act, all the fashionable world
will be ready to say, "'Your prophecies are ridiculous, your fears are vain, you see how little of the mischiefs which you formerlyTforeboded are come to
pass.
will be ready to say, "'Your prophecies are ridiculous, your fears are vain, you see how little of the mischiefs which you formerlyTforeboded are come to
pass.
Edmund Burke
A
LETTER
TO
JOHN FARR AND JOHN HARRIS, ESQRS. , SHERIFFS OF THE CITY OF BRISTOL, ON THE
AFFAIRS OF AMERICA.
I 777.
? ? ? ? LETTER.
GfENTLEMEN, -- I have the honor of sending
you the two last acts which have been passed
with regard to the troubles in America. These acts
are similar to all the rest which have been made on
the same subject. They operate by the same principle, and they are derived from the very same policy. I think they complete the number of this sort of statutes to nine. It affords no matter for very pleasing reflection to observe that our subjects diminish as our
laws increase.
If I have the misfortune of differing with some of
my fellow-citizens on this great and arduous subject,
it is no small consolation to me that I do not differ
from you. With you I am perfectly united. We are
heartily agreed in our detestation of a civil war. We
have ever expressed the most unqualified disapprobation of all the steps which have led to it, and of all those which tend to prolong it. And I have no doubt
that we feel exactly the same emotions of grief and
shame on all its miserable consequences, whether
they appear, on the one side or the other, in the
shape of victories or defeats, of captures made fromthe English on the continent or from the English in these islands, of legislative regulations which subvert the liberties of our brethren or which under-. mine our own.
Of the first of these statutes (that for the letter of
? ? ? ? 190 LETTER TO THE SHERIFFS OF BRISTOL.
marque) I shall say little. Exceptionable as it may
be, and as I think it is in some particulars, it seems
the natural, perhaps necessary, result of the measures
we have taken and the situation we are in. The other
(for a partial suspension of the Habeas Corpus) appears to me of a much deeper malignity. During its
progress through the House of Commons, it has been
amended, so as to express, more distinctly than at first
it did, the avowed sentiments of those who framed it;
and the main ground of my exception to it is, because
it does express, and does carry into execution, purposes
which appear to me so contradictory to all the principles, not only of the constitutional policy of Great
Britain, but even of that species of hostile justice
which no asperity of war wholly extinguishes in the
minds of a civilized people.
It seems to have in view two capital objects: the
first, to enable administration to confine, as long as it
shall think proper, those whom that act is pleased to
qualify by the- name of pirates. Those so qualified I
understand to be the commanders and mariners of
such privateers and ships of war belonging to the
colonies as in the course of this unhappy contest may
fall into the hands of the crown. They are therefore
to be detained in prison, under the criminal description of piracy, to a future trial and ignominious punishment, whenever circumstances shall make it convenient to execute vengeance on them, under the color of that odious and infamous offence.
To this first purpose of the law I have no small
dislike, because the act does not (as all laws and all
equitable transactions ought to do) fairly describe its
object. The persons who make a naval war upon us,
in; consequence of the present troubles, may be rebels;
? ? ? ? LETTER TO THE SHERIFFS OF BRISTOL. 191
out to call and treat them as pirates is confounding
not only the natural distinction of things, but the
order of crimes,- which, whether by putting them
from a higher part of the scale to the lower or from
the lower to the higher, is never done without dangerously disordering the whole frame of jurisprudence. Though piracy may be, in the eye of the law, a less offence than treason, yet, as both are, in effect,
punished with the same death, the same forfeiture,
and the same corruption of blood, I never would take
from any fellow-creature whatever any sort of advantage which he may derive to his safety from the pity
of mankind, or to his reputation from their general
feelings, by degrading his offence, when I cannot soften his punishment. The general sense of mankind
tells me that those offences which may possibly arise
from mistaken virtue are not in the class of infamous
actions. Lord Coke, the oracle of the English law,
conforms to that general sense,where he says that
"those things which are of the highest criminality
may be of the least disgrace. " The act prepares a
sort of masked proceeding, not honorable to the justice of the kingdom, and by no means, necessary for
its safety. I cannot enter into it. If Lord Balmerino, in the last rebellion, had driven off the cattle of
twenty clans, I should have thought it would have
been a scandalous and low juggle, utterly unworthy
of the manliness of an English judicature, to have
tried him for felony as a stealer of cows.
Besides, I must honestly tell you that I could not
vote for, or countenance in any way, a statute which
stigmatizes with the crime of piracy these men whomI
an act of Parliament had previously put out of the
protection of the law. When the legislature of this
? ? ? ? 192 LETTER TO THE SHERIFFS OF BRISTOL.
kingdom had ordered all their ships and goods, for
the mere new-created offence of exercising trade, to
be divided as a spoil among the seamen of the navy,
-- to consider the necessary reprisal of an unhappy,
proscribed, interdicted people, as the crime of piracy,
would have appeared, in any other legislature than
ours, a strain of the most insulting and most unnatural cruelty and injustice. I assure you I never remember to have heard of anything like it in any time or country.
The second professed purpose of the act is to detain
in England for trial those who shall commit high treason in America.
That you may be enabled to enter into the true
spirit of the present law, it is necessary, Gentlemen, to
apprise you that there is an act, made so long ago as
in the reign of Henry the Eighth. before the existence
or thought of any English colonies in America, for
the trial in this kingdom of treasons committed out
of the realm. In the year 1769 Parliament thought
proper to acquaint the crown with their construction
of that act in a formal address, wherein they entreated
his Majesty to cause persons charged with high treason in America to be brought into this kingdom for
trial. By this act of Henry the Eighth, so construed
and so applied, almost all that is substantial and beneficial in a trial by jury is taken away from the subject
in the colonies. This is,,however, saying too little; for
to try a man under that act is, in effect, to condemn
him unheard. A person is brought hither in the
dungeon of a ship's hold; thence he is vomited into
a dungeon on land, loaded with irons, unfurnished
with money, unsupported by friends, three thousand
miles from all means of calling upon or confronting
? ? ? ? LETTER TO THE SHERIFFS OF. BRISTOL. 193
evidence, where no one local circumstance that tends
to detect perjury can possibly be judged of; - such
a person may be executed according to form, but he
can never be tried according to justice.
I therefore could never reconcile myself to the bill
I send you, which is expressly provided to remove all
inconveniences from the establishment of a mode of
trial which has ever appeared to me most unjust and
most unconstitutional. Far from removing the difficulties which impede the execution of so mischievous
a project, II would heap new difficulties upon it, if it
were in my power. All the ancient, honest, juridical
principles and institutions of England are so many
clogs to check and retard the headlong course of violence and oppression. They were invented for this
one good purpose, that what was not just should not
be convenient. Convinced of this, I would leave
things as I found them. The old, cool-headed, general law is as good as any deviation dictated by present heat. I could see no fair, justifiable expedience pleaded
to favor this new suspension of the liberty of the subject. If the English in the colonies can support the independency to which they have been unfortunately
driven, I suppose nobody has such a fanatical zeal for
the criminal justice of Henry the Eighth that he will
contend for executions which must be retaliated tenfold on his own friends, or who has conceived so
strange an idea of English dignity as to think the
defeats in America compensated by the triumphs at
Tyburn. If, on the contrary, the colonies are reduced to the obedience of the crown, there must be,
under that authority, tribunals in the country itself
frilly competent to administer justice on all offenders
VOL. II. 13
? ? ? ? 194 LETTER TO THE SHERIFFS OF BRISTOL.
But if there are not, and that we must suppose a:thing so humiliating to our government as that all
-this vast continent should unanimously concur in
thinking that no ill fortune. can convert resistance to
the royal authority into a criminal act, we may call
the effect of our victory peace, or obedience, or what
we will, but the war is not ended; the hostile mind
continues in full vigor, and it continues under a
worse form. If your peace be nothing more than a
sullen pause from arms, if their quiet be nothing but
the meditation of revenge, where smitten pride smarting from its wounds festers into new rancor, neither the act of Henry the Eighth nor its handmaid of this
reign will answer any wise end of policy or justice.
For, if the bloody fields which they saw and felt are
not sufficient to subdue the reason of America, (to
use the expressive phrase of a great lord in office,) it
is not. the judicial slaughter which is made in another
hemisphere against their universal sense of justice
that will ever reconcile them to the British government.
I take it for granted, Gentlemen, tha/t we sympathize in a proper horror of all punishment further
than as it serves for an example. To whom, then,
does the example of an execution in England for this
American rebellion apply? Remember, you are told
every day, that the present is a contest between the
two countries, and that we in England are at war
for our own dignity against our rebellious children.
