WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.560 --> 00:00:05.480 Part three of Common Sense by Thomas Paine. This is 2 00:00:05.480 --> 00:00:09.599 a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. 3 00:00:10.119 --> 00:00:15.199 For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org. 4 00:00:16.760 --> 00:00:24.640 Read by Babneufeld. Common Sense by Thomas Paine, Part three 5 00:00:25.320 --> 00:00:30.120 Thoughts on the present state of American affairs in the 6 00:00:30.120 --> 00:00:35.240 following pages. I offer nothing more than simple facts, plain arguments, 7 00:00:35.280 --> 00:00:39.240 and common sense, and have no other preliminaries to settle 8 00:00:39.240 --> 00:00:42.359 with the reader than that he will divest himself of 9 00:00:42.399 --> 00:00:46.600 prejudice and prepossession, and suffer his reason and his feelings 10 00:00:46.640 --> 00:00:51.039 to determine for themselves, that he will put on, or 11 00:00:51.119 --> 00:00:53.719 rather that he will not put off, the true character 12 00:00:53.799 --> 00:00:57.439 of a man, and generously enlarge his views. Beyond the 13 00:00:57.520 --> 00:01:01.439 present day, volumes have been written on the subject of 14 00:01:01.479 --> 00:01:05.400 the struggle between England and America. Men of all ranks 15 00:01:05.400 --> 00:01:08.519 have embarked in the controversy from different motives and with 16 00:01:08.640 --> 00:01:13.680 various designs, but all have been ineffectual, and the period 17 00:01:13.719 --> 00:01:20.159 of debate is closed. Arms as the last resource decide 18 00:01:20.200 --> 00:01:23.680 this contest. The appeal was the choice of the King 19 00:01:24.319 --> 00:01:29.640 and the continent. Hath accepted the challenge. It hath been 20 00:01:29.680 --> 00:01:33.560 reported of late mister Pelham, who, though an able minister, 21 00:01:33.959 --> 00:01:37.280 was not without his faults, that, on his being attacked 22 00:01:37.280 --> 00:01:39.480 in the House of Commons on the score that his 23 00:01:39.599 --> 00:01:43.599 measures were only of a temporary kind, replied, they will 24 00:01:43.640 --> 00:01:48.719 last my time. The name of ancestors will be remembered 25 00:01:48.840 --> 00:01:55.120 by future generations with detestation. The sun never shined on 26 00:01:55.200 --> 00:01:58.599 a cause of greater worth. Tis not the affair of 27 00:01:58.640 --> 00:02:02.439 a city or count, a province, or a kingdom, but 28 00:02:02.599 --> 00:02:05.760 of a continent of at least one eighth part of 29 00:02:05.799 --> 00:02:09.560 the habitable globe. Tis not the concern of a day, 30 00:02:09.919 --> 00:02:14.280 a year, or an age. Posterity are virtually involved in 31 00:02:14.319 --> 00:02:18.199 the contest, and will be more or less affected even 32 00:02:18.240 --> 00:02:22.360 to the end of time by the proceedings. Now. Now 33 00:02:22.400 --> 00:02:25.919 is the seed time of continental union, faith and honor. 34 00:02:26.560 --> 00:02:29.840 The least fractured now will be like a name engraved 35 00:02:29.879 --> 00:02:32.080 with the point of a pin on the tender rind 36 00:02:32.120 --> 00:02:35.680 of a young oak. The wound will enlarge with the tree, 37 00:02:36.199 --> 00:02:41.159 and posterity read it in full grown characters. By referring 38 00:02:41.159 --> 00:02:44.479 the matter from argument to arms, a new era for 39 00:02:44.599 --> 00:02:48.960 politics is struck, A new method of thinking hath arisen. 40 00:02:49.520 --> 00:02:53.800 All plans, proposals, et cetera prior to the nineteenth of April, 41 00:02:54.199 --> 00:02:57.400 that is, to the commencement of hostilities, are like the 42 00:02:57.439 --> 00:03:01.439 almanacs of the last year, which so proper then are 43 00:03:01.479 --> 00:03:06.560 superseded and useless. Now, whatever was advanced by the advocates 44 00:03:06.639 --> 00:03:10.080 on either side of the question then terminated in one 45 00:03:10.240 --> 00:03:14.199 and the same point, that is, a union with Great Britain. 46 00:03:15.120 --> 00:03:18.120 The only difference between the parties was the method of 47 00:03:18.159 --> 00:03:23.400 affecting it, the one proposing force, the other friendship. But 48 00:03:23.560 --> 00:03:26.639 it hath so far happened that the first hath failed, 49 00:03:27.039 --> 00:03:31.520 and the second hath withdrawn her influence. As much hath 50 00:03:31.560 --> 00:03:35.879 been said of the advantages of reconciliation, which like an 51 00:03:35.919 --> 00:03:39.639 agreeable dream, hath passed away and left us as we were. 52 00:03:40.639 --> 00:03:43.840 It is but right that we should examine the contrary 53 00:03:43.879 --> 00:03:46.719 side of the argument and inquire into some of the 54 00:03:46.759 --> 00:03:51.360 many material injuries which these colonies sustain and will always 55 00:03:51.439 --> 00:03:55.800 sustain by being connected with and dependent on Great Britain. 