Speaker 1: Part five of Common Sense by Thomas Payne. This LibriVox
Speaker 1: regarding is in the public domain of the present ability
Speaker 1: of America, with some miscellaneous reflections. I have never met
Speaker 1: with a man, either in England or America, who hath
Speaker 1: not confessed his opinion that a separation between the countries
Speaker 1: would take place one time or another. And there is
Speaker 1: no instance in which we have shown less judgment than
Speaker 1: in endeavoring to describe what we call the ripeness or
Speaker 1: fitness of the continent for independence. As all men allow
Speaker 1: the measure and very only in their opinion of the time.
Speaker 1: Let us, in order to remove mistakes, take a general
Speaker 1: survey of things, and endeavor, if possible, to find out
Speaker 1: the very time. But we need not go far. The
Speaker 1: inquiry ceases at once far the time hath found us
Speaker 1: the general concurrence, the glorious union of all things prove
Speaker 1: the fact it is not in numbers, but in unity
Speaker 1: that our great strength lies. Yet our present numbers are
Speaker 1: sufficient to repel the force of all the world. The
Speaker 1: continent hath at this time the largest body of armed
Speaker 1: and disciplined men of any power under heaven, and is
Speaker 1: just arrived at that pitch of strength in which no
Speaker 1: single colony is able to support itself, and the whole,
Speaker 1: when united, can accomplish the matter, and either more or
Speaker 1: less than this might be fatal in its effects. Our
Speaker 1: land force is already sufficient, and as to naval affairs,
Speaker 1: we cannot be insensible that Britain would never suffer an
Speaker 1: American man of war to be built while the continent
Speaker 1: remained in her hands. Wherefore we should be no forwarder
Speaker 1: and one hundred years hence in that branch than we
Speaker 1: are now. But the truth is we should be less so,
Speaker 1: because the timber of the country is every day diminishing,
Speaker 1: and that which will remain at last will be far
Speaker 1: off and difficult to procure. Were the continent crowded with inhabitants,
Speaker 1: her sufferings under the present circumstances would be intolerable. The
Speaker 1: more seaport towns we had, the more we should have
Speaker 1: both to defend and to lose. Our present numbers are
Speaker 1: so happily proportioned to our wants that no man need
Speaker 1: be idle. The diminution of trade affords an army, and
Speaker 1: the necessities of an army creates a new trade debts
Speaker 1: we have none, and whatever we may contract on this
Speaker 1: account will serve as a glorious memento of our virtue.
Speaker 1: Can we but leave posterity with a settled form of government,
Speaker 1: an independent constitution of its own The purchase at any
Speaker 1: price will be cheap. But to expend millions for the
Speaker 1: sake of getting a few vile acts repealed and routing
Speaker 1: the present ministry only is unworthy the charge, and is
Speaker 1: using posterity with the utmost cruelty, because it is leaving
Speaker 1: them the great work to do, and a debt upon
Speaker 1: their backs from which they derive no advantage. Such a
Speaker 1: thought is unworthy of a man of honor, and is
Speaker 1: the true characteristic of a narrow heart and a paddling politician.
Speaker 1: The debt we may contract doth not deserve our regard,
Speaker 1: if the work be but accomplished. No nation ought to
Speaker 1: be without a debt. A national debt is a notional bond,
Speaker 1: and when it bears no interest, is in no case
Speaker 1: a grievance. Britain is oppressed with a debt of upwards
Speaker 1: of one hundred and forty millions sterling, for which she
Speaker 1: pays upwards of four millions interest, and as a compensation
Speaker 1: for her debt, she has a large navy. America is
Speaker 1: without debt and without a navy, yet for the twentieth
Speaker 1: part of the English national debt could have a navy
Speaker 1: as large. Again, the Navy of England is not worth
Speaker 1: at this time more than three millions and a half sterling.
