WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.240 --> 00:00:06.080 Part five of Common Sense by Thomas Paine. This is 2 00:00:06.120 --> 00:00:10.160 a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. 3 00:00:10.480 --> 00:00:15.519 For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org. 4 00:00:17.039 --> 00:00:25.480 Read by Bobnefeld. Common Sense by Thomas Paine, Part five Appendix. 5 00:00:27.719 --> 00:00:30.800 Since the publication of the first edition of this pamphlet, 6 00:00:31.280 --> 00:00:33.520 or rather on the same day in which it came out, 7 00:00:34.079 --> 00:00:37.960 the King's Speech made its appearance in this city. Had 8 00:00:38.000 --> 00:00:41.280 the spirit of prophecy directed the birth of this production, 9 00:00:41.880 --> 00:00:44.079 it could not have brought it forth at a more 10 00:00:44.159 --> 00:00:48.880 seasonable juncture or at a more necessary time. The bloody 11 00:00:48.960 --> 00:00:52.520 mindedness of the one shows the necessity of pursuing the 12 00:00:52.600 --> 00:00:57.079 doctrine of the other men read by way of revenge, 13 00:00:57.840 --> 00:01:01.840 and the speech instead of tariff, prepared a way for 14 00:01:01.880 --> 00:01:07.560 the manly principles of independence. Ceremony, and even silence. From 15 00:01:07.599 --> 00:01:11.319 whatever motives they may arise, have a hurtful tendency when 16 00:01:11.359 --> 00:01:14.159 they give the least degree of countenance to the base 17 00:01:14.239 --> 00:01:19.239 and wicked performances. Wherefore, if this maxim is admitted, it 18 00:01:19.400 --> 00:01:22.959 naturally follows that the King's speech, as being a piece 19 00:01:23.000 --> 00:01:28.040 of finished villainy, deserved and still deserves a general execration, 20 00:01:28.640 --> 00:01:33.200 both by the Congress and the people. Yet, as the 21 00:01:33.239 --> 00:01:37.120 domestic tranquility of a nation depends greatly on the chastity 22 00:01:37.280 --> 00:01:41.200 of what may properly be called national manners, it is 23 00:01:41.280 --> 00:01:44.879 often better to pass some things over in silent disdain 24 00:01:45.200 --> 00:01:48.120 than to make use of such new methods of dislike 25 00:01:48.400 --> 00:01:52.680 as might introduce the least innovation on that guardian of 26 00:01:52.680 --> 00:01:57.680 our peace and safety. And perhaps it is chiefly owing 27 00:01:57.719 --> 00:02:00.920 to this prudent delicacy that the key speech hath not 28 00:02:01.120 --> 00:02:06.480 before now suffered a public execution. The speech, if it 29 00:02:06.519 --> 00:02:09.840 may be called one, is nothing better than a wilful, 30 00:02:09.919 --> 00:02:14.240 audacious libel against the truth, the common good, and the 31 00:02:14.280 --> 00:02:18.919 existence of mankind, and is a formal and pompous method 32 00:02:18.960 --> 00:02:22.759 of offering up human sacrifices to the pride of tyrants. 33 00:02:23.479 --> 00:02:26.520 But this general massacre of mankind is one of the 34 00:02:26.599 --> 00:02:31.479 privileges and certain consequences of kings. For as nature knows 35 00:02:31.520 --> 00:02:35.360 them not, they know not her. And although they are 36 00:02:35.479 --> 00:02:39.520 beings of our own creating, they know not us, and 37 00:02:39.639 --> 00:02:44.199 are become gods of their creators. The speech hath one 38 00:02:44.240 --> 00:02:48.280 good quality, which is that it is not calculated to deceive. 39 00:02:49.240 --> 00:02:53.080 Neither can we, even if we would be deceived by it. 40 00:02:54.000 --> 00:02:57.639 Brutality and tyranny appear on the face of it. It 41 00:02:57.800 --> 00:03:02.759 leaves us at no loss, and every line convinces, even 42 00:03:02.800 --> 00:03:05.280 in the moment of reading, that he who hunts the 43 00:03:05.319 --> 00:03:09.919 woods for prey the naked and untutored Indian, is less 44 00:03:09.960 --> 00:03:15.159 a savage than the King of Britain. Sir John Dalrymble, 45 00:03:15.400 --> 00:03:19.960 the putative father of a whining Jesuitical peace, fallaciously called 46 00:03:20.360 --> 00:03:23.520 the Address of the People of England to the inhabitants 47 00:03:23.520 --> 00:03:27.960 of America. Hath perhaps from a vain supposition, that the 48 00:03:28.000 --> 00:03:30.360 people here were to be frightened at the pomp and 49 00:03:30.400 --> 00:03:35.159 description of a king given, though very unwisely on his part, 50 00:03:35.599 --> 00:03:39.840 the real character of the present one. But says the writer, 51 00:03:40.479 --> 00:03:43.719 if you are inclined to pay compliments to an administration 52 00:03:43.800 --> 00:03:47.240 which we do not complain of, meaning the Marquis of 53 00:03:47.319 --> 00:03:50.479 Rockingham's at the repeal of the Stamp Act, it is 54 00:03:50.719 --> 00:03:54.039 very unfair in you to withhold them from that prince 55 00:03:54.199 --> 00:03:57.759 by whose not alone they were permitted to do anything. 