WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.560 --> 00:00:05.120 Chapter four of Common Sense by Thomas Payne. This LibriVox 2 00:00:05.160 --> 00:00:09.439 recording is in the public domain. Thoughts on the present 3 00:00:09.519 --> 00:00:14.679 state of American affairs in the following pages. I offer 4 00:00:14.759 --> 00:00:19.879 nothing more than simple facts, plain arguments, and common sense, 5 00:00:20.600 --> 00:00:23.920 and have no other preliminaries to settle with the reader 6 00:00:24.480 --> 00:00:28.640 than that he will divest himself of prejudice and prepossession, 7 00:00:29.320 --> 00:00:33.840 and suffer his reason and his feelings to determine for themselves, 8 00:00:34.439 --> 00:00:37.000 that he will put on, or rather that he will 9 00:00:37.000 --> 00:00:40.759 not put off, the true character of a man, and 10 00:00:40.960 --> 00:00:46.840 generously enlarge his views. Beyond the present day, volumes have 11 00:00:46.880 --> 00:00:49.520 been written on the subject of the struggle between England 12 00:00:49.520 --> 00:00:53.600 and America. Men of all ranks have embarked in the controversy, 13 00:00:53.719 --> 00:00:58.159 from different motives and with various designs, but all have 14 00:00:58.280 --> 00:01:04.359 been ineffectual, and the period of debate is closed. Arms 15 00:01:04.480 --> 00:01:09.640 as the last resource decide this contest. The appeal was 16 00:01:09.680 --> 00:01:12.879 the choice of the King and the continent. Hath accepted 17 00:01:13.000 --> 00:01:19.040 the challenge. It hath been reported of the late mister Pelham, who, 18 00:01:19.120 --> 00:01:22.560 though an able minister, was not without his faults, that 19 00:01:22.680 --> 00:01:25.519 on his being attacked in the House of Commons on 20 00:01:25.680 --> 00:01:30.000 the score that his measures were only of a temporary kind, replied, 21 00:01:30.640 --> 00:01:35.239 they will last my time. Should I thought so fatal 22 00:01:35.319 --> 00:01:39.239 and unmanly possess the colonies in the present contest, The 23 00:01:39.359 --> 00:01:44.319 name of ancestors will be remembered by future generations with detestation. 24 00:01:45.920 --> 00:01:49.439 The sun never shined on a cause of greater worth. 25 00:01:50.079 --> 00:01:52.959 Tis not only the affair of a city, a county, 26 00:01:53.000 --> 00:01:57.799 a providence, or a kingdom, but of a continent of 27 00:01:57.879 --> 00:02:02.159 at least one eighth of the happy, pitable globe. Tis 28 00:02:02.239 --> 00:02:05.439 not the concern of a day, a year, or an age. 29 00:02:06.000 --> 00:02:10.680 Posterity are virtually involved in the contest, and will be 30 00:02:10.719 --> 00:02:13.360 more or less affected even to the end of time 31 00:02:13.800 --> 00:02:19.039 by the proceedings. Now. Now is the seed time of 32 00:02:19.159 --> 00:02:25.199 continental union, faith and honor. The least fracture now will 33 00:02:25.240 --> 00:02:27.319 be like a name engraved with a point of a 34 00:02:27.360 --> 00:02:31.039 pin on the tender rhine of a young oak. The 35 00:02:31.080 --> 00:02:34.000 wound will enlarge with the tree, and posterity read it 36 00:02:34.479 --> 00:02:40.439 in full growth characters. By referring the matter from argument 37 00:02:40.520 --> 00:02:44.919 to arms, a new era for politics is struck. A 38 00:02:45.000 --> 00:02:50.319 new method of thinking hath arisen. All plans, proposals, et cetera. 39 00:02:50.719 --> 00:02:53.639 Prior to the nineteenth of April, that is, to the 40 00:02:53.680 --> 00:02:59.199 commencement of hostilities, are like the almanacs of the last year, which, 41 00:02:59.280 --> 00:03:04.400 though proper then, are superseded and useless now. Whatever was 42 00:03:04.439 --> 00:03:07.479 advanced by the advocates on either side of the question 43 00:03:07.639 --> 00:03:12.680 then terminated in one and the same point viz. A 44 00:03:12.879 --> 00:03:16.919 union with Great Britain. The only difference between the parties 45 00:03:17.039 --> 00:03:20.520 was the method of effecting it, the one proposing force, 46 00:03:20.879 --> 00:03:25.120 the other friendship. But it hath so far happened that 47 00:03:25.159 --> 00:03:29.759 the first hath failed, and the second hath withdrawn her influence. 