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I do not believe in the creed professed by the Jewish Church, by the Roman Church, by the Greek Church, by
the Turkish Church, by the Protestant Church, nor by any Church that I know of. My own mind is my own Church.
It is necessary to the happiness of man that he be mentally faithful to himself. Infidelity does not consist
in believing, or in disbelieving; it consists in professing to believe what one does not believe. It is impossible to calculate
the moral mischief, if I may so express it, that mental lying has produced in society. When man has so far corrupted and prostituted
the chastity of his mind, as to subscribe his professional belief to things he does not believe, he has prepared himself for
the commission of every other crime.
Priests and conjurors are of the same trade.
The most formidable weapon against errors of every kind is reason. I have never used any other, and I trust
I never shall.
--Thomas Paine, The Age of Reason
Take away from Genesis the belief that Moses was the author, on which only the strange believe that it is
the word of God has stood, and there remains nothing of Genesis but an anonymous book of stories, fables, and traditionary
or invented absurdities, or of downright lies.
--Thomas Paine, The Age of Reason
The Bible is a book that has been read more and examined less than any book that ever existed.
--The Theological Works of Thomas Paine
Every phrase and cirsumstance are marked with the barbarous hand of superstitious torture, and forced into
meanings it was impossible they could have. The head of every chapter, and the top of every page, are blazoned with the names
of Christ and the Church, that the unwary reader might suck in the error before he began to read.
--Thomas Paine, The Age of Reason
Accustom a people to believe that priests, or any other class of men can forgive sins, and you will have sins
in abundance.
The adulterous connection between church and state...
--Thomas Paine, The Age of Reason
The declaration which says that God visits the sins of the fathers upon the children is contrary to every
principle of moral justice.
--Thomas Paine, The Age of Reason
Whenever we read the obscene stories, the voluptuous debaucheries, the cruel and tortuous executions, the
unrelenting vindictiveness with which more than half the Bible is filled, it would be more consistant that we call it the
word of a demon than the word of God. It is a history of wickedness that has served to corrupt and brutalize mankind; and,
for my part, I sincerely detest it, as I detest everything that is cruel.
--Thomas Paine, The Age of Reason
..but the Bible is such a book of lies and contradictions there is no knowing which part to believe or whether
any...
--Thomas Paine, The Age of Reason
The NT, compared with the Old, is like a farce of one act...
--Thomas Paine, The Age of Reason
That God cannot lie, is no advantage to your argument, because it is no proof that priests can not, or that
the Bible does not.
...we must be compelled to hold this doctrine to be false, and the old and new law called the Old and New
Testament, to be impositions, fables and forgeries.
There are matters in the Bible, said to be done by the express commandment of God, that are shocking to humanity
and to every idea we have of moral justice.....
--Thomas Paine
Revelation is necessarily limited to the first communication-- after that it is only an account of something
which that person says was a revelation made to him; and though he may find himself obliged to believe it, it can not be incumbent
on me to believe it in the same manner; for it was not a revelation made to ME, and I have only his word for it that it was
made to him.
--Thomas Paine, The Age of Reason
The story of the whale swallowing Jonah, though a whale is large enough to do it, borders greatly on the marvelous;
but it would have approached nearer to the idea of a miracle if Jonah had swallowed the whale.
--Thomas Paine, The Age of Reason
Of all the systems of religion that ever were invented, there is no more derogatory to the Almighty, more
unedifiying to man, more repugnant to reason, and more contradictory to itself than this thing called Christianity. Too absurd
for belief, too impossible to convince, and too inconsistent for practice, t renders the heart torpid or produces only atheists
or fanatics. As an engine of power, it serves the purpose of despotism, and as ameans of wealth, the avarice of priests, but
so far as respects the good of man in general it leads to nothing here or hereafter.
--Thomas Paine, The Age of Reason
As to the book called the bible, it is blasphemy to call it the Word of God. It is a book of lies and contradictions
and a history of bad times and bad men.
--Thomas Paine, writing to Andrew Dean August 15, 1806
It is far better that we admitted a thousand devils to roam at large than that we permitted one such imposter
and monster as Moses, Joshua, Samuel, and the Bible prophets, to come with the pretended word of God and have credit among
us.
The continually progressive change to which the meaning of words is subject, the want of a universal language
which renders translation necessary, the errors to which translations are again subject, the mistakes of copyists and printers,
together with the possibility of willful alteration, are of themselves evidences that the human language, whether in speech
or in print, cannot be the vehicle of the Word of God. The Word of God exists in something else.
--Thomas Paine, The Age of Reason
It will be proper to take a review of the several sources from which governments have arisen, and on which
they have been founded.
They may be all comprehended under three heads -- 1st, Superstition; 2d, Power; 3d, the common interests of
society, and the common rights of man.
The first was a government of priestcraft, the second of conquerors, and the third of reason.
--Thomas Paine, The Rights of Man
Toleration is not the opposite of intoleration, but it is the counterfeit of it. Both are despotisms. The
one assumes to itself the right of withholding liberty of conscience, and the other of granting it. The one is the pope, armed
with fire and fagot, and the other is the pope selling or granting indulgences.
--Thomas Paine, The Rights of Man
...Thomas did not believe the resurrection and, as they say, would not believe without having ocular and manual
demonstration himself. So neither will I, and the reason is equally as good for me, and for every other person, as for Thomas.
--Thomas Paine, The Age of Reason
What is it the Bible teaches us? - raping, cruelty, and murder. What is it the New Testament teaches us? -
to believe that the Almighty committed debauchery with a woman engaged to be married, and the belief of this debauchery is
called faith.
When I see throughout this book, called the Bible, a history of the grossest vices and a collection of the
most paltry and contemptible tales and stories, I could not so dishonor my Creator by calling it by His name.
Belief in a cruel God makes a cruel man.
As to the book called the Bible, it is blasphemy to call it the Word of God. It is a book of lies and contradictions,
and a history of bad times and bad men. There are but a few good characters in the whole book.
--Thomas Paine, Letter to William Duane, April 23, 1806
Historians, having brought him into the world in a supernatural manner, were obliged to take him out again
in the same manner, or the first part of the story must have fallen to the ground.
The most detestable wickedness, the most horrid cruelties, and the greatest miseries that have afflicted the
human race have had their origin in this thing called revelation, or revealed religion. It has been the most destructive to
the peace of man since man began to exist. Among the most detestable villains in history, you could not find one worse than
Moses, who gave an order to butcher the boys, to massacre the mothers and then rape the daughters. One of the most horrible
atrocities found in the literature of any nation. I would not dishonor my Creator's name by attaching it to this filthy book.
--Thomas Paine, The Age of Reason
My country is the world, and my religion is to do good.
Whence arose all the horrid assassinations of whole nations of men, women, and infants, with which the Bible
is filled; and the bloody persecutions, and tortures unto death, and religiosu wars, that since that time have laid Europe
in blood and ashes; whence arose they, but from this impious thing called religion, and this monstrous belief that God has
spoken to man?
The age of ignorance commenced with the Christian system.
Prophesying is lying professionally.
If thou trusteth to the book called the Scriptures, thou trusteth to the rotten staff of fables and of falsehood.
[
One good schoolmaster is of more use than a hundred priests.
Science is the true theology.
All this [Paul's writing] is nothing better than the jargon of a conjurer who picks up phrases he does not
understand to confound the credulous people who come to have their fortune told.
--Thomas Paine, The Age of Reason
...to argue with a man who has renouced his reason is like giving medicine to the dead.
Everything wonderful in appearance has been ascribed to angels, to devils, or to saints. Everything ancient
has some legendary tale annexed to it. The common operations of nature have not escaped their practice of corrupting everything.
No falsehood is so fatal as that which is made an article of faith.
When an objection cannot be made formidable, there is some policy in trying to make it frightful; and to substitute
the yell and the war- whoop, in the place of reason, argument and good order. Jesuitical cunning always endeavors to disgrace
what it cannot disprove.
The story of the redemption will not stand examination. That man should redeem himself from the sin of eating
an apple by committing a murder on Jesus Christ, is the strangest system of religion ever set up.
Yet this is trash that the Church imposes upon the world as the Word of God; this is the collection of lies
and contradictions called the Holy Bible! This is the rubbish called Revealed Religion!
The Christian system of religion is an outrage on common sense.
The countries the most famous and the most respected of antiquity are those which distinguished themselves
by promoting and patronizing science, and on the contrary those which neglected or discouraged it are universally denominated
rude and barbarous. The patronage which Britain has shown to Arts, Science and Literature has given her a better established
and lasting rank in the world than she ever acquired by her arms. And Russia is a modern instance of the effect which the
encouragement of those things produces both as to the internal improvement of a country and the character it raises abroad.