56 00:03:57.000 --> 00:04:00.319 To examine that connection and dependence on the principle of 57 00:04:00.400 --> 00:04:03.400 nature and common sense, to see what we have trust 58 00:04:03.479 --> 00:04:07.400 to if separated, and what we are to expect if dependent. 59 00:04:10.599 --> 00:04:13.479 I have heard it asserted by some that, as America 60 00:04:13.520 --> 00:04:16.519 hath flourished under her former connection with Great Britain, that 61 00:04:16.639 --> 00:04:20.199 the same connection is necessary towards her future happiness and 62 00:04:20.279 --> 00:04:24.399 will always have the same effect. Nothing can be more 63 00:04:24.480 --> 00:04:28.120 fallacious than this kind of argument. We may as well 64 00:04:28.160 --> 00:04:31.439 assert that because a child has thrived upon milk, that 65 00:04:31.560 --> 00:04:34.279 it is never to have meat, or that the first 66 00:04:34.319 --> 00:04:37.000 twenty years of our lives is to become a precedent 67 00:04:37.040 --> 00:04:40.639 for the next twenty. But even this is admitting more 68 00:04:40.639 --> 00:04:44.759 than is true. For I answer roundly that America would 69 00:04:44.759 --> 00:04:48.360 have flourished as much and probably much more, had no 70 00:04:48.519 --> 00:04:52.680 European power had anything to do with her. The commerce 71 00:04:52.839 --> 00:04:56.439 by which she hath enriched herself are the necessaries of life, 72 00:04:56.800 --> 00:04:59.360 and will always have a market, while eating is the 73 00:04:59.399 --> 00:05:03.720 custom of Europe. But she has protected us, say some 74 00:05:04.639 --> 00:05:08.160 that she has engrossed us is true, and defended the 75 00:05:08.240 --> 00:05:11.800 continent at our expense as well as her own, is admitted, 76 00:05:12.600 --> 00:05:15.879 and she would have defended Turkey with the same motive, 77 00:05:16.560 --> 00:05:22.439 that is the sake of trade and dominion. Alas we 78 00:05:22.560 --> 00:05:26.240 have been long led away by ancient prejudices and made 79 00:05:26.360 --> 00:05:30.600 large sacrifices to superstition. We have boasted the protection of 80 00:05:30.600 --> 00:05:35.879 Great Britain without considering that her motive was interest, not attachment. 81 00:05:36.360 --> 00:05:39.120 That she did not protect us from our enemies on 82 00:05:39.279 --> 00:05:42.920 our account, but from her enemies on her own account, 83 00:05:43.319 --> 00:05:45.879 from those who had no quarrel with us on any 84 00:05:45.920 --> 00:05:49.519 other account, and who will always be our enemies on 85 00:05:49.600 --> 00:05:53.759 the same account. Let Britain waive her pretensions to the 86 00:05:53.839 --> 00:05:57.480 continent or the continent, throw off the dependents, and we 87 00:05:57.519 --> 00:06:00.480 should be at peace with France and Spain were they 88 00:06:00.519 --> 00:06:04.199 at war with Britain. The miseries of hanover last war 89 00:06:04.279 --> 00:06:09.240 are to warn us against connections. It has lately been 90 00:06:09.279 --> 00:06:12.560 asserted in Parliament that the colonies have no relation to 91 00:06:12.600 --> 00:06:16.360 each other but through the parent country. That is that 92 00:06:16.439 --> 00:06:19.600 Pennsylvania and the Jerseys and so on for the rest 93 00:06:19.920 --> 00:06:24.079 are sister colonies by the way of England. This is 94 00:06:24.120 --> 00:06:27.759 certainly a very roundabout way of proving relationship, but it 95 00:06:27.879 --> 00:06:31.519 is the nearest and only true way of proving enemy ship, 96 00:06:31.920 --> 00:06:35.959 if I may so call it. France and Spain never were, 97 00:06:36.240 --> 00:06:40.079 nor perhaps ever will be, our enemies as Americans, but 98 00:06:40.279 --> 00:06:45.040 as our being the subjects of Great Britain. But Britain 99 00:06:45.120 --> 00:06:49.560 is the parent country. Some say, then, the more shame 100 00:06:49.720 --> 00:06:53.639 upon her conduct. Even brutes do not devour their young, 101 00:06:54.160 --> 00:06:58.639 nor savages make war upon their