Speaker 1: Part five of Common Sense by Thomas Paine. This is
Speaker 1: a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain.
Speaker 1: For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org.
Speaker 1: Read by Bobnefeld. Common Sense by Thomas Paine, Part five Appendix.
Speaker 1: Since the publication of the first edition of this pamphlet,
Speaker 1: or rather on the same day in 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 at a more necessary time. The bloody
Speaker 1: mindedness of the one shows the necessity of pursuing the
Speaker 1: doctrine of the other men read by way of revenge,
Speaker 1: and the speech instead of tariff, prepared a way for
Speaker 1: the manly principles of independence. Ceremony, and even silence. From
Speaker 1: whatever motives they may arise, have a hurtful tendency when
Speaker 1: they give the least degree of countenance to the base
Speaker 1: and wicked performances. Wherefore, if this maxim is admitted, it
Speaker 1: naturally follows that the King's speech, as being a piece
Speaker 1: of finished villainy, deserved and still deserves a general execration,
Speaker 1: both by the Congress and the people. Yet, as the
Speaker 1: domestic tranquility of a nation depends greatly on the chastity
Speaker 1: of what may properly be called national manners, it is
Speaker 1: often better to pass some things over in silent disdain
Speaker 1: than to make use of such new methods of dislike
Speaker 1: as might introduce the least innovation on that guardian of
Speaker 1: our peace and safety. And perhaps it is chiefly owing
Speaker 1: to this prudent delicacy that the key speech hath not
Speaker 1: before now suffered a public execution. The speech, if it
Speaker 1: may be called one, is nothing better than a wilful,
Speaker 1: audacious libel against the truth, the common good, and the
Speaker 1: existence of mankind, and is a formal and pompous method
Speaker 1: of offering up human sacrifices to the pride of tyrants.
Speaker 1: But this general massacre of mankind is one of the
Speaker 1: privileges and certain consequences of kings. For as nature knows
Speaker 1: them not, they know not her. And although they are
Speaker 1: beings of our own creating, they know not us, and
Speaker 1: are become gods of their creators. The speech hath one
Speaker 1: good quality, which is that it is not calculated to deceive.
Speaker 1: Neither can we, even if we would be deceived by it.
Speaker 1: Brutality and tyranny appear on the face of it. It
Speaker 1: leaves us at no loss, and every line convinces, even
Speaker 1: in the moment of reading, that he who hunts the
Speaker 1: woods for prey the naked and untutored Indian, is less
Speaker 1: a savage than the King of Britain. Sir John Dalrymble,
Speaker 1: the putative father of a whining Jesuitical peace, fallaciously called
Speaker 1: the Address of the People of England to the inhabitants
Speaker 1: of America. Hath perhaps from a vain supposition, that the
Speaker 1: people here were to be frightened at the pomp and
Speaker 1: description of a king given, though very unwisely on his part,
Speaker 1: the real character of the present one. But says the writer,
Speaker 1: if you are inclined to pay compliments to an administration
Speaker 1: which we do not complain of, meaning the Marquis of
Speaker 1: Rockingham's at the repeal of the Stamp Act, it is
Speaker 1: very unfair in you to withhold them from that prince
Speaker 1: by whose not alone they were permitted to do anything.
