Massachusetts Government Act Second of Five of the Intolerable Acts Great Britain : Parliament - The Massachusetts Government Act; May 20, 1774 An act for the better regulating the government of the province of the MassachusetÂ’s Bay, in New England. WHEREAS by letters patent under the great seal of England, made in the third year of the reign of their late majesties King William and Queen Mary, for uniting, erecting, and incorporating, the several colonies, territories, and tracts of land therein mentioned, into one real province, by the name of Their Majesties Province of the MassachusetÂ’s Bay, in New England; whereby it was, amongst other things, ordained and established, That the governor of the said province should, from thenceforth, be appointed and commissionated by their Majesties, their heirs and successors: It was, however, granted and ordained, That, from the expiration of the term for and during which the eight and twenty persons named in the said letters patent were appointed to be the first counsellors or assistants to the governor of the said province for the time being, the aforesaid number of eight and twenty counsellors or assistants should yearly, once in every year, for ever thereafter, be, by the general court or assembly, newly chosen: And whereas the said method of electing such counsellors or assistants, to be vested with the several powers, authorities, and privileges, therein mentioned, although conformable to the practice theretofore used in such of the colonies thereby united, in which the appointment of the respective governors had been vested in the general courts or assemblies of the said colonies, hath, by repeated experience, been found to be extremely ill adapted to the plan of government established in the province of the MassachusetÂ’s Bay, by the said letters patent herein-before mentioned, and hath been so far from contributing to the attainment of the good ends and purposes thereby intended, and to the promoting of the internal welfare, peace, and good government of the said province, or to the maintenance of the just subordination to, and conformity with, the laws of Great Britain, that the manner of exercising the powers, authorities, and privileges aforesaid, by the persons so annually elected, hath, for some time past, been such as had the most manifest tendency to obstruct, and, in great measure, defeat, the execution of the laws; to weaken and, in great measure, defeat, the execution of the laws; to weaken the attachment of his MajestyÂ’s well-disposed subjects in the said province to his MajestyÂ’s government, and to encourage the ill-disposed among them to proceed even to acts of direct resistance to, and defiance of, his MajestyÂ’s authority; And it hath accordingly happened that an open resistance to the execution of the laws hath actually taken place in the town of Boston, and the neighbourhood thereof, within the said province: And whereas it is, under these circumstances, become absolutely necessary, in order to the preservation of the peace and good order of the said province, the protection of his MajestyÂ’s well-disposed subjects therein resident, the continuance of the mutual benefits arising from the commerce and correspondence between this kingdom and the said province, and the maintaining of the just dependance of the said province upon the crown and parliament of Great Britain, that the said method of annually electing the counsellors or assistants of the said province should no longer be suffered to continue but that the appointment of the said counsellors or assistants should henceforth be put upon the like footing as is established in such other of his MajestyÂ’s colonies or plantations in America, the governors whereof are appointed by his MajestyÂ’s commission, under the great seal of Great Britain: Be it therefore enacted by the KingÂ’s most excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the lords spiritual and temporal, and commons, in this present parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, That from and after the first day of August, one thousand seven hundred and seventy-four, so much of the charter, granted by their majesties King William and Queen Mary to the inhabitants of the said province of the MassachusetÂ’s Bay, in New England, and all and every clause, matter, and thing, therein contained, which relates to the time and manner of electing the assistants or counsellors for the said province, be revoked, and is hereby revoked and made void and of none effect; and that the offices of all counsellors and assistants, elected and appointed in pursuance thereof, shall from thenceforth cease and determine: And that, from and after the said first day of August, one thousand seven hundred and seventy-four, the council, or court of assistants of the said province for the time being, shall be composed of such of the inhabitants or proprietors of lands within the same as shall be thereunto nominated and appointed by his Majesty, his heirs and successors, from time to time, by warrant under his or their signet or sign manual, and with the advice of the privy council, agreeable to the practice now used in respect to the appointment of counsellors in such of his MajestyÂ’s other colonies in America, the governors whereof are appointed by commission under the great seal of Great Britain: provided, that the number of the said assistants or counsellors shall not, at any one time, exceed thirty-six, nor be less than twelve. II. And it is hereby further enacted, That the said assistants or counsellors, so to be appointed as aforesaid, shall hold their offices respectively, for and during the pleasure of his Majesty, his heirs or successors; and shall have and enjoy all the powers, privileges, and immunities, at present held, exercised, and enjoyed, by the assistants or counsellors of the said province, constituted and elected, from time to time, under the said charter, (except as herein-after excepted); and shall also, upon their admission into the said council, and before they enter upon the execution of their offices respectively, take the oaths, and make, repeat, and subscribe, the declarations required, as well by the said charter as by any law or laws of the said province now in force, to be taken by the assistants or counsellors who have been so elected and constituted as aforesaid. III. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That from and after the first day of July, one thousand seven hundred and seventy-four, it shall and may be lawful for his MajestyÂ’s governor for the time being of the said province, or, in his absence, for the lieutenant-governor, to nominate and appoint, under the seal of the province, from time to time, and also to remove, without the consent of the council, all judges of the inferior courts of common pleas, commissioners of Oyer and Terminer, the attorney general, provosts, marshals, justices of the peace, and other officers to the council or courts of justice belonging; and that all judges of the inferior courts of common pleas, commissioners of Oyer and Terminer, the attorney general, provosts, marshals, justices, and other officers so appointed by the governor, or, in his absence, by the lieutenant-governor alone, shall and may have, hold, and exercise, their said offices, powers, and authorities, as fully and completely, to all intents and purposes, as any judges of the inferior courts of common pleas, commissioners of Oyer and Terminer, attorney general, provosts, marshals, or other officers, have or might have done heretofore under the said letters patent, in the third year of the reign of their late majesties King William and Queen Mary; any law, statute, or usage, to the contrary notwithstanding. IV. Provided always, and be it enacted, That nothing herein contained shall extend, or be construed to extend, to annul or make void the commission granted before the said first day of July, one thousand seven hundred and seventy-four, to any judges of the inferior courts of common pleas, commissioners of Oyer and Terminer, the attorney general, provosts, marshals, justices of the peace, or other officers; but that they may hold and exercise the same, as if this act had never been made, until the same shall be determined by death, removal by the governor, or other avoidance, as the case may happen. V. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That, from and after the said first day of July, one thousand seven hundred and seventy-four, it shall and may be lawful for his MajestyÂ’s governor, or, in his absence, for the lieutenant-governor for the time being of the said province, from time to time, to nominate and appoint the sheriffs without the consent of the council, and to remove such sheriffs with such consent, and not otherwise. VI. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That, upon every vacancy of the officers of chief justice and judges of the superior court of the said province, from and after the said first day of July, one thousand seven hundred and seventy-four, the governor for the time being, or, in his absence, the lieutenant-governor, without the consent of the council, shall have full power and authority to nominate and appoint the persons to succeed to the said offices; who shall hold their commissions during the pleasure of his Majesty, his heirs and successors; and that neither the chief justice or judges appointed before the said first day of July, one thousand seven hundred and seventy-four, nor those who shall hereafter be appointed pursuant to this act, shall be removed, unless by the order of his Majesty, his heirs or successors, under his or their sign manual. VII. And whereas, by several acts of the general court, which have been from time to time enacted and passed within the said province, the freeholders and inhabitants of the several townships, districts, and precincts, qualified, as is therein expressed, are authorised to assemble together, annually, or occasional[y, upon notice given, in such manner as the said acts direct, for the choice of select men, constables, and other officers, and for the making and agreeing upon such necessary rules, orders, and bye laws, for the directing, managing, and ordering, the prudential affairs of such townships, districts, and precincts, and for other purposes: and whereas a great abuse has been made of the power of calling such meetings, and the inhabitants have, contrary to the design of their institution, been misled to treat upon matters of the most general concern, and to pass many dangerous and unwarrantable resolves: for remedy whereof, be it enacted, That from and after the said first day of August, one thousand seven hundred and seventy-four, no meeting shall be called by the select men, or at the request of any number of freeholders of any township, district, or precinct, without the leave of the governor, or, in his absence, of the lieutenant-governor, in writing, expressing the special business of the said meeting, first had and obtained, except the annual meeting in the months of March or May, for the choice of select men, constables, and other officers, or except for the choice of persons to fill up the offices aforesaid, on the death or removal of any of the persons first elected to such offices, and also, except any meeting for the election of a representative or representatives in the general court; and that no other matter shall be treated of at such meetings, except the election of their aforesaid officers or representatives, nor at any other meeting, except the business expressed in the leave given by the governor , or, in his absence, by the lieutenant-governor. VIII. And whereas the method at present used in the province of MassachusetÂ’s Bay in America, of electing persons to serve on grand juries, and other juries, by the freeholders and inhabitants of the several towns, affords occasion for many evil practices, and tends to pervert the free and impartial administration of justice: for remedy whereof, be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That, from and after the respective times appointed for the holding of the general sessions of the peace in the several counties within the said province, next after the month of September, one thousand seven hundred and seventy-four, the jurors to serve at the superior courts of judicature, courts of assize, general gaol delivery, general sessions of the peace, and inferior court of common pleas, in the several counties within the said province, shall not be elected, nominated, or appointed, by the freeholders and inhabitants of the several towns within the said respective counties nor summoned or returned by the constables of the said towns; but that, from thenceforth, the jurors to serve at the superior courts of judicature, courts of assize, general gaol delivery, general sessions of the peace, and inferior court of common pleas within the said province, shall be summoned and returned by the sheriffs of the respective counties within the said province; and all writs of Venire Facias, or other process or warrants to be issued for the return of jurors to serve at the said courts, shall be directed to the sheriffs of the said counties respectively, any law, custom, or usage, to the contrary notwithstanding. IX. Provided always, and be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That wherever the sheriff of any country shall happen to be a party, or interested or related to any party of person interested in any prosecution or suit depending in any of the said courts; that then in such case, the writ of Venire Facias, of other process or warrant for the summoning and return of a jury, for the trial of such prosecution or suit, shall be directed to, and executed by, the coroner of such county; and in case such coroner shall be also a party, or interested in, or related to, the Venire Facias, or other process or warrant, for the summoning and return of a jury for the trial of such prosecution or suit shall be directed to, and executed by, a proper and indifferent person, to be appointed for that purpose by the court wherein such prosecution or suit shall be depending. X. And that all sheriffs may be the better informed of persons qualified to serve on juries at the superior courts of judicature, courts of assize, general gaol delivery, general sessions of the peace, and inferior court of common pleas, within the said province, be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That the constables of the respective towns, within the several counties of the said province, shall, at the general sessions of the peace to be holden for each county, next after the month of September in every year, upon the first day of the said sessions, return and deliver to the justices of the peace, in open court, a true life, in writing, of the names and places of abode of all persons within the respective towns for which they serve, or the districts thereof, qualified to serve upon juries, with their titles and additions, between the age of one and twenty years and the age of seventy years; which said justices or any two of them, at the said sessions in the respective counties, shall cause to be delivered a duplicate of the aforesaid lists, by the clerk of the peace of every country, to the sheriffs, or their deputies, within ten days after such session; and cause each of the said lists to be fairly entered into a book by the clerk of the peace, to be by him provided, and kept for that purpose amongst the records of the said court; and no sheriff shall impanel or return any person or persons to serve upon any grand jury, petit jury, whatsoever, in any of the said courts that shall not be named or mentioned in such list: and, to prevent a failure of justice, through the neglect of constables to make such returns of persons qualified to serve on juries, as in and by this act is directed, the clerks of the peace of the said several counties are hereby required and commanded, twenty days at least next before the month of September, yearly, and every year, to issue forth precepts or warrants, under their respective hands and seals, to the respective constables of the several towns within the said respective counties, requiring them, and every of them, to make such return of persons qualified to serve upon juries as hereby respectively directed; and every constable failing at any time to make and deliver such return to the justices in open court, as aforesaid, shall forfeit and incur the penalty of five pounds sterling to his Majesty, and his successors: to be recovered by bill, plaint, or information, to be prosecuted in any of the courts aforesaid; and, in order that the constables may be the better enabled to make complete lists of all persons qualified to serve on juries, the constables of the several towns shall have free liberty, at all seasonable times, upon request by them made to any officer or officers, who shall have in his or their custody any book or account of rates or taxes on the freeholder or inhabitants within such respective towns, to inspect the same, and take from thence the names of such persons qualified to serve on juries, dwelling within the respective, towns for which such lists are to be given in and returned pursuant to this act; and shall, in the month of September, yearly, and every year, upon two or more Sundays, fix upon the door of the church, chapel, and every other publick place of religious worship within their respective precincts, a true and exact list of all such persons intended to be returned to the said general sessions of the peace, as qualified to serve on juries, pursuant to the directions of this act; and leave at the same time a duplicate of such list with the town clerk of the said place, perused by the freeholder and inhabitants thereof, to the end that notice may be given of persons duly qualified who are omitted, or of persons inserted by mistake who ought to be omitted out of such lists; and it shall and may be lawful to and for the justices, at the general sessions of the peace to which the said lists shall be so returned, upon due proof made before them of any person or persons duly qualified to serve on juries being omitted in such lists, or of any person or persons being inserted therein who ought to have been omitted, to order his or their name or names to be inserted or struck out, as the case may require: and in case any constable shall wilfully omit, out of such list, any person or persons, whose name or names ought to be inserted, or shall wilfully insert any person or persons who ought to be omitted, every constable so offending, shall, for every person so omitted or inserted in such list, contrary to the true intent and meaning of this act, be fined by the said justices, in the said general sessions of the peace, in the sum of forty shillings sterling. XI. Provided always, and be it enacted by the authority aforesaid, That in case default shall at any time hereafter be made, by any constable or constables, to return lists of persons qualified to serve on juries within any of the said towns to the said court of general sessions of the peace; then, and in such case, it shall be lawful for the sheriff of the county, in which such default shall be made, to summon and return to the several courts aforesaid, or any of them, such and so many persons dwelling in such towns, or the districts thereof, qualified to serve on juries, as he shall think fit to serve on juries at such respective courts; any thing herein contained to the contrary thereof in any-wise notwithstanding. XII. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That every summons of any person, to serve upon any of the juries at the said courts, or any of them, shall be made by the sheriff, or other person, ten days at the least before the holding of every such court; and in case any jurors, so to be summoned, be absent from the usual place of his habitation at the time of such summons, notice of such summons shall be given, by leaving a note, in writing, under the hand of such sheriff, or person, containing the contents thereof, at the dwelling-house of such juror, with some person inhabiting in the same XIII. Provided always, and be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That in case a sufficient number of persons qualified to serve on juries shall not appear at the said courts, or any of them, to perform the service of grand or petit jurors; that then, and in such case, it shall be lawful for the said court to issue a writ or precept to the sheriff, requiring him to summon a sufficient number of other persons qualified to serve on juries, immediately to appear at such court, to fill up and compleat the number of jurors to serve at such court; and such persons are hereby required to appear and serve as jurors at the said courts accordingly. XIV. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That no person who shall serve as a juror, at any of the said courts, shall be liable to serve again as a juror at the same court, or any other of the courts aforesaid, for the space of three years then next following; except upon special juries. XV. And, in order that sheriffs may be informed of the persons who have served as jurors, it is hereby further enacted by the authority, aforesaid, that every sheriff shall prepare and keep a book, or register, wherein. the names of all such persons who have served as jurors, with their additions and places of abode, and the times when, and the courts in which they served, shall be alphabetically entered and registered; which books or registers shall, from time to time, be delivered over to the succeeding sheriff of the said county; within ten days after he shall enter upon his office; and every juror, who shall attend and serve at any of the courts aforesaid, may at the expiration of the time of holding every such court, upon, application to the sheriff, or his deputy, have a certificate immediately, gratis, from the sheriff, or his deputy, testifying such his attendance and service; which said certificate the said sheriff, or his deputy, is required to give to every such juror. XVI. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That if, by reason of challenges, or otherwise, there shall not be a sufficient number of jurors for the trial of any prosecution for any misdemeanour, or any action depending in any of the said courts; then, and in such case, the jury shall be filled up de Talibus Circumstantibus, to be returned by the sheriff, unless he be a party, or interested or related to any party or person interested in such prosecution or action; and, in any of which cases, to be returned by the coroner, unless he be a party, or interested or related to any party or person interested in such prosecution or action; and, in any of these cases, to be returned by a proper and indifferent person, to be appointed by the court for that purpose. XVII. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That in case any person summoned to serve upon the grand or petit jury, at any of the courts aforesaid, or upon the jury in any prosecution, action, or suit, depending in any of the said courts, shall not appear and serve at the said courts, according to the said summons, (not having any reasonable excuse to be allowed by the judges or justices at such court,) he shall be fined by the judges or justices of such court in any sum not exceeding the sum of ten pounds, nor less than twenty shillings sterling. XVIII. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That every sheriff, or other officer, to whom the Venire Facias, or other process or warrant, for the trial of causes, or summoning of juries, shall be directed, shall, upon his return of every such writ, or other process or warrant, (unless in cases where a special jury shall be struck by order or rule of court, pursuant to this act,) annex a pannel to the said writ, or process, or warrant, containing the christian and surnames, additions, and places of abode, of a competent number of jurors, named in such lists, which number of jurors shall not be less than twenty-four, nor more than forty-eight, without direction of the judges or justices of such court or session, or one of them, who are hereby respectively impowered and required, if he or they see cause, by order, under his or their respective hand or hands, to direct a greater number; and then such number as shall be so directed shall be the number to be returned to serve on such jury. XIX. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That for the trials of all actions or suits depending in any of the said courts, the name of each and every person who shall be summoned and returned as aforesaid, with his addition, and the place of his abode, shall be written in several and distinct pieces of parchment, or paper, being all as near as may be of equal size and bigness. and shall be delivered unto the officer to be appointed by the court for that purpose, by the sheriff, under sheriff, or some agent of his; and shall, by direction and care of such officer, be rolled up all as near as may be, in the same manner, and put together in a box or glass to be provided for that purpose; and when any cause shall be brought on to be tried, some indifferent person, by direction of the court, may and shall, in open court, draw out twelve of the said parchments or paper, one after another; and if any of the persons, whose names shall be so drawn, shall not appear, or shall be challenged, and such challenge allowed, then such person shall proceed to draw other parchments or papers from the said box, till twelve indifferent persons shall be drawn; which twelve indifferent persons being sworn shall be the jury to try the said cause: and the names of the persons so drawn and sworn shall be kept apart by themselves in some other box or glass, to be kept, for that purpose, till such jury shall have given in their verdict and the same is recorded, or until such jury shall, by consent of the parties, or leave of the court, be discharged; and then the same names shall be rolled up again, and returned to the former box or glass, there to be kept, with the other names remaining at that time undrawn, and so toties quoties, as long as any cause remains then to be tried. XX. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That it shall and may be lawful to and for the superior court of assize, and court of common pleas upon motion made on behalf of his Majesty, his heirs or successors, or on the motion of any prosecutor or defendant, in any indictment or information for any misdemeanor depending, or to be brought or prosecuted in the said court, or on the motion of any plaintiff or plaintiffs, defendant or defendants, in any action, cause, or suit whatsoever, depending, or to be brought and carried on in the said court, and the said court, is hereby authorized and required, upon motion as aforesaid, in any of the cases before mentioned, to order and appoint a jury to be struck for the trial of any issue joined in any of the said cases, and triable by a jury of twelve men, by such officer of the said court as the court shall appoint; and for that purpose the sheriff, or his deputy, shall attend such officer with the duplicate of the lists of persons qualified to serve on juries; and such officer shall thereupon take down, in writing, from the said duplicate, the names of forty-eight persons qualified to serve on juries, with their additions, and places of abode, a copy whereof shall forthwith be delivered to the prosecutors or plaintiffs, their attornies or agents, and another copy thereof to the defendants, their attornies or agents, in such prosecutions and causes; and the said officer of the court aforesaid shall, at a time to be fixed by him for that purpose, strike out the names of twelve of the said persons, at the nomination of the prosecutors or plaintiffs, their attornies or agents, and also the names of twelve others of the said persons, at the nomination of the said defendants in such prosecutions and suits; and the twenty-four remaining persons shall be struck and summoned, and returned to the said court as jurors, for the trial of such issues. XXI. Provided always, That in case the prosecutors or plaintiffs, or defendants, their attornies or agents, shall neglect or refuse to attend the officer at the time fixed for striking the names of twenty-four persons as aforesaid, or nominate the persons to struck out; then, and in such case, the said officer shall, and he is hereby required to strike out the names of such number of the said persons as such prosecutors or plaintiffs, or defendants, might have nominated to be struck out. XXII. And be it further enacted, That the person or party who shall apply for such special jury as aforesaid, shall not only bear and pay the fees for striking such jury, but shall also pay and discharge all the expences occasioned by the trial of the cause by such special jury, and shall not have any further or other allowance for the same, upon taxation of costs, than such person or party would be intitled unto in case the cause had been tried by a common jury, unless the judge, before whom the cause is tried, shall, immediately after the trial, certify, in open court, under his hand, upon the back of the record, that the same was a cause proper to be tried by a special jury. XXIII. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That, in all actions brought in any of the said courts, where it shall appear to the court in which such actions are depending, that it will be proper and necessary that the jurors who are to try the issues in any such actions, should have the view of the messuages, lands, or place in question, in order to their better understanding the evidence that will be given upon the trial of such issues; in every such case the respective courts in which such actions shall be depending may order the jury to the place in question, who then and there shall have the matters in question shewn them by two persons to be appointed by the court; and the special costs of all such views as allowed by the court, shall, before the trial, be paid by the party who moved for the view, (the adverse party not consenting thereto;) and shall, at the taxation of the bill of costs, have the same allowed him, upon his recovering judgement in such trial; and upon all views with the consent of parties, ordered by the court, the costs thereof, as allowed by the court, shall, before trial, be equally paid by the said parties; and in the taxation of the bill of costs, the party recovering judgement shall have the sum by him paid allowed to him; any law, usage, or custom, to the contrary notwithstanding. XXIV. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That if any action shall be brought against any sheriff, for what he shall do in execution, or by virtue of this act, he may plead the general issue, and give the special matter in evidence; and if a verdict shall be found for him, he shall recover treble costs. Source: https://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/mass_gov_act.asp

May 14, 1774 To the FREEHOLDERS and YEOMANRY of my Country. The virtue, strength and fortitude of a state generally reside in the FREEHOLDERS of the Nation. In you, Gentlemen, as the LANDED INTEREST of the Country, do I place my confidence, under GOD, at this Day. To you, Gentlemen, therefore, I dedicate THIS temporary WORK, as a testimony of that great respect and warm affection, with which, I am, Your Friend and Countryman, JOSIAH QUINCY, jun. Boston, May 14, 1774. [1; unpaginated] PREFACE. THE Statute of the 14th George 3d, received in the last Ships from London (entitled “An Act, to discontinue, in such Manner, and for such Time as are therein mentioned, the landing and discharging, the lading or shipping of Goods, Wares, Merchandize, at the Town, and within the Harbour of Boston, in the Province of Massachusetts-Bay, in North-America,”) gave rise to the following OBSERVATIONS:—They will appear thrown together in haste; and as the Writer was out of Town on business, almost every day, the Sheets were printing off, no doubt many Errors of the Press escaped correction. The Inaccuracies of a sudden Production from one of infirm health, perplexed with various avocations, will receive a mild censure: more material faults, FRIENDS may be prone to forgive; but from Enemies—public or private—we are never to expect indulgence or favor. JOSIAH QUINCY, Junr. Boston, May 14, 1774. [2; unpaginated] OBSERVATIONS &c. IN times of public calamity, it is the duty of a good citizen to consider. If his opportunities or advantages, for knowledge and reflection, are greater than those of mankind in general, his whole duty will remain undischarged, while he confines his thoughts to the compass of his own mind. But if danger is added to the calamity of the times, he who shall communicate his sentimentson public affairs with decency and frankness, merits attention and indulgence, if he may not aspire to approbation and praise. Whoever attends to the tenor and design of the late act of the British Parliament for the BLOCKADE OF this HARBOUR, and duly considers the extensive confusion and distress this measure must inevitably produce; whoever shall reflect upon the justice, policy and humanity of legislators, who could deliberately give their sanction to such a procedure—must be satisfied, that the man, who shall OPENLY dare to expose their conduct, hazards fatal consequences.—Legislators, who could condemn a whole town unheard, nay uncited to answer; who could involve thousands in ruin and misery, without suggestion of any crime by them committed; and who could so construct their law, as that enormous pains and pe- [3; unpaginated] nalties would inevitably ensue, NOTWITHSTANDING THE MOST PERFECT OBEDIENCE TO IT’S INJUNCTIONS; I say, that legislators, thus formed as MEN, thus principled as STATESMEN, would undoubtedly imagine the attainder and death of a private individual, for his public animadversions, a less extraordinary act of power. But all exertions of duty have their hazard:—if dread of Parliamentary extravagance is to deter from public energies, the safety of the common wealth will soon be despaired of; and when once a sentiment of that kind prevails, the excesses of present enormities so rapidly increase, that strides, at first appearance, exorbitant, will soon be found—but the beginning of evils. We therefore consider it as a just observation, that the weight and velocity of public oppressions are ever in a ratio proportionate to private despondency and public despair. [4] He who shall go about to treat of important and perilous concerns, and conceals himself behind the curtain of a feigned signature, gives an advantage to his adversaries; who will not fail to stigmatize his thoughts, as the notions of an unknown writer, afraid or ashamed to avow his sentiments; and hence they are deemed unworthy of notice and refutation. Therefore I give to the world both my sentiments and name upon the present occasion, and shall hear with patience him, who will decently refute what is advanced, and shall submit with temper to that correction and chastisement which my errors deserve. The act now under consideration opens with a recital, that “dangerous commotions and insurrections have been fomented and raised in Boston—by divers ill-affected persons, to the subversion of his Majesty’s Government, and to theutter destruction of the public peace, and good order of the said town; in which commotions and insurrections certain valuable cargoes of Teas, being the property of the East-India Company, and on board certain vessels lying within the bay or harbour of Boston, were seized and destroyed: and in the present condition of said town and harbour, the commerce of his Majesty’s subjects cannot be safely carried on there, nor the customs payable to his Majesty be duly collected.” Two questions naturally arise out of this preamble: The first, whether the facts set forth are true; and Secondly, whether upon a supposition of their truth, they are a sufficient foundation for the subsequent parts of the statute, or will warrant the disabilities, forfeitures, pains and penalties, enacted and inflicted on the subject?