SparkNotes: Complete Text of Common Sense: Section 3

READ STUDY GUIDE: Thoughts on the Present State of Affairs in America

Section 3:
THOUGHTS ON THE PRESENT STATE OF AMERICAN AFFAIRS

IN the following pages I offer nothing more than simple facts, plain arguments, and common sense; and have no other preliminaries to settle with the reader, than that he will divest himself of prejudice and 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

controversy, from different motives, and with various designs; but

all have been ineffectual, and the period of debate is closed. Arms,

as the last resource, decide the contest; the appeal was the choice

of the king, and the continent hath accepted the challenge.

It hath been reported of the late Mr Pelham (who tho' an able

minister was not without his faults) that on his being attacked in

the house of commons, 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 colonies in the present contest, the

name of ancestors will be remembered by future generations with

detestation.

The sun never shined on a cause of greater worth. 'Tis not the

affair of a city, a country, a province, or a kingdom, but of a

continent—of at least one eighth part of the habitable globe. 'Tis

not the concern of a day, a year, or an age; posterity are virtually

involved in the contest, and will be more or less affected, even to

the end of time, by the proceedings now. Now is the seed time of

continental union, faith and honor. The least fracture now will be

like a name engraved with the point of a pin on the tender rind of a

young oak; The wound will enlarge with the tree, and posterity read

it in full grown characters.

By referring the matter from argument to arms, a new era for

politics is struck; a new method of thinking hath arisen. All plans,

proposals, &c. prior to the nineteenth of April, I. E. to the

commencement of hostilities, are like the almanacks of the last year;

which, though proper then, are superceded and useless now. Whatever

was advanced by the advocates on either side of the question then,

terminated in one and the same point, viz. a union with

Great Britain; the only difference between the parties was the method

of effecting it; the one proposing force, the other friendship; but

it hath so far happened that the first hath failed, and the second

hath withdrawn her influence.

As much hath been said of the advantages of reconciliation, which,

like an agreeable dream, hath passed away and left us as we were, it

is but right, that we should examine the contrary side of the

argument, and inquire into some of the many material injuries which

these colonies sustain, and always will sustain, by being connected

with, and dependant on Great Britain. To examine that connexion and

dependance, on the principles of nature and common sense, to 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 connexion with Great Britain, that the same

connexion is necessary towards her future happiness, and will always

have the same effect. Nothing can be more fallacious than this kind

of argument. We may as well assert that because a child has thrived

upon milk, that it is never to have meat, or that the first twenty

years of our lives is to become a precedent for the next twenty. 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 commerce, by which

she hath enriched herself are the necessaries of life, and will

always have a market while eating is the custom of Europe.

But she has protected us, say some. That she hath engrossed us is

true, and defended the continent at our expence as well as her own is

admitted, and she would have defended Turkey from the same motive,

viz. the sake of trade and dominion.

Alas, we have been long led away by ancient prejudices, and made

large sacrifices to superstition. We have boasted the protection of

Great Britain, without considering, that her motive was INTEREST

not ATTACHMENT; that she did not protect us from OUR ENEMIES on

OUR ACCOUNT, but from HER ENEMIES on HER OWN ACCOUNT, from

those who had no quarrel with us on any OTHER ACCOUNT, and who will

always be our enemies on the SAME ACCOUNT. Let Britain wave her

pretensions to the continent, or the continent throw off the

dependance, and we should be at peace with France and Spain were they

at war with Britain. The miseries of Hanover last war ought to warn

us against connexions.

It hath lately been asserted in parliament, that the colonies have

no relation to each other but through the parent country, I. E.

that Pennsylvania and the Jerseys, and so on for the rest, are sister

colonies by the way of England; this is certainly a very round-about

way of proving relationship, but it is the nearest and only true way

of proving enemyship, if I may so call it. France and Spain never

were, nor perhaps ever will be our enemies as AMERICANS, but as our

being the SUBJECTS OF GREAT BRITAIN.

But Britain is the parent country, say some. Then the more shame

upon her conduct. Even brutes do not devour their young, nor savages

make war upon 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 COUNTRY hath been jesuitically

adopted by the king and his parasites, with a low papistical design

of gaining an unfair bias on the credulous weakness of our minds.

Europe, and not England, is the parent country 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 descendants

still.

In this extensive quarter of the globe, we forget 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 sentiment.

