
right into practice; and this failing, recourse was had to arms, as
a means to establish both the right and the practice, or to answer a
worse purpose, which will be mentioned in the course of this number.
And in order to repay themselves the expense of an army, and to
profit by their own injustice, the colonies were, by another law,
declared to be in a state of actual rebellion, and of consequence
all property therein would fall to the conquerors.
The colonies, on their part, first, denied the right; secondly,
they suspended the use of taxable articles, and petitioned against
the practice of taxation: and these failing, they, thirdly, defended
their property by force, as soon as it was forcibly invaded, and, in
answer to the declaration of rebellion and non-protection, published
their Declaration of Independence and right of self-protection.
These, in a few words, are the different stages of the quarrel; and
the parts are so intimately and necessarily connected with each
other as to admit of no separation. A person, to use a trite phrase,
must be a Whig or a Tory in a lump. His feelings, as a man, may be
wounded; his charity, as a Christian, may be moved; but his
political principles must go through all the cases on one side or
the other. He cannot be a Whig in this stage, and a Tory in that. If
he says he is against the united independence of the continent, he
is to all intents and purposes against her in all the rest; because
this last comprehends the whole. And he may just as well say, that
Britain was right in declaring us rebels; right in taxing us; and
right in declaring her "right to bind the colonies in all cases
whatsoever." It signifies nothing what neutral ground, of his
own creating, he may skulk upon for shelter, for the quarrel in no
stage of it hath afforded any such ground; and either we or Britain
are absolutely right or absolutely wrong through the whole.
Britain, like a gamester nearly ruined, has now put all her losses
into one bet, and is playing a desperate game for the total. If she
wins it, she wins from me my life; she wins the continent as the
forfeited property of rebels; the right of taxing those that are
left as reduced subjects; and the power of binding them slaves: and
the single die which determines this unparalleled event is, whether
we support our independence or she overturn it. This is coming to
the point at once. Here is the touchstone to try men by. He that is
not a supporter of the independent States of America in the same
degree that his religious and political principles would suffer him
to support the government of any other country, of which he called
himself a subject, is, in the American sense of the word, A TORY;
and the instant that he endeavors to bring his toryism into
practice, he becomes A TRAITOR. The first can only be detected by a
general test, and the law hath already provided for the latter.
It is unnatural and impolitic to admit men who would root up our
independence to have any share in our legislation, either as
electors or representatives; because the support of our independence
rests, in a great measure, on the vigor and purity of our public
bodies. Would Britain, even in time of peace, much less in war,
suffer an election to be carried by men who professed themselves to
be not her subjects, or allow such to sit in Parliament? Certainly
not.
But there are a certain species of Tories with whom conscience or
principle has nothing to do, and who are so from avarice only. Some
of the first fortunes on the continent, on the part of the Whigs,
are staked on the issue of our present measures. And shall
disaffection only be rewarded with security? Can any thing be a
greater inducement to a miserly man, than the hope of making his
Mammon safe? And though the scheme be fraught with every character
of folly, yet, so long as he supposes, that by doing nothing
materially criminal against America on one part, and by expressing
his private disapprobation against independence, as palliative with
the enemy, on the other part, he stands in a safe line between both;
while, I say, this ground be suffered to remain, craft, and the
spirit of avarice, will point it out, and men will not be wanting to
fill up this most contemptible of all characters.
These men, ashamed to own the sordid cause from whence their
disaffection springs, add thereby meanness to meanness, by
endeavoring to shelter themselves under the mask of hypocrisy; that
is, they had rather be thought to be Tories from some kind of
principle, than Tories by having no principle at all. But till such
time as they can show some real reason, natural, political, or
conscientious, on which their objections to independence are
founded, we are not obliged to give them credit for being Tories of
the first stamp, but must set them down as Tories of the last. In
the second number of the Crisis, I endeavored to show the
impossibility of the enemy's making any conquest of America, that
nothing was wanting on our part but patience and perseverance, and
that, with these virtues, our success, as far as human speculation
could discern, seemed as certain as fate. But as there are many
among us, who, influenced by others, have regularly gone back from
the principles they once held, in proportion as we have gone
forward; and as it is the unfortunate lot of many a good man to live
within the neighborhood of disaffected ones; I shall, therefore, for
the sake of confirming the one and recovering the other, endeavor,
in the space of a page or two, to go over some of the leading
principles in support of independence. It is a much pleasanter task
to prevent vice than to punish it, and, however our tempers may be
gratified by resentment, or our national expenses eased by forfeited
estates, harmony and friendship is, nevertheless, the happiest
condition a country can be blessed with.
The principal arguments in support of independence may be
comprehended under the four following heads.
1st, The natural right of the continent to independence.
2d, Her interest in being independent.
3d, The necessity,- and
4th, The moral advantages arising therefrom.
I. The natural right of the continent to independence, is a point
which never yet was called in question. It will not even admit of a
debate. To deny such a right, would be a kind of atheism against
nature: and the best answer to such an objection would be, "The
fool hath said in his heart there is no God."
II. The interest of the continent in being independent is a point
as clearly right as the former. America, by her own internal
industry, and unknown to all the powers of Europe, was, at the
beginning of the dispute, arrived at a pitch of greatness, trade and
population, beyond which it was the interest of Britain not to
suffer her to pass, lest she should grow too powerful to be kept
subordinate. She began to view this country with the same uneasy
malicious eye, with which a covetous guardian would view his ward,
whose estate he had been enriching himself by for twenty years, and
saw him just arriving at manhood. And America owes no more to
Britain for her present maturity, than the ward would to the
guardian for being twenty-one years of age. That America hath
flourished at the time she was under the government of Britain, is
true; but there is every natural reason to believe, that had she
been an independent country from the first settlement thereof,
uncontrolled by any foreign power, free to make her own laws,
regulate and encourage her own commerce, she had by this time been
of much greater worth than now. The case is simply this: the first
settlers in the different colonies were left to shift for
themselves, unnoticed and unsupported by any European government;
but as the tyranny and persecution of the old world daily drove
numbers to the new, and as, by the favor of heaven on their industry
and perseverance, they grew into importance, so, in a like degree,
they became an object of profit to the greedy eyes of Europe. It was
impossible, in this state of infancy, however thriving and
promising, that they could resist the power of any armed invader
that should seek to bring them under his authority. In this
situation, Britain thought it worth her while to claim them, and the
continent received and acknowledged the claimer. It was, in reality,
of no very great importance who was her master, seeing, that from
the force and ambition of the different powers of Europe, she must,
till she acquired strength enough to assert her own right,
acknowledge some one. As well, perhaps, Britain as another; and it
might have been as well to have been under the states of Holland as
any. The same hopes of engrossing and profiting by her trade, by not
oppressing it too much, would have operated alike with any master,
and produced to the colonies the same effects. The clamor of
protection, likewise, was all a farce; because, in order to make
that protection necessary, she must first, by her own quarrels,
create us enemies. Hard terms indeed!
