The American herald of liberty — Exeter, N.H., 1793-10-08 00:00:00, page 1

ADD R ESS
TO Thß
BRITISH NATION,
FROM THB
LONDON CORRESPONDING SOCIETY,
’ Held on Monday, the Btb of July 1793.
Friestds and Pillow Countrymen,
G. .. ~. H >■-
LOOMY as is the profpeft
( now before us, and uhpleafing as is
/ the talk to bring forth into open
;^day the calamitous situation of our
Country : We conceive it necessary
to direst the public eye, to the cause
of our misfortunes, and to awaken
the Seeping reason of our Country
men, to the pursuit of the only re
medy, which cih ever prove effectu
al, namely -A thorough Ref erm in
parliament, by the adoption of an equal
Representation obtained by Annual' E
le Elions and Universal Suffrage.— We
do not address you in the confidence
of personal importance.—We do not
presume upon the splendor of exalted
situation ; but as Members of the
fame Society, as Individuals, zealous
ly labouring for the welfare of the
Community ; we think ourselves en
titled to a fbare of your attention.
* At a time when many of the now
accumulated Evils, although not un
fdreleen, were yet at a distance, the
London Corresponding Society united,
and called upon their Fellow Citi
zens to jpin with them in reclaiming
a Right jftolen by Treachery, and
with held by Oppreflion. Ignorance,
the most strenuous fdppqrter of Def
^tifm, we laboured to destroy ; the
Rights of the People to an equal Re
presentation we publicly supported,&
proved the reftorarion ofthole Rights,
to be the only permanent remedy to
.the then, cxifting grievances !—
Grievances which for want*' of that
remedy, have jin the Abort space of
eighteen .months been encre^U: ten
fold on this credulous, (uptne, and
unfoipe^ting Mation, * <
Success attended the endeavours of
our Society ; but a success noways
‘adequate to the importance of our
icaufe! Deep rqpte^.prejudices'adopt
cd by ignora nee, cherUhed by inte
’reft, and confirmed by apathy, .very
much - impeded the . progress that
^plight have been made upon the un
^erftanding of £ nation, which boajfts
itfelf to be the malt enlightened in
-Europe. ' Experience has, however,
proved; that tfie ; public mind . is too
generally eneiMed by luxury, or
<bprne dawrt by, misery and uOppref
^on.
’’ Here if fs proper to remind you of
snd calumnious aspersions,
: which havebeeofo industriously cir
culated since November hft: Ac that
general consternation, when the cry
pf, danger jo wa? r?i
fed and extensively propagated; when
,the alarm of. rion and infurreEfans,
'jyas founded Ijy royal proclamations
land, re^pocd' by parifb aflbeiations;
»reform was branded by the name of
innovation, and whoever to affirm,
* that the house of commons ought co
‘W reftor^dXp that fhte of indepen
dence in which it was. fettled at the re
volution ; and that unneceflary places
pensions pug|it to be abolipicd,
was fligmatized as a leveller and ene.
have in parliament acknowledged,
that thofereports of rids and tnjm rec-
EXETER (New-Hampshire) Printed and Published by Henry Ranlet, in Main-Street, at fix Jhillings and eight pence per annum.
Volume VIII,]
The American Herald of Liberty.
tioni were groundless ; but that ac
knowledgement though evincing the
criminality of those trumped falfe
hoods has not Icflened their tffc&s on
this deluded nation.
Yet no ways difeouraged by these
alarms, by the fulfome effufions of
what was falfely called loyalty,* nor
by that torrent of prejudice which
for a while set reason and recolle&ion
equally at defiance, we pursued with
firmnefs the course prescribed by the
conftitytion, for obtaining^ ifedrefs of
grievances, and disregarding the vi
sionary alarms of fedhicn, our consti
tutional rights proved our Shield a
gainst the most dangerous combina
tion of interest and prejudice that ev
er threatened the Liberties cf a free
country.