It is pleasant to observe by what regular gradations we surmount

the force of local prejudice, as we enlarge our acquaintance with the

world. A man born in any town in England divided into parishes, will

naturally associate most with his fellow parishioners (because their

interests in many cases will be common) 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 county, and meet him in any

other, he forgets the minor divisions of street and town, and calls

him COUNTRYMAN; i. e. COUNTY-MAN; but if in their foreign

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 Europeans

meeting in America, or any other quarter of the globe, are

COUNTRYMEN; for England, Holland, Germany, or Sweden, when compared

with the whole, stand in the same places on the larger scale, which

the divisions of street, town, and county do on the smaller ones;

distinctions too limited for continental minds. Not one third of the

inhabitants, even of this province, are of English descent. Wherefore

I reprobate the phrase of parent or mother country applied to England

only, as being false, selfish, narrow and ungenerous.

But admitting, that we were all of English descent, what does it

amount to? Nothing. Britain, being now an open enemy, extinguishes

every other name and title: And to say that reconciliation is our

duty, is truly farcical. The first king of England, of the present

line (William the Conqueror) was a Frenchman, and half the Peers of

England are descendants from the same country; wherefore, by the same

method of reasoning, England ought to be governed by France.

Much hath been said of the united strength of Britain and the

colonies, that in conjunction they might bid defiance to the world.

But this is mere presumption; the fate of war is uncertain, neither

do the expressions mean any thing; for this continent would never

suffer itself to be drained of inhabitants, to support the British

arms in either Asia, Africa, or Europe.

Besides, what have we to do with setting the world at defiance? Our

plan is commerce, and that, well attended to, will secure us the

peace and friendship of all Europe; because, it is the interest of

all Europe to have America a FREE PORT. Her trade will always be a

protection, and her barrenness of gold and silver secure her from

invaders.

I challenge the warmest advocate for reconciliation, to shew, a

single advantage that this continent can reap, by being connected

with Great Britain. I repeat the challenge, not a single advantage is

derived. Our corn will fetch its price in 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 connection,

are without number; and our duty to mankind at large, as well as to

ourselves, instruct us to renounce the alliance: Because, any

submission to, or dependance on Great Britain, tends directly to

involve this continent in European wars and quarrels; and sets us at

variance with nations, who would otherwise seek our friendship, and

against whom, we have neither anger nor complaint. As Europe is our

market for trade, we ought to form no partial connection with any

part of it. It is the true interest of America to steer clear of

European contentions, which she never can do, while by her dependance

on Britain, she is made the make-weight in the scale on British

politics.

Europe is too thickly planted with kingdoms to be long at peace,

and whenever a war breaks out between England and any foreign power,

the trade of America goes to ruin, BECAUSE OF HER CONNECTION WITH

BRITAIN. The next war may not turn out like the last, and should it

not, the advocates for reconciliation now will be wishing for

separation then, because, neutrality in that case, would be a safer

convoy 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 distance at which the Almighty

hath placed England and America, is a strong and natural proof, that

the authority of the one, over the other, was never the design of

Heaven. The time likewise at which the continent was discovered, adds

weight to the argument, and the manner in which it was peopled

encreases the force of it. The reformation was preceded 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

neither friendship nor safety.

The authority of Great Britain over this continent, is a form of

government, which sooner or later must have an end: And a serious

mind can draw no true pleasure by looking forward, under the painful

and positive conviction, that what he calls "the present

constitution" is merely temporary. As parents, we can have no joy,

knowing that THIS GOVERNMENT is not sufficiently lasting to ensure

any thing which we may bequeath to posterity: And by a plain method

of argument, as we are running the next generation 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 conceal from our sight.

Though I would carefully avoid giving unnecessary offence, yet I am

inclined to believe, that all those who espouse the doctrine of

reconciliation, may be included within the following descriptions.

Interested men, who are not to be trusted; weak men, who CANNOT

see; prejudiced men, who WILL NOT see; and a certain set of

moderate men, who think better 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 continent, than all the other

three.

It is the good fortune of many to live distant from the scene of

sorrow; the evil is not sufficiently brought to THEIR doors to make

THEM feel the precariousness with which all American property is

possessed. But let our imaginations transport us for a few moments to

Boston, that seat of wretchedness will teach us wisdom, and instruct

us for ever to renounce a power in whom we can have no trust. The

inhabitants of that unfortunate city, who but a few months ago were

in ease and affluence, have now, no other alternative than to stay

and starve, or turn out to beg. Endangered by the fire of their

friends if they continue within the city, and plundered by the

soldiery if they leave it. In their present condition 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 offences of