48 00:03:31.719 --> 00:03:35.639 As much hath been said of the advantages of reconciliation, 49 00:03:35.960 --> 00:03:39.400 which like an agreeable dream, hath passed away and left 50 00:03:39.479 --> 00:03:42.439 us as we were. It is but right that we 51 00:03:42.479 --> 00:03:46.439 should examine the contrary side of the argument and inquire 52 00:03:46.560 --> 00:03:50.520 into some of the many material injuries which these colonies 53 00:03:50.599 --> 00:03:55.400 sustain and always will sustain, by being connected with and 54 00:03:55.520 --> 00:04:01.000 dependent on Great Britain. To examine that connection, dependence on 55 00:04:01.080 --> 00:04:04.439 the principles of nature and common sense, to see what 56 00:04:04.479 --> 00:04:07.879 we have to trust to if separated, and what we 57 00:04:07.919 --> 00:04:13.879 are to expect if dependent. I have heard it asserted 58 00:04:13.919 --> 00:04:17.480 by some that as America hath flourished under her former 59 00:04:17.519 --> 00:04:21.319 connection with Great Britain, but the same connection is necessary 60 00:04:21.360 --> 00:04:25.759 towards her future happiness and will always have the same effect. 61 00:04:26.720 --> 00:04:30.720 Nothing can be more fallacious than this kind of argument. 62 00:04:31.319 --> 00:04:33.800 We may as well assert that because a child has 63 00:04:33.920 --> 00:04:37.120 thrived upon milk, that it is never to have meat, 64 00:04:37.920 --> 00:04:40.519 or that the first twenty years of our lives is 65 00:04:40.560 --> 00:04:44.120 to become a president for the next twenty. But even 66 00:04:44.160 --> 00:04:47.720 this as admitting more than is true. For I answer 67 00:04:47.920 --> 00:04:52.480 roundly that America would have flourished as much and probably 68 00:04:52.560 --> 00:04:57.399 much more, had no European power had anything to do 69 00:04:57.480 --> 00:05:01.480 with her. The commerce by which she hath enriched herself 70 00:05:01.879 --> 00:05:04.920 are the necessities of life, and will always have a market, 71 00:05:05.000 --> 00:05:10.399 while eating is the custom of Europe. But she has 72 00:05:10.480 --> 00:05:15.600 protected us. Say some that she has engrossed us is true, 73 00:05:16.079 --> 00:05:19.800 and defended the continent at our expense as well as 74 00:05:19.839 --> 00:05:23.920 her own, is admitted, and she would have defended Turkey 75 00:05:24.040 --> 00:05:28.959 from the same motive viz. The sake of trade and dominion. 76 00:05:30.120 --> 00:05:34.199 Alas we have been long led away by ancient prejudices 77 00:05:34.240 --> 00:05:38.959 and made large sacrifices to superstition, we have boasted the 78 00:05:39.000 --> 00:05:43.279 protection of Great Britain without considering that her motive was interest, 79 00:05:43.680 --> 00:05:47.000 not attachment. That she did not protect us from our 80 00:05:47.279 --> 00:05:51.639 enemies on our account, but from her enemies on her 81 00:05:51.879 --> 00:05:55.759 own account, from those who had no quarrel with us 82 00:05:55.800 --> 00:05:59.120 on any other account, and who will always be our 83 00:05:59.240 --> 00:06:04.279 enemies on the same account. Let Britain waive her pretensions 84 00:06:04.279 --> 00:06:07.959 to the continent or the continent, throw off the dependents, 85 00:06:08.399 --> 00:06:10.920 and we should be at peace with France and Spain. 86 00:06:11.040 --> 00:06:14.920 Were they at war with Britain. The miseries of hanover 87 00:06:15.040 --> 00:06:21.480 last war ought to warn us against connections. It has 88 00:06:21.600 --> 00:06:25.399 lately been asserted in Parliament that the colonies have no 89 00:06:25.519 --> 00:06:29.319 relation to each other but through the parent country. That 90 00:06:29.519 --> 00:06:32.839 is that Pennsylvania and the Jerseys and so on for 91 00:06:32.920 --> 00:06:36.360 the rest are sister colonies by the way of England. 92 00:06:37.079 --> 00:06:41.079 This is certainly a very roundabout way of proving relationship, 93 00:06:41.560 --> 00:06:44.279 but it is the nearest and only true way of 94 00:06:44.360 --> 00:06:48.959 proving enemyship, if I may so call it. France and 95 00:06:49.040 --> 00:06:53.319 Spain never were, nor perhaps ever will be, our enemies 96 00:06:53.319 --> 00:06:58.079 as Americans, but as our being the subjects of Great Britain. 