Speaker 1: Part six of Common Sense by Thomas Paine. This LibriVox
Speaker 1: recording is in the public domain Part six Appendix, since
Speaker 1: the publication of the first edition of this pamphlet, or
Speaker 1: rather on the same day on which it came out,
Speaker 1: the King's Speech made its appearance in this city. Had
Speaker 1: the spirit of prophecy directed the birth of this production,
Speaker 1: it could not have brought it forth at a more
Speaker 1: seasonable juncture or a more necessary time. The bloody mindedness
Speaker 1: of the one showed the necessity of pursuing the doctrine
Speaker 1: of the other men read by way of revenge, and
Speaker 1: this speech, instead of terrifying, prepared a way for the
Speaker 1: manly principles of independence. Ceremony or even silence, from whatever
Speaker 1: motive they may arise, have a hurtful tendency when they
Speaker 1: give the least degree of countenance to base and wicked performances. Wherefore,
Speaker 1: if this maxim be admitted, it naturally follows that the
Speaker 1: King's speech, as being a piece of finished villainy, deserved
Speaker 1: and still deserves a general execration, both by the Congress
Speaker 1: and the people. Yet, as the domestic tranquility of a
Speaker 1: nation depends greatly on the chastity of what may properly
Speaker 1: be called national manners. It is often better to pass
Speaker 1: some things over in silent disdain than to make use
Speaker 1: of such new methods of dislike as might introduce the
Speaker 1: least innovation on that guardian of our peace and safety.
Speaker 1: And perhaps it is chiefly owing to this prudent delicacy
Speaker 1: that the King's speech hath not before now suffered a
Speaker 1: public execution. The speech, if it may be called one,
Speaker 1: is nothing better than a wilful, audacious liable against the truth,
Speaker 1: the common good, and the existence of mankind. And it's
Speaker 1: a formal and pompous method of offering up human sacrifices
Speaker 1: to the pride of tyrants. But this general massacre of
Speaker 1: mankind is one of the privileges and the certain consequence
Speaker 1: of kings. Where As nature knows them not, they know
Speaker 1: not her. And although they are beings of our own creating,
Speaker 1: they know not us, and are become the gods of
Speaker 1: their creators. The speech hath one good quality wish is
Speaker 1: that it is not calculated to deceive. Neither can we
Speaker 1: even if we would be deceived by it. Brutality and
Speaker 1: tyranny appear on the face of it. It leaves us
Speaker 1: at no loss, and every line convinces, even in the
Speaker 1: moment of reading, that he who hunts the woods for
Speaker 1: prey the naked and untutored Indian, is less a savage
Speaker 1: than the King of Britain. Sir John Dalrymple, the putative
Speaker 1: father of a whining Jesuitical peace, fallaciously called the Address
Speaker 1: of the People of England to the inhabitants of America. Hath,
Speaker 1: perhaps from a vain supposition that the people here were
Speaker 1: to be frightened at the pomp and description of a king, given,
Speaker 1: though very unwisely on his part, the real character of
Speaker 1: the present one. But says this writer, if you are
Speaker 1: inclined to pay compliments to an administration which we do
Speaker 1: not complain of, meaning the Marquis of Rockingham's at the
Speaker 1: repeal of the Stamp Act, it is very unfair in
Speaker 1: you to withhold them from that prince by whose nod
Speaker 1: alone they were permitted to do anything. This is toryism
Speaker 1: with a witness here is idolatry, even without a mask.
