LONDON 1757-1775 by Benjamin Franklin _William Franklin to the Printer of the Citizen: A Defense of the Quakers and the Pennsylvania Assembly_ _Some Account of the late Disputes between the Assembly of_ Pensylvania, _and their present Governor_ William Denny, _Esq;_ In our _Magazine_, _Vol._ xxv. p. 87 _Vol._ xxvi. _p._ 28. we have given a very particular account of the disputes between the assembly of _Pensylvania_ and the late Governor _Morris_, which had exactly the same cause, and produced exactly the same effects, as the late dispute between this assembly and Mr _Denny_. The acting governor, who is only lieutenant governor, besides the royal instructions, receives instructions from the proprietaries. By these proprietary instructions the governor is required not to pass any bill for taxing their quit rents, their located unimproved lands, and their purchase money at interest, but the assembly have ever been determined to frame no money bill, in which these quit rents, lands, and money shall be exempted, for the following reasons. 1st, Because they conceive that neither the proprietaries nor any other power on earth, ought to interfere between them and their sovereign, either to modify or refuse their free gifts and grants for his majesty's service. 2d, Because though the governor may be under obligations to the proprietaries, yet he is under greater to the crown, and to the people he is appointed to govern, to promote the service of his majesty, and preserve the rights of his subjects, and protect them from their cruel enemies. 3d. Because a tax laid comformable to the proprietary instructions, could not possibly produce the necessary supply. By these instructions all the proprietors estate, except a trifle, and all located unimproved lands, to whomsoever belonging, are to be exempted. There remains then to be taxed, only the improved lands, houses, and personal estates of the people. Now it is well known, from the tax books, that there are not in the province more than 20,000 houses, including those of the towns with those on plantations. If these, with the improved lands annexed to them, and the personal estate of those that inhabit them, are worth, one with another, 250_l_. each, it may, we think, be reckoned their full value; then multiply 20,000 the number of houses, by 250_l_. the value of each estate, and the produce is 5,000,000_l_. for the full value of all our estates, real and personal, the unimproved lands excepted. Now three _per cent._ on five millions is but one hundred and fifty thousand pounds; and four shillings in the pound on one hundred and fifty thousand pounds, being but a fifth part, is no more than thirty thousand pounds; so that we ought to have near seventeen millions to produce, by such a tax, one hundred thousand pounds. 4th. Because the bill (*) which they have prepared, without the exceptions required in the proprietaries instructions, is exactly conformable to an act lately passed by a former governor, and allowed by the crown. (*) _In the bill which passed in_ March _last, the proprietary estate was not taxed, that matter being intended to be referred to the determination of superior authority in_ England. It is indeed matter of equal astonishment and concern, that in this time of danger and distress, when the utmost unanimity and dispatch is necessary to the preservation of life, liberty, and estate, a governor should be sent to our colonies with such instructions as must inevitably produce endless dispute and delay, and prevent the assembly from effectually opposing the _French_ upon any other condition, than the giving up their rights as _Englishmen_. The assembly, indeed, have been stigmatized as obstinate, fanatical, and disaffected; and reproached as the authors of every calamity under which they suffer. A paragraph in one of the public papers, which lately ecchoed the charge that has been long urged against them, has been answered by Mr _William Franklin_ of _Philadelphia_, who is now in _England_. We shall insert the paragraph and reply at large, as we cannot exhibit any other representation with equal authority. _To the Printer of the_ CITIZEN. _SIR,_ In your Paper of the 9th Instant, I observe the following Paragraph, viz. `The last Letters from Philadelphia bring Accounts of the Scalping the Inhabitants of the Back Provinces by the Indians: At the same Time the Disputes between the Governor and the Assembly are carried to as great a Height as ever, and the Messages sent from the Assembly to the Governor, and from the Governor to the Assembly, are expressed in Terms which give very little Hopes of a Reconciliation. The Bill to raise Money is clogged, so as to prevent the Governor from giving his Consent to it; and the Obstinacy of the Quakers in the Assembly is such, that they will in no Shape alter it: So that, while the Enemy is in the Heart of the Country, Cavils prevent any Thing being done for its Relief. -- Mr. Denny is the third Governor with whom the Assembly has had these Disputes within a few Years.' As this Paragraph, like many others heretofore published in the Papers, is not founded on Truth, but calculated to prejudice the Public against the Quakers and People of Pennsylvania, you are desired to do that injured Province some Justice, in publishing the following Remarks; which would have been sent you sooner, had the Paper come sooner to my Hands. 1. That the Scalping of the Frontier Inhabitants by the Indians is not peculiar to Pennsylvania, but common to all the Colonies, in Proportion as their Frontiers are more or less extended and exposed to the Enemy. That the Colony of Virginia, in which there are very few, if any Quakers, and none in the Assembly, has lost more Inhabitants and Territory by the War than Pennsylvannia. That even the Colony of New York, with all its own Forces, a great Body of New-England Troops encamp'd on its Frontier, and the regular Army under Lord Loudoun, posted in different Places, has not been able to secure its Inhabitants from Scalping by the Indians; who coming secretly in very small Parties skulking in the Woods, must sometimes have it in their Power to surprize and destroy Travellers, or single Families settled in scattered Plantations, notwithstanding all the Care that can possibly be taken by any Government for their Protection. Centinels posted round an Army, while standing on their Guard, with Arms in their Hands, are often kill'd and scalp'd by Indians. How much easier must it be for such an Enemy to destroy a Ploughman at Work in his Field? 2. That the Inhabitants of the Frontiers of Pennsylvania are not Quakers, were in the Beginning of the War supplied with Arms and Ammunition by the Assembly, and have frequently defended themselves, and repelled the Enemy, being withheld by no Principle from Fighting; and the Losses they have suffer'd were owing entirely to their Situation, and the loose scattered Manner in which they had settled their Plantations and Families in the Woods, remote from each other, in Confidence of lasting Peace. 3. That the Disputes between the late and present Governors, and the Assembly of Pennsylvania, were occasioned, and are continued, chiefly by _new_ Instructions from the Proprietors to those Governors, forbidding them to pass any Laws to raise Money for the Defence of the Country, unless the proprietary Estate, or much the greatest Part of it, was exempted from the Tax to be raised by Virtue of such Laws, and other Clauses inserted in them, by which the Privileges long enjoyed by the People, and which they think they have a Right to, not only as Pennsylvanians, but as Englishmen, were to be extorted from them, under their present Distresses. The Quakers, who, tho' the first Settlers, are now but a small Part of the People of Pennsylvania, were concerned in those Disputes only as Inhabitants of the Province, and not as Quakers; and all the other Inhabitants join in opposing those Instructions, and contending for their Rights, the Proprietary Officers and Dependants only excepted, with a few of such as they can influence. 4. That though some Quakers have Scruples against bearing Arms, they have when most numerous in the Assembly, granted large Sums for the King's Use (as they expressed it) which have been applied to the Defence of the Province; for Instance, in 1755, and 1756, they granted the Sum of 55,000l. to be raised by a Tax on Estates real and personal, and 30,000l. to be raised by Excise on Spirituous Liquors; besides near 10,000l. in Flour, &c. to General Braddock and for cutting his Roads, and 10,000l. to General Shirley in Provisions for the New England and New-York Forces, then on the Frontiers of New-York; at the same Time that the Contingent Expences of Government to be otherwise provided for, were greatly and necessarily enhanced. That however, to remove all Pretence for Reflection on their Sect, as obstructing military Measures in Time of War, a Number of them voluntarily quitted their Seats in Assembly, in 1756; others requested their Friends not to chuse them in the ensuing Election, nor did any of that Profession stand as Candidates, or request a Vote for themselves at that Election, many Quakers refusing even to vote at all, and others voting for such Men as would, and did, make a considerable Majority in the House, who were not Quakers; and yet four of the Quakers, who were nevertheless chosen, refused to serve, and Writs were issued for new Elections, when four others, not Quakers, were chosen in their Places; that of 36 Members, the Number of which the House consists, there are not at the most above 12 of that Denomination, and those such as are well known to be for supporting the Government in Defence of the Country, but are too few, if they were against such a Measure, to prevent it. 5. That the Bill to raise Money said in the above Article of News, to be so clogged as to prevent the Governor from giving his Assent, was drawn in the same Form, and with the same Freedom from all Clogs, as that for granting 60,000l. which had been passed by the Governor in 1755, and received the Royal Approbation; that the real Clogs or Obstructions to its passing were not in the Bill, but in the above-mentioned proprietary Instructions; that the Governor having long refused his Assent to the Bill, did in Excuse of his Conduct, on Lord Loudoun's Arrival at Philadelphia, in March last, lay his Reasons before his Lordship, who was pleased to communicate them to one of the Members of the House, and patiently to hear what that Member had to say in Answer, the Governor himself being present; and that his Lordship did finally declare himself fully satisfied with the Answers made to those Reasons, and to give it as his Opinion to the Governor, that he ought immediately to pass the Bill, any Instructions he might have to the contrary from the Proprietors notwithstanding, which the Governor accordingly complied with, passed the Bill on the 22d of March, and the Money, being 100,000l. for the Service of the current Year, has been ever since actually expending in the Defence of the Province; so that the whole Story of the Bill's not passing, the clogging of the Bill by the Assembly, and the Obstinacy of the Quakers preventing its Passage, is absolutely a malicious and notorious Falshood. 6. The Assertion of the News-Writers, `That while the Enemy is in the Heart of the Country, Cavils prevent any Thing being done for its Relief,' is so far from being true: That First, the Enemy is not, nor ever was, in the Heart of the Country, having only molested the Frontier Settlements by their Parties. Secondly, More is done for the Relief and Defence of the Country, without any Assistance from the Crown, than is done perhaps by any other Colony in America; there having been, soon after the War broke out, the following Forts erected at the Province Expence, in a Line to cover the Frontier, viz. Henshaw's Fort on Delaware, Fort Hamilton, Fort Norris, Fort Allen, Fort Franklin, Fort Lebanon, Fort William Henry, Fort Augustus, Fort Halifax, Fort Granville, Fort Shirley, Fort Littleton, and Shippensburg Fort, besides several smaller Stockades and Places of Defence, garrisoned by Troops in the Pay of the Province, under whose Protection the Inhabitants, who at first abandoned their Frontier Settlements, returned generally to their Habitations, and many yet continue, though not without some Danger, to cultivate their Lands: By these Pennsylvanian Troops, under Col. Armstrong, the greatest Blow was given to the Enemy last Year on the Ohio that they have received during the War: in burning and destroying the Indian Town of Kittanning, and killing their great Captain Jacobs, with many other Indians, and recovering a Number of Captives of their own and the neighbouring Provinces: Besides the Garrisons, in the Forts, 1100 Soldiers are maintained on the Frontiers in Pay, being armed and accoutred by the Province, as ranging Companies. And at Philadelphia, 15 Iron Cannon, 18 Pounders, were last Year purchased in England, and added to the 50 they had before, either mounted on their Batteries, or ready to be mounted, besides a Train of Artillery, being new Brass Field Pieces, 12 and 6 Pounders, with all their Appurtenances in extreme good Order, and a Magazine stored with Ammunition, a Quantity of large Bomb-shells, and above 2000 new Small Arms lately procured, exclusive of those in the Hands of the People. They have likewise this Summer fitted out a 20 Gun Province Ship of War, to scour the Coast of Privateers, and protect the Trade of that and the neighbouring Provinces, which is more than any other Colony to the Southward of New England has done. Pennsylvania also, by its Situation, covers the greatest Part of New Jersey, all the Government of the Delaware Countries, and great Part of Maryland, from the Invasions of the Indians, without receiving any Contribution from those Colonies, or the Mother-Country, towards the Expence. The above are Facts, consistent with the Knowledge of the Subscriber, who but lately left Philadelphia, is now in London, is not, nor ever was, a Quaker, nor writes this at the Request of any Quaker, but purely to do Justice to a Province and People, of late frequently abused in nameless Papers and Pamphlets published in England. And he hereby calls upon the Writer of that Article of News to produce the Letters out of which, he says, he has drawn those Calumnies and Falshoods, or to take the Shame to himself. WILLIAM FRANKLIN. Pensylvania Coffee-house London, Sept. 16, 1757. _The London Chronicle_, September 20, 1757 _Gentleman's Magazine_, September, 1757 _A Letter from Father Abraham, to His Beloved Son_ _Dear_ Isaac, You frequently desire me to give you some _Advice_, in Writing. There is, perhaps, no other valuable Thing in the World, of which so great a Quantity is _given_, and so little _taken_. Men do not generally err in their Conduct so much through Ignorance of their Duty, as thro Inattention to their own Faults, or thro strong Passions and bad Habits; and, therefore, till that Inattention is cured, or those Passions reduced under the Government of Reason, _Advice_ is rather resented as a Reproach, than gratefully acknowledged and followed. Supposing then, that from the many good Sermons you have heard, good Books read, and good Admonitions received from your Parents and others, your Conscience is by this Time pretty well informed, and capable of advising you,if you attentively listen to it, I shall not fill this Letter with Lessons or Precepts of Morality and Religion; but rather recommend to you, that in order to obtain a _clear_ Sight and _constant_ Sense of your Errors, you would set apart a Portion of every Day for the Purpose of _Self-Examination_, and trying your daily Actions by that Rule of Rectitude implanted by GOD in your Breast. The properest Time for this, is when you are retiring to Rest; then carefully review the Transactions of the past Day; and consider how far they have agreed with _what you know_ of your Duty to God and to Man, in the several Relations you stand in of a Subject to the Government, Servant to your Master, a Son, a Neighbour, a Friend, _&c._ When, by this Means, you have discovered the Faults of the Day, acknowledge them to God, and humbly beg of him notonly Pardon for what is past, but Strength to fulfil your solemn Resolutions of guarding against them for the Future. Observing this Course steadily for some Time, you will find (through God's Grace assisting) that your Faults are continually diminishing, and your Stock of Virtue encreasing; in Consequence of which you will grow in Favour both with GOD and Man. I repeat it, that for the Acquirement of solid, uniform, steady Virtue, nothing contributes more, than a daily strict SELF-EXAMINATION, by the Lights of Reason, Conscience, and the Word of GOD; joined with firm Resolutions of amending what you find amiss, and fervent Prayer for Grace and Strength to execute those Resolutions. -- This Method is very antient. 'Twas recommended by _Pythagoras_, in his truly _Golden Verses_, and practised since in every Age, with Success, by Men of all Religions. Those golden Verses, as translated by _Rowe_, are well worth your Reading, and even getting by Heart. The Part relating to this Matter I have transcribed, to give you a Taste of them, _viz_. Let not the stealing God of Sleep surprize, Nor creep in Slumbers on thy weary Eyes, Ere ev'ry Action of the former Day, _Strictly_ thou dost, and _righteously_ survey. With Rev'rence at thy own Tribunal stand, And answer justly to thy own Demand. Where have I been? In what have I transgrest? What Good or Ill has this Day's Life exprest? Where have I fail'd in what I ought to do? In what to GOD, to Man, or to myself I owe? Inquire severe whate'er from first to last, From Morning's Dawn till Ev'nings Gloom has past. If Evil were thy Deeds, repenting mourn, And let thy Soul with strong Remorse be torn: If Good, the Good with Peace of Mind repay, And to thy secret Self with Pleasure say, Rejoice, my Heart, for all went well to Day. And that no Passage to your Improvement in Virtue may be kept secret, it is not sufficient that you make Use of _Self-Examination_ alone; therefore I have also added a _golden Extract_ from _a favourite_ OLD BOOK, to instruct you in the prudent and deliberate Choice of some disinterested Friend,to remind you of such Misconduct as must necessarily escape your severest Inquiry: Which is as follows; Every prudent Man ought to be jealous and fearful of himself, lest he run away too hastily with a Likelihood instead of Truth; and abound too much in his own Understanding. All Conditions are equal, that is, Men may be contented in every Condition: For Security is equal to Splendor; Health to Pleasure, _&c_. Every Condition of Life has its Enemies, for _Deus posuit duo & duo, unum contra unum_. A rich Man hath Enemies sometimes for no other Reason than because he is rich; the poor Man hath as poor Neighbours, or rich Ones that gape after that small Profit which he enjoys. The Poor very often subsist merely by Knavery and Rapine among each other. Beware, therefore, how you offend any Man, for he that is displeased at your Words or Actions, commonly joins against you, without putting the _best_ Construction on (or endeavouring to find out a reasonable Excuse for) them. And be sure you _hate_ no Man, though you think him a worthless or unjust Person. Never _envy_ any one above you: You have Enemies enough by the common Course of Human Nature; be cautious not to encrease the Number; and rather procure as many Friends as you can, to countenance and strengthen you. Every Man has also an Enemy within himself. Every Man is choleric and covetous, or gentle and generous by Nature. Man is naturally a beneficent Creature: But there are many external Objects and Accidents, met with as we go through Life, which _seem_ to make great Alterations in our natural Dispositions and Desires. A Man naturally passionate and greedy, may, to all Appearance, become complaisant and hospitable, merely by Force of Instruction and Discipline; and so the Contrary. 'Tis in vain for a passionate Man to say, _I am pardonable_ because _it is natural to me_, when we can perhaps point out to him an Example in his next Neighbour, who was _once_ affected in the very same Manner, and could say as much to defend himself, who is now exceedingly _different_ in his Behaviour, and quite free from those unhappy Affections which disturbed his Repose so often, not long ago, and become a chearful, facetious, and profitable Companion to his Friends, and a Pattern of Humility to all around him. Nothing was ever well done or said _in a Passion_. One Man's Infirmities and bad Inclinations may be harder to conquer than another Man's, according to the various and _secret_ Circumstances that attend them; but they are capable of being conquered, or very much improved for the better, except they have been suffered to _take Root in_ OLD _Age_; in this Case it is most convenient to let them _have their_ OWN _Way,_ as the Phrase is. The strongest of our natural Passions are seldom perceived by us; a choleric Man does not always discover when he is angry, nor an envious Man when he is invidious; at most they think they commit no great Faults. Therefore it is necessary that you should have a MONITOR. Most Men are very indifferent Judges of themselves, and often think they do well when they sin; and imagine they commit only small Errors, when they are guilty of Crimes. It is in Human Life as in the Arts and Sciences; their plainest Doctrines are easily comprehended, but the finest Points cannot be discovered without the closest Attention; of these Parts only the wise and skilful in the Art or Science, can be deemed competent Judges. Many Vices and Follies resemble their opposite Virtues and Prudence; they border upon, and seem to mix with each other; and therefore the exact Line of Division betwixt them is hard to ascertain. Pride resembles a generous Spirit; Superstition and Enthusiasm frequently resemble true Religion; a laudable worthy Ambition resembles an unworthy Self-Sufficiency; Government resembles Tyranny; Liberty resembles Licentiousness; Subjection resembles Slavery; Covetousness resembles Frugality; Prodigality resembles Generosity; and so of the Rest. Prudence chiefly consists in that Excellence of Judgment, which is capable of discerning the MEDIUM; or of acting so as not to intermingle the one with the other; and in being able to assign to every Cause its _proper_ Actions and Effects. It is therefore necessary for every Person who desires to be a wise Man, to _take particular Notice of HIS OWN _Actions_, and of HIS OWN _Thoughts and Intentions_ which are the Original of his Actions; with great Care and Circumspection; otherwise he can never arrive to that Degree of Perfection which constitutes the amiable Character he aspires after. And, lest all this Diligence should be insufficient, as Partiality to himself will certainly render it, it is very requisite for him to _chuse a_ FRIEND, or MONITOR, who must be allowed the greatest Freedom to advertise and remind him of his Failings, and to point out Remedies. Such a One, I mean, as is a discreet and virtuous Person; but especially One that does not creep after the Acquaintance of, or play the Spaniel to, _great_ Men; One who does not covet Employments which are known to be scandalous for Opportunities of Injustice: One who can bridle his Tongue and curb his Wit; One that can converse with himself, and industriously attends upon his Affairs whatever they be. Find out such a _Man_; insinuate yourself into a Confidence with him; and desire him to observe your Conversation and Behaviour; intreat him to admonish you of what he thinks amiss, in a serious and friendly Manner; importune his Modesty till he condescends to grant your Request. -- Do not imagine that you live one Day without Faults, or that those Faults are undiscovered. Most Men see that in another, which they can not or will not see in themselves: And he is happiest, who through the whole Course of his Life, can attain to a reasonable Freedom from Sin and Folly, even by the Help of _Old Age_, that great Mortifier and Extinguisher of our Lusts and Passions. If such a Monitor informs you of any Misconduct, whether you know his Interpretations to be true or false, take it not only _patiently_, but _thankfully_; and be careful to reform. Thus you get and keep a Friend, break the inordinate mischievous Affection you bore towards your Frailities, and advance yourself in Wisdom and Virtue. When you consider that you must give an Account of your Actions to your vigilant Reprover; that other Men see the same Imperfections in you as he does; and that it is impossible for a good Man to enjoy the Advantages of Friendship, except he first puts off those Qualities which render him subject to Flattery, that is, except he first cease to flatter himself. A good, a generous _Christian_ Minister, or worthy sensible Parents, may be suitable Persons for a difficult Office; difficult, though it should be performed by _familiar_ Conversation. And how much more meritorious of Entertainment are People of such a Character, than those who come to your Table to _make Faces_, talk Nonsense, devour your Substance, censure their Neighbours, flatter and deride you? Remember that if a Friend tells you of a Fault, always imagine that he does not tell you the whole, which is commonly the Truth; for he desires your Reformation, but is loth to offend you. And _nunquam sine querela aegra tanguntur_. I know, dear Son, _Ambition_ fills your Mind, And in Life's Voyage, is th' impelling Wind; But, at the Helm, let sober Reason stand, To steer the Bark with Heav'n directed Hand: So shall you safe _Ambition_'s Gales receive, And ride securely, though the Billows heave; So shall you shun the giddy Hero's Fate, And by her Influence be both good and great. She bids you first, in Life's soft vernal Hours, With active Industry wake Nature's Pow'rs; With rising Years still rising Arts display, With new-born Graces mark each new-born Day. 'Tis now the Time _young Passion_ to command, While yet the pliant Stem obeys the Hand; Guide now the Courser with a steady Rein, E'er yet he bounds o'er Pleasure's flowry Plain; In Passion's Strife no Medium you can have; You rule, a Master; or submit, a Slave. To conclude. -- You are just entering into the World: Beware of the _first Acts_ of Dishonesty: They present themselves to the Mind under _specious Disguises_, and _plausible Reasons_ of Right and Equity: But being admitted, they open the Way for admitting others, that are _but a little_ more dishonest, which are followed by others _a little_ more knavish than they, till by Degrees, however slow, a Man becomes an _habitual_ Sharper, and at length a _consummate Rascal_ and Villain. Then farewel all Peace of Mind, and inward Satisfaction; all Esteem, Confidence, and Reputation among Mankind. And indeed if _outward_ Reputation could be preserved, what Pleasure can it afford to a Man that must _inwardly_ despise himself, whose own Baseness will, in Spite of his Endeavours to forget it, be ever presenting itself to his View. If you have a _Sir-Reverence_ in your Breeches, what signifies it if you _appear_ to Others neat and clean and genteel, when you _know_ and _feel_ yourself to be b ------ t. I make no Apology for the Comparison, however coarse, since none can be too much so for a defiled and foul Conscience. But never flatter yourself with _Concealment_; 'tis impossible to last long. One Man may be too cunning for another Man, but not for _all Men_: Some Body or other will smell you out, or some Accident will discover you; or who can be sure that he shall never be heard to talk in his Sleep, or be delirious in a Fever, when the working Mind usually throws out Hints of what has inwardly affected it? Of this there have been many Instances; some of which are within the Compass of your own Knowledge. Whether you chuse to act in a public or a private Station, if you would maintain the personal Character of a Man of Sincerity, Integrity and Virtue, there is a Necessity of becoming _really good_, if you would _do good_: For the thin Disguises of _pretended_ private Virtue and Public Spirit, are easily seen through; the Hypocrite detected and exposed. For this Reason then, _My dear_ ISAAC, as well as for many others, be sincere, candid, honest, well-meaning, and upright, in all you do and say; be _really_ good, if you would _appear_ so: Your Life then shall give Strength to your _Counsels_; and though you should be found out an indifferent _Speaker_ or _Writer_, you shall not be without Praise for the Benevolence of your Intention. But, again, suppose it possible for a Knave to preserve a fair Character among Men, and even to approve his own Actions, what is that to the Certainty of his being discovered and detested by the all-seeing Eye of _that righteous_ BEING, who made and governs the World, whose just Hand never fails to do right and to punish Iniquity, and whose Approbation, Favour, and Friendship, is worth the Universe? Heartily wishing you every Accomplishment that can make a Man amiable and valuable, to HIS Protection I commit you, being, with sincere Affection, _dear Son_, Your very loving Father, _Abraham_. _The New-England Magazine_, August, 1758 _A New Englandman to the Printer of the London Chronicle: A Defense of the Americans_ _To the Printer of the_ CHRONICLE. SIR, While the public attention is so much turned towards _America_, every letter from thence that promises new information, is pretty generally read; it seems therefore the more necessary that care should be taken to disabuse the Public, when those letters contain facts false in themselves, and representations injurious to bodies of people, or even to private persons. In your paper, No. 310. I find an extract of a letter, said to be from a gentleman in General _Abercrombie_'s army. As there are several strokes in it tending to render the colonies despicable, and even odious to the mother country, which may have ill consequences; and no notice having been taken of the injuries contained in that letter, other letters of the same nature have since been published, permit me to make a few observations on it. The writer says, `_New England_ was settled by Presbyterians and Independents, who took shelter there from the persecutions of Archbishop _Laud_; -- _they still retain their original character, they generally hate the Church of England_,' says he. If it were true, that some resentment still remained for the hardships their fathers suffer'd, it might perhaps be not much wondered at; but the fact is, that the moderation of the present church of _England_ towards Dissenters in _Old_ as well as _New England_, has quite effaced those impressions; the Dissenters too are become less rigid and scrupulous, and the good-will between those different bodies in that country is now both mutual and equal. He goes on: _`They came out with a levelling spirit, and they retain it. They cannot bear to think that one man should be exorbitantly rich and another poor, so that, except in the seaport towns, there are few great estates among them. This equality produces also a rusticity of manners; for in their language, dress, and in all their behaviour, they are more boorish than any thing you ever saw in a certain Northern latitude.'_ One would imagine from this account, that those who were growing poor, plundered those who were growing rich to preserve this equality, and that property had no protection; whereas in fact, it is no where more secure than in the _New England_ colonies, the law is no where better executed, or justice obtain'd at less expence. The equality he speaks of, arises first from a more equal distribution of lands by the assemblies in the first settlement than has been practised in the other colonies, where favourites of governors have obtained enormous tracts for trifling considerations, to the prejudice both of the crown revenues and the public good; and secondly, from the nature of their occupation; husbandmen with small tracts of land, though they may by industry maintain themselves and families in mediocrity, having few means of acquiring great wealth, especially in a young colony that is to be supplied with its cloathing, and many other expensive articles of consumption from the mother country. Their dress the gentleman may be a more critical judge of than I can pretend to be; all I know of it is, that they wear the manufactures of Britain, and follow its fashions perhaps too closely, every remarkable change in the mode making its appearance there within a few months after its invention here; a natural effect of their constant intercourse with _England_, by ships arriving almost every week from the capital, their respect for the mother country, and admiration of every thing that is _British_. But as to their language, I must beg this gentleman's pardon if I differ from him. His ear, accustomed perhaps to the dialect practised in the _certain northern latitude_ he mentions, may not be qualified to judge so nicely in what relates to _pure English_. And I appeal to all Englishmen here, who have been acquainted with the Colonists, whether it is not a common remark, that they speak the language with such an exactness both of expression and accent, that though you may know the natives of several of the counties of _England_, by peculiarities in their dialect, you cannot by that means distinguish a _North American_. All the new books and pamphlets worth reading, that are published here, in a few weeks are transmitted and found there, where there is not a man or woman born in the country but what can read: and it must, I should think, be a pleasing reflection to those who write either for the benefit of the present age or of posterity, to find their audience increasing with the increase of our colonies; and their language extending itself beyond the narrow bounds of these islands to a continent, larger than all _Europe_, and to a future empire as fully peopled, which _Britain_ may probably one day possess in those vast western regions. But the Gentleman makes more injurious comparisons than these: `_That latitude_, he says, has this advantage over them, that it has produced sharp, acute men, fit for war or learning, whereas the other are remarkably simple or silly, and blunder eternally. We have 6000 of their militia, which the General would willingly exchange for 2000 regulars. They are for ever marring some one or other of our plans when sent to execute them. They can, indeed, some of them at least, range in the woods; but 300 Indians with their yell, throw 3000 of them into a panick, and then they will leave nothing to the enemy to do, for they will shoot one another; and in the woods our regulars are afraid to be on a command with them _on that very account._' I doubt, Mr. Chronicle, that this paragraph, when it comes to be read in _America_, will have no good effect, and rather increase that inconvenient disgust that is too apt to arise between the troops of different corps, or countries, who are obliged to serve together. Will not a _New England Officer_ be apt to retort and say, What foundation have you for this odious distinction in favour of the officers from your _certain northern latitude_? They may, as you say, be _fit for learning_, but, surely, the return of your first General, with a well-appointed and sufficient force from his expedition against _Louisbourg_, is not the most shining proof of his _talents for war_. And no one will say his plan was _marred by us_, for we were not with him. -- Was his successor, who conducted the blundering attack and inglorious retreat from _Ticonderoga_, a New England man, or one of _that certain latitude_? -- Then as to the comparison between _Regulars_ and _Provincials_, will not the latter remark, That it was 2000 New England _Provincials_, with but about 150 _Regulars_, that took the strong fort of _Beausejour_ in the beginning of the war, though in the accounts transmitted to the English Gazette, the honour was claimed by the regulars, and little or no notice taken of the others. -- That it was the _Provincials_ who beat General _Dieskau_, with his _Regulars_, _Canadians_, and _`yelling' Indians_, and sent him prisoner to _England_. -- That it was a _Provincial-born_ Officer (* 1), with _American_ battoemen, that beat the _French_ and _Indians_ on _Oswego_ river. -- That it was the same Officer, _with Provincials_, who made that long and admirable march into the enemies country, took and destroyed Fort _Frontenac_, with the whole French fleet on the lakes, and struck terror into the heart of _Canada_. That it was a _Provincial_ Officer (* 2), _with Provincials_ only, who made another extraordinary march into the enemy's country, surprised and destroyed the _Indian_ town of _Kittanning_, bringing off the scalps of their chiefs. That one ranging Captain of a few _Provincials_, _Rogers_, has harrassed the enemy _more_ on the frontiers of _Canada_, and destroyed _more_ of their men, than the _whole_ army of _Regulars_. -- That it was the _Regulars_ who surrendered themselves, with the Provincials under their command, prisoners of war, almost as soon as they were besieged, with the forts, fleet, and all the provisions and stores that had been provided and amassed at so immense an expence, at _Oswego_. That it was the _Regulars_ who surrendered Fort _William Henry_, and suffered themselves to be butchered and scalped with arms in their hands. That it was the _Regulars_, under _Braddock_, who were thrown into a panick by the `_yells_ of 3 or 400 Indians,' in their confusion shot one another, and, with five times the force of the enemy, fled before them, destroying all their own stores, ammunition, and provisions! -- These _Regular Gentlemen_, will the _Provincial rangers_ add, may possibly be _afraid_, as they say they are, _to be on a command with us_ in the woods; but when it is considered, that from all past experience the chance of our shooting them is not as one to an hundred, compared with that of their being shot by the enemy, may it not be suspected, that what they give as the _very account_ of their fear and unwillingness to venture out with us, is only the _very excuse_; and that a concern for their scalps weighs more with them than a regard for their honour. Such as these, Sir, I imagine may be the reflections _extorted_ by such provocations from the Provincials in general. But the _New England Men_ in particular will have reason to resent the remarks on their reduction of _Louisbourg_. Your writer proceeds, `Indeed they are all very ready to make their boast of taking _Louisbourg_, in 1745; but if people were to be acquitted or condemned according to the propriety and wisdom of their plans, and not according to their success, the persons that undertook that siege merited little praise: for I have heard officers, who assisted at it, say, never was any thing more rash; for had one single part of their plan failed, or had the French made the fortieth part of the resistance then that they have made now, every soul of the New Englanders must have fallen in the trenches. The garrison was weak, sickly, destitute of provisions, and disgusted, and therefore became a ready prey; and, when they returned to France were decimated for their gallant defence. Where then is the glory arising from thence?' -- After denying his facts, `that the garrison was weak, wanted provisions, made not a fortieth part of the resistance, were decimated,' &c. the _New England_ men will ask this regular gentleman, If the place was well fortified, and had (as it really had) a numerous garrison, was it not at least _brave_ to attack it with a handful of raw undisciplined militia? If the garrison was, as you say, `sickly, disgusted, destitute of provisions, and ready to become a prey,' was it not _prudent_ to seize that opportunity, and put the nation in possession of so important a fortress at so small an expence? So that if you will not allow the enterprize to be, as we think it was, both _brave_ and _prudent_, ought you not at least to grant it was _either one_ or _the other_? But is there no merit on this score in the people, who, tho' at first so greatly divided, as to the making or forbearing the attempt, that it was carried in the affirmative, by the small majority of _one_ vote only; yet when it was once resolved on, _unanimously_ prosecuted the design (* 3), and prepared the means with the greatest zeal and diligence; so that the whole equipment was completely ready before the season would permit the execution? Is there no merit of praise in laying and executing their plan so well, that, as you have confessed, not a _single part_ of it failed? If the plan was destitute of `propriety and wisdom,' would it not have required the _sharp acute_ men of the _northern latitude_ to execute it, that by supplying its deficiencies they might give it some chance of success? But if such `remarkably silly, simple, blundering _Mar-plans_,' as you say we are, could execute _this plan_, so that not a _single part_ of it failed, does it not at least show that the plan itself must be laid with _some_ `wisdom and propriety?' -- Is there no merit in the ardour with which all degrees and ranks of people quitted their private affairs, and ranged themselves under the banners of their King, for the honour, safety, and advantage of their country (* 4)? Is there no merit in the profound secrecy guarded by a whole people, so that the enemy had not the least intelligence of the design, till they saw the fleet of transports cover the sea before their port? -- Is there none in the indefatigable labour the troops went thro' during the siege, performing the duty both of men and horses; the hardships they patiently suffered for want of tents and other necessaries; the readiness with which they learnt to move, direct, and manage cannon, raise batteries, and form approaches (* 5); the bravery with which they sustained sallies; and finally in their consenting to stay and garrison the place after it was taken, absent from their business and families, till troops could be brought from England for that purpose, tho' they undertook the service on a promise of being discharged as soon as it was over, were unprovided for so long an absence, and actually suffered ten times more loss by mortal sickness, thro' want of necessaries, than they suffered from the arms of the enemy? The nation, however, had a sense of this undertaking different from the unkind one of this gentleman. At the treaty of peace, the possession of _Louisbourg_ was found of great advantage to our affairs in _Europe_; and if the brave men that made the acquisition for us were not _rewarded_, at least they were _praised. Envy_ may continue a while to cavil and detract, but _public virtue_ will in the end obtain esteem; and honest impartiality in this and future ages will not fail doing justice to merit. Your _gentleman writer_ thus _decently_ goes on. `The most substantial men of most of the provinces are children or grandchildren of those that came here at the King's expence, that is, thieves, highwaymen, and robbers.' Being probably a military gentleman, this, and therefore a person of nice honour, if any one should tell him in the _plainest_ language, that what he here says is an absolute falsehood, challenges and cutting of throats might immediately ensue. I shall therefore only refer him to _his own account in this same letter_, of the _peopling_ of _New England_, which he says, with more truth, was by _Puritans_ who fled thither for shelter from the persecutions of Archbishop _Laud_. Is there not a wide difference between removing to a distant country to enjoy the exercise of religion according to a man's conscience, and his being transported thither by law as a punishment for his crimes? This contradiction we therefore leave the _gentleman_ and _himself_ to settle as well as they can between them. One would think from his account, that the provinces were so many colonies from _Newgate_. The truth is, not only _Laud_'s persecution, but the other publick troubles in the following reigns, induc'd many thousand families to leave _England_, and settle in the plantations. During the predominance of the parliament, many royalists removed or were banished to _Virginia_ and _Barbadoes_, who afterwards spread into the other settlements: The Catholics shelter'd themselves in _Maryland_. At the restoration, many of the depriv'd nonconformist ministers with their families, friends and hearers, went over. Towards the end of _Charles_ the Second's reign and during _James_ the Second's, the dissenters again flocked into _America_, driven by persecution, and dreading the introduction of popery at home. Then the high price or reward of labour in the colonies, and want of Artisans there, drew over many, as well as the occasion of commerce; and when once people begin to migrate, every one has his little sphere of acquaintance and connections, which he draws after him, by invitation, motives of interest, praising his new settlement, and other encouragements. The `most substantial men' are descendants of those early settlers; new comers not having yet had time to raise estates. The practice of sending convicts thither, is modern; and the same indolence of temper and habits of idleness that make people poor and tempt them to steal in _England_, continue with them when they are sent to _America_, and must there have the same effects, where all who live well owe their subsistence to labour and business, and where it is a thousand times more difficult than here to acquire wealth without industry. Hence the instances of transported thieves advancing their fortunes in the colonies are extreamly rare, if there _really is_ a single instance of it, which I very much doubt; but of their being advanc'd there to the gallows the instances are plenty. Might they not as well have been hang'd at home? -- We call _Britain_ the _mother_ country; but what good mother besides, would introduce thieves and criminals into the company of her children, to corrupt and disgrace them? -- And how cruel is it, to force, by the high hand of power, a particular country of your subjects, who have not deserv'd such usage, to receive your outcasts, repealing all the laws they make to prevent their admission, and then reproach them with the detested mixture you have made. `The emptying their jails into our settlements (says a writer of that country) is an insult and contempt, the cruellest perhaps that ever one people offered another; and would not be equal'd even by emptying their jakes on our tables.' The letter I have been considering, Mr. _Chronicle_, is follow'd by another, in your paper of Tuesday the 17th past, said to be _from an officer who attended Brigadier General_ Forbes _in his march from_ Philadelphia _to_ Fort Duquesne; but wrote probably by the same gentleman who wrote the former, as it seems calculated to raise the character of the officers of the _certain northern latitude_, at the expence of the reputation of the colonies, and the provincial forces. According to this letter-writer, if the _Pensilvanians_ granted large supplies, and raised a great body of troops for the last campaign, it was not obedience to his Majesty's commands, signified by his minister Mr. _Pitt_, zeal for the King's service, or even a regard for their own safety; but it was owing to the `General's proper management of the Quakers and other parties in the province.' The withdrawing of the Indians from the French interest by negotiating a peace, is all ascribed to the General, and not a word said to the honour of the poor _Quakers_ who first set those negotiations on foot, or of honest _Frederic Post_ that compleated them with so much ability and success. Even the little merit of the Assembly's making a law to regulate carriages, is imputed to the General's `multitude of letters.' Then he tells us, `innumerable scouting parties had been sent out during a long period, both by the General and Colonel _Bouquet_, towards Fort _Duquesne_, to catch a prisoner, if possible, for intelligence, but never got any.' -- How happened that? -- Why, `It was the _Provincial troops_ that were constantly employed in that service,' and they, it seems, never do any thing they are ordered to do. -- _That_, however, one would think, might be easily remedied, by sending _Regulars_ with them, who of course must command them, and may see that they do their duty. _No; The Regulars are afraid of being shot by the Provincials in a Panick_. -- Then send all Regulars. -- _Aye; That was what the Colonel_ resolved _upon_. -- `Intelligence was now wanted. (says the letter-writer) Col. _Bouquet_, whose attention to business was [only] very considerable [that is, _not quite so great_ as the General's, for he was not of the _northern latitude_] was _determined_ to send NO MORE Provincials a scouting.' -- And how did he execute this determination? Why, by sending `Major _Grant_ of the Highlanders, with _seven_ hundred men, _three_ hundred of them Highlanders, THE REST _Americans_, _Virginians_, and _Pensilvanians_!' No _blunder_ this, in our writer; but a _misfortune_; and he is nevertheless one of those _`acute sharp'_ men who are _`fit for learning!'_ -- And how did this Major and seven hundred men succeed in catching the prisoner? -- Why, their `march to Fort Duquesne was _so conducted_ that the _surprize_ was _compleat_.' -- Perhaps you may imagine, gentle reader, that this was a surprize of the enemy. -- No such matter. They knew every step of his motions, and had, every man of them, left their fires and huts in the fields, and retired into the fort. -- But the Major and his 700 men, _they_ were _surprized_; first to find no body there at night; and next to find themselves surrounded and cut to pieces in the morning; two or three hundred being killed, drowned, or taken prisoners, and among the latter the Major himself. Those who escaped were also _surprized_ at their own good fortune; and the whole army was _surprized_ at the Major's bad management. Thus the _surprize_ was indeed _compleat_; -- but not the disgrace; for _Provincials were there_ to lay the blame on. The _misfortune_ (we must not call it _misconduct_) of the Major was owing, it seems, to an un-named and perhaps unknown _Provincial_ officer, who, it is said, `disobeyed his orders and quitted his post.' Whence a formal conclusion is drawn, `That a Planter is not to be taken from the plow and made an officer in a day.' -- Unhappy _Provincials_! If _success_ attends where you are joined with the Regulars, they claim all the honour, tho' not a tenth part of your number. If _disgrace_, it is all yours, though you happen to be but a small part of the whole, and have not the command; as if Regulars were in their nature invincible, when not mix'd with Provincials, and Provincials of no kind of value without Regulars! Happy is it for you that you were present neither at _Preston-Pans_ nor _Falkirk_, at the faint attempt against _Rochfort_, the route of _St. Cas_, or the hasty retreat from _Martinico_. Every thing that went wrong, or did not go right, would have been ascribed to you. Our commanders would have been saved the labour of writing long apologies for their conduct. It might have been sufficient to say, _Provincials were with us!_ But these remarks, which we only suppose may be made by the provok'd provincials, are probably too severe. The generals, even those who have been recall'd, had in several respects great merit, as well as many of the officers of the same nation that remain, which the cool discreet part of the provincials will readily allow. They are not insensible of the worth and bravery of the _British_ troops in general, honour them for the amazing valour they manifested at the landing on _Cape Breton_, the prudence and military skill they show'd in the siege and reduction of _Louisburg_, and their good conduct on other occasions; and can make due allowance for mistakes naturally arising where even the best men are engag'd in a new kind of war, with a new and strange enemy, and in a country different from any they had before experienc'd. Lord HOWE was their darling (* 6), and others might be nam'd who are growing daily in their esteem and admiration. -- There are also among the regular officers, men of sentiments, concerning the colonies, more generous and more just than those express'd by these letter-writers; who can see faults even in their own corps, and who can allow the Provincials their share of merit; who feel pleasure as _Britons_, in observing that the _children_ of _Britain_ retain their native intrepidity to the third and fourth generation in the regions of _America_; together with that ardent love of liberty and zeal in its defence, which in every age has distinguish'd their progenitors among the rest of mankind. -- To conclude, in all countries, all nations, and all armies, there is, and will be a mixture of characters, a medley of brave men, fools, wise-men and cowards. National reflections being general, are therefore unjust. But panegyrics, tho' they should be too general, cannot offend the subjects of them. I shall therefore boldly say, that the _English_ are brave and wise; the _Scotch_ are brave and wise; and the people of the _British_ colonies, proceeding from both nations -- I would say the same of them, if it might not be thought vanity in Your humble servant, May 9, 1759. _A New Englandman_. _The London Chronicle_, May 12, 1759 (* 1) Colonel _Bradstreet_. (* 2) Colonel _Armstrong_ of _Pensilvania_. (* 3) `As the Massachuset's assembly at first entered into the expedition upon the _coolest deliberation_, so did they on the other hand exert themselves with _uncommon vigour_ in the persecution of it. As soon as the point was carried for undertaking it, EVERY MEMBER which had opposed it _gave up his own private judgment_ to the public voice, and _vied_ with those who had voted for the expedition, in encouraging the enlistment of the troops, and forwarding the preparations for the attempt.' _Memoirs of the last War_, p. 41. (* 4) `The bounty, pay, and other encouragements, allowed by the Massachuset's government to both officers and men, especially the former, was but small; but the _spirit_ which reigned thro' the province supplied the want of that; the complement of troops was soon inlisted; not only the officers, who served in this enterprize, were gentlemen of considerable property, but most of the non-commission'd officers, and many of the private men, had valuable freeholds, and entered into the service upon the same principles that the old _Roman_ citizens in the first Consular armies used to do.' _Memoirs of the last War_, p. 41. To which I may add, that instances of the same noble spirit are not uncommon in all the other colonies; where men have entered into the service not for the sake of the pay, for their own affairs in their absence suffer more by far than its value; not in hopes of preferment in the army, for the Provincials are shut out from such expectations, their own forces being always disbanded on a peace, and the vacancies among the Regulars filled with _Europeans_; but merely from _public spirit_ and a sense of duty. Among many others, give me leave to name Col. PETER SCHUYLER of _New Jersey_; who, though a gentleman of a considerable independent fortune, has, both in the last and present war, quitted that domestic ease and quiet which such affluence afforded, to take upon him the command of his country's forces, and by his example animated the soldiery to undergo the greatest fatigues and hardships: And who when a prisoner in _Canada_ for fifteen months, did, during the whole time, generously make use of his own credit to relieve such _British_ subjects as unhappily fell into the hands of the enemy. -- Not to mention his advancing his own private fortune towards paying the forces, raised during last war in _America_ by order of the crown; when, by the continued delays in sending the money from _England_ for that purpose, it was generally doubted whether it would ever be sent, and the common soldiers were therefore, from necessity, on the point of quitting his Majesty's service in a body. An event which must at that time have been attended with very fatal consequences; and would not have been prevented, had not he risqued so considerable a part of his substance. (* 5) `The _New England_ troops, within the compass of 23 days from the time of their first landing, erected five fascine batteries against the town, mounted with cannon of 42 lb. 22 lb. and 18 lb. shot, mortars of 13, 11, and 9 inches diameter, with some cohorns; all which were transported _by hand_, with incredible labour and difficulty, most of them above two miles; all the ground over which they were drawn, except small patches or hills of rocks, was a _deep morass_, in which, whilst the cannon were upon wheels, they several times sunk so deep, as not only to bury the carriages, but their whole bodies. Horses and oxen could not be employed in this service, but all must be drawn by men, up to the knees in mud; the nights, in which the work was done, were cold and foggy, their tents bad, there being no proper materials for tents to be had in New England at the outset of the expedition. But notwithstanding these difficulties, and many of the men's being taken down with fluxes, so that at one time there were 1500 incapable of duty, they went on _without being discouraged or murmuring_, and transported the cannon over those ways, which the French had always thought impassable for such heavy weights; and besides this, they had all their provisions and heavy ammunition, which they daily made use of, to bring from the camp over the same way upon their backs.' _Memoirs of the last war in America_, page 52. (* 6) The assembly of the _Massachusets-Bay_ have voted a sum of money for erecting a monument in _Westminster-Abbey_, to the memory of that Nobleman, as a testimony of their veneration for his virtues. -- A proof that their sense of merit is not narrow'd to a country. _A Description of Those, Who, at Any Rate, Would Have a Peace with France_ The two prevailing motives among us, which strongly bias great numbers of people, at this time, to wish for a peace with _France_, let the terms be ever so dishonourable, ever so disadvantageous, or likely to prove of ever so short a duration, are Power and Self-interest. As to the First, there is a set of men, who have been so long used to Power, that it is become part of their constitution; and if they cannot preserve it, they and their Dependants must linger and pine away. They find plainly, that whatever they have undertaken has succeeded so ill, that, instead of their gaining the people's Applause and Confidence, They become every day more and more Obnoxious and Contemptible: And they perceive, on the other hand, that such part of the Administration, in which they have had no share, has been so well understood and conducted, that such general Satisfaction has been given throughout the whole kingdom, as reflects highly on the want of Integrity and Capacity in those who have gone before. No wonder therefore, if such men should be desirous of peace at any rate, so it lasts their time; that the frequent scenes of Honour to others, and Dishonour to themselves, may not haunt them any more: And, especially being sensible the National Credit has been strained to such a degree by their extravagant plan of Dissipation, as to render it necessary for the Publick Accounts being taken, as was so frequently and honestly done during the reigns of King William and Queen Anne, even at the Minister's own desire. The latter are those who are engaged in our Public Funds, and are impatient to have them rise, AND THOSE (IN NO SMALL NUMBER) WHO HAVE SO INFAMOUSLY LENT THEIR MONEY TO THE FRENCH GOVERNMENT: Merchants who are concerned in branches of Commerce and of Business, which they imagine will improve upon their hands, in case of a Peace: other Mercantile People, who have their prospects of advantage, upon the conclusion of a Peace; such for example, who think we shall hold some of our conquests, which of course will give room for new Settlements; and some who have prospects of Places in such new Settlements: Some who have formed to themselves agreeable plans, for striking into new Branches of Trade: Many Country Gentlemen and others, who wouldn't perhaps be sorry for a Peace, in hopes of being eas'd in their taxes: And lastly, there are very few Roman Catholicks in the Kingdom, but would rejoice at a Peace, at any rate. It is a melancholy Reflection, that there should be among us such selfish wretches, and such enemies to their Country, who had rather see it sink, a while hence, and its bitterest enemies triumph, than that their present lust for Power, and their sordid Views, should not be gratified; And that there should be those, who are striving to diminish the Importance of every conquest we make, that the people mayn't grow too fond of keeping them; and even go so far, as to propagate the very Nonsensical Language of MAUBERT; viz. THE ENGLISH _will persevere in their conquests till they draw all the Powers of Europe upon their backs_. Such is the true Picture of those, who, on such infamous Terms, wou'd sell advantages their Country has obtained, at the expence of so much blood and treasure, over their most Inveterate and most Treacherous enemies. _London, Nov._ 24. _The London Chronicle_, November 24, 1759 _Humourous Reasons for Restoring Canada_ _Mr. Chronicle,_ We Britons are a nation of statesmen and politicians; we are privy councellors by birthright; and therefore take it much amiss when we are told by some of your correspondents, `that it is not proper to expose to public view the many good reasons there are for restoring Canada,' _(if we reduce it.)_ I have, with great industry, been able to procure a full account of those reasons, and shall make no secret of them among ourselves. Here they are. -- Give them to all your readers; that is, to all that can read, in the King's dominions. 1. We should restore Canada; because an uninterrupted trade with the Indians throughout a vast country, where the communication by water is so easy, would encrease our commerce, _already too great_, and occasion a large additional demand for our manufactures, (* 1) _already too dear_. (* 1) Every Indian now wears a woollen blanket, a linnen shirt, and cloth stockings; besides a knife, a hatchet and a gun; and they use a variety of other European and Indian goods, which they pay for in skins and furs. 2. We should restore it, lest, thro' a greater plenty of beaver, broad-brimmed hats become cheaper to that unmannerly sect, the Quakers. 3. We should restore Canada, that we may _soon_ have a new war, and another opportunity of spending two or three millions a year in America; there being great danger of our growing too rich, our European expences not being sufficient to drain our immense treasures. 4. We should restore it, that we may have occasion constantly to employ, in time of war, a fleet and army in those parts; for otherwise we might be too strong at home. 5. We should restore it, that the French may, by means of their Indians, carry on, (as they have done for these 100 years past even in times of peace between the two crowns) a constant scalping war against our colonies, and thereby stint their growth; for, otherwise, the children might in time be as tall as their mother (* 2). (* 2) This reason is seriously given by some who do not wish well to the Colonies: But, is it not too like the Egyptian Politics practised by Pharoah, destroying the young males to prevent the increase of the children of Israel? 6. What tho' the blood of thousands of unarmed English farmers, surprized and assassinated in their fields; of harmless women and children murdered in their beds; doth at length call for vengeance; -- what tho' the Canadian measure of iniquity be full, and if ever any country did, that country now certainly does, deserve the judgment of _extirpation_; -- yet let not us be the executioners of Divine justice; -- it will look as if Englishmen were revengeful. 7. Our colonies, 'tis true, have exerted themselves beyond their strength, on the expectations we gave them of driving the French from Canada; but tho' we ought to keep faith with our Allies, it is not necessary with our children. That might teach them (against Scripture) to _put their trust in Princes_: Let 'em learn to trust in God. 8. Should we not restore Canada, it would look as if our statesmen had _courage_ as well as our soldiers; but what have statesmen to do with _courage_? Their proper character is _wisdom_. 9. What can be _braver_, than to show all Europe we can afford to lavish our best blood as well as our treasure, in conquests we do not intend to keep? Have we not plenty of _Howe's_, and _Wolfe's_, &c. &c. &c. in every regiment? 10. The French have long since openly declar'd, _'que les Anglois & les Fransois sont incompatible dans cette partie de l'Amerique;'_ 'that our people and theirs were incompatible in that part of the continent of America:' _`que rien n'etoit plus important a l'etat, que de delivrer leur colonie du facheux voisinage des Anglois;'_ `that nothing was of more importance to France, than delivering its colony from the troublesome neighbourhood of the English;' to which end, there was an avowed project on foot _`pour chasser premierement les Anglois de la Nouvelle York;'_ `to drive the English in the first place out of the province of New York;' _`& apres la prise de la capitale, il falloit_ (says the scheme) _la_ BRULER & RUINER _le pays jusqu' a Orange;'_ `and after taking the capital, to _burn it_, and _ruin_ (that is, _make a desart_ of) the whole country, quite up to Albany.' Now, if we do not fairly leave the French in Canada, till they have a favourable opportunity of putting their _burning_ and _ruining_ schemes in execution, will it not look as if we were afraid of them? 11. Their historian, Charlevoix, in his IVth book, also tells us, that when Canada was formerly taken by the English, it was a question at the court of France, whether they should endeavour to recover it; for, says he, _`bien de gens douterent si l'on avoit fait une veritable perte;'_ `many thought it was not really a loss.' But tho' various reasons were given why it was scarce worth recovering, _`le seul motive_ (says he) _d'empecher les Anglois de se rendre trop puissans -- atoit plus que suffissant pour nous engager a recouvrer Quebec, a quelque prix que ce fut;'_ `the single motive of preventing the increase of _English_ power, was more than sufficient to engage us in recovering Quebec, _what price soever it might cost us_.' Here we see the high value they put on that country, and the reason of their valuing it so highly. Let us then, _oblige them_ in this (to them) so important an article, and be assured they will _never prove ungrateful_. I will not dissemble, Mr. _Chronicle_; that in answer to all these reasons and motives for restoring Canada, I have heard one that appears to have some weight on the other side of the question. It is said, that nations, as well as private persons, should, for their honour's sake, take care to preserve a _consistence of character_: that it has always been the character of the English to fight strongly, and negotiate weakly; generally agreeing to restore, at a peace, what they ought to have kept, and to keep what they had better have restored: then, if it would really, according to the preceding reasons, be prudent and right to restore Canada, we ought, say these objectors, to keep it; otherwise _we shall be inconsistent with ourselves._ I shall not take upon myself to weigh these different reasons, but offer the whole to the consideration of the public. Only permit me to suggest, that there is one method of avoiding fairly all future dispute about the propriety of _keeping_ or _restoring_ Canada; and that is, _let us never take it._ The French still hold out at Montreal and Trois Rivieres, in hopes of succour from France. Let us be but _a little too late_ with our ships in the river St. Laurence, so that the enemy may get their supplies up next spring, as they did the last, with reinforcements sufficient to enable them to recover Quebec, and there is an end of the question. I am, Sir, Yours, &c. A. Z. _The London Chronicle_, December 27, 1759 _The Jesuit Campanella's Means of Disposing the Enemy to Peace_ _To the Printer of the London Chronicle_. SIR, I send you for your excellent Paper, an extract from the famous Jesuit _Campanella_'s discourses address'd to the King of _Spain_, intituled, _Of the Meanes of extending the Greatnesse of the_ Spanish _Monarchie_. The language is a little antiquated, being the old translation in the edition of 1629; but the matter contain'd is so _apropos_ to our present situation (only changing _Spain_ for _France_) that I think it well worth the attention of the Publick at this critical conjuncture, as it discovers the arts of our enemies, and may therefore help in some degree to put us on our guard against them. After discoursing largely on the wars to be made, particularly against _England_ and _Holland_, the conquests to be attempted, and the various means of securing them when gained, he comes to his CHAP. XIV. _Of the Meanes of disposing the Enemie to Peace_. `WARRES, with whatsoever prudence undertaken and conducted, do not always succeed; many thinges out of mans power to governe, such as dearthe of provisions, tempests, pestilence, and the like, oftentimes interfering, and totally overthrowing the best designes; so that these enemies of our Monarchie, though apparent lie at first the weaker, may, by disastrous events of warre on our part, become the stronger; and though not in such degree as to endanger the bodie of this great kingdome, yet, by their greater power of shipping and aptness in sea-affaires, to be able to cut off, if I may so speak, some of its smaller limbes and members, that, being remote therefrom, are not easilie defended; to wit, our islands and colonies in the Indies; thereby however depriving the bodie of its wonted nourishment, so that it must thenceforthe languish and grow weake, if those parts be not recovered, which possibly may, by continuance of warre, be found unlikely to be done. And the enemie, puffed up with their successes, and hoping still for more, may not be disposed to peace on such termes as would be suitable to the honour of your Majestie, and to the welfare of your State and Subjectes. In such case, the following meanes may have good effect. `It is well known, that these northerne people, though hardie of bodie, and bold in fight, be neverthelesse, through over-much eating and other intemperance, slowe of wit and dull in understanding, so that they be oftimes more easilie to be governed and turned by skille than by force. There is therefore always hope, that by wise counsel and dextrous management, those advantages which through cross accidents in warre have been lost, may again with honour be recovered. In this place I shall say little of the power of money secretly distributed amongst grandees or their friends or mistresses, that method being in all ages known and practised. If the _minds_ of enemies can be _changed_, they may be brought to grant willingly and for nothing, what much golde would scarce lie have otherwise prevailed to obtaine. Yet as the procuring this change is to be by fitte instruments, some few doublones will not unprofitablie be disbursed by your Majestie; the manner whereof I shall now brieflie recite. `In those countries, and particularly in England, there are not wanting men of learning, ingenious speakers and writers, who are neverthelesse in lowe estate and pinched by fortune; these being privatelie gained by proper meanes, must be instructed in their sermons, discourses, writings, poems and songs, to handle and specially inculcate points like these which followe. Let them magnify the blessings of peace and enlarge mightily thereon, which is not unbecoming grave Divines and other Christian men; let them expatiate on the miseries of warre, the waste of Christian bloode, the growing scarcitie of labourers and workmen, the dearness of all foreign wares and merchandises, the interruption of commerce by the captures or delay of ships, the increase and great burthen of taxes, and the impossibilitie of supplying much longer the expence of the contest; -- let them represent the warre as an unmeasurable advantage to particulars, and to particulars only (thereby to excite envie against those that manage and provide for the same) while so prejudicial to the Commonweale and people in general: let them represent the advantages gained against us as trivial and of little import; the places taken from us as of small trade or produce, inconvenient for situation, unwholesome for ayre and climate, useless to their nations, and greatly chargeable to keepe, draining the home Countries both of men and money: let them urge, that if a peace be forced on us, and those places withheld, it will nourishe secret griefe and malice in the King and Grandees of Spain, which will ere long breake forthe in new warres, wherein those places may again be retaken, and lost without the merit and grace of restoring them willingly for peace-sake: -- let them represent the making and continuance of warres from view of gaine, to be base and unworthie a brave people; as those made from view of ambition are mad and wicked; and let them insinuate that the continuance of the present warre on their parte, when peace is offered, hath these ingredients strongly in its nature. Then let them magnifie the great power of your Majestie, and the strength of your kingdome, the inexhaustible wealthe of your mines, the greatness of your incomes, and thence your abilitie of continuing the warre; hinting withal, the new alliances you may possibly make; at the same time setting forth the sincere disposition you have for peace, and that it is only a concerne for your honour and the honour of your realme, that induceth you to insist on the restitution of the places taken. -- If with all this they shrewdly intimate and cause it to be understood by artefull words, and beleeved, that their own Prince is himself in heart for peace on your Majesties termes, and grieved at the obstinacie and perverseness of those among his people that be for continuing the warre, a marvellous effect shall by these discourses and writings be produced; and a wonderful strong party shall your Majestie raise among your enemies in favour of the peace you desire; insomuch that their own Princes and wisest Councellours will in a sort be constrained to yeald thereto. For in this warre of words, the avarice and ambition, the hopes and fears, and all the croud of human passions, will, in the minds of your enemies, be raised, armed, and put in array, to fight for your interests, against the reall and substantiall interest of their own countries. The simple and undiscerning many, shall be carried away by the plausibilitie and well-seeming of these discourses; and the opinions becoming popular, all the rich men, who have great possessions, and fear the continuance of taxes, and hope peace will end them, shall be imboldened thereby to cry aloud for peace; -- their dependents who are many, must do the same: all marchants, fearing loss of ships and greater burthens on trade by farther duties and subsidies, and hoping greater profittes by the ending of the warre, shall join in the cry for peace: All the usurers and lenders of monies to the State, who on a peace hope great profit from their bargaines, and fear if the warre be continued, the State shall become bankeroute, and unable to pay them; these, who have no small weight, shall joine the cry for peace: -- All the gowne and booke-statesmen, who maligne the bold conductors of the warre, and envie the glorie they may have thereby obtained; these shall cry aloud for peace; hoping, that when the Warre shall cease, such men becoming less necessarie shall be more lightelie esteemed, and themselves more sought after: -- All the officers of the enemies armies and fleets, who wish for repose, and to enjoy their spoiles, salaries, or rewards, in quietness, and without peril, these, and their friends and families, who desire their safetie, and the solace of their societie, shall all cry for peace: -- All those who be timorous by nature, amongst whom be reckoned men of learning that lead sedentarie lives, using little exercise of bodie, and thence obtaining but few and weake spirits; great Statesmen, whose natural spirits be exhausted by much thinking, or depress'd by over-much feasting; together with all women, whose power, weake as they are, is not a little among such men; these shall incessantly speake for peace: And finallie, all Courtiers, who suppose they conforme thereby to the inclinations of the Prince; all who are _in_ places of profit, and fear to lose them, or hope for better; all who are _out_ of places, and hope to obtain them; all the worldly-minded clergie, who seeke preferment; these, with all the weight of their character and influence, shall joine the cry for peace, till it becomes one universal clamour, and no sound but that of _Peace, Peace, Peace,_ shall be heard from every quarter. Then shall your Majesties termes of peace be listened to with much readiness, the places taken from you be willingly restored, and your kingdome, recovering its strength, shall only need to waite a few years for more favourable occasions, when the advantages to your power proposed by beginning the warre, but lost by its bad successe, shall, with better fortune, be finallie obtained.' What effect the artifices here recommended might have had in the times when this Jesuit wrote, I cannot pretend to say; but I believe, the present age being more enlightened, and our people better acquainted than formerly with our true national interests, such arts can now hardly prove so generally successful: For we may with pleasure observe, and to the honour of the British people, that though writings and discourses like these have lately not been wanting, yet few in any of the classes he particularises seem to be affected by them; but all ranks and degrees among us persist hitherto in declaring for a vigorous prosecution of the war, in preference to an unsafe, disadvantageous peace. Yet, as a little change of fortune may make such writings more attended to, and give them greater weight, I think the publication of this piece, as it shows the spring from whence these scribblers draw their poisoned waters, may be of publick utility. I am, Sir, yours, &c. A BRITON. _The London Chronicle_, August 13, 1761 _A Narrative of the Late Massacres, in Lancaster County, of a Number of Indians, Friends of this Province, by Persons Unknown_ WITH SOME OBSERVATIONS ON THE SAME These _Indians_ were the Remains of a Tribe of the _Six Nations_, settled at _Conestogoe_, and thence called _Conestogoe Indians._ On the first Arrival of the _English_ in _Pennsylvania_, Messengers from this Tribe came to welcome them, with Presents of Venison, Corn and Skins; and the whole Tribe entered into a Treaty of Friendship with the first Proprietor, WILLIAM PENN, which was to last "as long as the Sun should shine, or the Waters run in the Rivers." This Treaty has been since frequently renewed, and the _Chain brightened_, as they express it, from time to time. It has never been violated, on their Part or ours, till now. As their Lands by Degrees were mostly purchased, and the Settlements of the White People began to surround them, the Proprietor assigned them Lands on the Manor of _Conestogoe_, which they might not part with; there they have lived many Years in Friendship with their White Neighbours, who loved them for their peaceable inoffensive Behaviour. It has always been observed, that _Indians_, settled in the Neighbourhood of White People, do not increase, but diminish continually. This Tribe accordingly went on diminishing, till there remained in their Town on the Manor, but 20 Persons, _viz._ 7 Men, 5 Women, and 8 Children, Boys and Girls. Of these, _Shehaes_ was a very old Man, having assisted at the second Treaty held with them, by Mr. PENN, in 1701, and ever since continued a faithful and affectionate Friend to the _English_; he is said to have been an exceeding good Man, considering his Education, being naturally of a most kind benevolent Temper. _Peggy_ was _Shehaes_'s Daughter; she worked for her aged Father, continuing to live with him, though married, and attended him with filial Duty and Tenderness. _John_ was another good old Man; his Son _Harry_ helped to support him. _George_ and _Will Soc_ were two Brothers, both young Men. _John Smith_, a valuable young Man, of the _Cayuga_ Nation, who became acquainted with _Peggy_, _Shehaes_'s Daughter, some few Years since, married her, and settled in that Family. They had one Child, about three Years old. _Betty_, a harmless old Woman; and her Son _Peter_, a likely young Lad. _Sally_, whose _Indian_ Name was _Wyanjoy_, a Woman much esteemed by all that knew her, for her prudent and good Behaviour in some very trying Situations of Life. She was a truly good and an amiable Woman, had no Children of her own, but a distant Relation dying, she had taken a Child of that Relation's, to bring up as her own, and performed towards it all the Duties of an affectionate Parent. The Reader will observe, that many of their Names are _English_. It is common with the _Indians_ that have an Affection for the _English_, to give themselves, and their Children, the Names of such _English_ Persons as they particularly esteem. This little Society continued the Custom they had begun, when more numerous, of addressing every new Governor, and every Descendant of the first Proprietor, welcoming him to the Province, assuring him of their Fidelity, and praying a Continuance of that Favour and Protection they had hitherto experienced. They had accordingly sent up an Address of this Kind to our present Governor, on his Arrival; but the same was scarce delivered, when the unfortunate Catastrophe happened, which we are about to relate. On _Wednesday_, the 14th of _December_, 1763, Fifty-seven Men, from some of our Frontier Townships, who had projected the Destruction of this little Common-wealth, came, all well-mounted, and armed with Firelocks, Hangers and Hatchets, having travelled through the Country in the Night, to _Conestogoe_ Manor. There they surrounded the small Village of _Indian_ Huts, and just at Break of Day broke into them all at once. Only three Men, two Women, and a young Boy, were found at home, the rest being out among the neighbouring White People,some to sell the Baskets, Brooms and Bowls they manufactured, and others on other Occasions. These poor defenceless Creatures were immediately fired upon, stabbed and hatcheted to Death! The good _Shehaes_, among the rest, cut to Pieces in his Bed. All of them were scalped, and otherwise horribly mangled. Then their Huts were set on Fire, and most of them burnt down. When the Troop, pleased with their own Conduct and Bravery, but enraged that any of the poor _Indians_ had escaped the Massacre, rode off, and in small Parties, by different Roads, went home. The universal Concern of the neighbouring White People on hearing of this Event, and the Lamentations of the younger _Indians_, when they returned and saw the Desolation, and the butchered half-burnt Bodies of their murdered Parents, and other Relations, cannot well be expressed. The Magistrates of _Lancaster_ sent out to collect the remaining _Indians_, brought them into the Town for their better Security against any farther Attempt; and it is said condoled with them on the Misfortune that had happened, took them by the Hand, comforted and _promised them Protection_. -- They were all put into the Workhouse, a strong Building, as the Place of greatest Safety. When the shocking News arrived in Town, a Proclamation was issued by the Governor, in the following Terms, _viz_. "WHEREAS I have received Information, That on _Wednesday_, the Fourteenth Day of this Month, a Number of People, armed, and mounted on Horseback, unlawfully assembled together, and went to the _Indian_ Town in the _Conestogoe_ Manor, in _Lancaster_ County, and without the least Reason or Provocation, in cool Blood, barbarously killed six of the _Indians_ settled there, and burnt and destroyed all their Houses and Effects: And whereas so cruel and inhuman an Act, committed in the Heart of this Province on the said _Indians_, who have lived peaceably and inoffensively among us, during all our late Troubles, and for many Years before, and were justly considered as under the Protection of this Government and its Laws, calls loudly for the vigorous Exertion of the civil Authority, to detect the Offenders, and bring them to condign Punishment; I have therefore, by and with the Advice and Consent of the Council, thought fit to issue this Proclamation, and do hereby strictly charge and enjoin all Judges, Justices, Sheriffs, Constables, Officers Civil and Military, and all other His Majesty's liege Subjects within this Province, to make diligent Search and Enquiry after the Authors and Perpetrators of the said Crime, their Abettors and Accomplices, and to use all possible Means to apprehend and secure them in some of the publick Goals of this Province,that they may be brought to their Trials, and be proceeded against according to Law. "And whereas a Number of other _Indians_, who lately lived on or near the Frontiers of this Province, being willing and desirous to preserve and continue the ancient Friendship which heretofore subsisted between them and the good People of this Province, have, at their own earnest Request, been removed from their Habitations, and brought into the County of _Philadelphia_, and seated, for the present, for their better Security, on the _Province-Island_, and in other Places in the Neighbourhood of the City of _Philadelphia_, where Provision is made for them at the public Expence; I do therefore hereby strictly forbid all Persons whatsoever, to molest or injure any of the said _Indians_, as they will answer the contrary at their Peril. _GIVEN under my Hand,and the Great Seal of the said Province, at_ Philadelphia, _the Twenty-second Day of_ December, Anno Domini _One Thousand Seven Hundred and Sixty-three, and in the Fourth Year of His Majesty's Reign._ JOHN PENN." _By His Honour's Command,_ JOSEPH SHIPPEN, _jun. Secretary._ GOD Save the KING. Notwithstanding this Proclamation, those cruel Men again assembled themselves, and hearing that the remaining fourteen _Indians_ were in the Work-house at _Lancaster_, they suddenly appeared in that Town, on the 27th of _December_. Fifty of them, armed as before, dismounting, went directly to the Work-house, and by Violence broke open the Door, and entered with the utmost Fury in their Countenances. -- When the poor Wretches saw they had _no Protection_ nigh, nor could possibly escape, and being without the least Weapon for Defence, they divided into their little Families, the Children clinging to the Parents; they fell on their Knees, protested their Innocence, declared their Love to the _English_, and that, in their whole Lives, they had never done them Injury; and in this Posture they all received the Hatchet! -- Men, Women and little Children -- were every one inhumanly murdered! -- in cold Blood! The barbarous Men who committed the atrocious Fact, in Defiance of Government, of all Laws human and divine, and to the eternal Disgrace of their Country and Colour, then mounted their Horses, huzza'd in Triumph, as if they had gained a Victory, and rode off -- _unmolested!_ The Bodies of the Murdered were then brought out and exposed in the Street, till a Hole could be made in the Earth, to receive and cover them. But the Wickedness cannot be covered, the Guilt will lie on the whole Land, till Justice is done on the Murderers. THE BLOOD OF THE INNOCENT WILL CRY TO HEAVEN FOR VENGEANCE. It is said that _Shehaes_, being before told, that it was to be feared some _English_ might come from the Frontier into the Country, and murder him and his People; he replied, "It is impossible: There are _Indians_, indeed, in the Woods, who would kill me and mine, if they could get at us, for my Friendship to the _English_; but the _English_ will wrap me in their Matchcoat, and secure me from all Danger." How unfortunately was he mistaken! Another Proclamation has been issued, offering a great Reward for apprehending the Murderers, in the following Terms, _viz._ "WHEREAS on the Twenty-second Day of _December_ last, I issued a Proclamation for the apprehending and bringing to Justice, a Number of Persons, who, in Violation of the Public Faith, and in Defiance of all Law, had inhumanly killed six of the _Indians_, who had lived in _Conestogoe_ Manor, for the Course of many Years, peaceably and inoffensively, under the Protection of this Government, on Lands assigned to them for their Habitation; notwithstanding which, I have received Information, that on the Twenty-seventh of the same Month, a large Party of armed Men again assembled and met together in a riotous and tumultuous Manner, in the County of _Lancaster_, and proceeded to the Town of _Lancaster_, where they violently broke open the Work-house, and butchered and put to Death fourteen of the said _Conestogoe Indians_, Men, Women and Children, who had been taken under the immediate Care and Protection of the Magistrates of the said County, and lodged for their better Security in the said Work-house, till they should be more effectually provided for by Order of the Government. And whereas common Justice loudly demands, and the Laws of the Land (upon the Preservation of which not only the Liberty and Security of every Individual, but the Being of the Government itself depend) require that the above Offenders should be brought to condign Punishment; I have therefore, by and with the Advice of the Council, published this Proclamation, and do hereby strictly charge and command all Judges, Justices, Sheriffs, Constables, Officers Civil and Military, and all other His Majesty's faithful and liege Subjects within this Province, to make diligent Search and Enquiry after the Authors and Perpetrators of the said last mentioned Offence, their Abettors and Accomplices, and that they use all possible Means to apprehend and secure them in some of the public Goals of this Province, to be dealt with according to Law. "And I do hereby further promise and engage, that any Person or Persons, who shall apprehend and secure, or cause to be apprehended and secured, any Three of the Ringleaders of the said Party, and prosecute them to Conviction, shall have and receive for each, the public Reward of _Two Hundred Pounds_; and any Accomplice, not concerned in the immediate shedding the Blood of the said _Indians_, who shall make Discovery of any or either of the said Ringleaders, and apprehend and prosecute them to Conviction, shall, over and above the said Reward, have all the Weight and Influence of the Government, for obtaining His Majesty's Pardon for his Offence. _GIVEN under my Hand, and the Great Seal of the said Province, at_ Philadelphia_, the Second Day of_ January, _in the _Fourth Year of His Majesty's Reign, and in the Year of our Lord One Thousand Seven Hundred and Sixty-four._ JOHN PENN." _By His Honour's Command,_ JOSEPH SHIPPEN, _jun. Secretary._ GOD Save the KING. These Proclamations have as yet produced no Discovery; the Murderers having given out such Threatenings against those that disapprove their Proceedings, that the whole County seems to be in Terror, and no one durst speak what he knows; even the Letters from thence are unsigned, in which any Dislike is expressed of the Rioters. There are some (I am ashamed to hear it) who would extenuate the enormous Wickedness of these Actions, by saying, "The Inhabitants of the Frontiers are exasperated with the Murder of their Relations, by the Enemy _Indians_, in the present War." It is possible; -- but though this might justify their going out into the Woods, to seek for those Enemies, and avenge upon them those Murders; it can never justify their turning in to the Heart of the Country, to murder their Friends. If an _Indian_ injures me, does it follow that I may revenge that Injury on all _Indians_? It is well known that _Indians_ are of different Tribes, Nations and Languages, as well as the White People. In _Europe_, if the _French_, who are White People, should injure the _Dutch_, are they to revenge it on the _English_, because they too are White People? The only Crime of these poor Wretches seems to have been, that they had a reddish brown Skin, and black Hair; and some People of that Sort, it seems, had murdered some of our Relations. If it be right to kill Men for such a Reason, then, should any Man, with a freckled Face and red Hair, kill a Wife or Child of mine, it would be right for me to revenge it, by killing all the freckled red-haired Men, Women and Children, I could afterwards any where meet with. But it seems these People think they have a better Justification; nothing less than the _Word of God_. With the Scriptures in their Hands and Mouths, they can set at nought that express Command, _Thou shalt do no Murder_; and justify their Wickedness, by the Command given _Joshua_ to destroy the Heathen. Horrid Perversion of Scripture and of Religion! to father the worst of Crimeson the God of Peace and Love! -- Even the _Jews_, to whom that particular Commission was directed, spared the _Gibeonites_, on Account of their Faith once given. The Faith of this Government has been frequently given to those _Indians_; -- but that did not avail them with People who despise Government. We pretend to be _Christians_, and, from the superior Light we enjoy, ought to exceed _Heathens_, _Turks_, _Saracens_, _Moors_, _Negroes_ and _Indians_, in the Knowledge and Practice of what is right. I will endeavour to show, by a few Examples from Books and History, the Sense those People have had of such Actions. HOMER wrote his Poem, called the _Odyssey_, some Hundred Years before the Birth of Christ. He frequently speaks of what he calls not only _the Duties_, but _the sacred Rites of Hospitality_, (exercised towards Strangers, while in our House or Territory) as including, besides all the common Circumstances of Entertainment, full Safety and Protection of Person, from all Danger of Life, from all Injuries, and even Insults. The Rites of Hospitality were called _sacred_, because the Stranger, the Poor and the Weak, when they applied for Protection and Relief, were, from the Religion of those Times, supposed to be sent by the Deity to try the Goodness of Men, and that he would avenge the Injuries they might receive, where they ought to have been protected. -- These Sentiments therefore influenced the Manners of all Ranks of People, even the meanest; for we find that when _Ulysses_ came, as a poor Stranger, to the Hut of _Eumaeus_, the Swineherd, and his great Dogs ran out to tear the ragged Man, _Eumaeus_ drave them away with Stones; and _Unhappy Stranger! (thus the faithful Swain Began, with Accent gracious and humane) What Sorrow had been mine, if at_ my _Gate Thy rev'rend Age had met a shameful Fate? ------ But enter this my homely Roof, and see Our Woods not void of Hospitality. He said, and seconding the kind Request, With friendly Step precedes the unknown Guest. A shaggy Goat's soft Hide beneath him spread, And with fresh Rushes heap'd an ample Bed. Joy touch'd the Hero's tender Soul, to find So_ just _Reception from a Heart so kind: And oh, ye Gods! with all your Blessings grace (He thus broke forth) this Friend of human Race! The Swain reply'd. It never was our guise To slight the Poor, or aught humane despise. For_ Jove _unfolds the hospitable Door, Tis_ Jove _that sends the Stranger and the Poor._ These Heathen People thought, that after a Breach of the Rites of Hospitality, a Curse from Heaven would attend them in every thing they did, and even their honest Industry in their Callings would fail of Success. -- Thus when _Ulysses_ tells _Eumaeus_, who doubted the Truth of what he related, _If I deceive you in this, I should deserve Death, and I consent that you should put me to Death_; _Eumaeus_ rejects the Proposal as what would be attended with both Infamy and Misfortune, saying ironically, _Doubtless, oh Guest! great Laud and Praise were mine, If, after social Rites and Gifts bestow'd, I stain'd my Hospitable Hearth with Blood. How would the Gods my righteous Toils succeed, And bless the Hand that made a Stranger bleed? No more. -- _ Even an open Enemy, in the Heat of Battle, throwing down his Arms, submitting to his Foe, and asking Life and Protection, was supposed to acquire an immediate Right to that Protection. Thus one describes his being saved, when his Party was defeated. _We turn'd to Flight; the gath'ring Vengeance spread On all Parts round, and Heaps on Heaps lie dead. -- The radiant Helmet from my Brows unlac'd, And lo on Earth my Shield and Jav'lin cast, I meet the Monarch with a Suppliant's Face, Approach his Chariot, and his Knees embrace. He heard, he sav'd, he plac'd me at his Side; My State he pity'd, and my Tears he dry'd; Restrain'd the Rage the vengeful Foe express'd, And turn'd the deadly Weapons from my Breast. Pious_ to guard the Hospitable Rite, _And_ fearing Jove, _whom Mercy's Works delight._ The Suitors of _Penelope_ are by the same ancient Poet described as a Sett of lawless Men, who were _regardless of the sacred Rites of Hospitality_. And therefore when the Queen was informed they were slain, and that by _Ulysses_, she, not believing that _Ulysses_ was returned, says, _Ah no! -- some God the Suitors Deaths decreed, Some God descends, and by his Hand they bleed: Blind, to contemn the Stranger's righteous Cause,_ And violate all hospitable Laws! ---------- _The Powers they defy'd; But Heav'n is just, and by a God they dy'd._ Thus much for the Sentiments of the ancient _Heathens_. -- As for the _Turks_, it is recorded in the Life of _Mahomet_, the Founder of their Religion, that _Khaled_, one of his Captains, having divided a Number of Prisoners between himself and those that were with him, he commanded the Hands of his own Prisoners to be tied behind them, and then, in a most cruel and brutal Manner, put them to the Sword; but he could not prevail on his Men to massacre _their_ Captives, because in Fight they had laid down their Arms, submitted, and demanded Protection. _Mahomet_, when the Account was brought to him, applauded the Men for their Humanity; but said to _Khaled_, with great Indignation, _Oh_ Khaled, _thou Butcher, cease to molest me with thy Wickedness. -- If thou possessedst a Heap of Gold as large as Mount_ Obod, _and shouldst expend it all in God's Cause, thy Merit would not efface the Guilt incurred by the Murder of the meanest of those poor Captives._ Among the _Arabs_ or _Saracens_, thought it was lawful to put to Death a Prisoner taken in Battle, if he had made himself obnoxious by his former Wickedness, yet this could not be done after he had once eaten Bread, or drank Water, while in their Hands. Hence we read in the History of the Wars of the _Holy Land_, that when the _Franks_ had suffered a great Defeat from _Saladin_, and among the Prisoners were the King of _Jerusalem_, and _Arnold_, a famous Christian Captain, who had been very cruel to the _Saracens_; these two being brought before the Soltan, he placed the King on his right Hand, and _Arnold_ on his left; and then presented the King with a Cup of Water, who immediately drank to _Arnold_; but when _Arnold_ was about to receive the Cup, the Soltan interrupted, saying, _I will not suffer this wicked Man to drink, as that, according to the laudable and generous Custom of the_ Arabs, _would secure him his Life._ That the same laudable and generous Custom still prevails among the _Mahometans_, appears from the Account but last Year published of his Travels by Mr. _Bell_ of _Antermony_, who accompanied the Czar _Peter_ the Great, in his Journey to _Derbent_ through _Daggestan_. "The Religion of the _Daggestans_, says he, is generally _Mahometan_, some following the Sect of _Osman_, others that of _Haly_. Their Language for the most Part is _Turkish_, or rather a Dialect of the _Arabic_, though many of them speak also the _Persian_ Language. One Article I cannot omit concerning their Laws of Hospitality, which is, if their greatest Enemy comes under their Roof for Protection, the Landlord, of what Condition soever, is obliged to keep him safe, from all Manner of Harm or Violence, during his Abode with him, and even to conduct him safely through his Territories to a Place of Security." -- From the _Saracens_ this same Custom obtained among the _Moors_ of _Africa_; was by them brought into _Spain_, and there long sacredly observed. The _Spanish_ Historians record with Applause one famous Instance of it. While the _Moors_ governed there, and the _Spaniards_ were mixed with them, a _Spanish_ Cavalier, in a sudden Quarrel, slew a young _Moorish_ Gentleman, and fled. His Pursuers soon lost Sight of him, for he had, unperceived, thrown himself over a Garden Wall. The Owner, a _Moor_, happening to be in his Garden, was addressed by the _Spaniard_ on his Knees, who acquainted him with his Case, and implored Concealment. _Eat this,_ said the _Moor_, giving him Half a Peach; _you now know that you may confide in my Protection_. He then locked him up in his Garden Apartment, telling him,that as soon as it was Night he would provide for his Escape to a Place of more Safety. -- The _Moor_ then went into his House, where he had scarce seated himself, when a great Croud, with loud Lamentations, came to his Gate, bringing the Corps of his Son, that had just been killed by a _Spaniard_. When the first Shock of Surprize was a little over, he learnt, from the Description given, that the fatal Deed was done by the Person then in his Power. He mentioned this to no One; but as soon as it was dark, retired to his Garden Apartment, as if to grieve alone, giving Orders that none should follow him. There accosting the _Spaniard_, he said, _Christian, the Person you have killed, is my Son: His Body is now in my House. You ought to suffer; but you have eaten with me, and I have given you my Faith, which must not be broken. Follow me. -- _ He then led the astonished _Spaniard_ to his Stables, mounted him on one of his fleetest Horses, and said, _Fly far while the Night can cover you. You will be safe in the Morning. You are indeed guilty of my Son's Blood, but God is just and good, and I thank him that I am innocent of yours, and that my Faith given is preserved._ The _Spaniards_ caught from the _Moors_ this _Punto_ of Honour, the Effects of which remain, in a great Degree, to this Day. So that when there is Fear of a War about to break out between _England_ and _Spain_, an _English_ Merchant there, who apprehends the Confiscation of his Goods as the Goods of an Enemy, thinks them safe, if he can get a _Spaniard_ to take Charge of them; for the _Spaniard_ secures them as his own, and faithfully redelivers them, or pays the Value, whenever the _Englishman_ can safely demand it. Justice to that Nation, though lately our Enemies, and hardly yet our cordial Friends, obliges me,on this Occasion, not to omit mentioning an Instance of _Spanish_ Honour, which cannot but be still fresh in the Memory of many yet living. In 1746, when we were in hot War with _Spain_, the _Elizabeth_, of _London_, Captain _William Edwards_, coming through the Gulph from _Jamaica_, richly laden, met with a most violent Storm, in which the Ship sprung a Leak, that obliged them,for the Saving of their Lives, to run her into the _Havannah_. The Captain went on Shore, directly waited on the Governor, told the Occasion of his putting in, and that he surrendered his Ship as a Prize, and himself and his Men as Prisoners of War, only requesting good Quarter. _No, Sir,_ replied the _Spanish_ Governor, _If we had taken you in fair War at Sea, or approaching our Coast with hostile Intentions, your Ship would then have been a Prize, and your People Prisoners. But when distressed by a Tempest, you come into our Ports for the Safety of your Lives, we, though Enemies, being Men, are bound as such, by the Laws of Humanity, to afford Relief to distressed Men, who ask it of us. We cannot, even against our Enemies, take Advantage of an Act of God. You have Leave therefore to unload your Ship, if that be necessary, to stop the Leak; you may refit here, and traffick so far as shall be necessary to pay the Charges; you may then depart, and I will give you a Pass, to be in Force till you are beyond_ Bermuda. _If after that you are taken, you will then be a Prize, but now you are only a Stranger, and have a Stranger's Right to Safety and Protection. -- _ The Ship accordingly departed, and arrived safe in _London_. Will it be permitted me to adduce, on this Occasion, an Instance of the like Honour in a poor unenlightened _African Negroe_. I find it in Capt. _Seagrave_'s Account of his Voyage to _Guinea_. He relates that a _New-England_ Sloop, trading there in 1752, left their second Mate, _William Murray_, sick on Shore, and sailed without him. _Murray_ was at the House of a Black, named _Cudjoe_, with whom he had contracted an Acquaintance during their Trade. He recovered,and the Sloop being gone, he continued with his black Friend, till some other Opportunity should offer of his getting home. In the mean while, a _Dutch_ Ship came into the Road, and some of the Blacks going on board her, were treacherously seized, and carried off as Slaves. Their Relations and Friends, transported with sudden Rage, ran to the House of _Cudjoe_ to take Revenge, by killing _Murray_. _Cudjoe_ stopt them at the Door, and demanded what they wanted? The White Men, said they, have carried away our Brothers and Sons, and we will kill all White Men; -- give us the White Man that you keep in your House, for we will kill him. _Nay,_ said _Cudjoe_; _the White Men that carried away your Brothers are bad Men, kill them when you can catch them; but this White Man is a good Man, and you must not kill him. -- _ But he is a White Man, they cried; the White Men are all bad; we will kill them all. -- _Nay,_ says he, _you must not kill a Man, that has done no Harm, only for being_ _white. This Man is my Friend, my House is his Fort, and I am his Soldier. I must fight for him. You must kill me, before you can kill him. -- What good Man will ever come again under my Roof,if I let my Floor be stained with a good Man's Blood! -- _ The _Negroes_ seeing his Resolution, and being convinced by his Discourse that they were wrong, went away ashamed. In a few Days _Murray_ ventured abroad again with _Cudjoe_, when several of them took him by the Hand, and told him they were glad they had not killed him;for as he was a good (meaning an innocent) Man, _their God would have been angry, and would have spoiled their Fishing. -- _ I relate this, says Captain _Seagrave_, to show, that some among these dark People have a strong Sense of Justice and Honour, and that even the most brutal among them are capable of feeling the Force of Reason, and of being influenced by a Fear of God (if the Knowledge of the true God could be introduced among them) since even the Fear of a false God, when their Rage subsided, was not without its good Effect. Now I am about to mention something of _Indians_, I beg that I may not be understood as framing Apologies for _all Indians_. I am far from desiring to lessen the laudable Spirit of Resentment in my Countrymen against those now at War with us, so far as it is justified by their Perfidy and Inhumanity. -- I would only observe that the _Six Nations_, as a Body, have kept Faith with the _English_ ever since we knew them, now near an Hundred Years; and that the governing Part of those People have had Notions of Honour, whatever may be the Case with the Rum-debauched, Trader-corrupted Vagabonds and Thieves on _Sasquehannah_ and the _Ohio_, at present in Arms against us. -- As a Proof of that Honour, I shall only mention one well-known recent Fact. When six _Catawba_ Deputies, under the Care of Colonel _Bull_, of _Charlestown_, went by Permission into the _Mohawks_ Country, to sue for and treat of Peace for their Nation, they soon found the _Six Nations_ highly exasperated, and the Peace at that Time impracticable: They were therefore in Fear for their own Persons, and apprehended that they should be killed in their Way back to _New-York_; which being made known to the _Mohawk_ Chiefs, by Colonel _Bull_, one of them, by Order of the Council, made this Speech to the _Catawbas_: -- "_Strangers and Enemies,_ "While you are in this Country, blow away all Fear out of your Breasts; change the black Streak of Paint on your Cheek for a red One, and let your Faces shine with Bear's-Grease: You are safer here than if you were at home. The _Six Nations_ will not defile their own Land with the Blood of Men that come unarmed to ask for Peace. We shall send a Guard with you, to see you safe out of our Territories. So far you shall have Peace, but no farther. Get home to your own Country, and there take Care of yourselves, for there we intend to come and kill you." The _Catawbas_ came away unhurt accordingly. It is also well known, that just before the late War broke out, when our Traders first went among the _Piankeshaw Indians_, a Tribe of the _Twightwees_, they found the Principle of _giving Protection to Strangers_ in full Force; for the _French_ coming with their _Indians_ to the _Piankeshaw_ Town, and demanding that those Traders and their Goods should be delivered up; -- the _Piankeshaws_ replied, the _English_ were come there upon their Invitation, and they could not do so base a Thing. But the _French_ insisting on it, the _Piankeshaws_ took Arms in Defence of their Guests, and a Number of them, with their old Chief, lost their Lives in the Cause; the _French_ at last prevailing by superior Force only. I will not dissemble that numberless Stories have been raised and spread abroad, against not only the poor Wretches that are murdered, but also against the Hundred and Forty christianized _Indians_, still threatned to be murdered; all which Stories are well known, by those who know the _Indians_ best, to be pure Inventions, contrived by bad People, either to excite each other to join in the Murder, or since it was committed, to justify it; and believed only by the Weak and Credulous. I call thus publickly on the Makers and Venders of these Accusations to produce their Evidence. Let them satisfy the Public that even _Will Soc_, the most obnoxious of all that Tribe, was really guilty of those Offences against us which they lay to his Charge. But if he was, ought he not to have been fairly tried? He lived under our Laws, and was subject to them; he was in our Hands, and might easily have been prosecuted; was it _English Justice_ to condemn and execute him unheard? Conscious of his own Innocence, he did not endeavour to hide himself when the Door of the Work-house, his Sanctuary, was breaking open; _I will meet them,_ says he, _for they are my Brothers_. These Brothers of his shot him down at the Door, while the Word Brothers was still between his Teeth! -- But if _Will Soc_ was a bad Man, what had poor old _Shehaes_ done? what could he or the other poor old Men and Women do? What had little Boys and Girls done; what could Children of a Year old, Babes at the Breast, what could they do, that they too must be shot and hatcheted? -- Horrid to relate! -- and in their Parents Arms! This is done by no civilized Nation in _Europe_. Do we come to _America_ to learn and practise the Manners of _Barbarians_? But this, _Barbarians_ as they are, they practise against their Enemies only, not against their Friends. -- These poor People have been always our Friends. Their Fathers received ours, when Strangers here, with Kindness and Hospitality. Behold the Return we have made them! -- When we grew more numerous and powerful, they put themselves under our _Protection_. See, in the mangled Corpses of the last Remains of the Tribe, how effectually we have afforded it to them! -- Unhappy People! to have lived in such Times, and by such Neighbours! -- We have seen, that they would have been safer among the ancient _Heathens_, with whom the Rites of Hospitality were _sacred_. -- They would have been considered as _Guests_ of the Publick, and the Religion of the Country would have operated in their Favour. But our Frontier People call themselves _Christians_! -- They would have been safer, if they had submitted to the _Turks_; for ever since _Mahomet_'s Reproof to _Khaled_, even the _cruel Turks_, never kill Prisoners in cold Blood. These were not even Prisoners: -- But what is the Example of _Turks_ to Scripture _Christians_? -- They would have been safer, though they had been taken in actual War against the _Saracens_, if they had once drank Water with them. These were not taken in War against us, and have drank with us, and we with them, for Fourscore Years. -- But shall we compare _Saracens_ to _Christians_? -- They would have been safer among the _Moors_ in _Spain_, though they had been _Murderers of Sons_; if Faith had once been pledged to them, and a Promise of Protection given. But these have had the Faith of the _English_ given to them many Times by the Government, and, in Reliance on that Faith, they lived among us, and gave us the Opportunity of murdering them. -- However, what was honourable in _Moors_, may not be a Rule to us; for we are _Christians_! -- They would have been safer it seems among _Popish Spaniards_, even if Enemies, and delivered into their Hands by a Tempest. These were not Enemies; they were born among us, and yet we have killed them all. -- But shall we imitate _idolatrous Papists_, we that are _enlightened Protestants_? -- They would even have been safer among the _Negroes_ of _Africa_, where at least one manly Soul would have been found, with Sense, Spirit and Humanity enough, to stand in their Defence: -- But shall _Whitemen_ and _Christians_ act like a _Pagan Negroe_? -- In short it appears, that they would have been safe in any Part of the known World, -- except in the Neighbourhood of the CHRISTIAN WHITE SAVAGES of _Peckstang_ and _Donegall_! -- O ye unhappy Perpetrators of this horrid Wickedness! Reflect a Moment on the Mischief ye have done, the Disgrace ye have brought on your Country, on your Religion, and your Bible, on your Families and Children! Think on the Destruction of your captivated Country-folks (now among the wild _Indians_) which probably may follow, in Resentment of your Barbarity! Think on the Wrath of the United _Five Nations_, hitherto our Friends, but now provoked by your murdering one of their Tribes, in Danger of becoming our bitter Enemies. -- Think of the mild and good Government you have so audaciously insulted; the Laws of your King, your Country, and your GOD, that you have broken; the infamous Death that hangs over your Heads: -- For JUSTICE, though slow, will come at last. -- All good People every where detest your Actions. -- You have imbrued your Hands in innocent Blood; how will you make them clean? -- The dying Shrieks and Groans of the Murdered, will often sound in your Ears: Their Spectres will sometimes attend you, and affright even your innocent Children! -- Fly where you will, your Consciences will go with you: -- Talking in your Sleep shall betray you, in the Delirium of a Fever you yourselves shall make your own Wickedness known. One Hundred and Forty peaceable _Indians_ yet remain in this Government. They have, by Christian Missionaries, been brought over to a _Liking_, at least, of our Religion; some of them lately left their Nation which is now at War with us, because they did not chuse to join with them in their Depredations; and to shew their Confidence in us, and to give us an equal Confidence in them, they have brought and put into our Hands their Wives and Children. Others have lived long among us in _Northampton_ County, and most of their Children have been born there. These are all now trembling for their Lives. They have been hurried from Place to Place for Safety, now concealed in Corners, then sent out of the Province, refused a Passage through a neighbouring Colony, and returned, not unkindly perhaps, but disgracefully, on our Hands. O _Pennsylvania_! once renowned for Kindness to Strangers, shall the Clamours of a few mean Niggards about the Expence of this _Publick Hospitality_, an Expence that will not cost the noisy Wretches _Sixpence_ a Piece (and what is the Expence of the poor Maintenance we afford them, compared to the Expence they might occasion if in Arms against us) shall so senseless a Clamour, I say, force you to turn out of your Doors these unhappy Guests, who have offended their own Country-folks by their Affection for you, who,confiding in your Goodness, have put themselves under your Protection? Those whom you have disarmed to satisfy groundless Suspicions, will you leave them exposed to the armed Madmen of your Country? -- Unmanly Men! who are not ashamed to come with Weapons against the Unarmed, to use the Sword against Women, and the Bayonet against young Children; and who have already given such bloody Proofs of their Inhumanity and Cruelty. -- Let us rouze ourselves, for Shame, and redeem the Honour of our Province from the Contempt of its Neighbours; let all good Men join heartily and unanimously in Support of the Laws, and in strengthening the Hands of Government; that JUSTICE may be done, the Wicked punished, and the Innocent protected; otherwise we can, as a People, expect no Blessing from Heaven, there will be no Security for our Persons or Properties; Anarchy and Confusion will prevail over all, and Violence, without Judgment, dispose of every Thing. When I mention the Baseness of the Murderers, in the Use they made of Arms, I cannot, I ought not to forget, the very different Behaviour of _brave Men_ and _true Soldiers_, of which this melancholy Occasion has afforded us fresh Instances. The _Royal Highlanders_ have, in the Course of this War, suffered as much as any other Corps, and have frequently had their Ranks thinn'd by an _Indian_ Enemy; yet they did not for this retain a brutal undistinguishing Resentment against _all Indians_, Friends as well as Foes. But a Company of them happening to be here, when the 140 poor _Indians_ above mentioned were thought in too much Danger to stay longer in the Province, chearfully undertook to protect and escort them to _New-York_, which they executed (as far as that Government would permit the _Indians_ to come) with Fidelity and Honour; and their Captain _Robinson_, is justly applauded and honoured by all sensible and good People, for the Care, Tenderness and Humanity, with which he treated those unhappy Fugitives, during their March in this severe Season. General _Gage_, too, has approved of his Officer's Conduct, and, as I hear, ordered him to remain with the _Indians_ at _Amboy_, and continue his Protection to them, till another Body of the King's Forces could be sent to relieve his Company, and escort their Charge back in Safety to _Philadelphia_, where his Excellency has had the Goodness to direct those Forces to remain for some Time,under the Orders of our Governor, for the Security of the _Indians_; the Troops of this Province being at present necessarily posted on the Frontier. Such just and generous Actions endear the Military to the Civil Power, and impress the Minds of all the Discerning with a still greater Respect for our national Government. -- I shall conclude with observing, that _Cowards_ can handle Arms, can strike where they are sure to meet with no Return, can wound, mangle and murder; but it belongs to _brave_ Men to spare, and to protect; for, as the Poet says, ------ _Mercy still sways the Brave_. Philadelphia, 1764 _The Duke of York's Travels_ _To the Printer of the_ Public Advertiser. SIR, I have observed all the News-papers have of late taken great Liberties with a noble Personage nearly allied to his Majesty. They have one Day made him Commander of a Fleet in the Mediterranean; again in the Channel; then to hoist his Flag on board a Yatcht, and go on a grand Commission to Copenhagen; then to take a Tour to Brunswick, and so parade all over Germany to our unsatisfied Ally the King of Prussia; then he is said to commence Admiral again, and go with a large Fleet to America; first for a little Amusement to go a Cod Fishing with Monsieurs, and then to range the Continent, and I suppose they mean to go a Wood-hunting with the Cherokee Kings; these are the Peregrinations, Mr. Woodfall, that our noble Duke is to be sent upon; but indeed I am much surprised in all their high-flown Schemes they have never thought of sending him with a grand Squadron to East India up the Ganges to call upon the Nabob, and then advance and pay a Visit to the Great Mogul, and afterwards sail for China, and go up to see the Grandeur of the Court of Pekin: This would have been a fine Subject to have enlarged upon, and they might have thrown in how many sumptuous Barges were building to be sent on board the Squadron to be put together in India, and advance up the River with the utmost Magnificence. If these Hints will be any ways instructive to the News-writers, I shall be happy to have pleased so useful a Body of Men in this great City; and am Mr. Woodfall's most humble Servant, _Pimlico, May_ 10. The SPECTATOR. _The Public Advertiser_, May 15, 1765 _The Grand Leap of the Whale_ _To the Printer of the_ Public Advertiser. SIR, In your Paper of Wednesday last, an ingenious Correspondent that calls himself _the_ SPECTATOR, and dates from _Pimlico_, under the Guise of Good-Will to the News-Writers, whom he allows to be "an useful Body of Men in this great City," has, in my Opinion artfully attempted to turn them and their Works into Ridicule; wherein, if he could succeed, great Injury might be done to the Public, as well as to those good People. Supposing, Sir, that the _We hears_ they give us of this and t'other intended Voyage, or Tour of this and t'other great Personage, were mere Inventions, yet they at least afford us an innocent Amusement while we read, and useful Matter of Conversation when we are disposed to converse. Englishmen, Sir, are too apt to be silent when they have nothing to say; too apt to be sullen when they are silent, and when they are sullen to h -- g themselves. But by these _We Hears_ we are supplied with abundant Fund of Discourse: We discuss the Motives to such Voyages, the Probability of their being undertaken, and the Practicability of their Execution. Here we can display our Judgment in Politics, our Knowledge of the Interests of Princes, and our Skill in Geography; and (if we have it) shew our Dexterity moreover in Argumentation. In the mean time, the tedious Hours is killed; we go home pleased with the Applauses we have received from others, or at least with those we secretly give to ourselves; we sleep soundly, and live on, to the Comfort of our Families. But, Sir, I beg leave to say, that all the Articles of News, that seem improbable, are not mere Inventions. Some of them, I can assure you on the Faith of a Traveller, are serious Truths. And here, quitting Mr. Spectator of Pimlico, give me Leave to instance the various numberless Accounts the News-Writers have given us (with so much honest Zeal for the Welfare of Poor Old England!) of the establishing Manufactures in the Colonies to the Prejudice of those of this Kingdom. It is objected by superficial Readers, who yet pretend to some Knowledge of those Countries, that such Establishments are not only improbable but impossible; for that their Sheep have but little Wool, not in the whole sufficient for a Pair of Stockings a Year to each Inhabitants; and that, from the universal Dearness of Labour among them, the working of Iron and other Materials, except in some few coarse Instances, is impracticable to any Advantage. Dear Sir, do not let us suffer ourselves to be amused with such groundless Objections. The very Tails of the American Sheep are so laden with Wool, that each has a Car or Waggon on four little Wheels to support and keep it from trailing on the Ground. Would they caulk their Ships? would they fill their Beds? would they even litter their Horses with Wool, if it was not both plenty and cheap? And what signifies Dearness of Labour, where an English Shilling passes for Five-and-twenty? Their engaging three hundred Silk Throwsters here in one Week for New York was treated as a Fable, because, forsooth, they have "no Silk there to throw." Those who made this Objection perhaps did not know, that at the same Time the Agents from the King of Spain were at Quebec contracting for 1000 Pieces of Cannon to be made there for the Fortifications of Mexico, with 25,000 Axes for their industrious Logwood-Cutters; and at New-York engaging an annual Supply of warm Floor-Carpets for their West-India Houses; other Agents from the Emperor of China were at Boston in New-England treating about an Exchange of Raw-Silk for Wool, to be carried on in Chinese Jonks through the Straits of Magellan. And yet all this is as certainly true as the Account, said to be from Quebec, in the Papers of last Week, that the Inhabitants of Canada are making Preparations for a Cod and Whale Fishery this Summer in the Upper Lakes. Ignorant People may object that the Upper Lakes are fresh, and that Cod and Whale are Salt-water Fish: But let them know, Sir, that Cod, like other Fish, when attacked by their Enemies, fly into any Water where they think they can be safest; that Whales, when they have a Mind to eat Cod, pursue them wherever they fly; and that the grand Leap of the Whale in that Chace up the Fall of Niagara is esteemed by all who have seen it, as one of the finest Spectacles in Nature! -- Really, Sir, the World is grown too incredulous: Pendulum-like, it is ever swinging from one Extream to another. Formerly every Thing printed was believed, because it was in Print: Now Things seem to be disbelieved for just the very same Reason. Wise Men wonder at the present Growth of Infidelity! They should have consider'd, when they taught People to doubt the Authority of News-papers, and the Truth of Predictions in Almanacs, that the next Step might be a Disbelief in the well-vouch'd Accounts of Ghosts and Witches, and Doubts even of the Truth of the A ------ n Creed. Thus much I thought it necessary to say in favour of an honest Set of Writers, whose comfortable Living depends on collecting and supplying the Printers with News, at the small Price of Six-pence an Article; and who always show their Regard to Truth, by contradicting such as are wrong in a subsequent Article -- for another Six-pence, to the great Satisfaction and Improvement of us Coffee-house Students in History and Politics, and the infinite Advantage of all future Livies, Rapins, Robertsons, Humes, Smollets, and Macaulays, who may be sincerely inclin'd to furnish the World with that _rara Avis_, a true History. I am, SIR, Your humble Servant, A TRAVELLER. _The Public Advertiser_, May 22, 1765 _Invectives Against the Americans_ To the PRINTER. I would fain know what good purpose can be answered, by the frequent invectives published in your and other papers against the Americans. Do these small writers hope to provoke the nation by their oratory, to embrue its hands in the blood of its, perhaps mistaken children? And if this should be done, do they imagine it could be of any advantage to this country? Do they expect to convince the Americans, and reduce them to submission, by their flimsey arguments of _virtual representation_, and of _Englishmen by fiction of law only_, mixed with insolence, contempt and abuse? Can it be supposed that such treatment will make them rest satisfied with the unlimited claim set up, of a power to tax them _ad libitum_, without their consent; while they are to work only for us, and our profit; restrained in their foreign trade by our laws, however profitable it might be to them; forbidden to manufacture their own produce, and obliged to purchase the work of our artificers at our own prices? Is this the state we wish to keep them in? And can it be thought such writings (which are unfortunately reprinted in all _their_ papers) will induce them to bear it with greater patience, and during a longer period of time? The gentle terms of _republican race_, _mixed rabble of Scotch_, _Irish and foreign vagabonds_, _descendants of convicts_, _ungrateful rebels_, &c. are some of the sweet flowers of English rhetorick, with which our colonists have of late been regaled. Surely, if we are so much their superiors, we should shew the superiority of our breeding by our better manners! Our slaves they may be thought: But every master of slaves ought to know, that though all the slave possesses is the property of the master, his _goodwill_ is his own, he bestows it where he pleases; and it is of _some importance_ to the master's _profit_, if he can obtain that _good-will_ at the cheap rate of a few kind words, with fair and gentle usage. These people, however, are not, never were, nor ever will be our slaves. The first settlers of New England particularly, were English gentlemen of fortune, who, being Puritans, left this country with their families and followers, in times of persecution, for the sake of enjoying, though in a wilderness, the blessings of civil and religious liberty; of which they retain to this day, as high a sense as any Briton whatsoever; and possess as much virtue, humanity, civility, and, let me add, _loyalty to their Prince_, as is to be found among the like number of people in any part of the world; and the other colonies merit and maintain the same character. They should then be treated with _decency_ and with _candour._ Your correspondent VINDEX PATRIAE, who is indeed more of a reasoner than a railer, has nevertheless thought fit to assert, that "their refusing submission to the stamp act, proceeds _only_ from their _ambition_ of becoming _independent_; and that it is plain the colonies have no other aim but a _total enfranchisement_ from obedience to our Parliament." These are strong charges; but the proofs of such ambitious and rebellious views no where appear in his paper. He has, however, condescended to give us his proofs of another point, viz. "That the colonies have no tenderness for their mother country;" (and of course I suppose, the mother country is to have none for them.) "The sugar, teas, and other commodities, says he, which they daily buy from St. Eustatia and Monte Christi, in particular, are too _convincing proofs_, that they have _no tenderness_ for their mother country." May one ask this profound writer; are sugar and teas the produce of the mother country? does not she herself buy her teas from strangers? were the north americans to buy all the sugars they consume, even of our own Islands, would not that raise the price of such sugars upon us here in England? is not then their buying them of Foreigners, if it proves any thing, a Proof rather of their tenderness for their mother country? but the grocerly argument of tea and sugar, is not inferior to the lawyerly argument with which he demonstrates, that, "by a _fiction_ between us and the colonists, Connecticut is in England, and therefore represented in the British parliament." I am afraid the common Americans will be as much at a loss as I am, to understand what he means by his _estoppers_, and his _averments_, and therefore not in the least convinced by his demonstration. They will only find out upon the whole, that he is not their friend; and perhaps conclude from that and his learning in the law, that he is one of their _virtual representatives_ by _fiction_ in P -- t: I hope, however, to see prudent measures taken by our rulers, such as may heal and not widen our breaches. The Americans, I am sure, for I know them, have not the least desire of independence; they submit, in general, to all the laws we make for them; they desire only a continuance of what they think a _right_, the privilege of manifesting their loyalty by granting their own money, when the occasions of their prince shall call for it. This right they say they have always enjoyed and exercised, and never misused; and they think it wrong that any body of men whatever, should claim a power of giving what is not their own, and make to themselves a merit with the sovereign and their own constituents, by granting away the property of others who have no representatives in that body, and therefore make no part of the _common consent in parliament_, by which alone, according to _magna charta_ and the _petition of right_, taxes can be legally laid upon the subject. These are their notions. They may be errors; 'tis a part of our common constitution perhaps not hitherto sufficiently considered. 'Tis fit for the discussion of wise and learned men, who will, I doubt not, settle it wisely and benevolently. Cowardice and cruelty are indeed almost inseparable companions, and none are more ready to propose sending out fleets and armies, and to expose friends and foes to one common carnage, than such pusilanimous men as would tremble at a sword drawn in their presence tho' with the most peaceable Intention. But Britons, as a people, are equally brave and generous; prodigal of their blood and treasure where there are just calls for its expence; and by no means niggards of those rights, liberties and privileges, that make the subjects of Britain the envy and admiration of the universe. N. N. _The Gazetteer and New Daily Advertiser_, December 28, 1765 _The Mother Country_ A SONG We have an old Mother that peevish is grown, She snubs us like Children that scarce walk alone; She forgets we're grown up and have Sense of our own; _Which nobody can deny, deny, Which no body can deny._ If we don't obey Orders, whatever the Case; She frowns, and she chides, and she loses all Patience, and sometimes she hits us a Slap in the Face, _Which nobody can deny,_ &c. Her Orders so odd are, we often suspect That Age has impaired her sound Intellect: But still an old Mother should have due Respect, _Which nobody can deny,_ &c. Let's bear with her Humours as well as we can: But why should we bear the Abuse of her Man? When Servants make Mischief, they earn the Rattan, _Which nobody should deny,_ &c. Know too, ye bad Neighbours, who aim to divide The Sons from the Mother, that still she's our Pride; And if ye attack her we're all of her side, _Which nobody can deny,_ &c. We'll join in her Lawsuits, to baffle all those, Who, to get what she has, will be often her Foes: For we know it must all be our own, when she goes, _Which nobody can deny, deny, Which nobody can deny._ c. 1765 _On the Prospects of War in America_ _To the Printer of the_ Public Advertiser. SIR, PACIFICUS, in your Paper of Friday last, tells us, that the Inhabitants of New England are "descended from the Stiff-Rumps in Oliver's Time;" and he accounts for their being "so tenacious of what they call their Rights and Liberties," from the "independent Principles handed down to them by their Forefathers, and that Spirit of Contradiction, which, he says, is the distinguishing Characteristic of Fanaticism." But it seems the Inhabitants of Virginia and Maryland, who are descended from the Royalists of the Church of England, driven hence by those very Oliverian Stiff-Rumps, and never tinctured with Fanaticism, are, in the present Case as stiff-rump'd as the others, and even led the Way in asserting what "they call their Rights." So that his Hypothesis of Fanaticism appears insufficient to account for the Opposition universally given to the Stamp-Act in America; and I fancy the Gentleman thought so himself, as he mends it a little after, by lumping all the Americans under the general Character of "House-breakers and Felons." Supposing them such, his Proposal of "vacating all their Charters, taking away the Power of their Assemblies, and sending an armed Force among them, to reduce them all to a military Government, in which the Order of a commanding Officer is to be their Law," will certainly be a very _justifiable_ Measure. I have only some Doubts as to the Expediency of it, and the Facility of carrying it into Execution. For I apprehend 'tis not unlikely they may set their Rumps more stiffly against this Method of Government, than ever they did against that by Act of Parliament. But, on second Thoughts, I conceive it may possibly do very well: For though there should be, as 'tis said there are, at least 250,000 fighting Men among them, many of whom have lately seen Service; yet, as one Englishman is to be sure as good as five Americans, I suppose it will not require Armies of above 50,000 Men in the whole, sent over to the different Parts of that extensive Continent, for reducing them; and that a three or four Years Civil War, at perhaps a less Expence than ten or twelve Millions a Year, Transports and Carriages included, will be sufficient to compleat _Pacificus_'s Pacification, notwithstanding any Disturbance our restless Enemies in Europe might think fit to give us while engaged in this necessary Work. I mention three or four Years only; for I can never believe the Americans will be able to spin it out to seventy, as the Hollanders did the War for their Liberties against Spain, how much soever it may be found the Interest of our own numerous Commissaries, Contractors, and Officers afraid of Half Pay, to continue and protract it. It may be objected, that by ruining the Colonies, killing one half the People, and driving the rest over the Mountains, we may deprive ourselves of their Custom for our Manufactures: But a Moment's Consideration will satisfy us, that since we have lost so much of our European Trade, it can only be the Demand in America that keeps up, and has of late so greatly enhanced the Price of those Manufactures, and therefore a Stop put to that Demand will be an Advantage to us all, as we may thereafter buy our own Goods cheaper for our own Use at home. I can think of but one Objection more, which is, that Multitudes of our Poor may starve for want of Employment. But our wise Laws have provided a Remedy for that. The Rich are to maintain them. I am, SIR, Your humble Servant, PACIFICUS SECUNDUS. _The Public Advertiser_, January 2, 1766 _"Homespun" Celebrates Indian Corn_ To the PRINTER. VINDEX PATRIAE, a writer in your paper, comforts himself, and the India Company, with the fancy, that the Americans, should they resolve to drink no more tea, can by no means keep that resolution, their Indian corn not affording "an agreeable, or easy digestible breakfast." Pray let me, an American, inform the gentleman, who seems quite ignorant of the matter, that Indian corn, take it for _all in all_, is one of the most agreeable and wholesome grains in the world; that its green ears roasted are a delicacy beyond expression; that _samp_, _hominy_, _succatash_, and _nokehock_, made of it, are so many pleasing varieties; and that a _johny_, or _hoe-cake_, hot from the fire, is better than a Yorkshire muffin -- But if Indian corn were as _disagreeable_ and _indigestible_ as the Stamp Act, does he imagine we can get nothing else for breakfast? -- Did he never hear that we have oatmeal in plenty, for water-gruel or burgoo; as good wheat, rye, and barley as the world affords, to make frumenty; or toast and ale; that there is every where plenty of milk, butter, and cheese; that rice is one of our staple commodities; that for tea, we have sage and bawm in our gardens, the young leaves of the sweet white hickery or walnut, and, above all, the buds of our pine, infinitely preferable to any tea from the Indies; while the islands yield us plenty of coffee and chocolate? -- Let the gentleman do us the honour of a visit in America, and I will engage to breakfast him every day in the month with a fresh variety, without offering him either tea or Indian corn. -- As to the Americans using no more of the former, I am not sure they will take such a resolution; but if they do, I fancy they will not lightly break it. I question whether the army proposed to be sent among them, would oblige them to swallow a drop more of tea than they chuse to swallow; for, as the proverb says, though one man may _lead_ a horse to the water, ten can't _make him drink_. Their resolutions have hitherto been pretty steadily kept. They resolved to wear no more mourning; -- and it is now totally out of fashion with near two millions of people; and yet nobody sighs for Norwich crapes, or any other of the expensive, flimsey, rotten, black stuffs and cloths you used to send us for that purpose, with the frippery gauses, loves, ribbands, gloves, &c. thereunto belonging. -- They resolved last spring to eat no more lamb; and not a joint of lamb has since been seen on any of their tables, throughout a country of 1500 miles extent, but the sweet little creatures are all alive to this day, with the prettiest fleeces on their backs imaginable. Mr. VINDEX's very civil letter will, I dare say, be printed in all our provincial news papers, from Nova Scotia to Georgia; and together with the other _kind_, _polite_, and _humane_ epistles of your correspondents PACIFICUS, TOM HINT, &c. &c. contribute not a little to strengthen us in every resolution that may be of advantage, to _our_ country at least, if not to _yours_. HOMESPUN. _The Gazetteer and New Daily Advertiser_, January 2, 1766 _On the Paving of Chancery Lane_ To the PRINTER. By an advertisement in your paper of Wednesday last, I find, "the inhabitants of Chancery-lane are desired to meet at the Crown and Rolls, to consider about new paving the said street." I hope and pray they may not agree to it. _Chancery lane_ is in every respect so like a _Chancery suit_; it is so very _long_ a lane, so subject to _obstructions_ and _delays_, one is so _unwilling_ to enter into it, so _uneasy_ and _unsafe_ all the while one is going through it, and so _glad_ to get out of it, that the very reflection on this similarity has often, to my great advantage, deterred me from law, and inclined me rather to end a dispute by arbitration. I therefore wish to see the lane continued in its present state (even after all the rest of the city shall be new paved) as a standing _memento_ that may be beneficial to my fellow citizens. F. B. _The Gazetteer and New Daily Advertiser_, January 4, 1766 _On the Tenure of the Manor of East Greenwich_ To the PRINTER. I did not think to have given you any farther trouble, having already exprest my sentiments pretty fully, on the _impropriety_ and _imprudence_ of angry reflections on the Americans in the public papers, as more than half the trade of this country is with them; and that trade depends greatly on the regard they have for us, and in consequence for our fashions and fineries, which are by no means necessary to their subsistence; the Northern colonies having among themselves the natural means of furnishing, by a little additional industry, every convenience and ornament of life; and to that industry I apprehended a resentment of harsh and contemptuous treatment might naturally provoke them. But I cannot take leave of my antagonist VINDEX PATRIAE, without a few remarks on his letter of Friday last. All the mad proceedings of the mobs in America, however disapproved of by the sober and prudent part of the inhabitants, are charged to the account of the country in general, and the people are all involved in one common accusation. He remembers that your papers have informed us of the riots at Boston, but forgets that they likewise informed us, some of the rioters were apprehended and imprisoned, in order to be brought to justice; and that the body of the people detested these violences. It is true, they universally deem the stamp act an infringement of their rights, but then their assemblies have taken no violent measures to oppose it; they have only entered into resolutions among themselves, declaring their sense of these rights; and joined, as we are well assured, in dutiful petitions to the King and Parliament here, that the act may be repealed, and those rights preserved to them. Can more be expected from any subjects, how loyal soever, that think themselves aggrieved? -- Is it right to abuse all England as rebellious, because it has sometimes mobs of weavers, coal-diggers, &c.? Candour then should distinguish in this case fairly, between the proceedings of the assemblies there, and the actions of mobs; the latter are _certainly_ wrong, the former _may_ be so; but if they are, it is a mistaken judgment only of what they think their right; -- of this mistake they may possibly be convinced by reason; -- but I still doubt the argument of your correspondent, proving, or attempting to prove, "that they are represented in parliament, because the manor of East Greenwich in Kent is represented there, and they all live in that manor;" will hardly appear so intelligible, so clear, so satisfactory, and so convincing to the Americans, as it seems it does to himself. I own it does not appear so to me; and that my plain understanding, unaccustomed to the subtile refinements of law, cannot easily conceive, that in the King's grants of territory in America to the colonists, the words, "to be holden of us, our heirs and successors, as _of_ the manor of East Greenwich, in our county of Kent, in free and common soccage, and not _in capite_, or by knight's service;" do truly imply, that the lands so granted really lie _in_ East Greenwich. I should rather have thought those words meant only to express, that the tenure should be of the _same kind_ with that of the manor of East Greenwich. The countries held by this tenure, Sir, are perhaps as big as all Europe; and East Greenwich, in the county of Kent, in England, is at most but of a few miles circumference. I have read that the whale swallowed Jonah; and as that is in Holy Writ, to be sure I ought to believe it. But if I were told, that, in fact, it was Jonah that swallowed the whale, I fancy I could myself as easily swallow the whale as the story. If _"New England lies within England,"_ as your correspondent would have the New England men beleive, and particularly in the manor of East Greenwich, a few questions must thence naturally arise, to which his law knowledge will probably furnish ready answers. As, What have these inhabitants of East Greenwich in Kent done, that they, more than any other inhabitants of Kent, should be curbed in their manufactures and commerce? Why are they restrained in making hats of their own beaver, nail rods and steel of their own iron, and cloth of their own wool? Why may not ships from East Greenwich carry its commodities to any part of Europe, and thence bring back others in exchange, with the same freedom that ships may go from any other part of Kent, or of England? And since it is agreed, that by our constitution, the King can raise no money _in England_ but by act of parliament, how has it come to pass, that in consequence of requisitions from the crown, large sums have been raised for its service on these inhabitants of East Greenwich, in the county of Kent, _unauthorized by any such act_, particularly between three and four millions during the last war? And if this money was illegally taken, whether it ought not to be refunded, and the ministers impeached that advised the measure? These seem questions of some importance, and may possibly admit of satisfactory answers; but to that end I doubt it will be found necessary, that these new inhabitants of East Greenwich in Kent, planted there by your correspondent, should be all sent back, and replaced in their native America. In considering of these questions, perhaps it may be of use to recollect; that the colonies were planted in times when the powers of parliament were not supposed so extensive, as they are become since the Revolution: -- That they were planted in lands and countries where the parliament had not then the least jurisdiction: -- That, excepting the yet infant colonies of Georgia and Nova Scotia, _none of them_ were settled at the expence of _any money_ granted by parliament: -- That the people went from hence by permission from the crown, purchased or conquered the territory, at the expence of their own private treasure and blood: -- That these territories thus became _new_ dominions _of the crown_, settled under royal charters, that formed their several governments and constitutions, on which the parliament was _never consulted_; or had the _least participation_. -- The people there have had, from the beginning, like Ireland, their separate parliaments, called modestly assemblies: by these chiefly our Kings have governed them. How far, and in what particulars, they are _subordinate_ and _subject_ to the British parliament; or whether they may not, if the King pleases, be governed as _domains of the crown_, without that parliament, are points newly agitated, never yet, but probably soon will be, thoroughly considered and settled. Different opinions are now entertained concerning them; and till such settlement is made by due authority, it is not criminal to think differently. Therefore, I wish the American opinion may, in the mean time, be treated with less acrimony. As to VINDEX's accusation of the Americans, "that they run into their country divers commodities of the manufacture of France, to the _ruin_ of Great Britain;" I fancy, they will be apt to answer, _Look at home_; -- and perhaps it will be found, that in this ruinous trade, the rest of the people of Kent, are not a whit behind-hand with the inhabitants of East Greenwich. _Jan_. 6, 1766. N. N. _The Gazetteer and New Daily Advertiser_, January 11, 1766 _"Two Taylors"_ To the PRINTER. TOM HINT's virulence against the people of New York, has been in some sort accounted for by himself, in one of his former letters. It seems, tho' he lived several years in that country, they never extended to him any of that civility they generally shew to strangers. He now tells us, in your paper of Saturday, by way of fresh abuse on that _whole people_, that "he admires their wonderful sagacity in distinguishing the _gentleman_ from the _scoundrel_; for in serious truth, it would be a difficult matter for an _old-country_ man to make that distinction among _them_, after living with them for many years." This will excuse my remarking, that it appears this _old-country_ man has little of that sagacity himself, and, from the difficulty he supposed in making _such distinction_, might naturally conceive an opinion when he arrived there, that he should be able easily to pass upon those ignorant _new-country_ men, as a _gentleman_. The event, it seems, did not answer his expectations; and hence he _had reason_ to admire _their_ sagacity, but still continues to be angry at its consequences. -- It puts me in mind of a short story, which, in return for his scraps of plays, I will take the liberty of telling him. Two journeymen _Snips_, during the season of little business, agreed to make a trip to Paris, with each a fine lac'd waistcoat, in which they promised themselves the great pleasure of being received and treated as _gentlemen_. On the road from Calais, at every inn, when they called for any thing hastily, they were answered, _Tout a l'heure, Tout a l'heure_; which not a little surprized them. At length, D -- these French scoundrels, says one, how _shrewd_ they are! I find it won't do; -- e'en let us go back again to London. -- Aye, says 'tother, they must certainly deal with the devil, or, dress'd as we are dress'd, they could not possibly all at first sight have known us to be _two taylors_. F. B. _The Gazetteer and New Daily Advertiser_, January 14, 1766 _"Homespun's" Further Defense of Indian Corn_ To the PRINTER. JOHN BULL shews in nothing more his great veneration for good eating, and how much he is always thinking of his belly, than in his making it the constant topic of his contempt for other nations, that _they do not eat so well as himself_. The _roast beef of Old England_ he is always exulting in, as if no other country had beef to roast; -- reproaching, on every occasion, the _Welsh_ with their leeks and toasted cheese, the _Irish_ with their potatoes, and the _Scotch_ with their oatmeal. And now that we are a little out of favour with him, he has begun, by his attorney VINDEX PATRIAE, to examine our eating and drinking, in order, I apprehend, to fix some horrible scandal of the same kind upon us poor _Americans_. I did but say a word or two in favour of _Indian corn_, which he had treated as "disagreable and indigestible," and this vindictive gentleman grows angry. "Let him tell the world, IF HE DARES (says he) that the Americans prefer it to a place at their own tables." Ah, Sir, I see the dilemma you have prepared for me. If I should not _dare_ to say, that we do prefer it to a place at our tables, then you demonstrate, that we must come to England for tea, or go without our breakfasts: and if I do _dare_ to say it, you fix upon me and my countrymen for ever, the indelible disgrace of being _Indian corn-eaters_. I am afraid, Mr. Printer, that you will think this too trifling a dispute to deserve a place in your paper: but pray, good Sir, consider, as you are yourself an Englishman, that we Americans, who are allowed even by Mr. VINDEX to have some English blood in our veins, may think it a very serious thing to have the honour of our eating impeached in any particular whatsoever. "Why doth he not deny the fact (says VINDEX) that it is assigned to the slaves for their food? To proclaim the _wholesomeness_ of this corn, without assigning a reason why white men give it to their slaves, when they can get other food, is only satirizing the good sense of their brethren in America." In truth I cannot deny the fact, though it should reflect ever so much on the _good sense_ of my countrymen. I own we do give food made of Indian corn to our slaves, as well as eat it ourselves; not, as you suppose, because it is "_indigestible_ and _unwholesome_;" but because it keeps them healthy, strong and hearty, and fit to go through all the labour we require of them. Our slaves, Sir, cost us money, and we buy them to make money by their labour. If they are sick, they are not only unprofitable, but expensive. Where then was your _English good sense_, when you imagined we gave the slaves our Indian corn, because we knew it to be _unwholesome_? In short, this is only another of Mr. VINDEX's paradoxes, in which he is a great dealer. The first endeavoured to persuade us, that we were represented in the British Parliament _virtually_, and by _fiction_: -- Then that we were _really_ represented there, because the Manor of East Greenwich in Kent is represented there, and all the Americans live in East Greenwich. And now he undertakes to prove to us, that taxes are the most profitable things in the world to those that pay them; for that Scotland is grown rich since the Union, by paying English taxes. I wish he would accommodate himself a little better to our dull capacities. We Americans have a great many heavy taxes of our own, to support our several governments, and pay off the enormous debt contracted by the war; we never conceived ourselves the richer for paying taxes, and are willing to leave all new ones to those that like them. At least, if we must with Scotland, participate in your taxes, let us likewise, with Scotland, participate in the Union, and in all the privileges and advantages of commerce that accompanied it. VINDEX, however, will never consent to this. He has made us partakers in all the odium with which he thinks fit to load Scotland: -- "They resemble the Scots in sentiments (says he) their religion is Scottish; their customs and _laws_ are Scottish; like the Scotch they Judaically observe what _they call_ the Sabbath, persecute old women for witches, are intolerant to other sects, &c." But we must not, like the Scots, be admitted into Parliament; for that, he thinks, would increase "the Scotch interest in England, which is equally hostile to the cause of liberty, and the cause of our church." Pray, Sir, who informed you that our "_laws_ are Scottish?" The same, I suppose, that told you our Indian corn is unwholesome. Indeed, Sir, your information is very imperfect. The common law of England, is, I assure you, the common law of the colonies: and if the civil law is what you mean by the Scottish law, we have none of it but what is forced upon us by England, in its courts of Admiralty, depriving us of that inestimable part of the common law, trials by juries. And do you look upon keeping the _Sabbath_, as part of the Scottish law? "The Americans, like the Scots, (you say,) observe what _they call_ the Sabbath." Pray, Sir, you who are so zealous for your church (in abusing other Christians) what _do you call_ it? and where the harm of their _observing_ it? If you look into your prayer-book, or over your altars, you will find these words written, _Remember to keep holy the_ SABBATH _Day_. This law, tho' it may be observed in Scotland, and has been _countenanced_ by some of your statutes, is, Sir, originally one of _God's Commandments_: a body of laws still in force in America, tho' they may have become _obsolete_ in _some other_ countries. Give me leave, Master JOHN BULL, to remind you, that you are _related to all mankind_; and therefore it less becomes you than any body, to affront and abuse other nations. But you have mixed with your many virtues, a pride, a haughtiness, and an insolent contempt for all but yourself, that, I am afraid, will, if not abated, procure you one day or other a handsome drubbing. Besides your rudeness to foreigners, you are far from being civil even to your own family. The Welch you have always despised for submitting to your government: But why despise your own English, who conquered and settled Ireland for you; who conquered and settled America for you? Yet these you now think you may treat as you please, because, forsooth, they are a _conquered_ people. Why dispise the Scotch, who fight and die for you all over the world? Remember, you courted Scotland for one hundred years, and would fain have had your _wicked will_ of her. She virtuously resisted all your importunities, but at length kindly consented to become your lawful wife. You then solemnly promised to _love_, _cherish_, and _honour_ her, as long as you both should live; and yet you have ever since treated her with the utmost contumely, which you now begin to extend to your common children. But, pray, when your enemies are uniting in a _Family Compact_ against you, can it be discreet in you to kick up in your own house a _Family Quarrel_? And at the very time you are inviting foreigners to settle on your lands, and when you have more to settle than ever you had before, is it prudent to suffer your lawyer, VINDEX, to abuse those who have settled there already, because they cannot yet speak "Plain English?" -- It is my opinion, Master BULL, that the Scotch and Irish, as well as the colonists, are capable of speaking much _plainer English_ than they have ever yet spoke, but which I hope they will never be provoked to speak. To be brief, Mr. VINDEX, I pass over your other accusations of the Americans, and of the Scotch, that we "Persecute old women for witches, and are intolerant to other sects," observing only, that we were wise enough to leave off both those foolish tricks, long before Old England made the act of toleration, or repealed the statute against witchcraft; so that even _you yourself_ may safely travel through all Scotland and the Colonies, without the least danger of being persecuted as a churchman, or taken (up) for a conjurer. And yet I own myself so far of an intolerant spirit, that though I thank you for the box-in-the-ear you have given TOM HINT, as being, what you justly call him, "a futile calumniator," I cannot but wish he would give you another -- for the same reason. One word more, however, about the _Indian corn_, which I began and must end with, even though I should hazard your remarking, that it is certainly "indigestible," as it plainly appears to _stick in my stomach_. "Let him tell the world, IF HE DARES, (you say) that the Americans prefer it to a place at their tables." -- And, pray, if I should DARE, -- what then? -- Why then -- "You will enter upon a discussion of its salubrity and pleasant taste." -- Really? -- Would you venture to write on the salubrity and _pleasant taste_ of Indian corn, when you never in your life have tasted a _single grain_ of it? -- But why should that hinder your writing on it? Have you not written even on _politics_? Your's, HOMESPUN. _The Gazetteer and New Daily Advertiser_, January 15, 1766 _Pax Quaeritur Bello_ _To the Printer of the_ Public Advertiser. _Pax quaeritur Bello._ SIR, The very important Controversy being next Tuesday to be finally determined between the Mother Country and their rebellious American Children, I shall think myself happy if I can furnish any Hints that may be of public Utility. There are some Persons besides the Americans so amazingly stupid, as to distinguish in this Dispute between _Power_ and _Right_, as tho' the former did not always imply the latter. The Right of Conquest invests the Conqueror with Authority to establish what Laws he pleases, however contrary to the Laws of Nature, and the common Rights of Mankind. Examine every Form of Government at this Day subsisting on the Face of the Globe, from the absolute Despotism of the Grand Sultan to the Democratic Government of the City of Geneva, and it will be found that the Exertion of Power in those Hands with whom it is lodged, however unconstitutional, is always justified. The Reign of the _Stuarts_ might serve to exemplify this Observation. Happy it was for the Nation that, upon Trial, the superior Power was found to be in the People. The American Plea of _Right_, their Appeal to Magna Charta, must of course be set aside; and I make no Doubt but the Grand Council of the Nation will at all Hazards insist upon an absolute Submission to the Tax imposed upon them. But that they will comply without coercive Measures, is to me a Matter of very great Doubt: For when we consider, that these People, especially the more Northern Colonies, are the Descendants of your Pymms, Hampdens, and others of the like Stamp, those outrageous Assertors of Civil and Religious Liberties; that they have been nursed up in the same Old English Principles; that a little more than a Century ago their Forefathers, many of them of Family and Fortune, left their native Land, and endured all the Distresses and Hardships which are the necessary Consequences of an Establishment in a new uncultivated Country, surrounded with a cruel Blood-thirsty Enemy, oftentimes severely pinched with Cold and Hunger; and all this to enjoy unmolested that Liberty which they thought was infringed: I say, however these People may be mistaken, they will not tamely give up what they call their natural, their constitutional Rights. Force must therefore be made use of. Now in order to bring these People to a proper Temper, I have a Plan to propose, which I think cannot fail, and which will be entirely consistent with the Oeconomy at present so much in Vogue. It is so cheap a Way of going to work, that even Mr. G ------ G ------, that great Oeconomist, could have no reasonable Objection to it. Let Directions be given, that Two Thousand Highlanders be immediately raised, under proper Officers of their own. It ought to be no Objection, that they were in the Rebellion in Forty-five: If Roman Catholics, the better. The C ------ l at present in the P ------ ze Service may be at their Head. Transport them early in the Spring to Quebec: There with the Canadians, natural Enemies to our Colonists, who would voluntarily engage, might make a Body of Five or Six Thousand Men; and I doubt not, by artful Management, and the Value of two or three Thousand Pounds in Presents, with the Hopes of Plunder, as likewise a Gratuity for every Scalp, the Savages on the Frontiers might be engaged to join, at least they would make a Diversion, which could not fail of being useful. I could point out a very proper General to command the Expedition; he is of a very sanguine Disposition, and has an inordinate Thirst for Fame, and besides has the Hearts of the Canadians. He might march from Canada, cross the Lakes, and fall upon these People without their expecting or being prepared for him, and with very little Difficulty over-run the whole Country. The Business might be done without employing any of the Regular Troops quartered in the Country, and I think it would be best they should remain neuter, as it is to be feared they would be rather backward in embruing their Hands in the Blood of their Brethren and Fellow Subjects. I would propose, that all the Capitals of the several Provinces should be burnt to the Ground, and that they cut the Throats of all the Inhabitants, Men, Women, and Children, and scalp them, to serve as an Example; that all the Shipping should be destroyed, which will effectually prevent Smuggling, and save the Expence of Guarda Costas. No Man in his Wits, after such terrible Military Execution, will refuse to purchase stamp'd Paper. If any one should hesitate, five or six Hundred Lashes in a cold frosty Morning would soon bring him to Reason. If the Massacre should be objected to, as it would too much depopulate the Country, it may be replied, that the Interruption this Method would occasion to Commerce, would cause so many Bankruptcies, such Numbers of Manufacturers and Labourers would be unemployed, that, together with the Felons from our Gaols, we should soon be enabled to transport such Numbers to repeople the Colonies, as to make up for any Deficiency which Example made it necessary to sacrifice for the Public Good. Great Britain might then reign over a loyal and submissive People, and be morally certain, that no Act of Parliament would ever after be disputed. Your's, _Jan_. 23, 1766. PACIFICUS. _The Public Advertiser_, January 26, 1766 _On Chastising the Colonies_ _To the_ PRINTER. A Certain Judge, at an Assize, declared it from the Bench, as his Opinion, that every man had a _legal_ right to chastise his wife, if she was stubborn and obstinate; but then he observed, that his right ought to be exercised with great lenity and moderation. It seems our Lawyers are of opinion, that England has an indisputable right to correct her refractory children of North America. But then, as the Judge observed, it ought to be done with temper and moderation; lest, like an unskilful Surgeon, we should _exasperate_ and _inflame_ the wound we ought to _mollify_. It is an old maxim, but not the less true, that it is much easier to _lead_ than to _drive_. If the Duke d'Alva had treated the people of the Netherlands with gentleness and humanity, they would never have revolted. Thank God, we have no Duke d'Alva in England. The Great Commoner is, at least in the present instance, a _Friend to Peace_, and for _healing measures_: So are the late King's _old and faithful servants_. The same Apostle who says, _Children, obey your Parents_; says also, _Fathers, provoke not your Children to wrath_. PACIFICUS. _The London Chronicle_, February 13, 1766 _The Frenchman and the Poker_ _To the_ PRINTER. It is reported, I know not with what Foundation, that there is an Intention of obliging the Americans to pay for all the Stamps they ought to have used, between the Commencement of the Act, and the Day on which the Repeal takes Place, _viz._ from the first of November 1765, to the first of _May_ 1766; that this is to make Part of an Act, which is to give Validity to the Writings and Law Proceedings, that contrary to Law have been executed without Stamps, and is to be the Condition on which they are to receive that Validity. Shall we then keep up for a Trifle the Heats and Animosities that have been occasioned by the Stamp-Act? and lose all the Benefit of Harmony and good Understanding between the different Parts of the Empire, which were expected from a generous total Repeal? Is this Pittance likely to be a Whit more easily collected than the whole Duty? Where are Officers to be found who will undertake to collect it? Who is to protect them while they are about it? In my Opinion, it will meet with the same Opposition, and be attended with the same Mischiefs that would have attended an Enforcement of the Act entire. But I hear, that this is thought necessary, to raise a Fund for defraying the Expence that has been incurred by stamping so much Paper and Parchment for the Use of America, which they have refused to take and turn'd upon our Hands; and that since they are highly favour'd by the Repeal, they cannot with any Face of Decency refuse to make good the Charges we have been at on their Account. The whole Proceeding would put one in Mind of the Frenchman that used to accost English and other Strangers on the _Pont-Neuf_, with many Compliments, and a red hot Iron in his Hand; _Pray Monsieur Anglois,_ says he, _Do me the Favour to let me have the Honour of thrusting this hot Iron into your Backside?_ Zoons, what does the Fellow mean! Begone with your Iron, or I'll break your Head! _Nay, Monsieur,_ replies he, _if you do not chuse it, I do not insist upon it. But at least, you will in Justice have the Goodness to pay me something for the heating of my Iron_. F. B. February-March, 1766; reprinted in _The Pennsylvania Chronicle_, March 23, 1767 _A Mock Petition to the House of Commons_ To the honourable the Knights Citizens and Burgesses of Great Britain in Parliament assembled, The Petition of BF. Agent for the Province of Pensilvania, Most humbly Sheweth, That the Transporting of Felons from England to the Plantations in America, is and hath long been a great Grievance to the said Plantations in general. That the said Felons being landed in America, not only continue their evil Practices, to the Annoyance of his Majesty's good Subjects there, but contribute greatly to corrupt the Morals of the Servants and poorer People among whom they are mixed. That many of the said Felons escape from the Servitude to which they were destined, into other Colonies, where their Condition is not known and wandering at large from one populous Town to another commit many Burglaries Robberies and Murders, to the great Terror of the People, and occasioning heavy Charges for the apprehending and securing such Felons, and bringing them to Justice. That your Petitioner humbly conceives the Easing one Part of the British Dominions of their Felons by burthening another Part with the same Felons, cannot increase the common Happiness of his Majesty's Subjects; and that therefore the Trouble and Expence of transporting them is upon the whole altogether useless. That your Petitioner nevertheless observes with extream Concern, in the Votes of Friday last, that Leave is given to bring in a Bill, for extending to Scotland the Act made in the 4th. Year of the Reign of King George the First, whereby the aforesaid Grievances are (as he understands) to be greatly increas'd by allowing Scotland also to transport its Felons to America. Your Petitioner therefore humbly prays, in behalf of Pensilvania and the other Plantations in America that the House wou'd take the Premisses into Consideration, and in their great Wisdom and Goodness repeal all Acts and Clauses of Acts for Transporting of Felons; or if this may not at present be done, that they would at least reject the propos'd Bill for extending of the said Acts to Scotland; or, if it be thought fit to allow of such Extension, that then the said Extension may be carried farther, and the Plantations be also by an equitable Clause in the same Bill permitted to transport their Felons to Scotland. And your Petitioner, as in Duty bound shall pray, &c. April 12-15, 1766 _Contempt for the Thames_ _To the Printer of the_ Public Advertiser. SIR, I am an American Gentleman, and as yet not entirely acquainted with the Customs of my dear Mother Country, and therefore apply to the Public for Information what to do as a Redress of a Grievance I lately met with. Being fond of the Water, I took a Pair of Oars at Westminster Bridge to go to the Temple, thinking to save Ground, but to my great Surprise the Waterman landed me two thirds across the River at the End of what he called a Causeway, and called that landing me at the Temple, taking Sixpence for his Fare. Now, Sir, what vexed me was, that I had near as far to walk to get to the natural Shore as if I had walked all the Way. At first I thought of applying to the Benchers of the Temple; but I remember an old Friend of mine, Mr. Gulliver, a great Traveller, told me that the Lawyers of this Country understood nothing else but Law; in other Respects they were of no real Use to Mankind. I then thought it my Duty to wait upon the Trinity House, or the City Conservators, to know why I was not properly landed according to Agreement, but was advised to apply to the Public. We Americans have the same Contempt for the Thames as the Inhabitants of Gravesend have for Fleet Ditch, and much wonder that as the Thames is so mean a River, any Causeways, Shoals, or accumulated Points should be suffered, as the Preservation of the City entirely depends upon it's Navigation. I am, Sir, Your humble Servant, AMERICANUS. _The Public Advertiser_, August 22, 1766 _On the Price of Corn, and Management of the Poor_ _For the_ LONDON CHRONICLE. _To Messieurs the_ PUBLIC _and_ CO. I am one of that class of people that feeds you all, and at present is abus'd by you all; -- in short I am a _Farmer_. By your News-papers we are told, that God had sent a very short harvest to some other countries of Europe. I thought this might be in favour to Old England; and that now we should get a good price for our grain, which would bring in millions among us, and make us flow in money, that to be sure is scarce enough. But the wisdom of Government forbad the exportation. Well, says I, then we must be content with the market price at home. No, says my Lords the mob, you sha'n't have that. Bring your corn to market if you dare; -- we'll sell it for you, for less money, or take it for nothing. Being thus attack'd by both ends _of the Constitution_, the head and the tail _of Government_, what am I to do? Must I keep my corn in barn to feed and increase the breed of rats? -- be it so; -- they cannot be less thankful than those I have been used to feed. Are we Farmers the only people to be grudged the profits of honest labour? -- And why? -- One of the late scribblers against us gives a bill of fare of the provisions at my daughter's wedding, and proclaims to all the world that we had the insolence to eat beef and pudding! -- Has he never read that precept in the good book, _Thou shalt not muzzle the mouth of the ox that treadeth out the corn_; or does he think us less worthy of good living than our oxen? O, but the Manufacturers! the Manufacturers! they are to be favour'd, and they must have bread at a cheap rate! Hark-ye, Mr. Oaf; -- The Farmers live splendidly, you say. And pray, would you have them hoard the money they get? -- Their fine cloaths and furniture, do they make them themselves, or for one another, and so keep the money among them? Or do they employ these your darling Manufacturers, and so scatter it again all over the nation? My wool would produce me a better price if it were suffer'd to go to foreign markets. But that, Messieurs the Public, your laws will not permit. It must be kept all at home, that our _dear_ Manufacturers may have it the cheaper. And then, having yourselves thus lessened our encouragement for raising sheep, you curse us for the scarcity of mutton! I have heard my grandfather say, that the Farmers submitted to the prohibition on the exportation of wool, being made to expect and believe, that when the Manufacturer bought his wool cheaper, they should have their cloth cheaper. But the deuce a bit. It has been growing dearer and dearer from that day to this. How so? why truly the cloth is exported; and that keeps up the price. Now if it be a good principle, that the exportation of a commodity is to be restrain'd, that so our own people at home may have it the cheaper, stick to that principle, and go thorough stitch with it. Prohibit the exportation of your cloth, your leather and shoes, your iron ware, and your manufactures of all sorts, to make them all cheaper at home. And cheap enough they will be, I'll warrant you -- till people leave off making them. Some folks seem to think they ought never to be easy, till _England_ becomes another _Lubberland_, where 'tis fancied the streets are paved with penny rolls, the houses tiled with pancakes, and chickens ready roasted cry, come eat me. I say, when you are sure you have got a good principle, stick to it, and carry it thorough. -- I hear 'tis said, that though it was _necessary and right_ for the M ------ y to advise a prohibition of the exportation of corn, yet it was _contrary to law_: And also, that though it was _contrary to law_ for the mob to obstruct the waggons, yet it was _necessary and right_. -- Just the same thing, to a tittle. Now they tell me, an act of indemnity ought to pass in favour of the M ------ y, to secure them from the consequences of having acted illegally. -- If so, pass another in favour of the mob. Others say, some of the mob ought to be hanged, by way of example. -- If so, ------ but I say no more than I have said before, _when you are sure that you have got a good principle, go thorough with it_. You say, poor labourers cannot afford to buy bread at a high price, unless they had higher wages. -- Possibly. -- But how shall we Farmers be able to afford our labourers higher wages, if you will not allow us to get, when we might have it, a higher price for our corn? By all I can learn, we should at least have had a guinea a quarter more if the exportation had been allowed. And this money England would have got from foreigners. But, it seems, we Farmers must take so much less, that the poor may have it so much cheaper. This operates then as a tax for the maintenance of the poor. -- A very good thing, you will say. But I ask, Why a partial tax? Why laid on us Farmers only? -- If it be a good thing, pray, Messrs. the Public, take your share of it, by indemnifying us a little out of your public treasury. In doing a good thing there is both honour and pleasure; -- you are welcome to your part of both. For my own part, I am not so well satisfied of the goodness of this thing. I am for doing good to the poor, but I differ in opinion of the means. -- I think the best way of doing good to the poor, is not making them easy _in_ poverty, but leading or driving them _out_ of it. In my youth I travelled much, and I observed in different countries, that the more public provisions were made for the poor, the less they provided for themselves, and of course became poorer. And, on the contrary, the less was done for them, the more they did for themselves, and became richer. There is no country in the world where so many provisions are established for them; so many hospitals to receive them when they are sick or lame, founded and maintained by voluntary charities; so many alms-houses for the aged of both sexes, together with a solemn general law made by the rich to subject their estates to a heavy tax for the support of the poor. Under all these obligations, are our poor modest, humble, and thankful; and do they use their best endeavours to maintain themselves, and lighten our shoulders of this burthen? -- On the contrary, I affirm that there is no country in the world in which the poor are more idle, dissolute, drunken, and insolent. The day you passed that act, you took away from before their eyes the greatest of all inducements to industry, frugality, and sobriety, by giving them a dependance on somewhat else than a careful accumulation during youth and health, for support in age or sickness. In short, you offered a premium for the encouragement of idleness, and you should not now wonder that it has had its effect in the increase of poverty. Repeal that law, and you will soon see a change in their manners. St. _Monday_, and St. _Tuesday_, will cease to be holidays. SIX _days shalt thou labour_, though one of the old commandments long treated as out of date, will again be looked upon as a respectable precept; industry will increase, and with it plenty among the lower people; their circumstances will mend, and more will be done for their happiness by inuring them to provide for themselves, than could be done by dividing all your estates among them. Excuse me, Messrs. the Public, if upon this _interesting_ subject, I put you to the trouble of reading a little of _my_ nonsense. I am sure I have lately read a great deal of _yours_; and therefore from you (at least from those of you who are writers) I deserve a little indulgence. I am, your's, &c. ARATOR. _The London Chronicle_, November 29, 1766 _The Misrepresentation of America_ _To the_ PRINTER _of the_ LONDON CHRONICLE. SIR, As the _bare letter_ of a Governor of one of our provinces, accusing his People of rebellious _intentions_, is by many here thought sufficient ground for inflicting penalties on such province, _unheard,_ without _farther evidence_, and without knowing what it may have to say in its justification: I wish you would give the Public the following Extract of a Letter, in which, Accusations of the Colonies from Officers of Government residing there, are set in a light _very different_ from that they have usually been considered in. -- It was written here at the time of our last year's disputes, by one who had lived long in America, knew the people and their affairs extremely well -- and was equally well acquainted with the temper and practices of government officers. Speaking of the opinion entertained in Britain of the Americans, he says, "Much has been said of a _virtual representation_, which the colonies are supposed to have here. Of that I understand nothing. But I know what kind of _actual representation_, or rather _misrepresentation_, is continually made of them, by those from whom ministers chiefly have their information. Governors and other officers of the crown, even the little officers of the revenue sent from hence, have all at times some account to give of their own loyal and faithful conduct, with which they mix some contrary character of the people that tends to place that conduct in a more advantageous light. Every good thing done there in the assemblies, for promoting his Majesty's service, was obtained by the Governor's influence: He proposed, he urged strongly, he managed parties; -- there was a great opposition; -- the assembly were refractory and disaffected; -- but his zeal and dexterity overcame all difficulties. And if thro' his own imprudence, or real want of capacity, any thing goes wrong; he is never in fault; the assembly and the people are to bear all the blame; -- they are factious, they are turbulent, disloyal, impatient of government, disrespectful to his _Majesty's Representative_. -- Then the Custom-house Officer represents the people as all inclined to _smuggling_. Dutch and French goods (by his account) swarm in the country; nothing else would be used if it were not for his _extream vigilance_; which, indeed, as it takes up all his time, he hopes will be considered in the allowance of a _larger salary_. -- Even the Missionary Clergy, to whom all credit is due, cannot forbear acquainting the Bishops, and their other superiors here from whom they receive their stipends, that they are indeed very diligent in their respective missions; but that they meet with great difficulties from the adverse disposition of the people: -- Quakers oppose them in one place, Presbyterians in another: -- _this_ country swarms with thwarting hereticks; _t'other_ with malevolent sectaries: -- Infidelity gains ground _here_, Popery is countenanced _there._ Their unwearied endeavours, which are never wanting, scarce suffice to prevent the colonists being overwhelmed with vice, irreligion, ignorance, and error! -- Then the Military Officer, who has served in the colonies, represents them as _abounding in wealth_; the profuse tables they used to spread for him in their hospitable entertainments convinced him of it; for these he saw daily when he din'd from house to house, and therefore he had reason to imagine it was their common way of living; (though in truth that was extreamly different and much more suitable to their circumstances.) But, opulent as he supposes them, they must, in his opinion, be the meanest of mortals to grudge the payment of a trifling tax, especially as it is to maintain soldiers. Thus REPRESENTED, how can it be otherwise, but that the governing people in Britain should conceive the most unfavourable idea of Americans, as unworthy the name of Englishmen, and fit only to be snubb'd, curb'd, shackled and plundered." This seems a very natural, and I believe is a very true account of the matter. I am, Sir, yours, &c. F. B. _The London Chronicle_, April 9, 1767 _Reply to Coffee-House Orators_ _To the_ PRINTER _of the_ LONDON CHRONICLE. _Cinque gran nemici da pace, habitano con esso noi; civa l'avaritia, l'ambitione, l'invidia, l'ira, & la superbia: se detti inimici si mandassero in esilio, regenerebbe senza dubio tra noi pace perpetua_. PETRARCH. Athens had her orators. They did her sometimes a great deal of good, at other times a great deal of harm; the latter particularly when they prevailed in advising the Sicilian war, under the burthen and losses of which war that flourishing state sunk, and never again recovered itself. To the haranguers of the populace among the ancients, succeed among the moderns your writers of political pamphlets and news-papers, and your coffee-house talkers. It is remarkable that soldiers by profession, men truly and unquestionably brave, seldom advise war but in cases of extream necessity. While mere rhetoricians, tongue-pads and scribes, timid by nature, or from their little bodily exercise deficient in those spirits that give real courage, are ever bawling for war on the most trifling occasions, and seem the most blood-thirsty of mankind. At this present juncture, when we have scarce had time to breathe, after a war the most general and the most expensive both of blood and treasure Europe was ever involv'd in, we have three sets of orators, who are labouring, by exasperating us against our friends to engage us in three new wars, viz. a war with Portugal, a war with Holland, and a war with our own colonies. As to the two first of these wars, I shall not dispute the prudence or the justice of them. I suppose no Englishman can doubt, that if the Hollanders did our grandfathers an injury 150 years ago, whatever friendship there has been between us since, we may, whenever we think fit, revenge it; and that if the Portuguese buy cloth cheaper of the French than they can of us, we have a right to drub them till they are willing to give us the preference. Allowing then that we are strong enough to beat both Holland and Portugal, cause or no cause, with all the friends and allies they can both muster, and all the enemies such a conduct may draw upon our hands, and that the Dutch too will probably lend us money enough to pay the expence, I would only humbly submit it to consideration whether there may not be some small convenience in being the mean while at peace with ourselves, and finding some other way of settling matters between our late ministers and colonists than cutting of throats. Every step is now taking to enrage us against _America_. Pamphlets and news-papers flie about, and coffee-houses ring with lying reports of its being in rebellion. Force is call'd for. Fleets and troops should be sent. Those already there should be called in from the distant posts, and quartered on the capital towns. The principal people should be brought here and hang'd, &c. -- And why? Why! -- Do you ask why? Yes. I beg leave to ask why? Why they are going to throw off the government of _this country_, and set up for themselves. Pray how does that appear? Why, are they not all in arms? No. They are all in peace. Have they not refused to make the compensation to the sufferers by the late riots, that was requir'd of them by government here? No. They have made ample satisfaction. Which, by the way, has not been done here to the sufferers by your own riots. Have they not burnt the custom-house? No. That story is an absolute invented lie, without the least foundation. Have they not refus'd to comply with an act of parliament for quartering of troops? And have they not sent a petition to government for taking off the restraint on their trade, and so to overthrow the navigation-act? Allowing that the assembly of _one_ colony, New York, has refus'd to comply with that act, and that some merchants of that one colony have dared to petition, and that refusing and petitioning are high treason; are _five and twenty_ colonies to be punished for the crime of _one_? But let us consider cooly the nature of this act, of this refusal, and of this petition. The act was a production of the same administration that made the stamp-act, and was probably intended to facilitate the awing the colonies into a submission to it. For that purpose there was in the bill, when first brought in, a clause to impower the officers of the army to quarter soldiers on private houses in America. This clause being strongly oppos'd, was omitted; and the act only requir'd the hiring of empty houses, barns, &c. for the troops, where they were to be furnish'd with firing, candles, bedding, utensils to dress victuals, five pints of small beer or cyder, or half a pint of rum per man per diem, and some other articles, without paying any thing for the same, but the expence to be borne by the province. There is no other way to raise money in a province, but by the assembly's making an act or law for that purpose. This is therefore to be considered as a law made here, directing that the assembly in America should make another law. The propriety of this proceeding has by some been doubted, they having been of opinion that an assembly is a kind of little parliament in America, not an _executive_ officer of government, and as such oblig'd to obey and execute orders; that it is in its nature a _deliberative_ body; its members are to consider such matters as come before them; and when a law is proposed, they are to weigh well its utility, necessity, propriety, possibility or practicability, and determine on the whole according to their judgments. If they were oblig'd to make laws right or wrong in obedience to a law made by a superior legislature, they would be of no use as a parliament, their nature would be changed, their constitution destroyed. Indeed the act of parliament itself seems sensible of this; -- for in other acts where a duty is enjoin'd to be perform'd by any person, it has always been usual to appoint a penalty on neglect or refusal, and direct the mode of recovering or inflicting that penalty. But nothing of this kind is, or indeed well could be, in this act of parliament, with respect to what is required of the assemblies. It was therefore look'd upon in America merely as a requisition, which the assemblies were to consider, and comply with or decline, in the whole or in part, as it might happen to suit the different circumstances and abilities of different colonies. Accordingly Pensylvania, where but few troops generally are, comply'd readily with the whole. But New York, thro' which all the troops usually pass and repass between Britain and the French conquests, conceiv'd the burthen of the whole would be too great for them, and therefore comply'd only with a part of the requisition, and in an address to their governor gave their reasons couch'd in the most decent and respectful terms. To many persons, indeed, the principle of the act seems wrong. It is hard, say they, to assign a good reason why soldiers should, in any part of the King's dominions, be furnished with any thing for nothing. There is always a pay-master with them. Why should they not pay for all they have? 'Tis otherwise a partial burthen on the places where they happen to be, and therefore unjust. In Britain this burthen is only thrown on inn-keepers, and may be considered as a tax on that employment, which they however can exonerate themselves of, by higher bills on their customers, and so spread the tax more equally. But one colony that happens to be so opprest, has no means of laying part of their burthen on another colony, that from its situation is generally exempted. Our coffee-house orators, however, would have it declared, that this refusal of full compliance with the act, is REBELLION, and to be punished accordingly. A rare proceeding this would be, to make a law requiring something to be done that is new, not expressing what the offence shall be of refusing to comply with it, or what the punishment; and after the offence is committed, then to name the one, and declare the other! The first instance, I believe, of this kind, in legislation; and would look not so much like making of _laws_, as making of _traps_ for the subject. This is, besides, a new kind of _Rebellion._ It used to be thought that Rebellion consisted in _doing_ something; but this is a Rebellion that consists in _not doing_ something, or in doing nothing. If every man who neglects or refuses to comply with an act of parliament is a rebel, I am afraid we have many more rebels among us than we were aware: Among others, they that have not registered the weight of their plate, and paid the duty, are all rebels; and these, I think, are not a few: To whom may be added the acting rebels that wear French silks and cambricks. As to the petition mentioned above, it is, I have been informed, from a number of private persons, Merchants of New York, stating their opinion, that several restraints in the Acts of Trade laid on the Commerce of the Colonies, are not only prejudicial to the Colonies, but to the Mother Country. They give their reasons for this opinion. Those reasons are to be judg'd of here. If they are found to be good and well supported by facts, one would think that instead of censure those Merchants might deserve thanks. If otherwise, the petition may be laid aside. Petitioning is not rebellion. The very nature of a petition acknowledges the power it petitions to, and the subjection of the petitioner. But, in party views, molehills are often magnify'd to mountains. And when the wolf is determined on a quarrel with the lamb, up stream or down stream 'tis all one; pretences are easily found or made, reason and justice are out of the question. _A Friend to both Countries_. _The London Chronicle_, April 9, 1767 _Right, Wrong, and Reasonable_ To the PRINTER of the GAZETTEER. The East India contest, that necessarily took up so much of your paper, being now abated, I hope you will find room for the following answer to the paper intitled, _Right, Wrong,_ and _Reasonable, according to American Ideas_, inserted in the Gazetteers of March 5, and 9. I flatter myself that the impartiality of your readers will concur with yours, in liking to see something on the _other side_ of the question, in every attack made upon the Colonies. N. N. RIGHT, WRONG, and REASONABLE, with regard to America, according to the ideas of the Gentle Shepherd, and the genuine meaning of the papers and pamphlets lately published by him and his associates. RIGHT. It is _right_, O ye Americans, when we discourage the importation of those raw materials from foreign countries that we can have from you, and do it for this _sole reason_, that foreigners drain us of our money for those articles, while you take only our manufactures, yet we should charge this upon you as a _favour_, for which you are under the _greatest obligations._ Secondly, It is _right_, O ye Americans! that when knowing the dearness of labour in your country, we do, to enable you to furnish us with those commodities, and take our manufactures in return, give you a better price than we did use to give to foreigners, which we can well afford, considering the saving of money to our nation, the profit on our manufactures, and the encreased demand for them: We are, nevertheless, to call this by the name of _Bounty_, the better to express our _Goodness_ to you, and the more clearly to intimate the _great obligation_ you are under for such Goodness; and also to make manifest the _ungratefulness_ of your tempers, if you do not, in return for such Bounty, take upon yourselves some _burden_ ten hundred times greater than the Bounty amounts to. Thirdly, It is _right_, O ye Americans! that we, having called all these regulations in commerce by the name of "Indulgences and Favours," and considered them as "Privileges" granted to you, do also, whenever you point out to us the regulations of the same nature, that may be equally advantageous to us, call the advice you give, "Clamour for more and greater Indulgences, Favours and Privileges." And it is farther _right_, O ye Americans! though it is well known you clubbed man for man with us in the American war, and fought side by side with us in extending by conquest the whale, and other fisheries, that you should not conceive yourselves equally intitled to the use of them with other British subjects; but the share allowed you is to be considered as flowing from the mere Grace and Favour of the Gentle Shepherd. And tho' the permitting you to carry rice to foreign markets, directly without the burthensome, useless expence, and loss of time occasioned by coming out of your way to land and re-ship it here, has enabled you to make greater remittances to Britain, and purchase greater quantities of our manufactures, yet if experience in this case prompts you to hint the advantage it would be to us to extend the permission to some other articles, it is _right_ in us to charge you with Ingratitude, and to tell you that you would never have been so unreasonable, if we had not repealed the "cooly deliberated, well digested," and wonderfully useful measure of the Gentle Shepherd, called his Stamp-act. Fourthly, Though it is a certain truth that we went to war with the French in America, merely on a dispute between the two Crowns, concerning the bounds of wilderness lands, belonging to no American, and to secure the Indian trade carried on there with our manufactures, and therefore solely an interest of ours; and though you yourselves told us "you were in no danger from the French, for that you were near twenty to one," yet it is _right_, O ye Americans! for us to declare we went there for _your defence_, at _your request_, and charge you with all the millions spent in that war, giving you no credit for the millions you spent in maintaining a number of troops equal to ours, and yet our taking the whole territory conquered, which is now daily granting in large tracts, to the gentlemen of this country, while we allow, in a case precisely the same, that the acquisitions made by the East India Company, with our assistance, are their own indubitable property. Fifthly, It is _right_, O ye Americans! for us to charge you with _dreaming_ that you have it in your power to make us a bankrupt nation, by engaging us in new wars; with _dreaming_ that you may thereby encrease your own strength and prosperity; with _dreaming_ that the seat of government will then be transported to America, and Britain dwindle to one of its provinces. And, because Joseph's brethren hated him for a dream he _really_ dreamed, we, for a dream you never _dreamed_, and which we only _dream_ you _dreamed_, are to hate you most cordially. WRONG. First, From the above state of the case, It is _wrong_, O ye Americans! for you to expect hereafter, any protection or countenance from us, in return for the loyalty and zeal you manifested, and the blood and treasure you have expended in our cause during that war; or that we will make any acts of parliament relating to you, from the time we, the Gentle Shepherd, and his flock, get into power, "but such as are calculated for impoverishing you and enriching us." Secondly, It is _wrong_, O ye Americans! for you to imagine, that we will henceforth give you a preference to foreigners, in purchasing raw materials from you, because "forsooth, you stupidly give the preference to all the modes and manufactures" of Britain, and consume all your labour in the superfluities of this country. And, when you have foolishly run in our debt for them, it is _wrong_ in you to hint to us any new regulation of trade, by which you may be better enabled to pay us. And though you have not, and never had any mines of gold and silver in your country, yet it is _wrong_ in you to complain when we restrain your trade with foreign money-countries, by which you used to procure cash for us, when we even hinder your using paper-money among yourselves, that enabled you to spare your cash to us, and when dry, as we have drawn you, we want to squeeze blood out of you by new taxes, in the laying of which you have no participation. Thirdly, It is _wrong_, O ye Americans, "to expect a reciprocation of good offices between us and you; for our standing maxim is, that you exist only for our sakes. We know no other end of colonization but this; nor will we acknowledge any other connection or relation between us and you," than those between a master and his slaves. Your lords we are, and slaves we deem ye, or intend to make ye. "But the dear ties of that relation we will acknowledge and maintain" as long as we can, and, if possible, after you "are tired of them." Thus much as to the Gentle Shepherdian Ideas of _Right_ and _Wrong_. We shall now shew their notions of what is _Reasonable_. BRITISH IDEAS of what is REASONABLE in American affairs, according to the genuine meaning of some late pamphlets, &c. These principles of _right_ and _wrong_ being established, It is _reasonable_, O ye Americans! that we should oblige you to bring your coarse sugars to England to be refined, and carry them back again when refined, that so you may pay two freights and two insurances, to no other purpose than wasting a shilling that we may get a groat. "Otherwise you will grow able to pay your debts." 2. It is _reasonable_, O ye Americans! that when one of your ways of raising money to pay for our manufactures, is by cutting logwood, with immense labour, in the unwholesome swamps of Honduras, and selling to foreigners what the demand here cannot take off, remitting hither the nett proceeds, yet you should be obliged first to bring the same into some British port, land, and re-ship it, at so great an expence, with the loss of time, and hindrance of voyage, as to devour all the profits; "otherwise we cannot keep you so poor, but that you will pay your debts." 3. It is _reasonable_, O ye Americans! that when, for the produce of your lands, you have obtained wines, at Madeira, and have paid the duty on importing them into America, you shall, nevertheless, when you send them to England, by way of remittance, pay the full duty here, without any drawback of what you have already paid; "otherwise you may, in that way, pay some of your debts." 4. It is _reasonable_, O ye Americans! that though you fought bravely, in conjunction with us, to obtain and secure the fisheries of Newfoundland and Labrador, yet you shall not enjoy a freedom of fishing there in common with other British subjects, or even the freedom allowed by the peace, to our enemies. And though, by your situation, you can carry on the fishery at less expence than the French, and, of course, could undersell them in the Spanish, Portuguese, and Italian markets, and remit the money from thence to Britain, for manufactures, yet we are not to permit this, but chusing rather to fight against nature, will contend with the French ourselves, who are sure, in this article, to outdo us -- "otherwise you might pay your debts." 5. It is _reasonable_ for us, O ye Americans! to send customhouse officers over to you, of our own chusing, with starving salaries, that lay them under the temptation, and almost under the necessity of conniving at smugglers, or sharing their profit, and then to charge you with their want of conscince or neglect of duty. And though there is scarce a family in Britain honest enough to refuse purchasing smuggled cambricks, India goods, French silks, lace, brandies, &c. _if a pennyworth_, we are, nevertheless, to esteem it the greatest of crimes in you, to smuggle even the necessaries of life. For, if you buy any thing you want, cheaper of others than we can sell it to you, "we are afraid you will, by lessening your expences, be enabled to pay your debts." 