Britain, and, still hoping for the best, are apt to call out, "COME,

COME, WE SHALL BE FRIENDS AGAIN, FOR ALL THIS." But examine the

passions and feelings of mankind, Bring the doctrine of

reconciliation to the touchstone of nature, and then tell me, whether

you can hereafter love, honour, and faithfully serve the power that

hath carried fire and sword into your land? If you cannot do all

these, then are you only deceiving yourselves, and by your delay

bringing ruin upon posterity. Your future connection with Britain,

whom you can neither love nor honour, will be forced and unnatural,

and being formed only on the plan of present convenience, will in a

little time fall into a relapse more wretched than the first. But if

you say, you can still pass the violations over, then I ask, Hath

your house been burnt? Hath your property been destroyed before your

face? Are your wife and children destitute 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 can

shake hands with the murderers, then you are unworthy of 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 affections which nature 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 we may pursue determinately some fixed object.

It is not in the power of Britain or of Europe to conquer America, if

she do not conquer herself by DELAY and TIMIDITY. The present

winter is worth an age if rightly employed, but if lost or neglected,

the whole continent 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 sacrificing a season so

precious and useful.

It is repugnant to reason, to the universal order of things to all

examples from former ages, to suppose, that this continent can longer

remain subject to any external power. The most sanguine in Britain

does not think so. The utmost stretch of human wisdom cannot, at this

time, compass a plan short of separation, which can promise the

continent even a year's security. Reconciliation is NOW a falacious

dream. Nature hath deserted the connexion, and Art cannot supply her

place. For, as Milton wisely expresses, "never can true reconcilement

grow where wounds of deadly hate have pierced so deep."

Every quiet method for peace hath been ineffectual. Our prayers

have been rejected with disdain; and only tended to convince us, that

nothing flatters vanity, or confirms obstinacy in Kings more than

repeated petitioning—and noting hath contributed more than that very

measure to make the Kings of Europe absolute: Witness Denmark and

Sweden. Wherefore, since nothing but blows will do, for God's sake,

let us come to a final separation, and not leave the next generation

to be cutting throats, under the violated unmeaning names of parent

and child.

To say, they will never attempt 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 renew the quarrel.

As to government matters, it is not in the power of Britain to do

this continent justice: The business of it will soon be too weighty,

and intricate, to be managed with any tolerable degree of

convenience, by a power, so distant from us, and so very ignorant of

us; for if they cannot conquer us, they cannot 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 was proper, and there is a proper time for it to cease.

Small islands not capable of protecting themselves, are the proper

objects for kingdoms to take under their care; but there is something

very absurd, in supposing a continent to be perpetually governed by

an island. In no instance hath nature made the satellite larger than

its primary planet, and as England and America, with respect to each

other, reverses the common 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 resentment to

espouse the doctrine of separation and independance; I am clearly,

positively, and conscientiously persuaded that it is the true

interest of this continent to be so; that every thing short of THAT

is mere patchwork, that it can 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 rendered this

continent the glory of the earth.

As Britain hath not manifested the least inclination towards a

compromise, we may be assured that no terms can be obtained worthy

the acceptance of the continent, or any ways equal to the expense of

blood and treasure we have been already put to.

The object, contended for, ought always to bear some just

proportion to the expense. The removal of North, or the whole

detestable junto, is a matter unworthy the millions we have expended.

A temporary stoppage of trade, was an inconvenience, which would have

sufficiently ballanced the repeal of all the acts complained of, had

such repeals been obtained; but if the whole continent must take up

arms, if every man must be a soldier, it is scarcely worth our while

to fight against a contemptible 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 considered the independancy of

this continent, as an event, which sooner or later must arrive, so

from the late rapid progress of the continent to maturity, the event

could not be far off. Wherefore, on the breaking out of hostilities,

it was not worth the while to have disputed a matter, which time

would have finally redressed, unless we meant to be in earnest;

otherwise, it is like wasting an estate on a suit at law, to regulate

the trespasses of a tenant, whose lease is just expiring. No man was

a warmer wisher for reconciliation than myself, before the fatal

nineteenth 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 pretended

title of FATHER OF HIS PEOPLE, can unfeelingly hear of their

slaughter, and composedly sleep with their blood upon his soul.

But admitting that matters were now made up, what would be the

event? I answer, the ruin of the continent. And that for several

reasons.

FIRST. The powers of governing still remaining in the hands of

the king, he will have a negative over the whole legislation of this

continent. And as he hath shewn himself such an inveterate enemy to

liberty, and discovered such a thirst for arbitrary power; is he, or

is he not, a proper man to say to these colonies, "YOU SHALL MAKE NO

LAWS BUT WHAT I PLEASE." And is there any inhabitant in America so

ignorant, as not to know, that according to what is called the

PRESENT CONSTITUTION, that this continent can make no laws but what

the king gives it leave to; and is there any man so unwise, as not to

see, that (considering 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)

can there be any doubt, but the whole power of the crown will be

exerted, to keep this continent 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? To bring 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 enemy this continent hath, or can have, shall tell us,

"THERE SHALL BE NO LAWS BUT SUCH AS I LIKE."

