SMI Cb18 74p miliam .Smitt) Baaon YALE 1 — ., — 1 am 11K I D' ?' THE letters O F V A L E N- S, (Which originally appeared in the London Evening Pofl) WITH CORRECTIONS, EXPLANATORY NOTES, AND ' A PREFACE, By the A U T ' H O R. LONDON: RINTED FOR J. ALMON, OPPOSITE BURLINGTON-HOUSE, IN PICCADILLY. MDCCLXXVIl! E R R A T U MV In the firft line of the note, at the bottom of the 73d page., jnftgad of " in fort of agreement/' read, ". in no fort of agreement." CONTENTS, L. E T T E R I, ¦f.RWMPHS — — . i LETTER II. Addrejfes- • ¦ — -r— * v. . 9 LETTER III. Dignity * — — — - 18 LETTER IV. Sfitf Campaign ——— ..¦< — — 25 LETTER V. O^/Vi? 0/ /fo 7F« P/ne day tell the King what Lord Sandwich uublicly told the Duke of Grafton, that :hey deceived him on purpofe to lead him )n in their meafures. For they muft be :olerably fenfible how ridiculous it is to ,'uppofe, that the Americans, whom they ire fo violently accufing of republicanifm, hould be fhedding their beft blood to efta- )lifh an abfolute monarchy. That thev. who are charged with having always affected . an entire independence of this crown, mean to give the King an unqualified authority over them, is Surely rather a little paradoxi cal. - ' The reality of the fears of our Minifters, '* leaft the King fhould obtain a revenue (t indepefident of Parliament/' appears , from their continual complaint that the Colony affemblies make fo very poor and ; preearious a pfovifion for civil Govern ment. It is in truth the frugality of thefe affemblies/ which the Minifters hate, and not their prodigality, that they ftand in? dread of. They find it much more confiitu- tionat tp deal with one compliant, ; than with' twenty refractory affemblies. They are in the right, it is a courfe in finitely more pleaSant to thoSe who govern. Parliament will, they know, be Sufficiently liberal "of money which is not theirs, , fince they find them fo very moderate in its oeconomy of<> what is properly their own. .- .., i{ ¦> This ferious minifterial dread of the King's enjoying, a vaft revenue independent of Par- 'b liament, Iiafnent, appears alfo by their perfect com- pofure in a danger pf the fame kind, but far mpre preffoig, by being So much nearer home; Ireland has a penfipn. lift of (jojoool. a year, intirely at his Majefty's diSpoSal j there are alSo offices there, intirely in hi9 gift, to as large an amount $ befides the extenfive diSpofition of near a million of revenue wholly out of the inSpeetion of the Britifh Parliament, It is furprifing with what compoSurd the minifterial magnanimity enables them tp fleep with Such a mine of power and influence under their pillowj and without the leaft contr oul. This revenue is already much larger than the moft Sanguine ipecu- lation could promiSe from American affem* bKes in an hundred years. But the truth is this, leaving to the Americans the difpofition of their owa property can anfwer no minifterial pmr- pofes whatever, whether thefe affemblies make a more liberal* or a- more reServed uSe of this power. For if the American: affemblies fhould continue in their origi- naj [ Xi ] nal uncivilized, churlifh, Savage purityf they will certainly grant no more oS the fubftance of their cpnftituents, than they are Sure will be for the advantage ef thpSe whp truft them wjth the difppfal of it. In "this cafe, there will be no additional pen- fipns from America for Mr. Jenkinfon, Lord Clare, or Mr, Ellis, and a long et pastera of Parliamentary and minifterjaj worthies. This is a ferjous lofs^ and a real Subjectpf alarm to Minifters ruling on the principles that 'now actuate pur pub lic councils, If on the contrary, the Crown fhould, by degrees, and by good management ob tain an influence which might excite the American afiemblies to greater generofity, jthe effect would be too remote, for the pre sent pofleflptg pf power and favour to hope any fort of advantage from it. Corruption is not very long fighted. Selfifhnefs does not confult.fucoeffion. The jbterefted of to day, will not provide at their own expenee for the profit of the Self interefted of future times. Such pofterity, they know, have b 2 a com- a eomfbr jtable inheritance in their own care of themfelyes; and the preSent generation will not fqreftalj their induftry. Befides the miT nifters may be rather apprehenfive, confider- ing the grpwjng number of the American Reprefentatives, that the labourers may der vour the whple harveft, and leave little Pi no rent to be returned to the lawful Lords Paramount of Sinercure and pepfion, in Grea£ Britain. Thefe I imagipe are the real apprehenT fions which arife from the idea of permit ting the Americans to continue in the old practice of granting their own money; fince this is the fingle inftance in which we find pur politicians un4er fuch panic and fuperftitious fears of the effedt of Crown influence. In all other refpects, they are true free thinkers ; genuine, unaffected ef- prits forts. Whatever their fears or hppes may be, they have got us.intp a war> for the charges, pf which in any event, their gain pr their lofs, the good or the ill fuccefs of their arms, will afford to poor England a very popr indemnity. [ m i The minifters have indeed' gone fuch lengths, that they think it impoffible fop us to look back. They fay that we mufl now, without reflecting on the paft, enT deavour to give all manner of effect to the meafures that are on trial* If any thing rational were pn trial, it would indeed be wrong not to let it have a fair one ; but the execution of an ill-concerted plan, is the very mifchief of it; it