Chapter 14

“All depends upon races.The first, the most noble of races, comes naturally from the North of Asia. The Russians are the nearest to it, and this is the reason why they have made more progress in fifty years than can be got out of the Portuguese in five hundred.”[490]

Belonging to the Latin race, Galiani was entitled to speak thus freely.

In another letter to Madame d’Épinay, dated at Naples, 18th May, 1776, he had already foretold the success of our Revolution. Few prophets have been more explicit than he was in the following passage:—

“Livy said of his age, which so strongly resembled ours, ‘Ad hæc tempora ventum est, quibus nec vitia nostra nec remedia pati possumus,’—‘We are in an age when the remedies hurt at least as much as the vices.’[491]Do you know how matters stand?The epoch has come of the total downfall of Europe, and of transmigration to America.Everything here is falling into rottenness,—religion, laws,arts, sciences,—and everything is going to be rebuilt anew in America. This is no joke; nor is it an idea drawn from the English quarrels; I have said, announced, preached it, for more than twenty years, and I have always seen my prophecies fulfilled.Do not buy your house, then, in the Chaussée d’Antin; you must buy it in Philadelphia.My trouble is, that there are no abbeys in America.”[492]

This letter was written some months before the Declaration of Independence.

In another, dated at Naples, 7th February, 1778, the Abbé alludes to the great numbers of English men and women who have come to Naples “for shelter from the American tempests,” and adds, “Meanwhile the Washingtons and Hancocks will be fatal to them.”[493]In still another, dated at Naples, 25th July, 1778, he renews his prophecies in language still more explicit:—

“You will at this time have decided the greatest revolution of the globe,—namely,if it is America which is to reign over Europe, or if it is Europe which is to continue to reign over America. I would wager in favor of America, for the reason, merely physical, that for five thousand years genius has turned opposite to the diurnal motion, and travelled from East to West.”[494]

Here again is the idea of Berkeley which has been so captivating.

In contrast with the witty Italian is the illustrious philosopher and writer of Scotland, Adam Smith, whowas born 5th June, 1723, and died 17th July, 1790. His fame is so commanding that any details of life or works would be out of place. He was thinker and inventor, through whom mankind was advanced in knowledge.

I say nothing of his “Theory of Moral Sentiments,” constituting an important contribution to the science of Ethics, but come at once to his great work of political economy, entitled “An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations,” which first appeared in 1776. Its publication marks an epoch described by Mr. Buckle, when he says that Adam Smith, “by the publication of this single work, contributed more towards the happiness of man than has been effected by the united abilities of all the statesmen and legislators of whom history has preserved an authentic account.”[495]The work is full of prophetic knowledge, and especially with regard to the British Colonies. Writing while the debate with the mother country was still pending, Adam Smith urged that they should be admitted to Parliamentary representation in proportion to taxation, so that their representation would enlarge with their growing resources; and here he predicts nothing less than the transfer of empire:—

“The distance of America from the seat of government, the natives of that country might flatter themselves, with some appearance of reason too, would not be of very long continuance. Such has hitherto been the rapid progress of that country in wealth, population, and improvement, that, in the course of little more than a century, perhaps, the produce of American might exceed that of British taxation.The seat of the empire would then naturally remove itself to that part of the empire which contributed most to the general defence and support of the whole.”[496]

In these tranquil words of assured science the great author carries the seat of government across the Atlantic.

