The Connecticut courant, and the weekly intelligencer — Hartford [Conn.], 1780-08-22 00:00:00, page 1

From a British Publication.
The SCOURGE;
Number IL
SATURDAY; February 5, 1780.
Busy in b'lood, and eager to destroy,
He crirfes ^f the b!eningr w e enjoy ;
Our dearest rights be studies to pull down;
And daily murders deify his crown.
T 0 t h & y IL I N G,
IK NOW no refped that is due to any
man, although he is called king, when
he keeps no terms with the people who
made him so.—The injustice; the cruelty;
and the oppressions of your reign exceed
any" filing 'in the annals of this country^
Like Charles the First and james the Secord
you have been deaf to the just remonstran
ces of an injured people, and perhaps, Si%
they may soon convince you of your error,
as well as of your ingratitude ; nay, they
may return the complement, arid treat you
with as much contempt as you have them ;
we have seen inlances, and they are easily
produced, where the moil arbitrary tyrants,
with all their fancied greatness, have been
pulled down, even when they thought them
selves most fe.cu r e from danger, amidst a
flattering crowd cf their creatures and de
pendants.
Let me tell you, Sir, by your wrongs,
by your mismanagement, by! four obsti
nacy, and through the villainy of your
ministers, the fpiric of the people is roofed
throughout every part of the kingdom ;
and though it is possible the folly of some,
the blind fury of others, and the attach
ment of many, may support your cause
for a time, yet should such an event take
place, which heaven forbid, it must prove
fatal to you, far when the people are
once drove to a state of def^pration and re
venge, it will not be easy to fop their
rage, and you may, nay you will be looked
upon as the principal author of their mi
series, and you may possibly fall in the ge
nera! facrifice.
You will be pleased to remember, Sir,
that fclf- preservation is an inherent prin
ciple ; it was so intended by the author
of our being; it is the firft and fundamen
tal law of nature; and the people now fee
the necessity of forming together in one
firm band in order to preserve themfelyes
from those chains you have been forging
for them ; they are determined to throw
off the infamous yoke of bondage. In
less than one year their will be a final end
to your reign of despotism, cruelty, and
bloodshed/ The virtue and the spirit of
the people, joined with an honest parlia
ment, will alter all your plans of ambition,
desolation, and daughter; they may, ng
it is their duty to call,ex, as well as your
TU ES DA Y, AuGusT 22, 1780. THE NUMBER 813.
C ONNECTICUT COUIA N T,
AND THR
W EEKLY INT ELLI 6 E N CEi. .
HARTFO RD: PRINTED BY HUDSON AKb GOODWIN, wear the Great-Bridge.
ministers, to 4 ftri& account, for that
wanton, scandalous, and criminal waste of
the people's money, andtheir blood; they
may feeitaduty equally incumbent on them
to reduce the. enormity of your civil lift,
and to take off, at this time ofdiftrefs and
ruin, more thdn the one hundred thousand
per artnum, which the present most infa
mfafly corrupt and traiteroris parliament
laid on the Moulders of the people, and
which could be designed for no other pur
pose in your hands, than to sap the foun
dations of public virtue, and to destroy,
as far as it might be in your power,' the
filial! remains of honour arid integrity;
which could be found in the Houle of
Commons.
I well know, Sir, that treating places,
and bribing the members of parliament, id
order to procure a majority in the British
senate, was a part of the original plan of
government laid down by tnoie arch trai
tors, Bute and Mansfejd ; they told you,
that unless you did that, rhe crown of
England would never be fafe on your head;
that there was no other p'offible way ofgo
verriirig the people bf this country 'wUh
dry degree of satisfaction, but by having
the house of commons at the devotion of
the crown, arid by that means you might
rei^n rath a more arbitrary sway than any
the°mol despotic princein Europe, because
it would beaccording to law, and under all
the fin diori and forms of the Britifli consti
tution ; nay, that by adhearing to the ad
vice of such a parliament you might op
press, endave, and rob the people of their
last (hilling,almoft without a murmur, and
they would still think ttiemfelves free and
unfetefed; notwith Grinding they were made
little better th.^n pack-horses and saves un
der the form of law, which is the worst of
all tyranny,
ft is possible, Sir, from the prefect spirit
roofed in the English nation, a few months
may convince you not only of the treason,
but the treachery of that advice, and you
may have cause to lament that you ever
followed it, with such persevering obsti
nacy to the almost entire ruin of the nati
on, and the lot's of many thousand lives,
which you and your advisers must answer
for it at the last day, when the Almighty
shall hold inquisition for their blood.
1 am sensible truth is grating to the ears
of kings, because they are so little accus
tomed to hear it, for few men have either
honesty or resolution enough to declare it,
and courtiers dare not, especially when it
does not flatter the ambition or vanity of
the prince. It feems^Sir, of no use to
complain to you of the inability, the villai
ny, and the wickedness of your ministers;
von appear quite callous to every lente of
justice and humanity ; the distresses of a
whole nation brought on by your weakness,
revenge; cruelty, and lust of po^er, cannot
pierce your adamantine hear: ; you are
determined to keep the fame men in pow
er, and to pursue the fame bloody measures,
which for years past has brought disgrace
and ruin on the nation, and may poflibly
end with the loss of the kingdom ; then
your bauble of a crown will lose its lu.tr,
and you will mow sincerely lament that
you had not cultivated and dulerved the
affeffidns of ri generous, brave, and tree
people, instead of following the advice of
a few intetefted knaves andlubtle traitors.
You have already lessened yourfelf in the
eyes of the whole world, the people delpife
ana detest you for the obftarity and ty
ranny of your difpofitibn ; and oe assured,
Sir, they have given up all hopes or tho'is
of meeting with any redress at your hands
for the accumulated injuries the, have fuf
ftred during the whole course ofa nineteen
years infamous and difgraceful reign, which
the present and future generations will be
bound, by every principle of honour and
justice, to execrate arid condemn, and
which will behanded down to our latest
posterity, by lorne faithful historian, in
characters of blood.
The people are noW determined to re
dress themfeives, the power is in their own
hands ; a power Which God and nature
gave them ; a power which you nor your
creatures cannot take from them ; a pow
er not received from kings, but such a
power as -may, if necessity should compel
the execution of it, make you, with all
your known obflinacy and boasted firm
nefs, and your favourites iremble. It is
a power, Sir, which no mercenary German
butchers however numerous will be ever
able to destroy. It is a power whicn has
shaken the thrones of imperial tyrants,
and laid them, even in the midst of their
fancied security, low in the dull ; ano no
thing but this power properl, exerted, at
this awful moment of impending ruin, can
save the people from the tyranny of you
and your minitters, nor prefetve the nation
from deftrudion.
You will no longer be troubled with
petitions and remonstrances from an injur
ed and eppreffed people, they will prev^c
your infilling them again when they quiet
ly afe redress ; no, Sir, they will demand,
as a right, what, if granted otberwife,
would have been accepted as a favour,
arid instead of the curses of the people
their prayers and buffings would have been
offered up to you.
Matters, Sir, are now come to 2 criss,
vou muff give up your minions and crea
tures to public justice, those mife flints
who have brought misery and ruin upon
the land, unless, like that won't of hypo
crites, ty rants, and traitors, Charles the Firff,
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