The reign of Louis the fourteenth is more distinguished by being the Era of Science and Literature in France than by any other
circumstance of those days.
The Church was resolved to have a New Testament, and as, after the lapse of more than three hundred years,
no handwriting could be proved or disproved, the Church, which like former impostors had then gotten possession of the State,
had everything its own way. It invented creeds, such as that called the Apostle's Creed, the Nicean Creed, the Athanasian
Creed, and out of the loads of rubbish that were presented it voted four to be Gospels, and others to be Epistles, as we now
find them arranged.
The Christian religion begins with a dream and ends with a murder.
All the tales of miracles, with which the Old and New Testament are filled, are fit only for imposters to
preach and fools to believe.
Had the news of salvation by Jesus Christ been inscribed on the face of the sun and the moon, in characters
that all nations would have understood, the whole earth had known it in twenty-four hours, and all nations would have believed
it; whereas, though it is now almost two thousand years since, as they tell us, Christ came upon earth, not a twentieth part
of the people of the earth know anything of it, and among those who do, the wiser part do not believe it.
There is scarcely any part of science, or anything in nature, which those imposters and blasphemers of science,
called priests, as well Christians as Jews, have not, at some time or other, perverted, or sought to pervert to the purpose
of superstition and falsehood.
The New Testament, they tell us, is founded upon the prophecies of the Old; if so, it must follow the fate
of its foundation.
Of all the tyrannies that affect mankind, tyranny in religion is the worst; every other species of tyranny
is limited to the world we live in; but this attempts to stride beyond the grave, and seeks to pursue us into eternity.
I put the following work under your protection. It contains my opinion upon religion. You will do me the justice
to remember, that I have always strenuously supported the right of every man to his opinion, however different that opinion
might be to mine. He who denies to another this right, makes a slave of himself to his present opinion, because he precludes
himself the right of changing it.
The story of Jesus Christ appearing after he was dead is the story of an apparition, such as timid imaginations
can always create in vision, and credulity believe. Stories of this kind had been told of the assassination of Julius Caesar...
The study of theology, as it stands in the Christian churches, is the study of nothing; it is founded on nothing;
it rests on no principles; it proceeds by no authority; it has no data; it can demonstrate nothing; and it admits of no conclusion.
All national institutions of churches, whether Jewish, Christian, or Turkish, appear to me no other than human
inventions, set up to terrify and enslave mankind, and monopolize power and profit.
Any system of religion that has anything in it that shocks the mind of a child, cannot be true.
Persecution is not an original feature in any religion; but it is always the strongly marked feature of all
religions established by law.
But though every created thing is, in this sense, a mystery, the word mystery cannot be applied to moral truth,
any more than obscurity can be applied to light. ... Mystery is the antagonist of truth. It is a fog of human invention, that
obscures truth, and represents it in distortion. Truth never envelops itself in mystery, and the mystery in which it is at
any time enveloped is the work of its antagonist, and never of itself.
From the pamplet Common Sense by Thomas Paine:
Of the origin and design of government in general, with concise remarks on the English Constitution.
SOME writers have so confounded society with government, as to leave little or no distinction between them; whereas they
are not only different, but have different origins. Society is produced by our wants, and government by wickedness; the former
promotes our happiness positively by uniting our affections, the latter negatively by restraining our vices. The one encourages
intercourse, the other creates distinctions. The first is a patron, the last a punisher. 1
Society
in every state is a blessing, but government even in its best state is but a necessary evil; in its worst state an intolerable
one; for when we suffer, or are exposed to the same miseries by a government, which we might expect in a country without government,
our calamity is heightened by reflecting that we furnish the means by which we suffer. Government, like dress, is the badge
of lost innocence; the palaces of kings are built on the ruins of the bowers of paradise. For were the impulses of conscience
clear, uniform, and irresistibly obeyed, man would need no other lawgiver; but that not being the case, he finds it necessary
to surrender up a part of his property to furnish means for the protection of the rest; and this he is induced to do by the
same prudence which in every other case advises him out of two evils to choose the least. Wherefore, security being the true
design and end of government, it unanswerably follows that whatever form thereof appears most likely to ensure it to us, with
the least expence and greatest benefit, is preferable to all others. 2
In order to gain a clear and just idea of
the design and end of government, let us suppose a small number of persons settled in some sequestered part of the earth,
unconnected with the rest, they will then represent the first peopling of any country, or of the world. In this state of natural
liberty, society will be their first thought. A thousand motives will excite them thereto, the strength of one man is so unequal
to his wants, and his mind so unfitted for perpetual solitude, that he is soon obliged to seek assistance and relief of another,
who in his turn requires the same. Four or five united would be able to raise a tolerable dwelling in the midst of a wilderness,
but one man might labour out the common period of life without accomplishing any thing; when he had felled his timber he could
not remove it, nor erect it after it was removed; hunger in the mean time would urge him from his work, and every different
want call him a different way. Disease, nay even misfortune would be death, for though neither might be mortal, yet either
would disable him from living, and reduce him to a state in which he might rather be said to perish than to die. 3
This necessity, like a gravitating power, would soon form our newly arrived emigrants into society, the reciprocal blessing
of which, would supersede, and render the obligations of law and government unnecessary while they remained perfectly just
to each other; but as nothing but heaven is impregnable to vice, it will unavoidably happen, that in proportion as they surmount
the first difficulties of emigration, which bound them together in a common cause, they will begin to relax in their duty
and attachment to each other; and this remissness, will point out the necessity, of establishing some form of government to
supply the defect of moral virtue. 4
Some convenient tree will afford them a State-House, under the branches of
which, the whole colony may assemble to deliberate on public matters. It is more than probable that their first laws will
have the title only of REGULATIONS, and be enforced by no other penalty than public disesteem. In this first parliament every
man, by natural right, will have a seat. 5
But as the colony increases, the public concerns will increase likewise,
and the distance at which the members may be separated, will render it too inconvenient for all of them to meet on every occasion
as at first, when their number was small, their habitations near, and the public concerns few and trifling. This will point
out the convenience of their consenting to leave the legislative part to be managed by a select number chosen from the whole
body, who are supposed to have the same concerns at stake which those have who appointed them, and who will act in the same
manner as the whole body would act were they present. If the colony continues increasing, it will become necessary to augment
the number of the representatives, and that the interest of every part of the colony may be attended to, it will be found
best to divide the whole into convenient parts, each part sending its proper number; and that the elected might never form
to themselves an interest separate from the electors, prudence will point out the propriety of having elections often; because
as the elected might by that means return and mix again with the general body of the electors in a few months, their fidelity
to the public will be secured by the prudent reflexion of not making a rod for themselves. And as this frequent interchange
will establish a common interest with every part of the community, they will mutually and naturally support each other, and
on this (not on the unmeaning name of king) depends the strength of government, and the happiness of the governed. 6
Here then is the origin and rise of government; namely, a mode rendered necessary by the inability of moral virtue to govern
the world; here too is the design and end of government, viz. freedom and security. And however our eyes may be dazzled with
snow, or our ears deceived by sound; however prejudice may warp our wills, or interest darken our understanding, the simple
voice of nature and of reason will say, it is right. 7
I draw my idea of the form of government from a principle
in nature, which no art can overturn, viz. that the more simple any thing is, the less liable it is to be disordered, and
the easier repaired when disordered; and with this maxim in view, I offer a few remarks on the so much boasted constitution
of England. That it was noble for the dark and slavish times in which it was erected, is granted. When the world was over
run with tyranny the least remove therefrom was a glorious rescue. But that it is imperfect, subject to convulsions, and incapable
of producing what it seems to promise, is easily demonstrated. 8
Absolute governments (tho' the disgrace of human
nature) have this advantage with them, that they are simple; if the people suffer, they know the head from which their suffering
springs, know likewise the remedy, and are not bewildered by a variety of causes and cures. But the constitution of England
is so exceedingly complex, that the nation may suffer for years together without being able to discover in which part the
fault lies, some will say in one and some in another, and every political physician will advise a different medicine. 9
I know it is difficult to get over local or long standing prejudices, yet if we will suffer ourselves to examine the component
parts of the English constitution, we shall find them to be the base remains of two ancient tyrannies, compounded with some
new republican materials. 10