Did Adam Smith in this remarkable passage do more than follow a hint from our own prophet? The prophecy of the great economist first appeared in 1776. In the course of 1774, and down to April 19, 1775, John Adams published in the “Boston Gazette” a series of weekly articles, under the signature of “Novanglus,” which were abridged in Almon’s “Remembrancer” for 1775, with the following title: “History of the Dispute with America, from its Origin in 1754 to the Present Time.” Although this abridged edition stops before the prophetic passage, it is not impossible that the whole series was known to Adam Smith. After speculating, as the latter did afterwards, on the extension of the British Constitution and Parliamentary representation to the outlying British dominions, our prophet says:—

“If in twenty years more America should have six millions of inhabitants, as there is a boundless territory to fill up, she must have five hundred representatives. Upon these principles, if in forty years she should have twelve millions, a thousand; and if the inhabitants of the three kingdoms remain as they are, being already full of inhabitants, what will become of your supreme legislative?It will be translated, crown and all, to America.This is a sublime system for America. It will flatter those ideas of independencywhich the Tories impute to them, if they have any such, more than any other plan of independency that I have ever heard projected.”[497]

Thus plainly was John Adams precursor of Adam Smith.

In 1784 these papers were reprinted from the “Remembrancer,” by Stockdale, in London, bearing the same title, substantially, as before, “History of the Dispute with America, from its Origin in 1754,” with the addition, “Written in the Year 1774, by John Adams, Esq.” The “Monthly Review,” in a notice of the publication, after speaking of “the inauspicious system of American taxation,” says, “Mr. Adams foretold the consequence of obstinately adhering to it, and the event hath too well verified his predictions. They were, however, predictions which required no inspiration.”[498]So that his wise second-sight was recognized in England much beyond the prevision of Adam Smith.

The idea of transferring the seat of government to America was often attributed to Franklin by Dean Tucker. The former, in a letter, as early as 25th November, 1767, reports the Dean as saying, “That is his constant plan.”[499]In one of his tracts, the Dean attributes it not only to Franklin, but also to our people. With strange exaggeration he says: “It has been the unanimous opinion of the North Americans for these fifty years past, that the seat of empire ought to be transferred from the lesser to the greater country,—that is, from England to America, or, as Dr. Franklin elegantly phrased it, from the cock-boat to theman-of-war.”[500]It is impossible to say how much of this was from the excited brain of the Dean.

A true and solid ally of our country at a critical period was Dr. Price, dissenting clergyman, metaphysician, political writer, and mathematician, who was born in Wales, 23d February, 1723, and died in London, 19th April, 1791.

His earliest labors were “A Review of the Principal Questions and Difficulties in Morals,” by which he was recognized as a metaphysician, and “Observations on Reversionary Payments,” by which he was recognized as an authority on a large class of financial questions. At the same time his sermons were regarded as excellent. Amidst these various labors he was moved to enlist as a pamphleteer in defence of the American Colonies. This service, prompted by a generous devotion to just principles, awakened grateful sentiments on both sides of the ocean.

The Aldermen and Common Council of London marked their sympathy by voting him the freedom of the city in a gold box of fifty pounds value. The American Congress sent him a different testimonial, officially communicated to him, being a solemn resolution declaring “the desire of Congress to consider him a citizen of the United States, and to receive his assistance in regulating their finances.”[501]In reply,under date of 18th January, 1779, while declining the invitation, he offered “assurances that Dr. Price feels the warmest gratitude for the notice taken of him, and that he looks to the American States asnowthe hope and likelysoonto become the refuge of mankind.”[502]Franklin and Adams contracted with him relations of friendship. The former, under date of 6th February, 1780, wrote him: “Your writings, after all the abuse you and they have met with, begin to make serious impressions on those who at first rejected the counsels you gave”;[503]and 24th October, 1788, he wrote to another: “Remember me affectionately to good Dr. Price.”[504]The latter, in correspondence many years afterwards, recorded the intimacy he enjoyed with Dr. Price, “at his own house, at my house, and at the houses and tables of many friends.”[505]

The first of his American tracts was in 1776, being “Observations on the Nature of Civil Liberty, the Principles of Government, and the Justice and Policy of the War with America.” The sale of sixty thousand copies in a few months shows the extensive acceptance of the work. The general principles so clearly exhibited are invoked for America. Occasionally the philosopher becomes prophet, as when he predicts the growth of population:—