Is this true? If it be, it is surely among such rebellious children that examples for disobedience should
be made, to be in any degree instructive: for who
ever thought of teaching parents their duty by an example from the punishment of an undutiful son? As
? ? ? ? LETTER TO THE SHERIFFS OF BRISTOL. 195
well might the execution of a fugitive negro in the
plantations be considered as a lesson to teach masters
humanity to their slaves. Such executions may, indeed, satiate our revenge; they may harden our hearts, and puff us up with pride and arrogance. Alas! this
is not instruction.
If anything can be drawn from such examples by a
parity of the case, it is to show how deep their crime
and how heavy their punishment will be, who shall at
any time dare to resist a distant power actually disposing of their property without their voice or consent to, the disposition, and overturning their franchises
without charge or hearing. God forbid that England
should ever read this lesson- written in the blood of
any of her offspring!
War is at present carried on between the king's
natural and foreign troops, on one side, and the English in America, on the other, upon the usual footing of other wars; and accordingly anl exchange of prisoners has been regularly made from the beginning.
If, notwithstanding this hitherto equal procedure,
upon some prospect of ending the war with success
(which,however, may be delusive) administration prepares to act against those as traitors who remain in their hands at the end of the troubles, in my opinion
we shall exhibit to the world as indecent a piece of
injustice as ever civil fury has produced. If the prisoners who have been exchanged have not by that exchange been virtually pardoned, the cartel (whether
avowed or understood) is a cruel fraud; for you have
received the life of a man, and you,ought to return
a life for it, or there is no parity or fairness in the
transaction.
If, on the other hand, we admit that they who are
? ? ? ? 196 LETTER TO THE SHERIFFS OF BRISTOL.
actually. exchanged are pardoned, but contend that
you may justly reserve for vengeance those who
remain unexchanged', then this unpleasant and unhandsome consequence will follow: that you judge
of the delinquency of men merely by the time of
their guilt, and not by the heinousness of it; and
you make fortune and accidents, and not the moral
qualities of human action, the rule of your justice.
These strange- incongruities must ever perplex
those who confound the unhappiness of civil dissension with the crime of treason. Whenever a rebellion really and truly exists, which is as easily known ill fact as it is difficult to define in words, government
has not entered into, such military conventions, but
has ever declined all intermediate treaty which should
put rebels in possession of the law of nations with regard to war. Commanders would receive no benefits
at their hands, because they could make no return for
them. Who has ever heard of capitulation, and parole of honor, and exchange of prisoners in the late
rebellions in this kingdom? The answer to all demands of that sort was, " We can engage for nothing;
you are. at the king's pleasure. " We ought to remember, that, if our present enemies be in reality and
truth rebels, the king's generals have no right to release them upon any conditions whatsoever; and they
are themselves answerable to the law, and as much in
want of a pardon, for doing so, as the rebels whom
they release.
Lawyers, I know, cannot, make the distinction for
which I contend; because they have their strict rule
to go by. But legislators ought to do what lawyers
cannot; for they have no other rules to bind them
but the great: principles of reason and equity: and the
? ? ? ? LETTER TO THE SHERIFFS OF BRISTOL. 197
general sense of mankind. These they are bound to
obey and follow, and rather to enlarge and enlighten
law by the liberality of legislative reason than to fetter
and bind their higher capacity by the narrow constructions of subordinate, artificial justice. If we had ad verted to this, we never could consider the convulsions
of a great empire, not disturbed by a little disseminated faction, but divided by whole communities and lrovinces, and entire legal representatives of a people,
as fit matter-of discussion under a commission of Oyer
and Terminer. It is as opposite to reason and prudence as it is to humanity and justice.
This- act, proceeding on these principles, that is,
preparing to end the present troubles by a trial of
one sort of hostility uiider the name of piracy, and of
another by the name of treason, and executing the
act of Henry the Eighth according to a new and unconstitutional interpretation, I have thought evil and dangerous, even though the instruments of effecting
such purposes had been merely of a neutral quality.
But it really appears to me that the means which
this act employs are at least as exceptionable as the
end. Permit me to open myself a little upon this
subject; becauseit isof importance to me, when I am
obliged to submit to the power without acquiescing
in the reason of an act of legislature, that I should
justify my dissent by such arguments as may be supposed to have weight with a sober man.
The main operative regulation of the act is to suspend the Common Law and the statute Habeas Corpus (the sole securities either for liberty or justice) with
regard to all those who have been out of the realm,
or on the high seas, within a given time. The rest of
the people, as I uniderstand, are to continue as they
stood before.
? ? ? ? 198 LETTER TO THE SHERIFFS OF BRISTOL.
I confess, Gentlemen, that this appears to me as bad
in the principle, and far worse in its consequence, than
an universal suspension of the Habeas Corpus Act;
and the limiting qualification, instead of taking out
the sting, does in my humble opicnion sharpen and
envenom it to a greater degree. Liberty, if I understand it at all, is a general principle, and the clear
right of all the subjects within the realm, or of none.
Partial freedom seems to me a most invidious mode
of slavery. But,unfortunately, it is the kind of slavery
the most easily admitted in times of civil discord: for
parties are buttoo apt to forget their own future safety
in their desire of sacrificing their enemies. People
without much difficulty admit the entrance of that
injustice of which they are not to be the immediate victims. In times of high proceeding it is never the faction of the predominant power that is in danger: for no tyranny chastises its own instruments. It is the
obnoxious and the suspected who want the protection
of law; and there is nothing to bridle the partial violence of state factions but this, -" that, whenever an
act is made for a cessation of law and justice, the
whole people should be universally subjected to the
same suspension of their franchises. " The alarm of
such a proceeding would then be universal. It would
operate as a sort of call of the nation. It would become every man's immediate and instant concern to
be made very sensible of the absolute necessity of this
total eclipse of liberty. They would more carefully
advert to every renewal, and more powerfully resist
it. These great determined measures are not commonly so dangerous to freedom. Tliey are marked
with too strong lines to slide into use. No plea, nor
pretence, of inconvenience or evil example (which must
? ? ? ? LETTER TO THE SHERIFFS OF BRISTOL. 199
in their nature be daily and ordinary incidents) can
be admitted as a reason for such mighty operations.
But the true danger is when liberty is nibbled away,
for expedients, and by parts. The Habeas Corpus
Act supposes, contrary to the genius of most other
laws, that the lawful magistrate may see particular
men with a malignant eye, and it provides for that
identical case. But when men, in particular descriptions, marked out by the magistrate himself, are delivered over by Parliament to this possible malignity, it is not the Habeas Corpus that is occasionally suspended, but its spirit that is mistaken, and its principle that is subverted. Indeed, nothing is security to any individual but the common interest of all.
This act, therefore, has this distinguished evil in it,
that it is the first partial suspension of the Habeas
Corpus that has been made. The precedent, which
is always of very great importance, is now established. For the first time a distinction is made
among the people within this realm. Before this
act, every man putting his foot on English ground,
every stranger owing only a local and temporary allegiance, even negro slaves who had been sold in the
colonies and under' an act of Parliament, became as
free as every other man who breathed the same air
with them. Now a line is drawn, which may be advanced further and further at pleasure, on the same
argument of mere expedience on which it was first
described. There is no equality among us; we are
not fellow-citizens, it the mariner who lands on the
quay does not rest on as firm legal ground as the
merchant who sits in his counting-house. Other laws
may injure the community; thlis dissolves it. As
things now stand, every man in the West Indies,
? ? ? ? 200 LETTER TO THE SHERIFFS OF -BRISTOL.
every one inhabitant of three'unoffending provinces
on the continent, every person coming from the East
Indies, every gentleman who has travelled for his
health or education, every mariner who has navigated the seas, is, for no other offence, under a temporary proscription. Let any of these facts (now
become presumptions of guilt) be proved against him,
and the bare'suspicion of the crown puts him out of
the law. It is even by no means clear to me whether
the negative proof does not lie upon the person apprehended on suspicion, to the subversion of all justice. I have not debated against this bill in its progress
through the House; because it would have been vain
to oppose, and impossible to correct it. It is some
time since I have been clearly convinced, that, in the
present state of things, all opposition to any measures
proposed by ministers,'where the name of America
appears, is vain and frivolous. You may be sure
that I do not speak of my opposition, which in all
circumstances must be so, but that of men of the
greatest wisdom and authority in the nation. Everything proposed against America is supposed of course to be in favor of Great Britain. ' Good and ill success are equally admitted as reasons for persevering
in the present methods. Several very prudent and
very well-intentioned persons were of opinion, that,
during the prevalence of such dispositions, all struggle rather inflamed than lessened the distemper of
the public counsels. Finding such resistance to be
considered as factious by most within doors and by
very many without, I cannot conscientiously support
what is against my opinion, nor prudently contend
with what I know is irresistible. Preserving my
? ? ? ? LETTER TO THE SHERIFFS OF BRISTOL. 201
principles unshaken, I reserve my activity for rational endeavors; and I hope that my past conduct
has given sufficient evidence, that, if I am a single day
from my place, it is not owing to indolence or love
of dissipation. The slightest hope of doing good is
sufficient to recall me to what I quitted with regret.
