We do not know how to qualify millions of our
countrymen, contending with one heart for an admission to privileges which we have ever thought
our own happiness and honor, by odious and unworthy names.
countrymen, contending with one heart for an admission to privileges which we have ever thought
our own happiness and honor, by odious and unworthy names.
Edmund Burke
174 ADDRESS TO THE KING.
The next maxim which has been put as a bar
to any plan of accommodation is, "that no offer of
terms of peace ought to be made, before Parliament
is assured that these terms will be accepted. " On
this we beg leave to represent to your Majesty, that,
if, ill all events, the policy of this kingdom is to govern the people in your colonies as a free people, iio mischief can possibly happen from a declaration to
them, and to tile world, of the manner and form in
which Parliament proposes that they shall enjoy the
fieedom it protects. It is an encouragement to the
innocent and meritorious, that they at least shall enjoy those advantages which they patiently expected rather from the benignity of Parliament than their
own. efforts. Persons more contumacious may also
see that they are resisting terms of perhaps greater
freedom and happiness than they are now in arms
to obtain. The glory and propriety of offered mercy
is neither tarnished nor weakened by the folly of
those who refuse to take advantage of it.
We cannot think that the declaration of independency makes any natural difference in the reason
and policy of the offer. No prince out of the possession of his dominions, and become a sovereign de jure only, ever thought it derogatory to his rights
or his interests to hold out to his former subjects
a distinct prospect of the advantages to be derived
from his readmission, and a security for some of
the most fundamental of those popular privileges in
vindication of which he had been deposed. On the
contrary, such offers have been almost uniformly
made under similar circumstances. Besides, as your
Majesty has been graciously pleased, in your speech
from the throne, to declare your intention of restor
? ? ? ? ADDRESS TO THE KING. 175
ing your people in the colonies to a state of law and
liberty, no objection can possibly lie against defining
what that law and liberty are; because those who
offer and those who are to receive terms frequently
differ most widely and most materially in the signification of these words, and in the objects to which
they apply.
To say that we do not know, at this day, what
the grievances of the colonies are (be they real or
pretended) would be unworthy of us. But whilst
we are thus waiting to be informed of what we perfectly know, we weaken tile powers of the commissioners, - we delay, perhaps we lose, the happy hour of peace,- we are wasting the substance of both
countries, --we are continuing the effusion of human, of Christian, of English blood.
We are sure that we must have your Majesty's
heart along with us, when we declare in favor of
mixing something conciliatory with our force. Sir,
we abhor the idea of making a conquest of our countrymen. We wish that they may yield to well-ascertained, well-autlhenticated, and well-secured terms of reconciliation, - not that your Majesty should
owe the recovery of your dominions to their total
waste and destruction. Humanity will not permit
us to entertain such a desire; nor will the reverence
we bear to the civil rights of mankind make us even
wish that questions of great difficulty, of the last importance, and lying deep in the vital principles of
the British Constitution, should be solved by the
arms of foreign mercenary soldiers.
It is not, Sir, from a want of the most inviolable
duty to your Majesty, not from a want of a partial
and passionate regard to that part of your empire
? ? ? ? 176 ADDRESS TO THE KING.
in which we reside, and which we wish to be supreme, that we have hitherto withstood all attempts
to render the supremacy of one part of your dominions inconsistent with the liberty and safety of all
the rest. The motives of our opposition are found
in those very sentiments which we are supposed to
violate. For we are convinced beyond a doubt, that
a system of dependence which leaves no security to
the people for any part of their freedom in their own
hands cannot be established in any inferior member
of the British empire, without consequentially destroying the freedom of that very body in favor of
whose boundless pretensions such a scheme is adopted. We know and feel that arbitrary power over
distant regions is not within the competence, nor to
be exercised agreeably to the forms or consistently
with the spirit, of great popular assemblies. If such
assemblies are called to a nominal share in the exercise of such power, in order to screen, under general participation, the guilt of desperate measures, it tends only the more deeply to corrupt the deliberative character of those assemblies, in training them
to blind obedience, in habituating them to proceed
upon grounds of fact with which they call rarely be
sufficiently acquainted, and in rendering them executive instruments of designs the bottom of which they
cannot possibly fathom.
To leave any real freedom to Parliament, freedom
must be left to the colonies. A military government
is the only substitute for civil liberty. That the establishment of such a power in America will utterly
ruin our finances (though its certain effect) is the
smallest part of our concern. It will become an
apt, powerful, and certain engine for the destruc
? ? ? ? ADDRESS TO THE KING. 177
tion of our freedom here. Great bodies of armed
men, trained to a contempt of popular assemblies
representative of an English people,- kept up for
the purpose of exacting impositions without their
consent, and maintained by that exaction, -- instruments in subverting, without any process of law, great
ancient establishments and respected forms of governments,- set free from, and therefore above, the
ordinary English tribunals of the country where they
serve,- these men cannot so transform themselves,
merely by crossing the sea, as to behold with love
and reverence, and submit with profound obedience
to, the very same things in Great Britain which in,
America they had been taught to despise, and llad
been accustomed to awe and humble. All your Majesty's troops, in the rotation of service, will pass
through this discipline and contract these habits. If
we could flatter ourselves that this would not happen, we must be the weakest of mell; we -must be
the worst, if we were indifferent whether it happened
or not. What, gracious sovereign, is the empire of
America to us, or the empire of the world, if we lose
our own liberties? We deprecate this last of evils.
We deprecate the effect of the doctrines which must
support and countenance the government over conquered Englishmen.
As it will be impossible long to resist the powerful
and equitable arguments in favor of the freedom of
these unhappy people that are to be drawn from the
principle of our own liberty, attempts will be made,
attempts have been made, to ridicule and to argue
away this principle, and to inculcate into the minds
of your people other maxims of government and other grounds of obedience than those whiclh have proeVOL. VI. 12
? ? ? ? 178 ADDRESS TO THE KING.
vailed at and since the glorious Revolution. By
degrees, these doctrines, by being convenient, may
grow prevalent. The consequence is not certain;
but a general change of principles rarely happens
among a people without leading to a change of government.
Sir, your throne cannot stand secure upon the principles of unconditional submission and passive obedience, -on powers exercised without the concurrence of the people to be governed, - on acts made in defiance of their prejudices and habits, -- on acquiescence procured by foreign mercenary troops,
and secured by standing armies. These may possibly be the foundation of other thrones: they must be
the subversion of yours. It was not to passive principles in our ancestors that we owe the honor of appeariag before a sovereign who cainnot feel that he
is a prince without knowing that we ought to be
free. The Revolution is a departure from the ancient course of the descent of this monarchy. The
people at that time reentered into their original
rights; and it was not because a positive law authorized what was then done, but because the freedom and safety of the subject, the origin and cause
of all laws, required a proceeding paramount and
superior to them. At that ever memorable and instructive period, the letter of the law was superseded
in favor of the substance of liberty. To the free
choice, therefore, of the people, without either King
or Parliament, we owe that happy establishment out
of which both King and Parliament were regenerated. From that great principle of liberty have
originated the statutes confirming and ratifying the
establishment fiom which your Majesty derives your
? ? ? ? ADDRESS TO THE KING. 179
right to rule over us. Those statutes have not given
us our liberties: our liberties have produced them.
Every hour of your Majesty's reign, your title stands
upon the very same foundation on which it was at
first laid; and we do not know a better on which
it can possibly be placed.
Convinced, Sir, that you cannot have different
rights and a different security in different parts of
your dominions, we wish to lay an even platform
for your throne, and to give it an unmovable stability, by laying it on the general freedom of your
people, and by securing to your Majesty that confidence and affection in all parts of your dominions
which makes your best security and dearest title in
this the chief seat of your empire.
Such, Sir, being, amongst us, the foundation of
monarchy itself, much more clearly and much more
peculiarly is it the ground of all Parliamentary power. Parliament is a security provided for the protection of freedom, and not a subtile fiction, contrived to amuse the people in its place. The authority of
both HIouses can still less than that of the crown
be supported upon different principles in different
places, so as to be for one part of your subjects a
protector of liberty, and for another a fund. of despotisin, through which prerogative is extended by
occasional powers, whenever an arbitrary will finds
itself straitened by the restrictions of law. tHad it
seemed good to Parliament to consider itself as the
indulge:nt guardian and strong protector of the freedom of the subordinate popular assemblies, instead of
exercising its powers to their annihilation, there is no
doubt that it never could have been their inclination,
because not their interest, to raise questions on the
? ? ? ? 180 ADDRESS TO THE KING.
extent of Parliamentary rights, or to enfeeble privileges which were the security of theirs own. Powers evident from necessity, and not suspicious from an
alarming mode or purpose in the exertion, would,
as formerly they were, be cheerfully submitted to;
and these would have been fully sufficient for conservation of unity in the empire, and for directing
its wealth to one common centre. Another use has
produced other consequences; and a power which
refuses to be limited by moderation must either be
lost, or find other more distinct and satisfactory
limitations.
As for us, a supposed, or, if it could be, a real,
participation in arbitrary power would never reconcile our minds to its establishment. We should be ashamed to stand before your Majesty, boldly asserting in our own favor inherent rights which bind and regulate the crown itself, and yet insisting on the
exercise, in our own persons, of a more arbitrary
sway over our fellow-citizens and fellow-freemen.