Speaker 1: The first and second editions of this pamphlet were published
Speaker 1: without the following calculations, which are now given as a
Speaker 1: proof that the above estimation of the navy is just
Speaker 1: the charge of building a ship of each rate and
Speaker 1: furnishing her with masts, yards, sails and rigging, together with
Speaker 1: a proportion of eight months boatsins and carpenter's sea stores,
Speaker 1: as calculated by mister Burchett, Secretary of the Navy, for
Speaker 1: a ship of one hundred guns pound sterling, thirty five thousand,
Speaker 1: five fifty three ninety guns, twenty nine thousand, eight eighty
Speaker 1: six eighty guns, twenty three thousand, six thirty eight seventy guns,
Speaker 1: seventeen thousand, seven hundred ninety five sixty guns, fourteen thousand,
Speaker 1: one hundred ninety seven fifty guns, ten thousand, six hundred
Speaker 1: six forty guns, seven thousand, five hundred fifty eight thirty guns,
Speaker 1: five thousand, eight hundred forty six twenty guns three thousand,
Speaker 1: seven hundred and ten, and from hence it is easy
Speaker 1: to sum up the value or cost rather of the
Speaker 1: whole British Navy, which in the year seventeen fifty seven,
Speaker 1: when it was at its greatest glory, consisted of the
Speaker 1: following ships and guns. Six ships one hundred guns cost
Speaker 1: of one thirty five thousand, five hundred and fifty three,
Speaker 1: cost of all two hundred and thirteen thousand, three hundred
Speaker 1: and eighteen twelve ships of ninety guns, cost of one
Speaker 1: twenty nine thousand, eight hundred and eighty six. Cost of
Speaker 1: all three hundred and fifty eight thousand, six hundred and
Speaker 1: thirty two twelve ships of eighty guns, cost of one
Speaker 1: twenty three thousand, six hundred and thirty eight. Cost of
Speaker 1: all two hundred and eighty three thousand, six hundred and
Speaker 1: fifty six forty three ships of seventy guns, cost of
Speaker 1: one seventeen thousand, seven hundred and eighty five. Cost of
Speaker 1: all seven hundred and sixty four thousand, seven hundred and
Speaker 1: fifty five thirty five ships of sixty guns, cost of
Speaker 1: one fourteen thousand, one hundred ninety seven cost of all
Speaker 1: four hundred and ninety six six thousand, eight hundred and
Speaker 1: ninety five forty ships of fifty guns cost of one
Speaker 1: ten thousand, six hundred and six. Cost of all four
Speaker 1: hundred and twenty four thousand, two hundred and forty forty
Speaker 1: five ships of forty guns, cost of one seven thousand,
Speaker 1: five hundred and fifty eight. Cost of all three hundred
Speaker 1: forty thousand, one hundred and ten fifty eight ships of
Speaker 1: twenty guns, cost of one three thousand, seven hundred and ten.
Speaker 1: Cost of all two hundred and fifteen thousand, one hundred
Speaker 1: eighty eighty five sloops, bombs and fire ships one with
Speaker 1: another cost of one two thousand. Cost of all one
Speaker 1: hundred and seventy thousand total cost three million, two hundred
Speaker 1: and sixty six thousand, seven hundred and eighty six remains
Speaker 1: for guns two hundred and thirty three thousand, two one
Speaker 1: hundred and fourteen costs of all three million, five hundred thousand.
Speaker 1: No country on the globe is so happily situated, or
Speaker 1: so internally capable of raising a fleet as America. Tar, timber,
Speaker 1: iron and cordage are her natural produce. We need go
Speaker 1: abroad for nothing whereas the Dutch, who make large profits
Speaker 1: by hiring out their ships of war to these Spaniards
Speaker 1: and Portuguese are obliged to import most of their materials
Speaker 1: they use. We ought to view the building of fleet
Speaker 1: as an article of commerce, it being the natural manufactory
Speaker 1: of this country. It is the best money we can
Speaker 1: lay out. A navy, when finished is worth more than
Speaker 1: it cost. And is that nice point in national policy
Speaker 1: in which commerce and protection are united. Let us build
Speaker 1: if we want them not, we can sell, and by
Speaker 1: that means replace our paper currency with ready gold and silver.
Speaker 1: In point of many a fleet, people in general run
Speaker 1: into great errors. It is not necessary that one fourth
Speaker 1: part should be sailors. The terrible privateer kept in Death
Speaker 1: stood the hottest engagement of any ship last year, yet
Speaker 1: had not twenty sailors on board, though her complement of
Speaker 1: men was upwards of two hundred. A few able and
Speaker 1: social sailors will soon instruct a sufficient number of active
Speaker 1: landmen in the common work of a ship. Wherefore, we
Speaker 1: never can be more capable to begin on maritime matters
Speaker 1: than now, while our timber is standing, our fisheries blocked up,
Speaker 1: and our sailors and shipwrights out of employ men of
Speaker 1: war of seventy and eighty guns were built forty years
Speaker 1: ago in New England, and why not the same now.