To know whether it be the interest of the continent to be
independent, we need only ask this easy, simple question: Is it the
interest of a man to be a boy all his life? The answer to one will
be the answer to both. America hath been one continued scene of
legislative contention from the first king's representative to the
last; and this was unavoidably founded in the natural opposition of
interest between the old country and the new. A governor sent from
England, or receiving his authority therefrom, ought never to have
been considered in any other light than that of a genteel
commissioned spy, whose private business was information, and his
public business a kind of civilized oppression. In the first of
these characters he was to watch the tempers, sentiments, and
disposition of the people, the growth of trade, and the increase of
private fortunes; and, in the latter, to suppress all such acts of
the assemblies, however beneficial to the people, which did not
directly or indirectly throw some increase of power or profit into
the hands of those that sent him.
America, till now, could never be called a free country, because
her legislation depended on the will of a man three thousand miles
distant, whose interest was in opposition to ours, and who, by a
single "no," could forbid what law he pleased.
The freedom of trade, likewise, is, to a trading country, an
article of such importance, that the principal source of wealth
depends upon it; and it is impossible that any country can flourish,
as it otherwise might do, whose commerce is engrossed, cramped and
fettered by the laws and mandates of another - yet these evils, and
more than I can here enumerate, the continent has suffered by being
under the government of England. By an independence we clear the
whole at once - put an end to the business of unanswered petitions
and fruitless remonstrances - exchange Britain for Europe- shake
hands with the world - live at peace with the world- and trade to
any market where we can buy and sell.
III. The necessity, likewise, of being independent, even before it
was declared, became so evident and important, that the continent
ran the risk of being ruined every day that she delayed it. There
was reason to believe that Britain would endeavor to make an
European matter of it, and, rather than lose the whole, would
dismember it, like Poland, and dispose of her several claims to the
highest bidder. Genoa, failing in her attempts to reduce Corsica,
made a sale of it to the French, and such trafficks have been common
in the old world. We had at that time no ambassador in any part of
Europe, to counteract her negotiations, and by that means she had
the range of every foreign court uncontradicted on our part. We even
knew nothing of the treaty for the Hessians till it was concluded,
and the troops ready to embark. Had we been independent before, we
had probably prevented her obtaining them. We had no credit abroad,
because of our rebellious dependency. Our ships could claim no
protection in foreign ports, because we afforded them no justifiable
reason for granting it to us. The calling ourselves subjects, and at
the same time fighting against the power which we acknowledged, was
a dangerous precedent to all Europe. If the grievances justified the
taking up arms, they justified our separation; if they did not
justify our separation, neither could they justify our taking up
arms. All Europe was interested in reducing us as rebels, and all
Europe (or the greatest part at least) is interested in supporting
us as independent States. At home our condition was still worse: our
currency had no foundation, and the fall of it would have ruined
Whig and Tory alike. We had no other law than a kind of moderated
passion; no other civil power than an honest mob; and no other
protection than the temporary attachment of one man to another. Had
independence been delayed a few months longer, this continent would
have been plunged into irrecoverable confusion: some violent for it,
some against it, till, in the general cabal, the rich would have
been ruined, and the poor destroyed. It is to independence that
every Tory owes the present safety which he lives in; for by that,
and that only, we emerged from a state of dangerous suspense, and
became a regular people.
The necessity, likewise, of being independent, had there been no
rupture between Britain and America, would, in a little time, have
brought one on. The increasing importance of commerce, the weight
and perplexity of legislation, and the entangled state of European
politics, would daily have shown to the continent the impossibility
of continuing subordinate; for, after the coolest reflections on the
matter, this must be allowed, that Britain was too jealous of
America to govern it justly; too ignorant of it to govern it well;
and too far distant from it to govern it at all.
IV. But what weigh most with all men of serious reflection are, the
moral advantages arising from independence: war and desolation have
become the trade of the old world; and America neither could nor can
be under the government of Britain without becoming a sharer of her
guilt, and a partner in all the dismal commerce of death. The spirit
of duelling, extended on a national scale, is a proper character for
European wars. They have seldom any other motive than pride, or any
other object than fame. The conquerors and the conquered are
generally ruined alike, and the chief difference at last is, that
the one marches home with his honors, and the other without them.
'Tis the natural temper of the English to fight for a feather, if
they suppose that feather to be an affront; and America, without the
right of asking why, must have abetted in every quarrel, and abided
by its fate. It is a shocking situation to live in, that one country
must be brought into all the wars of another, whether the measure be
right or wrong, or whether she will or not; yet this, in the fullest
extent, was, and ever would be, the unavoidable consequence of the
connection. Surely the Quakers forgot their own principles when, in
their late Testimony, they called this connection, with these
military and miserable appendages hanging to it - "the happy
constitution."
Britain, for centuries past, has been nearly fifty years out of
every hundred at war with some power or other. It certainly ought to
be a conscientious as well political consideration with America, not
to dip her hands in the bloody work of Europe. Our situation affords
us a retreat from their cabals, and the present happy union of the
states bids fair for extirpating the future use of arms from one
quarter of the world; yet such have been the irreligious politics of
the present leaders of the Quakers, that, for the sake of they
scarce know what, they would cut off every hope of such a blessing
by tying this continent to Britain, like Hector to the chariot wheel
of Achilles, to be dragged through all the miseries of endless
European wars.