56 00:03:59.360 --> 00:04:04.080 This is toryism with a witness. Here is idolatry, even 57 00:04:04.199 --> 00:04:08.719 without a mask. And he who can calmly hear and 58 00:04:08.840 --> 00:04:13.639 digest such doctrine. Hath forfeited his claim to rationality and 59 00:04:13.759 --> 00:04:16.920 apostate from the order of manhood, and ought to be 60 00:04:17.040 --> 00:04:19.800 considered as one who hath not only given up the 61 00:04:19.839 --> 00:04:24.079 proper dignity of man, but sunk himself beneath the rank 62 00:04:24.120 --> 00:04:30.759 of animals and contemptibly crawl through the world like a worm. However, 63 00:04:31.480 --> 00:04:33.959 it matters very little now what the King of England 64 00:04:34.000 --> 00:04:38.360 either says or does. He hath wickedly broken through every 65 00:04:38.519 --> 00:04:42.879 moral and human obligation, trampled nature and conscience beneath his feet, 66 00:04:43.199 --> 00:04:47.560 and by a steady and constitutional spirit of insolence and cruelty, 67 00:04:48.120 --> 00:04:53.120 procured for himself an universal hatred. It is now the 68 00:04:53.199 --> 00:04:57.639 interest of America to provide for herself. She hath already 69 00:04:57.639 --> 00:05:00.519 a large and young family, whom it is more her 70 00:05:00.639 --> 00:05:03.560 duty to take care of than to be granting away 71 00:05:03.639 --> 00:05:06.879 her property to support a power who has become a 72 00:05:06.959 --> 00:05:11.360 reproach to the names of men and Christians. Ye who's 73 00:05:11.439 --> 00:05:13.959 offered it is to watch over the morals of a 74 00:05:14.040 --> 00:05:17.639 nation of whatsoever sect or denomination ye are of, as 75 00:05:17.680 --> 00:05:20.439 well as ye who are more Immediately the gardens of 76 00:05:20.439 --> 00:05:24.079 the public liberty. If ye wish to preserve your native 77 00:05:24.160 --> 00:05:29.120 country uncontaminated by European corruption, you must in secret wish 78 00:05:29.160 --> 00:05:34.240 a separation. But leaving the moral part to private reflection, 79 00:05:34.959 --> 00:05:41.160 I shall chiefly confine my father remarks to the following head, First, 80 00:05:41.759 --> 00:05:43.879 that it is in the interest of America to be 81 00:05:43.959 --> 00:05:48.680 separated from Britain. Secondly, which is the easiest and most 82 00:05:48.759 --> 00:05:55.560 practicable plan, reconciliation or independence. With some occasional remarks in 83 00:05:55.600 --> 00:05:59.199 support of the first, I could, if I judged it proper, 84 00:05:59.480 --> 00:06:02.279 produce the opinion of some of the ablest and most 85 00:06:02.360 --> 00:06:06.360 experienced men on the continent, and whose sentiments on that 86 00:06:06.519 --> 00:06:11.199 head are not yet publicly known. It is in reality 87 00:06:11.439 --> 00:06:15.519 a self evidence position, for no nation in a state 88 00:06:15.560 --> 00:06:19.639 of foreign dependence, limited in its commerce and prampt and 89 00:06:19.720 --> 00:06:23.480 fettered in its legislative powers, can ever arrive at any 90 00:06:23.639 --> 00:06:28.800 material eminence. America does not yet know what opulence is, 91 00:06:29.759 --> 00:06:33.399 And although the progress which she hath made stands unparalleled 92 00:06:33.399 --> 00:06:36.639 in the history of other nations, it is but childhood 93 00:06:36.920 --> 00:06:39.480 compared with what she would be capable of arriving at 94 00:06:39.879 --> 00:06:43.839 had she, as she ought, to have the legislative powers 95 00:06:43.879 --> 00:06:48.800 in her own hands. England is at this time proudly 96 00:06:48.959 --> 00:06:51.639 coveting what would do her no good were she to 97 00:06:51.680 --> 00:06:55.480 accomplish it, and the continent hesitating on a matter which 98 00:06:55.519 --> 00:07:00.480 will be her final ruin if neglected. It is the commerce, 99 00:07:00.879 --> 00:07:04.360 and not the conquest of America, by which England is 100 00:07:04.399 --> 00:07:08.079 to be benefited, and that would in great measure continue 101 00:07:08.279 --> 00:07:11.360 were the countries as