But the king you will say has a negative in England; the people

there can make no laws without his consent. In point of right 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 decline this sort of reply,

though I will never cease to expose the absurdity of it, and only

answer, that England being the King's residence, and America not so,

make quite another case. The king's negative HERE is ten times more

dangerous and fatal than it can be in England, for THERE he will

scarcely refuse his consent to a bill for putting England into as

strong a state of defence as possible, and in America he would never

suffer such a bill to be passed.

America is only a secondary object in the system of British

politics, England consults the good of THIS country, no farther

than it answers her OWN purpose. Wherefore, her own interest 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 second-hand government,

considering what has happened! Men do not change from enemies to

friends by the alteration of a name: And in order to shew that

reconciliation NOW is a dangerous doctrine, I affirm, THAT IT

WOULD BE POLICY IN THE KING AT THIS TIME, TO REPEAL THE ACTS FOR THE

SAKE OF REINSTATING HIMSELF IN THE GOVERNMENT OF THE PROVINCES; in

order that HE MAY ACCOMPLISH BY CRAFT AND SUBTILITY, IN THE LONG RUN,

WHAT HE CANNOT DO BY FORCE AND VIOLENCE IN THE SHORT ONE.

Reconciliation and ruin are nearly related.

SECONDLY. That as even the best terms, which we can expect to

obtain, can amount to no more than a temporary expedient, or a kind

of government by guardianship, which can last no longer than till the

colonies come of age, so the general face and state of things, in the

interim, will be unsettled and unpromising. Emigrants of property

will not choose to come to a country whose form of government hangs

but by a thread, and who is every day tottering on the brink of

commotion and disturbance; and numbers of the present inhabitants

would lay hold of the interval, to dispose of their effects, and quit

the continent.

But the most powerful of all arguments, is, that nothing but

independance, i. e. a continental form of government, can keep the

peace of the continent and preserve it inviolate from civil wars. I

dread the event of a reconciliation with Britain now, as it is more

than probable, that it will followed by a revolt somewhere or other,

the consequences 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 colonies, towards a British government, will be like

that of a youth, who is nearly out of his time; they will care very

little about her. And a government which cannot preserve the peace,

is no government at all, and in that case we pay our money for

nothing; and pray what is it that Britain can do, whose power will be

wholly on paper, should a civil tumult break out the very day after

reconciliation? I have heard some men say, many of whom I believe

spoke without thinking, that they dreaded an independance, 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 connexion than from

independance. I make the sufferers case my own, and I protest, that

were I driven from house and home, my property destroyed, and my

circumstances ruined, that as a man, sensible of injuries, I could

never relish the doctrine of reconciliation, or consider myself bound

thereby.

The colonies have manifested such a spirit of good order and

obedience to continental government, as is sufficient to make every

reasonable person easy and happy on that head. No man can assign the

least pretence for his fears, on any other grounds, that such as are

truly childish and ridiculous, viz. that one colony will be striving

for superiority over another.

Where there are no distinctions there can be no superiority,

perfect equality affords no temptation. The republics of Europe are

all (and we may say always) in peace. Holland and Swisserland are

without wars, foreign or domestic: Monarchical governments, it is

true, are never long at rest; the crown itself is a temptation to

enterprizing ruffians at HOME; and that degree of pride and

insolence ever attendant on regal authority, swells into a rupture

with foreign powers, in instances, where a republican government, by

being formed on more natural principles, would negotiate the mistake.

If there is any true cause of fear respecting independance, it 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 something better. 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 domestic, and

subject to the authority of a Continental Congress.

Let each colony be divided into six, eight, or ten, convenient

districts, each district to send a proper number of delegates to

Congress, so that each colony send at least thirty. The whole number

in Congress will be least 390. Each Congress to sit and to choose

a president by the following method. When the delegates are met, let

a colony be taken from the whole thirteen colonies by lot, after

which, let the whole Congress choose (by ballot) a president from out

of the delegates of THAT province. In the next Congress, let a

colony be taken by lot from twelve only, omitting that colony from

which the president was taken in the former Congress, 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 Congress to be

called a majority. He that will promote discord, under a government

so equally formed as this, would have joined Lucifer in his revolt.