First.—The remains of monarchical tyranny in the person of the king. 11
Secondly.—The remains of aristocratical tyranny in the persons of the peers. 12
Thirdly.—The new republican
materials, in the persons of the commons, on whose virtue depends the freedom of England. 13
The two first, by
being hereditary, are independent of the people; wherefore in a constitutional sense they contribute nothing towards the freedom
of the state. 14
To say that the constitution of England is a union of three powers reciprocally checking each
other, is farcical, either the words have no meaning, or they are flat contradictions. 15
To say that the commons
is a check upon the king, presupposes two things. 16
First.—That the king is not to be trusted without being
looked after, or in other words, that a thirst for absolute power is the natural disease of monarchy. 17
Secondly.—That
the commons, by being appointed for that purpose, are either wiser or more worthy of confidence than the crown. 18
But as the same constitution which gives the commons a power to check the king by withholding the supplies, gives afterwards
the king a power to check the commons, by empowering him to reject their other bills; it again supposes that the king is wiser
than those whom it has already supposed to be wiser than him. A mere absurdity! 19
There is something exceedingly
ridiculous in the composition of monarchy; it first excludes a man from the means of information, yet empowers him to act
in cases where the highest judgment is required. The state of a king shuts him from the world, yet the business of a king
requires him to know it thoroughly; wherefore the different parts, by unnaturally opposing and destroying each other, prove
the whole character to be absurd and useless. 20
Some writers have explained the English constitution thus; the
king, say they, is one, the people another; the peers are an house in behalf of the king; the commons in behalf of the people;
but this hath all the distinctions of an house divided against itself; and though the expressions be pleasantly arranged,
yet when examined they appear idle and ambiguous; and it will always happen, that the nicest construction that words are capable
of, when applied to the description of some thing which either cannot exist, or is too incomprehensible to be within the compass
of description, will be words of sound only, and though they may amuse the ear, they cannot inform the mind, for this explanation
includes a previous question, viz. How came the king by a power which the people are afraid to trust, and always obliged to
check? Such a power could not be the gift of a wise people, neither can any power, which needs checking, be from God; yet
the provision, which the constitution makes, supposes such a power to exist. 21
But the provision is unequal to
the task; the means either cannot or will not accomplish the end, and the whole affair is a felo de se; for as the greater
weight will always carry up the less, and as all the wheels of a machine are put in motion by one, it only remains to know
which power in the constitution has the most weight, for that will govern; and though the others, or a part of them, may clog,
or, as the phrase is, check the rapidity of its motion, yet so long as they cannot stop it, their endeavors will be ineffectual;
the first moving power will at last have its way, and what it wants in speed is supplied by time. 22
That the crown
is this overbearing part in the English constitution needs not be mentioned, and that it derives its whole consequence merely
from being the giver of places and pensions is self-evident; wherefore, though we have been wise enough to shut and lock a
door against absolute monarchy, we at the same time have been foolish enough to put the crown in possession of the key. 23
The prejudice of Englishmen, in favour of their own government by king, lords and commons, arises as much or more
from national pride than reason. Individuals are undoubtedly safer in England than in some other countries, but the will of
the king is as much the law of the land in Britain as in France, with this difference, that instead of proceeding directly
from his mouth, it is handed to the people under the more formidable shape of an act of parliament. For the fate of Charles
the first, hath only made kings more subtle—not more just. 24
Wherefore, laying aside all national pride
and prejudice in favour of modes and forms, the plain truth is, that it is wholly owing to the constitution of the people,
and not to the constitution of the government that the crown is not as oppressive in England as in Turkey. 25
An
inquiry into the constitutional errors in the English form of government is at this time highly necessary; for as we are never
in a proper condition of doing justice to others, while we continue under the influence of some leading partiality, so neither
are we capable of doing it to ourselves while we remain fettered by any obstinate prejudice. And as a man, who is attached
to a prostitute, is unfitted to choose or judge of a wife, so any prepossession in favour of a rotten constitution of government
will disable us from discerning a good one. 26
MANKIND being originally equals in the order of creation, the equality could only be destroyed by some subsequent
circumstance; the distinctions of rich, and poor, may in a great measure be accounted for, and that without having recourse
to the harsh ill sounding names of oppression and avarice. Oppression is often the consequence, but seldom or never the means
of riches; and though avarice will preserve a man from being necessitously poor, it generally makes him too timorous to be
wealthy. 1
But there is another and greater distinction for which no truly natural or religious
reason can be assigned, and that is, the distinction of men into KINGS and SUBJECTS. Male and female are the distinctions
of nature, good and bad the distinctions of heaven; but how a race of men came into the world so exalted above the rest, and
distinguished like some new species, is worth enquiring into, and whether they are the means of happiness or of misery to
mankind. 2
In the early ages of the world, according to the scripture chronology, there were no kings; the consequence
of which was there were no wars; it is the pride of kings which throw mankind into confusion. Holland without a king hath
enjoyed more peace for this last century than any of the monarchical governments in Europe. Antiquity favors the same remark;
for the quiet and rural lives of the first patriarchs hath a happy something in them, which vanishes away when we come to
the history of Jewish royalty. 3
Government by kings was first introduced into the world by the Heathens, from
whom the children of Israel copied the custom. It was the most prosperous invention the Devil ever set on foot for the promotion
of idolatry. The Heathens paid divine honors to their deceased kings, and the christian world hath improved on the plan by
doing the same to their living ones. How impious is the title of sacred majesty applied to a worm, who in the midst of his
splendor is crumbling into dust! 4
As the exalting one man so greatly above the rest cannot be justified on the
equal rights of nature, so neither can it be defended on the authority of scripture; for the will of the Almighty, as declared
by Gideon and the prophet Samuel, expressly disapproves of government by kings. All anti-monarchical parts of scripture have
been very smoothly glossed over in monarchical governments, but they undoubtedly merit the attention of countries which have
their governments yet to form. "Render unto Cæsar the things which are Cæsar's" is the scripture doctrine of courts, yet it
is no support of monarchical government, for the Jews at that time were without a king, and in a state of vassalage to the
Romans. 5
Near three thousand years passed away from the Mosaic account of the creation, till the Jews under a
national delusion requested a king. Till then their form of government (except in extraordinary cases, where the Almighty
interposed) was a kind of republic administered by a judge and the elders of the tribes. Kings they had none, and it was held
sinful to acknowledge any being under that title but the Lord of Hosts. And when a man seriously reflects on the idolatrous
homage which is paid to the persons of Kings, he need not wonder, that the Almighty ever jealous of his honor, should disapprove
of a form of government which so impiously invades the prerogative of heaven. 6
Monarchy is ranked in scripture
as one of the sins of the Jews, for which a curse in reserve is denounced against them. The history of that transaction is
worth attending to. 7
The children of Israel being oppressed by the Midianites, Gideon marched against them with
a small army, and victory, thro' the divine interposition, decided in his favour. The Jews elate with success, and attributing
it to the generalship of Gideon, proposed making him a king, saying, Rule thou over us, thou and thy son and thy son's son.
Here was temptation in its fullest extent; not a kingdom only, but an hereditary one, but Gideon in the piety of his soul
replied, I will not rule over you, neither shall my son rule over you. THE LORD SHALL RULE OVER YOU. Words need not be more
explicit; Gideon doth not decline the honor, but denieth their right to give it; neither doth he compliment them with invented
declarations of his thanks, but in the positive stile of a prophet charges them with disaffection to their proper Sovereign,
the King of heaven. 8
About one hundred and thirty years after this, they fell again into the same error. The hankering
which the Jews had for the idolatrous customs of the Heathens, is something exceedingly unaccountable; but so it was, that
laying hold of the misconduct of Samuel's two sons, who were entrusted with some secular concerns, they came in an abrupt
and clamorous manner to Samuel, saying, Behold thou art old, and thy sons walk not in thy ways, now make us a king to judge
us like all the other nations. And here we cannot but observe that their motives were bad, viz. that they might be like unto
other nations, i. e. the Heathens, whereas their true glory laid in being as much unlike them as possible. But the thing displeased
Samuel when they said, Give us a king to judge us; and Samuel prayed unto the Lord, and the Lord said unto Samuel, Hearken
unto the voice of the people in all that they say unto thee, for they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me, THAT
I SHOULD NOT REIGN OVER THEM. According to all the works which they have done since the day that I brought them up out of
Egypt, even unto this day; wherewith they have forsaken me and served other Gods; so do they also unto thee. Now therefore
hearken unto their voice, howbeit, protest solemnly unto them and shew them the manner of the king that shall reign over them,
i. e. not of any particular king, but the general manner of the kings of the earth, whom Israel was so eagerly copying after.