Speaker 1: Ship Building is America's greatest pride, and in which she
Speaker 1: will in time excel the whole world. The great empires
Speaker 1: of the East are mostly inland, and consequently excluded from
Speaker 1: the possibility of rivaling her. Africa is in a state
Speaker 1: of barbarism and no power. In Europe. Hath either such
Speaker 1: an extent of coast or such an internal supply of materials?
Speaker 1: Where nature hath given the one, she has withheld the
Speaker 1: other to America, only hath she been liberal on both.
Speaker 1: The vast empire of Russia is almost shut out from
Speaker 1: the sea, wherefore her boundless forests, her tar, iron, and cordage,
Speaker 1: are only articles of commerce. In point of safety, ought
Speaker 1: we be without a fleet? We are not the little
Speaker 1: people now which we were sixty years ago. At that
Speaker 1: time we might have trusted our property in the streets
Speaker 1: or fields, rather and slept securely without locks or bolts
Speaker 1: to our doors or windows. The case now is altered,
Speaker 1: and our methods of defense ought to improve with our
Speaker 1: increase of property. A common pirate twelve months ago might
Speaker 1: have come up the Delaware and laid the city of
Speaker 1: Philadelphia under instant contribution for what sum he pleased, And
Speaker 1: the same might have happened to other places. Nay, any
Speaker 1: daring fellow in a brig of fourteen or sixteen guns
Speaker 1: might have robbed the whole continent and carried off half
Speaker 1: a million of money. These are circumstances which demand our
Speaker 1: attention and point out the necessity of naval protection. Some
Speaker 1: perhaps will say that after we have made it up
Speaker 1: with Britain, she will protect us. Can we be so
Speaker 1: unwise as to mean that she shall keep a navy
Speaker 1: in our harbors for that purpose? Common sense will tell
Speaker 1: us that the power which hath endeavored to subdue us is,
Speaker 1: of all others the most improper to defend us. Conquest
Speaker 1: may be effected under the pretense of friendship, and ourselves,
Speaker 1: after a long and brave resistance, be at last cheated
Speaker 1: into slavery. And if her ships are not to be
Speaker 1: admitted into our harbors, I would ask how is she
Speaker 1: to protect us? A navy three or four thousand miles
Speaker 1: off can be of little use, and on sudden emergencies
Speaker 1: none at all. Wherefore, if we must hereafter protect ourselves,
Speaker 1: why not do it for ourselves? The English list of
Speaker 1: ships of war is long and formidable, but not a
Speaker 1: tenth part of them are at any one time fit
Speaker 1: for service, numbers of them not in being yet their
Speaker 1: names are pompously continued in the list. If only a
Speaker 1: plank be left of the ship, and not a fifth
Speaker 1: part of such as are fit for service, can be
Speaker 1: spared on any one stationed at one time. The East
Speaker 1: and West Indies, Mediterranean, Africa, and other parts over which
Speaker 1: Britain extends her claim make large demands upon her navy.
Speaker 1: From a mixture of prejudice and in attention, we have
Speaker 1: contracted a false notion respecting the navy of England, and
Speaker 1: have talked as if we should have the whole of
Speaker 1: it to encounter it once, and for that reason supposed
Speaker 1: that we must have one as large, which, not being
Speaker 1: instantly practicable, have been made use of by a set
Speaker 1: of disguised tories to discourage our beginning their own. Nothing
Speaker 1: can be farther from the truth than this, For if
Speaker 1: America had only a twentieth part of the naval force
Speaker 1: of Britain, she would be by far and overmatch for her,
Speaker 1: because as we neither have nor claim any foreign dominion,
Speaker 1: our whole force would be employed on our own coast,
Speaker 1: where we should, in the long run have two to
Speaker 1: one the advantage of those who had three or four
Speaker 1: thousand miles to sail over before they could attack us,
Speaker 1: and the same distance to return in order to refit
Speaker 1: and recruit. And although Britain, by her fleet hath a
Speaker 1: check over our trade to Europe, we have as large
Speaker 1: a one over her trade to the West Indies, which,
Speaker 1: by laying in the neighborhood of the continent, is entirely
Speaker 1: at its mercy. Some method might be fallen on to
Speaker 1: keep up a navy force in time of peace, if
Speaker 1: we should not judge it necessary to support a constant navy.