independent of each other as France 102 00:07:11.399 --> 00:07:15.920 and Spain, because in many articles neither can go to 103 00:07:16.000 --> 00:07:20.040 a better market. But it is the independence of this country, 104 00:07:20.040 --> 00:07:23.279 of Britain or of any other, which is now the 105 00:07:23.319 --> 00:07:27.920 main and only object worthy of contention, and which, like 106 00:07:28.000 --> 00:07:32.319 all other truths discovered by necessity, will appear clearer and 107 00:07:32.480 --> 00:07:36.680 stronger every day. First because it will come to that 108 00:07:36.920 --> 00:07:41.920 one time or other. Secondly, because the longer it is delayed, 109 00:07:42.199 --> 00:07:46.160 the harder it will be to accomplish. I have frequently 110 00:07:46.199 --> 00:07:50.680 amused myself, both in public and private companies, with silently 111 00:07:50.759 --> 00:07:54.680 remarking the specious errors of those who speak without reflecting, 112 00:07:55.240 --> 00:07:58.519 And among the many which I have heard, the following 113 00:07:58.639 --> 00:08:02.439 seems the most general. That is that had this rupture 114 00:08:02.480 --> 00:08:06.000 happened forty of fifty years, hence, instead of now the 115 00:08:06.120 --> 00:08:08.879 continent would have been more able to have shaken off 116 00:08:08.920 --> 00:08:14.319 the dependence, to which I reply that our military ability 117 00:08:14.480 --> 00:08:17.839 at this time arises from the experience gained in the 118 00:08:17.920 --> 00:08:21.439 last war, and which in forty or fifty years time 119 00:08:21.879 --> 00:08:26.120 would have been totally extinct. The continent would not by 120 00:08:26.160 --> 00:08:29.199 that time have had a general or even a military 121 00:08:29.240 --> 00:08:33.879 officer left, and we or those who may succeed us, 122 00:08:34.159 --> 00:08:37.000 would have been as ignorant of martial matters as the 123 00:08:37.039 --> 00:08:42.320 ancient Indians. And this single position, closely attended to, will 124 00:08:42.399 --> 00:08:47.039 unanswerably prove that the present time is preferable to all others. 125 00:08:47.519 --> 00:08:51.440 The argument turns thus that the conclusion of the last 126 00:08:51.440 --> 00:08:55.360 war we had experience, but wanted numbers, and forty of 127 00:08:55.480 --> 00:09:00.960 fifty years hence we should have numbers without experience. Wherefore, 128 00:09:01.399 --> 00:09:04.720 the proper point of time must be some particular point 129 00:09:04.759 --> 00:09:07.919 between the two extremes, in which a sufficiency of the 130 00:09:08.000 --> 00:09:12.200 former remains and a proper increase of the latter is obtained, 131 00:09:12.879 --> 00:09:17.600 and that point of time is the present time. The 132 00:09:17.639 --> 00:09:21.240 reader will pardon this discretion, as it does not properly 133 00:09:21.279 --> 00:09:23.679 come under the head I first set out with, and 134 00:09:23.759 --> 00:09:27.600 to which I again returned by the following position, which is, 135 00:09:28.360 --> 00:09:31.120 should affairs be patched up with Britain, and she to 136 00:09:31.159 --> 00:09:34.720 remain the governing and sovereign power of America, which, as 137 00:09:34.759 --> 00:09:38.080 matters are now circumstance is giving up the point entirely. 138 00:09:38.720 --> 00:09:41.919 We shall deprive ourselves of the very means of sinking 139 00:09:41.960 --> 00:09:46.039 the debt we have, or may contract the value of 140 00:09:46.080 --> 00:09:49.639 the back lands which some of the provinces are clandestinely 141 00:09:49.679 --> 00:09:53.440 deprived of by the unjust extension of the limits of Canada, 142 00:09:54.120 --> 00:09:58.200 valued at only five pounds sterling per hundred acres, amount 143 00:09:58.279 --> 00:10:02.720 to upwards of twenty five million Pennsylvania currency, and the 144 00:10:02.799 --> 00:10:06.000 quit rents at one penny sterling per acre to two 145 00:10:06.080 --> 00:10:10.480 millions yearly. It is by the sale of these lands 146 00:10:10.519 --> 00:10:13.639 that the debt may be sunk without burthen to any 147 00:10:14.080 --> 00:10:17.919 and the quit brent reserved thereon will always lessen, and 148 00:10:18.039 --> 00:10:21.559 in time will wholly support the yearly expense of government. 149 00:10:22.679 --> 00:10:25.360 It matters not how long the debt is in paying, 150 00:10:25.879 --> 00:10:29.159 so that the lands, when sold, be applied to the 151 00:10:29.200 --> 00:10:32.559 discharge of it, and for the execution of which the 152 00:10:32.679 --> 00:10:36.759 Congress for the time being will be the Continental Trustees. 