97 00:07:00.079 --> 00:07:04.399 But Britain is the parent country. Some say, then, the 98 00:07:04.439 --> 00:07:08.519 more shame upon her conduct. Even brutes do not devour 99 00:07:08.600 --> 00:07:13.319 their young, nor savages make war upon their families. Wherefore 100 00:07:13.480 --> 00:07:18.000 the assertion, if true, turns to her reproach. But it 101 00:07:18.079 --> 00:07:22.240 happens not to be true, or only partly so. And 102 00:07:22.319 --> 00:07:26.279 the phrase parent or mother country hath been just wittically 103 00:07:26.360 --> 00:07:29.920 adopted by the King and his parasites, with a low 104 00:07:30.160 --> 00:07:34.879 papistical design of gaining an unfair bias on the credulous 105 00:07:34.920 --> 00:07:38.920 weakness of our minds. Europe, and not England, is the 106 00:07:38.959 --> 00:07:43.480 parent country of America. This new world hath been the 107 00:07:43.600 --> 00:07:47.319 asylum for the persecuted lovers of civil and religious liberty 108 00:07:47.680 --> 00:07:52.040 from every part of Europe. Hither have they fled, not 109 00:07:52.079 --> 00:07:55.199 from the tender embraces of the mother, but from the 110 00:07:55.240 --> 00:07:58.639 cruelty of the monster. And it is so far true 111 00:07:58.639 --> 00:08:01.680 of England that the same in tyranny which drove the 112 00:08:01.759 --> 00:08:07.759 first immigrants from home pursues their descendants still in this 113 00:08:07.920 --> 00:08:11.759 extensive quarter of the globe. We forget the narrow limits 114 00:08:11.759 --> 00:08:15.000 of three hundred and sixty miles the extent of England, 115 00:08:15.519 --> 00:08:19.319 and carry our friendship on a larger scale. We claim 116 00:08:19.399 --> 00:08:24.879 brotherhood with every European Christian, and triumph in the generosity 117 00:08:25.079 --> 00:08:30.120 of the sentiment. It is pleasant to observe by what 118 00:08:30.319 --> 00:08:34.600 regular gradations we surmount the force of local prejudice as 119 00:08:34.639 --> 00:08:38.720 we enlarge our acquaintance with the world. A man born 120 00:08:38.799 --> 00:08:43.000 in any town in England divided into parishes will naturally 121 00:08:43.039 --> 00:08:47.480 associate most with his fellow parishioners, because their interest in 122 00:08:47.559 --> 00:08:50.759 many cases will be common, and distinguish him by the 123 00:08:50.840 --> 00:08:53.559 name of neighbor. If he meet him but a few 124 00:08:53.559 --> 00:08:56.799 miles from home, he drops the narrow idea of a 125 00:08:56.879 --> 00:09:00.519 street and salutes him by the name of town ownsman. 126 00:09:01.120 --> 00:09:03.240 If he travel out of the country and meet him 127 00:09:03.240 --> 00:09:06.519 in any other he forgets the minor divisions of street 128 00:09:06.600 --> 00:09:11.799 in town and calls him countryman, that is, countrymen. But 129 00:09:12.000 --> 00:09:16.279 if in their foreign excursions they should associate in France 130 00:09:16.399 --> 00:09:20.039 or any other part of Europe, their local remembrance would 131 00:09:20.039 --> 00:09:24.559 be enlarged into that of Englishmen, and, by a just 132 00:09:24.720 --> 00:09:29.200 parity of reasoning, all Europeans meeting in America or any 133 00:09:29.240 --> 00:09:33.879 other quarter of the globe, or Countrymen or England, Holland, 134 00:09:34.120 --> 00:09:38.039 Germany or Sweden, when compared with the whole, stand in 135 00:09:38.080 --> 00:09:41.480 the same places. On the larger scale which the divisions 136 00:09:41.480 --> 00:09:45.440 of street, town and country do, the smaller ones, distinctions 137 00:09:45.480 --> 00:09:51.559 too limited for continental minds. Not one third of the inhabitants, 138 00:09:51.600 --> 00:09:56.039 even of this province are of English descent. Wherefore I 139 00:09:56.159 --> 00:09:59.279 reprobate the phrase of parent or mother country applied to 140 00:09:59.320 --> 00:10:05.399 England only as being false, selfish, narrow, and un generous. 141 00:10:07.039 --> 00:10:10.720 But admitting that we were all of English descent, what 142 00:10:10.840 --> 00:10:16.120 does it amount to nothing? Britain, being now an open enemy, 143 00:10:16.679 --> 00:10:20.600 extinguishes every other name and title, And to say that 144 00:10:20.679 --> 00:10:25.360 reconciliation is our duty is truly forcical. The first King 145 00:10:25.399 --> 00:10:28.879 of England of the present line, William the Conqueror, was 146 00:10:28.919 --> 00:10:32.679 a Frenchman, and half the peers of England are descendants 147 00:10:32.759 --> 00:10:37.159 from the same country. Therefore, by the same method of reasoning, 148 00:10:37.799 --> 00:10:42.720 England ought to be governed by France. Much hath been 149 00:10:42.840 --> 00:10:46.440 said of the united strength of Britain and the colonies, 150 00:10:47.000 --> 00:10:50.720 that in conjunction they might bid defiance to the world. 