Speaker 1: If premiums were to be given to merchants to build
Speaker 1: and employ in their service ships mounted with twenty thirty,
Speaker 1: forty or fifty guns, the premiums to be in proportion
Speaker 1: to the loss of bulk to the merchants, fifty or
Speaker 1: sixty of those ships, with a few guardships on constant duty,
Speaker 1: would keep up a sufficient navy, And that without burdening
Speaker 1: ourselves with the evil so loudly complained of in England,
Speaker 1: of suffering their fleet in time of peace, to lie
Speaker 1: rotting in the docks. To unite the sinews of commerce
Speaker 1: and defense is sound policy, for when our strength and
Speaker 1: our riches play into each other's hand, we need fear
Speaker 1: no external enemy. In almost every article of defense we
Speaker 1: abound hemp flourishes even to rightness, so that we need
Speaker 1: not want cordage. Our urn is superior to that of
Speaker 1: other countries. Our small arms equal to any in the world.
Speaker 1: Cannon we can cast at pleasure, saltpeter and gunpowder we
Speaker 1: are every day producing. Our knowledge is hourly improving. Resolution
Speaker 1: is our inherent character, and courage hath never yet forsaken us. Wherefore,
Speaker 1: what is it that we want? Why is it that
Speaker 1: we hesitate from Britain? We can expect nothing but ruin.
Speaker 1: If she is once admitted to the government of America again,
Speaker 1: this continent will not be worth living in. Jealousies will
Speaker 1: be always rising, insurrections will be constantly happening, And who
Speaker 1: will go forth to quell them? Who will venture his
Speaker 1: life to reduce his own countrymen to a foreign obedience?
Speaker 1: The difference between Pennsylvania and Connecticut, respecting some unlocated lands
Speaker 1: shows the insignificance of a British government, and fully proves
Speaker 1: that nothing but continental authority can regulate continental matters. Another
Speaker 1: reason why the present time is preferable to all others
Speaker 1: is that the fewer our numbers are, the more land
Speaker 1: there is yet unoccupied, which, instead of being lavished by
Speaker 1: the king on his worthless dependence, may be hereafter applied
Speaker 1: not only to the discharge of the present debt, but
Speaker 1: to the constant support of our government. No nation under
Speaker 1: heaven hath such an advantage at this The infant state
Speaker 1: of the colonies, as it is called, so far from
Speaker 1: being against, is an argument in favor of independence. We
Speaker 1: are sufficiently numerous, and were we more so, we might
Speaker 1: be less united. It is a matter worthy of oportion
Speaker 1: that the more a country is peopled, the smaller their
Speaker 1: armies are. In military numbers, the ancients far exceeded the moderns,
Speaker 1: and the reason is evident, for trade being the consequence
Speaker 1: of population. Men become too much absorbed thereby to attend
Speaker 1: to anything else. Commerce diminishes the spirit both of patriotism
Speaker 1: and military defense, and history sufficiently informs us that the
Speaker 1: bravest achievements were always accomplished in the non age of
Speaker 1: a nation. With the increase of commerce, England hath lost
Speaker 1: its spirit. The city of London, notwithstanding its numbers, submits
Speaker 1: to continued insults with the patience of a coward. The
Speaker 1: more men have to lose, the less willing they are
Speaker 1: to venture. The rich are in general slaves to fear
Speaker 1: and submit to courtly power with the trembling duplicity of
Speaker 1: us spaniel. Youth is the see time of good habits,
Speaker 1: as well in nations as in individuals, it might be difficult,
Speaker 1: if not impossible, to form the continent into one government
Speaker 1: half a century. Hence, the vast variety of interests occasioned
Speaker 1: by an increase of trade and population would create confusion.