The connection, viewed from this ground, is distressing to every
man who has the feelings of humanity. By having Britain for our
master, we became enemies to the greatest part of Europe, and they
to us: and the consequence was war inevitable. By being our own
masters, independent of any foreign one, we have Europe for our
friends, and the prospect of an endless peace among ourselves. Those
who were advocates for the British government over these colonies,
were obliged to limit both their arguments and their ideas to the
period of an European peace only; the moment Britain became plunged
in war, every supposed convenience to us vanished, and all we could
hope for was not to be ruined. Could this be a desirable condition
for a young country to be in?
Had the French pursued their fortune immediately after the defeat
of Braddock last war, this city and province had then experienced
the woful calamities of being a British subject. A scene of the same
kind might happen again; for America, considered as a subject to the
crown of Britain, would ever have been the seat of war, and the bone
of contention between the two powers.
On the whole, if the future expulsion of arms from one quarter of
the world would be a desirable object to a peaceable man; if the
freedom of trade to every part of it can engage the attention of a
man of business; if the support or fall of millions of currency can
affect our interests; if the entire possession of estates, by
cutting off the lordly claims of Britain over the soil, deserves the
regard of landed property; and if the right of making our own laws,
uncontrolled by royal or ministerial spies or mandates, be worthy
our care as freemen;- then are all men interested in the support of
independence; and may he that supports it not, be driven from the
blessing, and live unpitied beneath the servile sufferings of
scandalous subjection!
We have been amused with the tales of ancient wonders; we have
read, and wept over the histories of other nations: applauded,
censured, or pitied, as their cases affected us. The fortitude and
patience of the sufferers - the justness of their cause - the weight
of their oppressions and oppressors - the object to be saved or lost
- with all the consequences of a defeat or a conquest - have, in the
hour of sympathy, bewitched our hearts, and chained it to their
fate: but where is the power that ever made war upon petitioners? Or
where is the war on which a world was staked till now?
We may not, perhaps, be wise enough to make all the advantages we
ought of our independence; but they are, nevertheless, marked and
presented to us with every character of great and good, and worthy
the hand of him who sent them. I look through the present trouble to
a time of tranquillity, when we shall have it in our power to set an
example of peace to all the world. Were the Quakers really impressed
and influenced by the quiet principles they profess to hold, they
would, however they might disapprove the means, be the first of all
men to approve of independence, because, by separating ourselves
from the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, it affords an opportunity
never given to man before of carrying their favourite principle of
peace into general practice, by establishing governments that shall
hereafter exist without wars. O! ye fallen, cringing,
priest-and-Pemberton-ridden people! What more can we say of ye than
that a religious Quaker is a valuable character, and a political
Quaker a real Jesuit.
Having thus gone over some of the principal points in support of
independence, I must now request the reader to return back with me
to the period when it first began to be a public doctrine, and to
examine the progress it has made among the various classes of men.
The area I mean to begin at, is the breaking out of hostilities,
April 19th, 1775. Until this event happened, the continent seemed to
view the dispute as a kind of law-suit for a matter of right,
litigating between the old country and the new; and she felt the
same kind and degree of horror, as if she had seen an oppressive
plaintiff, at the head of a band of ruffians, enter the court, while
the cause was before it, and put the judge, the jury, the defendant
and his counsel, to the sword. Perhaps a more heart-felt convulsion
never reached a country with the same degree of power and rapidity
before, and never may again. Pity for the sufferers, mixed with
indignation at the violence, and heightened with apprehensions of
undergoing the same fate, made the affair of Lexington the affair of
the continent. Every part of it felt the shock, and all vibrated
together. A general promotion of sentiment took place: those who had
drank deeply into Whiggish principles, that is, the right and
necessity not only of opposing, but wholly setting aside the power
of the crown as soon as it became practically dangerous (for in
theory it was always so), stepped into the first stage of
independence; while another class of Whigs, equally sound in
principle, but not so sanguine in enterprise, attached themselves
the stronger to the cause, and fell close in with the rear of the
former; their partition was a mere point. Numbers of the moderate
men, whose chief fault, at that time, arose from entertaining a
better opinion of Britain than she deserved, convinced now of their
mistake, gave her up, and publicly declared themselves good Whigs.
While the Tories, seeing it was no longer a laughing matter, either
sank into silent obscurity, or contented themselves with coming
forth and abusing General Gage: not a single advocate appeared to
justify the action of that day; it seemed to appear to every one
with the same magnitude, struck every one with the same force, and
created in every one the same abhorrence. From this period we may
date the growth of independence.
If the many circumstances which happened at this memorable time, be
taken in one view, and compared with each other, they will justify a
conclusion which seems not to have been attended to, I mean a fixed
design in the king and ministry of driving America into arms, in
order that they might be furnished with a pretence for seizing the
whole continent, as the immediate property of the crown. A noble
plunder for hungry courtiers!
It ought to be remembered, that the first petition from the
Congress was at this time unanswered on the part of the British
king. That the motion, called Lord North's motion, of the 20th of
February, 1775, arrived in America the latter end of March. This
motion was to be laid, by the several governors then in being,
before, the assembly of each province; and the first assembly before
which it was laid, was the assembly of Pennsylvania, in May
following. This being a just state of the case, I then ask, why were
hostilities commenced between the time of passing the resolve in the
House of Commons, of the 20th of February, and the time of the
assemblies meeting to deliberate upon it? Degrading and famous as
that motion was, there is nevertheless reason to believe that the
king and his adherents were afraid the colonies would agree to it,
and lest they should, took effectual care they should not, by
provoking them with hostilities in the interim. They had not the
least doubt at that time of conquering America at one blow; and what
they expected to get by a conquest being infinitely greater than any
thing they could hope to get either by taxation or accommodation,
they seemed determined to prevent even the possibility of hearing
each other, lest America should disappoint their greedy hopes of the
whole, by listening even to their own terms. On the one hand they
refused to hear the petition of the continent, and on the other hand
took effectual care the continent should not hear them.