“They are now but little short of half our number. To this number they have grown, from a small body of original settlers, by a very rapid increase. The probability is that they will go on to increase, and that in fifty or sixtyyears they will bedouble our number, and form a mighty empire, consisting of a variety of States, all equal or superior to ourselves in all the arts and accomplishments which give dignity and happiness to human life.”[506]

Nothing less than “a vast continent” seems to him the sphere of this remarkable development, and he revolts at the idea of this being held “at the discretion of a handful of people on the other side of the Atlantic.”[507]In the measures which brought on the war he saw “the hand of Providenceworking to bring about some great ends.”[508]And the vast continent was to be dedicated to Liberty. The excellent man saw even the end of Slavery. Speaking of “the negroes of the Southern Colonies,” he said that they “probably will now either soon become extinct orhave their condition changed into that of freemen.”[509]Years and battle intervened before this precious result.

This production was followed in 1777 by “Additional Observations on the Nature and Value of Civil Liberty, and the War with America,”—to which was added “Observations on Public Loans, the National Debt, and the Debts and Resources of France.” In all this variety of topics, his concern for America breaks forth in the inquiry, “Must not humanity shudder at such a war?”[510]And he sees untold loss to England, which, with the Colonies, “might be the greatest and happiest nation that ever existed”; but without them “we are no more a people; … our existence depends on keeping them.”[511]This patriotic gloom is checked by another vision:—

“These measures have, in all probability, hastened that disruption of the New from the Old World,which will begin a new era in the annals of mankind, and produce a revolution more important, perhaps, than any that has happened in human affairs.”[512]

Thus was American Independence heralded, and its influence foretold.

Constantly sympathizing with America, and impressed by the magnitude of the issue, his soul found another utterance, in 1778, in what he called “The General Introduction and Supplement to the Two Tracts on Civil Liberty, the War with America, and the Finances of the Kingdom.” Here again he sees a vision:—

“A great people, likely to be formed, in spite of all our efforts, into free communities, under governments which have no religious tests and establishments. A new era in future annals, and a new opening in human affairs, beginning, among the descendants of Englishmen, in a new world.A rising empire, extended over an immense continent, without bishops, without nobles, and without kings.”[513]

After the recognition of Independence and the establishment of peace, Dr. Price appeared with another tract: “Observations on the Importance of the American Revolution and the Means of making it a Benefit to the World.” This was in 1784. And here he repeated the exultation of an earlier day:—

“With heartfelt satisfaction I see the revolution in favor of universal liberty which has taken place in America,—a revolution which opens a new prospect in human affairs, andbegins a new era in the history of mankind.… Perhaps I do not go too far, when I say, that, next to the introduction of Christianity among mankind, the American Revolution may prove the most important step in the progressive course of human improvement.”[514]

Thus announcing the grandeur of the epoch, he states that it “may produce a general diffusion of the principles of humanity,” and may lead mankind to see and know “that all legitimate government consists in the dominion ofequal laws, made with common consent,” which is another expression of the primal truth of the Declaration of Independence. Then, referring to the “community or confederacy” of States, he says, “I can almost imagine that it is not impossible but that by such meansuniversal peacemay be produced, and all war excluded from the world”; and he asks, “Why may we not hope to see this begun in America?”[515]May America be true to this aspiration! There is also a longing for Equality, and a warning against Slavery, with the ejaculation, in harmony with earlier words, “Let the United States continue forever what it is now their glory to be, a confederation of States, prosperous and happy,without lords, without bishops, and without kings.”[516]In the midst of the bloody conflict this vision had appeared, and he had sought to make it a reality.