151 00:10:51.559 --> 00:10:55.720 But this is mere presumption. The fate of war is uncertain. 152 00:10:56.320 --> 00:10:59.960 Neither do the expressions mean anything, for this continent would 153 00:11:00.159 --> 00:11:03.799 never suffer itself to be drained of inhabitants to support 154 00:11:03.840 --> 00:11:08.320 the British arms in either Asia, Africa or Europe. Besides, 155 00:11:09.000 --> 00:11:11.559 what have we to do with setting the world at defiance. 156 00:11:12.320 --> 00:11:17.159 Our plan is commerce, and that well attended to, will 157 00:11:17.240 --> 00:11:20.960 secure us the peace and friendship of all Europe. Because 158 00:11:21.120 --> 00:11:24.679 it is the interest of all Europe to have America 159 00:11:24.799 --> 00:11:28.639 a free port, her trade will always be a protection, 160 00:11:28.840 --> 00:11:32.960 and her barrenness of gold and silver secure her from invaders. 161 00:11:34.600 --> 00:11:38.679 I challenge the warmest advocate for reconciliation to show a 162 00:11:38.840 --> 00:11:43.559 single advantage that this continent can reap by being connected 163 00:11:43.600 --> 00:11:47.960 with Great Britain. I repeat the challenge. Not a single 164 00:11:48.080 --> 00:11:52.559 advantage is derived. Our corn will fetch its price in 165 00:11:52.679 --> 00:11:56.759 any market in Europe, and our imported goods must be 166 00:11:56.840 --> 00:12:00.960 paid for by them where we will. But the injuries 167 00:12:01.000 --> 00:12:05.279 and disadvantages we sustain by that connection are without number, 168 00:12:06.120 --> 00:12:09.200 and our duty to mankind at large, as well as 169 00:12:09.240 --> 00:12:15.080 to ourselves, instruct us to renounce the alliance, because any 170 00:12:15.120 --> 00:12:19.559 submission to our dependence on Great Britain tends directly to 171 00:12:19.639 --> 00:12:24.799 involve this continent in European wars and quarrels, and sets 172 00:12:24.919 --> 00:12:28.879 us at variance with nations who would otherwise seek our friendship, 173 00:12:29.399 --> 00:12:33.720 and against whom we have neither anger nor complaint. As 174 00:12:33.879 --> 00:12:36.919 Europe is our market for trade, we are to form 175 00:12:37.080 --> 00:12:40.559 no partial connection with any part of it. It is 176 00:12:40.679 --> 00:12:45.840 the true interest of America to steer clear of European contentions, 177 00:12:46.200 --> 00:12:49.600 which she can never do, while by her dependence on 178 00:12:49.639 --> 00:12:52.799 Britain she is made the make weight in the scale 179 00:12:52.840 --> 00:12:59.120 of British politics. Europe is too thickly planted with kingdoms 180 00:12:59.159 --> 00:13:02.080 to be long at peace, and whenever a war breaks 181 00:13:02.120 --> 00:13:05.720 out between England and any foreign power, the trade of 182 00:13:05.759 --> 00:13:10.600 America goes to ruin. Because of her connection with England, 183 00:13:11.480 --> 00:13:14.080 the next war may not turn out like the last, 184 00:13:14.159 --> 00:13:17.559 and should it not, the advocates for a reconciliation now 185 00:13:17.679 --> 00:13:22.279 will be wishing for separation then, because neutrality, in that 186 00:13:22.399 --> 00:13:26.200 case would be a safer convoy than a man of war. 187 00:13:27.200 --> 00:13:31.720 Everything that is right or natural pleads for separation. The 188 00:13:31.720 --> 00:13:35.559 blood of the slain, the weeping voice of nature cries 189 00:13:36.120 --> 00:13:41.120 tis time to part. Even the distance at which the 190 00:13:41.200 --> 00:13:45.159 Almighty hath placed England at America is a strong and 191 00:13:45.240 --> 00:13:48.440 natural proof that the authority of the one over the 192 00:13:48.480 --> 00:13:52.360 other was never the design of Heaven. The time likewise 193 00:13:52.440 --> 00:13:56.120 at which the continent was discovered adds weight to the argument, 194 00:13:56.679 --> 00:13:59.519 and the manner in which it was peopled increases. The 195 00:13:59.559 --> 00:14:04.240 force of the Reformation was preceded by the discovery of America, 196 00:14:04.679 --> 00:14:08.399 as if the Almighty graciously meant to open a sanctuary 197 00:14:08.480 --> 00:14:12.279 to the persecuted in future years, when home should afford 198 00:14:12.399 --> 00:14:17.600 neither friendship nor safety. The authority of Great Britain over 199 00:14:17.639 --> 00:14:21.440 this continent is a form of government which, sooner or 200 00:14:21.519 --> 00:14:25.360 later must have an end, And a serious mind can 201 00:14:25.440 --> 00:14:28.720 draw no true pleasure by looking forward under the painful 202 00:14:28.799 --> 00:14:33.399 and positive conviction that what he calls the present Constitution 203 00:14:34.240 --> 00:14:38.759 is merely temporary. As parents, we can have no joy 204 00:14:39.360 --> 00:14:44.039 knowing that this government is not sufficiently lasting to ensure 205 00:14:44.120 --> 00:14:48.600 anything which we may bequeath to posterity. And by a 206 00:14:48.639 --> 00:14:51.360 plain method of argument, as we are running the next 207 00:14:51.480 --> 00:14:54.279 generation inter debt, we ought to do the work of it. 208 00:14:54.799 --> 00:14:59.200 Otherwise we use them meanly and pitifully. In order to 209 00:14:59.240 --> 00:15:02.399 discover the law of our duty rightly, we should take 210 00:15:02.399 --> 00:15:05.279 our children in our hand and fix our station. A 211 00:15:05.279 --> 00:15:09.320 few years farther into life, that eminence will present a 212 00:15:09.399 --> 00:15:14.240 prospect which a few present fears and prejudices conceal from 213 00:15:14.240 --> 00:15:19.759 our sight. Though I would carefully avoid giving unnecessary offense, 214 00:15:20.399 --> 00:15:23.759 yet I am inclined to believe that all those who 215 00:15:24.000 --> 00:15:28.399 espouse the doctrine of reconciliation may be included within the 216 00:15:28.440 --> 00:15:33.000 following descriptions interested men who are not to be trusted, 217 00:15:33.639 --> 00:15:38.639 weak men who cannot see, prejudiced men who will not see. 218 00:15:39.159 --> 00:15:42.720 And a certain set of moderate men who think better 219 00:15:42.759 --> 00:15:47.000 of the European world than it deserves. And this last class, 220 00:15:47.039 --> 00:15:50.519 by an ill judged deliberation, will be the cause of 221 00:15:50.639 --> 00:15:54.759 more calamities to this continent than all the other three. 222 00:15:56.399 --> 00:15:58.879 It is the good fortune of many to live distant 223 00:15:58.919 --> 00:16:02.679 from the scene of sorrow. The evil is not sufficient 224 00:16:02.799 --> 00:16:06.600 brought to their doors to make them feel the precariousness 225 00:16:06.799 --> 00:16:11.279 with which all American property is possessed. But let our 226 00:16:11.320 --> 00:16:16.360 imaginations transport us for a few moments to Boston. That 227 00:16:16.679 --> 00:16:20.679 seat of wretchedness, will teach us wisdom and instruct us 228 00:16:20.720 --> 00:16:23.559 forever to renounce a power in whom we can have 229 00:16:23.679 --> 00:16:28.879 no trust. The inhabitants of that unfortunate city, who but 230 00:16:29.000 --> 00:16:32.919 a few months ago were in ease and affluence, have 231 00:16:33.120 --> 00:16:37.879 now no other alternative than to stay and starve, or 232 00:16:38.039 --> 00:16:42.399 turn and beg endangered by the fire of their friends. 233 00:16:42.440 --> 00:16:45.679 If they continue within the city and plundered by the soldiery. 234 00:16:45.759 --> 00:16:49.360 If they leave it in their present condition, they are 235 00:16:49.440 --> 00:16:53.720 prisoners without the hope of redemption, and in a general 236 00:16:53.799 --> 00:16:57.159 attack for their relief they would be exposed to the 237 00:16:57.200 --> 00:17:03.559 fury of both armies. Men of passive tempers, look somewhat 238 00:17:03.679 --> 00:17:07.880 lightly over the offenses of Britain, and still hoping for 239 00:17:07.960 --> 00:17:11.240 the best, are apt to call out, Calm, Calm, we 240 00:17:11.359 --> 00:17:15.480 shall be friends again for all this, But examine the 241 00:17:15.599 --> 00:17:20.559 passions and feelings of mankind, bring the doctrine of reconciliation 242 00:17:20.759 --> 00:17:24.160 to the touchstone of nature, and then tell me whether 243 00:17:24.279 --> 00:17:28.680 you can hereafter love, honor, and faithfully serve the power 244 00:17:28.799 --> 00:17:33.119 that hath carried fire and sword into your land. If 245 00:17:33.119 --> 00:17:37.440 you cannot do all these, then you are only deceiving yourselves, 246 00:17:38.119 --> 00:17:43.039 and by your delay, bringing ruin upon posterity. Your future 247 00:17:43.039 --> 00:17:46.000 connection with Britain, whom you can neither love nor honor, 248 00:17:46.440 --> 00:17:50.839 will be forced and unnatural, and, being formed only on 249 00:17:50.920 --> 00:17:54.640 the plan of present convenience, will in a little time 250 00:17:55.240 --> 00:17:59.400 fall into a relapse more wretched than the first. But 251 00:17:59.559 --> 00:18:02.759 if you say you can still pass the violations over, 252 00:18:03.319 --> 00:18:07.559 then I ask, hath your house been burnt? Hath your 253 00:18:07.720 --> 00:18:11.720 property been destroyed before your face, or your wife and 254 00:18:11.839 --> 00:18:14.960 children destitute of a bed to lie on? Are bread 255 00:18:14.960 --> 00:18:18.039 to live on? Have you lost a parent or a 256 00:18:18.160 --> 00:18:22.319 child by their hands? And yourself the ruined and wretched survivor? 