These, gracious sovereign, are the sentiments which
we consider ourselves as bound, in justification df our
present conduct, in the most serious and solemn manner to lay at your Majesty's feet. We have been called by your Majesty's writs and proclamations,
and we have been authorized, either by hereditary
privilege or the choice of your people, to confer and
treat with your Majesty, in your highest councils,
upon the arduous affairs of your kingdom. We are
sensible of the whole importance of the duty which
this constitutional summons implies. We know the
religious punctuality of attendance which, in the ordinary course, it demands. It is no light cause which, even for a time, could persuade us to relax in any
? ? ? ? ADDRESS TO THE KING. 181
part of that attendance. The British empire is ill
convulsions which threaten its dissolution. Those
particular proceedings which cause and inflame this
disorder, after many years' incessant struggle, we
find ourselves wholly unable to oppose and unwilling to behold. All our endeavors having proved fruitless, we are fearful at this time of irritating by
contention those passions which we have found it
impracticable to compose by reason. We cannot
permit ourselves to countenance, by the appearance
of a silent assent, proceedings fatal to the liberty and
unity of the empire, -- proceedings which exhaust
the strength of all your Majesty's dominions, destroy
all trust and dependence of our allies, and leave us,
both at home and abroad, exposed to the suspicious
mercy and uncertain inclinations of our neighbor and
rival powers, to whom, by this desperate course, we
are driving our countrymen for protection, and with
whom we have forced them into connections, and may
bind them by habits and by interests, - an evil which
no victories that may be obtainied, no severities which
may. be exercised, ever will or canll remove.
If but the smallest hope should from any circumstances appear of a return to the ancient maxims and true policy of this kingdom, we shall with joy and
readiness return to our attendance, in order to give
our hearty support to whatever means may be left
for alleviating the complicated evils which oppress
this nation.
If this should not happen, we have discharged our
consciences by this faithful representation to your
Majesty and our country; and however few in number, or however we may be overborne by practices whose operation is but too powerful, by the reviv'al
? ? ? ? 182 ADDRESS TO THE KING.
of dangerous exploded principles, or by the misguided zeal of such arbitrary factions as formerly prevailed in this kingdom, and always to its detriment and disgrace, we have the satisfaction of standing
forth and recording our names in assertion of those
principles whose operation hath, in better times, made
your Majesty a great prince, and the British dominions a mighty empire.
? ? ? ? A D D R E SS
TO THE
BRITISH COLONISTS IN NORTH AMERICA.
IHE very dangerous crisis into which the British
empire is brought, as it accounts for, so it justifils, the unusual step we take in addressing ourselves to you. The distempers of the state are grown to such a
degree of violence and malignity as to render all
ordinary remedies vain and frivolous. In such a
deplorable situation, an adherence to the common
forms of business appears to us rather as an apology
to cover a supine neglect of duty than the means of
performing it in a manner adequate to the exigency
that presses upon us. The common means we have
already tried, and tried to no purpose. As our last
resource, we turn ourselves to you. We address you
merely in our private capacity, vested with no other
authority than what will naturally attend those in
whose declarations of benevolence you have no reason to apprehend any mixture of dissimulation or design.
We have this title to your attention: we call upon
it in a moment of the utmost importance to us all.
We find, with infinite concern, that arguments are
used to persuade you of the necessity of separating
yourselves from your ancient connection with your
? ? ? ? 184 ADDRESS TO THE BRITISH COLONISTS
parent country, grounded on a supposition that a
general principle of alienation and enmity to you
had pervaded the whole of this kingdom, and that
there does no longer subsist between you and us any
common and kindred principles upon which we can
possibly unite, consistently with those ideas of liberty
in which you have justly placed your whole happitless.
If this fact were true, the. inference drawn from it
woulld be irriesistible. But nothing is less founded.
We admit, indeed, that violent addresses have been
procured with uncommon pains by wicked and designing men, purporting to be the genuine voice of the whole people of England, -that they have been
published by authority here, and made known to you
by proclamations, in order, by despair and resentment,
incurably to poison your minds against the origin of
your race, and to render all cordial reconciliation between us utterly impracticable. The same wicked men, for the same bad purposes, have so far surprised
the justice of Parliament as to cut off all communication betwixt us, except what is to go in their own fallacious and hostile channel.
But we conjure you by the invaluable pledges
which have hitherto united, and which we trust will
hereafter lastingly unite us, that you do not suffer
yourselves to be persuaded or provoked into an opinion that you are at war with this nation. Do not think that the whole, or even the uninfluenced majority, of Englishmen in this island are enemies to their own blood on the American continent. Much
delusion has been practised, much corrupt influence
treacherously employed. But still a large, and we
trust the largest and soundest, part of this kingdom
? ? ? ? IN NORTH AMERICA. 185
perseveres in the most perfect unity of sentiments,
principles, and affections with you. It spreads out
a large and liberal platform of common liberty, upon
which we may all unite forever. It abhors the hostilities which have been carried on against you, as
much as you who feel the cruel effect of them. It has
disclaimed in the most solemn manner, at the foot of
the throne itself, the addresses which tended to irritate your sovereign against his colonies. We are persuaded that even many of those who unadvisedly
have put their hands to such intemperate and inflammatory addresses have not at all apprehended to what such proceedings naturally lead, and would sooner
die than afford them the least countenance, if they
were sensible of their fatal effects on the union and
liberty of the empire.
For ourselves, we faithfully assure you, that *ve
have ever considered you as rational creatures, as
free agents, as men willing to pursue and able to
discern your own true interest. We have wished to
continue united with you, in order that a people of
one origin and one character should be directed to
the rational objects of government by joint counsels,
and protected in them by a common force. Other
subordination in you we require none. We have
never pressed that argument of general union to the
extinction of your local, natural, and just privileges.
Sensible of what is due both to the dignity and weakness of man, we have never wished to place over you any government, over which, in great, fundamental
points, you should have no sort of check or control
in your own hands, or which should be repugnant
to your situation, principles, and character.
No circumstances of fortune, you may be assured,
? ? ? ? 186 ADDRESS TO THE BRITISH COLONISTS
will ever induce us to form or tolerate any such design. If the disposition of Providence (which we deprecate) should even prostrate you at our feet,
broken in power and in spirit, it would be our duty
and inclination to revive, by every practicable means,
that free energy of mind which a fortune unsuitable
to your virtue had damped and dejected, and to put
you voluntarily in possession of those very privileges
which you had in vain attempted to assert by arms.
For we solemnly declare, that, although we should
look upon a separation from you as an heavy calamity, (and the heavier, because we know you must have your fall share in it,) yet we had much rather
see you totally independent of this crown and kingdom than joined to it by so unnatural a conjunction as that of freedom with servitude,sa conjunction
which, if it were at all practicable, could not fail,
in the end, of being more mischievous to the peace,
prosperity, greatness, and power of this nation than
beneficial by any enlargement of the bounds of nominal empire.
But because, brethren, these professions are general, and such as even enemies may make, when they reserve to themselves the construction of what servitude and what liberty are, we inform you that we adopt your own standard of the blessing of free government. We are of opinion that you ought to enjoy ~he sole and exclusive right of freely granting, and
applying to the support of your administration, what
God has freely granted as a reward to your industry.
And we do not confine this immunity from exterior
coercion, in this great point, solely to what regards
your local establishment, but also to what may be
thought proper for the maintenance of the whole
? ? ? ? IN NORTH AMERICA. 187
empire. In this resource we cheerfully trust and
acquiesce, satisfied by evident reason that no other
expectation of revenue can possibly be given by freemen, and knowing from an experience uniform both on yours and on our side of the ocean that such an
expectation has never yet beeni disappointed. We
know of no road to your coffers but through your
affections.
To manifest our, sentiments the more clearly to
you and to the world on this subject, we declare
our opinion, that, if no revenue at all (which, however, we are far from supposing) were to be obtained from you to this kingdom, yet, as long as it is our
happiness to be joined with you in the bonds of fraternal charity and freedom, with an open and flowing commerce between us, one principle of enmity and
friendship pervading, and one right of war and peace
directing the strength of the whole empire, we are
likely to be at least as powerful as any nation, or as
any combination of nations, which in the course of
human events may be formed against us. We are
sensible that a very large proportion of the wealth
and power of every empire must necessarily be
thrown upon the presiding state. We are sensible
that such a state ever has borne and ever must bear
the greatest part, and sometimes the whole, of the
public expenses: and we think her well indemnified
for that (rather apparent than real) inequality of
charge, in the dignity and preeminence she enjoys,
and in the superior opulence which, after all charges defrayed, must necessarily remain at the centre
of affairs. Of this principle we are not without
evidence in our remembrance (not yet effaced) of
the glorious and happy days of this empire. We
? ? ? ? 188 ADDRESS TO THE BRITISH COLONISTS
are therefore incapable of that prevaricating style,
by which, when taxes without your consent are to
be extorted from you, this nation is represented-as
in the lowest state of impoverishment and public distress, but when we are called upon to oppress you by
force of arms, it is painted as scarcely feeling its impositions, abounding with wealth, and inexhaustible
in its resources.
We also reason and feel as you do on the invasion
of your charters. Because the charters comprehend
the essential forms by which you enjoy your liberties,'we regard them as most sacred, and by no means to
be taken away or altered without process, without
examination, and without hearing, as they have lately been. We even think that they ought by no means
to be altered at all, but at the desire of the greater
part of the people who live under them. We cannot
look upon men as delinquents in the mass; much less
are we desirous of lording over our brethren, insulting their honest pride, and wantonly overturning establishments judged to be just and convenient by the public wisdom of this nation at their institution, and
which long and inveterate use has taught you to look
up to with affection and reverence. As we disapproved of the proceedings with regard to the forms
of your constitution, so we are equally tender of
every leading principle of free government. We
never could think with approbation of putting the
military power out of the coercion of the civil justice
in the country where it acts.
We disclaim also any sort of share in that other
measure which has been used to alienate your affec
tions from this country, - namely, the introduction
of foreign mercenaries. We saw their employment
? ? ? ? IN NORTH AMERICA. 189
with shame and regret, especially in numbers so far
exceeding the English forces as in effect to constitute
vassals, who have no sense of freedom, and strangers,
who have no common interest or feelings, as the arbiters of our unhappy domestic quarrel.
