Dunlap's Pennsylvania packet , The general advertiser — Philadelphia, Pa., 1776-05-20 00:00:00, page 2

MGRE $ S, May 15, 1776.
TX THEREAS his Britannic Majesty, in conjunc-
VV tion with the Lords and Commons of Grhat-
Britain, has, by a late atl of Parliament, excluded
the inhabitants of these United Colonies from the
protection of his Crown: And whereas ho answer
whatever to the humble petitions of the Colonies for
redress of grievances, and reconciliation with Great-
Britain ha§ been or is likely to be given ; but the
whole force of that kingdom, aided by foreign merce
naries, is to be exerted for the destruction of the good
people of these Colonies: And whereas it appears ab
solutely irreoncileable to reason and good conscience,
for the people of these Colonies now to take the oaths
and affirmations necessary for the support of any go
vernment under the Crown df Great Britain; and it is
necessary that the exercise of every kind of authority
under the said Crown should be totally suppressed,
and all the powers of government exerted under the
authority of the people of the Colonies for the preser
vation of internal peace, virtue and good order, as
well as for the defence of their lives, liberties and
properties, against the hostile invasions and cruel de
predations of their enemies: Therefore
RESOLVE D, That it be recommended to the
refpedive Assemblies and Conventions of the United
Colonies, where no Government fufficient to the exi
gencies of their affairs has been hitherto ellablilhed, to
adopt such Government as shall, in the opinion of the
Representatives of the People, best conduce to the
happiness and fafety of their Conflituents in particular,
and America in general.
By order of Congreft,
JOHN HANCOCK, President.
To the worthy INHABITANTS of the Produce
, ^'PENNSYLVANIA.
Friends and Fellow Countrymen,
TH E formation of a free constitution is at length
recommended to you by the only body who has
the least right to direct you. To assist your delibera
tions in this momentous affair, I will beg leave to lay
before you the best digest I have been able to procure
es the ancient Anglo Saxon constitution, which in
the direct proportion that it has obtained in its true
fyirit has rendered man as happy as society can make
him.
" The motives for which mankind associate toge
ther," 'fays my author, “ being the protection of their
perlons and property from violence, it is a matter wor
thy of observation that they have often mistaken their
end and fallen into slavery and misery, by the very
means they have taken to preserve themselves. The
difficulty seems to be in placing their delegated powers
in such a manner that it may not be subj-d to abuse,
and counteract the end for which it was established.
" If the firft principle of government be erroneous,
nothing but error can proceed from it. And if the firft
principle of government be even founded upon truth,
yet such is the insatiable thirst for power in most men,
that they will facrifice even heaven and earth, to wrest
it from its foundation, to establish a power in themselves
to tyrannize over others. Thus what we call the ci
vilized state of man has long been reduced to a fat
more miserable condition than that of the savage.
" The free States of Greece were the firft in anci
ent history that had ary regard to the natural rights
of mankind. These founded their firft principles of
government upon truth, by placing the supreme power
of the State in laws made by the mutual consent of
the People; who also ele&ed officers to execute those
laws, for a limited time only. The Romans were the
next body of men that figured in the world upon this
principle: But ic is to the Saxons that the Englilh are
indebted for ,their constitution, or mode of government,
introduced into England about the year four hundred
aad fifty. And whoever confiders rhe principles upon
which the elective power of our constitution is cn
du&ed, will observe the vast superiority it has over
the States of Greece ar Rome ; where the elective
power was confi ed within the walls oftheir refpedive
capitals. Whatever, therefore, the natural Lve Ofli
berty among the Romans might be, or their desire of
promoting it, they seem to have had no conception of
any model of government where the elective power of
individuals could diffufe itfelf through the whole body
of a nation, containing some millions of men, living
perhaps a thousand miles distant from the feat of go
vernment, and yet be so conduced as to uniteinto one
point of action, parts so numerous and remote, and
form a legislative authority commodiously fit for adioa,
without anarchy or confufion ; in which every man
who had so far diftinguiffied himfeif as to become a
house-keeper, and as such liable to pay his (hot and
bear his lot, might give his consent to every law that
was made for his obedience.
" Whoever had the honor of being the inventors of
this mode of government, it is very evident, that the
natural rights of mankind were their ends, and truth
and justice their guides, in all their establishments.
They considered every man alike as he came out of
the hands of his maker, man as man simply and de
tached from any foreign advantages one might acci
dentally have over another. Such as riches, which
make the greatest outward difference; but riches with
them, constitutionally comfidcred, gave no power or
authority, or any right to power or authority over the
pocreft person in the State. Every man under that
institution was preserved in his natural and equal rights,
whether he were rich or poor.
