The Pennsylvania gazette — Philadelphia, Pa., 1776-03-27 00:00:00, page 1

To THE PEOPLE of Pennsylvania.
LETTER IV.
ALAS POOR CATO!
Tq,HA T a bu%% bast thou raised about thine ears ? How
canst thou proceed in th, lucubrations ? If the follow
ing Soliloquy can yield thee an, confelation, thou art
welcome to place it either in front or rear of th, next letter.
Thou wilt perceive thyfelf more indebted for it to William
Shakespeare, than to Thy Friend and Reader,
HA ML E T.
.To write, or not to write; that is the question—
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind tp bear
Th' unlicensed wrongs of furious party-zeal,
Or dip the pen into a nest of hornets,
And still, by teazing, wake them ? To write, to anfwer —
No more ? And by a single answer end
The thousand scorns and heart-aches which an author
Is born to fuffer —'Tis a consummation
Devoutly to be wifh'd ! To write, to answer,
Reply, perchance rejoin—aye, there's the rub !
For in replies, and answers, and rejoinders,
Who knows what deadly broils and feuds may come,
When we have fhuffled off this mortal zest
Of mutual forbearance. There's the curse
That makes calamity of word, war.
For who would bear the fcoffing of the times,
The Tory's hated name, the Tool of Power,
The contumely of the pension'd Slave,
When he himfelf might his quietus make
With a dr, quill ? Who would endure this Pain*,
This foul difeharge of wrath from Adam's sons
Marfhall'd in dread array, both old and Young,
Their pop-guns here, and there their heavy Cannon,
Our labor'd pages deem'd not worth a Rush
But that the dread of something worse to come,
Some undifcover'd mifclucf. puzzles thought,
-And makes one rather court the ancient path
Than fly to others that we know not of!
-And thus the native hue of resolution
Is lickhed o'er with the pale cast of fear,
And enterprizes of great pith and moment
With this regard, their currents turn awry,
rf^ HE foregoing Soliloquy, my dear countrymen, was
1 really put into my hands by a friend, and I have be
llowed some serious thoughts upon its contents. But I
had before resolved upon my part. The authors, or if I
muff fay author, of what is called Lummox Safe has cer
tainly had fair play. Full time has been allowed him, by
the sale of his pamphlet, to reap the fruits of his labours,
and gratify that avidity with which many are apt to de
vour doctrine's that are out of the common way—bold,
marvellous and Battering. What was intended as a com
pliment to the public—to give them time to gaze with
their own eyes, and reason with their own faculties, upon
this extraordinary appearance —the author's vanity has
construed wholly in his own favour. He has called re
peatedly f>r answers, and announced his second edition
to the world in the following strain of felf-adulation,
“ That as no answer hath yet appeared it is now pre
sumed that none will," and therefore, as may be fairly
implied, that he is unanswerable. Why then, when his
challenge is accepted, will not he and his seconds fight
upon fair terms? Why will they seek to draw the atten
tion of the public from things to men, refuting that quar
ter to others which the author of Common Sense craves
for himfelf? “ Who the author of this publication is (fays
he) is wholly unnecessary to the public, as the objeCt of
attention is the dodrine itfelf, not the man!" Can this sen
tence be reconciled to all the pother made about Cato,
who and what he is; or does it not rather betray some
symptoms of fear and cowardice, to beset him at the
threshold, and seek to flop him 111 his march to the field?
What, although he attempts to walk forth humbly with
his ftaff in his hand, and has been somewhat late in filling
his scrip with hones to meet this Goliah; should he
therefore be tauntingly defied? If what is called Common
Sense be really Common Sense, it is invulnerable, and every
attack upon it will but add to the author's triumph. If
it should be proved, in any instances, to be Non-Sense,
millions will be interested in the difeovery; and to them I
The Pennsylvania
appeal.
Once more I repeat the design of these letters, in which
I conceive a question to be involved of the greatest im
portance that ever came before us —a question not yet
decided, and, which ought therefore to be fully difeufled.