Speaker 1: Colony would be against colony, each being able might scorn
Speaker 1: each other's assistance. And while the proud and foolish gloried
Speaker 1: in their little distinctions, the wise would lament that the
Speaker 1: union had not been formed before. Wherefore the present time
Speaker 1: is the true time for establishing it. The intimacy which
Speaker 1: is contracted in infancy, and the friendship which is formed
Speaker 1: in misfortune or of all others, the most lasting and
Speaker 1: unalterable present union is marked with both these characters. We
Speaker 1: are young, and we have been distressed. But our concord
Speaker 1: hath withstood our troubles and fixes a memorable area for
Speaker 1: posterity to glory in the present time. Likewise is that
Speaker 1: peculiar time which never happens to a nation but once viz.
Speaker 1: The time of forming itself into a government. Most nations
Speaker 1: have let slip the opportunity, and by that means have
Speaker 1: been compelled to receive laws from their conquerors instead of
Speaker 1: making laws for themselves. First they had a king and
Speaker 1: then a form of government, whereas the articles or charter
Speaker 1: of government should be formed first and men delegated to
Speaker 1: execute them afterward. But from the errors of other nations,
Speaker 1: let us learn wisdom and lay hold of the present
Speaker 1: opportunity to begin government at the right end. When William
Speaker 1: the conqueror subdued England, he gave them law at the
Speaker 1: point of a sword. And until we consent that the
Speaker 1: seat of government in America be legally and authoritatively occupied,
Speaker 1: we shall be in danger of having it filled by
Speaker 1: some fortunate ruffian who may treat us in the same manner.
Speaker 1: And then where will be our freedom, where our property?
Speaker 1: As to religion. I hold it to be the indispensable
Speaker 1: duty of all government to protect all conscientious professors thereof,
Speaker 1: And I know of no other business which government hath
Speaker 1: to do therewith. Let a man throw aside that narrowness
Speaker 1: of soul, that selfishness of principle, which the niggards of
Speaker 1: all professions are so unwilling to part with, and he
Speaker 1: will be delivered of his fears. On that head. Suspicion
Speaker 1: is the companion of mean souls and the bane of
Speaker 1: all good society. For myself, I fully and conscientiously believe
Speaker 1: that it is the will of the Almighty that there
Speaker 1: should be diversity of religious opinions among us. It affords
Speaker 1: a larger feel for our Christian kindness. Were we all
Speaker 1: of one way of thinking, our religious dispositions would want
Speaker 1: matter for probation. And on this liberal principle, I look
Speaker 1: on the various denominations among us to be like children
Speaker 1: of the same family, differing only in what is called
Speaker 1: their Christian names. In page forty I threw out a
Speaker 1: few thoughts on the propriety of a continental charter, for
Speaker 1: I only presume to offer, hence not plans, And in
Speaker 1: this place I take the liberty of rementioning the subject
Speaker 1: by observing that a charter is to be understood as
Speaker 1: a bond of solemn obligation, which which the whole enters
Speaker 1: into to support the right of every separate part, whether
Speaker 1: of religion, personal freedom, or property. A firm bargain and
Speaker 1: a right reckoning makes long friends. In a former page,
Speaker 1: I likewise mentioned the necessity for a large and equal representation,
Speaker 1: and there is no political matter which more deserves our attention.
Speaker 1: A small number of electors or a small number of
Speaker 1: representatives are equally dangerous. But if the number of the
Speaker 1: representatives be not only small but unequal, the danger is increased.
Speaker 1: As an instance of this, I mentioned the following. When
Speaker 1: the associator's petition was before the House of Assembly of Pennsylvania,
Speaker 1: twenty eight members only were present, All the Bucks County
Speaker 1: members being eight, voted against it, and had seven of
Speaker 1: the Chester members done the same. The whole province had
Speaker 1: been governed by two counties only. And this danger it
Speaker 1: is always exposed to the unwarrantable stretch, likewise, which that
Speaker 1: House made in their last sitting to gain an undue
Speaker 1: authority over the delegates of that province. Or to warn
Speaker 1: the people at large how they trust power out of
Speaker 1: their own hands. A set of instructions to the delegates
Speaker 1: were put together, which, in point of sense in business,
Speaker 1: would have dishonored a schoolboy, And after being approved by
Speaker 1: a few, a very few without doors, were carried into
Speaker 1: the House, and there passed in behalf of the whole colony.