His true friendship for our country and his devotion to humanity, with the modesty of his nature, appear in a letter to Franklin, 12th July, 1784, communicating a copy of the last production. After saying that “it is intended entirely for America,” the excellent counsellor proceeds:—

“I hope the United States will forgive my presumption in supposing myself qualified to advise them.… The consciousness which I have that it is well intended, and that my address to them is the effusion of a heart that wishes to serve the best interests of society, helps to reconcile me to myself in this instance, and it will, I hope, engage the candor of others.”[517]

The same sentiments which proved his sympathies with our country reappeared with fresh fires at the outbreak of the French Revolution, arousing, in opposition, the immortal eloquence of Burke. A discourse “On the Love of our Country,” preached at the Old Jewry, 4th November, 1789, in commemoration of the English Revolution, with friendly glances at what was then passing across the Channel, prompted the “Reflections on the Revolution in France.” The personal denunciation which is the beginning of that remarkable performance is the perpetual witness to the position of the preacher, whose prophetic soul did not hesitate to accept the French Revolution side by side with ours in glory and in promise.

Among the best friends of our country abroad during the trials of the Revolution was Thomas Pownall, called by one biographer “a learned antiquary and politician,” and by another “an English statesman and author.” Latterly he has so far dropped out of sight that there are few who recognize in him either of these characters. He was born 1722, and died at Bath 1805. During this long period he held several offices. As early as 1745 he became secretary to the Commissioners forTrade and Plantations. In 1753 he crossed the ocean. In 1755, as Commissioner for Massachusetts Bay, he had a share in the negotiations with New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania, in union with New England, which resulted in the confederated expedition against Crown Point. He was afterwards Governor of Massachusetts Bay, New Jersey, and South Carolina, successively. Returning to England, he was appointed, in 1762, Comptroller-General of the army in Germany, with the military rank of colonel. He sat in two successive Parliaments until 1780, when he passed into private life. Hildreth gives a glimpse of his personal character, when, admitting his frank manners and liberal politics, he describes his habits as “rather freer than suited the New England standard.”[518]

Pownall stands forth conspicuous for championship of our national independence, and especially for foresight with regard to our national future. In both these respects his writings are unique. Other Englishmen were in favor of independence, and saw our future also; but I doubt if any one can be named who was his equal in strenuous action, or in minuteness of foresight. While the war was still proceeding, as early as 1780, he openly announced, not only that independence was inevitable, but that the new nation, “founded in Nature and built up in truth,” would continually expand; that its population would increase and multiply; that a civilizing activity beyond what Europe could ever know would animate it; and that its commercial and naval power would be found in every quarter of the globe.[519]All this he set forth atlength with argument and illustration, and he called his prophetic words “thestating of the simple fact, so little understood in the Old World.” Treated at first as “unintelligible speculation” and as “unfashionable,” the truth he announced was “neglected where it was not rejected, but in general rejected as inadmissible,” and the author, according to his own language, “was called by the wise men of the British Cabineta Wild Man, unfit to be employed.”[520]But these writings are a better title now than any office. In manner they are diffuse and pedantic; but they hardly deserve the cold judgment of John Adams, who in his old age said of them that “a reader who has patience to search for good sense in an uncouth and disgusting style will find in those writings proofs of a thinking mind.”[521]

He seems to have written a good deal. But the works which will be remembered the longest are not even mentioned by several of his biographers. Rose, in his Biographical Dictionary, records works by him, entitled “Antiquities of the Provincia Romana of Gaul”; “Roman Antiquities dug up at Bath”; “Observations on the Currents in the Atlantic Ocean”; “Intellectual Physics”; and contributions to the “Archæologia”: nothing more. To this list Gorton, in his Biographical Dictionary, adds briefly, “besides many political tracts,” but without particular reference to the works on America. This is another instance where the stone rejected by the builders becomes the head of the corner.