257 00:18:23.119 --> 00:18:26.680 If you have not, then you are not a judge 258 00:18:26.680 --> 00:18:30.720 of those who have. But if you have and still 259 00:18:30.839 --> 00:18:34.640 can shake hands with the murderers, then are you unworthy 260 00:18:34.640 --> 00:18:38.160 of the name of husband, father, friend, or lover? And 261 00:18:38.200 --> 00:18:41.240 whatever may be your rank or title in life? You 262 00:18:41.559 --> 00:18:44.640 have the heart of a coward and the spirit of 263 00:18:44.720 --> 00:18:50.839 a sycophant. This is not inflaming or exaggerating matters, but 264 00:18:51.000 --> 00:18:55.319 trying them by those feelings and affections which nature justifies 265 00:18:55.759 --> 00:18:59.079 and without which we would be incapable of discharging the 266 00:18:59.160 --> 00:19:03.319 social deeds of life. Are enjoying the felicities of it. 267 00:19:04.160 --> 00:19:06.799 I mean not to exhibit horror for the purpose of 268 00:19:06.839 --> 00:19:13.079 provoking revenge, but to awaken us from fatal and unmanly slumbers, 269 00:19:13.559 --> 00:19:18.839 that we may pursue determinedly some fixed object. It is 270 00:19:18.880 --> 00:19:21.079 not in the power of Britain or of Europe to 271 00:19:21.119 --> 00:19:25.319 conquer America if she do not conquer herself by delay 272 00:19:25.519 --> 00:19:31.359 and timidity. The present winter is worth an age if 273 00:19:31.480 --> 00:19:36.319 rightly employed, but if lost are neglected, the whole continent 274 00:19:36.480 --> 00:19:40.680 will partake of the misfortune. And there is no punishment 275 00:19:41.039 --> 00:19:44.559 which that man will not deserve. Be he who are 276 00:19:44.680 --> 00:19:48.079 what aware he will that may be the means of 277 00:19:48.160 --> 00:19:53.880 sacrificing a season so precious and useful. It is repugnant 278 00:19:53.920 --> 00:19:58.039 to reason, to the universal order of things, to all 279 00:19:58.079 --> 00:20:03.480 examples from former ages, to suppose that this continent can 280 00:20:03.599 --> 00:20:08.480 longer remain subject to an external power. The most sanguine 281 00:20:08.519 --> 00:20:12.079 in Britain does not think so. The utmost stretch of 282 00:20:12.160 --> 00:20:16.480 human wisdom cannot at this time compass a plan short 283 00:20:16.519 --> 00:20:21.720 of separation which can promise the continent even a year's security. 284 00:20:22.680 --> 00:20:29.480 Reconciliation is now a fallacious dream. Nature hath deserted the connection, 285 00:20:29.720 --> 00:20:34.039 and art cannot supply her place. Far as Milton wisely expresses, 286 00:20:34.799 --> 00:20:39.279 never can true reconcilement grow where wounds of deadly hate 287 00:20:39.359 --> 00:20:44.599 have pierced so deep. Every quiet method for peace hath 288 00:20:44.720 --> 00:20:50.279 been ineffectual. Our prayers have been rejected with disdain, and 289 00:20:50.480 --> 00:20:54.559 only tended to convince us that nothing flatters vanity or 290 00:20:54.599 --> 00:20:59.960 confirms obstinacy in kings more than repeated petitioning and noting 291 00:21:00.279 --> 00:21:03.799 hath contributed more than that very measure to make the 292 00:21:03.880 --> 00:21:09.599 kings of Europe absolute witness Denmark and Sweden. Wherefore, since 293 00:21:09.680 --> 00:21:13.240 nothing but blows will do for God's sake, let us 294 00:21:13.279 --> 00:21:16.920 come to a final separation and not leave the next 295 00:21:16.960 --> 00:21:21.079 generation to be cutting throats under the violated, unmeaning names 296 00:21:21.119 --> 00:21:26.559 of parent and child. To say they will never attempt 297 00:21:26.599 --> 00:21:30.359 it again is idle and visionary. We thought so at 298 00:21:30.400 --> 00:21:33.160 the repeal of the Stamp Act, Yet a year or 299 00:21:33.200 --> 00:21:37.880 two undeceived us as well. May we suppose that nations 