And notwithstanding the great distance of time and difference of manners, the character is still in fashion. And Samuel told
all the words of the Lord unto the people, that asked of him a king. And he said, This shall be the manner of the king that
shall reign over you; he will take your sons and appoint them for himself, for his chariots, and to be his horsemen, and some
shall run before his chariots (this description agrees with the present mode of impressing men) and he will appoint him captains
over thousands and captains over fifties, and will set them to ear his ground and to read his harvest, and to make his instruments
of war, and instruments of his chariots; and he will take your daughters to be confectionaries, and to be cooks and to be
bakers (this describes the expence and luxury as well as the oppression of kings) and he will take your fields and your olive
yards, even the best of them, and give them to his servants; and he will take the tenth of your feed, and of your vineyards,
and give them to his officers and to his servants (by which we see that bribery, corruption, and favoritism are the standing
vices of kings) and he will take the tenth of your men servants, and your maid servants, and your goodliest young men and
your asses, and put them to his work; and he will take the tenth of your sheep, and ye shall be his servants, and ye shall
cry out in that day because of your king which ye shall have chosen, AND THE LORD WILL NOT HEAR YOU IN THAT DAY. This accounts
for the continuation of monarchy; neither do the characters of the few good kings which have lived since, either sanctify
the title, or blot out the sinfulness of the origin; the high encomium given of David takes no notice of him officially as
a king, but only as a man after God's own heart. Nevertheless the People refused to obey the voice of Samuel, and they said,
Nay, but we will have a king over us, that we may be like all the nations, and that our king may judge us, and go out before
us, and fight our battles. Samuel continued to reason with them, but to no purpose; he set before them their ingratitude,
but all would not avail; and seeing them fully bent on their folly, he cried out, I will call unto the Lord, and he shall
send thunder and rain (which then was a punishment, being in the time of wheat harvest) that ye may perceive and see that
your wickedness is great which ye have done in the sight of the Lord, IN ASKING YOU A KING. So Samuel called unto the Lord,
and the Lord sent thunder and rain that day, and all the people greatly feared the Lord and Samuel. And all the people said
unto Samuel, Pray for thy servants unto the Lord thy God that we die not, for WE HAVE ADDED UNTO OUR SINS THIS EVIL, TO ASK
A KING. These portions of scripture are direct and positive. They admit of no equivocal construction. That the Almighty hath
here entered his protest against monarchical government is true, or the scripture is false. And a man hath good reason to
believe that there is as much of king-craft, as priest-craft, in withholding the scripture from the public in Popish countries.
For monarchy in every instance is the Popery of government. 9
To the evil of monarchy we have added that of hereditary
succession; and as the first is a degradation and lessening of ourselves, so the second, claimed as a matter of right, is
an insult and an imposition on posterity. For all men being originally equals, no one by birth could have a right to set up
his own family in perpetual preference to all others for ever, and though himself might deserve some decent degree of honors
of his cotemporaries, yet his descendants might be far too unworthy to inherit them. One of the strongest natural proofs of
the folly of hereditary right in kings, is, that nature disapproves it, otherwise, she would not so frequently turn it into
ridicule by giving mankind an ass for a lion. 10
Secondly, as no man at first could possess any other public honors
than were bestowed upon him, so the givers of those honors could have no power to give away the right of posterity, and though
they might say "We choose you for our head," they could not, without manifest injustice to their children, say "that your
children and your children's children shall reign over ours for ever." Because such an unwise, unjust, unnatural compact might
(perhaps) in the next succession put them under the government of a rogue or a fool. Most wise men, in their private sentiments,
have ever treated hereditary right with contempt; yet it is one of those evils, which when once established is not easily
removed; many submit from fear, others from superstition, and the more powerful part shares with the king the plunder of the
rest. 11
This is supposing the present race of kings in the world to have had an honorable origin; whereas it is
more than probable, that could we take off the dark covering of antiquity, and trace them to their first rise, that we should
find the first of them nothing better than the principal ruffian of some restless gang, whose savage manners or pre-eminence
in subtility obtained him the title of chief among plunderers; and who by increasing in power, and extending his depredations,
over-awed the quiet and defenceless to purchase their safety by frequent contributions. Yet his electors could have no idea
of giving hereditary right to his descendants, because such a perpetual exclusion of themselves was incompatible with the
free and unrestrained principles they professed to live by. Wherefore, hereditary succession in the early ages of monarchy
could not take place as a matter of claim, but as something casual or complimental; but as few or no records were extant in
those days, and traditionary history stuffed with fables, it was very easy, after the lapse of a few generations, to trump
up some superstitious tale, conveniently timed, Mahomet like, to cram hereditary right down the throats of the vulgar. Perhaps
the disorders which threatened, or seemed to threaten, on the decease of a leader and the choice of a new one (for elections
among ruffians could not be very orderly) induced many at first to favor hereditary pretensions; by which means it happened,
as it hath happened since, that what at first was submitted to as a convenience, was afterwards claimed as a right. 12
England, since the conquest, hath known some few good monarchs, but groaned beneath a much larger number of bad ones; yet
no man in his senses can say that their claim under William the Conqueror is a very honorable one. A French bastard landing
with an armed banditti, and establishing himself king of England against the consent of the natives, is in plain terms a very
paltry rascally original.—It certainly hath no divinity in it. However, it is needless to spend much time in exposing
the folly of hereditary right, if there are any so weak as to believe it, let them promiscuously worship the ass and lion,
and welcome. I shall neither copy their humility, nor disturb their devotion. 13
Yet I should be glad to ask how
they suppose kings came at first? The question admits but of three answers, viz. either by lot, by election, or by usurpation.
If the first king was taken by lot, it establishes a precedent for the next, which excludes hereditary succession. Saul was
by lot, yet the succession was not hereditary, neither does it appear from that transaction there was any intention it ever
should. If the first king of any country was by election, that likewise establishes a precedent for the next; for to say,
that the right of all future generations is taken away, by the act of the first electors, in their choice not only of a king,
but of a family of kings for ever, hath no parrallel in or out of scripture but the doctrine of original sin, which supposes
the free will of all men lost in Adam; and from such comparison, and it will admit of no other, hereditary succession can
derive no glory. For as in Adam all sinned, and as in the first electors all men obeyed; as in the one all mankind were subjected
to Satan, and in the other to Sovereignty; as our innocence was lost in the first, and our authority in the last; and as both
disable us from reassuming some former state and privilege, it unanswerably follows that original sin and hereditary succession
are parallels. Dishonorable rank! Inglorious connexion! Yet the most subtile sophist cannot produce a juster simile. 14
As to usurpation, no man will be so hardy as to defend it; and that William the Conqueror was an usurper is a fact not to
be contradicted. The plain truth is, that the antiquity of English monarchy will not bear looking into. 15
But
it is not so much the absurdity as the evil of hereditary succession which concerns mankind. Did it ensure a race of good
and wise men it would have the seal of divine authority, but as it opens a door to the foolish, the wicked, and the improper,
it hath in it the nature of oppression. Men who look upon themselves born to reign, and others to obey, soon grow insolent;
selected from the rest of mankind their minds are early poisoned by importance; and the world they act in differs so materially
from the world at large, that they have but little opportunity of knowing its true interests, and when they succeed to the
government are frequently the most ignorant and unfit of any throughout the dominions. 16
Another evil which attends
hereditary succession is, that the throne is subject to be possessed by a minor at any age; all which time the regency, acting
under the cover of a king, have every opportunity and inducement to betray their trust. The same national misfortune happens,
when a king worn out with age and infirmity, enters the last stage of human weakness. In both these cases the public becomes
a prey to every miscreant, who can tamper successfully with the follies either of age or infancy. 17
The most plausible
plea, which hath ever been offered in favour of hereditary succession, is, that it preserves a nation from civil wars; and
were this true, it would be weighty; whereas, it is the most barefaced falsity ever imposed upon mankind. The whole history
of England disowns the fact. Thirty kings and two minors have reigned in that distracted kingdom since the conquest, in which
time there have been (including the Revolution) no less than eight civil wars and nineteen rebellions. Wherefore instead of
making for peace, it makes against it, and destroys the very foundation it seems to stand on. 18
The contest for
monarchy and succession, between the houses of York and Lancaster, laid England in a scene of blood for many years. Twelve
pitched battles, besides skirmishes and sieges, were fought between Henry and Edward. Twice was Henry prisoner to Edward,
who in his turn was prisoner to Henry. And so uncertain is the fate of war and the temper of a nation, when nothing but personal
matters are the ground of a quarrel, that Henry was taken in triumph from a prison to a palace, and Edward obliged to fly
from a palace to a foreign land; yet, as sudden transitions of temper are seldom lasting, Henry in his turn was driven from
the throne, and Edward recalled to succeed him. The parliament always following the strongest side. 19
This contest
began in the reign of Henry the Sixth, and was not entirely extinguished till Henry the Seventh, in whom the families were
united. Including a period of 67 years, viz. from 1422 to 1489. 20
In short, monarchy and succession have laid
(not this or that kingdom only) but the world in blood and ashes. 'Tis a form of government which the word of God bears testimony
against, and blood will attend it. 21
If we inquire into the business of a king, we shall find that in some countries
they have none; and after sauntering away their lives without pleasure to themselves or advantage to the nation, withdraw
from the scene, and leave their successors to tread the same idle round. In absolute monarchies the whole weight of business,
civil and military, lies on the king; the children of Israel in their request for a king, urged this plea "that he may judge
us, and go out before us and fight our battles." But in countries where he is neither a judge nor a general, as in England,
a man would be puzzled to know what is his business. 22
The nearer any government approaches to a republic the
less business there is for a king. It is somewhat difficult to find a proper name for the government of England. Sir William
Meredith calls it a republic; but in its present state it is unworthy of the name, because the corrupt influence of the crown,
by having all the places in its disposal, hath so effectually swallowed up the power, and eaten out the virtue of the house
of commons (the republican part in the constitution) that the government of England is nearly as monarchical as that of France
or Spain. Men fall out with names without understanding them. For it is the republican and not the monarchical part of the
constitution of England which Englishmen glory in, viz. the liberty of choosing an house of commons from out of their own
body—and it is easy to see that when republican virtue fails, slavery ensues. Why is the constitution of England sickly,
but because monarchy hath poisoned the republic, the crown hath engrossed the commons? 23
In England a king hath
little more to do than to make war and give away places; which in plain terms, is to impoverish the nation and set it together
by the ears. A pretty business indeed for a man to be allowed eight hundred thousand sterling a year for, and worshipped into
the bargain! Of more worth is one honest man to society and in the sight of God, than all the crowned ruffians that every
lived.