In declining for some time my usual strict attendance, I do not in the least condemn the spirit of those gentlemen who, with a just confidence in their abilities,:(in which I claim a sort of share from my love and admiration of them,) were of opinion that their
exertions in this desperate case might be of some service. They thought that by contracting the sphere of its application they might lessen the malignity of'an evil principle. Perhaps they were in the right. But when my opinion was so very clearly to the. contrary, for the reasons I have just stated, I am sure my attendance would have been ridiculous.
I must add, in further explanation of my conducts
that, far from softening the features of such a principle, and thereby removing any part of the popular odium or natural terrors attending it, I should be
sorry that. anything framed in contradiction to the
spirit of our Constitution did not instantly produce,
in fact, the grossest of the evils with which it was
pregnant in its nature. It is by lying dormant a
long time, or being at first very riarely. exercised,
that arbitrary power steals upon a people. On the
next unconstitutional.
act, all the fashionable world
will be ready to say, "'Your prophecies are ridiculous, your fears are vain, you see how little of the mischiefs which you formerlyTforeboded are come to
pass. " Thus, by degrees, that artful softening of all
arbitrary power, the alleged infrequency or narrow
? ? ? ? 202 LETTER TO T. HE SHERIFFS OF BRISTOL.
extent of its operation, will be received as a sort of
aphorism, - and Mr. Hume will not be singular in
telling us, that the felicity of mankind is no more
disturbed by it than by earthquakes or thunder, or
the other more unusual accidents of Nature.
The act of which: I speak is among the fruits of the
American war, - a war in my humble opinion produc-,
tive of many mischiefs, of a kind which distinguish'
it from all others. Not only our policy is deranged,
and our empire distracted, but our laws and our legislative spirit appear to have been totally perverted by it. We have made war on our colonies, not by
arms only, but by laws. As hostility and law are not
very concordant ideas, every step we have taken in
this business has been made by trampling on some
maxim of justice or some capital principle of wise
government. What precedents were established, and
what principles overturned, (I will not say of English
privilege, but of general justice,) in the Boston Port,
the Massachusetts Charter, the Military Bill, and all
that long array of hostile acts of Parliament by which
the war with America has been begun and supported!
Had the principles of any of these acts been first exerted on English ground, they would probably have expired as soon as they touched it. But by being
removed from our persons, they have rooted in our
laws, and the latest posterity will taste the fruits of
them.
Norris it the worst effect of this unnatural contention, that our laws are corrupted. Whilst manners remain entire, they will correct the vices of law, and
soften it at length to their own temper. But we have
to lament that in most of the late proceedings we see
very few traces of that generosity, humanity, and dig
? ? ? ? LETTER TO THE SHERIFFS OF BRISTOL. 203
nity of mind, which formerly characterized this nation. r War suspends the rules of moral obligation,
and what is long suspended is in danger of being
totally abrogated. Civil wars strike deepest of all
into the manners of the people. They vitiate their
politics; they corrupt their morals; they pervert
even the natural taste and relish of equity and justice. By teaching us to consider our fellow-citizens
in an hostile light, the whole body of our nation becomes gradually less dear to us. The very names of
affection and kindred, which were the bond of charity whilst we agreed, become new incentives to hatred
and rage when the communion of our country is dissolved. We may flatter ourselves that we shall not
fall into tlhis misfortune. But we have no charter of
exemption, that I know of, from the ordinary frailties
of our nature.
What but that blindness of heart which arises from
the frenzy of civil contention could have made ally
persons conceive the present situation of the British
affairs as an object of triumph to themselves or of
congratulation to their sovereign? Nothing surely
could be more lamentable to those who remember the
flourishing days of this kingdom than to see the insane joy of several unhappy people, amidst the sad
spectacle which our affairs and conduct exhibit to the
scorn of Europe. We behold (and it seems some
people rejoice in beholding) our native land, which
used to sit the envied arbiter of all her neighbors, re#duced to a servile dependence on their mercy, - acquiescing in assurances of friendship which she, does not trust, - complaining of hostilities which she dares
not resent,- deficient to her allies, lofty to her subjects, and submissive to her enemies,-whilst the
? ? ? ? 204 - LETTER TO THE SHERIFFS OF: BRISTOL.
liberal government of this free nation is supported by
the hireling sword of German boors and vassals, and
three millions of the subjects of Great Britain are
seeking for protection to English privileges in the
arms of France!
These circumstances appear to me more like shocking prodigies than natural changes in human affairs.
Men of firmer minds may see them without staggering or astonishment. Some may think them matters of congratulation and complimentary addresses; but I trust your candor will be so indulgent to my
weakness as not to have the worse opinion of me for
my declining to participate in this joy, and my rejecting all share whatsoever in such a triumph. I am
too old, too stiff in my inveterate partialities, to be
ready at all the fashionable evolutions of opinion. I
scarcely know how to adapt my mind to the feelings
with which the Court Gazettes mean to impress the
people. It is not instantly that I can be brought to
rejoice, when I hear of the slaughter and captivity
of long lists of those names which have been familiar
to my ears from my infancy, and to rejoice that they
have fallen under the sword of strangers, whose barbarous appellations I scarcely know how to pronounce.
The glory acquired at the White Plains by Colonel
Rahl has no charms for me, and I fairly acknowledge thatI have not yet learned to delight in finding Fort Kniphausen in the heart of the British dominions.
It might be some consolation for the loss of our old
regards, if our reason were enlightened in proportion
as our honest prejudices are removed. Wanting feelings for the honor of our country, we might then in
cold -blood be brought to think a little of our interests
? ? ? ? LETTER TO THE SHERIFFS OF BRISTOL. 205
as individual citizens and our private conscience as
moral agents.
Indeed, our affairs are in a bad condition. I do assure those gentlemen who have prayed for war, and obtained the blessing they have sought, that they are
at this instant in very great straits. The abused
wealth of this country continues a little longer to feed
its distemper. As yet they, and their German allies
of twenty hireling states, have contended only with
the unprepared strength of our own infant colonies
But America is not subdued. Not one unattacked
village which was originally adverse throughout that
vast continent has yet submitted from love or terror.
You have the ground you encamp on, and you haVe
no more. The cantonments of your troops and your
dominions are exactly of the same extent. You spread
devastation, but you do not enlarge the sphere of authority.
The events of this war are of so much greater magnitude than those who either wished or feared it ever looked for, that this alone ought to fill every considerate mind with anxiety and diffidence. Wise men often tremble at the very things which fill the thoughtless with security. For many reasons I do not choose to expose to public view all the particulars of the state.
in which you stood with regard to foreign powers.
during the whole course of the last year. Whether
you are yet wholly out of danger from them is more
than I know, or than your rulers can divine. But
even if I were certain of my safety, I could not easily
forgive those who had brought me into the most
dreadful perils, because by accidents, unforeseen by
them or me, I have escaped.
Believe me, Gentlemen,: the way still before you is.
? ? ? ? 206 LETTER TO THE SHERIFFS OF BRISTOU.
intricate, dark, and fill of perplexed' and treacherous
mazes. Those who think they have the. clew may
lead usutof this labyrinth. We may trust them as
amply as we. think proper; but as they have most
certainly a call for all the reason which their stock
can furnish, why should we think it proper to disturb
its operation by inflaming their passions? I may be
unable to lend an helping hand to those who direct
the state; but I should be ashamed to make myself
one of a noisy multitude to halloo and hearten them
into doubtful and dangerous courses. A conscientious man would be cautious how he dealt in blood.
He would feel some apprehension at being called to a
tremendous account for engaging in so deep a play
without any sort of knowledge of the game. It is no
excuse for presumptuous ignorance, that it is directed
by insolent passion. The poorest being that crawls
on earth, contending to save itself from injustice and
oppression, is an object respectable in the eyes of God
and man. But I cannot conceive any existence under heaven (which in the depths of its wisdom tolerates all sorts of things) that is more truly odious and disgusting than an impotent, helpless creature,
without civil wisdom or military skill, without a consciousness of any other qualification for power but'his
servility to it, bloated with pride and arrogance, calling for battles which he is not to fight, contending
for a violent dominion which he can never exercise,
and satisfied to be himself mean and miserable, in order to render others contemptible and wretched.