Our petition to parliament received
—read—and ordered to lay on the ta
ble—the principle contained therein :
“ That no man ffiall be taxed,but by
“ the confcnt of himklf, or his Rep
“ refentative freely cholen by himfclf,”
neither was. nor could be denied to.
be a principle of our conflitution ;
but its effects could at that time be
evaded by those whose inrereft it was
to perpetuate abuses at the expense
of the public.
The protraction of reform, howev
er, has not been the only evil which
has arisen from the credit so raffily
given to reports of riots and infur w
regions. To that credulity, and to
the want of circumlpedion, naturally
attendant on the fears so artfully rai
led, we may justly attribute the pre
sent ruinous and difgraceful war—o
- the aggrandizement of
Russia, and disregarding the cruel
dismemberment of Poland ; under
the flimfy excuse of assisting those
who apparently did not care to fight
for themselves, our allies the Dutch ;
the national honour has been staked ;
the mihifter has been armed with new
and unexampled powers, and the
troops of Britain, have beeh sent to
cowoperute with the moftdeteftable of
defpbts.
Brjtifh gold, now subsidizes armies
of Continental Slaves, and the blood
of half Europe is pledged for the de
ftruAibn of France ! supplies of eve
ry kin,d are sent from hence I Com
merce is nearly (topped ! Failures in
numerable take place 1 Manufacture
, ers are ruined ! Artizans are starving!
» Provisions rife in price I the revenue
' decreases, and frefh taxes are want
• ing, forfreffi supplies of blodd ! the
libertisS.qf our country are invaded!
’ the feamah is forcibly corn from bis fa
, mily ! the peasant is kidnapped from
the plough 1 and the starving labourer
: is compelled to fell his life and his li
’ berty for bread.—ls luch, O much
oppressed Britons 1 are the effects Os
1 a four months war, what are you co
। expert when it shall .haye lasted as
; many years ? .
, Still farther to encreafedur private
’ . calamities, and to augment our na
। . ponal disgrace ; we have seen offers of
peace spurned with contempt,and the
breach between the two countries wi-
J dened by the rejedion pf reconcilia
♦ Loyalty, it derived frvm the eld French
1 werd hoyehte, andJlri&iy' lignifies en attach
ment io the lawe j but by the fraudulent frabti
eet of courtiers, exercised with too much [acctft
• tm vulgar ignorance} the itrm it often perverted
to ftgnify, an attachment to Kings, and their
। midfurts t even vjbeh evidently in eppofitien to
law, andt he cok(1 tint ion ofthe country,
TUESDAY, Oftober 8, 1793,
tion J thus are we doomed to a con
tinuance of national misery, and to
an addition of national dishonor, from
a war commenced with injustice,
proiecuted with inquisitorial obstina
cy, and likely to end in eternal infa
my.
To palliate the injustice of the
war, France is reproached with an
archy ; while defpbts and their mi
pifters, boast their diabolical (kill in
promoting it. To soothe the public
grievances, the agents of corruption
have ever since the commencement of
war, predicted*that the diftradted state
of France, must in a few weeks put
a period to it. Predidions so repeat
edly falfified must be attributed eith
er to fraud or folly.
Confcicus ar we are, that the tra
ding and commercial interests of this
country, are neither fatisfied of the
war, nor duped by ark^^e•^u , j• ,
five profped of success, we cannot at
tribute the little resistance which has
hitherto been made to it, to any
thing else than the depraved state of
the representation, for had they that
weight in Parliament, which the spi
rit of the constitution evidently inten
ded, and which was confirmed by the
revolution in i68"8. We doubt not
their open declarations against a war,
so hofiile to their interests, and to the
cause of humanity, would ere now
have refuted the fiditious idea of its
being popular, neccflary, or just.
To obtain a complete reprelenta
tion is our only aim—contemning all
party diftindions, we seek no advan
tage which every individual of the
community will not enjoy equally
with ourftlves —We are not engaged
in fpeculativeand theoretical schemes;
the motive of our present condud is
the adual sense of injury and oppres
sion : We feel the weight of innume
rable abuses, to which the invasion of
our rights has given birth, and which
their restoration can alone remove.
