The Pennsylvania gazette — Philadelphia, Pa., 1776-04-24 00:00:00, page 2

Had the author of Common Sense considered this, or
were he pofleffed of the lead reverence for the judgment
or feelings of a great and enlightened people, whom he
has thought himfelf fit to address, his performance would
have been of a different nature. It would at lead have
worn the semblance of argument, and contained fome
ihing which had a chance to meet the reason of wife
men, and to hand the test of their candid examination,
lie would have listened patiently to their remarks upon
bis production, and Would have coolly replied to their
objections. He would not have dared to offer such an
indignity to the public, as to,throw out impotent threats
(inftcad of aufwers) against the meanest of his fellow-ci
tizens (if fellow-citizens he has in this place) merely for
endeavouring, in a country yet free, to detect his mif
r. presentations, to supply his defeat of materials, and
thereby enable a people to judge fairly of their own
weighty concera&m
The contest in #ch America is engaged was not light
ly undertaken. The sword was drawn in defence of our
laws and liberties. Till these are rendered fafe, let it
not be returned to the Scabbard; but dill let not the Scab
bard be thrown away. If ourjuft rights can be belt fe
cureJ by reconciliation with our own flefh and blood —
with a yet powerful nation, whose religion, laws and
manners, in our former happy days, we gloried to call
our own —God forbid that we Should flint the door
against it, by any hasty measure among ourselves. This
happy period to our naileries is did hoped for and de
voutly wished, not only by multitudes of the zealous
friends of America through all the colonies, but by
whole colonies in their public,capacity, regardless of any
thing that has yet been offered to the contrary. While
this continues to be the case, he who seeks to disturb the
union which we nobly fuppoitei on our former ground,
is the word foe to this country. If the British admini
stration h^s a tool here, labouring to forward their ruin
ous purposes by divisions and detractions, Thou art
the Man —even thou the author of Common Sense, who
haft Parted thine ignis fatuus to draw the unwary into
untried regions, full of tremendous precipices and quag
jpires treacherous to the foot; whither the wife and con-
'Io THE PE dPLE OF Pennsylvania;
L ETTE R VIII.
THE all-wife Creator having enabled every man
£ to judge, in feme degree, what is good for himfelf,
the Study of government is a duty of the highest concern
to all the members of a free Rate. But men, in general,
may be said to feel better than they can fee; and there
fore seldom take the trouble to employ their thoughts on
public affairs, while they are tolerably administered, nor
is it till cppreffion becomes flagrant, and even palpable
to the fight, that a people are Universally routed into a
serious attention to abuses in government.
Numerous are the evils which Spring from diftra&ions
and convulsions in a State; but they are often productive
of one advantage which outweighs them all. The civil
conttitutions of countries, altho' long neglected, through
the indolence of the people, and tottering on the verge
of diffolutioh, h.ve nevertheless been thus purged of
their corruptions, brought back to their firft principles,
and made to flourifh, with renewed vigour, through ma
ny fMcceeding ages. But as this can only be the work of
herdifm, conducted by wisdom, virtue and prudence,
every writer who, upon such great and trying occasions,
seeks to exaggerate, or conceal facts, to Rate but one
tide of a question, to warp the judgment by partial re
presentations, to give railing for reason, invectives for
arguments, and to urge a people into hasty resolutions,
by addressing the inflamed passions, rather than the so
ber, reason—every such writer, I fay, insults his country
In dikrefs, and is a fellow-worker with its enemies to
batten its ruin^
siderate think it not fafe to follow. Couldft thou fucqeed
in this, thou dost effectually confirm all the Danders of
our ministerial foes against us; and, instead of America,
strong in domeflic union and Supported by a refpe&able
part of Britain, thou wilt give us Britain united, and
America rent by dimifons, amidst the mighty contest.
Thou sayest that now is the exaCt time for adopting thy
plan, and holdeft up ruin as the fare consequence of the
lead delay ! —Thou faid'ft the fame, and did'ft threaten
the fame, near three months ago, if we hesitated a mo
ment to follow thy advice. Possibly any time may be
thy now, especially if thou Ihould'ft have nothing to
lose, and peradventufe may'ft hope to gain something
by the change. But when the Almighty Shall be pleased
to fay now, thy interpretations will be unnecessary. He
will fend conviction along with it, in circumstances so
clear and unambiguous, that they who run may read
them.
The public will excuse the occasional notice I am forced
to take of the answers hitherto given to my Letters.
Were I difoofed to deviate from my plan, or, by imme
diate retaliation, to draw the attention of the reader to
the " political characters, connections and dependencies"
of my antagonists (w^ch the author of Common Sense, in
his new character of the Forester, allows to be very es
sential in such a controversy) I believe it would add little
to the credit of their works; efpeciaily if upon enquiry
it Should be found, that they have neither " character
nor connections" in this place; and that they are the
avowed instruments and dependents of some, who, hav
ing no concern in our domestic affairs, are nevertheless
constantly intermeddling with them,- to the great disturb
ance of the province, and injury of the public cause.