300 00:21:38.000 --> 00:21:41.559 which have been once defeated will never renew the quarrel 301 00:21:42.759 --> 00:21:45.240 As to government matters. It is not in the power 302 00:21:45.279 --> 00:21:49.119 of Britain to do this continent justice. The business of 303 00:21:49.200 --> 00:21:52.039 it will soon be too weighty and intricate to be 304 00:21:52.160 --> 00:21:55.839 managed with any tolerable degree of convenience by a power 305 00:21:55.960 --> 00:21:59.319 so distant from us and so very ignorant of us. 306 00:22:00.119 --> 00:22:04.200 If they cannot conquer us, they cannot govern us. To 307 00:22:04.240 --> 00:22:07.319 be always running three or four thousand miles with a 308 00:22:07.400 --> 00:22:11.079 tail or a petition, waiting four or five months for 309 00:22:11.160 --> 00:22:14.960 an answer, which, when obtained, requires five or six more 310 00:22:15.000 --> 00:22:18.279 to explain it. In will in a few years be 311 00:22:18.319 --> 00:22:23.039 looked upon as folly and childishness. There was a time 312 00:22:23.160 --> 00:22:26.160 when it was proper, and there is a proper time 313 00:22:26.400 --> 00:22:31.240 for it to cease. Small islands, not capable of protecting 314 00:22:31.279 --> 00:22:34.720 themselves are the proper objects for kingdoms to take under 315 00:22:34.759 --> 00:22:39.160 their care. But there is something very absurd in supposing 316 00:22:39.240 --> 00:22:44.000 a continent to be perpetually governed by an island. In 317 00:22:44.079 --> 00:22:47.599 no instance, hath nature made the satellite larger than its 318 00:22:47.640 --> 00:22:51.519 primary planet, and its England and America with respect to 319 00:22:51.599 --> 00:22:55.400 each other, reverses the common order of nature. It is 320 00:22:55.440 --> 00:23:00.759 evident they belong to different systems, England to Europe, America 321 00:23:00.839 --> 00:23:06.920 to itself. I am not induced by motives of pride, party, 322 00:23:07.240 --> 00:23:12.200 or resentment to espouse the doctrine of separation and independence. 323 00:23:13.000 --> 00:23:18.720 I am clearly, positively and conscientiously persuaded that it is 324 00:23:18.799 --> 00:23:22.319 the true interest of this continent to be so that 325 00:23:22.640 --> 00:23:27.000 everything short of that is mere patchwork, that it can 326 00:23:27.039 --> 00:23:31.400 afford no lasting felicity, that it is leaving the sword 327 00:23:31.440 --> 00:23:34.559 to our children, and shrinking back at a time when 328 00:23:34.799 --> 00:23:38.200 a little more, a little farther would have rendered this 329 00:23:38.400 --> 00:23:44.240 continent the glory of the Earth. As Britain hath not 330 00:23:44.400 --> 00:23:49.359 manifested the least inclination towards a compromise. We may be 331 00:23:49.400 --> 00:23:53.440 assured that no terms can be obtained worthy the acceptance 332 00:23:53.559 --> 00:23:57.240 of the continent are any ways equal to the expensive 333 00:23:57.319 --> 00:24:02.039 blood and treasure we have been already put two. The 334 00:24:02.359 --> 00:24:06.759 object contended for ought always to bear some just proportion 335 00:24:07.000 --> 00:24:11.160 to the expense. The removal of North, or the whole 336 00:24:11.240 --> 00:24:16.200 detestable Junto, is a matter unworthy the millions we have expended. 337 00:24:17.079 --> 00:24:22.119 A temporary stoppage of trade was an inconvenience which would 338 00:24:22.160 --> 00:24:25.839 have sufficiently balanced the repeal of all the acts complained of, 339 00:24:26.440 --> 00:24:30.519 had such repeals been obtained. But if the whole continent 340 00:24:30.799 --> 00:24:34.839 must take up arms, if every man must be a soldier, 341 00:24:35.359 --> 00:24:38.000 it is scarcely worth our while to fight against a 342 00:24:38.079 --> 00:24:43.720 contemptible ministry. Only dearly, dearly do we pay for the 343 00:24:43.799 --> 00:24:46.920 repeal of the ax if that is all we fight 344 00:24:47.000 --> 00:24:51.519 for for In a just estimation, it is as great 345 00:24:51.640 --> 00:24:54.640 a folly to pay a bunker hill price for law 346 00:24:54.799 --> 00:24:59.920 as for land. As I have always considered the independency 347 00:25:00.160 --> 00:25:03.720 of this continent as an event which sooner or later 348 00:25:03.799 --> 00:25:08.000 must arrive, so from the late rapid progress of the 349 00:25:08.039 --> 00:25:13.839 continent to maturity, the event could not be far off. Wherefore, 350 00:25:14.400 --> 