6. It is _reasonable_ for us, O ye Americans! tho' we know the fond preference you give to the manufactures of your mother-country is so great, that a piece of French cloth, or silk, was _never worn_ among you, but even when taken in prizes, has been sent away to the French islands, as unsaleable with you, yet, to make you odious here, draw severities upon you, and wean that affection you have for this country, which is so advantageous to our commerce, we are to charge you with a fondness for French manufactures, _without the least foundation of truth_. In fine, It is _reasonable_ for us to deprive you even of the common privilege of Englishmen, trials by Juries: to restrain, by every means, your procuring money from foreigners, to refuse you even the use of paper money, whereby you might better spare your cash to us, and, after all, to "wonder that you do not pay your debts." _The Gazetteer and New Daily Advertiser_, April 18, 1767 _Of Lightning, and the Method (Now Used in America) of Securing Buildings and Persons from Its Mischievous Effects_ Experiments made in electricity first gave philosophers a suspicion that the matter of lightning was the same with the electric matter. Experiments afterwards made on lightning obtained from the clouds by pointed rods, received into bottles, and subjected to every trial, have since proved this suspicion to be perfectly well founded; and that whatever properties we find in electricity, are also the properties of lightning. This matter of lightning, or of electricity, is an extream subtile fluid, penetrating other bodies, and subsisting in them, equally diffused. When by any operation of art or nature, there happens to be a greater proportion of this fluid in one body than in another, the body which has most, will communicate to that which has least, till the proportion becomes equal; provided the distance between them be not too great; or, if it is too great, till there be proper conductors to convey it from one to the other. If the communication be through the air without any conductor, a bright light is seen between the bodies, and a sound is heard. In our small experiments we call this light and sound the electric spark and snap; but in the great operations of nature, the light is what we call _lightning_, and the sound (produced at the same time, tho' generally arriving later at our ears than the light does to our eyes) is, with its echoes, called _thunder_. If the communication of this fluid is by a conductor, it may be without either light or sound, the subtle fluid passing in the substance of the conductor. If the conductor be good and of sufficient bigness, the fluid passes through it without hurting it. If otherwise, it is damaged or destroyed. All metals, and water, are good conductors. -- Other bodies may become conductors by having some quantity of water in them, as wood, and other materials used in building, but not having much water in them, they are not good conductors, and therefore are often damaged in the operation. Glass, wax, silk, wool, hair, feathers, and even wood, perfectly dry are non-conductors: that is, they resist instead of facilitating the passage of this subtle fluid. When this fluid has an opportunity of passing through two conductors, one good, and sufficient, as of metal, the other not so good, it passes in the best, and will follow it in any direction. The distance at which a body charged with this fluid will discharge itself suddenly, striking through the air into another body that is not charged, or not so highly charg'd, is different according to the quantity of the fluid, the dimensions and form of the bodies themselves, and the state of the air between them. -- This distance, whatever it happens to be between any two bodies, is called their _striking distance_, as till they come within that distance of each other, no stroke will be made. The clouds have often more of this fluid in proportion than the earth; in which case as soon as they come near enough (that is, within the striking distance) or meet with a conductor, the fluid quits them and strikes into the earth. A cloud fully charged with this fluid, if so high as to be beyond the striking distance from the earth, passes quietly without making noise or giving light; unless it meets with other clouds that have less. Tall trees, and lofty buildings, as the towers and spires of churches, become sometimes conductors between the clouds and the earth; but not being good ones, that is, not conveying the fluid freely, they are often damaged. Buildings that have their roofs covered with lead, or other metal, and spouts of metal continued from the roof into the ground to carry off the water, are never hurt by lightning, as whenever it falls on such a building, it passes in the metals and not in the walls. When other buildings happen to be within the striking distance from such clouds, the fluid passes in the walls whether of wood, brick or stone, quitting the walls only when it can find better conductors near them, as metal rods, bolts, and hinges of windows or doors, gilding on wainscot, or frames of pictures; the silvering on the backs of looking-glasses; the wires for bells; and the bodies of animals, as containing watry fluids. And in passing thro' the house it follows the direction of these conductors, taking as many in it's way as can assist it in its passage, whether in a strait or crooked line, leaping from one to the other, if not far distant from each other, only rending the wall in the spaces where these partial good conductors are too distant from each other. An iron rod being placed on the outside of a building, from the highest part continued down into the moist earth, in any direction strait or crooked, following the form of the roof or other parts of the building, will receive the lightning at its upper end, attracting it so as to prevent its striking any other part; and, affording it a good conveyance into the earth, will prevent its damaging any part of the building. A small quantity of metal is found able to conduct a great quantity of this fluid. A wire no bigger than a goose quill, has been known to conduct (with safety to the building as far as the wire was continued) a quantity of lightning that did prodigious damage both above and below it; and probably larger rods are not necessary, tho' it is common in America, to make them of half an inch, some of three quarters, or an inch diameter. The rod may be fastened to the wall, chimney, &c. with staples of iron. -- The lightning will not leave the rod (a good conductor) to pass into the wall (a bad conductor), through those staples. -- It would rather, if any were in the wall, pass out of it into the rod to get more readily by that conductor into the earth. If the building be very large and extensive, two or more rods may be placed at different parts, for greater security. Small ragged parts of clouds suspended in the air between the great body of clouds and the earth (like leaf gold in electrical experiments), often serve as partial conductors for the lightning, which proceeds from one of them to another, and by their help comes within the striking distance to the earth or a building. It therefore strikes through those conductors a building that would otherwise be out of the striking distance. Long sharp points communicating with the earth, and presented to such parts of clouds, drawing silently from them the fluid they are charged with, they are then attracted to the cloud, and may leave the distance so great as to be beyond the reach of striking. It is therefore that we elevate the upper end of the rod six or eight feet above the highest part of the building, tapering it gradually to a fine sharp point, which is gilt to prevent its rusting. Thus the pointed rod either prevents a stroke from the cloud, or, if a stroke is made, conducts it to the earth with safety to the building. The lower end of the rod should enter the earth so deep as to come at the moist part, perhaps two or three feet; and if bent when under the surface so as to go in a horizontal line six or eight feet from the wall, and then bent again downwards three or four feet, it will prevent damage to any of the stones of the foundation. A person apprehensive of danger from lightning, happening during the time of thunder to be in a house not so secured, will do well to avoid sitting near the chimney, near a looking glass, or any gilt pictures or wainscot; the safest place is in the middle of the room, (so it be not under a metal lustre suspended by a chain) sitting in one chair and laying the feet up in another. It is still safer to bring two or three mattrasses or beds into the middle of the room, and folding them up double, place the chair upon them; for they not being so good conductors as the walls, the lightning will not chuse an interrupted course through the air of the room and the bedding, when it can go thro' a continued better conductor the wall. But where it can be had, a hamock or swinging bed, suspended by silk cords equally distant from the walls on every side, and from the cieling and floor above and below, affords the safest situation a person can have in any room whatever; and what indeed may be deemed quite free from danger of any stroke by lightning. _Paris, Sept_. 1767 B. F. _American Longevity_ _To the_ PRINTER _of the_ LONDON CHRONICLE. SIR, I have often heard it remarked, that our Colonies in North America were unhealthy and unfavourable to long life; and more particularly so upon their first settlement. In opposition to this groundless notion, I here send you two paragraphs taken from the Pensylvania Gazette of July 16, and the New-York Gazette of August 27, giving an account of the deaths of the first-born of the city of Philadelphia, and of the province of Pennsylvania: PHILADELPHIA, July 16. "At Kennet, in Chester county, the 5th instant, died John Key, in the 85th year of his age, and the next day was interred in the burial place belonging to the people called Quakers, in that township, attended by a large number of reputable people, his neighbours and acquaintance. -- He was born in a cave, long afterwards known by the name of Penny-Pot, near Race-street, and William Penn, our first proprietor, gave him a lot of ground, as a compliment on his being the first child born in this city. -- In the early part of his life his conversation was very engaging, and his company much sought after by those of his own age; in his decline he was much esteemed for his peaceable disposition. His constitution was very healthy till about 80, when he was seized with the palsy, and continued weakly till his death. -- About six years ago he walked on foot from Kennet to Philadelphia in one day, which is near 30 miles. -- It has been said that people in this province are short-lived; but when we consider how few children were born here 75 years ago, and observe how many old people there are still alive among us (who were born here) we shall rather think no quarter of the world can shew a greater number of aged persons then this province can, in proportion to the children born." _Philadelphia, Aug._ 24. On the 10th instant, at Brandywine Hundred, in New-Castle county, died Emanuel Grubb, in the 86th year of his age, and the next day was interred in St. Martin's church-yard, at Lower-Chichester, in Chester county, attended by a large number of his relations, neighbours, and acquaintance. -- He was born in a cave, by the side of Delaware river, not far distant from where he always lived, and died, and was the first child born of English parents in this province. His constitution was remarkably healthy during his whole life, having never been afflicted with any sickness till a few days before his death. His strength and activity were surprizing in a man of his age; he could mount and ride a horse with as much dexterity as a lad of 20. -- A few months ago, he rode from his own house to this city, and back again, which is upwards of 40 miles. -- His memory was equally surprizing, and not in the least impaired, till his death; he could remember transactions of a late date equally well with those which happened in his younger days. He was exceeding temperate in his living, seldom making use of spirituous liquors; and for his peaceable and friendly disposition, was highly esteemed by all that knew him. This instance, among many, is a proof of the longevity of people born here. It is worthy of observation also, that Governor Hutchinson, in his valuable History of the Massachusett's Bay, Vol. II. pp. 148 and 216, says, "July 20, 1704, died at Marshfield, Peregrine White, aged 83 years and eight months, the first-born in Plymouth colony. "Jan. 14, 1716, died at Salem, Elizabeth Patch, the first-born female in the old colony of Massachusett's Bay, so that she must have lived 86 or 87 years; and April 14, following, died at Newport, in Rhode-Island, Mary Godfrey, aged about 87, being the first child born there. -- The longevity of the first-born in each of the three colonies, is worth noting." As a well-wisher to mankind in general, I thought it worth while to send this to your useful paper, in order to allay the apprehensions of those, whose inclinations, business, or necessities may induce them to settle in that part of the British Empire. I must add at the same time, that I have myself lately travelled over the greater part of that extensive continent; and can with truth say, in spite of all that hath been boldly and positively asserted to the contrary, that I could not discover among that whole people, one grain of disaffection to their brethren in Britain, nor did I meet with a single person who had ever formed the most distant idea of throwing off their allegiance to the mother country. This it is doing them but bare justice to declare; and is all the return I can at present make them for the kindness and hospitality with which, purely on account of my being an _Old England-Man_, I was universally treated. I am, Sir, your constant reader, F + S. _The London Chronicle_, December 15, 1767 _Railing and Reviling_ To the PRINTER of the GAZETTEER. _January_ 6, 1768. Instead of raving (with your correspondent of yesterday) against the Americans as "diggers of pits for this country," "lunaticks," "sworn enemies," "false," "ungrateful," "cut-throats," &c. which is a treatment of customers that I doubt is not like to bring them back to our shop; I would recommend to all writers on American affairs (however _hard_ their _arguments_ may be) _soft words_, civility, and good manners. It is only from a redress of grievances and equitable regulations of commerce, with mild and reasonable measures of government, permitting and securing to those people the full enjoyment of their privileges, that we may hope to recover the affection and respect of that great and valuable part of our fellow-subjects, and restore and confirm the solid union between the two countries, that is so necessary to the strength and stability of the whole empire. Railing and reviling can answer no good end; it may make the breach wider; it can never heal it. OLD ENGLAND _in its senses._ _The Gazetteer and New Daily Advertiser_, January 8, 1768 _Causes of the American Discontents Before 1768_ To the PRINTER. _The waves never rise but when the winds blow._ SIR, As the cause of the present ill-humour in America, and of the Resolutions taken there to purchase less of our manufactures, does not seem to be generally understood, it may afford some satisfaction to your Readers, if you give them the following short historical state of facts. From the time that the Colonies were first considered as capable of granting aids to the Crown, down to the end of the last war, it is said that the constant mode of obtaining those aids was by Requisition made from the Crown through its Governors to the several Assemblies, in circular letters from the Secretary of State in his Majesty's name, setting forth the occasion, requiring them to take the matter into consideration, and expressing a reliance on their prudence, duty and affection to his Majesty's Government, that they would grant such sums, or raise such numbers of men, as were suitable to their respective circumstances. The Colonies being accustomed to this method, have from time to time granted money to the Crown, or raised troops for its service, in proportion to their abilities, and, during all the last war, beyond their abilities, so that considerable sums were returned them yearly by Parliament as exceeding their proportion. Had this happy method been continued (a method which left the King's subjects in those remote countries the pleasure of shewing their zeal and loyalty, and of imagining that they recommended themselves to their Sovereign by the liberality of their voluntary grants) there is no doubt but all the money that could reasonably be expected to be raised from them, in any manner, might have been obtained from them, without the least heart-burning, offence, or breach of the harmony of affections and interests that so long subsisted between the two countries. It has been thought wisdom in a Government, exercising sovereignty over different kinds of people, to have some regard to prevailing and established opinions among the people to be governed, wherever such opinions might in their effects promote or obstruct public measures. -- If they tend to obstruct public service, they are to be changed before we act against them, and they can only be changed by reason and persuasion. -- But if public service can be carried on without thwarting those opinions, if they can be on the contrary made subservient to it, they are not unnecessarily to be thwarted, how absurd soever such popular opinions may be in their natures. -- This had been the wisdom of our Government with respect to raising money in the colonies. It was well known that the Colonists universally were of opinion, that no money could be levied from English subjects, but by their own consent, given by themselves or their chosen Representatives. That therefore whatever money was to be raised from the people in the colonies, must first be granted by their Assemblies; as the money raised in Britain is first to be granted by the House of Commons. That this right of granting their own money was essential to English liberty; and that if any man, or body of men, in which they had no Representative of their chusing, could tax them at pleasure, they could not be said to have any property, any thing they could call their own. But as these opinions did not hinder their granting money voluntarily and amply, whenever the Crown, by its servants, came into their Assemblies (as it does into its Parliaments of Britain and Ireland) and demanded aids, therefore that method was chosen rather than the baneful one of arbitrary taxes. I do not undertake here to support those opinions; they have been refuted by a late act of Parliament, declaring its own power; which very Parliament, however, shewed wisely so much tender regard to those inveterate prejudices, as to repeal a tax that had odiously militated against them. -- And those prejudices are still so fixed and rooted in the Americans, that it is supposed not a single man among them has been convinced of his error by that act of Parliament. The Minister, therefore, who first projected to lay aside the accustomed method of requisition, and to raise money on America by Stamps, seems not to have acted wisely in deviating from that method (which the Colonists looked upon as constitutional) and thwarting, unnecessarily, the general fixed prejudices of so great a number of the King's subjects. It was not, however, for want of knowledge that what he was about to do would give them great offence; he appears to have been very sensible of this, and apprehensive that it might occasion some disorders, to prevent or suppress which he projected another Bill, that was brought in the same Session with the Stamp Act, whereby it was to be made lawful for Military Officers in the Colonies to quarter their Soldiers in private houses. This seemed intended to awe the people into a compliance with the other Act. Great opposition, however, being raised here against the Bill, by the Agents from the Colonies, and the Merchants trading thither, the Colonists declaring that, under such a power in the Army, no one could look on his house as his own, or think he had a home, when Soldiers might be thrust into it, and mixed with his family, at the pleasure of an Officer, that part of the Bill was dropt; but there still remained a clause, when it passed into a law, to oblige the several Assemblies to provide quarters for the Soldiers, furnishing them with fire, beds, candles, small beer or rum, and sundry other articles, at the expence of the several Provinces. -- And this Act continued in force when the Stamp Act was repealed, though, if obligatory on the Assemblies, it equally militated against the American principle above-mentioned, that money is not to be raised on English subjects without their consent. The Colonies nevertheless, being put into high good humour by the repeal of the Stamp Act, chose to avoid a fresh dispute upon the other, it being temporary, and soon to expire, never (as they hoped) to revive again; and in the mean time they, by various ways, provided for the quartering of the troops, either by Acts of their own Assemblies, without taking notice of the Acts of Parliament, or by some variety or small diminution (as of salt and vinegar) in the supplies required by the Act, that what they did might appear a voluntary act of their own, and not done in obedience to an Act of Parliament, which they thought contrary to right, and therefore void in itself. It might have been well if the matter had thus passed without notice; but an officious Governor having written home an angry and aggravating letter upon this conduct in the Assembly of his province, the outed projector of the Stamp Act and his adherents, then in the opposition, raised such a clamour against America, as in rebellion, &c. and against those who had been for the repeal of the Stamp Act, as having thereby been encouragers of this supposed rebellion, that it was thought necessary to enforce the Quartering Act by another Act of Parliament, taking away from the Province of New-York, which had been most explicit in its refusal, all the powers of legislation, till it should have complied with that act: The news of which greatly alarmed the people every where in America, as the language of such an act seemed to be -- Obey implicitly laws made by the Parliament of Great Britain, to force money from you without your consent, or you shall enjoy no rights or privileges at all. At the same time the late Chancellor of the Exchequer, desirous of ingratiating himself with the opposition, or driven to it by their clamours, projected the levying more money from America, by new duties on various articles of our own manufacture, as glass, paper, painters colours, &c. appointing a new Board of Customs, and sending over a set of Commissioners (with large salaries) to be established at Boston, who were to have the care of collecting these duties; and which were, by the act, expressly mentioned to be intended for the payment of the salaries of Governors, Judges, and other Officers of the Crown in America, it being a pretty general opinion here, that those Officers ought not to depend on the people there for any part of their support. It is not my intention to combat this opinion. But perhaps it may be some satisfaction to the Public to know what ideas the Americans have on the subject. They say then, as to Governors, that they are not like Princes whose posterity have an inheritance in the government of a nation, and therefore an interest in its prosperity; they are generally strangers to the Provinces they are sent to govern; have no estate, natural connection, or relation there, to give them an affection for the country; that they come only to make money as fast as they can, are frequently men of vicious characters and broken fortunes, sent merely to get them off the hands of a Minister somewhere out of the way; that as they intend staying in the country no longer than their government continues, and purpose to leave no family behind them, they are apt to be regardless of the good will of the people, and care not what is said or thought of them after they are gone. Their situation gives them many opportunities of being vexatious, and they are often so, notwithstanding their dependance on the Assemblies for all that part of their support that does not arise from fees established by law, but would probably be much more so if they were to be fully supported by money drawn from the people, without the consent or good will of the people, which is the professed design of this act. That if by means of these forced duties, government is to be supported in America, without the intervention of the Assemblies, their Assemblies will soon be looked upon as useless, and a Governor will not call them, as having nothing to hope from their meeting, and perhaps something to fear from their enquiries into and remonstrances against his mal-administration; that thus the people will be deprived of their most essential rights; that its being, as at present, a Governor's interest to cultivate the good will, by promoting the welfare of the people he governs, can be attended with no prejudice to the Mother Country, since all the laws he may be prevailed to give his assent to, are subject to revision here, and if reported against by the Board of Trade, as hurtful to the interest of this country, may and are immediately repealed by the Crown; nor dare he pass any law contrary to his instructions, as he holds his office during the pleasure of the Crown, and his securities are liable for the penalties of their bonds if he contravenes those instructions. This is what they say as to Governors. As to Judges, they alledge, that being appointed from hence by the Crown, and holding their commissions, not during good behaviour, as in Britain, but during pleasure, all the weight of interest would be thrown into one of the scales, (which ought to be held even) if the salaries are also to be paid out of duties forced from the people without their consent, and independent of their Assemblies' approbation or dis-approbation of the Judges behaviour; that whenever the Crown will grant commissions to able and honest Judges during good behaviour, the Assemblies will settle permanent and ample salaries on them during their commissions; but at present they have no other means of getting rid of an ignorant, unjust Judge, (and some of scandalous characters have, they say, been sent them) but by starving him out. I do not suppose these reasonings of the Americans will appear here to have much weight in them. I do not produce them with an expectation of convincing your Readers. I relate them merely in pursuance of the task I have imposed on myself, to be an impartial Historian of American facts and opinions. F. B. To the PRINTER. The Colonists being greatly alarmed, as I observed in my last, by news of the act for abolishing the legislature of New York, and the imposition of these new duties professedly for such disagreeable and to them appearing dangerous purposes; accompanied by a new set of Revenue Officers, with large appointments, which gave strong suspicion that more business of the same kind was soon to be provided for them, that they might earn those salaries, began seriously to consider their situation, and to revolve afresh in their minds grievances which from their respect and love for this country they had long borne, and seemed almost willing to forget. They reflected how lightly the interests of all America had been esteemed here, when the interest of a few inhabitants of Great Britain happened to have the smallest competition with it. That thus the whole American people were forbidden the advantage of a direct importation of wine, oil, and fruit from Portugal, but must take them loaded with all the expences of a voyage of one thousand leagues round about, being to be landed first in England to be re-shipped for America; expences amounting, in war time, at least to thirty per cent. more than otherwise they would have been charged with, and all this, merely that a few Portugal Merchants in London might gain a commission on those goods passing through their hands. -- Portugal Merchants, by the bye, who can complain loudly of the smallest hardships laid on their trade by foreigners, and yet even the last year could oppose with all their influence the giving ease to their fellow-subjects under so heavy an oppression -- That on a frivolous complaint of a few Virginia Merchants, nine Colonies were restrained from making paper money, though become absolutely necessary to their internal commerce, from the constant remittance of their gold and silver to Britain. -- But not only the interest of a particular body of Merchants, the interest of any small body of British Tradesmen or Artificers, has been found, they say, to out-weigh that of all the King's subjects in the Colonies. There cannot be a stronger natural right than that of a man's making the best profit he can of the natural produce of his lands, provided he does not thereby injure the State in general. Iron is to be found every where in America, and beaver furs are the natural produce of that country. Hats, and nails, and steel, are wanted there as well as here. It is of no importance to the common welfare of the Empire, whether a subject gets his living by making hats on this or that side of the water; yet the Hatters of England have prevailed so far as to obtain an act in their own favour, restraining that manufacture in America, in order to oblige the Americans to send their beaver to England to be manufactured, and purchase back the hats loaded with the charges of a double transportation. In the same manner have a few Nail-makers, and still a smaller number of Steel-makers (perhaps there are not half a dozen of these in England) prevailed totally to forbid, by an act of Parliament, the erecting of slitting-mills and steel-furnaces in America, that the Americans may be obliged to take nails for their buildings, and steel for their tools from these artificers under the same disadvantages. Added to these, the Americans remembered the act authorizing the most cruel insult that perhaps was ever offered by one people to another, that of emptying our gaols into their settlements (Scotland too has within these few years obtained the privilege it had not before, of sending its rogues and villains to the Plantations) an insult aggravated by that barbarous ill-placed sarcasm in a report of the Board of Trade, when one of the Provinces complained of the act. "It is necessary that it should be continued for the Better Peopling of your Majesty's Colonies." I say, reflecting on these things, the Americans said to one another, (their news papers are full of such discourses) these people are not content with making a monopoly of us, forbidding us to trade with any other country of Europe, and compelling us to buy every thing of them, though in many articles we could furnish ourselves 10, 20, and even 50 per cent. cheaper elsewhere; but now they have as good as declared they have a right to tax us, _ad libitum_, internally and externally; and that our constitution and liberties shall all be taken away if we do not submit to that claim. They are not content with the high prices at which they sell us their goods, but have now begun to enhance those prices by new duties; and by the expensive apparatus of a new set of Officers, they appear to intend an augmentation and multiplication of those burthens that shall still be more grievous to us. Our people have been foolishly fond of their superfluous modes and manufactures, to the impoverishing our country, carrying off all our cash, and loading us with debt; they will not suffer us to restrain the luxury of our inhabitants as they do that of their own, by laws; they can make laws to discourage or prohibit the importation of French superfluities; but though those of England are as ruinous to us as the French ones are to them; if we make a law of that kind, they immediately repeal it. Thus they get all our money from us by trade, and every profit we can any where make by our fishery, our produce, and our commerce, centers finally with them! but this does not satisfy. It is time then to take care of ourselves by the best means in our power. Let us unite in solemn resolutions and engagements with and to each other, that we will give these new Officers as little trouble as possible by not consuming the British manufactures on which they are to levy the duties. Let us agree to consume no more of their expensive gew-gaws; let us live frugally; and let us industriously manufacture what we can for ourselves; thus we shall be able honourably to discharge the debts we already owe them, and after that we may be able to keep some money in our country, not only for the uses of our internal commerce, but for the service of our gracious Sovereign, whenever he shall have occasion for it, and think proper to require it of us in the old constitutional manner. For notwithstanding the reproaches thrown out against us in their public papers and pamphlets; notwithstanding we have been reviled in their Senate as rebels and traitors, we are truly a loyal people. Scotland has had its rebellions, and England its plots, against the present royal family; but America is untainted with those crimes; there is in it scarce a man, there is not a single native of our country who is not firmly attached to his King by principle and by affection. But a new kind of loyalty seems to be required of us, a loyalty to Parliament; a loyalty that is to extend, it seems, to a surrender of all our properties, whenever a House of Commons, in which there is not a single Member of our chusing, shall think fit to grant them away without our consent, and to a patient suffering the loss of our privileges, as Englishmen, if we cannot submit to make such surrender. We were separated too far from Britain by the ocean, but we were united strongly to it by respect and love, so that we could at any time freely have spent our lives and little fortunes in its cause; but this unhappy new system of politics tends to dissolve those bands of union, and to sever us for ever. Woe to the man that first adopted it! Both countries will long have cause to execrate his memory. These are the wild ravings of the at present half distracted Americans. To be sure no reasonable man in England can approve of such sentiments, and, as I said before, I do not pretend to support or justify them; but I sincerely wish, for the sake of the manufactures and commerce of Great Britain, and for the sake of the strength a firm union with our growing colonies would give us, that those people had never been thus needlessly driven out of their senses. F. B. January 7, 1768; reprinted in _The London Chronicle_, August 30 and September 1, 1774 _Subjects of Subjects_ Mr. URBAN, Your anonymous correspondent, (See Vol. xxxvii. p. 620.) has declaimed on a subject, which by an unhappy combination of ignorance and obstinacy has become very like a bone of contention between the young and the old provinces of this great common-wealth. It seldom happens in disputes of any kind but that one side or the other lay the foundations of their arguments on error; it happens more particularly so with your angry correspondent, for whose information I will beg leave to give a short sketch of the British constitution. The British state or empire consists of several islands and other distant countries, asunder in different parts of the globe, _but all united in allegiance to one Prince_, and to the _common law_ (Scotland excepted) as it existed in the old provinces or mother country, before the colonies or new provinces were formed. The prince, with a select parliament, or assembly, make the legislative power of and for each province within itself. Where vicinity made it convenient, several islands and provinces were at sundry times consolidated, and represented by one parliament, as the Isle of Wight, Cornwall, Wales, Cheshire, Durham, and Scotland; by which means all Great Britain and its contiguous isles, are unitedly represented in one assembly in parliament. It has not as yet been thought proper to unite Ireland to the old provinces, though lying very near; nor any of the provinces of America, which lie at a great distance. But notwithstanding this state of separate assemblies, the allegiance of the distant provinces to the crown will remain for ever unshaken, while they enjoy the rights of Englishmen; that is, with the consent of their sovereign, the right of legislation each for themselves; for this puts them on an exact level, in this respect, with their fellow subjects in the old provinces, and better than this they could not be by any change in their power. But if the old provinces should often exercise the right of making laws for the new, they would probably grow as restless as the Corsicans, when they perceived they were no longer fellow subjects, but the subjects of subjects. To illustrate this matter by a comparison; Should it happen, through the revolutions of time, that some future king should make choice of Ireland for his seat of government, and that the parliament of that kingdom, with his majesty's concurrence, should assume the right of taxing the people of England, would the people of England quietly acquiesce, or implicitly pay obedience to laws made by virtue of such an assumed right? And yet, as there is no law in being to prevent his majesty from making any part of his dominions the seat of his government, the case is by no means foreign to the present question. The laws made here to tax the Americans affect them as a distinct body, in which the law makers are in no manner whatever, comprehended; whereas the laws made to tax Great-Britain, affect alike every member who gives his concurrence to such law. And hence arises the essential difference between _real_ and _virtual_ representations, so much agitated. Your correspondent observes, `that we are loaded with 130 millions of debt; great part of which, was contracted by defending the Americans, and therefore that they are bound in gratitude, &c.' Were this argument of weight, and were the right of taxing to follow the obligation of defence, we have expended more than the whole sum on various occasions, in defence of the balance of power on the continent. Will your correspondent for that reason, argue, that Great-Britain has a right of taxing her friends in Germany? Hanover for instance, was formerly said to have cost this nation immense sums for its defence; and Hanover is a district under the obedience of the king of Great-Britain. Will it follow that we have any right to tax Hanover, or that Hanover, in gratitude for the sums we have expended in her behalf, should implicitly give up her ancient rights? Upon the whole, the point in dispute does not depend on _gratitude_ or _defence_, but on the right of Englishmen to give their own money with their own consent. While the Americans were in possession of that right, or thought themselves in possession of it, every requisition for that purpose by the king or his ministers was chearfully complyed with; but since that right, by the mistaken _policy of one man_, has been brought in question; murmuring and discontent has succeeded, and every artifice is now practiced to withold sums levied _by a new mode_; which had they been demanded in the _old way_, would have been willingly granted. _I am, Sir, &c._ A. B. _Gentleman's Magazine_, January, 1768 _On the Candidacy of Barlow Trecothick_ _To the_ PRINTER: I am, Sir, a native of _Boston_, in _New-England_, but I do not concern myself in your _London_ election; nor do I believe that any of my countrymen think it of importance to them, whether you choose Alderman _T_. your representative, or reject him. And yet I hear great clamour, as if his nomination were to promote a _Boston_ interest. He may be, for ought I know, a man of abilities, and a friend of ours: But, should he get into P ------ t, what is one man among five or six hundred? A drop in the bucket. He may be well acquainted with the interests of both countries, a moderate prudent man, and so a fit instrument to conciliate jarring interests, and restore harmony between us. But possibly you have men enough as well qualified in those respects, and better in others. Choose whom you please, only never hereafter tell us, as a reason for our submitting to your taxes, _that we are represented in your Parliament_, when even an _Englishman_, having _been in_ America, is made an absolute disqualification, a bar to his being chosen at all. I sit down, Sir, after much patience, merely to take some notice of the invective and abuse, that have, on this occasion, been so liberally bestowed on my country, by your writers who sign themselves _Old England_, _a Londoner_, _a Liveryman of London_, &c. &c. [By the way, Mr. Printer, should I have said liberally or illiberally? Not being now it seems allowed to be an _Englishman_, I ought modestly to doubt my _English_, and submit it as I do to your correction.] The public, however, has been assured by these gentlemen, that "the _Bostonians_ have an _evil disposition_ towards _Old England_, a rooted _malice_ against this country, an _implacable enmity_ to it;" they talk of our having "_hostile_ intentions," and making "_barbarous_ resolutions against it;" they say that "neither _French_ nor _Spaniards_ have as yet outdone the _Bostonians_ in _malicious combinations against its existence_;" that we are "_as inveterate enemies_ to _Old England_, as ever the _Carthagenians_ appeared to be to _Rome_." -- If all this is true, the inference intended is a plain one; it is as proper now to make war on _Boston_, as ever it was to make war against _France_ or _Spain_; and it will be as right a thing in _Old-England_, totally to destroy _New-England_, as it was in _Old Rome_ to destroy _Carthage_ -- You should not be contented with cutting the throats of one half of us in the _West_, to make the other half buy your goods whether they will or no, (as some _Londoners say_ other _Londoners do_ in the _East_) but the word should be, with old _Cato_, delenda est_: Don't leave one stone upon another, nor a _Carthagenian_ or _Bostonian_ alive upon the face of the earth. -- Is this what these valiant writers would be at? And shall we again see them, as in the time of the Stamp-Act, exhorting government to pour its armies into the colonies, and deluge the country with blood? But government was, and will be wiser. ------ And do _these_ gentlemen talk of _humanity_? And do _they_ complain of _inhumanity_? the _inhumanity_ of _Boston_ people! -- the _horrible inhumanity_ of resolving to live within compass, and manufacture what they can for themselves! O! but this would be _"inhumanity to England,"_ "it is _Bostonian cruelty_, that wants to starve our poor!" Supposing it, for a moment, true, give me leave, Sir, on this head, to recriminate a little. I shall do it gently. I will not bring railing accusations of my own making against you _Englishmen_: And [all good friends and fellow citizens as you are] it must be supposed that you touch your own failings tenderly, _"Nought is aggravated, nought set down in anger." -- _ I have been a reader then, of your news-papers and pamphlets for these three years past; and I find them filled with complaints, that the country and city swarm with rich _engrossers_, _forestallers_, _monopolizers_, who combine to make an artificial famine, to oppress and starve the poor, in order to make themselves more rich. I find your _farmers_ charged in a body, as cruelly withholding the staff of life; your _millers_, _meal-men_ and _bakers_ represented as thieves and poisoners; your _merchants_ accused of sending away your corn, and starving your own people, to feed foreigners, for the sake of a little profit to themselves, or hoarding it up in magazines till spoilt, rather than let the poor have it at a moderate price. -- I find your _landholders_, that great and respectable body, charged with endeavouring by every means in their power to keep up the price of provisions, that the farmers may thereby be enabled to pay them higher rents, for the better support of their excessive luxury. I find even your p ------ ts, who are chosen chiefly by your _landholders_, charged with entering into their views; and that there have arisen laws to prevent the importation of beef, pork, corn, &c. from your own _Ireland_, as well as from any foreign country, lest the poor in _England_ should eat at a less expence; and even laws to tax those poor towards paying a bounty on the exportation of corn, lest too great a plenty at home should lower the price of bread. Pray, Gentlemen, are these things so? And are your own people really such tyrants and oppressors of the poor? I, that am a stranger among ye, cannot be qualified to judge. I can only say, that, as you live together, you have better opportunities of _knowing one another_, than you have of knowing us at 3000 miles distance, and that therefore what you say of _one another_ is rather more to be depended on. Not to affront you, therefore, by affecting to doubt these facts of your asserting, I would only submit it to your consideration, whether it might not be at least decent, to cure yourselves of _inhumanity_, before you venture to charge it upon us. Pluck this beam out of your own eyes, before you pretend to spy the mote in ours. We have no malice against your poor, no desire in the least to starve them; but we think we are unable to continue purchasing your manufactures, not only at high prices, but at those prices enhanced by duties; and therefore we resolve to make what we want; not to starve _your_ poor, but to prevent becoming poor and starving _ourselves. -- Charity_, your own proverb says, _begins at home._ Why should you expect us to have more concern for your poor than you have? If you want our help in maintaining them as heretofore, you know how it may be easily had. The means are in your own hands; you know you got all from us, by trade, that we could possibly spare, and kept us besides continually in your debt; what would you, what can you have more? The situation of the colonies seems similar to that of the cows in the fable; forbidden to suckle their own calves, and daily drawn dry, they yet parted with their milk willingly; but when moreover a tax came to be demanded of them, and that too to be paid _in grass_ of which they had already too short a provision; it was no wonder they thought their masters unreasonable, and resolved for the future to suck one another. _Boston man_ as I am, Sir, and inimical, as my country is represented to be, I hate neither _England_ nor _Englishmen_, driven (though my ancestors were) by mistaken oppression of former times, out of this happy country, to suffer all the hardships of an _American_ wilderness. I retain no resentment on that account. I wish prosperity to the nation; I honour, esteem, and love its people. I only hate calumniators and boute-feus on either side the water, who would for the little dirty purposes of faction, set brother against brother, turn friends into mortal enemies, and ruin an empire by dividing it. -- The very injurious treatment _America_ has lately received, in so many _London_ prints, may have some tendency to alienate still more the affections of that country from this; but as your papers extend thither, I wish our people may by their means be informed, that those abuses do not flow from the general sense of people here; that they are the productions of a few unknown angry writers, heated by an election contest, who rave against _America_, because a candidate they would decry once lived there, and happens to be otherwise unexceptionable: Writers who (as I have shewn) _abuse_ their own country as virulently as they do ours; and whose invectives are disapproved by all people of understanding and moderation. Let it be known that there is much good will towards _America_ in the generality of this nation; and that however government may sometimes happen to be mistaken or misled, with relation to _American_ interests, there is no general intention to oppress us; and that therefore, we may rely upon having every real grievance removed, on proper representations. By spreading these truths in your paper through _America_, Sir, you may come to deserve a share in that blessing which is promised to the peace-makers, when only its reverse can be expected by these unhappy writers. _East-Greenwich, March_ 8, 1768. NEW-ENGLAND. _The Pennsylvania Chronicle_, December 12, 1768 _On the Labouring Poor_ SIR, I have met with much invective in the papers for these two years past, against the hard-heartedness of the rich, and much complaint of the great oppressions suffered in this country by the labouring poor. Will you admit a word or two on the other side of the question? I do not propose to be an advocate for oppression, or oppressors. But when I see that the poor are by such writings exasperated against the rich, and excited to insurrections, by which much mischief is done, and some forfeit their lives, I could wish the true state of things were better understood, the poor not made by these busy writers more uneasy and unhappy than their situation subjects them to be, and the nation not brought into disrepute among foreigners by public groundless accusations of ourselves, as if the rich in England had no compassion for the poor, and Englishmen wanted common humanity. In justice then to this country, give me leave to remark, that the condition of the poor here is by far the best in Europe, for that, except in England and her American colonies, there is not in any country of the known world, not even in Scotland or Ireland, a provision by law to enforce a support of the poor. Every where else necessity reduces to beggary. This law was not made by the poor. The legislators were men of fortune. By that act they voluntarily subjected their own estates, and the estates of all others, to the payment of a tax for the maintenance of the poor, incumbering those estates with a kind of rent charge for that purpose, whereby the poor are vested with an inheritance, as it were, in all the estates of the rich. I wish they were benefited by this generous provision in any degree equal to the good intention with which it was made, and is continued: But I fear the giving mankind a dependance on any thing for support in age or sickness, besides industry and frugality during youth and health, tends to flatter our natural indolence, to encourage idleness and prodigality, and thereby to promote and increase poverty, the very evil it was intended to cure; thus multiplying beggars, instead of diminishing them. Besides this tax, which the rich in England have subjected themselves to in behalf of the poor, amounting in some places to five or six shillings in the pound of the annual income, they have, by donations and subscriptions, erected numerous schools in various parts of the kingdom, for educating gratis the children of the poor in reading and writing, and in many of those schools the children are also fed and cloathed. They have erected hospitals, at an immense expence, for the reception and cure of the sick, the lame, the wounded, and the insane poor, for lying-in women, and deserted children. They are also continually contributing towards making up losses occasioned by fire, by storms, or by floods, and to relieve the poor in severe seasons of frost, in times of scarcity, &c. in which benevolent and charitable contributions no nation exceeds us. -- Surely there is some gratitude due for so many instances of goodness! Add to this, all the laws made to discourage foreign manufactures, by laying heavy duties on them, or totally prohibiting them, whereby the rich are obliged to pay much higher prices for what they wear and consume, than if the trade was open: These are so many laws for the support of our labouring poor, made by the rich, and continued at their expence; all the difference of price between our own and foreign commodities, being so much given by our rich to our poor; who would indeed be enabled by it to get by degrees above poverty, if they did not, as too generally they do, consider every increase of wages only as something that enables them to drink more and work less; so that their distress in sickness, age, or times of scarcity, continues to be the same as if such laws had never been made in their favour. Much malignant censure have some writers bestowed upon the rich for their luxury and expensive living, while the poor are starving, &c. not considering that what the rich expend, the labouring poor receive in payment for their labour. It may seem a paradox if I should assert, that our labouring poor do in every year receive _the whole revenue of the nation_; I mean not only the public revenue, but also the revenue, or clear income, of all private estates, or a sum equivalent to the whole. In support of this position I reason thus. The rich do not work for one another. Their habitations, furniture, cloathing, carriages, food, ornaments, and every thing in short that they, or their families use and consume, is the work or produce of the labouring poor, who are, and must be, continually paid for their labour in producing the same. In these payments the revenues of private estates are expended, for most people live up to their incomes. In cloathing and provision for troops, in arms, ammunition, ships, tents, carriages, &c. &c. (every particular the produce of labour) much of the publick revenue is expended. The pay of officers civil and military, and of the private soldiers and sailors, requires the rest; and they spend that also in paying for what is produced by the labouring poor. I allow that some estates may increase by the owners spending less than their income; but then I conceive that other estates do at the same time diminish, by the owner's spending more than their income, so that when the enriched want to buy more land, they easily find lands in the hands of the impoverished, whose necessities oblige them to sell; and thus this difference is equalled. I allow also, that part of the expence of the rich is in foreign produce or manufactures, for producing which the labouring poor of other nations must be paid; but then I say, that we must first pay our own labouring poor for an equal quantity of our manufactures or produce, to exchange for those foreign productions, or we must pay for them in money, which money, not being the natural produce of our country, must first be purchased from abroad, by sending out its value in the produce or manufactures of this country, for which manufactures our labouring poor are to be paid. And indeed if we did not export more than we import, we could have no money at all. I allow farther, that there are middle men, who make a profit, and even get estates, by purchasing the labour of the poor and selling it at advanced prices to the rich; but then they cannot enjoy that profit or the incomes of estates, but by spending them in employing and paying our labouring poor, in some shape or other, for the products of industry -- Even beggars, pensioners, hospitals, and all that are supported by charity, spend their incomes in the same manner. So that finally, as I said at first, _our labouring poor receive annually the whole of the clear revenues of the nation_, and from us they can have no more. If it be said that their wages are too low, and that they ought to be better paid for their labour, I heartily wish any means could be fallen upon to do it, consistent with their interest and happiness; but as the cheapness of other things is owing to the plenty of those things, so the cheapness of labour is, in most cases, owing to the multitude of labourers, and to their underworking one another in order to obtain employment. How is this to be remedied? A law might be made to raise their wages; but if our manufactures are too dear, they will not vend abroad, and all that part of employment will fail, unless by fighting and conquering we compel other nations to buy our goods, whether they will or no, which some have been mad enough at times to propose. Among ourselves, unless we give our working people less employment, how can we, for what they do, pay them higher than we do? Out of what fund is the additional price of labour to be paid, when all our present incomes are, as it were, mortgaged to them? Should they get higher wages, would that make them less poor, if in consequence they worked fewer days of the week proportionably? I have said a law might be made to raise their wages; but I doubt much whether it could be executed to any purpose, unless another law, now indeed almost obsolete, could at the same time be revived and enforced; a law, I mean, that many have often heard and repeated, but few have ever duly considered. SIX _days shalt thou labour._ This is as positive a part of the commandment as that which says, _the_ SEVENTH _day thou shalt rest_; but we remember well to observe the indulgent part, and never think of the other. St Monday is generally as duly kept by our working people as Sunday; the only difference is, that, instead of employing their time, cheaply, at church, they are wasting it expensively at the alehouse. _I am, Sir, &c._ MEDIUS. _Gentleman's Magazine_, April, 1768 _Phonetic Alphabet_ REMARKS o It is endeavoured to give the Alphabet a more natural to Order, beginning first with the simple Sounds form'd huh by the Breath, with none or very little Help of Tongue, Teeth and Lips, and produc'd chiefly in the Windpipe. ish * Then coming forward to those form'd by the gi ing * Root of the Tongue next to the Windpipe; ki r n Then to those form'd more forward by the forepart of t d the Tongue against the Roof of the Mouth; es ez Then those form'd still more forward in the Mouth, el by the Tip of the Tongue, apply'd first to the Roots of the upper Teeth, eth, * Then to the Ends or Edges of the same edh * Teeth; ef Then to those form'd still more forward by the ev under Lip apply'd to the upper Teeth; bi Then to those form'd yet more forward by the upper pi and under Lip opening to let out the sounding Breath; m And lastly ending with the Shutting up of the Mouth or closing the Lips, while any Vowel is sounding. In this Alphabet c is omitted as unnecessary, k supplying its hard Sound and s the soft. The Jod j is also omitted, its Sound being supplied by the new Letter ish *, which serves other purposes, assisting in the formation of other Sounds; thus the * with a d before it gives the Sound of the Jod j and soft g, as in James, January, Giant, gentle, _d*eems_, _d*anueri_, _d*yiant_, _d*entel_; with a t before it, it gives the Sound of ch soft, as in cherry, chip, _t*eri_, _t*ip_; and with an z before it the French sound of the Jod j, as in jamais, _z*ame._ Thus the g has no longer two different Sounds, which occasion'd Confusion, but is as every Letter ought to be, confin'd to one; the same is to be observ'd in all the Letters, Vowels and Consonants, that wherever they are met with, or in whatever Company, their Sound is always the same. It is also intended that there be no superfluous Letters used in Spelling, i.e. no Letter that is not sounded, and this Alphabet by Six new Letters provides that there be no distinct Sounds in the Language without Letters to express them. As to the Difference between short and long Vowels, it is naturally express'd by a single Vowel where short, a double one where long; as, for _mend_ write _mend_, but for _remain'd_ write _rime en'd_; for _did_, write _did_, but for _deed_, write _diid_, &c. this What in our common Alphabet is suppos'd the to third Vowel, i, as we sound it is not a Vowel but a be Diphthong, consisting of two of our Vowels join'd, altered viz. a as sounded in _all_ or u as sounded in unto and e: any one will be sensible of this, who sounds those two Vowels ae or ue quick after each other; the Sound begins _aw_ or y and ends _ee._ The true Sound of the i is that we now give to e in the words _deed_, _keep_, &c. [ ] 1768? _Phonetic Alphabet_ _Names of the Letters express'd in the reform'd _Characters._ _Sounded as now in_ Sounds and Characters_ o old o the first Vowel naturally, and deepest sound; requires only to open the Mouth, and breathe thro' it. * [*] John, Folly * the next, requiring the Mouth open'd a little more or hollower. a man, can a the next, a little more. e mane, lane e the next, requires the Tongue to be a little more elevated tho the Pipe alone will form them, but not so easily. i een, seen i the next, still a little more, u tool, fool u the next, requires the Lips to be gather'd up, leaving a small Opening. * [*;*] um, un, as in * the next, a very short Vowel, umbrage, unto, &c. the Sound of which we should express in our present Letters thus, _uh_, a short and not very strong Aspiration. h hunter, happy, high huh a stronger or more forcible Aspiration. g give, gather gi the first Consonant, being form'd by the Root of the Tongue, this is the present hard g. k keep, kick ki a kindred Sound, a little more acute, to be us'd instead of the hard c. * [*] sh, ship, wish ish a new Letter, wanted in our Language, our sh, separately taken, not being proper Elements of the Sound. * [*] ng, ing, reaping, ing a new Letter, wanted for the among same Reason; these are form'd back in the Mouth. n end en form'd more forward in the Mouth, the Tip of the Tongue to the Roof of the Mouth. r art ar the same, the Tip of the Tongue a little loose or separate from the Roof of the Mouth. t teeth ti the Tip of the Tongue more forward, touching and then leaving the Roof. d deed di the same, touching a little fuller. l ell, tell el the same touching just about the Gums of the upper Teeth. * [*] th, think e* the Tongue under and a little behind the upper Teeth, touching them nearly but so as to let the Breath pass between. * [*,*] dh, thy e* the same a little fuller. s essence es this Sound is form'd by the Breath passing between the moist End of the Tongue and the upper Teeth. z ez, wages ez the same a little denser and duller. f effect ef form'd by the lower Lip against the upper Teeth. v ever ev the same fuller and duller. b bees bi the lips put full together and open'd as the Air passes out. p peep pi the same but a thinner Sound. m ember em the closing of the Lips, while the e is sounding. _Queries_ For the London Chronicle. QUERIES _recommended to the Consideration of those Gentlemen who are for_ vigorous Measures _with the_ AMERICANS. 1. Have the Colonists _refused_ to answer any reasonable requisitions made to their _Assemblies_ by the Mother Country? 2. If they have _not refused_ to grant reasonable aids in the way, which they think consistent with _liberty_, why must they be stripped of their property without their own _consent_, and in a way, which they think _inconsistent_ with liberty? 3. What is it for a people to be _enslaved_ and _tributary_, if this be not, viz. To be _forced_ to give up their property at the arbitrary pleasure of persons, to whose authority they have not _submitted_ themselves, nor _chosen_ for the purpose of imposing taxes upon them? Wherein consisted the impropriety of King Charles's demanding ship-money by his sole authority, but in its being an exercise of power by the King, which the people had not _given_ the King? Have the people of America, as the people of Britain, by sending Representatives, _consented_ to a power in the British Parliament to tax them? 4. Has not the British Parliament, by repealing the stamp act, acknowledged that they judged it _improper_? Is there any difference between the stamp act, and the act obliging the Americans to pay _whatever we please_, for articles which they _cannot do without_, as glass and paper? Is there any difference as to justice between our treatment of the Colonists, and the tyranny of the Carthaginians over their conquered Sardinians, when they obliged them to take all their corn from them, and at whatever price they pleased to set upon it? 5. If that be true, which is commonly said, viz. That the Mother Country gains _two millions_ a year by the Colonies, would it not have been wiser to have gone on quietly in the _happy way_ we were in, till our gains by those rising and flourishing countries should amount to _three_, _four_, or _five_ millions a year, than by these new-fashioned vigorous measures to kill the goose which lays the golden eggs? Would it not have been better policy, instead of _taxing_ our Colonists, to have done whatever we could to _enrich_ them, and encourage them to take off our articles of _luxury_, on which we may put our own price, and thus draw them into paying us a _voluntary_ tax; than deluge them in blood, thin their countries, empoverish and distress them, interrupt their commerce, force them on bankruptcy, by which our merchants must be ruined, or tempt them to emigrations, or alliances with our enemies? 6. The late war could not have been _carried on_ without America, nor without Scotland? Have we treated America and Scotland in such a manner as is likely in future wars to encourage their zeal for the common cause? Or is England alone to be the Drawcansir of the world, and to bully not only her enemies, but her _friends_? 7. Are not the subjects of Britain concerned to check a ministry, who, by this rage of heaping taxes on taxes, are only drawing into their own hands more and more wealth and power, while they are hurting the _commercial_ interest of the empire in general, at the same time that, amidst profound _peace_, the national debt and burden on the public continue undiminished? N.M.C.N.P.C.H. _The London Chronicle_, August 18, 1768 _On Civil War_ _To the Printer of the_ Public Advertiser. SIR, Threescore Years did the oppressed United Provinces maintain a War in Defence of their Liberties against the then powerful Kingdom of _Spain_, with all the Wealth of the _Indies_ at it's Command; and finally obliged it to acknowledge their Independency in a formal Treaty, sitting down with the Loss of Territory, Treasure and Reputation, and with a broken Strength that has never since been recovered. Contractors, jobbing mercantile Members of Parliament, Officers starving on Half Pay, and Gunsmiths who _toast_, as the Papers tell us, _a speedy and a perpetual War_, may wish, rather than no War at all, for a _Civil_ one in America. These in all Conversations, to encourage us in undertaking it, slight the Strength of those distant People, think nothing of that Enthusiasm for Liberty, which in other Countries and Ages has supplied all Deficiencies, and enabled a weak People to battle the Efforts of a stronger; but tell us that half a dozen Regiments are sufficient to reduce in less than a Year every Province on the Continent. Half a dozen being once engaged in this blessed Service, it is easy to write and shew the Necessity for more: The more there are, the greater the Profits to those Gentry. And whatever becomes of us poor Devils that live by Manufactures or by Trade, that are to pay Taxes, or that have Money in the Funds, _they_ will amass Fortunes, buy our Estates, bribe our Boroughs, and vote in Parliament the Rectitude of the Measure. I believe our Officers and Soldiers as brave as any in the World; and from that very Opinion of their Bravery I conjecture they would not generally relish the being ordered on this murdering Service against their Countrymen; to shed English Blood, to stifle the British Spirit of Liberty now rising in the Colonies; that LIBERTY which we should rather wish to see nourished and preserved there, as on a loss of it here (which from our vices is perhaps not far distant) we or our Posterity may have Occasion to resort to and participate of; and possibly some of the ablest Officers may chuse, with Sir _Jeffery Amherst_, rather to resign their Commissions. But whatever may be the Bravery and military Prowess of our Troops, and whatever the Zeal with which they would proceed in such a War, there are Reasons that make me suspect it will not be so soon terminated as some Folks would have us believe. My reasons are drawn chiefly from a Computation founded on _Facts._ It is well known that America is a Country full of Forests, Mountains, &c. That in such a Country a small irregular Force can give Abundance of Trouble to a regular one that is much greater: And that, in the last War, _one_ of the _fifteen_ Colonies we now have there (and one far short of being the strongest) held out _five Years_ against _twenty-five thousand_ British regular Troops, joined by _twenty-five thousand_ Colonists on their own Pay, and aided by a strong Fleet of Men of War. What the Expence was to this Nation, our Treasury Books and augmented Debt may shew. The Expence to America, as their Pay was higher, could not be much less. The Colony we made War upon was indeed aided by _France_, but during the whole Contest not with more than five thousand Men. Now supposing that the twenty-five thousand Colonists that then joined us should hereafter be against us, and that this makes no Difference, and considering that instead of _one_ Colony to conquer, we are to have _fifteen_, and that possibly some of our good Neighbours may think of making a Diversion in their Favour, I apprehend it not out of the Way to allow _five_ Years still to a Colony; and this, by my Computation, will amount to just _seventy-five_ Years. I hope Messieurs the Company of Gunsmiths will for the present be so good as to be content with a Civil War of _seventy-five_ Years, as perhaps we may scarce be able to afford them a _perpetual_ one. And what are we to gain by this War, by which our Trade and Manufactures are to be ruined, our Strength divided and diminished, our Debt increased, and our Reputation, as a generous Nation, and Lovers of Liberty, given up and lost? Why, we are to convert Millions of the King's loyal Subjects into Rebels, for the sake of establishing a newly-claimed power in P ------ to tax a distant People, whose Abilities and Circumstances they cannot be acquainted with, who have a constitutional Power of taxing themselves; who have never refused to give us voluntarily more than we can ever expect to wrest from them by Force; and by our Trade with whom we gain Millions a Year! And is there not _one_ wise and good Man to be found in _Britain_, who can propose some conciliating Measure that may prevent this terrible Mischief? -- I fear not one. For _Quos Deus vult perdere, dementat prius!_ N. N. _The Public Advertiser_, August 25, 1768 _On Sinecures_ To the PRINTER of the GAZETTEER AND _NEW DAILY ADVERTISER._ Great complaints are every day made, that notwithstanding Great Britain has involved herself in a very heavy debt, for the defence of the American colonies in the late war, that now they refuse to pay any part of this debt. On this subject there has been a very smart paper war for some years, which controversy it seems, is like to be decided by the all powerful argument of fire and sword. This argument, on the side of Great Britain, has much alarmed me, having myself a very considerable interest depending, as well as several near relations on that side the water. From the epithets of unjust, ungenerous rogues, rebels, &c. which are so lavishly bestowed on the Americans, I have been induced to look into those late acts of parliament, which the colonies refuse to comply with, and to my very great surprize find there is not one single word in those acts for the purpose of raising money to help poor Old England, from which I begin to suspect we are all on a wrong scent. How can we justly accuse them of refusing to assist poor Old England in her distresses, when we neither ask or require it of them? By those acts the money to be raised is for their own use, not ours. But why in the name of wonder was such an act made? The money to be raised, I find, is for their defence and the support of civil government among themselves. When have they suffered by neglecting to raise money for their own defence? So far were they from neglecting to raise a sufficiency for that purpose during the late war, that I am told the parliament gave them 4 or 500,000l. to reimburse their extra expences. Why then are we to fear, that in a time of profound peace, and when every enemy is driven out of the country, that now they wo'nt raise money for their own defence? This to me is unaccountable; but to send an army to force it for fear it should not be done, is still more unaccountable. As to their civil government, I have ever understood it is more effectually supported there than in any other part of his Majesty's dominions. My countrymen, we are all by the nose: there is a snake in the grass: give yourselves but the trouble to look at those acts, and reflect one moment as I have done, and you will at once see that we are all set by the ears for we know not what. But by your leave I will venture to hint, for your consideration, a very common custom among pick-pockets, i. e. A thief cries catch thief. My reason for this surmise is, from what I have hinted, you at once see we are to have none of this money to ease our taxes: it will be of no use to the Americans, otherwise they would consent to it. Who then is to have the prize we are fighting for? To which I will venture to make answer, Friends and Favourites; for by those acts you will find, that the money raised is put under the direction of the Crown, to pay (or give) to as many or what officers it pleases to appoint in America; all which appointments and salaries, it is well known, are made and concluded upon by the K -- g's Ministers. Whoever therefore will give themselves the trouble to look at these acts, which the Americans refuse to comply with, will at once see the whole is a piece of ministerial policy, designed not for the good of Great Britain or her colonies, but for an American establishment, whereby they may be able to provide for friends and favourites. The Irish establishment has been much talked of as a sinecure for friends and favourites, and cast-off mistresses; but this American establishment promises a more ample provision for such-like purposes. That this is the truth of the case, every one that will give himself the trouble must see, unless troubled with the present very polite disorder of being short-sighted. EXPOSITOR. _The Gazetteer and New Daily Advertiser_, September 28, 1768 _A New Version of the Lord's Prayer_ Old Version. New Version, by BF. 1. Our Father which art in Heaven. 1. Heavenly Father, 2. Hallowed be thy Name. 2. May all revere thee, 3. Thy Kingdom come. 3. And become thy dutiful Children and faithful Subjects. 4. Thy Will be done on Earth as 4. May thy Laws be obeyed it is in Heaven. on Earth as perfectly as they are in Heaven. 5. Give us this Day our daily 5. Provide for us this Day Bread. as thou has hitherto daily done. 6. Forgive us our Debts as 6. Forgive us our we forgive our Debtors. Trespasses, and enable us likewise to forgive those that offend us. 7. And lead us not into Temptation, 7. Keep us out of but deliver us from Evil. Temptation, and deliver us from Evil. _Reasons for the Change of Expression_ Old Version. _Our Father which art in Heaven_ New V. _Heavenly Father_, is more concise, equally expressive, and better modern English. Old. _Hallowed be thy Name._ This seems to relate to an Observance among the Jews not to pronounce the proper or peculiar Name of God, they deeming it a Profanation so to do. We have in our Language no _proper Name_ for God; the Word _God_ being a common or general Name, expressing all chief Objects of Worship, true or false. The Word _hallowed_ is almost obsolete: People now have but an imperfect Conception of the Meaning of the Petition. It is therefore proposed to change the Expression into New. _May all revere thee._ Old V. _Thy Kingdom come._ This Petition seems suited to the then Condition of the Jewish Nation. Originally their State was a Theocracy: God was their King. Dissatisfied with that kind of Government, they desired a visible earthly King in the manner of the Nations round them. They had such King's accordingly; but their Happiness was not increas'd by the Change, and they had reason to wish and pray for a Return of the Theocracy, or Government of God. Christians in these Times have other Ideas when they speak of the Kingdom of God, such as are perhaps more adequately express'd by New V. _And become thy dutiful Children and faithful Subjects._ Old V. _Thy Will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven._ More explicitly, New V. _May thy Laws be obeyed on Earth as perfectly as they are in Heaven._ Old V. _Give us this Day_ our _daily Bread._ Give us what is _ours_, seems to put in a Claim of Right, and to contain too little of the grateful Acknowledgment and Sense of Dependance that becomes Creatures who live on the daily Bounty of their Creator. Therefore it is changed to New V. _Provide for us this Day, as thou hast hitherto daily done._ Old V. _Forgive us our Debts as we forgive our Debtors._ Matthew. _Forgive us our Sins, for we also forgive every one that is indebted to us._ Luke. Offerings were _due_ to God on many Occasions by the Jewish Law, which when People could not pay, or had forgotten as Debtors are apt to do, it was proper to pray that those Debts might be forgiven. Our Liturgy uses neither the _Debtors_ of Matthew, nor the _indebted_ of Luke, but instead of them speaks of _those that trespass against us._ Perhaps the Considering it as a Christian Duty to forgive Debtors, was by the Compilers thought an inconvenient Idea in a trading Nation. There seems however something presumptious in this Mode of Expression, which has the Air of proposing ourselves as an Example of Goodness fit for God to imitate. _We hope you will at least be as good as we are_; you see we forgive one another, and therefore we pray that you would forgive us. Some have considered it in another Sense, _Forgive us_ as _we forgive others_; i.e. If we do not forgive others we pray that thou wouldst not forgive us. But this being a kind of conditional _Imprecation_ against ourselves, seems improper in such a Prayer; and therefore it may be better to say humbly and modestly New V. _Forgive us our Trespasses, and enable us likewise to forgive those that offend us._ This instead of assuming that we have already in and of ourselves the Grace of Forgiveness, acknowledges our Dependance on God, the Fountain of Mercy, for any Share we may have of it, praying that he would communicate of it to us. Old V. _And lead us not into Temptation_. The Jews had a Notion, that God sometimes tempted, or directed or permitted the Tempting of People. Thus it was said he tempted Pharaoh; directed Satan to tempt Job; and a false Prophet to tempt Ahab, &c. Under this Persuasion it was natural for them to pray that he would not put them to such severe Trials. We now suppose that Temptation, so far as it is supernatural, comes from the Devil only; and this Petition continued, conveys a Suspicion which in our present Conceptions seems unworthy of God, therefore might be altered to New V. Keep _us_ out of _Temptation._ B. Franklin's Version of The Lord's Prayer. Heavenly Father, may all revere thee, and become thy dutiful Children and faithful Subjects; may thy Laws be obeyed on Earth as perfectly as they are in Heaven: Provide for us this Day as thou hast hitherto daily done: Forgive us our Trespasses, and enable us likewise to forgive those that offend us. Keep us out of Temptation, and deliver us from Evil. 1768? _Defense of American Placeholders_ To the PRINTER. Your correspondent _Machiavel_ tells us, that "Nothing can be a greater burlesque on Patriotism, than the conduct of the Americans, who affect discontent at being taxed, and therefore not only petition and remonstrate, but are continually writing pamphlets, filling news-papers, and consecrating Trees to Liberty; when, at the same time, many of them are writing to administration how to enforce the collection of such duties as are imposed, &c. &c. with a view to obtain offices and pensions under the Crown, in America." -- And then he gives us a list of fifteen Americans, whom he charges with having been successfully guilty of this baseness. The whole apparently with a view of lessening any concern the friends of Liberty here may have for the injured people of that country, and of discountenancing any endeavours for their relief, by thus rendering them both contemptible and odious. But, methinks it should be considered, 1. That if not only _fifteen_, but fifteen hundred, out of three millions, had been seduced by corruption, to betray the interests of their country, the proportion is not so great as to judge of the rest by them, to conclude that therefore they might be oppressed without injury, stripped of their rights without remorse; their petitions and remonstrances disregarded; their constitution dissolved; their towns insulted and dragooned; their real patriots hanged as traitors, not for any disloyalty to their King, but merely for doubting the power of parliament, in particular cases, or, perhaps, only thwarting the views of a wrong-headed, pertinacious minister. 2. That being loyal subjects to their sovereign, the Americans think they have as good a right to enjoy offices under him in America, as a Scotchman has in Scotland, or an Englishman in England; and that they may equally hold them consistent with honour; since they have never yet been taught to believe that the interests of their King and his subjects are so contrary and incompatible, that an honest man cannot serve the one without betraying the other. Let me farther add, that, among the gentlemen in his list, I know some, who, far from receiving the offices they hold, as the wages of corruption, rose in them gradually and regularly, in a course of years; others had been conferred as rewards of public service, by sea and land, during war; others enjoyed their offices many years before any dispute arose, or was dreamt of, between the two countries; and have yet, throughout those disputes, been firm to the cause of their country, at all hazards. If there are any of them who are known, or even, on probable grounds, suspected, to have betray'd it, such are in universal odium among their virtuous compatriots; and therefore their country ought not to be censured upon their account. To defend it from such indiscriminate censure, is the chief end of my giving you this trouble. Your correspondent adds, "Behold how true it is, that _every_ man has his price." In a former paper [Dec. 19.] he had told us, (speaking of mankind) "We are honest as long as we thrive by it; but if the Devil himself gives better wages, we change our party." For the honour of my species, as well as of my country, I cannot but suppose these maxims much _too general_. But as this writer has professedly adopted them in their full extent, I must conclude they may be true _so far at least as relates to himself_, since it is plain _he knows of no exception_. An AMERICAN. _The Gazetteer and New Daily Advertiser_, January 17, 1769 _Positions To Be Examined_ April 4. 1769 1 All Food or Subsistence for Mankind arise from the Earth or Waters. 2 Necessaries of Life that are not Foods, and all other Conveniencies, have their Values estimated by the Proportion of Food consumed while we are employed in procuring them. 3 A small People with a large Territory may subsist on the Productions of Nature, with no other Labour than that of gathering the Vegetables and catching the Animals. 4 A large People with a small Territory finds these insufficient, and, to subsist, must labour the Earth to make it produce greater Quantities of vegetable Food, suitable for the Nourishment of Men, and of the Animals they intend to eat. 5 From the Labour arises a _great Increase_ of vegetable and animal Food, and of Materials for Clothing, as Flax, Wool, Silk, &c. The Superfluity of these is Wealth. With this Wealth we pay for the Labour employed in building our Houses, Cities, &c. which are therefore only Subsistence thus metamorphosed. 6 _Manufactures_ are only _another Shape_ into which so much Provisions and Subsistence are turned as were _equal in Value_ to the Manufactures produced. This appears from hence, that the Manufacturer does not in fact, obtain from the Employer, for his Labour, _more_ than a mere Subsistence, including Raiment Fuel and Shelter; all which derive their Value from the Provisions consumed in procuring them. 7 The Produce of the Earth, thus converted into Manufactures, may be more easily carried to distant Markets than before such Conversion. 8 _Fair_ Commerce is where equal Values are exchanged for equal the Expence of Transport included. Thus if it costs A. in England as much Labour and Charge to raise a Bushel of Wheat as it costs B. in France to produce four Gallons of Wine then are four Gallons of Wine the fair Exchange for a Bushel of Wheat. A and B meeting at half Distance with their Commodities to make the Exchange. The Advantage of this fair Commerce is, that each Party increases the Number of his Enjoyments, having, instead of Wheat alone or Wine alone, the Use of both Wheat and Wine. 9 Where the Labour and Expence of producing both Commodities are known to both Parties Bargains will generally be fair and equal. Where they are known to one Party only, Bargains will often be unequal, Knowledge taking its Advantage of Ignorance. 10 Thus he that carries 1000 Bushels of Wheat abroad to sell, may not probably obtain so great a Profit thereon as if he had first turned the Wheat into Manufactures by subsisting therewith the Workmen while producing those Manufactures: since there are many expediting and facilitating Methods of working, not generally known; and Strangers to the Manufactures, though they know pretty well the Expences of raising Wheat, are unacquainted with those short Methods of working, and thence being apt to suppose more Labour employed in the Manufactures than there really is, are more easily imposed on in their Value, and induced to allow more for them than they are honestly worth. 11 Thus the Advantage of having Manufactures in a Country, does not consist as is commonly supposed, in their highly advancing the Value of rough Materials, of which they are formed; since, though sixpenny worth of Flax may be worth twenty shillings when worked into Lace, yet the very Cause of it's being worth twenty shillings is, that besides the Flax, it has cost nineteen shillings and sixpence in Subsistence to the Manufacturer. But the Advantage of Manufactures is, that under their shape Provisions may be more easily carried to a foreign Market; and by their means our Traders may more easily cheat Strangers. Few, where it is not made are Judges of the Value of Lace. The importer may demand Forty, and perhaps get Thirty shillings for that which cost him but twenty. 12 Finally, there seem to be but three Ways for a Nation to acquire Wealth. The first is by _War_ as the Romans did in plundering their conquered Neighbours. This is _Robbery_. The second by _Commerce_ which is generally _Cheating._ The third by _Agriculture_ the only _honest Way_; wherein Man receives a real Increase of the Seed thrown into the Ground, in a kind of continual Miracle wrought by the Hand of God in his Favour, as a Reward for his innocent Life, and virtuous Industry. _New Fables_ _For the_ Public Advertiser. NEW FABLES, _humbly inscribed to the_ S ------ y _of_ St ------ e _for the_ American Department. FABLE I. A Herd of Cows had long afforded Plenty of Milk, Butter and Cheese to an avaritious Farmer, who grudged them the Grass they subsisted on, and at length mowed it to make Money of the Hay, leaving them to _shift for Food_ as they could, and yet still expected to _milk them_ as before; but the Cows, offended with his Unreasonableness, resolved for the future _to suckle one another_. FABLE II. An Eagle, King of Birds, sailing on his Wings aloft over a Farmer's Yard, saw a Cat there basking in the Sun, _mistook it for a Rabbit_, stoop'd, seized it, and carried it up into the Air, _intending to prey on it_. The Cat turning, set her Claws into the Eagle's Breast; who, finding his Mistake, opened his Talons, and would have let her drop; but Puss, unwilling to fall so far, held faster; and the Eagle, to get rid of the Inconvenience, found it necessary to _set her down where he took her up_. FABLE III. A Lion's Whelp was put on board a Guinea Ship bound to America as a Present to a Friend in that Country: It was tame and harmless as a Kitten, and therefore not confined, but suffered to walk about the Ship at Pleasure. A stately, full-grown English Mastiff, belonging to the Captain, despising the Weakness of the young Lion, frequently took it's _Food_ by Force, and often turned it out of it's Lodging Box, when he had a Mind to repose therein himself. The young Lion nevertheless grew daily in Size and Strength, and the Voyage being long, he became at last a more equal Match for the Mastiff; who continuing his Insults, received a stunning Blow from the Lion's Paw that fetched his Skin over his Ears, and deterred him from any future Contest with such growing Strength; regretting that he had not rather secured it's Friendship than provoked it's Enmity. _The Public Advertiser_, January 2, 1770 _A Conversation on Slavery_ _To the Printer of the_ Public Advertiser. SIR, _Broad-Street Buildings, Jan._ 26, 1770. Many Reflections being of late thrown out against the Americans, and particularly against our worthy Lord-Mayor, on Account of their keeping Slaves in their Country, I send you the following Conversation on that Subject, which, for Substance, and much of the Expression, is, I assure you, a _real one_; having myself been present when it passed. If you think it suitable for your Paper, you will, by publishing it, oblige Your Friend, N. N. _A_ Conversation _between an_ ENGLISHMAN, _a_ SCOTCHMAN, _and an_ AMERICAN, _on the Subject of_ SLAVERY. _Englishman._ You Americans make a great Clamour upon every little imaginary Infringement of what you take to be your Liberties; and yet there are no People upon Earth such Enemies to Liberty, such absolute Tyrants, where you have the Opportunity, as you yourselves are. _American._ How does that appear? _Eng_. Read _Granville Sharpe_'s Book upon Slavery: There it appears with a Witness. _Amer_. I have read it. _Eng_. And pray what do you think of it? _Amer_. To speak my Opinion candidly, I think it in the Main a good Book. I applaud the Author's Zeal for Liberty in general. I am pleased with his Humanity. But his _general Reflections_ on _all Americans_, as having no real Regard for Liberty; as having so little Dislike of Despotism and Tyranny, that they do not scruple to exercise them with unbounded Rigour over their miserable Slaves, and the like, I cannot approve of; nor of the Conclusion he draws, that therefore our Claim to the Enjoyment of Liberty for ourselves, is unjust. I think, that in all this, he is too severe upon the Americans, and passes over with too partial an Eye the Faults of his own Country. This seems to me not quite fair: and it is particularly _injurious_ to us at this Time, to endeavour to render us odious, and to encourage those who would oppress us, by representing us as unworthy of the Liberty we are now contending for. _Eng_. What Share has that Author's Country (England I mean) in the Enormities he complains of? And why should not his Reflections on the Americans be general? _Amer_. They ought not to be general, because the Foundation for them is not general. New England, the most populous of all the English Possessions in America, has very few Slaves; and those are chiefly in the capital Towns, not employed in the hardest Labour, but as Footmen or House-maids. The same may be said of the next populous Provinces, New-York, New Jersey, and Pensylvania. Even in Virginia, Maryland, and the Carolinas, where they are employed in Field-work, what Slaves there are belong chiefly to the old rich Inhabitants, near the navigable Waters, who are few compared with the numerous Families of Back-Settlers, that have scarce any Slaves among them. In Truth, there is not, take North-America through, perhaps, one Family in a Hundred that has a Slave in it. Many Thousands there abhor the Slave Trade as much as Mr. Sharpe can do, conscientiously avoid being concerned with it, and do every Thing in their Power to abolish it. Supposing it then with that Gentleman, a Crime to keep a Slave, can it be right to stigmatize us all with that Crime? If one Man of a Hundred in England were dishonest, would it be right from thence to characterize the Nation, and say the English are Rogues and Thieves? But farther, of those who do keep Slaves, all are not Tyrants and Oppressors. Many treat their Slaves with great Humanity, and provide full as well for them in Sickness and in Health, as your poor labouring People in England are provided for. Your working Poor are not indeed absolutely Slaves; but there seems something a little like Slavery, where the Laws oblige them to work for their Masters so many Hours at such a Rate, and leave them no Liberty to demand or bargain for more, but imprison them in a Workhouse if they refuse to work on such Terms; and even imprison a humane Master if he thinks fit to pay them better; at the same Time confining the poor ingenious Artificer to this Island, and forbidding him to go abroad, though offered better Wages in foreign Countries. As to the Share England has in these Enormities of America, remember, Sir, that she began the Slave Trade; that her Merchants of London, Bristol, Liverpool and Glasgow, send their Ships to Africa for the Purpose of purchasing Slaves. If any unjust Methods are used to procure them; if Wars are fomented to obtain Prisoners; if free People are enticed on board, and then confined and brought away; if petty Princes are bribed to sell their Subjects, who indeed are already a Kind of Slaves, is America to have all the Blame of this Wickedness? You bring the Slaves to us, and tempt us to purchase them. I do not justify our falling into the Temptation. To be sure, if you have stolen Men to sell to us, and we buy them, you may urge against us the old and true saying, that _the Receiver is as bad as the Thief._ This Maxim was probably made for those who needed the Information, as being perhaps ignorant that _receiving_ was in it's Nature as bad as _stealing_: But the Reverse of the Position was never thought necessary to be formed into a Maxim, nobody ever doubted that _the Thief is as bad as the Receiver_. This you have not only done and continue to do, but several Laws heretofore made in our Colonies, to discourage the Importation of Slaves, by laying a heavy Duty, payable by the Importer, have been disapproved and repealed by your Government here, as being prejudicial, forsooth, to the Interest of the African Company. _Eng_. I never heard before of any such Laws made in America. But the severe Laws you have made, on Pretence of their being necessary for the Government of your Slaves (and even of your white Servants) as they stand quoted by Mr. Sharpe, give us no good Opinion of your general Humanity, or of your Respect for Liberty. These are not the Acts of a few private Persons; they are made by your Representatives in your Assemblies, and are therefore the Act of the whole. _Amer_. They are so; and possibly some of them made in Colonies where the Slaves greatly out-number the Whites, as in Barbadoes now, and in Virginia formerly, may be more severe than is necessary; being dictated perhaps by Fear and too strong an Opinion, that nothing but extream Severity could keep the Slaves in Obedience, and secure the Lives of their Masters. In other Colonies, where their Numbers are so small as to give no Apprehensions of that Kind, the Laws are milder, and the Slaves in every Respect, except in the Article of Liberty, are under the Protection of those Laws: A white Man is as liable to suffer Death for killing a Slave, though his own, as for any other Homicide. But it should be considered, with regard to these severe Laws, that in Proportion to the greater Ignorance or Wickedness of the People to be governed, Laws must be more severe: Experience every where teaches this. Perhaps you may imagine the Negroes to be a mild tempered, tractable Kind of People. Some of them indeed are so. But the Majority are of a plotting Disposition, dark, sullen, malicious, revengeful and cruel in the highest Degree. Your Merchants and Mariners, who bring them from Guinea, often find this to their Cost in the Insurrections of the Slaves on board the Ships upon the Coast, who kill all when they get the upper Hand. Those Insurrections are not suppressed or prevented but by what your People think a very necessary Severity, the shooting or hanging Numbers sometimes on the Voyage. Indeed many of them, being mischievous Villains in their own Country, are sold off by their Princes in the Way of Punishment by Exile and Slavery, as you here ship off your Convicts: And since your Government will not suffer a Colony by any Law of it's own to keep Slaves out of the Country, can you blame the making such Laws as are thought necessary to govern them while they are in it. _Eng_. But your Laws for the Government of your white Servants are almost as severe as those for the Negroes. _Amer_. In some Colonies they are so, those particularly to which you send your Convicts. Honest hired Servants are treated as mildly in America every where as in England: But the Villains you transport and sell to us must be ruled with a Rod of Iron. We have made Laws in several Colonies to prevent their Importation: These have been immediately repealed here, as being contrary to an Act of Parliament. We do not thank you for forcing them upon us. We look upon it as an unexampled Barbarity in your Government to empty your Gaols into our Settlements; and we resent it as the highest of Insults. If mild Laws could govern such People, why don't you keep and govern them by your own mild Laws at home? If you think we treat them with unreasonable Severity, why are you so cruel as to send them to us? And pray let it be remembered, that these very Laws, the cruel Spirit of which you Englishmen are now pleased so to censure, were, when made, sent over hither, and submitted, as all Colony Laws must be, to the King in Council for Approbation, which Approbation they received, I suppose upon thorough Consideration and sage Advice. If they are nevertheless to be blamed, be so just as to take a Share of the Blame to yourselves. _Scotchman_. You should not say we force the Convicts upon you. You know you may, if you please, refuse to buy them. If you were not of a tyrannical Disposition; if you did not like to have some under you, on whom you might exercise and gratify that Disposition; if you had really a true Sense of Liberty, about which you make such a Pother, you would purchase neither Slaves nor Convict Servants, you would not endure such a Thing as Slavery among you. _Amer_. It is true we may refuse to buy them, and prudent People do so. But there are still a Number of imprudent People, who are tempted by the Lowness of the Price, and the Length of the Time for which your Convicts are sold, to purchase them. We would prevent this Temptation. We would keep your British Man-Merchants, with their detestable Ware, from coming among us: But this you will not allow us to do. And therefore I say you force upon us the Convicts as well as the Slaves. But, Sir, as to your Observation, that if we had a real Love of Liberty, we should not suffer such a Thing as Slavery among us, I am a little surprised to hear this from you, a North Briton, in whose own Country, Scotland, Slavery still subsists, established by Law. _Scotchman_. I suppose you mean the heretable Jurisdictions. There was not properly any Slavery in them: And, besides, they are now all taken away by Act of Parliament. _Amer_. No, Sir, I mean the Slavery in your Mines. All the Wretches that dig Coal for you, in those dark Caverns under Ground, unblessed by Sunshine, are absolute Slaves by your Law, and their Children after them, from the Time they first carry a Basket to the End of their Days. They are bought and sold with the Colliery, and have no more Liberty to leave it than our Negroes have to leave their Master's Plantation. If having black Faces, indeed, subjected Men to the Condition of Slavery, you might have some small Pretence for keeping the poor Colliers in that Condition: But remember, that under the Smut their Skin _is white_, that they are _honest good People_, and at the same Time are _your own Countrymen_! _Eng_. I am glad you cannot reproach England with this; our Colliers are as free as any other Labourers. _Amer_. And do you therefore pretend that you have no such Thing as Slavery in England? _Eng_. No such Thing most certainly. _Amer_. I fancy I could make it appear to you that you have, if we could first agree upon the Definition of a Slave. And if your Author's Position is true, that those who keep Slaves have therefore no Right to Liberty themselves, you Englishmen will be found as destitute of such Rights as we Americans I imagine. _Eng_. What is then your Definition of a Slave? Pray let us hear it, that we may see whether or no we can agree in it. _Amer_. A Slave, according to my Notion, is a human Creature, stolen, taken by Force, or bought of another or of himself, with Money; and who being so taken or bought, is compelled to serve the Taker, or Purchaser, during Pleasure or during Life. He may be sold again, or let for Hire, by his Master to another, and is then obliged to serve that other; he is one who is bound to obey, not only the Commands of his Master, but also the Commands of the lowest Servant of that Master, when set over him; who must come when he is called, go when he is bid, and stay where he is ordered, though to the farthest Part of the World, and in the most unwholesome Climate; who must wear such Cloaths as his Master thinks fit to give him, and no other, though different from the common Fashion, and contrived to be a distinguishing Badge of Servitude; and must be content with such Food or Subsistence as his Master thinks fit to order for him, or with such small Allowance in Money as shall be given him in Lieu of Victuals or Cloathing; who must never absent himself from his Master's Service without Leave; who is subject to severe Punishments for small Offences, to enormous Whippings, and even Death, for absconding from his Service, or for Disobedience to Orders. I imagine such a Man is a Slave to all Intents and Purposes. _Eng_. I agree to your Definition. But surely, surely, you will not say there are any such Slaves in England? _Amer_. Yes, many Thousands, if an English Sailor or Soldier is well described in that Definition. The Sailor is often _forced_ into Service, torn from all his natural Connections. The Soldier is generally bought in the first Place for a Guinea and a Crown at the Drum-Head: His Master may sell his Service, if he pleases, to any Foreign Prince, or barter it for any Consideration by Treaty, and send him to shoot or be shot at in Germany or Portugal, in Guinea or the Indies. He is engaged for Life; and every other Circumstance of my Definition agrees with his Situation. In one Particular, indeed, English Slavery goes beyond that exercised in America. _Eng_. What is that? _Amer_. We cannot command a Slave of ours to do an immoral or a wicked Action. We cannot oblige him, for Instance, to commit MURDER! If we should order it, he may refuse, and our Laws would justify him. But Soldiers must, on Pain of Death, obey the Orders they receive; though, like Herod's Troops, they should be commanded to slay all your Children under two Years old, cut the Throats of your Children in the Colonies, or shoot your Women and Children in St. G ------ e's F ------ ds. _The Public Advertiser_, January 30, 1770 _The Cravenstreet Gazette_ No 113 Saturday, Sept. 22. 