That the motion of the 20th February and the orders for commencing
hostilities were both concerted by the same person or persons, and
not the latter by General Gage, as was falsely imagined at first, is
evident from an extract of a letter of his to the administration,
read among other papers in the House of Commons; in which he informs
his masters, "That though their idea of his disarming certain
counties was a right one, yet it required him to be master of the
country, in order to enable him to execute it." This was prior
to the commencement of hostilities, and consequently before the
motion of the 20th February could be deliberated on by the several
assemblies.
Perhaps it may be asked, why was the motion passed, if there was at
the same time a plan to aggravate the Americans not to listen to it?
Lord North assigned one reason himself, which was a hope of dividing
them. This was publicly tempting them to reject it; that if, in case
the injury of arms should fail in provoking them sufficiently, the
insult of such a declaration might fill it up. But by passing the
motion and getting it afterwards rejected in America, it enabled
them, in their wicked idea of politics, among other things, to hold
up the colonies to foreign powers, with every possible mark of
disobedience and rebellion. They had applied to those powers not to
supply the continent with arms, ammunition, etc., and it was
necessary they should incense them against us, by assigning on their
own part some seeming reputable reason why. By dividing, it had a
tendency to weaken the States, and likewise to perplex the
adherents of America in England. But the principal scheme, and that
which has marked their character in every part of their conduct, was
a design of precipitating the colonies into a state which they might
afterwards deem rebellion, and, under that pretence, put an end to
all future complaints, petitions and remonstrances, by seizing the
whole at once. They had ravaged one part of the globe, till it could
glut them no longer; their prodigality required new plunder, and
through the East India article tea they hoped to transfer their
rapine from that quarter of the world to this. Every designed
quarrel had its pretence; and the same barbarian avarice accompanied
the plant to America, which ruined the country that produced it.
That men never turn rogues without turning fools is a maxim, sooner
or later, universally true. The commencement of hostilities, being
in the beginning of April, was, of all times the worst chosen: the
Congress were to meet the tenth of May following, and the distress
the continent felt at this unparalleled outrage gave a stability to
that body which no other circumstance could have done. It suppressed
too all inferior debates, and bound them together by a necessitous
affection, without giving them time to differ upon trifles. The
suffering likewise softened the whole body of the people into a
degree of pliability, which laid the principal foundation-stone of
union, order, and government; and which, at any other time, might
only have fretted and then faded away unnoticed and unimproved. But
Providence, who best knows how to time her misfortunes as well as
her immediate favors, chose this to be the time, and who dare
dispute it?
It did not seem the disposition of the people, at this crisis, to
heap petition upon petition, while the former remained unanswered.
The measure however was carried in Congress, and a second petition
was sent; of which I shall only remark that it was submissive even
to a dangerous fault, because the prayer of it appealed solely to
what it called the prerogative of the crown, while the matter in
dispute was confessedly constitutional. But even this petition,
flattering as it was, was still not so harmonious as the chink of
cash, and consequently not sufficiently grateful to the tyrant and
his ministry. From every circumstance it is evident, that it was the
determination of the British court to have nothing to do with
America but to conquer her fully and absolutely. They were certain
of success, and the field of battle was the only place of treaty. I
am confident there are thousands and tens of thousands in America
who wonder now that they should ever have thought otherwise; but the
sin of that day was the sin of civility; yet it operated against our
present good in the same manner that a civil opinion of the devil
would against our future peace.
Independence was a doctrine scarce and rare, even towards the
conclusion of the year 1775; all our politics had been founded on
the hope of expectation of making the matter up- a hope, which,
though general on the side of America, had never entered the head or
heart of the British court. Their hope was conquest and
confiscation. Good heavens! what volumes of thanks does America owe
to Britain? What infinite obligation to the tool that fills, with
paradoxical vacancy, the throne! Nothing but the sharpest essence of
villany, compounded with the strongest distillation of folly, could
have produced a menstruum that would have effected a separation. The
Congress in 1774 administered an abortive medicine to independence,
by prohibiting the importation of goods, and the succeeding Congress
rendered the dose still more dangerous by continuing it. Had
independence been a settled system with America, (as Britain has
advanced,) she ought to have doubled her importation, and prohibited
in some degree her exportation. And this single circumstance is
sufficient to acquit America before any jury of nations, of having a
continental plan of independence in view; a charge which, had it
been true, would have been honorable, but is so grossly false, that
either the amazing ignorance or the wilful dishonesty of the British
court is effectually proved by it.
The second petition, like the first, produced no answer; it was
scarcely acknowledged to have been received; the British court were
too determined in their villainy even to act it artfully, and in
their rage for conquest neglected the necessary subtleties for
obtaining it. They might have divided, distracted and played a
thousand tricks with us, had they been as cunning as they were
cruel. This last indignity gave a new spring to independence. Those
who knew the savage obstinacy of the king, and the jobbing, gambling
spirit of the court, predicted the fate of the petition, as soon as
it was sent from America; for the men being known, their measures
were easily foreseen. As politicians we ought not so much to ground
our hopes on the reasonableness of the thing we ask, as on the
reasonableness of the person of whom we ask it: who would expect
discretion from a fool, candor from a tyrant, or justice from a
villain?
As every prospect of accommodation seemed now to fail fast, men
began to think seriously on the matter; and their reason being thus
stripped of the false hope which had long encompassed it, became
approachable by fair debate: yet still the bulk of the people
hesitated; they startled at the novelty of independence, without
once considering that our getting into arms at first was a more
extraordinary novelty, and that all other nations had gone through
the work of independence before us. They doubted likewise the
ability of the continent to support it, without reflecting that it
required the same force to obtain an accommodation by arms as an
independence. If the one was acquirable, the other was the same;
because, to accomplish either, it was necessary that our strength
should be too great for Britain to subdue; and it was too
unreasonable to suppose, that with the power of being masters, we
should submit to be servants. Their caution at this time was
exceedingly misplaced; for if they were able to defend their
property and maintain their rights by arms, they, consequently, were
able to defend and support their independence; and in proportion as
these men saw the necessity and correctness of the measure, they
honestly and openly declared and adopted it, and the part that they
had acted since has done them honor and fully established their
characters. Error in opinion has this peculiar advantage with it,
that the foremost point of the contrary ground may at any time be
reached by the sudden exertion of a thought; and it frequently
happens in sentimental differences, that some striking circumstance,
or some forcible reason quickly conceived, will effect in an instant
what neither argument nor example could produce in an age.