We likewise saw with shame the African slaves,
who had been sold to you on public faith, and under
the sanction of acts of Parliament, to be your servants
and your guards, employed to cut the throats of their
masters.
You will not, we trust, believe, that, born in a
civilized country, formed to gentle manners, trained
in a merciful religion, and living in enlightened and
polished times, where even foreign hostility is softened from its original sternness, we could have
thought of letting loose upon you, our late beloved
brethren, these fierce tribes of savages and caiinibals,
in whom the traces of human nature are effaced by
ignorance and barbarity. We rather wished to have
joined with you in bringing gradually that unhappy
part of mankind into civility, order, piety, and virtuous discipline, than to have confirmed their evil habits and increased their natural ferocity by fleshling them in the slaughter of you, whom our wiser and
better ancestors had sent into the wilderness with
the express view of introducing, along with our holy
religion, its humane and charitable manners. We
do not hold that all things are lawfutl in war. We
should think that every barbarity, in fire, in wasting,
in murders, in tortures, and other cruelties, too horrible and too full of turpitude for Christian mouths
to utter or ears to hear, if done at our instigation,
by those who we know will make war thus, if they
make it at all, to be, to all intents and purposes,
? ? ? ? 190 ADDRESS TO THE BRITISH COLONISTS
as if done by ourselves. We clear ourselves to you
our brethren, to the present age, and to future generations, to our king and our country, and to Europe, which, as a spectator, beholds this tragic scene, of every part or share in adding this last and worst
of evils to the inevitable mischiefs of a civil war.
We do not call you rebels and traitors. We do
not call for the vengeance of the crown against you.
We do not know how to qualify millions of our
countrymen, contending with one heart for an admission to privileges which we have ever thought
our own happiness and honor, by odious and unworthy names. On the contrary, we highly revere
the principles on which you act, though we lament
some of their effects. Armed as you are, we embrace you as our friends and as our brethren by the
best add dearest ties of relation.
We view the establishment of the English colonies
on principles of liberty as that which is to render
this kingdom venerable to future ages. In comparison of this, we regard all the victories and conquests
of our warlike ancestors, or of our own times, as
barbarous, vulgar distinctions, in which many nations, whom we look upon with little respect or
value, have equalled, if not far exceeded us. This
is the peculiar and appropriated glory of England.
Those who have and who hold to that foundation of
common liberty, whether on this or on your side of
the ocean, we consider as the true, and the only
true, Englishmen. Those who depart from it, wllhetlher there or here, are attainted, corrupted in blood,
and wholly fallen from their original rank and value.
They are the real rebels to the fair constitution and
just supremacy of England.
? ? ? ? IN NORTH AMERICA. 191
We exhort you, therefore, to cleave forever to
those principles, as being the true bond of union
in this empire, - and to show by a manly perseverance that the sentiments of honor and the riglhts of manlkind are not held by the uncertain events of
war, as you have hitherto shown a glorious and affecting example to the world that they are not dependent on the ordinary conveniences and satisfactions of life.
Knoowing no other arguments to be used to men
of liberal linds, it is upon these very principles, and
these alone, we hope and trust that no flattering and
no alarming circumstances shall permit you to listen to the seductions of those who would alienate you from your dependence on the crown and Parliament
of this kinlgdom. That very liberty which you so
justly prize above all things originated here; and it
may be very doubtful, whether, without being constantly fed from the original fountain, it can be at
all perpetuated or preserved in its native purity and
perfection. Untried forms of government may, to
unstable minds, recommend themselves even by their
novelty. But you will do well to remember that
Enogland hlas been great and happy under the present limited monarchy (subsisting in more or less vigor and purity) for several hundred years. None
but England canl communicate to you the benefits
of such a constitution. We apprehend you are not
now, nor for ages are likely to be, capable of tllat
form of constitution in an independent state. Besides, let us suggest to you our apprehensions that your present unllion (in which we rejoice, and which
we wish long to subsist) cannot always subsist without the authority and weight of this great and long
? ? ? ? 192 ADDRESS TO THE BRITISH COLONISTS respected body, to equipoise, and to preserve you amongst yourselves in a just and fair equality. It may not even be impossible that a long course of war with the administration of this country may be but a prelude to a series of wars and contentions among yourselves, to end at length (as such scenes have too often ended) in a species of humliliating repose, which nothing but the preceding calamities would reconcile to the dispirited few who survived them. We allow that even this evil is worth the
risk to men of honor, when rational liberty is at
stake, as in the present case we confess and lament
that it is. But if ever a real security by Parliament is given against the terror or the abuse of
unlimited power, and after such security given you
should persevere in resistance, we leave you to consider whether the risk is not incurred without an
object, or incurred for an object infinitely diminished by such concessions in its importance and
value.
As to other points of discussion, when these grand
fundamentals of your grants and charters are once
settled and ratified by clear Parliamentary authority, as the ground for peace and forgiveness on our
side, and for a manly and liberal obedience on yours,
treaty and a spirit of reconciliation will easily and
securely adjust whatever may remain. Of this we
give you our word, that, so far as we are at preseilt concerned, and if by any event we should become more concerned hereafter, you may rest assured, upon the pledges of honor not forfeited, faith not violated, and uniformity of character and profession not yet broken, we at least, on these grounds,
will never fail you.
? ? ? ? IN NORTH AMERICA. 193
Respecting your wisdom, and valuing your safety,
we do not call upon you to trust your existence to
your enemies. We do not advise you to an unconditional submission. With satisfaction we assure you
that almost all ill both Houses (however unhappily
they have been deluded, so as not to give any immediate effect to their opinion) disclaim that idea.
You can have no friends in whom you cannot rationally confide. But Parliament is your friend
from the moment in which, removing its confidence
from those who have constantly deceived its good
intentions, it adopts the sentiments of those who
have made sacrifices, (inferior, indeed, to yours,)
but have, however, sacrificed enough to demonstrate
the sincerity of their regard and value for your liberty and prosperity.
Arguments may be used to weaken your confidence in that public security; because, from some unpleasant appearances, there is a suspicion that Parliament itself is somewhat fallen from its independent spirit. How far this supposition may be founded in fact we are unwilling to determine. But we are well assured from experience, that, even if all
were true that is contended for, and ill the extent,
too, in which it is argued, yet, as long as the solid
and well-disposed forms of this Constitution remain,
there ever is within Parliament itself a power of
renovating its principles, and effecting a self-reformation, which no other plan of government has ever
contained. This Constitution has therefore admitted
innumerable improvements, either for the correction.
of the original scheme, or for removing corruptions,.
or for bringing its principles better to suit those
changes which have successively happened ill the:
VOL. VI. 13
? ? ? ? 194 ADDRESS TC THE BRITISH COLONISTS circumstances of the nation or in the manners of the people.
We feel that the growth of the colonies is such
a change of circumstances, and that our present dispute is an exigency as pressing as any which ever demanded a revision of our government. Public
troubles have often called upon this country to look
into its Constitution. It has ever been bettered by
such a revision. If our happy and luxuriant increase of dominion, and our diffused population,
have outgrown the limits of a Constitution made
for a contracted object, we ought to bless God, who
has furnished us with this noble occasion for displaying our skill and beneficence in enlarging the scale of rational happiness, and of making the politic generosity of this kingdom as extensive as its fortune. If we set about this great work, on both
sides, with the same conciliatory turn of mind, we
may now, as in former times, owe even to our mutual mistakes, contentions, and animosities, the lasting concord, freedom, happiness, and glory of this empire.
Gentlemen, the distance between us, with other
obstructions, has caused much misrepresentation of
our mutual sentiments. We, therefore, to obviate
them as well as we are able, take this method of
assuring you of our thorough detestation of the
whole war, and particularly the mercenary and savage war carried on or attempted against you, --
our thorough abhorrence of all addresses adverse
to you, whether public or private, -our assurances
of an invariable affection towards you,-our constant regard to your privileges and liberties,- and,our opinion of the solid security you ought to en
? ? ? ? IN NORTH AMERICA. 195
joy for them, under the paternal care and nurture
of a protecting Parliament.
Though many of us have earnestly wished that
the authority of that august and venerable body,
so necessary in many respects to the union of the
whole, should be rather limited by its own equity and discretion than by any bounds described by
positive laws and public compacts, - and though we
felt the extreme difficulty, by any theoretical limitations, of qualifying that authority, so as to preserve one part and deny another, - and though you
(as we gratefully acknowledge) had acquiesced most
cheerfully under that prudent reserve of the Constitution, at that happy moment when neither you
nor we apprehended a further return of the exercise of invidious powers, we are now as fully persuaded as you can be, by the malice, inconstancy,
and perverse inquietude of many men, and by the
incessant endeavors of an arbitrary faction, now too
powerful, that our common necessities do require a
full explanation and ratified security for your liberties and our quiet.
Although his Majesty's condescension, in committing the direction of his affairs into the hands of the
known friends of his family and of the liberties of
all his people, would, we admit, be a great means of
giving repose to your minds, as it must give infinite
facility to reconciliation, yet we assure you that we
think, with such a security as we recommend, adopted from necessity and not choice, even by the unhappy authors and instruments of the public misfortunes, that the terms of reconciliation, if once accepted by Parliament, would not be broken. We
also pledge ourselves to you, that we should give,
? ? ? ? 19o ADDRESS TO THE BRITISH COLONISTS.
even to those unhappy persons, an hearty support
in effectuating the peace of the empire, and every
opposition in an attempt to cast it again into disorder.
When that happy hour shall arrive, let us in all
affection recommend to you the wisdom of contillnuing, as ill former times, or even in a more ample
measure, the support of your government, and even
to give to your administration some degree of reciprocal interest in your frieedom. We earnestly wish
you not to furnish your enemies, here or elsewhere,
with any sort of pretexts for reviving quarrels by too
reserved and severe or penurious an exercise of those
sacred rights which no pretended abuse in the exercise ought to impair, nor, by overstraining the principles of freedom, to make them less compatible with those haughty sentiments in others which the very
same principles may be apt to breed in minds not
tempered with the utmost equity and justice.