1770 This Morning Queen Margaret, accompanied by her first Maid of Honour, Miss Franklin, set out for Rochester. Immediately on their Departure, the whole Street was in Tears -- from a heavy Shower of Rain. It is whispered that the new Family Administration which took place on her Majesty's Departure, promises, like all other new Administrations, to govern much better than the old one. We hear that the _great_ Person (so called from his enormous Size) of a certain Family in a certain Street, is grievously affected at the late Changes, and could hardly be comforted this Morning, tho' the new Ministry promised him a roasted Shoulder of Mutton, and Potatoes, for his Dinner. It is said, that the same _great_ Person intended to pay his Respects to another great Personage this Day, at St. James's, it being Coronation-Day; hoping thereby a little to amuse his Grief; but was prevented by an Accident, Queen Margaret, or her Maid of Honour having carried off the Key of the Drawers, so that the Lady of the Bedchamber could not come at a laced Shirt for his Highness. Great Clamours were made on this Occasion against her Majesty. Other Accounts say, that the Shirts were afterwards found, tho' too late, in another Place. And some suspect, that the Wanting a Shirt from those Drawers was only a ministerial Pretence to excuse Picking the Locks, that the new Administration might have every thing at Command. We hear that the Lady Chamberlain of the Household went to Market this Morning by her own self, gave the Butcher whatever he ask'd for the Mutton, and had no Dispute with the Potatoe Woman -- to their great Amazement -- at the Change of Times! It is confidently asserted, that this Afternoon, the Weather being wet, the great _Person_ a little chilly, and no body at home to find fault with the Expence of Fuel, he was indulg'd with a Fire in his Chamber. It seems the Design is, to make him contented, by Degrees, with the Absence of the Queen. A Project has been under Consideration of Government, to take the Opportunity of her Majesty's Absence, for doing a Thing she was always averse to, viz. Fixing a new Lock on the Street Door, or getting a Key made to the old one; it being found extreamly inconvenient, that one or other of the Great Officers of State, should, whenever the Maid goes out for a Ha'pworth of Sand or a Pint of Porter, be obliged to attend the Door to let her in again. But Opinion, being divided, which of the two Expedients to adopt, the Project is for the present laid aside. We have good Authority to assure our Readers, that a Cabinet Council was held this Afternoon at Tea; the Subject of which was a Proposal for the Reformation of Manners, and a more strict Observation of the Lord's Day. The Result was, an unanimous Resolution that no Meat should be dress'd to-morrow; whereby the Cook and the first Minister will both be at Liberty to go to Church, the one having nothing to do, and the other no Roast to rule. It seems the cold Shoulder of Mutton, and the Applepye, were thought sufficient for Sunday's Dinner. All pious People applaud this Measure, and 'tis thought the new Ministry will soon become popular. We hear that Mr. Wilkes was at a certain House in Craven Street this Day, and enquired after the absent Queen. His good Lady and the Children were well. The Report that Mr. Wilkes the Patriot made the above Visit, is without Foundation, it being his Brother the Courtier. Sunday, Sept. 23. It is now found by sad Experience, that good Resolutions are easier made than executed. Notwithstanding yesterday's solemn Order of Council, no body went to Church to day. It seems the _great_ Person's broad-built-bulk lay so long abed, that Breakfast was not over 'till it was too late to dress. At least this is the Excuse. In fine, it seems a vain thing to hope Reformation from the Example of our great Folks. The Cook and the Minister, however, both took Advantage of the Order so far, as to save themselves all Trouble, and the Clause of _cold Dinner_ was enforc'd, tho' the _going to Church_ was dispens'd with; just as the common working People observe the Commandment; _the seventh Day thou shalt rest_, they think a sacred Injunction; but the other _Six Days shalt thou labour_ is deem'd a mere Piece of Advice which they may practice when they want Bread and are out of Credit at the Alehouse, and may neglect whenever they have Money in their Pockets. It must nevertheless be said in justice to our Court, that whatever Inclination they had to Gaming, no Cards were brought out to Day. Lord and Lady Hewson walk'd after Dinner to Kensington to pay their Duty to the Dowager, and Dr. Fatsides made 469 Turns in his Dining Room as the exact Distance of a Visit to the lovely Lady Barwell, whom he did not find at home, so there was no Struggle for and against a Kiss, and he sat down to dream in the Easy Chair that he had it without any Trouble. Monday, Sept. 24. We are credibly informed, that the _great_ Person dined this Day with the Club at the Cat-and-Bagpipes in the City, on cold Round of boil'd Beef. This, it seems, he was under some Necessity of Doing (tho' he rather dislikes Beef) because truly the Ministers were to be all abroad somewhere to dine on hot roast Venison. It is thought that if the Queen had been at home, he would not have been so slighted. And tho' he shows outwardly no Marks of Dissatisfaction, it is suspected that he begins to wish for her Majesty's Return. It is currently reported, that poor Nanny had nothing for Dinner in the Kitchen, for herself and Puss, but the Scrapings of the Bones of Saturday's Mutton. This Evening there was high Play at the Groom Porter's in Cravenstreet House. The Great Person lost Money. It is supposed the Ministers, as is usually supposed of all Ministers, shared the Emoluments among them. Tuesday, Sept. 25. This Morning the good Lord Hutton call'd at Cravenstreet House, and enquired very respectfully and affectionately concerning the Welfare of the absent Queen. He then imparted to the big Man a Piece of Intelligence important to them both, which he had just received from Lady Hawkesworth, viz. That the amiable and excellent Companion Miss Dorothea Blount had made a Vow to marry absolutely him of the two, whose Wife should first depart this Life. It is impossible to express with Words the various Agitations of Mind appearing in both their Faces on this Occasion. _Vanity_ at the Preference given them to the rest of Mankind; _Affection_ to their present Wives; _Fear_ of losing them; _Hope_, (if they must lose them) to obtain the propos'd Comfort; _Jealousy_ of each other, in case both Wives should die together; &c. &c. &c. all working at the same time, jumbled their Features into inexplicable Confusion. They parted at length with Professions and outward Appearances indeed of ever-during Friendship; but it was shrewdly suspected that each of them sincerely wished Health and long Life to the other's Wife; and that however long either of those Friends might like to live himself, the other would be very well pleas'd to survive him. It is remark'd that the Skies have wept every Day in Cravenstreet the Absence of the Queen. The Publick may be assured, that this Morning a certain _great Person_ was ask'd very complaisantly by the Mistress of the Houshold, if he would chuse to have the Blade Bone of Saturday's Mutton that had been kept for his Dinner to Day, _broil'd_ or _cold_? He answer'd gravely, _If there is any Flesh on it, it may be broil'd; if not, it may as well be cold_. Orders were accordingly given for broiling it. But when it came to Table, there was indeed so very little Flesh, or rather none at all (Puss having din'd on it yesterday after Nanny) that if our new Administration had been as good Oeconomists as they would be thought, the Expence of Broiling might well have been sav'd to the Publick, and carried to the Sinking Fund. It is assured the great Person bears all with infinite Patience. But the Nation is astonish'd at the insolent Presumption that dares treat so much Mildness in so cruel a manner. A terrible Accident had _like to have happened_ this Afternoon at Tea. The Boiler was set too near the End of the little square Table. The first Ministress was sitting at one End of the Table to administer the Tea; the great Person was about to sit down at the other End where the Boiler stood. By a sudden Motion, the Lady gave the Table a Tilt. Had it gone over, the great _Person_ must have been scalded; perhaps to Death. Various are the Surmises and Observations on this Occasion. The Godly say, it would have been a just Judgment on him, for preventing by his Laziness, the Family's going to Church last Sunday. The Opposition do not stick to insinuate that there was a Design to scald him, prevented only by his quick Catching the Table. The Friends of the Ministry give out, that he carelessly jogg'd the Table himself, and would have been inevitably scalded had not the Ministress sav'd him. It is hard for the Publick to come at the Truth in these Cases. At six o'Clock this Afternoon News came by the Post, that her Majesty arrived safely at Rochester on Saturday Night. The Bells immediately rang -- for Candles, to illuminate the Parlour; the Court went into Cribbidge, and the Evening concluded with every other Demonstration of Joy. It is reported that all the principal Officers of the State, have received an Invitation from the Dutchess Dowager of Rochester to go down thither on Saturday next. But it is not yet known whether the great Affairs they have on their Hands will permit them to make this Excursion. We hear that from the Time of her Majesty's leaving Craven Street House to this Day, no Care is taken to file the Newspapers; but they lie about in every Room, in every Window, and on every Chair, just where the Doctor lays them when he has read them. It is impossible Government can long go on in such Hands. _To the Publisher of the Craven Street Gazette_. Sir, I make no doubt of the Truth of what the Papers tell us, that a certain great _Person_ has been half-starved on the bare Blade-bone, _of a Sheep_ (I cannot call it _of Mutton_ because none was on it) by a Set of the most careless, thoughtless, inconsiderate, corrupt, ignorant, blundering, foolish, crafty, and Knavish Ministers, that ever got into a House and pretended to govern a Family and provide a Dinner. Alas, for the poor Old England of Craven Street! If these nefarious Wretches continue in Power another Week, the Nation will be ruined -- Undone! -- totally undone, if the Queen does not return; or (which is better) turn them all out and appoint me and my Friends to succeed them. I am a great Admirer of your useful and impartial Paper; and therefore request you will insert this without fail; from Your humble Servant INDIGNATION. _To the Publisher of the Craven Street Gazette_. Sir, Your Correspondent _Indignation_ has made a fine Story in your Paper against our excellent Cravenstreet Ministry, as if they meant to starve his Highness, giving him only a bare Blade Bone for his Dinner, while they riot upon roast Venison, &c. The Wickedness of Writers in this Age is truly amazing! I believe we never had since the Foundation of our State, a more faithful, upright, worthy, careful, considerate, incorrupt, discreet, wise, prudent and beneficent Ministry than the present. But if even the Angel Gabriel would condescend to be our Minister and provide our Dinners, he could scarcely escape Newspaper Defamation from a Gang of hungry ever-restless, discontented and malicious Scribblers. It is, Sir, a piece of Justice you owe our righteous Administration to undeceive the Publick on this Occasion, by assuring them of the Fact, which is, that there was provided, and actually smoaking on the Table under his Royal Nose at the same Instant, as fine a Piece of Ribbs of Beef, roasted, as ever Knife was put into; with Potatoes, Horse radish, pickled Walnuts, &c. which Beef his Highness might have eaten of, if so he had pleased to do; and which he forbore to do, merely from a whimsical Opinion (with Respect be it spoken) that Beef doth not with him perspire well, but makes his Back itch, to his no small Vexation, now that he hath lost the little Chinese Ivory Hand at the End of a Stick, commonly called a _Scratchback_, presented to him by her Majesty. This is the Truth; and if your boasted Impartiality is real, you will not hesitate a Moment to insert this Letter in your very next Paper. I am, tho' a little angry with you at present. Yours as you behave A HATER OF SCANDAL. JUNIUS and CINNA _came to Hand too late for this Days Paper, but shall have Place in our next._ _Marriages_. None since our last; but Puss begins to go a Courting. _Deaths_. In the back Closet, and elsewhere, many poor Mice. _Stocks_. Biscuit very low. Buckwheat and Indian meal, both sour. Tea, lowering daily in the Canister. _Postscript._ Wednesday Sept. 26. Those in the Secret of Affairs do not scruple to assert soundly, that our present First Ministress is very notable, having this day been at Market, bought excellent Mutton Chops, and Apples 4 a penny, made a very fine Applepye with her own Hands, and mended two pair of Breeches. _The Rise and Present State of Our Misunderstanding _To the_ PRINTER _of the_ LONDON CHRONICLE. SIR, Much abuse has lately been thrown out against the Colonies, by the Writers for the American part of our Administration. Our Fellow Subjects there are continually represented as Rebels to their Sovereign, and inimical to the British nation; in order to create a dislike of them here, that the harsh measures which have been taken, and are intended against them, may not be blamed by the People of England. Therefore to prevent our being led into mistakes in so important a business, it is fit that a full and particular account of the rise and present state of our misunderstanding with the Colonies should be laid before the Public. This, from the opportunities I have had, and the pains I have taken to inform myself, I think I am enabled to do, and I hope I shall do it with truth and candor. The fact then is, that there is not nor has been any rebellion in America. If the rescue of a seizure by Smugglers, or the drubbing an Informer or low Custom-house Officer, were rebellion, England, Scotland, and Ireland, might be said to be in rebellion almost every week in the year; and instances of that kind are much fewer in America than here. The Americans were ever attached to the House of Hanover, and honour their present gracious Sovereign sincerely. This is therefore a groundless calumny. Nor have they any enmity to Britain: they love and honour the name of Englishman; they were fond of English manners, fashions, and manufactures; they had no desire of breaking the connection between the two countries, but wished a perpetual intercourse of good offices, commerce, and friendship. They are always willing to give aids to the Crown in proportion to their abilities: They think, however, and have always thought, that they themselves have alone the right of granting their own money, by their own Representatives in Assembly met, and that the Parliament of Britain hath no right to raise a revenue from them without their consent. The Parliament hath, nevertheless, of late made several attempts to raise such a revenue among them. Heretofore, whenever the Colonies thought themselves aggrieved by British government, they applied for redress by humble petition; and it was usual to receive and consider their petitions, and give them a reasonable answer. They proceeded in the same manner on the late occasions. They sent over petitions after petitions to the House of Commons, and some to the House of Lords. These were scarce any of them received. Some (offered while the acts were under consideration) were refused on this reason, that it was against an order of the House to receive petitions against money bills; others, because they contained expressions that called the right of Parliament in question; and therefore, it was said, no Member dared to present them. Finding the petitions of separate Colonies were not attended to, they thought to give them more weight by petitioning jointly. To this end a congress of Committees from all the Assemblies was held at New York, when petitions to the King and both Houses of Parliament were agreed to and sent hither. But these could not be received, or were rejected, on the pretence that the congress was an illegal assembly which had no right to petition. Lastly, on occasion of the Duty Act, the Assemblies proposed by a correspondence with each other to obtain attention, by sending at the same time similar petitions. These were intended to the King their Sovereign, requesting his gracious influence with his Parliament to procure them redress. But this they were told by the American Minister was a FLAGITIOUS attempt! All the Governors were by him directed to prevent it, or to dissolve the Assemblies that persisted in it; and several of them were accordingly dissolved. And of those petitions that nevertheless came hither and were presented, it is said that no notice was ever taken, or any answer given to them. By this management the ancient well contrived channel of communication between the head and members of this great Empire, thro' which the notice of grievances could be received that remedies might be applied, hath been cut off. How wisely, the Publick will judge. History of a similar conduct in the Ministry of Spain with regard to the Low Countries, makes one doubt a little the prudence (in any Government how great soever) of discouraging Petitions, and treating Petitioners (how mean soever) with contempt. Instead of _preventing_ complaints by removing the causes, it has been thought best that Soldiers should be sent to _silence_ them. The Soldiers have behaved in such a manner as to occasion more complaints. They took possession of the publick building in which the Assembly or Parliament of New England usually convenes, obliged the Members to pass through lanes of men in arms to get to their Chamber, disturbing them in their debates by drumming and piping in and round the House, and pointed the cannon against the doors, treating the Province and People with every indignity and insult, proper to provoke their resentment, and produce some rash action that might justify making a massacre among them. And they have fired upon and murdered several of the inhabitants. The Americans, upon the treatment their Petitions had repeatedly received, determined to petition no more: But said to one another, "We are too remote from Britain to have our complaints regarded by the Parliament there, especially as we have no share in their Election, nor any Representatives among them. They will not hear _us_, but perhaps they will hear _their own people_, their Merchants and Manufacturers, who are maintained and enriched in some degree by the commerce with our country. Let us agree to with-hold that commerce till our grievances are redressed. This will afford those people a foundation for petitioning, and they will be attended to as they were on a former occasion, and meet with success." This reasoning and expectation were the sole foundation of the Non-Importation agreements in America, and _not any enmity to Britain_. In this expectation it seems they were mistaken. The Merchants trading to North America not well liking the Ministry, unwilling to solicit or be obliged to them for any thing, and hoping soon to see a change for others more to their mind, were backward in petitioning the Parliament. And when they did petition, the City being out of favour at Court, their Petition was very little attended to, and produced no effect. To prevent the Manufacturers from taking any part in the affair, they have been artfully amused with assurances that the Colonies could not long subsist without the trade, that manufactures among themselves were impossible, that they might depend there would be an extraordinary demand for goods as soon as the total want of conveniencies should compel the Americans to resume the commerce; and therefore they would do well to be quiet, mind their business, and get a great stock of goods beforehand to be ready for that demand, when the advanced price would make them ample amends for the delay. In the mean time the Merchants in America have reaped great advantages. They have sold off most of the old goods that lay upon their hands; they have got in most of their debts from the people, and have in a great measure discharged their debt to England, that bore a heavy interest; this they have done at an advantage of near 20 per cent. in most of the Colonies, by the lowness of exchange, occasioned by the non-importation; and this nation has lost near that proportion (if I am rightly informed) on all the money drawn for these by British Agents, to pay and provide for the troops and ships of war, and to discharge other expences of contingent service. This loss must amount to a very great sum, besides the loss in commerce. Many of these Merchants in America, however, having nearly compleated these points, and seeing the main end of their agreement, (the total abolition of the duties) not likely to be so soon obtained as they expected, begin to grow uneasy under the delay, and are rather desirous of altering the agreement made against general importation, and reducing it to the exclusion of those commercial articles only, on which the duties are, or shall be imposed. But the generality of the people in America, the artizans in the towns, and the farmers throughout the country, finding the non-importation advantageous to them all; to the artisans, as it occasions fuller employment, and encourages the beginners that introduce new arts; and to the farmers, as it prevents much useless expence in their families, and thereby enables them more expeditiously to improve their plantations to the raising a greater produce, at the same time that it is a spur to domestic industry, in such manufactures as though not fine, are now become fashionable and reputable, and from their superior strength are much more serviceable than the flimsy fineries that used to be made for them in Britain; and all feeling the advantage of having had money returned into the country for its produce, from Spain, Portugal, Italy, (and even from England since the balance of trade has turned against her) instead of those British superfluities for which all that cash was formerly remitted, or ordered into England. I say, the generality of the people in America, pleased with this situation of things, and relishing the sweets of it, have now taken the lead, in a great degree, out of the hands of the Merchants, and in town and county meetings are entering into solemn resolutions not to purchase or consume British commodities, if they are imported, till the acts they esteem injurious to their privileges are repealed; and that if any Merchants do import before that time, they will mark them as enemies to their country, and never deal with them when the trade shall be opened. This is now become a restraint upon the Merchants. A party, however, of those at New-York, have broken through the agreement, and ordered goods; and the Merchants here, who had long lain idle, being rejoiced at this opening, have sent them over immense quantities, expecting a quick sale and speedy returns. But the event is yet very uncertain. The trade of New-York was chiefly with East New Jersey and Connecticut, their two neighbouring Colonies, and these have resolved to have no farther dealings with that city. Several counties, too, of the Province of New-York, and the greatest part of the inhabitants of the city itself, have protested against the infraction of the agreement, and determined not to buy or use the goods when they arrive. So that the exporters begin now to apprehend that their sanguine hopes will be disappointed. And as Rhode Island has returned to the agreement, some think it not unlikely that New-York may do the same. What remedy, if any, the wisdom of Parliament shall think fit to apply to these disorders, a little time will shew. Mean while, I cannot but think that those writers, who busily employ their talents in endeavouring to exasperate this nation against the Colonies, are doing it a very ill office: For their virulent writings being dispersed among the inhabitants of the Plantations (who read all our papers and pamphlets, and imagine them of greater estimation here than they really are) do in some degree irritate the Colonists against a country which treats them, as they imagine, so injuriously: -- And on our side, as nothing is likely to be well done that is done in anger; as customers are not naturally brought back to a shop by unkind usage; as the Americans are growing, and soon will be, a great people, and their friendship or enmity be come daily of more and more consequence; as their fisheries, their coasting trade, their West-Indian and European trades, greatly increase the numbers of English seamen, and thereby augment our naval power; as their joint operations with our's in time of war must make the whole national effort more weighty and more effectual; as enmities between countries, fostered and promoted till they have taken root, are scarce ever to be eradicated; and, when those countries are under the same Prince, such enmities are of the most mischievous consequence, encouraging foreign enemies, weakening the whole empire, and tending to its dissolution; therefore I cannot but wish, that no steps may be taken against the Colonists, tending to abridge their privileges, alter their charters, or inflict punishments on them, at the instance of _angry Governors, discarded Agents, or rash indiscreet Officers of the Customs_, who, having quarrelled with them, are their enemies, and are daily irritating Government here against them, by misrepresentations of their actions, and aggravations of their faults, with much malice: I hope the great principle of common justice, that _no man should be condemned unheard_, will not by us be violated in the case of a whole people; and that lenient measures will be adopted, as most likely to heal the wound effectually: For harsh treatment may increase the inflammation, make the cure less practicable, and in time bring on the necessity of an amputation; death indeed to the severed limb, weakness and lameness to the mutilated body. N. N. _The London Chronicle_, November 8, 1770 _Account of an Audience with Hillsborough_ Wednesday, Jan. 16. '71 I went this Morning to wait on Lord Hillsborough. The Porter at first deny'd his Lordship, on which I left my Name, and drove off. But before the Coach got out of the Square, the Coachman heard a Call, turn'd, and went back to the Door, when the Porter came and said, His Lordship will see you, Sir. I was shown into the Levee Room, where I found Governor Barnard, who I understand attends there constantly. Several other Gentlemen were there attending, with whom I sat down a few Minutes. When Secretary Pownall came out to us, and said his Lordship desired I would come in. I was pleas'd with this ready Admission, and Preference, (having sometimes waited 3 or 4 Hours for my Turn) and being pleas'd, I could more easily put on the open chearful Countenance that my Friends advis'd me to wear. His Lordship came towards me, and said "I was dressing in order to go to Court; but hearing that you were at the Door, who are a Man of Business, I determin'd to see you immediately." I thank'd his Lordship and said that my Business at present was not much, it was only to pay my Respects to his Lordship and to acquaint him with my Appointment by the House of Representatives of the Province of Massachusetts Bay, to be their Agent here, in which Station if I could be of any Service -- I was going on to say, to the Publick I should be very happy; but his Lordship whose Countenance chang'd at my naming that Province cut me short, by saying, with something between a Smile and a Sneer, L H. I must set you right there, Mr. Franklin, you are not Agent. B F. Why; my Lord? L.H. You are not appointed. B.F I do not understand your Lordship. I have the Appointment in my Pocket. L.H. You are mistaken. I have later and better Advices. I have a Letter from Governor Hutchinson. He would not give his Assent to the Bill. B.F. There was no Bill, my Lord; it is a Vote of the House. L.H. There was a Bill presented to the Governor, for the Purpose of appointing you, and another, one Dr. Lee, I think he is call'd, to which the Governor refus'd his Assent. B.F. I cannot understand this, my Lord. I think There must be some Mistake in it. Is your Lordship quite sure that you have such a Letter? L H. I will convince you of it directly. _Rings the Bell._ Mr. Pownall will come in and satisfy you. B.F. It is not necessary that I should now detain your Lordship from Dressing. You are going to Court. I will wait on your Lordship another time. L.H. No, stay, He will come in immediately. _To the Servant._ Tell Mr. Pownall I want him. _Mr. Pownall comes in_. L.H. Have not you at hand Govr. Hutchinson's Letter mentioning his Refusing his Assent to the Bill for appointing Dr. Franklin Agent? SEC. P. My Lord? L H. Is there not such a Letter? SEC. P. No, my Lord. There is a Letter relating to some Bill for payment of Salary to Mr. DeBerdt and I think to some other Agent, to which the Governor had refus'd his Assent. L H. And is there nothing in that Letter to the purpose I mention? SEC. P. No, my Lord. B F. I thought it could not well be, my Lord, as my Letters are by the last Ships and mention no such Thing. Here is an authentic Copy of the Vote of the House appointing me, in which there is no Mention of any Act intended. Will your Lordship please to look at it? (_With some seeming Unwillingness he takes it, but does not look into it_). L H. An Information of this kind is not properly brought to me as Secretary of State. The Board of Trade is the proper Place. B.F. I will leave the Paper then with Mr. Pownall, to be -- L.H. (_Hastily_) To what End would you leave it with him? B F. To be entred on the Minutes of that Board, as usual. L.H. (_Angrily_) It shall not be entred there. No such Paper shall be entred there while I have any thing to do with the Business of that Board. The House of Representatives has no Right to appoint an Agent. We shall take no Notice of any Agents but such as are appointed by Acts of Assembly to which the Governor gives his Assent. We have had Confusion enough already. Here is one Agent appointed by the Council, another by the House of Representatives; Which of these is Agent for the Province? Who are we to hear on Provincial Affairs? An Agent appointed by Act of Assembly we can understand. No other will be attended to for the future, I can assure you. B.F. I cannot conceive, my Lord, why the Consent of the _Governor_ should be thought necessary to the Appointment of an Agent for the _People_. It seems to me, that -- L H. (_With a mix'd Look of Anger and Contempt_) I shall not enter into a Dispute with YOU, Sir, upon this Subject. B F. I beg your Lordship's Pardon. I do not presume to dispute with your Lordship: I would only say, that it seems to me, that every Body of Men, who cannot appear in Person where Business relating to them may be transacted, should have a Right to appear by an Agent; The Concurrence of the Governor does not seem to me necessary. It is the Business of the People that is to be done, he is not one of them, he is himself an Agent. L H. Whose Agent is he? (_Hastily_). B F. The King's, my Lord. L H. No such Matter. He is one of the Corporation, by the Province Charter. No Agent can be appointed but by an Act, nor any Act pass without his Assent. Besides, This Proceeding is directly contrary to express Instructions. B.F. I did not know there had been such Instructions, I am not concern'd in any Offence against them, and -- L H. Yes, your Offering such a Paper to be entred is an Offence against them. (_Folding it up again, without having read a Word of it_.) No such Appointment shall be entred. When I came into the Administration of American Affairs, I found them in great Disorder; By _my Firmness_ they are now something mended; and while I have the Honour to hold the Seals, I shall continue the same Conduct, the same _Firmness_. I think My Duty to the Master I serve and to the Government of this Nation require it of me. If that Conduct is not approved, They may take my Office from me when they please. I shall make 'em a Bow, and thank 'em. I shall resign with Pleasure. That Gentleman knows it. (_Pointing to Mr. Pownall_.) But while I continue in it, I shall resolutely persevere in the same FIRMNESS. (_Spoken with great Warmth, and turning pale in his Discourse, as if he was angry at something or somebody besides the Agent; and of more Consequence to himself._) B.F. (_Reaching out his Hand for the Paper, which his Lordship returned to him_) I beg your Lordship's Pardon for taking up so much of your time. It is I believe of no great Importance whether the Appointment is acknowledged or not, for I have not the least Conception that an Agent can _at present_ be of any Use, to any of the Colonies. I shall therefore give your Lordship no farther Trouble. _Withdrew_. TO THE MASSACHUSETTS HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES: _"The Seeds Sown of a Total Disunion of the Two Countries"_ GENTLEMEN, London, 15 May, 1771. I have received your favor of the 27th of February, with the Journal of the House of Representatives, and copies of the late oppressive prosecutions in the Admiralty Court, which I shall, as you direct, communicate to Mr. Bollan, and consult with him on the most advantageous use to be made of them for the interest of the province. I think one may clearly see, in the system of customs to be exacted in America by act of Parliament, the seeds sown of a total disunion of the two countries, though, as yet, that event may be at a considerable distance. The course and natural progress seems to be, first, the appointment of needy men as officers, for others do not care to leave England; then, their necessities make them rapacious, their office makes them proud and insolent, their insolence and rapacity make them odious, and, being conscious that they are hated, they become malicious; their malice urges them to a continual abuse of the inhabitants in their letters to administration, representing them as disaffected and rebellious, and (to encourage the use of severity) as weak, divided, timid, and cowardly. Government believes all; thinks it necessary to support and countenance its officers; their quarrelling with the people is deemed a mark and consequence of their fidelity; they are therefore more highly rewarded, and this makes their conduct still more insolent and provoking. The resentment of the people will, at times and on particular incidents, burst into outrages and violence upon such officers, and this naturally draws down severity and acts of further oppression from hence. The more the people are dissatisfied, the more rigor will be thought necessary; severe punishments will be inflicted to terrify; rights and privileges will be abolished; greater force will then be required to secure execution and submission; the expense will become enormous; it will then be thought proper, by fresh exactions, to make the people defray it; thence, the British nation and government will become odious, the subjection to it will be deemed no longer tolerable; war ensues, and the bloody struggle will end in absolute slavery to America, or ruin to Britain by the loss of her colonies; the latter most probable, from America's growing strength and magnitude. But, as the whole empire must, in either case, be greatly weakened, I cannot but wish to see much patience and the utmost discretion in our general conduct, that the fatal period may be postponed, and that, whenever this catastrophe shall happen, it may appear to all mankind, that the fault has not been ours. And, since the collection of these duties has already cost Britain infinitely more, in the loss of commerce, than they amount to, and that loss is likely to continue and increase by the encouragement given to our manufactures through resentment; and since the best pretence for establishing and enforcing the duties is the regulation of trade for the general advantage, it seems to me, that it would be much better for Britain to give them up, on condition of the colonies undertaking to enforce and collect such, as are thought fit to be continued, by laws of their own, and officers of their own appointment, for the public uses of their respective governments. This would alone destroy those seeds of disunion, and both countries might thence much longer continue to grow great together, more secure by their united strength, and more formidable to their common enemies. But the power of appointing friends and dependents to profitable offices is too pleasing to most administrations, to be easily parted with or lessened; and therefore such a proposition, if it were made, is not very likely to meet with attention. I do not pretend to the gift of prophecy. History shows, that, by these steps, great empires have crumbled heretofore; and the late transactions we have so much cause to complain of show, that we are in the same train, and that, without a greater share of prudence and wisdom, than we have seen both sides to be possessed of, we shall probably come to the same conclusion. The Parliament, however, is prorogued, without having taken any of the steps we had been threatened with, relating to our charter. Their attention has been engrossed by other affairs, and we have therefore longer time to operate in making such impressions, as may prevent a renewal of this particular attempt by our adversaries. With great esteem and respect, I have the honor to be, &c. _Introduction to a Plan for Benefiting the New Zealanders_ Britain is said to have produced originally nothing but _Sloes_. What vast advantages have been communicated to her by the Fruits, Seeds, Roots, Herbage, Animals, and Arts of other Countries! We are by their means become a wealthy and a mighty Nation, abounding in all good Things. Does not some _Duty_ hence arise from us towards other Countries still remaining in our former State? Britain is now the first Maritime Power in the world. Her Ships are innumerable, capable by their Form, Size, and Strength, of sailing all Seas. Her Seamen are equally bold, skilful, and hardy; dextrous in exploring the remotest regions, and ready to engage in Voyages to unknown Countries, tho' attended with the greatest dangers. The Inhabitants of those Countries, our _Fellow-Men_, have Canoes only; not knowing Iron, they cannot build Ships: They have little Astronomy, and no knowledge of the Compass to guide them; they cannot therefore come to us, or obtain any of our advantages. From these circumstances, does not some duty seem to arise from us to them? Does not Providence, by these distinguishing Favours, seem to call on us, to do something ourselves for the common Interests of Humanity? Those who think it their Duty to ask Bread and other Blessings daily from Heaven, should they not think it equally a duty to communicate of those blessings when they have received them; and show their Gratitude to their Great Benefactor, by the only means in their power, promoting the happiness of his other Children? _Ceres_ is said to have made a Journey thro' many Countries, to teach the use of Corn, and the art of raising it. For this single benefit, the grateful Nations deified her. How much more may Englishmen deserve such Honour, by communicating the knowledge and use, not of Corn only, but of all the other enjoyments Earth can produce, and which they are now in possession of. _Communiter bona profundere, Deum est_. Many Voyages have been undertaken with views of profit or of plunder, or to gratify resentment; to procure some advantage to ourselves, or do some mischief to others: but a voyage is now proposed, to visit a distant people on the other side the Globe; not to cheat them, not to rob them, not to seize their lands, or enslave their persons; but merely to do them good, and enable them as far as in our power lies, to live as comfortably as ourselves. It seems a laudable wish, that all the Nations of the Earth were connected by a knowledge of each other, and a mutual exchange of benefits: But a Commercial Nation particularly should wish for a general Civilization of Mankind, since Trade is always carried on to much greater extent with People who have the Arts and Conveniencies of Life, than it can be with naked Savages. We may therefore hope, in this undertaking, to be of some service to our Country, as well as to those poor people, who, however distant from us, are in truth related to us, and whose Interests do, in some degree, concern every one who can say, _Homo sum, &c._ August 29, 1771 _Toleration in Old and New England_ To the PRINTER of the LONDON PACKET. SIR, I understand from the public papers, that in the debates on the bill for relieving the Dissenters in the point of subscription to the Church Articles, sundry reflections were thrown out against that people, importing, "that they themselves are of a persecuting intolerant spirit, for that when they had here the superiority they persecuted the church, and still persecute it in America, where they compel its members to pay taxes for maintaining the Presbyterian or independent worship, and at the same time refuse them a toleration in the full exercise of their religion by the administrations of a bishop." If we look back into history for the character of present sects in Christianity, we shall find few that have not in their turns been persecutors, and complainers of persecution. The primitive Christians thought persecution extremely wrong in the Pagans, but practised it on one another. The first Protestants of the Church of England, blamed persecution in the Roman church, but practised it against the Puritans: these found it wrong in the Bishops, but fell into the same practice themselves both here and in New England. To account for this we should remember, that the doctrine of _toleration_ was not then known, or had not prevailed in the world. Persecution was therefore not so much the fault of the sect as of the times. It was not in those days deemed wrong _in itself_. The general opinion was only, that those _who are in error_ ought not to persecute _the truth_: But the _possessors of truth_ were in the right to persecute _error_, in order to destroy it. Thus every sect believing itself possessed of _all truth_, and that every tenet differing from theirs was _error_, conceived that when the power was in their hands, persecution was a duty required of them by that God whom they supposed to be offended with heresy. -- By degrees more moderate _and more modest_ sentiments have taken place in the Christian world; and among Protestants particularly all disclaim persecution, none vindicate it, and few practise it. We should then cease to reproach each other with what was done by our ancestors, but judge of the present character of sects or churches by their _present conduct_ only. Now to determine on the justice of this charge against the present dissenters, particularly those in America, let us consider the following facts. They went from England to establish a new country for themselves, _at their own expence_, where they might enjoy the free exercise of religion in their own way. When they had purchased the territory of the natives, they granted the lands out in townships, requiring for it neither purchase-money nor quit-rent, but this condition only to be complied with, that the freeholders should for ever support a gospel minister (meaning probably one of the then governing sects) and a free-school within the township. Thus, what is commonly called Presbyterianism became the _established religion_ of that country. All went on well in this way while the same religious opinions were general, the support of minister and school being raised by a proportionate tax on the lands. But in process of time, some becoming Quakers, some Baptists, and, of late years some returning to the Church of England (through the laudable endeavours and a _proper application_ of their funds by the society for propagating the gospel) objections were made to the payment of a tax appropriated to the support of a church they disapproved and had forsaken. The civil magistrates, however, continued for a time to collect and apply the tax according to the original laws which remained in force; and they did it the more freely, as thinking it just and equitable that the holders of lands should pay what was contracted to be paid when they were granted, as the only consideration for the grant, and what had been considered by all subsequent purchasers as a perpetual incumbrance on the estate, bought therefore at a proportionably cheaper rate; a payment which it was thought no honest man ought to avoid under the pretence of his having changed his religious persuasion. And this I suppose is one of the best grounds of demanding tythes of dissenters now in England. But the practice being clamoured against by the episcopalians as persecution, the legislature of the Province of the Massachusets-Bay, near thirty years since, passed an act for their relief, requiring indeed the tax to be paid as usual, but directing that the several sums levied from members of the Church of England, should be paid over to the Minister of that Church, with whom such members usually attended divine worship, which Minister had power given him to receive and on occasion _to recover the same by law_. It seems that legislature considered the _end_ of the tax was, to secure and improve the morals of the people, and promote their happiness, by supporting among them the public worship of God and the preaching of the gospel; that where particular people fancied a particular mode, that mode might probably therefore be of most use to those people; and that if the good was done, it was not so material in what mode or by whom it was done. The consideration that their brethren the dissenters in England were still compelled to pay tythes to the clergy of the Church, had not weight enough with the legislature to prevent this moderate act, which still continues in full force, and I hope no uncharitable conduct of the church toward the dissenters will ever provoke them to repeal it. With regard to a bishop, I know not upon what ground the dissenters, either here or in America, are charged with refusing the benefit of such an officer to the church in that country. _Here_ they seem to have naturally no concern in the affair. _There_ they have no power to prevent it, if government should think fit to send one. They would probably _dislike_, indeed, to see an order of men established among them, from whose persecutions their fathers fled into that wilderness, and whose future domination they may possibly fear, _not knowing that their natures are changed_. But the non-appointment of bishops for America seems to arise from another quarter. The same wisdom of government, probably, that prevents the sitting of convocations, and forbids, by _noli prosequi_'s, the persecution of Dissenters for non-subscription, avoids establishing bishops where the minds of people are not yet prepared to receive them cordially, lest the public peace should be endangered. And now let us see how this _persecution-account_ stands between the parties. In New-England, where the legislative bodies are almost to a man Dissenters from the Church of England, 1. There is no test to prevent Churchmen holding offices. 2. The sons of Churchmen have the full benefit of the Universities. 3. The taxes for support of public worship, when paid by Churchmen, are given to the Episcopal minister. In Old England, 1. Dissenters are excluded from all offices of profit and honour. 2. The benefits of education in the Universities are appropriated to the sons of Churchmen. 3. The clergy of the Dissenters receive none of the tythes paid by their people, who must be at the additional charge of maintaining their own separate worship. -- But it is said, the Dissenters of America _oppose_ the introduction of a Bishop. In fact, it is not alone the Dissenters there that give the opposition (if _not encouraging_ must be termed _opposing_) but the laity in general dislike the project, and some even of the clergy. The inhabitants of Virginia are almost all Episcopalians. The Church is fully established there, and the Council and General Assembly are perhaps to a man its members, yet when lately at a meeting of the clergy, a resolution was taken to apply for a Bishop, against which several however protested; the assembly of the province at their next meeting, expressed their disapprobation of the thing in the strongest manner, by unanimously ordering the thanks of the house to the protesters: for many of the American laity of the church think it some advantage, whether their own young men come to England for ordination, and improve themselves at the same time by conversation with the learned here, or the congregations are supplied by Englishmen, who have had the benefit of education in English universities, and are ordained before they come abroad. They do not therefore see the necessity of a Bishop merely for ordination, and confirmation is among them deemed a ceremony of no very great importance, since few seek it in England where Bishops are in plenty. These sentiments prevail with many churchmen there, not to promote a design, which they think must sooner or later saddle them with great expences to support it. As to the Dissenters, their minds might probably be more conciliated to the measure, if the Bishops here should, in their wisdom and goodness, think fit to set their sacred character in a more friendly light, by dropping their opposition to the Dissenters application for relief in subscription, and declaring their willingness that Dissenters should be capable of offices, enjoy the benefit of education in the universities, and the privilege of appropriating their tythes to the support of their own clergy. In all these points of toleration, they appear far behind the present Dissenters of New-England, and it may seem to some a step below the dignity of Bishops, to follow the example of such inferiors. I do not, however, despair of their doing it some time or other, since nothing of the kind is too hard for _true christian humility_. I am, Sir, your's, &c. _A New-England-Man_. _The London Packet_, June 3, 1772 _The Sommersett Case and the Slave Trade_ It is said that some generous humane persons subscribed to the expence of obtaining liberty by law for Somerset the Negro. -- It is to be wished that the same humanity may extend itself among numbers; if not to the procuring liberty for those that remain in our Colonies, at least to obtain a law for abolishing the African commerce in Slaves, and declaring the children of present Slaves free after they become of age. By a late computation made in America, it appears that there are now eight hundred and fifty thousand Negroes in the English Islands and Colonies; and that the yearly importation is about one hundred thousand, of which number about one third perish by the gaol distemper on the passage, and in the sickness called the _seasoning_ before they are set to labour. The remnant makes up the deficiencies continually occurring among the main body of those unhappy people, through the distempers occasioned by excessive labour, bad nourishment, uncomfortable accommodation, and broken spirits. Can sweetening our tea, &c. with sugar, be a circumstance of such absolute necessity? Can the petty pleasure thence arising to the taste, compensate for so much misery produced among our fellow creatures, and such a constant butchery of the human species by this pestilential detestable traffic in the bodies and souls of men? -- _Pharisaical Britain!_ to pride thyself in setting free _a single Slave_ that happens to land on thy coasts, while thy Merchants in all thy ports are encouraged by thy laws to continue a commerce whereby so many _hundreds of thousands_ are dragged into a slavery that can scarce be said to end with their lives, since it is entailed on their posterity! _The London Chronicle_, June 20, 1772 _Preface to the Declaration of the Boston Town Meeting_ All Accounts of the Discontent so general in our Colonies, have of late Years been industriously smothered, and concealed here; it seeming to suit the Views of the American Minister to have it understood, that by his great Abilities all Faction was subdued, all Opposition suppressed, and the whole Country quieted. -- That the true State of Affairs there may be known, and the true Causes of that Discontent well understood, the following Piece (not the Production of a Private Writer, but the unanimous Act of a large American City) lately printed in New-England, is republished here. This Nation, and the other Nations of Europe, may thereby learn with more Certainty the Grounds of a Dissension, that possibly may, sooner or later, have Consequences interesting to them all. The Colonies had, from their first Settlement, been governed with more Ease, than perhaps can be equalled by any Instance in History, of Dominions so distant. Their Affection and Respect for this Country, while they were treated with Kindness, produced an almost implicit Obedience to the Instructions of the Prince, and even to Acts of the British Parliament, though the Right of binding them by a Legislature in which they were unrepresented, was never clearly understood. That Respect and Affection produced a Partiality in favour of every thing that was English; whence their preference of English Modes and Manufactures; their Submission to Restraints on the Importation of Foreign Goods, which they had but little Desire to use; and the Monopoly we so long enjoyed of their Commerce, to the great enriching of our Merchants and Artificers. The mistaken Policy of the Stamp-Act first disturbed this happy Situation; but the Flame thereby raised was soon extinguished by its Repeal, and the old Harmony restored, with all its concomitant Advantages to our Commerce. The subsequent Act of another Administration, which, not content with an established Exclusion of Foreign Manufactures, began to make our own Merchandize dearer to the Consumers there by heavy Duties, revived it again: And Combinations were entered into throughout the Continent, to stop Trading with Britain till those Duties should be repealed. All were accordingly repealed but One, the Duty on Tea. This was reserved professedly as a standing Claim and Exercise of the Right assumed by Parliament of laying such Duties. The Colonies, on this Repeal, retracted their Agreement, so far as related to all other Goods except that on which the Duty was retained. This was trumpeted _here_ by the Minister for the Colonies as a Triumph; _there_ it was considered only as a decent and equitable Measure, shewing a Willingness to _meet_ the Mother Country in every Advance towards a Reconciliation. And the Disposition to a good Understanding was so prevalent, that possibly they might soon have relaxed in the Article of Tea also. But the System of Commissioners of Customs, Officers without end, with Fleets and Armies for collecting and enforcing those Duties, being continued, and these acting with much Indiscretion and Rashness, giving great and unnecessary Trouble and Obstruction to Business, commencing unjust and vexatious Suits, and harassing Commerce in all its Branches, while that Minister kept the People in a constant State of Irritation by Instructions which appeared to have no other End than the gratifying his Private Resentments, occasioned a persevering Adherence to their Resolution in that Particular: And the Event should be a Lesson to Ministers, not to risque, through Pique, the obstructing any one Branch of Trade, since the Course and Connection of General Business may be thereby disturbed to a Degree impossible to be foreseen or imagined. For it appears, that the Colonies, finding their Humble Petitions to have this Duty repealed, were rejected and treated with Contempt, and that the Produce of the Duty was applied to the rewarding with undeserved Salaries and Pensions every one of their Enemies, the Duty itself became more odious, and their Resolution to starve it more vigorous and obstinate. The Dutch, the Danes and French, took the Advantage thus offered them by our Imprudence, and began to smuggle their Teas into the Plantations. At first this was somewhat difficult; but at length, as all Business improves by Practice, it became easy. A Coast, 1500 Miles in Length, could not in all Parts be guarded, even by the whole Navy of England, especially where the restraining Authority was by all the Inhabitants deemed unconstitutional, and Smuggling of course considered as Patriotism. The needy Wretches too, who with small Salaries were trusted to watch the Ports Day and Night, in all Weathers, found it easier and more profitable, not only to _wink_, but to sleep in their Beds, the Merchant's Pay being more generous than the King's. Other India Goods also, which by themselves would not have made a Smuggling Voyage sufficiently profitable, accompanied Tea to Advantage; and it is feared the cheap French Silks, formerly rejected as not to the Taste of the Colonists, may have found their way with the Wares of India, and now established themselves in the popular Use and Opinion. It is supposed that at least a Million of Americans drink Tea twice a Day, which, at the first Cost here, can scarce be reckoned at less than Half a Guinea a Head _per Annum_. This Market, that in the five Years which have run on since the Act passed, would have paid 2,500,000 Guineas, _for Tea alone_, into the Coffers of the Company, we have wantonly lost to Foreigners. Meanwhile it is said the Duties have so diminished, that the whole Remittance of the last Year amounted to no more than the pitiful Sum of 85 Pounds for the Expence of some Hundred Thousands in armed Ships and Soldiers to support the Officers. Hence the Tea and other India Goods that might have been sold in America, remain rotting in the Company's Warehouses, while those of Foreign Ports are known to be cleared by the American Demand. Hence in some Degree the Company's Inability to pay their Bills; the sinking of their Stock, by which Millions of Property have been annihilated; the lowering of their Dividend, whereby so many must be distressed; the Loss to Government of the stipulated 400,000 Pounds a Year, which must make a proportionable Reduction in our Savings towards the Discharge of our enormous Debt; and hence in part the severe Blow suffered by Credit in general, to the Ruin of many Families; the Stagnation of Business in Spital-Fields and at Manchester, through want of Vent for their Goods; with other future Evils, which, as they cannot, from the numerous and secret Connections in General Commerce, easily be foreseen, can hardly be avoided. February, 1773 TO THE MASSACHUSETTS HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES: _"A Little Time Must Infallibly Bring Us All We Demand or Desire"_ Sir, London, July 7. 1773 The Parliament is at length prorogu'd without meddling with the State of America. Their Time was much employ'd in East India Business: and perhaps it was not thought prudent to lay before them the Advices from New England, tho' some threatning Intimations had been given of such as Intention. The King's firm Answer (as it is called) to our Petitions and Remonstrances, has probably been judged sufficient for the present. I forwarded that Answer to you by the last Packet, and sent a Copy of it by a Boston Ship the beginning of last Month. Therein we are told "that his Majesty has well weighed the _Subject matter,_ and the _Expressions_ contain'd in those Petitions; and that as he will ever attend to the _humble_ Petitions of his Subjects, and be forward to redress every _real_ Grievance so he is determined to support _the Constitution_, and resist with Firmness every Attempt to derogate from the Authority of the _supreme Legislature_." By this it seems that, some Exception is taken to the _Expressions_ of the Petitions as not sufficiently humble; that the Grievances complain'd of are not thought _real_ Grievances; that Parliament is deem'd the Supreme Legislature, and its Authority over the Colonies, suppos'd to be _the Constitution_. Indeed this last Idea is express'd more fully in the next Paragraph, where the Words of the Act are us'd, declaring the Right of the Crown with the Advice of Parliament, to make Laws of _sufficient Force and Validity_ to bind its Subjects in America _in all Cases whatsoever._ When one considers the King's Situation, surrounded by Ministers, Councellors, and Judges learned in the Law, who are all of this Opinion; and reflect how necessary it is for him to be well with his Parliament, from whose yearly Grants his Fleets and Armies are to be supported, and the Deficiencies of his Civil List supplied, it is not to be wondered at that he should be firm in an Opinion establish'd as far as an Act of Parliament could establish it, by even the Friends of America at the Time they repeal'd the Stamp-Act; and which is so generally thought right by his Lords and Commons, that any Act of his, countenancing the contrary, would hazard his embroiling himself with those Powerful Bodies. And from hence it seems hardly to be expected from him that he should take any Step of that kind. The grievous Instructions indeed might be withdrawn without their observing it, if his Majesty thought fit so to do; but under the present Prejudices of all about him, it seems that this is not yet likely to be advised. The Question then arises, How are we to obtain Redress? If we look back into the Parliamentary History of this Country, we shall find that in similar Situations of the Subjects here, Redress could seldom be obtained but by withholding Aids when the Sovereign was in Distress, till the Grievances were removed. Hence the rooted Custom of the Commons to keep Money Bills intirely in their own Disposition, not suffering even the Lords to meddle in Grants, either as to Quantity, Manner of raising, or even in the smallest Circumstance. This Country pretends to be collectively our Sovereign. It is now deeply in debt. Its Funds are far short of recovering their Par since the last War: Another would distress it still more. Its People diminish as well as its Credit. Men will be wanted as well as Money. The Colonies are rapidly increasing in Wealth and Numbers. In the last War they maintained an Army of 25000. A Country able to do that is no contemptible Ally. In another War they may do perhaps twice as much with equal Ease. Whenever a War happens, our Aid will be wish'd for, our Friendship desired and cultivated, our Good will courted: Then is the Time to say, _Redress our Grievances_. You take Money from us by Force, and now you ask it of voluntary Grant. You cannot have it both Ways. If you chuse to have it without our Consent, you must go on taking it that way and be content with what little you can so obtain. If you would have our free Gifts, desist from your Compulsive Methods, acknowledge our Rights, and secure our future Enjoyment of them. Our Claims will then be attended to, and our Complaints regarded. By what I perceiv'd not long since when a War was apprehended with Spain, the different Countenance put on by some Great Men here towards those who were thought to have a little Influence in America, and the Language that began to be held with regard to the then Minister for the Colonies, I am confident that if that War had taken place he would have been immediately dismiss'd, all his Measures revers'd, and every step taken to recover our Affection and procure our Assistance. Thence I think it fair to conclude that similar Effects will probably be produced by similar Circumstances. But as the Strength of an Empire depends not only on the _Union_ of its Parts, but on their _Readiness_ for United Exertion of their common Force: And as the Discussion of Rights may seem unseasonable in the Commencement of actual War; and the Delay it might occasion be prejudicial to the common Welfare. As likewise the Refusal of one or a few Colonies, would not be so much regarded if the others granted liberally, which perhaps by various Artifices and Motives they might be prevailed on to do; and as this want of Concert would defeat the Expectation of general Redress that otherwise might be justly formed; perhaps it would be best and fairest, for the Colonies in a general Congress now in Peace to be assembled, or by means of the Correspondence lately proposed after a full and solemn Assertion and Declaration of their Rights, to engage firmly with each other that they will never grant aids to the Crown in any General War till those Rights are recogniz'd by the King and both Houses of Parliament; communicating at the same time to the Crown this their Resolution. Such a Step I imagine will bring the Dispute to a Crisis; and whether our Demands are immediately comply'd with, or compulsory Means are thought of to make us Rescind them, our Ends will finally be obtain'd, for even the odium accompanying such compulsory Attempts will contribute to unite and strengthen us, and in the mean time all the World will allow that our Proceeding has been honourable. No one doubts the Advantage of a strict Union between the Mother Country and the Colonies, if it may be obtain'd and preserv'd on equitable Terms. In every fair Connection each Party should find its own Interest. Britain will find hers in our joining with her in every War she makes to the greater Annoyance and Terror of her Enemies; in our Employment of her Manufacturers, and Enriching of her Merchants by our Commerce; and her Government will feel some additional Strengthening of its Hands, by the Disposition of our profitable Posts and Places. On our side, we have to expect the Protection she can afford us; and the Advantage of a common Umpire in our Disputes thereby preventing Wars we might otherwise have with each other, so that we can without Interruption go on with our Improvements and increase our Numbers. We ask no more of her, and she should not think of forcing more from us. By the Exercise of prudent Moderation on her part, mix'd with a little Kindness; and by a decent Behaviour on ours, excusing where we can excuse from a Consideration of Circumstances, and bearing a little, with the Infirmities of her Government as we would with those of an aged Parent, tho' firmly asserting our Privileges, and declaring that we mean at a proper time to vindicate them, this advantageous Union may still be long continued. We wish it, and we may endeavour it, but God will order it as to his Wisdom shall seem most suitable. The Friends of Liberty here, wish we may long preserve it on our side the Water, that they may find it there if adverse Events should destroy it here. They are therefore anxious and afraid lest we should hazard it by premature Attempts in its favour. They think we may risque much by violent Measures, and that the Risque is unnecessary, since a little Time must infallibly bring us all we demand or desire, and bring it us in Peace and Safety. I do not presume to advise. There are many wiser Men among you, and I hope you will be directed by a still superior Wisdom. With regard to the Sentiments of People in general here concerning America, I must say that we have among them many Friends and Well-wishers. The Dissenters are all for us, and many of the Merchants and Manufacturers. There seems to be even among the Country Gentlemen a general Sense of our growing Importance, a Disapprobation of the harsh Measures with which we have been treated, and a Wish that some Means may be found of perfect Reconciliation. A few Members of Parliament in both Houses, and perhaps some in high Office have in a Degree the same Ideas, but none of these seem willing as yet to be active in our favour, lest Adversaries should take Advantage and charge it upon them as a Betraying the Interests of this Nation. In this State of things, no Endeavours of mine or our other Friends here "to obtain a Repeal of the Acts so oppressive to the Colonists or the Orders of the Crown so destructive of the Charter rights of our Province in particular," can expect a sudden success. By degrees and a judicious Improvement of Events we may work a Change in Minds and Measures, but otherwise such great Alterations are hardly to be look'd for. I am thankful to the House for the Mark of their kind Attention in repeating their Grant to me of Six Hundred Pounds. Whether the Instruction restraining the Governor's Assent is withdrawn or not, or is likely to be I cannot tell, having never solicited or even once mention'd it to Lord Dartmouth, being resolved to owe no Obligation on that Account to the Favour of any Minister. If from a Sense of Right, that Instruction should be recall'd and the general Principle on which it was founded is given up, all will be very well: but you can never think it worth while to employ an Agent here if his being paid or not is to depend on the Breath of a Minister, and I should think it a Situation too suspicious and therefore too dishonourable for me to remain in a single Hour. Living frugally I am under no immediate Necessity; and if I serve my Constituents faithfully tho' it should be unsuccessfully I am confident they will always have it in their Inclination and sometime or other in their Power to make their Grants effectual. A Gentleman of our Province, Capt. Calef, is come hither as an Agent for some of the Eastern Townships to obtain a Confirmation of their Lands. Sir Francis Bernard seems inclin'd to make Use of this Person's Application for promoting a Separation of that Country from your Province and making it a distinct Government, to which purpose he prepared a Draft of a Memorial for Calef to present setting forth not only the hardship of being without Security in the Property of their Improvements, but also the Distress of the People there for want of Government, that they were at too great a Distance from the Seat of Government in the Massachusetts to be capable of receiving the Benefits of Government from thence, and expressing their Willingness to be separated, and form'd into a new Province, &c. With this Draft Sir Francis and Mr. Calef came to me to have my Opinion. I read it, and observ'd to them that tho' I wish'd the People quieted in their Possessions and would do any thing I could to assist in obtaining the Assurance of their Property, yet as I knew the Province of the Massachusetts had a Right to that Country, of which they were justly tenacious, I must oppose that part of the Memorial if it should be presented. Sir Francis allow'd the Right, but propos'd that a great Tract of Land between Merrimack and Connecticut Rivers which had been allotted to Newhampshire might be restord to our Province by order of the Crown, as a Compensation. This he said would be of more Value to us than that Eastern Country, as being nearer home, &c. I said I would mention it in my Letters, but must in the mean time oppose any Step taken in the Affair before the Sentiments of the General Court should be known as to such an Exchange if it were offer'd. Mr. Calef himself did not seem fond of the Draft, and I have not seen him, or heard any thing farther of it since, but I shall watch it. Be pleased to present my dutiful Respects to the House, and believe me, with sincere and great Esteem, Sir, Your most obedient and most humble Servant. _On the Hutchinson Letters_ A Correspondent observes, that the Discovery of Governor Hutchinson's and Oliver's Letters points out an easy Way of re-establishing Peace and Harmony between Great Britain and her Colonies, and consolating the Confidence of the latter, by producing all the confidential Letters received from America in public Affairs, and from public Men. It is in vain to say, this would be betraying private Correspondence, since if the Truth only was written, no Man need be ashamed or afraid of its being known; and if Falshoods have been maliciously covered under the Cloak of Confidence, 'tis perfectly just the incendiary Writers should be exposed and punished. What a weak, what a wicked Plan of Government is that, which, under the Seal of Secrecy, gives Encouragement to every Species of Malice and Misrepresentation. That Government have been deceived almost to the fatal Issue of declaring War against our Colonies is certain; and it is equally certain, that it is in their Power to make an honourable Sacrifice of the wicked Authors of this dangerous Deception. _The Public Advertiser_, August 31, 1773 _An Infallible Method To Restore Peace and Harmony_ _To the_ Printer _of the_ Public Advertiser. Permit me, Sir, to communicate to the Ministry, thro' the Channel of your Paper, an _infallible Method_ (and but one) to silence the Clamours of the Americans; to restore Peace and Harmony between the Colonies and the Mother Country; to regain the Affections of the most loyal, and I will venture to say the most virtuous of his Majesty's Subjects, whose Assistance may one Day be necessary to preserve that Freedom, which is the Glory and Happiness of the English Nation, and without which, from the Luxury and Effeminacy which at present reigns so universally among us, is in imminent Danger of being lost forever. The Method is plain and easy: Place the Americans in the same Individual Situation they were in before that di ------ cal, unconstitutional, oppressive Revenue Act was formed and endeavoured to be carried into Execution by Mr. Grenville; repeal the odious Tax on Tea; supersede the Board of Commissioners; let the Governors and Judges be appointed by the Crown, and paid by the People as usual; recall the Troops, except what are absolutely necessary for the Preservation of the new-acquired Provinces; in fine, put every Thing on its ancient Footing. The Plea of its being dishonourable to give up a Point once determined upon, is vain and nugatory: The Instances are innumerable of Repeals of Acts of Parliament, which, when passed, were thought wise and necessary. -- The Stamp Duty for America is a recent Instance in point -- Acts of Prerogative are surely not more sacred than Acts of Parliament. I insist upon it, that nothing would redound so much to the Honour of Administration, nothing would convince Mankind that the Intentions of Government are just and equitable, equal to the little Sacrifice of Vanity and the Pride of Power to the general Welfare of the British Empire. It is asserted, that there are Emissaries from France, who endeavour to foment the Difference between Great Britain and her Colonies. Disappoint this subtle and perfidious Nation. I will venture to prophecy, that notwithstanding this little Breach, the Connexion will be as strong, perhaps stronger than ever. It was always the Boast of the Americans, that they could claim their Original from the Kingdom of Great Britain, and their Joy upon being re-admitted to all the Privileges of Englishmen will operate as a new Cement to a grateful and generous People, which will for ever ensure their future Loyalty and Obedience. The above is the sincere Opinion of A Well-Wisher to _Great Britain and her Colonies_. _The Public Advertiser_, September 8, 1773 FOR THE PUBLIC ADVERTISER _Rules by Which a Great Empire May Be Reduced to a Small One_ [Presented privately to a _late Minister_, when he entered upon his Administration; and now first published.] An ancient Sage valued himself upon this, that tho' he could not fiddle, he knew how to make a _great City_ of a _little one_. The Science that I, a modern Simpleton, am about to communicate is the very reverse. I address myself to all Ministers who have the Management of extensive Dominions, which from their very Greatness are become troublesome to govern, because the Multiplicity of their Affairs leaves no Time for _fiddling_. I. In the first Place, Gentlemen, you are to consider, that a great Empire, like a great Cake, is most easily diminished at the Edges. Turn your Attention therefore first to your remotest Provinces; that as you get rid of them, the next may follow in Order. II. That the Possibility of this Separation may always exist, take special Care the Provinces are never incorporated with the Mother Country, that they do not enjoy the same common Rights, the same Privileges in Commerce, and that they are governed by _severer_ Laws, all of _your enacting_, without allowing them any Share in the Choice of the Legislators. By carefully making and preserving such Distinctions, you will (to keep to my Simile of the Cake) act like a wise Gingerbread Baker, who, to facilitate a Division, cuts his Dough half through in those Places, where, when bak'd, he would have it _broken to Pieces_. III. These remote Provinces have perhaps been acquired, purchas'd, or conquer'd, at the _sole Expence_ of the Settlers or their Ancestors, without the Aid of the Mother Country. If this should happen to increase her _Strength_ by their growing Numbers ready to join in her Wars, her _Commerce_ by their growing Demand for her Manufactures, or her _Naval Power_ by greater Employment for her Ships and Seamen, they may probably suppose some Merit in this, and that it entitles them to some Favour; you are therefore to _forget it all_, or resent it as if they had done you Injury. If they happen to be zealous Whigs, Friends of Liberty, nurtur'd in Revolution Principles, _remember all that_ to their Prejudice, and contrive to punish it: For such Principles, after a Revolution is thoroughly established, are of _no more Use_, they are even _odious_ and _abominable_. IV. However peaceably your Colonies have submitted to your Government, shewn their Affection to your Interest, and patiently borne their Grievances, you are to _suppose_ them always inclined to revolt, and treat them accordingly. Quarter Troops among them, who by their Insolence may _provoke_ the rising of Mobs, and by their Bullets and Bayonets _suppress_ them. By this Means, like the Husband who uses his Wife ill _from Suspicion_, you may in Time convert your _Suspicions_ into _Realities_. V. Remote Provinces must have _Governors_, and _Judges_, to represent the Royal Person, and execute every where the delegated Parts of his Office and Authority. You Ministers know, that much of the Strength of Government depends on the _Opinion_ of the People; and much of that Opinion on the Choice of Rulers placed immediately over them. If you send them wise and good Men for Governors, who study the Interest of the Colonists, and advance their Prosperity, they will think their King wise and good, and that he wishes the Welfare of his Subjects. If you send them learned and upright Men for Judges, they will think him a Lover of Justice. This may attach your Provinces more to his Government. You are therefore to be careful who you recommend for those Offices. -- If you can find Prodigals who have ruined their Fortunes, broken Gamesters or Stock-Jobbers, these may do well as _Governors_; for they will probably be rapacious, and provoke the People by their Extortions. Wrangling Proctors and petty-fogging Lawyers too are not amiss, for they will be for ever disputing and quarrelling with their little Parliaments. If withal they should be ignorant, wrong-headed and insolent, so much the better. Attorneys Clerks and Newgate Solicitors will do for _Chief-Justices_, especially if they hold their Places _during your Pleasure_: -- And all will contribute to impress those ideas of your Government that are proper for a People _you would wish to renounce it_. VI. To confirm these Impressions, and strike them deeper, whenever the Injured come to the Capital with Complaints of Mal-administration, Oppression, or Injustice, punish such Suitors with long Delay, enormous Expence, and a final Judgment in Favour of the Oppressor. This will have an admirable Effect every Way. The Trouble of future Complaints will be prevented, and Governors and Judges will be encouraged to farther Acts of Oppression and Injustice; and thence the People may become more disaffected, _and at length desperate_. VII. When such Governors have crammed their Coffers, and made themselves so odious to the People that they can no longer remain among them with Safety to their Persons, recall and _reward_ them with Pensions. You may make them _Baronets_ too, if that respectable Order should not think fit to resent it. All will contribute to encourage new Governors in the same Practices, and make the supreme Government _detestable_. VIII. If when you are engaged in War, your Colonies should vie in liberal Aids of Men and Money against the common Enemy, upon your simple Requisition, and give far beyond their Abilities, reflect, that a Penny taken from them by your Power is more honourable to you than a Pound presented by their Benevolence. Despise therefore their voluntary Grants, and resolve to harrass them with novel Taxes. They will probably complain to your Parliaments that they are taxed by a Body in which they have no Representative, and that this is contrary to common Right. They will petition for Redress. Let the Parliaments flout their Claims, reject their Petitions, refuse even to suffer the reading of them, and treat the Petitioners with the utmost Contempt. Nothing can have a better Effect, in producing the Alienation proposed; for though many can forgive Injuries, _none ever forgave Contempt_. IX. In laying these Taxes, never regard the heavy Burthens those remote People already undergo, in defending their own Frontiers, supporting their own provincial Governments, making new Roads, building Bridges, Churches and other public Edifices, which in old Countries have been done to your Hands by your Ancestors, but which occasion constant Calls and Demands on the Purses of a new People. Forget the _Restraints_ you lay on their Trade for _your own_ Benefit, and the Advantage a _Monopoly_ of this Trade gives your exacting Merchants. Think nothing of the Wealth those Merchants and your Manufacturers acquire by the Colony Commerce; their encreased Ability thereby to pay Taxes at home; their accumulating, in the Price of their Commodities, most of those Taxes, and so levying them from their consuming Customers: All this, and the Employment and Support of Thousands of your Poor by the Colonists, you are _intirely to forget_. But remember to make your arbitrary Tax more grievous to your Provinces, by public Declarations importing that your Power of taxing them has _no Limits_, so that when you take from them without their Consent a Shilling in the Pound, you have a clear Right to the other nineteen. This will probably weaken every Idea of _Security in their Property_, and convince them that under such a Government _they have nothing they can call their own_; which can scarce fail of producing _the happiest Consequences_! X. Possibly indeed some of them might still comfort themselves, and say, `Though we have no Property, we have yet _something_ left that is valuable; we have constitutional _Liberty_ both of Person and of Conscience. This King, these Lords, and these Commons, who it seems are too remote from us to know us and feel for us, cannot take from us our _Habeas_ _Corpus_ Right, or our Right of Trial _by a Jury of our Neighbours_: They cannot deprive us of the Exercise of our Religion, alter our ecclesiastical Constitutions, and compel us to be Papists if they please, or Mahometans.' To annihilate this Comfort, begin by Laws to perplex their Commerce with infinite Regulations impossible to be remembered and observed; ordain Seizures of their Property for every Failure; take away the Trial of such Property by Jury, and give it to arbitrary Judges of your own appointing, and of the lowest Characters in the Country, whose Salaries and Emoluments are to arise out of the Duties or Condemnations, and whose Appointments are _during Pleasure_. Then let there be a formal Declaration of both Houses, that Opposition to your Edicts is _Treason_, and that Persons suspected of Treason in the Provinces may, according to some obsolete Law, be seized and sent to the Metropolis of the Empire for Trial; and pass an Act that those there charged with certain other Offences shall be sent away in Chains from their Friends and Country to be tried in the same Manner for Felony. Then erect a new Court of Inquisition among them, accompanied by an armed Force, with Instructions to transport all such suspected Persons, to be ruined by the Expence if they bring over Evidences to prove their Innocence, or be found guilty and hanged if they can't afford it. And lest the People should think you cannot possibly go any farther, pass another solemn declaratory Act, that `King, Lords, and Commons had, hath, and of Right ought to have, full Power and Authority to make Statutes of sufficient Force and Validity to bind the unrepresented Provinces IN ALL CASES WHATSOEVER.' This will include _spiritual_ with temporal; and taken together, must operate wonderfully to your Purpose, by convincing them, that they are at present under a Power something like that spoken of in the Scriptures, which can not only _kill their Bodies_, but _damn their Souls_ to all Eternity, by compelling them, if it pleases, _to worship the Devil_. XI. To make your Taxes more odious, and more likely to procure Resistance, send from the Capital a Board of Officers to superintend the Collection, composed of the most _indiscreet, ill-bred_ and _insolent_ you can find. Let these have large Salaries out of the extorted Revenue, and live in open grating Luxury upon the Sweat and Blood of the Industrious, whom they are to worry continually with groundless and expensive Prosecutions before the above-mentioned arbitrary Revenue-Judges, all _at the Cost of the Party prosecuted_ tho' acquitted, because _the King is to pay no Costs_. -- Let these Men _by your Order_ be exempted from all the common Taxes and Burthens of the Province, though they and their Property are protected by its Laws. If any Revenue Officers are _suspected_ of the least Tenderness for the People, discard them. If others are justly complained of, protect and reward them. If any of the Under-officers behave so as to provoke the People to drub them, promote those to better Offices: This will encourage others to procure for themselves such profitable Drubbings, by multiplying and enlarging such Provocations, and _all with work towards the End you aim at_. XII. Another Way to make your Tax odious, is to misapply the Produce of it. If it was originally appropriated for the _Defence_ of the Provinces and the better Support of Government, and the Administration of Justice where it may be _necessary_, then apply none of it to that _Defence_, but bestow it where it is _not necessary_, in augmented Salaries or Pensions to every Governor who has distinguished himself by his Enmity to the People, and by calumniating them to their Sovereign. This will make them pay it more unwillingly, and be more apt to quarrel with those that collect it, and those that imposed it, who will quarrel again with them, and all shall contribute to your _main Purpose_ of making them _weary of your Government_. XIII. If the People of any Province have been accustomed to support their own Governors and Judges to Satisfaction, you are to apprehend that such Governors and Judges may be thereby influenced to treat the People kindly, and to do them Justice. This is another Reason for applying Part of that Revenue in larger Salaries to such Governors and Judges, given, as their Commissions are, _during your Pleasure_ only, forbidding them to take any Salaries from their Provinces; that thus the People may no longer hope any Kindness from their Governors, or (in Crown Cases) any Justice from their Judges. And as the Money thus mis-applied in one Province is extorted from all, probably _all will resent the Mis-application_. XIV. If the Parliaments of your Provinces should dare to claim Rights or complain of your Administration, order them to be harass'd with repeated _Dissolutions_. If the same Men are continually return'd by new Elections, adjourn their Meetings to some Country Village where they cannot be accommodated, and there keep them _during Pleasure_; for this, you know, is your PREROGATIVE; and an excellent one it is, as you may manage it, to promote Discontents among the People, diminish their Respect, and _increase their Dis-affection_. XV. Convert the brave honest Officers of your Navy into pimping Tide-waiters and Colony Officers of the Customs. Let those who in Time of War fought gallantly in Defence of the Commerce of their Countrymen, in Peace be taught to prey upon it. Let them learn to be corrupted by great and real Smugglers, but (to shew their Diligence) scour with armed Boats every Bay, Harbour, River, Creek, Cove or Nook throughout the Coast of your Colonies, stop and detain every Coaster, every Wood-boat, every Fisherman, tumble their Cargoes, and even their Ballast, inside out and upside down; and if a Penn'orth of Pins is found un-entered, let the Whole be seized and confiscated. Thus shall the Trade of your Colonists suffer more from their Friends in Time of Peace, than it did from their Enemies in War. Then let these Boats Crews land upon every Farm in their Way, rob the Orchards, steal the Pigs and Poultry, and insult the Inhabitants. If the injured and exasperated Farmers, unable to procure other Justice, should attack the Agressors, drub them and burn their Boats, you are to call this _High Treason_ and _Rebellion_, order Fleets and Armies into their Country, and threaten to carry all the Offenders three thousand Miles to be hang'd, drawn and quartered. _O! this will work admirably!_ XVI. If you are told of Discontents in your Colonies, never believe that they are general, or that you have given Occasion for them; therefore do not think of applying any Remedy, or of changing any offensive Measure. Redress no Grievance, lest they should be encouraged to demand the Redress of some other Grievance. Grant no Request that is just and reasonable, lest they should make another that is unreasonable. Take all your Informations of the State of the Colonies from your Governors and Officers in Enmity with them. Encourage and reward these _Leasing-makers_; secrete their lying Accusations lest they should be confuted; but act upon them as the clearest Evidence, and believe nothing you hear from the Friends of the People. Suppose all _their_ Complaints to be invented and promoted by a few factious Demagogues, whom if you could catch and hang, all would be quiet. Catch and hang a few of them accordingly; and the _Blood of the Martyrs_ shall _work Miracles_ in favour of your Purpose. XVII. If you see _rival Nations_ rejoicing at the Prospect of your Disunion with your Provinces, and endeavouring to promote it: If they translate, publish and applaud all the Complaints of your discontented Colonists, at the same Time privately stimulating you to severer Measures; let not that _alarm_ or offend you. Why should it? since you all mean _the same Thing_. XVIII. If any Colony should at their own Charge erect a Fortress to secure their Port against the Fleets of a foreign Enemy, get your Governor to betray that Fortress into your Hands. Never think of paying what it cost the Country, for that would _look_, at least, like some Regard for Justice; but turn it into a Citadel to awe the Inhabitants and curb their Commerce. If they should have lodged in such Fortress the very Arms they bought and used to aid you in your Conquests, seize them all, 'twill provoke like _Ingratitude_ added to _Robbery_. One admirable Effect of these Operations will be, to discourage every other Colony from erecting such Defences, and so their and your Enemies may more easily invade them, to the great Disgrace of your Government, and of course _the Furtherance of your Project_. XIX. Send Armies into their Country under Pretence of protecting the Inhabitants; but instead of garrisoning the Forts on their Frontiers with those Troops, to prevent Incursions, demolish those Forts, and order the Troops into the Heart of the Country, that the Savages may be encouraged to attack the Frontiers, and that the Troops may be protected by the Inhabitants: This will seem to proceed from your Ill will or your Ignorance, and contribute farther to produce and strengthen an Opinion among them, _that you are no longer fit to govern them._ XX. Lastly, Invest the General of your Army in the Provinces with great and unconstitutional Powers, and free him from the Controul of even your own Civil Governors. Let him have Troops enow under his Command, with all the Fortresses in his Possession; and who knows but (like some provincial Generals in the Roman Empire, and encouraged by the universal Discontent you have produced) he may take it into his Head to set up for himself. If he should, and you have carefully practised these few _excellent Rules_ of mine, take my Word for it, all the Provinces will immediately join him, and you will that Day (if you have not done it sooner) get rid of the Trouble of governing them, and all the _Plagues_ attending their _Commerce_ and Connection from thenceforth and for ever. Q. E. D. _The Public Advertiser_, September 11, 1773 _'Tis Never Too Late To Mend_ _To the_ Printer _of the_ Public Advertiser. SIR, I had the Pleasure to read in your Paper of Saturday last some excellent Rules, by which a GREAT EMPIRE may be reduced to a _small One_. They are drawn up in a fine Vein of _Irony_, which is admirably supported throughout. If the Ministry have any Sense of Shame remaining, they must blush to see their Conduct with respect to America placed in such a striking Point of Ridicule; and the ingenious Author is intitled to the Thanks both of Great Britain and the Colonies for shewing the Absurdity and bad Policy of such Conduct. To be sensible of Error is one Step towards Amendment; -- no Man is infallible; and MINISTERS are but _Men_; -- 'tis never too late to mend, nor is it any Impeachment of our Understanding to confess that we have been mistaken; for it implies _that we are wiser To-day than we were the Day before_; and surely _Individuals_ need not be ashamed publicly to retract an Error, since the LEGISLATURE itself does it every Time that it repeals one of its own Acts. But though the Americans have long been oppressed, let them not despair. The Administration of the Colonies is no longer in the Hands of a _Shelburne_, a _Clare_, or a _Hillsborough_; -- thank Heaven _that_ Department is NOW entrusted to an ENGLISHMAN! Be it _his_ Glory to _reverse_ those baneful and pernicious Measures which have too long harrassed the Colonies, and have given such a Blow to the _Credit_, the _Commerce_, and the NAVAL POWER of the Mother Country. I am, SIR, _A sincere Well-wisher to_ GREAT BRITAIN _and her_ COLONIES. _The Public Advertiser_, September 14, 1773 _An Edict by the King of Prussia_ _For the_ Public Advertiser. The SUBJECT of the following Article of FOREIGN INTELLIGENCE being exceeding EXTRAORDINARY, is the Reason of its being separated from the usual Articles of _Foreign News_. _Dantzick, September_ 5. WE have long wondered here at the Supineness of the English Nation, under the Prussian Impositions upon its Trade entering our Port. We did not till lately know the _Claims_, antient and modern, that hang over that Nation, and therefore could not suspect that it might submit to those Impositions from a Sense of _Duty_, or from Principles of _Equity_. The following _Edict_, just made public, may, if serious, throw some Light upon this Matter. `FREDERICK, by the Grace of God, King of _Prussia_, &c. &c. &c. to all present and to come, HEALTH. The Peace now enjoyed throughout our Dominions, having afforded us Leisure to apply ourselves to the Regulation of Commerce, the Improvement of our Finances, and at the same Time the easing our _Domestic Subjects_ in their Taxes: For these Causes, and other good Considerations us thereunto moving, We hereby make known, that after having deliberated these Affairs in our Council, present our dear Brothers, and other great Officers of the State, Members of the same, WE, of our certain Knowledge, full Power and Authority Royal, have made and issued this present Edict, viz. `WHEREAS it is well known to all the World, that the first German Settlements made in the Island of _Britain_, were by Colonies of People, Subjects to our renowned Ducal Ancestors, and drawn from _their_ Dominions, under the Conduct of _Hengist_, _Horsa_, _Hella_, _Uffa_, _Cerdicus_, _Ida_, and others; and that the said Colonies have flourished under the Protection of our august House, for Ages past, have never been _emancipated_ therefrom, and yet have hitherto yielded little Profit to the same. And whereas We Ourself have in the last War fought for and defended the said Colonies against the Power of _France_, and thereby enabled them to make Conquests from the said Power in _America_, for which we have not yet received adequate Compensation. And whereas it is just and expedient that a Revenue should be raised from the said Colonies in _Britain_ towards our Indemnification; and that those who are Descendants of our antient Subjects, and thence still owe us due Obedience, should contribute to the replenishing of our Royal Coffers, as they must have done had their Ancestors remained in the Territories now to us appertaining: WE do therefore hereby ordain and command, That from and after the Date of these Presents, there shall be levied and paid to our Officers of the Customs, on all Goods, Wares and Merchandizes, and on all Grain and other Produce of the Earth exported from the said Island of _Britain_, and on all Goods of whatever Kind imported into the same, a _Duty_ of _Four and an Half_ per Cent. _ad Valorem_, for the Use of us and our Successors. -- And that the said Duty may more effectually be collected, We do hereby ordain, that all Ships or Vessels bound from _Great Britain_ to any other Part of the World, or from any other Part of the World to _Great Britain_, shall in their respective Voyages touch at our Port of KONINGSBERG, there to be unladen, searched, and charged with the said Duties. `And WHEREAS there have been from Time to Time discovered in the said Island of _Great Britain_ by our Colonists there, many Mines or Beds of Iron Stone; and sundry Subjects of our antient Dominion, skilful in converting the said Stone into Metal, have in Times past transported themselves thither, carrying with them and communicating that Art; and the Inhabitants of the said Island, _presuming_ that they had a natural Right to make the best Use they could of the natural Productions of their Country for their own Benefit, have not only built Furnaces for smelting the said Stone into Iron, but have erected Plating Forges, Slitting Mills, and Steel Furnaces, for the more convenient manufacturing of the same, thereby endangering a Diminution of the said Manufacture in our antient Dominion. WE _do therefore_ hereby farther ordain, that from and after the Date hereof, no Mill or other Engine for Slitting or Rolling of Iron, or any Plating Forge to work with a Tilt-Hammer, or any Furnace for making Steel, shall be erected or continued in the said Island of _Great Britain_: And the Lord Lieutenant of every County in the said Island is hereby commanded, on Information of any such Erection within his County, to order and by Force to cause the same to be abated and destroyed, as he shall answer the Neglect thereof to Us at his Peril. -- But We are nevertheless graciously pleased to permit the Inhabitants of the said Island to transport their Iron into _Prussia_, there to be manufactured, and to them returned, they paying our Prussian Subjects for the Workmanship, with all the Costs of Commission, Freight and Risque coming and returning, any Thing herein contained to the contrary notwithstanding. `WE do not however think fit to extend this our Indulgence to the Article of _Wool_, but meaning to encourage not only the manufacturing of woollen Cloth, but also the raising of Wool in our antient Dominions, and to prevent _both_, as much as may be, in our said Island, We do hereby absolutely forbid the Transportation of Wool from thence even to the Mother Country _Prussia_; and that those Islanders may be farther and more effectually restrained in making any Advantage of their own Wool in the Way of Manufacture, We command that none shall be carried _out of one County into another_, nor shall any Worsted-Bay, or Woollen-Yarn, Cloth, Says, Bays, Kerseys, Serges, Frizes, Druggets, Cloth-Serges, Shalloons, or any other Drapery Stuffs, or Woollen Manufactures whatsoever, made up or mixt with Wool in any of the said Counties, be carried into any other County, or be Water-borne even across the smallest River or Creek, on Penalty of Forfeiture of the same, together with the Boats, Carriages, Horses, &c. that shall be employed in removing them. _Nevertheless_ Our loving Subjects there are hereby permitted, (if they think proper) to use all their Wool as _Manure for the Improvement of their Lands_. `AND WHEREAS the Art and Mystery of making _Hats_ hath arrived at great Perfection in _Prussia_, and the making of Hats by our remote Subjects ought to be as much as possible restrained. And forasmuch as the Islanders before-mentioned, being in Possession of Wool, Beaver, and other Furs, have _presumptuously_ conceived they had a Right to make some Advantage thereof, by manufacturing the same into Hats, to the Prejudice of our domestic Manufacture, WE do therefore hereby strictly command and ordain, that no Hats or Felts whatsoever, dyed or undyed, finished or unfinished, shall be loaden or put into or upon any Vessel, Cart, Carriage or Horse, to be transported or conveyed _out of one County_ in the said Island _into another County_, or to _any other Place whatsoever_, by any Person or Persons whatsoever, on Pain of forfeiting the same, with a Penalty of _Five Hundred Pounds_ Sterling for every Offence. Nor shall any Hat-maker in any of the said Counties employ more than two Apprentices, on Penalty of _Five Pounds_ Sterling per Month: We intending hereby that such Hat-makers, being so restrained both in the Production and Sale of their Commodity, may find no Advantage in continuing their Business. -- But lest the said Islanders should suffer Inconveniency by the Want of Hats, We are farther graciously pleased to permit them to send their Beaver Furs to _Prussia_; and We also permit Hats made thereof to be exported from _Prussia_ to _Britain_, the People thus favoured to pay all Costs and Charges of Manufacturing, Interest, Commission to Our Merchants, Insurance and Freight going and returning, as in the Case of Iron. `And lastly, Being willing farther to favour Our said Colonies in _Britain_, We do hereby also ordain and command, that all the Thieves, Highway and Street-Robbers, House-breakers, Forgerers, Murderers, So ------ tes, and Villains of every Denomination, who have forfeited their Lives to the Law in _Prussia_, but whom We, in Our great Clemency, do not think fit here to hang, shall be emptied out of our Gaols into the said Island of _Great Britain for the_ BETTER PEOPLING _of that Country_. `We flatter Ourselves that these Our Royal Regulations and Commands will be thought _just_ and _reasonable_ by Our much-favoured Colonists in _England_, the said Regulations being copied from their own Statutes of 10 and 11 Will. III. C. 10. -- 5 Geo. II. C. 22. -- 23 Geo. II. C. 29. -- 4 Geo. I. C. 11. and from other equitable Laws made by their Parliaments, or from Instructions given by their Princes, or from Resolutions of both Houses entered into for the GOOD _Government_ of their own Colonies in _Ireland_ and _America_. `And all Persons in the said Island are hereby cautioned not to oppose in any wise the Execution of this Our Edict, or any Part thereof, such Opposition being HIGH TREASON, of which all who are _suspected_ shall be transported in Fetters from _Britain_ to _Prussia_, there to be tried and executed according to the _Prussian Law_. `Such is our Pleasure. `Given at _Potsdam_ this twenty-fifth Day of the Month of August, One Thousand Seven Hundred and Seventy-three, and in the Thirty-third Year of our Reign. `By the KING in his Council. `RECHTMAESSIG, _Secr._' Some take this Edict to be merely one of the King's _Jeux d'Esprit_: Others suppose it serious, and that he means a Quarrel with England: But all here think the Assertion it concludes with, "that these Regulations are copied from Acts of the English Parliament respecting their Colonies," a very _injurious_ one: it being impossible to believe, that a People distinguished for their _Love of Liberty_, a Nation so _wise_, so _liberal in its Sentiments_, so _just and equitable_ towards its _Neighbours_, should, from mean and _injudicious_ Views of _petty immediate Profit_, treat _its own Children_ in a Manner so _arbitrary_ and TYRANNICAL! _The Public Advertiser_, September 22, 1773 _A Chimney-Sweeper's Logic_ To the Printer of the Publick Advertizer Sir D.E.Q. that is Sir F. Bernard in his long labour'd, and special dull Answer to Q.E.D. endeavours to persuade the King, that as he was his Majesty's Representative, there was a great Similitude in their Characters and Conduct, and that Sir: F.'s Enemies are _Enemies of his Majesty_ and of all Government. This puts one in mind of the Chimney-sweeper condemn'd to be hang'd for Theft, who being charitably visited by a good Clergyman for whom he had work'd, said, _I hope your Honour will take my part, and get a Reprieve for me, and not let my Enemies have their Will; because it is upon your Account that they have prosecuted and sworn against me_. On my Account! How can that be? _Why, Sir, because as how, ever since they knew I was employ'd by your Honour, they resolv'd upon my Ruin: for they are Enemies to all Religion; and they hate you and me and every body in black_. Z.Z. after October 30, 1773 _Public Statement on the Hutchinson Letters_ _To the_ PRINTER _of the_ LONDON CHRONICLE. SIR, Finding that two Gentlemen have been unfortunately engaged in a Duel, about a transaction and its circumstances of which both of them are totally ignorant and innocent, I think it incumbent on me to declare (for the prevention of farther mischief, as far as such a declaration may contribute to prevent it) that I alone am the person who obtained and transmitted to Boston the letters in question. -- Mr. W. could not communicate them, because they were never in his possession; and, for the same reason, they could not be taken from him by Mr. T. -- They were not of the nature of _"private letters between friends:"_ They were written by public officers to persons in public station, on public affairs, and intended to procure public measures; they were therefore handed to other public persons who might be influenced by them to produce those measures: Their tendency was to incense the Mother Country against her Colonies, and, by the steps recommended, to widen the breach, which they effected. The chief Caution expressed with regard to Privacy, was, to keep their contents from the _Colony Agents_, who the writers apprehended might return them, or copies of them, to America. That apprehension was, it seems, well founded; for the first Agent who laid his hands on them, thought it his duty to transmit them to his Constituents. B. FRANKLIN, _Agent for the House of Representatives of the Massachusetts-Bay_. Craven-street, Dec. 25, 1773. _The London Chronicle_, December 25, 1773 _On a Proposed Act To Prevent Emigration_ To the Printer of the Publick Advertiser Sir, You give us in your Paper of Tuesday, the 16th of November, what is called "the Plan of an Act to be proposed at the next Meeting of Parliament to prevent the Emigration of our People." I know not from what Authority it comes, but as it is very circumstantial, I must suppose some such Plan may be really under Consideration, and that this is thrown out to feel the Pulse of the Publick. I shall therefore, with your leave, give my Sentiments of it in your Paper. During a Century and half that Englishmen have been at Liberty to remove if they pleased to America, we have heard of no Law to restrain that Liberty, and confine them as Prisoners in this Island. Nor do we perceive any ill Effects produced by their Emigration. Our Estates far from diminishing in Value thro' a Want of Tenants, have been in that Period more than doubled; the Lands in general are better cultivated; their increased Produce finds ready Sale at an advanced Price, and the Complaint has for some time been, not that we want Mouths to consume our Meat, but that we want Meat for our Number of Mouths. Why then is such a restraining Law _now_ thought necessary? A Paragraph in the same Paper from the _Edinburgh Courant_ may perhaps throw some Light upon this Question. We are there told "that 1500 People have emigrated to America from the Shire of Sutherland within these two Years, and carried with them 7500 pound Sterling; which exceeds a Years Rent of the whole County; and that the single Consideration of the _Misery_ which most of these People _must suffer_ in America, independent of the Loss of Men and Money to the Mother Country, should engage the Attention not only of the _landed Interest, but of Administration._" The humane Writer of this Paragraph, may, I fancy, console himself, with the Reflection, that perhaps the apprehended future Sufferings of those Emigrants will never exist: for that it was probably the authentic Accounts they had received from Friends already settled there, of the Felicity to be enjoyed in that Country, with a thorough Knowledge of their own Misery at home, which induced their Removal. And, as a Politician, he may be comforted by assuring himself, that if they really meet with greater Misery in America, their future Letters lamenting it, will be more credited than the _Edinburgh Courant_, and effectually without a Law put a Stop to the Emigration. It seems some of the Scottish Chiefs, who delight no longer to live upon their Estates in the honourable Independence they were born to, among their respecting Tenants, but chuse rather a Life of Luxury, tho' among the Dependants of a Court, have lately raised their Rents most grievously to support the Expence. The Consuming of those Rents in London, tho' equally prejudicial to the poor County of _Sutherland_, no Edinburgh Newspaper complains of; but now that the oppressed Tenants take Flight and carry with them what might have supported the Landlords London Magnificence, he begins to _feel_ for the MOTHER-COUNTRY, and its enormous _Loss_ of 7500 pounds carried to her Colonies! _Administration_ is called upon to remedy the Evil, by another Abridgement of ENGLISH LIBERTY. And surely Administration should do something for these Gentry, as they do any thing for Administration. But is there not an easier Remedy? Let them return to their Family Seats, live among their People, and instead of fleecing and skinning, patronize and cherish them; promote their Interest, encourage their Industry, and make their Situation comfortable. If the poor Folks are happier at home than they can be abroad, they will not lightly be prevailed with to cross the Ocean. But can their Lord blame them for leaving home in search of better Living, when he first sets them the Example? I would consider the proposed Law, 1st. As to the NECESSITY of it. 2dly. The PRACTICABILITY. 