Speaker 1: And he who can calmly hear and digest such a
Speaker 1: doctrine Hath forfeited his claim to rationality and apostate from
Speaker 1: the ardor of manhood, and ought to be considered as
Speaker 1: one who hath not only given up the proper dignity
Speaker 1: of man, but sunk himself beneath the rank of animals,
Speaker 1: and contemptibly crawl through the world like a worm. However,
Speaker 1: it matters very little now what the King of England
Speaker 1: either says or does. He hath wickedly broken through every
Speaker 1: moral and human obligation, trampled nature and conscience beneath his feet,
Speaker 1: and by a steady and constitutional spirit of insolence and
Speaker 1: cruelty procured for himself and universal hatred. It is now
Speaker 1: the interest of America to provide for herself. She hath
Speaker 1: already a large and young family, whom it is more
Speaker 1: her duty to take care of than to be granting
Speaker 1: away her property to support a power who is become
Speaker 1: a reproach to the names of men and Christians, Ye
Speaker 1: whose office it is to watch over the morals of
Speaker 1: a nation, of whatsoever sect or denomination ye are of,
Speaker 1: as well as ye who are more immediately the guardians
Speaker 1: of the public liberty. If ye wish to preserve your
Speaker 1: native country uncontaminated by European corruption, ye must in secret
Speaker 1: wish a separation, But leaving the moral part to private reflection,
Speaker 1: I shall chiefly confine my further remarks to the following heads, First,
Speaker 1: that it is the interest of America to be separated
Speaker 1: from Britain. Secondly, which is the easiest and most practicable
Speaker 1: plan reconciliation or independence. With some occasional remarks in support
Speaker 1: of the first, I would, if I judged it proper,
Speaker 1: produce the opinion of some of the ablest and most
Speaker 1: experienced men on this continent, and whose sentiments on that
Speaker 1: head are not yet publicly known. It is in reality
Speaker 1: a self evident position, or no nation in a state
Speaker 1: of foreign dependence, limited in its commerce and cramped and
Speaker 1: fettered in its legislative powers, can ever arrive at any
Speaker 1: material eminence. America doth not yet know what opulence is.
Speaker 1: And although the progress which she hath made stands unparalleled
Speaker 1: in the history of other nations, it is but childhood
Speaker 1: compared with what she would be capable of arriving at
Speaker 1: had she, as she ought, to have the legislative powers
Speaker 1: in her own hands. England is at this time proudly
Speaker 1: coveting what would do her no good were she to
Speaker 1: accomplish it, and the continent hesitating on a matter which
Speaker 1: will be her final ruin if neglected. It is the commerce,
Speaker 1: and not the conquest of America, by which England is
Speaker 1: to be benefited, and that would in a great measure continue,
Speaker 1: were the countries as independent of each other as France
Speaker 1: and Spain, because in many articles neither can go to
Speaker 1: a better market. But it is the independence of this
Speaker 1: country of Britain or any other, which is now the
Speaker 1: main and only object worthy of contention, and which, like
Speaker 1: all other truths discovered by necessity, will appear clearer and
Speaker 1: stronger every day, First because it will come to that
Speaker 1: one time or other. Secondly, because the longer it is delayed,
Speaker 1: the harder it will be to accomplish. I have frequently
Speaker 1: amused myself, both in public and private companies, with silently
Speaker 1: remarking the specious errors of those who speak without reflecting.
Speaker 1: And among the many which I have heard, the following
Speaker 1: seems the most general, viz. That had this rupture happened
Speaker 1: forty or fifty years hence, instead of now, the continent
Speaker 1: would have been more able to have shaken off the dependents,
Speaker 1: to which I reply that our military ability at this
Speaker 1: time arises from the experience gained in the last war,
Speaker 1: and which in forty our fifty years time would have
Speaker 1: been totally extinct. The continent would not by that time
Speaker 1: have had a general or even a military officer left,
Speaker 1: and we are those who may succeed us would have
Speaker 1: been as ignorant of martial affairs as the ancient Indians.
Speaker 1: And this single position closely attended to, will unanswerably prove
Speaker 1: that the present time is preferable to all others. The
Speaker 1: argument turns thus, at the conclusion of the last war,
Speaker 1: we had experience, but wanted numbers, and forty or fifty
Speaker 1: years hence we should have numbers without experience. Wherefore, the
Speaker 1: proper point of time must be some particular point between
Speaker 1: the two extremes, in which a sufficiency of the former
Speaker 1: remains and a proper increase of the latter is obtained,
Speaker 1: And that point of time is the present time. The
Speaker 1: reader will pardon this digression, as it does not properly
Speaker 1: come under the head I first set out with, and
Speaker 1: to which I again returned by the following position, viz.