If you and I find our talents not of the great and
ruling kind, our conduct, at least, is conformable to
our faculties. No man's life pays the forfeit of our
rashness. No desolate widow weeps tears of blood
? ? ? ? LET'i'ER rTO THE SHERIFFS OF BRISTOL. 207
over our ignorance. Scrupulous and sober in a we]lgrounded distrust of ourselves, we would keep in the
port of peace and security; and perhaps in recommending to others something of the same diffidence,
we should show ourselves more charitable to their
welfare than injurious to their abilities.
There are many circumstances in the zeal shown
for civil war which seem to discover but little of real
magnanimity. The addressers offer their own persons, and they are satisfied with hiring Germans.
They promise their private fortunes, and they mortgage their country. They have all the merit of volunteers, without risk of person or charge of contribution; and when the unfeeling arm of a foreign soldiery pours out their kindred blood like water, they exult and triumph as if they themselves had performed some notable exploit. I am really ashamed of
the fashionable language which has been held for
some time past, which, to say the best of it, is full of
levity. You know that I allude to the general cry
against the cowardice of the Americans, as if we despised them for not making the king's soldiery purchase the advantage they have obtained at a dearer
rate. It is not, Gentlemen, it is not to respect the
dispensations of Providence, nor to provide any decent retreat in the mutability of human affairs. It
leaves no medium between insolent victory and infamous defeat. It tends to alienate our minds further
and further from our natural regards, and to make
an eternal rent and schism in the British nation.
Those who do not wish for such a separation would
not dissolve that cement of reciprocal esteem and
regard which can alone bind together the parts of
this great fabric. It ought to be our wish, as it is
? ? ? ? 208 LETTER TO THE SHERIFFS OF BRISTOL.
our duty, not only to forbear this style of outrage
ourselves, but to make every one as sensible as we
can of the impropriety and unworthiness of the tempers which give: rise to it, and which designing men are laboring with such malignant industry to diffuse
amongst us. . It is our business to counteract them,
if possible,-if possible, to awake our natural regards,
and to revive the old partiality to the English name.
Without something of this kind I do not see how it
is ever practicable really to reconcile with those
whose affection, after all, must be the surest hold of
our government, and which is a thousand times more
worth to us than the mercenary zeal of all the circles of Germany.
I can well conceive a country completely overrun,
and miserably wasted, without approaching in the
least to settlement. In my apprehension, as long as
English government is attempted to be supported over
Englishmen by the sword alone, things will thus continue. I anticipate in my mind the moment of the final triumph of foreign military force. When that
hour arrives, (for it may arrive,) then it is that all this
mass of weakness and violence will appear in its full
light. If we should be expelled from America, the delusion of the partisans of military government might still continue. They might still feed'their imaginations with the possible good consequences which might have attended- success. Nobody could prove the contrary by facts. But in case the sword should do all that the sword can do, the success of their arms and the
defeat of their policy will be one and the same thing.
You will never see any revenue from America. Some
increase of the means of corruption, without ease of
the public burdens, is the very best that can happen.
? ? ? ? LETTER TO THE SHERIFFS OF BRISTOL. 209:Is it for this that we are at war,- and in such a
war?
As to the difficulties of laying once more the foundations of that government which, for the sake of
conquering what was our own, has been voluntarily and wantonly pulled down by a court faction
-here, I tremble to. look at them. Has any of these
gentlemen who aie: So eager to govern all mankind
shown himself possessed of the first qualification
towards government, some kniowledge of the object,
and of the difficulties which occur in the task they
have undertaken?
I assure you, that, on the most prosperous issue of
your arms, you will not be where you stood when
you called in war to supply the defects of your political establishment. Nor wbuld any disorder or disobedience to government which could arise from the most abject concession on our part ever equal those
which will be felt after the most triumphant violence. You have got all the intermediate evils of
war into the bargain.
I think I know America,-if I do not, my ignorance is incurable, for I have spared no pains to
understand it,- and I do most solemnly assure those
of my collstituents who put any sort of confidence in
my industry anid integrity, that everything that has
been done there has arisen from a total misconception of the object: that our means of originally holdring America, that our means of reconciling'with it after quarrel, of recovering it after separation, of
keeping it after victory, did depend, and must depend, in their several stages and periods, upon a total
renunciation of that unconditional submission which
has taken such possession of the minds of violent
VOL. I1. 14
? ? ? ? 210 LETTER TO THE SHERIFFS OF BRISTOL.
nmen. The whole of those maxims upon which we
have made and continued this war must be abandoned. Nothing, indeed, (for I would not deceive
you,) can place us in our former situation. That
hope must be laid aside. But there is a difference
between bad and the worst of all. Terms relative to
the cause of the war ought to be offered by the
authority of Parliament. An arrangement at home
promising some security for them ought to be made.
By doing this, without the least impairing of our
strength, we add to the credit of our moderation,
which, in itself, is always strength more or less.
I know many have been taught to think that moderation in a case like this is a sort of treason,-and
that all arguments for it are sufficiently answered by
railing at rebels and rebellion, and by charging all
the present or future miseries which we may suffer
on the resistance of our brethren. But I would wish
them, in this grave matter, and if peace is not wholly
removed from their hearts, to consider seriously, first,
that to criminate and recriminate never yet was the
road to reconciliation, in any difference amongst men.
In the. next place, it would be right to reflect that
the American English (whom they may abuse, if
they think it honorable to revile the absent) can, as
things now stand, neither be provoked at our railing
or bettered by our instruction. All communication
is cut off between us. But this we know with certainty, that, though we cannot reclaim them, we may reform ourselves. If measures of peace are necessary, they must begin somewhere; and a conciliatory temper must precede and prepare every plan of reconciliation. Nor do I conceive that we suffer anything by thus regulating our own minds. We are not dis
? ? ? ? LETTER TO THE SHERIFFS OF BRISTOL. 211
armed by being disencumbered of our passions. Declaiming on rebellion never added a bayonet or a charge of powder to your military force; but I am
afraid that it has been the means of taking up many
muskets against you.
This outrageous language, which has been encouraged and kept alive by every art, has already done incredible mischief. For a long time, even amidst
the desolations of war, and the insults of hostile laws
daily accumulated on one another, the American
leaders seem to have had the greatest difficulty in
bringing up their people to a declaration of total
independence. But the Court Gazette accomplished
what the abettors of independence had attempted
in vain. When that disingenuous compilation and
strange medley of railing and flattery was adduced
as a proof of the united sentiments of the people of
Great Britain, there was a great change throughout
all' America. The tide of popular affection, which
had still set towards the parent country, began immediately to turn, and to flow with great rapidity in a contrary course. Far from concealing these wild
declarations of enmity, the author of the celebrated
pamphlet which prepared the minds of the people
for independence insists largely on'the multitude
and the spirit of these addresses; and he draws an
argument from them, which, if the fact were as he
supposes, must be irresistible. For I never knew a
writer on the theory of government so partial to
authority as not to allow that the hostile mind of the
rulers to their people did fully justify a change of
government; nor can any reason whatever be given
why one people should voluntarily yield any degree
of preeminence to another but on a supposition of
? ? ? ? 212 LETTER TO'THE SHERIFFS OF BRISTOL.
great affection and benevolence towards them. Un.
fortunately, your rulers, trusting to other things, took
no notice of this great principle of connection. From
the beginning of this affair, theyf have done all they
could to alienate your minds from your own kindred; and if they could excite hatred enough in one
of the parties towards the other, they seemed to be,
of opinion that they had gone half the way towards
reconciling the quarrel.
I know it is said, that your kindness is only alienated on account of their resistance, and therefore, if the colonies surrender at discretion, all sort of regard,
and even much indulgence, is meant towards them
in future. But can those who, are partisans for
continuing a war to enforce such a surrender be
responsible (after all that has passed) for such a
future use of a power that is bound by no-. compacts
and restrained by no terror? Will they tell us what
they call indulgences? Do they not at this instant
call the. present war -and all its horrors a lenient
and merciful proceeding?
No conqueror that I ever heard of has professed
to make a cruel, harsh,,and insolent use of his conquest. No! The man of the most declared pride scarcely dares to trust his own heart with this dreadful secret of ambition. But it will appear in its
time; and no man who professes to reduce another
to the insolent mercy of a foreign arm ever had any
sort? of good-will towards him. The profession of
kindness, with that sword in his hand, and that demand of surrender, is one of the most provoking acts of his hostility. I shall be told thatall this is lenient
as against rebellious adversaries. But are the leaders
of their faction more lenient to those who submit?