Speaker 1: This is toryism with a witness. Here is idolatry, even
Speaker 1: without a mask. And he who can calmly hear and
Speaker 1: digest such doctrine. Hath forfeited his claim to rationality and
Speaker 1: apostate from the order of manhood, and ought to be
Speaker 1: considered as one who hath not only given up the
Speaker 1: proper dignity of man, but sunk himself beneath the rank
Speaker 1: of animals 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 cruelty,
Speaker 1: procured for himself an universal hatred. It is now the
Speaker 1: interest of America to provide for herself. She hath already
Speaker 1: a large and young family, whom it is more her
Speaker 1: duty to take care of than to be granting away
Speaker 1: her property to support a power who has become a
Speaker 1: reproach to the names of men and Christians. Ye who's
Speaker 1: offered it is to watch over the morals of a
Speaker 1: nation of whatsoever sect or denomination ye are of, as
Speaker 1: well as ye who are more Immediately the gardens of
Speaker 1: the public liberty. If ye wish to preserve your native
Speaker 1: country uncontaminated by European corruption, you must in secret wish
Speaker 1: a separation. But leaving the moral part to private reflection,
Speaker 1: I shall chiefly confine my father remarks to the following head, First,
Speaker 1: that it is in the interest of America to be
Speaker 1: separated from Britain. Secondly, which is the easiest and most
Speaker 1: practicable plan, reconciliation or independence. With some occasional remarks in
Speaker 1: support of the first, I could, if I judged it proper,
Speaker 1: produce the opinion of some of the ablest and most
Speaker 1: experienced men on the continent, and whose sentiments on that
Speaker 1: head are not yet publicly known. It is in reality
Speaker 1: a self evidence position, for no nation in a state
Speaker 1: of foreign dependence, limited in its commerce and prampt and
Speaker 1: fettered in its legislative powers, can ever arrive at any
Speaker 1: material eminence. America does 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 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 country,
Speaker 1: of Britain or of 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. That is that had this rupture
Speaker 1: happened forty of fifty years, hence, instead of now the
Speaker 1: continent would have been more able to have shaken off
Speaker 1: the dependence, to which I reply that our military ability
Speaker 1: at this time arises from the experience gained in the
Speaker 1: last war, and which in forty or fifty years time
Speaker 1: would have been totally extinct. The continent would not by
Speaker 1: that time have had a general or even a military
Speaker 1: officer left, and we or those who may succeed us,
Speaker 1: would have been as ignorant of martial matters as the
Speaker 1: ancient Indians. And this single position, closely attended to, will
Speaker 1: unanswerably prove that the present time is preferable to all others.
Speaker 1: The argument turns thus that the conclusion of the last
Speaker 1: war we had experience, but wanted numbers, and forty of
Speaker 1: fifty years hence we should have numbers without experience. Wherefore,
Speaker 1: the proper point of time must be some particular point
Speaker 1: between the two extremes, in which a sufficiency of the
Speaker 1: former 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 discretion, 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, which is,
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 circumstance 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 at only five pounds sterling per hundred acres, amount
Speaker 1: to upwards of twenty five million 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 these lands
Speaker 1: that the debt may be sunk without burthen to any
Speaker 1: and the quit brent reserved thereon will always lessen, and
Speaker 1: in time will wholly support the yearly expense of government.
Speaker 1: It matters not how long the debt is in paying,
Speaker 1: so that the lands, when sold, be applied to the
Speaker 1: discharge of it, and for the execution of which the
Speaker 1: Congress for the time being will be the Continental Trustees.
Speaker 1: I proceed now to the second head, that is which
Speaker 1: is the easiest and most practicable plan, reconciliation or independence.
Speaker 1: With some occasional remarks, he who takes nature for his
Speaker 1: guide is not easily beaten out of his argument. And
Speaker 1: on that ground I answer generally that in the dependence
Speaker 1: being a single simple line contained within ourselves, and reconciliation
Speaker 1: a matter exceedingly perplexed and complicated, and in which a treacherous,
Speaker 1: capricious court is to interfere, gives the answer without a doubt.
Speaker 1: The present state of America is truly alarming to every
Speaker 1: man who is capable of reflection without law, without government,
Speaker 1: without any other mode of power than what is founded
Speaker 1: on and granted by courtesy, held together by an unexampled
Speaker 1: concurrence of sentiment, which is nevertheless subject to change, and
Speaker 1: which every secret enemy is endeavoring to dissolve. Our present
Speaker 1: condition is legislation without law, wisdom without a plan, a
Speaker 1: constitution without a name, and what is strangely astonishing, perfect
Speaker 1: independence contending for dependence. The instance is without a precedent,
Speaker 1: the case never existed before, and who can ta what
Speaker 1: may be the event? The property of no man is
Speaker 1: secure in the present unbraced system of things, the mind
Speaker 1: of the multitude is left at brandom, and seeing no
Speaker 1: fixed object before them, they pursue such as fancy. An
Speaker 1: opinion starts. Nothing is criminal. There is no such thing
Speaker 1: as treason. Wherefore every one thinks himself at liberty to
Speaker 1: act as he pleases. The Tories dared not have assembled offensively,
Speaker 1: had they known that their lives, by that act were
Speaker 1: forfeited to the laws of the state. A line of
Speaker 1: distinction should be drawn between English soldiers taken in battle
Speaker 1: and inhabitants of America taken in arms. The first are prisoners,
Speaker 1: the latter traitors. The one forfeits his liberty, the other
Speaker 1: his head. Notwithstanding our wisdom, there is a visible feebleness
Speaker 1: in some of our proceedings, which gives encouragement to dissensions.