turns fpeculative abfurdity into practical j and beginning in ridicule, ends in mifery. Every day that we poftpone our remedy, it undoubtedly grows the more difficult ; and the terms of peace will become lefs honourable. But ill as our condition is, Something yet remains to' be done. We have loft autho rity by injudicioufly attempting to ob tain a great enlargement of it. We may try whether it may not ftill be poffible to recover fome fubftitute, at leaft in friend- fhip and mutual intereft, for what Ave have loft in power. But a protracted war will deftroy even to the feeds of future friend ship. I am fenfible that much is expected from [ x*v ] from the vaft army which German penury and Englifh prodigality has enabled the miniitry to employ. They who think that Slaughtering, burning, and plundering, are the means of reconciling the minds pf the people tp our government, have but very poor ideas of any government at all. Al though thefe cruel injuries may compel fubmiffion, they are not of power to can cel mempry. The effect pf terror is npt lafting, but the impreffions pf hate and re sentment are deeply inlaid in the hearts of men. The day may come when the affec tions of America will be looked ; for as fomething of value, and they are even now worth purchafing even though Heffe and Brunfwick were to be defrauded of the largeft part pf the bloody glpries f.hey are to purchafe by the daughter of Englifh-f men — although fewer Englifh fcalps were to decorate the martial dwellings of thcj favage allies of our humane miniftry. If the following papers can tend ever fq little to bring us to a knowledge of our true friends and. true enemies, the Sole end [ XV j of the Author, who is no actor in this fcene, on one fide or the other, is fully anfwered. V A L E N S. LETTER, [ I ] LETTER I. TRIUMPHS. Saturday, September 23. Mr. Miller, THE minifterial writers, in one of thofe pa ragraphs with which they enrich the public papers * are pleafed, for the fpecial entertainment of the good people of England, to tell them a curious piece of news. This intelligence is the more valuable, becaufe according to Lord Bacon's ex- preffion, it comes home to our own bufinefs and bofoms. Thefe gentlemen kindly inform us, " that in " the annals of the world, there is not to be found " fo extraordinary a nation asour's." " We place " (it feems,) our chief pleafure in difcontent, and "by a retrograde propensity of thinking, are " never compleatly happy, without being compleatly miferable." B The * Vide Public Advertifer. [ 2 ] The Minifters have made a valuable difcovery in the national character. It muft be admitted to their honour, that none have ever more perfectly profited of their knpwledge of mankind, or have laboured more fucceTsfully to give entire fatisfac- tion to their country. By continuing the fame benevolent efforts a little longer, there is no doubt but that they will perfectly attain their end. The people of England are at length in a fair way of being compleatly happy, and happy in their own mode. Obfervers have been for fome" time at a lofs to account for the conduct of Miniftry. They were not able to enter into the caufes of their fupine neglects and untimely endeavours. They could not.penetrate into the motives for their violent de nunciations, and their feeble efforts •, for their difinclination to peace, and their inability for war ; for their irritating America to refiftance, by the aufterity of their laws ; and encouraging that re fiftance, by the weaknefs of their military arange- ments. The whole is now explained. They were feeking for popularity; they were conforming themfelves to our retrograde propenjities ; they were generoufly labouring for the felicity of a nation, which, as they have fagaciouQy difcovered, " can never be compleatly happy, till they are rendered compleatly miferable." The C 3 ] The benevolence of thefe good men even extends to their worft enemies. They tell us in the fame paragraph, " that the modern Patriots fhudder " at the probability of fuccefs in the management " of public affairs, and brood with a favage de- " light over the hopes of a national calamity." The modern Patriots are in truth as unreafonable as they are reprefented to be factious, if they do not gratefully acknowledge the incredible pains that Miniftry has taken to pleafe them. They have engaged us in a war, after fuch a Patriot's own heart. Envy and malignity would have befpoke it. In this war the object, the conduct, the probability of fuccefs, are all exactly alike. We are ftruggling, it feems, to obtain a revenue by force, which that very force muft for ever difable the Colonies from yielding. At the fame time we are incurring expences, that no wealth in the fubjugated Provinces, and no chearfulnefs in granting it, can ever defray. The fcene of the war is on the other fide of the Atlantic ocean. There, we have no affiftance, no alliance, not a fingle friend. Thither we are to tranfport the flower of the Englifh youth, con- figned to flaughter, difeafe, and famine. Every thing neceflary to the fupport of war, or to the ¦fuftenance of life, even to the minuted articles of both, muft be conveyed to the Britifh troops from hence, at the expenee of millions, and at the B 2 mercy [ 4 ] mercy of winds and feas. The fupply of great armies, even in the midft of the moft plentiful countries, and in the moft commodious fituations, is chargeable, difficult, and fometimes precarious. What a work then muft the fubfiftance of an army be, (I mean an army fufficient to produce any effect,) in