The well-wishers of the liberty and union of this
empire salute you, and recommend you most heartily
to the Divine protection.
? ? ? ? LETTER
TO
THE RIGHT HON. EDMUND S. PERY
SPEAKER OF THE IRISH HOUSE OF COMMONS, IN RELATION TO
A BILL FOR THE RELIEF OF THE ROMAN CATHOLICS OF IRELAND.
JULY i8, 1778
? ? ? ? NO T E.
THIS Letter is addressed to Mr. Pery, (afterwards Lord Pery,)
then Speaker of the House of Commons of Ireland. It appears,
there had been much correspondence between that gentleman and
Mr. Burke, on the subject of heads of a bill (which had passed
the Irish House of Commons in the summer of the year 1778,
and had been transmitted by the Irish Privy Council of [to? ]
England) for the relief of his Majesty's Roman Catholic subjects
in Ireland. The bill contained a clause for exempting the Protestant Dissenters of Ireland from the sacramental test, which created a strong objection to the whole measure on the part of
the English government. Mr. Burke employed his most strenuous efforts to remove the prejudice which the king's ministers entertained against the clause, but the bill was ultimately returned without it, and in that shape passed the Irish Parliament. (17th and 18th Geo. III. cap. 49. ) In the subsequent session,
however, a separate act was passed for the relief of the Protestant Dissenters of Ireland.
? ? ? ? LETTER.
Y DEAR SIR, --I received in due course your
two very interesting and judicious letters,
which gave me many new lights, and excited me to
fresh activity in the important subject they related
to. However, from that time I have not been perfectly free from doubt and uneasiness. I used a liberty with those letters, which, perhaps, nothing can thoroughly justify, and which certainly nothing but
the delicacy of the crisis, the clearness of my intentions, and your great good-nature can at all excuse.
I might conceal this from you; but I think it better
to lay the whole matter before you, and submit myself to your mercy, - assuring you, at the same time,
that, if you are so kind as to continue your confidence
on this, or to renew it upon any other occasion, I
shall never be tempted again to make so bold and
unauthorized an use of the trust you place in me. I
will state to you the history of the business since
my last, and then you will see how far I am excusable
by the circumstances.
On the 3rd of July I received a letter from the
Attorney-General, dated the day before, in which, in
a very open and obliging manner, he desires my
thoughts of the Irish Toleration Bill, and particularly of the Dissenters' clause. I gave them to him, by
the return of the post, at large; but, as the time
pressed, 1 kept no copy of the letter. The general
? ? ? ? 200 LETTER TO RIGHT HON. EDMUND S. PERY.
drift was strongly to recommend the whole, and principally to obviate the objections to the part that related to the Dissenters, with regard both to the general propriety and to the temporary policy at this juncture. I took, likewise, a good deal of pains to
state the difference which had always subsisted with
regard to the treatment of the Protestant Dissenters
in Ireland and in England, and what I conceived the
reason of that difference to be. About the same time
I was called to town for a day; and I took an opportunity, in Westminster Hall, of urging the same points,
with all the force I was master of, to the SolicitorGeneral. I attempted to see the Chancellor for the
same purpose, but was not fortunate enough to meet
him at home. Soon after my return hither, on Tuesday, I received a very polite and I may say friendly
letter from him, wishing me (on supposition that I
had continued in town) to dine with him as [on? ]
that day, in order to talk over the business of the Toleration Act, then before him. Unluckily I had company with me, and was not able to leave them until
Thursday, when I went to town and called at his
house, but missed him. However, in answer to his
letter, I had before, and instantly on the receipt of it,
written to him at large, and urged such topics, both
with regard to the Catholics and Dissenters, as I imagined were the most likely to be prevalent with him.
This letter I followed to town on Thursday. On my
arrival I was much alarmed with a report that the
ministry had thoughts of rejecting the whole bill.
Mr. M'Namara seemed apprehensive that it was a
determined measure; and there seemed to be but too
much reason for his fears.
Not having met the Chancellor at home, either on
? ? ? ? LETTER TO RIGHT HON. EDMUND S. PERY. 201
my first visit or my second after receiving his letter,
and fearful that the Cabinet should come to some unpleasant resolution, I went to the Treasury on Friday. There I saw Sir G. Cooper. I possessed him of. the
danger of a partial, and the inevitable mischief of
the total rejection of the bill. I reminded him of the
understood compact between parties, upon which
the whole scheme of the toleration originating in
the English bill was formed,- of the fair part
which the Whigs had acted in a business which,
though first started by them, was supposed equally
acceptable to all sides, and the risk of which they
took upon themselves, when others declined it. To
this I added such matter as I thought most fit to engage government, as government, - not to sport with a singular opportunity which offered for the union of
every description of men amongst us in support of
the common interest of the whole; and I ended by
desiring to see Lord North upon the subject. Sir
Grey Cooper showed a very right sense of the matter,
and in a few minutes after our conversation I went
down from the Treasury chambers to Lord North's
house. I had a great deal of discourse with him.
He told me that his ideas of toleration were large, but
that, large as they were, they did not comprehend a
promiscuous establishment, even in matters merely
civil; that he thought the established religion ought
to be the religion of the state; that, in this idea, he
was not for the repeal of the sacramental test; that,
indeed, he knew the Dissenters in general did not
greatly scruple it; but that very want of scruple
showed less zeal against the Establishment; and, after all, there could no provision be made by human laws against those who made light of the tests which
? ? ? ? 202 LETTER TO RIGHT HON. EDMUND S. PERY.
were formed to discriminate opinions. On all this he
spoke with a good deal of temper. He did not, indeed, seem to think the test itself, which was rightly
considered by Dissenters as in a manner dispensed
with by an annual act of Parliament, and which in
Ireland was of a late origin, and of much less extent
than here, a matter of much moment. The thing
which seemed to affect him most was the offence that
would be taken at the repeal by the leaders among
the Church clergy here, on one hand, and, on the
other, the steps which would be taken for its repeal in
England in the next session, in consequence of the
repeal in Ireland. I assured him, with great truth,
that we had no idea among the Whigs of moving the
repeal of the test. I confessed very fieely, for my
own part, that, if it were brought in, I should certainly vote for it; but that I should neither use, nor did
I think applicable, any arguments drawn from the
analogy of what was done in other parts of the British dominions. We did not argue from analogy,
even in this island and United Kingdom. Presbytery
was established in Scotland. It became no reason
either for its religious or civil establishment here.
In New England the Independent Congregational
Churches had an established legal maintenance;
whilst that country continued part of the British empire, no argument in favor of Independency was adduced from the practice of New England. Government itself lately thought fit to establish the Roman Catholic religion in Canada; but they would not suffer an argument of analogy to be used for its establishment anywhere else. These things were governed,
as all things of that nature are governed, not by general maxims, but their own local and peculiar cir
? ? ? ? LETTER TO RIGHT HON. EDMUND S. PERY. 203
cumstances. Finding, however, that, though he was
very cool and patient, I made no great way in the
business of the Dissenters, I turned myself to try
whether, falling in with his maxims, some modification
might not be found, the hint of which I received from
your letter relative to the Irish Militia Bill, and the
point I labored was so to alter the clause as to repeal
the test quoad military and revenue offices: for these
being only subservient parts in the economy and execution, rather than the administration of affairs, the
politic, civil, and judicial parts would still continue
in the hands of the conformists to religious establishments. Without giving any hopes, he, however, said
that this distinction deserved to be considered. After
this, I strongly pressed the mischief of rejecting the
whole bill: that a notion went abroad, that government was not at this moment very well pleased with
the Dissenters, as not very well affected to the monarchy; that, in general, I conceived this to be a mistake,- but if it were not, the rejection of a bill in favor of others, because something in favor of them
was inserted, instead of humbling and mortifying,
would infinitely exalt them: for, if the legislature
had no means of favoring those whom they meant
to favor, as long as the Dissenters could find means
to get themselves included, this would make them,
instead of their only being subject to restraint themselves, the arbitrators of the fate of others, and that
not so much by their own strength (which could not
be prevented in its operation) as by the cooperation
of those whom they opposed. In the comnclusion, I
recommended, that, if they wished well to the measure which was the main object of the bill, they must
explicitly make it their own, and stake themselves
? ? ? ? 204 LETTER TO RIGHT HON. EDMUND S. PERY.
upon it; that hitherto all their difficulties had arisen
from their indecision and their wrong measures; and
to make Lord North sensible of the necessity of giving a firm support to some part of the bill, and to add weighty authority to my reasons, I read him your letter of the 10th of July. It seemed, in some measure, to answer the purpose which I intended. I pressed
the necessity of the management of the affair, both
as to conduct and as to gaining of men; and I renewed my former advice, that the Lord Lieutenant should be instructed to consult and cooperate with
you in the whole affair. All this was, apparently,
very fairly taken.
In the evening of that day I saw the Lord Chancellor. With him, too, I had much discourse. You
know that he is intelligent, sagacious, systematic, and
determined. At first he seemed of opinion that the
relief contained in the bill was so inadequate to the
mass of oppression it was intended to remove, that it
would be better to let it stand over, until a more perfect and better digested plan could be settled. This seemed to possess him very strongly. In order to
combat this notion, and to show that the bill, all
things considered, was a very great acquisition, and
that it was rather a preliminary than an obstruction
to relief, I ventured to show him your letter. It had
its effect. He declared himself roundly against giving anything to a confederacy, real or apparent, to distress government; that, if anything was done for
Catholics or Dissenters, it should be done on its own
separate merits, and not by way of bargain and compromise; that they sliould be each of them obliged to government, not eachl to the other; that this would
be a perpetual nursery of faction. In a word, he
? ? ? ? LETTER TO RIGHT HON.