Opprobrious names can prove nothing here, except that
they who use them have nothing better to fay, and are
afraid of their cause. It is probable that some may fee their
intefeft upon one fide the question, and some upon the
other ; but that the great body of the people can have any
interest separate from their country, or (when fairly un
derstood) pursue any other, is not to be imagined. If
Cato may be believed, he can c®nfciencioully class him
felf with this great body, and can assure his readers that
the guesses hitherto made concerning him are rather un
lucky.
Great pains have been taken to engage him in a contest
with our Committee, but as nothing has been quoted
from him which concerns that body in general, he leaves
his letters to answer for themfelvcs; aha if his comments
on the circular letter to the County Committees should
appear to the public not to be well warranted, he will
submit to their judgment. But he finds it w mid be end
kfs to answer all the filly queries, and daily fcribbie, of
his opponents; and has learned better than to be drawn
from his main objeCt by indulging them in this way. It
would be too great a trespass upon the reader's patience.
He has viewed the ground 011 which he Bands, and is not
afraid to tread it in the fight of the molt vigilant Son of
* Some writers^ in imitation of our anchors, ,et spell
this word Payne.
Containing the Frefoefl Id-
March 27, 1776.
In my remarks upon the pamphlet before me, I Shall
firft confider those arguments on which the author appears
to lay his chief stress ; and these are collected under four
heads, in his conclusion.
“ It is the custom of nations, when any two are at war,
" for some other powers not engaged in the quarrel, to
"Step in as mediators, and bring about the preliminaries
“ of Peace. But while America calls herfe/f a fubjeCt of
" Great-Britain, no power, however well disposed the
“ may be, can offer her mediation."
Is this Common Sense, or common Nonsense? Surely,
peace with Great-Britain cannot be the object of this
writer, after the horrible character be has given us of the
people of that country, and telling us that reconciliation
with them would be our ruin. The latter part of the pa
ragraph seems to cast some light upon the former, altho'
it contradicts it; for these mediators are not to interfere
for making up the quarrel, but to 4 jideo it, by Support
ing us in a declaration, that we are not fubjeEs of Great-
Britain; a new fort of bulinefs, truly, for mediators !
But this leads us directly to the main enquiry—what
foreign powers are able to give us this support? Whether
they can be persuaded to engage with us? What will be
their terms ? Is an alliance with them fafe; or is it to be
preferred to an honourable and firm renewal of that an
cient connexion, under which we have so long flourifhed?
These questions cannot but employ the most serious
thoughts of men whose all is at flake, in the resolution of
them ; and they ought to be anfivered to the general fa
tisfadtion, before we are launched out into a tempestuous
ocean, of which we know not the other shore. That a
continuance of mutual violence and hate may at last force
us upon such an ocean is not altogether improbable ; and
it is possible that we may gain some port of fafety, altho'
in a shattered condition. Not a word shall be drawn from
me to diferedit our own strength or resources, although
the accounts given of them, by the author of Common
Sense, appear incredible to some, I will even go beyond
himin expressing my good opinion of our situation. He
thinks foreign assistance necessary to us. I think we
should but be injured by it. We are able to defend our
own rights, and to fruftrate the attempt of any nation
upon earth to govern us by force—For my part I woutd
rifque my all in relifting every attempt of this kind at
Liberty; making that free use of the Press which is pro
mised to him, without the leak violation of any resolve
of th ; s continent, hitherto made.
One fide of a great question has been held up to us.
We are told that it can never be our interest to have any
future connexion with Great-Britain, and are pressed
immediately to declare our total separation, for now is the
time — and the time has 'found us. Could it be expected
that all America would iraftantly take a leap in the dark,
or that any who had not a predilection for the doCtrine,
or were capable of reasoning upon it, would swallow it
in the gross, without wishing to hear the arguments on
the other fide? I am sure this is the wish of multitudes of
good men, particularly of those who may be principally
concerned in deciding the question; and whose earnest
delire it is not only to know the sense of individuals, but
the clear sense of their country upon it; without which
they could not think themselves at liberty to give their
decision.