Speaker 1: The continental belt is too loosely buckled, and if something
Speaker 1: is not done in time, it will be too late
Speaker 1: to do anything, and we shall fall into a state
Speaker 1: in which neither reconciliation nor independence will be practicable. The
Speaker 1: King and his worthless adherents are got at their old
Speaker 1: game of dividing the continent, and there are not wanting
Speaker 1: among us printers who will be busy in spreading specious falsehoods.
Speaker 1: The artful and hypocritical letter which appeared a few months
Speaker 1: ago in two of the New York papers, and likewise
Speaker 1: into others, is an evidence that there are men who
Speaker 1: want either judgment or honesty. It is easy getting into
Speaker 1: holes and corners and talking of reconciliation. But do such
Speaker 1: men seriously consider how difficult the task is, and how
Speaker 1: dangerous it may prove should the continent divide. Thereon, 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 sufferber, whose all is already gone, and
Speaker 1: of the soldier who has quitted all for the defense
Speaker 1: of his country. If their ill judged moderation be suited
Speaker 1: to their own private situations only, regardless of others, the
Speaker 1: event will convince them that they are reckoning without their
Speaker 1: host put us, says some on the footing we were
Speaker 1: on in sixty three, to which I answer, the request
Speaker 1: is not now in the power of Britain to comply with,
Speaker 1: neither will she propose it. But if it were, and
Speaker 1: 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 press may hereafter repeal the obligation on the pretense
Speaker 1: of its being violently obtained or unwisely granted. And in
Speaker 1: that case, where is our redress? No going to law
Speaker 1: with nations cannon 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 or
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 pasted. 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 of
Speaker 1: arms to enforce obedience. Thereto the object on either side
Speaker 1: doth not justify the means, for the lives of men
Speaker 1: are too valuable to be cast away on such trifles.
Speaker 1: It is the violence which is done and threatened to
Speaker 1: our persons, the destruction of our property by an armed force,
Speaker 1: the invasion of our country by fire and sword, which
Speaker 1: conscientiously qualifies the use of arms, and the instant in
Speaker 1: which such a mode of defense became necessary. All subjection
Speaker 1: to Britain ought to have ceased, and the independency of
Speaker 1: America should have been considered as dating its era from
Speaker 1: and published by the first musket that was fired against
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 effected,
Speaker 1: and that one of those three will, one day or
Speaker 1: other be the fate of America. That is, by the
Speaker 1: legal voice of the people in congress, by 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. Virdue, 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 these means, we have every opportune
Speaker 1: unity and every encouragement before us to form the noblest,
Speaker 1: purest constitution on the face of the earth. We have
Speaker 1: it in our power to begin the world over again.
Speaker 1: A situation similar to the present hath not happened since
Speaker 1: the days of Noah, until now the birthday of a
Speaker 1: new world is at hand, and a race of men,
Speaker 1: perhaps as numerous as all Europe contains, are to receive
Speaker 1: their portion of freedom from the event of a few months.
Speaker 1: The reflection is awful, and in this point of view, outrifling.
Speaker 1: How ridiculous to the little paltry cavilings of a few
Speaker 1: weak or interested men appear when weighed against the business
Speaker 1: of a world. Should we neglect the present favorable and
Speaker 1: inviting period, and an independence be hereafter affected by any
Speaker 1: other means, we must charge the consequence to ourselves or
Speaker 1: to those rather whose narrow and prejudiced souls are habitually
Speaker 1: opposing the measure without ever inquiring or reflecting. There are
Speaker 1: reasons to be given in support of independence, which men
Speaker 1: should rather privately think of than be publicly told of.