“ Thus our Saxon forefathers have founded their
government upon the common rights of mankind. They
made the elective power of the people thefirft principle of
the constitution, and delegated that power to such men
as they had most reason to confide in. However they
were cautiously curious in this refpe&, knowing well
the degenerating principles of mankind ; that power
makes a vast difference in the temper and behaviour of
men, and often converts a good man in private life in
to a tyrant in office. For this reason, they never
gave up their natural liberty, or delegated their power
of making laws, to any man for a longer time than one
year.
" The object upon which their elective power aCted
was remarkably different flora that of the Romans.
Theirs was directed to operate in the election of their
chief officers, and particularly the Consuls; or those
who were veiled with the executive authority, whom
they changed annually. But the Senate where the
principal power ofthe State was lodged Was a more fixed
body of men ; and not fubjelft to the elective power of
the people.
" Our Saxon forefathers almost reversed this princi
ple ; for they made their Wittena-gemot * or Parlia
ment, annually changeable, and entirely fubjeCt to the
elective power ofthe people; and gave a more fixed
state to the executive authority. This last thoy con
fined within a certain sphere of action prescribed by
law ; so that it could not operate to the injury of any
individual, either in his person or property ; and was
controlable in all ads of state by the elective power,
wh ch the people veiled annually in their Wittena-gemot
or Parliament.
" It is reported by our historians, that our Saxon
ancestors had no Kings in their own country ; but liv
ed in tribes or small communities, governed by laws of
their own making and magistrates of their own electing;
aid farther, that a number of these communities,
were united together for their mutual protection and
defence.
" Arrived in Britain, and having Conquered a part
of the country, they firft divided the land into small
parts, and that ditided rhe inhabitants upon that land,
and made them a dirtied and separate people from any
other. This division they called a tithing, with us a
townfllip. Here they eftabhfhed a government, the
i ternal police of which was so excellent in its nature
that it hath had the encomiums of most authors ofeur
history; who observe that in the reign of Alfred it was
in so great perfection, that if a golden bracelet had
been exposed on the high road, no man darft have
touched it.
" Th» principal officer of the tithing was vested
with rhe executive authority of the tithing. They had
hkewife a legiflariv® authority in every tithing ; which
made laws and regulations for the good government of
the tithing. Bolides these they had a court of law,
whose jurifdidion was confined within the fame limits :
All which were created by the elective power of the
people who were reflect inhabitants of the titling ;
and the right of election was placed in every man that
paid his foot and bore his lot. From hence we may ea
sily perceive that under the eftablFhment of these tith
i,gs, by reason of their fmallnels. the natural rights
of mankind might verv well be preferred in their fulleft
extent as they could delegate their power by election,
without any confufion or inconvenience to the inhabi
tants."
From this view of the gradual progression ofthe Saxon
Government, from the (mailed combinations of meer
neighbourhoods to the most extensive Commonwealth
of United Colonies they ever pofTefTed, they conceived
the power of all civil government as derived only from
the voluntary delegations of thd ^hole People. And
undoubtedly in the present diffolutton of the civil go
vernment of this province, this unspeakably important
power reverts to its firft origin the People; that is to
every individual inhabitant of this colony whb has a will
and underfunding of his own capable to manage his af
fairs. It is from the c inventions of convenient numbers
of such freemen, who have fettled habitations of their
own, that the firft delegation of civil power can be had;
and a reafocable and enlightened people will take as
much care as possible, that their deputies be as well
proportioned to their relative numbers as may be : Per
haps about one deputy to every hundred families. This
firft Convention will come provided with their several
lifts of the number of taxable houfcholders; and as
nearly as they can afeertain the extent of country
held by each diftriCt of their refpedive constituents;
that a proper estimate may be formed of how many
and how large diftrids, or townships corporate, the
whole colony should be divided into, and what pro
portion of Representatives each township should fend.
By this means a perfectly equal and adequate Repre
fenration could be obtained, and the ancient fafutary
mode of establishing these primitive corporate bodies in
troduced into this new world, to the great improve
ment of the People in their knowledge es their rights
and liberties, and the best means of securing them.
ITo be continued.]
* Mating of wife men.
LETTER IV.