Speaker 1: Should affairs be patched up with Britain, and she to
Speaker 1: remain the governing and sovereign power of America, which, as
Speaker 1: matters are now circumstanced, is giving up the point entirely.
Speaker 1: We shall deprive ourselves of the very means of sinking
Speaker 1: the debt we have, or may contract. The value of
Speaker 1: the back lands which some of the provinces are clandestinely
Speaker 1: deprived of by the unjust extension of the limits of Canada,
Speaker 1: valued only at five pounds sterling per hundred acres, amounts
Speaker 1: to upwards of twenty five millions Pennsylvania currency, and the
Speaker 1: quit rents, at one penny sterling per acre to two
Speaker 1: millions yearly. It is by the sale of those lands
Speaker 1: that the debt may be sunk without burden to any
Speaker 1: and the quit rent reserved thereon will always lessen, and
Speaker 1: in time will wholly support the yearly expensive government. It
Speaker 1: matters not how long the debt is in paying, so
Speaker 1: that the lands, when sold, be applied to the discharge
Speaker 1: of it, and for the execution of which the Congress
Speaker 1: for the time being will be the Continental Trustees. I
Speaker 1: proceed now to the second head, viz. Which is the
Speaker 1: easiest and most practicable plan reconciliation or independence. With some
Speaker 1: occasional remarks. He who takes nature for his guide is
Speaker 1: not easily beaten out of his argument, And on that
Speaker 1: ground I answer generally that independence, being a single simple
Speaker 1: line contained within ourselves, and reconciliation, a matter exceedingly perplexed
Speaker 1: and complicated, and in which a treacherous, capricious court is
Speaker 1: to interfere, gives the answer without a doubt. The present
Speaker 1: state of America is truly alarming to every man who
Speaker 1: is capable of reflection without law, without government, without any
Speaker 1: other mode of power than what is founded on and
Speaker 1: granted by courtesy, held together by an unexampled concurrence of sentiment,
Speaker 1: which which is nevertheless subject to change, and which every
Speaker 1: secret enemy is endeavoring to dissolve. Our present condition is
Speaker 1: legislation without law, wisdom without a plan, a constitution without
Speaker 1: a name, and what is strangely astonishing, perfect independence contending
Speaker 1: for dependence. The instance is without a precedent, the case
Speaker 1: never existing before, and who can tell what may be
Speaker 1: the event. The property of no man is secure in
Speaker 1: the present unbraced system of things. The mind of the
Speaker 1: multitude is left at random, and, seeing no fixed object
Speaker 1: before them, they pursue such as fancy or opinion starts.
Speaker 1: Nothing is criminal. There is no such thing as treason.
Speaker 1: Wherefore everyone thinks himself at liberty to act as he pleases.
Speaker 1: Storries dare not have assembled offensively had they known that
Speaker 1: their lives, by that act were forfeited to the laws
Speaker 1: of the state. A line of distinction should be drawn
Speaker 1: between English soldiers taken in battle and inhabitants of America
Speaker 1: taken in arms. The first are prisoners, but the latter traitors.