Speaker 1: We ought not now to be debating whether we shall
Speaker 1: be independent or not. We ought not now to be
Speaker 1: debating whether we shall be independent or not, but anxious
Speaker 1: to accomplish it on a firm, secure and honorable basis,
Speaker 1: and uneasy rather that it is not yet begun upon
Speaker 1: every day convinces us of its necessity. Even the Tories,
Speaker 1: if such beings yet remain among us, should of all
Speaker 1: men be the most solicitous to promote it. For as
Speaker 1: the appointment of committees at first protected them from popular rage,
Speaker 1: so a wise and well established form of government will
Speaker 1: be the only certain means of continuing its 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
Speaker 1: too be on a proper footing to treat with Britain,
Speaker 1: For there is reason to conclude that the pride of
Speaker 1: that court will be less hurt by treating with the
Speaker 1: American States for terms of peace than with those whom
Speaker 1: she dominates rebellious subjects for terms of a combination. It
Speaker 1: is our delaying it that encourages her to hope for conquest,
Speaker 1: and our backwardness tends only to prolong the war. As
Speaker 1: we have without any good effect, therefrom withheld our trade
Speaker 1: to obtain a redress of our grievance. Let us now
Speaker 1: try the alternative, by independently redressing them ourselves, and then
Speaker 1: offering to open the trade. The mercantile and reasonable part
Speaker 1: of England will still be with us, because peace with
Speaker 1: trade is preferable to war without it. And if this
Speaker 1: offer be not accepted, other courts may be applied to
Speaker 1: on these grounds. I rest the matter, And as no
Speaker 1: offer hath yet been made to refute the doctrine contained
Speaker 1: in the former editions of this pamphlet, it is negative
Speaker 1: proof that either the doctrine cannot be refuted, or that
Speaker 1: the party in favor of its are too numerous to
Speaker 1: be opposed. Wherefore, instead of gazing at each other with
Speaker 1: suspicious or doubtful curiosity, that each of us hold out
Speaker 1: to his neighbor the hearty hand of friendship, and unite
Speaker 1: in drawing a line, which, like an act of oblivion,
Speaker 1: shall beary in forgetfulness every former dissension. Let the names
Speaker 1: of Whig and Tory be extinct, and let none other
Speaker 1: be heard among us than those of a good citizen,
Speaker 1: an open and resolute friend, and a virtuous supporter of
Speaker 1: the rights of mankind and of the free and independent
Speaker 1: States of America. To the representatives of the religious society
Speaker 1: of the people called Quakers, or to so many of
Speaker 1: them as were concerned in publishing the Late Peace entitled
Speaker 1: The Ancient Testimony and Principles of the People called Quakers
Speaker 1: Renewed with respect to the King and Government, and touching
Speaker 1: the commotions now prevailing in these and other parts of America,
Speaker 1: Addressed to the people in general. The writer of this
Speaker 1: is one of those few who never dishonored religion, either
Speaker 1: by ridiculing or caviling at any denomination whatsoever to God
Speaker 1: and not to man. Are all men accountable on the
Speaker 1: score of religion. Wherefore this epistle is not so properly
Speaker 1: addressed to you as a religious but as a political
Speaker 1: body dabbling in matters which the professed quietude of your
Speaker 1: principles instruct you not to meddle with, as you have
Speaker 1: without a proper authority for doing so. Put yourselves in
Speaker 1: the place of the whole body of the Quakers. So
Speaker 1: the writer of this, in order to be on an
Speaker 1: equal rank with yourselves, is under the necessity of putting
Speaker 1: himself in the place of all those who approve the
Speaker 1: very writings and principles against which your testimony is directed.
Speaker 1: And he hath chosen this singular situation in order that
Speaker 1: you might discover in him that presumption of character which
Speaker 1: you cannot see in yourselves. For neither he nor you
Speaker 1: can have any claim or title to political representation. When
Speaker 1: men have departed from the right way, it is no
Speaker 1: wonder that they stumble and fall. And it is evident
Speaker 1: from the manner in which ye have managed your testimony,
Speaker 1: that politics as a religious body of men is not
Speaker 1: your proper walk. For however well adapted it may appear
Speaker 1: to you, it is nevertheless a jumble of good and bad,
Speaker 1: but unwisely together, and the conclusion drawn therefrom both unnatural
Speaker 1: and unjust. The two first pages and the whole doth
Speaker 1: not make four. We give you credit for and expect
Speaker 1: the same civility from you, because the love and desire
Speaker 1: of peace is not confined to Quakerism. It is the
Speaker 1: natural as well as the religious wish, of all denominations
Speaker 1: of men. And on this ground, as men laboring to
Speaker 1: establish an independent constitution of our own, do we exceed
Speaker 1: all others in our hope, end and aim. Our plan
Speaker 1: is peace forever. We are tired of contention with Britain
Speaker 1: and can see no real end to it. But in
Speaker 1: a final separation we act consistently, because for the sake
Speaker 1: of introducing an endless and uninterrupted peace do we bear
Speaker 1: the evils and burthens of the present day. We are endeavoring,
Speaker 1: and we will steadily continue to endeavor to separate and dissolve
Speaker 1: a connection which hath already filled our land with blood,
Speaker 1: and which, while the name of it remains, will be
Speaker 1: the fatal cause of future mischiefs to both countries. We
Speaker 1: fight neither for revenge nor conquest, neither from pride nor passion,
Speaker 1: we are not insulting the world with our fleets and armies,
Speaker 1: nor ravishing the globe for plunder beneath the shade of
Speaker 1: our own vines. Are we attacked in our own houses
Speaker 1: and on our own lands? Is the violence committed against us?