At an early date Pownall comprehended the position of our country, geographically. He saw the wonderful means of internal communication supplied by its inlandwaters, and also the opportunities of external commerce afforded by the Atlantic Ocean. On the former he dwells, in a Memorial drawn up in 1756 for the Duke of Cumberland.[522]Nobody in our own day, after the experience of more than a century, has portrayed more vividly the two vast aqueous masses,—one composed of the Great Lakes and their dependencies, and the other of the Mississippi and its tributaries. The Great Lakes are described as “a wilderness of waters, spreading over the country by an infinite number and variety of branchings, bays, straits, &c.”[523]The Mississippi, with its eastern branch, called the Ohio, is described as having, “as far as we know, but two falls,—one at a place called by the French St. Antoine, high up on the west or main branch”; and all its waters “run to the ocean with a still, easy, and gentle current.”[524]The picture is completed by exhibiting the two masses in combination:—

“The waters of each respective mass—not only the lesser streams, but the main general body of each going through this continent in every course and direction—have, by their approach to each other, by their interlacing with each other, by their communication to every quarter and in every direction, an alliance and unity, and form one mass, a one whole.”[525]

And he remarks, that it is thus seen

“how the watery element claims and holds dominion over this extent of land: that the great lakes which lie upon its bosom on one hand, and the great river Mississippi and the multitude of waters which run into it, form there a communication,—an alliance or dominion of the watery element, that commands throughout the whole; that these great lakes appear to bethe throne, thecentre of a dominion, whose influence,by an infinite number of rivers, creeks, and streams, extends itself through all and every part of the continent, supported by the communication of, and alliance with, the waters of Mississippi.”[526]

If these means of internal commerce were vast, those afforded by the Atlantic Ocean were not less extensive. The latter were developed in the treatise on “The Administration of the Colonies,” the fourth edition of which, published in 1768, is now before me. This was after the differences between the Colonies and the mother country had begun, but before the idea of independence had shown itself. Pownall insisted that the Colonies ought to be considered as parts of the realm, entitled to representation in Parliament. This was a constitutional unity. But he portrayed a commercial unity also, which he represented in attractive forms. The British Isles, and the British possessions in the Atlantic and in America, were, according to him, “a grand marine dominion,” and ought, therefore, by policy, to be united into one empire, with one centre. On this he dwells at length, and the picture is presented repeatedly.[527]It was incident to the crisis in the world produced by the predominance of the commercial spirit already beginning to rule the powers of Europe. It was the duty of England to place herself at the head of this great movement:—

“As the rising of this crisis above described forms precisely theobjecton which Government should be employed, so the taking leading measures towards the forming all those Atlantic and American possessions into one empire, of which Great Britain should be the commercial and political centre, is theprecise dutyof Government at this crisis.”[528]

This was his desire. But he saw clearly the resources as well as the rights of the Colonies, and was satisfied, that, if power were not consolidated under the constitutional auspices of England, it would be transferred to the other side of the Atlantic. Here his words are prophetic:—

“The whole train of events, the whole course of business, must perpetually bring forward into practice, and necessarily in the end into establishment,either an American or a British union. There is no other alternative.”[529]

The necessity for union is enforced in a manner which foreshadows our National Union:—

“The Colonial Legislature does certainly not answer all purposes,—is incompetent and inadequate to many purposes. Something, therefore, more is necessary,—either a common union amongst themselves, or a one common union of subordination under the one general legislature of the state.”[530]

Then, again, in another place of the same work, after representing the declarations of power over the Colonies as little better than mockery, he prophesies:—

“Such is the actual state of the really existing system of our dominions, thatneither the power of government over these various parts can long continue under the present mode of administration, nor the great interest of commerce extended throughout the whole long subsist under the present system of the laws of trade.”[531]

Recent events may give present interest to his views, in this same work, on the nature and necessity of a paper currency, where he follows Franklin. The principalpoints of his plan were: That bills of credit, to a certain amount, should be printed in England for the use of the Colonies; that a loan-office should be established in each Colony, to issue bills, take securities, and receive the payments; that the bills should be issued for ten years, bearing interest at five per cent.,—one tenth part of the sum borrowed to be paid annually, with the interest; and that they should be a legal tender.[532]

