Who "had given suck, and knew"How tender 'twas to love the babe that milk'd her."But yet, who could"Even while 'twas smiling in her face,"Have pluck'd her nipple from the boneless gums,"And dash'd the brains out."
Who "had given suck, and knew"How tender 'twas to love the babe that milk'd her."But yet, who could"Even while 'twas smiling in her face,"Have pluck'd her nipple from the boneless gums,"And dash'd the brains out."
Let us banish for ever from our minds, my countrymen, all such unworthy ideas of the K—g, his Ministry, and Parliament. Let us not suppose, that all are become luxurious, effeminate and unreasonable, on the other side the water, as many designing persons would insinuate. Let us presume, what is in fact true, that the spirit of liberty is as ardent as ever among the body of the nation, though a few individuals may be corrupted.—Let us take it for granted, that the same great spirit, which once gave Cæsar so warm a reception; which denounced hostilities against John, 'till Magna Charta was signed; which severed the head of Charles the First from his body, and drove James the Second from his kingdom; the same great spirit (MAY HEAVEN PRESERVE IT TILL THE EARTH SHALL BE NO MORE!) which first seated the great grandfather of his present most gracious Majesty on the throne of Britain, is still alive and active, and warm in England; and that the same spirit in America, instead of provoking the inhabitants of that country, will endear us to them for ever, and secure their good-will.
This spirit, however, without knowledge, would be little better than a brutal rage.——Let us tenderly and kindly cherish therefore the means of knowledge. Let us dare to read, think, speak and write.——Let every order and degree among the people rouse their attention and animate their resolution.—Let them all become attentive to the grounds and principles of government, ecclesiastical and civil.—Let us study the law of nature; search into the spirit of the British constitution; read the histories of ancient ages; contemplate the great examples of Greece and Rome; set before us the conduct of our own British ancestors, who have defended, forus, the inherent rights of mankind against foreign and domestic tyrants and usurpers, against arbitrary kings and cruel priests, in short against the gates of earth and hell.—Let us read and recollect, and impress upon our souls the views and ends of our own more immediate forefathers, in exchanging their native country for a dreary, inhospitable wilderness. Let us examine into the nature of that power, and the cruelty of that oppression which drove them from their homes. Recollect their amazing fortitude, their bitter sufferings! The hunger, the nakedness, the cold, which they patiently endured! The severe labours of clearing their grounds, building their houses, raising their provisions, amidst dangers from wild beasts and savage men, before they had time or money, or materials for commerce! Recollect the civil and religious principles, and hopes, and expectations, which constantly supported and carried them through all hardships, with patience and resignation! Let us recollect it was liberty! The hope of liberty for themselves and us and ours, which conquered all discouragements, dangers and trials!——In such researches as these, let us all in our several departments chearfully engage! But especially the proper patrons and supporters of law, learning and religion.
Let the pulpit resound with the doctrines and sentiments of religious liberty.——Let us hear the danger of thraldom to our consciences, from ignorance, extream poverty and dependance, in short from civil and political slavery.—Let us see delineated before us, the true map of man. Let us hear the dignity of his nature, and the noble rank he holds among the works ofGod! that consenting to slavery is a sacrilegious breach of trust, as offensive in the sight ofGod, as it is derogatory from our own honour, or interest or happiness; and thatGod Almightyhas promulgated from heaven, liberty, peace, and good-will to man!——
Let the Bar proclaim, "the laws, the rights, the generous plan of power," delivered down from remote antiquity; inform the world of the mighty struggles, andnumberless sacrifices, made by our ancestors, in the defence of freedom.—Let it be known, that British liberties are not the grants of princes or parliaments, but original rights, conditions of original contracts, co-equal with prerogative, and co-eval with government.—That many of our rights are inherent and essential, agreed on as maxims and established as preliminaries, even before a parliament existed.—Let them search for the foundation of British laws and government in the frame of human nature, in the constitution of the intellectual and moral world.—There let us see, that truth, liberty, justice, and benevolence, are its everlasting basis; and if these could be removed, the superstructure is overthrown of course.—
Let the colleges join their harmony, in the same delightful concert.—Let every declamation turn upon the beauty of liberty and virtue, and the deformity, turpitude and malignity of slavery and vice.—Let the public disputations become researches into the grounds and nature and ends of government, and the means of preserving the good and demolishing the evil.—Let the dialogues and all the exercises become the instruments of impressing on the tender mind, and of spreading and distributing, far and wide, the ideas of right and the sensations of freedom.
In a word, let every sluice of knowledge be opened and set a flowing. The encroachments upon liberty, in the reigns of the first James and the first Charles, by turning the general attention of learned men to government, are said to have produced the greatest number of consummate statesmen, which has ever been seen in any age, or nation. The Brooke's, Hamden's, Falkland's, Vane's, Milton's, Nedham's, Harrington's, Neville's, Sydney's, Locke's, are all said to have owed their eminence in political knowledge, to the tyrannies of those reigns. The prospect, now before us, in America, ought, in the same manner, to engage the attention of every man of learning to matters of power and of right, that we may be neither led nor driven blindfolded to irretrievable destruction.——Nothing less than this seems to have been meditated for us, by somebody or other in Great Britain.There seems to be a direct and formal design on foot, to enslave all America.—This however must bedone by degrees.——The first step that is intended seems to be an entire subversion of the whole system of our Fathers, by the introduction of the canon and feudal law, into America.——The canon and feudal systems though greatly mutilated in England, are not yet destroyed. Like the temples and palaces, in which the great contrivers of them were once worshiped and inhabited, they exist in ruins; and much of the domineering spirit of them still remains.—The designs and labours of a certain society, to introduce the former of them into America, have been well exposed to the public by a writer of great abilities; and the further attempts to the same purpose that may be made by that society, or by the ministry or parliament, I leave to the conjectures of the thoughtful.—But it seems very manifest from the Stamp Act itself, that a design is formed to strip us in a great measure of the means of knowledge, by loading the Press, the Colleges, and even an Almanack and a News-Paper, with restraints and duties; and to introduce the inequalities and dependencies of the feudal system, by taking from the poorer sort of people all their little subsistence, and conferring it on a set of stamp officers, distributors and their deputies.—But I must proceed no farther at present.—The sequel, whenever I shall find health and leisure to pursue it, will be a "disquisition of the policy of the stamp act."——In the mean time, however, let me add, These are not the vapours of a melancholy mind, nor the effusions of envy, disappointed ambition, nor of a spirit of opposition to government: but the emanations of an heart that burns for its country's welfare. No one of any feeling, born and educated in this once happy country, can consider the numerous distresses, the gross indignities, the barbarous ignorance, the haughty usurpations, that we have reason to fear are meditating for ourselves, our children, our neighbours, in short for all our countrymen, and all their posterity, without the utmost agonies of heart, and many tears.
[A]Boston in America.
[A]Boston in America.
Transcriber's Notes18th Century English typography has been modernized for ease of reading, for example: "himſelf" has been changed to "himself." Spelling conventions of the times have been maintained.Several misprints and punctuation errors corrected. Hover over underlinedwordin the text to see the corrections made.CorrectionsPage 7, Added close quotes to end of quotation.Page 13, "achievements" spelled "atchievements" Left as is.Page 26, Added close quotes to end of quotation.Page 43, "necessay" changed to "necessary".Page 77, "extrardinary" changed to "extraordinary".Page 87, "achieved" spelled "atchieved" Left as is.
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