families. Wherefore the assertion, 102 00:06:58.920 --> 00:07:03.240 if true to turns to her reproach. But it happens 103 00:07:03.240 --> 00:07:06.560 not to be true, or only partly so. And the 104 00:07:06.600 --> 00:07:11.439 phrase parents or mother country hath been jesuitically adopted by 105 00:07:11.439 --> 00:07:15.480 the King and his parasites, with a low papistical design 106 00:07:15.639 --> 00:07:18.959 of gaining an unfair bias on the credulous weakness of 107 00:07:19.000 --> 00:07:23.680 our minds. Europe and not England, is the parent country 108 00:07:23.680 --> 00:07:28.319 of America. This new world hath been the asylum for 109 00:07:28.439 --> 00:07:32.160 the persecuted lovers of civil and religious liberty from every 110 00:07:32.240 --> 00:07:36.319 part of Europe. Hither have they fled, not from the 111 00:07:36.399 --> 00:07:39.839 tender embraces of the mother, but from the cruelty of 112 00:07:39.879 --> 00:07:43.720 the monster. And it is so far true of England 113 00:07:43.839 --> 00:07:46.920 that the same tyranny which drove the first emigrants from 114 00:07:47.000 --> 00:07:52.639 home pursues their descendants still in this extensive quarter of 115 00:07:52.680 --> 00:07:55.920 the globe. We forget the narrow limits of three hundred 116 00:07:55.959 --> 00:07:59.519 and sixty miles the extent of England, and carry our 117 00:07:59.560 --> 00:08:04.040 friendship on a larger scale. We claim brotherhood with every 118 00:08:04.120 --> 00:08:08.199 European Christian and triumph in the generosity of the sentiment. 119 00:08:08.959 --> 00:08:12.199 It is pleasant to observe by what regular gradations we 120 00:08:12.279 --> 00:08:15.560 surmount the force of local prejudice as we enlarge our 121 00:08:15.600 --> 00:08:19.439 acquaintance with the world. A man born in any town 122 00:08:19.480 --> 00:08:23.839 in England divided into parishes will naturally associate most with 123 00:08:23.920 --> 00:08:27.399 his fellow parishioners, because their interests, in many cases will 124 00:08:27.439 --> 00:08:30.920 be common, and distinguish him by the name of neighbor. 125 00:08:31.959 --> 00:08:34.320 If he meet him but a few miles from home, 126 00:08:34.559 --> 00:08:37.799 he drops the narrow idea of a street and salutes 127 00:08:37.840 --> 00:08:41.360 him by the name of townsmen. If he travel out 128 00:08:41.399 --> 00:08:44.200 of the county and meet him in any other he 129 00:08:44.320 --> 00:08:47.679 forgets the minor divisions of street and town and calls 130 00:08:47.759 --> 00:08:52.799 him countrymen, that is, countrymen. But if in their foreign 131 00:08:52.879 --> 00:08:56.559 excursions they should associate in France or any other part 132 00:08:56.559 --> 00:09:00.159 of Europe, their local remembrance would be enlarged in to 133 00:09:00.200 --> 00:09:04.200 that of Englishmen. And by a just parody of reasoning, 134 00:09:04.519 --> 00:09:08.039 all Europeans meeting in America or any other quarter of 135 00:09:08.080 --> 00:09:13.440 the globe are countrymen for England, Harland, Germany or Sweden, 136 00:09:13.799 --> 00:09:17.240 when compared with the whole stand in the same places 137 00:09:17.279 --> 00:09:20.720 on the larger scale, which the divisions of street, town 138 00:09:20.799 --> 00:09:25.039 and county do on the smaller ones, distinctions too limited 139 00:09:25.080 --> 00:09:30.039 for continental minds. Not one third of the inhabitants, even 140 00:09:30.080 --> 00:09:34.840 of this province are of English descent. Wherefore I reprobate 141 00:09:34.919 --> 00:09:38.159 the phrase of parents or mother country applied to England 142 00:09:38.200 --> 00:09:45.120 only as being false, selfish, narrow, and ungenerous. But admitting 143 00:09:45.200 --> 00:09:48.000 that we are all of English descents, what does it 144 00:09:48.039 --> 00:09:53.639 amount to nothing? Britain, being now an open enemy, extinguishes 145 00:09:53.759 --> 00:09:56.960 every other name and title, and to say that a 146 00:09:57.000 --> 00:10:01.720 reconciliation is our duty is truly farcical. The first King 147 00:10:01.799 --> 00:10:05.320 of England of the present line, William the Conqueror, was 148 00:10:05.360 --> 00:10:08.960 a Frenchman, and half the peers of England are descendants 149 00:10:08.960 --> 00:10:13.519 from the same country. Therefore, by the same method of reasoning, 150 00:10:13.919 --> 00:10:17.840 England ought to be governed by France. Much has been 151 00:10:17.879 --> 00:10:21.080 said of the united strength of Britain and the colonies, 152 00:10:21.759 --> 00:10:25.440 that in conjunction they might bid defiance to the world. 