I find it impossible in the small compass I am limited to, to trace
out the progress which independence has made on the minds of the
different classes of men, and the several reasons by which they were
moved. With some, it was a passionate abhorrence against the king of
England and his ministry, as a set of savages and brutes; and these
men, governed by the agony of a wounded mind, were for trusting
every thing to hope and heaven, and bidding defiance at once. With
others, it was a growing conviction that the scheme of the British
court was to create, ferment and drive on a quarrel, for the sake of
confiscated plunder: and men of this class ripened into independence
in proportion as the evidence increased. While a third class
conceived it was the true interest of America, internally and
externally, to be her own master, and gave their support to
independence, step by step, as they saw her abilities to maintain it
enlarge. With many, it was a compound of all these reasons; while
those who were too callous to be reached by either, remained, and
still remain Tories.
The legal necessity of being independent, with several collateral
reasons, is pointed out in an elegant masterly manner, in a charge
to the grand jury for the district of Charleston, by the Hon.
William Henry Drayton, chief justice of South Carolina, [April 23,
1776]. This performance, and the address of the convention of New
York, are pieces, in my humble opinion, of the first rank in
America.
The principal causes why independence has not been so universally
supported as it ought, are fear and indolence, and the causes why it
has been opposed, are, avarice, down-right villany, and lust of
personal power. There is not such a being in America as a Tory from
conscience; some secret defect or other is interwoven in the
character of all those, be they men or women, who can look with
patience on the brutality, luxury and debauchery of the British
court, and the violations of their army here. A woman's virtue must
sit very lightly on her who can even hint a favorable sentiment in
their behalf. It is remarkable that the whole race of prostitutes in
New York were tories; and the schemes for supporting the Tory cause
in this city, for which several are now in jail, and one hanged,
were concerted and carried on in common bawdy-houses, assisted by
those who kept them. The connection between vice and meanness is a
fit subject for satire, but when the satire is a fact, it cuts with
the irresistible power of a diamond. If a Quaker, in defence of his
just rights, his property, and the chastity of his house, takes up a
musket, he is expelled the meeting; but the present king of England,
who seduced and took into keeping a sister of their society, is
reverenced and supported by repeated Testimonies, while, the
friendly noodle from whom she was taken (and who is now in this
city) continues a drudge in the service of his rival, as if proud of
being cuckolded by a creature called a king.
Our support and success depend on such a variety of men and
circumstances, that every one who does but wish well, is of some
use: there are men who have a strange aversion to arms, yet have
hearts to risk every shilling in the cause, or in support of those
who have better talents for defending it. Nature, in the arrangement
of mankind, has fitted some for every service in life: were all
soldiers, all would starve and go naked, and were none soldiers, all
would be slaves. As disaffection to independence is the badge of a
Tory, so affection to it is the mark of a Whig; and the different
services of the Whigs, down from those who nobly contribute every
thing, to those who have nothing to render but their wishes, tend
all to the same center, though with different degrees of merit and
ability. The larger we make the circle, the more we shall harmonize,
and the stronger we shall be. All we want to shut out is
disaffection, and, that excluded, we must accept from each other
such duties as we are best fitted to bestow. A narrow system of
politics, like a narrow system of religion, is calculated only to
sour the temper, and be at variance with mankind.
All we want to know in America is simply this, who is for
independence, and who is not? Those who are for it, will support it,
and the remainder will undoubtedly see the reasonableness of paying
the charges; while those who oppose or seek to betray it, must
expect the more rigid fate of the jail and the gibbet. There is a
bastard kind of generosity, which being extended to all men, is as
fatal to society, on one hand, as the want of true generosity is on
the other. A lax manner of administering justice, falsely termed
moderation, has a tendency both to dispirit public virtue, and
promote the growth of public evils. Had the late committee of safety
taken cognizance of the last Testimony of the Quakers and proceeded
against such delinquents as were concerned therein, they had,
probably, prevented the treasonable plans which have been concerted
since. When one villain is suffered to escape, it encourages another
to proceed, either from a hope of escaping likewise, or an
apprehension that we dare not punish. It has been a matter of
general surprise, that no notice was taken of the incendiary
publication of the Quakers, of the 20th of November last; a
publication evidently intended to promote sedition and treason, and
encourage the enemy, who were then within a day's march of this
city, to proceed on and possess it. I here present the reader with a
memorial which was laid before the board of safety a few days after
the Testimony appeared. Not a member of that board, that I conversed
with, but expressed the highest detestation of the perverted
principles and conduct of the Quaker junto, and a wish that the
board would take the matter up; notwithstanding which, it was
suffered to pass away unnoticed, to the encouragement of new acts of
treason, the general danger of the cause, and the disgrace of the
state.
To the honorable the Council of Safety of the State of
Pennsylvania.
At a meeting of a reputable number of the inhabitants of the city
of Philadelphia, impressed with a proper sense of the justice of the
cause which this continent is engaged in, and animated with a
generous fervor for supporting the same, it was resolved, that the
following be laid before the board of safety:
- "We profess liberality of sentiment to all men; with
this distinction only, that those who do not deserve it would
become wise and seek to deserve it. We hold the pure doctrines
of universal liberty of conscience, and conceive it our duty
to endeavor to secure that sacred right to others, as well as
to defend it for ourselves; for we undertake not to judge of
the religious rectitude of tenets, but leave the whole matter
to Him who made us.
- "We persecute no man, neither will we abet in the
persecution of any man for religion's sake; our common
relation to others being that of fellow-citizens and
fellow-subjects of one single community; and in this line of
connection we hold out the right hand of fellowship to all
men. But we should conceive ourselves to be unworthy members
of the free and independent States of America, were we
unconcernedly to see or to suffer any treasonable wound,
public or private, directly or indirectly, to be given against
the peace and safety of the same. We inquire not into the rank
of the offenders, nor into their religious persuasion; we have
no business with either, our part being only to find them out
and exhibit them to justice.