When the differences had flamed forth in war, then the prophet became more earnest. His utterances deserve to be rescued from oblivion. He was open, almost defiant. As early as 2d December, 1777, some months before our treaty with France, he declared, from his place in Parliament, that “the sovereignty of this country over America is abolished and gone forever”; that “they are determined at all events to be independent,and they will be so”; and that “all the treaty that this country can ever expect with America is federal, and that, probably, only commercial.” In this spirit he said to the House:—

“Until you shall be convinced that you are no longer sovereigns over America, but that the United States are an independent, sovereign people,—until you are prepared to treat with them as such,—it is of no consequence at all what schemes or plans of conciliation this side the House or that may adopt.”[533]

The position taken in Parliament he maintained by writings; and here he depicted the great destinies ofour country. He began with “A Memorial to the Sovereigns of Europe,” published early in 1780, and afterwards, through the influence of John Adams, while at the Hague, abridged and translated into French. In this remarkable production independence was the least that he claimed for us. Thus he foretells our future:—

“North America is become a new primary planet in the system of the world, which, while it takes its own course, in its own orbit, must have effect on the orbit of every other planet, and shift the common centre of gravity of the whole system of the European world. North America isde factoan independent power, which has taken its equal station with other powers, and must be sode jure.… The independence of America is fixed as Fate. She is mistress of her own fortune, knows that she is so, and will actuate that power which she feels she hath, so as to establish her own systemand to change the system of Europe.”[534]

Not only is the new power to take an independent place, but it is “to change the system of Europe.” For all this its people are amply prepared. “Standing on that high ground of improvement up to which the most enlightened parts of Europe have advanced, like eaglets they commence the first efforts of their pinions from a towering advantage.”[535]This same conviction appears in another form:—

“North America has advanced and is every day advancing to growth of state with a steady and continually accelerating motion, of which there has never yet been any example in Europe.”[536]“It is a vitality, liable indeed to many disorders, many dangerous diseases; but it is young and strong, and will struggle, by the vigor of internal healing principles oflife, against those evils, and surmount them.… Its strength will grow with its years.”[537]

He then dwells in detail on “the progressive population” of the country; on its advantage in lying “on another side of the globe, where it has no enemy”; on the products of the soil, among which is “bread-corn to a degree that has wrought it to a staple export for the supply of the Old World”; on the fisheries, which he calls “mines producing more solid riches to those who work them than all the silver of Potosi”; on the inventive spirit of the people; and on their commercial activity.[538]Of such a people it is easy to predict great things; and our prophet announces,—

1. That the new state will be “a great naval power,” exercising a peculiar influence on commerce, and, through commerce, on the political system of the Old World,—becoming the arbitress of commerce, and perhaps the mediatrix of peace.[539]

2. That ship-building and the science and art of navigation have made such progress in America that her people will be able to build and navigate cheaper than any country in Europe, even Holland, with all her economy.[540]

3. That the peculiar articles to be had from America only, and so much sought in Europe, must give Americans a preference in those markets.[541]

4. That a people “whose empire stands singly predominant in a great continent” can hardly “suffer in their borders the establishment of such a monopoly as the European Hudson’s Bay Company”; that it cannotbe stopped by Cape Horn or the Cape of Good Hope; that before long “they will be found trading in the South Sea and in China”; and that “the Dutch will hear of them in Spice Islands.”[542]

5. That by constant intercommunion of business and correspondence, and by increased knowledge with regard to the ocean, “America will seem every day to approach nearer and nearer to Europe”; that “a thousand attractive motives will … become the irresistible cause ofan almost general emigration to that New World”; and that “many of the most useful, enterprising spirits, and much of the active property, will go there also.”[543]

6. That “North America will become afree portto all the nations of the world indiscriminately, and will expect, insist on, and demand, in fair reciprocity, afree marketin all those nations with whom she trades”; and that, adhering to this principle, she must be, “in the course of time, the chief carrier of the commerce of the whole world.”[544]