153 00:10:26.000 --> 00:10:29.720 But this is a mere presumption. The fate of war 154 00:10:29.879 --> 00:10:34.720 is uncertain. Neither do the expressions mean anything, for this 155 00:10:34.879 --> 00:10:38.679 continent would never suffer itself to be drained of inhabitants 156 00:10:38.720 --> 00:10:44.000 to support the British arms in either Asia, Africa or Europe. Besides, 157 00:10:44.440 --> 00:10:47.000 what have we to do with setting the world at defiance. 158 00:10:47.440 --> 00:10:51.519 Our plan is commerce, and that well attended to, will 159 00:10:51.559 --> 00:10:55.679 secure us the peace and friendship of all Europe. Because 160 00:10:55.720 --> 00:10:58.440 it is the interest of all Europe to have America 161 00:10:58.480 --> 00:11:02.360 a free port. Her trade will always be a protection, 162 00:11:03.039 --> 00:11:07.120 and her barrenness of gold and silver secure her from invaders. 163 00:11:08.279 --> 00:11:12.320 I challenge the warmest advocate for reconciliation to show a 164 00:11:12.360 --> 00:11:16.559 single advantage that this continent can reap by being connected 165 00:11:16.600 --> 00:11:20.679 with Great Britain. I repeat the challenge. Not a single 166 00:11:20.759 --> 00:11:24.840 advantage is derived. Our corn will fetch its price in 167 00:11:24.919 --> 00:11:28.200 any market in Europe, and our imported goods must be 168 00:11:28.279 --> 00:11:32.480 paid for by them where you will. But the injuries 169 00:11:32.480 --> 00:11:36.879 and disadvantages we sustain by that connection are without number, 170 00:11:37.519 --> 00:11:40.759 and our duty to mankind at large, as well as 171 00:11:40.759 --> 00:11:46.240 to ourselves, instruct us to renounce the alliance, because any 172 00:11:46.320 --> 00:11:50.600 submission to or dependence on Great Britain tends directly to 173 00:11:50.720 --> 00:11:55.200 involve this continent in European wars and quarrels, and sets 174 00:11:55.279 --> 00:11:58.879 us at variance with nations who would otherwise seek our friendship, 175 00:11:59.200 --> 00:12:04.240 and against too, we have neither anger nor complaint. As 176 00:12:04.279 --> 00:12:07.519 Europe is our market for trade, we ought to form 177 00:12:07.600 --> 00:12:10.600 no partial connection with any part of it. It is 178 00:12:10.679 --> 00:12:14.720 the true interest of America to steer clear of European contentions, 179 00:12:15.240 --> 00:12:18.360 which she can never do, while by her dependence on 180 00:12:18.480 --> 00:12:21.679 Britain she has made the make weight in the scale 181 00:12:21.679 --> 00:12:28.159 of British politics. Europe is too thickly planted with kingdoms 182 00:12:28.200 --> 00:12:31.720 to be long at peace, and whenever a war breaks 183 00:12:31.720 --> 00:12:35.000 out between England and any foreign power, the trade of 184 00:12:35.039 --> 00:12:39.480 America goes to ruin. Because of her connection with England, 185 00:12:40.360 --> 00:12:42.840 the next war may not turn out like the last, 186 00:12:43.279 --> 00:12:47.399 and should it not, the advocates for reconciliation now will 187 00:12:47.440 --> 00:12:51.480 be wishing for separation then, because neutrality, in that case 188 00:12:51.519 --> 00:12:54.200 would be a safer convoy than a man of war. 189 00:12:55.480 --> 00:12:59.879 Everything that is right or natural pleads for separation. The 190 00:13:00.120 --> 00:13:03.600 blood of the slain, the weeping voice of nature cries 191 00:13:03.919 --> 00:13:07.639 tis time to part. Even the distance at which the 192 00:13:07.720 --> 00:13:11.080 Almighty hath placed England and America is a strong and 193 00:13:11.200 --> 00:13:14.159 natural proof that the authority of the one over the 194 00:13:14.240 --> 00:13:18.679 other was never the design of Heaven. The time likewise 195 00:13:18.720 --> 00:13:22.080 at which the continent was discovered, adds weight to the argument, 196 00:13:22.440 --> 00:13:25.200 and the manner in which it was peopled increases the 197 00:13:25.240 --> 00:13:29.480 force of it. The Reformation was preceded by the discovery 198 00:13:29.519 --> 00:13:33.120 of America, as if the Almighty graciously meant to open 199 00:13:33.120 --> 00:13:36.639 a sanctuary to the persecuted in future years, when home 200 00:13:36.720 --> 00:13:40.879 should afford neither