- "A printed paper, dated the 20th of November, and
signed 'John Pemberton,' whom we suppose to be an inhabitant
of this city, has lately been dispersed abroad, a copy of
which accompanies this. Had the framers and publishers of that
paper conceived it their duty to exhort the youth and others
of their society, to a patient submission under the present
trying visitations, and humbly to wait the event of heaven
towards them, they had therein shown a Christian temper, and
we had been silent; but the anger and political virulence with
which their instructions are given, and the abuse with which
they stigmatize all ranks of men not thinking like themselves,
leave no doubt on our minds from what spirit their publication
proceeded: and it is disgraceful to the pure cause of truth,
that men can dally with words of the most sacred import, and
play them off as mechanically as if religion consisted only in
contrivance. We know of no instance in which the Quakers have
been compelled to bear arms, or to do any thing which might
strain their conscience; wherefore their advice, 'to withstand
and refuse to submit to the arbitrary instructions and
ordinances of men,' appear to us a false alarm, and could only
be treasonably calculated to gain favor with our enemies,
when they are seemingly on the brink of invading this State,
or, what is still worse, to weaken the hands of our defence,
that their entrance into this city might be made practicable
and easy.
- "We disclaim all tumult and disorder in the punishment
of offenders; and wish to be governed, not by temper but by
reason, in the manner of treating them. We are sensible that
our cause has suffered by the two following errors: first, by
ill-judged lenity to traitorous persons in some cases; and,
secondly, by only a passionate treatment of them in others.
For the future we disown both, and wish to be steady in our
proceedings, and serious in our punishments.
- "Every State in America has, by the repeated voice of
its inhabitants, directed and authorized the Continental
Congress to publish a formal Declaration of Independence of,
and separation from, the oppressive king and Parliament of
Great Britain; and we look on every man as an enemy, who does
not in some line or other, give his assistance towards
supporting the same; at the same time we consider the offence
to be heightened to a degree of unpardonable guilt, when such
persons, under the show of religion, endeavor, either by
writing, speaking, or otherwise, to subvert, overturn, or
bring reproach upon the independence of this continent as
declared by Congress.
- "The publishers of the paper signed 'John Pemberton,'
have called in a loud manner to their friends and connections,
'to withstand or refuse' obedience to whatever 'instructions
or ordinances' may be published, not warranted by (what they
call) 'that happy Constitution under which they and others
long enjoyed tranquillity and peace.' If this be not treason,
we know not what may properly be called by that name.
- "To us it is a matter of surprise and astonishment,
that men with the word 'peace, peace,' continually on their
lips, should be so fond of living under and supporting a
government, and at the same time calling it 'happy,' which is
never better pleased than when a war- that has filled India
with carnage and famine, Africa with slavery, and tampered
with Indians and negroes to cut the throats of the freemen of
America. We conceive it a disgrace to this State, to harbor or
wink at such palpable hypocrisy. But as we seek not to hurt
the hair of any man's head, when we can make ourselves safe
without, we wish such persons to restore peace to themselves
and us, by removing themselves to some part of the king of
Great Britain's dominions, as by that means they may live
unmolested by us and we by them; for our fixed opinion is,
that those who do not deserve a place among us, ought not to
have one. "We conclude with requesting the Council of
Safety to take into consideration the paper signed 'John
Pemberton,' and if it shall appear to them to be of a
dangerous tendency, or of a treasonable nature, that they
would commit the signer, together with such other persons as
they can discover were concerned therein, into custody, until
such time as some mode of trial shall ascertain the full
degree of their guilt and punishment; in the doing of which,
we wish their judges, whoever they may be, to disregard the
man, his connections, interest, riches, poverty, or principles
of religion, and to attend to the nature of his offence only."
- The most cavilling sectarian cannot accuse the foregoing
with containing the least ingredient of persecution. The free
spirit on which the American cause is founded, disdains to mix
with such an impurity, and leaves it as rubbish fit only for
narrow and suspicious minds to grovel in. Suspicion and
persecution are weeds of the same dunghill, and flourish
together. Had the Quakers minded their religion and their
business, they might have lived through this dispute in
enviable ease, and none would have molested them. The common
phrase with these people is, 'Our principles are peace.' To
which may be replied, and your practices are the reverse; for
never did the conduct of men oppose their own doctrine more
notoriously than the present race of the Quakers. They have
artfully changed themselves into a different sort of people to
what they used to be, and yet have the address to persuade
each other that they are not altered; like antiquated virgins,
they see not the havoc deformity has made upon them, but
pleasantly mistaking wrinkles for dimples, conceive themselves
yet lovely and wonder at the stupid world for not admiring
them.
Did no injury arise to the public by this apostacy of the Quakers
from themselves, the public would have nothing to do with it; but as
both the design and consequences are pointed against a cause in
which the whole community are interested, it is therefore no longer
a subject confined to the cognizance of the meeting only, but comes,
as a matter of criminality, before the authority either of the
particular State in which it is acted, or of the continent against
which it operates. Every attempt, now, to support the authority of
the king and Parliament of Great Britain over America, is treason
against every State; therefore it is impossible that any one can
pardon or screen from punishment an offender against all.
But to proceed: while the infatuated Tories of this and other
States were last spring talking of commissioners, accommodation,
making the matter up, and the Lord knows what stuff and nonsense,
their good king and ministry were glutting themselves with the
revenge of reducing America to unconditional submission, and
solacing each other with the certainty of conquering it in one
campaign. The following quotations are from the parliamentary
register of the debate's of the House of Lords, March 5th, 1776:
"The Americans," says Lord Talbot, "have been
obstinate, undutiful, and ungovernable from the very beginning, from
their first early and infant settlements; and I am every day more
and more convinced that this people never will be brought back to
their duty, and the subordinate relation they stand in to this
country, till reduced to unconditional, effectual submission; no
concession on our part, no lenity, no endurance, will have any other
effect but that of increasing their insolence."
"The struggle," says Lord Townsend, "is now a
struggle for power; the die is cast, and the only point which now
remains to be determined is, in what manner the war can be most
effectually prosecuted and speedily finished, in order to procure
that unconditional submission, which has been so ably stated by the
noble Earl with the white staff" (meaning Lord Talbot;) "and
I have no reason to doubt that the measures now pursuing will put an
end to the war in the course of a single campaign. Should it linger
longer, we shall then have reason to expect that some foreign power
will interfere, and take advantage of our domestic troubles and
civil distractions."