But as there is a peculiar delicacy, from whom, or in what manner,

this business must first arise, and as it seems most agreeable and

consistent that it should come from some intermediate body between

the governed and the governors, that is, between the Congress and the

people, let a CONTINENTAL CONFERENCE be held, in the following

manner, and for the following purpose.

A committee of twenty-six members of Congress, viz. two for each

colony. Two members for each House of Assembly, or Provincial

Convention; 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 convenient, the representatives may be chosen in

two or three of the most populous parts thereof. In this conference,

thus assembled, will be united, the two grand principles of business,

KNOWLEDGE and POWER. The members of Congress, Assemblies, or

Conventions, by having had experience in national concerns, will be

able and useful counsellors, and the whole, being impowered by the

people, will have a truly legal authority.

The conferring members being met, let their business be to frame a

CONTINENTAL CHARTER, or Charter of the United Colonies; (answering to

what is called the Magna Charta of England) fixing the number and

manner of choosing members of Congress, members of Assembly, with

their date of sitting, and drawing the line of business and

jurisdiction between them: (Always remembering, that our strength is

continental, not provincial:) Securing freedom and property to all

men, and above all things, the free exercise of religion, according

to the dictates of conscience; with such other matter as is necessary

for a charter to contain. Immediately after which, the said

Conference to dissolve, and the bodies which shall be chosen

comformable to the said charter, to be the legislators and governors

of this continent for the time being: Whose peace and happiness, may

God preserve, Amen.

Should any body of men be hereafter delegated for this or some

similar purpose, I offer them the following extracts from that wise

observer on governments DRAGONETTI. "The science" says he "of the

politician consists in fixing the true point of happiness and

freedom. Those men would deserve the gratitude of ages, who should

discover a mode of government that contained the greatest sum of

individual happiness, with the least national expense." "DRAGONETTI

ON VIRTUE AND REWARDS."

But where says some is the King of America? I'll tell you Friend,

he reigns above, and doth not make havoc of mankind like the Royal

Brute of Britain. Yet that we may not appear to be defective even in

earthly 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 crown be placed thereon, by which the world may know,

that so far as we approve as monarchy, that in America THE LAW IS

KING. For as in absolute governments the King is law, so in free

countries the law OUGHT to be King; and there ought to be no other.

But lest any ill use should afterwards arise, let the crown at the

conclusion of the ceremony be demolished, and scattered among the

people whose right it is.

A government of our own is our natural right: And when a man

seriously reflects on the precariousness of human affairs, he will

become convinced, that it is infinitely wiser and safer, to form a

constitution of our own in a cool deliberate manner, while we have it

in our power, than to trust such an interesting event to time and

chance. If we omit it now, some, [*1] Massanello may hereafter arise,

who laying hold of popular disquietudes, may collect together the

desperate and discontented, and by assuming to themselves the powers

of government, may sweep away the liberties of the continent like a

deluge. Should the government of America return again into the hands

of Britain, the tottering situation of things, will be a temptation

for some desperate adventurer to try his fortune; and in such a case,

what relief can Britain give? Ere she could hear the news, the fatal

business might be done; and ourselves suffering like the wretched

Britons under the oppression of the Conqueror. Ye that oppose

independance now, ye know not what ye do; ye are opening a door to

eternal tyranny, by keeping vacant the seat of government. There are

thousands, and tens of thousands, who would think it glorious to

expel from the continent, that 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 affections wounded through 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 can there be any

reason to hope, that as the relationship expires, the affection will

increase, or that we shall agree better, when we have ten times more

and greater concerns to quarrel over than ever?

Ye that tell us of harmony and reconciliation, can ye restore to us

the time that is past? Can ye give to prostitution its former

innocence? Neither can ye reconcile Britain and America. The last

cord now is broken, the people of England are presenting addresses

against us. There are injuries which nature cannot forgive; she would

cease to be nature if she did. As well can the lover forgive the

ravisher of his mistress, as the continent forgive the murders of

Britain. The Almighty hath implanted in us these unextinguishable

feelings for good and wise purposes. They are the guardians of his

image in our hearts. They distinguish us from the herd of common

animals. The social compact would dissolve, and justice be extirpated

from the earth, or have only a casual existence were we callous to

the touches of affection. 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. Europe regards her like a stranger,

and England hath given her warning to depart. O! receive the

fugitive, and prepare in time an asylum for mankind.

Note 1 Thomas Anello, otherwise Massanello, a fisherman of Naples, who after spiriting up his countrymen in the public market place, against the oppression of the Spaniards, to whom the place was then subject, prompted them to revolt, and in the space of a day became king.

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