Speaker 1: We view our enemies in the character of highwaymen and housebreakers.
Speaker 1: Having no defense for ourselves in the civil law, are
Speaker 1: obliged to punish them by the military one, and apply
Speaker 1: the sword in the very case where you have before
Speaker 1: now applied the halter. Perhaps we feel for the ruined
Speaker 1: and insulted sufferers in all and every part of the continent,
Speaker 1: with a degree of tenderness which hath not yet made
Speaker 1: its way into some of your bosoms. But be ye
Speaker 1: sure that ye mistake not the cause and ground of
Speaker 1: your testimony, call not coldness of soul religion, nor put
Speaker 1: the bigot in the place of the Christian Oh, ye,
Speaker 1: martial ministers, of your own acknowledged principles, If the bearing
Speaker 1: arms be sinful, the first going to war must be
Speaker 1: more so by all the difference between wilful attack and
Speaker 1: unavoidable defense. Wherefore, if ye really preach from conscience and
Speaker 1: me not to make a political hobbyhorse of your religion.
Speaker 1: Convince the world world thereof by proclaiming your doctrine to
Speaker 1: our enemies, for they likewise bear arms. Give us proof
Speaker 1: of your sincerity by publishing it at Saint James, to
Speaker 1: the commanders in chief in Boston, to the admirals and
Speaker 1: captains who are paradically ravaging our coasts, and to all
Speaker 1: the murdering miscreants who are acting in authority under him
Speaker 1: whom ye profess to serve. Had ye the honest soul
Speaker 1: of Barclay, you would preach repentance to your king. You
Speaker 1: would tell the royal wretch his sins and warn him
Speaker 1: of eternal ruin. You would not spend your partial invectives
Speaker 1: against the injured and the insulted only, but like faithful ministers,
Speaker 1: would cry aloud and spare none say not that ye
Speaker 1: are persecuted. Neither endeavor to make us the authors of
Speaker 1: that reproach which ye are bringing upon yourselves. For we
Speaker 1: testify into all men that we do not complain against
Speaker 1: you because you are Quakers, but because you pretend to
Speaker 1: be and are not Quakers, alas it seems by the
Speaker 1: particular tendency of some part of your testimony and other
Speaker 1: parts of your conduct, as if all sin was reduced
Speaker 1: to and comprehended in the act of bearing arms, and
Speaker 1: that by the people. Only. Ye appear to us to
Speaker 1: have mistaken party for conscience, because the general tenor of
Speaker 1: your actions wants uniformity. And it is exceedingly difficult to
Speaker 1: us to give credit to many of your pretended scruples,
Speaker 1: because we see them made by the same men who,
Speaker 1: in the very instant that they are exclaiming against the
Speaker 1: mammon of this world, are nevertheless hunting after it, with
Speaker 1: a step as steady as time and an appetite as
Speaker 1: keen as death. The quotation which ye have made from
Speaker 1: private verbs in the third page of your testimony, that quote,
Speaker 1: when a man's ways please the Lord, he maketh even
Speaker 1: his enemies to be at peace with him end, quote,
Speaker 1: is very unwisely chosen on your part, because it amounts
Speaker 1: to a proof that the King's ways, though me are
Speaker 1: desires of supporting, do not please the Lord, otherwise his
Speaker 1: reign would be in peace. I now proceed to the
Speaker 1: latter part of your testimony, and that for which all
Speaker 1: the foregoing seems only an introduction. That is quote it
Speaker 1: hath ever been our judgment and principle, since we are
Speaker 1: called to profess the light of Christ Jesus manifested in
Speaker 1: our consciences unto this day, that the setting up and
Speaker 1: putting down kings and governments is God's peculiar prerogative and
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 if our station, much
Speaker 1: less to plot and contrive the ruin or overturn of
Speaker 1: any of them, but to pray for the king and
Speaker 1: safety of our nation and good of all men, that
Speaker 1: we may live a peaceable and quiet life in all
Speaker 1: godliness and honesty, under the government which God is pleased
Speaker 1: to set over us. And if these are really your principles,
Speaker 1: why do you not abide by them? Why do you
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 there for your political testimony if you
Speaker 1: fully believe what it contains and the very publishing of
Speaker 1: it proves that either you do not believe what ye profess,
Speaker 1: or have not virtue enough to practice what ye believe.