153 00:10:38.200 --> 00:10:42.039 I proceed now to the second head, that is which 154 00:10:42.200 --> 00:10:47.240 is the easiest and most practicable plan, reconciliation or independence. 155 00:10:47.919 --> 00:10:52.240 With some occasional remarks, he who takes nature for his 156 00:10:52.440 --> 00:10:56.279 guide is not easily beaten out of his argument. And 157 00:10:56.399 --> 00:11:00.519 on that ground I answer generally that in the dependence 158 00:11:00.759 --> 00:11:05.639 being a single simple line contained within ourselves, and reconciliation 159 00:11:06.200 --> 00:11:10.600 a matter exceedingly perplexed and complicated, and in which a treacherous, 160 00:11:10.600 --> 00:11:15.320 capricious court is to interfere, gives the answer without a doubt. 161 00:11:16.240 --> 00:11:19.720 The present state of America is truly alarming to every 162 00:11:19.759 --> 00:11:24.240 man who is capable of reflection without law, without government, 163 00:11:24.840 --> 00:11:27.600 without any other mode of power than what is founded 164 00:11:27.639 --> 00:11:32.120 on and granted by courtesy, held together by an unexampled 165 00:11:32.240 --> 00:11:37.039 concurrence of sentiment, which is nevertheless subject to change, and 166 00:11:37.320 --> 00:11:41.960 which every secret enemy is endeavoring to dissolve. Our present 167 00:11:42.000 --> 00:11:47.480 condition is legislation without law, wisdom without a plan, a 168 00:11:47.559 --> 00:11:52.519 constitution without a name, and what is strangely astonishing, perfect 169 00:11:52.639 --> 00:11:58.600 independence contending for dependence. The instance is without a precedent, 170 00:11:59.159 --> 00:12:02.679 the case never existed before, and who can ta what 171 00:12:02.879 --> 00:12:07.039 may be the event? The property of no man is 172 00:12:07.120 --> 00:12:11.240 secure in the present unbraced system of things, the mind 173 00:12:11.279 --> 00:12:14.399 of the multitude is left at brandom, and seeing no 174 00:12:14.600 --> 00:12:18.519 fixed object before them, they pursue such as fancy. An 175 00:12:18.519 --> 00:12:23.559 opinion starts. Nothing is criminal. There is no such thing 176 00:12:23.639 --> 00:12:28.279 as treason. Wherefore every one thinks himself at liberty to 177 00:12:28.320 --> 00:12:33.039 act as he pleases. The Tories dared not have assembled offensively, 178 00:12:33.399 --> 00:12:36.759 had they known that their lives, by that act were 179 00:12:36.840 --> 00:12:39.840 forfeited to the laws of the state. A line of 180 00:12:39.879 --> 00:12:43.600 distinction should be drawn between English soldiers taken in battle 181 00:12:43.919 --> 00:12:48.240 and inhabitants of America taken in arms. The first are prisoners, 182 00:12:48.639 --> 00:12:53.279 the latter traitors. The one forfeits his liberty, the other 183 00:12:53.879 --> 00:12:59.559 his head. Notwithstanding our wisdom, there is a visible feebleness 184 00:12:59.559 --> 00:13:03.120 in some of our proceedings, which gives encouragement to dissensions. 185 00:13:03.919 --> 00:13:08.519 The continental belt is too loosely buckled, and if something 186 00:13:08.600 --> 00:13:11.080 is not done in time, it will be too late 187 00:13:11.120 --> 00:13:13.960 to do anything, and we shall fall into a state 188 00:13:14.240 --> 00:13:18.519 in which neither reconciliation nor independence will be practicable. The 189 00:13:18.639 --> 00:13:22.000 King and his worthless adherents are got at their old 190 00:13:22.120 --> 00:13:25.799 game of dividing the continent, and there are not wanting 191 00:13:25.840 --> 00:13:30.639 among us printers who will be busy in spreading specious falsehoods. 192 00:13:31.440 --> 00:13:34.960 The artful and hypocritical letter which appeared a few months 193 00:13:34.960 --> 00:13:37.840 ago in two of the New York papers, and likewise 194 00:13:37.919 --> 00:13:41.600 into others, is an evidence that there are men who 195 00:13:41.639 --> 00:13:46.120 want either judgment or honesty. It is easy getting into 196 00:13:46.159 --> 00:13:50.480 holes and corners and talking of reconciliation. But do such 197 00:13:50.600 --> 00:13:54.720 men seriously consider how difficult the task is, and how 198 00:13:54.840 --> 00:14:00.360 dangerous it may prove should the continent divide. Thereon, they 199 00:14:00.440 --> 00:14:03.879 take within their view all the various