friendship nor safety. The authority of Great 201 00:13:40.919 --> 00:13:44.159 Britain over this continent is a form of governments which, 202 00:13:44.279 --> 00:13:48.279 sooner or later must have an end, And a serious 203 00:13:48.360 --> 00:13:52.000 mind can draw no true pleasure by looking forward under 204 00:13:52.000 --> 00:13:55.639 the painful and positive conviction that what he calls the 205 00:13:55.679 --> 00:14:01.519 present Constitution is merely temporary. Parents, we can have no 206 00:14:01.799 --> 00:14:05.519 joy knowing that this government is not sufficiently lasting to 207 00:14:05.600 --> 00:14:10.120 assure anything which we might bequeath to posterity. And by 208 00:14:10.159 --> 00:14:13.039 a plain method of arguments, as we are running the 209 00:14:13.080 --> 00:14:16.320 next generation into debt, we ought to do the work 210 00:14:16.360 --> 00:14:21.080 of it. Otherwise we use them meanly and pitifully. In 211 00:14:21.200 --> 00:14:24.480 order to discover the line of our duty rightly, we 212 00:14:24.519 --> 00:14:28.120 should take our children in our hand and fix our station. 213 00:14:28.240 --> 00:14:32.639 A few years farther into life, that eminence will present 214 00:14:32.720 --> 00:14:36.799 a prospect which a few present fears and prejudices conceal 215 00:14:36.919 --> 00:14:42.279 from our sight. Though I will carefully avoid giving unnecessary offense. 216 00:14:42.759 --> 00:14:45.960 Yet I am inclined to believe that all those who 217 00:14:46.120 --> 00:14:50.240 espouse the doctrine of reconciliation may be included within the 218 00:14:50.320 --> 00:14:54.919 following descriptions. Interested men who are not to be trusted, 219 00:14:55.559 --> 00:15:00.600 weak men who cannot see, prejudiced men who will not see. 220 00:15:01.200 --> 00:15:04.519 And a certain set of moderate men who think better 221 00:15:04.559 --> 00:15:09.120 of the European world than it deserves. And this last class, 222 00:15:09.240 --> 00:15:12.519 by an ill judged deliberation, will be the cause of 223 00:15:12.600 --> 00:15:15.879 more calamities to this continent than all the other three. 224 00:15:17.200 --> 00:15:19.720 It is the good fortune of many to live distant 225 00:15:19.759 --> 00:15:22.960 from the scene of sorrow. The evil is not sufficient 226 00:15:23.039 --> 00:15:26.480 brought to their doors to make them feel the precariousness 227 00:15:26.519 --> 00:15:30.600 with which all American property is possessed. But let our 228 00:15:30.639 --> 00:15:34.600 imaginations transport us for a few moments to Boston. That 229 00:15:34.799 --> 00:15:38.679 seat of wretchedness will teach us wisdom and instruct us 230 00:15:38.720 --> 00:15:41.600 forever to renounce a power in whom we can have 231 00:15:41.679 --> 00:15:46.279 no trust. The inhabitants of that unfortunate city, who but 232 00:15:46.360 --> 00:15:49.320 a few months ago were in ease and affluence, have 233 00:15:49.559 --> 00:15:53.600 now no other alternative than to stay and starve. Or 234 00:15:53.679 --> 00:15:57.360 turn and beg endangered by the fire of their friends. 235 00:15:57.399 --> 00:16:01.120 If they continue within the city and plunder by the soldiery. 236 00:16:01.240 --> 00:16:04.799 If they leave it in their present condition, they are 237 00:16:04.879 --> 00:16:08.159 prisoners without the hope of redemption, and in a general 238 00:16:08.200 --> 00:16:11.279 attack for their relief they would be exposed to the 239 00:16:11.320 --> 00:16:16.960 fury of both armies. Men of passive tempers look somewhat 240 00:16:17.080 --> 00:16:20.200 lightly over the offenses of Britain, and still hoping for 241 00:16:20.240 --> 00:16:23.879 the best, are apt to call out, Come, Come, we 242 00:16:23.960 --> 00:16:28.600 shall be friends again for all this, But examine the 243 00:16:28.679 --> 00:16:33.039 passions and feelings of mankind, bring the doctrine of reconciliation 244 00:16:33.159 --> 00:16:36.600 to the touchstone of nature, and then tell me whether 245 00:16:36.720 --> 00:16:40.759 you can hereafter love, honor, and faithfully serve the power 246 00:16:40.799 --> 00:16:44.440 that hath carried fire and sword into your land. If 247 00:16:44.480 --> 00:16:49.080 you cannot do all these, then are you only deceiving yourselves, 248 00:16:49.600 --> 00:16:54.200 and by your delay bringing ruin upon posterity. Your future 249 00:16:54.240 --> 00:16:57.960 connection with Britain, whom you can neither love nor honor, 