—Both inquiries seem intimately to concern the honour and justice of the British le– [5] gislature. And however unimportant the judgment of Americans may now appear to that august body—yet surely the judgment of Europe and future ages is not unworthy their high consideration. Removed from the eye of royalty, the piety of a Sovereign may cease to pity miseries it doth not behold; remote from the cries of public justice and the efforts of popular despair, Lords and Commons may remain unaffected, for a season, with American convulsions; yet justice and humanity must soon excite those operations in America and Europe, which hereafter will move even the senate of Britain. True knowledge and real virtue perhaps was never more diffused than on this northern continent; refined humanity (‘tis boasted) was never more predominant than in Europe at this day:—Can it be supposed, that this virtue will be discordant and inactive; that this knowledge will omit to unfold public wrongs, or that such humanity will cease to interpose? That commotions were in Boston; that East-India tea was destroyed, are facts not controverted. But that such commotions were natural to be expected; that they were such as statesmen must have foreseen and A FATHER OF HIS COUNTRY, who foresaw, would prevent, rather than punish, is equally true. The sentiments of all Americans relative to the Tea act are no secret, their fervor in the COMMON CAUSE equally known; and their probable intemperance in consequence of the arrival of India teas, it required no profound skill in men and politics to predict. Nay the British papers were full, and the senate echoed, with the predictions similar to those which are now fulfilled. It was not difficult for Englishmen in Britain to tell how [6] Englishmen in Americawould conduct on such occasions. What shall we then say? Shall we impute to those, who are dignified as “the wisest and most august” the barbarous projection—deliberately to ensnare, that they might superlatively punish? The calm deliberation of premeditated malice seems rather more characteristick of a private bosom, than a public body. But Governor Hutchinson (the representative of his Majesty in this Province) when treating upon an act of the Massachusetts Government imposing a tax or duty upon goods of the inhabitants of other colonies, hath assured us, that “in all ages and countries, by bodies and communities of men such deeds have been done as most of the individuals of which such communities consisted, acting separately, would have been ashamed of.” An observation that his Excellency might have imbibed, from that prince of historians, Dr. Robertson. “To abandon usurped power, to renounce lucrative error, are sacrifices, which the virtue of individuals, has, on some occasions, offered to TRUTH; but from ANY SOCIETY of men, no such effort can be expected. The corruptions of society, recommended by common utility, and justified by universal practice, are viewed by it’s members, without shame or horror; and reformation never proceeds from themselves, but is always FORCED upon them by some FOREIGN hand.” “Caesar, Lepidus and Antony, says Plutarch, shew, that no beast is more savage than man, when possessed of power equal to his passion.” If the sentiments of Dr. Robertson are just, have we not cause to fear from very powerful states and legislators an equal ferocity? [7] And it is an observation of the illustrious Lord Clarendon, that it is the nature of man, rather to commit two errors, than retract one. When elevated characters commit a second error, it carries the air of an intended discovery, how little they feel for the first, how much they despise the people, how much they are above shame, fear and amendment. But to heighten cruelty by wantonness, to render it more pungent by insult, are such exorbitances, as seldom disgrace the records of mankind. But whenever such instances occur, they strikingly verify that eternal truth recorded in the House of Lords—“it is much easier to restrain liberty from running into licentiousness than POWER from swelling into tyranny and oppression.” Can it add dignity to this noble sentiment, or weight to this important truth, to say, that among the illustrious personages who subscribed it with their hands and transmitted it to posterity, we find a “Chesterfield” and “Cobbam,” a “Strafford” and a “Bathurst[,] a “Haversham” and “Gower”? But to return. Are popular commotions peculiar to Boston? Hath not every maritime town in England been repeatedly affected by them? Are they not incident to every commercial and popular city?—whence, then, is it, that BOSTON is devoted to such unexampled treatment? But it may be said, Boston, as a town, hath aided, abeted, and participated in these tumults. Where is the evidence of it? I presume the King, Lords and Commons of Great-Britain had none; for they do not suggest it: I presume they did not believe it, because they have not intimated it. And had they [8] been furnished with such evidence, had they believed the fact, surely it is an imputation unworthy of their dignity, to say, that they would not have given that matter in the preamble of the statute, as the ground of their extraordinary proceedure. But the records of Boston, and known facts prove that the inhabitants discountenanced and disavowed all riot and disorder. I am thus warranted in saying, that the mere occurrences expressed in the act, is that matter which the British legislature have judged worthy the most unparallelled penal severities. Whether this judgment be right, is a subject interesting to a citizen of the town to enquire; it is a subject on which a man will speak feelingly; on which AN ENGLISHMAN will speak freely and openly. Previous to further observations, it may be necessary to say, that the town of Boston had as a town cautiously and wisely conducted, not only without tumult, but with studied regard to established law. This the rolls of the town verify, and a hundred witnesses can confirm. At the last town-meeting relative to the East-India tea and it’s consignees, it was largely debated, whether it should be an instruction to the committee, who were appointed to wait on those Gentlemen, to insist on their preremptory answer;—whether they would send back the Tea: and after long debate on the question, it passed by a very large majority in the negative. And the greatest enemy of the country cannot point out any one step of the Town of Boston, in the progress of this matter, that was tumultuous, disorderly and against law. This also is an additional reason, why we must conclude that the mere temporary events which [9]took place in Boston, without any illegal proceedure of the town, in the matter of the tea, is in the judgment of the British senate an adequate foundation for the last act received from that powerful body. The first enacting clause of the statute now in view, annihilates all commercial transactions within two certain points of the harbour of Boston, uponpain of the FORFEITURE of “goods, wares and merchandize, and of boat, lighter, ship, vessel, or other bottom;—and of the guns, ammunition, tackle, furniture and stores, in or belonging to the same:” “and of any barge, hoy, lighter, wherry, or boat into which any goods &c. are laden,” &c. The next paragraph, “in case any wharfinger,” &c. or any of their servants shall take up or land, or knowingly suffer to be taken up or landed, or shall ship off, or suffer to be water-born, at or from any of their said wharves, &c. goods &c.” enacts a FORFEITURE and LOSS of such “goods &c. and TREBLE the value thereof, to be computed at the highest price of such sort of goods, &c. together with the vessels and boats, and all the horses, cattle, and carriages, whatsoever made use of in the shipping, unshipping, landing, removing, carriage, or conveyance of any of the aforesaid goods,” &c. The next clause provides, “that if any ship &c. shall be moored or lie at anchor, or be seen hovering within said bay, &c. or within one league from the said bay, &c. it shall and may be lawful for any Admiral, or commissioned officer of his Majesty’s fleet or ships of war, or for ANY OFFI- [10] CER OF HIS MAJESTY’S CUSTOMS, to compel such ship or vessel to depart to SOME OTHER port or harbour, or to SUCH STATION AS THE SAID OFFICER SHALL APPOINT and to use SUCH FORCE for that purpose as shall be found necessary: And if such ship or vessel shall not depart accordingly, WITHIN SIX HOURS after notice for that purpose given by such person as aforesaid, such ship or vessel, together with all the goods laden on board thereon, and all the guns, ammunition, tackle and furniture shall be forfeited and lost, WHETHER BULK SHALL HAVE BEEN BROKEN OR NOT.” Let us here pause for a moment;—let us give time for one single reflection; let us give space for one pulse of the veins—one emotion of the heart. And who can think, but those exalted characters and that generous prince, stiled THE FATHER OF all HIS PEOPLE—who united to this terrible act had many reflections, many feelings of humanity, while they were solemnly consigning thousands—if not millions—to ruin, misery and desperation? The persons in whom this authority is vested, are not confined to the ports or harbours on this continent: the vessel and cargo may be ordered to what harbour, port or station of the whole world, the officer pleases—if he appoint a continental station, ‘tis grace and favour;—and what may be the price of thatpurchase, who can tell! what scope for malice and ill-will; for pride and haughtiness; for avarice and power to wanton and insult, till the one is satiated and the other wearied! Who are the persons to whom such unbounded, such enormous power is entrusted? Power is [11] known to be intoxicating in it’s nature, and in proportion to it’s extent, is ever prone to wantoness: power and authority, says Plutarch, awaken every passion, and discover every latent vice: —what a cogent temptation is here placed to insnare the most virtuous? But if there be one depraved passion in the bosom, as power gives scope and opportunity, how soon will it be called forth in licentious exercise? Shall I be thought going too far; shall I trespass upon the bounds of truth and decency, if I say, that SOME of his Majesty’s commissioned officers, in his fleet, or ships of war; SOME officers of his customs are not altogether worthy of such high confidence and trust? Are there not inferior commissioned officers in the King’s ships; are there not many of the LOWER officers of the customs, who have neither strength of understanding or integrity of heart to weild such a mighty power? Nay, may not I add, that SOME FEW (into whose hands peradventure the estate of a good subject and opulent merchant may chance to fall) are destitute of all sense, mental and humane? While contemplating this subject,—while the mind is active, and heart warm—how apt are we to forget, that the illustrious Houses, who gave their sanction to this astonishing law, are dignified as learned and venerable;—and the Prince that gave his fiat, denominated—“THE WISEST AND BEST OF KINGS”? Declining an entrance upon matters heretofore discussed by abler heads, I have omitted all observation on the right and policy of the claims and laws of Great-Britain over the colonies; upon the same principle, I waive entering that copious field which is presented, by that part of the present act, which provides for the recovery of all forfeitures and penalties in the courts of admiralty—whose extended [12] jurisdiction hath been matter of very great grievance, heart-burnings and complaint; whose judges hold their commissions by the tenure of will and pleasure; and whose large salaries are a most powerful incentive to the desire of—well-pleasing ALL on whom they depend. Another passage in this statute makes utterly void ALL CONTRACTS, “for consigning, shipping, or carrying any goods, &c. to or from the harbour of Boston, which HAVE BEEN made or entered into, or which shall be madeor entered into, so long as the act continues in force, relating to any ship which shall arrive at said town or harbour after the first day of June”. Jurisprudents and the sages of the law for centuries have taught, that retrospective or post facto statutes, were not only militant with the principles of sound morals, but those also of political wisdom. But the Parliament, who by the bold figure of common lawyers, are stiled omnipotent, here enforces a different doctrine. The english colonist, replete with loyalty to his sovereign; the descendant from Britain, animated by love for a mother-country, represses the excursions of his understanding and passions: but the subject or native of another state will feel no such restraint. He had contracted to send his merchandize to this port, expects his returns in the commodities of the country—in compliance with his obligations, his treasures are moving with hazard upon the ocean, with hopes warm for gain. The ship (in which peradventure he hath risqued his life as well as fortune) after many a toil and jeopardy, reaches the destined port. But how are his hopes baffled—how will he [13] rage and exclaim? vast hath been his expences to prepare for his adventure, and equally great his expectations from the Boston merchant. What guilt hath he contracted, what crime hath he committed, that he also should be involved in the calamitous consequences of this unexampled statute? Bouyed up for a moment, perhaps, with a vain expectation, that he may have a remedy on his contract against the merchant here;—how will this supposed foreigner sink with a ten-fold despondency, how will he rise again with adequate indignation, when he discovers all remedy gone;—his contract declared by the law, “utterly void, to ALL INTENTS AND PURPOSES WHATSOEVER?”—Here again, love of a parent-country, love for a parent-king checks the current of reason, and restrains the career of passion. Having taken this view, before we proceed further, it is natural once more to ask, whence arose this extraordinary stride of legislation; what is it, that the town of Boston hath done? what new and unheard of crime have the inhabitants committed to justify enacting of such disabilities, forfeitures, pains, and penalties? punishments that descend indiscriminately on all ought to have the sanction of unerring wisdom, and almighty power, or it will be questioned, if not opposed:—The present vengeance falls indiscriminately on the acknowledged innocent, as well as the supposed guilty. Surely the evil is of a very malignant and terrible nature that can require such an extraordinary remedy. Admit fora moment, that the inhabitants of Boston were charged as high criminals; the highest criminals are not punishable, till arraigned before disinterested [14] judges, heard in defence, and found guilty of the charge. But so far from all this, a whole people are accused, prosecuted by they know not whom; tried they know not when; proved guilty they know now how; and sentenced in a mode, which for number of calamities, extent and duration of severity, exceeds the annals of past ages, and we presume, in pity to mankind, will not mark any future Era in the story of the world. What will be the real consequences of this astonishing measure, and what those intended and expected by the planners of it are very different considerations. A MACHIAVEL may plan, and his schemes prove abortive; an [Duke of] ALVA may be sent to execute, and his army be defeated. The circle of the arts and sciences, like the ball of empire, hath held a western course. From Chaldea and Egypt to Greece and Rome, soon after in Italy, and thence to the western provinces of Europe. Chaldea and Egypt had their Magi, their law-givers and heroes, when Greece and Rome swarmed with petty feudatories and barbarians; Greece and Rome flourished in literature, when Gaul, Germany, and Britain were uncivilized, rude and ignorant. Wise and sagacious politicians have not been able to stay the rotation of this revolving scientific circle, any more than mighty potentates to repel the velocity of the flying ball of empire:—superior to human powers, like blazing stars, they hold their destined course, and play their corruscations as they run their race. The expectations of those who were the fautors of the present measures, must have been to bring down superlative distress, discord, confusion, despair, and perdition upon a multitude. How then [15] will our amazement increase, when we shall hear that the hard fate of this multitude cannot be avoided? Let the inhabitants comply with the requisitions of the statute, let them be implicitly obedient to it’s injunctions:—what is the evil they will escape? what is the boon they may hope to attain? hope and fear are said to be the hinges of government. Legislators have therefore considered it as sound policy, never to drive the subject into acts of despair, by causing punishments to appear as inevitable, on the first promulgation of a law. When a legislative body ordaineth penalties to take place in cases of performance or non-performance of particular matters, they surely will take due care, that sufficient notice is given of their public will and sufficient time to comply with their mandates; so that obedience maynot only proceed from principles of regard to the law-makers, but motives of personal safety to the subject himself. This seems not more consonant to political wisdom, than to nature and equity.—But let us now suppose, that upon the first intimations of the present law, Boston had been as prone to obey the edict of a British Court, as the Turk to comply with the mandate of the Divan; let us imagine them as servile, as fawning as a court dependant to a minister of state;—nay, if there be any thing in nature, yet more humble and more base, let Boston (in idea for a short moment) be that humble, servile base and fawning something: What doth it all avail? The first time the inhabitants of this town had any intimation, of the will of the British Parliament, was on the tenth of may, and the act is to take place on the first of June; and thence to continue in full force, “until it shall sufficiently appear to his Majesty that [16] full satisfaction hath been made by or on behalf of the inhabitants of the said town of Boston to the united company of merchants of England trading to the East-Indies, for the damage sustained by the said company by the destruction of their goods sent to the said town of Boston, on board certain ships or vessels as aforesaid; AND UNTIL IT SHALL BE CERTIFIED TO HIS MAJESTY in council BY THE GOVERNOR, or LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR, of the said province, that reasonable satisfaction hath been made to the officers of his Majesty’s revenue and OTHERS, WHO SUFFERED BY THE RIOTS AND INSURRECTIONS ABOVE MENTIONED, in the months of November and December in the year 1773, and in the month of January in the year 1774.” Satisfaction could not be made to the East-India company, if all Boston had the WILL and POWER to do it, till the town had time and opportunity to call a meeting, assemble, consult and determine upon the measure: great bodies are not calculated for speedy decision, any more than velocity of motion. The resolution formed; time must be given for dispatches to England, application to the East-India company, an adjustment with them upon the nice point of “full satisfaction”:—that accomplished; time must be given for making the matter “sufficiently appear to his Majesty.”—Let any one consider but for a moment, what a length of time must inevitably elapse before all this can be accomplished: nay, may it not well be questioned, considering the parties and all persons concern’d and the circumstances of this affair, whether such accomplishment be practicable? But is this all that is to be done and effected before relief can be given to [17] this distressed land? Far otherwise. “The Governoror Lieutenant Governor, must also first certify to his Majesty, in Council, that reasonable satisfaction hath been made to the officers of his Majesty’s revenue, and OTHERS, who SUFFERED by the riots and insurrections above mentioned”. No person is particularly designated to be the judge between the subject, and the officers of his Majesty’s revenue: No provision being expressly made, touching this point, how probable that litigation might arise concerning it? If we say that the Governor, or Lieutenant Governor, is the implied judge of this matter: How is the question to be brought before him, how tried, and how adjusted? These also are points not settled in a moment: Long indeed would be the period before the subject in Boston will be capable to ascertain and make such satisfaction, as that the person here pointed out, would make his certificate, that it was plenary and reasonable. Governor Bernard lately filled the chair of government, while Mr. Hutchinson was second in command: Governor Hutchinson now fills the chair, and the office of Lieutenant Governor is vacant. How long would it be before the inhabitants of Boston would acquiesce in the decision of either of these gentlemen? How little probability is there, considering the sentiments, the past and present conduct of these gentlemen, that they would speedily give the required certificate?—If it hath been found difficult to touch the tender feelings of the American and Native, how long would it take to excite generous sentiments in the Briton and Stranger? [18] But these are all preparatories to the obtaining any ease or relief from the pressure of this penal law. The prerequisites to the restoration of public felicity are here not only improbable, but when considered altogether and in the present crisis of public affairs are they not impracticable? But yet worse, being accomplished, it could in no way prevent the misery and calamities of this British edict. The space given for the subject to stay this torrent of evils is so short, that it is impossible for him, exerting his utmost energies, to prevent being overwhelmed. (But what mortals are unable to prevent—HEAVEN may stay or divert.) An avenue seems to be opened by the benignity of our British fathers; but when attempted, affords no way of escape. My veneration for Britain is so great, that I will not suppose the great council of the nation intended to flatter with a false hope, that cruel disappointment might heighten the poignancy of suffering—the anguish of despair. But sure the fathers of a people will consider, what are like to be the sentiments and conduct of men driven to distractionby a multitude of inevitable evils, and consigned to despair from the terms of their deliverance? Wonder was excited on the first view of the present law; our astonishment hath been increasing in the progress of our survey. A period is not yet put to our admiration. The faculties of sensation are yet to be further stretched. The civilian and statesman, the moralist and sage had heretofore delivered those maxims of truth and [19] those rules of government, which wise legislators have ever observed, and the bulk of mankind yet honour and revere.—To know the laws of the land already in force, previous to the publication of a new code, or in the technical phraseology of a common lawyer “to know how the law stood before we make a new statute”, hath been considered as an indispensable accomplishment of a good legislator. But that illustrious Parliament, whose power is distinguished, with the appellation of “omnipotent”, seem not to have exercised this important knowledge—tho’ we do not hence rashly infer, that they are destitute of information, because all who are vested with omnipotence of power are ever inspired with proportionate wisdom. It must again be noticed, that no relief is to be had, “untill full satisfaction hath been made BY or ON behalf of the inhabitants of said town of Boston”. Now to suppose that any in England or Europe would make satisfaction “on behalf” of said Inhabitants was unnatural, if not absurd; but what is more to the point, it was certainly unparliamentary. The remaining alternative is that satisfaction must be made by Boston. Every person knows, that towns in this Province cannot raise or appropriate any monies, but by the express provisions and direct authority of law: it is a matter of equal notoriety that all town assessments of money are expresly confined, by the 4 Wm. & Mar. c. 13. to the “maintenance and support of the ministry, schools, the poor, and defraying of other necessary TOWN CHARGES”. A law which received the royal approbation, almost a century agone. [20] Will any now say, that the monies appointed to be paid to the East-India house come within the words of “necessary town charges”? When did the town contract the debt, or how are they subject to the payment of it? Had the Parliament seen fit to enact, that monies requisite to satisfy the India merchants, should be so considered; two questions (not of quick decision) might then have arisen; the one touching the validity and obligatory force of the statute; theother, whether it would then come within the intent and design of the Province law. For past doubt, our Provincial legislators had no such charge (as the one here supposed) in view, when they made the law of Wm. & Mary; and in this way therefore the matter could not be brought within it’s provision. Parliament must then make a new act to enable and impower Boston to pay the India company, before the town can comply with the terms of relief of their trade. In the mean while, what is to be the situation of Boston and the inhabitants of the globe with whom they have such extensive connections?—But, it is very apparent, that the Parliament have not as yet enacted the payment of this satisfaction as a town charge. They have only placed it in the option of the town to make that payment, or submit to the consequences. That payment, we affirm, they cannot pay, without breach of the law of the land.—New and unheard of therefore is the state of this people. They must sustain the severest afflictions, they must stand the issue of distracting remedies—or—violate one of the most known and practiced laws of the land!—Let us search the history of the world;—let us inspect the records of a Spanish inquisition; [21] let us enter the recesses of an Ottoman court;—nay, let us traverse the regions of romance and fable—where shall we find a parallel? “When the Hungarians were called REBELS first, they were called so for no other reason than this, (says the elegant Ld. Bolingbroke) that they would not be SLAVES”. But for BRITONS, when they would not venture to call their CHILDREN, rebels, that they should treat them as worse than REBELS, was reserved to distinguish an age of vaunted light, humanity and knowledge—the Era of a King, who prides himself as born and bred a Briton! To complain of the enormities of power, to expostulate with over-grown oppressors, hath in all ages been denominated sedition and faction; and to turn upon tyrants, treason and rebellion. But tyrants are rebels against the first laws of Heaven and Society:—to oppose their ravages is an instinct of nature—the inspiration of GOD in the heart of man. In the noble resistance which mankind make to exorbitant ambition and power, they always feel that divine afflatus, which, paramount every thing human, causes them to consider the LORD OF HOSTS as their leader, and his angels as fellow-soldiers: —trumpets are to them joyful sounds, and the ensigns of war, the banners of GOD; —their wounds are bound up in the oil of a good cause, and their blood flows into the veins of a Saviour; sudden death is to them present martyrdom,and funeral obsequies resurrections to eternal honour and glory:—their widows and babes, being received into the arms of a compassionate GOD, and their names enrolled among [22] DAVID’S WORTHIESS—greatest losses are to them greatest gains; for they leave the troubles of their warfare to lie down on beds of eternal rest and felicity. There are other parts of the act now before us, which merit notice: particularly that, relative to the prosecution of suits in the ordinary courts of law, “for any thing done in pursuance of the act”; by which the defendant is enabled “to plead the general issue, and give the act, and the general matter, in evidence”: whereupon it follows, that if it shall appear so to have been done, the jury SHALL find for the defendant”; who, by an after clause, is to “recover treble costs”. From this passage some have been lead to conclude, that the appearance of this matter was to be to the Judge; and that if it had that appearance to him, and he should direct the jury accordingly; however it might appear to the jury, they must follow the directions of the Judge, and acquit the defendant. But this is a construction, which as the words do not necessarily carry that meaning, I will not permit myself to suppose the design of the law. However the late donations of large salaries by the crown, to the justices of our superior Courts, who are nominated by the Governor, and hold their commission, durante bene placito, have not a little contributed to the preceeding apprehension. Another passage makes provision for “assigning and appointing such and so many open places, quays and wharfs, within the said harbour, creeks, havens and islands, for the landing, discharging, lading and shipping of goods, as his Majesty, his heirs or successors, shall judge necessary and ex- [23] pedient”; and also for “appointing such and so many officers of the customs therein, as his Majesty shall think fit; after which it shall be lawful for any person or persons to lade or put off from, or to discharge and land upon, such wharfs, quays, and places, so appointed within the said harbour, AND NONE OTHER, any goods, wares and mechandize whatsoever”. By which the property of many private individuals is to be rendered useless, and worse than useless; as the possession of a thing, aggravates the misfortune of those who are deprived of a capacity to enjoy. But if the property of some few is to be rendered nothing worth, so that of many others is to be openly invaded:—But why should we dwell upon private wrongs, while those of the multitude call for all our attention? If any should now say—we are a commercial people—commercial plans can only save us. If any think that ideas of the merchant are at this day to give spring to our nerves and vigour to our actions; if any say, that empire in this age of the world, is only founded in commerce:—let him show me the people emancipated from oppression by commercial principles and measures: let him point me, that unexplored land, where trade and slavery flourish together. Till then, I must hold a different creed; and believe—that tho’ commercial views may not be altogether unprofitable; that tho’ commercial plans may do much, they never can do ALL. With regard then, to how much the merchant, the artificer, the citizen and the husbandsman may do, let us no longer differ. But let every one apply his strength and abilities to that [24] mighty burden, which unless removed, must crush US ALL. AMERICANS have one COMMON INTEREST to unite them; that interest must cement them. Natural allies, they have published to the world professions of reciprocal esteem and confidence, aid and assistance; they have pledged their faith of mutual friendship and alliance. Not only common danger, bondage, and disgrace; but national truth and honour conspire to make THE COLONISTS resolve—TO STAND OR FALL TOGETHER. Americans never were destitute of discernment; they have never been grossly deficient in virtue; a small share of sagacity is now needful to discover, the insidious art of our enemies; the smallest spark of virtue will on this occasion kindle into flame. Will the little temporary advantage held forth for delusion, seduce them from their duty? Will they not evidence at this time, how much they despise the commercial bribe of a British ministry; and testify to the world that they do not vail to the most glorious of the antients, in love of freedom and sterness of virtue? But as to THE INHABITANTS OF THIS PROVINCE, how great are the number, how weighty the considerations to actuate their conduct? Not a town in this colony, but have breathed the warmest declarations of attachment to their rights, union in their defence, and perseverance to the end. Should any ONE maritime town (for more than ONE I will not believe there can be) allured by the expectations of gain, refuse to lend their aid;—entertaining the base idea of build- [25] ing themselves upon the ruins of this metropolis—and in the chain of future events, on the destruction of ALL AMERICA,—what shall we say?—hours of bitter reflection will come,when their own feelings shall excite consideration; when remembrance of the past, and expectation of the future shall fill up the measure of their sorrow and anguish.—But I turn from the idea, which blasts my country with infamy—my species with disgrace. The intelligent reader must have noticed, that through the whole of the act of Parliament, there is no suggestion that the East-India company had made any demand for damage done to their property:—if the company supposed they had received injury, it doth not appear whom they considered guilty, and much less, that they had alledged any charge against the town of Boston. But I presume that if the company were intitled to receive a recompense from the town until they prosecuted their demand they are supposed to wave it. And we cannot but imagine, that this is the first instance, where Parliament hath ordered one subject to pay a satisfaction to another, when the party aggrieved did not appear to make his regular claim; and much more uncommon is it, for such recompence to be ordered without ascertaining the amount to which the satisfaction shall extend. But if the East-India company were now made easy, and Boston reduced to perfect silence and humiliation:—how many “OTHERS” are they, who would suggest, that they “SUFFERED by the riots and insurrections abovementioned” and demand “reasonable satisfaction” therefor.—The singular texture, uncer- [26] tainty, looseness and ambiguity of this phrase in the statute seems so calculated for dispute, such an eternal bar to a full compliance with the requisitions of the act, and of course to render permanent it’s evils, that I cannot speak upon the subject without trespassing upon those bounds of respect and decency, within the circle of which I have endeavoured to move. Here waiving further particular consideration of that subject which gave origin to this performance; I shall proceed to an equally interesting subject—that of STANDING ARMIES and CIVIL SOCIETY. ——————————— The faculty of intelligence may be considered as the first gift of GOD: it’s due exercise is the happiness and honour of man; it’s abuse his calamity and disgrace. The most trifling duty is not properly discharged without the exertion of this noble faculty; yet how often does it lie dormant, while the highest concernments are in issue? Believe me (my countrymen) the labor of examining for ourselves, or great imposition, must be submitted to; there is no otheralternative: and unless we weigh and consider what we examine, little benefit will result from research. We are at this extraordinary crisis called to view the most melancholy events of our day: the scene is unpleasant to the eye, but it’s contemplation will be useful; if our thoughts terminate with judgment, resolution and spirit. If at this period of public affairs, we do not think, deliberate, and determine like men—men of [27] minds to conceive, hearts to feel, and virtue to act—what are we to do?—to gaze upon our bondage? while our enemies throw about fire-brands, arrows and death, and play their tricks of desperation with the gambols of sport and wantonness. The proper object of society and civil institutions is the advancement of “the greatest happiness of the greatest number”. The people (as a body, being never interested to injure themselves and uniformly desirous of the general wellfare) have ever made this collective felicity the object of their wishes and pursuit. But strange, as it may seem, what the many through successive ages have desired and sought, the few have found means to baffle and defeat. The necessity of the acquisition hath been conspicuous to the rudest mind; but man, inconsiderate, that “in every society, there is an effort constantly tending to confer on one part the height of power, and to reduce the other to the extreme of weakness and misery”, hath abandoned the most important concerns of civil society to the caprice and controul of those, whose elevation caused them to forget their pristine equality, and whose interest urged them to degrade the best and most useful below the worst and most unprofitable of the species. Against this exertion, and the principle which originates it, no vigilance can be too sharp, no determination too severe. [28] But alas—as if born to delude and be deluded—to believe whatever is taught, and bear all that is imposed—successive impositions, wrongs and insults awaken neither the sense of injury or spirit of revenge. Fascinations and enchantments, chains and fetters bind in adamant the understanding and passions of the human race. Ages follow ages, pointing the way to study wisdom—but the charm continues. Sanctified by authority and armed with power, error and usurpation bid defiance to truth and right, while the bulk of mankind sit gazing at the monster of their own creation:—a monster, to which their follies and vices gave origin, and their depravity and cowardice continue in existence. “The greatest happiness of the greatest number” being the object and bond of society, the establishment of truth and justice, ought to be the basis of civil policy and jurisprudence. But this capital establishment can never be attained in a state where there exists a power superior to the civil magistrate and sufficient to controul the authority of the laws. Whenever, therefore, the profession of arms becomes a distinct order in the state, and a standing army part of the constitution, we are not scrupulous to affirm, that the end of the social compact is defeated, and the nation called to act upon the grand question consequent upon such an event. The people who compose the society (for whose security the labour of it’s institution was perform- [29] ed, and of the toils it’s preservation daily sustained) THE PEOPLE, I say, are the only competent judges of their own welfare, and, therefore, are the only suitable authority to determine touching the great end of their subjection and their sacrifices. This position leads us to two others, not impertinent on this occasion, because of much importance to Americans:— That the legislative body of the common-wealth ought to deliberate, determine and make their decrees in places where the legislators may easily know from their own observation the wants and exigencies, the sentiments and will, the good and happiness of the people; and the people as easily know the deliberations, motives, designs and conduct of their legislators, before their statutes and ordinances actually go forth and take effect:— That every member of the legislature ought himself to be so far subject in his person and property to the laws of the state, as to immediately and effectually feel every mischief and inconvenience resulting from all and every act of legislation. The science of man and society, being the most extended in it’s nature, and the most important in it’s consequences of any in the circle of erudition, ought to be an object of universal attention and study. Was it made so, the rights of mankind would not remain buried for ages, under systems of civil and priestly hierarchy, nor social felicity overwhelmed by lawless domination. Under appearances the most venerable and institutions the most revered; under the sanctity of religion; the dignity of government, and the smiles of [30] beneficence, do the subtle and ambitious make their first incroachments upon their species. Watch and oppose ought therefore to be the motto of mankind. A nation in it’s best estate—guarded by good laws, fraught with publicvirtue, and steeled with martial courage—may resemble Achilles: but Achilles was wounded in the heel. The least point left unguarded, the foe enters:—latent evils are the most dangerous—for we often receive the mortal wound, while we are flattered with security. The experience of all ages shews that mankind are inattentive to the calamities of others, careless of admonition, and with difficulty roused to repel the most injurious invasions. “I perceive (said the great patriot Cicero to his countrymen) an inclination for tyranny in all Caesar projects and executes.” Notwithstanding this friendly caution, not “till it was too late did the people find out, that no beginnings, however small, are to be neglected.” For that Caesar, who at first attacked the common-wealth with mines very soon opened his batteries. —Encroachments upon the rights and property of the citizen are like the rollings of mighty waters over the breach of antient mounds: slow and unalarming at the beginning; rapid and terrible in the current; a deluge and devastation at the end.