Upon this ground, then, I proceed, and Shall rest the
cause with my adversaries on the prefect general defence,
which (although I am sorry it was n^ceffary) I have rea
son to think, will be more acceptable to the public, than
the mifpending time in private altercation. Those who
oppose me, may enjoy for a while (perhaps unnoticed)
all the triumph of the answers they may give; and if it
is found at last, as has been already hinted, that I have
said nothing to the purpose, their fide ®f the question
will only be Strengthened.
every hazard.
But let us fee what assistance he offers us; and we find
France and Spain held out for that purpose, although not
as mediators, to “ strengthen the connexion between
Great-Britain and America," but wholly to dissolve it.
As to Spain, it is well known that the government of
her own unwieldy Colonics is already a weight which she
can hardly bear; and some profound politicians have
thought that, from the firft, foe has rather been weaken
ed than strengthened by them ; and that all her returns of
gold and lilver from America are but a poor compensation
for the lives and cost with which they are purchased. It
may well be questioned then, supposing Spain were able
to assist us in ereCting an Independent Empire in America,
whether her jealousy would permit her to rifque the pos
sibility of our seducing her own American fubjeCts into an
alliance With us, for the purpose ofa future revolt from
herfclf. But our author mentions France as well as Spain,
^d thus proposes that both branches of the Bourbon Fa
"mil,, so long the terror of Protefiants and Freemen, should
now join as their protestors ! By what means, or at what
price, is this marvellous revolution in the system of politics,
religion and liberty, to be accomplished? How are these
two powers to divide these Colonies between them? Is
their gmirdianfhip to be joint or separate? Under whose
wing is Pcrmfylvania to fall —that of the most Catholic or
most Chriflian King?•
I confcfs.that those questions stagger me ; and till an
swered to fatisfaCtion, cannot but give every good man
the most painful apprehensions concerning the future fate
of h s country. To be told, by the author of Common
Safe, that all this is mere prejudice; that we must divest
tor(gives of every opinion in which we have been educat
ed, hi order to digest his pure doCtrine ; and throw down
what our fathers and we have been building up for ages,
to make room for his mifonar, fabric —I fay to be told
this, is only iufult instead of argument ; and can be to
lerated by none but thbfe who are so far inflamed or in
terested, that separation from Great-Britain at any rifque
^c^ era^r «M\;
IF • II
I' > 4
G^ZETT E.
Vices, Foreign and Domeflic.
is their choice, rather than reconciliation, upon what
ever terries.
1 bis, I much fear, is the temper of those who are
constantly dinning in our ears the necessity of an imme
diate declaration of independence, for the fake of procur
ing foreign assistance, especially that of France. Their
real desire is to fhtit the door against all future reconcilia
tion by this precipitate step.—The matter of foreign af
tutance is a mere decoy. Can we imagine that if France
thought it her interest to quarrel with Great-Britain for
any benefits to be derived from us, her delicacy would'
stand in her way ? Was flie ever reftridted by such delica
cacy in any of the former civil wars of her neighbours,
especially those of Great-Britain ? But the truth is that,
in the present ruinous state of her finances, and feeble
condition of her fleets, she will scarce think it prudent,
for any profpefts we can yield her, to rush into a new
and expensive war, when so ill recruited after the blood
and treasure which she lavished so ineffectually in the last.