But I have no immediate occasion to enter into such
an enquiry, and am happy to find that, although near a
dozen answers have been given in one shape or another
to my two or three firft letters, nothing has been yet of
fered worthy of a particular reply. The Forester seems
the chief champion against me. He makes me write
what he pleases, that he may answer as he pleases. —The
following is a specimen of his justice, in quoting from me.
" If we now effect independence, we must be con
" fidered as a faithlefs people, in the fight of all man
" kind, and cquld scarcely expert the confidence of any
" nation upon earth, or look up to heaven for its ap
" proving sentence;" —and upon this he exclaims, —
" Art thou mad, Cato, or art thou foolifh, or art thou
both, or art thou worse than both ?" Now, I can fairly
leave those who have read my Letters, to apply any
or all of these epithets to me as their candour shall di
re Ct. But those who read but one paper (in which it is
thought proper only to publish the aufwers to my letters,
without the letters themselves) may verily believe I
have asserted, that, if ever we effect independence, neither
heaven nor earth willfmile i,on us. It is hoped, therefore,
that the publishers of that paper, if they should never
insert any other part of my letters (in which they may
life their own pleasure) will be so just as^ to give this
ragied paragraph entire; and then it will be in these
Word:,;—
r 'hurt, (if) thus cmtradiaing all our former public
"? . .J"^ '^'h'^"" sgw effect independency) <u
" bur odun a& before it clears clearly to the worth to have
" been forced upon us by the cruel hand of the parent-state)
" nue could neither hope for union nor faccefs in the attempt.
" (We must be considered as a faithlefs people in the fight.
" of all mankind, and could scarcely expect the confi
" dence of any nation upon earth, or look up to Heaven
" for its approving sentence.")
The difeerning render will easily fee that our boneft
Forester has not Scrupled to take part of one sentence
and connect it with another; which wholly alters the
sense. He gives us only what is included within the
above parenthefesy and suppresses all that essential part
which is in Italics; He who can thus pilfer from the
sense of another, is come to his last Shift, and it may be
presumed would not stick at any thing to promote his
cause. But what can I^xped from one who uses the
immortal Milton much in the fame way?
In the pamphlet called Common SenJe, endeavouring to
establish his favourite doctrine, that reconciliation with
Great Britain is now impossible, and urging us on to
blood, whatever terms may be offered, he has the un
paralleled confidence to add as follows. — “ For, as
Milton wifely expreffes —never can true reconcile
ment grow, where wounds of deadly hate have pierced so
deep."—How unlucky is this quotation! Our author
thinks he has (hatched a coal from the altar; but it is
like that which the foolifh eagle dole, and thereby set
her nest on fire, which consumed hcrfelf and her brood.
Would not the reader believe that the author had here
given us some wife sentiment of Milton, fit to be co
pied in the conduct of a chriftiau people? But looli at
the place (Parad. Loft, B. iv.) and you will find that it
was the Jpeech of the Devil, meditating the definition of
mankind; and Suited only to the desperate purposes of
those, who are in the fame dreadful state of mind in
which our divine poet describes the Devil to have been
at the time.
His troubled thoughts; and from the bottom stir
The hell within him. For within him hell
lie brings, and round about him, nor from hell
One step, no more than from himfelf, can fly. —
" Get thee behind me" thou abandoned writer; and
take back another of thy compliments ! For can'ft thou
" have the feelings of a man" — thou who art labouring
to fill the hearts of thy fellow-mortals with irreconcile
able hatred, and the feelings of the Devil? As for my
feelings on this occasion, I trust they are founded on the
doctrines of the Saviour of Mankind, who teaches
that no offences in this world can be so great among
brethren, as to preclude reconciliation. “If thy bro
ther repent forgive him"—and if thou can'ft not forgive,
How can'll thou lift up thine eyes to thy Heavenly Fa
ther for forgivenefs of thy fins, or even those of thy tingle
pamphlet? Had'd thou done justice to Milton, thou
mighteft have Shewn him in his own proper person, upon
my fide of the question; proclaiming the doctrines of
his Heavenly Maker. —
Oh Shame to men ! Devil with Devil damn'd
Firm concord holds ; men only, difagfee
Of creatures rational, though under hope
Of Heavenly Grace: and Gon proclaiming peace,
Yet live in hatred, enmity and Strife
Among themselves, and levy cruel wars,
Wafting the earth, each other to destroy.