Speaker 1: The one forfeits his liberty, the other his head. Notwithstanding
Speaker 1: our wisdom, there is a visible feebleness in some of
Speaker 1: our proceedings, which give encouragement to dissensions. The continental belt
Speaker 1: is too loosely buckled, and if something is not done
Speaker 1: in time, it will be too late to do anything,
Speaker 1: and we shall fall into a state in which neither
Speaker 1: reconciliation nor independence will be practicable. The King and his
Speaker 1: worthless adherents are got at their old game of dividing
Speaker 1: the continent, and there are not wanting among us printers
Speaker 1: who will be busy in spreading specious falsehoods. The artful
Speaker 1: and hypocritical letter which appeared a few months ago in
Speaker 1: two of the New York papers, and likewise into others,
Speaker 1: is it evidence that there are men who want either
Speaker 1: judgment or honesty. It is easy getting into holes and
Speaker 1: corners and talking of reconciliation. But do such men seriously
Speaker 1: consider how difficult the task is, and how dangerous it
Speaker 1: may prove should the continent divide their own? Do they
Speaker 1: take within their view all the various orders of men
Speaker 1: whose situation and circumstances, as well as their own are
Speaker 1: to be considered? Therein, do they put themselves in the
Speaker 1: place of the sufferer whose all is already gone, and
Speaker 1: of the soldier who hath quitted all for the defense
Speaker 1: of his country. If their ill judged moderation be suited
Speaker 1: to the their own private situations only, regardless of others,
Speaker 1: the event will convince them that they are reckoning without
Speaker 1: their host. Put us, says some on the footing we
Speaker 1: were on in sixty three, to which I answer, the
Speaker 1: request is not now in the power of Britain to
Speaker 1: comply with, neither will she propose it. But if it were,
Speaker 1: and even should be granted, I ask, as a reasonable question,
Speaker 1: by what means is such a corrupt and faithless court
Speaker 1: to be kept to its engagements another parliament? Nay, even
Speaker 1: the present may hereafter repeal the obligation on the pretense
Speaker 1: of its being violently obtained, are unwisely granted. And in
Speaker 1: that case, where is our redress? No going to law
Speaker 1: with nations canon are the barristers of crowns, and the
Speaker 1: sword not of justice but of war decides the suit
Speaker 1: to be on the footing of sixty three, it is
Speaker 1: not sufficient that the laws only be put on the
Speaker 1: same state, but that our circumstances likewise be put on
Speaker 1: the same state. Our burnt and destroyed towns repaired, are
Speaker 1: built up, our private losses made good, our public debts
Speaker 1: contracted for defense discharged. Otherwise we shall be millions worse
Speaker 1: than we were at that enviable period. Such a request,
Speaker 1: had it been complied with a year ago, would have
Speaker 1: won the heart and soul of the continent. But now
Speaker 1: it is too late. The rubicon is past. Besides, the
Speaker 1: taking up arms merely to enforce the repeal of a
Speaker 1: pecuniary law seems as unwarrantable by the divine law and
Speaker 1: as repugnant to human feelings as the taking up arms
Speaker 1: to enforce obedience. Thereto the object on either side doth
Speaker 1: not justify the means, while the lives of men are
Speaker 1: too valuable to be cast away on such trifles. It
Speaker 1: is the violence which is done and threatened to our persons,
Speaker 1: the destruction of our property by an armed force, the
Speaker 1: invasion of our country by fire and sword, which conscientiously
Speaker 1: qualifies the use of arms, and the incident in which
Speaker 1: such a mode of defense became necessary. All subjection to
Speaker 1: Britain ought to have ceased, and the independence of America
Speaker 1: should have been considered as dating in air form and
Speaker 1: published by the first musket that was fired against her.
Speaker 1: This line is a line of consistency, neither drawn by
Speaker 1: caprice nor extended by ambition, but produced by a chain
Speaker 1: of events of which the colonies were not the authors.
Speaker 1: I shall conclude these remarks with the following timely and
Speaker 1: well intended hints. We ought to reflect that there are
Speaker 1: three different ways by which an independency may hereafter be affected,
Speaker 1: and that one of these three will, one day or
Speaker 1: other be the fate of America, viz. By the legal
Speaker 1: voice of the people in Congress, by a military power,
Speaker 1: or by a mob. It may not always happen that
Speaker 1: our soldiers are citizens, and the multitude a body of
Speaker 1: reasonable men virtue. As I have already remarked, is not hereditary,
Speaker 1: neither is it perpetual. Should an independency be brought about
Speaker 1: by the first of those means, we have every opportunity
Speaker 1: and every encouragement before us to form the noblest, purest
Speaker 1: constitution on the face of the earth. We have it
Speaker 1: in our power to begin the world over again. A
Speaker 1: situation similar to the present. Hath not happened since the
Speaker 1: days of Noah until now the birthday of a new
Speaker 1: world is at hand, and a race of men, perhaps
Speaker 1: as numerous as all Europe contains, or to receive their
Speaker 1: portion of freedom from the event of a few months.