? ? ? ? LETTER TO THE SHERIFFS OF BRISTOL, 213. Lord Howe and General Howe have powers, under an act of Parliament, to restore to the king's peace
and to free trade ally men or district which shall
submit. ' Is this done?
LETTER
TO
JOHN FARR AND JOHN HARRIS, ESQRS. , SHERIFFS OF THE CITY OF BRISTOL, ON THE
AFFAIRS OF AMERICA.
I 777.
? ? ? ? LETTER.
GfENTLEMEN, -- I have the honor of sending
you the two last acts which have been passed
with regard to the troubles in America. These acts
are similar to all the rest which have been made on
the same subject. They operate by the same principle, and they are derived from the very same policy. I think they complete the number of this sort of statutes to nine. It affords no matter for very pleasing reflection to observe that our subjects diminish as our
laws increase.
If I have the misfortune of differing with some of
my fellow-citizens on this great and arduous subject,
it is no small consolation to me that I do not differ
from you. With you I am perfectly united. We are
heartily agreed in our detestation of a civil war. We
have ever expressed the most unqualified disapprobation of all the steps which have led to it, and of all those which tend to prolong it. And I have no doubt
that we feel exactly the same emotions of grief and
shame on all its miserable consequences, whether
they appear, on the one side or the other, in the
shape of victories or defeats, of captures made fromthe English on the continent or from the English in these islands, of legislative regulations which subvert the liberties of our brethren or which under-. mine our own.
Of the first of these statutes (that for the letter of
? ? ? ? 190 LETTER TO THE SHERIFFS OF BRISTOL.
marque) I shall say little. Exceptionable as it may
be, and as I think it is in some particulars, it seems
the natural, perhaps necessary, result of the measures
we have taken and the situation we are in. The other
(for a partial suspension of the Habeas Corpus) appears to me of a much deeper malignity. During its
progress through the House of Commons, it has been
amended, so as to express, more distinctly than at first
it did, the avowed sentiments of those who framed it;
and the main ground of my exception to it is, because
it does express, and does carry into execution, purposes
which appear to me so contradictory to all the principles, not only of the constitutional policy of Great
Britain, but even of that species of hostile justice
which no asperity of war wholly extinguishes in the
minds of a civilized people.
It seems to have in view two capital objects: the
first, to enable administration to confine, as long as it
shall think proper, those whom that act is pleased to
qualify by the- name of pirates. Those so qualified I
understand to be the commanders and mariners of
such privateers and ships of war belonging to the
colonies as in the course of this unhappy contest may
fall into the hands of the crown. They are therefore
to be detained in prison, under the criminal description of piracy, to a future trial and ignominious punishment, whenever circumstances shall make it convenient to execute vengeance on them, under the color of that odious and infamous offence.
To this first purpose of the law I have no small
dislike, because the act does not (as all laws and all
equitable transactions ought to do) fairly describe its
object. The persons who make a naval war upon us,
in; consequence of the present troubles, may be rebels;
? ? ? ? LETTER TO THE SHERIFFS OF BRISTOL. 191
out to call and treat them as pirates is confounding
not only the natural distinction of things, but the
order of crimes,- which, whether by putting them
from a higher part of the scale to the lower or from
the lower to the higher, is never done without dangerously disordering the whole frame of jurisprudence. Though piracy may be, in the eye of the law, a less offence than treason, yet, as both are, in effect,
punished with the same death, the same forfeiture,
and the same corruption of blood, I never would take
from any fellow-creature whatever any sort of advantage which he may derive to his safety from the pity
of mankind, or to his reputation from their general
feelings, by degrading his offence, when I cannot soften his punishment. The general sense of mankind
tells me that those offences which may possibly arise
from mistaken virtue are not in the class of infamous
actions. Lord Coke, the oracle of the English law,
conforms to that general sense,where he says that
"those things which are of the highest criminality
may be of the least disgrace. " The act prepares a
sort of masked proceeding, not honorable to the justice of the kingdom, and by no means, necessary for
its safety. I cannot enter into it. If Lord Balmerino, in the last rebellion, had driven off the cattle of
twenty clans, I should have thought it would have
been a scandalous and low juggle, utterly unworthy
of the manliness of an English judicature, to have
tried him for felony as a stealer of cows.
Besides, I must honestly tell you that I could not
vote for, or countenance in any way, a statute which
stigmatizes with the crime of piracy these men whomI
an act of Parliament had previously put out of the
protection of the law. When the legislature of this
? ? ? ? 192 LETTER TO THE SHERIFFS OF BRISTOL.
kingdom had ordered all their ships and goods, for
the mere new-created offence of exercising trade, to
be divided as a spoil among the seamen of the navy,
-- to consider the necessary reprisal of an unhappy,
proscribed, interdicted people, as the crime of piracy,
would have appeared, in any other legislature than
ours, a strain of the most insulting and most unnatural cruelty and injustice. I assure you I never remember to have heard of anything like it in any time or country.
The second professed purpose of the act is to detain
in England for trial those who shall commit high treason in America.
That you may be enabled to enter into the true
spirit of the present law, it is necessary, Gentlemen, to
apprise you that there is an act, made so long ago as
in the reign of Henry the Eighth. before the existence
or thought of any English colonies in America, for
the trial in this kingdom of treasons committed out
of the realm. In the year 1769 Parliament thought
proper to acquaint the crown with their construction
of that act in a formal address, wherein they entreated
his Majesty to cause persons charged with high treason in America to be brought into this kingdom for
trial. By this act of Henry the Eighth, so construed
and so applied, almost all that is substantial and beneficial in a trial by jury is taken away from the subject
in the colonies. This is,,however, saying too little; for
to try a man under that act is, in effect, to condemn
him unheard. A person is brought hither in the
dungeon of a ship's hold; thence he is vomited into
a dungeon on land, loaded with irons, unfurnished
with money, unsupported by friends, three thousand
miles from all means of calling upon or confronting
? ? ? ? LETTER TO THE SHERIFFS OF. BRISTOL. 193
evidence, where no one local circumstance that tends
to detect perjury can possibly be judged of; - such
a person may be executed according to form, but he
can never be tried according to justice.
I therefore could never reconcile myself to the bill
I send you, which is expressly provided to remove all
inconveniences from the establishment of a mode of
trial which has ever appeared to me most unjust and
most unconstitutional. Far from removing the difficulties which impede the execution of so mischievous
a project, II would heap new difficulties upon it, if it
were in my power. All the ancient, honest, juridical
principles and institutions of England are so many
clogs to check and retard the headlong course of violence and oppression. They were invented for this
one good purpose, that what was not just should not
be convenient. Convinced of this, I would leave
things as I found them. The old, cool-headed, general law is as good as any deviation dictated by present heat. I could see no fair, justifiable expedience pleaded
to favor this new suspension of the liberty of the subject. If the English in the colonies can support the independency to which they have been unfortunately
driven, I suppose nobody has such a fanatical zeal for
the criminal justice of Henry the Eighth that he will
contend for executions which must be retaliated tenfold on his own friends, or who has conceived so
strange an idea of English dignity as to think the
defeats in America compensated by the triumphs at
Tyburn. If, on the contrary, the colonies are reduced to the obedience of the crown, there must be,
under that authority, tribunals in the country itself
frilly competent to administer justice on all offenders
VOL. II. 13
? ? ? ? 194 LETTER TO THE SHERIFFS OF BRISTOL.
But if there are not, and that we must suppose a:thing so humiliating to our government as that all
-this vast continent should unanimously concur in
thinking that no ill fortune. can convert resistance to
the royal authority into a criminal act, we may call
the effect of our victory peace, or obedience, or what
we will, but the war is not ended; the hostile mind
continues in full vigor, and it continues under a
worse form. If your peace be nothing more than a
sullen pause from arms, if their quiet be nothing but
the meditation of revenge, where smitten pride smarting from its wounds festers into new rancor, neither the act of Henry the Eighth nor its handmaid of this
reign will answer any wise end of policy or justice.
For, if the bloody fields which they saw and felt are
not sufficient to subdue the reason of America, (to
use the expressive phrase of a great lord in office,) it
is not. the judicial slaughter which is made in another
hemisphere against their universal sense of justice
that will ever reconcile them to the British government.
I take it for granted, Gentlemen, tha/t we sympathize in a proper horror of all punishment further
than as it serves for an example. To whom, then,
does the example of an execution in England for this
American rebellion apply? Remember, you are told
every day, that the present is a contest between the
two countries, and that we in England are at war
for our own dignity against our rebellious children.