Thou may'ft apply this to our cruel oppressors; and I
fay nothing againit thee therein, ex 1 pt where thou urged
thy terrible doctrine of the impoffibilrty of reconciliation;
and to make it wholly impossible art driving to inspire
sentiments into thy brethren which would disgrace their
chriftian prefeffion. But I leave thee on this head; and if
thou dost not too much interrupt me, shall, in two or
three letters more, leave the public and posterity finally to
judge between thee and me. Suum cuique decus pofteritas
rependit. I proceed then, with my remarks upon thy fu
rious antipathy to mixt governments, in which thou haft
surpassed all the writers I have met with; nor shall I quote
any against thee except those who are acknowledged to
have Rood foremolt in their oppofitiou to the encroach
ments of monarchy. The popular leaders, who over
turned the monarchy in the last age, were not themselves
friends to republics. They only made use of the name
to procure the favour of the people ; and whenever by
such means they had mounted to the proper height, each
of them, in his turn, began to kick the people from him,
as a ladder then useless.
Cromwell exercised the power of a King, and of the
mod absolute King, under the specious name of a
Broteßor. The instrument of republican government,
which he had at firft extolled as the mod p^rfed work of
human invention, he began (as soon as he thought his
authority fufficiently established) to represent " as a rot
ten plank, upon which no man could trust himfelf with
out finking." He had his eye fixed upon the crown ; but
when he procured an offer of it from a packed Parliament,
his courage failed him. He had outwitted himfelf, by his
own hypocrisy ; and, in his way to power, had thrown
such an odium upon the name of King, that his own
family, apprehensive he would be murdered the moment
the diadem ihoijld touch his brow, persuaded him to de
cline that honour.
The great Sidxey never meant more, by his celebrated
work, than to reform the abuses of mixt government;
and to reftraif ithe rapid progress which the nation was
making, in his time, towards absolute Monarchy. And
he was as much afoe to Cromwell as to Charles the First,
considering both as governing above the laws. But he
did not write against kings generally, more than other
rulers who might abuse their power.
" Nothing, fays he, is farther from my intention than
to speak irreverently of kings," and he explains what
kings he means, viz those limited by law, in mixt govern
ments. He has wrote a whole fedtion to shew that the
bed governments in the world have been composed (as
the English is) of monarchy, ariflocracy and democracy.
Ile fays Gob ordained a mixt government, answering to
this in all its parts; and conlifting of a single judge or
chief captain (we contend not for names) a Council of
seventy chosen men, or Sanhedrim ; and the General Assem
blies of the people. Is not this our own form compleat?
When he speaks of popular governments, he uses the ut
most precision. “To avoid unnecessary disputes, fays he,
“ I give the name of popular governments to those of
“ Rome, Athens, Sparta and the like; but improperly,
" unlcfs the fame may also be given to many that are
“ usually called monarchies, Once there is nothing of
" violence in either. As to popular governments, in the
'' Arid: sense, that is pure democracy, where the people
" in themselves, and by themselves, perform all that be
“ longs to government, I know of no such thing ; and if
" it be in the world, I have nothing to fay for it." And
more explicitly still, he fays, " being no way concerned
" in the defence of democracy—l may leave our
“ Knight ^Filmer) like Don Quixote, fighting against the
" phantafin of his own brain, and to fay what he pleases
" against such governments as never were, unlefsin fucti
“ a place as Sam Marino near Senegaglia in Italy, where
" an hundred men govern a barbarous rock that no mau
“ invades. As for democracy, he may fay what he pleases
“ of it; and I believe it can fait only with the convenience
" ®f u small town, accompanied with fitch circumstances
" as are seldom to be found." If Sidney understood any
thing of the matter, we fee that every colony in America
Is already too unwieldy for such a government, and there
fore it cannot be a model for an immense continent. In
a word, altho' this great man lived before the revolution,
he laid its foundation, died a martyr to its principled, and
by one of the firft ads of Parliament made under it, his
attainder was repealed, and a solemn national fan&ion
given to his writings.>
The testimony of another profefs'd Whig, nay an
Independent Whig (the famous Gordon, in his dis
courses upon Tacitus) shall come next. “ Monarchy,
“ according to Plato, is the best government or the
“ worst; to which opinion, fays he, I fubferibu; as I do
" to that of Philip de Commines, that England is the
“ place in the world where the public is most equally ad
“ ministered, and where the people buffer the least vio
“ lence. We are blessed with a form of government,
“ which Tacitus mentions as the m hi perfect, and thinks
“ the hardest to be framed ; that happy balance and mix
“ ture of interests, that figures every interest."
Polybius (as he is quoted by Montagu, on the rife and
fall of republics) agrees with Plato. “ The best form of
government, lays he, is that which is composed of a due
admixture of monarchy, ariflocracy and democracy" —Of all
legislators he prefers Lycurgus, whom he looks upon ra
thei as divinely inspired, than as a man. To perpetuate
the Spartan government, he united the peculiar excellen
cies of the best forms into one, that neither of the three
parts, by swelling beyond its just bounds, might ever be
able to deviate into its original inborn defeats. Monta
gu adds " I cannot help observing, on this occasion,
“ that our own constitution, as fettled at the revolution,
“ so nearly coincides with Lycurgus's general plan, that
" it seems at firft fight to be formed by that very model."