Speaker 1: The reflection is awful, and in this point of view,
Speaker 1: how trifling, how ridiculous do the little paltry covailings of
Speaker 1: a few week or interested men appear when waited against
Speaker 1: the business of a world. Should we neglect the present
Speaker 1: favorable and inviting period, and an independency be here after
Speaker 1: affected by any other means, we must charge the consequence
Speaker 1: to ourselves, or to those rather whose narrow and prejudiced
Speaker 1: souls are habitually opposing the measure without either inquiring or reflecting.
Speaker 1: There are reasons to be given in support of independence,
Speaker 1: which men should rather privately think of than be publicly
Speaker 1: told of. We ought not now to be debating whether
Speaker 1: we shall be independent or not, but anxious to accomplish
Speaker 1: it on a firm, secure and honorable basis, and uneasy
Speaker 1: rather that it is not yet began upon every day
Speaker 1: convinces us of its necessity. Even the Tories, if such
Speaker 1: beings yet remain among us, should of all men be
Speaker 1: the most solicitous to promote it. Far as the appointment
Speaker 1: of committees at first protected them from popular rage, so
Speaker 1: a wise and well established form of government will be
Speaker 1: the only certain means of continuing it securely to them. Wherefore,
Speaker 1: if they have not virtue enough to be Whigs, they
Speaker 1: ought to have prudence enough to wish for independence. In short,
Speaker 1: independence is the only bond that can tie and keep
Speaker 1: us together. We shall then see our object, and our
Speaker 1: ears will be legally shut against the schemes of an
Speaker 1: intriguing as well as a cruel enemy. We shall then do,
Speaker 1: beyond a proper footing to treat with Britain, For there
Speaker 1: is reason to conclude that the pride of that court
Speaker 1: will be less hurt by treating with the American States.
Speaker 1: For terms of peace than with those whom she dominates
Speaker 1: rebellious subjects for terms of accommodation. It is our delaying
Speaker 1: it that encourages her to hope for conquest, and our
Speaker 1: backwardness tends only to prolong the war. As we have
Speaker 1: without any good effect, therefrom withheld our trade to obtain
Speaker 1: a redress of our grievances. Let us now try the alternative,
Speaker 1: by independently redressing them ourselves, and then offering to open
Speaker 1: the trade. The mercantile and rear part in England will
Speaker 1: still be with us, because peace with trade is preferable
Speaker 1: to war without it. And if this offer be not accepted,
Speaker 1: other courts may be applied to on these grounds. I
Speaker 1: rest the matter, And as no offer hath yet been
Speaker 1: made to refute the doctrine contained in the former editions
Speaker 1: of this pamphlet, it is a negative proof that either
Speaker 1: the doctrine cannot be refuted, or that the party in
Speaker 1: favor of it are too numerous to be opposed. Wherefore,
Speaker 1: instead of gazing at each other with suspicion or doubtful curiosity,
Speaker 1: let each of us hold out to his neighbor the
Speaker 1: hearty hand of friendship and unite in drawing a line which,
Speaker 1: like an act of oblivion, shall bury in forgetfulness every
Speaker 1: former dissension. Let the names of Whig and Tory be extinct,
Speaker 1: and let none other be heard among us than those
Speaker 1: of a good citizen, an open and resolute friend, and
Speaker 1: a virtuous supporter of the rights of mankind and of
Speaker 1: the free and independent states of America. To the representatives
Speaker 1: of the religious society of the people called Quakers, are
Speaker 1: to so many of them as were concerned in publishing
Speaker 1: the late piece entitled quote the ancient testimony and principles
Speaker 1: of the people called Quakers, renewed with respect to the
Speaker 1: King and Government, and touching the commotions now prevailing in
Speaker 1: these and other parts of America. Addressed to the people
Speaker 1: in general close quote. The writer of this is one
Speaker 1: of those few who never dishonors religion, either by ridiculing
Speaker 1: or cavaling at any denomination whatsoever to God and not
Speaker 1: to man. Are all men accountable on the score of religion.