250 00:16:58.279 --> 00:17:02.080 will be forced and unnatural, and, being formed only on 251 00:17:02.159 --> 00:17:05.359 the plan of present convenience, will in a little time 252 00:17:05.640 --> 00:17:09.920 fall into a relapse more wretched than the first. But 253 00:17:10.359 --> 00:17:13.160 if you say you can still pass the violations over 254 00:17:13.680 --> 00:17:18.319 then I ask, hath your house been burnt? Hath your 255 00:17:18.400 --> 00:17:22.480 property been destroyed? Before your face? Are your wife and 256 00:17:22.599 --> 00:17:25.720 children destitute of a bed to lie on or bread 257 00:17:25.759 --> 00:17:28.839 to live on? Have you lost a parent or a 258 00:17:28.960 --> 00:17:33.319 child by their hands? And yourself the ruined and wretched survivor? 259 00:17:34.480 --> 00:17:37.400 If you have not, then are you not a judge 260 00:17:37.400 --> 00:17:40.759 of those who have? But if you have and still 261 00:17:40.799 --> 00:17:44.519 can shake hands with the murderers, then are you unworthy 262 00:17:44.599 --> 00:17:48.759 of the name of husband, father, friend, or lover? And 263 00:17:48.880 --> 00:17:52.039 whatever may be your rank or title in life? You 264 00:17:52.119 --> 00:17:54.920 have the heart of a coward and the spirit of 265 00:17:54.960 --> 00:18:01.119 a sycophant. This is not inflaming or exaggerate matters, but 266 00:18:01.319 --> 00:18:05.400 trying them by those feelings and affections which nature justifies, 267 00:18:05.720 --> 00:18:09.440 and without which we should be incapable of discharging the 268 00:18:09.480 --> 00:18:12.960 social duties of life or enjoying the felicities of it. 269 00:18:13.880 --> 00:18:16.599 I mean not to exhibit horror for the purpose of 270 00:18:16.640 --> 00:18:21.920 provoking revenge, but to awaken us from fatal and unmanly slumbers, 271 00:18:22.319 --> 00:18:27.240 that we may pursue determinately some fixed object. It is 272 00:18:27.319 --> 00:18:29.920 not in the power of Britain or of Europe to 273 00:18:29.960 --> 00:18:34.559 conquer America. If she do not conquer herself by delay intimidity. 274 00:18:35.440 --> 00:18:39.279 The present winter is worth an age if rightly employed, 275 00:18:40.000 --> 00:18:43.680 but if lost or neglected, the whole continent will partake 276 00:18:43.720 --> 00:18:47.279 of the misfortune. And there is no punishment which that 277 00:18:47.440 --> 00:18:50.759 man will deserve, be he who, or what or where 278 00:18:50.799 --> 00:18:54.039 he will. That may be the means of sacrificing a 279 00:18:54.079 --> 00:18:58.759 season so precious and useful. It is repugnant to reason, 280 00:18:59.079 --> 00:19:02.559 to the universal order of things, to all examples from 281 00:19:02.599 --> 00:19:06.759 former ages, to suppose that this continent can longer remain 282 00:19:06.880 --> 00:19:11.720 subject to an external power. The most sanguine in Britain 283 00:19:11.759 --> 00:19:15.279 does not think so. The utmost stretch of a human 284 00:19:15.319 --> 00:19:19.759 wisdom cannot at this time compass a plan short of separation, 285 00:19:20.119 --> 00:19:25.440 which can promise the continent even a year's security. Reconciliation 286 00:19:25.640 --> 00:19:30.319 is now a fallacious dream. Nature hath deserted the connection, 287 00:19:30.880 --> 00:19:36.000 and art cannot supply her place. For, as Milton wisely expresses, 288 00:19:36.400 --> 00:19:40.599 never can true reconcilement grow where wounds of deadly hate 289 00:19:40.640 --> 00:19:44.920 have pierced so deep. Every quiet method for peace hath 290 00:19:44.960 --> 00:19:49.960 been ineffectual. Our prayers have been rejected with disdain, and 291 00:19:50.079 --> 00:19:54.039 only tended to convince us that nothing flatters vanity or 292 00:19:54.160 --> 00:19:59.480 confirms obstinacy in kings more than repeated petitioning, And nothing 293 00:19:59.519 --> 00:20:02.319 hath contry libit more than that very measure to make 294 00:20:02.359 --> 00:20:08.000 the kings of Europe absolute witness Denmark and Sweden. Wherefore, 295 00:20:08.240 --> 00:20:12.319 since nothing but blows will do for God's sake, let 296 00:20:12.400 --> 00:20:15.400 us come to a final separation and not leave the 297 00:20:15.440 --> 00:20:19.519 next generation to be cutting throats under the violated, unmeaning 298 00:20:19.640 --> 00:20:23.640 names of parents and child. To say they will never 299 00:20:23.720 --> 00:20:27.960 attempt it again is idle and visionary. We