Speaker 1: Whereas did the whole colony know with what ill willed
Speaker 1: that house hath entered on some necessary public measures, they
Speaker 1: would not hesitate a moment to think them unworthy of
Speaker 1: such a trust. Imediate necessity makes many things convenient, which,
Speaker 1: if continued, we grow into oppression. Expedients and right are
Speaker 1: different things. When the calamities of America required a consultation,
Speaker 1: there was no methods so ready, or at that time
Speaker 1: so proper as to appoint persons from these several houses
Speaker 1: of Assembly for that purpose. And the wisdom with which
Speaker 1: they have proceeded hath preserved this continent from ruin. But
Speaker 1: as it is more than probable that we shall never
Speaker 1: be without a Congress, every well wisher to good order
Speaker 1: must own that the mode for choosing members of that
Speaker 1: body deserves consideration. And I put it as a question
Speaker 1: to those who make a study of mankind whether representation
Speaker 1: and election is not too great a power for one
Speaker 1: and the same body of men to possess. When we
Speaker 1: are planning for posterity, we are to remember that virtue
Speaker 1: is not hereditary. It is from our enemies that we
Speaker 1: often gain excellent maxims, and are frequently surprised into reason
Speaker 1: by their mistakes. Mister Cornwall, one of the Lords of
Speaker 1: the Treasury, treated the petition of the New York Assembly
Speaker 1: with contempt because that house, he said, consisted but of
Speaker 1: twenty six members, which trifling number, he argued, could not
Speaker 1: with decency be put for the whole. We thank him
Speaker 1: for his involuntary honesty to conclude, however strange it may
Speaker 1: appear to some, or how unwilling they may be to
Speaker 1: think so, matters not. But many strong and striking reasons
Speaker 1: may be given to show that nothing can settle our
Speaker 1: affairs so expeditiously as an open and determined declaration for independence,
Speaker 1: some of which are first. It is the custom of nations,
Speaker 1: when any too are at war, or some other powers
Speaker 1: not engaged in the quarrel, to step in as mediators
Speaker 1: and bring about the preliminaries of a peace. But while
Speaker 1: America calls herself the subject of Great Britain, no power,
Speaker 1: however well disposed she may be, can offer her mediation. Wherefore,
Speaker 1: in our present state we may quarrel on forever. Secondly,
Speaker 1: it is unreasonable to suppose that France or Spain will
Speaker 1: give us any kind of assistance if we mean only
Speaker 1: to make use of that assistance for the purpose of
Speaker 1: repairing the breach and strengthening the connection between Britain and America,
Speaker 1: because those powers would be sufferers by the consequences. Thirdly,
Speaker 1: while we profess ourselves the subjects of Britain, we must,
Speaker 1: in the eye of foreign nations, be considered as rebels.
Speaker 1: The precedent is somewhat dangerous to their peace, for men
Speaker 1: to be in arms under the name of subjects. We
Speaker 1: on the spot can solve the paradox, But to unite
Speaker 1: resistance and subjection requires an idea much to refined for
Speaker 1: common understanding. Fourthly, were a manifesto to be published and
Speaker 1: dispatched to foreign courts, setting forth the miseries we have
Speaker 1: endured and the peaceable methods we have ineffectually used for redress,
Speaker 1: declaring at the same time, that, not being able any
Speaker 1: longer to live happily or safely under the cruel disposition
Speaker 1: of the British Court, we had been driven to the
Speaker 1: necessity of breaking off all connections with her, at the
Speaker 1: same time assuring all such courts of our peaceable disposition
Speaker 1: toward them, and of our desire of entering into trade
Speaker 1: with him. Such a memorial would produce more more good
Speaker 1: effects to this continent, that if a ship were freighted
Speaker 1: with petitions to Britain under our present denomination of British subjects,
Speaker 1: we can neither be received nor heard abroad. The custom
Speaker 1: of all courts is against us, and will be so until,
Speaker 1: by an independence we take rank with other nations. These
Speaker 1: proceedings may at first appear strange and difficult, but like
Speaker 1: all other steps which we have already passed over, will
Speaker 1: in a little time become familiar and agreeable. And until
Speaker 1: an independence is declared, the continent will feel itself like
Speaker 1: a man who continues putting off some unpleasant business from
Speaker 1: day to day, yet knows it must be done, hates
Speaker 1: to set about it, wishes it over, and is continually
Speaker 1: haunted with the thoughts of its necessity. End Part five,