IN the following pages I offer nothing more than simple facts, plain arguments, and common sense; and have
no other preliminaries to settle with the reader, than that he will divest himself of prejudice and prepossession, and suffer
his reason and his feelings to determine for themselves; that he will put on, or rather that he will not put off, the true
character of a man, and generously enlarge his views beyond the present day. 1
Volumes have been
written on the subject of the struggle between England and America. Men of all ranks have embarked in the controversy, from
different motives, and with various designs; but all have been ineffectual, and the period of debate is closed. Arms, as the
last resource, decide the contest; the appeal was the choice of the king, and the continent hath accepted the challenge. 2
It hath been reported of the late Mr Pelham (who tho' an able minister was not without his faults) that on his
being attacked in the house of commons, on the score, that his measures were only of a temporary kind, replied, "they will
last my time." Should a thought so fatal and unmanly possess the colonies in the present contest, the name of ancestors will
be remembered by future generations with detestation. 3
The sun never shined on a cause of greater worth. 'Tis
not the affair of a city, a country, a province, or a kingdom, but of a continent—of at least one eighth part of the
habitable globe. 'Tis not the concern of a day, a year, or an age; posterity are virtually involved in the contest, and will
be more or less affected, even to the end of time, by the proceedings now. Now is the seed time of continental union, faith
and honor. The least fracture now will be like a name engraved with the point of a pin on the tender rind of a young oak;
The wound will enlarge with the tree, and posterity read it in full grown characters. 4
By referring the matter
from argument to arms, a new æra for politics is struck; a new method of thinking hath arisen. All plans, proposals, &c.
prior to the nineteenth of April, i. e. to the commencement of hostilities, are like the almanacks of the last year; which,
though proper then, are superceded and useless now. Whatever was advanced by the advocates on either side of the question
then, terminated in one and the same point, viz. a union with Great-Britain; the only difference between the parties was the
method of effecting it; the one proposing force, the other friendship; but it hath so far happened that the first hath failed,
and the second hath withdrawn her influence. 5
As much hath been said of the advantages of reconciliation, which,
like an agreeable dream, hath passed away and left us as we were, it is but right, that we should examine the contrary side
of the argument, and inquire into some of the many material injuries which these colonies sustain, and always will sustain,
by being connected with, and dependant on Great-Britain. To examine that connexion and dependance, on the principles of nature
and common sense, to see what we have to trust to, if separated, and what we are to expect, if dependant. 6
I have
heard it asserted by some, that as America hath flourished under her former connexion with Great-Britain, that the same connexion
is necessary towards her future happiness, and will always have the same effect. Nothing can be more fallacious than this
kind of argument. We may as well assert that because a child has thrived upon milk, that it is never to have meat, or that
the first twenty years of our lives is to become a precedent for the next twenty. But even this is admitting more than is
true, for I answer roundly, that America would have flourished as much, and probably much more, had no European power had
any thing to do with her. The commerce, by which she hath enriched herself are the necessaries of life, and will always have
a market while eating is the custom of Europe. 7
But she has protected us, say some. That she hath engrossed us
is true, and defended the continent at our expence as well as her own is admitted, and she would have defended Turkey from
the same motive, viz. the sake of trade and dominion. 8
Alas, we have been long led away by ancient prejudices,
and made large sacrifices to superstition. We have boasted the protection of Great-Britain, without considering, that her
motive was interest not attachment; that she did not protect us from our enemies on our account, but from her enemies on her
own account, from those who had no quarrel with us on any other account, and who will always be our enemies on the same account.
Let Britain wave her pretensions to the continent, or the continent throw off the dependance, and we should be at peace with
France and Spain were they at war with Britain. The miseries of Hanover last war ought to warn us against connexions. 9
It hath lately been asserted in parliament, that the colonies have no relation to each other but through the parent country,
i. e. that Pennsylvania and the Jerseys, and so on for the rest, are sister colonies by the way of England; this is certainly
a very round-about way of proving relationship, but it is the nearest and only true way of proving enemyship, if I may so
call it. France and Spain never were, nor perhaps ever will be our enemies as Americans, but as our being the subjects of
Great-Britain. 10
But Britain is the parent country, say some. Then the more shame upon her conduct. Even brutes
do not devour their young, nor savages make war upon their families; wherefore the assertion, if true, turns to her reproach;
but it happens not to be true, or only partly so, and the phrase parent or mother country hath been jesuitically adopted by
the king and his parasites, with a low papistical design of gaining an unfair bias on the credulous weakness of our minds.
Europe, and not England, is the parent country of America. This new world hath been the asylum for the persecuted lovers of
civil and religious liberty from every part of Europe. Hither have they fled, not from the tender embraces of the mother,
but from the cruelty of the monster; and it is so far true of England, that the same tyranny which drove the first emigrants
from home, pursues their descendants still. 11
In this extensive quarter of the globe, we forget the narrow limits
of three hundred and sixty miles (the extent of England) and carry our friendship on a larger scale; we claim brotherhood
with every European christian, and triumph in the generosity of the sentiment. 12
It is pleasant to observe by
what regular gradations we surmount the force of local prejudice, as we enlarge our acquaintance with the world. A man born
in any town in England divided into parishes, will naturally associate most with his fellow parishioners (because their interests
in many cases will be common) and distinguish him by the name of neighbour; if he meet him but a few miles from home, he drops
the narrow idea of a street, and salutes him by the name of townsman; if he travel out of the county, and meet him in any
other, he forgets the minor divisions of street and town, and calls him countryman; i. e. county-man; but if in their foreign
excursions they should associate in France or any other part of Europe, their local remembrance would be enlarged into that
of Englishmen. And by a just parity of reasoning, all Europeans meeting in America, or any other quarter of the globe, are
countrymen; for England, Holland, Germany, or Sweden, when compared with the whole, stand in the same places on the larger
scale, which the divisions of street, town, and county do on the smaller ones; distinctions too limited for continental minds.