—Behold the oak, which stretcheth itself to the mountains, and overshadows the vallies, was once an acorn in the bowels of the earth:—Slavery (my friends) which was yesterday engraf- [31] ted among you, already overspreads the land, extending its arms to the ocean, and it’s limbs to the rivers:—Unclean and voracious animals under it’s covert, find protection and food,—but the shade blasteth the green herb, and the root thereof poisoneth the dry ground, while the winds which wave its branches scatter pestilence and death. Regular government is necessary to the preservation of private property and personal security. Without these, men will descend into barbarism, or at best become adepts in humiliation and servility: but they will never make a progress in literature or the useful arts. Surely a proficiency in arts and sciences is of some value to mankind, and deserves some consideration.—What regular government can America enjoy with a legislative a thousand leagues distant, unacquainted with her exigencies, militant in interest, and unfeeling of her calamities? What protection of property—when ministers under this authority shall overrun the land with mercenary legions? What personal safety when a British administration—(such as it now is, and corrupt as it may be)—pour armies into the capital and senate-house—point their artillery against the tribunal of justice, and plant weapons of death at the posts of our doors? Thus exposed to the power, and insulted by the arms of Britain—STANDING ARMIES become an object of serious attention. And as the history of mankind affords no instance of successful and confirmed tyranny, without the aid of military forces, we shall not wonder to find them the desiderata of princes, and the grand object of modern poli- [32] cy.—What, tho’ they subdue every generous passion and extinguish every spark of virtue—all this must be done, before empires will submit to be exhausted by tribute and plundered with impunity. Amidst all the devices of man to the prejudice of his species, the institution of which we treat hath proved the most extensively fatal to religion, morals and social happiness. Founded in the most malevolent dispositions of the human breast, disguised by the policy of state, supported by the lusts of ambition, THE SWORD hath spread havock and misery throughout the world. By the aid of mercenary troops, the sinews of war, the property of the subject, the life of the common-wealth have been committed to the hands of hirelings, whose interest and very existence, depend on an abuse of their power. In the lower class of life, STANDING ARMIES have introduced brutal debauchery and real cowardice; in the higher orders of state, venal haughtiness and extravagant dissipation. In short whatever are the concommitants of despotism; whatever the appendages of oppression, this ARMED MONSTER hath spawned or nurtured, protected or established;—monuments and scourges of the folly and turpitude of man. Review the armament of modern princes:—what sentiments actuate the military body? what characters compose it? Is there a private centinel of all the innumerable troops that make so brilliant a figure, who would not for want of property have been driven from a Roman cohort, when soldiers were the defenders of liberty? [33] Booty and blind submission is the science of the camp. When lust, rapacity, or resentment incite whole battallions proceed to outrage. Do their leaders command—obedience must follow. “Private soldiers (said Tiberius Gracchus from the Roman rostrum) fight and die to advance the wealth and luxury of the great.” “Soldiers (said an eminent Puritan in his sermon preached in this country more than 130 years ago) are commonly men who fight themselves fearlessly into the mouth of hell for revenge, a booty, or a little revenue:—a cry of battle is a day of harvest for the devil”. Soldiers, like men, are much the same in every age and country. “Heroes are much the same, the point’s agreed, From Macedonia’s madman to the Sweed.” What will they not fight for—whom will they not fight against?—Are these men, who take up arms with a view to defend their country and its laws? Do the ideas or feelings of the citizen actuate a British private on entering the camp? Excitements, generous and noble like these are far from being the stimuli of a modern phalanx. The general of an army, habituated to uncontrouled command, feels himself absolute: he forgets his superiors, or rather despises that civil authority, which is destitute of an energy to compel his obedience. His soldiers (who look up to him as their sovereign, and to their officers as magistrates) loose the sentiments of the citizen and contemn the [34] laws. Thus a will and a power to tyranize become united; and the effects are as inevitable and fatal in the political, as the moral world. The soldiers of Great Britain are by the mutiny act deprived of those legal rights which belong to the meanest of their fellow-subjects, and even to the vilest malefactor. Thus divested of those rights and privileges which render Britons the envy of all other nations, and liable to such hardships and punishments as the limits and mercy of our known laws utterly disallow; it may well be thought they are persons best prepared and most easily tempted to strip others of their rights, having already lost their own. Excluded, therefore, from the enjoyments which others possess, like Eunuchs of an Eastern seraglio, they envy and hate the rest of the community, and indulge a malignant pleasure in destroying those privileges to which they can never be admitted. How eminently does modern observation verify that sentiment of Baron Montesquieu—a slave living among free-men will soon become a beast. A very small knowledge of the human breast, and a little consideration of the ends for which we form into societies and common-wealths discover the impropriety and danger of admitting such an order of men to obtain an establishment in the state: the annals and experience of every age shew; that it is not only absurdity and folly—but distraction and madness. But we in this region of the earth have not only to dread and struggle with the natural and common calamities resulting from such military bodies, but the combined dan- [35] gers arising from AN ARMY OF FOREIGNERS, stationed in the very bowels of the land. Infatuated Britons have been told—and as often deceived, that an army of natives would never oppress their own countrymen.But Caesar and Cromwell, and an hundred others have enslaved their country with such kind of forces. And who does not know that subalterns are implicitly obedient to their officers;—who when they become obnoxious are easily changed, as armies to serve the purposes of ambition and power are soon new modelled. But as to America, the armies which infest her shores, are in every view FOREIGNERS, disconnected with her in interest, kindred and other social alliances; who have nothing to lose, but every thing to gain by butchering and oppressing her inhabitants.—But yet worse: —their inroads are to be paliated, their outrages are to receive a sanction and defence from a Parliament whose claims and decrees are as unrighteous, as the Administration is corrupt; as boundless as their ambition, and as terrible as their power. The usurpation and tyranny of the Decemviri of Rome are represented as singularly odious and oppressive: but even they never assumed what Britain in the face of all mankind hath avowed and exercised over the Colonies:—the power of passing laws merely on her own authority. “Nothing that we propose (said they to the people) can pass into a law without your consent. Be yourselves, ye romans, the authors of those LAWS ON WHICH YOUR HAPPINESS DEPENDS”. “The dominion of all great empires degrades and debases the human species”. The dominion of Britain is that of a mighty empire. Her [36] laws waste our substance, her placemen corrupt our morals, and her armies are to break our spirits. —Yes, are they not to do more? “To spoil, to slaughter and to commit every kind of violence; and then to call the manaeuvre by a lying name—GOVERNMENT; and when they have spread a general devastation, call it PEACE.” In the barbarous Massacres of France, in the 16th century, the very hangmen refused obedience to the cruel mandates of the French monarch, saying they were legal officers, and only executed those the laws condemned. Yet history bears testimony that the soldiers performed the office which the hangman refused. Who then can be at a loss for the views of those who were so fond of introducing and tenacious of obtaining similar peace-officers in this obnoxious capital? But let all such—yes, let Great-Britain consider the nature of mankind: let her examine carefully the history of past events, and attend to the voice of experience. In the same age we have just mentioned, the Low-Countries, then subject to the crown of Spain, being persecuted by the court and church of thatkingdom rose up to resist their oppressors. Upon which, in the year 1567, the Duke of Alva was sent, and entered the country with a well-appointed army, ten thousand strong; in order to quell and punish the insurgents. Terrified with these martial operations, the towns [37] suffered the open breach of their charters, and the people submitted to the most humiliating infraction of their liberties; while Alva, being invested with the government, erected the court of twelve, called the council of blood, and caused great numbers to be condemned and executed on account of the insurrections. Universal complaints insued on this disuse of the ordinary courts of law and the introduction of the army: but complaints were in vain, and all murmurs despised. The people became enraged; but without a leader, they were over-awed. “The army (says Sir William Temple) was fierce and brave, and desirous of nothing so much as a rebellion of the country.” All was seizure and process, confiscation and imprisonment, blood and horror, insolence and dejection, punishments executed and meditated revenge. But though the multitude threatened vengeance, the threats of a broken and unarmed people excited contempt and not fear. Alva redoubled his impositions and ravages, his edicts were published for raising monies without the consent of the state, and his soldiers were called to levy the exactions by force.—But the event shewed, that the timidity and tameness of mankind, like every thing human, will have a period. The patience of the miserable sufferers came to an end; and those commotions began which deluged great part of Europe with blood, and finally freed THE UNITED PROVINCES from the yoke of Spain and the inquisition.—What conflicts too sharp—what horrors too dreadful to endure for such a happy deliverance—such a glorious issue? Thus “the first period of the low-country troubles (says the same ingenious writer) proved to King Philip (of Spain) a dear experience, how little the boldest armies and best conduct are able to withstand the torrent of a stubborn and enraged people, which ever bears all [38] down before it, till it be divided into different channels by arts, or by chance; or till the springs, which are the humours that fed it, come to be spent, or dry up of themselves. During several centuries, history informs us, that no monarch in Europe was either so bold, or so powerful as to venture on any steps toward the introduction of regular troops. At last, Charles the 7th of France, seizing a favourable opportunity in 1445, executed that which his predecessors durst not attempt, and established the first standing army known in Europe. Lewis the 11th, son,and successor of Charles, finding himself at the head of his father’s forces, was naturally excited to extend the limits of his ancestors, in the levies of money and men. Charles had not been able to raise upon his subjects two millions, but the army he left his successor enabled him to levy near five. The father established an army of about seventeen hundred, which “he kept in good order and placed for the defence of the realm”; but this army, though thus disciplined and stationed, enabled the son to maintain “in continual pay a terrible band of men of arms, which gave the realm (says the Historian Philip de Commines) a cruel wound of which it bled many years.” How regular, correspondent and uniform are the rise and progression of military calamities in all ages! How replete with instruction—how full of admonition are the memorials of distant times—especially when contracted into the view, and held up in comparison with the present. [39] Charles and Lewis having set the example, all the neighbouring crowned heads soon followed, and mercenary troops were introduced into all the considerable kingdoms of the continent. They gradually became the only military force that was employed or trusted. It has long been (says the learned Dr. Robertson) the chief object of policy to encrease and support them, and the great aim of Princes or ministers to discredit and to annihilate all other means of national activity or defence.” Who will wonder at this, who reflect, that absolute monarchies are established, and can only be supported by mercenary forces? Who can be surprized, that princes and their subalterns discourage a martial spirit among the people, and endeavour to render useless and contemptible the militia, when this institution is the natural strength, and only stable safeguard, of a free country? “Without it, ‘tis folly to think any free government will ever have security and stability.” A standing army in quarters will grow effeminate and dissolute; while a militia, uniformly exercised with hard labor, are naturally firm and robust. Thus an army in peace is worse than a militia; and in war, a militia will soon become disciplin’d and martial. But “when the sword is in the hands of a single person—as in our constitution—he will always (says the ingenious Hume) neglect to discipline the [40] militia in order to have a pretext for keeping up a standing army. ‘TIS EVIDENT, (says the same great character) that this is a mortal distemper in the BRITISH government; of which it must at last inevitably perish.” What a deformed monster is a standing army in a free nation? Free, did I say? what people are truly free,whose monarch has a numerous body of armed mercenaries at his heels? who is already absolute in his power—or by the breath of his nostrils may in an instant make himself so? No free government was ever founded or ever preserved it’s liberty without uniting the characters of citizen and soldier in those destined for defence of the state. The sword should never be in the hands of any, but those who have an interest in the safety of the community, who fight for their religion and their offspring ;—and repell invaders that they may return to their private affairs and the enjoyment of freedom and good order. Such are a well regulated militia composed of the freeholders, citizen and husbandman, who take up arms to preserve their property as individuals, and their rights as freemen. Such is the policy of a truly wise nation, and such was the wisdom of the antient Britons. The primitive constitution of a state in a few centuries falls to decay:—errors and corruptions creep gradually into the admini- [41] stration of government—‘till posterity forget or disregard the institutions of their remote ancestors. In antient time, THE MILITIA of England was raised officered and conducted by common consent. It’s militia was the ornament of the realm in peace and for ages continued the only and sure defence in war. Was the King himself general of an army—it was by the consent of his people. Thus when the Romans visited the island of Britain, Cassibelan was the Prince and chief commander in war; but it was by the election of the great Common Council, Summa belli (says Caesar) COMMUNI CONCILIO, Cassibelano traditur. Nor will this seem strange, when we consider that it was the first state maxim of the Druids ne loqui de republica, nisi per concilium—not even to speak upon a matter of state but in council. Nor is it to be wondered that such politicians informed Caesar, that they had been so long accustomed to liberty, that they knew not the meaning of tribute and slavery; and sent him word, that they had as good blood as he, and from the same fountain. Surely a message that was received by a Roman, may be sent to a British Caesar. There were those venerable Druids, who had inspired the Gauls, of whom Caesar reports this memorable boast; We can call or appeal to such a Great Common Council, as all the world cannot resist. Tacitus, speaking of our Saxon ancestors, relates, Reges ex nobilitate, Duces ex virtute in iisdem conciliis eliguntur. The great council, or the parliament of the state, had, not only the appointment of the principes militia, but the conduct of all military forces, from the first erection of the standard to it’s lodgment in theCitidel; for as the same noble writer informs, it was their general custom—not to intrust any man with the bearing of arms, antequam [42] CIVITAS suffecturum probaverit. Such was the security of the people from the calamities of a standing army:—happy indeed if their successors could boast a similar provision—Britain would not now be groaning under oppression—nor her distant children struggling for their freedom. A spirited nation thus embodied in a well disciplined militia will soon become warlike, and such a people more fitted for action than debate, always hasten to a conclusion on the subject of grievances and public wrongs, and bring their deliberations to the shortest issue. With them “it is the work of but one day, to examine and resolve the nice question, concerning the behaviour of subjects towards a ruler who abuses his power”. Artful dissemblings and plausible pretences are always adopted in order to introduce regular troops. Dyonysius became the tyrant of Syracuse, the most opulent of all the Grecian cities, by feigning a solicitude for the people and a fear of his own person. He humbly prayed only a guard for his protection: they easily granted, what he readily took—the power of plundering by military force and entailing his sovereignty by a devise of his sword. Agathocles, a successor to the Dyonysian family and to the command of the army, continued the military tyranny, and butchered the enslaved people by centuries. Cardinal Ximenes, who made the first innovation of this kind in Spain, disguised the measure under the pious and popular appearance of resisting the progress of the Infidels. The Nobles saw his views and excited opposition in the chief towns of the [43] kingdom. But by dexterously using terror and intreaty, force and forbearance, the refractory cities were brought to compliance. The nobles thus, driven to desperate resolutions by the Cardinal’s military movements, at a personal interview were warm and intemperate. When the Arch-prelate insensibly led them towards a balcony from which they had a view of a large body of troops under arms, and a formidable train of artillery, “Behold, says he, pointing to these and raising his voice, the powers which I have received from his Catholick majesty.” “With these I govern Castile and with these I will govern it”. Nobles and people discovered it was now too late for resistance:—to regret past folly and dread future calamities was the remaining fate of the wretched Castilians. After the Romans quitted the island of Britain, the first appearance of a standing army was under Richard the second. Thesuppression of his enemies in Ireland calling him out of England, his subjects, seized the opportunity and dethroned him. Henry the 7th, a character odious for rapacity and fraud, was the first King of England who obtained a permanent military band in that kingdom. It was only a band of fifty archers:—with the harmless appellation of Yeomen of the guards. This apparently trivial institution was a precedent for the greatest political evil that ever infested the inhabitants of Britain. The ostensible pretext was the dignity of government—“the grandeur of majesty”:— the alteration of the constitution and an increase of power was the aim of the prince. An early “oppugnation of the King’s authority”, tho’ no doubt his favorite subalterns would have stiled it “ILL TIMED”, had easily effected that disbanding of the new-raised forces, which being a little while delayed, no subsequent struggles have accomplished. The wisdom of resistance at the beginning has been repeatedly inculcated by the wise and liberal-minded of all nations, and the experience of every age hath confirmed their instruction. But no Precept or example can make the bulk of mankind wise for themselves. Tho’ cautioned (as we have seen) against the projects of Caesar, the smiles of his benignity deceived the Roman Common-wealth, till the increase of his power bid defiance to opposition. Celebrated for his generosity and magnificence, his complacency and compassion, the complaisant courtier made his way into the hearts of his countrymen. They would not believe, tho’ admonished by the best of men and first of patriots, that the smiling Caesar would filch away their liberties, that a native—born and bred a Roman—would enslave his country—the land of his fathers—the land of his birth—the land of his posterity. But the ambitious Caesar aiming at authority, and [45] Caesar armed and intoxicated with power, appear in very different characters. He who appeared with the mildness of a fine gentleman, in his primaeval state, in an advanced station conducted with the sterness of a tyrant. Opposed by a tribune of the people in taking money out of the public treasury against the laws, Caesar WITH AN ARMY AT HIS HEELS, proclaimed “arms and laws do not flourish together.” “If you are not pleased, (added the usurper) with what I am about, you have nothing to do but to withdraw. Indeed war will not bear much liberty of speech. When I say this I am departing from my own right. For you and all I have found exciting a spirit of faction against me are ay my disposal.” Saying this, he approached the doors of the treasury, as the keys were notproduced, he sent his work-men to break them open. This is the complaisant Caesar—renowned for his amiable qualities: by his early address he deceived and by his arts inslaved his countrymen—and prepared the way for a succeeding Nero to spoil and slaughter them.—Singular and very remarkable have been the interpositions of Providence in fa- [46] vour of New-England:—the permission of an early carnage in our streets, peradventure, was to awaken us from the danger;—of being politely beguiled into security and fraudfully drawn into bondage:—a state that sooner or later ends in rapine and blood.—Shall we be too enthusiastick, if we attribute to the Divine influence, that unexpected good which hath so often in our day been brought out of premeditated evil? Few, comparatively, of the many mischiefs aimed against us, but what have terminated in some advantage, or are now verging to some happy issue.—If the dexterity of veteran troops have not excited envy, if their outrage hath not provoked revenge, their military discipline hath set a well-timed example, and their savage fury been a well-improved incentive. The lusts of an enemy may touch a sensibility of mind and his very pride pique the virtue of the heart. Fleets which appeared formidable, and armies which threatened destruction have either vapoured away with empty parade, or executed their mischievous designs with rashness and folly. To compensate the insult and repair the injury, Providence hath caused these armaments to scatter much wealth and diffuse abroad a martial passion:—a passion, which hath proved so contagious, that our MILITIA are advanced a century, at least, in discipline and improvements. Where are the people who can compose a militia of better men, more expert in the use of arms, and the conduct of the field, than we can now call forth into action? A militia who a few years ago, knew near as much of the science of Algebra, as of the art military. [47] Thus hostile invasions have roused among us the GENIUS of War.—that Genius, which under GOD, will conduct us with safety and honour—with triumph and glory. Surely we may say of our adversaries;—in the net, which they hid, is their own foot taken, and they are snared in the wickedness of their own hands.—Our enemies the last ten years, have been employed to weave a spiders web and hatch the eggs of a Cocatrice:—consuming their own bowels by what they have weaved; and destroyed by what they have brought forth.—Thus Goliath is killed with his own sword, Haman hanged upon his own gallows. Marvellous were thedoings of GOD in the eyes of our fathers;—nor less astonishing are his works in the days of their progeny. Charles the 2d. told his Parliament, their “jealousy, that the forces he had rais’d were designed to controul law and property, was weak and frivolous.” The cajolement took for a season, [48] but his subjects having been abused by repeated violations of his most solemn vows, at last rouzed from their lethargy; and the King began to dread the severity of their vengeance. He therefore kept up a standing army, not only against law, but the repeated resolutions of every Parliament of his reign. He found that corruption without force could not confirm him a tyrant, and therefore cherished and augmented his troops to the destruction of his people and the terror of his senators. “There go our masters” was a common saying among the members of Parliament. “No law can restrain these people; houses are taken from us, our lives are in danger” (said one member of Parliament.) “Without betraying our trust, (said Russel) we must vote these standing forces a grievance. There are designs, about the King, to ruin religion and property. Public business is the least of their concern. A few upstart people, making hay while the sun shines, set up an army to establish their interest: I would have care taken for the future, that no army be raised for a cabal-interest. A Gentleman said the last session, that this war was made rather for the army, than the army for the war. This government, with a standing army, can NEVER BE SAFE: We cannot be secure in this house; and some of us may have our heads taken off.” Patriots harrangued in vain—the Commons voted the Keeping up the army illegal and a grievance—but while they thus did, they openly betrayed a dread of that army. “I would not give an [49] alarm to those who have arms in their hands” said one member; “I cannot but observe that the House of Commons is now in fear of the army”, said another. Plain as it was for what end the army was kept up, the people slumbered. The exigencies of the times called for something more than votes and paper-resolutions. What was the consequence of this national cowardice and inactivity? “England saw herself engaged in the expence of 600,000 Pounds sterling, to pay an army and fleet, which certainly (says Rapin) had not been prepared TO make war with France OR FOR THE SECURITY OF ENGLAND” —Spirited resolves may please the ear; senatorial eloquence may charm the eye, but these are not the weapons with which to combat standing armies: (thesewas not those,) which freed this Capital from stationed regiments;—they are not those, which will ultimately—But I forbear: time will unfold, what I may not foretell. The British Court, never destitute of plausibilities to deceive, or inventions to enthrall the nation, appropriated monies, raised by Parliament for the purpose of disbanding the army, to their countenance, and uniformly pursued similar measures, till in the year 1684, “the King in order to make his people sensible of their new slavery, affected to muster his troops, which amounted to 4000 well-armed and disciplined.” If Rapin denominated so small an armament, the slavery of the subject under Charles the 2d:—what would he call the state of Britons under George the third? With 4000 troops the kingdom it seems was reduced to servitude: but the spirit of the nation soon after [50] rose. In 1685 complaint was made in Parliament, “that the country was weary of the oppression, and plunder of the soldiers”; “the army (it was said) debauched the manners of all the people, their wives, daughters and servants.” The grievance became intolerable—and what was happy, it was not too mighty for opposition. James the second, had only 14, or 15,000 troops,—and no riot act. The barbarities of a Kirk, and the campaign of a Jefferies, could not pass with impunity. THE REVOLUTION succeeded and James abdicated his throne.—Such was the fate of one, who vainly affected to play the despot with about fifteen regiments: had he been encircled with an hundred, no doubt, he had reigned an applauded tyrant—flattered in his day, with that lying appellation—“the wisest and the best of Kings.” The army of the present king of great Britain is larger than that with which Alexander sub- [51] dued the East, or Caesar conquered Gaul. “If the army, we now keep up (said Sr. John Phillips 30 Years ago, in the House of Commons) should once be as much attached to the Crown as Julius Caesar’s army was to him, I should be glad to know where we could find a force superior to that army.” Is there no such attachment now existing? Surely the liberties of England, if not held at will, are holden by a very precarious tenure. The supreme power is ever possessed by those who have arms in their hands and are disciplined to the use of them. When the Archives conscious of a good title disputed with Lysander about boundaries, the Lacedemonian shewed his sword, and vauntingly cried out, “he that is master of this can best plead about boundaries.” The Marmotines of Messina declined appearance at the tribunalof Pompey, to acknowledge his jurisdiction, alledging in excuse, ancient priviledges, granted them by the Romans—“Will you never have done (exclaimed Pompey) with citing laws and priviledges to men who wear swords.” What boundaries will they set to their passions, who have no limits to their power? Unlimited oppression and wantoness are the never-failing attendants of un- [52] bounded authority. Such power a veteran army always acquire, and being able to riot in mischief with impunity, they always do it with licentiousness. Regular soldiers, embodied for the purpose of originating oppression or extending dominion, ever compass the controul of the Magistrate. The same force which preserves a despotism immutable, may change the despot every day. Power is soon felt by those who possess it, and they who can command will never servilely obey. The leaders of the army, having become masters of the person of their Sovereign, degrade or exalt him at will. Obvious as these truths may seem, and confirmed as they are by all history, yet a weak or wicked Prince is easily perswaded, by the creatures who surround him to act the tyrant. A character so odious to subjects, must necessarily be timid and jealous. Afraid of the wise and good, he must support his dignity by the assistance of the worthless and wicked. Standing armies are therefore raised by the infatuated Prince. No sooner established, than the defenceless multitude are their first prey. Mere power is wanton and cruel: the army grow licentious and the people grow desperate. Dreadful alternative to the infatuated monarch! In constant jeopardy of losing the regalia of empire, till the caprice of an armed Banditti degrade him[53] from sovereignty, or the enraged people wreak an indiscriminate and righteous vengeance. Alas! when will Kings learn wisdom, and mighty men have understanding? A further review of the progress of armies in our parent-state will be a usefull, tho’ not a pleasant employ. No particular reason or occasion was so much as suggested in the bill which passed the Parliament in 1717, for keeping on foot a standing army of 30,000 men in time of peace: (a number since amazingly encreased.) An act justly recorded in the Lord’s Journal to be a precedent for keeping the same army at all times, and which the protest of that day foretold “MUST INEVITABLY subvert the antient constitution of the realm, and subject the subjects to arbitrary power.” To borrow the pointed turn of a modern orator—what was once prophecy, is now history. The powers given by the mutiny act which is now constantly passed everyyear was repeatedly in former times “opposed and condemned by Parliament as repugnant to MAGNA-CHARTA, and inconsistent with the fundamental rights and liberties of the people.” In this statute no provision is made for securing the obedience of the military to the civil power, on which the preservation of our constitution depends. A great number of armed men gover- [54] ned by martial law, having it in their power, are naturally inclined not only to disobey, but to insult the civil Magistrate: The experience of what hath happened in England, as well as the memorials of all ages and nations have made it sufficiently apparent, that wherever an effectual provision is not made to secure the obedience of soldiers to the laws of their country, the military hath constantly subverted and swallowed up the civil power.