Lord Littleton. "My sentiments are pretty well known. I shall
only observe now that lenient measures have had no other effect than
to produce insult after insult; that the more we conceded, the
higher America rose in her demands, and the more insolent she has
grown. It is for this reason that I am now for the most effective
and decisive measures; and am of opinion that no alternative is left
us, but to relinquish America for ever, or finally determine to
compel her to acknowledge the legislative authority of this country;
and it is the principle of an unconditional submission I would be
for maintaining."
Can words be more expressive than these? Surely the Tories will
believe the Tory lords! The truth is, they do believe them and know
as fully as any Whig on the continent knows, that the king and
ministry never had the least design of an accommodation with
America, but an absolute, unconditional conquest. And the part which
the Tories were to act, was, by downright lying, to endeavor to put
the continent off its guard, and to divide and sow discontent in the
minds of such Whigs as they might gain an influence over. In short,
to keep up a distraction here, that the force sent from England
might be able to conquer in "one campaign." They and the
ministry were, by a different game, playing into each other's hands.
The cry of the Tories in England was, "No reconciliation, no
accommodation," in order to obtain the greater military force;
while those in America were crying nothing but "reconciliation
and accommodation," that the force sent might conquer with the
less resistance.
But this "single campaign" is over, and America not
conquered. The whole work is yet to do, and the force much less to
do it with. Their condition is both despicable and deplorable: out
of cash- out of heart, and out of hope. A country furnished with
arms and ammunition as America now is, with three millions of
inhabitants, and three thousand miles distant from the nearest enemy
that can approach her, is able to look and laugh them in the face.
Howe appears to have two objects in view, either to go up the North
River, or come to Philadelphia.
By going up the North River, he secures a retreat for his army
through Canada, but the ships must return if they return at all, the
same way they went; as our army would be in the rear, the safety of
their passage down is a doubtful matter. By such a motion he shuts
himself from all supplies from Europe, but through Canada, and
exposes his army and navy to the danger of perishing. The idea of
his cutting off the communication between the eastern and southern
states, by means of the North River, is merely visionary. He cannot
do it by his shipping; because no ship can lay long at anchor in any
river within reach of the shore; a single gun would drive a first
rate from such a station. This was fully proved last October at
Forts Washington and Lee, where one gun only, on each side of the
river, obliged two frigates to cut and be towed off in an hour's
time. Neither can he cut it off by his army; because the several
posts they must occupy would divide them almost to nothing, and
expose them to be picked up by ours like pebbles on a river's bank;
but admitting that he could, where is the injury? Because, while his
whole force is cantoned out, as sentries over the water, they will
be very innocently employed, and the moment they march into the
country the communication opens.
The most probable object is Philadelphia, and the reasons are many.
Howe's business is to conquer it, and in proportion as he finds
himself unable to the task, he will employ his strength to distress
women and weak minds, in order to accomplish through their fears
what he cannot accomplish by his own force. His coming or attempting
to come to Philadelphia is a circumstance that proves his weakness:
for no general that felt himself able to take the field and attack
his antagonist would think of bringing his army into a city in the
summer time; and this mere shifting the scene from place to place,
without effecting any thing, has feebleness and cowardice on the
face of it, and holds him up in a contemptible light to all who can
reason justly and firmly. By several informations from New York, it
appears that their army in general, both officers and men, have
given up the expectation of conquering America; their eye now is
fixed upon the spoil. They suppose Philadelphia to be rich with
stores, and as they think to get more by robbing a town than by
attacking an army, their movement towards this city is probable. We
are not now contending against an army of soldiers, but against a
band of thieves, who had rather plunder than fight, and have no
other hope of conquest than by cruelty.
They expect to get a mighty booty, and strike another general
panic, by making a sudden movement and getting possession of this
city; but unless they can march out as well as in, or get the entire
command of the river, to remove off their plunder, they may probably
be stopped with the stolen goods upon them. They have never yet
succeeded wherever they have been opposed, but at Fort Washington.
At Charleston their defeat was effectual. At Ticonderoga they ran
away. In every skirmish at Kingsbridge and the White Plains they
were obliged to retreat, and the instant that our arms were turned
upon them in the Jerseys, they turned likewise, and those that
turned not were taken.
The necessity of always fitting our internal police to the
circumstances of the times we live in, is something so strikingly
obvious, that no sufficient objection can be made against it. The
safety of all societies depends upon it; and where this point is not
attended to, the consequences will either be a general languor or a
tumult. The encouragement and protection of the good subjects of any
state, and the suppression and punishment of bad ones, are the
principal objects for which all authority is instituted, and the
line in which it ought to operate. We have in this city a strange
variety of men and characters, and the circumstances of the times
require that they should be publicly known; it is not the number of
Tories that hurt us, so much as the not finding out who they are;
men must now take one side or the other, and abide by the
consequences: the Quakers, trusting to their short-sighted sagacity,
have, most unluckily for them, made their declaration in their last
Testimony, and we ought now to take them at their word. They have
involuntarily read themselves out of the continental meeting, and
cannot hope to be restored to it again but by payment and penitence.
Men whose political principles are founded on avarice, are beyond
the reach of reason, and the only cure of Toryism of this cast is to
tax it. A substantial good drawn from a real evil, is of the same
benefit to society, as if drawn from a virtue; and where men have
not public spirit to render themselves serviceable, it ought to be
the study of government to draw the best use possible from their
vices. When the governing passion of any man, or set of men, is once
known, the method of managing them is easy; for even misers, whom no
public virtue can impress, would become generous, could a heavy tax
be laid upon covetousness.
The Tories have endeavored to insure their property with the enemy,
by forfeiting their reputation with us; from which may be justly
inferred, that their governing passion is avarice. Make them as much
afraid of losing on one side as on the other, and you stagger their
Toryism; make them more so, and you reclaim them; for their
principle is to worship the power which they are most afraid of.
This method of considering men and things together, opens into a
large field for speculation, and affords me an opportunity of
offering some observations on the state of our currency, so as to
make the support of it go hand in hand with the suppression of
disaffection and the encouragement of public spirit.