orders of men, 200 00:14:04.039 --> 00:14:08.000 whose situation and circumstances, as well as their own are 201 00:14:08.080 --> 00:14:12.000 to be considered. Therein, do they put themselves in the 202 00:14:12.039 --> 00:14:16.120 place of the sufferber, whose all is already gone, and 203 00:14:16.240 --> 00:14:19.360 of the soldier who has quitted all for the defense 204 00:14:19.399 --> 00:14:23.480 of his country. If their ill judged moderation be suited 205 00:14:23.519 --> 00:14:27.360 to their own private situations only, regardless of others, the 206 00:14:27.480 --> 00:14:31.759 event will convince them that they are reckoning without their 207 00:14:31.799 --> 00:14:36.240 host put us, says some on the footing we were 208 00:14:36.279 --> 00:14:40.279 on in sixty three, to which I answer, the request 209 00:14:40.360 --> 00:14:43.039 is not now in the power of Britain to comply with, 210 00:14:43.639 --> 00:14:47.519 neither will she propose it. But if it were, and 211 00:14:47.639 --> 00:14:51.200 even should be granted, I ask as a reasonable question, 212 00:14:51.799 --> 00:14:54.919 by what means is such a corrupt and faithless court 213 00:14:54.960 --> 00:14:59.600 to be kept to its engagements another parliament? Nay, even 214 00:14:59.639 --> 00:15:03.960 the press may hereafter repeal the obligation on the pretense 215 00:15:04.039 --> 00:15:08.200 of its being violently obtained or unwisely granted. And in 216 00:15:08.279 --> 00:15:13.200 that case, where is our redress? No going to law 217 00:15:13.279 --> 00:15:17.480 with nations cannon are the barristers of crowns, and the 218 00:15:17.600 --> 00:15:21.960 sword not of justice but of war decides the suit 219 00:15:22.720 --> 00:15:25.639 to be on the footing of sixty three. It is 220 00:15:25.720 --> 00:15:28.360 not sufficient that the laws only be put on the 221 00:15:28.399 --> 00:15:32.279 same state, but that our circumstances likewise be put on 222 00:15:32.360 --> 00:15:36.639 the same state. Our burnt and destroyed towns, repaired or 223 00:15:36.679 --> 00:15:41.159 built up, our private losses, made good, our public debts, 224 00:15:41.360 --> 00:15:47.399 contracted for defense discharged. Otherwise we shall be millions worse 225 00:15:47.440 --> 00:15:51.240 than we were at that enviable period. Such a request, 226 00:15:51.639 --> 00:15:54.279 had it been complied with a year ago, would have 227 00:15:54.320 --> 00:15:58.159 won the heart and soul of the continent. But now 228 00:15:58.240 --> 00:16:03.840 it is too late. The rubicon is pasted. Besides, the 229 00:16:03.919 --> 00:16:07.120 taking up arms merely to enforce the repeal of a 230 00:16:07.120 --> 00:16:11.960 pecuniary law seems as unwarrantable by the divine law, and 231 00:16:12.039 --> 00:16:15.080 as repugnant to human feelings as the taking up of 232 00:16:15.279 --> 00:16:20.399 arms to enforce obedience. Thereto the object on either side 233 00:16:20.639 --> 00:16:24.240 doth not justify the means, for the lives of men 234 00:16:24.279 --> 00:16:27.480 are too valuable to be cast away on such trifles. 235 00:16:28.519 --> 00:16:31.120 It is the violence which is done and threatened to 236 00:16:31.159 --> 00:16:35.039 our persons, the destruction of our property by an armed force, 237 00:16:35.360 --> 00:16:39.000 the invasion of our country by fire and sword, which 238 00:16:39.080 --> 00:16:44.120 conscientiously qualifies the use of arms, and the instant in 239 00:16:44.200 --> 00:16:48.240 which such a mode of defense became necessary. All subjection 240 00:16:48.360 --> 00:16:51.720 to Britain ought to have ceased, and the independency of 241 00:16:51.759 --> 00:16:56.080 America should have been considered as dating its era from 242 00:16:56.120 --> 00:17:00.559 and published by the first musket that was fired against 243 00:17:01.120 --> 00:17:04.839 This line is a line of consistency, neither drawn by 244 00:17:04.920 --> 00:17:09.119 caprice nor extended by ambition, but produced by a chain 245 00:17:09.160 --> 00:17:13.000 of events of which the colonies were not the authors. 