WHOEVER will take the trouble of attending,
to the progress and changeability of times and
things, and the conduct of mankind thereon, will find,
that extraordinary circumfances do sometimes arise be
fore us; of a species, either so purely natural or so per
feflly original, that none but the man es nature can un
derhand them. When precedents fail to athft us, we
molt return to the firft principles of things for infor
mation; and think, as if we were the firft men that
thought. And this is the true reason, that in the pre
sent state of affairs, the wife are become foelifh, and
the foolifh wile. lam led to this reflexion by not being
aide to account for the condud of the Quakers on any
other: For although they do not seem to perceive it
themselves, yet, it is amazing to hear with what unan
swerable ignorance many of that body, wife in other
matters, will difeourfe on the present one. Did they
hold places or commissions under the King, were they
Governors of provinces, or had they any i^tereft appa
rently diftina from us, the mystery would cease; but
as they have not, their folly is best attributed, to that
lupeiabundance of worldly knowledge, which in original
matters is too cunning to be wife. Back to the firft
plain path of nature, friends, and begin anew, for in
this business your firft footiteps were wrong. You have
now travelled to the summit of inconsistency, and that,
with such accelerated rapidity as to acquire autumnal
ripeness by the firft of May. Now your rotting time
comes on. You have dorte your utmoftand must abide
the consequences. Yet who can reflea on such conduct
without concern ! Who can look, unaffected, on a body
of thoughtful men, undoing in one rafo hour the labour
of seventy years: Or what can be said in their excuse,
more than that they have arrived at their fecund child
hood, the infancy of threescore and ten *.
But my chief design, in this letter, is to set forth the
inconsistency, partiality, and injustice of the dependant
faßion, and like an honest man, who courts no favour,
to (hew to them the dangerous ground they stand upon ;
in order to do which I must refer to the bufinejs,. event;
and probable confluences of the late election.
The business of that day was, to do what? Why, to
eleft four Burgesses to assist those already elected, in
conducing the military proceedings of this province,
against the power of that Crown by whose authority they
pretend to fit: And those Gentlemen, when elected,
are according to the rules cf that House (as the rest
have done) to take an oath of allegiance to serve the
fame King against whom this province, with themselves
at the head thereof, are at war: And a necessary qua
lification required of many voters was, that they like
wise should swear allegiance to the fame King against
whose power the fame House of Afßmbly had just be
fore obliged them, either to fine or take up arms. Did
ever national hypocrisy arise to such a pitch as this !
Under the pretence of moderation we are running into
the most damnable fins. It is now the duty of every
man from the pulpit and from the press, in his family
and in the street to cry out against it. Good God!
Have we no remembrance of duty left to the King of
Heaven ! No conscientious awe to restrain this facrifice
of lacred things? Is this our chartered privilege? This
our boasted Constitution, that we can fi. and feel it not?
The Clergy of the English Church, of which I profefs
myfelf a member, complain of their situation, and wish
relief; in short, every thinking man must feel distress.—
Yet, to the credit of the people be it spoken, the fin
lies not at their door. We can trace the iniquity in
this province to the fountain head, and fee by what de
lusion it has imposed on others. The guilt centers 'io
a few, and flows from the fame source, that a few years
ago avariciously fuffered the frontiers of this province
to be deluged in blood, and though the vengeance 01
Heaven hath slept since, it may awake too Gon for
their repose.
A motion was some time ago made to cleft a Con
vention to take into consideration the state of the pro
vince, a more judicious proposal cculd not be thought
of. Our present condition is alarming. We are worse
off than other provinces—and such an enquiry is highly
necessary. The House of Assembly in its present form
is difqualified for such business, because it is a branch
from that power against whom we are contending. Be
sides, they are in intercourse with the King's Kepre
fentative, and the members which c^mpofe the House
have, as member's thereof, taken an oath to discover te
the King of England the very business which in that
enquiry would unavoidably come before them. Their
minds too are warped and prejudiced by the^rCyincial
inftru&ions they have arbitrarily and without right ilTu^
forth. They are again improper, because the enquiry
would necessarily extend to them as a body, to fee how
far it is proper to trust men with such unlimited pouer
as they have lately assumed. In times Ike these, we.
* The Quakers in 1704, who then made up the wrote
House of ^fembly, zealously guarded their own and the
People's rights against the encroaching power of the Pro
prietor, who nevertheless outwitted them by finding means
to abolijh the original Charter and introduce another, es
which they complained in the following words. " rind
" then by a subtle contrivance and artifice " of thine,'" laid
" deeper than the capacities of Jerne could fatbem, or the
“ circumflances of many could admit time then to confide?
" of, a way was found out, to lay the firft Charter a fide
" and introduce another." —Q^ery, Would these men hrt„
elefied the proprietary perfom which yes have done ?