Speaker 1: Wherefore this epistle is not so properly addressed to you
Speaker 1: as a religious but as a political body dabbling in
Speaker 1: matters which the professed quietude of your principles instruct you
Speaker 1: not to meddle with as you have without a proper authority.
Speaker 1: For so doing, put yourselves in the place of the
Speaker 1: whole body of the Quakers. So the writer of this,
Speaker 1: in order to be on an equal rank with yourselves,
Speaker 1: is under the necessity of putting himself in the place
Speaker 1: of all those who approve the very writings and principles
Speaker 1: against which your testimony is directed. And he hath chosen
Speaker 1: this singular situation in order that you might discover in
Speaker 1: him that presumption of character which you cannot see in yourselves.
Speaker 1: For neither he nor you can have any claim or
Speaker 1: title to political representation. When men have departed from the
Speaker 1: right way, it is no one that they stumble and fall.
Speaker 1: And it is evident that the manner in which ye
Speaker 1: have managed your testimony, that politics as a religious body
Speaker 1: of men, is not your proper walk. For however well
Speaker 1: adapted it might appear to you, it is nevertheless a
Speaker 1: jumble of good and bad put unwisely together. And the
Speaker 1: conclusion drawn therefrom both unnatural and unjust. The first two
Speaker 1: pages and the whole doth not make four. We give
Speaker 1: you credit for and expect the same civility from you,
Speaker 1: because the love and desire of peace is not confined
Speaker 1: to Quakerism. It is the natural as well the religious
Speaker 1: wish of all denominations of men. And on this ground,
Speaker 1: as men laboring to establish an independent constitution of our own,
Speaker 1: do we exceed all others in our hope, end and aim.
Speaker 1: Our plan is peace forever. We are tired of contention
Speaker 1: with Britain and can see no real end to it.
Speaker 1: But in a final separation we act consistently, because for
Speaker 1: the sake of introducing an endless and uninterrupted peace do
Speaker 1: we bear the evils and burdens of the present day.
Speaker 1: We are endeavoring, and will steadily continue to endeavor, to
Speaker 1: separate and dissolve a connection which hath already filled our
Speaker 1: land with blood, and which, while the name of it remains,
Speaker 1: will be the fatal cause of future mischiefs to both countries.
Speaker 1: We fight neither for revenge nor conquest, neither from pride
Speaker 1: nor passion. We are not insulting the world with our
Speaker 1: fleets and armies, nor ravaging the globe for plunder. Beneath
Speaker 1: the shade of our own vines. Are we attacked in
Speaker 1: our own houses and on our own lands. Is the
Speaker 1: violence committed against us. We view our enemies in the
Speaker 1: character of highwaymen and house breakers, and, having no defense
Speaker 1: for ourselves in the civil law, are obliged to punish
Speaker 1: them by the military one, and apply the sword in
Speaker 1: the very case where you have before now applied the halter.
Speaker 1: Perhaps we feel for the ruined and insulted sufferers in all,
Speaker 1: in every part of the continent, with a degree of
Speaker 1: tenderness which hath not yet made its way into some
Speaker 1: of your bosoms. But be ye sure that ye mistake
Speaker 1: not the cause and ground of your testimony, call not
Speaker 1: coldness of soul religion, nor put the bigot in the
Speaker 1: place of the Christian O, ye partial ministers of your
Speaker 1: own acknowledged principles. If the bearing arms be sinful, the
Speaker 1: first going to war must be more so by all
Speaker 1: the difference between willful attack an unavoidable defense. Wherefore, if
Speaker 1: ye really preach from conscience and mean not to make
Speaker 1: a political hobby horse of your religion, convince the world
Speaker 1: thereof by proclaiming your doctrine to our enemies, for they
Speaker 1: likewise bear arms. Give us proof of your sincerity by
Speaker 1: publishing it at Saint James to the commanders in chief
Speaker 1: at Boston, to the admirals and captains who are piratically
Speaker 1: ravaging our coasts, and to all the murdering miscreants who
Speaker 1: are acting in authority under him, whom ye profess to serve.