246 00:17:14.240 --> 00:17:17.920 I shall conclude these remarks with the following timely and 247 00:17:18.039 --> 00:17:23.079 well intended hints. We ought to reflect that there are 248 00:17:23.160 --> 00:17:27.480 three different ways by which an independency may hereafter be effected, 249 00:17:28.240 --> 00:17:30.880 and that one of those three will, one day or 250 00:17:30.960 --> 00:17:35.039 other be the fate of America. That is, by the 251 00:17:35.119 --> 00:17:38.880 legal voice of the people in congress, by military power 252 00:17:39.599 --> 00:17:43.240 or by a mob. It may not always happen that 253 00:17:43.319 --> 00:17:46.240 our soldiers are citizens, and the multitude a body of 254 00:17:46.279 --> 00:17:51.559 reasonable men. Virdue, as I have already remarked, is not hereditary, 255 00:17:52.039 --> 00:17:56.920 neither is it perpetual. Should an independency be brought about 256 00:17:56.960 --> 00:18:00.000 by the first of these means, we have every opportune 257 00:18:00.079 --> 00:18:04.359 unity and every encouragement before us to form the noblest, 258 00:18:04.480 --> 00:18:08.440 purest constitution on the face of the earth. We have 259 00:18:08.599 --> 00:18:11.960 it in our power to begin the world over again. 260 00:18:12.799 --> 00:18:16.519 A situation similar to the present hath not happened since 261 00:18:16.559 --> 00:18:20.440 the days of Noah, until now the birthday of a 262 00:18:20.519 --> 00:18:23.440 new world is at hand, and a race of men, 263 00:18:23.960 --> 00:18:27.599 perhaps as numerous as all Europe contains, are to receive 264 00:18:27.720 --> 00:18:31.160 their portion of freedom from the event of a few months. 265 00:18:31.720 --> 00:18:36.480 The reflection is awful, and in this point of view, outrifling. 266 00:18:36.759 --> 00:18:41.400 How ridiculous to the little paltry cavilings of a few 267 00:18:41.480 --> 00:18:45.279 weak or interested men appear when weighed against the business 268 00:18:45.359 --> 00:18:49.480 of a world. Should we neglect the present favorable and 269 00:18:49.599 --> 00:18:54.079 inviting period, and an independence be hereafter affected by any 270 00:18:54.119 --> 00:18:58.960 other means, we must charge the consequence to ourselves or 271 00:18:59.000 --> 00:19:03.480 to those rather whose narrow and prejudiced souls are habitually 272 00:19:03.519 --> 00:19:08.480 opposing the measure without ever inquiring or reflecting. There are 273 00:19:08.599 --> 00:19:12.039 reasons to be given in support of independence, which men 274 00:19:12.039 --> 00:19:15.559 should rather privately think of than be publicly told of. 275 00:19:16.720 --> 00:19:19.599 We ought not now to be debating whether we shall 276 00:19:19.599 --> 00:19:23.119 be independent or not. We ought not now to be 277 00:19:23.200 --> 00:19:27.400 debating whether we shall be independent or not, but anxious 278 00:19:27.400 --> 00:19:31.319 to accomplish it on a firm, secure and honorable basis, 279 00:19:31.839 --> 00:19:35.519 and uneasy rather that it is not yet begun upon 280 00:19:36.720 --> 00:19:41.000 every day convinces us of its necessity. Even the Tories, 281 00:19:41.440 --> 00:19:44.799 if such beings yet remain among us, should of all 282 00:19:44.920 --> 00:19:49.160 men be the most solicitous to promote it. For as 283 00:19:49.200 --> 00:19:53.240 the appointment of committees at first protected them from popular rage, 284 00:19:53.720 --> 00:19:57.440 so a wise and well established form of government will 285 00:19:57.480 --> 00:20:02.640 be the only certain means of continuing its securely to them. Wherefore, 286 00:20:03.039 --> 00:20:06.119 if they have not virtue enough to be whigs, they 287 00:20:06.160 --> 00:20:10.680 ought to have prudence enough to wish for independence. In short, 288 00:20:11.200 --> 00:20:14.599 independence is the only bond that can tie and keep 289 00:20:14.720 --> 00:20:18.799 us together. We shall then see our object, and our 290 00:20:18.839 --> 00:20:21.640 ears will be legally shut against the schemes of an 291 00:20:21.759 --> 00:20:26.440 intriguing as well as a cruel enemy. We shall then 292 00:20:26.559 --> 00:20:29.400 too be on a proper footing to treat with Britain, 293 00:20:29.920 --> 00:20:32.599 For there is reason to conclude that the pride of 294 00:20:32.640 --> 00:20:35.440 that court will be less hurt by treating with the 295 00:20:35.480 --> 00:20:39.079 American States for terms of peace than with those whom 296 00:20:39.119 --> 00:20:44.319 she dominates rebellious subjects for terms of a combination. It 297 00:20:44.400 --> 00:20:48.000 is our delaying it that encourages her to hope for conquest, 298 00:20:48.559 --> 00:20:53.839 and our backwardness tends only to prolong the war. As 299 00:20:53.880 --> 00:20:58.039 we have without any good effect, therefrom withheld our trade 300 00:20:58.279 --> 00:21:01.480 to obtain a redress of our grievance. Let us now 