3dly. The POLICY, if practicable. and 4thly. The JUSTICE of it. Pray spare me room for a few Words on each of these Heads. 1ST. As to the _Necessity_ of it. If any Country has more People than can be comfortably subsisted in it, some of those who are incommoded, may be induced to emigrate. As long as the new Situation shall be _far_ preferable to the old, the Emigration may possibly continue. But when many of those who at home interfered with others of the same Rank, (in the Competition for Farms, Shops, Business, Offices, and other Means of Subsistence) are gradually withdrawn, the Inconvenience of that Competition ceases; the Number remaining no longer half starve each other, they find they can now subsist comfortably, and tho' perhaps not quite so well as those who have left them, yet the inbred Attachment to a native Country is sufficient to over balance a moderate Difference, and thus the Emigration ceases naturally. The Waters of the Ocean may move in Currents from one Quarter of the Globe to another, as theyhappen in some places to be accumulated and in others diminished; but no Law beyond the Law of Gravity, is necessary to prevent their Abandoning any Coast entirely. Thus the different Degrees of Happiness of different Countries and Situations find or rather make their Level by the flowing of People from one to another, and where that Level is once found, the Removals cease. Add to this, that even a real Deficiency of People in any Country occasioned by a wasting War or Pestilence, is speedily supply'd by earlier and of course more prolific Marriages, encouraged by the greater Facility of obtaining the Means of Subsistence. So that a Country half depopulated would soon be repeopled, till the Means of Subsistence were equalled by the Population. All Encrease beyond that Point must perish, or flow off into more favourable Situations. Such Overflowings there have been of Mankind in all Ages, or we should not now have had so many Nations. But to apprehend absolute Depopulation from that Cause, and call for a Law to prevent it, is calling for a Law to stop the Thames, lest its Waters, by what leave it daily at Gravesend, should be quite exhausted. Such a Law therefore I do not conceive to be _Necessary._ 2dly. As to the _Practicability_. When I consider the Attempts of this kind that have been made, first in the time of Archbishop Laud, by Orders of Council, to stop the Puritans who were flying from his Persecutions, into New-England, and next by Louis XIV, to retain in his Kingdom the persecuted Huguenots; and how ineffectual all the Power of our Crown, with which the Archbishop armed himself, and all the more absolute Power of that great French Monarch, were, to obtain the End for which they were exerted. When I consider too, the extent of Coast to be guarded, and the Multitude of Cruizers necessary effectually to make a Prison of the Island for this confinement of free Englishmen, who naturally love Liberty, and would probably by the very Restraint be more stimulated to break thro' it, I cannot but think such a Law IMPRACTICABLE. The Offices would not be applied to for Licences, the Ports would not be used for Embarcation. And yet the People disposed to leave us would, as the Puritans did, get away by Shipfuls. 3dly. As to the _Policy_ of the Law. Since, as I have shewn, there is no Danger of depopulating Britain, but that the Places of those who depart will soon be filled up equal to the Means of obtaining a Livelihood, let us see whether there are not some general _Advantages_ to be expected from the present Emigration. The new Settlers in America, finding plenty of Subsistence, and Land easily acquired whereon to seat their Children, seldom postpone Marriage thro' fear of Poverty. Their natural Increase is therefore in a proportion far beyond what it would have been if they had remained here. New Farms are daily every where forming in those immense Forests, new Towns and Villages rising; hence a growing Demand for our Merchandise, to the greater Employment of our Manufacturers and the enriching of our Merchants. By this natural Increase of People, the Strength of the Empire is increased; Men are multiplied out of whom new Armies may be formed on Occasion, or the old recruited. The long extended Sea Coast too, of that vast Country, the great maritime Commerce of its Parts with each other, its many navigable Rivers and Lakes, and its plentiful Fisheries, breed multitudes of Seamen, besides those created and supported by its Voyages to Europe; a thriving Nursery this, for the manning of our Fleets in time of War, and maintaining our Importance among foreign Nations, by that Navy which is also our best Security against invasions from our Enemies. An Extension of Empire by Conquest of inhabited Countries is not so easily obtained, it is not so easily secured, it alarms more the neighbouring States, it is more subject to Revolts, and more apt to occasion new Wars. The Increase of Dominion by Colonies proceeding from yourselves, and by the natural Growth of your own People, cannot be complained of by your Neighbours as an Injury, none have a right to be offended with it. Your new Possessions are therefore more secure, they are more cheaply gained, they are attached to your Nation by natural Alliance and Affection, and thus they afford an additional Strength more certainly to be depended on, than any that can be acquired by a Conquering Power, tho' at an immense Expence of Blood and Treasure. These methinks are national Advantages that more than equiponderate with the Inconveniencies suffered by a few Scotch or Irish Landlords, who perhaps may only find it necessary to abate a little of their present Luxury, or of those advanced Rents they now so unfeelingly demand. From these Considerations, I think I may conclude that the restraining Law proposed, would if practicable be IMPOLITIC. 4thly. As to the _Justice_ of it. I apprehend that every Briton who is made unhappy at home, has a Right to remove from any Part of his King's Dominions into those of any other Prince where he can be happier. If this should be denied me, at least it will be allowed that he has a Right to remove into any other Part of the same Dominions. For by this Right so many Scotchmen remove into England, easing their own Country of its supernumeraries, and benefitting ours by their Industry. And this is the Case with those who go to America. Will not these Scottish Lairds be satisfied unless a Law passes to pin down all Tenants to the Estate they are born on, (_adscriptitii glebae_) to be bought and sold with it? God has given to the Beasts of the Forest and to the Birds of the Air a Right when their Subsistence fails in one Country, to migrate into another, where they can get a more comfortable Living; and shall Man be denyed a Privilege enjoyed by Brutes, merely to gratify a few avaricious Landlords? Must Misery be made _permanent_, and suffered by _many_ for the Emolument of One? While the Increase of Human Beings is prevented, and thousands of their Offspring stifled as it were in the Birth, that this petty Pharaoh may enjoy an _Excess_ of Opulence? God commands to increase and replenish the Earth: The proposed Law would forbid increasing, and confine Britons to their present Number, keeping half that Number too, in wretchedness. The Common People of Britain and of Ireland, contributed by the Taxes they paid, and by the Blood they lost, to the Success of that War, which brought into our Hands the vast unpeopled Territories of North America; a Country favoured by Heaven with all the Advantages of Soil and Climate; Germans are now pouring into it, to take Possession of it, and fill it with their Posterity; and shall Britons, and Irelanders, who have a much better Right to it, be forbidden a Share of it, and instead of enjoying there the Plenty and Happiness that might reward their Industry, be compelled to remain here in Poverty and Misery? Considerations such as these persuade me, that the proposed Law would be both UNJUST and INHUMAN. If then it is _unnecessary_, _impracticable_, _impolitic_, and _unjust_, I hope our Parliament will never receive the Bill, but leave Landlords to their own Remedy, an Abatement of Rents and Frugality of Living; and leave the Liberties of Britons and Irishmen at least as extensive as it found them. I am, Sir, Yours &c. _A Friend to the Poor._ December? 1773 _On Franklin's Ingratitude_ To the Printer of the Public Advertiser Sir Your Correspondent Brittanicus inveighs violently against Dr: Franklin for his Ingratitude to the Ministry of this Nation, who have conferred upon him so many Favours. They gave him the Post Office of America; they made his Son a Governor; and they offer'd him a Post of five hundred a Year in the Salt Office, if he would relinquish the Interests of his Countrey; but he has had the Wickedness to continue true to it, and is as much an American as ever. As it is a settled Point in Government here, that every Man has his Price, 'tis plain they are Bunglers in their Business, and have not given him enough. Their Master has as much reason to be angry with them as Rodrigue in the Play, with his Apothecary for not effectually poisoning Pandolpho, and they must probably make use of the Apothecary's Justification; Viz. Scene 4th _Rodrigue_ and _Fell_ the Apothecary. _Rodrigue._ You promised to have this Pandolpho upon his Bier in less than a Week; 'Tis more than a Month since, and he still walks and stares me in the Face. _Fell._ True: and yet I have done my best Endeavours. In various Ways I have given the Miscreant as much Poison as would have kill'd an Elephant. He has swallow'd Dose after Dose; far from hurting him, he seems the better for it. He hath a wonderfully strong Constitution. I find I cannot kill him but by cutting his Throat, and that, as I take it, is not my Business. _Rodrigue._ Then it must be mine. before January 31, 1774 _"A War It Will Be"_ To the Printer of the Publick Ledger Sir, Nothing can equal the present Rage of our Ministerial Writers against our Brethren in America, who have the Misfortune to be _Whigs_ in a Reign when _Whiggism_ is out of Fashion, who are besides Protestant Dissenters and Lovers of Liberty. One may easily see from what Quarter comes the Abuse of those People in the Papers; their Struggle for their Rights is called REBELLION, and the People REBELS; while those who really rebell'd in Scotland (1745) for the Expulsion of the present reigning Family, and the Establishment of Popery and arbitrary Power on the Ruins of Liberty and Protestantism; who enter'd England, and trampled on its Belly as far as Derby, to the Astonishment of this great City and shaking the publick Credit of the Nation; have now all their Sins forgiven on Account of their modish Principles, and are called not _Rebels_, but by the softer Appellation of _Insurgents_! These angry Writers use their utmost Efforts to persuade us that this War with the Colonies (for a War it will be) is a _national_ Cause when in fact it is merely a _ministerial_ one. Administration wants an American Revenue to dissipate in Corruption. The Quarrel is about a paltry threepenny Duty on Tea. There is no real Clashing of Interests between Britain and America. Their Commerce is to their mutual Advantage, or rather most to the Advantage of Britain, which finds a vast Market in America for its Manufactures; and _as good Pay_, I speak from Knowledge, as in any Country she trades to upon the Face of the Globe. But the Fact needs not my Testimony, it speaks for it self; for if we could elsewhere get better Pay and better Prices, we should not send our Goods to America. The gross Calumniators of that People, who want us to imbrue our Hands in Brother's Blood, have the Effrontery to tell the World that the Americans associated in Resolutions not to pay us what they ow'd us unless we repeal'd the Stamp Act. This is an INFAMOUS FALSHOOD; they know it to be such. I call upon the Incendiaries who have advanc'd it, to produce their Proofs. Let them name any two that enter'd into such an Association, or any one that made such a Declaration. Absurdity marks the very Face of this Lie. Every one acquainted with Trade knows, that a credited Merchant daring to be concern'd in such an Association, could never expect to be trusted again. His Character on the Exchange of London would be ruined forever. The great Credit given them since that time, nay the present Debt due from them, is itself a Proof of the Confidence we have in their Probity. Another villainous Falshood advanc'd against the Americans is, that tho' we have been at such Expence in protecting them, they refuse to contribute their Part to the publick general Expence of the Empire. The Fact is, that _they never did refuse a Requisition of that kind_. A Writer who calls himself _Sagittarius_ (I suppose from his flinging about, like Solomon's Fool, Firebrands, _Arrows_ and Death) in the Ledger of March 9. asserts that the "Experiment has been tried and that they did not think it expedient to return even an Answer." How does he prove this? Why, "the Colony Agents were told by Mr. Grenville, that a Revenue _would be_ required from them to defray the Expences of their Protection." But was the Requisition ever made? Were circular Letters ever sent by his Majesty's Command from the Secretary of State to the several Colony Governments, according to the establish'd Custom, stating the Occasion, and requiring such Supplies as were suitable to their Abilities and Loyalty? And did they then refuse not only Compliance but an Answer? No such Matter. Agents are not the Channel thro' which Requisitions are made. If they were told by Mr. Grenville that a "Revenue _would be_ required, and yet the Colonies made no Offer, no Grant nor laid any Tax," Does it follow they would not have done it if they had been required? Probably they thought it time enough when the _Requisition_ should come, and in fact it never appeared there to this day. In the last War they all gave so liberally, that we thought ourselves bound in honour to return them a Million. But We are disgusted with their Free Gifts; we want to have something that is obtain'd by Force; like a mad Landlord who should refuse the willing Payment of his full Rents, and chuse to take less by way of Robbery. This shameless Writer, would cajole the People of England, with the Fancy of their being Kings of America, and that their Honour is at Stake by the Americans disputing _their_ Government. He thrusts us into the Throne cheek-by-Jole with Majesty, and would have us talk as he writes, of _our_ Subjects in America, and _our_ Sovereignty over America. Forgetting that the Americans are Subjects of the King, not _our_ Subjects, but our _Fellow-Subjects_; and that they have Parliaments of their own, with the Right of granting their own Money by their own Representatives, which we cannot deprive them of but by Violence and Injustice. Having by a Series of iniquitous and irritating Measures provoked a loyal People almost to Desperation, we now magnify every Act of an American Mob, into REBELLION, tho' the Government there disapprove it and order Prosecution, as is now the Case with regard to the Tea destroyed: And we talk of nothing but Troops and Fleets, and Force, of blocking up Ports, destroying Fisheries, abolishing Charters, &c. &c. Here Mobs of English Sawyers can burn Sawmills; Mobs of English Labourers destroy or plunder Magazines of Corn; Mobs of English Coalheavers attack Houses with Fire Arms; English Smuglers can fight regularly the King's Cruizing Vessels, drive them ashore and burn them, as lately on the Coast of Wales, and on the Coast of Cornwall; but upon these Accounts we hear no Talk of England's being in _Rebellion_; no Threats of taking away its Magna Charta, or repealing its Bill of Rights; For we well know that the Operations of a Mob are often unexpected, sudden, and soon over, so that the Civil Power can seldom prevent or suppress them, not being able to come in before they have dispers'd themselves: And therefore it is not always accountable for their Mischiefs. Surely the great Commerce of this Nation with the Americans is of too much Importance to be risk'd in a Quarrel which has no Foundation but ministerial Pique and Obstinacy! To us, in the Way of Trade, comes now, and has long come, all the superlucration arising from their Labour. But Will Our reviling them as Cheats, Hypocrites, Scoundrels, Traitors, Cowards, Tyrants, &c. according to the present Court Mode in all our Papers, make them more our Friends, more fond of our Merchandize? Did ever any Tradesman succeed who attempted to drub Customers into his Shop? And Will honest JOHN BULL the Farmer be long satisfy'd with Servants that before his Face attempt to kill his _Plow-Horses_? A LONDONER. after March 9, 1774 _An Open Letter to Lord North_ _For the_ Public Advertiser. _To Lord_ NORTH. My LORD, All your small Politicians, who are very numerous in the English Nation, from the patriotic Barber to the patriotic Peer, when big with their Schemes for the Good of poor Old England, imagine they have a Right to give Advice to the Minister, and condemn Administration if they do not adopt their Plan. I, my Lord, who have no mean Opinion of my Abilities, which is justified by the Attention that is paid to me when I harangue at the Smyrna and Old Slaughter's, am willing to contribute my Mite to the public Welfare; and have a Proposal to make to your Lordship, which I flatter myself will be approved of by the Ministry, and if carried into Execution, will quiet all the Disturbances in America, procure a decent Revenue from our Colonies, make our royal Master (at least there) a King _de facto_, as well as _de jure_; and finally, as it may be managed, procure a round Sum towards discharging the national Debt. My Scheme is, without Delay to introduce into North America a Government absolutely and entirely Military. The Opposition which some People suspect would be made by the Colonies, is a mere Bugbear: The Sight of a few Regiments of bold Britons, appearing with Ensigns displayed, and in all the Pomp of War, a Specimen of which may be seen every Summer at the Grand Review on Wimbledon Common, with that great Commander G ------ l G ------ e at their Head, accompanied with a Detachment from the Artillery, and Half a Dozen short Sixes, would so intimidate the Americans, that the General might march through the whole Continent of North America, and would have little else to do but to accept of the Submission of the several Towns as he passed. But as the Honour would be too great for one Man to reduce to absolute Subjection so great an Extent of Territory, I would propose that a separate Command be given to L ------ d G ---- G ------ e, who by his animated Speeches in the House, and coinciding so entirely with your Lordship's Opinion on the proper Methods for humbling America, deserves a Share in the Fame of such a grand Exploit. Let him have one half of the Army under his Direction, and march from New York to South Carolina. No one can object to the Nomination, as his Military Prowess is upon Record. The Regiments that are in America, with those who are about to embark, will be amply sufficient, without being at the Expence of sending more Troops. Those who served in America the last War, know that the Colonists are a dastardly Set of Poltroons; and though they are descended from British Ancestors, they are degenerated to such a Degree, that one born in Britain is equal to twenty Americans. The Yankey Doodles have a Phrase when they are not in a Humour for fighting, which is become proverbial, _I don't feel bould To-day_. When they make this Declaration, there is no prevailing on them to attack the Enemy or defend themselves. If contrary to Expectation they should attempt an Opposition, procure Intelligence when it happens not to be their fighting Day, attack them and they will fly like Sheep pursued by a Wolf. When all North America have thus bent their Neck to the Yoke designed for them, I would propose that the Method made use of by the Planters in the West Indies may be adopted, who appoint what they call a Negro Driver, who is chosen from among the Slaves. It is observed that the little Authority that is given him over his Fellow Slaves, attaches him to his Master's Interest, and his Cruelty would be without Bounds were he not restrained; but the Master is certain, that the utmost Exertion of Strength will be exacted by this cruel Task-master for the Proprietor's Emolument. Let all the Colonists be enrolled in the Militia, subject of course to Martial Law. Appoint a certain Number of Officers from among the conquered People, with good Pay, and other Military Emoluments; they will secure their Obedience in the District where they command. Let no other Courts be allowed through the whole Continent but Courts Martial. An Inhabitant, who disobeys an Order, may by a Court Martial be sentenced to receive from One Hundred to a Thousand Lashes in a frosty Morning, according to the Nature of his Offence. Where Punishment is thus secure, this Advantage will accrue, that there will not be the same Necessity of hanging up so many poor Devils as in this free Country; by which Means the Service of many an able Man is lost to the Community. I humbly propose that the General and Commander in Chief be vested with the Power, and called by the Name of the King's Viceroy of all North America. This will serve to impress the Americans with greater Respect for the first Magistrate, and have a Tendency to secure their Submission. All Orders issuing from this supreme Authority to have the Force of Laws. After this happy Change of Government, how easy to collect what Taxes you please in North America. When the Colonists are drained of their last Shilling, suppose they should be sold to the best Bidder. As they lie convenient for France or Spain, it may be reasonably expected one of those little Powers would be a Purchaser. I think Spain is to be preferred, as their Power hath more of the Ready than France. I will venture a Conjecture, that the Ministry might get at least Two Millions for the Soil, and the People upon it. With such a Sum what glorious Things might he not atchieve! Suppose it should be applied towards the Payment of one hundredth Part of the National Debt, I would give him an Opportunity of drawing down upon him the Blessing of the Poor by making him to take off the Halfpenny Duty on Porter. Considering the probable Stability of the present Ministry, this Honour may be reserved for your Lordship. My Lord, excuse the Crudity of these indigested Hints, which your Wisdom is so capable of improving; and believe me, with infinite Respect, Your Lordship's Most obedient Humble Servant, _A Friend to Military Government._ _Smyrna Coffee-House, April_ 5. _The Public Advertiser_, April 15, 1774 _A Method of Humbling Rebellious American Vassals_ _To the Printer of the_ Public Advertiser. SIR, Permit me, thro' the Channel of your Paper, to convey to the Premier, by him to be laid before his Mercenaries, our Constituents, my own Opinion, and that of many of my Brethren, Freeholders of this imperial Kingdom of the most feasible Method of humbling our rebellious Vassals of North America. As we have declared by our Representatives that we are the supreme Lords of their Persons and Property, and their occupying our Territory at such a remote Distance without a proper Controul from us, except at a very great Expence, encourages a mutinous Disposition, and may, if not timely prevented, dispose them in perhaps less than a Century to deny our Authority, slip their Necks out of the Collar, and from being Slaves set up for Masters, more especially when it is considered that they are a robust, hardy People, encourage early Marriages, and their Women being amazingly prolific, they must of consequence in 100 Years be very numerous, and of course be able to set us at Defiance. Effectually to prevent which, as we have an undoubted Right to do, it is humbly proposed, and we do hereby give it as Part of our Instructions to our Representatives, that a Bill be brought in and passed, and Orders immediately transmitted to G ------ l G ------ e, our Commander in Chief in North America, in consequence of it, that all the Males there be c -- st -- ed. He may make a Progress thro' the several Towns of North America at the Head of five Battalions, which we hear our experienced Generals, who have been consulted, think sufficient to subdue America if they were in open Rebellion; for who can resist the intrepid Sons of Britain, the Terror of France and Spain, and the Conquerors of America in Germany. Let a Company of Sow-gelders, consisting of 100 Men, accompany the Army. On their Arrival at any Town or Village, let Orders be given that on the blowing of the Horn all the Males be assembled in the Market Place. If the Corps are Men of Skill and Ability in their Profession, they will make great Dispatch, and retard but very little the Progress of the Army. There may be a Clause in the Bill to be left at the Discretion of the General, whose Powers ought to be very extensive, that the most notorious Offenders, such as Hancock, Adams, &c. who have been the Ringleaders in the Rebellion of our Servants, should be shaved quite close. But that none of the Offenders may escape in the Town of Boston, let all the Males there suffer the latter Operation, as it will be conformable to the modern Maxim that is now generally adopted by our worthy Constituents, that it is better that ten innocent Persons should suffer than that one guilty should escape. It is true, Blood will be shed, but probably not many Lives lost. Bleeding to a certain Degree is salutary. The English, whose Humanity is celebrated by all the World, but particularly by themselves, do not desire the Death of the Delinquent, but his Reformation. The Advantages arising from this Scheme being carried into Execution are obvious. In the Course of fifty Years it is probable we shall not have one rebellious Subject in North America. This will be laying the Axe to the Root of the Tree. In the mean time a considerable Expence may be saved to the Managers of the Opera, and our Nobility and Gentry be entertained at a cheaper Rate by the fine Voices of our own C -- st -- i, and the Specie remain in the Kingdom, which now, to an enormous Amount, is carried every Year to Italy. It might likewise be of Service to our Levant Trade, as we could supply the Grand Signor's Seraglio, and the Harams of the Grandees of the Turkish Dominions with Cargos of Eunuchs, as also with handsome Women, for which America is as famous as Circassia. I could enumerate many other Advantages. I shall mention but one: It would effectually put a Stop to the Emigrations from this Country now grown so very fashionable. No Doubt you will esteem it expedient that this useful Project shall have an early Insertion, that no Time may be lost in carrying it into Execution. I am, Mr. Printer, (For myself, and in Behalf of a Number of independent Freeholders of Great Britain) Your humble Servant, A FREEHOLDER OF OLD SARUM. _The Public Advertiser_, May 21, 1774 _An Act for the More Effectual Keeping of the Colonies Dependent_ _All the Printers of News Papers in the British Colonies, are requested to publish the following Act of Parliament; which it is said, will be passed the End of the present Session, or the Beginning of the next._ _"An Act for the more effectual keeping of his Majesty's American Colonies_ dependent _on the_ Crown of Great-Britain, _and to enforce their Obedience to all such Acts of Parliament as may be necessary for that Purpose."_ WHEREAS it is found by experience that Colonies which are planted by Governments, or otherwise dependent on them, do at some time or other, form themselves into unwarrantable and rebellious Associations, and by their perseverance therein, entirely throw off their dependence and subjection to such Parent State: And whereas the British Plantations, in America, have of late, discovered a disposition to follow the same steps, and, in all likelihood, will, if not speedily prevented, form themselves into a separate and independent Government, to the great detriment of the other parts of the British Empire, to the dishonour of his Majesty, and to the prejudice of the trade of this Kingdom in particular: _And whereas the great_ ENCREASE _of People, in said Colonies, has an immediate tendency to produce this effect_ -- To the end therefore that such evil designs may not be carried into execution, and that the said Colonies and Plantations may be, at all times hereafter, kept in due subordination to the authority of the British Parliament, Be it enacted by the King'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 authority of the same. 1. That no person whatever who shall, from and after the passing of this Act, transport him or herself, from the Kingdoms of Great-Britain and Ireland, or the Islands thereunto belonging, to any of his Majesty's Plantations in America, with intent to settle and dwell therein for any _longer_ time than the space of seven years, shall presume to depart from the said Kingdoms, until he or she, so transporting him or herself, shall pay, at the Custom-House of the Port, from which such vessel shall take out her clearance, the sum of Fifty Pounds, sterling money of Great-Britain: And be it further enacted that for every child, or servant, which shall be so transported by the parent, or master, the like sum of Fifty Pounds shall be paid in manner aforesaid. -- And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, that if any person shall transport him, or herself, or procure themselves to be transported, contrary to this Act, every person, so offending, shall be adjudged guilty of felony without benefit of clergy -- and that the Captain of the vessel, in which such person shall be so transported, contrary to this Act, shall forfeit and pay, for any such person, the sum of 500 pounds sterling money aforesaid. 2. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, that if any person, who shall transport him, or herself, from the Kingdoms aforesaid, to any of his Majesty's Plantations, in America, with intent to stay and dwell therein, for any space of time _less_ than seven years, shall nevertheless stay, dwell, and abide therein, beyond the said space of seven years, such person so staying, dwelling, and abiding, in any of his Majesty's Plantations, in America, shall be adjudged guilty of felony without benefit of clergy. 3. Provided always, and be it further enacted, that nothing in this Act shall extend, or be construed to extend to his Majesty's Governors of the said Plantations, or to any other person, or persons, in the actual service and employ of his Majesty, as aforesaid. 4. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, that all Marriages in his Majesty's said Plantations shall be performed in consequence of a Licence from the Governor where such Marriage shall be celebrated, for which Licence the sum of Twenty Pounds shall be paid, and no more, and that all Marriages had without such Licence, shall be void in law to every intent and purpose whatever. 5. And be it further enacted, that on the birth of every male child, the sum of Fifteen Pounds, and on the birth of every female child, the sum of Ten Pounds sterling money shall be paid to the Governor of the Colony or Plantation in which such children shall be born. 6. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, that on the birth of every bastard child in any of his Majesty's said Plantations, the sum of Fifty Pounds sterling money shall be paid by the _Mother_ of such bastard child, to the Governor where such bastard child shall happen to be born, and that in case any person, shall hereafter, either with malice prepense, or otherwise kill or destroy any child or children; such killing or destroying shall not henceforth be deemed or adjudged to be murder in any Court or Courts, nor shall such killing be punished in any way or manner whatever. 7. Provided always, and it is hereby further enacted, that nothing in this Act shall extend to make any such killing legal, or justifiable, if the child, so killed or destroyed, be above the age of twelve months, but that every such killing and destroying shall be punished as heretofore, any thing in this Act to the contrary in any wise notwithstanding. 8. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, that from and after the Day of in the year upon the exportation of each and every barrel of FLOUR from any of his Majesty's said Plantations to any port or place beyond the sea, a duty of _Five Shillings_ sterling shall be paid to the Custom-House of the respective Colony, from which such FLOUR shall be so shipped or exported. 9. And be it further enacted, that on the exportation of any WHEAT from his Majesty's said Plantations to any port or place beyond the sea, a duty of _Two Shillings_ sterling per _bushel_ shall be paid as aforesaid, for every quantity which shall be so shipped or exported. And that if any person, shall export any wheat or flour contrary to the directions of this Act, all such wheat or flour, together with the ship in which it is exported as aforesaid, shall be seized and forfeited to the use of his Majesty, and condemned in any of his Majesty's Courts of Admiralty where such vessel shall happen to be seized as aforesaid. 10. Provided always, and be it further enacted, that if any such flour or wheat, which shall be exported from any of his Majesty's said Plantations, and carried to any port of Great-Britain, with design to re-ship the same to any other port or place beyond the sea, there shall be allowed upon every barrel of flour so re-shipped, a bounty of Two Shillings and Six Pence sterling, and for every bushel of wheat, a bounty of One Shilling sterling. 11. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, that the duties imposed by this Act, shall be applied towards RAISING A REVENUE the better to ENABLE his MAJESTY to BUILD FORTS and to GARRISON the same, and to support and maintain such a REGULAR and STANDING ARMY in the said PLANTATIONS, as shall be sufficient to enforce the EXECUTION of all such Acts of the BRITISH PARLIAMENT, as are already passed, or may hereafter be passed, relative to the said AMERICAN COLONIES. _The Pennsylvania Journal_, June 29, 1774, supplement _An Imaginary Speech_ _To the Printer of the_ Public Advertiser. SIR, In a late Debate, a certain North British Colonel thought proper to recommend himself to the Court, by grossly abusing the Americans. I send you the Answer I should have made to him had I been present when he uttered his Invective, and I rely upon it, that you will shew that Candour and Justice to America which is refused in certain great Assemblies, and not condemn them without a Hearing. Mr. Sp ------ r, Sir, I am an American: In that Character I trust this House will shew some little Indulgence to the Feelings which are excited by what fell this Moment from an honourable and military Gentleman under the Gallery. According to him, Sir, the Americans are unequal to the People of this Country in Devotion to Women, and in Courage, and in what, in his Sight seems worse than all, they are religious. No one, Sir, feels the Odiousness of Comparisons more than myself. But I am necessitated to pursue, in some measure, the Path which the honourable Gentleman has marked out. Sir, let the rapid Increase and Population of America, compared with the Decrease of England and of Scotland, shew which of the two People are most effectually devoted to the Fair Sex. The Americans are content to leave with that honourable Gentleman and his Companions the Boast, while the Fact is evidently with them. They are sensible, that upon this Subject to talk much, and to do little, are inseparable. Sir, I am at a Loss to conceive upon what Facts the Gentleman grounds his Impeachment of American Courage. Is it upon the Capture of Louisbourg, and the Conquest of Nova Scotia in the War before the last? Is it upon their having alone taken Crown Point from the French Regulars, and made their General Prisoner, or from their having covered the Retreat of the British Regulars, and saved them from utter Destruction in the Expeditions under Braddock, and to Fort Pitt? Sir, it happens very unfortunately that the Regulars have impressed the Provincials with a very indifferent Opinion of their Courage. I will tell you why. They saw General Braddock at the Head of a regular Army march with a Thousand Boastings of their Courage and Superiority, and expressing the most sovereign Contempt of the Virginian Provincials who accompanied him. But in a little Time these vain Boasters were totally routed by a very unequal Number of French and Indians, and the Provincials rendered them the unthanked Service of saving them from being cut off to a Man. In the same Manner a Detachment of Highlanders, under a Major Grant, accompanied by the Virginians under Major Lewis, being attacked by the Indians, the Highlanders fled immediately, and left the Provincials to retreat and cover them. They saw several Campaigns of shameful Defeats, or as shameful Inactivity: Till at length the all-pervading Spirit of one great Officer, and the cautious Abilities of another, redeemed the British Name, and led her Sons to Conquest. The Expedition under Colonel Bouquet, assisted by a large Body of Provincials, owed its Success chiefly to those Provincials. I speak it from that brave Officer's own Letters. It was Wolfe, Amherst and Bouquet who roused the Spirit of the Regulars, and led them to Glory and Success; and I am proud to say, Sir, these are not the Men who traduce the Americans, or speak slightly of their Services; nay more, Sir, the Men who disgraced the Regulars are those only who defame the Provincials. But why should any Gentleman talk in general Terms of their wanting Spirit? Indiscriminate Accusations against the Absent are cowardly Calumnies. Will the Gentleman come to Particulars? Will he name the American he has insulted with Impunity? Who is the provincial Officer who turned his Back in the Day of Battle? There is hardly a Day or an Hour, in which the Honourable Gentleman does not meet with an American. Does he insult any one of them with Impunity? Has he, or will he put their Spirit to the Proof? Till he has done that, Silence, I am sure, will do more Honour to his own. The Honourable Gentleman says, the Regulars treated the Provincials _as Beasts of Burthen._ There are many of the Provincial Officers in this Town: I have the Honour of knowing them; and I can assure this House, that no Man living would say as much to their Face with Impunity. The Americans, Sir, are well satisfied, that the Ministry intend to make Beasts of Burthen of them. They tell you, however, they will not be Hewers of Wood and Drawers of Water for any Men upon Earth: The Object of this Motion is to compel them. It is my Duty to say, they will and ought to resist such an Attempt; and that if I were there, I should do it without a Moment's Hesitation. I had almost forgot the Honourable Gentleman's Charge of their being too religious. Sir, they were such Religionists, that vindicated this Country from the Tyranny of the Stuarts. Perhaps the Honourable Gentleman may have some compassionate Feelings for that unhappy Family: Does that sharpen his Resentment against the Americans; who inherit from those Ancestors, not only the same Religion, but the same Love of Liberty and Spirit to defend it? _The Public Advertiser_, February 7, 1775 _A Dialogue Between Britain, France, Spain, Holland, Saxony, and America_ Britain Sister of _Spain_, I have a Favour to ask of you. My Subjects in _America_ are disobedient, and I am about to chastize them. I beg you will not furnish them with any Arms or Ammunition. _Spain_ Have you forgotten, then, that when my Subjects in the Low Countries rebelled against me, you not only furnished them with military Stores, but join'd them with an Army and a Fleet? I wonder how you can have the Impudence to ask such a Favour of me, or the Folly to expect it! _Britain_ You my dear Sister of France will surely not refuse me this Favour. _France_ Did you not assist my Rebel Hugenots with a Fleet and an Army at _Rochelle_? And have you not lately aided privately and sneakingly my Rebel Subjects in _Corsica_? And do you not at this Instant keep their Chief pension'd, and ready to head a fresh Revolt there, whenever you can find or make an Opportunity? Dear Sister you must be a little silly! _Britain_ _Honest Holland!_ You see it is remembered that I was once your Friend, You will therefore be mine on this Occasion. I know indeed you are accustom'd to smuggle with these Rebels of mine. I will wink at that, Sell 'em as much Tea as you please to enervate the Rascals; since they will not take it of me; but for Gods sake dont supply them with any Arms. _Holland_ 'Tis true you assisted me against _Philip_, my Tyrant of _Spain_ but have I not since assisted you against one of your Tyrants, (* 1) and enabled you to expell him? Surely that Accompt, as we Merchants say, is _Ballanc'd_, and I am nothing in your Debt. I have indeed some Complaints against _you_, for endeavouring to starve me by your _Navigation Acts_: But being peaceably dispos'd I do not quarrel with you for that. I shall only go on quietly with my own Business. Trade is my Profession, 'tis all I have to subsist on. And let me tell you, I should make no scruple, (on the prospect of a good Market for that Commodity,) even to send my Ships to Hell and supply the Devil with Brimstone. For you must know I can insure in London against the Burning of my Sails. _America_ to _Britain_. Why you old blood thirsty Bully! you who have been everywhere vaunting your own Prowess, and defaming the Americans as Poltroons! you who have boasted of being able to march over all their Bellies with a single Regiment! You who by Fraud have possess'd yourself of their strongest Fortress, and all the Arms they had stor'd up in it! You who have a disciplin'd Army in their Country intrench'd to the Teeth and provided with every thing! Do _you_ run about begging all Europe not to supply those poor People with a little Powder and Shot? Do you mean, then, to fall upon them naked and unarm'd, and butcher them in cold Blood? Is this your Courage? Is this your Magnanimity? _Britain._ O! you wicked-Whig-Presbyterian-Serpent! Have you the Impudence to appear before me after all your Disobedience? Surrender immediatly all your Liberties and Properties into my Hands, or I will cut you to Pieces. Was it for this that I planted your Country at so great an Expence? that I protected you in your Infancy, and defended you against all your Enemies? _America._ I shall not surrender my Liberty and Property but with my Life. It is not true that my Country was planted at your Expence. Your own Records (* 2) refute that Falshood to your Face. Nor did you ever afford me a Man or a shilling to defend me against the Indians, the only Enemies I had upon my own Account. But when you have quarrell'd with all Europe, and drawn me with you into all your Broils, then you value yourself upon protecting me from the Enemies you have made for me. I have no natural Cause of Difference with Spain, France, or Holland; and yet by turns I have join'd with you in Wars against them all. You would not suffer me to make or keep a seperate Peace with any of them, 'tho I might easily have done it, to great Advantage. Does your protecting me in those Wars give you a Right to fleece me? If so, as I fought for you, as well as you for me, it gives me a proportionable Right to fleece you. What think you of an American Law to make a Monopoly of You and your Commerce, as you have done by your Laws of me and mine? Content yourself with that Monopoly if you are Wise, and learn Justice if you would be respected! _Britain_ You impudent B -- h! am not I your Mother Country? Is not that a sufficient Title to your Respect and Obedience? _Saxony._ _Mother Country!_ Hah, hah, he! What Respect have _you_ the front to claim as a Mother Country? You know that _I_ am _your_ Mother Country, and yet you pay me none. Nay, it is but the other Day, since you hired Ruffians (* 3) to rob me on the Highway, (* 4) and burn my House! (* 5) For shame! Hide your Face and hold your Tongue. If you continue this Conduct you will make yourself the Contempt of all Europe! Britain O Lord! where are my Friends! _France Spain Holland_ and _Saxony_ all together Friends! Believe us you have none, nor ever will have any 'till you mend your Manners. How can we who are your Neighbours have any Regard for You, or expect any Equity from You, should your Power increase, when we see how basely and unjustly you have us'd both your _own Mother_ and your _own Children_? February? 1775 (* 1) James 2nd. (* 2) See the Journals of the House of Commons 1640. Viz, Die Veneris Martii 10. 1642. Whereas the Plantations in New England have, by the Blessing of Almighty God, had good and prosperous Success, _without any Publick Charge to this State_; and are now likely to prove very happy for the Propagation of the Gospel in those Parts, and very beneficial and commodious to this Kingdom and Nation, the Commons now assembled in Parliament do, for the better Advancement of those Plantations and the Encouragement of the Planters to proceed in their Undertaking, Ordain that all Merchandizes and Goods that by any Merchant or other Person or Persons whatsoever, shall be exported out of this Kingdom of England into New England, to be spent, used or employ'd there, or being of the Growth of that _Kingdom_, shall be from thence imported hither; or shall be laden or put on board in any Ship or Vessel for Necessaries in passing or returning to and fro; and all and every the Owner or Owners thereof, shall be freed and discharg'd of and from paying and yielding any Custom, Subsidy, Taxation, Imposition, or other Duty for the same, either Inward or Outward, either in this Kingdom or New England, or in any Port, Haven, Creek, or other place whatsoever, untill the House of Commons shall take further order therein to the Contrary. And all and singular Customers, &c. are to Observe this Order. (* 3) Prussians. (* 4) They enter'd and rais'd Contributions in Saxony. (* 5) And they burnt the fine Suburbs of Dresden the Capital of Saxony. _A Proposed Memorial to Lord Dartmouth_ To the Right honourable the Earl of Dartmouth One of his Majesty's principal Secretaries of State A Memorial from Benjamin Franklin Agent of the Province of Massachusetts Bay. Given in London, this 16th Day of March, 1775. Whereas an Injury done, can only give the Party injured a Right to full Reparation; or, in case that be refused, a Right to return an equal Injury. And whereas the Blockade of Boston, now continued nine Months, hath every Week of its Continuance done Damage to that Town equal to what was suffered there by the India Company; it follows that such _exceeding_ Damage is an _Injury_ done by this Government, for which Reparation ought to be made. And whereas Reparation of Injuries ought always (agreable to the Custom of all Nations, savage as well as civilized) to be first required, before Satisfaction is taken by a Return of Damage to the Aggressors; which was not done by Great Britain in the Instance above mentioned. I the underwritten, do therefore, as their Agent, in the Behalf of my Country and the said Town of Boston, protest against the Continuance of the said Blockade: And I do hereby solemnly demand Satisfaction for the accumulated Injury done them beyond the Value of the India Company's Tea destroyed. And whereas the Conquest of the Gulph of St. Lawrence, the Coasts of Labrador and Nova Scotia, and the Fisheries possess'd by the French there and on the Banks of Newfoundland, so far as they were more extended than at present, was made by the _joint Forces_ of Britain and the Colonies, the latter having nearly an equal Number of Men in that Service with the former; it follows that the Colonies have an equitable and just Right to participate in the Advantage of those Fisheries. I do therefore in the Behalf of the Colony of the Massachusetts Bay, protest against the Act now under Consideration in Parliament, for depriving that Province, with others, of that Fishery (on pretence of their refusing to purchase British Commodities) as an Act highly unjust and injurious: And I give Notice, that Satisfaction will probably one day be demanded for all the Injury that may be done and suffered in the Execution of such Act: And that the Injustice of the Proceeding is likely to give such Umbrage to _all the Colonies_, that in no future War, wherein other Conquests may be meditated, either a Man or a Shilling will be obtained from any of them to aid such Conquests, till full Satisfaction be made as aforesaid. March 16, 1775 _Proposed Articles of Confederation_ Articles of Confederation and perpetual Union, entred into by the Delegates of the several Colonies of New Hampshire &c. in general Congress met at Philadelphia, May 10. 1775. Art. I. The Name of the Confederacy shall henceforth be _The United Colonies of North America_. Art. II. The said United Colonies hereby severally enter into a firm League of Friendship with each other, binding on themselves and their Posterity, for their common Defence against their Enemies, for the Security of their Liberties and Propertys, the Safety of their Persons and Families, and their mutual and general welfare. Art. III. That each Colony shall enjoy and retain as much as it may think fit of its own present Laws, Customs, Rights, Privileges, and peculiar Jurisdictions within its own Limits; and may amend its own Constitution as shall seem best to its own Assembly or Convention. Art. IV. That for the more convenient Management of general Interests, Delegates shall be annually elected in each Colony to meet in General Congress at such Time and Place as shall be agreed on in the next preceding Congress. Only where particular Circumstances do not make a Deviation necessary, it is understood to be a Rule, that each succeeding Congress be held in a different Colony till the whole Number be gone through, and so in perpetual Rotation; and that accordingly the next Congress after the present shall be held at Annapolis in Maryland. Art. V. That the Power and Duty of the Congress shall extend to the Determining on War and Peace, to sending and receiving Ambassadors, and entring into Alliances, the Reconciliation with Great Britain; the Settling all Disputes and Differences between Colony and Colony about Limits or any other cause if such should arise; and the Planting of new Colonies when proper. The Congress shall also make such general Ordinances as tho' necessary to the General Welfare, particular Assemblies cannot be competent to; viz. those that may relate to our general Commerce or general Currency; to the Establishment of Posts; and the Regulation of our common Forces. The Congress shall also have the Appointment of all Officers civil and military, appertaining to the general Confederacy, such as General Treasurer Secretary, &c. Art. VI. All Charges of Wars, and all other general Expences to be incurr'd for the common Welfare, shall be defray'd out of a common Treasury, which is to be supply'd by each Colony in proportion to its Number of Male Polls between 16 and 60 Years of Age; the Taxes for paying that proportion are to be laid and levied by the Laws of each Colony. Art. VII. The Number of Delegates to be elected and sent to the Congress by each Colony, shall be regulated from time to time by the Number of such Polls return'd, so as that one Delegate be allow'd for every 5000 Polls. And the Delegates are to bring with them to every Congress an authenticated Return of the number of Polls in their respective Provinces, which is to be annually taken, for the Purposes above-mentioned. Art. VIII. At every Meeting of the Congress One half of the Members return'd exclusive of Proxies be necessary to make a Quorum, and Each Delegate at the Congress, shall have a Vote in all Cases; and if necessarily absent, shall be allowed to appoint any other Delegate from the same Colony to be his Proxy, who may vote for him. Art. IX. An executive Council shall be appointed by the Congress out of their own Body, consisting of 12 Persons; of whom in the first Appointment one Third, viz. 4, shall be for one Year, 4 for two Years, and 4 for three Years; and as the said Terms expire, the vacancies shall be filled by Appointments for three Years, whereby One Third of the Members will be changed annually. And each Person who has served the said Term of three Years as Counsellor, shall have a Respite of three Years, before he can be elected again. This Council (of whom two thirds shall be a Quorum) in the Recess of the Congress is to execute what shall have been enjoin'd thereby; to manage the general continental Business and Interests to receive Applications from foreign Countries; to prepare Matters for the Consideration of the Congress; to fill up (_pro tempore_) continental Offices that fall vacant; and to draw on the General Treasurer for such Monies as may be necessary for general Services, and appropriated by the Congress to such Services. Art. X. No Colony shall engage in an offensive War with any Nation of Indians without the Consent of the Congress, or great Council above-mentioned, who are first to consider the Justice and Necessity of such War. Art. XI. A perpetual Alliance offensive and defensive, is to be entered into as soon as may be with the Six Nations; their Limits to be ascertain'd and secur'd to them; their Land not to be encroach'd on, nor any private or Colony Purchases made of them hereafter to be held good; nor any Contract for Lands to be made but between the Great Council of the Indians at Onondaga and the General Congress. The Boundaries and Lands of all the other Indians shall also be ascertain'd and secur'd to them in the same manner; and Persons appointed to reside among them in proper Districts, who shall take care to prevent Injustice in the Trade with them, and be enabled at our General Expence by occasional small Supplies, to relieve their personal Wants and Distresses. And all Purchases from them shall be by the Congress for the General Advantage and Benefit of the United Colonies. Art. XII. As all new Institutions may have Imperfections which only Time and Experience can discover, it is agreed, that the General Congress from time to time shall propose such Amendment of this Constitution as may be found necessary; which being approv'd by a Majority of the Colony Assemblies, shall be equally binding with the rest of the Articles of this Confederation. Art. XIII. Any and every Colony from Great Britain upon the Continent of North America not at present engag'd in our Association, may upon Application and joining the said Association, be receiv'd into this Confederation, viz. Ireland the West India Islands, Quebec, St. Johns, Nova Scotia, Bermudas, and the East and West Floridas: and shall thereupon be entitled to all the Advantages of our Union, mutual Assistance and Commerce. These Articles shall be propos'd to the several Provincial Conventions or Assemblies, to be by them consider'd, and if approv'd they are advis'd to impower their Delegates to agree to and ratify the same in the ensuing Congress. After which the _Union_ thereby establish'd is to continue firm till the Terms of Reconciliation proposed in the Petition of the last Congress to the King are agreed to; till the Acts since made restraining the American Commerce and Fisheries are repeal'd; till Reparation is made for the Injury done to Boston by shutting up its Port; for the Burning of Charlestown; and for the Expence of this unjust War; and till all the British Troops are withdrawn from America. On the Arrival of these Events the Colonies are to return to their former Connection and Friendship with Britain: But on Failure thereof this Confederation is to be perpetual. Philadelphia, July 21, 1775 _Resolutions on Trade Submitted to Congress_ Resolved, That from and after the 20th of July 1776 being one full Year after the Day appointed by a late Act of the Parliament of Great Britain for restraining the Trade of the Confederate Colonies, all the Custom-Houses therein (if the said Act be not first repealed) shall be shut up, and all the Officers of the same discharged from the Execution of their several Functions; and all the Ports of the said Colonies are hereby declared to be thenceforth open to the Ships of every State in Europe that will admit our Commerce and protect it; who may bring in and expose to Sale free of all Duties their respective Produce and Manufactures, and every kind of Merchandise, excepting Teas, and the Merchandize of Great Britain, Ireland, and the British West India Islands. Resolved, That we will to the utmost of our Power maintain and support this Freedom of Commerce for two Years certain after its Commencement, any Reconciliation between us and Britain notwithstanding; and as much longer beyond that Term, as the late Acts of Parliament for Restraining the Commerce and Fisheries, and altering the Laws and Charters of any of the Colonies, shall continue unrepealed. Philadelphia, July 21, 1775 _Account of the Devices on the Continental Bills of Credit_ _To the Printers of the_ PENNSYLVANIA GAZETTE. GENTLEMEN, _No Explanation of the Devices on the Continental Bills of Credit having yet appeared, I send you the following Account of them, with my Conjectures of their Meaning._ CLERICUS. An emblematical device, when rightly formed, is said to consist of two parts, a _body_ and a _mind_, neither of which is compleat or intelligible, without the aid of the other. The figure is called the _body_, the motto the _mind_. These that I am about to consider appear formed on that rule, and seem to relate to the present struggle between the colonies and the tyrant state, for liberty, property and safety on the one hand, for absolute power and plunder on the other. On one denomination of the bills there is the figure of a _harp_, with this motto, MAJORA MINORIBUS CONSONANT; literally, _The greater and smaller ones sound together_. As the _harp_ is an instrument composed of _great_ and _small_ strings, included in a _strong frame_, and all so tuned as to agree in concord with each other, I conceive that the _frame_ may be intended to represent our new government by a Continental Congress; and the _strings_ of different lengths and substance, either the several colonies of different weight and force, or the various ranks of people in all of them, who are now united by that government in the most perfect _harmony_. On another bill is impressed, a _wild boar of the forest_ rushing on the spear of the hunter; with this motto, AUT MORS, AUT VITA DECORA, which may be translated -- _Death or liberty_. The wild boar is an animal of great strength and courage, armed with long and sharp tusks, which he well knows how to use in his defence. He is inoffensive while suffered to enjoy his freedom, but when roused and wounded by the hunter, often turns and makes him pay dearly for his injustice and temerity. On another is drawn an _eagle_ on the wing, pouncing upon a _crane_, who turns upon his back, and receives the eagle on the point of his long bill, which pierces the eagle's breast; with this motto, EXITUS IN DUBIO EST; -- _The event is uncertain_. The eagle, I suppose, represents Great-Britain, the crane America. This device offers an admonition to each of the contending parties. To the crane, not to depend too much on the success of its _endeavours to avoid_ the contest (by petition, negotiation, &c.) but prepare for using the means of defence God and nature hath given it; and to the eagle, not to presume on its superior strength, since a weaker bird may wound it mortally. _Sunt dubii eventus, incertaque praelia mortis: Vincitur, haud raro, qui prope victor erat._ On another bill we have a _thorny bush_, which a _hand_ seems attempting to eradicate. The hand appears to bleed, as pricked by the spines. The motto is, SUSTINE VEL ABSTINE; which may be rendered, _Bear with me, or let me alone_; or thus, _Either support or leave me_. The bush I suppose to mean _America_, and the bleeding hand _Britain_. Would to God that bleeding were stopt, the wounds of that hand healed, and its future operations directed by wisdom and equity; so shall the hawthorn flourish, and form an hedge around it, annoying with her thorns only its invading enemies. Another had the figure of a _beaver_ gnawing a large tree, with this motto, PERSEVERANDO; _By perseverance_. I apprehend the _great tree_ may be intended to represent the enormous power Britain has assumed over us, and endeavours to enforce by arms, of taxing us at pleasure, _and binding us in all cases whatsoever_; or the exorbitant profits she makes by monopolizing our commerce. Then the _beaver_, which is known to be able, by assiduous and steady working, to fell large trees, may signify _America_, which, by perseverance in her present measures, will probably reduce that power within proper bounds, and, by establishing the most necessary manufactures among ourselves, abolish the British monopoly. On another bill we have the plant _acanthus_, sprouting on all sides under a weight placed upon it, with the motto, DEPRESSA RESURGIT; _Tho' oppressed it rises_. The ancients tell us, that the sight of such an accidental circumstance gave the first hint to an architect, in forming the beautiful capital of the Corinthian Column. This, perhaps, was intended to encourage us, by representing, that our present oppressions will not destroy us, but that they may, by increasing our industry, and forcing it into new courses, increase the prosperity of our country, and establish that prosperity on the _base_ of liberty, and the well-proportioned _pillar_ of property, elevated for a pleasing spectacle to all _connoisseurs_, who can _taste_ and delight in the architecture of human happiness. The figure of a _hand and flail_ over _sheaves of wheat_, with the motto, TRIBULATIO DITAT, _Threshing improves it_ (which we find printed on another of the bills) may perhaps be intended to admonish us, that tho' at present we are under the _flail_, its blows, how hard soever, will be rather advantageous than hurtful to us: for they will bring forth every _grain_ of genius and merit in arts, manufactures, war and council, that are now concealed in the husk, and then the breath of a breeze will be sufficient to separate from us all the chaff of Toryism. _Tribulation_ too, in our English sense of the word, improves the mind, it makes us humbler, and tends to make us wiser. And _threshing_, in one of its senses, that of beating, often improves those that are threshed. Many an unwarlike nation have been beaten into heroes by troublesome warlike neighbours; and the continuance of a war, tho' it lessen the numbers of a people, often increases its strength, by the increased discipline and consequent courage of the number remaining. Thus England, after her civil war, in which her people threshed one another, became more formidable to her neighbours. The public distress too that arises from war, by increasing frugality and industry, often gives habits that remain after the distress is over, and thereby naturally _enriches_ those on whom it has enforced those _enriching virtues_. Another of the bills has for its device, a _storm_ descending from a _black heavy cloud_, with the motto, SERENABIT; _It will clear up_. This seems designed to encourage the dejected, who may be too sensible of present inconveniences, and fear their continuance. It reminds them, agreeable to the adage, that _after a storm comes a calm_; or as Horace more elegantly has it -- Informes hyemes reducit, Jupiter: _idem summovet_. _Non si male nunc, et olim Sic erit_. -- _Neque semper arcum tendit Apollo_. On another bill there is stamped the representation of a _tempestuous sea_; a face, with swollen cheeks, wrapt up in a black cloud, appearing to blow violently on the waters, _the waves high_, and _all rolling one way_: The motto VI CONCITATAE; which may be rendered, _raised by force_. From the remotest antiquity, in figurative language, great waters have signified _the people_, and waves an insurrection. The people of themselves are supposed as naturally inclined to be still, as the waters to remain level and quiet. Their rising here appears not to be from any internal cause, but from an external power, expressed by the head of Aeolus, God of the winds (or _Boreas_, the _North_ wind, as usually the most violent) acting furiously upon them. The black cloud perhaps designs the British Parliament, and the waves the colonies. Their rolling all in one direction shews, that the very force used against them has produced their unanimity. On the reverse of this bill, we have a smooth sea; the sails of ships on that sea hanging loose shew a perfect calm; the sun shining fully denotes a clear sky. The motto is, CESSANTE VENTO, CONQUIESCEMUS; _The wind ceasing, we shall be quiet_. Supposing my explanation of the preceding device to be right, this will probably import, that when those violent acts of power, which have roused the colonies, are repealed, they will return to their former tranquility. Britain seems thus charged with being the sole cause of the present civil war, at the same time that the only mode of putting an end to it is thus plainly pointed out to her. The last is a _wreath of laurel_ on a _marble monument_, or _altar_. The motto, SI RECTE FACIES; _If you act rightly_. This seems intended as an encouragement to a brave and steady conduct in defence of our liberties, as it promises to crown with honour, by the laurel wreath, those who persevere to the end in _well-doing_; and with a long duration of that honour, expressed by the _monument of marble_. A learned friend of mine thinks this device more particularly addressed to the CONGRESS. He says the ancients composed for their heroes a wreath of laurel, oak and olive twigs, interwoven; agreeable to the distich, _E lauro, quercu, atque olea, duce digna corona_. _Prudentem, fortem, pacificumque decet_. Of _laurel_, as that tree was dedicated to _Apollo_, and understood to signify _knowledge and prudence_; of _oak_, as pertaining to _Jupiter_, and expressing _fortitude_; of _olive_, as the tree of _Pallas_, and as a symbol of _peace_. The whole to show, that those who are intrusted to conduct the great affairs of mankind should act prudently and firmly, retaining, above all, a pacific disposition. This wreath was first placed on an _altar_, to admonish the hero who was to be crowned with it, that true glory is founded on and proceeds from _piety_. My friend therefore thinks, the present device might intend a wreath of that composite kind, though, from the smallness of the work, the engraver could not mark distinctly the differing leaves: And he is rather confirmed in his opinion that this is designed as an admonition to the Congress, when he considers the passage in _Horace_ from whence the motto is taken, ------ _Rex eris, aiunt,_ _Si recte facies_. To which also _Ausonius_ alludes, _Qui recte faciet, non qui dominatur, erit Rex._ Not the King's Parliament, who act wrong, but the People's Congress, _if it acts right_, shall govern America. _The Pennsylvania Gazette_, September 20, 1775 _The King's Own Regulars_ To the PRINTER of the PENNSYLVANIA EVENING POST. SIR, The Ministry have boasted much of their _regular_, their _disciplined_ troops, which they fancied capable of beating all the _irregulars_ in the world. One would wonder how men of any attention to what has passed, could deceive themselves into such an opinion, when so many FACTS, within the memory of men not very old, evince the contrary. The following _Yanky_ song gives us a pretty little collection of those facts. I wish to see it printed for the encouragement of our militia. For though it is not safe for men too much to despise their enemies, it is of use that they should have a good opinion (if it is a just opinion) of themselves, when compared to those they are to fight with. There are three other instances of regulars beaten by irregulars in our time; but these being of foreign troops, were probably not thought fit for the song writer's present purpose. It may not however be amiss to mention them here. The first was at Genoa, in the war before last. Twenty battalions of Imperialists were in possession of that place, and exasperating the inhabitants by their insolence, particularly by caning some who refused to assist the soldiery in removing the cannon; a mob rose suddenly upon them, drove them out of the gates, and defended the place against them with such spirit, that they never were able to get in again. The second was at Madrid about ten years since, when the King of Spain offended the people by a too rigorous execution of some trifling edicts relative to cloaks and hats. They demanded the dismission of his Minister, Count de Squilache. The King refused, and assembled the guards with all the regulars near the city, to defend the Count. The people rose, attacked the troops, cut them to pieces, and drove the Minister out of the kingdom. The third happened this last summer, when a fine regular army of Spaniards, well appointed, attempted to invade Africa. The militia of that country beat them out of it almost as soon as they entered it, and with a prodigious slaughter. If we search for the cause of this superior bravery in the _people_ of a country, compared with what are called regular troops, it may perhaps be found in these particulars; that the men who compose an European regular army, are generally such as have neither property or families to fight for, and who have no principle either of honor, religion, public spirit, regard for liberty, or love of country, to animate them. They are therefore only pressed on to fight by their officers, and had rather be any where else than in a battle. Discipline only gives the officers the power of actuating them; and superior discipline may make them superior to other troops of the same kind not so well disciplined. Thus discipline serves to supply in some degree the defect of principle. But men equally armed, and animated by principle, tho' without discipline, are always superior to them when only equal in numbers; and when principle and discipline are united on the same side, as in our present militia, treble the number of mere unprincipled mercenaries, such as the regular armies commonly consist of, are in my opinion no match for such a militia. Let us however not be presumptuously careless in our military operations, but mix caution with our courage, and take every prudent measure to guard against the attempts of our enemies; it being as advantageous to defeat their designs as their forces. The KING'S own REGULARS, and their TRIUMPH over the IRREGULARS. A new SONG. To the tune of _An old Courtier of the Queen's, _and the Queen's old Courtier_. Which is a kind of recitativo, like the chaunting of the prose psalms in cathedrals. Since you all will have singing, and won't be said nay, I cannot refuse, when you so beg and pray; So, I'll sing you a song, -- as a body may say, 'Tis of the King's Regulars, who ne'er run away. _O the old Soldiers of the King, and the King's own Regulars_. At Prestonpans we met with some Rebels one day, We marshall'd our selves all in comely array; Our hearts were all stout, and bid our legs stay, But our feet were wrong-headed, and took us away. _O the old Soldiers,_ &c. At Falkirk we resolv'd to be braver, And recover some credit by better behaviour: We would not acknowledge feet had done us any favour, So feet swore they would stand, but ------ legs ran however. _O the old Soldiers,_ &c. No troops perform better than we at reviews, We march and we wheel, and whatever you chuse, George would see how we fight, and we never refuse, There we all fight with courage -- you may see't in the news. _O the old Soldiers,_ &c. To Mohongahela with fifes and with drums, We march'd in fine order, with cannon and bombs, That great expedition cost infinite sums; But a few irregulars cut us all into crumbs. _O the old Soldiers,_ &c. It was not fair to shoot at us from behind trees, If they had stood open, as they ought, before our great guns, we should have beat 'em with ease, They may fight with one another that way if they please, But it is not _regular_ to stand, and fight with such rascals as these. _O the old Soldiers,_ &c. At Fort George and Oswego, to our great reputation, We shew'd our vast skill in fortification; The French fir'd three guns; of the fourth they had no occasion; For we gave up those forts -- not thro' fear, but -- mere persuasion. _O the old Soldiers,_ &c. To Ticonderoga we went in a passion, Swearing to be revenged on the whole French nation; But we soon turn'd tail, without hesitation, Because they fought behind trees, -- which is not the _regular_ fashion. _O the old Soldiers,_ &c. Lord _Loudun_, he was a regular General, they say; With a great regular army he went his way, Against Louisburgh, to make it his prey, But return'd -- without seeing it, -- for he did not _feel bold_ that day. _O the old Soldiers,_ &c. Grown proud at reviews, great George had no rest, Each Grandsire, he had heard, a rebellion supprest. He wish'd a rebellion, look'd round and saw none, So resolv'd a rebellion to make -- of his own, _With the old Soldiers,_ &c. The Yankees he bravely pitch'd on, because he thought they wou'd'n't fight, And so he sent us over to take away their right; But lest they should spoil our review-clothes, he cry'd braver and louder; For God's sake, brother Kings, don't sell the cowards -- any powder! _O the old Soldiers,_ &c. Our General with his council of war did advise How at Lexington we might the Yankees surprise; We march'd -- and remarch'd -- all surpris'd -- at being beat; And so our wise General's plan of _surprise_ -- was complete. _O the old Soldiers,_ &c. For fifteen miles they follow'd and pelted us, we scarce had time to pull a trigger. But did you ever know a retreat perform'd with more vigour? For we did it in two hours, which sav'd us from perdition; 'Twas not in _going out_, but in _returning_, consisted our EXPEDITION. _O the old Soldiers,_ &c. Says our General, "We were forc'd to take to our _arms_ in our own defence," (For _arms_ read _legs_, and it will be both truth and sense) Lord Percy (says he) I must say something of him in civility, And that is -- "I can never enough praise him for his great -- agility." _O the old Soldiers,_ &c. Of their firing from behind fences he makes a great pother, Every fence has two sides, they made use of one, and we only forgot to use the other; That we turn'd our backs and ran away so fast, don't let that disgrace us; 'Twas only to make good what Sandwich said, that the Yankees -- could not face us. _O the old Soldiers,_ &c. As they could not get before us, how could they look us in the face? We took care they shouldn't, by scampering away apace. That they had not much to brag of, is a very plain case; For if they beat us in the fight, we beat them -- in the race. _O the old Soldiers of the King, and the King's own Regulars._ November 27, 1775; _Pennsylvania Evening Post_, March 30, 1776 _Bradshaw's Epitaph_ The following inscription was made out three years ago on the cannon near which the ashes of President Bradshaw were lodged, on the top of a high hill near Martha Bray in Jamaica, to avoid the rage against the Regicides exhibited at the Restoration: STRANGER, Ere thou pass, contemplate this CANNON, Nor regardless be told That near its base lies deposited the dust of JOHN BRADSHAW, Who, nobly superior to all selfish regards, Despising alike the pageantry of courtly splendor, The blast of calumny, and the terrors of royal vengeance, Presided in the illustrious band of heroes and patriots, Who fairly and openly adjudged CHARLES STUART, Tyrant of England, To a public and exemplary death, Thereby presenting to the amazed world, And transmitting down, through applauding ages, The most glorious example Of unshaken virtue, love of freedom, and impartial justice, Ever exhibited on the blood-stained theatre of human actions. O, reader, Pass not on till thou hast blessed his memory, And never ------ never forget THAT REBELLION TO TYRANTS IS OBEDIENCE TO GOD. _The Pennsylvania Evening Post_, December 14, 1775 _The Rattle-Snake as a Symbol of America_ Messrs. PRINTERS, I observed on one of the drums belonging to the marines now raising, there was painted a Rattle-Snake, with this modest motto under it, "Don't tread on me." As I know it is the custom to have some device on the arms of every country, I supposed this may have been intended for the arms of America; and as I have nothing to do with public affairs, and as my time is perfectly my own, in order to divert an idle hour, I sat down to guess what could have been intended by this uncommon device -- I took care, however, to consult on this occasion a person who is acquainted with heraldry, from whom I learned, that it is a rule among the learned in that science "That the worthy properties of the animal, in the crest-born, shall be considered," and, "That the base ones cannot have been intended;" he likewise informed me that the antients considered the serpent as an emblem of wisdom, and in a certain attitude of endless duration -- both which circumstances I suppose may have been had in view. -- Having gained this intelligence, and recollecting that countries are sometimes represented by animals peculiar to them, it occured to me that the Rattle-Snake is found in no other quarter of the world besides America, and may therefore have been chosen, on that account, to represent her. But then "the worthy properties" of a Snake I judged would be hard to point out -- This rather raised than suppressed my curiosity, and having frequently seen the Rattle-Snake, I ran over in my mind every property by which she was distinguished, not only from other animals, but from those of the same genus or class of animals, endeavouring to fix some meaning to each, not wholly inconsistent with common sense. I recollected that her eye excelled in brightness, that of any other animal, and that she has no eye-lids -- She may therefore be esteemed an emblem of vigilance. -- She never begins an attack, nor, when once engaged, ever surrenders: She is therefore an emblem of magnanimity and true courage. -- As if anxious to prevent all pretentions of quarrelling with her, the weapons with which nature has furnished her, she conceals in the roof of her mouth, so that, to those who are unacquainted with her, she appears to be a most defenceless animal; and even when those weapons are shewn and extended for her defence, they appear weak and contemptible; but their wounds however small, are decisive and fatal: -- Conscious of this, she never wounds till she has generously given notice, even to her enemy, and cautioned him against the danger of treading on her. -- Was I wrong, Sir, in thinking this a strong picture of the temper and conduct of America? The poison of her teeth is the necessary means of digesting her food, and at the same time is certain destruction to her enemies -- This may be understood to intimate that those things which are destructive to our enemies, may be to us not only harmless, but absolutely necessary to our existence. -- I confess I was wholly at a loss what to make of the rattles, 'till I went back and counted them and found them just thirteen, exactly the number of the Colonies united in America; and I recollected too that this was the only part of the Snake which increased in numbers -- Perhaps it might be only fancy, but, I conceited the painter had shewn a half formed additional rattle, which, I suppose, may have been intended to represent the province of Canada. -- 'Tis curious and amazing to observe how distinct and independant of each other the rattles of this animal are, and yet how firmly they are united together, so as never to be separated but by breaking them to pieces. -- One of those rattles singly, is incapable of producing sound, but the ringing of thirteen together, is sufficient to alarm the boldest man living. The Rattle-Snake is solitary, and associates with her kind only when it is necessary for their preservation -- In winter, the warmth of a number together will preserve their lives, while singly, they would probably perish -- The power of fascination attributed to her, by a generous construction, may be understood to mean, that those who consider the liberty and blessings which America affords, and once come over to her, never afterwards leave her, but spend their lives with her. -- She strongly resembles America in this, that she is beautiful in youth and her beauty increaseth with her age, "her tongue also is blue and forked as the lightning, and her abode is among impenetrable rocks." Having pleased myself with reflections of this kind, I communicated my sentiments to a neighbour of mine, who has a surprizing readiness at guessing at every thing which relates to publick affairs, and indeed I should be jealous of his reputation, in that way, was it not that the event constantly shews that he has guessed wrong -- He instantly declared it as his sentiments, that the Congress meant to allude to Lord North's declaration in the House of Commons, that he never would relax his measures until he had brought America to his feet, and to intimate to his Lordship, that were she brought to his feet, it would be dangerous treading on her. -- But, I am positive he has guessed wrong, for I am sure the Congress would not condescend, at this time of day, to take the least notice of his Lordship in that or any other way. -- In which opinion, I am determined to remain your humble servant, AN AMERICAN GUESSER. _The Pennsylvania Journal_, December 27, 1775 _What Would Satisfy the Americans?_ Doctor Franklin, being in England in the Year 1775 was asked by a Nobleman, what would satisfy the Americans? Answered, That it might easily be comprised in a few Re's Which he immediately wrote on a piece of Paper Thus, Re call your Forces, store Castle William, pair the Damage done to Boston, peal your unconstitutional Acts, nounce your pretentions to Tax us, fund the duties you have extorted; after this quire, and ceive payment for the destroyed Tea, with the voluntary grants of the Colonies, And then joice in a happy conciliation. 1775 LETTERS REASONS AGAINST SATIRIZING RELIGION _To_ -------- Dear Sir I have read your Manuscrit with some Attention. By the Arguments it contains against the Doctrine of a particular Providence, tho' you allow a general Providence, you strike at the Foundation of all Religion: For without the Belief of a Providence that takes Cognizance of, guards and guides and may favour particular Persons, there is no Motive to Worship a Deity, to fear its Displeasure, or to pray for its Protection. I will not enter into any Discussion of your Principles, tho' you seem to desire it; At present I shall only give you my Opinion that tho' your Reasonings are subtle, and may prevail with some Readers, you will not succeed so as to change the general Sentiments of Mankind on that Subject, and the Consequence of printing this Piece will be a great deal of Odium drawn upon your self, Mischief to you and no Benefit to others. He that spits against the Wind, spits in his own Face. But were you to succeed, do you imagine any Good would be done by it? You yourself may find it easy to live a virtuous Life without the Assistance afforded by Religion; you having a clear Perception of the Advantages of Virtue and the Disadvantages of Vice, and possessing a Strength of Resolution sufficient to enable you to resist common Temptations. But think how great a Proportion of Mankind consists of weak and ignorant Men and Women, and of inexperienc'd and inconsiderate Youth of both Sexes, who have need of the Motives of Religion to restrain them from Vice, to support their Virtue, and retain them in the Practice of it till it becomes _habitual_, which is the great Point for its Security; And perhaps you are indebted to her originally that is to your Religious Education, for the Habits of Virtue upon which you now justly value yourself. You might easily display your excellent Talents of reasoning on a less hazardous Subject, and thereby obtain Rank with our most distinguish'd Authors. For among us, it is not necessary, as among the Hottentots that a Youth to be receiv'd into the Company of Men, should prove his Manhood by beating his Mother. I would advise you therefore not to attempt unchaining the Tyger, but to burn this Piece before it is seen by any other Person, whereby you will save yourself a great deal of Mortification from the Enemies it may raise against you, and perhaps a good deal of Regret and Repentance. If Men are so wicked as we now see them _with Religion_ what would they be if _without it_? I intend this Letter itself as a _Proof_ of my Friendship and therefore add no _Professions_ of it, but subscribe simply Yours December 13, 1757 ELECTRIC SHOCKS IN PARALYTIC CASES _To John Pringle_ Sir Dec. 21. 1757 The following is what I can at present recollect, relating to the Effects of Electricity in Paralytic Cases, which have fallen under my Observation. Some Years since, when the News papers made Mention of great Cures perform'd in Italy or Germany by means of Electricity, a Number of Paralytics were brought to me from different Parts of Pensilvania and the neighbouring Provinces, to be electris'd, which I did for them, at their Request. My Method was, to place the Patient first in a Chair on an electric Stool, and draw a Number of large strong Sparks from all Parts of the affected Limb or Side. Then I fully charg'd two 6 Gallon Glass Jarrs, each of which had about 3 square feet of Surface coated and I sent the united Shock of these thro' the affected Limb or Limbs, repeating the Stroke commonly three Times each Day. The first Thing observ'd was an immediate greater sensible Warmth in the lame Limbs that had receiv'd the Stroke than in the others; and the next Morning the Patients usually related that they had in the Night felt a pricking Sensation in the Flesh of the paralytic Limbs, and would sometimes shew a Number of small red Spots which they suppos'd were occasion'd by those Prickings: The Limbs too were found more capable of voluntary Motion, and seem'd to receive Strength; a Man, for Instance, who could not, the first Day, lift the lame Hand from off his Knee, would the next Day raise it four or five Inches, the third Day higher, and on the fifth Day was able, but with a feeble languid Motion, to take off his Hat. These Appearances gave great Spirits to the Patients, and made them hope a perfect Cure; but I do not remember that I ever saw any Amendment after the fifth Day: Which the Patients perceiving, and finding the Shocks pretty severe, they became discourag'd, went home and in a short time relapsed; so that I never knew any Advantage from Electricity in Palsies that was permanent. And how far the apparent temporary Advantage might arise from the Exercise in the Patients Journey and coming daily to my House, or from the Spirits given by the Hope of Success, enabling them to exert more Strength in moving their Limbs, I will not pretend to say. Perhaps some permanent Advantage might have been obtained, if the Electric Shocks had been accompanied with proper Medicine and Regimen, under the Direction of a skilful Physician. It may be, too, that a few great Strokes, as given in my Method, may not be so proper as many small ones; since by the Account from Scotland of the Case in which 200 Shocks from a Phial were given daily, seems that a perfect Cure has been made. As to any uncommon Strength supposed to be in the Machine used in that Case, I imagine it could have no Share in the Effect produced; since the Strength of the Shock from charg'd Glass, is in proportion to the Quantity of Surface of the Glass coated; so that my Shocks from those large Jarrs must have been much greater than any that could be received from a Phial held in the hand. I am, with great Respect, Sir, Your most obedient Servant "STRATA OF THE EARTH" _To John Pringle_ _SIR,_ _Craven-street, Jan._ 6, 1758. I return Mr. _Mitchell_'s paper on the strata of the earth with thanks. The reading of it, and perusal of the draft that accompanies it, have reconciled me to those convulsions which all naturalists agree this globe has suffered. Had the different strata of clay, gravel, marble, coals, lime-stone, sand, minerals, _&c_. continued to lie level, one under the other, as they may be supposed to have done before those convulsions, we should have had the use only of a few of the uppermost of the strata, the others lying too deep and too difficult to be come at; but the shell of the earth being broke, and the fragments thrown into this oblique position, the disjointed ends of a great number of strata of different kinds are brought up to day, and a great variety of useful materials put into our power, which would otherwise have remained eternally concealed from us. So that what has been usually looked upon as a _ruin_ suffered by this part of the universe, was, in reality, only a preparation, or means of rendering the earth more fit for use, more capable of being to mankind a convenient and comfortable habitation. _I am, Sir, with great esteem, yours,_ &c. COOLING BY EVAPORATION _To John Lining_ _Dear Sir,_ _London, June_ 17, 1758. In a former letter I mentioned the experiment for cooling bodies by evaporation, and that I had, by repeatedly wetting the thermometer with common spirits, brought the mercury down five or six degrees. Being lately at _Cambridge_, and mentioning this in conversation with Dr. _Hadley_, professor of chemistry there, he proposed repeating the experiments with ether, instead of common spirits, as the ether is much quicker in evaporation. We accordingly went to his chamber, where he had both ether and a thermometer. By dipping first the ball of the thermometer into the ether, it appeared that the ether was precisely of the same temperament with the thermometer, which stood then at 65; for it made no alteration in the height of the little column of mercury. But when the thermometer was taken out of the ether, and the ether with which the ball was wet, began to evaporate, the mercury sunk several degrees. The wetting was then repeated by a feather that had been dipped into the ether, when the mercury sunk still lower. We continued this operation, one of us wetting the ball, and another of the company blowing on it with the bellows, to quicken the evaporation, the mercury sinking all the time, till it came down to 7, which is 25 degrees below the freezing point, when we left off. -- Soon after it passed the freezing point, a thin coat of ice began to cover the ball. Whether this was water collected and condensed by the coldness of the ball, from the moisture in the air, or from our breath; or whether the feather, when dipped into the ether, might not sometimes go through it, and bring up some of the water that was under it, I am not certain; perhaps all might contribute. The ice continued increasing till we ended the experiment, when it appeared near a quarter of an inch thick all over the ball, with a number of small spicula, pointing outwards. From this experiment one may see the possibility of freezing a man to death on a warm summer's day, if he were to stand in a passage thro' which the wind blew briskly, and to be wet frequently with ether, a spirit that is more inflammable than brandy, or common spirits of wine. It is but within these few years, that the _European_ philosophers seem to have known this power in nature, of cooling bodies by evaporation. But in the east they have long been acquainted with it. A friend tells me, there is a passage in _Bernier_'s travels through _Indostan_, written near one hundred years ago, that mentions it as a practice (in travelling over dry desarts in that hot climate) to carry water in flasks wrapt in wet woollen cloths, and hung on the shady side of the camel, or carriage, but in the free air; whereby, as the cloths gradually grow drier, the water contained in the flasks is made cool. They have likewise a kind of earthen pots, unglaz'd, which let the water gradually and slowly ooze through their pores, so as to keep the outside a little wet, notwithstanding the continual evaporation, which gives great coldness to the vessel, and the water contained in it. Even our common sailors seem to have had some notion of this property; for I remember, that being at sea, when I was a youth, I observed one of the sailors, during a calm in the night, often wetting his finger in his mouth, and then holding it up in the air, to discover, as he said, if the air had any motion, and from which side it came; and this he expected to do, by finding one side of his finger grow suddenly cold, and from that side he should look for the next wind; which I then laughed at as a fancy. May not several phaenomena, hitherto unconsidered, or unaccounted for, be explained by this property? During the hot _Sunday_ at _Philadelphia_, in _June_ 1750, when the thermometer was up at 100 in the shade, I sat in my chamber without exercise, only reading or writing, with no other cloaths on than a shirt, and a pair of long linen drawers, the windows all open, and a brisk wind blowing through the house, the sweat ran off the backs of my hands, and my shirt was often so wet, as to induce me to call for dry ones to put on; in this situation, one might have expected, that the natural heat of the body 96, added to the heat of the air 100, should jointly have created or produced a much greater degree of heat in the body; but the fact was, that my body never grew so hot as the air that surrounded it, or the inanimate bodies immers'd in the same air. For I remember well, that the desk, when I laid my arm upon it; a chair, when I sat down in it; and a dry shirt out of the drawer, when I put it on, all felt exceeding warm to me, as if they had been warmed before a fire. And I suppose a dead body would have acquired the temperature of the air, though a living one, by continual sweating, and by the evaporation of that sweat, was kept cold. -- May not this be a reason why our reapers in _Pensylvania_, working in the open field, in the clear hot sunshine common in our harvest-time (* 1), find themselves well able to go through that labour, without being much incommoded by the heat, while they continue to sweat, and while they supply matter for keeping up that sweat, by drinking frequently of a thin evaporable liquor, water mixed with rum; but if the sweat stops, they drop, and sometimes die suddenly, if a sweating is not again brought on by drinking that liquor, or, as some rather chuse in that case, a kind of hot punch, made with water, mixed with honey, and a considerable proportion of vinegar? -- May there not be in negroes a quicker evaporation of the perspirable matter from their skins and lungs, which, by cooling them more, enables them to bear the sun's heat better than whites do? (if that is a fact, as it is said to be; for the alledg'd necessity of having negroes rather than whites, to work in the _West-India_ fields, is founded upon it) though the colour of their skins would otherwise make them more sensible of the sun's heat, since black cloth heats much sooner, and more, in the sun, than white cloth. I am persuaded, from several instances happening within my knowledge, that they do not bear cold weather so well as the whites; they will perish when exposed to a less degree of it, and are more apt to have their limbs frost-bitten; and may not this be from the same cause? Would not the earth grow much hotter under the summer sun, if a constant evaporation from its surface, greater as the sun shines stronger, did not, by tending to cool it, balance, in some degree, the warmer effects of the sun's rays? -- Is it not owing to the constant evaporation from the surface of every leaf, that trees, though shone on by the sun, are always, even the leaves themselves, cool to our sense? at least much cooler than they would otherwise be? -- May it not be owing to this, that fanning ourselves when warm, does really cool us, though the air is itself warm that we drive with the fan upon our faces; for the atmosphere round, and next to our bodies, having imbibed as much of the perspired vapour as it can well contain, receives no more, and the evaporation is therefore check'd and retarded, till we drive away that atmosphere, and bring dryer air in its place, that will receive the vapour, and thereby facilitate and increase the evaporation? Certain it is, that mere blowing of air on a dry body does not cool it, as any one may satisfy himself, by blowing with a bellows on the dry ball of a thermometer; the mercury will not fall; if it moves at all, it rather rises, as being warmed by the friction of the air on its surface? -- To these queries of imagination, I will only add one practical observation; that wherever it is thought proper to give ease, in cases of painful inflammation in the flesh, (as from burnings, or the like) by cooling the part; linen cloths, wet with spirit, and applied to the part inflamed, will produce the coolness required, better than if wet with water, and will continue it longer. For water, though cold when first applied, will soon acquire warmth from the flesh, as it does not evaporate fast enough; but the cloths wet with spirit, will continue cold as long as any spirit is left to keep up the evaporation, the parts warmed escaping as soon as they are warmed, and carrying off the heat with them. _I am, Sir,_ &c. (* 1) _Pensylvania_ is in about lat. 40, and the sun, of course, about 12 degrees higher, and therefore much hotter than in _England_. Their harvest is about the end of _June_, or beginning of _July_, when the sun is nearly at the highest. FAITH, HOPE, AND CHARITY _To Jane Mecom_ Dear Sister London Sept 16 1758 I received your Favour of June 17. I wonder you have had no Letter from me since my being in England. I have wrote you at least two and I think a third before this; And, what was next to waiting on you in Person, sent you my Picture. In June last I sent Benny a Trunk of Books and wrote to him. I hope they are come to hand, and that he meets with Incouragement in his Business. I congratulate you on the Conquest of Cape Breton, and hope as your People took it by Praying the first Time, you will now pray that it may never be given up again, which you then forgot. Billy is well but in the Country. I left him at Tunbridge Wells, where we spent a fortnight, and he is now gone with some Company to see Portsmouth. We have been together over a great part of England this Summer; and among other places visited the Town our Father was born in and found some Relations in that part of the Country Still living. Our Cousin Jane Franklin, daughter of our Unkle John, died but about a Year ago. We saw her Husband Robert Page, who gave us some old Letters to his Wife from unkle Benjamin. In one of them, dated Boston July 4. 