—What provision of this mind can the several Continental legislatures make against British troops stationed in the Colonies? Nay, if the virtue of one branch of government attempted the salutary measure, would the first branch ever give it’s consent? A Governor must—he will obey his master: the alternative is obvious. The armies quartered among us must be removed, or they will in the end overturn and trample on all that we ought to hold valuable and sacred. We have authority, to affirm, that the regular forces of Great Britain consist of a greater number than are necessary for the guard of the King’s person and the defence of government, and therefore dangerous to the constitution of the kingdom. What then do these armaments, when established here, threaten to our laws and liberties? Well might the illustrious members of the house of Peers, in 1722, hold forth the danger of “a total alteration of the frame of our constitution from a legal and limited monarchy to a despotick” [55] and declare, they were “induced to be of this judgment, as well from the nature of armies, and the inconsistency of great military power and martial law with civil authority, as from the known and universal experience of other countries in Europe, which, by the influence and power of standing armies, in time of peace, have from limited monarchies, like ours, been changed into absolute.” The taxes necessary to maintain a standing army, drain and impoverish the land. Thus exhausted by tribute, the people gradually become spiritless, and fall an early sacrifice to the reigning power. Spirits, like Britons, naturally fierce and independent are not easily awed or suddenly vanquished by the sword. Hence an augmentation of forces hath been pushed, when there was no design of bringing them into action againstEnglishmen in an open field. New forces have oftener than once been raised in England more for civil than military service; and as elections for a new parliament have approached, this door has been opened to introduce a large body of commissioned Pensioners. What hath been the consequence? A constant majority of placemen meeting under the name of a Parliament, to establish grievances instead of redressing them—to approve implicitly the measures of a court without information—to support and screen ministers they ought to controul or punish—to grant money without right and expend it without discretion? Have these been the baneful consequences? Are these solemn truths? Alas! we tremble to think:—but we may venture to say, that when this is true of that legislative autho [56] rity, which not only claims, (but exercises) “full power and authority to make laws and statutes to bind the colonies and people of America IN ALL CASES whatsoever”; —the FORMS of our constitution, creating a fatal delusion, will become our greatest grievance. The FORMALITIES of a free and the ends of a despotic state have often subsisted together. Thus deceived was the Republick of Rome:—Officers and Magistrates retained their old names:—the FORMS of the antient government being kept up, the fundamental laws of the Common-wealth were violated with impunity, and it’s once free constitution utterly annihilated. He who gave Augustus Caesar the advice “that to the officers of state the same names, pomp and ornaments, should be continued, with all the appearances of authority, without the power, discovered an intimate acquaintance with mankind. The advice was followed, and Caesar soon became Senate, magistracy and laws. Is not Britain to America, what Caesar was to Rome? It is curious to observe the various acts of imposition, which are alternately practiced by the [57] great and subtle of this world on their subordinate and simple-minded brethren. Are a people free, new oppressions are introduced or shrouded under old names;—are they in present bondage, and begin to grow turbulent; new appellations must be adopted to disguise old burthens. A notable instance of this latter kind we find in the Parliament of Great Britain, (in 36 Edw: 3.ch:2) upwards of four hundred years ago. The royal prerogative, called purveyance, having been in vain regulated by many preceeding statutes, still continued so intolerably greivous, that fresh murmurs and complaints called for a more adequate or better adapted provision. The British legislature, for this valuable purpose, therefore passed this very remarkable law; which by way ofremedy, enacted as follows, viz.—“That the hateful NAME of purveyor, shall be changed into that of Acator.” Thus the nation were to be made to believe, that the oppression ceased, because, the name was altered.—For the honour of government, as well as mankind, it is devoutly to be wished, that our laws and history contained no other record of such disgracefull practices.—If any late acts of the British parliament carry strong marks of a similar policy, it is surely, not altogether unworthy the consideration of the members of that august body;—how far, such disingenuous practices are consistant with the honour of their private characters, or the dignity of their public station. The magic of sounds and appellations hath not ceased, and they work as much deception and abuse as ever. What valuable purpose does a wholly subordinate legislative serve, (except to amuse with the shadow, while the substance is departed) if [58] a remote state may legislate for and bind us “in all cases”? To what end doth an American house of Representatives go through the forms of granting away monies, if another power, full as familiar with our pockets, may annihilate all they do; and afterwards, with a modern dexterity, take possession of our purses without ceremony, and dispose of the contents with modesty;—without controul, and without account? It is curious and instructive to attend the course of debate in the British Commons for keeping up the army. At first even the highest courtiers would argue—that a standing army, in time of peace, was never attempted; Soon after the Court-speakers urged for continuance of a numerous army for one year longer. At the end of several years after, the Gentlemen throw aside the mask, and boldly declare such a number of troops must always be kept up. In short, the army must be continued till it be- [59] comes part of the constitution, and in later times members of the house have ventured to harangue for measures, none would have dared to lisp a few years before. The wise foresaw this, and the honest foretold it. “If we continue the army but a little while longer (said a celebrated member upwards of forty years ago,) it may be in the power of some Gentlemen to talk in this house in terms that will be no way agreable to the constitution or liberties of our country. To tell us, that the same number of forces must be always kept up, is a proposition full-fraught with innumerable evils, and more particularly with this, that it may make wicked ministers more audacious than otherwise they would be in projecting and propagating schemes which may be inconsistent with the liberties, destructive of the trade, and burthensomeon the people of this nation. In countries governed by standing armies, the inclinations of the people are but little minded, the ministers place their security in the army, the humours of the army they only consult, with them they divide the spoils, and the wretched people are plundered by both.”—Who that now reconsiders this prophetic language, in conjunction with the events of his own time, but will cry out—the speaker felt the impulse of inspiration!” “Whoever (says the justly celebrated Dr. Blackstone) will attentively consider the English history may observe, that the stagnant abuse of any power, by the crown or it’s ministers, has always been productive of a struggle, which either dis- [60] covers the exercise of that power to be contrary to law, or (if legal) restrains it for the future.” The ingenious commentator seems here to have particular reference to periods prior to the revolution. But will the learned judge say, that, since that era there have been no flagrant abuses of power by the crown or its ministers? Have not repeated struggles arose in consequence of such abuses, which did not terminate in the happy issue so characteristic of Englishmen? Let any one peruse the journals of parliament, especially those of the house of peers: let him carefully review the British and American annals, of the present century, and answer truly to those questions.—The natural enquiry will be—whence then is it—that such abuses have become so numerous and flagrant, and the struggles of Britons so unsuccessful? Will not the question receive an ample solution in the words of the same great lawyer?—“There is a newly acquired branch of (royal) power; and that not the influence only, but THE FORCE OF A DISCIPLINED ARMY, paid indeed ultimately by the people, but immediately by the crown; raised by the crown, officered by the crown, commanded by the crown.” We are told, by the same learned author, that “whenever the unconstitutional oppresssions, even of the SOVEREIGN POWER, advance with gigantic strides and threaten desolation to a state, mankind will not be reasoned out of the feelings of humanity, nor will sacrifice their liberty by a scrupulous adherence to those political maxims, [61] which were established to preserve it.” —But those who cannot be reasoned out of their feelings, are easily repressed by the terror of arms from giving tokens of their sensibility; and states antient and modern—(yes Britain will bear me witness!)—who would disdain to sacrifice their freedom to political institutions have tremblingly stood alooff, while it was dragged to the altar under the banners of a royal army. The policy and refinements of men cloathed with authority often deceive those who are subject to it’s controul; and thus a people are often induced to waive their rights, and relinquish the barriers of their safety. The fraud, however, must at last be discovered, and the nation will resume their antient liberties, if there be no force sufficient to screen the usurper and defend his domination. The sword alone is sufficient to subdue that spirit which compells rulers to their duty, and tyrants to their senses. Hence, then, though a numerous standing army may not be absolutely requisite to depress a kingdom into servitude, they are indispensably necessary to confirm an usurpation. A large army and revenue are not easily and at once forced upon a free people. By slow degrees and plausible pretences, as we have seen in England, the end is accomplished. But when once a numerous body of revenue and military men, entirely dependant on the crown, are incorporated, they are regardless of any thing, but it’s will: and where that will centers and what such power can effect is a matter of no doubtfull disputation. [62] The present army of a prince is always composed of men of honour, and integrity, as the reigning monarch is ever the best of kings. In such an army, it is said, you may trust your liberties with safety: in such a king you may put your confidence without reserve:—the good man has not a wish beyond the happiness of his subjects! Yet let it be remembered, that under the best of kings, we ought to seize the fleeting opportunity, and provide against the worst. But admitting that from this rare character—a wise and good monarch—a nation have nothing to fear;—yet they have every thing to dread from those who would cloath him with authority, and invest him with powers incompatible with all political freedom and social security. France, Spain, Denmark, and Sweden, in modern times, have felt the baneful effects of this fatal policy. Tho’ the latter state are said to have this excellent institution; that the commissions to their military officers all run quamdiu se bene gesserit: a regulation which ought to be the tenure of all offices of publick trust and may be of singular utility in states which have incorporated a standing army as part of the constitution of government. An invasion and conquest by mere strangers and foreigners are neither so formidable or disgraceful as the establishment of a standing army under co- [63] lour of the municipal law of the land. Thus Roman armies were more terrible to the Roman colonies, than an “enemy’s army.” Valor has scope foraction against an open enemy, but the most precious liberties of a kingdom are massacred in cold blood by the disciplined Janizaries of the state, and there is little hope of a general resistance. The natural inherent right of the conquered is to throw off the yoke, as soon as they are able; but subjects enslaved by the military forces of their own sovereign, become spiritless and despondent; and scaffolds and axes, the gibbet and the halter, too often terrify them from those noble exertions which would end in their deliverance by a glorious victory or an illustrious death. Yet in full peace without any just apprehensions of insurrections at home or invasions from abroad, it was the mischievous policy of the English ministry, in 1717, to procure an allowance of near double the forces to what had ever before been established by the sanction of parliament in times of public tranquillity. Well might many of the nobility of Britain conceive, that as so many forces were no ways necessary to support, they had reason to fear danger to the constitution, which way never entirely subverted but by a standing army. The English military bands have since been much augmented;—and whether this disgraceful subversion has already taken place, or is still verging to it’s accomplishment, may be resolved, after a further inspection into memorials of the present age. [64] More than half a century since, the discerning members of the house of Lords discovered the tendency of these extraordinary armaments to be no other, than to overthrow the civil power of the kingdom, and to turn it into a military government. A very short period after this, many of the same noble house, bore open testimony, that they were “justly jealous from the experience of former times, that the crown itself, as well as the liberties of the people might be found at the disposal of a standing army at home.” But as if one standing army was not enough to ruin a nation of Englishmen, a new kind of forces was raised against the Common-wealth. The officers employed in the customs, excise, in other branches of the revenue, and other parts of the public service compose in effect A SECOND STANDING ARMY in England, and in some respects are more dangerous, than that body of men properly so called. The influence which this order have in the elections of members to serve in parliament, hath been too often felt in Great Britain to be denied. And we have good authority to say, “that examples are not hard to find, where the military forces have withdrawn to create an appearance ofa free election, and the standing CIVIL forces of this kind have been sent to take that freedom away.” —Is a house of commons thus chosen the representative of the people,—or of the administration,—or of a single minister? As Lewis, the 11th of France, was the first monarch in Europe, who reduced corruption to a system, so the era of it’s establishment in England may be fixed at the reign of Charles the second. Britain, then for the first time, saw CORRUPTION, like a destroying angel, walking at noonday.—Charles pensioned his Parliament, and by it extinguished not only the spirit of freedom, but the sentiments of honour and the feelings of shame. Since the age of Charles, the science of bribery and corruption hath made amazing progress. Patriots of the last century told their countrymen what it threatned—the Worthies of this day ought rather to tell what hath been effected. Nearly fifty years ago, there were more than two hundred persons holding offices or employments under the crown in the house of commons. Since that time this body like the military (and for the same purposes) have received very notable additions.—Is it to be wondered, then, as we verge nearer to our own times, we should hear the most august assembly in the kingdom declaring to the whole world that “the influence of the crown is almost irresistable, being already overgrown and yet increasing.” —that “the most valuable rights of the nation are subverted by arbitrary and illegal proceedings:—“ that “a flagrant usurpation” (is made upon the subject) as highly repugnant to every principle of the constitution, AS THE CLAIM OF SHIP-MONEY BY KING CHARLES THE FIRST, or that of the dispensing power [66] by king James the second”? Finally, considering all that we have seen in the course of our review, could any thing else be expected, than what forty of the house of Lords openly protest they “have seen with great uneasiness,—a plan for a long time SYSTEMATICALLY carried on, FOR LOWERING ALL THE CONSTITUTIONAL POWERS OF THE KINGDOM, rendering the house of Commons “odious and the house of Peers contemptible”? Here let us pause (my fellow citizens) and consider:—hath the execrable plan thus systematically and for a long time pursued, at last, taken effect? Are all the constitutional powers of Great Britain so lowered in the estimation of the people, that their representatives are detested, and their nobility despised? Is their King possessed of power sufficient to make fear, a substitute for love? Has he an army at his absolute command, with which no force in his empire is able tocope?—judge ye, my countrymen, of these questions, upon which I may not decide: —judge, for yourselves, of the political state of that kingdom, which claims a right of disposing of OUR ALL;—a right of laying every burden that power can impose; —a right of over-running our soil and freeholds with mercenary legions, and still more mercenary placemen and dependants. Thus luxury and riot, debauchery and havock are [67] to become the order and peace of our cities, and the stability and honour of our times. To this and like hopeful purposes—we find “the fullest directions sent to the several officers of the revenue, that all the produce of the American duties, arising or to arise, by virtue of any British act of Parliament, should from time to time, be paid to the deputy pay-master in America to defrey the subsistence of the troops, and any military expences incurred in the Colonies.” Highly favoured Americans! You are to be wasted with taxes and impositions in order to satisfy the charges of those armaments which are to blast your country with the most terrible of all evils—universal corruption, and a military government. The reigns of past and present great monarchs when compared, often present a striking similitude. The Emperor Charles the fifth, having exalted the royal prerogative (or the influence of the crown) on the ruins of the privileges of the Castilians, allowed the name of the Cortes (or the Par- [68] liament to remain; and the formality of holding it thus continued, he reduced it’s authority and jurisdiction to nothing, and modelled it in such a manner, that it became (says Dr. Robertson) rather a junto of the servants of the crown, than an assembly of the representatives of the people. The success of Charles in abolishing the privileges of the commons, and in breaking the power of the nobles of Castile, encouraged an invasion of the liberties of Aragon, which were yet more extensive. Attend Americans! Reflect on the situation of your mother country, and consider the late Conduct of your Brethren in Britain towards this Continent. “The Castilians (once high spirited and brave in the cause of freedom) accustomed to subjection themselves, ASSISTED (says the same illustrious historian) IN IMPOSING THE YOKE on their more happy and independent neighbours.” —Hath not Britain (fallen from her pristine freedom and glory) treated America, as Castile did Aragon? Have not Britons imposed on our necks the same yoke which the Castilians imposed on the happy Aragonese? Yes!—I speak it with grief—I speak it with anguish—Britons are our oppressors:—Ispeak it with shame—“I speak it with indignation—WE ARE SLAVES.” As force fixes the chains of vassalage, so cowardice restrains an inslaved people from bursting in sunder their bands. But the case perhaps is not desperate till the yoke has been so [69] long borne, that the understanding and the spirits of the people are sunk into ignorance and barbarism, supineness and perfect inactivity. Such, I yet trust, is not the deplorable state of the land of my nativity. How soon it may be—we shall tremble, when we reflect that the progress of thraldom is secret and its effect incredibly rapid, and dreadful. Hence we see nations once the freest and most high-spirited in Europe, abject in the most humiliating condition. The oath of allegiance to their king, exhibits the true standard of all just subjection, to government, and testifies a genuine sense and spirit. “We, who are each of us as good, and who are altogether more powerful than you, promise obedience to your government, IF YOU MAINTAIN OUR RIGHTS AND LIBERTIES; IF NOT, NOT.” When a people, endowed with such understanding, sentiments and virtue have fallen into a disgraceful vassalage—what have WE in this land, at this time, reason to fear?—The same Athenians who insulted and bid defiance to a Phillip of Macedon crouched and cowled at the feet of an Alexander. ROMANS who with righteous indignation expelled royalty and the Tarquins bore with infamy and shame the ravages of succeeding kings and emperors. ENGLISHMEN who rose with a divine enthusiasm against the first Charles, disgracefully submitted to the usurpation of a Cromwell, and then with unexampled folly and madness restored that odious and execrable race of tyrants, the house of Stewart. Examples, like these, ought to excite [70] the deepest concern;—at this day; they ought to do more—to inspire fortitude and action. Providence from the beginning hath exercised this country with singular trials. In the earliest periods of our history, New-England is seen surrounded with adversaries, and alternately vexed with foes foreign and domestick. Fierce as her enemies were from abroad and savage as the Natives of America were within,—her worst enemies will be found those of her own household.— Our fathers “left their native country with the strongest assurance that they and their posterity should enjoy the priviledges of free natural born English subjects.” Depending upon these assurances, they sustained hard-ships scarcely parralled in the annals of the world. Yet compassion natural to the human breast did not restrain internal foes from involving them in new calamities,nor did that disgrace and contempt which suddenly fell upon the conspirators damp the ardour of their malignity. So early as 1633, (not fourteen years after the first arrival at Plymouth) “the new settlers were in perils from their own countrymen.” In this, the infant state of the country, while exposed to innumerable hardships, vexed with hostilities from Europe and the depredations of savages, there existed men, who “beheld the Massachusetts with an envious eye:” The characteristicks of the first conspirators against this province were secrecy and industry: they had [71] effected the mischief before the people knew of their danger. Morton in his letter to Jefferies of the first of may 1634, writes, that “the Massachusetts patent by an order of Council was brought in view and the privileges well scanned.” But by whom? Very like some of more modern fame: An arch-bishop, and the privy council of Charles the first! Excellent essay-masters, for New-England priviledges,—most renowned judges of the rights and liberties of mankind!—They first discover the Charter (“to be void,”) and then no doubt advise to the issuing of the commission found by my lord Barrington in the 31st volume of Mr. Petyt’s Manuscript, “a commission directed to the archbishop of Canterbury, the Lord chancellor, and other Lords of the privy council, by which they are impowered to prepare laws, for the better government of the Colonies”, “which were afterwards to be enforced by THE KING’S PROCLAMATION.” This was considered as a master-stroke of policy, and the public conspirators of the day display’d the plumage of triumph with that spirit and ostentation which have descended to their successors. But how easy is it, with Providence, to disappoint the projects and humble the pride of man! Laud and his master in the subsequent periods of history are found too busied with their own concerns, to attend much to those of others. Hence this extraordinary Commission was never executed and the plan set on foot within three years after, “for revoking the patent of the Massachusetts,” [72] proved abortive. Literary correspondencies inimical to the Province, commenced with Archbishop Laud, in 1638. But in the pious language of our fathers, “the LORD delivered them from the oppressor,” “against all men’s expectations they were encouraged, and much blame and disgrace fell upon their adversaries.” Yet notwithstanding, “a spirit full of malignity against the country (not very long after, much endangered both it’s civil and religious liberties.” More than a century agone , “the great priviledges of New-England were matter of envy,” and accordingly complaints multiplied to Cromwell, no doubt for the benevolent purpose of abridging (what were called) English Liberties. “All attempts to the prejudice of the colony being to no purpose” with the Protector, the adversaries of the province were despondent, untill the restoration of Charles the 2d. gave new hopes; when “petitions and complaints were prefered against the Colony to the king in council, and to the Parliament.” [73] “False friends and open enemies” now became the terror of the country, while new foes brought new charges to render it obnoxious. “The great men and muses of the country, made their complaints also to the king.” —The consequences were such as might be expected. “Four persons were sent over from England, one of them the known and professed enemy of the country, with such extraordinary powers (that our ancestors with grief complain) they were to be subjected to the arbitrary power of strangers proceeding not by any established law, but their own discretion.” How astonishingly uniform, how cruelly consistent has been the conduct of Britain from that day to the present? Amid all these severe trials, the inhabitants of New-England, conducted with a virtue and piety worthy [of] remembrance and imitation. “They appealed to GOD, they came not into this wilderness to seek great things for themselves, but for the sake of a poor and quiet life”—they testified to their Sovereign that “their liberties were dearer to them than their lives.” “Evilminded men continue (however) to misrepresent them” and what is a most incredible, “the difficulties of the Colony, during a war, which excited compassion in some, yet those very distresses were improved by others to render the Colony more obnoxious.” [74] Although “this is certain, that as the Colony was at first settled, so it was preserved from ruin without any charge to the mother country”; yet “in the height of the distress of war, and whilst the authority of the Colony was contending with the natives for the possession of the soil: complaints were making in England which struck at the powers of government.” With what ferocity have Americans been pursued from the earliest times? That Daemon of malevolence, which went forth at the beginning, still spirits up our adversaries and persecutes the country with unabated malice. “Randolph, who, the people of New England said, went up and down seekingto devour them,” was the next active emisary against the province. “He was incessant and open in endeavouring the alteration of the constitution.” In his open enmity, he appears far less odious than those who have been equally inimical and equally indefatigable to the same purpose, with more cowardice, dissimulation, and [75] hypocrisy. Eight voyages were made across the Atlantic in the course of nine years by this inveterate spirit, with hostile intentions to the government. Nor will it be surprising to find him thus expose his life upon the ocean, when such services acquired “new powers”. Have we not seen in our own day, a similar policy adopted, and the same object operating as a motive to the like execrable conduct? Such has been the strange, tho’ unhappily consistent, conduct of our mother-country, that she has laid temptations and given rewards and stipends to those who have slandered and betrayed her own children. Incited probably by the same motive, Cranfield rose up in league with Randolph, and “infamously represented the colony as rogues and rebels.” Libels and conspiracies of this nature called for the interposition of authority: express laws were enacted for the prevention of like treasonable practices for the future and death being deemed the proper punishment for an enemy to his country, traitors to the constitution were to suffer that penalty. Thus a “conspiracy to invade the commonwealth, or any treacherous attempt to alter and subvert fundamentally the frame of polity and government was made a capital offence.” Did our laws now contain a like provision, public conspirators and elevated parricides would tremble for their heads, who do not shudder at the enormity of their crimes. There are characters in society so devoid of virtue and endued with ferocity, that nothing [76] but sanguinary laws can restrain their wickedness. Even the distress and cries of their native country excite no compassion: reverence for fathers and affection for children cause no reluctance at measures which stain the glorious lineage of their ancestors with infamy, and blast their spreading progeny with oppression.—that emanation from the Deity which creates them intelligents, seems to cease it’s operation, and the tremendous idea of a GOD and futurity, excites neither repentance or reformation. Thus my countrymen, from the days of Gardiner and Moreton, Gorges and Mason, Randolph and Cranfield down to the present day, the inhabitants of this Northern region have constantly been in danger and troublesfrom foes open and secret, abroad and in their bosom. Our freedom has been the object of envy, and to make void the charter of our Liberties the work and labor of an undiminished race of villains. One cabal having failed of success, new conspirators have rose, and what the first, could not make “void”, the next “humbly desired to revoke.” To this purpose one falshood after another hath been fabricated and spread abroad with equal turpitude and equal effrontery. That minute detail which would present actors now on the stage is the province of HISTORY:—She, inexorably severe towards the eminently guilty, will delineate their characters with the point of a diamond:—and thus blazoned in the face of day, the abhorrence and execrations of mankind will consign them to an infamous immortality. [77] So great has been the credulity of the British Court, from the beginning, or such hath been the activity of false brethren, that no tale inimical to the Northern Colonies, however false or absurd, but what hath found credit with administration, and operated to the prejudice of the Country. Thus it was told, and believed in England, that we were not in earnest in the expedition against Canada at the beginning of this century, and that the country did every thing in its power to defeat the success of it, and that the misfortune of that attempt ought to be wholly attributed to the northern colonies. While nothing could be more obvious, than that New-England had exhausted her youngest blood and all her treasures in the undertaking; and that every motive of self-preservation, happiness and safety must have operated to excite these provinces to the most spirited and persevering measures against Canada. The people who are attacked by bad men have a testimony of their merit, as the constitution which is invaded by powerful men, hath an evidence of it’s value. The path of our duty needs no minute delineation:—it lies level to the eye. Let us apply then, like men sensible of it’s importance and determined on it’s fulfillment. The inroads upon our public liberty call for reparation: The wrongs we have sustained call for—justice. That reparation and that justice may yet be obtained by union, spirit and firmness. But to divide and conquer was the maxim of the Devil in the garden of Eden—to disunite and inslave hath been the principle of all his votaries from that [78] period to the present. The crimes of the guilty are to them the cords of association, and dread of punishment, the indissoluble bond of union. The combinations, of publick robbers ought, therefore, to cement patriots and heroes: and as the former plot,and conspire to undermine and destroy the common-wealth, the latter ought to form a compact for opposition—a band of vengeance. What insidious arts, and what detestable practices have been used to deceive, disunite and enslave the good people of this Continent? The mystical appellations of loyalty and allegiance, the venerable names of government and good order, and the sacred ones of piety and public virtue have been alternately prostituted to that abominable purpose. All the windings and guises, subterfuges and doublings, of which the human soul is susceptible, have been displayed on the occasion. But secrets which were thought impenetrable are no longer hid; characters deeply disguised are openly revealed: the discovery of gross impostors hath generally preceeded, but a short time, their utter extirpation. Be not again, my country-men, “EASILY captivated with the appearances ONLY of wisdom and piety—professions of a regard to liberty and of a strong attachment to the publick interest.” Your fathers have been explicitly charged with this folly by one of their posterity. Avoid this and all similar errors. Be cautious against the deception of appearances. By their fruits ye shall know them, was the saying of ONE who perfectly knew the human heart. Judge of affairs which concern social happiness by facts:—Judge of man by his deeds. For it is very certain, that pious zeal for days and times, for [79] mint and cummin hath, often, been pretended by those who were infidels at bottom; and it is as certain, that attachment to the dignity of Government, and the King’s service, hath often flowed from the mouths of men who harboured the darkest machinations against the true end of the former, and were destitute of every right principle of loyalty to the latter. Hence then, care and circumspection are necessary branches of political duty. And as “it is much easier to restrain liberty from running into licentiousness, than power from swelling into tyranny and oppression,” so much more caution and resistance are required against the over-bearing of rulers, than the extravagance of the people. To give no more authority to any order of state and to place no greater public confidence in any man, than is necessary for the general wellfare, may be considered by the people as an important point of policy. But though craft and hypocrisy are prevalent, yet piety and virtue have a real existence: duplicity and political imposture abound, yet benevolence and public spirit are not altogether in sheep’s-cloathing, so superlative knaves and parricides will assume the vesture of the man of virtue and patriotism. These things are permitted BY PROVIDENCE, no doubt, for wise and good reasons. Man was created a rational, and was designed for an active being. His faculties of intelligence and force were given him for use. When the wolf, therefore, is found devouring the flock, no hierarchy forbids a seisure of the victim for sacrifice; so also, when [80] dignified impostors are caught destroying those, whom their arts deceived and their stations destined them to protect,—the sabre of justice flashes righteousness at the stroke of execution. Yet be not amused, my Countrymen!—the extirpation of bondage, and the reestablishment of freedom are not of easy acquisition. The worst passions of the human heart, and the most subtle projects of the human mind are leagued against you; and principalities and power have acceded to the combination. Trials and conflicts you must, therefore, endure;—hazards and jeopardies—of life and fortune—will attend the struggle. Such is the fate of all noble exertions for public liberty and social happiness.—Enter not the lists without thought and consideration, lest you arm with timidity and combat with irresolution. Having engaged in the conflict, let nothing discourage your vigour, or repel your perseverance:—Remember, that submission to the yoke of bondage is the worst that can befall a people after the most fierce and unsuccessful resistance. What can the misfortune of vanquishment take away, which despotism and rapine would spare? It had been easy (said the great law-giver Solon to the Athenians,) to repress the advances of tyranny, and prevent it’s establishment, but now it is established and grown to some height it would be MORE GLORIOUS to demolish it. But nothing glorious is accomplished, nothing great is attained, nothing valuable is secured without magnanimity of mind and devotion of heart to the service.—BRUTUS-LIKE, therefore, dedicate yourselves at this day to the service of your Country; and henceforth live A LIFE OF LIBERTY AND GLORY.—“On the [81] ides of March” (said the great and good man to his friend Cassius just before the battle of Philippi) “On the ides of march I DEVOTED MY LIFE to my Country, and since that time, I have lived A LIFE OF LIBERTY AND GLORY”. Inspired with public virtue, touched with the wrongs and indignant at the insults offered his Country, the high-spirited Cassius exhibits an heroic example:—“Resolved as we are”, (replied the hero to his friend) “resolved as we are, let us march against the enemy, for tho’ we should not conquer, we have nothing to fear. SPIRITS and GENII, like these, rose in Rome—and have since adorned Britain: such also will one day make glorious this more Western world. AMERICA hath in store her BRUTI and CASSII—her Hampdens and Sydneys—Patriots and Heroes, who will form a BAND OF BROTHERS: —men who will have memories and feelings—courage and swords:—courage, that shall inflame their ardent bosoms, till their hands cleave to their swords—and their SWORDS to their Enemies hearts. F I N I S The Author has felt exquisitely while writing upon the subjects of his consideration; and the multitude and perplexity of his private business have denied him sufficient time to revise this publication. Under these circumstances, (and being also several years on this side the meridian of the age of man) there will be found, no doubt, many indiscretions and faults for those of riper years and cooler judgment to correct and censure.—The great Lord Chan. Bacon hath told us of wise legislators who have made their law upon the spur of the occasion:—a good citizen, deeply pricked by the spur of the times, is very apt to start with an over-hasty speed.—The only excuse of the writer is;—that as he at first assumed his pen from the impulses of his Conscience, so he now publishes his sentiments from a sense of duty to GOD and his Country. Source: https://archive.org/details/observationsonac00quin/page/n3/mode/2up?ref=ol&view=theater https://www.colonialsociety.org/node/2598#:~:text=JOSIAH%20QUINCY%2C%20Junr.,Boston%2C%20May%2014%2C%201774.