Not one third of the inhabitants, even of this province, are of English descent. Wherefore I reprobate the phrase of parent
or mother country applied to England only, as being false, selfish, narrow and ungenerous. 13
But admitting, that
we were all of English descent, what does it amount to? Nothing. Britain, being now an open enemy, extinguishes every other
name and title: And to say that reconciliation is our duty, is truly farcical. The first king of England, of the present line
(William the Conqueror) was a Frenchman, and half the Peers of England are descendants from the same country; wherefore, by
the same method of reasoning, England ought to be governed by France. 14
Much hath been said of the united strength
of Britain and the colonies, that in conjunction they might bid defiance to the world. But this is mere presumption; the fate
of war is uncertain, neither do the expressions mean any thing; for this continent would never suffer itself to be drained
of inhabitants, to support the British arms in either Asia, Africa, or Europe. 15
Besides, what have we to do with
setting the world at defiance? Our plan is commerce, and that, well attended to, will secure us the peace and friendship of
all Europe; because, it is the interest of all Europe to have America a free port. Her trade will always be a protection,
and her barrenness of gold and silver secure her from invaders. 16
I challenge the warmest advocate for reconciliation,
to shew, a single advantage that this continent can reap, by being connected with Great Britain. I repeat the challenge, not
a single advantage is derived. Our corn will fetch its price in any market in Europe, and our imported goods must be paid
for buy them where we will. 17
But the injuries and disadvantages we sustain by that connection, are without number;
and our duty to mankind at large, as well as to ourselves, instruct us to renounce the alliance: Because, any submission to,
or dependance on Great-Britain, tends directly to involve this continent in European wars and quarrels; and sets us at variance
with nations, who would otherwise seek our friendship, and against whom, we have neither anger nor complaint. As Europe is
our market for trade, we ought to form no partial connection with any part of it. It is the true interest of America to steer
clear of European contentions, which she never can do, while by her dependance on Britain, she is made the make-weight in
the scale on British politics. 18
Europe is too thickly planted with kingdoms to be long at peace, and whenever
a war breaks out between England and any foreign power, the trade of America goes to ruin, because of her connection with
Britain. The next war may not turn out like the last, and should it not, the advocates for reconciliation now will be wishing
for separation then, because, neutrality in that case, would be a safer convoy than a man of war. Every thing that is right
or natural pleads for separation. The blood of the slain, the weeping voice of nature cries, 'TIS TIME TO PART. Even the distance
at which the Almighty hath placed England and America, is a strong and natural proof, that the authority of the one, over
the other, was never the design of Heaven. The time likewise at which the continent was discovered, adds weight to the argument,
and the manner in which it was peopled encreases the force of it. The reformation was preceded by the discovery of America,
as if the Almighty graciously meant to open a sanctuary to the persecuted in future years, when home should afford neither
friendship nor safety. 19
The authority of Great-Britain over this continent, is a form of government, which sooner
or later must have an end: And a serious mind can draw no true pleasure by looking forward, under the painful and positive
conviction, that what he calls "the present constitution" is merely temporary. As parents, we can have no joy, knowing that
this government is not sufficiently lasting to ensure any thing which we may bequeath to posterity: And by a plain method
of argument, as we are running the next generation into debt, we ought to do the work of it, otherwise we use them meanly
and pitifully. In order to discover the line of our duty rightly, we should take our children in our hand, and fix our station
a few years farther into life; that eminence will present a prospect, which a few present fears and prejudices conceal from
our sight. 20
Though I would carefully avoid giving unnecessary offence, yet I am inclined to believe, that all
those who espouse the doctrine of reconciliation, may be included within the following descriptions. Interested men, who are
not to be trusted; weak men, who cannot see; prejudiced men, who will not see; and a certain set of moderate men, who think
better of the European world than it deserves; and this last class, by an ill-judged deliberation, will be the cause of more
calamities to this continent, than all the other three. 21
It is the good fortune of many to live distant from
the scene of sorrow; the evil is not sufficiently brought to their doors to make them feel the precariousness with which all
American property is possessed. But let our imaginations transport us for a few moments to Boston, that seat of wretchedness
will teach us wisdom, and instruct us for ever to renounce a power in whom we can have no trust. The inhabitants of that unfortunate
city, who but a few months ago were in ease and affluence, have now, no other alternative than to stay and starve, or turn
out to beg. Endangered by the fire of their friends if they continue within the city, and plundered by the soldiery if they
leave it. In their present condition they are prisoners without the hope of redemption, and in a general attack for their
relief, they would be exposed to the fury of both armies. 22
Men of passive tempers look somewhat lightly over
the offences of Britain, and, still hoping for the best, are apt to call out, "Come, come, we shall be friends again, for
all this." But examine the passions and feelings of mankind, Bring the doctrine of reconciliation to the touchstone of nature,
and then tell me, whether you can hereafter love, honour, and faithfully serve the power that hath carried fire and sword
into your land? If you cannot do all these, then are you only deceiving yourselves, and by your delay bringing ruin upon posterity.
Your future connection with Britain, whom you can neither love nor honour, will be forced and unnatural, and being formed
only on the plan of present convenience, will in a little time fall into a relapse more wretched than the first. But if you
say, you can still pass the violations over, then I ask, Hath your house been burnt? Hath your property been destroyed before
your face? Are your wife and children destitute of a bed to lie on, or bread to live on? Have you lost a parent or a child
by their hands, and yourself the ruined and wretched survivor? If you have not, then are you not a judge of those who have.
But if you have, and still can shake hands with the murderers, then you are unworthy of the name of husband, father, friend,
or lover, and whatever may be your rank or title in life, you have the heart of a coward, and the spirit of a sycophant. 23
This is not inflaming or exaggerating matters, but trying them by those feelings and affections which nature justifies,
and without which, we should be incapable of discharging the social duties of life, or enjoying the felicities of it. I mean
not to exhibit horror for the purpose of provoking revenge, but to awaken us from fatal and unmanly slumbers, that we may
pursue determinately some fixed object. It is not in the power of Britain or of Europe to conquer America, if she do not conquer
herself by delay and timidity. The present winter is worth an age if rightly employed, but if lost or neglected, the whole
continent will partake of the misfortune; and there is no punishment which that man will not deserve, be he who, or what,
or where he will, that may be the means of sacrificing a season so precious and useful. 24
It is repugnant to reason,
to the universal order of things to all examples from former ages, to suppose, that this continent can longer remain subject
to any external power. The most sanguine in Britain does not think so. The utmost stretch of human wisdom cannot, at this
time, compass a plan short of separation, which can promise the continent even a year's security. Reconciliation is now a
falacious dream. Nature hath deserted the connexion, and Art cannot supply her place. For, as Milton wisely expresses, "never
can true reconcilement grow where wounds of deadly hate have pierced so deep." 25
Every quiet method for peace
hath been ineffectual. Our prayers have been rejected with disdain; and only tended to convince us, that nothing flatters
vanity, or confirms obstinacy in Kings more than repeated petitioning—and noting hath contributed more than that very
measure to make the Kings of Europe absolute: Witness Denmark and Sweden. Wherefore, since nothing but blows will do, for
God's sake, let us come to a final separation, and not leave the next generation to be cutting throats, under the violated
unmeaning names of parent and child. 26
To say, they will never attempt it again is idle and visionary, we thought
so at the repeal of the stamp act, yet a year or two undeceived us; as well may we suppose that nations, which have been once
defeated, will never renew the quarrel. 27
As to government matters, it is not in the power of Britain to do this
continent justice: The business of it will soon be too weighty, and intricate, to be managed with any tolerable degree of
convenience, by a power, so distant from us, and so very ignorant of us; for if they cannot conquer us, they cannot govern
us. To be always running three or four thousand miles with a tale or a petition, waiting four or five months for an answer,
which when obtained requires five or six more to explain it in, will in a few years be looked upon as folly and childishness—There
was a time when it was proper, and there is a proper time for it to cease. 28
Small islands not capable of protecting
themselves, are the proper objects for kingdoms to take under their care; but there is something very absurd, in supposing
a continent to be perpetually governed by an island. In no instance hath nature made the satellite larger than its primary
planet, and as England and America, with respect to each other, reverses the common order of nature, it is evident they belong
to different systems: England to Europe, America to itself. 29
I am not induced by motives of pride, party, or
resentment to espouse the doctrine of separation and independance; I am clearly, positively, and conscientiously persuaded
that it is the true interest of this continent to be so; that every thing short of that is mere patchwork, that it can afford
no lasting felicity,—that it is leaving the sword to our children, and shrinking back at a time, when, a little more,
a little farther, would have rendered this continent the glory of the earth. 30
As Britain hath not manifested
the least inclination towards a compromise, we may be assured that no terms can be obtained worthy the acceptance of the continent,
or any ways equal to the expense of blood and treasure we have been already put to. 31
The object, contended for,
ought always to bear some just proportion to the expense. The removal of North, or the whole detestable junto, is a matter
unworthy the millions we have expended. A temporary stoppage of trade, was an inconvenience, which would have sufficiently
ballanced the repeal of all the acts complained of, had such repeals been obtained; but if the whole continent must take up
arms, if every man must be a soldier, it is scarcely worth our while to fight against a contemptible ministry only. Dearly,
dearly, do we pay for the repeal of the acts, if that is all we fight for; for in a just estimation, it is as great a folly
to pay a Bunker-hill price for law, as for land. As I have always considered the independancy of this continent, as an event,
which sooner or later must arrive, so from the late rapid progress of the continent to maturity, the event could not be far
off. Wherefore, on the breaking out of hostilities, it was not worth the while to have disputed a matter, which time would
have finally redressed, unless we meant to be in earnest; otherwise, it is like wasting an estate on a suit at law, to regulate
the trespasses of a tenant, whose lease is just expiring. No man was a warmer wisher for reconciliation than myself, before
the fatal nineteenth of April 1775, 1 but the moment the event of that day was made known, I rejected the hardened, sullen
tempered Pharaoh of England for ever; and disdain the wretch, that with the pretended title of FATHER OF HIS PEOPLE, can unfeelingly
hear of their slaughter, and composedly sleep with their blood upon his soul. 32
But admitting that matters were
now made up, what would be the event? I answer, the ruin of the continent. And that for several reasons. 33
First.