The next maxim which has been put as a bar
to any plan of accommodation is, "that no offer of
terms of peace ought to be made, before Parliament
is assured that these terms will be accepted. " On
this we beg leave to represent to your Majesty, that,
if, ill all events, the policy of this kingdom is to govern the people in your colonies as a free people, iio mischief can possibly happen from a declaration to
them, and to tile world, of the manner and form in
which Parliament proposes that they shall enjoy the
fieedom it protects. It is an encouragement to the
innocent and meritorious, that they at least shall enjoy those advantages which they patiently expected rather from the benignity of Parliament than their
own. efforts. Persons more contumacious may also
see that they are resisting terms of perhaps greater
freedom and happiness than they are now in arms
to obtain. The glory and propriety of offered mercy
is neither tarnished nor weakened by the folly of
those who refuse to take advantage of it.
We cannot think that the declaration of independency makes any natural difference in the reason
and policy of the offer. No prince out of the possession of his dominions, and become a sovereign de jure only, ever thought it derogatory to his rights
or his interests to hold out to his former subjects
a distinct prospect of the advantages to be derived
from his readmission, and a security for some of
the most fundamental of those popular privileges in
vindication of which he had been deposed. On the
contrary, such offers have been almost uniformly
made under similar circumstances. Besides, as your
Majesty has been graciously pleased, in your speech
from the throne, to declare your intention of restor
? ? ? ? ADDRESS TO THE KING. 175
ing your people in the colonies to a state of law and
liberty, no objection can possibly lie against defining
what that law and liberty are; because those who
offer and those who are to receive terms frequently
differ most widely and most materially in the signification of these words, and in the objects to which
they apply.
To say that we do not know, at this day, what
the grievances of the colonies are (be they real or
pretended) would be unworthy of us. But whilst
we are thus waiting to be informed of what we perfectly know, we weaken tile powers of the commissioners, - we delay, perhaps we lose, the happy hour of peace,- we are wasting the substance of both
countries, --we are continuing the effusion of human, of Christian, of English blood.
We are sure that we must have your Majesty's
heart along with us, when we declare in favor of
mixing something conciliatory with our force. Sir,
we abhor the idea of making a conquest of our countrymen. We wish that they may yield to well-ascertained, well-autlhenticated, and well-secured terms of reconciliation, - not that your Majesty should
owe the recovery of your dominions to their total
waste and destruction. Humanity will not permit
us to entertain such a desire; nor will the reverence
we bear to the civil rights of mankind make us even
wish that questions of great difficulty, of the last importance, and lying deep in the vital principles of
the British Constitution, should be solved by the
arms of foreign mercenary soldiers.
It is not, Sir, from a want of the most inviolable
duty to your Majesty, not from a want of a partial
and passionate regard to that part of your empire
? ? ? ? 176 ADDRESS TO THE KING.
in which we reside, and which we wish to be supreme, that we have hitherto withstood all attempts
to render the supremacy of one part of your dominions inconsistent with the liberty and safety of all
the rest. The motives of our opposition are found
in those very sentiments which we are supposed to
violate. For we are convinced beyond a doubt, that
a system of dependence which leaves no security to
the people for any part of their freedom in their own
hands cannot be established in any inferior member
of the British empire, without consequentially destroying the freedom of that very body in favor of
whose boundless pretensions such a scheme is adopted. We know and feel that arbitrary power over
distant regions is not within the competence, nor to
be exercised agreeably to the forms or consistently
with the spirit, of great popular assemblies. If such
assemblies are called to a nominal share in the exercise of such power, in order to screen, under general participation, the guilt of desperate measures, it tends only the more deeply to corrupt the deliberative character of those assemblies, in training them
to blind obedience, in habituating them to proceed
upon grounds of fact with which they call rarely be
sufficiently acquainted, and in rendering them executive instruments of designs the bottom of which they
cannot possibly fathom.
To leave any real freedom to Parliament, freedom
must be left to the colonies. A military government
is the only substitute for civil liberty. That the establishment of such a power in America will utterly
ruin our finances (though its certain effect) is the
smallest part of our concern. It will become an
apt, powerful, and certain engine for the destruc
? ? ? ? ADDRESS TO THE KING. 177
tion of our freedom here. Great bodies of armed
men, trained to a contempt of popular assemblies
representative of an English people,- kept up for
the purpose of exacting impositions without their
consent, and maintained by that exaction, -- instruments in subverting, without any process of law, great
ancient establishments and respected forms of governments,- set free from, and therefore above, the
ordinary English tribunals of the country where they
serve,- these men cannot so transform themselves,
merely by crossing the sea, as to behold with love
and reverence, and submit with profound obedience
to, the very same things in Great Britain which in,
America they had been taught to despise, and llad
been accustomed to awe and humble. All your Majesty's troops, in the rotation of service, will pass
through this discipline and contract these habits. If
we could flatter ourselves that this would not happen, we must be the weakest of mell; we -must be
the worst, if we were indifferent whether it happened
or not. What, gracious sovereign, is the empire of
America to us, or the empire of the world, if we lose
our own liberties? We deprecate this last of evils.
We deprecate the effect of the doctrines which must
support and countenance the government over conquered Englishmen.
As it will be impossible long to resist the powerful
and equitable arguments in favor of the freedom of
these unhappy people that are to be drawn from the
principle of our own liberty, attempts will be made,
attempts have been made, to ridicule and to argue
away this principle, and to inculcate into the minds
of your people other maxims of government and other grounds of obedience than those whiclh have proeVOL. VI. 12
? ? ? ? 178 ADDRESS TO THE KING.
vailed at and since the glorious Revolution. By
degrees, these doctrines, by being convenient, may
grow prevalent. The consequence is not certain;
but a general change of principles rarely happens
among a people without leading to a change of government.
Sir, your throne cannot stand secure upon the principles of unconditional submission and passive obedience, -on powers exercised without the concurrence of the people to be governed, - on acts made in defiance of their prejudices and habits, -- on acquiescence procured by foreign mercenary troops,
and secured by standing armies. These may possibly be the foundation of other thrones: they must be
the subversion of yours. It was not to passive principles in our ancestors that we owe the honor of appeariag before a sovereign who cainnot feel that he
is a prince without knowing that we ought to be
free. The Revolution is a departure from the ancient course of the descent of this monarchy. The
people at that time reentered into their original
rights; and it was not because a positive law authorized what was then done, but because the freedom and safety of the subject, the origin and cause
of all laws, required a proceeding paramount and
superior to them. At that ever memorable and instructive period, the letter of the law was superseded
in favor of the substance of liberty. To the free
choice, therefore, of the people, without either King
or Parliament, we owe that happy establishment out
of which both King and Parliament were regenerated. From that great principle of liberty have
originated the statutes confirming and ratifying the
establishment fiom which your Majesty derives your
? ? ? ? ADDRESS TO THE KING. 179
right to rule over us. Those statutes have not given
us our liberties: our liberties have produced them.
Every hour of your Majesty's reign, your title stands
upon the very same foundation on which it was at
first laid; and we do not know a better on which
it can possibly be placed.
Convinced, Sir, that you cannot have different
rights and a different security in different parts of
your dominions, we wish to lay an even platform
for your throne, and to give it an unmovable stability, by laying it on the general freedom of your
people, and by securing to your Majesty that confidence and affection in all parts of your dominions
which makes your best security and dearest title in
this the chief seat of your empire.
Such, Sir, being, amongst us, the foundation of
monarchy itself, much more clearly and much more
peculiarly is it the ground of all Parliamentary power. Parliament is a security provided for the protection of freedom, and not a subtile fiction, contrived to amuse the people in its place. The authority of
both HIouses can still less than that of the crown
be supported upon different principles in different
places, so as to be for one part of your subjects a
protector of liberty, and for another a fund. of despotisin, through which prerogative is extended by
occasional powers, whenever an arbitrary will finds
itself straitened by the restrictions of law. tHad it
seemed good to Parliament to consider itself as the
indulge:nt guardian and strong protector of the freedom of the subordinate popular assemblies, instead of
exercising its powers to their annihilation, there is no
doubt that it never could have been their inclination,
because not their interest, to raise questions on the
? ? ? ? 180 ADDRESS TO THE KING.
extent of Parliamentary rights, or to enfeeble privileges which were the security of theirs own. Powers evident from necessity, and not suspicious from an
alarming mode or purpose in the exertion, would,
as formerly they were, be cheerfully submitted to;
and these would have been fully sufficient for conservation of unity in the empire, and for directing
its wealth to one common centre. Another use has
produced other consequences; and a power which
refuses to be limited by moderation must either be
lost, or find other more distinct and satisfactory
limitations.
As for us, a supposed, or, if it could be, a real,
participation in arbitrary power would never reconcile our minds to its establishment. We should be ashamed to stand before your Majesty, boldly asserting in our own favor inherent rights which bind and regulate the crown itself, and yet insisting on the
exercise, in our own persons, of a more arbitrary
sway over our fellow-citizens and fellow-freemen.