Speaker 1: The principles of Quakerism have a direct tendency to make
Speaker 1: a man the quiet and inoffensive subject of any and
Speaker 1: every government which is set over him. And if the
Speaker 1: setting up and putting down of kings and governments is
Speaker 1: God's peculiar prerogative, he most certainly will not be robbed
Speaker 1: thereof by us. Wherefore the principle itself leads you to
Speaker 1: approve of everything which ever happened or may happen to kings,
Speaker 1: as being his work. Oliver Cromwell, Thanks you. Charles then
Speaker 1: died not by the hands of man, and should the
Speaker 1: present 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 desperse 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: the meddlers on the other, but to wait the issue
Speaker 1: in silence. And unless you can produce divine authority to
Speaker 1: prove that the Almighty, who hath created and placed this
Speaker 1: new world at the greatest distance it could possibly stand
Speaker 1: east and west from every part of the old doth
Speaker 1: nevertheless disapprove of its being independent of the corrupt and
Speaker 1: abandoned court of Britain. Unless I say, ye can show this,
Speaker 1: how can ye, on the ground of your principles, justify
Speaker 1: the exciting and stirring up the people? Quote firmly to
Speaker 1: unite in the abhorrence of all such writings and measures
Speaker 1: as evidence of desire and design to break off the
Speaker 1: happy connection we have hitherto enjoyed with the Kingdom of
Speaker 1: Great Britain, and our just and necessary subordin nation to
Speaker 1: the King and those who are lawfully placed in authority
Speaker 1: under him. End. What a slap of face is here?
Speaker 1: The men who in the very paragraph before have quietly
Speaker 1: and passively resigned up the ordering, altering and disposal of
Speaker 1: kings and governments into the hands of God, are now
Speaker 1: recalling their principles and putting in for a share of
Speaker 1: a business. Is it possible that the conclusion which is
Speaker 1: here justly quoted can any ways follow from the doctrine
Speaker 1: laid down? The inconsistency is too glaring not to be seen,
Speaker 1: the absurdity too great not to be laughed at, And
Speaker 1: such as could only have been made by those whose
Speaker 1: understandings were darkened by the narrow and crabby spirits of
Speaker 1: a despairing political party. For he are not to be
Speaker 1: considered as the whole body of the Quakers, but only
Speaker 1: as a factional and fractional part. Art thereof. Here ends
Speaker 1: the examination of your testimony, which I call upon no
Speaker 1: man to abhor as ye have done, but only to
Speaker 1: read and judge of fairly to which I has to join.
Speaker 1: The following remark quotes that the setting up and putting
Speaker 1: down of kings unquote, most certainly means the making of
Speaker 1: a king who is yet not so, and the making
Speaker 1: him no king who is already one. And pray, what
Speaker 1: hath this to do in the present case? We neither
Speaker 1: mean to set up nor to pull down, neither to
Speaker 1: make nor to unmake, but to have nothing to do
Speaker 1: with them. Wherefore your testimony, in whatever light it is viewed,
Speaker 1: serves only to dishonor your judgment, and for many other reasons,
Speaker 1: had better have been let alone than published. First because
Speaker 1: it 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 approvers 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, you may always fully
Speaker 1: and uninterruptedly endure 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 sets of
Speaker 1: mingling religion with politics may be disavowed and reprobated by
Speaker 1: every inhabitant of America and of Part five and of
Speaker 1: common Sense by Thomas Paine, read by Bob Neufeld,