The powers of governing still remaining in the hands of the king, he will have a negative over the whole legislation of this
continent. And as he hath shewn himself such an inveterate enemy to liberty, and discovered such a thirst for arbitrary power;
is he, or is he not, a proper man to say to these colonies, "You shall make no laws but what I please." And is there any inhabitant
in America so ignorant, as not to know, that according to what is called the present constitution, that this continent can
make no laws but what the king gives it leave to; and is there any man so unwise, as not to see, that (considering what has
happened) he will suffer no law to be made here, but such as suit his purpose. We may be as effectually enslaved by the want
of laws in America, as by submitting to laws made for us in England. After matters are made up (as it is called) can there
be any doubt, but the whole power of the crown will be exerted, to keep this continent as low and humble as possible? Instead
of going forward we shall go backward, or be perpetually quarrelling or ridiculously petitioning.—We are already greater
than the king wishes us to be, and will he not hereafter endeavour to make us less? To bring the matter to one point. Is the
power who is jealous of our prosperity, a proper power to govern us? Whoever says No to this question is an independant, for
independancy means no more, than, whether we shall make our own laws, or, whether the king, the greatest enemy this continent
hath, or can have, shall tell us, "there shall be no laws but such as I like." 34
But the king you will say has
a negative in England; the people there can make no laws without his consent. In point of right and good order, there is something
very ridiculous, that a youth of twenty-one (which hath often happened) shall say to several millions of people, older and
wiser than himself, I forbid this or that act of yours to be law. But in this place I decline this sort of reply, though I
will never cease to expose the absurdity of it, and only answer, that England being the King's residence, and America not
so, make quite another case. The king's negative here is ten times more dangerous and fatal than it can be in England, for
there he will scarcely refuse his consent to a bill for putting England into as strong a state of defence as possible, and
in America he would never suffer such a bill to be passed. 35
America is only a secondary object in the system
of British politics, England consults the good of this country, no farther than it answers her own purpose. Wherefore, her
own interest leads her to suppress the growth of ours in every case which doth not promote her advantage, or in the least
interferes with it. A pretty state we should soon be in under such a second-hand government, considering what has happened!
Men do not change from enemies to friends by the alteration of a name: And in order to shew that reconciliation now is a dangerous
doctrine, I affirm, that it would be policy in the king at this time, to repeal the acts for the sake of reinstating himself
in the government of the provinces; in order that HE MAY ACCOMPLISH BY CRAFT AND SUBTILITY, IN THE LONG RUN, WHAT HE CANNOT
DO BY FORCE AND VIOLENCE IN THE SHORT ONE. Reconciliation and ruin are nearly related. 36
Secondly. That as even
the best terms, which we can expect to obtain, can amount to no more than a temporary expedient, or a kind of government by
guardianship, which can last no longer than till the colonies come of age, so the general face and state of things, in the
interim, will be unsettled and unpromising. Emigrants of property will not choose to come to a country whose form of government
hangs but by a thread, and who is every day tottering on the brink of commotion and disturbance; and numbers of the present
inhabitants would lay hold of the interval, to dispose of their effects, and quit the continent. 37
But the most
powerful of all arguments, is, that nothing but independance, i. e. a continental form of government, can keep the peace of
the continent and preserve it inviolate from civil wars. I dread the event of a reconciliation with Britain now, as it is
more than probable, that it will followed by a revolt somewhere or other, the consequences of which may be far more fatal
than all the malice of Britain. 38
Thousands are already ruined by British barbarity; (thousands more will probably
suffer the same fate.) Those men have other feelings than us who have nothing suffered. All they now possess is liberty, what
they before enjoyed is sacrificed to its service, and having nothing more to lose, they disdain submission. Besides, the general
temper of the colonies, towards a British government, will be like that of a youth, who is nearly out of his time; they will
care very little about her. And a government which cannot preserve the peace, is no government at all, and in that case we
pay our money for nothing; and pray what is it that Britain can do, whose power will be wholly on paper, should a civil tumult
break out the very day after reconciliation? I have heard some men say, many of whom I believe spoke without thinking, that
they dreaded an independance, fearing that it would produce civil wars. It is but seldom that our first thoughts are truly
correct, and that is the case here; for there are ten times more to dread from a patched up connexion than from independance.
I make the sufferers case my own, and I protest, that were I driven from house and home, my property destroyed, and my circumstances
ruined, that as a man, sensible of injuries, I could never relish the doctrine of reconciliation, or consider myself bound
thereby. 39
The colonies have manifested such a spirit of good order and obedience to continental government, as
is sufficient to make every reasonable person easy and happy on that head. No man can assign the least pretence for his fears,
on any other grounds, that such as are truly childish and ridiculous, viz. that one colony will be striving for superiority
over another. 40
Where there are no distinctions there can be no superiority, perfect equality affords no temptation.
The republics of Europe are all (and we may say always) in peace. Holland and Swisserland are without wars, foreign or domestic:
Monarchical governments, it is true, are never long at rest; the crown itself is a temptation to enterprizing ruffians at
home; and that degree of pride and insolence ever attendant on regal authority, swells into a rupture with foreign powers,
in instances, where a republican government, by being formed on more natural principles, would negotiate the mistake. 41
If there is any true cause of fear respecting independance, it is because no plan is yet laid down. Men do not see their way
out—Wherefore, as an opening into that business, I offer the following hints; at the same time modestly affirming, that
I have no other opinion of them myself, than that they may be the means of giving rise to something better. Could the straggling
thoughts of individuals be collected, they would frequently form materials for wise and able men to improve into useful matter.
42
Let the assemblies be annual, with a President only. The representation more equal. Their business
wholly domestic, and subject to the authority of a Continental Congress. 43
Let each colony be divided into six,
eight, or ten, convenient districts, each district to send a proper number of delegates to Congress, so that each colony send
at least thirty. The whole number in Congress will be least 390. Each Congress to sit and to choose a president
by the following method. When the delegates are met, let a colony be taken from the whole thirteen colonies by lot, after
which, let the whole Congress choose (by ballot) a president from out of the delegates of that province. In the next Congress,
let a colony be taken by lot from twelve only, omitting that colony from which the president was taken in the former Congress,
and so proceeding on till the whole thirteen shall have had their proper rotation. And in order that nothing may pass into
a law but what is satisfactorily just, not less than three fifths of the Congress to be called a majority.—He that will
promote discord, under a government so equally formed as this, would have joined Lucifer in his revolt. 44
But
as there is a peculiar delicacy, from whom, or in what manner, this business must first arise, and as it seems most agreeable
and consistent that it should come from some intermediate body between the governed and the governors, that is, between the
Congress and the people, let a CONTINENTAL CONFERENCE be held, in the following manner, and for the following purpose. 45
A committee of twenty-six members of Congress, viz. two for each colony. Two members for each House of Assembly,
or Provincial Convention; and five representatives of the people at large, to be chosen in the capital city or town of each
province, for, and in behalf of the whole province, by as many qualified voters as shall think proper to attend from all parts
of the province for that purpose; or, if more convenient, the representatives may be chosen in two or three of the most populous
parts thereof. In this conference, thus assembled, will be united, the two grand principles of business, knowledge and power.
The members of Congress, Assemblies, or Conventions, by having had experience in national concerns, will be able and useful
counsellors, and the whole, being impowered by the people, will have a truly legal authority. 46
The conferring
members being met, let their business be to frame a CONTINENTAL CHARTER, or Charter of the United Colonies; (answering to
what is called the Magna Charta of England) fixing the number and manner of choosing members of Congress, members of Assembly,
with their date of sitting, and drawing the line of business and jurisdiction between them: (Always remembering, that our
strength is continental, not provincial:) Securing freedom and property to all men, and above all things, the free exercise
of religion, according to the dictates of conscience; with such other matter as is necessary for a charter to contain. Immediately
after which, the said Conference to dissolve, and the bodies which shall be chosen comformable to the said charter, to be
the legislators and governors of this continent for the time being: Whose peace and happiness, may God preserve, Amen. 47
Should any body of men be hereafter delegated for this or some similar purpose, I offer them the following extracts
from that wise observer on governments Dragonetti. "The science" says he "of the politician consists in fixing the true point
of happiness and freedom. Those men would deserve the gratitude of ages, who should discover a mode of government that contained
the greatest sum of individual happiness, with the least national expense."