These, gracious sovereign, are the sentiments which
we consider ourselves as bound, in justification df our
present conduct, in the most serious and solemn manner to lay at your Majesty's feet. We have been called by your Majesty's writs and proclamations,
and we have been authorized, either by hereditary
privilege or the choice of your people, to confer and
treat with your Majesty, in your highest councils,
upon the arduous affairs of your kingdom. We are
sensible of the whole importance of the duty which
this constitutional summons implies. We know the
religious punctuality of attendance which, in the ordinary course, it demands. It is no light cause which, even for a time, could persuade us to relax in any
? ? ? ? ADDRESS TO THE KING. 181
part of that attendance. The British empire is ill
convulsions which threaten its dissolution. Those
particular proceedings which cause and inflame this
disorder, after many years' incessant struggle, we
find ourselves wholly unable to oppose and unwilling to behold. All our endeavors having proved fruitless, we are fearful at this time of irritating by
contention those passions which we have found it
impracticable to compose by reason. We cannot
permit ourselves to countenance, by the appearance
of a silent assent, proceedings fatal to the liberty and
unity of the empire, -- proceedings which exhaust
the strength of all your Majesty's dominions, destroy
all trust and dependence of our allies, and leave us,
both at home and abroad, exposed to the suspicious
mercy and uncertain inclinations of our neighbor and
rival powers, to whom, by this desperate course, we
are driving our countrymen for protection, and with
whom we have forced them into connections, and may
bind them by habits and by interests, - an evil which
no victories that may be obtainied, no severities which
may. be exercised, ever will or canll remove.
If but the smallest hope should from any circumstances appear of a return to the ancient maxims and true policy of this kingdom, we shall with joy and
readiness return to our attendance, in order to give
our hearty support to whatever means may be left
for alleviating the complicated evils which oppress
this nation.
If this should not happen, we have discharged our
consciences by this faithful representation to your
Majesty and our country; and however few in number, or however we may be overborne by practices whose operation is but too powerful, by the reviv'al
? ? ? ? 182 ADDRESS TO THE KING.
of dangerous exploded principles, or by the misguided zeal of such arbitrary factions as formerly prevailed in this kingdom, and always to its detriment and disgrace, we have the satisfaction of standing
forth and recording our names in assertion of those
principles whose operation hath, in better times, made
your Majesty a great prince, and the British dominions a mighty empire.
? ? ? ? A D D R E SS
TO THE
BRITISH COLONISTS IN NORTH AMERICA.
IHE very dangerous crisis into which the British
empire is brought, as it accounts for, so it justifils, the unusual step we take in addressing ourselves to you. The distempers of the state are grown to such a
degree of violence and malignity as to render all
ordinary remedies vain and frivolous. In such a
deplorable situation, an adherence to the common
forms of business appears to us rather as an apology
to cover a supine neglect of duty than the means of
performing it in a manner adequate to the exigency
that presses upon us. The common means we have
already tried, and tried to no purpose. As our last
resource, we turn ourselves to you. We address you
merely in our private capacity, vested with no other
authority than what will naturally attend those in
whose declarations of benevolence you have no reason to apprehend any mixture of dissimulation or design.
We have this title to your attention: we call upon
it in a moment of the utmost importance to us all.
We find, with infinite concern, that arguments are
used to persuade you of the necessity of separating
yourselves from your ancient connection with your
? ? ? ? 184 ADDRESS TO THE BRITISH COLONISTS
parent country, grounded on a supposition that a
general principle of alienation and enmity to you
had pervaded the whole of this kingdom, and that
there does no longer subsist between you and us any
common and kindred principles upon which we can
possibly unite, consistently with those ideas of liberty
in which you have justly placed your whole happitless.
If this fact were true, the. inference drawn from it
woulld be irriesistible. But nothing is less founded.
We admit, indeed, that violent addresses have been
procured with uncommon pains by wicked and designing men, purporting to be the genuine voice of the whole people of England, -that they have been
published by authority here, and made known to you
by proclamations, in order, by despair and resentment,
incurably to poison your minds against the origin of
your race, and to render all cordial reconciliation between us utterly impracticable. The same wicked men, for the same bad purposes, have so far surprised
the justice of Parliament as to cut off all communication betwixt us, except what is to go in their own fallacious and hostile channel.
But we conjure you by the invaluable pledges
which have hitherto united, and which we trust will
hereafter lastingly unite us, that you do not suffer
yourselves to be persuaded or provoked into an opinion that you are at war with this nation. Do not think that the whole, or even the uninfluenced majority, of Englishmen in this island are enemies to their own blood on the American continent. Much
delusion has been practised, much corrupt influence
treacherously employed. But still a large, and we
trust the largest and soundest, part of this kingdom
? ? ? ? IN NORTH AMERICA. 185
perseveres in the most perfect unity of sentiments,
principles, and affections with you. It spreads out
a large and liberal platform of common liberty, upon
which we may all unite forever. It abhors the hostilities which have been carried on against you, as
much as you who feel the cruel effect of them. It has
disclaimed in the most solemn manner, at the foot of
the throne itself, the addresses which tended to irritate your sovereign against his colonies. We are persuaded that even many of those who unadvisedly
have put their hands to such intemperate and inflammatory addresses have not at all apprehended to what such proceedings naturally lead, and would sooner
die than afford them the least countenance, if they
were sensible of their fatal effects on the union and
liberty of the empire.
For ourselves, we faithfully assure you, that *ve
have ever considered you as rational creatures, as
free agents, as men willing to pursue and able to
discern your own true interest. We have wished to
continue united with you, in order that a people of
one origin and one character should be directed to
the rational objects of government by joint counsels,
and protected in them by a common force. Other
subordination in you we require none. We have
never pressed that argument of general union to the
extinction of your local, natural, and just privileges.
Sensible of what is due both to the dignity and weakness of man, we have never wished to place over you any government, over which, in great, fundamental
points, you should have no sort of check or control
in your own hands, or which should be repugnant
to your situation, principles, and character.
No circumstances of fortune, you may be assured,
? ? ? ? 186 ADDRESS TO THE BRITISH COLONISTS
will ever induce us to form or tolerate any such design. If the disposition of Providence (which we deprecate) should even prostrate you at our feet,
broken in power and in spirit, it would be our duty
and inclination to revive, by every practicable means,
that free energy of mind which a fortune unsuitable
to your virtue had damped and dejected, and to put
you voluntarily in possession of those very privileges
which you had in vain attempted to assert by arms.
For we solemnly declare, that, although we should
look upon a separation from you as an heavy calamity, (and the heavier, because we know you must have your fall share in it,) yet we had much rather
see you totally independent of this crown and kingdom than joined to it by so unnatural a conjunction as that of freedom with servitude,sa conjunction
which, if it were at all practicable, could not fail,
in the end, of being more mischievous to the peace,
prosperity, greatness, and power of this nation than
beneficial by any enlargement of the bounds of nominal empire.
But because, brethren, these professions are general, and such as even enemies may make, when they reserve to themselves the construction of what servitude and what liberty are, we inform you that we adopt your own standard of the blessing of free government. We are of opinion that you ought to enjoy ~he sole and exclusive right of freely granting, and
applying to the support of your administration, what
God has freely granted as a reward to your industry.
And we do not confine this immunity from exterior
coercion, in this great point, solely to what regards
your local establishment, but also to what may be
thought proper for the maintenance of the whole
? ? ? ? IN NORTH AMERICA. 187
empire. In this resource we cheerfully trust and
acquiesce, satisfied by evident reason that no other
expectation of revenue can possibly be given by freemen, and knowing from an experience uniform both on yours and on our side of the ocean that such an
expectation has never yet beeni disappointed. We
know of no road to your coffers but through your
affections.
To manifest our, sentiments the more clearly to
you and to the world on this subject, we declare
our opinion, that, if no revenue at all (which, however, we are far from supposing) were to be obtained from you to this kingdom, yet, as long as it is our
happiness to be joined with you in the bonds of fraternal charity and freedom, with an open and flowing commerce between us, one principle of enmity and
friendship pervading, and one right of war and peace
directing the strength of the whole empire, we are
likely to be at least as powerful as any nation, or as
any combination of nations, which in the course of
human events may be formed against us. We are
sensible that a very large proportion of the wealth
and power of every empire must necessarily be
thrown upon the presiding state. We are sensible
that such a state ever has borne and ever must bear
the greatest part, and sometimes the whole, of the
public expenses: and we think her well indemnified
for that (rather apparent than real) inequality of
charge, in the dignity and preeminence she enjoys,
and in the superior opulence which, after all charges defrayed, must necessarily remain at the centre
of affairs. Of this principle we are not without
evidence in our remembrance (not yet effaced) of
the glorious and happy days of this empire. We
? ? ? ? 188 ADDRESS TO THE BRITISH COLONISTS
are therefore incapable of that prevaricating style,
by which, when taxes without your consent are to
be extorted from you, this nation is represented-as
in the lowest state of impoverishment and public distress, but when we are called upon to oppress you by
force of arms, it is painted as scarcely feeling its impositions, abounding with wealth, and inexhaustible
in its resources.
We also reason and feel as you do on the invasion
of your charters. Because the charters comprehend
the essential forms by which you enjoy your liberties,'we regard them as most sacred, and by no means to
be taken away or altered without process, without
examination, and without hearing, as they have lately been. We even think that they ought by no means
to be altered at all, but at the desire of the greater
part of the people who live under them. We cannot
look upon men as delinquents in the mass; much less
are we desirous of lording over our brethren, insulting their honest pride, and wantonly overturning establishments judged to be just and convenient by the public wisdom of this nation at their institution, and
which long and inveterate use has taught you to look
up to with affection and reverence. As we disapproved of the proceedings with regard to the forms
of your constitution, so we are equally tender of
every leading principle of free government. We
never could think with approbation of putting the
military power out of the coercion of the civil justice
in the country where it acts.
We disclaim also any sort of share in that other
measure which has been used to alienate your affec
tions from this country, - namely, the introduction
of foreign mercenaries. We saw their employment
? ? ? ? IN NORTH AMERICA. 189
with shame and regret, especially in numbers so far
exceeding the English forces as in effect to constitute
vassals, who have no sense of freedom, and strangers,
who have no common interest or feelings, as the arbiters of our unhappy domestic quarrel.
We likewise saw with shame the African slaves,
who had been sold to you on public faith, and under
the sanction of acts of Parliament, to be your servants
and your guards, employed to cut the throats of their
masters.