Boston Port Act 1st of 5 of the Intolerable Acts Great Britain : Parliament - The Boston Port Act : March 31, 1774 An act to discontinue, in such manner, and for such time as are therein mentioned, the landing and discharging, lading or shipping, of goods, wares, and merchandise, at the town, and within the harbour, of Boston, in the province of MassachusetÂ’s Bay, in North America. WHEREAS dangerous commotions and insurrections have been fomented and raised in the town of Boston, in the province of MassachusetÂ’s Bay, in New England, by divers ill-affected persons, to the subversion of his MajestyÂ’s government, and to the utter destruction of the publick peace, and good order of the said town; in which commotions and insurrections certain valuable cargoes of teas, being the property of the East India Company, and on board certain vessels lying within the bay or harbour of Boston, were seized and destroyed: And whereas, in the present condition of the said town and harbour, the commerce of his MajestyÂ’s subjects cannot be safely carried on there, nor the customs payable to his Majesty duly collected; and it is therefore expedient that the officers of his MajestyÂ’s customs should be forthwith removed from the said town: May it please your Majesty that it may be enacted; and be it enacted by the KingÂ’s most excellent majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the lords spiritual and temporal, and commons, in this present parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, That from and after the first day of June, one thousand seven hundred and seventy-four, it shall not be lawful for any person or persons whatsoever to lade put, or cause or procure to be laden or put, off or from any quay, wharf, or other place, within the said town of Boston, or in or upon any part of the shore of the bay, commonly called The Harbour of Boston, between a certain headland or point called Nahant Point, on the eastern side of the entrance into the said bay, and a certain other headland or point called Alderton Point, on the western side of the entrance into the said bay, or in or upon any island, creek, landing place, bank, or other place, within the said bay or headlands, into any ship, vessel, lighter, boat, or bottom, any goods, wares, or merchandise whatsoever, to be transported or carried into any other country, province or place whatsoever, or into any other part of the said province of the MassachusetÂ’s Bay, in New England; or to take up, discharge, or lay on land, or cause or procure to be taken up, discharged, or laid on land, within the said town, or in or upon any of the places aforesaid, out of any boat, lighter, ship, vessel, or bottom, any goods, wares, or merchandise whatsoever, to be brought from any other country, province, or place, or any other part of the said province of the MassachusetÂ’s Bay in New England, upon pain of the forfeiture of the said goods, wares, and merchandise, and of the said boat, lighter, ship, or vessel or other bottom into which the same shall be taken, and of the guns, ammunition, tackle, furniture, and stores, in or belonging to the same: And if any such goods, wares, or merchandise, shall, within the said town, or in any the places aforesaid, be laden or taken in from the shore into any barge, hoy, lighter, wherry, or boat, to be carried on board any ship or vessel coming in and arriving from any other country or province, or other part of the said province of the MassachusetÂ’s Bay in New England, such barge, hoy, lighter, wherry, or boat, shall be forfeited and lost. II. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That if any warfinger, or keeper of any wharf, crane, or quay, of their servants, or any of them, shall take up or land, or knowingly suffer to be taken up or landed, or shall ship off, or suffer to be waterborne, at or from any of their said wharfs, cranes, or quays, any such goods, wares, or merchandise; in every such case, all and every such wharfinger, and keeper of such wharf, crane, or quay, and every person whatever who shall be assisting, or otherwise concerned in the shipping or in the loading or putting on board any boat, or other vessel for that purpose, or in the unshipping such goods, wares, and merchandise, or to whose hands the same shall knowingly come after the loading, shipping, or unshipping thereof, shall forfeit and lose treble the value thereof, to be computed at the highest price which such sort of goods, wares, and merchandise, shall bear at the place where such offence shall be committed, together with the vessels and boats, and all the horses, cattle, and carriages, whatsoever made use of in the shipping, unshipping, landing, removing, carriage, or conveyance of any of the aforesaid goods, wares, and merchandise. III. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That if any ship or vessel shall be moored or lie at anchor, or be seen hovering within the said bay, described and bounded as aforesaid, or within one league from the said bay so described, or the said headlands, or any of the islands lying between or within the same, it shall and may be lawful for any admiral, chief commander, or commissioned officer, of his MajestyÂ’s fleet or ships of war, or for any officer of his MajestyÂ’s customs, to compel such ship or vessel to depart to some other port or harbour, or to such station as the said officer shall appoint, and to use such force for that purpose as shall be found necessary: And if such ship or vessel shall not depart accordingly, within six hours after notice for that purpose given by such person as aforesaid, such ship or vessel, together with all the goods laden on board thereon, and all the guns, ammunition, tackle, and furniture, shall be forfeited and lost, whether bulk shall have been broken or not. IV. Provided always, That nothing in this act contained shall extend, or be construed to extend, to any military or other stores for his MajestyÂ’s use, or to the ships or vessels whereon the same shall be laden, which shall be commissioned by, and in the immediate pay of, his Majesty, his heirs or successors; nor to any fuel or victual brought coastwise from any part of the continent of America, for the necessary use and sustenance of the inhabitants of the said town of Boston, provided the vessels wherein the same are to be carried shall be duly furnished with a cocket and let-pass, after having been duly searched by the proper officers of his MajestyÂ’s customs at Marblehead, in the port of Salem, in the said province of MassachusetÂ’s Bay; and that some officer of his MajestyÂ’s customs be also there put on board the said vessel, who is hereby authorized to go on board, and proceed with the said vessel, together with a sufficient number of persons, properly armed, for his defence, to the said town or harbour of Boston; nor to any ships or vessels which may happen to be within the said harbour of Boston on or before the first day of June, one thousand seven hundred and seventy four, and may have either laden or taken on board, or be there with intent to load or take on board, or to land or discharge any goods, wares, and merchandise, provided the said ships and vessels do depart the said harbour within fourteen days after the said first day of June, one thousand seven hundred and seventy-four. V. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That all seizures, penalties, and forfeitures, inflicted by this act, shall be made and prosecuted by any admiral, chief commander, or commissioned officer, of his MajestyÂ’s fleet, or ships of war, or by the officers of his MajestyÂ’s customs, or some of them, or by some other person deputed or authorised, by warrant from the lord high treasurer, or the commissioners of his MajestyÂ’s treasury for the time being, and by no other person whatsoever: And if any such officer, or other person authorised as aforesaid, shall, directly or indirectly, take or receive any bribe or reward, to connive at such lading or unlading, or shall make or commence any collusive seizure, information, or agreement for that purpose, or shall do any other act whatsoever, whereby the goods, wares, or merchandise, prohibited as aforesaid, shall be suffered to pass, either inwards or outwards, or whereby the forfeitures and penalties inflicted by this act may be evaded, every such offender shall forfeit the sum of five hundred pounds for every such offence, and shall become incapable of any office or employment, civil or military; and every person who shall give, offer, or promise, any such bribe or reward, or shall contract, agree, or treat with any person, so authorised as aforesaid, to commit any such offfence, shall forfeit the sum of fifty pounds. VI. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That the forfeitures and penalties inflicted by this act shall and may be prosecuted, sued for, and recovered, and be divided, paid, and applied, in like manner as other penalties and forfeitures inflicted by any act or acts of parliament, relating to the trade or revenues of the British colonies or plantations in America, are directed to be prosecuted, sued for, or recovered, divided, paid, and applied, by two several acts of parliament, the one passed in the fourth year of his present Majesty, (intituled, An act for granting certain duties in the British colonies and plantations in America; for continuing, amending, and making perpetual, an act passed in the sixth year of the reign of his late majesty King George the Second, intituled, An act for the better securing and encouraging the trade of his MajestyÂ’s sugar colonies in America: for applying the produce of such duties, and of the duties to arise by virtue of the said act, towards defraying the expences of defending, protecting, and securing, the said colonies and plantations; for explaining an act made in the twenty-fifth year of the reign of King Charles the Second, intituled, An act for the encouragement of the Greenland and Eastland trades, and for the better securing the plantation trade; and for altering and disallowing several drawbacks on exports from this kingdom, and more effectually preventing the clandestine conveyance of goods to and from the said colonies and plantations, and improving and securing the trade between the same and Great Britain;) the other passed in the eighth year of his present MajestyÂ’s reign, (intituled, An act for the more easy and effectual recovery of the penalties and forfeitures inflicted by the acts of parliament relating to the trade or revenues of the British colonies and plantations in America.) VII. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That every charter party bill of loading, and other contract for consigning shipping, or carrying any goods, wares, and merchandize whatsoever, to or from the said town of Boston, or any part of the bay or harbour thereof, described as aforesaid, which have been made or entered into, or which shall be made or entered into, so long as this act shall remain in full force, relating to any ship which shall arrive at the said town or harbour, after the first day of June, one thousand seven hundred and seventy-four, shall be, and the same are hereby declared to be utterly void, to all intents and purposes whatsoever. VIII. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That whenever it shall be made to appear to his Majesty, in his privy council, that peace and obedience to the laws shall be so far restored in the said town of Boston, that the trade of Great Britain may safely be carried on there, and his MajestyÂ’s customs duly collected, and his Majesty, in his privy council, shall adjudge the same to be true, it shall and may be lawful for his Majesty, by proclamation, or order of council, to assign and appoint the extent, bounds, and limits, of the port or harbour of Boston, and of every creek or haven within the same, or in the islands within the precincts thereof; and also to assign and appoint such and so many open places, quays, and wharfs, within the said harbour, creeks, havens, and islands, for the landing, discharging, lading, and shipping of goods, as his Majesty, his heirs or successors, shall judge necessary and expedient; and also to appoint such and so many officers of the customs therein as his Majesty shall think fit, after which it shall be lawful for any person or persons to lade or put off from, or to discharge and land upon, such wharfs, quays, and places, so appointed within the said harbour, and none other, any goods, wares, and merchandise whatever. IX. Provided always, That if any goods, wares, or merchandize, shall be laden or put off from, or discharged or landed upon, any other place than the quays, wharfs, or places, so to be appointed, the same, together with the ships, boats, and other vessels employed therein, and the horses, or other cattle and carriages used to convey the same, and the person or persons concerned or assisting therein, or to whose hands the same shall knowingly come, shall suffer all the forfeitures and penalties imposed by this or any other act on the illegal shipping or landing of goods. X. Provided also, and it is hereby declared and enacted, That nothing herein contained shall extend, or be construed, to enable his Majesty to appoint such port, harbour, creeks, quays, wharfs, places, or officers in the said town of Boston, or in the said bay or islands, until it shall sufficiently appear to his Majesty that full satisfaction hath been made by or on behalf of the inhabitants of the said town of Boston to the united company of merchants of England trading to the East Indies, for the damage sustained by the said company by the destruction of their goods sent to the said town of Boston, on board certain ships or vessels as aforesaid; and until it shall be certified to his Majesty, in council, by the governor, or lieutenant governor, of the said province, that reasonable satisfaction hath been made to the officers of his MajestyÂ’s revenue, and others, who suffered by the riots and insurrections above mentioned, in the months of November and December, in the year one thousand seven hundred and seventy-three, and in the month of January, in the year one thousand seven hundred and seventy-four. XI. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That if any action or suit shall be commenced, either in Great Britain or America, against any person or persons, for any thing done in pursuance of this act of parliament, the defendant or defendants, in such action or suit, may plead the general issue, and give the said act, and the special matter, in evidence, at any trial to be had thereupon, and that the same was done in pursuance and by the authority of this act: and if it shall appear so to have been done, the jury shall find for the defendant or defendants; and if the plaintiff shall be nonsuited, or discontinue his action, after the defendant or defendants shall have appeared: or if judgment shall be given upon any verdict or demurrer, against the plaintiff, the defendant or defendants shall recover treble costs, and have the like remedy for the same, as defendants have in other cases by law. Source:https://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/boston_port_act.asp

Virginia Resolves as adopted by the House of Burgesses on May 29, 1765 was as follows: Whereas the hon. House of Commons, in England, have of late drawn into question, how far the general assembly of this colony hath power to enact laws for laying Resolved, that the first adventurers and settlers of His Majesty's colony and dominion of Virginia brought with them and transmitted to their posterity, and all other His Majesty's subjects since inhabiting in this His Majesty's said colony, all the liberties, privileges, franchises, and immunities that have at any time been held, enjoyed, and possessed by the people of Great Britain. Resolved, that by two royal charters, granted by King James I, the colonists aforesaid are declared entitled to all liberties, privileges, and immunities of denizens and natural subjects to all intents and purposes as if they had been abiding and born within the Realm of England. Resolved, that the taxation of the people by themselves, or by persons chosen by themselves to represent them, who can only know what taxes the people are able to bear, or the easiest method of raising them, and must themselves be affected by every tax laid on the people, is the only security against a burdensome taxation, and the distinguishing characteristic of British freedom, without which the ancient constitution cannot exist. Resolved, that His Majesty's liege people of this his most ancient and loyal colony have without interruption enjoyed the inestimable right of being governed by such laws, respecting their internal policy and taxation, as are derived from their own consent, with the approbation of their sovereign, or his substitute; and that the same has never been forfeited or yielded up, but has been constantly recognized by the kings and people of Great Britain. Resolved, therefore that the General Assembly of this Colony have the only and exclusive Right and Power to lay Taxes and Impositions upon the inhabitants of this Colony and that every Attempt to vest such Power in any person or persons whatsoever other than the General Assembly aforesaid has a manifest Tendency to destroy British as well as American Freedom. Note: This last resolve, adopted with the others on May 29, 1765, was struck the next day in a separate vote by the assembly as the Governor disbanded the assembly. Source: https://www.masshist.org/dorr/volume/1/sequence/126 The image below is from The Boston Evening-Post, July 1, 1765

Patrick Henry, March 23, 1775. No man thinks more highly than I do of the patriotism, as well as abilities, of the very worthy gentlemen who have just addressed the House. But different men often see the same subject in different lights; and, therefore, I hope it will not be thought disrespectful to those gentlemen if, entertaining as I do opinions of a character very opposite to theirs, I shall speak forth my sentiments freely and without reserve. This is no time for ceremony. The question before the House is one of awful moment to this country. For my own part, I consider it as nothing less than a question of freedom or slavery; and in proportion to the magnitude of the subject ought to be the freedom of the debate. It is only in this way that we can hope to arrive at truth, and fulfill the great responsibility which we hold to God and our country. Should I keep back my opinions at such a time, through fear of giving offense, I should consider myself as guilty of treason towards my country, and of an act of disloyalty toward the Majesty of Heaven, which I revere above all earthly kings. Mr. President, it is natural to man to indulge in the illusions of hope. We are apt to shut our eyes against a painful truth, and listen to the song of that siren till she transforms us into beasts. Is this the part of wise men, engaged in a great and arduous struggle for liberty? Are we disposed to be of the number of those who, having eyes, see not, and, having ears, hear not, the things which so nearly concern their temporal salvation? For my part, whatever anguish of spirit it may cost, I am willing to know the whole truth; to know the worst, and to provide for it. I have but one lamp by which my feet are guided, and that is the lamp of experience. I know of no way of judging of the future but by the past. And judging by the past, I wish to know what there has been in the conduct of the British ministry for the last ten years to justify those hopes with which gentlemen have been pleased to solace themselves and the House. Is it that insidious smile with which our petition has been lately received? Trust it not, sir; it will prove a snare to your feet. Suffer not yourselves to be betrayed with a kiss. Ask yourselves how this gracious reception of our petition comports with those warlike preparations which cover our waters and darken our land. Are fleets and armies necessary to a work of love and reconciliation? Have we shown ourselves so unwilling to be reconciled that force must be called in to win back our love? Let us not deceive ourselves, sir. These are the implements of war and subjugation; the last arguments to which kings resort. I ask gentlemen, sir, what means this martial array, if its purpose be not to force us to submission? Can gentlemen assign any other possible motive for it? Has Great Britain any enemy, in this quarter of the world, to call for all this accumulation of navies and armies? No, sir, she has none. They are meant for us: they can be meant for no other. They are sent over to bind and rivet upon us those chains which the British ministry have been so long forging. And what have we to oppose to them? Shall we try argument? Sir, we have been trying that for the last ten years. Have we anything new to offer upon the subject? Nothing. We have held the subject up in every light of which it is capable; but it has been all in vain. Shall we resort to entreaty and humble supplication? What terms shall we find which have not been already exhausted? Let us not, I beseech you, sir, deceive ourselves. Sir, we have done everything that could be done to avert the storm which is now coming on. We have petitioned; we have remonstrated; we have supplicated; we have prostrated ourselves before the throne, and have implored its interposition to arrest the tyrannical hands of the ministry and Parliament. Our petitions have been slighted; our remonstrances have produced additional violence and insult; our supplications have been disregarded; and we have been spurned, with contempt, from the foot of the throne! In vain, after these things, may we indulge the fond hope of peace and reconciliation. There is no longer any room for hope. If we wish to be free — if we mean to preserve inviolate those inestimable privileges for which we have been so long contending — if we mean not basely to abandon the noble struggle in which we have been so long engaged, and which we have pledged ourselves never to abandon until the glorious object of our contest shall be obtained — we must fight! I repeat it, sir, we must fight! An appeal to arms and to the God of hosts is all that is left us! They tell us, sir, that we are weak; unable to cope with so formidable an adversary. But when shall we be stronger? Will it be the next week, or the next year? Will it be when we are totally disarmed, and when a British guard shall be stationed in every house? Shall we gather strength by irresolution and inaction? Shall we acquire the means of effectual resistance by lying supinely on our backs and hugging the delusive phantom of hope, until our enemies shall have bound us hand and foot? Sir, we are not weak if we make a proper use of those means which the God of nature hath placed in our power. The millions of people, armed in the holy cause of liberty, and in such a country as that which we possess, are invincible by any force which our enemy can send against us. Besides, sir, we shall not fight our battles alone. There is a just God who presides over the destinies of nations, and who will raise up friends to fight our battles for us. The battle, sir, is not to the strong alone; it is to the vigilant, the active, the brave. Besides, sir, we have no election. If we were base enough to desire it, it is now too late to retire from the contest. There is no retreat but in submission and slavery! Our chains are forged! Their clanking may be heard on the plains of Boston! The war is inevitable — and let it come! I repeat it, sir, let it come. It is in vain, sir, to extenuate the matter. Gentlemen may cry, Peace, Peace — but there is no peace. The war is actually begun! The next gale that sweeps from the north will bring to our ears the clash of resounding arms! Our brethren are already in the field! Why stand we here idle? What is it that gentlemen wish? What would they have? Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death! Source: https://www.ushistory.org/documents/libertydeath.htm

Boston Non-Importation Agreement, August 1, 1768 The merchants and traders in the town of Boston, having taken into consideration the deplorable situation of the trade and the many difficulties it at present labours under on account of the scarcity of money, which is daily decreasing for want of the other remittances to discharge our debts in Great Britain, and the large sums collected by the officers of the customs for duties on goods imported; the heavy taxes levied to discharge the debts contracted by the government in the late war; the embarrassments and restrictions laid on the trade by the several late Acts of Parliament; together with the bad success of our cod fishery this season, and the discouraging prospect of the whale fishery, by which our principal sources of remittances are like to be greatly diminished, and we thereby rendered unable to pay the debts we owe the merchants in Great Britain, and to continue the importation of goods from thence: We, the subscribers, in order to relieve the trade under those discouragements, to promote industry, frugality, and economy, and to discourage luxury and every kind of extravagance, do promise and engage to and with each other as follows: That we will not send or import from Great Britain this fall, either on our own account, or on commission, any other goods than what are already ordered for the fall supply. That we will not send for or import any kind of goods or merchandise from Great Britain, either on our own account, or on commissions, or any otherwise, from January 1, 1769, to January 1, 1770, except salt, coals, fish-hooks and lines, hemp, duck, bar lead and shot, wool-cards, and card-wire. That we will not purchase of any factors, or others, any kind of goods imported from Great Britain from January 1, 1769, to January 1, 1770. That we will not import on our own account, or on commission, or Purchase from any Who shall import from any other colony in America, from January 1, 1769, to January 1, 1770, any tea, glass, paper, or other goods commonly imported from Great Britain. That we will not, from and after January 1, 1769, import into the province any tea, paper, glass, or painters' colours, until the Acts imposing duties on these articles have been repealed. Source: Colonial Society of Massachusetts Publications

Stephen Hopkins Mid the low murmurs of submissive fear And mingled rage, my Hambden rais'd his voice, And to the laws appeal'd;— THOMPSON'S Liberty. LIBERTY is the greatest blessing that men enjoy, and slavery the heaviest curse that human nature is capable of.—This being so, makes it a matter of the utmost importance to men, which of the two shall be their portion. Absolute Liberty is, perhaps, incompatible with any kind of government.—The safety resulting from society, and the advantage of just and equal laws, hath caused men to forego some part of their natural liberty, and submit to government. This appears to be the most rational account of it's beginning; although, it must be confessed, mankind have by no means been agreed about it: Some have found it's origin in the divine appointment: Others have thought it took it's rise from power: Enthusiasts have dreamed that dominion was founded in grace. Leaving these points to be settled by the descendants of Filmer, Cromwell, and Venner, we will consider the British constitution, as it at present stands, on revolution principles; and from thence endeavour to find the measure of the magistrate's power, and the people's obedience. THIS glorious constitution, the best that ever existed among men, will be confessed by all, to be founded by compact, and established by consent of the people. By this most beneficent compact, British subjects are to be governed only agreeable to laws to which themselves have some way consented, and are not to be compelled to part with their property, but as it is called for by the authority of such laws: The former is truly liberty; the latter is really to be possessed of property, and to have something that may be called one's own. ON the contrary, those who are governed at the will of another, or of others, and whose property may be taken from them by taxes, or otherwise, without their own consent, and against their will, are in the miserable condition of slaves: For liberty solely consists in an independancy upon the will of another; and by the name of slave, we understand a man who can neither dispose of his person or goods, but enjoys all at the will of his master; says Sidney on government. These things premised; whether the British American colonies on the continent, are justly intituled to like privileges and freedom as their fellow-subjects in Great-Britain are, shall be the chief point examined. In discussing this question, we shall make the colonies in New-England, with whose rights we are best acquainted, the rule of our reasoning; not in the least doubting but all the others are justly intituled to like rights with them. NEW-ENGLAND was first planted by adventurers, who left England, their native country, by permission of King CHARLES the first; and, at their own expence, transported themselves to America, with great risque and difficulty settled among savages, and in a very surprising manner, formed new colonies in the wilderness. Before their departure, the terms of their freedom, and the relation they should stand in to the mother country, in their emigrant state, were fully settled; they were to remain subject to the King, and dependant on the kingdom of Great-Britain. In return, they were to receive protection, and enjoy all the rights and privileges of free-born Englishmen. THIS is abundantly proved by the charter given to the Massachusetts colony, while they were still in England, and which they received and brought over with them, as the authentic evidence of the conditions they removed upon. The colonies of Connecticut and Rhode-Island also, afterwards obtained charters from the crown, granting them the like ample privileges. By all these charters, it is in the most express and solemn manner granted, that these adventurers, and their children after them forever, should have and enjoy all the freedom and liberty that the subjects in England enjoy: That they might make laws for their own government, suitable to their circumstances; not repugnant to, but as near as might be, agreeable to the laws of England: That they might purchase lands, acquire goods, and use trade for their advantage, and have an absolute property in whatever they justly acquired. These with many other gracious privileges, were granted them by several kings; and they were to pay as an acknowledgement to the crown, only one fifth part of the ore of gold and silver, that should at any time be found in the said colonies, in lieu of, and full satisfaction for, all dues and demands of the crown and kingdom of England upon them. THERE is not any thing new or extraordinary in these rights granted to the British colonies:—The colonies from all countries, at all times, have enjoyed equal freedom with the mother state. Indeed, there would be found very few people in the world, willing to leave their native country, and go through the fatigue and hardship of planting in a new uncultivated one, for the sake of losing their freedom. They who settle new countries must be poor; and, in course, ought to be free. Advantages, pecuniary or agreeable, are not on the side of emigrants and surely they must have something in their stead. To illustrate this, permit us to examine what hath generally been the condition of colonies with respect to their freedom; we will begin with those who went out from the ancient common-wealths of Greece, which are the first, perhaps, we have any good account of. Thucidides, that grave and judicious historian, says of one of them, they were not sent out to be slaves, but to be the equals of those who remain behind; and again, the Corinthiens gave public notice, that a new colony was going to Epidamnus, into which all that would enter, should have equal and like privileges with those who staid at home. This was uniformly the condition of all the Grecian colonies; they went out and settled new countries; they took such forms of government as themselves chose, though it generally nearly resembled that of the mother state, whether democratical or oligarchical. 'Tis true, they were fond to acknowledge their original, and always confessed themselves under obligation to pay a kind of honorary respect to, and shew a filial dependance on, the common-wealth from whence they sprung. Thucidides again tells us, that the Corinthians complained of the Coreyreans, from whom, though a colony of their own, they had received some contemptuous treatment: for they neither payed them the usual honor on their public solemnities, nor began with a Corinthian in the distribution of the sacrifices, which is always done by other colonies. From hence it is plain what kind of dependance the Greek colonies were under, and what sort of acknowledgment they owed to the mother state. IF we pass from the Grecian to the Roman colonies, we shall find them not less free: But this difference may be observed between them, that the Roman colonies did not, like the Grecian, become separate states, governed by different laws, but always remained a part of the mother state; and all that were free of the colonies, were also free of Rome, and had right to an equal suffrage in making all laws, and appointing all officers for the government of the whole common-wealth. For the truth of this, we have the testimony of St. Paul, who though born at Tarsus, yet assures us he was born free of Rome. And Grotius gives us the opinion of a Roman king, concerning the freedom of colonies: King Tullius says. for our part, we look upon it to be neither truth nor justice, that mother cities ought of necessity and by the law of nature, to rule over their colonies. WHEN we come down to the latter ages of the world, and consider the colonies planted in the three last centuries, in America, from several kingdoms in Europe, we shall find them, says Pussendorf, very different from the ancient colonies, and gives us an instance in those of the Spaniards. Although it be confessed these fall greatly short of enjoying equal freedom with the ancient Greek and Roman ones; yet it will be said truly, they enjoy equal freedom with their countrymen in Spain: but as they are all under the government of an absolute monarch, they have no reason to complain that one enjoys the liberty the other is deprived of. The French colonies will be found nearly in the same condition, and for the same reason, because their fellow-subjects in France have also lost their liberty. And the question here is not whether all colonies, as compared one with another, enjoy equal liberty, but whether all enjoy as much freedom as the inhabitants of the mother state; and this will hardly be denied in the case of the Spanish, French, or other modern foreign colonies. By this it fully appears, that colonies in general, both ancient and modern have always enjoyed as much freedom as the mother state from which they went out: And will any one suppose the British colonies in America, are an exception to this general rule? Colonies that came out from a kingdom renowned for liberty; from a constitution founded on compact; from a people, of all the sons of men, the most tenacious of freedom; who left the delights of their native country, parted from their homes, and all their conveniencies, searched out and subdued a foreign country with the most amazing travail and fortitude, to the infinite advantage and emolument of the mother state; that removed on a firm reliance of a solemn compact, and royal promise and grant, that they, and their successors forever, should be free; should be partakers and sharers in all the privileges and advantages of the then English, now British constitution. IF it were possible a doubt could yet remain, in the most unbelieving mind, that these British colonies are not every way justly and fully intituled to equal liberty and freedom with their fellow-subjects in Europe, we might shew, that the parliament of Great-Britain, have always understood their rights in the same light. BY an act passed in the thirteenth year of the reign of his late majesty King GEORGE the second, intituled an act for naturalizing foreign protestants, &c. and by another act, passed in the twentieth year of the same reign, for nearly the same purposes, by both which it is enacted and ordained, that all foreign protestants, who had inhabited, and resided for the space of seven years, or more, in any of his majesty's colonies in America, might, on the conditions therein-mentioned, be naturalized, and thereupon should be deemed, adjudged and taken to be his majesty's natural born subjects of the kingdom of Great-Britain, to all intents, constructions, and purposes, as if they, and every one of them, had been, or were born within the same. No reasonable man will here suppose the parliament intended by these acts to put foreigners, who had been in the colonies only seven years, in a better condition than those who had been born in them, or had removed from Britain thither, but only to put these foreigners on an equality with them; and to do this, they are obliged to give them all the rights of natural born subjects of Great-Britain. FROM what hath been shewn, it will appear beyond a doubt, that the British subjects in America, have equal rights with those in Britain; that they do not hold those rights as a privilege granted them, nor enjoy them as a grace and favor bestowed; but possess them as an inherent indefeasible right; as they, and their ancestors, were free-born subjects, justly and naturally intituled to all the rights and advantages of the British constitution. AND the British legislative and executive powers have considered the colonies as possessed of these rights, and have always heretofore, in the most tender and parental manner, treated them as their dependant, though free, condition required. The protection promised on the part of the crown, with chearfulness and great gratitude we acknowlege, hath at all times been given to the colonies. The dependance of the colonies to Great-Britain hath been fully testified by a constant and ready obedience to all the commands of his present Majesty, and his royal predecessors; both men and money having been raised in them at all times when called for, with as much alacrity and in as large proportions as hath been done in Great-Britain, the ability of each considered. It must also be confessed with thankfulness, that the first adventurers and their successors, for one hundred and thirty years, have fully enjoyed all the freedoms and immunities promised on their first removal from England.