1723 he writes "Your Unkle Josiah has a Daughter Jane about 12 years Old, a good humour'd Child" So Jenny keep up your Character, and don't be angry when you have no Letters. In a little Book he sent her, call'd _None but Christ_, he wrote an Acrostick on her Name, which for Namesakes' Sake, as well as the good Advice it contains, I transcribe and send you Illuminated from on High, And shining brightly in your Sphere Nere faint, but keep a steady Eye Expecting endless Pleasures there Flee Vice, as you'd a Serpent flee, Raise Faith and Hope three Stories higher And let Christ's endless Love to thee N-ere cease to make thy Love Aspire. Kindness of Heart by Words express Let your Obedience be sincere, In Prayer and Praise your God Address Nere cease 'till he can cease to hear. After professing truly that I have a great Esteem and Veneration for the pious Author, permit me a little to play the Commentator and Critic on these Lines. The Meaning of _Three Stories_ higher seems somewhat obscure, you are to understand, then, that _Faith, Hope_ and _Charity_ have been called the three Steps of Jacob's Ladder, reaching from Earth to Heaven. Our Author calls them _Stories_, likening Religion to a Building, and those the three Stories of the Christian Edifice; Thus Improvement in Religion, is called _Building Up_, and _Edification_. _Faith_ is then the Ground-floor, _Hope_ is up one Pair of Stairs. My dearly beloved Jenny, don't delight so much to dwell in these lower Rooms, but get as fast as you can into the Garret; for in truth the best Room in the House is _Charity_. For my part, I wish the House was turn'd upside down; 'tis so difficult (when one is fat) to get up Stairs; and not only so, but I imagine _Hope_ and _Faith_ may be more firmly built on _Charity_, than _Charity_ upon _Faith_ and _Hope_. However that be, I think it a better reading to say Raise Faith and Hope _one Story_ higher correct it boldly and I'll support the Alteration. For when you are up two Stories already, if you raise your Building three Stories higher, you will make five in all, which is two more than there should be, you expose your upper Rooms more to the Winds and Storms, and besides I am afraid the Foundation will hardly bear them, unless indeed you build with such light Stuff as Straw and Stubble, and that you know won't stand Fire. Again where the Author Says Kindness of Heart by Words express, Stricke out _Words_ and put in _Deeds_. The world is too full of Compliments already; they are the rank Growth of every Soil, and Choak the good Plants of Benevolence and Benificence, Nor do I pretend to be the first in this comparison of Words and Actions to Plants; you may remember an Ancient Poet whose Words we have all Studied and Copy'd at School, said long ago, A Man of Words and not of Deeds, Is like a Garden full of Weeds. 'Tis pity that _Good Works_ among some sorts of People are so little Valued, and _Good Words_ admired in their Stead; I mean seemingly _pious Discourses_ instead of _Humane Benevolent Actions_. These they almost put out of countenance, by calling Morality _rotten Morality_, Righteousness, _ragged Righteousness_ and even _filthy Rags_; and when you mention _Virtue_, they pucker up their Noses as if they smelt a Stink; at the same time that they eagerly snuff up an empty canting Harangue, as if it was a Posie of the Choicest Flowers. So they have inverted the good old Verse, and say now A Man of Deeds and not of Words Is like a Garden full of ------ I have forgot the Rhime, but remember 'tis something the very Reverse of a Perfume. So much by Way of Commentary. My Wife will let you see my Letter containing an Account of our Travels, which I would have you read to Sister Douse, and give my Love to her. I have no thoughts of returning 'till next year, and then may possibly have the Pleasure of seeing you and yours, take Boston in my Way home. My Love to Brother and all your Children, concludes at this time from Dear Jenny your affectionate Brother "HAPPINESS IN THIS LIFE" _To Hugh Roberts_ Dear Friend, London, Sept. 16. 1758 Your kind Letter of June 1. gave me great Pleasure. I thank you for the Concern you express about my Health, which at present seems tolerably confirm'd by my late Journeys into different Parts of the Kingdom, that have been highly entertaining as well as useful to me. Your Visits to my little Family in my Absence are very obliging, and I hope you will be so good as to continue them. Your Remark on the Thistle and the Scotch Motto, made us very merry, as well as your String of Puns. You will allow me to claim a little Merit or Demerit in the last, as having had some hand in making you a Punster; but the Wit of the first is keen, and all your own. Two of the former Members of the Junto you tell me are departed this Life, Potts and Parsons. Odd Characters, both of them. Parsons, a wise Man, that often acted foolishly. Potts, a Wit, that seldom acted wisely. If _Enough_ were the Means to make a Man happy, One had always the _Means_ of Happiness without ever enjoying the _Thing_; the other had always the _Thing_ without ever possessing the Means. Parsons, even in his Prosperity, always fretting! Potts, in the midst of his Poverty, ever laughing! It seems, then, that Happiness in this Life rather depends on Internals than Externals; and that, besides the natural Effects of Wisdom and Virtue, Vice and Folly, there is such a Thing as being of a happy or an unhappy Constitution. They were both our Friends, and lov'd us. So, Peace to their Shades. They had their Virtues as well as their Foibles; they were both honest Men, and that alone, as the World goes, is one of the greatest of Characters. They were old Acquaintance, in whose Company I formerly enjoy'd a great deal of Pleasure, and I cannot think of losing them, without Concern and Regret. Let me know in your next, to what Purposes Parsons will'd his Estate from his Family; you hint at something which you have not explain'd. I shall, as you suppose, look on every Opportunity you give me of doing you Service, as a Favour, because it will afford me Pleasure. Therefore send your Orders for buying Books as soon as you please. I know how to make you ample Returns for such Favours, by giving you the Pleasure of Building me a House. You may do it without losing any of your own Time; it will only take some Part of that you now spend in other Folks Business. 'Tis only jumping out of their Waters into mine. I am grieved for our Friend Syng's Loss. You and I, who esteem him, and have valuable Sons ourselves, can sympathise with him sincerely. I hope yours is perfectly recovered, for your sake as well as for his own. I wish he may be in every Respect as good and as useful a Man as his Father. I need not wish him more; and can now only add that I am, with great Esteem, Dear Friend, Yours affectionately P.S. I rejoice to hear of the Prosperity of the Hospital, and send the Wafers. I do not quite like your absenting yourself from that good old Club the Junto: Your more frequent PRE SENCE might be a means of keeping them from being ALL ENgag'd in Measures not the best for the Publick Welfare. I exhort you therefore to return to your Duty; and, as the Indians say, to confirm my Words, I send you a Birmingham Tile. I thought the neatness of the Figures would please you. Pray send me a good Impression of the Hospital Seal in Wax. 2 or three would not be amiss, I may make a good Use of them. "CONVERSATION WARMS THE MIND" _To Lord Kames_ My dear Lord, London, Jany. 3. 1760 I ought long before this time to have acknowledg'd the Receipt of your Favour of Nov. 2. Your Lordship was pleas'd kindly to desire to have all my Publications. I had daily Expectations of procuring some of them from a Friend to whom I formerly sent them when I was in America, and postpon'd Writing till I should obtain them; but at length he tells me he cannot find them. Very mortifying, this, to an Author, that his Works should so soon be lost! So I can now only send you my _Observations on the Peopling of Countries_, which happens to have been reprinted here; The _Description of the Pennsylvanian Fireplace_, a Machine of my contriving; and some little Sketches that have been printed in the Grand Magazine; which I should hardly own, did not I flatter myself that your friendly Partiality would make them seem at least tolerable. How unfortunate I was, that I did not press you and Lady Kames more strongly, to favour us with your Company farther! How much more agreable would our Journey have been, if we could have enjoy'd you as far as York! Mr. Blake, who we hop'd would have handed us along from Friend to Friend, was not at home, and so we knew nobody and convers'd with nobody on all that long Road, till we came thither. The being a Means of contributing in the least Degree to the restoring that good Lady's Health, would have contributed greatly to our Pleasures, and we could have beguil'd the Way by Discoursing 1000 Things that now we may never have an Opportunity of considering together; for Conversation warms the Mind, enlivens the Imagination, and is continually starting fresh Game that is immediately pursu'd and taken and which would never have occur'd in the duller Intercourse of Epistolary Correspondence. So that whenever I reflect on the great Pleasure and Advantage I receiv'd from the free Communication of Sentiments in the Conversation your Lordship honour'd me with at Kaims, and in the little agreable Rides to the Tweedside, I shall forever regret that unlucky premature Parting. No one can rejoice more sincerely than I do on the Reduction of Canada; and this, not merely as I am a Colonist, but as I am a Briton. I have long been of Opinion, that the Foundations of the future Grandeur and Stability of the British Empire, lie in America; and tho', like other Foundations, they are low and little seen, they are nevertheless, broad and Strong enough to support the greatest Political Structure Human Wisdom ever yet erected. I am therefore by no means for restoring Canada. If we keep it, all the Country from St. Laurence to Missisipi, will in another Century be fill'd with British People; Britain itself will become vastly more populous by the immense Increase of its Commerce; the Atlantic Sea will be cover'd with your Trading Ships; and your naval Power thence continually increasing, will extend your Influence round the whole Globe, and awe the World! If the French remain in Canada, they will continually harass our Colonies by the Indians, impede if not prevent their Growth; your Progress to Greatness will at best be slow, and give room for many Accidents that may for ever prevent it. But I refrain, for I see you begin to think my Notions extravagant, and look upon them as the Ravings of a mad Prophet. Your Lordship's kind Offer of Penn's Picture is extreamly obliging. But were it certainly his Picture, it would be too valuable a Curiosity for me to think of accepting it. I should only desire the Favour of Leave to take a Copy of it. I could wish to know the History of the Picture before it came into your Hands, and the Grounds for supposing it his. I have at present some Doubts about it; first, because the primitive Quakers us'd to declare against Pictures as a vain Expence; a Man's suffering his Portrait to be taken was condemn'd as Pride; and I think to this day it is very little practis'd among them. Then it is on a Board, and I imagine the Practice of painting Portraits on Boards did not come down so low as Penn's Time; but of this I am not certain. My other Reason is an Anecdote I have heard, viz. That when old Lord Cobham was adorning his Gardens at Stowe with the Busts of famous Men, he made Enquiry of the Family for a Picture of Wm. Penn, in order to get a Bust form'd from it, but could find none. That Sylvanus Bevan, an old Quaker Apothecary, remarkable for the Notice he takes of Countenances, and a Knack he has of cutting in Ivory strong Likenesses of Persons he has once seen, hearing of Lord Cobham's Desire, set himself to recollect Penn's Face, with which he had been well acquainted; and cut a little Bust of him in Ivory which he sent to Lord Cobham, without any Letter of Notice that it was Penn's. But my Lord who had personally known Penn, on seeing it, immediately cry'd out, Whence came this? It is William Penn himself! And from this little Bust, they say, the large one in the Gardens was formed. I doubt, too, whether the Whisker was not quite out of Use at the time when Penn must have been of the Age appearing in the Face of that Picture. And yet notwithstanding these Reasons, I am not without some Hope that it may be his; because I know some eminent Quakers have had their Pictures privately drawn, and deposited with trusty Friends; and I know also that there is extant at Philadelphia a very good Picture of Mrs. Penn, his last Wife. After all, I own I have a strong Desire to be satisfy'd concerning this Picture; and as Bevan is yet living here, and some other old Quakers that remember William Penn, who died but in 1718, I could wish to have it sent me carefully pack'd in a Box by the Waggon (for I would not trust it by Sea) that I may obtain their Opinion, The Charges I shall very chearfully pay; and if it proves to be Penn's Picture, I shall be greatly oblig'd to your Lordship for Leave to take a Copy of it, and will carefully return the Original. My Son joins with me in the most respectful Compliments to you, to Lady Kaims, and your promising and amiable Son and Daughter. He had the Pleasure of conversing more particularly with the latter than I did, and told me, when we were by our selves, that he was greatly surprized to find so much sensible Observation and solid Understanding in so young a Person; and suppos'd you must have us'd with your Children some uncommonly good Method of Education, to produce such Fruits so early. Our Conversation till we came to York was chiefly a Recollection and Recapitulation of what we had seen and heard, the Pleasure we had enjoy'd and the Kindnesses we had receiv'd in Scotland, and how far that Country had exceeded our Expectations. On the whole, I must say, I think the Time we spent there, was Six Weeks of the _densest_ Happiness I have met with in any Part of my Life. And the agreable and instructive Society we found there in such Plenty, has left so pleasing an Impression on my Memory, that did not strong Connections draw me elsewhere, I believe Scotland would be the Country I should chuse to spend the Remainder of my Days in. I have the Honour to be, with the sincerest Esteem and Affection, My Lord, Your Lordship's most obedient and most humble Servant PS. My Son puts me in mind that a Book published here last Winter, contains a number of Pieces wrote by me as a Member of the Assembly, in our late Controversies with the Proprietary Governors; so I shall leave one of them at Millar's to be sent to you, it being too bulky to be sent per Post. "THE MORE THEY ARE RESPECTED" _To Jane Mecom_ Dear Sister, London, Jan. 9. 1760 I received a Letter or two from you, in which I perceive you have misunderstood and taken unkindly something I said to you in a former jocular one of mine concerning CHARITY. I forget what it was exactly, but I am sure I neither express nor meant any personal Censure on you or any body. If anything, it was a general Reflection on our Sect; we zealous Presbyterians being too apt to think ourselves alone in the right, and that besides all the Heathens, Mahometans and Papists, whom we give to Satan in a Lump, other Sects of Christian Protestants that do not agree with us, will hardly escape Perdition. And I might recommend it to you to be more charitable in that respect than many others are; not aiming at any Reproof, as you term it; for if I were dispos'd to reprove you, it should be for your only Fault, that of supposing and spying Affronts, and catching at them where they are not. But as you seem sensible of this yourself, I need not mention it; and as it is a Fault that carries with it its own sufficient Punishment, by the Uneasiness and Fretting it produces, I shall not add Weight to it. Besides, I am sure your own good Sense, join'd to your natural good Humour will in time get the better of it. I am glad that Cousin Benny could advance you the Legacy, since it suited you best to receive it immediately. Your Resolution to forbear buying the Cloak you wanted, was a prudent one; but when I read it, I concluded you should not however be without one, and so desired a Friend to buy one for you. The Cloth ones, it seems, are quite out of Fashion here, and so will probably soon be out with you; I have therefore got you a very decent one of another kind, which I shall send you by the next convenient Opportunity. It is remarkable that so many Breaches should be made by Death in our Family in so short a Space. Out of Seventeen Children that our Father had, thirteen liv'd to grow up and settle in the World. I remember these thirteen (some of us then very young) all at one Table, when an Entertainment was made in our House on Occasion of the Return of our Brother Josiah, who had been absent in the East-Indies, and unheard of for nine Years. Of these thirteen, there now remains but three. As our Number diminishes, let our Affection to each other rather increase: for besides its being our Duty, tis our Interest, since the more affectionate Relations are to one another, the more they are respected by the rest of the World. My Love to Brother Mecom and your Children. I shall hardly have time to write to Benny by this Conveyance. Acquaint him that I received his Letter of Sept. 10, and am glad to hear he is in so prosperous a Way, as not to regret his leaving Antigua. I am, my dear Sister, Your ever affectionate Brother March 26. The above was wrote at the time it is dated; but on reading it over, I apprehended that something I had said in it about Presbyterians, and Affronts, might possibly give more Offence; and so I threw it by, concluding not to send it. However, Mr. Bailey calling on me, and having no other Letter ready nor time at present to write one, I venture to send it, and beg you will excuse what you find amiss in it. I send also by Mr. Bailey the Cloak mention'd in it, and also a Piece of Linnen, which I beg you to accept of from Your loving Brother I received your Letter, and Benny's and Peter's by Mr. Baily, which I shall answer per next Opportunity. "THE ART OF VIRTUE" _To Lord Kames_ My dear Lord, London, May 3. 1760. Your obliging Favour of January 24th. found me greatly indispos'd with an obstinate Cold and Cough accompany'd with Feverish Complaints and Headachs, that lasted long and harass'd me greatly, not being subdu'd at length but by the whole Round of Cupping, Bleeding, Blistering, &c. When I had any Intervals of Ease and Clearness, I endeavour'd to comply with your Request, in writing something on the present Situation of our Affairs in America, in order to give more correct Notions of the British Interest with regard to the Colonies, than those I found many sensible Men possess'd of. Inclos'd you have the Production, such as it is. I wish it may in any Degree be of Service to the Publick. I shall at least hope this from it for my own Part, that you will consider it as a Letter from me to you, and accept its Length as some Excuse for its being so long acoming. I am now reading, with great Pleasure and Improvement, your excellent Work, the Principles of Equity. It will be of the greatest Advantage to the Judges in our Colonies, not only in those which have Courts of Chancery, but also in those which having no such Courts are obliged to mix Equity with the Common Law. It will be of the more Service to the Colony Judges, as few of them have been bred to the Law. I have sent a Book to a particular Friend, one of the Judges of the Supreme Court in Pensilvania. I will shortly send you a Copy of the Chapter you are pleas'd to mention in so obliging a Manner; and shall be extreamly oblig'd in receiving a Copy of the Collection of Maxims for the Conduct of Life, which you are preparing for the Use of your Children. I purpose, likewise, a little Work for the Benefit of Youth, to be call'd _The Art of Virtue_. From the Title I think you will hardly conjecture what the Nature of such a Book may be. I must therefore explain it a little. Many People lead bad lives that would gladly lead good ones, but know not _how_ to make the Change. They have frequently _resolv'd_ and _endeavour'd_ it; but in vain, because their Endeavours have not been properly conducted. To exhort People to be good, to be just, to be temperate, &c. without _shewing_ them _how_ they shall _become_ so, seems like the ineffectual Charity mention'd by the Apostle, which consisted in saying to the Hungry, the Cold, and the Naked, _be ye fed, be ye warmed, be ye clothed_, without shewing them how they should get Food, Fire or Clothing. Most People have naturally _some_ Virtues, but none have naturally _all_ the Virtues. To _acquire_ those that are wanting, and _secure_ what we acquire as well as those we have naturally, is the Subject of _an Art_. It is as properly an Art, as Painting, Navigation, or Architecture. If a Man would become a Painter, Navigator, or Architect, it is not enough that he is _advised_ to be one, that he is _convinc'd_ by the Arguments of his Adviser that it would be for his Advantage to be one, and that he _resolves_ to be one, but he must also be taught the Principles of the Art, be shewn all the Methods of Working, and how to acquire the _Habits_ of using properly all the Instruments; and thus regularly and gradually he arrives by Practice at some Perfection in the Art. If he does not proceed thus, he is apt to meet with Difficulties that discourage him, and make him drop the Pursuit. My _Art of Virtue_ has also its Instruments, and teaches the Manner of Using them. Christians are directed to have _Faith in Christ_, as the effectual Means of obtaining the Change they desire. It may, when sufficiently strong, be effectual with many. A full Opinion that a Teacher is infinitely wise, good, and powerful, and that he will certainly reward and punish the Obedient and Disobedient, must give great Weight to his Precepts, and make them much more attended to by his Disciples. But all Men cannot have Faith in Christ; and many have it in so weak a Degree, that it does not produce the Effect. Our _Art of Virtue_ may therefore be of great Service to those who have not Faith, and come in Aid of the weak Faith of others. Such as are naturally well-disposed, and have been carefully educated, so that good Habits have been early established, and bad ones prevented, have less Need of this Art; but all may be more or less benefited by it. It is, in short, to be adapted for universal Use. I imagine what I have now been writing will seem to savour of great Presumption; I must therefore speedily finish my little Piece, and communicate the Manuscript to you, that you may judge whether it is possible to make good such Pretensions. I shall at the same time hope for the Benefit of your Corrections. My respectful Compliments to Lady Kaims and your amiable Children, in which my Son joins. With the sincerest Esteem and Attachment, I am, My Lord, Your Lordship's most obedient and most humble Servant P.S. While I remain in London I shall continue in Craven Street, Strand: if you favour me with your Correspondence when I return to America, please to direct for me in Philadelphia, and your Letters will readily find me tho' sent to any other Part of North America. SALT DEPOSITS _To Peter Franklin_ _SIR,_ _London, May_ 7, 1760. * * * * * * It has, indeed, as you observe, been the opinion of some very great naturalists, that the sea is salt only from the dissolution of mineral or rock salt, which its waters happened to meet with. But this opinion takes it for granted that all water was originally fresh, of which we can have no proof. I own I am inclined to a different opinion, and rather think all the water on this globe was originally salt, and that the fresh water we find in springs and rivers, is the produce of distillation. The sun raises the vapours from the sea, which form clouds, and fall in rain upon the land, and springs and rivers are formed of that rain. -- As to the rock-salt found in mines, I conceive, that instead of communicating its saltness to the sea, it is itself drawn from the sea, and that of course the sea is now fresher than it was originally. This is only another effect of nature's distillery, and might be performed various ways. It is evident from the quantities of sea-shells, and the bones and teeth of fishes found in high lands, that the sea has formerly covered them. Then, either the sea has been higher than it now is, and has fallen away from those high lands; or they have been lower than they are, and were lifted up out of the water to their present height, by some internal mighty force, such as we still feel some remains of, when whole continents are moved by earthquakes. In either case it may be supposed that large hollows, or valleys among hills, might be left filled with sea-water, which evaporating, and the fluid part drying away in a course of years, would leave the salt covering the bottom; and that salt coming afterwards to be covered with earth, from the neighbouring hills, could only be found by digging through that earth. Or, as we know from their effects, that there are deep fiery caverns under the earth, and even under the sea, if at any time the sea leaks into any of them, the fluid parts of the water must evaporate from that heat, and pass off through some vulcano, while the salt remains, and by degrees, and continual accretion, becomes a great mass. Thus the cavern may at length be filled, and the volcano connected with it cease burning, as many it is said have done; and future miners penetrating such cavern, find what we call a salt mine. -- This is a fancy I had on visiting the salt-mines at _Northwich_, with my son. I send you a piece of the rock-salt which he brought up with him out of the mine. * * * * * * _I am, Sir, &c._ "THE KNOWLEDGE OF NATURE" _To Mary Stevenson_ Dear Polly, Cravenstreet, June 11. 1760 'Tis a very sensible Question you ask, how the Air can affect the Barometer, when its Opening appears covered with Wood? If indeed it was so closely covered as to admit of no Communication of the outward Air to the Surface of the Mercury, the Change of Weight in the Air could not possibly affect it. But the least Crevice is sufficient for the Purpose; a Pinhole will do the Business. And if you could look behind the Frame to which your Barometer is fixed, you would certainly find some small Opening. There are indeed some Barometers in which the Body of Mercury at the lower End is contain'd in a close Leather Bag, and so the Air cannot come into immediate Contact with the Mercury: Yet the same Effect is produc'd. For the Leather being flexible, when the Bag is press'd by any additional Weight of Air, it contracts, and the Mercury is forc'd up into the Tube; when the Air becomes lighter, and its Pressure less, the Weight of the Mercury prevails, and it descends again into the Bag. Your Observation on what you have lately read concerning Insects, is very just and solid. Superficial Minds are apt to despise those who make that Part of Creation their Study, as mere Triflers; but certainly the World has been much oblig'd to them. Under the Care and Management of Man, the Labours of the little Silkworm afford Employment and Subsistence to Thousands of Families, and become an immense Article of Commerce. The Bee, too, yields us its delicious Honey, and its Wax useful to a multitude of Purposes. Another Insect, it is said, produces the Cochineal, from whence we have our rich Scarlet Dye. The Usefulness of the Cantharides, or Spanish Flies, in Medicine, is known to all, and Thousands owe their Lives to that Knowledge. By human Industry and Observation, other Properties of other Insects may possibly be hereafter discovered, and of equal Utility. A thorough Acquaintance with the Nature of these little Creatures, may also enable Mankind to prevent the Increase of such as are noxious or secure us against the Mischiefs they occasion. These Things doubtless your Books make mention of: I can only add a particular late Instance which I had from a Swedish Gentleman of good Credit. In the green Timber intended for Ship-building at the King's Yards in that Country, a kind of Worms were found, which every Year became more numerous and more pernicious, so that the Ships were greatly damag'd before they came into Use. The King sent Linnaeus, the great Naturalist, from Stockholm, to enquire into the Affair, and see if the Mischief was capable of any Remedy. He found on Examination, that the Worm was produc'd from a small Egg deposited in the little Roughnesses on the Surface of the Wood, by a particular kind of Fly or Beetle; from whence the Worm, as soon as it was hatch'd, began to eat into the Substance of the Wood, and after some time came out again a Fly of the Parent kind, and so the Species increas'd. The Season in which this Fly laid its Eggs, Linnaeus knew to be about a Fortnight (I think) in the Month of May, and at no other time of the Year. He therefore advis'd, that some Days before that Season, all the green Timber should be thrown into the Water, and kept under Water till the Season was over. Which being done by the King's Order, the Flies missing their usual Nests, could not increase; and the Species was either destroy'd or went elsewhere; and the Wood was effectually preserved, for after the first Year, it became too dry and hard for their purpose. There is, however, a prudent Moderation to be used in Studies of this kind. The Knowledge of Nature may be ornamental, and it may be useful, but if to attain an Eminence in that, we neglect the Knowledge and Practice of essential Duties, we deserve Reprehension. For there is no Rank in Natural Knowledge of equal Dignity and Importance with that of being a good Parent, a good Child, a good Husband, or Wife, a good Neighbour or Friend, a good Subject or Citizen, that is, in short, a good Christian. Nicholas Gimcrack, therefore, who neglected the Care of his Family, to pursue Butterflies, was a just Object of Ridicule, and we must give him up as fair Game to the Satyrist. Adieu, my dear Friend, and believe me ever Yours affectionately You good Mother is well, and gives her Love and Blessing to you. My Compliments to your Aunts, Miss Pitt, &c. TIDES IN RIVERS _To Mary Stevenson_ My dear Friend, London, Sept. 13. 1760 I have your agreable Letter from Bristol, which I take this first Leisure Hour to answer, having for some time been much engag'd in Business. Your first Question, _What is the Reason the Water at this Place, tho' cold at the Spring, becomes warm by Pumping?_ it will be most prudent in me to forbear attempting to answer, till, by a more circumstantial Account, you assure me of the Fact. I own I should expect that Operation to warm, not so much the Water pump'd as the Person pumping. The Rubbing of dry Solids together, has been long observ'd to produce Heat; but the like Effect has never yet, that I have heard, been produc'd by the mere Agitation of Fluids, or Friction of Fluids with Solids. Water in a Bottle shook for Hours by a Mill Hopper, it is said, discover'd no sensible Addition of Heat. The Production of Animal Heat by Exercise, is therefore to be accounted for in another manner, which I may hereafter endeavour to make you acquainted with. This Prudence of not attempting to give Reasons before one is sure of Facts, I learnt from one of your Sex, who, as Selden tells us, being in company with some Gentlemen that were viewing and considering something which they call'd a Chinese Shoe, and disputing earnestly about the manner of wearing it, and how it could possibly be put on; put in her Word, and said modestly, _Gentlemen, are you sure it is a Shoe? Should not that be settled first?_ But I shall now endeavour to explain what I said to you about the Tide in Rivers, and to that End shall make a Figure, which tho' not very like a River, may serve to convey my Meaning. Suppose a Canal 140 Miles long communicating at one End with the Sea, and fill'd therefore with Sea Water. I chuse a Canal at first, rather than a River, to throw out of Consideration the Effects produc'd by the Streams of Fresh Water from the Land, the Inequality in Breadth, and the (Diagram omitted) Crookedness of Courses. Let A, C, be the Head of the Canal, C D the Bottom of it; D F the open Mouth of it next the Sea. Let the strait prick'd Line B G represent Low Water Mark the whole Length of the Canal, A F High Water Mark: Now if a Person standing at E, and observing at the time of High water there that the Canal is quite full at that Place up to the Line E, should conclude that the Canal is equally full to the same Height from End to End, and therefore there was as much more Water come into the Canal since it was down at the Low Water Mark, as could be included in the oblong Space A. B. G. F. he would be greatly mistaken. For the Tide is _a Wave_, and the Top of the Wave, which makes High Water, as well as every other lower Part, is progressive; and it is High Water successively, but not at the same time, in all the several Points between G, F. and A, B. -- and in such a Length as I have mention'd it is Low Water at F G and also at A B, at or near the same time with its being High Water at E; so that the Surface of the Water in the Canal, during that Situation, is properly represented by the Curve prick'd Line B E G. And on the other hand, when it is Low Water at E H, it is High Water both at F G and at A B at or near the same time; and the Surface would then be describ'd by the inverted Curve Line A H F. In this View of the Case, you will easily see, that there must be very little more Water in the Canal at what we call High Water than there is at Low Water, those Terms not relating to the whole Canal at the same time, but successively to its Parts. And if you suppose the Canal six times as long, the Case would not vary as to the Quantity of Water at different times of the Tide; there would only be six Waves in the Canal at the same time, instead of one, and the Hollows in the Water would be equal to the Hills. That this is not mere Theory, but comformable to Fact, we know by our long Rivers in America. The Delaware, on which Philadelphia stands, is in this particular similar to the Canal I have supposed of one Wave: For when it is High Water at the Capes or Mouth of the River, it is also High Water at Philadelphia, which stands about 140 Miles from the Sea; and there is at the same time a Low Water in the Middle between the two High Waters; where, when it comes to be High Water, it is at the same time Low Water at the Capes and at Philadelphia. And the longer Rivers have, some a Wave and Half, some two, three, or four Waves, according to their Length. In the shorter Rivers of this Island, one may see the same thing in Part: for Instance; it is High Water at Gravesend an Hour before it is High Water at London Bridge; and 20 Miles below Gravesend an Hour before it is High Water at Gravesend. Therefore at the Time of High Water at Gravesend the Top of the Wave is there, and the Water is then not so high by some feet where the Top of the Wave was an Hour before, or where it will be an Hour after, as it is just then at Gravesend. Now we are not to suppose, that because the Swell or Top of the Wave runs at the Rate of 20 Miles an Hour, that therefore the Current or Water itself of which the Wave is compos'd, runs at that rate. Far from it. To conceive this Motion of a Wave, make a small Experiment or two. Fasten one End of a Cord in a Window near the Top of a House, and let the other End come down to the Ground; take this End in your Hand, and you may, by a sudden Motion occasion a Wave in the Cord that will run quite up to the Window; but tho' the Wave is progressive from your Hand to the Window, the Parts of the Rope do not proceed with the Wave, but remain where they were, except only that kind of Motion that produces the Wave. So if you throw a Stone into a Pond of Water when the Surface is still and smooth, you will see a circular Wave proceed from the Stone as its Center, quite to the Sides of the Pond; but the Water does not proceed with the Wave, it only rises and falls to form it in the different Parts of its Course; and the Waves that follow the first, all make use of the same Water with their Predecessors. But a Wave in Water is not indeed in all Circumstances exactly like that in a Cord; for Water being a Fluid, and gravitating to the Earth, it naturally runs from a higher Place to a lower; therefore the Parts of the Wave in Water do actually run a little both ways from its Top towards its lower Sides, which the Parts of the Wave in the Cord cannot do. Thus when it is high and standing Water at Gravesend, the Water 20 Miles below has been running Ebb, or towards the Sea for an Hour, or ever since it was High Water there; but the Water at London Bridge will run Flood, or from the Sea yet another Hour, till it is High Water or the Top of the Wave arrives at that Bridge, and then it will have run Ebb an Hour at Gravesend, &c. &c. Now this Motion of the Water, occasion'd only by its Gravity, or Tendency to run from a higher Place to a lower, is by no means so swift as the Motion of the Wave. It scarce exceeds perhaps two Miles in an Hour. If it went as the Wave does 20 Miles an Hour, no Ships could ride at Anchor in such a Stream, nor Boats row against it. In common Speech, indeed, this Current of the Water both Ways from the Top of the Wave is call'd _the Tide_; thus we say, _the Tide runs strong, the Tide runs at the rate of_ 1, 2, _or_ 3 _Miles an hour,_ &c. and when we are at a Part of the River behind the Top of the Wave, and find the Water lower than High-water Mark, and running towards the Sea, we say, _the Tide runs Ebb_; and when we are before the Top of the Wave, and find the Water higher than Low-water Mark, and running from the Sea, we say, the _Tide runs Flood_: But these Expressions are only locally proper; for a Tide strictly speaking is _one whole Wave_, including all its Parts higher and lower, and these Waves succeed one another about twice in twenty four Hours. This Motion of the Water, occasion'd by its Gravity, will explain to you why the Water near the Mouths of Rivers may be salter at Highwater than at Low. Some of the Salt Water, as the Tide Wave enters the River, runs from its Top and fore Side, and mixes with the fresh, and also pushes it back up the River. Supposing that the Water commonly runs during the Flood at the Rate of two Miles in an Hour, and that the Flood runs 5 Hours, you see that it can bring at most into our Canal only a Quantity of Water equal to the Space included in the Breadth of the Canal, ten Miles of its Length, and the Depth between Low and Highwater Mark. Which is but a fourteenth Part of what would be necessary to fill all the Space between Low and Highwater Mark, for 140 Miles, the whole Length of the Canal. And indeed such a Quantity of Water as would fill that whole Space, to run in and out every Tide, must create so outrageous a Current, as would do infinite Damage to the Shores, Shipping, &c. and make the Navigation of a River almost impracticable. I have made this Letter longer than I intended, and therefore reserve for another what I have farther to say on the Subject of Tides and Rivers. I shall now only add, that I have not been exact in the Numbers, because I would avoid perplexing you with minute Calculations, my Design at present being chiefly to give you distinct and clear Ideas of the first Principles. After writing 6 Folio Pages of Philosophy to a young Girl, is it necessary to finish such a Letter with a Compliment? Is not such a Letter of itself a Compliment? Does it not say, she has a Mind thirsty after Knowledge, and capable of receiving it; and that the most agreable Things one can write to her are those that tend to the Improvement of her Understanding? It does indeed say all this, but then it is still no Compliment; it is no more than plain honest Truth, which is not the Character of a Compliment. So if I would finish my Letter in the Mode, I should yet add something that means nothing, and is _merely_ civil and polite. But being naturally awkward at every Circumstance of Ceremony, I shall not attempt it. I had rather conclude abruptly with what pleases me more than any Compliment can please you, that I am allow'd to subscribe my self Your affectionate Friend "THE BEST ENGLISH" _To David Hume_ Dear Sir, Coventry, Sept. 27. 1760 I have too long postpon'd answering your obliging Letter, a Fault I will not attempt to excuse, but rather rely on your Goodness to forgive it if I am more punctual for the future. I am oblig'd to you for the favourable Sentiments you express of the Pieces sent you; tho' the Volume relating to our Pensilvania Affairs, was not written by me, nor any Part of it, except the Remarks on the Proprietor's Estimate of his Estate, and some of the inserted Messages and Reports of the Assembly which I wrote when at home, as a Member of Committees appointed by the House for that Service; the rest was by another Hand. But tho' I am satisfy'd by what you say, that the Duke of Bedford was hearty in the Scheme of the Expedition, I am not so clear that others in the Administration were equally in earnest in that matter. It is certain that after the Duke of Newcastle's first Orders to raise Troops in the Colonies, and Promise to send over Commissions to the Officers, with Arms, Clothing, &c. for the Men, we never had another Syllable from him for 18 Months; during all which time the Army lay idle at Albany for want of Orders and Necessaries; and it began to be thought at least that if an Expedition had ever been intended, the first Design and the Orders given, must, thro' the Multiplicity of Business here at home, have been quite forgotten. I am not a little pleas'd to hear of your Change of Sentiments in some particulars relating to America; because I think it of Importance to our general Welfare that the People of this Nation should have right Notions of us, and I know no one that has it more in his Power to rectify their Notions, than Mr. Hume. I have lately read with great Pleasure, as I do every thing of yours, the excellent Essay on the _Jealousy of Commerce_: I think it cannot but have a good Effect in promoting a certain Interest too little thought of by selfish Man, and scarce ever mention'd, so that we hardly have a Name for it; I mean the _Interest of Humanity_, or common Good of Mankind: But I hope particularly from that Essay, an Abatement of the Jealousy that reigns here of the Commerce of the Colonies, at least so far as such Abatement may be reasonable. I thank you for your friendly Admonition relating to some unusual Words in the Pamphlet. It will be of Service to me. The _pejorate_, and the _colonize_, since they are not in common use here, I give up as bad; for certainly in Writings intended for Persuasion and for general Information, one cannot be too clear, and every Expression in the least obscure is a Fault. The _unshakeable_ too, tho' clear, I give up as rather low. The introducing new Words where we are already possess'd of old ones sufficiently expressive, I confess must be generally wrong, as it tends to change the Language; yet at the same time I cannot but wish the Usage of our Tongue permitted making new Words when we want them, by Composition of old ones whose Meanings are already well understood. The German allows of it, and it is a common Practice with their Writers. Many of our present English Words were originally so made; and many of the Latin Words. In point of Clearness such compound Words would have the Advantage of any we can borrow from the ancient or from foreign Languages. For instance, the Word _inaccessible_, tho' long in use among us, is not yet, I dare say, so universally understood by our People as the Word _uncomeatable_ would immediately be, which we are not allow'd to write. But I hope with you, that we shall always in America make the best English of this Island our Standard, and I believe it will be so. I assure you, it often gives me Pleasure to reflect how greatly the _Audience_ (if I may so term it) of a good English Writer will in another Century or two be encreas'd, by the Increase of English People in our Colonies. My Son presents his Respects with mine to you and Dr. Monro. We receiv'd your printed circular Letter to the Members of the Society, and purpose some time next Winter to send each of us a little Philosophical Essay. With the greatest Esteem I am, Dear Sir, Your most obedient and most humble Servant COLOR AND HEAT _To Mary Stevenson_ My dear Friend It is, as you observed in our late Conversation, a very general Opinion, that _all Rivers run into the Sea_, or deposite their Waters there. 'Tis a kind of Audacity to call such general Opinions in question, and may subject one to Censure: But we must hazard something in what we think the Cause of Truth: And if we propose our Objections modestly, we shall, tho' mistaken, deserve a Censure less severe, than when we are both mistaken and insolent. That some Rivers run into the Sea is beyond a doubt: Such, for Instance, are the Amazones, and I think the Oranoko and the Missisipi. The Proof is, that their Waters are fresh quite to the Sea, and out to some Distance from the Land. Our Question is, whether the fresh Waters of those Rivers whose Beds are filled with Salt Water to a considerable Distance up from the Sea (as the Thames, the Delaware, and the Rivers that communicate with Chesapeak Bay in Virginia) do ever arrive at the Sea? and as I suspect they do not, I am now to acquaint you with my Reasons; or, if they are not allow'd to be Reasons, my Conceptions, at least of this Matter. The common Supply of Rivers is from Springs, which draw their Origin from Rain that has soak'd into the Earth. The Union of a Number of Springs forms a River. The Waters as they run, expos'd to the Sun, Air and Wind, are continually evaporating. Hence in Travelling one may often see where a River runs, by a long blueish Mist over it, tho' we are at such a Distance as not to see the River itself. The Quantity of this Evaporation is greater or less in proportion to the Surface exposed by the same Quantity of Water to those Causes of Evaporation. While the River runs in a narrow confined Channel in the upper hilly Country, only a small Surface is exposed; a greater as the River widens. Now if a River ends in a Lake, as some do, whereby its Waters are spread so wide as that the Evaporation is equal to the Sum of all its Springs, that Lake will never overflow: And if instead of ending in a Lake, it was drawn into greater Length as a River, so as to expose a Surface equal, in the whole to that Lake, the Evaporation would be equal, and such River would end as a Canal; when the Ignorant might suppose, as they actually do in such cases, that the River loses itself by running under ground, whereas in truth it has run up into the Air. Now many Rivers that are open to the Sea, widen much before they arrive at it, not merely by the additional Waters they receive, but by having their Course stopt by the opposing Flood Tide; by being turned back twice in twenty-four Hours, and by finding broader Beds in the low flat Countries to dilate themselves in; hence the Evaporation of the fresh Water is proportionably increas'd, so that in some Rivers it may equal the Springs of Supply. In such cases, the Salt Water comes up the River, and meets the fresh in that part where, if there were a Wall or Bank of Earth across from Side to Side, the River would form a Lake, fuller indeed at some times than at others according to the Seasons, but whose Evaporation would, one time with another, be equal to its Supply. When the Communication between the two kinds of Water is open, this supposed Wall of Separation may be conceived as a moveable one, which is not only pushed some Miles higher up the River by every Flood Tide from the Sea, and carried down again as far by every Tide of Ebb, but which has even this Space of Vibration removed nearer to the Sea in wet Seasons, when the Springs and Brooks in the upper Country are augmented by the falling Rains so as to swell the River, and farther from the Sea in dry Seasons. Within a few Miles above and below this moveable Line of Separation, the different Waters mix a little, partly by their Motion to and fro, and partly from the greater specific Gravity of the Salt Water, which inclines it to run under the Fresh, while the fresh Water being lighter runs over the Salt. Cast your Eye on the Map of North America, and observe the Bay of Chesapeak in Virginia, mentioned above; you will see, communicating with it by their Mouths, the great Rivers Sasquehanah, Potowmack, Rappahanock, York and James, besides a Number of smaller Streams each as big as the Thames. It has been propos'd by philosophical Writers, that to compute how much Water any River discharges into the Sea, in a given time, we should measure its Depth and Swiftness at any Part above the Tide, as, for the Thames, at Kingston or Windsor. But can one imagine, that if all the Water of those vast Rivers went to the Sea, it would not first have pushed the Salt Water out of that narrow-mouthed Bay, and filled it with fresh? The Sasquehanah alone would seem to be sufficient for this, if it were not for the Loss by Evaporation. And yet that Bay is salt quite up to Annapolis. As to our other Subject, the different Degrees of Heat imbibed from the Sun's Rays by Cloths of different Colours, since I cannot find the Notes of my Experiment to send you, I must give it as well as I can from Memory. But first let me mention an Experiment you may easily make your self. Walk but a quarter of an Hour in your Garden when the Sun shines, with a Part of your Dress white, and a Part black; then apply your Hand to them alternately, and you will find a very great Difference in their Warmth. The Black will be quite hot to the Touch, the White still cool. Another. Try to fire Paper with a burning Glass. If it is White, you will not easily burn it; but if you bring the Focus to a black Spot or upon Letters written or printed, the Paper will immediately be on fire under the Letters. Thus Fullers and Dyers find black Cloths, of equal Thickness with white ones, and hung out equally wet, dry in the Sun much sooner than the white, being more readily heated by the Sun's Rays. It is the same before a Fire; the Heat of which sooner penetrates black Stockings than white ones, and so is apt sooner to burn a Man's Shins. Also Beer much sooner warms in a black Mug set before the Fire, than in a white one, or in a bright Silver Tankard. My Experiment was this. I took a number of little Square Pieces of Broad Cloth from a Taylor's Pattern Card, of various Colours. There were Black, deep Blue, lighter Blue, Green, Purple, Red, Yellow, White, and other Colours or Shades of Colours. I laid them all out upon the Snow in a bright Sunshiny Morning. In a few Hours (I cannot now be exact as to the Time) the Black being warm'd most by the Sun was sunk so low as to be below the Stroke of the Sun's Rays; the dark Blue almost as low, the lighter Blue not quite so much as the dark, the other Colours less as they were lighter; and the quite White remain'd on the Surface of the Snow, not having entred it at all. What signifies Philosophy that does not apply to some Use? May we not learn from hence, that black Cloaths are not so fit to wear in a hot Sunny Climate or Season as white ones; because in such Cloaths the Body is more heated by the Sun when we walk abroad and are at the same time heated by the Exercise, which double Heat is apt to bring on putrid dangerous Fevers? That Soldiers and Seamen who must march and labour in the Sun, should in the East or West Indies have an Uniform of white? That Summer Hats for Men or Women, should be white, as repelling that Heat which gives the Headachs to many, and to some the fatal Stroke that the French call the _Coup de Soleil_? That the Ladies Summer Hats, however should be lined with Black, as not reverberating on their Faces those Rays which are reflected upwards from the Earth or Water? That the putting a white Cap of Paper or Linnen _within_ the Crown of a black Hat, as some do, will not keep out the Heat, tho' it would if plac'd _without_? That Fruit Walls being black'd may receive so much Heat from the Sun in the Daytime, as to continue warm in some degree thro' the Night, and thereby preserve the Fruit from Frosts, or forward its Growth? -- with sundry other particulars of less or greater Importance, that will occur from time to time to attentive Minds? I am, Yours affectionately, November? 1760 "PREJUDICE . . . AGAINST YOUR WORK" _To John Baskerville_ Dear Sir, Craven-Street, London. Let me give you a pleasant Instance of the Prejudice some have entertained against your Work. Soon after I returned, discoursing with a Gentleman concerning the Artists of Birmingham, he said you would be a Means of blinding all the Readers in the Nation, for the Strokes of your Letters being too thin and narrow, hurt the Eye, and he could never read a Line of them without Pain. I thought, said I, you were going to complain of the Gloss on the Paper, some object to: No, no, says he, I have heard that mentioned, but it is not that; 'tis in the Form and Cut of the Letters themselves; they have not that natural and easy Proportion between the Height and Thickness of the Stroke, which makes the common Printing so much more comfortable to the Eye. -- You see this Gentleman was a Connoisseur. In vain I endeavoured to support your _Character_ against the Charge; he knew what he felt, he could see the Reason of it, and several other Gentlemen among his Friends had made the same Observation, &c. -- Yesterday he called to visit me, when, mischievously bent to try his Judgment, I stept into my Closet, tore off the Top of Mr. Caslon's Specimen, and produced it to him as yours brought with me from Birmingham, saying, I had been examining it since he spoke to me, and could not for my Life perceive the Disproportion he mentioned, desiring him to point it out to me. He readily undertook it, and went over the several Founts, shewing me every-where what he thought Instances of that Disproportion; and declared, that he could not then read the Specimen without feeling very strongly the Pain he had mentioned to me. I spared him that Time the Confusion of being told, that these were the Types he had been reading all his Life with so much Ease to his Eyes; the Types his adored Newton is printed with, on which he has pored not a little; nay, the very Types his own Book is printed with, for he is himself an Author; and yet never discovered this painful Disproportion in them, till he thought they were yours. I am, &c. 1760? FAULTS IN SONGS _To Peter Franklin_ _Dear Brother,_ I like your ballad, and think it well adapted for your purpose of discountenancing expensive foppery, and encouraging industry and frugality. If you can get it generally sung in your country, it may probably have a good deal of the effect you hope and expect from it. But as you aimed at making it general, I wonder you chose so uncommon a measure in poetry, that none of the tunes in common use will suit it. Had you fitted it to an old one, well known, it must have spread much faster than I doubt it will do from the best new tune we can get compos'd for it. I think too, that if you had given it to some country girl in the heart of the _Massachusets_, who has never heard any other than psalm tunes, or _Chevy Chace_, the _Children in the Wood_, the _Spanish Lady_, and such old simple ditties, but has naturally a good ear, she might more probably have made a pleasing popular tune for you, than any of our masters here, and more proper for your purpose, which would best be answered, if every word could as it is sung be understood by all that hear it, and if the emphasis you intend for particular words could be given by the singer as well as by the reader; much of the force and impression of the song depending on those circumstances. I will however get it as well done for you as I can. Do not imagine that I mean to depreciate the skill of our composers of music here; they are admirable at pleasing _practised_ ears, and know how to delight _one another_; but, in composing for songs, the reigning taste seems to be quite out of nature, or rather the reverse of nature, and yet like a torrent, hurries them all away with it; one or two perhaps only excepted. You, in the spirit of some ancient legislators, would influence the manners of your country by the united powers of poetry and music. By what I can learn of _their_ songs, the music was simple, conformed itself to the usual pronunciation of words, as to measure, cadence or emphasis, _&c._ never disguised and confounded the language by making a long syllable short, or a short one long when sung; their singing was only a more pleasing, because a melodious manner of speaking; it was capable of all the graces of prose oratory, while it added the pleasure of harmony. A modern song, on the contrary, neglects all the proprieties and beauties of common speech, and in their place introduces its _defects_ and _absurdities_ as so many graces. I am afraid you will hardly take my word for this, and therefore I must endeavour to support it by proof. Here is the first song I lay my hand on. It happens to be a composition of one of our greatest masters, the ever famous _Handel_. It is not one of his juvenile performances, before his taste could be improved and formed: It appeared when his reputation was at the highest, is greatly admired by all his admirers, and is really excellent in its kind. It is called, _The additional_ FAVOURITE _Song in_ Judas Maccabeus. Now I reckon among the defects and improprieties of common speech, the following, viz. 1. _Wrong placing the accent or emphasis_, by laying it on words of no importance, or on wrong syllables. 2. _Drawling_; or extending the sound of words or syllables beyond their natural length. 3. _Stuttering_; or making many syllables of one. 4. _Unintelligibleness_; the result of the three foregoing united. 5. _Tautology_; and 6. _Screaming_, without cause. For the _wrong placing of the accent, or emphasis_, see it on the word _their_ instead of being on the word _vain_. (Music omitted) with _their_ vain My - ste - rious Art And on the word _from_, and the wrong syllable _like_. (Music omitted) God-_like_ Wisdom _from_ a -- bove For the _Drawling_, see the last syllable of the word _wounded_. (Music omitted) Nor can heal the wound_ed_ Heart And in the syllable _wis_, and the word _from_, and syllable _bove_ (Music omitted) God-like _Wis_dom _from_ a - _bove_ For the _Stuttering_, see the words _ne'er relieve_, in (Music omitted) Ma - gick Charms can _ne'er_ _re - lieve_ you Here are four syllables made of one, and eight of three; but this is moderate. I have seen in another song that I cannot now find, seventeen syllables made of three, and sixteen of one; the latter I remember was the word _charms_; viz. _Cha, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, arms._ Stammering with a witness! For the _Unintelligibleness_; give this whole song to any taught singer, and let her sing it to any company that have never heard it; you shall find they will not understand three words in ten. It is therefore that at the oratorio's and operas one sees with books in their hands all those who desire to understand what they hear sung by even our best performers. For the _Tautology_; you have, _with their vain mysterious art_, twice repeated; _Magic charms can ne'er relieve you_, three times. _Nor can heal the wounded heart_, three times. _Godlike wisdom from above_, twice; and, _this alone can ne'er deceive you_, two or three times. But this is reasonable when compared with _the Monster Polypheme, the Monster Polypheme_, a hundred times over and over, in his admired _Acis and Galatea_. As to the _screaming_; perhaps I cannot find a fair instance in this song; but whoever has frequented our operas will remember many. And yet here methinks the words _no_ and _e'er_, when sung to these notes, have a little of the air of _screaming_, and would actually be scream'd by some singers. (Music omitted) _No_ Magic charms can _e'er_ re -- lieve you. I send you inclosed the song with its music at length. Read the words without the repetitions. Observe how few they are, and what a shower of notes attend them. You will then perhaps be inclined to think with me, that though the words might be the principal part of an ancient song, they are of small importance in a modern one; they are in short only _a pretence for singing_. _I am, as ever, Your affectionate brother,_ P. S. I might have mentioned _Inarticulation_ among the defects in common speech that are assumed as beauties in modern singing. But as that seems more the fault of the singer than of the composer, I omitted it in what related merely to the composition. The fine singer in the present mode, stifles all the hard consonants, and polishes away all the rougher parts of words that serve to distinguish them one from another; so that you hear nothing but an admirable pipe, and understand no more of the song, than you would from its tune played on any other instrument. If ever it was the ambition of musicians to make instruments that should imitate the human voice, that ambition seems now reversed, the voice aiming to be like an instrument. Thus wigs were first made to imitate a good natural head of hair; -- but when they became fashionable, though in unnatural forms, we have seen natural hair dressed to look like wigs. c. 1761 "A CASE IN POINT" _To David Hume_ Dear Sir, London, May 19. 1762. It is no small Pleasure to me to hear from you that my Paper on the means of preserving Buildings from Damage by Lightning, was acceptable to the Philosophical Society. Mr. Russel's Proposals of Improvement are very sensible and just. A Leaden Spout or Pipe is undoubtedly a good Conductor so far as it goes. If the Conductor enters the Ground just at the Foundation, and from thence is carried horizontally to some Well, or to a distant Rod driven downright into the Earth; I would then propose that the Part under Ground should be Lead, as less liable to consume with Rust than Iron. Because if the Conductor near the Foot of the Wall should be wasted, the Lightning might act on the Moisture of the Earth, and by suddenly rarifying it occasion an Explosion that may damage the Foundation. In the Experiment of discharging my large Case of Electrical Bottles thro' a Piece of small Glass Tube fill'd with Water, the suddenly rarify'd Water has exploded with a Force equal, I think, to that of so much Gunpowder; bursting the Tube into many Pieces, and driving them with Violence in all Directions and to all Parts of the Room. The Shivering of Trees into small Splinters like a Broom, is probably owingto this Rarefaction of the Sap in the longitudinal Pores or capillary Pipes in the Substance of the Wood. And the Blowing-up of Bricks or Stones in a Hearth, Rending Stones out of a Foundation, and Splitting of Walls, is also probably an Effect sometimes of rarify'd Moisture in the Earth, under the Hearth, or in the Walls. We should therefore have a durable Conductor under Ground, or convey the Lightning to the Earth at some Distance. It must afford Lord Mareschall a good deal of Diversion to preside in a Dispute so ridiculous as that you mention. Judges in their Decisions often use Precedents. I have somewhere met with one that is what the Lawyers call _a Case in Point_. The Church People and the Puritans in a Country Town, had once a bitter Contention concerning the Erecting of a Maypole, which the former desir'd and the latter oppos'd. Each Party endeavour'd to strengthen itself by obtaining the Authority of the Mayor, directing or forbidding a Maypole. He heard their Altercation with great Patience, and then gravely determin'd thus; You that are for having no Maypole shall have no Maypole; and you that are for having a Maypole shall have a Maypole. Get about your Business and let me hear no more of this Quarrel. So methinks Lord Mareschal might say; You that are for no more Damnation than is proportion'd to your Offences, have my Consent that it may be so: And you that are for being damn'd eternally, G ---- d eternally d -- n you all, and let me hear no more of your Disputes. Your Compliment of _Gold_ and _Wisdom_ is very obliging to me, but a little injurious to your Country. The various Value of every thing in every Part of this World, arises you know from the various Proportions of the Quantity to the Demand. We are told that Gold and Silver in Solomon's Time were so plenty as to be of no more Value in his Country than the Stones in the Street. You have here at present just such a Plenty of Wisdom. Your People are therefore not to be censur'd for desiring no more among them than they have; and if I have _any_, I should certainly carry it where from its Scarcity it may probably come to a better Market. I nevertheless regret extreamly the leaving a Country in which I have receiv'd so much Friendship, and Friends whose Conversation has been so agreable and so improving to me; and that I am henceforth to reside at so great a Distance from them is no small Mortification, to My dear Friend, Yours most affectionately My respectful Compliments if you please to Sir Alexr. Dick, Lord Kaims, Mr. Alexander, Mr. Russel, and any other enquiring Friends. I shall write to them before I leave the Island. THE GLASS ARMONICA _To Giambatista Beccaria_ _Rev. SIR,_ _London, July_ 13, 1762. I once promised myself the pleasure of seeing you at _Turin_, but as that is not now likely to happen, being just about returning to my native country, _America_, I sit down to take leave of you (among others of my _European_ friends that I cannot see) by writing. I thank you for the honourable mention you have so frequently made of me in your letters to Mr. _Collinson_ and others, for the generous defence you undertook and executed with so much success, of my electrical opinions; and for the valuable present you have made me of your new work, from which I have received great information and pleasure. I wish I could in return entertain you with any thing new of mine on that subject; but I have not lately pursued it. Nor do I know of any one here that is at present much engaged in it. Perhaps, however, it may be agreeable to you, as you live in a musical country, to have an account of the new instrument lately added here to the great number that charming science was before possessed of: -- As it is an instrument that seems peculiarly adapted to _Italian_ music, especially that of the soft and plaintive kind, I will endeavour to give you such a description of it, and of the manner of constructing it, that you, or any of your friends, may be enabled to imitate it, if you incline so to do, without being at the expence and trouble of the many experiments I have made in endeavouring to bring it to its present perfection. You have doubtless heard the sweet tone that is drawn from a drinking glass, by passing a wet finger round its brim. One Mr. _Puckeridge_, a gentleman from _Ireland_, was the first who thought of playing tunes, formed of these tones. He collected a number of glasses of different sizes, fixed them near each other on a table, and tuned them by putting into them water, more or less, as each note required. The tones were brought out by passing his fingers round their brims. -- He was unfortunately burnt here, with his instrument, in a fire which consumed the house he lived in. Mr. _E. Delaval_, a most ingenious member of our Royal Society, made one in imitation of it, with a better choice and form of glasses, which was the first I saw or heard. Being charmed with the sweetness of its tones, and the music he produced from it, I wished only to see the glasses disposed in a more convenient form, and brought together in a narrower compass, so as to admit of a greater number of tones, and all within reach of hand to a person sitting before the instrument, which I accomplished, after various intermediate trials, and less commodious forms, both of glasses and construction, in the following manner. (Illustration omitted) The glasses are blown as near as possible in the form of hemispheres, having each an open neck or socket in the middle. The thickness of the glass near the brim about a tenth of an inch, or hardly quite so much, but thicker as it comes nearer the neck, which in the largest glasses is about an inch deep, and an inch and half wide within, these dimensions lessening as the glasses themselves diminish in size, except that the neck of the smallest ought not to be shorter than half an inch. -- The largest glass is nine inches diameter, and the smallest three inches. Between these there are twenty-three different sizes, differing from each other a quarter of an inch in diameter. -- To make a single instrument there should be at least six glasses blown of each size; and out of this number one may probably pick 37 glasses, (which are sufficient for 3 octaves with all the semitones) that will be each either the note one wants or a little sharper than that note, and all fitting so well into each other as to taper pretty regularly from the largest to the smallest. It is true there are not 37 sizes, but it often happens that two of the same size differ a note or half note in tone, by reason of a difference in thickness, and these may be placed one in the other without sensibly hurting the regularity of the taper form. The glasses being chosen and every one marked with a diamond the note you intend it for, they are to be tuned by diminishing the thickness of those that are too sharp. This is done by grinding them round from the neck towards the brim, the breadth of one or two inches as may be required; often trying the glass by a well tuned harpsichord, comparing the tone drawn from the glass by your finger, with the note you want, as sounded by that string of the harpsichord. When you come near the matter, be careful to wipe the glass clean and dry before each trial, because the tone is something flatter when the glass is wet, than it will be when dry; -- and grinding a very little between each trial, you will thereby tune to great exactness. The more care is necessary in this, because if you go below your required tone, there is no sharpening it again but by grinding somewhat off the brim, which will afterwards require polishing, and thus encrease the trouble. The glasses being thus tuned, you are to be provided with a case for them, and a spindle on which they are to be fixed. My case is about three feet long, eleven inches every way wide within at the biggest end, and five inches at the smallest end; for it tapers all the way, to adapt it better to the conical figure of the set of glasses. This case opens in the middle of its height, and the upper part turns up by hinges fixed behind. The spindle which is of hard iron, lies horizontally from end to end of the box within, exactly in the middle, and is made to turn on brass gudgeons at each end. It is round, an inch diameter at the thickest end, and tapering to a quarter of an inch at the smallest. -- A square shank comes from its thickest end through the box, on which shank a wheel is fixed by a screw. This wheel serves as a fly to make the motion equable, when the spindle, with the glasses, is turned by the foot like a spinning wheel. My wheel is of mahogany, 18 inches diameter, and pretty thick, so as to conceal near its circumference about 25lb of lead. -- An ivory pin is fixed in the face of this wheel and about 4 inches from the axis. Over the neck of this pin is put the loop of the string that comes up from the moveable step to give it motion. The case stands on a neat frame with four legs. To fix the glasses on the spindle, a cork is first to be fitted in each neck pretty tight, and projecting a little without the neck, that the neck of one may not touch the inside of another when put together, for that would make a jarring. -- These corks are to be perforated with holes of different diameters, so as to suit that part of the spindle on which they are to be fixed. When a glass is put on, by holding it stiffly between both hands, while another turns the spindle, it may be gradually brought to its place. But care must be taken that the hole be not too small, lest in forcing it up the neck should split; nor too large, lest the glass not being firmly fixed, should turn or move on the spindle, so as to touch and jar against its neighbouring glass. The glasses thus are placed one in another, the largest on the biggest end of the spindle which is to the left hand; the neck of this glass is towards the wheel, and the next goes into it in the same position, only about an inch of its brim appearing beyond the brim of the first; thus proceeding, every glass when fixed shows about an inch of its brim, (or three quarters of an inch, or half an inch, as they grow smaller) beyond the brim of the glass that contains it; and it is from these exposed parts of each glass that the tone is drawn, by laying a finger upon one of them as the spindle and glasses turn round. My largest glass is G a little below the reach of a common voice, and my highest G, including three compleat octaves. -- To distinguish the glasses the more readily to the eye, I have painted the apparent parts of the glasses within side, every semitone white, and the other notes of the octave with the seven prismatic colours, _viz_. C, red; D, orange; E, yellow; F, green; G, blue; A, Indigo; B, purple; and C, red again; -- so that glasses of the same colour (the white excepted) are always octaves to each other. This instrument is played upon, by sitting before the middle of the set of glasses as before the keys of a harpsichord, turning them with the foot, and wetting them now and then with a spunge and clean water. The fingers should be first a little soaked in water and quite free from all greasiness; a little fine chalk upon them is sometimes useful, to make them catch the glass and bring out the tone more readily. Both hands are used, by which means different parts are played together. -- Observe, that the tones are best drawn out when the glasses turn _from_ the ends of the fingers, not when they turn _to_ them. The advantages of this instrument are, that its tones are incomparably sweet beyond those of any other; that they may be swelled and softened at pleasure by stronger or weaker pressures of the finger, and continued to any length; and that the instrument, being once well tuned, never again wants tuning. In honour of your musical language, I have borrowed from it the name of this instrument, calling it the _Armonica_. With great esteem and respect, I am, &c. SOUND _To Oliver Neave_ _Dear SIR_, _July_ 20, 1762. I have perused your paper on sound, and would freely mention to you, as you desire it, every thing that appeared to me to need correction: -- But nothing of that kind occurs to me, unless it be, where you speak of the air as "the _best_ medium for conveying sound." Perhaps this is speaking rather too positively, if there be, as I think there are, some other mediums that will convey it farther and more readily. -- It is a well-known experiment, that the scratching of a pin at one end of a long piece of timber, may be heard by an ear applied near the other end, though it could not be heard at the same distance through the air. -- And two stones being struck smartly together under water, the stroke may be heard at a greater distance by an ear also placed under water in the same river, than it can be heard through the air. I think I have heard it near a mile; how much farther it may be heard, I know not; but suppose a great deal farther, because the sound did not seem faint, as if at a distance, like distant sounds through air, but smart and strong, and as if present just at the ear. -- I wish you would repeat these experiments now you are upon the subject, and add your own observations. -- And if you were to repeat, with your naturally exact attention and observation, the common experiment of the bell in the exhausted receiver, possibly something new may occur to you, in considering, 1. Whether the experiment is not ambiguous; _i. e._ whether the gradual exhausting of the air, as it creates an increasing difference of pressure on the outside, may not occasion in the glass a difficulty of vibrating, that renders it less fit to communicate to the air without, the vibrations that strike it from within; and the diminution of the sound arise from this cause, rather than from the diminution of the air? 2. Whether as the particles of air themselves are at a distance from each other, there must not be some medium between them, proper for conveying sound, since otherwise it would stop at the first particle? 3. Whether the great difference we experience in hearing sounds at a distance, when the wind blows towards us from the sonorous body, or towards that from us, can be well accounted for by adding to or substracting from the swiftness of sound, the degree of swiftness that is in the wind at the time? The latter is so small in proportion, that it seems as if it could scarce produce any sensible effect, and yet the difference is very great. Does not this give some hint, as if there might be a subtile fluid, the conductor of sound, which moves at different times in different directions over the surface of the earth, and whose motion may perhaps be much swifter than that of the air in our strongest winds; and that in passing through air, it may communicate that motion to the air which we call wind, though a motion in no degree so swift as its own? 4. It is somewhere related, that a pistol fired on the top of an exceeding high mountain, made a noise like thunder in the valleys below. Perhaps this fact is not exactly related: but if it is, would not one imagine from it, that the rarer the air, the greater sound might be produced in it from the same cause? 5. Those balls of fire which are sometimes seen passing over a country, computed by philosophers to be often 30 miles high at least, sometimes burst at that height; the air must be exceeding rare there, and yet the explosion produces a sound that is heard at that distance, and for 70 miles round on the surface of the earth, so violent too as to shake buildings, and give an apprehension of an earthquake. Does not this look as if a rare atmosphere, almost a vacuum, was no bad conductor of sound? I have not made up my own mind on these points, and only mention them for your consideration, knowing that every subject is the better for your handling it. With the greatest esteem, I am, &c. OIL AND WATER _To John Pringle_ _SIR, Philadelphia, Dec._ 1, 1762. During our passage to Madeira, the weather being warm, and the cabbin windows constantly open for the benefit of the air, the candles at night flared and run very much, which was an inconvenience. At Madeira we got oil to burn, and with a common glass tumbler or beaker, slung in wire, and suspended to the cieling of the cabbin, and a little wire hoop for the wick, furnish'd with corks to float on the oil, I made an Italian lamp, that gave us very good light all over the table. -- The glass at bottom contained water to about one third of its height; another third was taken up with oil; the rest was left empty that the sides of the glass might protect the flame from the wind. There is nothing remarkable in all this; but what follows is particular. At supper, looking on the lamp, I remarked that tho' the surface of the oil was perfectly tranquil, and duly preserved its position and distance with regard to the brim of the glass, the water under the oil was in great commotion, rising and falling in irregular waves, which continued during the whole evening. The lamp was kept burning as a watch light all night, till the oil was spent, and the water only remain'd. In the morning I observed, that though the motion of the ship continued the same, the water was now quiet, and its surface as tranquil as that of the oil had been the evening before. At night again, when oil was put upon it, the water resum'd its irregular motions, rising in high waves almost to the surface of the oil, but without disturbing the smooth level of that surface. And this was repeated every day during the voyage. Since my arrival in America, I have repeated the experiment frequently thus. I have put a pack-thread round a tumbler, with strings of the same, from each side, meeting above it in a knot at about a foot distance from the top of the tumbler. Then putting in as much water as would fill about one third part of the tumbler, I lifted it up by the knot, and swung it to and fro in the air; when the water appeared to keep its place in the tumbler as steadily as if it had been ice. -- But pouring gently in upon the water about as much oil, and then again swinging it in the air as before, the tranquility before possessed by the water, was transferred to the surface of the oil, and the water under it was agitated with the same commotions as at sea. I have shewn this experiment to a number of ingenious persons. Those who are but slightly acquainted with the principles of hydrostatics, &c. are apt to fancy immediately that they understand it, and readily attempt to explain it; but their explanations have been different, and to me not very intelligible. -- Others more deeply skill'd in those principles, seem to wonder at it, and promise to consider it. And I think it is worth considering: For a new appearance, if it cannot be explain'd by our old principles, may afford us new ones, of use perhaps in explaining some other obscure parts of natural knowledge. _I am, &c._ "I LOOK'D ROUND FOR GOD'S JUDGMENTS" _To Jared Ingersoll_ Dear Sir Philada. Dec. 11. 1762 I thank you for your kind Congratulations. It gives me Pleasure to hear from an old Friend, it will give me much more to see him. I hope therefore nothing will prevent the Journey you propose for next Summer, and the Favour you intend me of a Visit. I believe I must make a Journey early in the Spring, to Virginia, but purpose being back again before the hot Weather. You will be kind enough to let me know beforehand what time you expect to be here, that I may not be out of the way; for that would mortify me exceedingly. I should be glad to know what it is that distinguishes Connecticut Religion from common Religion: Communicate, if you please, some of those particulars that you think will amuse me as a Virtuoso. When I travelled in Flanders I thought of your excessively strict Observation of Sunday; and that a Man could hardly travel on that day among you upon his lawful Occasions, without Hazard of Punishment; while where I was, every one travell'd, if he pleas'd, or diverted himself any other way; and in the Afternoon both high and low went to the Play or the Opera, where there was plenty of Singing, Fiddling and Dancing. I look'd round for God's Judgments but saw no Signs of them. The Cities were well built and full of Inhabitants, the Markets fill'd with Plenty, the People well favour'd and well clothed; the Fields well till'd; the Cattle fat and strong; the Fences, Houses and Windows all in Repair; and _no Old Tenor_ anywhere in the Country; which would almost make one suspect, that the Deity is not so angry at that Offence as a New England Justice. I left our Friend Mr. Jackson well. And I had the great Happiness of finding my little Family well when I came home; and my Friends as cordial and more numerous than ever. May every Prosperity attend you and yours. I am Dear Friend, Yours affectionately "THE ARTS DELIGHT TO TRAVEL WESTWARD" _To Mary Stevenson_ My dear Polley Philada. March 25. 1763 Your pleasing Favour of Nov. 11 is now before me. It found me as you suppos'd it would, happy with my American Friends and Family about me; and it made me more happy in showing me that I am not yet forgotten by the dear Friends I left in England. And indeed why should I fear they will ever forget me, when I feel so strongly that I shall ever remember them! I sympathise with you sincerely in your Grief at the Separation from your old Friend, Miss Pitt. The Reflection that she is going to be more happy when she leaves you, might comfort you, if the Case was likely to be so circumstanc'd; but when the Country and Company she has been educated in, and those she is removing to, are compared, one cannot possibly expect it. I sympathize with you no less in your Joys. But it is not merely on your Account that I rejoice at the Recovery of your dear Dolly's Health. I love that dear good Girl myself, and I love her other Friends. I am therefore made happy by what must contribute so much to the Happiness of them all. Remember me to her, and to every one of that worthy and amiable Family most affectionately. Remember me in the same manner to your and my good Doctor and Mrs. Hawkesworth. You have lately, you tell me, had the Pleasure of spending three Days with them at Mr. Stanley's. It was a sweet Society! (Remember me also to Mr. and Mrs. Stanley, and to Miss Arlond) -- I too, once partook of that same Pleasure, and can therefore feel what you must have felt. Of all the enviable Things England has, I envy it most its People. Why should that petty Island, which compar'd to America is but like a stepping Stone in a Brook, scarce enough of it above Water to keep one's Shoes dry; why, I say, should that little Island, enjoy in almost every Neighbourhood, more sensible, virtuous and elegant Minds, than we can collect in ranging 100 Leagues of our vast Forests. But, 'tis said, the Arts delight to travel Westward. You have effectually defended us in this glorious War, and in time you will improve us. After the first Cares for the Necessaries of Life are over, we shall come to think of the Embellishments. Already some of our young Geniuses begin to lisp Attempts at Painting, Poetry and Musick. We have a young Painter now studying at Rome: Some Specimens of our Poetry I send you, which if Dr. Hawkesworth's fine Taste cannot approve, his good Heart will at least excuse. The Manuscript Piece is by a young Friend of mine, and was occasion'd by the Loss of one of his Friends, who lately made a Voyage to Antigua to settle some Affairs previous to an intended Marriage with an amiable young Lady here; but unfortunately died there. I send it you, because the Author is a great Admirer of Mr. Stanley's musical Compositions, and has adapted this Piece to an Air in the 6th Concerto of that Gentleman, the sweetly solemn Movement of which he is quite in Raptures with. He has attempted to compose a Recitativo for it; but not being able to satisfy himself in the Bass, wishes I could get it supply'd. If Mr. Stanley would condescend to do that for him, thro' your Intercession, he would esteem it as one of the highest Honours, and it would make him excessively happy. You will say that a Recitativo can be but a poor Specimen of our Music. 'Tis the best and all I have at present; but you may see better hereafter. I hope Mr. Ralph's Affairs are mended since you wrote. I know he had some Expectations when I came away, from a Hand that could help him. He has Merit, and one would think ought not to be so unfortunate. I do not wonder at the Behaviour you mention of Dr. Smith towards me, for I have long since known him thoroughly. I made that Man my Enemy by doing him too much Kindness. Tis the honestest Way of acquiring an Enemy. And since 'tis convenient to have at least one Enemy, who by his Readiness to revile one on all Occasions may make one careful of one's Conduct, I shall keep him an Enemy for that purpose; and shall observe your good Mother's Advice, never again to receive him as a Friend. She once admir'd the benevolent Spirit breath'd in his Sermons. She will now see the Justness of the Lines your Laureat Whitehead addresses to his Poets, and which I now address to her, Full many a _peevish, envious, slanderous_ Elf, Is, -- in his Works, -- Benevolence itself. For all Mankind -- unknown -- his Bosom heaves; He only injures those with whom he lives. Read then the Man: -- does _Truth_ his Actions guide, Exempt from _Petulance_, exempt from _Pride_? To social Duties does his Heart attend, As Son, as Father, Husband, Brother, _Friend_? _Do those who know him love him?_ -- If they do, You've _my_ Permission: you may love him too. Nothing can please me more than to see your philosophical Improvements when you have Leisure to communicate them to me. I still owe you a long Letter on that Subject, which I shall pay. I am vex'd with Mr. James that he has been so dilatory in Mr. Maddison's Armonica. I was unlucky in both the Workmen that I permitted to undertake making those Instruments. The first was fanciful, and never could work to the purpose, because he was ever conceiving some new Improvement that answer'd no End: the other, I doubt, is absolutely idle. I have recommended a Number to him from hence, but must stop my hand. Adieu, my dear Polly, and believe me as ever, with the sincerest Esteem and Regard, Your truly affectionate Friend, and humble Servant My Love to Mrs. Tickell and Mrs. Rooke, and to Pitty when you write to her. Mrs. Franklin and Sally desire to be affectionately remembr'd to you. P.S. I find the printed Poetry I intended to enclose will be too bulky to send per the Packet: I shall send it by a Ship that goes shortly from hence. "THE NATURAL CAPACITIES OF THE BLACK RACE" _To John Waring_ Reverend and dear Sir, Philada. Dec. 17. 1763 Being but just return'd home from a Tour thro' the northern Colonies, that has employ'd the whole Summer, my Time at present is so taken up that I cannot now write fully in answer to the Letters I have receiv'd from you, but purpose to do it shortly. This is chiefly to acquaint you, that I have visited the Negro School here in Company with the Revd. Mr. Sturgeon and some others; and had the Children thoroughly examin'd. They appear'd all to have made considerable Progress in Reading for the Time they had respectively been in the School, and most of them answer'd readily and well the Questions of the Catechism; they behav'd very orderly, showd a proper Respect and ready Obedience to the Mistress, and seem'd very attentive to, and a good deal affected by, a serious Exhortation with which Mr. Sturgeon concluded our Visit. I was on the whole much pleas'd, and from what I then saw, have conceiv'd a higher Opinion of the natural Capacities of the black Race, than I had ever before entertained. Their Apprehension seems as quick, their Memory as strong, and their Docility in every Respect equal to that of white Children. You will wonder perhaps that I should ever doubt it, and I will not undertake to justify all my Prejudices, nor to account for them. I immediately advanc'd the two Guineas you mention'd, for the Mistress, and Mr. Sturgeon will therefore draw on you for 7 pounds 18 shillings. only, which makes up the half Year's Salary of Ten Pounds. Be pleased to present my best Respects to the Associates, and believe me, with sincere Esteem Dear Sir, Your most obedient Servant "LIKE A MORNING FOG BEFORE THE RISING SUN" _To William Strahan_ Dear Straney Philada. Dec. 19. 1763. I have before me your Favours of July 16, and Augt. 18. which is the latest. It vexes me excessively to see that Parker and Mecom are so much in Arrear with you. What is due from Parker is safe, and will be paid, I think with Interest; for he is a Man as honest as he is industrious and frugal, and has withal some Estate: his Backwardness has been owing to his bad Partners only, of whom he is now nearly quit. But as to Mecom, he seems so dejected and spiritless, that I fear little will be got of him. He has dropt his Paper, on which he built his last Hopes. I doubt I shall lose 200 pounds by him myself, but am taking Steps to save what I can for you; of which more fully in my next. Now I am return'd from my long Journeys which have consum'd the whole Summer, I shall apply myself to such a Settlement of all my Affairs, as will enable me to do what your Friendship so warmly urges. I have a great Opinion of your Wisdom (Madeira apart;) and am apt enough to think that what you seem so clear in, and are so earnest about, must be right. Tho' I own, that I sometimes suspect, my Love to England and my Friends there seduces me a little, and makes _my own_ middling Reasons for going over; appear very good ones. We shall see in a little Time how Things will turn out. Blessings on your Heart for the Feast of Politicks you gave me in your last. I could by no other means have obtain'd so clear a View of the present State of your public Affairs as by your Letter. Most of your Observations appear to me extreamly judicious, strikingly clear and true. I only differ from you in some of the melancholly Apprehensions you express concerning Consequences; and to comfort you (at the same time flattering my own Vanity,) let me remind you, that I have sometimes been in the right in such Cases, when you happen'd to be in the wrong; as I can prove upon you out of this very Letter of yours. Call to mind your former Fears for the King of Prussia, and remember my telling you that the Man's Abilities were more than equal to all the Force of his Enemies, and that he would finally extricate himself, and triumph. This, by the Account you give me from Major Beckwith, is fully verified. You now fear for our virtuous young King, that the Faction forming will overpower him, and render his Reign uncomfortable. On the contrary, I am of Opinion, that his Virtue, and the Consciousness of his sincere Intentions to make his People happy, will give him Firmness and Steadiness in his Measures, and in the Support of the honest Friends he has chosen to serve him; and when that Firmness is fully perceiv'd, Faction will dissolve and be dissipated like a Morning Fog before the rising Sun, leaving the rest of the Day clear, with a Sky serene and cloudless. Such, after a few of the first Years, will be the future Course of his Majesty's Reign, which I predict will be happy and truly glorious. Your Fears for the Nation too, appear to me as little founded. A new War I cannot yet see Reason to apprehend. The Peace I think will long continue, and your Nation be as happy as they deserve to be, that is, as happy as their moderate Share of Virtue will allow them to be: Happier than that, no outward Circumstances can make a Nation any more than a private Man. And as to their Quantity of Virtue, I think it bids fair for Increasing; if the old Saying be true, as it certainly is, Ad Exemplum Regis, &c. My Love to Mrs. Strahan and your Children in which my Wife and Daughter join with Your ever affectionate Friend P.S. The western Indians about Fort Detroit now sue for Peace, having lost a great Number of their best Warriors in their vain Attempt to reduce that Fortress; and being at length assur'd by a Belt from the French Commander in the Ilinois Country, that a Peace is concluded between England and France, that he must evacuate the Country and deliver up his Forts, and can no longer supply or support them. It is thought this will draw on a general Peace. I am only afraid it will be concluded before these Barbarians have sufficiently smarted for their perfidious breaking the last. The Governor of Detroit, Major Gladwin, has granted them a Cessation of Arms, till the General's Pleasure is known. "AN AMBASSADOR TO THE COUNTRY MOB" _To John Fothergill_ Dear Doctor, Philada. March 14. 1764. I received your Favour of the 10th. of Decemr. It was a great deal for one to write, whose Time is so little his own. By the way, _When do you intend to live?_ i.e. to enjoy Life. When will you retire to your Villa, give your self Repose, delight in Viewing the Operations of Nature in the vegetable Creation, assist her in her Works, get your ingenious Friends at times about you, make them happy with your Conversation, and enjoy theirs; or, if alone, amuse yourself with your Books and elegant Collections? To be hurried about perpetually from one sick Chamber to another, is not Living. Do you please yourself with the Fancy that you are doing Good? You are mistaken. Half the Lives you save are not worth saving, as being useless; and almost the other Half ought not to be sav'd, as being mischievous. Does your Conscience never hint to you the Impiety of being in constant Warfare against the Plans of Providence? Disease was intended as the Punishment of Intemperance, Sloth, and other Vices; and the Example of that Punishment was intended to promote and strengthen the opposite Virtues. But here you step in officiously with your Art, disappoint those wise Intentions of Nature, and make Men safe in their Excesses. Whereby you seem to me to be of just the same Service to Society as some favourite first Minister, who out of the great Benevolence of his Heart should procure Pardons for all Criminals that apply'd to him. Only think of the Consequences! You tell me the Quakers are charged on your side the Water with being by their Aggressions the Cause of this War. Would you believe it, that they are charg'd here, not with offending the Indians, and thereby provoking the War, but with gaining their Friendship by Presents, supplying them privately with Arms and Ammunition, and engaging them to fall upon and murder the poor white People on the Frontiers? Would you think it possible that Thousands even here should be made to believe this, and many Hundreds of them be raised in Arms, not only to kill some converted Indians supposed to be under the Quakers Protection, but to punish the Quakers who were supposed to give that Protection? Would you think these People audacious enough to avow such Designs in a public Declaration sent to the Governor? Would you imagine that innocent Quakers, Men of Fortune and Character, should think it necessary to fly for Safety out of Philadelphia into the Jersies, fearing the Violence of such armed Mobs, and confiding little in the Power _or Inclination_ of the Government to protect them? And would you imagine that strong Suspicions now prevail, that those Mobs, after committing 20 barbarous Murders, hitherto unpunish'd, are privately tamper'd with to be made Instruments of Government, to awe the Assembly into Proprietary Measures? And yet all this has happen'd within a few Weeks past! More Wonders! You know I don't love the Proprietary, and that he does not love me. Our totally different Tempers forbid it. You might therefore expect, that the late new Appointment of one of his Family, would find me ready for Opposition. And yet when his Nephew arriv'd our Governor, I consider'd Government as Government, paid him all Respect, gave him on all Occasions my best Advice, promoted in the Assembly a ready Compliance with everything he propos'd or recommended; and when those daring Rioters, encourag'd by the general Approbation of the Populace, treated his Proclamations with Contempt, I drew my Pen in the Cause, wrote a Pamphlet (that I have sent you) to render the Rioters unpopular; promoted an Association to support the Authority of the Government and defend the Governor by taking Arms, sign'd it first myself, and was followed by several Hundreds, who took Arms accordingly; the Governor offer'd me the Command of them, but I chose to carry a Musket, and strengthen his Authority by setting an Example of Obedience to his Orders. And, would you think it, this Proprietary Governor did me the Honour, on an Alarm, to run to my House at Midnight, with his Counsellors at his Heels, for Advice, and made it his Head Quarters for some time: And within four and twenty Hours, your old Friend was a common Soldier, a Counsellor, a kind of Dictator, an Ambassador to the Country Mob, and on their Returning home, _Nobody_, again. All this has happened in a few Weeks! More Wonders! The Assembly receiv'd a Governor of the Proprietary Family with open Arms, address'd him with sincere Expressions of Kindness and Respect, open'd their Purses to him, and presented him with Six Hundred Pounds; made a Riot Act and prepar'd a Militia Bill immediately at his Instance; granted Supplies and did every thing that he requested, and promis'd themselves great Happiness under his Administration. But suddenly, his dropping all Enquiry after the Murderers, and his answering the Deputies of the Rioters privately and refusing the Presence of the Assembly who were equally concern'd in the Matters contain'd in their Remonstrance, brings him under Suspicion; his Insulting the Assembly without the least Provocation, by charging them with Disloyalty and with making _an Infringement on the King's Prerogatives_, only because they had presumed to name in a Bill offered for his Assent, a trifling Officer (somewhat like one of your Toll-Gatherers at a Turn pike) without consulting him; and his refusing several of their Bills, or proposing Amendments needlessly disgusting; these Things bring him and his Government into sudden Contempt; all Regard for him in the Assembly is lost; all Hopes of Happiness under a Proprietary Government are at an End; it has now scarce Authority enough left to keep the common Peace; and was another Mob to come against him, I question whether, tho' a Dozen Men were sufficient, one could find so many in Philadelphia, willing to rescue him or his Attorney-General, I won't say from Hanging, but from any common Insult. All this, too, has happened in a few Weeks! In fine, every thing seems in this Country, once the Land of Peace and Order, to be running fast into Anarchy and Confusion. Our only Hopes are, that the Crown will see the Necessity of taking the Government into its own Hands, without which we shall soon have no Government at all. Your civil Dissensions at home give us here great Concern. But we hope there is Virtue enough in your great Nation to support a good Prince in the Execution of Good Government, and the Exercise of his just Prerogatives, against all the Attempts of Unreasonable Faction. I have been already too long. Adieu, my dear Friend, and believe me ever Yours affectionately "SO SELFISH IS THE HUMAN MIND!" _To Peter Collinson_ Dear Friend, Philada. April 30. 