Is this true? If it be, it is surely among such rebellious children that examples for disobedience should
be made, to be in any degree instructive: for who
ever thought of teaching parents their duty by an example from the punishment of an undutiful son? As
? ? ? ? LETTER TO THE SHERIFFS OF BRISTOL. 195
well might the execution of a fugitive negro in the
plantations be considered as a lesson to teach masters
humanity to their slaves. Such executions may, indeed, satiate our revenge; they may harden our hearts, and puff us up with pride and arrogance. Alas! this
is not instruction.
If anything can be drawn from such examples by a
parity of the case, it is to show how deep their crime
and how heavy their punishment will be, who shall at
any time dare to resist a distant power actually disposing of their property without their voice or consent to, the disposition, and overturning their franchises
without charge or hearing. God forbid that England
should ever read this lesson- written in the blood of
any of her offspring!
War is at present carried on between the king's
natural and foreign troops, on one side, and the English in America, on the other, upon the usual footing of other wars; and accordingly anl exchange of prisoners has been regularly made from the beginning.
If, notwithstanding this hitherto equal procedure,
upon some prospect of ending the war with success
(which,however, may be delusive) administration prepares to act against those as traitors who remain in their hands at the end of the troubles, in my opinion
we shall exhibit to the world as indecent a piece of
injustice as ever civil fury has produced. If the prisoners who have been exchanged have not by that exchange been virtually pardoned, the cartel (whether
avowed or understood) is a cruel fraud; for you have
received the life of a man, and you,ought to return
a life for it, or there is no parity or fairness in the
transaction.
If, on the other hand, we admit that they who are
? ? ? ? 196 LETTER TO THE SHERIFFS OF BRISTOL.
actually. exchanged are pardoned, but contend that
you may justly reserve for vengeance those who
remain unexchanged', then this unpleasant and unhandsome consequence will follow: that you judge
of the delinquency of men merely by the time of
their guilt, and not by the heinousness of it; and
you make fortune and accidents, and not the moral
qualities of human action, the rule of your justice.
These strange- incongruities must ever perplex
those who confound the unhappiness of civil dissension with the crime of treason. Whenever a rebellion really and truly exists, which is as easily known ill fact as it is difficult to define in words, government
has not entered into, such military conventions, but
has ever declined all intermediate treaty which should
put rebels in possession of the law of nations with regard to war. Commanders would receive no benefits
at their hands, because they could make no return for
them. Who has ever heard of capitulation, and parole of honor, and exchange of prisoners in the late
rebellions in this kingdom? The answer to all demands of that sort was, " We can engage for nothing;
you are. at the king's pleasure. " We ought to remember, that, if our present enemies be in reality and
truth rebels, the king's generals have no right to release them upon any conditions whatsoever; and they
are themselves answerable to the law, and as much in
want of a pardon, for doing so, as the rebels whom
they release.
Lawyers, I know, cannot, make the distinction for
which I contend; because they have their strict rule
to go by. But legislators ought to do what lawyers
cannot; for they have no other rules to bind them
but the great: principles of reason and equity: and the
? ? ? ? LETTER TO THE SHERIFFS OF BRISTOL. 197
general sense of mankind. These they are bound to
obey and follow, and rather to enlarge and enlighten
law by the liberality of legislative reason than to fetter
and bind their higher capacity by the narrow constructions of subordinate, artificial justice. If we had ad verted to this, we never could consider the convulsions
of a great empire, not disturbed by a little disseminated faction, but divided by whole communities and lrovinces, and entire legal representatives of a people,
as fit matter-of discussion under a commission of Oyer
and Terminer. It is as opposite to reason and prudence as it is to humanity and justice.
This- act, proceeding on these principles, that is,
preparing to end the present troubles by a trial of
one sort of hostility uiider the name of piracy, and of
another by the name of treason, and executing the
act of Henry the Eighth according to a new and unconstitutional interpretation, I have thought evil and dangerous, even though the instruments of effecting
such purposes had been merely of a neutral quality.
But it really appears to me that the means which
this act employs are at least as exceptionable as the
end. Permit me to open myself a little upon this
subject; becauseit isof importance to me, when I am
obliged to submit to the power without acquiescing
in the reason of an act of legislature, that I should
justify my dissent by such arguments as may be supposed to have weight with a sober man.
The main operative regulation of the act is to suspend the Common Law and the statute Habeas Corpus (the sole securities either for liberty or justice) with
regard to all those who have been out of the realm,
or on the high seas, within a given time. The rest of
the people, as I uniderstand, are to continue as they
stood before.
? ? ? ? 198 LETTER TO THE SHERIFFS OF BRISTOL.
I confess, Gentlemen, that this appears to me as bad
in the principle, and far worse in its consequence, than
an universal suspension of the Habeas Corpus Act;
and the limiting qualification, instead of taking out
the sting, does in my humble opicnion sharpen and
envenom it to a greater degree. Liberty, if I understand it at all, is a general principle, and the clear
right of all the subjects within the realm, or of none.
Partial freedom seems to me a most invidious mode
of slavery. But,unfortunately, it is the kind of slavery
the most easily admitted in times of civil discord: for
parties are buttoo apt to forget their own future safety
in their desire of sacrificing their enemies. People
without much difficulty admit the entrance of that
injustice of which they are not to be the immediate victims. In times of high proceeding it is never the faction of the predominant power that is in danger: for no tyranny chastises its own instruments. It is the
obnoxious and the suspected who want the protection
of law; and there is nothing to bridle the partial violence of state factions but this, -" that, whenever an
act is made for a cessation of law and justice, the
whole people should be universally subjected to the
same suspension of their franchises. " The alarm of
such a proceeding would then be universal. It would
operate as a sort of call of the nation. It would become every man's immediate and instant concern to
be made very sensible of the absolute necessity of this
total eclipse of liberty. They would more carefully
advert to every renewal, and more powerfully resist
it. These great determined measures are not commonly so dangerous to freedom. Tliey are marked
with too strong lines to slide into use. No plea, nor
pretence, of inconvenience or evil example (which must
? ? ? ? LETTER TO THE SHERIFFS OF BRISTOL. 199
in their nature be daily and ordinary incidents) can
be admitted as a reason for such mighty operations.
But the true danger is when liberty is nibbled away,
for expedients, and by parts. The Habeas Corpus
Act supposes, contrary to the genius of most other
laws, that the lawful magistrate may see particular
men with a malignant eye, and it provides for that
identical case. But when men, in particular descriptions, marked out by the magistrate himself, are delivered over by Parliament to this possible malignity, it is not the Habeas Corpus that is occasionally suspended, but its spirit that is mistaken, and its principle that is subverted. Indeed, nothing is security to any individual but the common interest of all.
This act, therefore, has this distinguished evil in it,
that it is the first partial suspension of the Habeas
Corpus that has been made. The precedent, which
is always of very great importance, is now established. For the first time a distinction is made
among the people within this realm. Before this
act, every man putting his foot on English ground,
every stranger owing only a local and temporary allegiance, even negro slaves who had been sold in the
colonies and under' an act of Parliament, became as
free as every other man who breathed the same air
with them. Now a line is drawn, which may be advanced further and further at pleasure, on the same
argument of mere expedience on which it was first
described. There is no equality among us; we are
not fellow-citizens, it the mariner who lands on the
quay does not rest on as firm legal ground as the
merchant who sits in his counting-house. Other laws
may injure the community; thlis dissolves it. As
things now stand, every man in the West Indies,
? ? ? ? 200 LETTER TO THE SHERIFFS OF -BRISTOL.
every one inhabitant of three'unoffending provinces
on the continent, every person coming from the East
Indies, every gentleman who has travelled for his
health or education, every mariner who has navigated the seas, is, for no other offence, under a temporary proscription. Let any of these facts (now
become presumptions of guilt) be proved against him,
and the bare'suspicion of the crown puts him out of
the law. It is even by no means clear to me whether
the negative proof does not lie upon the person apprehended on suspicion, to the subversion of all justice. I have not debated against this bill in its progress
through the House; because it would have been vain
to oppose, and impossible to correct it. It is some
time since I have been clearly convinced, that, in the
present state of things, all opposition to any measures
proposed by ministers,'where the name of America
appears, is vain and frivolous. You may be sure
that I do not speak of my opposition, which in all
circumstances must be so, but that of men of the
greatest wisdom and authority in the nation. Everything proposed against America is supposed of course to be in favor of Great Britain. ' Good and ill success are equally admitted as reasons for persevering
in the present methods. Several very prudent and
very well-intentioned persons were of opinion, that,
during the prevalence of such dispositions, all struggle rather inflamed than lessened the distemper of
the public counsels. Finding such resistance to be
considered as factious by most within doors and by
very many without, I cannot conscientiously support
what is against my opinion, nor prudently contend
with what I know is irresistible. Preserving my
? ? ? ? LETTER TO THE SHERIFFS OF BRISTOL. 201
principles unshaken, I reserve my activity for rational endeavors; and I hope that my past conduct
has given sufficient evidence, that, if I am a single day
from my place, it is not owing to indolence or love
of dissipation. The slightest hope of doing good is
sufficient to recall me to what I quitted with regret.