—But here the scene seems to be unhappily changing:—The British ministry, whether induced by a jealousy of the colonies, by false informations, or by some alteration in the system of political government, we have no information; whatever hath been the motive, this we are sure of, the parliament in their last session, passed an act, limitting, restricting, and burdening the trade of these colonies, much more than had ever been done before; as also for greatly enlarging the power and jurisdiction of the courts of admiralty in the colonies; and also came to a resolution, that it might be necessary to establish stamp duties, and other internal taxes, to be collected within them. This act and this resolution have caused great uneasiness and consternation among the British subjects on the continent of America: how much reason there is for it, we will endeavour, in the most modest and plain manner we can, to lay before our readers. IN the first place, let it be considered, that although each of the colonies hath a legislature within itself, to take care of it's interests, and provide for it's peace and internal government, yet there are many things of a more general nature, quite out of the reach of these particular legislatures, which it is necessary should be regulated, ordered and governed. One of this kind is, the commerce of the whole British empire, taken collectively, and that of each kingdom and colony in it, as it makes a part of the whole: Indeed, every thing that concerns the proper interest and fit government of the whole common-wealth, of keeping the peace, and subordination of all the parts towards the whole, and one among another, must be considered in this light: Amongst these general concerns, perhaps, money and paper credit, those grand instruments of all commerce, will be found also to have a place. These, with all other matters of a general nature, it is absolutely necessary should have a general power to direct them; some supreme and over-ruling authority, with power to make laws, and form regulations for the good of all, and to compel their execution and observation. It being necessary some such general power should exist somewhere, every man of the least knowledge of the British constitution, will be naturally led to look for, and find it in the parliament of Great-Britain; that grand and august legislative body, must from the nature of their authority, and the necessity of the thing, be justly vested with this power, Hence, it becomes the indespensable duty of every good and loyal subject, chearfully to obey and patiently submit to all the acts, laws, orders and regulations that may be made and passed by parliament, for directing and governing all these general matters. HERE it may be urged by many, and indeed, with great appearance of reason, that the equity, justice, and beneficence of the British constitution, will require, that the separate kingdoms and distant colonies, who are to obey and be governed by these general laws and regulations, ought to be represented, some way or other, in parliament; at least whilst these general matters are under consideration. Whether the colonies will ever be admitted to have representatives in parliament,—whether it be consistent with their distant and dependant state,—and whether if it were admitted, it would be to their advantage,—are questions we will pass by; and observe, that these colonies ought in justice, and for the very evident good of the whole common-wealth, to have notice of every new measure about to be pursued, and new act that is about to be passed, by which their rights, liberties, or interests will be affected: They ought to have such notice, that they may appear and be heard by their agents, by council, or written representation, or by some other equitable and effectual way. THE colonies are at so great a distance from England, that the members of parliament can, generally, have but little knowledge of their business, connections and interest, but what is gained from people who have been there; the most of these, have so slight a knowledge themselves, that the informations they can give, are very little to be depended on, though they may pretend to determine with confidence, on matters far above their reach. All such kind of informations are too uncertain to be depended on, in the transacting business of so much consequence, and in which the interests of two millions of free people are so deeply concerned. There is no kind of inconveniency, or mischief, can arise from the colonies having such notice, and being heard in the manner above-mentioned: But, on the contrary, very great mischiefs have already happened to the colonies, and always must be expected, if they are not heard, before things of such importance are determined concerning them. HAD the colonies been fully heard, before the late act had been passed, no reasonable man can suppose it ever would have passed at all, in the manner it now stands; for what good reason can possibly be given for making a law to cramp the trade and ruin the interests of many of the colonies, and at the same time, lessen in a prodigious manner the consumption of the British manufactures in them? These are certainly the effects this act must produce; a duty of three pence per gallon on foreign melasses, is well known to every man in the least acquainted with it, to be much higher than that article can possibly bear; and therefore must operate as an absolute prohibition. This will put a total stop to our exportation of lumber, horses, flour, and fish, to the French and Dutch sugar colonies; and if any one supposes we may find a sufficient vent for these articles in the English islands in the West-Indies, he only verifies what was just now observed, that he wants truer information. Putting an end to the importation of foreign melasses, at the same time puts an end to all the costly distilleries in these colonies, and to the rum trade to the coast of Africa, and throws it into the hands of the French. With the loss of the foreign melasses trade, the codfishery of the English, in America, must also be lost, and thrown also into the hands of the French. That this is the real state of the whole business, is not fancy; this, nor any part of it, is not exaggeration, but a fober and most melancholy truth. VIEW this duty of three pence per gallon, on foreign melasses, not in the light of a prohibition, but supposing the trade to continue, and the duty to be paid. Heretofore there hath been imported into the colony of Rhode-Island only, about one million one hundred and fifty thousand gallons, annually; the duty on this quantity is fourteen thousand three hundred and seventy-five pounds, sterling, to be paid yearly by this little colony; a larger sum than was ever in it at any one time: This money is to be sent away, and never to return; yet the payment is to be repeated every year.—Can this possibly be done? Can a new colony, compelled by necessity to purchase all it's cloathing, furniture, and utensils from England, to support the expences of it's own internal government, obliged by it's duty to comply with every call from the crown to raise money on emergencies; after all this, can every man in it pay twenty-four shillings sterling a year, for the duties of a single article only? There is surely no man in his right mind believes this possible. The charging foreign melasses with this high duty, will not affect all the colonies equally, nor any other near so much as this of Rhode-Island, whose trade depended much more on foreign melasses, and on distilleries, than that of any others; this must shew that raising money for the general service of the crown, or of the colonies, by such a duty, will be extremely unequal, and therefore unjust. And now taking either alternative; by supposing on one hand, the foreign melasses trade is stopped, and with it the opportunity or ability of the colonies to get money, or on the other, that this trade is continued, and that the colonies get money by it, but all their money is taken from them by paying the duty; can Britain be gainer by either? Is it not the chiefest interest of Britain, to dispose of and to be paid for her own manufactures? And doth she not find the greatest and best market for them in her own colonies? Will she find an advantage in disabling the colonies to continue their trade with her? Or can she possibly grow rich by their being made poor? MINISTERS have great influence, and parliaments have great power;—can either of them change the nature of things, stop all our means of getting money, and yet expect us to purchase and pay for British manufactures? The genius of the people in these colonies, is as little turned to manufacturing goods for their own use, as is possible to suppose in any people whatsoever; yet necessity will compel them, either to go naked in this cold country, or to make themselves some sort of cloathing, if it be only of the skins of beasts. BY the same act of parliament, the exportation of all kinds of timber, or lumber, the most natural produce of these new colonies, is greatly incumbered and uselessly embarrassed, and the shipping it to any part of Europe, except Great-Britain, prohibited: This must greatly affect the linen manufactory in Ireland, as that kingdom used to receive great quantities of flax-seed from America, many cargoes, being made of that and of barrel staves, were sent thither every year; but, as the staves can no longer be exported thither, the ships carrying only flax-seed casks, without the staves, which used to be intermixed among them, must lose one half of their freight, which will prevent their continuing this trade, to the great injury of Ireland, and of the plantations: And what advantage is to accrue to Great-Britain by it, must be told by those who can perceive the utility of this measure. ENLARGING the power and jurisdiction of the courts of vice-admiralty in the colonies, is another part of the same act, greatly and justly complained of. Courts of admiralty have long been established in most of the colonies, whose authority were circumscribed within moderate territorial jurisdictions; and these courts have always done the business, necessary to be brought before such courts for trial, in the manner it ought to be done, and in a way only mode rately expensive to the subjects; and if seizures were made, or informations exhibited, without reason, or to law, the informer, or seizor, was left to the justice on the common law, there to pay for his folly, or suffer for his temerity. But now this course is quite altered, and a customhouse officer may make a seizure in Georgia, of goods ever so legally imported, and carry the trial to Halifax, at fifteen hundred miles distance; and thither the owner must follow him to defend his property; and when he comes there, quite beyond the circle of his friends, acquaintance, and correspondents, among total strangers, he must there give bond, and must find sureties to be bound with him in a large sum, before he shall be admitted to claim his own goods; when this is complied with, he hath a trial, and his goods acquitted. If the judge can be prevailed on, (which it is very well known may too easily be done) to certify, there was only probable cause for making the seizure, the unhappy owner shall not maintain any action against the illegal seizor, for damages, or obtain any other satisfaction; but he may return to Georgia quite ruined, and undone in conformity to an act of parliament. Such unbounded encouragement and protection given to informers, must call to every one's remembrance Tacitus's account of the miserable condition of the Romans, in the reign of Tiberius their emperor, who let loose and encouraged the informers of that age. Surely if the colonies had been fully heard, before this had been done, the liberties and properties of the Americans would not have been so much disregarded. THE resolution of the house of commons, come into during the same session of parliament, asserting their rights to establish stamp duties, and internal taxes, to be collected in the colonies without their own consent, hath much more, and for much more reason, alarmed the British subjects in America, than any thing that had ever been done before. These re solutions, carried into execution, the colonies cannot help but consider as a manifest violation of their just and long enjoyed rights. For it must be confessed by all men, that they who are taxed at pleasure by others, cannot possibly have any property, can have nothing to be called their own; they who have no property, can have no freedom, but are indeed reduced to the most abject slavery; are in a condition far worse than countries conquered and made tributary; for these have only a fixed sum to pay, which they are left to raise among themselves, in the way that they may think most equal and easy; and having paid the stipulated sum, the debt is discharged, and what is left is their own. This is much more tolerable than to be taxed at the meer will of others, without any bounds, without any stipulation and agreement, contrary to their consent, and against their will. If we are told that those who lay these taxes upon the colonies, are men of the highest character for their wisdom, justice, and integrity, and therefore cannot be supposed to deal hardly, unjustly, or unequally by any; admitting, and really believing that all this is true, it will make no alteration in the nature of the case; for one who is bound to obey the will of another, is as really a slave, though he may have a good master, as if he had a bad one; and this is stronger in politic bodies than in natural ones, as the former have perpetual succession, and remain the same; and although they may have a very good master at one time, they may have a very bad one at another. And indeed, if the people in America, are to be taxed by the representatives of the people in Britain, their malady is an increasing evil, that must always grow greater by time. Whatever burdens are laid upon the Americans, will be so much taken off the Britons; and the doing this will soon be extremely popular, and those who put up to be members of the house of commons, must obtain the votes of the people by promising to take more and more of the taxes off them, by putting it on the Americans. This must most assuredly be the case, and is will not be in the power even of the parliament to prevent it; the people's private interest will be concerned, and will govern them; they will have such, and only such representatives as will act agreeable to this their interest; and these taxes laid on Americans, will be always a part of the supply bill, in which the other branches of the legislature can make no alteration: and in truth, the subjects in the colonies will be taxed at the will and pleasure of their fellow-subjects in Britain.—How equitable, and how just this may be, must be left to every impartial man to determine. BUT it will be said, that the monies drawn from the colonies by duties, and by taxes, will be laid up and set apart to be used for their future defence: This will not at all alleviate the hardship, but serves only more strongly to mark the servile state of the people. Free people have ever thought, and always will think, that the money necessary for their defence, lies safest in their own hands, until it be wanted immediately for that pupose. To take the money of the Americans, which they want continually to use in their trade, and lay it up for their defence, at a thousand leagues distance from them, when the enemies they have to fear, are in their own neighbourhood, hath not the greatest probability of friendship or of prudence. IT is not the judgment of free people only, that money for defending them is safest in their own keeping, but it hath also been the opinion of the best and wisest kings and governors of mankind, in every age of the world, that the wealth of a state was most securely as well as most profitably deposited in the hands of their faithful subjects: Constantius, emperor of the Romans, though an absolute prince, both practised and praised this method. Dioclesian sent persons on purpose to reproach him with his neglect of the public, and the poverty to which he was reduced by his own fault. Constantius heard these reproaches with patience; and, having persuaded those who made them in Dioclesian's name, to stay a few days with him, he sent word to the most wealthy persons in the provinces, that he wanted money, and that they had now an opportunity of shewing whether or no they truly loved their prince. Upon this notice every one strove who should be foremost in carrying to the exchequer all their gold, silver, and valuable effects; so that in a short time Constantius from being the poorest, became by far the most wealthy of all the four princes. He then invited the deputies of Dioclesian to visit his treasury, desiring them to make a faithful report to their master of the state in which they should find it. They obeyed; and, while they stood gazing on the mighty heaps of gold and silver, Constantius told them, that the wealth which they beheld with astonishment, had long since belonged to him; but that he had left it by way of depositum, in the hands of his people: adding, the richest and surest treasure of the prince was the love of his subjects. The deputies were no sooner gone, than the generous prince sent for those who had assisted him in his exigency, commended their zeal, and returned to every one what they had so readily brought into his treasury. Universal Hist. vol. XV. page 523. WE are not insensible, that when liberty is in danger, the liberty of complaining is dangerous; yet, a man on a wreck was never denied the liberty of roaring as loud as he could; says Dean Swift. And we believe no good reason can be given, why the colonies should not modestly and soberly enquire, what right the parliament of Great-Britain have to tax them. We know such enquiries, by a late letter-writer, have been branded with the little epithet of mushroom policy; and he insinuates, that for the colonies to pretend to claim any privileges, will draw down the resentment of the parliament on them.—Is the defence of liberty become so contemptible, and pleading for just rights so dangerous? Can the guardians of liberty be thus ludicrous? Can the patrons of freedom be so jealous and so severe?—If the British house of commons are rightfully possessed of a power to tax the colonies in America, this power must be vested in them by the British constitution, as they are one branch of the great legislative body of the nation: As they are the representatives of all the people in Britain, they have beyond doubt, all the power such a representation can possibly give; yet, great as this power is, surely it cannot exceed that of their constituents. And can it possibly be shewn, than the people in Britain have a sovereign authority over their fellow-subjects in America? Yet such is the authority that must be exercised in taking people's estates from them by taxes, or otherwise without their consent. In all aids granted to the crown by the parliament, it is said with the greatest propriety, " We freely give unto your Majesty;" for they give their own money, and the money of those who have intrusted them with a proper power for that purpose: But can they with the same propriety give away the money of the Americans, who have never given any such power? Before a thing can be justly given away, the giver must certainly have acquired a property in it; and have the people in Britain justly acquired such a property in the goods and estates of the people in these colonies, that they may give them away at pleasure? IN an emperial state, which consists of many separate governments, each of which hath peculiar privileges, and of which kind it is evident the empire of Great-Britain is; no single part, though greater than another part, is by that superiority intituled to make laws for, or to tax such lesser part; but all laws, and all taxations, which bind the whole, must be made by the whole: This may be fully verified by the empire of Germany, which consists of many states, some powerful, and others weak, yet the powerful never make laws to govern or to tax the little and weak ones, neither is it done by the emperor, but only by the diet, consisting of the representatives of the whole body. Indeed, it must be absurd to suppose, that the common people of Great-Britain have a sovereign and absolute authority over their fellow-subjects in America, or even any sort of power whatsoever over them; but it will be still more absurd, to suppose they can give a power to their representatives, which they have not themselves. If the house of commons do not receive this authority from their constituents, it will be difficult to tell by what means they obtained it, except it be vested in them by meer superiority and power. SHOULD it be urged, that the money expended by the mother country, for the defence and protection of America, and especially during the late war, must justly intitle her to some retaliation from the colonies; and that the stamp duties and taxes, intended to be raised in them, are only designed for that equitable purpose; if we are permitted to examine how far this may rightfully vest the parliament with the power of taxing the colonies, we shall find this claim to have no sort of equitable foundation. In many of the colonies, especially those in New-England, who were planted, as is before observed, not at the charge of the crown or kingdom of England, but at the expence of the planters themselves, and were not only planted, but also defended against the savages, and other enemies, in long and cruel wars, which continued for an hundred years, almost without intermission, solely at their own charge: And in the year 1746, when the Duke D'Anville came out from France, with the most formidable French fleet that ever was in the American seas, enraged at these colonies for the loss of Louisbourg, the year before, and with orders to make an attack on them; even in this greatest exigence, these colonies were left to the protection of heaven, and their own efforts. These colonies having thus planted and defended themselves, and removed all enemies from their borders, were in hopes to enjoy peace, and recruit their state, much exhausted by these long struggles; but they were soon called upon to raise men, and send out to the defence of other colonies, and to make conquests for the crown; they dutifully obeyed the requisition, and with ardor entered into those services, and continued in them until all encroachments were removed, and all Canada, and even the Havana, conquered. They most chearfully complied with every call of the crown; they rejoiced, yea even exulted, in the prosperity and exaltation of the British empire. But these colonies, whose bounds were fixed, and whose borders were before cleared from enemies, by their own fortitude, and at their own expence, reaped no sort of advantage by these conquests; they are not enlarged, have not gained a single acre of land, have no part in the Indian or interior trade; the immense tracts of land subdued, and no less immense and profitable commerce acquired, all belong to Great-Britain; and not the least share or portion to these colonies, though thousands of their men have lost their lives, and millions of their money have been expended in the purchase of them; for great part of which we are yet in debt, and from which we shall not in many years be able to extricate ourselves. Hard will be the fate, yea cruel the destiny, of these unhappy colonies if the reward they are to receive for all this, is the loss of their freedom; better for them Canada still remained French, yea far more eligible that it ever should remain so, than that the price of its reduction should be their slavery. IF the colonies are not taxed by parliament, are they therefore exempted from bearing their proper share in the necessary burdens of government? This by no means follows. Do they not support a regular internal government in each colony, as expensive to the people here, as the internal government of Britain is to the people there? Have not the colonies here, at all times when called upon by the crown, raised money for the public service, done it as chearfully as the parliament have done on like occasions? Is not this the most easy, the most natural, and most constitutional way of raising money in the colonies? What occasion then to distrust the colonies,—what necessity to fall on an invidious and unconstitutional method, to compel them to do what they have ever done freely? Are not the people in the colonies as loyal and dutiful subjects as any age or nation ever produced,—and are they not as useful to the kingdom, in this remote quarter of the world, as their fellow-subjects are who dwell in Britain? The parliament, it is confessed, have power to regulate the trade of the whole empire; and hath it not full power, by this means, to draw all the money and all the wealth of the colonies into the mother country, at pleasure? What motive, after all this, can remain, to induce the parliament to abridge the privileges, and lessen the rights of the most loyal and dutiful subjects; subjects justly intituled to ample freedom, who have long enjoyed, and not abused or forfeited their liberties, who have used them to their own advantage, in dutiful subserviency to the orders and interests of Great-Britain? Why should the gentle current of tranquillity, that has so long run with peace through all the British states, and flowed with joy and with happiness in all her countries, be at last obstructed, be turned out of its true course, into unusual and winding channels, by which many of those states must be ruined; but none of them can possibly be made more rich or more happy? BEFORE we conclude, it may be necessary to take notice of the vast difference there is between the raising money in a country by duties, taxes, or otherwise, and employing and laying out the money again in the same country; and raising the like sums of money, by the like means, and sending it away quite out of the country where it is raised. Where the former of these is the case, although the sums raised may be very great, yet that country may support itself under them; for as fast as the money is collected together, it is again scattered abroad, to be used in commerce and every kind of business; and money is not made scarcer by this means, but rather the contrary, as this continual circulation must have a tendency to prevent, in some degree, it's being hoarded. But where the latter method is pursued, the effect will be extremely different; for here, as fast as the money can be collected, 'tis immediately sent out of the country, never to return but by a tedious round of commerce, which at best must take up much time: Here all trade, and every kind of business depending on it, will grow dull, and must languish more and more, until it comes to a final stop at last. If the money raised in Great-Britain in the three last years of the late war, and which exceeded forty millions sterling, had been sent out of the kingdom, would not this have nearly ruined the trade of the nation in three years only? Think then, what must be the condition of these miserable colonies, when all the money proposed to be raised in them, by high duties on the importation of divers kinds of goods, by the postoffice, by stamp duties, and other taxes, is sent quite away, as fast as it can be collected; and this to be repeated continually, and last forever! Is it possible for colonies under these circumstances to support themselves, to have any money, any trade, or other business, carried on in them? Certainly it is not; nor is there at present, or ever was, any country under heaven, that did, or possibly could support itself under such burdens. WE finally beg leave to assert, that the first planters of these colonies were pious christians; were faithful subjects; who, with a fortitude and perseverance little known, and less considered, settled these wild countries, by God's goodness, and their own amazing labours; thereby added a most valuable dependance to the crown of Great-Britain; were ever dutifully subservient to her interests; so taught their children, that not has been disaffected to this day; but all have honestly obeyed every royal command, and chearfully submitted to every constitutional law; have as little inclination as they have ability to throw off their dependancy; have carefully avoided every offensive measure, and every interdicted manufacture; have risqued their lives as they have been ordered, and furnished their money when it has been called for; have never been troublesome or expensive to the mother country; have kept due order, and supported a regular government; have maintained peace, and practised christianity; and in all conditions, and in every relation, have demeaned themselves as loyal, as dutiful, and as faithful subjects ought; and that no kingdom or state hath, or ever had, colonies more quiet, more obedient, or more profitable, than these have ever been.— MAY the same divine goodness, that guided the first planters, protected the settlements, inspired kings to be gracious, parliaments to be tender, ever preserve, ever support our present gracious King; give great wisdom to his ministers, and much understanding to his parliaments; perpetuate the sovereignty of the British constitution, and the filial dependancy and happiness of all the colonies. P—. PROVIDENCE, in NEW-ENGLAND,NOVEMBER 30, 1764. Source: https://quod.lib.umich.edu/e/evans/N07846.0001.001/1:2?rgn=div1;view=fulltext

July 18, 1774 Fairfax County Resolves At a general Meeting of the Freeholders and Inhabitants of the County of Fairfax on Monday the 18th day of July 1774, at the Court House, George Washington Esquire Chairman, and Robert Harrison Gent: Clerk of the said Meeting. 1. Resolved that this Colony and Dominion of Virginia can not be considered as a conquered Country; and if it was, that the present Inhabitants are the Descendants not of the Conquered, but of the Conquerors. That the same was not setled at the national Expence of England, but at the private Expence of the Adventurers, our Ancestors, by solemn Compact with, and under the Auspices and Protection of the British Crown; upon which We are in every Respect as dependant, as the People of Great Britain, and in the same Manner subject to all his Majesty’s just, legal, and constitutional Prerogatives. That our Ancestors, when they left their native Land, and setled in America, brought with them (even if the same had not been confirmed by Charters) the Civil-Constitution and Form of Government of the Country they came from; and were by the Laws of Nature and Nations, entitiled to all it’s Privileges, Immunities and Advantages; which have descended to Us their Posterity, and ought of Right to be as fully enjoyed, as if We had still continued within the Realm of England. 2. Resolved that the most important and valuable Part of the British Constitution, upon which it’s very Existence depends, is the fundamental Principle of the People’s being governed by no Laws, to which they have not given their Consent, by Representatives freely chosen by themselves; who are affected by the Laws they inact equally with their Constituents, to whom they are accountable, and whose Burthens they share; in which consists the Safety and Happiness of the Community: for if this Part of the Constitution was taken away, or materially altered, the Government must degenerate either into an absolute and despotic Monarchy, or a tyrannical Aristocracy, and the Freedom of the People be annihilated. 3. Resolved therefore, as the Inhabitants of the american Colonies are not, and from their Situation can not be represented in the British Parliament; that the legislative Power here can of Right be exercised only by our own provincial Assemblys or Parliaments, subject to the Assent or Negative of the British Crown, to be declared within some proper limited Time. But as it was thought just and reasonable that the People of Great Britain shou’d reap Advantages from these Colonies adequate to the Protection they afforded them, the British Parliament have claimed and exercised the Power of regulating our Trade and Commerce, so as to restrain our importing from foreign Countrys, such Articles as they cou’d furnish Us with, of their own Growth or Manufacture, or exporting to foreign Countrys such Articles and Portions of our Produce, as Great Britain stood in Need of, for her own Consumption or Manufactures. Such a Power directed with Wisdom and Moderation, seems necessary for the general Good of that great Body-politic of which we are a Part; altho’ in some Degree repugnant to the Principles of the Constitution. Under this Idea our Ancestors submitted to it; the Experience of more than a Century, during the Government of his Majesty’s royal Predecessors, hath proved it’s utility, and the reciprocal Benefits flowing from it produced mutual uninterrupted Harmony and Good-will, between the Inhabitants of Great Britain and her Colonies; who during that long Period, always considered themselves as one and the same People: and tho’ such a Power is capable of Abuse, and in some Instances hath been stretched beyond the original Design and Institution, yet to avoid Strife and Contention with our fellow-Subjects, and strongly impressed with the Experience of mutual Benefits, We always chearfully acquiesced in it, while the entire Regulation of our internal Policy, and giving and granting our own Money were preserved to our own provincial Legislatures. 4. Resolved that it is the Duty of these Colonies, on all Emergencies, to contribute, in proportion to their Abilities, Situation and Circumstances, to the necessary Charge of supporting and defending the British Empire, of which they are part; that while We are treated upon an equal Footing with our fellow subjects, the Motives of Self-Interest and Preservation will be a sufficient Obligation; as was evident thro’ the Course of the last War; and that no Argument can be fairly applyed to the British Parliament’s taxing us, upon a Presemption that We shou’d refuse a just and reasonable Contribution, but will equally operate in Justification of the Executive-Power taxing the People of England, upon a Supposition of their Representatives refusing to grant the necessary Supplies. 5. Resolved that the Claim lately assumed and exercised by the British Parliament of making all such Laws as they think fit, to govern the People of these Colonies, and to extort from Us our Money without our Consent, is not only diametrically contrary to the first Principles of the Constitution, and the original Compacts by which We are dependant upon the British Crown and Government; but is totally incompatible with the Privileges of a free People, and the natural Rights of Mankind; will render our own Legislatures merely nominal and nugatory, and is calculated to reduce Us from a State of Freedom and Happiness, to Slavery and Misery. 6. Resolved that Taxation and Representation are in their Nature inseperable; that the Right of withholding, or of giving and granting their own Money is the only effectual Security to a free people against the Incroachments of Despotism and Tyranny; and that whenever they yield the one, they must quickly fall a Prey to the other. 7. Resolved that the Powers over the People of America now claimed by the British House of Commons, in whose Election We have no Share, on whose Determinations We can have no Influence, whose Information must be always defective and often false, who in many Instances may have a seperate, and in some an opposite Interest to ours, and who are removed from those Impressions of Tenderness and Compassion arising from personal Intercourse and Connections, which soften the Rigours of the most despotic Governments, must if continued, establish the most grievous and intollerable Species of Tyranny and Oppression that ever was inflicted upon Mankind. 8. Resolved that it is our greatest Wish and Inclination, as well as Interest, to continue our Connection with, and Dependance upon the British Government; but tho’ We are it’s Subjects, we will use every Means which Heaven hath given Us to prevent our becoming it’s Slaves. 9. Resolved that there is a premeditated Design and System, formed and pursued by the British Ministry, to introduce an arbitrary Government into his Majesty’s American Dominions; to which End they are artfully prejudicing our Sovereign, and inflaming the Minds of our fellow-Subjects in Great Britain, by propagating the most malevolent Falsehoods; particularly that there is an Intention in the American Colonies to set up for independant States; endeavouring at the same Time, by various Acts of Violence and Oppression, by sudden and repeated Dissolutions of our Assemblies, whenever they presume to examine the Illegality of ministerial Mandates, or deliberate on the violated Rights of their Constitutents; and by breaking in upon the American Charters, to reduce Us to a State of Desperation, and dissolve the original Compacts by which our Ancestors bound themselves and their Posterity to remain dependant upon the British Crown: which Measures, unless effectually counteracted, will end in the Ruin both of Great Britain and her Colonies. 10. Resolved that the several Acts of Parliament for raising a Revenue upon the People of America without their Consent, the creating new and dangerous Jurisdictions here, the taking away our Trials by Jurys, the ordering Persons upon Criminal accusations, to be tried in another Country than that in which the Fact is charged to have been committed, the Act inflicting ministerial Vengeance upon the Town of Boston, and the two Bills lately brought into Parliament for abrogating the Charter of the Province of Massachusets Bay, and for the protection and Encouragement of Murderers in the said Province, are Part of the above mentioned iniquitous System. That the Inhabitants of the Town of Boston are now suffering in the common Cause of all British America, and are justly entitled to it’s Support and Assistance; and therefore that a Subscription ought imediatly to be opened, and proper Persons appointed, in every County of this Colony to purchase Provisions, and consign them to some Gentlemen of Character in Boston, to be distributed among the poorer Sort of People there. 11. Resolved that We will cordially join with our Friends and Brethren of this and the other Colonies, in such Measures as shall be judged most effectual for procuring Redress of our Grievances, and that upon obtaining such Redress, if the Destruction of the Tea at Boston be regarded as an Invasion of private Property, We shall be willing to contribute towards paying the East India Company the Value: but as We consider the said Company as the Tools and Instrument of Oppression in the Hands of Government and the Cause of our present Distress, it is the Opinion of this Meeting that the People of these Colonies shou’d forbear all further Dealings with them, by refusing to purchase their Merchandize, until that Peace, Safety and Good-order, which they have disturbed, be perfectly restored. And that all Tea now in this Colony, or which shall be imported into it shiped before the first Day of September next shou’d be deposited in some Store house to be appointed by the respective Committees of each County, until a sufficient Sum of Money be raised by subscription to reimburse the Owners the Value, and then to be publickly burn’d and destroyed; and if the same is not paid for and destroyed as aforesaid, that it remain in the Custody of the said Committees, at the Risque of the owners, until the Act of Parliament imposing a Duty upon Tea for raising a Revenue in America be repealed; and imediatly afterwards be delivered unto the Several Proprietors thereof, their Agents or Attorneys. 12. Resolved that Nothing will so much contribute to defeat the pernicious Designs of the common Enemies of Great Britain and her Colonies as a firm Union of the latter; who ought to regard every Act of Violence or Oppression inflicted upon any one of them, as aimed at all; and to effect this desireable Purpose, that a Congress shou’d be appointed, to consist of Deputies from all the Colonies, to concert a general and uniform Plan for the Defence and Preservation of our common Rights, and continueing the Connection and Dependance of the said Colonies upon Great Britain, under a just, lenient, permanent, and constitutional Form of Government. 13. Resolved that our most sincere and cordial Thanks be given to the Patrons and Friends of Liberty in Great Britain, for their spirited and patriotick Conduct, in Support of our constitutional Rights and Privileges, and their generous Efforts to prevent the present Distress and Calamity of America. 