1764 I have before me your kind Notices of Feb. 3. and Feb. 10. Those you enclos'd for our Friend Bartram, were carefully deliver'd. I have not yet seen the Squib you mention against your People, in the Supplement to the Magazine; but I think it impossible they should be worse us'd there than they have lately been here; where sundry inflammatory Pamphlets are printed and spread about to excite a mad armed Mob to massacre them. And it is my Opinion they are still in some Danger, more than they themselves seem to apprehend, as our Government has neither Goodwill nor Authority enough to protect them. By the enclos'd Papers you will see that we are all to pieces again; and the general Wish seems to be a King's Government. If that is not to be obtain'd, many talk of quitting the Province, and among them your old Friend, who is tired of these Contentions, and longs for philosophic Ease and Leisure. I suppose by this Time the Wisdom of your Parliament has determin'd in the Points you mention, of Trade, Duties, Troops and Fortifications in America. Our Opinions or Inclinations, if they had been known, would perhaps have weigh'd but little among you. We are in your Hands as Clay in the Hands of the Potter; and so in one more Particular than is generally consider'd: for as the Potter cannot waste or spoil his Clay without injuring himself; so I think there is scarce anything you can do that may be hurtful to us, but what will be as much or more so to you. This must be our chief Security; for Interest with you we have but little: The West Indians vastly outweigh us of the Northern Colonies. What we get above a Subsistence, we lay out with you for your Manufactures. Therefore what you get from us in Taxes you must lose in Trade. The Cat can yield but her Skin. And as you must have the whole Hide, if you first cut Thongs out of it, 'tis at your own Expence. The same in regard to our Trade with the foreign West India Islands: If you restrain it in any Degree, you restrain in the same Proportion our Power of making Remittances to you, and of course our Demand for your Goods; for you will not clothe us out of Charity, tho' to receive 100 per Cent for it, in Heaven. In time perhaps Mankind may be wise enough to let Trade take its own Course, find its own Channels, and regulate its own Proportions, &c. At present, most of the Edicts of Princes, Placaerts, Laws and Ordinances of Kingdoms and States, for that purpose, prove political Blunders. The Advantages they produce not being _general_ for the Commonwealth; but _particular_, to private Persons or Bodies in the State who procur'd them, and _at the Expence of the rest of the People_. Does no body see, that if you confine us in America to your own Sugar Islands for that Commodity, it must raise the Price of it upon you in England? Just so much as the Price advances, so much is every Englishman tax'd to the West Indians. Apropos. Now we are on the Subject of Trade and Manufactures, let me tell you a Piece of News, that though it might displease a very respectable Body among you, the Button-makers, will be agreable to yourself as a Virtuoso: It is, that we have discover'd a Beach in a Bay several Miles round, the Pebbles of which are all in the Form of Buttons, whence it is called _Button-mold Bay_; where thousands of Tons may be had for fetching; and as the Sea washes down the slaty Cliff, more are continually manufacturing out of the Fragments by the Surge. I send you a Specimen of Coat, Wastecoat and Sleeve Buttons; just as Nature has turn'd them. But I think I must not mention the Place, lest some Englishman get a Patent for this _Button-mine_, as one did for the _Coal mine_ at Louisburgh, and by neither suffering others to work it, nor working it himself, deprive us of the Advantage God and Nature seem to have intended us. As we have now got Buttons, 'tis something towards our Cloathing; and who knows but in time we may find out where to get Cloth? for as to our being always supply'd by you, 'tis a Folly to expect it. Only consider _the Rate of our Increase_, and tell me if you can increase your Wooll in that Proportion, and where, in your little Island you can feed the Sheep. Nature has put Bounds to your Abilities, tho' none to your Desires. Britain would, if she could, manufacture and trade for all the World; England for all Britain; London for all England; and every Londoner for all London. So selfish is the human Mind! But 'tis well there is One above that rules these Matters with a more equal Hand. He that is pleas'd to feed the Ravens, will undoubtedly take care to prevent a Monopoly of the Carrion. Adieu, my dear Friend, and believe me ever Yours most affectionately "GO CONSTANTLY TO CHURCH WHOEVER PREACHES" _To Sarah Franklin_ Reedy Island Nov. 8. 1764 My dear Sally, 7 at Night. We got down here just at Sunset, having taken in more live Stock at Newcastle with some other things we wanted. Our good Friends Mr. Galloway, Mr. Wharton, and Mr. James came with me in the Ship from Chester to Newcastle, and went ashore there. It was kind to favour me with their good Company as far as they could. The affectionate Leave taken of me by so many Friends at Chester was very endearing. God bless them, and all Pennsylvania. My dear Child, the natural Prudence and goodness of heart that God has blessed you with, make it less necessary for me to be particular in giving you Advice; I shall therefore only say, that the more attentively dutiful and tender you are towards your good Mama, the more you will recommend your self to me; But why shou'd I mention _me_, when you have so much higher a Promise in the Commandment, that such a conduct will recommend you to the favour of God. You know I have many Enemies (all indeed on the Public Account, for I cannot recollect that I have in a private Capacity given just cause of offence to any one whatever) yet they are Enemies and very bitter ones, and you must expect their Enmity will extend in some degree to you, so that your slightest Indiscretions will be magnified into crimes, in order the more sensibly to wound and afflict me. It is therefore the more necessary for you to be extreamly circumspect in all your Behaviour that no Advantage may be given to their Malevolence. Go constantly to Church whoever preaches. The Acts of Devotion in the common Prayer Book, are your principal Business there; and if properly attended to, will do more towards mending the Heart than Sermons generally can do. For they were composed by Men of much greater Piety and Wisdom, than our common Composers of Sermons can pretend to be. And therefore I wish you wou'd never miss the Prayer Days. Yet I do not mean that you shou'd despise Sermons even of the Preachers you dislike, for the Discourse is often much better than the Man, as sweet and clear Waters come to us thro' very dirty Earth. I am the more particular on this Head, as you seem'd to express a little before I came away some Inclination to leave our Church, which I wou'd not have you do. For the rest I would only recommend to you in my Absence to acquire those useful Accomplishments Arithmetick, and Book-keeping. This you might do with Ease, if you wou'd resolve not to see Company on the Hours you set apart for those Studies. I think you should and every Body should if they could, have certain days or hours to [ ] She cannot be spoke with: but will be glad to see you at such a time. We expect to be at Sea to morrow if this Wind holds, after which I shall have no opportunity of Writing to you till I arrive (if it pleases God that I do arrive) in England. I pray that _his_ Blessing may attend you which is of more worth than a Thousand of mine, though they are never wanting. Give my Love to your Brother and Sister, as I cannot now write to them; and remember me affectionately to the young Ladies your Friends, and to our good Neighbours. I am, my dear Sally, Your ever Affectionate Father THE OLD SONGS VERSUS MODERN MUSIC _To Lord Kames_ My dear Lord Cravenstreet, London, June 2. 1765. I receiv'd with great Pleasure your friendly Letter by Mr. Alexander, which I should have answer'd sooner by some other Conveyance, if I had understood that his Stay here was like to be so long. I value myself extreamly on the Continuance of your Regard, which I hope hereafter better to deserve by more punctual Returns in the Correspondence you honour me with. You require my History from the time I set Sail for America. I left England about the End of August 1762, in Company with Ten Sail of Merchant Ships under Convoy of a Man of War. We had a pleasant Passage to Madeira, an Island and Colony belonging to Portugal, where we were kindly receiv'd and entertain'd, our Nation being then in high Honour with them, on Account of the Protection it was at that time affording their Mother Country from the united Invasions of France and Spain. 'Tis a fertile Island, and the different Heights and Situations among its Mountains, afford such different Temperaments of Air, that all the Fruits of Northern and Southern Countries are produc'd there, Corn, Grapes, Apples, Peaches, Oranges, Lemons, Plantains, Bananas, &c. Here we furnish'd ourselves with fresh Provisions and Refreshments of all kinds, and after a few Days proceeded on our Voyage, running Southward till we got into the Trade Winds, and then with them Westward till we drew near the Coast of America. The Weather was so favourable, that there were few Days in which we could not visit from Ship to Ship, dining with each other and on board the Man of War, which made the time pass agreably, much more so than when one goes in a single Ship, for this was like travelling in a moving Village, with all one's Neighbours about one. On the first of November, I arriv'd safe and well at my own House, after an Absence of near Six Years, found my Wife and Daughter well, the latter grown quite a Woman, with many amiable Accomplishments acquir'd in my Absence, and my Friends as hearty and affectionate as ever, with whom my House was fill'd for many Days, to congratulate me on my Return. I had been chosen yearly during my Absence to represent the City of Philadelphia in our Provincial Assembly, and on my Appearance in the House they voted me 3000 pounds Sterling for my Services in England and their Thanks delivered by the Speaker. In February following my Son arriv'd, with my new Daughter, for, with my Consent and Approbation he married soon after I left England, a very agreable West India Lady, with whom he is very happy. I accompanied him into his Government, where he met with the kindest Reception from the People of all Ranks, and has lived with them ever since in the greatest Harmony. A River only parts that Province and ours, and his Residence is within 17 Miles of me, so that we frequently see each other. In the Spring of 1763 I set out on a Tour thro' all the Northern Colonies, to inspect and regulate the Post Offices in the several Provinces. In this Journey I spent the Summer, travelled about 1600 Miles, and did not get home 'till the Beginning of November. The Assembly sitting thro' the following Winter, and warm Disputes arising between them and the Governor I became wholly engag'd in public Affairs: For besides my Duty as an Assemblyman, I had another Trust to execute, that of being one of the Commissioners appointed by Law to dispose of the publick Money appropriated to the Raising and Paying an Army to act against the Indians and defend the Frontiers. And then in December we had two Insurrections of the back Inhabitants of our Province, by whom 20 poor Indians were murdered that had from the first Settlement of the Province lived among us and under the Protection of our Government. This gave me a good deal of Employment, for as the Rioters threatned farther Mischief, and their Actions seem'd to be approv'd by an encreasing Party, I wrote a Pamphlet entitled a _Narrative_, &c. (which I think I sent you,) to strengthen the Hands of our weak Government, by rendring the Proceedings of the Rioters unpopular and odious. This had a good Effect; and afterwards when a great Body of them with Arms march'd towards the Capital in Defiance of the Government, with an avowed Resolution to put to death 140 Indian Converts then under its Protection, I form'd an Association at the Governor's Request, for his and their Defence, we having no Militia. Near 1000 of the Citizens accordingly took Arms; Governor Penn made my House for some time his Head Quarters, and did every thing by my Advice, so that for about 48 Hours I was a very great Man, as I had been once some Years before in a time of publick Danger; but the fighting Face we put on, and the Reasonings we us'd with the Insurgents (for I went at the Request of the Governor and Council with three others to meet and discourse them) having turn'd them back, and restor'd Quiet to the City, I became a less Man than ever: for I had by these Transactions made myself many Enemies among the Populace; and the Governor (with whose Family our publick Disputes had long plac'd me in an unfriendly Light, and the Services I had lately render'd him not being of the kind that make a Man acceptable) thinking it a favourable Opportunity, join'd the whole Weight of the Proprietary Interest to get me out of the Assembly, which was accordingly effected at the last Election, by a Majority of about 25 in 4000 Voters. The House however, when they met in October, approv'd of the Resolutions taken while I was Speaker, of petitioning the Crown for a Change of Government, and requested me to return to England to prosecute that Petition; which Service I accordingly undertook, and embark'd the Beginning of November last, being accompany'd to the Ship, 16 Miles, by a Cavalcade of three Hundred of my Friends, who fill'd our Sails with their good Wishes, and I arrived in 30 Days at London. Here I have been ever since engag'd in that and other Public Affairs relating to America, which are like to continue some time longer upon my hands; but I promise you, that when I am quit of these, I will engage in no other; and that as soon as I have recover'd the Ease and Leisure I hope for, the Task you require of me, of finishing my _Art of Virtue_ shall be perform'd: In the mean time I must request you would excuse me on this Consideration, that the Powers of the Mind are posess'd by different Men in different Degrees, and that every one cannot, like Lord Kaims, intermix literary Pursuits and important Business, without Prejudice to either. I send you herewith two or three other Pamphlets of my Writing on our political Affairs during my short Residence in America; but I do not insist on your reading them, for I know you employ all your time to some use Purpose. In my Passage to America, I read your excellent Work, the Elements of Criticism, in which I found great Entertainment, much to admire, and nothing to reprove. I only wish'd you had examin'd more fully the Subject of Music, and demonstrated that the Pleasure Artists feel in hearing much of that compos'd in the modern Taste, is not the natural Pleasure arising from Melody or Harmony of Sounds, but of the same kind with the Pleasure we feel on seeing the surprizing Feats of Tumblers and Rope Dancers, who execute difficult Things. For my part, I take this to be really the Case and suppose it the Reason why those who being unpractis'd in Music, and therefore unacquainted with those Difficulties, have little or no Pleasure in hearing this Music. Many Pieces of it are mere Compositions of Tricks. I have sometimes at a Concert attended by a common Audience plac'd myself so as to see all their Faces, and observ'd no Signs of Pleasure in them during the Performance of much that was admir'd by the Performers themselves; while a plain old Scottish Tune, which they disdain'd and could scarcely be prevail'd on to play, gave manifest and general Delight. Give me leave on this Occasion to extend a little the Sense of your Position, That "Melody and Harmony are separately agreable, and in Union delightful;" and to give it as my Opinion, that the Reason why the Scotch Tunes have liv'd so long, and will probably live forever (if they escape being stifled in modern affected Ornament) is merely this, that they are really Compositions of Melody and Harmony united, or rather that their Melody is Harmony. I mean the simple Tunes sung by a single Voice. As this will appear paradoxical I must explain my Meaning. In common Acceptation indeed, only an agreable _Succession_ of Sounds is called _Melody_, and only the _Co-existence_ of agreeing Sounds, _Harmony_. But since the Memory is capable of retaining for some Moments a perfect Idea of the Pitch of a past Sound, so as to compare with it the Pitch of a succeeding Sound, and judge truly of their Agreement or Disagreement, there may and does arise from thence a Sense of Harmony between present and past Sounds, equally pleasing with that between two present Sounds. Now the Construction of the old Scotch Tunes is this, that almost every succeeding _emphatical_ Note, is a Third, a Fifth, an Octave, or in short some Note that is in Concord with the preceding Note. Thirds are chiefly used, which are very pleasing Concords. I use the Word _emphatical_, to distinguish those Notes which have a Stress laid on them in Singing the Tune, from the lighter connecting Notes, that serve merely, like Grammar Articles, to tack the others together. That we have a most perfect Idea of a Sound just past, I might appeal to all acquainted with Music, who know how easy it is to repeat a Sound in the same Pitch with one just heard. In Tuning an Instrument, a good Ear can as easily determine that two Strings are in Unison, by sounding them separately, as by sounding them together; their Disagreement is also as easily, I believe I may say more easily and better distinguish'd, when sounded separately; for when sounded together, tho' you know by the Beating that one is higher than the other, you cannot tell which it is. Farther, when we consider by whom these ancient Tunes were composed, and how they were first performed, we shall see that such harmonical Succession of Sounds was natural and even necessary in their Construction. They were compos'd by the Minstrels of those days, to be plaid on the Harp accompany'd by the Voice. The Harp was strung with Wire, and had no Contrivance like that in the modern Harpsichord, by which the Sound of a preceding Note could be stopt the Moment a succeeding Note began. To avoid _actual_ Discord it was therefore necessary that the succeeding emphatic Note should be a Chord with the preceding, as their Sounds must exist at the same time. Hence arose that Beauty in those Tunes that has so long pleas'd, and will please for ever, tho' Men scarce know why. That they were originally compos'd for the Harp, and of the most simple kind, I mean a Harp without any Half Notes but those in the natural Scale, and with no more than two Octaves of Strings from C. to C. I conjecture from another Circumstance, which is, that not one of those Tunes really ancient has a single artificial Half Note in it; and that in Tunes where it was most convenient for the Voice, to use the middle Notes of the Harp, and place the Key in F. there the B. which if used should be a B flat, is always omitted by passing over it with a Third. The Connoisseurs in modern Music will say I have no Taste, but I cannot help adding, that I believe our Ancestors in hearing a good Song, distinctly articulated, sung to one of those Tunes and accompanied by the Harp, felt more real Pleasure than is communicated by the generality of modern Operas, exclusive of that arising from the Scenery and Dancing. Most Tunes of late Composition, not having the natural Harmony united with their Melody, have recourse to the artificial Harmony of a Bass and other accompanying Parts. This Support, in my Opinion, the old Tunes do not need, and are rather confus'd than aided by it. Whoever has heard James Oswald play them on his Violoncello, will be less inclin'd to dispute this with me. I have more than once seen Tears of Pleasure in the Eyes of his Auditors; and yet I think even his Playing those Tunes would please more, if he gave them less modern Ornament. My Son, when we parted, desired me to present his affectionate Respects to you, Lady Kaims, and your amiable Children; be so good with those to accept mine, and believe me, with sincerest Esteem, My dear Lord, Your Lordship's most obedient and most humble Servant P.S. I do promise myself the Pleasure of seeing you and my other Friends in Scotland before I return to America. "WE MIGHT AS WELL HAVE HINDER'D THE SUNS SETTING" To Charles Thomson Dear Friend London July 11th: 1765 I am extreemly obliged by your kind Letters of Aprill 12th. and 14th. and thank you for the Intelligence they Contain. The Outrages continueally commited by those misguided people, will doubtless tend to Convince all the Considerate on your side of the Water of the Weakness of our present Government and the Necessity of a Change. I am sure it will contribute towards hastening that Change here so that upon the whole, Good will be brought out of Evil: but yet I Greive to hear of such horrid Disorders. The Letters and Accounts boasted of from the Proprietor of his being Sure of retaining the Government, as well as those of the Sums offered for it which the People will be obliged to pay, &c. are all idle Tales, fit only for Knaves to propagate and Fools to believe. A Little Time will dissipate all the smoke they can raise to conceal the real State of Things. The unsettled State of the Ministry ever since the Parliament rose, has stop'd all Proceeding in Publick Affairs and ours amongst the Rest; but Change being now made we shall immidiately proceed, and with the Greater Chearfulness as some we had reason to Doubt of are removed, and some perticular Friends are put in Place. What you mention of the Lower Counties is undoubtedly right. Had they ever sent their Laws home as they ought to have done, that iniquitous one of priority of Payment to Reseidents would undoubtedly have been Repeald. But the End of all these things is neigh, at Least it seems to be so. The spicking of the Guns was an audacious Peice of Villainy, by whomsoever done, it Shows the Necessity of a regular enclos'd Place of Defence, with a Constant Guard to take Care of what belongs to it, which, when the Country can afford it, will I hope be provided. Depend upon it my good Neighbour, I took every Step in my Power, to prevent the Passing of the Stamp Act; no body could be more concern'd in Interest than my self to oppose it, sincerely and Heartily. But the Tide was, too strong against us. The Nation was provok'd by American Claims of Independance, and all Parties join'd in resolveing by this Act to Settle the Point. We might as well have hinder'd the Suns setting. That we could not do. But since 'tis down, my Friend, and it may be long before it rises again, Let us make as good a Night of it as we can. We may still Light Candles. Frugallity and Industry will go a great way towards indemnifying us. Idleness and Pride Tax with a heavier Hand then Kings and Parliaments; If we can get rid of the former we may easily bear the Latter. My best Respects to Mrs. Thompson. Adieu my Dear Friend and beleive me ever Yours affectionately Excuse my Man John's miserable Clerkship. "A PRETTY GOOD SORT OF A WORLD" _To Jane Mecom_ Dear Sister London, March 1. 1766 I acknowledge the Receipt of your kind Letters of Nov. 12. and Dec. 20. the latter per Mr. Williams. I condole with you on the Death of your Husband, who was I believe a truly affectionate one to you, and fully sensible of your Merit. It is not true that I have bought any Estate here. I have indeed had some thoughts of re-purchasing the little one in Northamptonshire that was our Grandfather's, and had been many Generations in the Family, but was sold by our Uncle Thomas's only Child Mrs. Fisher, the same that left you the Legacy. However I shall not do it unless I determine to remain in England, which I have not yet done. As to the Reports you mention that are spread to my Disadvantage, I give myself as little Concern about them as possible. I have often met with such Treatment from People that I was all the while endeavouring to serve. At other times I have been extoll'd extravagantly when I have had little or no Merit. These are the Operations of Nature. It sometimes is cloudy, it rains, it hails; again 'tis clear and pleasant, and the Sun shines on us. Take one thing with another, and the World is a pretty good sort of a World; and 'tis our Duty to make the best of it and be thankful. One's true Happiness depends more upon one's own Judgement of one's self, on a Consciousness of Rectitude in Action and Intention, and in the Approbation of those few who judge impartially, than upon the Applause of the unthinking undiscerning Multitude, who are apt to cry Hosanna today, and tomorrow, Crucify him. I see in the Papers that your Governor, Mr. Barnard, has been hardly thought of, and a little unkindly treated, as if he was a favourer of the Stamp Act: Yet it appears by his Letters to Government here, which have been read in Parliament, that he has wrote warmly in favour of the Province and against that Act, both before it pass'd and since; and so did your Lieutenant Governor to my certain Knowledge, tho' the Mob have pull'd down his House. Surely the N. England People, when they are rightly inform'd, will do Justice to those Gentlemen, and think of them as they deserve. Pray remember me kindly to Cousin Williams, and let him know that I am very sensible of his Kindness to you, and that I am not forgetful of any thing that may concern his Interest or his Pleasure, tho' I have not yet wrote to him. I shall endeavour to make that Omission up to him as soon as possible. I sent you some things by your Friend Capt. Freeman, which I shall be glad to hear came safe to hand, and that they were acceptable from Your affectionate Brother My Love to your Children. P.S. I congratulate you and my Countrymen on the Repeal of the Stamp Act. I send you a few of the Cards on which I wrote my Messages during the Time, it was debated here whether it might not be proper to reduce the Colonies to Obedience by Force of Arms: The Moral is, that the Colonies might be ruined, but that Britain would thereby be maimed. `I NEVER WAS PROUDER OF ANY DRESS IN MY LIFE'' _To Deborah Franklin_ My dear Child, London, April 6. 1766. As the Stamp Act is at length repeal'd, I am willing you should have a new Gown, which you may suppose I did not send sooner, as I knew you would not like to be finer than your Neighbours, unless in a Gown of your own Spinning. Had the Trade between the two Countries totally ceas'd, it was a Comfort to me to recollect that I had once been cloth'd from Head to Foot in Woollen and Linnen of my Wife's Manufacture, that I never was prouder of any Dress in my Life, and that she and her Daughter might do it again if it was necessary. I told the Parliament that it was my Opinion, before the old Cloaths of the Americans were worn out, they might have new ones of their own making. And indeed if they had all as many old Clothes as your old Man has, that would not be very unlikely; for I think you and George reckon'd when I was last at home, at least 20 pair of old Breeches. Joking apart, I have sent you a fine Piece of Pompador Sattin, 14 Yards cost 11_s._ per Yard. A Silk Negligee and Petticoat of brocaded Lutestring for my dear Sally, with 2 Doz. Gloves, 4 Bottles of Lavender Water, and two little Reels. The Reels are to screw on the Edge of a Table, when she would wind Silk or Thread, the Skein is to be put over them, and winds better than if held in two Hands. There is also an Ivory Knob to each, to which she may with a Bit of Silk Cord hang a Pinhook to fasten her plain Work to like the Hooks on her Weight. I send you also Lace for two Lappet Caps, 3 Ells of Cambrick (the Cambrick by Mr. Yates) 3 Damask Table Cloths, a Piece of Crimson Morin for Curtains, with Tassels, Line and Binding. A large true Turky Carpet cost 10 Guineas, for the Dining Parlour. Some oil'd Silk; and a Gimcrack Corkscrew which you must get some Brother Gimcrack to show you the Use of. In the Chest is a Parcel of Books for my Friend Mr. Coleman, and another for Cousin Colbert. Pray did he receive those I sent him before? I send you also a Box with three fine Cheeses. Perhaps a Bit of them may be left when I come home. Mrs. Stevenson has been very diligent and serviceable in getting these things together for you, and presents her best Respects, as does her Daughter, to both you and Sally. There are too Boxes included in your Bill of Lading for Billy. I received your kind Letter of Feb. 20. It gives me great Pleasure to hear that our good old Friend Mrs. Smith is on the Recovery. I hope she has yet many happy Years to live. My Love to her. I fear, from the Account you give of Brother Peter that he cannot hold it long. If it should please God that he leaves us before my Return; I would have the Post Office remain under the Management of their Son, till Mr. Foxcroft and I agree how to settle it. There are some Droll Prints in the Box, which were given me by the Painter; and being sent when I was not at home, were pack'd up without my Knowledge. I think he was wrong to put in Lord Bute, who had nothing to do with the Stamp Act. But it is the Fashion here to abuse that Nobleman as the Author of all Mischief. I send you a few Bush Beans, a new Sort for your Garden. I shall write to my Friends per Packet, that goes next Saturday. I am very well, and hope this will find you and Sally so with all our Relations and Friends, to whom my Love. I am, as ever, Your affectionate Husband, P.S. A Young Man, by name Joseph Wharton, came to me the other day, said he had been sick and was in distress for Money, and beg'd me to take a Draft on his Brother at Philadelphia for Twelve Guineas. I did not remember or know him, but could refuse nothing to the Name of my Friend. So I let him have the Money, and enclose his Bill. You will present it for Payment. "A BRAZEN WALL ROUND ENGLAND FOR ITS ETERNAL SECURITY" _To Cadwalader Evans_ LONDON, May 9, 1766. Dear Sir: -- I received your kind letter of March 3, and thank you for the Intelligence and Hints it contained. I wonder at the Complaint you mentioned. I always considered writing to the Speaker as writing to the Committee. But if it is more to their Satisfaction that I should write to them jointly, it shall be done for the future. My private Opinion concerning a union in Parliament between the two Countries, is, that it would be best for the Whole. But I think it will never be done. For tho' I believe that if we had no more Representatives than Scotland has, we should be sufficiently strong in the House to prevent, as they do for Scotland, any thing ever passing to our disadvantage; yet we are not able at present to furnish and maintain such a Number, and when we are more able we shall be less willing than we are now. The Parliament here do at present think too highly of themselves to admit Representatives from us if we should ask it; and when they will be desirous of granting it, we shall think too highly of ourselves to accept of it. It would certainly contribute to the strength of the whole, if Ireland and all the Dominions were united and consolidated under one Common Council for general Purposes, each retaining its particular Council or Parliament for its domestic Concerns. But this should have been more early provided for. -- In the Infancy of our foreign Establishments, it was neglected, or was not thought of. And now, the Affair is nearly in the Situation of Friar Bacon's Project of making a brazen Wall round England for its eternal Security. His Servant Friar Bungey slept while the brazen Head, which was to dictate how it might be done, said _Time is_, and _Time was_. He only wak'd to hear it say, _Time is past_. An explosion followed that tumbled their House about the Conjuror's Ears. I hope with you, that my being here at this Juncture has been of some Service to the Colonies. I am sure I have spared no Pains. And as to our particular Affair, I am not in the least doubtful of obtaining what we so justly desire if we continue to desire it: tho' the late confus'd State of Affairs on both sides the Water, have delay'd our Proceeding. With great esteem, I am, Dear Friend, Yours affectionately, "DIRT . . . WILL NOT LONG ADHERE TO POLISH'D MARBLE" _To Joseph Galloway_ Dear Friend, London, Nov. 8: 1766 I received your kind Letter of Sept. the 22d. and from another Friend a Copy of that lying Essay in which I am represented as the Author of the Stamp Act, and you as concern'd in it. The Answer you mention is not yet come to hand. Your Consolation, my Friend, and mine, under these Abuses, must be, _that we do not deserve them_. But what can console the Writers and Promoters of such infamously false Accusations, if they should ever come themselves to a Sense of that Malice of their Hearts, and that Stupidity of their Heads, which by these Papers they have manifested and exposed to all the World. Dunces often write Satyrs on themselves, when they think all the while that they are mocking their Neighbours. Let us, as we ever have done, uniformly endeavour the Service of our Country, according to the best of our Judgment and Abilities, and Time will do us Justice. Dirt thrown on a Mud-Wall may stick and incorporate; but it will not long adhere to polish'd Marble. I can now only add that I am, with Sincerest Esteem and Affection, Yours, The Town begins to fill, and the Parliament sits down next week. "TRAVELLING IS ONE WAY OF LENGTHENING LIFE" _To Mary Stevenson_ Dear Polly Paris, Sept. 14. 1767 I am always pleas'd with a Letter from you, and I flatter myself you may be sometimes pleas'd in receiving one from me, tho' it should be of little Importance, such as this, which is to consist of a few occasional Remarks made here and in my Journey hither. Soon after I left you in that agreable Society at Bromley, I took the Resolution of making a Trip with Sir John Pringle into France. We set out the 28th past. All the way to Dover we were furnished with Post Chaises hung so as to lean forward, the Top coming down over one's Eyes, like a Hood, as if to prevent one's seeing the Country, which being one of my great Pleasures, I was engag'd in perpetual Disputes with the Innkeepers, Hostlers and Postillions about getting the Straps taken up a Hole or two before, and let down as much behind, they insisting that the Chaise leaning forward was an Ease to the Horses, and that the contrary would kill them. I suppose the Chaise leaning forward looks to them like a Willingness to go forward; and that its hanging back shows a Reluctance. They added other Reasons that were no Reasons at all, and made me, as upon a 100 other Occasions, almost wish that Mankind had never been endow'd with a reasoning Faculty, since they know so little how to make use of it, and so often mislead themselves by it; and that they had been furnish'd with a good sensible Instinct instead of it. At Dover the next Morning we embark'd for Calais with a Number of Passengers who had never been before at Sea. They would previously make a hearty Breakfast, because if the Wind should fail, we might not get over till Supper-time. Doubtless they thought that when they had paid for their Breakfast they had a Right to it, and that when they had swallowed it they were sure of it. But they had scarce been out half an Hour before the Sea laid Claim to it, and they were oblig'd to deliver it up. So it seems there are Uncertainties even beyond those between the Cup and the Lip. If ever you go to sea, take my Advice, and live sparingly a Day or two before hand. The Sickness, if any, will be the lighter and sooner over. We got to Calais that Evening. Various Impositions we suffer'd from Boat-men, Porters, &c. on both Sides the Water. I know not which are most rapacious, the English or French; but the latter have, with their Knavery the most Politeness. The Roads we found equally good with ours in England, in some Places pav'd with smooth Stone like our new Streets for many Miles together, and Rows of Trees on each Side and yet there are no Turnpikes. But then the poor Peasants complain'd to us grievously, that they were oblig'd to work upon the Roads full two Months in the Year without being paid for their Labour: Whether this is Truth, or whether, like Englishmen, they grumble Cause or no Cause, I have not yet been able fully to inform myself. The Women we saw at Calais, on the Road, at Bouloigne and in the Inns and Villages, were generally of dark Complexions; but arriving at Abbeville we found a sudden Change, a Multitude both of Women and Men in that Place appearing remarkably fair. Whether this is owing to a small Colony of Spinners, Woolcombers and Weavers, &c. brought hither from Holland with the Woollen Manufacture about 60 Years ago; or to their being less expos'd to the Sun than in other Places, their Business keeping them much within Doors, I know not. Perhaps as in some other Cases, different Causes may club in producing the Effect, but the Effect itself is certain. Never was I in a Place of greater Industry, Wheels and Looms going in every House. As soon as we left Abbeville the Swarthiness return'd. I speak generally, for here are some fair Women at Paris, who I think are not whiten'd by Art. As to Rouge, they don't pretend to imitate Nature in laying it on. There is no gradual Diminution of the Colour from the full Bloom in the Middle of the Cheek to the faint Tint near the Sides, nor does it show itself differently in different Faces. I have not had the Honour of being at any Lady's Toylette to see how it is laid on, but I fancy I can tell you how it is or may be done: Cut a Hole of 3 Inches Diameter in a Piece of Paper, place it on the Side of your Face in such a Manner as that the Top of the Hole may be just under your Eye; then with a Brush dipt in the Colour paint Face and Paper together; so when the Paper is taken off there will remain a round Patch of Red exactly the Form of the Hole. This is the Mode, from the Actresses on the Stage upwards thro' all Ranks of Ladies to the Princesses of the Blood, but it stops there, the Queen not using it, having in the Serenity, Complacence and Benignity that shine so eminently in or rather through her Countenance, sufficient Beauty, tho' now an old Woman, to do extreamly well without it. You see I speak of the Queen as if I had seen her, and so I have; for you must know I have been at Court. We went to Versailles last Sunday, and had the Honour of being presented to the King, he spoke to both of us very graciously and chearfully, is a handsome Man, has a very lively Look, and appears younger than he is. In the Evening we were at the _Grand Couvert_, where the Family sup in Publick. The Form of their sitting at the Table was this: (Illustration omitted) The Table as you see was half a Hollow Square, the Service Gold. When either made a Sign for Drink, the Word was given by one of the Waiters, _A boire pour le Roy_, or _A boire pour la Reine_, &c. then two Persons within the Square approach'd, one with Wine the other with Water in Caraffes, each drank a little Glass of what they brought, and then put both the Caraffes with a Glass on a Salver and presented it. Their Distance from each other was such as that other Chairs might have been plac'd between any two of them. An Officer of the Court brought us up thro' the Croud of Spectators, and plac'd Sir John so as to stand between the King and Madame Adelaide, and me between the Queen and Madame Victoire. The King talk'd a good deal to Sir John, asking many Questions about our Royal Family; and did me too the Honour of taking some Notice of me; that's saying enough, for I would not have you think me so much pleas'd with this King and Queen as to have a Whit less Regard than I us'd to have for ours. No Frenchman shall go beyond me in thinking my own King and Queen the very best in the World and the most amiable. Versailles has had infinite Sums laid out in Building it and Supplying it with Water: Some say the Expence exceeded 80 Millions Sterling. The Range of Building is immense, the Garden Front most magnificent all of hewn Stone, the Number of Statues, Figures, Urns, &c in Marble and Bronze of exquisite Workmanship is beyond Conception. But the Waterworks are out of Repair, and so is great Part of the Front next the Town, looking with its shabby half Brick Walls and broken Windows not much better than the Houses in Durham Yard. There is, in short, both at Versailles and Paris, a prodigious Mixture of Magnificence and Negligence, with every kind of Elegance except that of Cleanliness, and what we call _Tidyness_. Tho' I must do Paris the Justice to say, that in two Points of Cleanliness they exceed us. The Water they drink, tho' from the River, they render as pure as that of the best Spring, by filtring it thro' Cisterns fill'd with Sand; and the Streets by constant Sweeping are fit to walk in tho' there is no pav'd foot Path. Accordingly many well dress'd People are constantly seen walking in them. The Crouds of Coaches and Chairs for that Reason is not so great; Men as well as Women carry Umbrellas in their Hands, which they extend in case of Rain or two much Sun; and a Man with an Umbrella not taking up more than 3 foot square or 9 square feet of the Street, when if in a Coach he would take up 240 square feet, you can easily conceive that tho' the Streets here are narrower they may be much less encumber'd. They are extreamly well pav'd, and the Stones being generally Cubes, when worn on one Side may be turn'd and become new. The Civilities we every where receive give us the strongest Impressions of the French Politeness. It seems to be a Point settled here universally that Strangers are to be treated with Respect, and one has just the same Deference shewn one here by being a Stranger as in England by being a Lady. The Custom House Officers at Port St. Denis, as we enter'd Paris, were about to seize 2 Doz. of excellent Bourdeaux Wine given us at Boulogne, and which we brought with us; but as soon as they found we were Strangers, it was immediately remitted on that Account. At the Church of Notre Dame, when we went to see a magnificent Illumination with Figures &c. for the deceas'd Dauphiness, we found an immense Croud who were kept out by Guards; but the Officer being told that we were Strangers from England, he immediately admitted us, accompanied and show'd us every thing. Why don't we practise this Urbanity to Frenchmen? Why should they be allow'd to out-do us in any thing? Here is an Exhibition of Paintings, &c. like ours in London, to which Multitudes flock daily. I am not Connoisseur enough to judge which has most Merit. Every Night, Sundays not excepted here are Plays or Operas; and tho' the Weather has been hot, and the Houses full, one is not incommoded by the Heat so much as with us in Winter. They must have some Way of changing the Air that we are not acquainted with. I shall enquire into it. Travelling is one Way of lengthening Life, at least in Appearance. It is but a Fortnight since we left London; but the Variety of Scenes we have gone through makes it seem equal to Six Months living in one Place. Perhaps I have suffered a greater Change too in my own Person than I could have done in Six Years at home. I had not been here Six Days before my Taylor and Peruquier had transform'd me into a Frenchman. Only think what a Figure I make in a little Bag Wig and naked Ears! They told me I was become 20 Years younger, and look'd very galante; so being in Paris where the Mode is to be sacredly follow'd, I was once very near making Love to my Friend's Wife. This Letter shall cost you a Shilling, and you may think it cheap when you consider that it has cost me at least 50 Guineas to get into the Situation that enables me to write it. Besides, I might, if I had staid at home, have won perhaps two shillings of you at Cribbidge. By the Way, now I mention Cards, let me tell you that Quadrille is quite out of Fashion here, and English Whisk all the Mode, at Paris and the Court. And pray look upon it as no small Matter, that surrounded as I am by the Glories of this World and Amusements of all Sorts, I remember you and Dolly and all the dear good Folks at Bromley. 'Tis true I can't help it, but must and ever shall remember you all with Pleasure. Need I add that I am particularly, my dear good Friend Yours most affectionately "CONDEMN'D TO LIVE TOGETHER AND TEASE ONE ANOTHER" _To Margaret Stevenson_ Dear Madam Tuesday, Nov. 3 at Noon I breakfasted abroad this Morning and Nanny tells me that Mr. West call'd while I was out, and left word that you did not intend to come home till Sunday next, and that you expected me then, to come and fetch you; that Mr. West also desired I would dine at his House that Day: I know not whether Nanny is right in all this, as she has but an indifferent Memory But it seems strange to me that you should think of staying so long. People must have great Confidence in their own Agreableness that can suppose themselves not to become tiresome Guests at the End of Three Days at farthest. I did not imagine you had been so conceited. My Advice to you is, to return with the Stage to-morrow. And if it is proposed that we dine there on Sunday, I shall wait on Mr. and Mrs. West with Pleasure on that day, taking you with me. But however I pray you not to understand that I so want you at home as not to do very well without you. Every thing goes on smoothly, and the House very quiet; and very clean too, without my saying a Word about it. I am willing to allow that the Arrangements you made before you went may have contributed something towards the good Order and Comfort in which we go on; but yet you are really mistaken in your Fancy that I should, by your Absence, become more sensible of your Usefulness to me, and the Necessity of having you always near me; for in Truth I find such a Satisfaction in being a little more my own Master, going any where and doing any thing just when and how I please without the Advice or Controul of any body's Wisdom but my own small as it is, that I value my own Liberty above all the Advantage of others Services, and begin to think I should be still happier if Nanny and the Cat would follow their Mistress, and leave me to the Enjoyment of an empty House, in which I should never be disturb'd by Questions of Whether I intend to dine at home, and what I would have for Dinner; or by a Mewing Request to be let in or let out. This Happiness however is perhaps too great to be conferr'd on any but Saints and holy Hermits. Sinners like me I might have said US, are condemn'd to live together and tease one another, so concluding you will be sentenc'd to come home tomorrow, I add no more but that I am as ever Your affectionate Friend and humble Servant My best Compliments to Mr. and Mrs. West. 1767 "A COLLECTION FOR YOU OF ALL THE PAST PARINGS OF MY NAILS" _To Jane Mecom_ Dear Sister London, Dec. 24. 1767 I have received yours of Oct. 23. and condole with you most affectionately in the Affliction you must have suffered by the Loss of so valuable and so amiable a Child. The longer we live we are expos'd to more of these Strokes of Providence: but tho' we consider them as such, and know it is our Duty to submit to the Divine Will, yet when it comes to our Turn to bear what so many Millions before us have borne, and so many Millions after us must bear, we are apt to think our Case particularly hard, Consolations however kindly administred seldom afford us any Relief, Natural Affections will have their Course, and Time proves our best Comforter. This I have experienc'd myself. And as I know your good Sense has suggested to you long before this time, every Argument, Motive and Circumstance that can tend in any degree to relieve your Grief, I will not by repeating them renew it. I am pleas'd to find that in your Troubles you do not overlook the Mercies of God, and that you consider as such the Children that are still spar'd to you. This is a right Temper of Mind, and must be acceptable to that beneficent Being, who is in various Ways continually showring down his Blessings upon many, that receive them as things of course, and feel no grateful Sentiments arising in their Hearts on the Enjoyment of them. You desire me to send you all the political Pieces I have been the Author of. I have never kept them. They were most of them written occasionally for transient Purposes, and having done their Business, they die and are forgotten. I could as easily make a Collection for you of all the past Parings of my Nails. But I will send you what I write hereafter; and I now enclose you the last Piece of mine that is printed. I wrote it at a Friend's House in the Country who is of the Treasury, if possible to do some Service to the Treasury, by putting a little out of Countenance the Practice of encouraging Smugglers in buying their Commodities. But I suppose it did very little. Probably the Gentleman has called on you with the small Sum I mention'd; if not, I would not that you should call upon him for it; and therefore do not give you his Name. Mrs. Stevenson is glad to learn that the Things she sent you were suitable and pleas'd. You mention that you should write for more per Capt. Freeman. We suppose you did not then know, that your People would resolve to wear no more Millenery. He is not yet arriv'd. Pray are those Resolutions like to be steadily stuck to? My Love to Jenny, and all our Relations and Friends, and believe me ever Your affectionate Brother "I AM TOO MUCH OF AN AMERICAN" _To William Franklin_ DEAR SON, _London, Jan. 9, 1768. We have had so many alarms of changes which did not take place, that just when I wrote it was thought the ministry would stand their ground. However immediately after the talk was renewed, and it soon appeared the Sunday changes were actually settled. Mr. Conway resigns and Lord Weymouth takes his place. Lord Gower is made president of the council in the room of Lord Northington. Lord Shelburne is stript of the America business which is given to Lord Hillsborough as Secretary of State for America, a new distinct department. Lord Sandwich 'tis said comes into the Post Office in his place. Several of the Bedford party are now to come in. How these changes may affect us a little time will show. Little at present is thought of but elections which gives me hopes that nothing will be done against America this session, though the Boston gazette had occasioned some heats and the Boston resolutions a prodigious clamour. I have endeavoured to palliate matters for them as well as I can: I send you my manuscript of one paper, though I think you take the Chronicle. The editor of that paper one Jones seems a Grenvillian, or is very cautious as you will see, by his corrections and omissions. He has drawn the teeth and pared the nails of my paper, so that it can neither scratch nor bite. It seems only to paw and mumble. I send you also two other late pieces of mine. There is another which I cannot find. I am told there has been a talk of getting me appointed under secretary to Lord Hillsborough; but with little likelihood as it is a settled point here that I am too much of an American. I am in very good health, thanks to God: your affectionate father, FOSSILS _To Jean Chappe d'Auteroche_ Sir London, Jan. 31. 1768 I sent you sometime since, directed to the Care of M. Molini, a Bookseller near the Quay des Augustins a Tooth that I mention'd to you when I had the Pleasure of meeting with you at the Marquis de Courtanvaux's. It was found near the River Ohio in America, about 200 Leagues below Fort du Quesne, at what is called the Great Licking Place, where the Earth has a Saltish Taste that is agreable to the Buffaloes and Deer, who come there at certain Seasons in great Numbers to lick the same. At this place have been found the Skeletons of near 30 large Animals suppos'd to be Elephants, several Tusks like those of Elephants, being found with those Grinder Teeth. Four of these Grinders were sent me by the Gentleman who brought them from the Ohio to New York, together with 4 Tusks, one of which is 6 Feet long and in the thickest Part near 6 Inches Diameter, and also one of the Vertebrae. My Lord Shelbourn receiv'd at the same time 3 or four others with a Jaw Bone and one or two Grinders remaining in it. Some of Our Naturalists here, however, contend, that these are not the Grinders of Elephants but of some carnivorous Animal unknown, because such Knobs or Prominances on the Face of the Tooth are not to be found on those of Elephants, and only, as they say, on those of carnivorous Animals. But it appears to me that Animals capable of carrying such large and heavy Tusks, must themselves be large Creatures, too bulky to have the Activity necessary for pursuing and taking Prey; and therefore I am enclin'd to think those Knobs are only a small Variety, Animals of the same kind and Name often differing more materially, and that those Knobs might be as useful to grind the small Branches of Trees, as to chaw Flesh. However I should be glad to have your Opinion, and to know from you whether any of the kind have been found in Siberia. With great Esteem and Respect, I am Sir, Your most obedient humble Servant CANAL DEPTHS AND SHIP MOVEMENT _To John Pringle_ _SIR, Craven-street, May_ 10, 1768. You may remember that when we were travelling together in _Holland_, you remarked that the track-schuyt in one of the stages went slower than usual, and enquired of the boatman, what might be the reason; who answered, that it had been a dry season, and the water in the canal was low. On being again asked if it was so low as that the boat touch'd the muddy bottom; he said, no, not so low as that, but so low as to make it harder for the horse to draw the boat. We neither of us at first could conceive that if there was water enough for the boat to swim clear of the bottom, its being deeper would make any difference; but as the man affirmed it seriously as a thing well known among them; and as the punctuality required in their stages, was likely to make such difference, if any there were, more readily observed by them, than by other watermen who did not pass so regularly and constantly backwards and forwards in the same track; I began to apprehend there might be something in it, and attempted to account for it from this consideration, that the boat in proceeding along along the canal, must in every boat's length of her course, move out of her way a body of water, equal in bulk to the room her bottom took up in the water; that the water so moved, must pass on each side of her and under her bottom to get behind her; that if the passage under her bottom was straitened by the shallows, more of that water must pass by her sides, and with a swifter motion, which would retard her, as moving the contrary way; or that the water becoming lower behind the boat than before, she was pressed back by the weight of its difference in height, and her motion retarded by having that weight constantly to overcome. But as it is often lost time to attempt accounting for uncertain facts, I determined to make an experiment of this when I should have convenient time and opportunity. After our return to _England_, as often as I happened to be on the _Thames_, I enquired of our watermen whether they were sensible of any difference in rowing over shallow or deep water. I found them all agreeing in the fact, that there was a very great difference, but they differed widely in expressing the quantity of the difference; some supposing it was equal to a mile in six, others to a mile in three, &c. As I did not recollect to have met with any mention of this matter in our philosophical books, and conceiving that if the difference should really be great, it might be an object of consideration in the many projects now on foot for digging new navigable canals in this island, I lately put my design of making the experiment in execution, in the following manner. I provided a trough of plained boards fourteen feet long, six inches wide and six inches deep, in the clear, filled with water within half an inch of the edge, to represent a canal. I had a loose board of nearly the same length and breadth, that being put into the water might be sunk to any depth, and fixed by little wedges where I would chuse to have it stay, in order to make different depths of water, leaving the surface at the same height with regard to the sides of the trough. I had a little boat in form of a lighter or boat of burthen, six inches long, two inches and a quarter wide, and one inch and a quarter deep. When swimming, it drew one inch water. To give motion to the boat, I fixed one end of a long silk thread to its bow, just even with the water's edge, the other end passed over a well-made brass pully, of about an inch diameter, turning freely on a small axis; and a shilling was the weight. Then placing the boat at one end of the trough, the weight would draw it through the water to the other. Not having a watch that shows seconds, in order to measure the time taken up by the boat in passing from end to end, I counted as fast as I could count to ten repeatedly, keeping an account of the number of tens on my fingers. And as much as possible to correct any little inequalities in my counting, I repeated the experiment a number of times at each depth of water, that I might take the medium. -- And the following are the results. Water 1 1/2 inches deep. 2 inches. 4 1/2 inches. 1st exp. - - - - 100 - - - 94 - - - 79 2 - - - - - - 104 - - - 93 - - - 78 3 - - - - - - 104 - - - 91 - - - 77 4 - - - - - - 106 - - - 87 - - - 79 5 - - - - - - 100 - - - 88 - - - 79 6 - - - - - - 99 - - - 86 - - - 80 7 - - - - - - 100 - - - 90 - - - 79 8 - - - - - - 100 - - - 88 - - - 81 _____ _____ _____ 813 717 632 _____ _____ _____ Medium 101 Medium 89 Medium 79 I made many other experiments, but the above are those in which I was most exact; and they serve sufficiently to show that the difference is considerable. Between the deepest and shallowest it appears to be somewhat more than one fifth. So that supposing large canals and boats and depths of water to bear the same proportions, and that four men or horses would draw a boat in deep water four leagues in four hours, it would require five to draw the same boat in the same time as far in shallow water; or four would require five hours. Whether this difference is of consequence enough to justify a greater expence in deepening canals, is a matter of calculation, which our ingenious engineers in that way will readily determine. _I am, &c._ COLD AIR BATHS _To Jacques Barbeu-Dubourg_ _London, July_ 28, 1768. I greatly approve the epithet, which you give in your letter of the 8th of June, to the new method of treating the small-pox, which you call the tonic or bracing method. I will take occasion from it, to mention a practice to which I have accustomed myself. You know the cold bath has long been in vogue here as a tonic; but the shock of the cold water has always appeared to me, generally speaking, as too violent: and I have found it much more agreeable to my constitution, to bathe in another element, I mean, cold air. With this view I rise early almost every morning, and sit in my chamber, without any clothes whatever, half an hour or an hour, according to the season, either reading or writing. This practice is not in the least painful, but on the contrary, agreeable; and if I return to bed afterwards, before I dress myself, as sometimes happens, I make a supplement to my night's rest, of one or two hours of the most pleasing sleep that can be imagined. I find no ill consequences whatever resulting from it, and that at least it does not injure my health, if it does not in fact contribute much to its preservation. I shall therefore call it for the future a bracing or tonic bath. "THE USEFULNESS OF AN ODD HALF OF A PAIR OF SCISSARS" _To John Alleyne_ Dear Sir, You made an Apology to me for not acquainting me sooner with your Marriage. I ought now to make an Apology to you for delaying so long the Answer to your Letter. It was mislaid or hid among my Papers, and much Business put it out of my Mind, or prevented my looking for it and writing when I thought of it. So this Account between us if you please may stand balanced. I assure you it gave me great Pleasure to hear you were married, and into a Family of Reputation. This I learnt from the Public Papers. The Character you give me of your Bride, (as it includes every Qualification that in the married State conduces to mutual Happiness) is an Addition to that Pleasure. Had you consulted me, as a Friend, on the Occasion, Youth on both sides I should not have thought any Objection. Indeed from the Matches that have fallen under my Observation, I am rather inclined to think that early ones stand the best Chance for Happiness. The Tempers and Habits of young People are not yet become so stiff and uncomplying as when more advanced in Life, they form more easily to each other, and thence many Occasions of Disgust are removed. And if Youth has less of that Prudence that is necessary to manage a Family, yet the Parents and elder Friends of young married Persons are generally at hand to afford their Advice, which amply supplies that Defect; and by early Marriage, Youth is sooner form'd to regular and useful Life, and possibly some of those Accidents Habits or Connections that might have injured either the Constitution or the Reputation, or both, are thereby happily prevented. Particular Circumstances of particular Persons may possibly sometimes make it prudent to delay entering into that State, but in general when Nature has render'd our Bodies fit for it, the Presumption is in Nature's Favour, that she has not judg'd amiss in making us desire it. Late Marriages are often attended too with this farther Inconvenience, that there is not the same Chance the Parents shall live to see their offspring educated. _Late Children_, says the Spanish Proverb, _are early Orphans_: A melancholly Reflection to those whose Case it may be! With us in N. America, Marriages are generally in the Morning of Life, our Children are therefore educated and settled in the World by Noon, and thus our Business being done, we have an Afternoon and Evening of chearful Leisure to our selves, such as your Friend at present enjoys. By these early Marriages we are blest with more Children, and from the Mode among us founded in Nature of every Mother suckling and nursing her own Child, more of them are raised. Thence the swift Progress of Population among us unparallel'd in Europe. In fine, I am glad you are married, and congratulate you cordially upon it. You are now more in the way of becoming a useful Citizen; and you have escap'd the unnatural State of _Celibacy for Life_, the Fate of many here who never intended it, but who having too long postpon'd the Change of their Condition, find at length that 'tis too late to think of it, and So live all their Lives in a Situation that greatly lessens a Man's Value: An odd Volume of a Set of Books, you know, is not worth its proportion of the Set; and what think you of the Usefulness of an odd Half of a Pair of Scissars? It cannot well cut any thing. It may possibly serve to scrape a Trencher. Pray make my Compliments and best Wishes acceptable to your Spouse. I am old and heavy, and grow a little indolent, or I should ere this have presented them in Person. I shall make but small Use of the old Man's Privilege, that of giving Advice to younger Friends. Treat your Wife always with Respect. It will procure Respect to you, not from her only, but from all that observe it. Never use a slighting Expression to her even in jest; for Slights in Jest after frequent bandyings, are apt to end in angry earnest. Be studious in your Profession, and you will be learned. Be industrious and frugal, and you will be rich. Be sober and temperate and you will be healthy. Be in general virtuous, and you will be happy. At least you will by such Conduct stand the best Chance for such Consequences. I pray God to bless you both, being ever Your truly affectionate Friend August 9, 1768 "GOD GOVERNS; AND HE IS GOOD" _To Mary Stevenson_ Dear Polley Oct. 28. 1768 I did not receive your Letter of the 26th till I came home late last Night, too late to answer it by the Return of that Post. I see very clearly the Unhappiness of your Situation, and that it does not arise from any Fault in you. I pity you most sincerely: I should not, however, have thought of giving you Advice on this Occasion if you had not requested it, believing as I do, that your own good Sense is more than sufficient to direct you in every Point of Duty to others or yourself. If then I should advise you to any thing that may be contrary to your own Opinion, do not imagine that I shall condemn you if you do not follow such Advice. I shall only think that from a better Acquaintance with Circumstances you form a better Judgment of what is fit for you to do. Now I conceive with you that your Aunt, both from her Affection to you and from the long Habit of having you with her, would really be miserable without you. Her Temper perhaps was never of the best, and when that is the Case, Age seldom mends it. Much of her Unhappiness must arise from thence. And since wrong Turns of the Mind when confirm'd by Time, are almost as little in our Power to cure, as those of the Body, I think with you that her Case is a compassionable one. If she had, though by her own Imprudence, brought on herself any grievous Sickness, I know you would think it your Duty to attend and nurse her with filial Tenderness, even were your own Health to be endangered by it: Your Apprehension therefore is right, that it may be your Duty to live with her, tho' inconsistent with your Happiness and your Interest; but this can only mean present Interest and present Happiness; for I think your future, greater and more lasting Interest and Happiness will arise from the Reflection that you have done your Duty, and from the high Rank you will ever hold in the Esteem of all that know you, for having persevered in doing that Duty under so many and great Discouragements. My Advice then must be, that you return to her as soon as the Time you propos'd for your Visit is expir'd; and that you continue by every means in your Power to make the Remainder of her Days as comfortable to her as possible. Invent Amusements for her; be pleas'd when she accepts of them, and patient when she perhaps peevishly rejects them. I know this is hard, but I think you are equal to it; not from any Servility in your Temper, but from abundant Goodness. In the mean time all your Friends, sensible of your present uncomfortable Situation, should endeavour to ease your Burthen, by acting in Concert with you, to give her as many Opportunities as possible of enjoying the Pleasures of Society, for your sake: Nothing is more apt to sour the Temper of aged People than the Apprehension that they are neglected, and they are extremely apt to entertain such Suspicions. It was therefore that I did propose asking her to be of our late Party: but your Mother disliking it, the Motion was dropt, as some others have been by my too great Easiness, contrary to my Judgment. Not but that I was sensible her being with us might have lessen'd our Pleasure, but I hoped it might have prevented you some Pain. In fine, nothing can contribute to true Happiness that is inconsistent with Duty; nor can a Course of Action conformable to it, be finally without an ample Reward. For, God governs; and he is _good._ I pray him to direct you: And indeed you will never be without his Direction, if you humbly ask it, and show yourself always ready to obey it. Farewell, _my_ dear Friend, and believe me ever sincerely and affectionately _yours_ My Love to Dolly, Miss Blount, Dr. and Mrs. Hawkesworth, Miss Henckell &c. &c. I much commend Dolly for inviting your Aunt into the Country; you see how perfectly that agrees with my Notions. The next Day after you went, she sent the Servant for Nancy, ordering him to take a Place for her in the Stage; and Nancy has been there ever since. "AT PRESENT I ALMOST DESPAIR" _To ------------_ DEAR SIR, _London, Nov._ 28, 1768. I received your obliging favour of the 12th instant. Your sentiments of the importance of the present dispute between Great Britain and the colonies, appear to me extremely just. There is nothing I wish for more than to see it amicably and equitably settled. But Providence will bring about its own ends by its own means; and if it intends the downfal of a nation, that nation will be so blinded by its pride, and other passions, as not to see its danger, or how its fall may be prevented. Being born and bred in one of the countries, and having lived long and made many agreeable connexions of friendship in the other, I wish all prosperity to both; but I have talked, and written so much and so long on the subject, that my acquaintance are weary of hearing, and the public of reading any more of it, which begins to make me weary of talking and writing; especially as I do not find that I have gained any point, in either country, except that of rendering myself suspected, by my impartiality; in England, of being too much an American, and in America of being too much an Englishman. Your opinion, however, weighs with me, and encourages me to try one effort more, in a full, though concise statement of facts, accompanied with arguments drawn from those facts; to be published about the meeting of parliament, after the holidays. If any good may be done I shall rejoice; but at present I almost despair. Have you ever seen the barometer so low as of late? The 22d instant mine was at 28, 41, and yet the weather fine and fair. With sincere esteem, I am, dear friend, yours affectionately, LEARNING TO SWIM _To Oliver Neave_ _Dear SIR_, I cannot be of opinion with you that 'tis too late in life for you to learn to swim. The river near the bottom of your garden affords you a most convenient place for the purpose. And as your new employment requires your being often on the water, of which you have such a dread, I think you would do well to make the trial; nothing being so likely to remove those apprehensions as the consciousness of an ability to swim to the shore, in case of an accident, or of supporting yourself in the water till a boat could come to take you up. I do not know how far corks or bladders may be useful in learning to swim, having never seen much trial of them. Possibly they may be of service in supporting the body while you are learning what is called the stroke, or that manner of drawing in and striking out the hands and feet that is necessary to produce progressive motion. But you will be no swimmer till you can place some confidence in the power of the water to support you; I would therefore advise the acquiring that confidence in the first place; especially as I have known several who by a little of the practice necessary for that purpose, have insensibly acquired the stroke, taught as it were by nature. The practice I mean is this. Chusing a place where the water deepens gradually, walk coolly into it till it is up to your breast, then turn round, your face to the shore, and throw an egg into the water between you and the shore. It will sink to the bottom, and be easily seen there, as your water is clear. It must lie in water so deep as that you cannot reach it to take it up but by diving for it. To encourage yourself in undertaking to do this, reflect that your progress will be from deeper to shallower water, and that at any time you may by bringing your legs under you and standing on the bottom, raise your head far above the water. Then plunge under it with your eyes open, throwing yourself towards the egg, and endeavouring by the action of your hands and feet against the water to get forward till within reach of it. In this attempt you will find, that the water buoys you up against your inclination; that it is not so easy a thing to sink as you imagined; that you cannot, but by active force, get down to the egg. Thus you feel the power of the water to support you, and learn to confide in that power; while your endeavours to overcome it and to reach the egg, teach you the manner of acting on the water with your feet and hands, which action is afterwards used in swimming to support your head higher above water, or to go forward through it. I would the more earnestly press you to the trial of this method, because, though I think I satisfyed you that your body is lighter than water, and that you might float in it a long time with your mouth free for breathing, if you would put yourself in a proper posture, and would be still and forbear struggling; yet till you have obtained this experimental confidence in the water, I cannot depend on your having the necessary presence of mind to recollect that posture and the directions I gave you relating to it. The surprize may put all out of your mind. For though we value ourselves on being reasonable knowing creatures, reason and knowledge seem on such occasions to be of little use to us; and the brutes to whom we allow scarce a glimmering of either, appear to have the advantage of us. I will, however, take this opportunity of repeating those particulars to you, which I mentioned in our last conversation, as by perusing them at your leisure, you may possibly imprint them so in your memory as on occasion to be of some use to you. 1. That though the legs, arms and head, of a human body, being solid parts, are specifically something heavier than fresh water, yet the trunk, particularly the upper part from its hollowness, is so much lighter than water, as that the whole of the body taken together is too light to sink wholly under water, but some part will remain above, untill the lungs become filled with water, which happens from drawing water into them instead of air, when a person in the fright attempts breathing while the mouth and nostrils are under water. 2. That the legs and arms are specifically lighter than salt-water, and will be supported by it, so that a human body would not sink in salt-water, though the lungs were filled as above, but from the greater specific gravity of the head. 3. That therefore a person throwing himself on his back in salt-water, and extending his arms, may easily lie so as to keep his mouth and nostrils free for breathing; and by a small motion of his hands may prevent turning, if he should perceive any tendency to it. 4. That in fresh water, if a man throws himself on his back, near the surface, he cannot long continue in that situation but by proper action of his hands on the water. If he uses no such action, the legs and lower part of the body will gradually sink till he comes into an upright position, in which he will continue suspended, the hollow of the breast keeping the head uppermost. 5. But if in this erect position, the head is kept upright above the shoulders, as when we stand on the ground, the immersion will, by the weight of that part of the head that is out of water, reach above the mouth and nostrils, perhaps a little above the eyes, so that a man cannot long remain suspended in water with his head in that position. 6. The body continuing suspended as before, and upright, if the head be leaned quite back, so that the face looks upwards, all the back part of the head being then under water, and its weight consequently in a great measure supported by it, the face will remain above water quite free for breathing, will rise an inch higher every inspiration, and sink as much every expiration, but never so low as that the water may come over the mouth. 7. If therefore a person unacquainted with swimming, and falling accidentally into the water, could have presence of mind sufficient to avoid struggling and plunging, and to let the body take this natural position, he might continue long safe from drowning till perhaps help would come. For as to the cloathes, their additional weight while immersed is very inconsiderable, the water supporting it; though when he comes out of the water, he would find them very heavy indeed. But, as I said before, I would not advise you or any one to depend on having this presence of mind on such an occasion, but learn fairly to swim; as I wish all men were taught to do in their youth; they would, on many occurrences, be the safer for having that skill, and on many more the happier, as freer from painful apprehensions of danger, to say nothing of the enjoyment in so delightful and wholesome an exercise. Soldiers particularly should, methinks, all be taught to swim; it might be of frequent use either in surprising an enemy, or saving themselves. And if I had now boys to educate, I should prefer those schools (other things being equal) where an opportunity was afforded for acquiring so advantageous an art, which once learnt is never forgotten. _I am, Sir, &c._ before 1769 "A RECEIPT FOR MAKING PARMESAN CHEESE" _To John Bartram_ Dear Friend, London July 9, 1769 It is with great Pleasure I understand by your Favour of April 10. that you continue to enjoy so good a Share of Health. I hope it will long continue. And altho' it may not now be suitable for you to make such wide Excursions as heretofore, you may yet be very useful to your Country and to Mankind, if you sit down quietly at home, digest the Knowledge you have acquired, compile and publish the many Observations you have made, and point out the Advantages that may be drawn from the whole, in publick Undertakings or particular private Practice. It is true many People are fond of Accounts of old Buildings, Monuments, &c. but there is a Number who would be much better pleas'd with such Accounts as you could afford them: And for one I confess that if I could find in any Italian Travels a Receipt for making Parmesan Cheese, it would give me more Satisfaction than a Transcript of any Inscription from any old Stone whatever. I suppose Mr. Michael Collinson, or Dr. Fothergill have written to you what may be necessary for your Information relating to your Affairs here. I imagine there is no doubt but the King's Bounty to you will be continued; and that it will be proper for you to continue sending now and then a few such curious Seeds as you can procure to keep up your Claim. And now I mention Seeds, I wish you would send me a few of such as are least common, to the Value of a Guinea, which Mr. Foxcroft will pay you for me. They are for a particular Friend who is very curious. If in any thing I can serve you here, command freely Your affectionate Friend P.S. Pray let me know whether you have had sent you any of the Seeds of the Rhubarb describ'd in the enclos'd Prints. It is said to be of the true kind. If you have it not, I can procure some Seeds for you. "AFFAIRS ARE PERHAPS BELOW NOTICE" _To George Whitefield_ I am under continued apprehensions that we may have bad news from America. The sending soldiers to Boston always appeared to me a dangerous step; they could do no good, they might occasion mischief. When I consider the warm resentment of a people who think themselves injured and oppressed, and the common insolence of the soldiery, who are taught to consider that people as in rebellion, I cannot but fear the consequences of bringing them together. It seems like setting up a smith's forge in a magazine of gunpowder. I _see_ with you that our affairs are not well managed by our rulers here below; I wish I could _believe_ with you, that they are well attended to by those above: I rather suspect, from certain circumstances, that though the general government of the universe is well administered, our particular little affairs are perhaps below notice, and left to take the chance of human prudence or imprudence, as either may happen to be uppermost. It is, however, an uncomfortable thought, and I leave it. before September 2, 1769 "WHOEVER SCRUPLES CHEATING THE KING WILL CERTAINLY NOT WRONG HIS NEIGHBOUR" _To Mary Stevenson_ Saturday Evening, Sept 2. 1769 Just come home from a Venison Feast, where I have drank more than a Philosopher ought, I find my dear Polly's chearful chatty Letter that exhilarates me more than all the Wine. Your good Mother says there is no Occasion for any Intercession of mine in your behalf. She is sensible that she is more in fault than her Daughter. She received an affectionate tender Letter from you, and she has not answered it, tho' she intended to do it; but her Head, not her Heart, has been bad, and unfitted her for Writing. She owns that she is not so good a Subject as you are, and that she is more unwilling to pay Tribute to Cesar, and has less Objection to Smuggling; but 'tis not, she says, mere Selfishness or Avarice; 'tis rather an honest Resentment at the Waste of those Taxes in Pensions, Salaries, Perquisites, Contracts and other Emoluments for the Benefit of People she does not love, and who do not deserve such Advantages, because -- I suppose because they are not of her Party. Present my Respects to your good Landlord and his Family: I honour them for their consciencious Aversion to illicit Trading. There are those in the World who would not wrong a Neighbour, but make no Scruple of cheating the King. The Reverse however does not hold; for whoever scruples cheating the King will certainly not wrong his Neighbour. You ought not to wish yourself an Enthusiast: They have indeed their imaginary Satisfactions and Pleasures; but those are often ballanc'd by imaginary Pains and Mortifications. You can continue to be a good Girl, and thereby lay a solid Foundation for expected future Happiness, without the Enthusiasm that may perhaps be necessary to some others. As those Beings who have a good sensible Instinct, have no need of Reason; so those who have Reason to regulate their Actions, have no Occasion for Enthusiasm. However there are certain Circumstances in Life sometimes, wherein 'tis perhaps best not to hearken to Reason. For instance; Possibly, if the Truth were known, I have Reason to be jealous of this same insinuating handsome young Physician: But as it flatters more my Vanity, and therefore gives me more Pleasure to suppose you were in Spirits on Account of my safe Return, I shall turn a deaf Ear to Reason in this Case, as I have done with Success in twenty others. But I am sure you will always give me Reason enough to continue ever Your affectionate Friend Our Love to Mrs. Tickell. We all long for your Return: Your Dolly was well last Tuesday, the Girls were there on a Visit to her: I mean at Bromley. Adieu. No Time now to give you any Account of my French Journey. "THE TRUE SOURCES OF WEALTH AND PLENTY" _To Timothy Folger_ Loving Kinsman, London, Sept. 29. 1769 Since my Return from abroad, where I spent part of the Summer, I have received your Favours of June 10 and July 26. The Treasury Board is still under Adjournment, the Lords and Secretaries chiefly in the Country; but as soon as they meet again, you may depend on my making the Application you desire. I shall enquire concerning the Affair of your two Townships settled under Massachusetts Grants, and let you know my Sentiments as soon as I can get proper Information. I should imagine that whatever may be determin'd here of the Massachusetts Rights to the Jurisdiction, the private Property of Settlers must remain secure. In general I have no great Opinion of Applications to be made here in such Cases. It is so much the Practice to draw Matters into Length, put the Parties to immense Charge, and tire them out with Delays, that I would never come from America hither with any Affair I could possibly settle there. Mrs. Stevenson sends her Love, and thanks you for remembring her. She is vex'd to hear that the Box of Spermaceti Candles is seiz'd; and says, if ever she sees you again, she will put you in a way of making Reprisals. You know she is a Smuggler upon Principle; and she does not consider how averse you are to every thing of the kind. I thank you for your kind Intention. Your Son grows a fine Youth; he is so obliging as to be with us a little when he has Holidays; and Temple is not the only one of the Family that is fond of his Company. It gives me great Pleasure to hear that our People are steady in their Resolutions of Non Importation, and in the Promoting of Industry among themselves. They will soon be sensible of the Benefit of such Conduct, tho' the Acts should never be repeal'd to their full Satisfaction. For their Earth and their Sea, the true Sources of Wealth and Plenty, will go on producing; and if they receive the annual Increase, and do not waste it as heretofore in the Gewgaws of this Country, but employ their spare time in manufacturing Necessaries for themselves, they must soon be out of debt, they must soon be easy and comfortable in their circumstances, and even wealthy. I have been told, that in some of our County Courts heretofore, there were every quarter several hundred actions of debt, in which the people were sued by Shopkeepers for money due for British _goods_ (as they are called, but in fact _evils_). What a loss of time this must occasion to the people, besides the expense. And how can Freeman bear the thought of subjecting themselves to the hazard of being deprived of their personal liberty at the caprice of every petty trader, for the paltry vanity of tricking out himself and family in the flimsy manufactures of Britain, when they might by their own industry and ingenuity, appear in _good substantial honourable homespun_! Could our folks but see what numbers of Merchants, and even Shopkeepers here, make great estates by American folly; how many shops of A, B, C and Co. with wares for _exportation to the Colonies_, maintain, each shop three or four partners and their families, every one with his country-house and equipage, where they live like Princes on the sweat of our brows; pretending indeed, _sometimes_, to wish well to our Privileges, but on the present important occasion _few_ of them affording us any assistance: I am persuaded that indignation would supply our want of prudence, we should disdain the thraldom we have so long been held in by this mischievous commerce, reject it for ever, and seek our resources where God and Nature have placed them WITHIN OUR SELVES. Your Merchants, on the other hand, have shown a noble _disinterestedness_ and _love to their country_, unexampled among Traders in any other age or nation, and which does them infinite honour all over Europe. The corrupted part indeed of this people _here_ can scarce believe such virtue possible. But perseverance will convince them, that there is still in the world such a thing as public spirit. I hope that, if the oppressive Acts are not repealed this winter, your Stocks, that us'd to be employed in the British Trade, will be turned to the employment of Manufactures among yourselves: For notwithstanding the former general opinion that manufactures were impracticable in America, on account of the dearness of labour, experience shows, in the success of the manufactures of paper and stockings in Pennsylvania, and of womens shoes _at Lynn_ in your province, that labour is only dear _from the want of_ CONSTANT _employment_; (he who is often out of work requiring necessarily as much for the time he does work, as will maintain him when he does not work:) and that where we do not _interrupt that employment_ by importations, _the cheapness of our provisions_ gives us such advantage over the Manufacturers in Britain, that (especially in bulky goods, whose freight would be considerable) _we may always_ UNDERWORK THEM. "I HOPE HOWEVER THAT THIS MAY ALL PROVE FALSE PROPHECY" _To William Strahan_ Dear Sir, Craven Street, Nov. 29. 69 Being just return'd to Town from a little Excursion I find yours of the 22d, containing a Number of Queries that would require a Pamphlet to answer them fully. You however desire only brief Answers, which I shall endeavour to give you. Previous to your Queries, You tell me, that "you apprehend his Majesty's Servants have now in Contemplation; 1st. to releive the Colonists from the Taxes complained of: and 2dly to preserve the Honour, the Dignity, and the Supremacy of the British Legislature over all his Majesty's Dominions." I hope your Information is good, and that what you suppose to be in Contemplation will be carried into Execution, by repealing _all the Laws_ that have been made for raising a Revenue in America by Authority of Parliament, without the consent of the People there. The _Honour_ and _Dignity_ of the British Legislature will not be hurt by such an Act of Justice and Wisdom: The wisest Councils are liable to be misled, especially in Matters remote from their Inspection. It is the persisting in an Error, not the Correcting it that lessens the Honour of any Man or body of Men. The _Supremacy_ of that Legislature, I believe will be best preserv'd by making a very sparing use of it, never but for the Evident Good of the Colonies themselves, or of the whole British Empire; never for the Partial Advantage of Britain to their Prejudice; by such Prudent Conduct I imagine that Supremacy may be gradually strengthened and in time fully Established; but otherwise I apprehend it will be disputed, and lost in the Dispute. At present the Colonies consent and Submit to it for the regulation of General Commerce: But a Submission to Acts of Parliament was no part of their original Constitution. Our former Kings Governed their Colonies, as they Governed their Dominions in France, without the Participation of British Parliaments. The Parliament of England never presum'd to interfere with that prerogative till the Time of the Great Rebellion, when they usurp'd the Government of all the King's other Dominions, Ireland, Scotland &c. The Colonies that held for the King, they conquered by Force of Arms, and Governed afterward as Conquered Countries. But New England having not oppos'd the Parliament, was considered and treated as a Sister Kingdom in Amity with England; as appears by the Journals, Mar. 10. 1642. Your first Question is, 1. "Will not a Repeal of all the Duties (that on Tea excepted, which was before paid here on Exportation, and of Course no new Imposition) fully satisfy the Colonists?" I think not. "2 Your Reasons for that Opinion?" Because it is not _the Sum_ paid in that Duty on Tea that is Complain'd of as a Burthen, but the Principle of the Act express'd in the Preamble, viz. that those Duties were laid for the Better Support of Government and the Administration of Justice in the Colonies. This the Colonists think _unnecessary, unjust_, and _dangerous_ to their Most Important Rights. _Unnecessary_, because in all the Colonies (two or three new ones excepted) Government and the Administration of Justice were and always had been well supported without any Charge to Britain; _Unjust_ as it made such Colonies liable to pay such Charge for other Colonies, in which they had no Concern or Interest; _dangerous_, as such a Mode of raising Money for these Purposes, tended to render their Assemblies useless: For if a Revenue could be rais'd in the Colonies for all the purposes of Government, by Act of Parliament, without Grants from the People there, Governors, who do not generally love Assemblies, would never call them, they would be laid aside; and when nothing Should depend upon the People's good will to Government, their Rights would be trampled on, they would be treated with Contempt. Another Reason why I think they would not be satisfy'd with such a partial repeal, is, that their Agreements not to import till the Repeal takes place, include the whole, which shows that they object to the whole; and those Agreements will continue binding on them if the whole is not repealed. "3. Do you think the only effectual Way of composing the present Differences, is, to put the Americans precisely in the Situation they were in before the passing of the late Stamp Act?" I think so. "4. Your Reasons for that Opinion?" Other Methods have been tryed. They have been rebuked in angry Letters. Their Petitions have been refused or rejected by Parliament. They have been threatened with the Punishments of Treason by Resolves of both Houses. Their Assemblies have been dissolv'd, and Troops have been sent among them; but all these Ways have only exasperated their Minds and widen'd the Breach; their Agreements to use no more British Manufactures have been Strengthen'd, and these Measures instead of composing Differences and promoting a good Correspondence, have almost annihilated your Commerce with those Countries, and greatly endanger'd the National Peace and general Welfare. "5. If this last Method is deemed by the Legislature and his Majisty's Ministers to be repugnant to their Duty as Guardians of the just Rights of the Crown, and of their Fellow Subjects, can you suggest any other Way of terminating these Disputes, consistent with the Ideas of Justice and propriety conceived by the Kings Subjects on both Sides the Atlantick?" A. I do not see how that method can be deemed repugnant _to the Rights of the Crown._ If the Americans are put into their former Situation, it must be by an Act of Parliament, in the Passing of which by the King the Rights of the Crown are exercised not infringed. It is indifferent to the Crown whether the Aids received from America are Granted by Parliament here, or by the Assemblies there, provided the Quantum be the same; and it is my Opinion more will generally be Granted there Voluntarily than can ever be exacted and collected from thence by Authority of parliament. As to the rights of _Fellow Subjects_ (I suppose you mean the People of Britain) I cannot conceive how they will be infringed by that method. They will still enjoy the Right of Granting their own money; and may still, if it pleases them, keep up their Claim to the Right of granting ours; a Right they can never exercise properly, for want of a sufficient Knowledge of us, our Circumstances and Abilities (to say nothing of the little likelihood there is that we should ever submit to it) therefore a Right that can be of no good use to them. And we shall continue to enjoy, _in fact_, the Right of granting our own Money; with the Opinion now universally prevailing among us that we are free Subjects of the King, and that _Fellow Subjects_ of one Part of his Dominions are not Sovereign over _Fellow Subjects_ in any other Part. If the Subjects on the different Sides of the Atlantic, have different and opposite Ideas of Justice or Propriety, no one Method can possibly be consistent with both. The best will be to let each enjoy their own Opinions, without disturbing them when they do not interfere with the common Good. "6. And if this Method were actually followed do you not think it would encourage the Violent and Factious Part of the Colonists to aim at still farther Concessions from the Mother Country?" A. I do not think it would. There may be a few among them that deserve the Name of factious and Violent, as there are in all Countries, but these would have little influence if the great Majority of Sober reasonable People were satisfy'd. If any Colony should happen to think that some of your regulations of Trade are inconvenient to the general Interest of the Empire, or prejudicial to them without being beneficial to you, they will state these Matters to the Parliament in Petitions as heretofore, but will, I believe, take no violent steps to obtain, what they may hope for in time from the Wisdom of Government here. I know of nothing else they can have in View. The Notion that prevails here of their being desirous of setting up a Kingdom or Common Wealth of their own, is to my certain Knowledge entirely groundless. I therefore think that on a total Repeal of all Duties laid expressly for the purpose of raising a Revenue on the People of America, without their Consent, the present Uneasiness would subside; the Agreements not to import would be dissolved, and the Commerce flourish as heretofore. And I am confirm'd in this Sentiment by all the Letters I have received from America, and by the Opinion of all the Sensible People who have lately come from thence, Crown Officers excepted. I know indeed that the people of Boston are grievously offended by the Quartering of Troops among them, as they think, contrary to Law; and are very angry with the Board of Commissioners to have calumniated them to Government; but as I suppose withdrawing of those Troops may be a Consequence of Reconciliating Measures taking Place; and that the Commission also will either be dissolv'd if found useless, or fill'd with more temporate and prudent Men if still deemed useful and necessary, I do not imagine these Particulars will prevent a return of the Harmony so much to be wished. "7. If they are relieved in Part only, what do you, as a reasonable and dispassionate Man, and an equal Friend to both sides, imagine will be the probable Consequence?" A. I imagine that repealing the offensive Duties in part will answer no End to this Country; the Commerce will remain obstructed, and the Americans go on with their Schemes of Frugality, Industry and Manufactures, to their own great Advantage. How much that may tend to the prejudice of Britain I cannot say; perhaps not so much as some apprehend, since she may in time find New Markets. But I think (if the Union of the two Countries continues to subsist) it will not hurt the _general_ interest; for whatever Wealth Britain loses by the Failure of its Trade with the Colonies, America will gain; and the Crown will receive equal Aids from its Subjects upon the whole, if not greater. And now I have answered your Questions as to what _may be_ in my Opinion the Consequences of this or that _supposed_ Measure, I will go a little farther, and tell you what I fear is more likely to come to pass _in Reality._ I apprehend, that the Ministry, at least the American part of it, being fully persuaded of the Right of Parliament, think it ought to be enforc'd whatever may be the Consequences; and at the same time do not believe there is even now any Abatement of the Trade between the two Countries on account of these Disputes; or that if there is, it is small and cannot long Continue; they are assured by the Crown officers in America that Manufactures are impossible there; that the Discontented are few, and Persons of little Consequence; that almost all the People of Property and Importance are satisfyd, and disposed to submit quietly to the Taxing-Power of Parliament; and that if the Revenue Acts are continued, those Duties only that are called anti-commercial being repealed, and others perhaps laid in their stead, that Power will ere long be patiently submitted to, and the Agreements not to import be broken when they are found to produce no Change of Measures here. From these and similar Misinformations, which seem to be credited, I think it likely that no thorough redress of Grievances will be afforded to America this Session. This may inflame Matters still more in that Country; farther rash Measures there may create more Resentment here, that may Produce not merely ill-advis'd and useless Dissolutions of their Assemblies, as last Year; but Attempts to Dissolve their Constitutions; more Troops may be sent over, which will create more Uneasiness; to justify the Measures of Government your Ministerial Writers will revile the Americans in your Newspapers, as they have already began to do, treating them as Miscreants, Rogues, Dastards, Rebels, &c. which will tend farther to alienate the Minds of the People here from them, and diminish their Affections to this Country. Possibly too, some of their warm patriots may be distracted enough to expose themselves by some mad Action, to be sent for Hither, and Government here be indiscreet enough to Hang them on the Act of H. 8. Mutual Provocations will thus go on to complete the Separation; and instead of that cordial Affection that once and so long existed, and that Harmony so suitable to the Circumstances, and so Necessary to the Happiness, Strength Safety and Welfare of both Countries; an implacable Malice and Mutual Hatred, (such as we now see subsisting between the Spaniards and Portuguese, the Genoese and Corsicans, from the same Original Misconduct in the Superior Government) will take place; the Sameness of Nation, the Similarity of Religion, Manners and Language not in the least Preventing in our Case, more than it did in theirs. I hope however that this may all prove false Prophecy: And that you and I may live to see as sincere and Perfect a friendship establish'd between our respective Countries as has so many years Subsisted between Mr. Strahan and his truly affectionate Friend "IF WE ARE STEADY AND PERSEVERE IN OUR RESOLUTIONS" _To [Charles Thomson]_ Dear Sir London March 18th. 1770 Your very judicious Letter of Novemr. 26th. being communicated by me to some Member of Parliament, was handed about among them, so that it was sometime before I got it again into my Hands. It had due Weight with several, and was of considerable Use. You will see that I printed it at length in the London Chronicle with the Merchants' Letter. When the American Affairs came to be debated in the House of Commons, the Majority, notwithstanding all the Weight of ministerial Influence, was only 62 for continuing the whole last Act; and would not have been so large, nay, I think the Repeal would have been carried, but that the Ministry were persuaded by Governor Bernard and some lying Letters said to be from Boston, that the Associations not to import were all breaking to Pieces, that America was in the greatest Distress for Want of the Goods, that we could not possibly subsist any longer without them, and must of course submit to any Terms Parliament should think fit to impose upon us. This with the idle Notion of the Dignity and Sovereignty of Parliament, which they are so fond of, and imagine will be endanger'd by any farther Concessions, prevailed I know with many to vote with the Ministry, who otherwise, on Account of the Commerce, wish to see the Difference accommodated. But though both the Duke of Grafton and Lord North were and are in my Opinion rather inclined to satisfy us, yet the Bedford Party are so violent against us, and so prevalent in the Council, that more moderate Measures could not take Place. This Party never speak of us but with evident Malice; Rebels and Traitors are the best Names they can afford us, and I believe they only wish for a colourable Pretence and Occasion of ordering the Souldiers to make a Massacre among us. On the other Hand the Rockingham and Shelburne People, with Lord Chatham's Friends, are disposed to favour us if they were again in Power, which at present they are not like to be; tho' they, too, would be for keeping up the Claim of parliamentary Sovereignty, but without exercising it in any Mode of Taxation. Besides these, we have for sincere Friends and Wellwishers the Body of Dissenters, generally, throughout England, with many others, not to mention Ireland and all the rest of Europe, who from various Motives join in applauding the Spirit of Liberty, with which we have claimed and insisted on our Privileges, and wish us Success, but whose Suffrage cannot have much Weight in our Affairs. The Merchants here were at length prevailed on to present a Petition, but they moved slowly, and some of them I thought reluctantly; perhaps from a Despair of Success, the City not being much in favour with the Court at present. The manufacturing Towns absolutely refused to move at all; some pretending to be offended with our attempting to manufacture for ourselves; others saying that they had Employment enough, and that our Trade was of little Importance to them, whether we continued or refused it. Those who began a little to feel the Effects of our forbearing to purchase, were persuaded to be quiet by the ministerial People; who gave out that certain Advices were receiv'd of our beginning to break our Agreements; of our Attempts to manufacture proving all abortive and ruining the Undertakers; of our Distress for Want of Goods, and Dissentions among ourselves, which promised the total Defeat of all such Kind of Combinations, and the Prevention of them for the future, if the Government were not urged imprudently to repeal the Duties. But now that it appears from late and authentic Accounts, that Agreements continue in full Force, that a Ship is actually return'd from Boston to Bristol with Nails and Glass, (Articles that were thought of the utmost Necessity,) and that the Ships that were waiting here for the Determination of Parliament, are actually returning to North America in thier Ballast; the Tone of the Manufacturers begins to change, and there is no doubt, that if we are steady and persevere in our Resolutions, these People will soon begin a Clamor that much Pains has hitherto been used to stifle. In short, it appears to me, that if we do not now persist in this Measure till it has had its full Effect, it can never again be used on any future Occasion with the least prospect of Success, and that if we do persist another year, we shall never afterwards have occasion to use it. With sincere regards I am, Dear Sir, Your obedient Servant, "I SHOULD THINK YOU A FORTUNE SUFFICIENT FOR ME WITHOUT A SHILLING" _To Mary Stevenson_ Dear Polly Thursday May 31. 