301 00:21:01.599 --> 00:21:07.319 try the alternative, by independently redressing them ourselves, and then 302 00:21:07.519 --> 00:21:12.000 offering to open the trade. The mercantile and reasonable part 303 00:21:12.039 --> 00:21:15.200 of England will still be with us, because peace with 304 00:21:15.359 --> 00:21:19.119 trade is preferable to war without it. And if this 305 00:21:19.279 --> 00:21:24.039 offer be not accepted, other courts may be applied to 306 00:21:24.160 --> 00:21:28.000 on these grounds. I rest the matter, And as no 307 00:21:28.160 --> 00:21:31.160 offer hath yet been made to refute the doctrine contained 308 00:21:31.200 --> 00:21:34.559 in the former editions of this pamphlet, it is negative 309 00:21:34.640 --> 00:21:38.559 proof that either the doctrine cannot be refuted, or that 310 00:21:38.640 --> 00:21:41.200 the party in favor of its are too numerous to 311 00:21:41.240 --> 00:21:45.519 be opposed. Wherefore, instead of gazing at each other with 312 00:21:45.640 --> 00:21:49.720 suspicious or doubtful curiosity, that each of us hold out 313 00:21:49.759 --> 00:21:53.319 to his neighbor the hearty hand of friendship, and unite 314 00:21:53.359 --> 00:21:57.359 in drawing a line, which, like an act of oblivion, 315 00:21:57.720 --> 00:22:02.720 shall beary in forgetfulness every former dissension. Let the names 316 00:22:02.759 --> 00:22:06.559 of Whig and Tory be extinct, and let none other 317 00:22:06.680 --> 00:22:09.920 be heard among us than those of a good citizen, 318 00:22:10.440 --> 00:22:14.440 an open and resolute friend, and a virtuous supporter of 319 00:22:14.480 --> 00:22:18.200 the rights of mankind and of the free and independent 320 00:22:18.240 --> 00:22:24.000 States of America. To the representatives of the religious society 321 00:22:24.039 --> 00:22:27.640 of the people called Quakers, or to so many of 322 00:22:27.680 --> 00:22:31.200 them as were concerned in publishing the Late Peace entitled 323 00:22:32.039 --> 00:22:35.680 The Ancient Testimony and Principles of the People called Quakers 324 00:22:35.720 --> 00:22:39.279 Renewed with respect to the King and Government, and touching 325 00:22:39.319 --> 00:22:43.039 the commotions now prevailing in these and other parts of America, 326 00:22:43.119 --> 00:22:47.359 Addressed to the people in general. The writer of this 327 00:22:47.640 --> 00:22:50.839 is one of those few who never dishonored religion, either 328 00:22:50.920 --> 00:22:55.559 by ridiculing or caviling at any denomination whatsoever to God 329 00:22:55.720 --> 00:22:58.400 and not to man. Are all men accountable on the 330 00:22:58.400 --> 00:23:02.960 score of religion. Wherefore this epistle is not so properly 331 00:23:02.960 --> 00:23:05.839 addressed to you as a religious but as a political 332 00:23:05.920 --> 00:23:10.039 body dabbling in matters which the professed quietude of your 333 00:23:10.039 --> 00:23:14.640 principles instruct you not to meddle with, as you have 334 00:23:15.000 --> 00:23:18.160 without a proper authority for doing so. Put yourselves in 335 00:23:18.200 --> 00:23:20.880 the place of the whole body of the Quakers. So 336 00:23:21.039 --> 00:23:23.640 the writer of this, in order to be on an 337 00:23:23.640 --> 00:23:27.599 equal rank with yourselves, is under the necessity of putting 338 00:23:27.640 --> 00:23:30.559 himself in the place of all those who approve the 339 00:23:30.720 --> 00:23:35.240 very writings and principles against which your testimony is directed. 340 00:23:36.160 --> 00:23:40.160 And he hath chosen this singular situation in order that 341 00:23:40.240 --> 00:23:44.160 you might discover in him that presumption of character which 342 00:23:44.160 --> 00:23:48.720 you cannot see in yourselves. For neither he nor you 343 00:23:48.960 --> 00:23:54.160 can have any claim or title to political representation. When 344 00:23:54.200 --> 00:23:56.839 men have departed from the right way, it is no 345 00:23:57.000 --> 00:24:00.680 wonder that they stumble and fall. And it is evident 346 00:24:00.799 --> 00:24:03.519 from the manner in which ye have managed your testimony, 347 00:24:03.880 --> 00:24:07.400 that politics as a religious body of men is not 348 00:24:07.559 --> 00:24:11.680 your proper walk. For however well adapted it may appear 349 00:24:11.759 --> 00:24:15.960 to you, it is nevertheless a jumble of good and bad, 350 00:24:16.160 --> 00:24:21.519 but unwisely together, and the conclusion drawn therefrom both unnatural 351 