thought so 300 00:20:28.119 --> 00:20:30.920 at the repeal of this Stampact, Yet a year or 301 00:20:30.920 --> 00:20:35.559 two undeceived us as well. May we suppose that nations 302 00:20:35.559 --> 00:20:38.640 which have been once defeated will never renew the quarrel 303 00:20:39.759 --> 00:20:42.680 As to government matters. It is not in the power 304 00:20:42.680 --> 00:20:46.279 of Britain to do this continent justice. The business of 305 00:20:46.359 --> 00:20:49.480 it will soon be too weighty and intricate to be 306 00:20:49.599 --> 00:20:53.200 managed with any tolerable degree of convenience by a power 307 00:20:53.279 --> 00:20:56.599 so distant from us and so very ignorant of us. 308 00:20:57.119 --> 00:21:01.480 For if they cannot conquer us, they cannot govern. To 309 00:21:01.519 --> 00:21:04.960 be always running three or four thousand miles with a 310 00:21:05.039 --> 00:21:08.039 tail or, a petition waiting four or five months for 311 00:21:08.119 --> 00:21:12.000 an answer which, when obtained, requires five or six more 312 00:21:12.039 --> 00:21:15.079 to explain it in will in a few years be 313 00:21:15.200 --> 00:21:19.799 looked upon as folly and childishness. There was a time 314 00:21:19.839 --> 00:21:22.799 when it was proper, and there is a proper time 315 00:21:22.920 --> 00:21:28.960 for it to cease. Small islands, not capable of protecting 316 00:21:29.000 --> 00:21:32.319 themselves are the proper objects for kingdoms to take under 317 00:21:32.359 --> 00:21:37.079 their care. But there is something very absurd in supposing 318 00:21:37.160 --> 00:21:41.680 a continent to be perpetually governed by an island. In 319 00:21:41.799 --> 00:21:45.160 no instance hath nature made the satellite larger than its 320 00:21:45.200 --> 00:21:48.960 primary planet. And as England and America with respect to 321 00:21:49.000 --> 00:21:52.400 each other, reverses the common order of nature, it is 322 00:21:52.480 --> 00:21:57.400 evident they belong to different systems, England to Europe, America 323 00:21:57.599 --> 00:22:02.519 to itself. I am not induced by motives of pride, 324 00:22:02.720 --> 00:22:07.160 party or resentments to espouse the doctrine of separation and independence. 325 00:22:07.960 --> 00:22:12.400 I am clearly, positively and conscientiously persuaded that it is 326 00:22:12.480 --> 00:22:16.119 the true interest of this continent to be so that 327 00:22:16.200 --> 00:22:19.759 everything short of that is mere patchwork, that it can 328 00:22:19.799 --> 00:22:23.680 afford no lasting felicity, That it is leaving the sword 329 00:22:23.759 --> 00:22:26.880 to our children, and shrinking back at a time when 330 00:22:26.920 --> 00:22:30.079 a little more a little farther would have rendered this 331 00:22:30.240 --> 00:22:33.960 continent the glory of the earth, as Britain hath not 332 00:22:34.160 --> 00:22:38.160 manifested the least inclination towards a compromise. We may be 333 00:22:38.240 --> 00:22:41.960 assured that no terms can be obtained worthy the acceptance 334 00:22:42.000 --> 00:22:44.880 of the continent, or in any ways equal to the 335 00:22:44.920 --> 00:22:48.039 expense of blood and treasure we have already been put to. 336 00:22:48.759 --> 00:22:52.319 The object contended for ought always to bear some just 337 00:22:52.440 --> 00:22:56.599 proportion to the expense. The removal of North, or the 338 00:22:56.640 --> 00:23:00.759 whole detestable junto is a matter unworthy the millions we 339 00:23:00.839 --> 00:23:05.839 have expended. A temporary stoppage of trade was an inconvenience 340 00:23:05.880 --> 00:23:08.839 which would have sufficiently balanced the repeal of all acts 341 00:23:08.880 --> 00:23:12.920 complained of, had such repeals been obtained. But if the 342 00:23:12.960 --> 00:23:16.599 whole continent must take up arms, if every man must 343 00:23:16.680 --> 00:23:19.559 be a soldier, it is scarcely worth our while to 344 00:23:19.640 --> 00:23:25.440 fight against a contemptible ministry. Only dearly, dearly do we 345 00:23:25.519 --> 00:23:27.720 pay for the repeal of the acts, if that is 346 00:23:27.799 --> 00:23:31.480 all we fight for for. In a just estimation, it 347 00:23:31.599 --> 00:23:33.960 is as great a folly to pay a bunker hill 348 00:23:34.039 --> 00:23:37.960 prize for law as for land. As I have always 349 00:23:38.039 --> 00:23:41.400 considered the independency of this continent as an event which 350 00:23:41.519 --> 00:23:45.319 