"Dragonetti on virtue and rewards." 48
But where says some is the King of America? I'll tell you Friend, he reigns above, and doth not make havoc of mankind like
the Royal Brute of Britain. Yet that we may not appear to be defective even in earthly honors, let a day be solemnly set apart
for proclaiming the charter; let it be brought forth placed on the divine law, the word of God; let a crown be placed thereon,
by which the world may know, that so far as we approve as monarchy, that in America THE LAW IS KING. For as in absolute governments
the King is law, so in free countries the law ought to be King; and there ought to be no other. But lest any ill use should
afterwards arise, let the crown at the conclusion of the ceremony be demolished, and scattered among the people whose right
it is. 49
A government of our own is our natural right: And when a man seriously reflects on the precariousness
of human affairs, he will become convinced, that it is infinitely wiser and safer, to form a constitution of our own in a
cool deliberate manner, while we have it in our power, than to trust such an interesting event to time and chance. If we omit
it now, some, 2 Massanello may hereafter arise, who laying hold of popular disquietudes, may collect together the desperate
and discontented, and by assuming to themselves the powers of government, may sweep away the liberties of the continent like
a deluge. Should the government of America return again into the hands of Britain, the tottering situation of things, will
be a temptation for some desperate adventurer to try his fortune; and in such a case, what relief can Britain give? Ere she
could hear the news, the fatal business might be done; and ourselves suffering like the wretched Britons under the oppression
of the Conqueror. Ye that oppose independance now, ye know not what ye do; ye are opening a door to eternal tyranny, by keeping
vacant the seat of government. There are thousands, and tens of thousands, who would think it glorious to expel from the continent,
that barbarous and hellish power, which hath stirred up the Indians and Negroes to destroy us, the cruelty hath a double guilt,
it is dealing brutally by us, and treacherously by them. 50
To talk of friendship with those in whom our reason
forbids us to have faith, and our affections wounded through a thousand pores instruct us to detest, is madness and folly.
Every day wears out the little remains of kindred between us and them, and can there be any reason to hope, that as the relationship
expires, the affection will increase, or that we shall agree better, when we have ten times more and greater concerns to quarrel
over than ever? 51
Ye that tell us of harmony and reconciliation, can ye restore to us the time that is past? Can
ye give to prostitution its former innocence? Neither can ye reconcile Britain and America. The last cord now is broken, the
people of England are presenting addresses against us. There are injuries which nature cannot forgive; she would cease to
be nature if she did. As well can the lover forgive the ravisher of his mistress, as the continent forgive the murders of
Britain. The Almighty hath implanted in us these unextinguishable feelings for good and wise purposes. They are the guardians
of his image in our hearts. They distinguish us from the herd of common animals. The social compact would dissolve, and justice
be extirpated from the earth, or have only a casual existence were we callous to the touches of affection. The robber, and
the murderer, would often escape unpunished, did not the injuries which our tempers sustain, provoke us into justice. 52
O ye that love mankind! Ye that dare oppose, not only the tyranny, but the tyrant, stand forth! Every spot of the old world
is overrun with oppression. Freedom hath been hunted round the globe. Asia, and Africa, have long expelled her.—Europe
regards her like a stranger, and England hath given her warning to depart. O! receive the fugitive, and prepare in time an
asylum for mankind. 53
Note 1 Massacre at Lexington. [back]
Note 2 Thomas
Anello, otherwise Massanello, a fisherman of Naples, who after spiriting up his countrymen in the public market place, against
the oppression of the Spaniards, to whom the place was then subject, prompted them to revolt, and in the space of a day became
king.
I HAVE never met with a man, either in England or America, who hath not confessed his opinion, that a
separation between the countries, would take place one time or other: And there is no instance, in which we have shewn less
judgment, than in endeavouring to describe, what we call, the ripeness or fitness of the Continent for independance.
1
As all men allow the measure, and vary only in their opinion of the time, let us, in order to remove mistakes,
take a general survey of things, and endeavour, if possible, to find out the very time. But we need not go far, the inquiry
ceases at once, for, the time hath found us. The general concurrence, the glorious union of all things prove the fact. 2
It is not in numbers, but in unity, that our great strength lies; yet our present numbers are sufficient to repel the force
of all the world. The Continent hath, at this time, the largest body of armed and disciplined men of any power under Heaven;
and is just arrived at that pitch of strength, in which, no single colony is able to support itself, and the whole, when united,
can accomplish the matter, and either more, or, less than this, might be fatal in its effects. Our land force is already sufficient,
and as to naval affairs, we cannot be insensible, that Britain would never suffer an American man of war to be built, while
the continent remained in her hands. Wherefore, we should be no forwarder an hundred years hence in that branch, than we are
now; but the truth is, we should be less so, because the timber of the country is every day diminishing, and that, which will
remain at last, will be far off and difficult to procure. 3
Were the continent crowded with inhabitants, her sufferings
under the present circumstances would be intolerable. The more sea port towns we had, the more should we have both to defend
and to loose. Our present numbers are so happily proportioned to our wants, that no man need be idle. The diminution of trade
affords an army, and the necessities of an army create a new trade. 4
Debts we have none; and whatever we may contract
on this account will serve as a glorious memento of our virtue. Can we but leave posterity with a settled form of government,
an independant constitution of it's own, the purchase at any price will be cheap. But to expend millions for the sake of getting
a few vile acts repealed, and routing the present ministry only, is unworthy the charge, and is using posterity with the utmost
cruelty; because it is leaving them the great work to do, and a debt upon their backs, from which, they derive no advantage.
Such a thought is unworthy a man of honor, and is the true characteristic of a narrow heart and a pedling politician. 5
The debt we may contract doth not deserve our regard if the work be but accomplished. No nation ought to be without a debt.
A national debt is a national bond; and when it bears no interest, is in no case a grievance. Britain is oppressed with a
debt of upwards of one hundred and forty millions sterling, for which she pays upwards of four millions interest. And as a
compensation for her debt, she has a large navy; America is without a debt, and without a navy; yet for the twentieth part
of the English national debt, could have a navy as large again. The navy of England is not worth, at this time, more than
three millions and an half sterling. 6
The first and second editions of this pamphlet were published without the
following calculations, which are now given as a proof that the above estimation of the navy is a just one. See Entic's naval
history, intro. page 56. 7
The charge of building a ship of each rate, and furnishing her with masts, yards, sails
and rigging, together with a proportion of eight months boatswain's and carpenter's sea-stores, as calculated by Mr. Burchett,
Secretary to the navy.
£.
For a ship of a 100 guns 35,553
90 29,886
80
23,638
70 17,785
60 14,197
50 10,606
40
7,558
30 5,846
20 3,710
8
And from hence it is easy to sum
up the value, or cost rather, of the whole British navy, which in the year 1757, when it was as its greatest glory consisted
of the following ships and guns:
Ships. Guns. Cost of one. Cost of all.
6 100 35,553 l. 213,318 l.
12 90 29,886
358,632
12 80 23,638 283,656
43 70 17,785 746,755
35 60 14,197 496,895
40 50 10,606 424,240
45 40 7,558
340,110
58 20 3,710 215,180
85 Sloops,bombs, andfireships,one withanother, at 2,000 170,000
Cost 3,266,786
Remains
for guns 233,214
3,500,000
9
No country on the globe is so happily situated, so internally capable
of raising a fleet as America. Tar, timber, iron, and cordage are her natural produce. We need go abroad for nothing. Whereas
the Dutch, who make large profits by hiring out their ships of war to the Spaniards and Portuguese, are obliged to import
most of the materials they use. We ought to view the building a fleet as an article of commerce, it being the natural manufactory
of this country. It is the best money we can lay out. A navy when finished is worth more than it cost. And is that nice point
in national policy, in which commerce and protection are united. Let us build; if we want them not, we can sell; and by that
means replace our paper currency with ready gold and silver. 10
In point of manning a fleet, people in general
run into great errors; it is not necessary that one fourth part should be sailor. The Terrible privateer, Captain Death, stood
the hottest engagement of any ship last war, yet had not twenty sailors on board, though her complement of men was upwards
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