00:24:21.720 --> 00:24:26.119 and unjust. The two first pages and the whole doth 352 00:24:26.200 --> 00:24:30.240 not make four. We give you credit for and expect 353 00:24:30.240 --> 00:24:33.960 the same civility from you, because the love and desire 354 00:24:33.960 --> 00:24:37.720 of peace is not confined to Quakerism. It is the 355 00:24:37.880 --> 00:24:41.599 natural as well as the religious wish, of all denominations 356 00:24:41.640 --> 00:24:45.559 of men. And on this ground, as men laboring to 357 00:24:45.680 --> 00:24:49.759 establish an independent constitution of our own, do we exceed 358 00:24:49.920 --> 00:24:54.559 all others in our hope, end and aim. Our plan 359 00:24:54.839 --> 00:24:59.200 is peace forever. We are tired of contention with Britain 360 00:24:59.559 --> 00:25:01.880 and can see no real end to it. But in 361 00:25:01.920 --> 00:25:07.119 a final separation we act consistently, because for the sake 362 00:25:07.160 --> 00:25:11.200 of introducing an endless and uninterrupted peace do we bear 363 00:25:11.240 --> 00:25:16.119 the evils and burthens of the present day. We are endeavoring, 364 00:25:16.480 --> 00:25:20.640 and we will steadily continue to endeavor to separate and dissolve 365 00:25:20.720 --> 00:25:24.319 a connection which hath already filled our land with blood, 366 00:25:25.039 --> 00:25:28.319 and which, while the name of it remains, will be 367 00:25:28.400 --> 00:25:33.759 the fatal cause of future mischiefs to both countries. We 368 00:25:33.839 --> 00:25:39.200 fight neither for revenge nor conquest, neither from pride nor passion, 369 00:25:39.680 --> 00:25:42.880 we are not insulting the world with our fleets and armies, 370 00:25:43.119 --> 00:25:47.240 nor ravishing the globe for plunder beneath the shade of 371 00:25:47.319 --> 00:25:50.960 our own vines. Are we attacked in our own houses 372 00:25:51.000 --> 00:25:54.119 and on our own lands? Is the violence committed against us? 373 00:25:55.000 --> 00:25:59.000 We view our enemies in the character of highwaymen and housebreakers. 374 00:26:00.000 --> 00:26:03.079 Having no defense for ourselves in the civil law, are 375 00:26:03.160 --> 00:26:06.720 obliged to punish them by the military one, and apply 376 00:26:06.839 --> 00:26:10.160 the sword in the very case where you have before 377 00:26:10.240 --> 00:26:15.440 now applied the halter. Perhaps we feel for the ruined 378 00:26:15.480 --> 00:26:18.519 and insulted sufferers in all and every part of the continent, 379 00:26:18.920 --> 00:26:21.839 with a degree of tenderness which hath not yet made 380 00:26:21.839 --> 00:26:25.000 its way into some of your bosoms. But be ye 381 00:26:25.200 --> 00:26:28.400 sure that ye mistake not the cause and ground of 382 00:26:28.440 --> 00:26:33.640 your testimony, call not coldness of soul religion, nor put 383 00:26:33.680 --> 00:26:37.759 the bigot in the place of the Christian Oh, ye, 384 00:26:37.920 --> 00:26:42.359 martial ministers, of your own acknowledged principles, If the bearing 385 00:26:42.559 --> 00:26:45.920 arms be sinful, the first going to war must be 386 00:26:46.039 --> 00:26:49.799 more so by all the difference between wilful attack and 387 00:26:49.960 --> 00:26:55.519 unavoidable defense. Wherefore, if ye really preach from conscience and 388 00:26:55.680 --> 00:26:58.640 me not to make a political hobbyhorse of your religion. 389 00:26:59.200 --> 00:27:02.680 Convince the world world thereof by proclaiming your doctrine to 390 00:27:02.799 --> 00:27:08.559 our enemies, for they likewise bear arms. Give us proof 391 00:27:08.599 --> 00:27:12.319 of your sincerity by publishing it at Saint James, to 392 00:27:12.400 --> 00:27:15.359 the commanders in chief in Boston, to the admirals and 393 00:27:15.519 --> 00:27:19.759 captains who are paradically ravaging our coasts, and to all 394 00:27:19.880 --> 00:27:23.559 the murdering miscreants who are acting in authority under him 395 00:27:23.640 --> 00:27:28.480 whom ye profess to serve. Had ye the honest soul 396 00:27:28.559 --> 00:27:33.039 of Barclay, you would preach repentance to your king. You 397 00:27:33.079 --> 00:27:36.519 would tell the royal wretch his sins and warn him 398 00:27:36.559 --> 00:27:41.240 of eternal ruin. You would not spend your partial invectives 399 00:27:41.279 --> 00:27:46.160 against the injured and the insulted only, but like faithful ministers, 400 00:27:46.359 --> 00:27:51.440 would cry aloud and spare none say not that ye 401 00:27:51.440 --> 00:27:55.319