Speaker 1: Had ye the honest soul of Barclay, ye would preach
Speaker 1: repentance to your king, ye would tell the royal wretch
Speaker 1: his sins and warn him of eternal ruin. Ye would
Speaker 1: not spend your partial invectives upon the injured and the
Speaker 1: insulted alone, but like faithful ministers, would allowed and spare none.
Speaker 1: Say not that ye are persecuted. Neither endeavor to make
Speaker 1: us the authors of that reproach which ye are bringing
Speaker 1: upon yourselves. For we testify unto all men, that we
Speaker 1: do not complain against you because ye are Quakers, but
Speaker 1: because ye pretend to be and are not Quakers, alas
Speaker 1: it seems by the particular tendency of some part of
Speaker 1: your testimony and other parts of your conduct, as if
Speaker 1: all sin were reduced to and comprehended in the act
Speaker 1: of bearing arms, and that by the people only, ye
Speaker 1: appear to us to have mistaken party for conscience. Because
Speaker 1: the general tenor of your actions wants uniformity. And it
Speaker 1: is exceedingly difficult to us to give credit to many
Speaker 1: of your pretended scruples, because we see them made by
Speaker 1: the same men, who, in the very incident that they
Speaker 1: are exclaiming against the mammon of the world, are nevertheless
Speaker 1: hunting after it with a step as steady as time
Speaker 1: and an appetite as keen as death. The quotation which
Speaker 1: ye have made from Proverbs in the third page of
Speaker 1: your testimony, that quote, when a man's ways please the Lord,
Speaker 1: he maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him.
Speaker 1: Close quote is very unwisely chosen on your part, because
Speaker 1: it amounts to a proof that the king's ways, whom
Speaker 1: ye are desirous of supporting, do not please the Lord,
Speaker 1: otherwise his reign would be in peace. I now proceed
Speaker 1: to the latter part of your testimony, and that for
Speaker 1: which all the foregoing seems only an introduction viz. Quote.
Speaker 1: It hath ever been our judgment and principle since we
Speaker 1: were called to profess the light of Christ, Jesus manifested
Speaker 1: in our consciences unto this day that thee setting up
Speaker 1: and putting down kings and governments is God's peculiar prerogative
Speaker 1: for causes best known to himself, And that it is
Speaker 1: not our business to have any hand or contrivance therein,
Speaker 1: nor to be busy bodies above our station, much less
Speaker 1: to plot and contrive the ruin or overturn of any
Speaker 1: of them, but to pray for the king and safety
Speaker 1: of our nation and good of all men, that we
Speaker 1: may live a peaceable and quiet life in all godliness
Speaker 1: and honesty, under the government which God is pleased to
Speaker 1: set over us closed. If these are really your principles,
Speaker 1: why do ye not abide by them? Why do ye
Speaker 1: not leave that which ye call God's work to be
Speaker 1: managed by himself? These very principles instruct you to wait
Speaker 1: with patience and humility for the event of all public measures,
Speaker 1: and to receive that event as the Divine will towards you. Wherefore,
Speaker 1: what occasion is therefore your political testimony if you fully
Speaker 1: believe what it contains, and the very publishing it proves
Speaker 1: that either ye do not believe what ye profess, or
Speaker 1: have not virtue enough to practice what ye believe. The
Speaker 1: principles of Quakerism have a direct tendency to make a
Speaker 1: man the quiet and inoffensive subject of any and every
Speaker 1: government which is set over him. And if the setting
Speaker 1: up and putting down of kings and governments is God's
Speaker 1: peculiar prerogative, he most certainly will not be robbed thereof
Speaker 1: by us. Wherefore the principle itself leads you to approve
Speaker 1: of everything whichever happened or may happen to kings, as
Speaker 1: being his work. Oliver Cromwell, Thanks you. Charles then died
Speaker 1: not by the hand of men, and should the present
Speaker 1: proud imitator of him come to the same untimely end.