14. Resolved that every little jarring Interest and Dispute, which has ever happened between these Colonies, shou’d be buried in eternal Oblivion; that all Manner of Luxury and Extravagance ought imediatly to be laid aside, as totally inconsistent with the threatning and gloomy Prospect before us; that it is the indispensable Duty of all the Gentlemen and Men of Fortune to set Examples of Temperance, Fortitude, Frugality and Industry; and give every Encouragement in their Power, particularly by Subscriptions and Premiums, to the Improvement of Arts and Manufactures in America; that great Care and Attention shou’d be had to the Cultivation of Flax, Cotton, and other Materials for Manufactures; and We recommend it to such of the Inhabitants who have large Stocks of Sheep, to sell to their Neighbours at a moderate Price, as the most certain Means of speedily increasing our Breed of Sheep, and Quantity of Wool. 15. Resolved that until american Grievances be redressed, by Restoration of our just Rights and Privileges, no Goods or Merchandize whatsoever ought to be imported into this Colony, which shall be shiped from Great Britain1 after the first Day of September next, except Linnens not exceeding fifteen Pence ⅌ yard, coarse Woolen Cloth, not exceeding two shillings Sterling ⅌ yard, Nails, wire and Wire-Cards, needles & pins, paper, Salt petre and Medecines; which may be imported until the first Day of September one thousand seven hundred and seventy six; and if any Goods or Merchandize, oth⟨er⟩ than those hereby excepted, shou’d be ship’d from Great Britain,2 after the time aforesaid, to this Colony, that the same, immediately upon their Arrival shoud either be sent back again, by the owners their Agents or Attorn⟨ey⟩s, or stored and deposited in some Warehouse, to be appointed by the Committee for each respective County, and there kept, at the Risque and Charge of the Owners, to be delivered to them, when a free Importation of Goods hither shall again take Place. And that the Merchants and Venders of Goods and Merchandize within this Colony ought not to take Advantage of our present Distress, b⟨u⟩t continue to sell the Goods and Merchandize which they now have, or which may be shiped to them before the first Day of September next, at the same rates and Prices they have been accustomed to do, within one Year last past; and if any Person shall sell such Goods on any other Terms than above expressed, that no Inhabitant of this Colony shou’d at any time, forever thereafter, deal with Him, his Agent, Factor, or Store keepers for any Commodity whatsoever. 16. Resolved that it is the Opinion of this Meeting that the Merchants and Venders of Goods and Merchandize within this Colony shou’d take an Oath not to sell or dispose of any Goods or Merchandize whatsoever, which may be shiped from Great Britain after the first Day of September next as aforesaid, except the Articles before excepted, and that they will, upon Receipt of such prohibited Goods, either send the same back again by the first Opportunity, or deliver them to the Committees in the respective Countys, to be deposited in some Warehouse, at the Risque and charge of the owners, until they, their Agents or Factors be permitted to take them away by the said Committees: the names of those who refuse to take such Oath to be advertized, by the respective Committees, in the Countys wherein they reside. And to the End that the Inhabitants of this Colony may know what Merchants, and Venders of Goods and Merchandize have taken such Oath, that the respective Committees shou’d grant a Certificate thereof to every such Person who shall take the same. 17. Resolved that it is the Opinion of this Meeting, that during our present Difficulties and Distress, no Slaves ought to be imported into any of the British Colonies on this Continent, and We take this Opportunity of declaring our most earnest Wishes to see an entire Stop for ever put to such a wicked cruel and unnatural Trade. 18. Resolved that no kind of Lumber shou’d be exported from this Colony to the West Indies until America be restored to her constitutional Rights and Liberties, if the other Colonies will accede to a like Resolution; and that it be recommended to the general Congress to appoint as early a Day as possible for stopping such Export. 19. Resolved that it is the Opinion of this Meeting, if american Grievances be not redressed before the first Day of November one thousand seven hundred and seventy five, that all Exports of Produce from the several Colonies to Great Britain3 shou’d cease; and to carry the said Resolution more effectually into Execution, that We will not plant or cultivate any Tobacco after the Crop now growing, provided the same Measure shall be adopted by the other Colonies on this Continent, as well those who have ⟨here⟩tofore made Tobacco, as those who have n⟨o⟩t. And it is our Opinion also, if the Congress of Deputies from the several Colonies shall adopt the Measure of Non-exportation to Great Britain, as the People will be thereby disabled from paying their Debts, that no Judgements shou’d be rendered by the Courts in the said Colonies for any Debt, after Information of the said Measures being determined upon. 20. Resolved that it is the Opinion of this Meeting that a solemn Covenant and Association shou’d be entered into by the Inhabitants of all the Colonies upon Oath, that they will not, after the Times which shall be respectively agreed on at the general Congress, export any Manner of Lumber to the West Indies, nor any of their Produce to Great Britain,4 or sell or dispose of the same to any Person who shall not have entered into the said Covenant and Association; and also that they will not import or receive any Goods or Merchandize which shall be ship’d from Great Britain5 after the first Day of September next, other than the before enumerated Articles, nor buy or purchase any Goods, except as before excepted, if any person whatsoever, who shall not have taken the Oath herein before recommended to be taken by the Merchants and Venders of Goods nor buy or purchase any Slaves hereafter imported into any part of this continent until a free Exportation and Importation be again resolved on by the Majority of the Representatives or Duputies of the Colonies. And that the respective Committees of the Countys in each Colony so soon as the Covenant and Association becomes general, publish by advertisements in their several Counties a List of the Names of those (if any such there be) who will not accede thereto; that such Traitors to their Country may be publickly known and detested. 21. Resolved that it is the Opinion of this Meeting, that this and the other associating Colonies shou’d break off all Trade, Intercourse, and Dealings, with that Colony Province or Town, which shall decline or refuse to agree to the plan which shall be adopted by the general Congress. 22. Resolved that shou’d the Town of Boston be forced to submit to the late cruel and oppressive Measures of Government, that We shall not hold the same to be binding upon Us, but will, notwithstanding, religiously maintain, and inviolably adhere to such Measures as shall be concerted by the general Congress, for the preservation of our Lives Liberties and Fortunes. 23. Resolved that it be recommended to the Deputies of the general Congress to draw up and transmit an humble and dutiful petition and Remonstrance to his Majesty, asserting with decent Firmness our just and constitutional Rights and Privileg⟨es⟩ lamenting the fatal Necessity of being compelled to enter into Measur⟨es⟩ disgusting to his Majesty and his Parliament, or injurious to our fellow Subjects in Great Britain; declaring, in the strongest Terms, ou⟨r⟩ Duty and Affection to his Majesty’s Person, Family and Government, ⟨an⟩d our Desire to continue our Dependance upon Great Brit⟨ai⟩n; and most humbly conjuring and beseeching his Majesty, not to reduce his faithful Subjects of America to a State of Desperation, and to reflect, that from our Sovereign there can be but one Appeal. And it is the Opinion of this Meeting, that after such Petition, and Remonstrance shall have been presented to his Majesty, the same shou’d be printed in the public Papers, in all the principal Towns in Great Britain. 24. Resolved that George Washington Esquire and Charles Broadwater Gent. lately elected our Representatives to serve in the general Assembly, be appointed to attend the Convention at Williamsburgh, on the first Day of August next, and present these Resolves, as the Sense of the People of this County, upon the Measures proper to be taken in the present alarming and dangerous Situation of America. Source: https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/02-10-02-0080

April 12, 1776 The Select Committee taking into Consideration the usurpations and violences attempted and committed by the King and Parliament of Britain against America, and the further Measures to be taken for frustrating the same, and for the better defence of this province reported as follows, to wit, It appears to your Committee that pursuant to the Plan concerted by the British Ministry for subjugating America, the King and Parliament of Great Britain have usurped a Power over the Persons and Properties of the People unlimited and uncontrouled and disregarding their humble Petitions for Peace, Liberty and safety, have made divers Legislative Acts, denouncing War Famine and every Species of Calamity daily employed in destroying the People and committing the most horrid devastations on the Country. That Governors in different Colonies have declared Protection to Slaves who should imbrue their Hands in the Blood of their Masters. That the Ships belonging to America are declared prizes of War and many of them have been violently seized and confiscated in consequence of which multitudes of the people have been destroyed or from easy Circumstances reduced to the most Lamentable distress. And whereas the moderation hitherto manifested by the United Colonies and their sincere desire to be reconciled to the mother Country on Constitutional Principles, have procured no mitigation of the aforesaid Wrongs and usurpations and no hopes remain of obtaining redress by those Means alone which have been hitherto tried, Your Committee are of opinion that the house should enter into the following Resolve, to wit: Resolved that the delegates for this Colony in the Continental Congress be impowered to concur with the other delegates of the other Colonies in declaring Independency, and forming foreign Alliances, resolving to this Colony the Sole, and Exclusive right of forming a Constitution and Laws for this Colony, and of appointing delegates from time to time under the direction of a general Representation thereof to meet the delegates of the other Colonies for such purposes as shall be hereafter pointed out. Source: https://www.ncssar.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/HRAPR03.pdf

AN INQUIRY INTO THE RIGHTS OF THE BRITISH COLONIES SIR, I TAKE the Liberty to address you, as the Author of “The Regulations lately made concerning “the Colonies, and the Taxes imposed upon them considered.” It is not to the Man, whoever you are, that I address myself; but it is to the Author of a Pamphlet which, according to the Light I view it in, endeavours to fix Shackles upon the American Colonies: Shackles which, however nicely polished, can by no Means sit easy upon Men who have just Sentiments of their own Rights and Liberties. You have indeed brought this Trouble upon yourself, for you fay that ” many Steps have been lately taken by the Ministry to cement and perfect the necessary “Connexion between the Colonies and the Mother “Kingdom, which every Man who is sincerely interested in what is interesting to his Country will anxiously Confider the Propriety of, will inquire into the Information, and canvas the Principles upon “which they have been adopted; and will be ready to applaud what has been well done, condemn what has been done amiss, and forget any Emendations, Improvements, or Additions, which may be within his Knowledge, and occur to his Reflexion.” Encouraged therefore by so candid an Invitation, I have undertaken to examine, with an honest Plainness and Freedom, whether the Ministry, by imposing Taxes upon the Colonies by Authority of Parliament, have pursued a wife and salutary Plan of Government, or whether they have exerted pernicious and destructive Acts of Power. I pretend not to concern myself with the Regulations lately made to encourage Population in the new Acquisitions: Time can only determine whether the Reasons upon which they have been founded are agreeable to the Maxims of Trade and found Policy, or not. However, I will venture to observe that if the most powerful inducement towards peopling those Acquisitions is to arise from the Expectation of a Constitution to be established in them familiar to the other Royal Governments in America, it must be a strong Circumstance, in my Opinion, against their being settled by Englishmen, or even by Foreigners, who do not live under the most despotic Government; since, upon your Principles of Colony Government, such a Constitution will not be worth their Acceptance. The Question is whether the Colonies are represented in the British Parliament or not? You affirm it to bean indubitable Fact that they are represented, and from thence you infer a Right in the Parliament to impose Taxes of every Kind upon them. You do not insist upon the Power, but upon the Right of Parliament to impose Taxes upon the Colonies. This is Certainly a very proper Distinction, as Right and Power have very different Meanings, and convey very different Ideas: For had you told us that the Parliament of Great Britain have Power, by the Fleets and Armies of the Kingdom, to impose Taxes and to raise Contributions upon the Colonies, I should not have presumed to dispute the Point with you; but as you insist upon the Right only, I must beg Leave to differ from you in Opinion, and shall give my Reasons for it. But I must first recapitulate your Arguments in Support of this Right in the Parliament. You say “the inhabitants of the Colonies do not indeed choose Members of Parliament, neither are nine Tenths of the People of Britain Electors; for the Right of Election is annexed to certain Species of Property, to peculiar Franchises, and to Inhabitancy in some particular Places. But these Descriptions comprehend only a very small Part of the Lands, the Property and People of Britain; all Copy-Hold, all Lease-Hold Estates under the Crown, under the Church, or under private Persons, though for Terms ever so long; all landed Property in short that is not Freehold, and all monied Property whatsoever, are excluded. The Possessors of these have no Votes in the Election of Members of Parliament; Women and Persons under Age, be their Property ever so large, and all of it Freehold, have none: The Merchants of London, a numerous and respectable Body of Men, whose Opulence exceeds all that America can collect; the Proprietors of that vast Accumulation of Wealth, the Public Funds; the Inhabitants of Leeds, of Halifax, of Birmingham and of Manchester, Towns that are each of them larger than the largest in the Plantations; many of lesser Note, that are incorporated; and that great Corporation the East India Company, whose Rights over the Countries they possess fall very little short of Sovereignty, and whose Trade and whose Fleets are sufficient to constitute them a maritime Power, are all in the fame Circumstances: And yet are they not represented in Parliament? Is their vast Property subject to Taxation without their Consent? Are they all arbitrarily bound by Laws to which they have not agreed? The Colonies are exactly in the same Situation; all British Subjects are really in the same; none are actually, all are virtually, represented in Parliament: For every Member of Parliament sits in the House not as a Representative of his own constituents, but as one of that August Assembly by which all the Commons of Great Britain are represented.” This is the Sum of what you advance, in all the Pomp of Parliamentary Declamation, to prove that the Colonies are represented in Parliament, and therefore subject to their Taxation; but notwithstanding this Way of reasoning, I cannot comprehend how Men who are excluded from voting at the Election of Members of Parliament can be represented in that Assembly, or how those who are elected do not sit in the House as Representatives of their Constituents. Their Assertions appear to me not only paradoxical, but contrary to the fundamental Principles of the English Constitution. To illustrate this important Disquisition, I conceive we must recur to the civil Constitution of England, and from thence deduce and ascertain the Rights and Privileges of the People at the first Establishment of the Government, and discover the Alterations that have been made in them from Time to Time; and it is from the Laws of the Kingdom, founded upon the Principles of the Law of Nature, that we are to show the Obligation every Member of the State is under to pay Obedience to its Institutions. From these Principles I shall endeavour to prove that the Inhabitants of Britain, who have no Vote in the Election of Members of Parliament, are not represented in that Assembly, and yet that they owe Obedience to the Laws of Parliament; which, as to them, are constitutional, and not arbitrary. As to the Colonies, I shall consider them afterwards. Now it is a Fact, as certain as History can make it, that the present civil Constitution of England derives its Original from those Saxons who, coming over to the Assistance of the Britons in the Time of their King Vortigern, made themselves Masters of the Kingdom, and established a Form of Government in it similar to that they had been accustomed to live under in their native Country; as similar, at least, as the Difference of their Situation and Circumstances would permit. This Government, like that from whence they came, was founded upon Principles of the most perfect Liberty: The conquered Lands were divided among the Individuals in Proportion to the Rank they held in the Nations; and every Freeman, that is, every Freeholder, was a Member of their Witenagemot, or Parliament. The other Part of the Nation, or the Non-Proprietors of Land, were of little Estimation. They, as in Germany, were either Slaves, mere Hewers of Wood and Drawers of Water, or Freedmen; who, being of foreign Extraction, had been manumitted by their Masters, and were excluded from the high Privilege of having a Share in the Administration of the Commonwealth, unless they became Proprietors of Land (which they might obtain by Purchase or Donation) and in that Case they had a Right to sit with the Freemen, in the Parliament or sovereign Legislature of the State. How long this Right of being personally present in the Parliament continued, or when the Custom of sending Representatives to this great Council of the Nation, was first introduced, cannot be determined with Precision; but let the Custom of Representation be introduced when it will, it is certain that every Freeman, or, which was the same Thing in the Eye of the Constitution, every Freeholder, had a Right to vote at the Election of Members of Parliament, and therefore might be said, with great Propriety, to be present in that Assembly, either in his own Person or by Representation. This Right of Election in the Freeholders is evident from the Statute 1st Hen. 5. Ch. 1st, which limits the Right of Election to those Freeholders only who are resident in the Counties the Day of the Date of the Writ of Election; but yet every resident Freeholder indiscriminately, let his Freehold be ever so small, had a Right to vote at the Election of Knights for his County, so that they were actually represented: And this Right of Election continued until it was taken away by the Statute 8th Hen. 6. Ch. 7. from those Freeholders who had not a clear Freehold Estate of forty Shillings by the Year at the least. Now this Statute was deprivative of the Right of those Freeholders who came within the Description of it; but of what did it deprive them, if they were represented notwithstanding their Right of Election was taken from them? The mere Act of voting was nothing, of no Value, if they were represented as constitutionally without it as with it: But when by the fundamental Principles of the Constitution they were to be considered as Members of the Legislature, and as such had a Right to be present in Person, or to send their Procurators or Attorneys, and by them to give their Suffrage in the supreme Council of the Nation, this Statute deprived them of an essential Right; a Right without which, by the ancient Constitution of the State, all other Liberties were but a Species of Bondage. As these Freeholders then were deprived of their Rights to substitute Delegates to Parliament, they could not be represented, but were placed in the fame Condition with the Non-Proprietors of Land, who were excluded by the original Constitution from having any Share in the Legislature, but who, notwithstanding such Exclusion, are bound to pay Obedience to the Laws of Parliament, even if they should consist of nine Tenths of the People of Britain; but then the Obligation of these Laws does not arise from their being virtually represented in Parliament, but from a quite different Reason. Men in a State of Nature are absolutely free and independent of one another as to sovereign Jurisdiction, but when they enter into a Society, and by their own consent become Members of it, they must submit to the Laws. of the Society according to which they agree to be governed; for it is evident, by the very Act of Association, that each Member subjects himself to the Authority of that Body in whom, by common Consent, the legislative Power of the State is placed: But though they must submit to the Laws, so long as they remain Members of the Society, yet they retain so much of their natural Freedom as to have a Right to retire from the Society, to renounce the Benefits of it, to enter into another Society, and to settle in another Country; for their Engagements to the Society, and their Submission to the publick Authority of the State, do not oblige them to continue in it longer than they find it will conduce to their Happiness, which they have a natural Right to promote. This natural Right remains with every Man, and he cannot justly be deprived of it by any civil Authority. Every Person therefore who is denied his Share in the Legislature of the State to which he had an original Right, and every Person who from his particular Circumstances is excluded from this great Privilege, and refuses to exercise his natural Right of quitting the Country, but remains in it, and continues to exercise the Rights of a Citizen in all other Respects, must be subject to the Laws which by these Acts he implicitly, or to use your own Phrase, virtually contents to: For Men may subject themselves to Laws, by consenting to them implicitly; that is, by conforming to them, by adhering to the Society, and accepting the Benefits of its Constitution, as well, as explicitly and directly, in their own Persons, or by their Representatives substituted in their Room. Thus, if a Man whose Property does not entitle him to be an Elector of Members of Parliament and therefore cannot be represented, or have any Share in the Legislature, “inherits or takes any Thing by the Laws of the Country to which he has no indubitable Right in Nature, or which, if he has a Right to it, he cannot tell how to get or keep without the Aid of the Laws and the Advantage of Society, then, when he takes this Inheritance, or whatever it is, with it he takes and owns the Laws that gave it him. And since the Security he has from the Laws of the Country, in Respect of his Person and Rights, is the Equivalent for his Submission to them, “he cannot accept that Security without being obliged, in Equity, to pay this Submission: Nay his very continuing in the Country shows that he either likes “the Constitution, or likes it better, notwithstanding “the Alteration made in it to his Disadvantage, than any other; or at least thinks it better, in his Circumstances, to conform to it, than to seek any other; that is, he is content to be comprehended in it.” From hence it is evident that the Obligation of the Laws of Parliament upon the People of Britain who have no Right to be Electors does not arise from their being virtually represented, but from a quite different Principle; a Principle of the Law of Nature, true, certain, and universal, applicable to every Sort of Government, and not contrary to the common Understandings of Mankind. If what you say is a real Fact, that nine Tenths of the People of Britain are deprived of the high Privilege of being Electors, it shows a great Defect in the present Constitution, which has departed so much from its original Purity; but never can prove that those People are even virtually represented in Parliament. And here give me Leave to observe that it would be a Work worthy of the best patriotick Spirits in the Nation to effectuate an Alteration in this putrid Part of the Constitution; and, by restoring it to its pristine Perfection, prevent any ” Order or Rank of the Subjects from imposing upon or binding the rest without their Consent.” But, I fear, the Gangrene has taken too deep Hold to be eradicated in thefe Days of Venality. But if those People of Britain who are excluded from being Electors are not represented in Parliament, the Conclusion is much stronger against the People of the Colonies being represented; who are considered by the British Government itself, in every Instance of Parliamentary Legislation, as a distinct People. It has been determined by the Lords of the Privy Council that “Acts of Parliament made in England without naming the foreign Plantations will not bind them.” Now what can be the Reason of this Determination, but that the Lords of the Privy Council are of Opinion the Colonies are a distinct People from the Inhabitants of Britain, and are not represented in Parliament. If, as you contend, the Colonies are exactly in the same Situation with the Subjects in Britain, the Laws will in every Instance be equally binding upon them, as upon those Subjects, unless you can discover two Species of virtual Representation; the one to respect the Subjects in Britain, and always existing in Time of Parliament; the other to respect the Colonies, a mere Non-Entity, if I may be allowed the Term, and never existing but when the Parliament thinks proper to produce it into Being by any particular Act in which the Colonies happen to be named. But I must examine the Case of the Colonies more distinctly. It is in vain to search into the civil Constitution of England for Directions in fixing the proper Connexion between the Colonies and the Mother Kingdom; I mean what their reciprocal Duties to each other are, and what Obedience is due from the Children to the general Parent. The planting Colonies from Britain is but of recent Date, and nothing relative to such Plantation can be collected from the ancient Laws of the Kingdom; neither can we receive any better Information by extending our Inquiry into the History of the Colonies established by the several Nations in the more early Ages of the World. All the Colonies (except those of Georgia and Nova Scotia) formed from the English Nation, in North America, were planted in a Manner, and under a Dependence, of which there is not an Instance in all the Colonies of the Ancients; and therefore, I conceive, it must afford a good Degree of Surprise to find an English Civilian giving it as his Sentiment that the English Colonies ought to be governed by the Roman Laws, and for no better Reason than because the Spanish Colonies, as he says, are governed by those Laws. The Romans established their Colonies in the Midst of vanquished Nations, upon Principles which best secured their Conquests; the Privileges granted to them were not always the fame; their Policy in the Government of their Colonies and the conquered Nations being always directed by arbitrary Principles to the End they aimed at, the subjecting the whole Earth to their Empire. But the Colonies in North America, except those planted within the present Century, were founded by Englishmen; who, becoming private Adventurers, est ab lis hied themselves, without any Expense to the Nation, in this uncultivated and almost uninhabited Country; so that their Cafe is plainly distinguishable from that of the Roman, or any other Colonies of the ancient World. As then we can receive no Light from the Laws of the Kingdom, or from ancient History, to direct us in our Inquiry, we must have Recourse to the Law of Nature, and those Rights of Mankind which flow from it. I have observed before that when subjects are deprived of their civil rights, or are dissatisfied with the Place they hold in the Community, they have a natural Right to quit the Society of which they are Members, and to retire into another Country. Now when Men exercise this Right, and withdraw themselves from their Country, they recover their natural Freedom and Independence: The Jurisdiction and Sovereignty of the State they have quitted ceases; and if they unite, and by common Consent take Possession of a new Country, and form themselves into a political Society, they become a sovereign State, independent of the State from which they separated. If then the Subjects of England have a natural Right to relinquish their Country, and by retiring from it, and associating together, to form a new political Society and independent State, they must have a Right, by Compact with the Sovereign of the Nation, to remove into a new Country, and to form a civil Establishment upon the Terms of the Compact. In such a Case, the Terms of the Compact must be obligatory and binding upon the Parties; they must be the Magna Charta, the fundamental Principles of Government, to this new Society; and every Infringement of them must be wrong, and may be opposed. It will be necessary then to examine whether any such Compact was entered into between the Sovereign and those English Subjects who established themselves in America. You have told us that “before the first and great Act of Navigation the Inhabitants of North America “were but a few unhappy Fugitives, who had wandered thither to enjoy their civil and religious Liberties, which they were deprived of at Home.” If this was true, it is evident, from what has been said upon the Law of Nature, that they have a Right to a civil independent Establishment of their own, and that Great Britain has no Right to interfere in it. But you have been guilty of a gross Anachronism in your Chronology, and a great Error in your Account of the first Settlement of the Colonies in North America; for it is a notorious Fact that they were not settled by Fugitives from their native Country, but by Men who came over voluntarily, at their own Expense, and under Charters from the Crown, obtained for that Purpose, long before the first and great Act of Navigation. The first of these Charters was granted to Sir Walter Raleigh by Queen Elizabeth under her great Seal, and was confirmed by the Parliament of England in the Year 1584. By this Charter the whole Country to be possessed by Sir Walter Raleigh was granted to him, his Heirs and Assigns, in perpetual Sovereignty, in as extensive a Manner as the Crown Could grant, or had ever granted before to any Person or Persons, with full Power of Legislation, and to establish a civil Government in it as near as conveniently might be agreeable to the Form of the English Government and Policy thereof. The Country was to be united to the Realm of England in perfect LEAGUE AND AMITY, was to be within the Allegiance of the Crown of England, and to be held by Homage, and the Payment of one Fifth of all Gold and Silver Ore, which was reserved for all Services, Duties, and Demands. Sir Walter Raleigh, under this Charter, took Possession of North America, upon that Part of the Continent which gave him a Right to the Tract of Country which lies between the twenty fifth Degree of Latitude and the Gulf of St. Lawrence; but a Variety of Accidents happening in the Course of his Exertions to establish a Colony, and perhaps being over born by the Expense of so great a Work, he made an Assignment to divers Gentlemen and Merchants of London, in the 31st Year of the Queen’s Reign, for continuing his Plantation in America. These Assignees were not more successful in their Attempts than the Proprietor himself had been; but being animated with the Expectation of mighty Advantages from the Accomplishment of their Undertaking, they, with others, who associated with them, obtained new Charters from King James the First, in whom all Sir Walter Raleigh’s Rights became vested upon his Attainder; containing the same extensive Jurisdictions, Royalties, Privileges, Franchises, and Pre-eminences, and the same Powers to establish a civil Government in the Colony, as had been granted to Sir W. Raleigh, with an express Clause of Exemption for ever from all Taxes or Impositions upon their Import and Export Trade. Under these Charters the Proprietors effectually prosecuted, and happily succeeded, in planting a Colony upon that Part of the Continent which is now called Virginia. This Colony, after struggling through immense Difficulties, without receiving the least Assistance from the English Government, attained to such a Degree of Perfection that in the Year 1621 a General Assembly, or legislative Authority, was established in the Governor, Council, and House of Burgesses, who were elected by the Freeholders as their Representatives; and they have continued from that Time to exercise the Power of Legislation over the Colony. But upon the 15th of July, 1624, King James dissolved the Company by Proclamation, and took the Colony under his immediate Dependence; which occasioned much Confusion, and created mighty Apprehensions in the Colony left they should be deprived of the Rights and Privileges granted them by the Company, according to the Powers contained in their Charters. To put an End to this Confusion, and to conciliate the Colony to the new System of Government the Crown intended to establish among them, K. Charles the First, upon the Demise of his Father, by Proclamation the 13th of May, 1625, declared ” that Virginia should “be immediately dependent upon the Crown; that the Affairs of the Colony should be vested in a Council, consisting of a sew Persons of Understanding and Quality, to be subordinate and attendant to the Privy Council in England; that he was resolved to establish another Council in Virginia, to be subordinate to the Council in England for the Colony; and that he would maintain the necessary Officers, Ministers, Forces, Ammunition, and Fortifications thereof, at his own Charge.” But this Proclamation had an Effect quite different from what was intended; instead of allaying, it increased the Confusion of the Colony; they now thought their regular Constitution was to be destroyed, and a Prerogative Government established over them; or, as they express themselves in their Remonstrance, that “their Rights and Privileges were to be assaulted” This general Disquietude and Dissatisfaction continued until they received a Letter from the Lords of the Privy Council, dated July the 22d, 1634, containing the Royal Affurance and Confirmation that ” all their Estates, Trade, “Freedom, and Privileges, should be enjoyed by them in as extensive a Manner as they enjoyed them before the recalling the Company’s Patent;” whereupon they became reconciled, and began again to exert themselves in the Improvement of the Colony. Being now in full Possession of the Rights and Privileges of Englishmen, which they esteemed more than their Lives, their Affection for the Royal Government grew almost to Enthusiasm; for upon an Attempt to restore the Company’s Charter by Authority of Parliament, the General Assembly, upon the 1st of April 1642, drew up a Declaration or Protestation, in the Form of an Act, by which they declared ” they never “would submit to the Government of any Company or Proprietor, or to so unnatural a Distance as a “Company or other Person to interpose between the Crown and the Subjects; that they were born under Monarchy, and would never degenerate from the Condition of their Births by being subject to any other Government; and every Person who should “attempt to reduce them under any other Government was declared an Enemy to the Country, and his Estate was to be forfeited.” This Act, being presented to the King, at his Court at York, July 5th, 1644 drew from him a most gracious Answer, under his Royal Signet, in Which he gave them the fullest Assurances that they should be always immediately dependent upon the Crown, and that the Form of Government should never be changed. But after the King’s Death they gave a more eminent Instance of their Attachment to Royal Government, in their Opposition to the Parliament, and forcing the Parliament Commissioners, who were sent over with a Squadron of Ships of War to take Possession of the Country, into Articles of Surrender, before they would submit to their Obedience. As these Articles reflect no small Honour upon this Infant Colony, and as they are not commonly known, I will give an Abstract of such of them as relate to the present Subject. The Plantation of Virginia, and all the Inhabitants thereof, shall be and remain in due Subjection to the Commonwealth of England, not as a conquered Country, but as a Country submitting by their own voluntary Act, and shall enjoy such Freedoms and Privileges as belong to the free People of England. The General Assembly as formerly shall convene, and transact the Affairs of the Colony. The People of Virginia shall have a free Trade, as the People of England, to all Places, and with all Nations. Virginia shall be free from all Taxes, Customs, and Impositions whatsoever; and none shall be imposed on them without Consent of the General Assembly; and that neither Forts nor Castes be erected, or Garrisons maintained, without their Consent. Upon this Surrender of the Colony to the Parliament, Sir W. Berkley, the Royal Governour, was removed, and three other Governours were successively elected by the House of Burgesses; but in January 1659 Sir William Berkeley was replaced at the Head of the Government by the People, who unanimously renounced their Obedience to the Parliament, and restored the Royal Authority by proclaiming Charles the 2d King of England, Scotland, France, Ireland, and Virginia; so that he was King in Virginia some Time before he had any certain Assurance of being restored to his Throne in England. From this Detail of the Charters, and other Acts of the Crown, under which the first Colony in North America was established, it is evident that ” the Colonists were not a few unhappy Fugitives who had wandered into a distant Part of the World to enjoy their civil and religious Liberties, which they were deprived of at home,” but had a regular Government long before the first Act of Navigation, and were respected as a distinct State, independent, as to their internal Government, of the original Kingdom, but united with her, as to their external Polity, in the closest and most intimate LEAGUE AND AMITY, under the same Allegiance, and enjoying the Benefits of a reciprocal Intercourse. But allow me to make a Reflection or two upon the preceding Account of the first Settlement of an English Colony in North America. America was no Part of the Kingdom of England; it was possessed by a savage People, scattered through the Country, who were not subject to the English Dominion, nor owed Obedience to its Laws. This independent Country was settled by Englishmen at their own Expense, under particular Stipulations with the Crown: These Stipulations then must be the sacred Band of Union between England and her Colonies, and cannot be infringed without Injustice. But you Object that no Power can abridge the Authority of Parliament, “which has never exempted any from the Submission “they owe to it; and no other Power can grant such “an Exemption.” I will not dispute the Authority of the Parliament, which is without Doubt Supreme within the Body of the Kingdom, and cannot be abridged by any other Power; but may not the King have Prerogatives which he has a Right to exercise without the Consent of Par1iament? If he has, perhaps that of granting License to his Subjects to remove into a new Country, and to settle therein upon particular Conditions, may be one. If he has no such Prerogative, I cannot discover how the Royal Engagements can be made good, that ” the “Freedom and other Benefits of the British Constitution” shall be secured to those People who shall settle in a new Country under such Engagements; the Freedom, and other Benefits of the British Constitution, cannot be secured to a People without they are exempted from being taxed by any Authority but that of their Representatives, chosen by themselves. This is an essential Part of British Freedom; but if the King cannot grant such an Exemption, in Right of his Prerogative, the Royal Promises cannot be fulfilled; and all Charters which have been granted by our former Kings, for this Purpose, must be Deceptions upon the Subjects who accepted them, which to fay would be a high Reflection upon the Honour of the Crown. But there was a Time when former Parts of