Would it be wife, then, to risk a refufal from her, or
to mix our affairs with those of any foreign power what
ever in this contest with Great-Britain? No; I conceive
this would only protract our wars, encreafe our dangers,
weaken otir force, and probably end in our ruin. And of
all nations in the world, France is the last from which we
should feck assistance, even if it were neceffary^ What
kind of assistance do we expert from her? gold and silver
she can but ill afford to give us. Her men we have no
occasion for; and, in a word, until she has a fleet able to
contend with that of England, she can do us no eflcnti.il
fervrce. The want of such a fleet has been the great bar
to her numerous projects for universal empire. Can any
protestant, f an you my countrymen, ever wish to fee her
pofleffed of such a fleet, assist her in attaining it, or will
in^y give her footing in America ? Would've then be
contented to be the humble ally of these colonies; or
would she not, in her own right, resume Canada, which,
according to the limits she formerly claimed, is larger
than all our provinces together? Could we hinder her
from introducing what multitudes of her people she
might think proper into that country where they have al
ready a great body of their friends to receive them ? In
that case we should soon be left without room for the en
creafing number of our posterity; hemm'd in upon the
sea shore; and, with armies behind us, and fleets before
us, be either crulhed to pieces, obliged to submit to the
absolute dominion of France, or to throw ourselves back
upon the protection of Great-Britain.
This con fideration is truly, alarming, and France has
never shewn herfelf so worthy,of confidence among the
nations of Europe, as to induce us to run such risks,
by throwing ourselves precipitately into her arms. She
is so notorious to the whole world, for her disregard of
the most sacred treaties, thzt Gallica Fides, or French
Faith, is become as proverbial now, as Punica Eides, or
Carthaginian Faith, of old. It could scarce have been
imagined, that the author @f Common Sense, after telling
us that “ the blood of the slain, the weeping voice of
nature, cries, 'tis time to part"—eternally to part —-
from the limited monarchy of Great-Britain, (whatever
future terms might be offered us) would so soon have re
commended to us a new alliance with the arbitrary mo
narchs of France and Spain. Bloody massacres, the re
vocation of sacred edicts, and the most unrelenting p c r^
fecutions, have certainly taught American protefants,
and especially our German brethren, what fort of faith
we are to expert from Popish Princes; and from na
tions who are Grangers to Libert, themselves, and envy
the enjoyment of it to others !
In short, I am not able, with all the pains I have taken,
to understand what is meant by a declaration of independ^
ence, unless it is to be drawn up in the form of a solemn
abjuration of Great-Britain, as a nation with which we
can never more be connected; and this seems the doc
trine of the author of Common Sense. But I believe he
Iras made but few converts to this part of his scheme;
for who knows to what vicissitudes of fortune we may
yet be fubjeHed?
We have already declared ourselves independent, as to all
ufeful purposes, by refifing our oppressors, upon our own
foundation. And while we keep upon this ground, without
connecting ourselves with any foreign nations, to involve
us in frefh difficulties, and endanger our liberties still fur
ther, we are able, in our own element, up in the shore, to
continue this reJiJlance, and it is our duty to continue it,
till Great-Britain is convinced (as she mull soon be) of her
fatal policy; and open her arms to reconciliation, upon the
permanent and sure footing of mutual interest and fafety.
Upon such a footing, we may again be happy. Our
trade will be revived. Our husbandmen, our mechanics,
our artificers will flourish. Our language, our laws and
manners being the fame with those of the nation with
which we are again to be connected, that connection will be
natural; and we shall the more easily guard against future
innovations. Pennsylvania has much to lose in this con
test, and much to hope from a proper iettlement of it.
We have long fiourifhed under our charter government.
What may be the confequencelhhnother form we can
not pronounce with certainty jtythis we know that it
is a road we have not traveled' ,and may be worse than
it is described. C A T O.
TO BE SOL D,
AL ARGE Stone House and Stables, and a Lot of Land,
containing one acre and a half, with one hundred good
bearing apple-trees, and a good draw well in the yard that never
fails ; there was formerly a large store kept in the said house,
as there is a fine shop built for that purpose; it is situate on
Chestnut-Hill, about 10 miles from Philadelphia. Any perfea
that inclines to purchase, may know the terms, by applying t 7
Michael Bzrndoller, living in Roxborough township,
: Smiles from Philadelphia. March 19, 1776.^
Numb. 2466.