You will not, we trust, believe, that, born in a
civilized country, formed to gentle manners, trained
in a merciful religion, and living in enlightened and
polished times, where even foreign hostility is softened from its original sternness, we could have
thought of letting loose upon you, our late beloved
brethren, these fierce tribes of savages and caiinibals,
in whom the traces of human nature are effaced by
ignorance and barbarity. We rather wished to have
joined with you in bringing gradually that unhappy
part of mankind into civility, order, piety, and virtuous discipline, than to have confirmed their evil habits and increased their natural ferocity by fleshling them in the slaughter of you, whom our wiser and
better ancestors had sent into the wilderness with
the express view of introducing, along with our holy
religion, its humane and charitable manners. We
do not hold that all things are lawfutl in war. We
should think that every barbarity, in fire, in wasting,
in murders, in tortures, and other cruelties, too horrible and too full of turpitude for Christian mouths
to utter or ears to hear, if done at our instigation,
by those who we know will make war thus, if they
make it at all, to be, to all intents and purposes,
? ? ? ? 190 ADDRESS TO THE BRITISH COLONISTS
as if done by ourselves. We clear ourselves to you
our brethren, to the present age, and to future generations, to our king and our country, and to Europe, which, as a spectator, beholds this tragic scene, of every part or share in adding this last and worst
of evils to the inevitable mischiefs of a civil war.
We do not call you rebels and traitors. We do
not call for the vengeance of the crown against you.
We do not know how to qualify millions of our
countrymen, contending with one heart for an admission to privileges which we have ever thought
our own happiness and honor, by odious and unworthy names. On the contrary, we highly revere
the principles on which you act, though we lament
some of their effects. Armed as you are, we embrace you as our friends and as our brethren by the
best add dearest ties of relation.
We view the establishment of the English colonies
on principles of liberty as that which is to render
this kingdom venerable to future ages. In comparison of this, we regard all the victories and conquests
of our warlike ancestors, or of our own times, as
barbarous, vulgar distinctions, in which many nations, whom we look upon with little respect or
value, have equalled, if not far exceeded us. This
is the peculiar and appropriated glory of England.
Those who have and who hold to that foundation of
common liberty, whether on this or on your side of
the ocean, we consider as the true, and the only
true, Englishmen. Those who depart from it, wllhetlher there or here, are attainted, corrupted in blood,
and wholly fallen from their original rank and value.
They are the real rebels to the fair constitution and
just supremacy of England.
? ? ? ? IN NORTH AMERICA. 191
We exhort you, therefore, to cleave forever to
those principles, as being the true bond of union
in this empire, - and to show by a manly perseverance that the sentiments of honor and the riglhts of manlkind are not held by the uncertain events of
war, as you have hitherto shown a glorious and affecting example to the world that they are not dependent on the ordinary conveniences and satisfactions of life.
Knoowing no other arguments to be used to men
of liberal linds, it is upon these very principles, and
these alone, we hope and trust that no flattering and
no alarming circumstances shall permit you to listen to the seductions of those who would alienate you from your dependence on the crown and Parliament
of this kinlgdom. That very liberty which you so
justly prize above all things originated here; and it
may be very doubtful, whether, without being constantly fed from the original fountain, it can be at
all perpetuated or preserved in its native purity and
perfection. Untried forms of government may, to
unstable minds, recommend themselves even by their
novelty. But you will do well to remember that
Enogland hlas been great and happy under the present limited monarchy (subsisting in more or less vigor and purity) for several hundred years. None
but England canl communicate to you the benefits
of such a constitution. We apprehend you are not
now, nor for ages are likely to be, capable of tllat
form of constitution in an independent state. Besides, let us suggest to you our apprehensions that your present unllion (in which we rejoice, and which
we wish long to subsist) cannot always subsist without the authority and weight of this great and long
? ? ? ? 192 ADDRESS TO THE BRITISH COLONISTS respected body, to equipoise, and to preserve you amongst yourselves in a just and fair equality. It may not even be impossible that a long course of war with the administration of this country may be but a prelude to a series of wars and contentions among yourselves, to end at length (as such scenes have too often ended) in a species of humliliating repose, which nothing but the preceding calamities would reconcile to the dispirited few who survived them. We allow that even this evil is worth the
risk to men of honor, when rational liberty is at
stake, as in the present case we confess and lament
that it is. But if ever a real security by Parliament is given against the terror or the abuse of
unlimited power, and after such security given you
should persevere in resistance, we leave you to consider whether the risk is not incurred without an
object, or incurred for an object infinitely diminished by such concessions in its importance and
value.
As to other points of discussion, when these grand
fundamentals of your grants and charters are once
settled and ratified by clear Parliamentary authority, as the ground for peace and forgiveness on our
side, and for a manly and liberal obedience on yours,
treaty and a spirit of reconciliation will easily and
securely adjust whatever may remain. Of this we
give you our word, that, so far as we are at preseilt concerned, and if by any event we should become more concerned hereafter, you may rest assured, upon the pledges of honor not forfeited, faith not violated, and uniformity of character and profession not yet broken, we at least, on these grounds,
will never fail you.
? ? ? ? IN NORTH AMERICA. 193
Respecting your wisdom, and valuing your safety,
we do not call upon you to trust your existence to
your enemies. We do not advise you to an unconditional submission. With satisfaction we assure you
that almost all ill both Houses (however unhappily
they have been deluded, so as not to give any immediate effect to their opinion) disclaim that idea.
You can have no friends in whom you cannot rationally confide. But Parliament is your friend
from the moment in which, removing its confidence
from those who have constantly deceived its good
intentions, it adopts the sentiments of those who
have made sacrifices, (inferior, indeed, to yours,)
but have, however, sacrificed enough to demonstrate
the sincerity of their regard and value for your liberty and prosperity.
Arguments may be used to weaken your confidence in that public security; because, from some unpleasant appearances, there is a suspicion that Parliament itself is somewhat fallen from its independent spirit. How far this supposition may be founded in fact we are unwilling to determine. But we are well assured from experience, that, even if all
were true that is contended for, and ill the extent,
too, in which it is argued, yet, as long as the solid
and well-disposed forms of this Constitution remain,
there ever is within Parliament itself a power of
renovating its principles, and effecting a self-reformation, which no other plan of government has ever
contained. This Constitution has therefore admitted
innumerable improvements, either for the correction.
of the original scheme, or for removing corruptions,.
or for bringing its principles better to suit those
changes which have successively happened ill the:
VOL. VI. 13
? ? ? ? 194 ADDRESS TC THE BRITISH COLONISTS circumstances of the nation or in the manners of the people.
We feel that the growth of the colonies is such
a change of circumstances, and that our present dispute is an exigency as pressing as any which ever demanded a revision of our government. Public
troubles have often called upon this country to look
into its Constitution. It has ever been bettered by
such a revision. If our happy and luxuriant increase of dominion, and our diffused population,
have outgrown the limits of a Constitution made
for a contracted object, we ought to bless God, who
has furnished us with this noble occasion for displaying our skill and beneficence in enlarging the scale of rational happiness, and of making the politic generosity of this kingdom as extensive as its fortune. If we set about this great work, on both
sides, with the same conciliatory turn of mind, we
may now, as in former times, owe even to our mutual mistakes, contentions, and animosities, the lasting concord, freedom, happiness, and glory of this empire.
Gentlemen, the distance between us, with other
obstructions, has caused much misrepresentation of
our mutual sentiments. We, therefore, to obviate
them as well as we are able, take this method of
assuring you of our thorough detestation of the
whole war, and particularly the mercenary and savage war carried on or attempted against you, --
our thorough abhorrence of all addresses adverse
to you, whether public or private, -our assurances
of an invariable affection towards you,-our constant regard to your privileges and liberties,- and,our opinion of the solid security you ought to en
? ? ? ? IN NORTH AMERICA. 195
joy for them, under the paternal care and nurture
of a protecting Parliament.
Though many of us have earnestly wished that
the authority of that august and venerable body,
so necessary in many respects to the union of the
whole, should be rather limited by its own equity and discretion than by any bounds described by
positive laws and public compacts, - and though we
felt the extreme difficulty, by any theoretical limitations, of qualifying that authority, so as to preserve one part and deny another, - and though you
(as we gratefully acknowledge) had acquiesced most
cheerfully under that prudent reserve of the Constitution, at that happy moment when neither you
nor we apprehended a further return of the exercise of invidious powers, we are now as fully persuaded as you can be, by the malice, inconstancy,
and perverse inquietude of many men, and by the
incessant endeavors of an arbitrary faction, now too
powerful, that our common necessities do require a
full explanation and ratified security for your liberties and our quiet.
Although his Majesty's condescension, in committing the direction of his affairs into the hands of the
known friends of his family and of the liberties of
all his people, would, we admit, be a great means of
giving repose to your minds, as it must give infinite
facility to reconciliation, yet we assure you that we
think, with such a security as we recommend, adopted from necessity and not choice, even by the unhappy authors and instruments of the public misfortunes, that the terms of reconciliation, if once accepted by Parliament, would not be broken. We
also pledge ourselves to you, that we should give,
? ? ? ? 19o ADDRESS TO THE BRITISH COLONISTS.
even to those unhappy persons, an hearty support
in effectuating the peace of the empire, and every
opposition in an attempt to cast it again into disorder.
When that happy hour shall arrive, let us in all
affection recommend to you the wisdom of contillnuing, as ill former times, or even in a more ample
measure, the support of your government, and even
to give to your administration some degree of reciprocal interest in your frieedom. We earnestly wish
you not to furnish your enemies, here or elsewhere,
with any sort of pretexts for reviving quarrels by too
reserved and severe or penurious an exercise of those
sacred rights which no pretended abuse in the exercise ought to impair, nor, by overstraining the principles of freedom, to make them less compatible with those haughty sentiments in others which the very
same principles may be apt to breed in minds not
tempered with the utmost equity and justice.