And indeed, in the constitution of mixt governments,
there is something more substantial than an attachment to
the mystical number three, in this triple union of powers.
All power lodged, uncontrouled, in one or many, has
been Shewn to be full of danger; lodgedin t<wo diftin&
bodies, they may chance to disagree long; but the ad
dition of a third turns the scale; and further additions
would only be clogs.
I have not loft fight of Montefauieu, whose sentiments,
as applicable to the English constitution, in practice as
well as theory, Shall be briefly introduced in my next, to
c j°' e "" 6 part of my work ; and then let the author of
Common Sense combat the arguments of these great men
as web as he can ; for he has yet said nothing that is any
way applicable to them, and mult look for better argu
ments than those drawn from the nature of the English
coß^rtution, if he experts to serve his cause. For my part
I still Stand upon iny firft ground, and have no sentiment
which 1 tyifli to hide on this occasion. When it shall clearly
appear, that we can be no longer free, nor Secure in our
rights 2nd property, in connection with Britain, or that
we can be more secure in any other connection (and the
time which will enable us to judge of this cannot be
very remote) the author of these letters shall not then
lisp a word against whatever mcafures the sense of the
majority of this country, fairly taken, Shall adopt for
', c ° mm °n good; and will be ready to give his best
assistance for carrying them into execution. But he must
ever bear his testimony against being furprized into pub
decikons, by misrepresentations, ungrounded fug
gehions, and delusive arguments; too evidently proceed
ing hom prejudice, or pre-determination of a question,
in which the happihefs of a great continent is involved.
CAT 0.
"W, B ER N, March 2^.
On Thursday last arrived here, in 1% days from St.
Enftatia, in the armed Schooner Cafwell, Mr. John W.
Stanly, of this place. He failed from Ocracock bar the
26th of January, in the brig Sally, Captain Ridge, and
the lath of February made the island of Martinique;
where the yeffel was Seized by the Pomona frigate, Capt.
Young, while She lay becalmed about two miles from
the town of St. Pierre, and while Mr. Stanly was gone
on Shore to obtain permission to anchor there. The Po
mona had anchored that night in the harbour of St.
Pierre, and came out disguised like a merchantman. A
sloop from Fairfield, in the fame Situation, was taken in
company with the Sally.
Mr. Stanly further informs, that federal vessels arrived
in the Weft-Indies from England while he was there,
Some of them in Short passages, and that from all the
prints he could fee, and the accounts he could collect,
there did not appear the most distant prospect of a re
conciliation; but, on the contrary, the ministry were so
determined, their majority in the House so great, and
their influence amongst the people in general so extensive,
that the few friends we had were dispirited, and all
hopes of their being able to effect any thing in our favour
despaired of.
Among the many vessels Seized under the prohibitory
act are the following, viz. From New-York, the sloop
Sally, Doge, Charming Polly, Truxen, America, Camp
bell, and Schooner Polly, Alftine. Rhode-Ifland, ,
Capt. Sweet. Fairfield, sloop Diamond, Whitney. Sa
lem, brig America, Lambert. Philadelphia, Ship Nancy,
Kirby, and brig , Gregg. North-Carolina, brig
Sally, Ridge, and Schooner , James Green, clear
ed by Governor Martin. Georgia, a brig, Capt. Deane.
Virginia, a brig. South Carolina, brig Union, Boyd.
Cennedicut, a sloop, Capt. Jones. New-York, a sloop,
Capt. Gibbs.
The cruisers are so exceedingly vigilant among the
islands, that few vessels escape, them. Notwithstanding
which, a brig from Baltimore, a Ship (Liberty, Captain
Monro) from Philadelphia, and two pilot boats from the
fame place, had got in fafe to St. Martin's and St. Eufta
tia early in this month.
A brig belonging to New-York, with wines from Lis
bon, got into St. Euftatia the iith inst. The master fays
a requisition was daily expected to be made by the Court
of Great-Britain for the delivery of all American vessels
in the port, which would undoubtedly be complied with.
In Martinique and Guadaloupe there are at this time
about 8000 troops, not long hnce arrived from France,
who are industriously employed in repairing their old for
tifications, and erecting new ones, particularly on the
heights that command the plain through which the British
troops paired to the back of Fort Royal, when they re
duced that place.
On the Seizure of the before-mentioned brig. Captain
Ridge, a memorial was presented to the Count de Choi
fcul, Governor of Martinique, and General Nozier, re
presenting the taking loaded provisions, so much waited