The thing which first presents itself in inspecting the state of
the currency, is, that we have too much of it, and that there is a
necessity of reducing the quantity, in order to increase the value.
Men are daily growing poor by the very means that they take to get
rich; for in the same proportion that the prices of all goods on
hand are raised, the value of all money laid by is reduced. A simple
case will make this clear; let a man have 100 L. in cash, and as
many goods on hand as will to-day sell for 20 L.; but not content
with the present market price, he raises them to 40 L. and by so
doing obliges others, in their own defence, to raise cent. per cent.
likewise; in this case it is evident that his hundred pounds laid
by, is reduced fifty pounds in value; whereas, had the market
lowered cent. per cent., his goods would have sold but for ten, but
his hundred pounds would have risen in value to two hundred; because
it would then purchase as many goods again, or support his family as
long again as before. And, strange as it may seem, he is one hundred
and fifty pounds the poorer for raising his goods, to what he would
have been had he lowered them; because the forty pounds which his
goods sold for, is, by the general raise of the market cent. per
cent., rendered of no more value than the ten pounds would be had
the market fallen in the same proportion; and, consequently, the
whole difference of gain or loss is on the difference in value of
the hundred pounds laid by, viz. from fifty to two hundred. This
rage for raising goods is for several reasons much more the fault of
the Tories than the Whigs; and yet the Tories (to their shame and
confusion ought they to be told of it) are by far the most noisy and
discontented. The greatest part of the Whigs, by being now either in
the army or employed in some public service, are buyers only and not
sellers, and as this evil has its origin in trade, it cannot be
charged on those who are out of it. But the grievance has now become
too general to be remedied by partial methods, and the only
effectual cure is to reduce the quantity of money: with half the
quantity we should be richer than we are now, because the value of
it would be doubled, and consequently our attachment to it
increased; for it is not the number of dollars that a man has, but
how far they will go, that makes him either rich or poor. These two
points being admitted, viz. that the quantity of money is too great,
and that the prices of goods can only be effectually reduced by,
reducing the quantity of the money, the next point to be considered
is, the method how to reduce it. The circumstances of the times, as
before observed, require that the public characters of all men
should now be fully understood, and the only general method of
ascertaining it is by an oath or affirmation, renouncing all
allegiance to the king of Great Britain, and to support the
independence of the United States, as declared by Congress. Let, at
the same time, a tax of ten, fifteen, or twenty per cent. per annum,
to be collected quarterly, be levied on all property. These
alternatives, by being perfectly voluntary, will take in all sorts
of people. Here is the test; here is the tax. He who takes the
former, conscientiously proves his affection to the cause, and binds
himself to pay his quota by the best services in his power, and is
thereby justly exempt from the latter; and those who choose the
latter, pay their quota in money, to be excused from the former, or
rather, it is the price paid to us for their supposed, though
mistaken, insurance with the enemy.
But this is only a part of the advantage which would arise by
knowing the different characters of men. The Whigs stake everything
on the issue of their arms, while the Tories, by their disaffection,
are sapping and undermining their strength; and, of consequence, the
property of the Whigs is the more exposed thereby; and whatever
injury their estates may sustain by the movements of the enemy, must
either be borne by themselves, who have done everything which has
yet been done, or by the Tories, who have not only done nothing, but
have, by their disaffection, invited the enemy on.
In the present crisis we ought to know, square by square and house
by house, who are in real allegiance with the United Independent
States, and who are not. Let but the line be made clear and
distinct, and all men will then know what they are to trust to. It
would not only be good policy but strict justice, to raise fifty or
one hundred thousand pounds, or more, if it is necessary, out of the
estates and property of the king of England's votaries, resident in
Philadelphia, to be distributed, as a reward to those inhabitants of
the city and State, who should turn out and repulse the enemy,
should they attempt to march this way; and likewise, to bind the
property of all such persons to make good the damages which that of
the Whigs might sustain. In the undistinguishable mode of conducting
a war, we frequently make reprisals at sea, on the vessels of
persons in England, who are friends to our cause compared with the
resident Tories among us.
In every former publication of mine, from Common Sense down to the
last Crisis, I have generally gone on the charitable supposition,
that the Tories were rather a mistaken than a criminal people, and
have applied argument after argument, with all the candor and temper
which I was capable of, in order to set every part of the case
clearly and fairly before them, and if possible to reclaim them from
ruin to reason. I have done my duty by them and have now done with
that doctrine, taking it for granted, that those who yet hold their
disaffection are either a set of avaricious miscreants, who would
sacrifice the continent to save themselves, or a banditti of hungry
traitors, who are hoping for a division of the spoil. To which may
be added, a list of crown or proprietary dependants, who, rather
than go without a portion of power, would be content to share it
with the devil. Of such men there is no hope; and their obedience
will only be according to the danger set before them, and the power
that is exercised over them.
A time will shortly arrive, in which, by ascertaining the
characters of persons now, we shall be guarded against their
mischiefs then; for in proportion as the enemy despair of conquest,
they will be trying the arts of seduction and the force of fear by
all the mischiefs which they can inflict. But in war we may be
certain of these two things, viz. that cruelty in an enemy, and
motions made with more than usual parade, are always signs of
weakness. He that can conquer, finds his mind too free and pleasant
to be brutish; and he that intends to conquer, never makes too much
show of his strength.
We now know the enemy we have to do with. While drunk with the
certainty of victory, they disdained to be civil; and in proportion
as disappointment makes them sober, and their apprehensions of an
European war alarm them, they will become cringing and artful;
honest they cannot be. But our answer to them, in either condition
they may be in, is short and full - "As free and independent
States we are willing to make peace with you to-morrow, but we
neither can hear nor reply in any other character."
If Britain cannot conquer us, it proves that she is neither able to
govern nor protect us, and our particular situation now is such,
that any connection with her would be unwisely exchanging a
half-defeated enemy for two powerful ones. Europe, by every
appearance, is now on the eve, nay, on the morning twilight of a
war, and any alliance with George the Third brings France and Spain
upon our backs; a separation from him attaches them to our side;
therefore, the only road to peace, honor and commerce is
Independence.
Written this fourth year of the UNION, which God preserve.
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