Speaker 1: The writers and publishers of the testimony are bound by
Speaker 1: the doctrine. It contains to applaud the fact kings are
Speaker 1: not taken away by miracles, neither are changes in governments
Speaker 1: brought about by any other means than such as are
Speaker 1: common and human, and such as we are now using.
Speaker 1: Even the dispersion of the Jews, though foretold by our Savior,
Speaker 1: was affected by arms. Wherefore, as ye refuse to be
Speaker 1: the means on one side, you ought not to be
Speaker 1: meddlers on the other, but to wait the issue in silence.
Speaker 1: And unless ye can produce divine authority to prove that
Speaker 1: the Almighty, who hath created and placed this new world
Speaker 1: at the greatest distance, who could possibly stand east and
Speaker 1: west from every part of the old doth nevertheless disapprove
Speaker 1: of its being independent of the corrupt and abandoned court
Speaker 1: of Britain. Unless I say, ye can show this, how
Speaker 1: can ye, on the ground of your principles, justify the
Speaker 1: exciting and stirring up the people? Quote firmly to unite
Speaker 1: in the abhorrence of all such writings and measures as
Speaker 1: evidence a desire and design to break off the happy
Speaker 1: connection we have hitherto enjoyed with the Kingdom of Great Britain,
Speaker 1: and our just and necessary subordination to the King and
Speaker 1: those who are lawfully placed in authority under him. Close quote.
Speaker 1: What a slap of the face is here? The men
Speaker 1: who in the very paragraph before have quietly and passively
Speaker 1: resigned up the ordering, altering and disposal of kings and
Speaker 1: governments into the hands of God, are now recalling their
Speaker 1: principles and putting in for a share of the business.
Speaker 1: Is it possible that the conclusion which is here justly
Speaker 1: quoted can any ways follow from their doctrine laid down?
Speaker 1: The inconsistency is too glaring not to be seen, the
Speaker 1: absurdity too great not to be laughed at, and such
Speaker 1: as could only have been made by those whose understandings
Speaker 1: were darkened by the narrow and crabby spirit of a
Speaker 1: despairing political party. For ye are not to be considered
Speaker 1: as the whole body of the Quakers, but only as
Speaker 1: a fractional and fractional part thereof. Here ends the examination
Speaker 1: of your testimony, which I call upon no man to
Speaker 1: abhor as ye have done, but only to read and
Speaker 1: judge a fairly to which I subjoin the following remark
Speaker 1: quote that the setting up and putting down of kings
Speaker 1: close quote most certainly mean the making him a king
Speaker 1: who is not yet so, and the making him no
Speaker 1: king who is already won. And pray, what hath this
Speaker 1: to do in the present case? We neither mean to
Speaker 1: set up nor to pull down, neither to make nor
Speaker 1: to unmake, but to have nothing to do with them. Wherefore,
Speaker 1: your testimony, in whatever light it is viewed, serves only
Speaker 1: to dishonor your judgment, and for many other reasons, had
Speaker 1: better have been let alone than published first, because it
Speaker 1: tends to the decrease and reproach of all religion whatever,
Speaker 1: and is of the utmost danger to society to make
Speaker 1: it a party in political disputes. Secondly, because it exhibits
Speaker 1: a body of men, numbers of whom disavow the publishing
Speaker 1: political testimonies as being concerned therein, and approves thereof. Thirdly,
Speaker 1: because it hath a tendency to undo that continental harmony
Speaker 1: and friendship which yourselves, by your late liberal and charitable donations,
Speaker 1: hath lent a hand to establish, and the preservation of
Speaker 1: which is of the utmost consequence to us all. And
Speaker 1: here without anger or resentment, I bid you farewell, sincerely,
Speaker 1: wishing that, as men and Christians, ye may always fully
Speaker 1: and uninterruptedly enjoy every civil and religious right, and be
Speaker 1: in your turn the means of securing it to others.
Speaker 1: But that the example which ye have unwisely set of
Speaker 1: mingling religion with politics may be disavowed and reprobated by
Speaker 1: every inhabitant of America. End of Part six end of
Speaker 1: Common Sense by Thomas Paine, read by Phil Schinevert