But sensible that our efforts, if not
seconded by the nation at large, must
prove ineffedual, and only needlessly
expose us to the malevolence of the
public plunderers ; we conjure you,
by the love you bear your country,
by your attachment to freedom, and
by your anxious care for the welfare
of your posterity, to fuffer yorfelves
no longer to be deluded by artful
speeches, and by interested men ; but
to fahdion with your approbation,
our constitutional endeavors,andpur
fue with union and firmnefs the trai k
we have pointed out: Thus counte
nanced by our country, we pledge
ourselves, as you will perceive by the
following resolutions, never to recede
or slacken, but on every occasion to
redouble our zealous exertions, in the
cause of confticutional freedom.
RESOLVED UNAVIIMOVSLr,
i. That nothing but a fair, ade
quate and annually renovated repre
sentation in Parliament, can enlure
the freedom of this country.
That we are fully convinced, a
thorough parliamentary reform,would
remove every grievance under which
we labour. * '
3. That we will never give up the
pursuit of such parliamentary re
. torm.
' 4. That^if it be a part of the pow
' er of the king to declare war when
and against whom he pleases, we arc
convinced that such power must have
been-granred to him under the con
dition, that it fliould ever be subservi
ent to the national advantage.
5^ That the present war a^inft
France, and the existing alliance
with the Germanic Powers, so far as
it relates to the prosecution of that
war, was hitherto produced, and is
likely to produce nothing but nation
al calamity, if not utter ruin.
6. That it appears to us that the
wars in which Great Britain has en*
gaged within the last hundred yea’S,
have cost her upwards of Three Hund*
red and Seventy Millions ! not to men
tion the paivate misery occasioned
thereby or the lives facrifictd; there
fore it is a dreadful situation for the
people of this country to look into ;
That the cabinet have engaged in a
treaty with a foreign prince, to be
supplied with troops, for a long pe
liod of years, and for a pur pole un
known to the people of England.
7. That we art-persuaded the ma
jority, if not the whole of those wars,
originated in Cabinet intrigue, rather
than in absolute neceflity.
8. That every nation has an una
lienable right to choole the mode in
which it will be governed, and that
it is an atft of tyranny and oppreflion
in any other nation to interfere with,
or attempt to control their choice.
9. That peace being the greattft of
blcffings, ought to be fought most
dilbgently by every wife government,
joyfully accepted when rerfonably
proffered, and to be concluded most
speedily when the object of the war
is accompl shed.
10. That we do exhort every well
wifher to his country, not to delay
in improving himfeifin confticutional
knowledge.
11. That those men who were the
’ firft to be le zed with a panic, ffiould
be the last whom prudence would
entrust with the management of a
war.
12. That Great Britain is not Ha
nover ’
13. That regarding union as in
difpenfablv nectffary to ensure success
we will endeavour to the utmost pf
cur power, to unite more cloifely with
; every political lociety in the nation,
associated upon the fame principles
| with ourselves
14 That the next general’ meet
ing of this society, be held on the fir fl:
i Monday after the meeting of Padia-.
; ment, unless the Committee.of Defe
. gates shall find k neteffary to call such
: a meeting looner.
. -15. That the foregoing . Address
• and Kefolutwns be signed by the
► Chairman and by the Secretary, and
• r hat 7 memy Tboufand Copies of them
be printed, pubhihed and distributed
[grads ] "A
M aur IceMa rg a rot. Chairman.
■■ * ■■ ■■ y
. Thomas Hardy, Secretary.
Monday, : July 8, l/9Jv >
, Crown and Anchor Ta> ern >
Strand. J
J Englifli Grammar,
2nd
. Mr THURSTQN’s
Two Sermons, on the
Natural Man not receiving the things
~ ' of the Spirit of God, and his inca^
B parity to know tbemf^c.
To be told at H. Ran lbt’# Priming-Office*
a. > *■ I'
[Numb. 14