The well-wishers of the liberty and union of this
empire salute you, and recommend you most heartily
to the Divine protection.
? ? ? ? LETTER
TO
THE RIGHT HON. EDMUND S. PERY
SPEAKER OF THE IRISH HOUSE OF COMMONS, IN RELATION TO
A BILL FOR THE RELIEF OF THE ROMAN CATHOLICS OF IRELAND.
JULY i8, 1778
? ? ? ? NO T E.
THIS Letter is addressed to Mr. Pery, (afterwards Lord Pery,)
then Speaker of the House of Commons of Ireland. It appears,
there had been much correspondence between that gentleman and
Mr. Burke, on the subject of heads of a bill (which had passed
the Irish House of Commons in the summer of the year 1778,
and had been transmitted by the Irish Privy Council of [to? ]
England) for the relief of his Majesty's Roman Catholic subjects
in Ireland. The bill contained a clause for exempting the Protestant Dissenters of Ireland from the sacramental test, which created a strong objection to the whole measure on the part of
the English government. Mr. Burke employed his most strenuous efforts to remove the prejudice which the king's ministers entertained against the clause, but the bill was ultimately returned without it, and in that shape passed the Irish Parliament. (17th and 18th Geo. III. cap. 49. ) In the subsequent session,
however, a separate act was passed for the relief of the Protestant Dissenters of Ireland.
? ? ? ? LETTER.
Y DEAR SIR, --I received in due course your
two very interesting and judicious letters,
which gave me many new lights, and excited me to
fresh activity in the important subject they related
to. However, from that time I have not been perfectly free from doubt and uneasiness. I used a liberty with those letters, which, perhaps, nothing can thoroughly justify, and which certainly nothing but
the delicacy of the crisis, the clearness of my intentions, and your great good-nature can at all excuse.
I might conceal this from you; but I think it better
to lay the whole matter before you, and submit myself to your mercy, - assuring you, at the same time,
that, if you are so kind as to continue your confidence
on this, or to renew it upon any other occasion, I
shall never be tempted again to make so bold and
unauthorized an use of the trust you place in me. I
will state to you the history of the business since
my last, and then you will see how far I am excusable
by the circumstances.
On the 3rd of July I received a letter from the
Attorney-General, dated the day before, in which, in
a very open and obliging manner, he desires my
thoughts of the Irish Toleration Bill, and particularly of the Dissenters' clause. I gave them to him, by
the return of the post, at large; but, as the time
pressed, 1 kept no copy of the letter. The general
? ? ? ? 200 LETTER TO RIGHT HON. EDMUND S. PERY.
drift was strongly to recommend the whole, and principally to obviate the objections to the part that related to the Dissenters, with regard both to the general propriety and to the temporary policy at this juncture. I took, likewise, a good deal of pains to
state the difference which had always subsisted with
regard to the treatment of the Protestant Dissenters
in Ireland and in England, and what I conceived the
reason of that difference to be. About the same time
I was called to town for a day; and I took an opportunity, in Westminster Hall, of urging the same points,
with all the force I was master of, to the SolicitorGeneral. I attempted to see the Chancellor for the
same purpose, but was not fortunate enough to meet
him at home. Soon after my return hither, on Tuesday, I received a very polite and I may say friendly
letter from him, wishing me (on supposition that I
had continued in town) to dine with him as [on? ]
that day, in order to talk over the business of the Toleration Act, then before him. Unluckily I had company with me, and was not able to leave them until
Thursday, when I went to town and called at his
house, but missed him. However, in answer to his
letter, I had before, and instantly on the receipt of it,
written to him at large, and urged such topics, both
with regard to the Catholics and Dissenters, as I imagined were the most likely to be prevalent with him.
This letter I followed to town on Thursday. On my
arrival I was much alarmed with a report that the
ministry had thoughts of rejecting the whole bill.
Mr. M'Namara seemed apprehensive that it was a
determined measure; and there seemed to be but too
much reason for his fears.
Not having met the Chancellor at home, either on
? ? ? ? LETTER TO RIGHT HON. EDMUND S. PERY. 201
my first visit or my second after receiving his letter,
and fearful that the Cabinet should come to some unpleasant resolution, I went to the Treasury on Friday. There I saw Sir G. Cooper. I possessed him of. the
danger of a partial, and the inevitable mischief of
the total rejection of the bill. I reminded him of the
understood compact between parties, upon which
the whole scheme of the toleration originating in
the English bill was formed,- of the fair part
which the Whigs had acted in a business which,
though first started by them, was supposed equally
acceptable to all sides, and the risk of which they
took upon themselves, when others declined it. To
this I added such matter as I thought most fit to engage government, as government, - not to sport with a singular opportunity which offered for the union of
every description of men amongst us in support of
the common interest of the whole; and I ended by
desiring to see Lord North upon the subject. Sir
Grey Cooper showed a very right sense of the matter,
and in a few minutes after our conversation I went
down from the Treasury chambers to Lord North's
house. I had a great deal of discourse with him.
He told me that his ideas of toleration were large, but
that, large as they were, they did not comprehend a
promiscuous establishment, even in matters merely
civil; that he thought the established religion ought
to be the religion of the state; that, in this idea, he
was not for the repeal of the sacramental test; that,
indeed, he knew the Dissenters in general did not
greatly scruple it; but that very want of scruple
showed less zeal against the Establishment; and, after all, there could no provision be made by human laws against those who made light of the tests which
? ? ? ? 202 LETTER TO RIGHT HON. EDMUND S. PERY.
were formed to discriminate opinions. On all this he
spoke with a good deal of temper. He did not, indeed, seem to think the test itself, which was rightly
considered by Dissenters as in a manner dispensed
with by an annual act of Parliament, and which in
Ireland was of a late origin, and of much less extent
than here, a matter of much moment. The thing
which seemed to affect him most was the offence that
would be taken at the repeal by the leaders among
the Church clergy here, on one hand, and, on the
other, the steps which would be taken for its repeal in
England in the next session, in consequence of the
repeal in Ireland. I assured him, with great truth,
that we had no idea among the Whigs of moving the
repeal of the test. I confessed very fieely, for my
own part, that, if it were brought in, I should certainly vote for it; but that I should neither use, nor did
I think applicable, any arguments drawn from the
analogy of what was done in other parts of the British dominions. We did not argue from analogy,
even in this island and United Kingdom. Presbytery
was established in Scotland. It became no reason
either for its religious or civil establishment here.
In New England the Independent Congregational
Churches had an established legal maintenance;
whilst that country continued part of the British empire, no argument in favor of Independency was adduced from the practice of New England. Government itself lately thought fit to establish the Roman Catholic religion in Canada; but they would not suffer an argument of analogy to be used for its establishment anywhere else. These things were governed,
as all things of that nature are governed, not by general maxims, but their own local and peculiar cir
? ? ? ? LETTER TO RIGHT HON. EDMUND S. PERY. 203
cumstances. Finding, however, that, though he was
very cool and patient, I made no great way in the
business of the Dissenters, I turned myself to try
whether, falling in with his maxims, some modification
might not be found, the hint of which I received from
your letter relative to the Irish Militia Bill, and the
point I labored was so to alter the clause as to repeal
the test quoad military and revenue offices: for these
being only subservient parts in the economy and execution, rather than the administration of affairs, the
politic, civil, and judicial parts would still continue
in the hands of the conformists to religious establishments. Without giving any hopes, he, however, said
that this distinction deserved to be considered. After
this, I strongly pressed the mischief of rejecting the
whole bill: that a notion went abroad, that government was not at this moment very well pleased with
the Dissenters, as not very well affected to the monarchy; that, in general, I conceived this to be a mistake,- but if it were not, the rejection of a bill in favor of others, because something in favor of them
was inserted, instead of humbling and mortifying,
would infinitely exalt them: for, if the legislature
had no means of favoring those whom they meant
to favor, as long as the Dissenters could find means
to get themselves included, this would make them,
instead of their only being subject to restraint themselves, the arbitrators of the fate of others, and that
not so much by their own strength (which could not
be prevented in its operation) as by the cooperation
of those whom they opposed. In the comnclusion, I
recommended, that, if they wished well to the measure which was the main object of the bill, they must
explicitly make it their own, and stake themselves
? ? ? ? 204 LETTER TO RIGHT HON. EDMUND S. PERY.
upon it; that hitherto all their difficulties had arisen
from their indecision and their wrong measures; and
to make Lord North sensible of the necessity of giving a firm support to some part of the bill, and to add weighty authority to my reasons, I read him your letter of the 10th of July. It seemed, in some measure, to answer the purpose which I intended. I pressed
the necessity of the management of the affair, both
as to conduct and as to gaining of men; and I renewed my former advice, that the Lord Lieutenant should be instructed to consult and cooperate with
you in the whole affair. All this was, apparently,
very fairly taken.
In the evening of that day I saw the Lord Chancellor. With him, too, I had much discourse. You
know that he is intelligent, sagacious, systematic, and
determined. At first he seemed of opinion that the
relief contained in the bill was so inadequate to the
mass of oppression it was intended to remove, that it
would be better to let it stand over, until a more perfect and better digested plan could be settled. This seemed to possess him very strongly. In order to
combat this notion, and to show that the bill, all
things considered, was a very great acquisition, and
that it was rather a preliminary than an obstruction
to relief, I ventured to show him your letter. It had
its effect. He declared himself roundly against giving anything to a confederacy, real or apparent, to distress government; that, if anything was done for
Catholics or Dissenters, it should be done on its own
separate merits, and not by way of bargain and compromise; that they sliould be each of them obliged to government, not eachl to the other; that this would
be a perpetual nursery of faction. In a word, he
? ? ? ? LETTER TO RIGHT HON.