7. That America must avoid complication with European politics, or “the entanglement of alliances,” having no connections with Europe “other than merely commercial”;[545]—all of which at a later day was put forth by Washington in his Farewell Address, when he said: “The great rule of conduct for us, in regard to foreign nations, is, in extending our commercial relations, to have with them as little political connection as possible”; and also when he asked: “Why, by interweaving our destiny with that of any part of Europe, entangleour peace and prosperity in the toils of European ambition, rivalship, interest, humor, or caprice?”[546]

8. That “the similar modes of living and thinking, the same manners and same fashions, the same language, and old habits of national love, impressed in the heart and not yet effaced,the very indentings of the fracture whereat North America stands broken off from England, all conspire naturally to a rejuncture by alliance.”[547]

9. That the sovereigns of Europe, who “have despised the unfashioned, awkward youth of America,” and have neglected to interweave their interests with the rising States, when they find the system of the new empire not only obstructing, but superseding, the old system of Europe, and crossing all their settled maxims, will call upon their ministers and wise men, “Come, curse me this people, for they are too mighty for me.”[548]

This remarkable appeal was followed by two Memorials, “drawn up solely for the King’s use, and designed solely for his eye,”[549]dated at Richmond, January 2, 1782, where the author most persuasively urges his Majesty to “treat with the Americans as with free statesde facto, under a truce.”[550]And on the signature of the treaty of peace he wrote a private letter to Franklin, dated at Richmond, 28th February, 1783, where he testifies to the magnitude of the event:—

“My old Friend,—I write this to congratulate you on the establishment of your country as a free and sovereign power, taking its equal station amongst the powers of this world. I congratulate you, in particular, as chosen by Providence to be a principal instrument of this greatRevolution,—a Revolution that has stronger marks of Divine interposition, superseding the ordinary course of human affairs, than any other event which this world has experienced.”[551]

The prophet closes his letter by allusion to a proposed tour of America, adding, that, “if there ever was an object worth the travelling to see, and worthy of the contemplation of a philosopher, it is that in which he may see the beginnings of a great empire at its foundation.” He communicated this purpose also to John Adams, who answered him, that “he would be received respectfully in every part of America, that he had always been considered as friendly to America, and that his writings had been useful to our cause.”[552]

Then came another work, first published in 1783, entitled “A Memorial addressed to the Sovereigns of America,” of which he gave the mistaken judgment to a private friend, that it was “the best thing he ever wrote.”[553]Here for the first time American citizens are called “sovereigns.” At the beginning he explains, and indicates the simplicity with which he addresses them:—

“Having presumed to address to the Sovereigns of Europe a Memorial, … permit me now to address this Memorial to you Sovereigns of America. I shall not address you with the court titles of Gothic Europe, nor with those of servile Asia. I will neither address your Sublimity or Majesty, your Grace or Holiness, your Eminence or Highmightiness, your Excellence or Honors. What are titles, where things themselves are known and understood? What title did theRepublic of Rome take? The state was known to be sovereign, and the citizens to be free. What could add to this glory? Therefore, United States and Citizens of America, I address you as you are.”[554]

Here again are the same constant sympathy with Liberty, the same confidence in our national destinies, and the same aspirations for our prosperity, mingled with warnings against disturbing influences. He exhorts that all our foundations should be “laid in Nature”; that there should be “no contention for, nor acquisition of, unequal domination in men”; and that union should be established on the attractive principle by which all are drawn to a common centre.[555]He fears difficulty in making the line of frontier between us and the British Provinces “a line of peace,” as it ought to be; he is anxious lest something may break out between us and Spain; and he suggests that possibly, “in the cool hours of unimpassioned reflection,” we may learn the danger of our “alliances,”[556]—referring plainly to that original alliance with France which at a later day was the occasion of such trouble. Two other warnings occur. One is against Slavery,[557]which is more memorable, because in an earlier Memorial he enumerates among articles of commerce “African slaves, carried by a circuitous trade in American shipping to the West India markets.”[558]The other warning is thus strongly expressed:—

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