00:25:17.480 on the breaking out of hostilities, it was not worth 351 00:25:17.599 --> 00:25:21.319 while to have disputed a matter which time would have 352 00:25:21.440 --> 00:25:26.599 finally redressed, unless we meant to be in earnest. Otherwise, 353 00:25:26.799 --> 00:25:29.759 it is like wasting an estate on a suited law 354 00:25:30.440 --> 00:25:33.960 to regulate the trespasses of a tenant whose lease is 355 00:25:34.200 --> 00:25:39.839 just expiring. No man was a warmer wisher for reconciliation 356 00:25:39.960 --> 00:25:44.440 than myself before the fatal nineteenth of April seventeen seventy five. 357 00:25:45.279 --> 00:25:48.039 But the moment the event of that day was made known, 358 00:25:48.759 --> 00:25:54.079 I rejected the hardened, sullen, tempered pharaoh of England forever, 359 00:25:54.680 --> 00:25:57.799 and disdained the wretch that, with the pretended title of 360 00:25:58.039 --> 00:26:02.240 father of his people can unfeelingly hear of their slaughter 361 00:26:02.839 --> 00:26:08.519 and composedly sleep with their blood upon his soul. By 362 00:26:08.559 --> 00:26:11.759 admitting that matters were now made up, what would be 363 00:26:11.880 --> 00:26:16.720 the event? I answer the ruin of the continent, and 364 00:26:16.759 --> 00:26:22.359 that for several reasons. First, the powers of governing still 365 00:26:22.440 --> 00:26:25.319 remaining in the hands of the king, he will have 366 00:26:25.480 --> 00:26:29.960 a negative over the whole legislation of this continent. And 367 00:26:30.039 --> 00:26:33.519 as he hath shown himself such an inveterate enemy to 368 00:26:33.640 --> 00:26:38.839 liberty and discovered such a thirst for arbitrary power? Is 369 00:26:38.880 --> 00:26:41.960 he or is he not a proper man to say 370 00:26:42.039 --> 00:26:46.720 to these colonies, you shall make no laws but what 371 00:26:47.079 --> 00:26:51.920 I please? And is there any inhabitant in America so 372 00:26:52.200 --> 00:26:55.680 ignorant as not to know that, according to what is 373 00:26:55.759 --> 00:27:00.640 called the present Constitution, that this continent can make no 374 00:27:00.839 --> 00:27:04.440 laws but what the King gives leave to. And is 375 00:27:04.480 --> 00:27:08.799 there any man so unwise as not to see that, 376 00:27:09.440 --> 00:27:13.319 considering what has happened, he will suffer no law to 377 00:27:13.359 --> 00:27:18.160 be made here, but such as suit his purpose. We 378 00:27:18.240 --> 00:27:21.920 may be as effectually enslaved by the want of laws 379 00:27:21.960 --> 00:27:25.960 in America as by submitting two laws made for us 380 00:27:25.960 --> 00:27:30.000 in England. After matters are made up, as it is called, 381 00:27:30.720 --> 00:27:34.000 can there be any doubt but the whole power of 382 00:27:34.039 --> 00:27:38.240 the Crown will be exerted to keep this continent as 383 00:27:38.400 --> 00:27:43.000 low and humble as possible. Instead of going forward, we 384 00:27:43.039 --> 00:27:48.680 shall go backward, or be perpetually quarreling or ridiculously petitioning. 385 00:27:49.400 --> 00:27:52.480 We are already greater than the King wishes us to be. 386 00:27:53.039 --> 00:27:55.960 And will he not hereafter endeavor to make us less? 387 00:27:56.880 --> 00:27:59.599 To bring the matter to one point is the power 388 00:27:59.640 --> 00:28:03.440 who is jealous of our prosperity a proper power to 389 00:28:03.640 --> 00:28:08.759 govern us. Whoever says no to this question is an independent. 390 00:28:09.400 --> 00:28:13.960 For independency means no more than whether we shall make 391 00:28:14.000 --> 00:28:18.000 our own laws, or whether the King, the greatest enemy 392 00:28:18.319 --> 00:28:22.640 this continent hath or can have, shall tell us there 393 00:28:22.720 --> 00:28:28.759 shall be no laws but such as I like. But 394 00:28:28.960 --> 00:28:32.720 the King, you say, has a negative in England, the 395 00:28:32.759 --> 00:28:36.920 people there can make no laws without his consent. In 396 00:28:37.119 --> 00:28:41.599 point of right and good order, there is something very 397 00:28:41.720 --> 00:28:46.160 ridiculous that a youth of twenty one, which hath often happened, 398 00:28:46.640 --> 00:28:50.079 shall say to several millions of people older and wiser 399 00:28:50.119 --> 00:28:53.880 than himself, I forbid this or that act of yours 400 00:28:53.920 --> 00:28:58.599 to be law. But in this place I decline this 401 00:28:58.680 --> 00:29:02.440