sooner or later must arrive. So from the late rapid 351 00:23:45.359 --> 00:23:48.720 progress of the continent to maturity, the event could not 352 00:23:48.880 --> 00:23:53.359 be far off. Wherefore, on the breaking out of hostilities, 353 00:23:53.759 --> 00:23:56.319 it was not worth while to have disputed the matter, 354 00:23:56.440 --> 00:24:00.079 which time would have finally redressed, unless we meant it 355 00:24:00.200 --> 00:24:04.039 to be in earnest. Otherwise it is like wasting an 356 00:24:04.200 --> 00:24:07.359 estates on a suit at law to regulate the trespasses 357 00:24:07.400 --> 00:24:12.240 of a tenant whose lease is just expiring. No man 358 00:24:12.400 --> 00:24:16.200 was a warmer wisher for reconciliation than myself before the 359 00:24:16.200 --> 00:24:20.880 fatal nineteenth of April seventeen seventy five. But the moment 360 00:24:21.039 --> 00:24:24.440 the event of that day was made known, I rejected 361 00:24:24.440 --> 00:24:29.039 the hardened, sullen, tempered pharaoh of England forever and disdain 362 00:24:29.200 --> 00:24:32.039 the wretch that, with the pretended title of father of 363 00:24:32.119 --> 00:24:36.759 his people can unfeelingly hear of their slaughter and composedly 364 00:24:36.880 --> 00:24:42.240 sleep with their blood upon his soul. But admitting that 365 00:24:42.319 --> 00:24:45.160 matters were now made up, what would be the event? 366 00:24:46.000 --> 00:24:49.759 I answer the ruin of the continent, and that, for 367 00:24:49.839 --> 00:24:56.799 several reasons. First, the powers of governing still remaining in 368 00:24:56.839 --> 00:24:59.599 the hands of the king, he will have a negative 369 00:24:59.759 --> 00:25:03.519 of the whole legislation of this continent. And as he 370 00:25:03.599 --> 00:25:07.119 hath shown himself such an inveterate enemy to liberty and 371 00:25:07.200 --> 00:25:10.960 discovered such a thirst for arbitrary power, is he or 372 00:25:11.000 --> 00:25:13.720 is he not a proper man to say to these colonies, 373 00:25:14.240 --> 00:25:18.119 you shall make no laws but what I please? And 374 00:25:18.279 --> 00:25:22.160 is there any inhabitant in America so ignorant as not 375 00:25:22.279 --> 00:25:25.759 to know that, according to what is called the present Constitution, 376 00:25:26.440 --> 00:25:29.359 that this continent can make no laws but what the 377 00:25:29.440 --> 00:25:32.440 King gives leave to. And is there any man so 378 00:25:32.799 --> 00:25:36.920 unwise as not to see that, considering what has happened, 379 00:25:37.279 --> 00:25:39.759 he will suffer no law to be made here, but 380 00:25:39.920 --> 00:25:44.799 such as suit his purpose. We may be as effectually 381 00:25:44.960 --> 00:25:48.000 enslaved by the want of laws in America as by 382 00:25:48.039 --> 00:25:52.880 submitting to laws made for us in England. After matters 383 00:25:52.880 --> 00:25:55.720 are made up, as it is called, can there be 384 00:25:55.880 --> 00:25:59.079 any doubts, but the whole power of the Crown will 385 00:25:59.119 --> 00:26:02.519 be exerted to keep this continent as low and humble 386 00:26:02.559 --> 00:26:07.319 as possible. Instead of going forward, we shall go backward, 387 00:26:07.720 --> 00:26:12.920 or be perpetually quarreling or ridiculously petitioning. We are already 388 00:26:13.000 --> 00:26:15.839 greater than the King wishes us to be, and will 389 00:26:15.880 --> 00:26:19.960 he not hereafter endeavor to make us less. To bring 390 00:26:20.000 --> 00:26:23.599 the matter to one point, is the power who is 391 00:26:23.720 --> 00:26:27.119 jealous of our prosperity a proper power to govern us. 392 00:26:27.720 --> 00:26:31.880 Whoever says no to this question is an independent. For 393 00:26:32.000 --> 00:26:35.319 independency means no more than whether we shall make our 394 00:26:35.359 --> 00:26:39.480 own laws, or whether the King, the greatest enemy this 395 00:26:39.640 --> 00:26:43.519 continent hath or can have, shall tell us there shall 396 00:26:43.640 --> 00:26:47.960 be no laws but such as I like. But the King, 397 00:26:48.119 --> 00:26:51.400 you will say, has a negative in England, the people 398 00:26:51.440 --> 00:26:54.680 there can make no laws without his consent. In point 399 00:26:54.720 --> 00:26:58.640 of right and good order, there is something very ridiculous 400 00:26:58.720 --> 00:27:01.960 that a youth of twenty one one, which hath often happened, 401 00:27:02.359 --> 00:27:05.680