England itself were exempt from the Laws of Parliament: The Inhabitants of the County Palatine of Chester were not subject to such Laws ab antiquo, because they did not send Representatives to Parliament, but had their own Commune Concilium; by whose Authority, with the Consent of their Earl, their Laws were made. If this Exemption was not derived originally from the Crown, it must have arisen from that great Principle in the British Constitution by which the Freemen in the Nation are not subject to any Laws but such as are made by Representatives elected by themselves to Parliament; so that, in either Case, it is an Instance extremely applicable to the Colonies, who contend for no other Right but that of directing their internal Government by Laws made with their own Consent, which has been preferred to them by repeated Acts and Declarations of the Crown. The Constitution of the Colonies, being established upon the Principles of British Liberty, has never been infringed by the immediate Act of the Crown; but the Powers of Government, agreeably to this Constitution, have been constantly declared in the King’s Commissions to their Governours, which, as often as they pass the Great Seal, are new Declarations and Confirmations of the Rights of the Colonies. Even in the Reign of Charles the Second, a Time by no Means favorable to Liberty, these Rights of the Colonies were maintained inviolate; for when it was thought necessary to establish a permanent Revenue for the Support of Government in Virginia, the King did not apply to the English Parliament, but to the General Assembly, and sent over an Act, under the Great Seal of England, by which it was enacted ” by the King’s “Most Excellent Majesty, by and with the Consent of the General Assembly,” that two Shillings per Hogshead upon all Tobacco exported, one Shilling and Threepence per Tun upon Shipping, and Sixpence per Poll for every Person imported, not being actually a Mariner in Pay, were to be paid for ever as a Revenue for the Support of the Government in the Colony. I have taken Notice of this Act, not only because it shows the proper Fountain from whence all Supplies to be raised in the Colonies ought to flow, but also as it affords an Instance that Royalty itself did not disdain formerly to be named as a Part of the Legislature of the Colony; though now, to serve a Purpose destructive of their Rights, and to introduce Principles of Despotism unknown to a free Constitution, the Legislature of the Colonies are degraded even below the Corporation of a petty Borough in England. It must be admitted that after the Restoration the Colonies loft that Liberty of Commerce with foreign Nations they had enjoyed before that Time. As it became a fundamental Law of the other States of Europe to prohibit all foreign Trade with their Colonies, England demanded such an exclusive Trade with her Colonies. This was effected by the Act of 25th Charles 2d, and some other subsequent Acts; Which not only circumscribed the Trade of the Colonies with foreign Nations within very narrow Limits, but imposed Duties upon several Articles of their own Manufactory-exported from one Colony to another. These Acts, which imposed severer Restrictions upon the Trade of the Colonies than were imposed upon the Trade of England, deprived the Colonies, so far as these Restrictions extended, of the Privileges of English Subjects, and constituted an unnatural Difference between Men under the fame Allegiance, born equally free, and entitled to the fame civil Rights. In this Light did the People of Virginia view the Act of 25th Charles 2d, when they sent Agents to the English Court to represent against “Taxes and Impositions being laid on the Colony by any Authority but that of their “General Assembly.” The Right of imposing internal Duties upon their Trade by Authority of Parliament was then disputed, though you fay it was never called into Question; and the Agents sent from Virginia upon this Occasion obtained a Declaration from Charles 2d the 19th of April 1676, under his Privy Seal, that Impositions or “Taxes ought not be laid upon the Inhabitants and Proprietors of the Colony but by the common Consent of the General Assembly, except such Impositions as the Parliament should lay on the Commodities imported into England from the Colony:” And he ordered a Charter to be made out, and to pass the Great Seal, for securing this Right, among others, to the Colony. But whether the Act of 25th Charles 2d, or any of the other Acts, have been complained of as Infringements of the Rights of the Colonies or not, is immaterial; for if a Man of superior Strength takes my Coat from me, that cannot give him a Right to my Cloak, nor am I obliged to submit to be deprived of all my Estate because I may have given up some Part of it without Complaint. Besides, I have proved irrefragably that the Colonies are not represented in Parliament, and consequently, upon your own Position, that no new Law can bind them that is made without the Concurrence of their Representatives; and if so, then every Act of Parliament that imposes internal Taxes upon the Colonies is an Act of Power, and not of Right. I must speak freely, I am considering a Question which affects the Rights of above two Millions of as loyal Subjects as belong to the British Crown, and must use Terms adequate to the Importance of it; I say that Power abstracted from Right cannot give a just Title to Dominion. If a Man invades my Property, he becomes an Aggressor, and puts himself into a State of War with me: I have a Right to oppose this Invader; If I have not Strength to repel him, I must submit, but he acquires no Right to my Estate which he has usurped. Whenever I recover Strength I may renew my Claim, and attempt to regain my Possession; if I am never strong enough, my Son, or his Son, may, when able, recover the natural Right of his Ancestor which has been unjustly taken from him. I hope I shall not be charged with Insolence, in delivering the Sentiments of an honest Mind with Freedom: I am speaking of the Rights of a People; Rights imply Equality in the Instances to which they belong, and must be treated without Respect to the Dignity of the Persons concerned in them. If ” the British Empire in Europe and in America is the fame Power,” if the ” Subjects in both are the fame People, and all equally participate in the Adversity and Prosperity of the Whole,” what Distinctions can the Difference of their Situations make, and why is this Distinction made between them? Why is the Trade of the Colonies more circumscribed than the Trade of Britain? And why are Impositions laid upon the one which are not laid upon the other? If the Parliament ” have a Right to impose Taxes of every Kind upon the Colonies,” they ought in Justice, as the fame People, to have the fame Sources to raise them from: Their Commerce ought to be equally free with the Commerce of Britain, otherwise it will be loading them with Burdens at the same Time that they are deprived of Strength to sustain them; it will be forcing them to make Bricks without Straw. I acknowledge the Parliament is the sovereign legislative Power of the British Nation, and that by a full Exertion of their Power they can deprive the Colonists of the Freedom and other Benefits of the British Constitution which have been secured to them by our Kings; they can abrogate all their civil Rights and Liberties; but by what Right is it that the Parliament can exercise such a Power over the Colonists, who have as natural a Right to the Liberties and Privileges of English men as if they were actually resident within the Kingdom? The Colonies are subordinate to the Authority of Parliament; subordinate I mean in Degree, but not absolutely so: For if by a Vote of the British, Senate the Colonists were to be delivered up to the Rule of a French or Turkish Tyranny, they may refuse Obedience to such a Vote, and may oppose the Execution of it by Force. Great is the Power of Parliament, but, great as it is, it cannot, constitutionally, deprive the People of their natural Rights; nor, in Virtue of the same Principle, can it deprive them of their civil Rights, which are founded in Compact, without their own Consent. There is, I confess, a considerable Difference between these two Cases as to the Right of Resistance: In the first, if the Colonists should be dismembered from the Nation by Act of Parliament, and abandoned to another Power, they have a natural Right to defend their Liberties by open Force, and may lawfully resist; and, if they are able, repel the Power to whose Authority they are abandoned. But in the other, if they are deprived of their civil Rights, if great and manifest Oppressions are imposed upon them by the State on which they are dependent, their Remedy is to lay their Complaints at the Foot of the Throne, and to suffer patiently rather than disturb the publick Peace, which nothing but a Denial of Justice can excuse them in breaking. But if this Justice should be denied, if the most humble and dutiful Representations should be rejected, nay not even deigned to be received, what is to be done? To such a Question Thucydides would make -the Corinthians reply, that if ” a decent and condescending Behavior is shown on the Part of the Colonies, it would be base in the Mother State to press “too far on such Moderation:” And he would make the Corcyreans answer, that ” every Colony, whilst used in a proper Manner, ought to pay Honour and Regard to its Mother State; but, when treated with Injury and Violence, is become an Alien. They “were not sent out to be the Slaves, but to be the Equals of those that remain behind.” But, according to your Scheme, the Colonies are to be prohibited from uniting in a Representation of their general Grievances to the common Sovereign. This Moment “the British Empire in Europe and in America “is the fame Power; its Subjects in both are the fame People; each is equally important to the other, and mutual Benefits, mutual Necessities, cement their Connexion.” The next Moment ” the Colonies are unconnected with each other, different in their Manners, opposite in their Principles, and clash in their Interests and in their Views, from Rivalry in Trade, and the Jealousy of Neighborhood. This “happy Division, which was effected by Accident, is to be continued throughout by Design; and all Bond of Union between them” is excluded from your vast System. Divide et Imperia is your Maxim in Colony Administration, left “an Alliance should be “formed dangerous to the Mother Country.” Ungenerous Insinuation! detestable Thought! abhorrent to every Native of the Colonies! who, by an Uniformity of Conduct, have ever demonstrated the deepest Loyalty to their King, as the Father of his People, and an unshaken Attachment to the Interest of Great Britain. But you must entertain a most despicable Opinion of the Understandings of the Colonists to imagine that they will allow Divisions to be fomented between them about inconsiderable Things, when the closest Union becomes necessary to maintain in a constitutional Way their dearest Interests. Another Writer, fond of his hew System of placing Great Britain as the Centre of Attraction to the Colonies, fays that “they must be guarded against having or forming any Principle of Coherence with each other above that whereby they cohere in the Centre; having no other Principle of Intercommunication between each other than that by which they are in “joint Communication with Great Britain, as the common Centre of all. At the fame Time that they are each, in their respective Parts and Subordinations, so framed as to be acted by this first Mover, they should always remain incapable of any Coherence, or of so conspiring amongst themselves as to create any other equal Force which might recoil- back on this first Mover; nor is it more necessary to preserve the several Governments subordinate within their respective Orbs than it is essential to the Preservation “of the Empire to keep them disconnected and independent of each other.” But how is this ” Principle of Coherence,” as this elegant Writer calls it, between the Colonies, to be prevented? The Colonies upon the Continent of North America lie united to each other in one Tract of Country, and are equally concerned to maintain their common Liberty. If he will attend then to the Laws of Attraction in natural as well as political Philosophy, he will find that Bodies in Contact, and cemented by mutual Interests, cohere more strongly than those which are at a Distance, and have no common Interests to preserve. But this natural Law is to be destroyed; and the Colonies, whose real Interests are the same, and therefore ought to be united in the closest Communication, are to be disjoined, and all intercommunication between them prevented. But how is this System of Administration to be established? Is it to be done by a military Force, quartered upon private Families? Is it to be done by extending the Jurisdiction of Courts of Admiralty, and thereby depriving the Colonists of legal Trials in the Courts of common Law? Or is it to be done by harassing the Colonists, and giving overbearing Tax gatherers an Opportunity of ruining Men, perhaps better Subjects than themselves, by dragging – them from one Colony to another, before Prerogative Judges, exercising a despotic Sway in Inquisitorial Courts? Oppression has produced very great and unexpected Events: The Helvetick Confederacy, the States of the United Netherlands, are Instances in the Annals of Europe of the glorious Actions a petty People, in Comparison, can perform when united in the Cause of Liberty. May the Colonies ever remain under a constitutional Subordination to Great Britain! It is their Interest to live under such a Subordination; and it is their Duty, by an Exertion of all their Strength -and Abilities, when called upon by their common Sovereign, to advance the Grandeur and the Glory of the Nation. May the Interests of Great Britain and her Colonies be ever united so as that whilst they are retained in a legal and just Dependence no unnatural or unlimited Rule may be exercised over them; but that they may enjoy the Freedom, and other Benefits of the British Constitution, to the latest Page in History! I flatter myself, by what has been said, your Position of a virtual Representation is sufficiently refuted; and that there is really no such Representation known in the British Constitution, and consequently that the Colonies are not subject to an internal Taxation by Authority of Parliament. I could extend this Inquiry to a much greater Length, by examining into the Policy of the late Acts of Parliament, which impose heavy and severe Taxes, Duties, and Prohibitions, upon the Colonies; I could point out some very disagreeable Consequences, respecting the Trade and Manufacturers of Britain, which must necessarily result from these Acts; I could prove that the Revenues arising from the Trade of the Colonies, and the Advantage of their Exports to Great Britain in the Balance of her Trade with foreign Nations, exceed infinitely all the Expense she has been at, all the Expense she can be at, in their Protection; and perhaps I could show that the Bounties given upon some Articles exported from the Colonies were not intended, primarily, as Instances of Attention to their Interest, but arose as well from the Consideration of the disadvantageous Dependence of Great Britain upon other Nations for the principal Articles of her naval Stores, as from her losing Trade for those Articles; I could demonstrate that these Bounties are by no Means adequate to her Savings in such foreign Trade, if the Articles upon which they are given can be procured from the Colonies in Quantities sufficient to answer her Consumption; and that the Excess of these Savings is so much clear Profit to the Nation, upon the Supposition that these Bounties are drawn from it; but, as they will remain in it, and be laid out in its Manufactures and Exports, that the whole Sum which used to be paid to Foreigners for the Purchase of these Articles will be saved to the Nation. I say I could extend my Inquiry, by examining these several Matters; but as the Subject is delicate, and would carry me to a great Length, I shall leave them to the Reader’s own Reflection. Source: https://www.newrivernotes.com/an-inquiry-into-the-rights-of-the-british-colonies/

Resolution of the House of Burgesses Designating a Day of Fasting and Prayer Tuesday, the 24th of may, 14 geo. iii. 1774. This House being deeply impressed with Apprehension of the great Dangers to be derived to British America, from the hostile Invasion of the City of Boston, in our Sister Colony of Massachusetts Bay, whose Commerce and Harbour are on the 1st Day of June next to be stopped by an armed Force, deem it highly necessary that the said first Day of June be set apart by the Members of this House as a Day of Fasting, Humiliation, and Prayer, devoutly to implore the divine Interposition for averting the heavy Calamity, which threatens Destruction to our civil Rights, and the Evils of civil War; to give us one Heart and one Mind firmly to oppose, by all just and proper Means, every Injury to American Rights, and that the Minds of his Majesty and his Parliament may be inspired from above with Wisdom, Moderation, and Justice, to remove from the loyal People of America all Cause of Danger from a continued Pursuit of Measures pregnant with their Ruin. Ordered, therefore, that the Members of this House do attend in their Places at the Hour of ten in the Forenoon, on the said 1st Day of June next, in Order to proceed with the Speaker and the Mace to the Church in this City for the Purposes aforesaid; and that the Reverend Mr. Price be appointed to read Prayers, and the Reverend Mr. Gwatkin to preach a Sermon suitable to the Occasion. Ordered, that this Order be forthwith printed and published. By the House of Burgesses. George wythe, c. h. b. Source: https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/01-01-02-0082

December 3, 1772 To the Right-Honourable the Earl of Dartmouth My Lord, When I view the original right, power and charter, confirm'd, sealed, and ratified to the province, or inhabitants of Rhode-Island, and its standing in full force, and unrepealed for more than an hundred years, which is as follows: "Be it enacted, that no freeman, shall be taken, or imprisoned, or deprived of his freehold, or liberty, or free custom, or be out-law'd, or exil'd, or otherwise destroy'd, nor shall be oppressed, judged or condemned, but by the law of this colony. And that no man of what state or condition soever, shall be put out of his lands or tenements, nor taken, nor imprisoned, nor disinherited, nor banished (observe this my Lord), nor any ways destroy'd, or molested, without being, for it, brought to answer, by a due course of law of this colony": Methinks, that even your Lordship, will not blame them if they stand fast in the liberty wherein they were made free. As a fly, or a worm, by the law of nature has as great a right to liberty, and freedom (according to their little sphere in life), as the most potent monarch upon the earth: And as there can be no other difference between your Lordship, and myself, but what is political, I therefore without any further apology, take leave to ask your Lordship, whether any one that fears God, loves his neighbour as himself (which is the true scripture-mark of a christian), will oppress his fellow-creatures? If they will, where are the beauties of Christianity? Not to be seen in this life, however they may be seen in the next. I have seen what is said to be an authenticated copy of your Lordship's letter to the governor of Rhode-Island, in which there are such dictations, directions, and possitive commands, to oppress, with tyranny, a free people, which is inconsistent with a good man, or a Christian to have any concern or agency therein. The law of God directs us to do unto others, as we would they should do unto us. And knowing that your Lordship is well acquainted with the divine oracles, having had the honour to dine at your Lordship's seat, in Staffordshire, and was, when in England, personally acquainted with Mr. Wright, your Lordship's steward, and with the good and pious character your Lordship bears, I therefore take this leave (as a fellow-christian, as one that loves, as the highest happiness of his existence, the beauties, spirit, and life of Christianity), to ask your Lordship, how your Lordship would like to have his birth-right, liberty and freedom, as an Englishman, taken away by his king, or by the ministry, or both? Would not your Lordship immediately say, it was tyranny, oppression and distruction, by a dispotic power? Would not your Lordship be ready to alarm the nation, and point out the state upon the brink of distruction? My Lord, Are not the liberties of the Americans as dear to them as those of Britons? Suppose your Lordship had broke the laws of his king, and country; would not your Lordship be willing to be try'd by a jury of your peers, according to the laws of the land? How would your Lordship like to be fetter'd with irons, and drag'd three thousand miles, in a hell upon earth? No! but in a hell upon water,* to take your trial? is not this contrary to the spirit of the law, and the rights of an Englishman? Yet thus you have given direction, as the king's agent or the agent of the ministry to destroy the rights and laws of the Americans. How your Lordship can answer for this agency of injustice before God, and man, will be very difficult: However, if great men, and good men, and Christians can dare to do such things as these (when in power), heaven grant that I may have an acquaintance with them in this world; or if they have any power in heaven, not in the world to come; for I think, my Lord, that such men, who will take away the rights of any people, are neither fit for heaven; nor earth, neither fit for the land or the dunghil. Your Lordship lets us know that the case of burning the Gaspee schooner has been laid before the law servants of the crown, and that they make the crime of a deeper die than piracy, namely, an act of high treason, and levying a war against the king. Well my Lord, and supposing this to be the case, are not the Rhode-Islanders subjects to the king of Great-Britain? Has not the king his attorney, his courts of judicatory to decide matters between the king and the subjects? Why then must there be new courts of admiralty erected to appoint and order the inhabitants to be confin'd, and drag'd away three thousand miles, from their families, laws, rights and liberties, to be tried by their enemies? Do you think my Lord, this is right in the sight of God and man? I think if the Rhode-Islanders suffer this infringement of their liberties, granted them by their charter, from the king of England, any place out of hell is good enough for them, for was there ever such cruelty, injustice and barbarity ever united against free people before, and my Lord Dartmouth to have an hand in it, from whom we might rather have expected mildness, mercy, and the rights of the people supported. Your Lordship's letter frequently reminds us that this destructive authority (to destroy the lives and liberties of the people), is his majesty's will and pleasure. How far his majesty may be influenc'd and dictated by his ministry I will not take upon me to say, but that it is his majesty's will and pleasure of his own mind and consent, I will not believe a word of it, for his majesty is a person of more tenderness and understanding, than to attempt such tyranny, besides, his attempt to destroy the rights of the people—destroys his right as king to reign over them, for according to his coronation oath, he has no longer a right to the British crown or throne, than he maintains inviolable firm the laws and rights of the people. For violating the people's rights, Charles Stewart, king of England, lost his head, and if another king, who is more solemnly bound than ever Charles Stewart, was, should tread in the same steps, what can he expect? I reverence and love my king, but I revere the rights of an Englishman before the authority of any king upon the earth. I distinguish greatly between a king and a tyrant, a king is the guardian and trustee of the rights and laws of the people, but a tyrant destroys them. Besides my Lord, the inhabitants of America know as well as the people of England, that the people are the right and foundation of power and authority, the original seat of majesty—the author of laws, and the creators of officers to execute them. And if at any time they shall find the power they have conferred abused by their trustees, their majesty violated by tyranny, or by usurpation, their authority prostituted to support violence, or skreen corruption, the laws grown pernicious through accidents unforeseen, or rendered ineffectual through the infidelity of the executors of them. Then it is their right, and what is their right is undoubtedly their priviledge and duty (as their essential power and majesty), to resume that delegated power and authority they intrusted them with, and call their trustees to an account; to resist the usurpation, and extirpate the tyranny; to restore their sullied majesty and their prostituted authority; to suspend, alter or abrogate those laws, and punish the unfaithful and corrupt officers. Nor is it the duty only of the united body, but every member of it ought, according to his respective rank, power and weight in the community, to concur in advancing those glorious designs . . . This is, my Lord, the happy constitution of England; the power, right and majesty of the people which has been frequently recognized and established. By which majesty, right and power, kings are made, and unmade by the choice of the people; and laws enacted, and annulled only by their own consent, in which none can be deprived of their property, abridged of their freedom, or forfeit their lives without an appeal to the laws, and the verdict of their peers or equals. My Lord, as this is according to the laws of England, the liberty, priviledge and power of his majesty's subjects in Great-Britain, why not then the priviledge of his majesty's subjects in America? has his majesty (as it all seems to be laid upon him) two kind of laws, one for England and the other for America? a power to reign as king and guardian of his people's rights at home, and a power to destroy the rights of the colonies abroad? I really don't understand it my Lord, if he has no right to do it, why do you say he does? This is using his majesty cruel. However somebody does it, your Lordship says it is his majesty with his privy counsel, the latter I rather think. However, be it who it will, whether the king, ministry, or Parliament, they have no more right to do it, than they have to cut your Lordship's throat. Has not your Lordship a right to oppose any power that may assault your Lordship's person, right or priviledge, without its being deemed rebellion against the king and state? Yes, sure you have! Then surely my Lord an American has the same right to oppose every usurping power (let it be from whom it will), that assaults his person, or deprives him of his own law or liberty as an American. Has he offended? yes! Is he willing to be tried by his own laws? yes! Then, that man, that king, that minister of state, be who he will, is worse than a Nero tyrant that shall assume to drag him three thousand miles to be tried by his enemies. Besides my Lord, what is rebellion? if I understand it right, they are persons rising up with an assumed authority and power to act, dictate and rule in direct violation to the laws of the land—I believe my Lord, I am right here, for this reason, your G-ne-al F——c, and your G———r T——n, when in North-Carolina, thought so, and like cruel blood-thirsty savages, murdered mankind for thinking that they had a right to oppose any power that attempted to destroy their liberties. This was my Lord a cruel barbarous slaughter of mankind. However, if it was deemed rebellion in them, and they were treated as rebels, because they (as the ministry said) broke the laws of the government of the province; then surely it follows, that the k—g's m——y, and P—t, must be rebels, to God, and mankind, in attempting to overthrow (by guns, by swords, and by the power of war), the laws, and government of Rhode-Island. Have not the Rhode-Islanders as much right to the privileges of their own laws, as the king of England has to his crown? sure they have! Then surely, that man must be a tyrant in his soul, that shall deem it rebellion in the Rhode-Islanders, supposing they should kill every man, that shall attempt to destroy their laws, rights and liberties. It is true my Lord, the Gaspee schooner is destroyed, and thereby the laws of England are violated (as you apprehend), by Indians out of the woods, or by Rhode-Islanders, I cannot say who; but it is a query with me my Lord, whether there is any law broke in burning the Gaspee schooner; if it was done by the Indians (which is the current report) then there is no law broke; for the scripture says, "where there is no Law, there is no transgression." And it is well known, that the Indians were never under any law to the English; did I say, they were never under any law to the English, heaven forgive me! I mean my Lord no other law than the sword and bayonet; the same law that some would fain bring the Americans under now. But suppose my Lord, that this deed was done by the Rhode-Islanders, the query is still with me—whether there is any transgression committed? the scripture says, where there is no Law, there is no transgression: Now, the question is, Do the Rhode-Islanders receive their laws from England? If so, there is a transgression committed against those laws, but if not, there is no transgression, says St. James. For my part, I cannot see how any man in America, can properly break the laws of England. The whole lies here, the laws of America only are broke, let the offender then be tried by the law he has broke, What can justice, I had almost said tyranny desire more: However my Lord, there is no other idea arises in my mind (and it is no wonder, for the Bostonians are very notional), which is, if there is any law broke, it is the king and the ministry who have broke it; for I would be glad to know my Lord, what right the king and ministry has to send an armed schooner to Rhode-Island, to take away the property of the people, any more than they have to send an armed schooner into Brest, and demand the property of France? Know this, that the king of England has no more right, according to the laws of God and nature, to claim the lands of America, than he has the lands of France—America, my Lord, in the native rights of the Americans, it is the blood-bought treasure of their forefathers; and they have the same essential right to their native laws, as they have to the air they breathe in, or to the light of the morning, when the sun rises; and therefore they who oppress the Americans must be as great enemies to the rights of the laws of nature, as they who would (if it were in their power) vail the light of the sun from the universe. Remember my Lord, the Americans have a priviledge to boast of above all the world. They never were in bondage to any man, and therefore it is more for them to give up their rights into the hands of the Turks; consider what English tyranny their forefathers fled from, what seas of distress they met with, what savages they fought with, what blood-bought treasures, as the dear inheritance of their lives, they have left to their children, and without any aid from the king of England; and yet after this, these free-born people must be counted rebels, if they will not loose every right of liberty, which their forefathers bought, with their blood, and submit again to English ministerial tyranny—O America! O America! My Lord, I hope I need not remind your Lordship of the enquiry that the divine Messiah made to Peter, when they required a tax, or tribute, from him. Of whom, says Christ, to Peter, do they gather tax, or tribute, of the children, or of strangers? And Peter said of strangers. Then, says Christ, the children are free. Now, the Gaspee schooner, my Lord, was a stranger; and they should, if it was in their commission, have gathered tax from strangers: But instead of which, they would have gathered it from the children. They forgot that the children were free: Therefore, my Lord, must it certainly be, that the Gaspee schooner has committed the transgression, & broke the laws, of the freedom of this country. No doubt, my Lord, but they have a right to tax the strangers, that come to dwell in their country; but to tax the children, which are free in their own native country, this will not do! Nature forbids it; the law of God condemns it. And no law, but that of tyranny, can desire it. And therefore it was, my Lord, that the children (who are by the law of God, and the law of nature free), looked upon the Gaspee-schooner as a stranger, as such they treated her; but when the stranger attempted to gather tax of the children who are free then they looked upon her, as a pirate, who took away their property without their consent, by violence, by arms, by guns, by oaths and damnations: This they thought looked so like piracy, that the children did not like it; and they thought their behavior as strangers, was very unpolite, that they could not so much as pass by these strangers, but the children must bow to them, and come to them; this, the children being free, did not like, and they thought it was best for the children, and the strangers, all to be free: And therefore, one night, my Lord, they went and set the strangers (who, by the way, were all prisoners), free—free upon the face of the whole earth; and then to preserve them free, they burnt their prison. Now, my Lord, would it not be hard to hang these poor men for it? However, If there is any law broke, it is this, that the Gaspee schooner, by the power of the English ministry and admiralty, have broke the laws, and taken away the rights of the Americans. And yet the Americans must be punish'd for it, contrary to their own laws. O! Amazing! I would be glad to know my Lord, what right the king of England has to America? it cannot be an hereditary right, that lies in Hanover, it cannot be a parliamentary right that lies in Britain, not a victorious right, for the king of England never conquered America. Then he can have no more right to America, than what the people have, by compact, invested him with, which is only a power to protect them, and defend their rights civil and religious; and to sign, seal, and confirm, as their steward, such laws as the people of America shall consent to. If this be the case, my Lord, then judge whether the king of England and the ministry are not the trangressors in this affair, in sending armed schooners to America, to steal by power and sword the people's property. And if any are to be try'd for law-breakers, it surely ought, in justice, to be them. But the people of America act my Lord very honest in the affair, they are willing to give and take, to give the English offenders the liberty to be try'd by their own laws, and to take the same liberty wherein they have offended to be tried by their own laws, as the king of England has to his crown, or that the natives of Britain has to the rights of an Englishman—consider then, my Lord, how cruel, how unjust, how unanswerable before God and man it must be, by any violence and power to destroy the rights of the Americans. My Lord, the close of your Lordship's letter, is such that it is enough to make the blood of every vein stand stagnated as a testimony against ministerial bloody power. It not only gives a right to every American to be angry, but to be incensed against your lordship, wherein you tell the governor of Rhode-Island, that it is his majesty's pleasure, that General Gage, hold the troops in readiness to assist this assumed court of admiralty, to destroy the rights of the people. What my Lord, is bloody Bonner's days so near America! O America! O America! What, the blood-power of the sword and death to aid civil magistrates to destroy the people's rights? Stop a little my Lord, give a little breathing time—for it is a solemn thing to die. I wonder your Lordship's knees did not smite together, when as the king's, or ministerial agent, you wrote this authority, how a good man, a christian, and one that fears God, can be an agent not only to destroy the rights of a people, but to oppress them; with the military power of blood and death, is enough to make the earth to reel, and all heaven to stand aghast! Be astonish'd O ye heavens at this! I hope, my Lord, you do not intend to renew that bloody, barbarous assassination in America which I saw the Scotch barbarian troops thro' the orders of Lord B——n and Lord W———h spread in St. George's fields, remember the blood of young Allen cries to heaven for vengeance in their face, and a louder voice than Abel's blood, which cry'd to heaven for vengeance, is still heard in Boston streets, against a bloody military power, and tho' the murderers escaped by a scene well known to some, but too dark to explain—yet the God of truth and justice stands at the door. Supposing my Lord, that the Rhode-Islanders, for the sake of blood bought liberties of their forefathers, for the sake of the birthrights of their children, should shew a spirit of resentment against a tyrannical arbitrary power that attempts to destroy their lives, liberties and property, would it not be unsufferable, cruel, for this (which the law of nature and nations teaches them to do) to be butchered, assassinated and slaughtered in their own streets by their king? Consider, my Lord, that we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, and that it would be a cold cordial for your Lordship, at the bar of God, to have thousands of Americans rise up in judgment against you. Yet I would rather this was the case, tho' I suffer'd death with them, than they should lose their essential rights as Americans. But it may be meet to let your Lordship know, that if the Americans unite (as there seems a good prospect of it) to stand as a band of brethren for their liberties, they have a right, by the law of God, of nature, and of nations, to reluct at, and even to resist any military and marine force, surely they must be intended in readiness for the French, and not for Americans, for can it ever enter into the heart of a mother to murder her children? of a king to kill his subjects? of an agent to destroy the rights of the colonies he represents? But suppose my Lord, that this should be the bloody intent of the ministry, to make the Americans subject to their slavery, then let blood for blood, life for life, and death for death decide the contention. This bloody scene can never be executed but at the expence of the destruction of England, and you will find, my Lord, that the Americans will not submit to be slaves, they know the use of the gun, and the military art, as well as any of his majesty's troops at St. James's, and where his majesty has one soldier, who art in general the refuse of the earth, America can produce fifty, free men, and all volunteers, and raise a more potent army of men in three weeks, than England can in three years. But God forbid that I should be thought to aim at rouzing the Americans to arms, without their rights, liberties and oppression call for it. For they are unwilling to beat to arms, they are loyal subjects; they love their king; they love their mother-country; they call it their home; and with nothing more than the prosperity of Britain, and the glory of their king: But they will not give up their rights; they will not be slaves to any power upon earth. Therefore, my Lord, as a peace-maker; as their agent; as their friend; lay their grievances before their king. Let the Americans enjoy their birthright blessings, and Britain her prosperity, let there be a mutual union between the mother and her children, in all the blessings of life, trade and happiness; then, my Lord, both Britons, and Americans, will call you blessed. Wishing, from my heart, the inviolable preservation of the rights and liberties of the Americans, and the growing happiness of England: I am, my Lord his Majesty's loyal subject, and your Lordship's dutiful servant, A British Bostonian