70 I receiv'd your Letter early this Morning, and as I am so engag'd that I cannot see you when you come to-day, I write this Line just to say, That I am sure you are a much better Judge in this Affair of your own than I can possibly be; in that Confidence it was that I forbore giving my Advice when you mention'd it to me, and not from any Disapprobation. My Concern (equal to any Father's) for your Happiness, makes me write this, lest having more Regard for my Opinion than you ought, and imagining it against the Proposal because I did not immediately advise accepting it, you should let that weigh any thing in your Deliberations. I assure you that no Objection has occur'd to me; his Person you see, his Temper and his Understanding you can judge of, his Character for any thing I have ever heard is unblemished; his Profession, with that Skill in it he is suppos'd to have, will be sufficient to support a Family; and therefore considering the Fortune you have in your Hands, (tho' any future Expectation from your Aunt should be disappointed) I do not see but that the Agreement may be a rational one on both sides. I see your Delicacy; and your Humility too; for you fancy that if you do not prove a great Fortune you will not be belov'd; but I am sure that were I in his Situation in every respect, knowing you so well as I do, and esteeming you so highly, I should think you a Fortune sufficient for me without a Shilling. Having thus more explicitly than before, given my Opinion, I leave the rest to your sound Judgment, of which no one has a greater Share; and shall not be too inquisitive after your particular Reasons, your Doubts, your Fears, &c. For I shall be confident whether you accept or refuse, that you do right. I only wish you may do what will most contribute to your Happiness, and of course to mine; being ever, my dear Friend, Yours most affectionately Don't be angry with me for supposing your Determination not quite so fix'd as you fancy it. "THE SOLE LEGISLATOR OF HIS AMERICAN SUBJECTS" _To Samuel Cooper_ Dear Sir, London, June 8. 1770 I received duly your Favour of March 28. With this I send you two Speeches in Parliament on our Affairs by a Member that you know. The Repeal of the whole late Act would undoubtedly have been a prudent Measure, and I have reason to believe that Lord North was for it, but some of the other Ministers could not be brought to agree to it. So the Duty on Tea, with that obnoxious Preamble, remains to continue the Dispute. But I think the next Session will hardly pass over without repealing them; for the Parliament must finally comply with the Sense of the Nation. As to the Standing Army kept up among us in time of Peace, without the Consent of our Assemblies, I am clearly of Opinion that it is not agreable to the Constitution. Should the King by the Aid of his Parliaments in Ireland and the Colonies, raise an Army and bring it into England, quartering it here in time of Peace without the Consent of the Parliament of Great Britain, I am persuaded he would soon be told that he had no Right so to do, and the Nation would ring with Clamours against it. I own that I see no Difference in the Cases. And while we continue so many distinct and separate States, our having the same Head or Sovereign, the King, will not justify such an Invasion of the separate Right of each State to be consulted on the Establishment of whatever Force is proposed to be kept up within its Limits, and to give or refuse its Consent as shall appear most for the Public Good of that State. That the Colonies originally were constituted distinct States, and intended to be continued such, is clear to me from a thorough Consideration of their original Charters, and the whole Conduct of the Crown and Nation towards them until the Restoration. Since that Period, the Parliament here has usurp'd an Authority of making Laws for them, which before it had not. We have for some time submitted to that Usurpation, partly thro' Ignorance and Inattention, and partly from our Weakness and Inability to contend. I hope when our Rights are better understood here, we shall, by a prudent and proper Conduct be able to obtain from the Equity of this Nation a Restoration of them. And in the mean time I could wish that such Expressions as, _The supreme Authority of Parliament_; _The Subordinacy of our Assemblies to the Parliament_ and the like (which in Reality mean nothing if our Assemblies with the King have a true Legislative Authority) I say, I could wish that such Expressions were no more seen in our publick Pieces. They are too strong for Compliment, and tend to confirm a Claim of Subjects in one Part of the King's Dominions to be Sovereigns over their Fellow-Subjects in another Part of his Dominions; when in truth they have no such Right, and their Claim is founded only on Usurpation, the several States having equal Rights and Liberties, and being only connected, as England and Scotland were before the Union, by having one common Sovereign, the King. This kind of Doctrine the Lords and Commons here would deem little less than Treason against what they think their Share of the Sovereignty over the Colonies. To me those Bodies seem to have been long encroaching on the Rights of their and our Sovereign, assuming too much of his Authority, and betraying his Interests. By our Constitutions he is, with his Plantation Parliaments, the sole Legislator of his American Subjects, and in that Capacity is and ought to be free to exercise his own Judgment unrestrain'd and unlimited by his Parliament here. And our Parliaments have Right to grant him Aids without the Consent of this Parliament, a Circumstance which, by the way begins to give it some Jealousy. Let us therefore hold fast our Loyalty to our King (who has the best Disposition towards us, and has a Family-Interest in our Prosperity) as that steady Loyalty is the most probable Means of securing us from the arbitrary Power of a corrupt Parliament, that does not like us, and conceives itself to have an Interest in keeping us down and fleecing us. If they should urge the _Inconvenience_ of an Empire's being divided into so many separate States, and from thence conclude that we are not so divided; I would answer, that an Inconvenience proves nothing but itself. England and Scotland were once separate States, under the same King. The Inconvenience found in their being separate States, did not prove that the Parliament of England had a Right to govern Scotland. A formal Union was thought necessary, and England was an hundred Years soliciting it, before she could bring it about. If Great Britain now thinks such an Union necessary with us, let her propose her Terms, and we may consider of them. Were the general Sentiments of this Nation to be consulted in the Case, I should hope the Terms, whether practicable or not, would at least be equitable: for I think that except among those with whom the Spirit of Toryism prevails, the popular Inclination here is, to wish us well, and that we may preserve our Liberties. I unbosom my self thus to you in Confidence of your Prudence, and wishing to have your Sentiments on the Subject in Return. Mr. Pownall, I suppose, will acquaint you with the Event of his Motions, and therefore I say nothing more of them, than that he appears very sincere in his Endeavours to serve us; on which Account I some time since republish'd with Pleasure the parting Addresses to him of your Assembly, with some previous Remarks, to his Honour as well as in Justification of our People. I hope that before this time those detestable Murderers have quitted your Province, and that the Spirit of Industry and Frugality continues and increases. With sincerest Esteem and Affection, I am, Dear Sir, Your most obedient and most humble Servant P.S. Just before the last Session of Parliament commenced a Friend of mine, who had Connections with some of the Ministry, wrote me a Letter purposely to draw from me my Sentiments in Writing on the then State of Affairs. I wrote a pretty free Answer, which I know was immediately communicated and a good deal handed about among them. For your _private Amusement_ I send you Copies. I wish you may be able to read them, as they are very badly written by a very blundering Clerk. "HITHERTO MADE NO ATTEMPT UPON MY VIRTUE" _To Mary Stevenson Hewson_ Dear Polly, London, July 18. 1770 Yours of the 15th. informing me of your agreable Journey and safe Arrival at Hexham gave me great Pleasure, and would make your good Mother happy if I knew how to convey it to her; but 'tis such an out-of-the-way Place she is gone to, and the Name so out of my Head, that the Good News must wait her Return. Enclos'd I send you a Letter which came before she went, and, supposing it from my Daughter Bache, she would have me open and read it to her, so you see if there had been any Intrigue between the Gentleman and you, how all would have been discovered. Your Mother went away on Friday last, taking with her Sally and Temple, trusting me alone with Nanny, who indeed has hitherto made no Attempt upon my Virtue. Neither Dolly nor Barwell, nor any other good Female Soul of your Friends or mine have been nigh me, nor offered me the least Consolation by Letter in my present lonesome State. I hear the Post-man's Bell, so can only add my affectionate Respects to Mr. Hewson, and best Wishes of perpetual Happiness for you both. I am, as ever, my dear good Girl, Your affectionate Friend "HAVE YOU THEN GOT NE'ER A GRANDMOTHER?" _To Deborah Franklin_ My dear Child, London, Oct. 3. 1770 I received your kind Letter of Aug. 16. which gave me a great deal of Satisfaction. I am glad your little Grandson recovered so soon of his Illness, as I see you are quite in Love with him, and your Happiness wrapt up in his; since your whole long Letter is made up of the History of his pretty Actions. It was very prudently done of you not to interfere when his Mother thought fit to correct him; which pleases me the more, as I feared, from your Fondness of him, that he would be too much humoured, and perhaps spoiled. There is a Story of two little Boys in the Street; one was crying bitterly; the other came to him to ask what was the Matter? I have been, says he, for a pennyworth of Vinegar, and I have broke the Glass and spilt the Vinegar, and my Mother will whip me. _No, she won't whip you_ says the other. Indeed she will, says he. _What,_ says the other, _have you then got ne'er a Grandmother?_ I am sorry I did not send one of my Books to Mr. Rhodes, since he was desirous of seeing it. My Love to him, and to all enquiring Friends. Mrs. West was here to day, and desired me to mention her Love to you. Mr. Strahan and Family are all well, always enquire how you all do, and send their Love. Mrs Stevenson is at present in the Country. But Polly sends her Love to you and Mrs Bache and the young Gentleman. My Love to all. I am, as ever, Your affectionate Husband ``THIS WORLD IS THE TRUE HELL'' _To Jane Mecom_ Dear Sister London Dec. 30. 1770 This Ship staying longer than was expected, gives me an Opportunity of writing to you which I thought I must have miss'd when I desir'd Cousin Williams to excuse me to you. I received your kind Letter of Sept. 25 by the young Gentlemen, who, by their discreet Behaviour have recommended themselves very much to me and many of my Acquaintance. Josiah has attained his Heart's Desire of being under the Tuition of Mr. Stanley, who, tho, he had long left off Teaching, kindly undertook at my Request to instruct him, and is much pleased with his Quickness of Apprehension and the Progress he makes; and Jonathan appears a very valuable young Man, sober, regular, and inclin'd to Industry and Frugality, which are promising Signs of Success in Business: I am very happy in their Company. As to the Rumour you mention (which was, as Josiah tells me, that I had been depriv'd of my Place in the Post Office on Account of a letter I wrote to Philadelphia) it might have this Foundation, that some of the Ministry had been displeas'd at my Writing such Letters, and there were really some Thoughts among them of shewing that Displeasure in that manner. But I had some Friends too, who unrequested by me advis'd the contrary. And my Enemies were forc'd to content themselves with abusing me plentifully in the Newspapers, and endeavouring to provoke me to resign. In this they are not likely to succeed, I being deficient in that Christian Virtue of Resignation. If they would have my Office, they must take it -- I have heard of some great Man, whose Rule it was with regard to Offices, _Never to ask for them_, and _never to refuse them_: To which I have always added in my own Practice, _Never to resign them._ As I told my Friends, I rose to that office thro' a long Course of Service in the inferior Degrees of it: Before my time, thro' bad Management, it never produced the Salary annex'd to it; and when I receivd it, no Salary was to be allow'd if the office did not produce it. During the first four Years it was so far from defraying itself, that it became 950 pounds Sterling in debt to me and my Collegue. I had been chiefly instrumental in bringing it to its present flourishing State, and therefore thought I had some kind of Right to it. I had hitherto executed the Duties of it faithfully, and to the perfect Satisfaction of my Superiors, which I thought was all that should be expected of me on that Account. As to the Letters complain'd of, it was true I did write them, and they were written in Compliance with another Duty, that to my Country. A Duty quite Distinct from that of Postmaster. My Conduct in this respect was exactly similar with that I held on a similar Occasion but a few Years ago, when the then Ministry were ready to hug me for the Assistance I afforded them in repealing a former Revenue Act. My Sentiments were still the same, that no such Acts should be made here for America; or, if made should as soon as possible be repealed; and I thought it should not be expected of me, to change my Political Opinions every time his Majesty thought fit to change his Ministers. This was my Language on the Occasion; and I have lately heard, that tho I was thought much to blame, it being understood that every Man who holds an Office should act with the Ministry whether agreable or not to his own Judgment, yet in consideration of the goodness of my private Character (as they are pleas'd to compliment me) the office was not to be taken from me. Possibly they may still change their Minds, and remove me; but no Apprehension of that sort, will, I trust, make the least Alteration in my Political Conduct. My rule in which I have always found Satisfaction, is, Never to turn asside in Publick Affairs thro' Views of private Interest; but to go strait forward in doing what appears to me right at the time, leaving the Consequences with Providence. What in my younger Days enabled me more easily to walk upright, was, that I had a Trade; and that I could live upon a little; and thence (never having had views of making a Fortune) I was free from Avarice, and contented with the plentiful Supplies my business afforded me. And now it is still more easy for me to preserve my Freedom and Integrity, when I consider, that I am almost at the End of my Journey, and therefore need less to complete the Expence of it; and that what I now possess thro' the Blessing of God may with tolerable Oeconomy, be sufficient for me (great Misfortunes excepted) tho' I should add nothing more to it by any Office or Employment whatsoever. I send you by this Opportunity the 2 Books you wrote for. They cost 3_s._ a piece. When I was first in London, about 45 Years since, I knew a person who had an Opinion something like your Author's -- Her Name was _Ilive_, a Printer's Widow. She dy'd soon after I left England, and by her Will oblig'd her son to deliver publickly in Salter's Hall a Solemn Discourse, the purport of which was to prove, that this World is the true Hell or Place of Punishment for the Spirits who had transgress'd in a better State, and were sent here to suffer for their sins in Animals of all Sorts. It is long since I saw the Discourse, which was printed. I think a good deal of Scripture was cited in it, and that the Supposition was, that tho' we now remember'd nothing of such pre-existent State; yet after Death we might recollect it, and remember the Punishments we had suffer'd, so as to be the better for them; and others who had not yet offended, might now behold and be warn'd by our Sufferings. In fact we see here that every lower Animal has its Enemy with proper Inclinations, Faculties and Weapons, to terrify, wound and destroy it; and that Men, who are uppermost, are Devils to one another; So that on the establish'd Doctrine of the Goodness and Justice of the great Creator, this apparent State of general and systematical Mischief, seem'd to demand some such Supposition as Mrs. Ilives, to account for it consistent with the Honour of the Diety. But our reasoning Powers when employ'd about what may have been before our Existence here, or shall be after it, cannot go far for want of History and Facts: Revelation only can give us the necessary Information, and that (in the first of these Points especially) has been very sparingly afforded us. I hope you continue to correspond with your Friends at Philadelphia, or else I shall think there has been some Miff between you; which indeed, to confess the Truth, I was a little afraid, from some Instances of others, might possibly happen, and that prevented my ever urging you to make such a visit especially as I think there is rather an overquantity of Touchwood in your Constitution. My Love to your Children, and believe me ever, Your affectionate Brother Let none of my Letters go out of your Hands. HOW RAINDROPS GROW _To Thomas Percival_ On my return to London I found your favour, of the sixteenth of May (1771). I wish I could, as you desire, give you a better explanation of the phaenomenon in question, since you seem not quite satisfied with your own; but I think we want more and a greater variety of experiments in different circumstances, to enable us to form a thoroughly satisfactory hypothesis. Not that I make the least doubt of the facts already related, as I know both Lord Charles Cavendish, and Dr. Heberden to be very accurate experimenters: but I wish to know the event of the trials proposed in your six queries; and also, whether in the same place where the lower vessel receives nearly twice the quantity of water that is received by the upper, a third vessel placed at half the height will receive a quantity proportionable. I will however endeavour to explain to you what occurred to me, when I first heard of the fact. I suppose, it will be generally allowed, on a little consideration of the subject, that scarce any drop of water was, when it began to fall from the clouds, of a magnitude equal to that it has acquired, when it arrives at the earth; the same of the several pieces of hail; because they are often so large and weighty, that we cannot conceive a possibility of their being suspended in the air, and remaining at rest there, for any time, how small soever; nor do we conceive any means of forming them so large, before they set out to fall. It seems then, that each beginning drop, and particle of hail, receives continual addition in its progress downwards. This may be several ways: by the union of numbers in their course, so that what was at first only a descending mist, becomes a shower; or by each particle in its descent through air that contains a great quantity of dissolved water, striking against, attaching to itself, and carrying down with it, such particles of that dissolved water, as happen to be in its way; or attracting to itself such as do not lie directly in its course, by its different state with regard either to common or electric fire; or by all these causes united. In the first case, by the uniting of numbers, larger drops might be made, but the quantity falling in the same space would be the same at all heights; unless, as you mention, the whole should be contracted in falling, the lines described by all the drops converging, so that what set out to fall from a cloud of many thousand acres, should reach the earth in perhaps a third of that extent, of which I somewhat doubt. In the other cases we have two experiments. 1. A dry glass bottle, filled with very cold water, in a warm day, will presently collect from the seemingly dry air that surrounds it, a quantity of water that shall cover its surface and run down its sides, which perhaps is done by the power wherewith the cold water attracts the fluid, common fire that had been united with the dissolved water in the air, and drawing that fire through the glass into itself, leaves the water on the outside. 2. An electrified body left in a room for some time, will be more covered with dust than other bodies in the same room not electrified, which dust seems to be attracted from the circumambient air. Now we know that the rain, even in our hottest days, comes from a very cold region. Its falling sometimes in the form of ice, shews this clearly; and perhaps even the rain is snow or ice when it first moves downwards, though thawed in falling: And we know that the drops of rain are often electrified: But those causes of addition to each drop of water, or piece of hail, one would think could not long continue to produce the same effect; since the air, through which the drops fall, must soon be stript of its previously dissolved water, so as to be no longer capable of augmenting them. Indeed very heavy showers, of either, are never of long continuance; but moderate rains often continue so long as to puzzle this hypothesis: So that upon the whole I think, as I intimated before, that we are yet hardly ripe for making one. June? 1771 "AN ADVENTURE TO GAIN FORBIDDEN KNOWLEDGE" _To Jane Mecom_ Dear Sister, London, July 17. 1771 I have received your kind Letter of May 10. You seem so sensible of your Error in so hastily suspecting me, that I am now in my turn sorry I took Notice of it. Let us then suppose that Accompt ballanced and settled, and think no more of it. In some former Letter I believe I mention'd the Price of the Books, which I have now forgotten: But I think it was 3_s._ each. To be sure there are Objections to the Doctrine of Pre-existence: But it seems to have been invented with a good Intention, to save the Honour of the Deity, which was thought to be injured by the Supposition of his bringing Creatures into the World to be miserable, without any previous misbehaviour of theirs to deserve it. This, however, is perhaps an officious Supporting of the Ark, without being call'd to such Service. Where he has thought fit to draw a Veil, our Attempting to remove it may be deem'd at least an offensive Impertinence. And we shall probably succeed little better in such an Adventure to gain forbidden Knowledge, than our first Parents did when they ate the Apple. I meant no more by saying Mankind were Devils to one another than that being in general superior to the Malice of the other Creatures, they were not so much tormented by them as by themselves. Upon the whole I am much disposed to like the World as I find it, and to doubt my own Judgment as to what would mend it. I see so much Wisdom in what I understand of its Creation and Government, that I suspect equal Wisdom may be in what I do not understand. And thence have perhaps as much Trust in God as the most pious Christian. I am very happy that a good Understanding continues between you and the Philadelphia Folks. Our Father, who was a very wise man, us'd to say, nothing was more common than for those who lov'd one another at a distance, to find many Causes of Dislike when they came together; and therefore he did not approve of Visits to Relations in distant Places, which could not well be short enough for them to part good Friends. I saw a Proof of it, in the Disgusts between him and his Brother Benjamin; and tho' I was a Child I still remember how affectionate their Correspondence was while they were separated, and the Disputes and Misunderstandings they had when they came to live some time together in the same House. But you have been more prudent, and restrain'd that "Aptness" you say you have "to interfere in other People's oeconomical Affairs by putting in a Word now and then unasked." And so all's well that ends well. I thought you had mentioned in one of your Letters a Desire to have Spectacles of some sort sent you; but I cannot now find such a Letter. However I send you a Pair of every Size of Glasses from 1 to 13. To suit yourself, take out a Pair at a time, and hold one of the Glasses first against one Eye, and then against the other, looking on some small Print. If the first Pair suits neither Eye, put them up again before you open a second. Thus you will keep them from mixing. By trying and comparing at your Leisure, you may find those that are best for you, which you cannot well do in a Shop, where for want of Time and Care, People often take such as strain their Eyes and hurt them. I advise your trying each of your Eyes separately, because few Peoples Eyes are Fellows, and almost every body in reading or working uses one Eye principally, the other being dimmer or perhaps fitter for distant Objects; and thence it happens that the Spectacles whose Glasses are Fellows suit sometimes that Eye which before was not used tho' they do not suit the other. When you have suited your self, keep the higher Numbers for future Use as your Eyes may grow older; and oblige your Friends with the others. I was lately at Sheffield and Birmingham, where I bought a few plated Things which I send you as Tokens, viz. A Pair of Sauceboats, a Pair of flat Candlesticks, and a Saucepan, lined with Silver. Please to accept of them. I have had one of the latter in constant Use 12 Years, and the Silver still holds. But Tinning is soon gone. Mrs. Stevenson and Mrs. Hewson present their Compliments, the latter has a fine Son. Sally Franklin sends her Duty to you. I wonder you have not heard of her till lately. She has lived with me these 5 Years, a very good Girl, now near 16. She is Great Grandaughter of our Father's Brother John, who was a Dyer at Banbury in Oxfordshire, where our Father learnt that Trade of him, and where our Grandfather Thomas lies buried: I saw his Gravestone. Sally's Father, John's Grandson, is now living at Lutterworth in Leicestershire, where he follows the same Business, his Father too being bred a Dyer, as was our Uncle Benjamin. He is a Widower, and Sally his only Child. These two are the only Descendants of our Grandfather Thomas now remaining in England that retain that Name of _Franklin_. The Walkers are descended of John by a Daughter that I have seen, lately deceased. Sally and Cousin Williams's Children, and Henry Walker who now attends Josiah are Relations in the same degree to one another and to your and my Grandchildren, viz Thomas Franklin of Ecton in N.hamptonshire born 1598 1 John F. 1 Josiah F. Banbury 2 Anne W. 2 Thomas F. 2 Anne Harris 2 Jane Mecom 2 B.F. Banbury 3 Hannah 3 Thomas F. 3 Grace Williams 3 B. Mecom 3 S.B. Walker Lutterworth 4 Henry W. 4 Sally F. 4 Jonathan or 4 his Children 4 B.F.B. Josiah Williams What is this Relation called? Is it third Cousins? Having mentioned so many Dyers in our Family, I will now it's in my Mind request of you a full and particular Receipt for Dying Worsted of that beautiful Red, which you learnt of our Mother. And also a Receipt for making Crown Soap. Let it be very exact in the smallest Particulars. Enclos'd I send you a Receipt for making soft Soap in the Sun. I have never seen any young Men from America that acquir'd by their Behaviour here more general Esteem than those you recommended to me. Josiah has stuck close to his musical Studies, and still continues them. Jonathan has been diligent in Business for his Friends as well as himself, obliging to every body, tender of his Brother, not fond of the expensive Amusements of the Place, regular in his Hours, and spending what Leisure Hours he had in the Study of Mathematics. He goes home to settle in Business, and I think there is great Probability of his doing well. With best Wishes for you and all yours, I am ever, Your affectionate Brother I have mislaid the Soap Receipt but will send it when I find it. "WHAT SORT OF HUSBANDS WOULD BE FITTEST" _To Anna Mordaunt Shipley_ Dear Madam, London, Aug. 13. 1771 This is just to let you know that we arriv'd safe and well in Marlborough Street about Six, where I deliver'd up my Charge. The above seems too short for a Letter; so I will lengthen it by a little Account of our Journey. The first Stage we were rather pensive. I tried several Topics of Conversation, but none of them would hold. But after Breakfast, we began to recover Spirits, and had a good deal of Chat. Will you hear some of it? We talk'd of her Brother, and she wish'd he was married. And don't you wish your Sisters married too? Yes. All but Emily; I would not have her married. Why? Because I can't spare her, I can't part with her. The rest may marry as soon as they please, so they do but get good Husbands. We then took upon us to consider for 'em what sort of Husbands would be fittest for every one of them. We began with Georgiana. She thought a Country Gentleman, that lov'd Travelling and would take her with him, that lov'd Books and would hear her read to him; I added, that had a good Estate and was a Member of Parliament and lov'd to see an Experiment now and then. This she agreed to; so we set him down for Georgiana, and went on to Betsy. Betsy, says I, seems of a sweet mild Temper, and if we should give her a Country Squire, and he should happen to be of a rough, passionate Turn, and be angry now and then, it might break her Heart. O, none of 'em must be so; for then they would not be good Husbands. To make sure of this Point, however, for Betsey, shall we give her a Bishop? O no, that won't do. They all declare against the Church, and against the Army; not one of them will marry either a Clergyman or an Officer; that they are resolv'd upon. What can be their reason for that? Why you know, that when a Clergyman or an Officer dies, the Income goes with 'em; and then what is there to maintain the Family? there's the Point. Then suppose we give her a good, honest, sensible City Merchant, who will love her dearly and is very rich? I don't know but that may do. We proceeded to Emily, her dear Emily, I was afraid we should hardly find any thing good enough for Emily; but at last, after first settling that, if she did marry, Kitty was to live a good deal with her; we agreed that as Emily was very handsome we might expect an Earl for her: So having fix'd her, as I thought, a Countess, we went on to Anna-Maria. She, says Kitty, should have a rich Man that has a large Family and a great many things to take care of; for she is very good at managing, helps my Mama very much, can look over Bills, and order all sorts of Family Business. Very well; and as there is a Grace and Dignity in her Manner that would become the Station, what do you think of giving her a Duke? O no! I'll have the Duke for Emily. You may give the Earl to Anna-Maria if you please: But Emily shall have the Duke. I contested this Matter some time; but at length was forc'd to give up the point, leave Emily in Possession of the Duke, and content myself with the Earl for Anna Maria. And now what shall we do for Kitty? We have forgot her, all this Time. Well, and what will you do for her? I suppose that tho' the rest have resolv'd against the Army, she may not yet have made so rash a Resolution. Yes, but she has: Unless, now, an old one, an old General that has done fighting, and is rich, such a one as General Rufane; I like him a good deal; You must know I like an old Man, indeed I do: And some how or other all the old Men take to me, all that come to our House like me better than my other Sisters: I go to 'em and ask 'em how they do, and they like it mightily; and the Maids take notice of it, and say when they see an old Man come, there's a Friend of yours, Miss Kitty. But then as you like an old General, hadn't you better take him while he's a young Officer, and let him grow old upon your Hands, because then, you'll like him better and better every Year as he grows older and older. No, that won't do. He must be an old Man of 70 or 80, and take me when I am about 30: And then you know I may be a rich young Widow. We din'd at Staines, she was Mrs. Shipley, cut up the Chicken pretty handily (with a little Direction) and help'd me in a very womanly Manner. Now, says she, when I commended her, my Father never likes to see me or Georgiana carve, because we do it, he says, so badly: But how should we learn if we never try? We drank good Papa and Mama's Health, and the Health's of the Dutchess, the Countess, the Merchant's Lady, the Country Gentlewoman, and our Welsh Brother. This brought their Affairs again under Consideration. I doubt, says she, we have not done right for Betsey. I don't think a Merchant will do for her. She is much inclin'd to be a fine Gentlewoman; and is indeed already more of the fine Gentlewoman, I think, than any of my other Sisters; and therefore she shall be a Vice Countess. Thus we chatted on, and she was very entertaining quite to Town. I have now made my Letter as much too long as it was at first too short. The Bishop would think it too trifling, therefore don't show it him. I am afraid too that you will think it so, and have a good mind not to send it. Only it tells you Kitty is well at School, and for that I let it go. My Love to the whole amiable Family, best Respects to the Bishop, and 1000 Thanks for all your Kindnesses, and for the happy Days I enjoy'd at Twyford. With the greatest Esteem and Respect, I am, Madam, Your most obedient humble Servant "COMPAR'D TO THESE PEOPLE EVERY INDIAN IS A GENTLEMAN" _To Joshua Babcock_ Dear Sir, London, Jan. 13. 1772 It was with great Pleasure I learnt by Mr. Marchant, that you and Mrs. Babcock and all your good Family continue well and happy. I hope I shall find you all in the same State when I next come your Way, and take Shelter as often heretofore under your hospitable Roof. The Colonel, I am told, continues an active and able Farmer, the most honourable of all Employments, in my Opinion as being the most useful in itself, and rendring the Man most independent. My Namesake, his Son, will soon I hope be able to drive the Plough for him. I have lately made a Tour thro' Ireland and Scotland. In these Countries a small Part of the Society are Landlords, great Noblemen and Gentlemen, extreamly opulent, living in the highest Affluence and Magnificence: The Bulk of the People Tenants, extreamly poor, living in the most sordid Wretchedness in dirty Hovels of Mud and Straw, and cloathed only in Rags. I thought often of the Happiness of New England, where every Man is a Freeholder, has a Vote in publick Affairs, lives in a tidy warm House, has plenty of good Food and Fewel, with whole Cloaths from Head to Foot, the Manufactury perhaps of his own Family. Long may they continue in this Situation! But if they should ever envy the _Trade_ of these Countries, I can put them in a Way to obtain a Share of it. Let them with three fourths of the People of Ireland, live the Year round on Potatoes and Butter milk, without Shirts, then may their Merchants export Beef, Butter and Linnen. Let them with the Generality of the Common People of Scotland go Barefoot, then may they make large Exports in Shoes and Stockings: And if they will be content to wear Rags like the Spinners and Weavers of England, they may make Cloths and Stuffs for all Parts of the World. Farther, if my Countrymen should ever wish for the Honour of having among them a Gentry enormously wealthy, let them sell their Farms and pay rack'd Rents; the Scale of the Landlords will rise as that of the Tenants is depress'd who will soon become poor, tattered, dirty, and abject in Spirit. Had I never been in the American Colonies, but was to form my Judgment of Civil Society by what I have lately seen, I should never advise a Nation of Savages to admit of Civilisation: For I assure you, that in the Possession and Enjoyment of the various Comforts of Life, compar'd to these People every Indian is a Gentleman: And the Effect of this kind of Civil Society seems only to be, the depressing Multitudes below the Savage State that a few may be rais'd above it. My best Wishes attend you and yours, being ever with great Esteem, Dear Sir, Your most obedient and most humble Servant ON THE WRITINGS OF ZOROASTER _To Ezra Stiles_ Dear Sir, London, Jany. 13. 1772 I receiv'd your Favour by Mr. Marchant, who appears a very worthy Gentleman, and I shall not fail to render him every Service in my Power. There is lately published in Paris, a Work intitled _Zendavesta_, or the Writings of _Zoroaster_, containing the Theological, Philosophical and Moral Ideas of that Legislator, and the Ceremonies of Religious Worship that he establish'd. Translated from the original Zend. In two Vols. 4to. Near half the Work is an Account of the Translator's Travels in India, and his Residence among the Parses during several Years to learn their Languages. I have cast my Eye over the Religious Part; it seems to contain a nice Morality, mix'd with abundance of Prayers, Ceremonies, and Observations. If you desire to have it, I will procure it for you. They say there is no doubt of its being a genuine Translation of the Books at present deem'd sacred as the Writings of Zoroaster by his Followers; but perhaps some of them are of later Date tho' ascrib'd to him: For to me there seems too great a Quantity and Variety of Ceremonies and Prayers to be directed at once by one Man. In the Romish Church they have increas'd gradually in a Course of Ages to their present Bulk. Those who added new Ones from time to time found it necessary to give them Authority by Pretences of their Antiquity. The Books of Moses, indeed, if all written by him, which some doubt, are an Exception to this Observation. With great Esteem, I am ever, Dear Sir, Your affectionate Friend and humble Servant P.S. Since writing the above, Mr. Marchant, understanding you are curious on the Subject of the Eastern ancient Religions, concludes to send you the Book. "SUPPRESS'D BY THE LEGISLATURE" _To Anthony Benezet_ Dear Friend, London, Augt 22. 1772 I made a little Extract from yours of April 27. of the Number of Slaves imported and perishing, with some close Remarks on the Hypocrisy of this Country which encourages such a detestable Commerce by Laws, for promoting the Guinea Trade, while it piqu'd itself on its Virtue Love of Liberty, and the Equity of its Courts in setting free a single Negro. This was inserted in the London Chronicle of the 20th of June last. I thank you for the Virginia Address, which I shall also publish with some Remarks. I am glad to hear that the Disposition against keeping Negroes grows more general in North America. Several Pieces have been lately printed here against the Practice, and I hope in time it will be taken into Consideration and suppress'd by the Legislature. Your Labours have already been attended with great Effects. I hope therefore you and your Friends will be encouraged to proceed. My hearty Wishes of Success attend you, being ever, my dear Friend, Yours most affectionately "RIVERS ARE UNGOVERNABLE THINGS" _To Samuel Rhoads_ Dear Friend, London, Augt. 22. 1772 I think I before acknowledg'd your Favour of Feb. 29. I have since received that of May 30. I am glad my Canal Papers were agreable to you. If any Work of that kind is set on foot in America, I think it would be saving Money to engage by a handsome Salary an Engineer from hence who has been accustomed to such Business. The many Canals on foot here under different great Masters, are daily raising a number of Pupils in the Art, some of whom may want Employ hereafter; and a single Mistake thro' Inexperience, in such important Works, may cost much more than the Expence of Salary to an ingenious young Man already well acquainted with both Principles and Practice. This the Irish have learnt at a dear Rate in the first Attempt of their great Canal, and now are endeavouring to get Smeaton to come and rectify their Errors. With regard to your Question, whether it is best to make the Skuylkill a part of the Navigation to the back Country, or whether the Difficulty, of that River, subject to all the Inconveniencies of Floods, Ice, &c will not be greater than the Expence of Digging, Locks, &c. I can only say, that here they look on the _constant Practicability_ of a Navigation, allowing Boats to pass and repass at all Times and Seasons, without Hindrance, to be a Point of the greatest Importance, and therefore they seldom or ever use a River where it can be avoided. Locks in Rivers are subject to many more Accidents than those in still-water Canals; and the Carrying-away a few Locks by Freshes or Ice, not only creates a great Expence, but interrupts Business for a long time till Repairs are made; which may soon be destroyed again; and thus the Carrying-on a Course of Business by such a Navigation be discouraged, as subject to frequent Interruptions: The Toll too must be higher to pay for such Repairs. Rivers are ungovernable Things, especially in Hilly Countries: Canals are quiet and very manageable: Therefore they are often carried on here by the Sides of Rivers, only on Ground above the Reach of Floods, no other Use being made of the Rivers than to supply occasionally the Waste of Water in the Canals. I warmly wish Success to every Attempt for Improvement of our dear Country; and am with sincere Esteem, Yours most affectionately I congratulate you on the Change of our American Minister. The present has more favourable Dispositions towards us than his Predecessor. "MORAL OR PRUDENTIAL ALGEBRA" _To Joseph Priestley_ Dear Sir, London Sept. 19. 1772 In the Affair of so much Importance to you, wherein you ask my Advice, I cannot for want of sufficient Premises, advise you _what_ to determine, but if you please I will tell you _how_. When these difficult Cases occur, they are difficult chiefly because while we have them under Consideration all the Reasons _pro_ and _con_ are not present to the Mind at the same time; but sometimes one Set present themselves, and at other times another, the first being out of Sight. Hence the various Purposes or Inclinations that alternately prevail, and the Uncertainty that perplexes us. To get over this, my Way is, to divide half a Sheet of Paper by a Line into two Columns, writing over the one _Pro_, and over the other _Con_. Then during three or four Days Consideration I put down under the different Heads short Hints of the different Motives that at different Times occur to me for or against the Measure. When I have thus got them all together in one View, I endeavour to estimate their respective Weights; and where I find two, one on each side, that seem equal, I strike them both out: If I find a Reason _pro_ equal to some two Reasons _con_, I strike out the three. If I judge some two Reasons _con_ equal to some three Reasons _pro_, I strike out the five; and thus proceeding I find at length where the Ballance lies; and if after a Day or two of farther Consideration nothing new that is of Importance occurs on either side, I come to a Determination accordingly. And tho' the Weight of Reasons cannot be taken with the Precision of Algebraic Quantities, yet when each is thus considered separately and comparatively, and the whole lies before me, I think I can judge better, and am less likely to make a rash Step; and in fact I have found great Advantage from this kind of Equation, in what may be called _Moral_ or _Prudential Algebra._ Wishing sincerely that you may determine for the best, I am ever, my dear Friend, Yours most affectionately "ALAS! POOR MUNGO!" _To Georgiana Shipley_ Dear Miss, London, Sept. 26. 1772 I lament with you most sincerely the unfortunate End of poor _Mungo_: Few Squirrels were better accomplish'd; for he had had a good Education, had travell'd far, and seen much of the World. As he had the Honour of being for his Virtues your Favourite, he should not go like common Skuggs without an Elegy or an Epitaph. Let us give him one in the monumental Stile and Measure, which being neither Prose nor Verse, is perhaps the properest for Grief; since to use common Language would look as if we were not affected, and to make Rhimes would seem Trifling in Sorrow. Alas! poor _Mungo_! Happy wert thou, hadst thou known Thy own Felicity! Remote from the fierce Bald-Eagle, Tyrant of thy native Woods, Thou hadst nought to fear from his piercing Talons; Nor from the murdering Gun Of the thoughtless Sportsman. Safe in thy wired Castle, Grimalkin never could annoy thee. Daily wert thou fed with the choicest Viands By the fair Hand Of an indulgent Mistress. But, discontented, thou wouldst have more Freedom. Too soon, alas! didst thou obtain it, And, wandering, Fell by the merciless Fangs, Of wanton, cruel Ranger. Learn hence, ye who blindly wish more Liberty, Whether Subjects, Sons, Squirrels or Daughters, That apparent _Restraint_ may be real _Protection_, Yielding Peace, Plenty, and Security. You see how much more decent and proper this broken Stile, interrupted as it were with Sighs, is for the Occasion, than if one were to say, by way of Epitaph, Here Skugg Lies snug As a Bug In a Rug. And yet perhaps there are People in the World of so little Feeling as to think, _that_ would be a good-enough Epitaph for our poor Mungo! If you wish it, I shall procure another to succeed him. But perhaps you will now chuse some other Amusement. Remember me respectfully to all the [ ] good Family; and believe me ever, Your affectionate Friend September 26, 1772 "THE INCREASE OF RELIGIOUS AS WELL AS CIVIL LIBERTY" _To William Marshall_ Reverend Sir, London, Feb. 14. 1773 I duly received your respected Letter of Oct. 30, and am very sensible of the Propriety and Equity of the Act passed to indulge your Friends in their Scruples relating to the Mode of Taking an Oath which you plead for so ably by numerous Reasons. That Act with others has now been some time laid before his Majesty in Council. I have not yet heard of any Objection to it; but if such should arise, I shall do my utmost to remove them, and obtain the Royal Assent. Believe me, Reverend Sir, to have the warmest Wishes for the Increase of Religious as well as Civil Liberty thro'out the World; and that I am, with great Regard, Your must obedient humble Servant "STOOP! STOOP!" _To Samuel Mather_ Reverend Sir, London, July 7. 1773. By a Line of the 4th. past, I acknowledged the Receipt of your Favour of March 18. and sent you with it two Pamphlets. I now add another, a spirited Address to the Bishops who opposed the Dissenter's Petition. It is written by a Dissenting Minister at York. There is preserv'd at the End of it a little fugitive Piece of mine, written on the same Occasion. I perused your Tracts with Pleasure. I see you inherit all the various Learning of your famous Ancestors Cotton and Increase Mather both of whom I remember. The Father, Increase, I once when a Boy, heard preach at the Old South, for Mr. Pemberton, and remember his mentioning the Death of "that wicked old Persecutor of God's People Lewis the XIV." of which News had just been received, but which proved premature. I was some years afterwards at his House at the Northend, on some Errand to him, and remember him sitting in an easy Chair apparently very old and feeble. But Cotton I remember in the Vigour of his Preaching and Usefulness. And particularly in the Year 1723, now half a Century since, I had reason to remember, as I still do a Piece of Advice he gave me. I had been some time with him in his Study, where he condescended to entertain me, a very Youth, with some pleasant and instructive Conversation. As I was taking my Leave he accompany'd me thro' a narrow Passage at which I did not enter, and which had a Beam across it lower than my Head. He continued Talking which occasion'd me to keep my Face partly towards him as I retired, when he suddenly cry'd out, Stoop! Stoop! Not immediately understanding what he meant, I hit my Head hard against the Beam. He then added, _Let this be a Caution to you not always to hold your Head so high; Stoop, young Man, stoop -- as you go through the World -- and you'll miss many hard Thumps._ This was a way of hammering Instruction into one's Head: And it was so far effectual, that I have ever since remember'd it, tho' I have not always been able to practise it. By the way, permit me to ask if you are the Son or Nephew of that Gentleman? for having lived so many Years far from New England, I have lost the Knowledge of some Family Connections. You have made the most of your Argument to prove that America might be known to the Ancients. The Inhabitants being totally ignorant of the use of Iron, looks, however, as if the Intercourse could never have been very considerable; and that if they are Descendants of our Adam, they left the Family before the time of Tubalcain. There is another Discovery of it claimed by the Norwegians, which you have not mentioned, unless it be under the Words "of old viewed and observed" Page 7. About 25 Years since, Professor Kalm, a learned Swede, was with us in Pensilvania. He contended that America was discovered by their Northern People long before the Time of Columbus, which I doubting, he drew up and gave me sometime after a Note of those Discoveries which I send you enclos'd. It is his own Hand writing, and his own English very intelligible for the time he had been among us. The Circumstances give the Account great Appearance of Authenticity. And if one may judge by the Description of the Winter, the Country they visited should be southward of New England, supposing no Change since that time of the Climate. But if it be true as Krantz and I think other Historians tell us, that old Greenland once inhabited and populous, is now render'd uninhabitable by Ice, it should seem that the almost perpetual northern Winter has gained ground to the Southward, and if so, perhaps more northern Countries might anciently have had Vines than can bear them in these Days. The Remarks you have added, on the late Proceedings against America, are very just and judicious: and I cannot at all see any Impropriety in your making them tho' a Minister of the Gospel. This Kingdom is a good deal indebted for its Liberties to the Publick Spirit of its ancient Clergy, who join'd with the Barons in obtaining Magna Charta, and join'd heartily in forming Curses of Excommunication against the Infringers of it. There is no doubt but the Claim of Parliament of Authority to make Laws _binding on the Colonists in all Cases whatsoever_, includes an Authority to change our Religious Constitution, and establish Popery or Mahometanism if they please in its Stead: but, as you intimate _Power_ does not infer _Right_; and as the Right is nothing and the _Power_ (by our Increase) continually diminishing, the one will soon be as insignificant as the other. You seem only to have made a small Mistake in supposing they modestly avoided to declare they had a Right, the words of the Act being that they have, and of _right_ ought to have full Power, &c. Your Suspicion that "sundry others, besides Govr Bernard had written hither their Opinions and Counsels, encouraging the late Measures, to the Prejudice of our Country, which have been too much heeded and follow'd" is I apprehend but too well founded. You call them "_traitorous_ Individuals" whence I collect, that you suppose them of our own country. There was among the twelve Apostles one Traitor who betrayed with a Kiss. It should be no Wonder therefore if among so many Thousand true Patriots as New England contains there should be found even Twelve Judases, ready to betray their Country for a few paltry Pieces of Silver. Their _Ends_, as well as their _Views_, ought to be similar. But all these Oppressions evidently work for our Good. Providence seems by every Means intent on making us a great People. May our Virtues publick and private grow with us, and be durable, that Liberty Civil and Religious, may be secur'd to our Posterity, and to all from every Part of the old World that take Refuge among us. I have distributed the Copies of your Piece as you desired. I cannot apprehend they can give just Cause of Offence. Your Theological Tracts in which you discover your great Reading, are rather more out of my Walk, and therefore I shall say little of them. That on the Lord's Prayer I read with most Attention, having once myself considered a little the same Subject, and attempted a Version of the Prayer which I thought less exceptionable. I have found it among my old Papers, and send it you only to show an Instance of the same Frankness in laying myself open to you, which you say you have used with regard to me. With great Esteem and my best Wishes for a long Continuance of your Usefulness, I am, Reverend Sir, Your most obedient humble Servant CAUSES OF COLDS _To Benjamin Rush_ Dear Sir, London, July 14. 1773. I received your Favour of May 1. with the Pamphlet for which I am obliged to you. It is well written. I hope in time that the Friends to Liberty and Humanity will get the better of a Practice that has so long disgrac'd our Nation and Religion. A few Days after I receiv'd your Packet for M. Dubourg, I had an Opportunity of forwarding it to him by M. Poissonnier, a Physician of Paris, who kindly undertook to deliver it. M. Dubourg has been translating my Book into French. It is nearly printed, and he tells me he purposes a Copy for you. I shall communicate your judicious Remark relating to Air transpir'd by Patients in putrid Diseases to my Friend Dr. Priestly. I hope that after having discover'd the Benefit of fresh and cool Air apply'd to the _Sick_, People will begin to suspect that possibly it may do no Harm to the _Well._ I have not seen Dr. Cullen's Book: But am glad to hear that he speaks of Catarrhs or Colds _by Contagion._ I have long been satisfy'd from Observation, that besides the general Colds now termed _Influenza's_, which may possibly spread by Contagion as well as by a particular Quality of the Air, People often catch Cold from one another when shut up together in small close Rooms, Coaches, &c. and when sitting near and conversing so as to breathe in each others Transpiration, the Disorder being in a certain State. I think too that it is the frowzy corrupt Air from animal Substances, and the perspired Matter from our Bodies, which, being long confin'd in Beds not lately used, and Clothes not lately worne, and Books long shut up in close Rooms, obtains that kind of Putridity which infects us, and occasions the Colds observed upon sleeping in, wearing, or turning over, such Beds, Clothes or Books, and not their Coldness or Dampness. From these Causes, but more from _too full Living_ with too _little Exercise_, proceed in my Opinion most of the Disorders which for 100 Years past the English have called _Colds._ As to Dr. Cullen's Cold or Catarrh _a frigore_, I question whether such an one ever existed. Travelling in our severe Winters, I have suffered Cold sometimes to an Extremity only short of Freezing, but this did not make me _catch Cold._ And for Moisture, I have been in the River every Evening two or three Hours for a Fortnight together, when one would suppose I might imbibe enough of it to _take Cold_ if Humidity could give it; but no such Effect followed: Boys never get Cold by Swimming. Nor are People at Sea, or who live at Bermudas, or St. Helena, where the Air must be ever moist, from the Dashing and Breaking of Waves against their Rocks on all sides, more subject to Colds than those who inhabit Parts of a Continent where the Air is dryest. Dampness may indeed assist in producing Putridity, and those Miasms which infect us with the Disorder we call a Cold, but of itself can never by a little Addition of Moisture hurt a Body filled with watry Fluids from Head to foot. I hope our Friend's Marriage will prove a happy one. Mr. and Mrs. West complain that they never hear from him. Perhaps I have as much reason to complain of him. But I forgive him because I often need the same kind of Forgiveness. With great Esteem and sincere Wishes for your Welfare, I am, Sir, Your most obedient humble Servant "I'LL BE HANGED IF THIS IS NOT SOME OF YOUR AMERICAN JOKES UPON US" _To William Franklin_ DEAR SON, _London, October_ 6, 1773. I wrote to you on the 1st of last month, since which I have received yours of July 29, from New York. I know not what letters of mine governor H. could mean, as advising the people to insist on their independency. But whatever they were, I suppose he has sent copies of them hither, having heard some whisperings about them. I shall however, be able at any time, to justify every thing I have written; the purport being uniformly this, that they should carefully avoid all tumults and every violent measure, and content themselves with verbally keeping up their claims, and holding forth their rights whenever occasion requires; secure, that from the growing importance of America, those claims will ere long be attended to, and acknowledged. From a long and thorough consideration of the subject, I am indeed of opinion, that the parliament has no right to make any law whatever, binding on the colonies. That the king, and not the king, lords, and commons collectively, is their sovereign; and that the king with their respective parliaments, is their only legislator. I know your sentiments differ from mine on these subjects. You are a thorough government man, which I do not wonder at, nor do I aim at converting you. I only wish you to act uprightly and steadily, avoiding that duplicity, which in Hutchinson, adds contempt to indignation. If you can promote the prosperity of your people, and leave them happier than you found them, whatever your political principles are, your memory will be honored. I have written two pieces here lately for the Public Advertiser, on American affairs, designed to expose the conduct of this country towards the colonies, in a short, comprehensive, and striking view, and stated therefore in out-of-the-way forms, as most likely to take the general attention. The first was called, _Rules by which a great empire may be reduced to a small one_; the second, _An Edict of the king of Prussia._ I sent you one of the first, but could not get enough of the second to spare you one, though my clerk went the next morning to the printer's, and wherever they were sold. They were all gone but two. In my own mind I preferred the first, as a composition for the quantity and variety of the matter contained, and a kind of spirited ending of each paragraph. But I find that others here generally prefer the second. I am not suspected as the author, except by one or two friends; and have heard the latter spoken of in the highest terms as the keenest and severest piece that has appeared here a long time. Lord Mansfield I hear said of it, that it _was very_ ABLE _and very_ ARTFUL indeed; and would do mischief by giving here a bad impression of the measures of government; and in the colonies, by encouraging them in their contumacy. It is reprinted in the Chronicle, where you will see it, but stripped of all the capitalling and italicing, that intimate the allusions and marks the emphasis of written discourses, to bring them as near as possible to those spoken: printing such a piece all in one even small character, seems to me like repeating one of Whitfield's sermons in the monotony of a school-boy. What made it the more noticed here was, that people in reading it, were, as the phrase is, _taken in_, till they had got half through it, and imagined it a real edict, to which mistake I suppose the king of Prussia's _character_ must have contributed. I was down at lord Le Despencer's when the post brought that day's papers. Mr. Whitehead was there too (Paul Whitehead, the author of Manners) who runs early through all the papers, and tells the company what he finds remarkable. He had them in another room, and we were chatting in the breakfast parlour, when he came running into us, out of breath, with the paper in his hand. Here! says he, here's news for ye! _Here's the king of Prussia, claiming a right to this kingdom!_ All stared, and I as much as any body; and he went on to read it. When he had read two or three paragraphs, a gentleman present said, _Damn his impudence, I dare say, we shall hear by next post that he is upon his march with one hundred thousand men to back this._ Whitehead, who is very shrewd, soon after began to smoke it, and looking in my face said, _I'll be hanged if this is not some of your American jokes upon us._ The reading went on, and ended with abundance of laughing, and a general verdict that it was a fair hit: and the piece was cut out of the paper and preserved in my lord's collection. I don't wonder that Hutchinson should be dejected. It must be an uncomfortable thing to live among people who he is conscious universally detest him. Yet I fancy he will not have leave to come home, both because they know not well what to do with him, and because they do not very well like his conduct. I am ever your affectionate father, TRANSFER PRINTS ON TILES _To Peter P. Burdett_ Sir, London, Nov. 3, 1773. I was much pleased with the Specimens you so kindly sent me, of your new Art of Engraving. That on the China is admirable. No one would suppose it any thing but Painting. I hope you meet with all the Encouragement you merit, and that the Invention will be, (what Inventions seldom are) profitable to the Inventor. I know not who (now we speak of Inventions) pretends to that of Copper-Plate Engravings for Earthen-Ware, and am not disposed to contest the Honor of it with any body, as the Improvement in taking Impressions not directly from the Plate but from printed Paper, applicable by that means to other than flat Forms, is far beyond my first Idea. But I have reason to apprehend I might have given the Hint on which that Improvement was made. For more than twenty years since, I wrote to Dr. Mitchell from America, proposing to him the printing of square Tiles for ornamenting Chimnies, from Copper Plates, describing the Manner in which I thought it might be done, and advising the Borrowing from the Bookseller, the Plates that had been used in a thin Folio, called _Moral Virtue delineated_, for the Purpose. As the Dutch Delphware Tiles were much used in America, which are only or chiefly Scripture Histories, wretchedly scrawled, I wished to have those moral Prints, (which were originally taken from Horace's poetical Figures) introduced on Tiles, which being about our Chimneys, and constantly in the Eyes of Children when by the Fire-side, might give Parents an Opportunity, in explaining them, to impress moral Sentiments; and I gave Expectations of great Demand for them if executed. Dr. Mitchell wrote to me in Answer, that he had communicated my Scheme to several of the principal Artists in the Earthen Way about London, who rejected it as impracticable: And it was not till some years after that I first saw an enamelled snuff-Box which I was sure was a Copper-plate, tho' the Curvature of the Form made me wonder how the Impression was taken. I understand the China Work in Philadelphia is declined by the first Owners. Whether any others will take it up and continue it, I know not. Mr. Banks is at present engaged in preparing to publish the Botanical Discoveries of his Voyage. He employs 10 Engravers for the Plates, in which he is very curious, so as not to be quite satisfied in some Cases with the Expression given by either the Graver, Etching, or Metzotinto, particularly where there is a Wooliness or a Multitude of small Points or a Leaf. I sent him the largest of the Specimens you sent containing a Number of Sprigs. I have not seen him since, to know whether your Manner would not suit some of his Plants, better than the more common Methods. With great Esteem, I am, Sir, Your most obedient humble Servant, OIL ON WATER _To William Brownrigg_ Dear Sir, London, Nov. 7, 1773. Our Correspondence might be carried on for a Century with very few Letters, if you were as apt to procrastinate as myself. Tho' an habitual Sinner, I am now quite ashamed to observe, that this is to be an Answer to your Favour of January last. I suppose Mrs. Brownrigg did not succeed in making the Parmesan Cheese, since we have heard nothing of it. But as a Philosophess, she will not be discouraged by one or two Failures. Perhaps some Circumstance is omitted in the Receipt, which by a little more Experience she may discover. The foreign Gentleman, who had learnt in England to like boiled Plumbpudding, and carried home a Receipt for making it, wondered to see it brought to his Table in the Form of a Soup. The Cook declar'd he had exactly followed the Receipt. And when that came to be examined, a small, but important Circumstance appeared to have been omitted. There was no Mention of the Bag. I am concerned that you had not, and I fear you have not yet found time to prepare your excellent Papers for Publication. By omitting it so long, you are wanting to the World, and to your own Honour. I thank you for the Remarks of your learned Friend at Carlisle. I had when a Youth, read and smiled at Pliny's Account of a Practice among the Seamen of his Time, to still the Waves in a Storm by pouring Oil into the Sea: which he mentions, as well as the Use of Oil by the Divers. But the stilling a Tempest by throwing Vinegar into the Air had escaped me. I think with your Friend, that it has been of late too much the Mode to slight the Learning of the Ancients. The Learned too, are apt to slight too much the Knowledge of the Vulgar. The cooling by Evaporation was long an Instance of the latter. This Art of smoothing the Waves with Oil, is an Instance of both. Perhaps you may not dislike to have an Account of all I have heard, and learnt and done in this Way. Take it, if you please, as follows. In 1757 being at Sea in a Fleet of 96 Sail bound against Louisbourg, I observed the Wakes of two of the Ships to be remarkably smooth, while all the others were ruffled by the Wind, which blew fresh. Being puzzled with this differing Appearance I at last pointed it out to our Captain, and asked him the meaning of it? "The Cooks, says he, have I suppose, been just emptying their greasy Water thro' the Scuppers, which has greased the Sides of those Ships a little;" and this Answer he gave me with an Air of some little Contempt, as to a Person ignorant of what every Body else knew. In my own Mind I at first slighted his Solution, tho' I was not able to think of another. But recollecting what I had formerly read in Pliny, I resolved to make some Experiment of the Effect of Oil on Water when I should have Opportunity. Afterwards being again at Sea in 1762, I first observed the wonderful Quietness of Oil on agitated Water in the swinging Glass Lamp I made to hang up in the Cabin, as described in my printed Papers, page 438 of the fourth Edition. This I was continually looking at and considering, as an Appearance to me inexplicable. An old Sea Captain, then a Passenger with me, thought little of it, supposing it an Effect of the same kind with that of Oil put on Water to smooth it, which he said was a Practice of the Bermudians when they would strike Fish which they could not see if the surface of the Water was ruffled by the Wind. This Practice I had never before heard of, and was obliged to him for the Information, though I thought him mistaken as to the sameness of the Experiment, the Operations being different; as well as the Effects. In one Case, the Water is smooth till the Oil is put on, and then becomes agitated. In the other it is agitated before the Oil is applied, and then becomes smooth. The same Gentleman told me he had heard it was a Practice with the Fishermen of Lisbon when about to return into the River, (if they saw before them too great a Surff upon the Bar, which they apprehended might fill their Boats in passing) to empty a Bottle or two of oil into the Sea, which would suppress the Breakers and allow them to pass safely: a Confirmation of this I have not since had an Opportunity of obtaining. But discoursing of it with another Person, who had often been in the Mediterranean, I was informed that the Divers there, who when under Water in their Business, need Light, which the curling of the Surface interrupts, by the Refractions of so many little Waves, they let a small Quantity of Oil now and then out of their Mouths, which rising to the Surface smooths it, and permits the Light to come down to them. All these Informations I at times revolved in my Mind, and wondered to find no mention of them in our Books of Experimental Philosophy. At length being at Clapham, where there is, on the Common, a large Pond, which I observed to be one Day very rough with the Wind, I fetched out a Cruet of Oil, and dropt a little of it on the Water. I saw it spread itself with surprising Swiftness upon the Surface, but the Effect of smoothing the Waves was not produced; for I had applied it first on the Leeward Side of the Pond where the Waves were largest, and the Wind drove my Oil back upon the Shore. I then went to the Windward Side, where they began to form; and there the Oil tho' not more than a Tea Spoonful produced an instant Calm, over a Space several yards square, which spread amazingly, and extended itself gradually till it reached the Lee Side, making all that Quarter of the Pond, perhaps half an Acre, as smooth as a Looking Glass. After this, I contrived to take with me, whenever I went into the Country, a little Oil in the upper hollow joint of my bamboo Cane, with which I might repeat the Experiment as Opportunity should offer; and I found it constantly to succeed. In these Experiments, one Circumstance struck me with particular Surprize. This was the sudden, wide and forcible Spreading of a Drop of Oil on the Face of the Water, which I do not know that any body has hitherto considered. If a Drop of Oil is put on a polished Marble Table, or on a Looking Glass that lies horizontally; the Drop remains in its Place, spreading very little. But when put on Water it spreads instantly many feet round, becoming so thin as to produce the prismatic Colours, for a considerable Space, and beyond them so much thinner as to be invisible except in its Effect of smoothing the Waves at a much greater Distance. It seems as if a mutual Repulsion between its Particles took Place as soon as it touched the Water, and a Repulsion so strong as to act on other Bodies swimming on the Surface, as Straws, Leaves, Chips, &c. forcing them to recede every way from the Drop, as from a Center, leaving a large clear Space. The Quantity of this Force, and the Distance to which it will operate, I have not yet ascertained, but I think it a curious Enquiry, and I wish to understand whence it arises. In our Journey to the North when we had the Pleasure of seeing you at Ormathwaite, we visited Mr. Smeaton near Leeds. Being about to shew him the smoothing Experiment on a little Pond near his House, an ingenious Pupil of his, Mr. Jessop, then present, told us of an odd Appearance on that Pond, which had lately occurred to him. He was about to clean a little Cup in which he kept Oil, and he threw upon the Water some Flies that had been drowned in the Oil. These Flies presently began to move, and turned round on the Water very rapidly, as if they were vigorously alive, tho' on Examination he found they were not so. I immediately concluded that the Motion was occasioned by the Power of the Repulsion abovementioned, and that the Oil issuing gradually from the spungy Body of the Fly continued the Motion. He found some more Flies drowned in Oil, with which the Experiment was repeated before us; and to show that it was not any Effect of Life recovered by the Flies, I imitated it by little bits of oiled Chip, and Paper cut in the form of a Comma, of this size (symbol omitted) when the Stream of repelling Particles issuing from the Point, made the Comma turn round the contrary way. This is not a Chamber Experiment; for it cannot well be repeated in a Bowl or Dish of Water on a Table. A considerable Surface of Water is necessary to give Room for the Expansion of a small Quantity of Oil. In a Dish of Water if the smallest Drop of Oil be let fall in the Middle, the whole Surface is presently covered with a thin greasy Film proceeding from the Drop; but as soon as that Film has reached the Sides of the Dish, no more will issue from the Drop, but it remains in the Form of Oil, the Sides of the Dish putting a Stop to its Dissipation by prohibiting the farther Expansion of the Film. Our Friend Sir J. Pringle being soon after in Scotland, learnt there that those employed in the Herring Fishery, could at a Distance see where the Shoals of Herrings were, by the smoothness of the Water over them, which might be occasioned possibly, he thought, by some Oiliness proceeding from their Bodies. A Gentleman from Rhode-island told me, it had been remarked that the Harbour of Newport was ever smooth while any Whaling Vessels were in it; which probably arose from hence, that the Blubber which they sometimes bring loose in the Hold, or the Leakage of their Barrels, might afford some Oil to mix with that Water which from time to time they pump out to keep the Vessel free, and that same Oil might spread over the surface of the Water in the Harbour, and prevent the forming of any Waves. This Prevention I would thus endeavour to explain. There seems to be no natural Repulsion between Water and Air, such as to keep them from coming into Contact with each other. Hence we find a Quantity of Air in Water, and if we extract it by means of the Air-pump; the same Water again exposed to the Air, will soon imbibe an equal Quantity. Therefore Air in Motion, which is Wind, in passing over the smooth Surface of Water, may rub, as it were, upon that Surface, and raise it into Wrinkles, which if the Wind continues are the elements of future Waves. The smallest Wave once raised does not immediately subside and leave the neighbouring Water quiet; but in subsiding raises nearly as much of the Water next to it, the Friction of its Parts making little Difference. Thus a Stone dropt in a Pool raises first a single Wave round itself, and leaves it by sinking to the Bottom; but that first Wave subsiding raises a second, the second a third, and so on in Circles to a great Extent. A small Power continually operating will produce a great Action. A Finger applied to a weighty suspended Bell, can at first move it but little; if repeatedly applied, tho' with no greater Strength, the Motion increases till the Bell swings to its utmost Height and with a Force that cannot be resisted by the whole Strength of the Arm and Body. Thus the small first-raised Waves, being continually acted upon by the Wind are, (tho' the Wind does not increase in Strength) continually increased in Magnitude, rising higher and extending their Bases, so as to include a vast Mass of Water in each Wave, which in its Motion acts with great Violence. But if there be a mutual Repulsion between the Particles of Oil, and no Attraction between Oil and Water, Oil dropt on Water will not be held together by Adhesion to the Spot whereon it falls, it will not be imbibed by the Water, it will be at Liberty to expand itself, and it will spread on a Surface that besides being smooth to the most perfect degree of Polish, prevents, perhaps by repelling the Oil, all immediate Contact, keeping it at a minute Distance from itself; and the Expansion will continue, till the mutual Repulsion between the Particles of the Oil, is weakened and reduced to nothing by their Distance. Now I imagine that the Wind blowing over Water thus covered with a Film of Oil, cannot easily catch upon it so as to raise the first Wrinkles, but slides over it, and leaves it smooth as it finds it. It moves a little the Oil, indeed, which being between it and the water serves it to slide with, and prevents Friction as Oil does between those Parts of a Machine that would otherwise rub hard together. Hence the Oil dropt on the Windward Side of a Pond proceeds gradually to Leeward, as may be seen by the smoothness it carries with it, quite to the opposite Side. For the Wind being thus prevented from raising the first Wrinkles that I call the Elements of Waves, cannot produce Waves, which are to be made by continually acting upon and enlarging those Elements, and thus the whole Pond is calmed. Totally therefore we might supress the Waves in any required Place, if we could come at the Windward Place where they take their Rise. This in the Ocean can seldom if ever be done. But perhaps something may be done on particular Occasions, to moderate the Violence of the Waves, when we are in the midst of them, and prevent their Breaking where that would be inconvenient. For when the Wind blows fresh, there are continually rising on the Back of every great Wave, a number of small ones, which roughen its Surface, and give the Wind Hold, as it were, to push it with greater Force. This Hold is diminished by preventing the Generation of those small ones. And possibly too, when a Wave's Surface is oiled, the Wind in passing over it, may rather in some degree press it down, and contribute to prevent its rising again, instead of promoting it. This as a mere Conjecture would have little weight, if the apparent Effects of pouring Oil into the Midst of Waves, were not considerable, and as yet not otherwise accounted for. When the Wind blows so fresh, as that the Waves are not sufficiently quick in obeying its Impulse, their Tops being thinner and lighter are pushed forward, broken and turned over in a white Foam. Common Waves lift a Vessel without entring it, but these when large sometimes break above and pour over it, doing great Damage. That this Effect might in any degree be prevented, or the height and violence of Waves in the Sea moderated, we had no certain Account, Pliny's Authority for the Practice of Seamen in his time being slighted. But discoursing lately on this Subject with his Excellency Count Bentinck of Holland, his Son the Honble. Capt. Bentinck, and the learned Professor Allemand, (to all whom I showed the Experiment of smoothing in a Windy Day the large Piece of Water at the Head of the Green Park) a Letter was mentioned which had been received by the Count from Batavia, relating to the saving of a Dutch Ship in a Storm, by pouring Oil into the Sea. I much desired to see that Letter, and a Copy of it was promised me, which I afterwards received. It is as follows. Extrait d'une Lettre de Mr. Tengnagel a Mr. le Comte de Bentinck, ecrite de Batavia le 15 Janvier 1770. Pres des Isles Paulus et Amsterdam nous essuiames un orage, qui n'eut rien d'assez particulier pour vous etre marque, si non que notre Capitaine se trouva oblige en _tournant sous le vent_, de verser de l'huile contre la haute mer, pour empecher les vagues de se briser contre le navire, ce qui reussit a nous conserver et a ete d'un tres bon effet: comme il n'en versa qu'une petite quantite a la fois, la Compagnie doit peutetre son vaisseau a six demi-ahmes d'huile d'olive: j'ai ete present quand cela s'est fait, et je ne vous aurois pas entretenu de cette circonstance, si ce n'etoit que nous avons trouve les gens ici si prevenus contre l'experience, que les officiers du bord ni moi n'avons fait aucune difficulte de donner un certificat de la verite sur ce chapitre. On this Occasion I mentioned to Capt. Bentinck, a thought which had occurred to me in reading the Voyages of our late Circumnavigators, particularly where Accounts are given of pleasant and fertile Islands which they much desired to land upon, when Sickness made it more necessary, but could not effect a Landing thro' a violent Surff breaking on the Shore, which rendered it impracticable. My Idea was, that possibly by sailing to and fro at some Distance from such Lee Shore, continually pouring Oil into the Sea, the Waves might be so much depressed and lessened before they reached the Shore, as to abate the Height and Violence of the Surff and permit a Landing, which in such Circumstances was a Point of sufficient Importance to justify the Expence of Oil that might be requisite for the purpose. That Gentleman, who is ever ready to promote what may be of publick Utility, (tho' his own ingenious Inventions have not always met with the Countenance they merited) was so obliging as to invite me to Portsmouth, where an Opportunity would probably offer, in the course of a few Days, of making the Experiment on some of the Shores about Spithead, in which he kindly proposed to accompany me, and to give Assistance with such Boats as might be necessary. Accordingly, about the middle of October last, I went with some Friends, to Portsmouth; and a Day of Wind happening, which made a Lee-Shore between Haslar Hospital and the Point near Jillkecker; we went from the Centaur with the Longboat and Barge towards that Shore. Our Disposition was this; the Longboat anchored about a 1/4 of a Mile from the Shore, part of the Company were landed behind the Point, (a Place more sheltered from the Sea) who came round and placed themselves opposite to the Longboat, where they might observe the Surff, and note if any Change occurred in it upon using the Oil: Another Party in the Barge plied to Windward of the Longboat, as far from her as she was from the Shore, making Trips of about half a Mile each, pouring Oil continually out of a large Stone Bottle, thro' a Hole in the Cork somewhat bigger than a Goose Quill. The Experiment had not in the main Point the Success we wished; for no material Difference was observed in the Height or Force of the Surff upon the Shore: But those who were in the Longboat could observe a Tract of smoothed Water the whole Length of the Distance in which the Barge poured the Oil, and gradually spreading in Breadth towards the Longboat; I call it smoothed, not that it was laid level, but because tho' the Swell continued, its Surface was not roughened by the Wrinkles or smaller Waves before-mentioned, and none, or very few White-caps (or Waves whose Tops turn over in Foam) appeared in that whole Space, tho' to windward and leeward of it there were plenty; and a Wherry that came round the Point under Sail in her way to Portsmouth, seemed to turn into that Tract of choice, and to use it from End to End as a Piece of Turnpike Road. It may be of Use to relate the Circumstances even of an Experiment that does not succeed, since they may give Hints of Amendment in future Trials: It is therefore I have been thus particular. I shall only add what I apprehend may have been the Reason of our Disappointment. I conceive that the Operation of Oil on Water, is first to prevent the raising new Waves by the Wind, and secondly, to prevent its pushing those before raised with such Force, and consequently their Continuance of the same repeated Height, as they would have done, if their Surface were not oiled. But Oil will not prevent Waves being raised by another Power, by a Stone, for Instance, falling into a still Pool; for they then rise by the mechanical Impulse of the Stone, which the Greasiness on the surrounding Water cannot lessen or prevent, as it can prevent the Winds catching the Surface and raising it into Waves. Now Waves once raised, whether by the Wind or any other Power, have the same mechanical Operation, by which they continue to rise and fall, as a Pendulum will continue to swing, a long Time after the Force ceases to act by which the Motion was first produced. That Motion will however cease in time, but time is necessary. Therefore tho' Oil spread on an agitated Sea, may weaken the Push of the Wind on those Waves whose Surfaces are covered by it, and so by receiving less fresh Impulse, they may gradually subside; yet a considerable Time, or a Distance thro' which they will take time to move may be necessary to make the Effect sensible on any Shore in a Diminution of the Surff. For we know that when Wind ceases suddenly, the Waves it has raised do not as suddenly subside, but settle gradually and are not quite down till long after the Wind has ceased. So tho' we should by oiling them take off the Effect of Wind on Waves already raised, it is not to be expected that those Waves should be instantly levelled. The Motion they have received will for some time continue: and if the Shore is not far distant, they arrive there so soon that their Effect upon it will not be visibly diminished. Possibly therefore, if we had began our Operations at a greater Distance, the Effect might have been more sensible. And perhaps we did not pour Oil in sufficient Quantity. Future Experiments may determine this. After my Thanks to Capt. Bentinck, for the chearful and ready Aids he gave me, I ought not to omit mentioning Mr. Banks, Dr. Solander, General Carnac, and Dr. Blagdon, who all assisted at the Experiment, during that blustring unpleasant Day, with a Patience and Activity that could only be inspired by a Zeal for the Improvement of Knowledge, such especially as might possibly be of use to Men in Situations of Distress. I would wish you to communicate this to your ingenious Friend Mr. Farish, with my Respects; and believe me to be, with sincere Esteem, Dear Sir, Your most obedient humble Servant. "NOTHING CAN BE FARTHER FROM THE TRUTH" _To Josiah Tucker_ Reverend Sir, London, Feb. 12, 1774. Being informed by a Friend that some severe Strictures on my Conduct and Character had appeared in a new Book published under your respectable Name, I purchased and read it. After thanking you sincerely for those Parts of it that are so instructive on Points of great Importance to the common Interests of mankind, permit me to complain, that if by the description you give in Page 180, 181, of a certain American Patriot, whom you say you need not name, you do, as is supposed, mean myself, nothing can be farther from the truth than your assertion, that I applied or used any interest directly or indirectly to be appointed one of the Stamp Officers for America; I certainly never expressed a Wish of the kind to any person whatever, much less was I, as you say, "more than ordinary assiduous on this Head." I have heretofore seen in the Newspapers, Insinuations of the same Import, naming me expressly; but being without the name of the Writer, I took no Notice of them. I know not whether they were yours, or were only your Authority for your present charge. But now that they have the Weight of your Name and dignified Character, I am more sensible of the injury. And I beg leave to request that you would reconsider the Grounds on which you have ventured to publish an Accusation that, if believed, must prejudice me extremely in the opinion of good Men, especially in my own country, whence I was sent expressly to oppose the imposition of that Tax. If on such reconsideration and Enquiry you find as I am persuaded you will, that you have been imposed upon by false Reports, or have too lightly given credit to Hearsays in a matter that concerns another's Reputation, I flatter myself that your Equity will induce you to do me Justice, by retracting that Accusation. In Confidence of this, I am with great Esteem, Reverend Sir, Your most obedient and most humble Servant, "MY SUPPOSED APPLICATION TO MR. GRENVILLE" _To Josiah Tucker_ Reverend Sir, London, Feb. 26, 1774. I thank you for the Frankness with which you have communicated to me the Particulars of the Information you had received relating to my supposed Application to Mr. Grenville for a Place in the American Stamp-Office. As I deny that either your former or later Informations are true, it seems incumbent on me for your Satisfaction to relate all the Circumstances fairly to you that could possibly give rise to such Mistakes. Some Days after the Stamp-Act was passed, to which I had given all the Opposition I could with Mr. Grenville, I received a Note from Mr. Wheatly, his Secretary, desiring to see me the next morning. I waited upon him accordingly, and found with him several other Colony Agents. He acquainted us that Mr. Grenville was desirous to make the Execution of the Act as little inconvenient and disagreeable to the Americans as possible, and therefore did not think of sending Stamp Officers from hence, but wished to have discreet and reputable Persons appointed in each Province from among the Inhabitants, such as would be acceptable to them, for as they were to pay the Tax, he thought Strangers should not have the Emoluments. Mr. Wheatly therefore wished us to name for our respective Colonies, informing us that Mr. Grenville would be obliged to us for pointing out to him honest and responsible Men, and would pay great regard to our Nominations. By this plausible and apparently candid Declaration, we were drawn in to nominate, and I named for our Province Mr. Hughes, saying at the same time that I knew not whether he would accept of it, but if he did I was sure he would execute the Office faithfully. I soon after had notice of his appointment. We none of us, I believe, foresaw or imagined, that this Compliance with the request of the Minister, would or could have been called an _Application_ of ours, and adduced as a Proof of our _Approbation_ of the Act we had been opposing; otherwise I think few of us would have named at all, I am sure I should not. This I assure you and can prove to you by living Evidence, is a true account of the Transaction in question, which if you compare with that you have been induced to give of it in your Book, I am persuaded you will see a _Difference_ that is far from being "a Distinction above your Comprehension." Permit me farther to remark, that your Expression of being "no _positive Proofs_ of my having solicited to obtain such a place _for myself_," implies that there are nevertheless some _circumstantial_ Proofs sufficient at least to support a Suspicion; the latter Part however of the same Sentence, which says, "there are sufficient Evidence still existing of my having _applied for it_ in favour of another Person," must I apprehend, if credited, destroy that Suspicion, and be considered as _positive_ Proof of the contrary; for if I had Interest enough with Mr. Grenville to obtain that Place for another, is it likely that it would have been refused me had I asked it for myself? There is another Circumstance which I would offer to your candid Consideration. You describe me as "changing Sides, and appearing at the Bar of the House of Commons to cry down the very Measure I had espoused, and direct the Storm that was falling upon that Minister." As this must have been after my supposed solicitation of the Favour for myself or my Friend; and as Mr. Grenville and Mr. Wheatly were both in the House at the Time, and both asked me Questions, can it be conceived that offended as they must have been with such a Conduct in me, neither of them should put me in mind of this my sudden Changing of Sides, or remark it to the House, or reproach me with it, or require my Reasons for it? and yet all the Members then present know that not a Syllable of the kind fell from either of them, or from any of their Party. I persuade myself that by this time you begin to suspect you may have been misled by your Informers. I do not ask who they are, because I do not wish to have particular Motives for disliking People, who in general may deserve my Respect. They, too, may have drawn _Consequences_ beyond the Information they received from others, and hearing the Office had been _given_ to a Person of my Nomination, might as naturally suppose I _had sollicited it_; as Dr. Tucker, hearing I had _sollicited it_, might _"conclude"_ it was for myself. I desire you to believe that I take kindly, as I ought, your freely mentioning to me "that it has long appeared to you that I much exceeded the Bounds of Morality in the Methods I pursued for the Advancement of the supposed Interests of America." I am sensible there is a good deal of Truth in the Adage, that _our Sins and our Debts are always more than we take them to be_; and tho' I cannot at present on Examination of my Conscience charge myself with any Immorality of that kind, it becomes me to suspect that what has _long appeared_ to you may have some Foundation. You are so good as to add, that "if it can be proved you have unjustly suspected me, you shall have a Satisfaction in acknowledging the Error." It is often a hard thing to _prove_ that Suspicions are unjust, even when we know what they are; and harder when we are unacquainted with them. I must presume therefore that in mentioning them, you had an Intention of communicating the Grounds of them to me, if I should request it, which I now do, and, I assure you, with a sincere Desire and Design of amending what you may show me to have been wrong in my conduct, and to thank you for the Admonition. In your Writings I _appear_ a bad Man; but if I am such, and you can thus help me to become _in reality_ a good one, I shall esteem it more than a sufficient Reparation, to Reverend Sir, Your most obedient humble Servant FLAME ON NEW JERSEY RIVERS _To Joseph Priestley_ Dear Sir, Craven Street, April 10, 1774. In compliance with your request, I have endeavoured to recollect the circumstances of the American experiments I formerly mentioned to you, of raising a flame on the surface of some waters there. When I passed through New Jersey in 1764, I heard it several times mentioned, that by applying a lighted candle near the surface of some of their rivers, a sudden flame would catch and spread on the water, continuing to burn for near half a minute. But the accounts I received were so imperfect that I could form no guess at the cause of such an effect, and rather doubted the truth of it. I had no opportunity of seeing the experiment; but calling to see a friend who happened to be just returned home from making it himself, I learned from him the manner of it; which was to choose a shallow place, where the bottom could be reached by a walking-stick, and was muddy; the mud was first to be stirred with the stick, and when a number of small bubbles began to arise from it, the candle was applied. The flame was so sudden and so strong, that it catched his ruffle and spoiled it, as I saw. New-Jersey having many pine-trees in different parts of it, I then imagined that something like a volatile oil of turpentine might be mixed with the waters from a pine-swamp, but this supposition did not quite satisfy me. I mentioned the fact to some philosophical friends on my return to England, but it was not much attended to. I suppose I was thought a little too credulous. In 1765, the Reverend Dr. Chandler received a letter from Dr. Finley, President of the College in that province, relating the same experiment. It was read at the Royal Society, Nov. 21. of that year, but not printed in the Transactions; perhaps because it was thought too strange to be true, and some ridicule might be apprehended if any member should attempt to repeat it in order to ascertain or refute it. The following is a copy of that account. "A worthy gentleman, who lives at a few miles distance, informed me that in a certain small cove of a mill-pond, near his house, he was surprized to see the surface of the water blaze like inflamed spirits. I soon after went to the place, and made the experiment with the same success. The bottom of the creek was muddy, and when stirred up, so as to cause a considerable curl on the surface, and a lighted candle held within two or three inches of it, the whole surface was in a blaze, as instantly as the vapour of warm inflammable spirits, and continued, when strongly agitated, for the space of several seconds. It was at first imagined to be peculiar to that place; but upon trial it was soon found, that such a bottom in other places exhibited the same phenomenon. The discovery was accidentally made by one belonging to the mill." I have tried the experiment twice here in England, but without success. The first was in a slow running water with a muddy bottom. The second in a stagnant water at the bottom a deep ditch. Being some time employed in stirring this water, I ascribed an intermitting fever, which seized me a few days after, to my breathing too much of that foul air which I stirred up from the bottom, and which I could not avoid while I stooped in endeavouring to kindle it. -- The discoveries you have lately made of the manner in which inflammable air is in some cases produced, may throw light on this experiment, and explain its succeeding in some cases, and not in others. With the highest esteem and respect, I am, Dear Sir, Your most obedient humble servant, "YOU ARE NOW MY ENEMY" _To William Strahan_ Mr. Strahan, Philada. July 5. 1775 You are a Member of Parliament, and one of that Majority which has doomed my Country to Destruction. You have begun to burn our Towns, and murder our People. Look upon your Hands! They are stained with the Blood of your Relations! You and I were long Friends: You are now my Enemy, and I am, Yours, "THIS IS A HARDER NUT TO CRACK THAN THEY IMAGINED" _To [Joseph Priestley]_ Dear Friend, _Philadelphia_, 7_th July_, 1775. The Congress met at a time when all minds were so exasperated by the perfidy of General Gage, and his attack on the country people, that propositions of attempting an accommodation were not much relished; and it has been with difficulty that we have carried another humble petition to the crown, to give Britain one more chance, one opportunity more of recovering the friendship of the colonies; which however I think she has not sense enough to embrace, and so I conclude she has lost them for ever. She has begun to burn our seaport towns; secure, I suppose, that we shall never be able to return the outrage in kind. She may doubtless destroy them all; but if she wishes to recover our commerce, are these the probable means? She must certainly be distracted; for no tradesman out of Bedlam ever thought of encreasing the number of his customers by knocking them on the head; or of enabling them to pay their debts by burning their houses. If she wishes to have us subjects and that we should submit to her as our compound sovereign, she is now giving us such miserable specimens of her government, that we shall ever detest and avoid it, as a complication of robbery, murder, famine, fire and pestilence. You will have heard before this reaches you, of the treacherous conduct to the remaining people in Boston, in detaining their _goods_, after stipulating to let them go out with their _effects_; on pretence that merchants goods were not effects; -- the defeat of a great body of his troops by the country people at Lexington; some other small advantages gained in skirmishes with their troops; and the action at Bunker's-hill, in which they were twice repulsed, and the third time gained a dear victory. Enough has happened, one would think, to convince your ministers that the Americans will fight, and that this is a harder nut to crack than they imagined. We have not yet applied to any foreign power for assistance; nor offered our commerce for their friendship. Perhaps we never may: Yet it is natural to think of it if we are pressed. We have now an army on our establishment which still holds yours besieged. My time was never more fully employed. In the morning at 6, I am at the committee of safety, appointed by the assembly to put the province in a state of defence; which committee holds till near 9, when I am at the congress, and that sits till after 4 in the afternoon. Both these bodies proceed with the greatest unanimity, and their meetings are well attended. It will scarce be credited in Britain that men can be as diligent with us from zeal for the public good, as with you for thousands per annum. -- Such is the difference between uncorrupted new states, and corrupted old ones. Great frugality and great industry are now become fashionable here: Gentlemen who used to entertain with two or three courses, pride themselves now in treating with simple beef and pudding. By these means, and the stoppage of our consumptive trade with Britain, we shall be better able to pay our voluntary taxes for the support of our troops. Our savings in the article of trade amount to near five million sterling per annum. I shall communicate your letter to Mr. Winthrop, but the camp is at Cambridge, and he has as little leisure for philosophy as myself. * * * Believe me ever, with sincere esteem, my dear friend, Yours most affectionately. "THERE IS NO LITTLE ENEMY" _To David Hartley_ _Philadelphia, Oct._ 3, 1775. I wish as ardently as you can do for peace, and should rejoice exceedingly in co-operating with you to that end. But every ship from Britain brings some intelligence of new measures that tend more and more to exasperate; and it seems to me that until you have found by dear experience the reducing us by force impracticable, you will think of nothing fair and reasonable. -- We have as yet resolved only on defensive measures. If you would recall your forces and stay at home, we should meditate nothing to injure you. A little time so given for cooling on both sides would have excellent effects. But you will goad and provoke us. You despise us too much; and you are insensible of the Italian adage, that _there is no little enemy_. -- I am persuaded the body of the British people are our friends; but they are changeable, and by your lying Gazettes may soon be made our enemies. Our respect for them will proportionally diminish; and I see clearly we are on the high road to mutual enmity, hatred, and detestation. A separation will of course be inevitable. -- 'Tis a million of pities so fair a plan as we have hitherto been engaged in for increasing strength and empire with _public felicity_, should be destroyed by the mangling hands of a few blundering ministers. It will not be destroyed: God will protect and prosper it: You will only exclude yourselves from any share in it. -- We hear that more ships and troops are coming out. We know you may do us a great deal of mischief, but we are determined to bear it patiently as long as we can; but if you flatter yourselves with beating us into submission, you know neither the people nor the _country_. The congress is still sitting, and will wait the result of their _last_ petition. -1785 .