In declining for some time my usual strict attendance, I do not in the least condemn the spirit of those gentlemen who, with a just confidence in their abilities,:(in which I claim a sort of share from my love and admiration of them,) were of opinion that their
exertions in this desperate case might be of some service. They thought that by contracting the sphere of its application they might lessen the malignity of'an evil principle. Perhaps they were in the right. But when my opinion was so very clearly to the. contrary, for the reasons I have just stated, I am sure my attendance would have been ridiculous.
I must add, in further explanation of my conducts
that, far from softening the features of such a principle, and thereby removing any part of the popular odium or natural terrors attending it, I should be
sorry that. anything framed in contradiction to the
spirit of our Constitution did not instantly produce,
in fact, the grossest of the evils with which it was
pregnant in its nature. It is by lying dormant a
long time, or being at first very riarely. exercised,
that arbitrary power steals upon a people. On the
next unconstitutional.
act, all the fashionable world
will be ready to say, "'Your prophecies are ridiculous, your fears are vain, you see how little of the mischiefs which you formerlyTforeboded are come to
pass. " Thus, by degrees, that artful softening of all
arbitrary power, the alleged infrequency or narrow
? ? ? ? 202 LETTER TO T. HE SHERIFFS OF BRISTOL.
extent of its operation, will be received as a sort of
aphorism, - and Mr. Hume will not be singular in
telling us, that the felicity of mankind is no more
disturbed by it than by earthquakes or thunder, or
the other more unusual accidents of Nature.
The act of which: I speak is among the fruits of the
American war, - a war in my humble opinion produc-,
tive of many mischiefs, of a kind which distinguish'
it from all others. Not only our policy is deranged,
and our empire distracted, but our laws and our legislative spirit appear to have been totally perverted by it. We have made war on our colonies, not by
arms only, but by laws. As hostility and law are not
very concordant ideas, every step we have taken in
this business has been made by trampling on some
maxim of justice or some capital principle of wise
government. What precedents were established, and
what principles overturned, (I will not say of English
privilege, but of general justice,) in the Boston Port,
the Massachusetts Charter, the Military Bill, and all
that long array of hostile acts of Parliament by which
the war with America has been begun and supported!
Had the principles of any of these acts been first exerted on English ground, they would probably have expired as soon as they touched it. But by being
removed from our persons, they have rooted in our
laws, and the latest posterity will taste the fruits of
them.
Norris it the worst effect of this unnatural contention, that our laws are corrupted. Whilst manners remain entire, they will correct the vices of law, and
soften it at length to their own temper. But we have
to lament that in most of the late proceedings we see
very few traces of that generosity, humanity, and dig
? ? ? ? LETTER TO THE SHERIFFS OF BRISTOL. 203
nity of mind, which formerly characterized this nation. r War suspends the rules of moral obligation,
and what is long suspended is in danger of being
totally abrogated. Civil wars strike deepest of all
into the manners of the people. They vitiate their
politics; they corrupt their morals; they pervert
even the natural taste and relish of equity and justice. By teaching us to consider our fellow-citizens
in an hostile light, the whole body of our nation becomes gradually less dear to us. The very names of
affection and kindred, which were the bond of charity whilst we agreed, become new incentives to hatred
and rage when the communion of our country is dissolved. We may flatter ourselves that we shall not
fall into tlhis misfortune. But we have no charter of
exemption, that I know of, from the ordinary frailties
of our nature.
What but that blindness of heart which arises from
the frenzy of civil contention could have made ally
persons conceive the present situation of the British
affairs as an object of triumph to themselves or of
congratulation to their sovereign? Nothing surely
could be more lamentable to those who remember the
flourishing days of this kingdom than to see the insane joy of several unhappy people, amidst the sad
spectacle which our affairs and conduct exhibit to the
scorn of Europe. We behold (and it seems some
people rejoice in beholding) our native land, which
used to sit the envied arbiter of all her neighbors, re#duced to a servile dependence on their mercy, - acquiescing in assurances of friendship which she, does not trust, - complaining of hostilities which she dares
not resent,- deficient to her allies, lofty to her subjects, and submissive to her enemies,-whilst the
? ? ? ? 204 - LETTER TO THE SHERIFFS OF: BRISTOL.
liberal government of this free nation is supported by
the hireling sword of German boors and vassals, and
three millions of the subjects of Great Britain are
seeking for protection to English privileges in the
arms of France!
These circumstances appear to me more like shocking prodigies than natural changes in human affairs.
Men of firmer minds may see them without staggering or astonishment. Some may think them matters of congratulation and complimentary addresses; but I trust your candor will be so indulgent to my
weakness as not to have the worse opinion of me for
my declining to participate in this joy, and my rejecting all share whatsoever in such a triumph. I am
too old, too stiff in my inveterate partialities, to be
ready at all the fashionable evolutions of opinion. I
scarcely know how to adapt my mind to the feelings
with which the Court Gazettes mean to impress the
people. It is not instantly that I can be brought to
rejoice, when I hear of the slaughter and captivity
of long lists of those names which have been familiar
to my ears from my infancy, and to rejoice that they
have fallen under the sword of strangers, whose barbarous appellations I scarcely know how to pronounce.
The glory acquired at the White Plains by Colonel
Rahl has no charms for me, and I fairly acknowledge thatI have not yet learned to delight in finding Fort Kniphausen in the heart of the British dominions.
It might be some consolation for the loss of our old
regards, if our reason were enlightened in proportion
as our honest prejudices are removed. Wanting feelings for the honor of our country, we might then in
cold -blood be brought to think a little of our interests
? ? ? ? LETTER TO THE SHERIFFS OF BRISTOL. 205
as individual citizens and our private conscience as
moral agents.
Indeed, our affairs are in a bad condition. I do assure those gentlemen who have prayed for war, and obtained the blessing they have sought, that they are
at this instant in very great straits. The abused
wealth of this country continues a little longer to feed
its distemper. As yet they, and their German allies
of twenty hireling states, have contended only with
the unprepared strength of our own infant colonies
But America is not subdued. Not one unattacked
village which was originally adverse throughout that
vast continent has yet submitted from love or terror.
You have the ground you encamp on, and you haVe
no more. The cantonments of your troops and your
dominions are exactly of the same extent. You spread
devastation, but you do not enlarge the sphere of authority.
The events of this war are of so much greater magnitude than those who either wished or feared it ever looked for, that this alone ought to fill every considerate mind with anxiety and diffidence. Wise men often tremble at the very things which fill the thoughtless with security. For many reasons I do not choose to expose to public view all the particulars of the state.
in which you stood with regard to foreign powers.
during the whole course of the last year. Whether
you are yet wholly out of danger from them is more
than I know, or than your rulers can divine. But
even if I were certain of my safety, I could not easily
forgive those who had brought me into the most
dreadful perils, because by accidents, unforeseen by
them or me, I have escaped.
Believe me, Gentlemen,: the way still before you is.
? ? ? ? 206 LETTER TO THE SHERIFFS OF BRISTOU.
intricate, dark, and fill of perplexed' and treacherous
mazes. Those who think they have the. clew may
lead usutof this labyrinth. We may trust them as
amply as we. think proper; but as they have most
certainly a call for all the reason which their stock
can furnish, why should we think it proper to disturb
its operation by inflaming their passions? I may be
unable to lend an helping hand to those who direct
the state; but I should be ashamed to make myself
one of a noisy multitude to halloo and hearten them
into doubtful and dangerous courses. A conscientious man would be cautious how he dealt in blood.
He would feel some apprehension at being called to a
tremendous account for engaging in so deep a play
without any sort of knowledge of the game. It is no
excuse for presumptuous ignorance, that it is directed
by insolent passion. The poorest being that crawls
on earth, contending to save itself from injustice and
oppression, is an object respectable in the eyes of God
and man. But I cannot conceive any existence under heaven (which in the depths of its wisdom tolerates all sorts of things) that is more truly odious and disgusting than an impotent, helpless creature,
without civil wisdom or military skill, without a consciousness of any other qualification for power but'his
servility to it, bloated with pride and arrogance, calling for battles which he is not to fight, contending
for a violent dominion which he can never exercise,
and satisfied to be himself mean and miserable, in order to render others contemptible and wretched.
If you and I find our talents not of the great and
ruling kind, our conduct, at least, is conformable to
our faculties. No man's life pays the forfeit of our
rashness. No desolate widow weeps tears of blood
? ? ? ? LET'i'ER rTO THE SHERIFFS OF BRISTOL. 207
over our ignorance. Scrupulous and sober in a we]lgrounded distrust of ourselves, we would keep in the
port of peace and security; and perhaps in recommending to others something of the same diffidence,
we should show ourselves more charitable to their
welfare than injurious to their abilities.
There are many circumstances in the zeal shown
for civil war which seem to discover but little of real
magnanimity. The addressers offer their own persons, and they are satisfied with hiring Germans.
They promise their private fortunes, and they mortgage their country. They have all the merit of volunteers, without risk of person or charge of contribution; and when the unfeeling arm of a foreign soldiery pours out their kindred blood like water, they exult and triumph as if they themselves had performed some notable exploit. I am really ashamed of
the fashionable language which has been held for
some time past, which, to say the best of it, is full of
levity. You know that I allude to the general cry
against the cowardice of the Americans, as if we despised them for not making the king's soldiery purchase the advantage they have obtained at a dearer
rate. It is not, Gentlemen, it is not to respect the
dispensations of Providence, nor to provide any decent retreat in the mutability of human affairs. It
leaves no medium between insolent victory and infamous defeat. It tends to alienate our minds further
and further from our natural regards, and to make
an eternal rent and schism in the British nation.
Those who do not wish for such a separation would
not dissolve that cement of reciprocal esteem and
regard which can alone bind together the parts of
this great fabric. It ought to be our wish, as it is
? ? ? ? 208 LETTER TO THE SHERIFFS OF BRISTOL.
our duty, not only to forbear this style of outrage
ourselves, but to make every one as sensible as we
can of the impropriety and unworthiness of the tempers which give: rise to it, and which designing men are laboring with such malignant industry to diffuse
amongst us. . It is our business to counteract them,
if possible,-if possible, to awake our natural regards,
and to revive the old partiality to the English name.
Without something of this kind I do not see how it
is ever practicable really to reconcile with those
whose affection, after all, must be the surest hold of
our government, and which is a thousand times more
worth to us than the mercenary zeal of all the circles of Germany.
I can well conceive a country completely overrun,
and miserably wasted, without approaching in the
least to settlement. In my apprehension, as long as
English government is attempted to be supported over
Englishmen by the sword alone, things will thus continue. I anticipate in my mind the moment of the final triumph of foreign military force. When that
hour arrives, (for it may arrive,) then it is that all this
mass of weakness and violence will appear in its full
light. If we should be expelled from America, the delusion of the partisans of military government might still continue. They might still feed'their imaginations with the possible good consequences which might have attended- success. Nobody could prove the contrary by facts. But in case the sword should do all that the sword can do, the success of their arms and the
defeat of their policy will be one and the same thing.
You will never see any revenue from America. Some
increase of the means of corruption, without ease of
the public burdens, is the very best that can happen.
? ? ? ? LETTER TO THE SHERIFFS OF BRISTOL. 209:Is it for this that we are at war,- and in such a
war?
As to the difficulties of laying once more the foundations of that government which, for the sake of
conquering what was our own, has been voluntarily and wantonly pulled down by a court faction
-here, I tremble to. look at them. Has any of these
gentlemen who aie: So eager to govern all mankind
shown himself possessed of the first qualification
towards government, some kniowledge of the object,
and of the difficulties which occur in the task they
have undertaken?
I assure you, that, on the most prosperous issue of
your arms, you will not be where you stood when
you called in war to supply the defects of your political establishment. Nor wbuld any disorder or disobedience to government which could arise from the most abject concession on our part ever equal those
which will be felt after the most triumphant violence. You have got all the intermediate evils of
war into the bargain.
I think I know America,-if I do not, my ignorance is incurable, for I have spared no pains to
understand it,- and I do most solemnly assure those
of my collstituents who put any sort of confidence in
my industry anid integrity, that everything that has
been done there has arisen from a total misconception of the object: that our means of originally holdring America, that our means of reconciling'with it after quarrel, of recovering it after separation, of
keeping it after victory, did depend, and must depend, in their several stages and periods, upon a total
renunciation of that unconditional submission which
has taken such possession of the minds of violent
VOL. I1. 14
? ? ? ? 210 LETTER TO THE SHERIFFS OF BRISTOL.
nmen. The whole of those maxims upon which we
have made and continued this war must be abandoned. Nothing, indeed, (for I would not deceive
you,) can place us in our former situation. That
hope must be laid aside. But there is a difference
between bad and the worst of all. Terms relative to
the cause of the war ought to be offered by the
authority of Parliament. An arrangement at home
promising some security for them ought to be made.
By doing this, without the least impairing of our
strength, we add to the credit of our moderation,
which, in itself, is always strength more or less.
I know many have been taught to think that moderation in a case like this is a sort of treason,-and
that all arguments for it are sufficiently answered by
railing at rebels and rebellion, and by charging all
the present or future miseries which we may suffer
on the resistance of our brethren. But I would wish
them, in this grave matter, and if peace is not wholly
removed from their hearts, to consider seriously, first,
that to criminate and recriminate never yet was the
road to reconciliation, in any difference amongst men.
In the. next place, it would be right to reflect that
the American English (whom they may abuse, if
they think it honorable to revile the absent) can, as
things now stand, neither be provoked at our railing
or bettered by our instruction. All communication
is cut off between us. But this we know with certainty, that, though we cannot reclaim them, we may reform ourselves. If measures of peace are necessary, they must begin somewhere; and a conciliatory temper must precede and prepare every plan of reconciliation. Nor do I conceive that we suffer anything by thus regulating our own minds. We are not dis
? ? ? ? LETTER TO THE SHERIFFS OF BRISTOL. 211
armed by being disencumbered of our passions. Declaiming on rebellion never added a bayonet or a charge of powder to your military force; but I am
afraid that it has been the means of taking up many
muskets against you.
This outrageous language, which has been encouraged and kept alive by every art, has already done incredible mischief. For a long time, even amidst
the desolations of war, and the insults of hostile laws
daily accumulated on one another, the American
leaders seem to have had the greatest difficulty in
bringing up their people to a declaration of total
independence. But the Court Gazette accomplished
what the abettors of independence had attempted
in vain. When that disingenuous compilation and
strange medley of railing and flattery was adduced
as a proof of the united sentiments of the people of
Great Britain, there was a great change throughout
all' America. The tide of popular affection, which
had still set towards the parent country, began immediately to turn, and to flow with great rapidity in a contrary course. Far from concealing these wild
declarations of enmity, the author of the celebrated
pamphlet which prepared the minds of the people
for independence insists largely on'the multitude
and the spirit of these addresses; and he draws an
argument from them, which, if the fact were as he
supposes, must be irresistible. For I never knew a
writer on the theory of government so partial to
authority as not to allow that the hostile mind of the
rulers to their people did fully justify a change of
government; nor can any reason whatever be given
why one people should voluntarily yield any degree
of preeminence to another but on a supposition of
? ? ? ? 212 LETTER TO'THE SHERIFFS OF BRISTOL.
great affection and benevolence towards them. Un.
fortunately, your rulers, trusting to other things, took
no notice of this great principle of connection. From
the beginning of this affair, theyf have done all they
could to alienate your minds from your own kindred; and if they could excite hatred enough in one
of the parties towards the other, they seemed to be,
of opinion that they had gone half the way towards
reconciling the quarrel.
I know it is said, that your kindness is only alienated on account of their resistance, and therefore, if the colonies surrender at discretion, all sort of regard,
and even much indulgence, is meant towards them
in future. But can those who, are partisans for
continuing a war to enforce such a surrender be
responsible (after all that has passed) for such a
future use of a power that is bound by no-. compacts
and restrained by no terror? Will they tell us what
they call indulgences? Do they not at this instant
call the. present war -and all its horrors a lenient
and merciful proceeding?
No conqueror that I ever heard of has professed
to make a cruel, harsh,,and insolent use of his conquest. No! The man of the most declared pride scarcely dares to trust his own heart with this dreadful secret of ambition. But it will appear in its
time; and no man who professes to reduce another
to the insolent mercy of a foreign arm ever had any
sort? of good-will towards him. The profession of
kindness, with that sword in his hand, and that demand of surrender, is one of the most provoking acts of his hostility. I shall be told thatall this is lenient
as against rebellious adversaries. But are the leaders
of their faction more lenient to those who submit?
? ? ? ? LETTER TO THE SHERIFFS OF BRISTOL, 213. Lord Howe and General Howe have powers, under an act of Parliament, to restore to the king's peace
and to free trade ally men or district which shall
submit. ' Is this done?