a country three thoufand miles diftant from home ? In a country 'where the provifion for a fingle day cannot be purchafed ? Every finifter incident, every unfavourable event, muft ~ be re paired, if it can at all be repaired, from the diftance of 70 degrees of longitude ; and the leaft delay or misfortune attending the fupply, puts an end to the operations of an whole campaign. Whilft the Minifterial operations are clogged with thefe difficulties, the Americans are training and * hardening themfelves to war. The conti nuance of the quarrel inures them to the ftate of things into which they are fallen. They are in the midft of their refources. With whatever vain hopes Minifters may flatter themfelves or attempt to delude their country, we may be af- fured, that where recruits, provifions, wood and iron, are furnifhed by the country, the reft of the inftruments of war are eafily procured. No fea- man will affert, that powder cannot be conveyed to * The Wonderful march of Arnold, in our Gazette, par excel lence I fuppofe, ftiled one Arnold, is fome proof of the juftnefs pf this reafoning. ^C 5 1 to the Colonies from abroad. No naturalift will affirm, that it cannot be made by them at home. This is the true ftate of our affairs ; this is the probability of fuccefs, which it feems is to glorify adminiftration, and to make patriots fhudder. Provided that no misfortune happens to the ar my in America; provided no- foreign power inter feres to affift the Provincials ; provided that the foreign powers in whom we truft will certainly sffift us : — With all thafe provifos, it is poffible, that this nation may, for one feafon more,— juft one more, — continue the expences of this defpe- rate and ruinous conteft. In the mean time the minifterial writers may manufacture paragraphs to amufe the people of England ; the Minifters may fend out more por ter to keep up the fpirits of the difheartened troops at Bofton; the yet remaining wealth of England may be fquandered in various ways, for the pur- pofe of hiding under lucrative contracts for war, the hafty declenfion of trade ; vthey may buy, or beg, or cheat corporations into flattering addreffes. All thefe are but poor and temporary devices, which may for a while veil from our eyes the real ftate of our affairs, but are not of power to avert or foften the fmalleft part of the impending cala mity. Infenfibility of danger, and fecurity from it, are very different things. The I * 3 The African trade has felt the blow already. The Weft-India trade ftaggers, and is doomed to fall the next. No trade can long ftand the prefent unwife conteft. The lofs of the Ameri can commerce is a lafting evil ; the fubftitute for it, in the flufh which the Ruffian peace and the Spanifh armament have caufed, is contingent, cafual, inadequate. The minifterial Manifefto, from which I have quoted the above extraordinary paffages, fpeaks of it as of a circumftance of aftonilhing abfurdity, "that an Englifhman fhould look upon the " TRIUMPH of the King's troops with regret." Englifhmen will tell Minifters what they think of fuch a triumph, when they have the fortune to fee it. As yet that triumph has not been caufe of joy or forrow to any man alive. Do thefe men mock at our diftrefs ? Do they really think that the precipitous retreat of thq King's troops from Lexington, was a triumph ? Do ' they think that the action at Bunker's-hill, where at the expenee of more than half the num ber that fought, thefe troops purehafed a fmall enlargement of their burial: ground, was a tri umph ? Do they imagine that it is a triumph- of thefe poor half-ftarved troops, to have fuffered from the day of that action, as indeed they had long t T 1. long before, as clofe a blockade as any garrifon, can fuffer in a place that is open to the fea ? If thefe be the triumphs of the King's forces, every public fpirited, every humane and honeft mind, beholds them with the deepeft forrow ancE regret. There is no man worthy of bearing the name of Englifhman, who does not fee with grief the miferable and difgraceful fituation of the braveft troops, and the beft commanders in the world. That man muft be very indifferent to the glory of his country, who does not fee and feel too, for the condition into which both have been brought, by the moft unexampled imbecility and r-afhnefs; a condition which originating from plans kid in grofs mifinformation and fundamental error, no courage in the troops, and no {kill in the commanders, can poflibly improve. Here, for the prefent, I am obliged to leave the troops and the triumph * I now turn to the gentle men who fight, under much more comfortable cir- cumftances, the battles' of the Miniftry in England. It is not only in the paragraph I quote, that they prefume to infult thofe who differ from them in politics, by charging them with a delight in the national calamities. It is the conftant language of thefe. writers. If any man has fhewn a difpo fition *• Tieonderoga;- Chambli, St. John's, Montreal^may be added to the lift of thefe triumphs, [ «,J fition to fuch an unnatural delight,- whether he be a Minifter or a Patriot, the community muft think fuch men deferving of a feverer cenfure, than any which the pens of fuch writers feem capable of .inflicting. There are fome indeed, who, if they do not delight in the national diftreffes, feem at leaft not to entertain a proper horror of them. Thefe are they, who, in all political difputes, are the. con- ftant favourers of violent -meafures ; who are continually urging the people to war, and under the notion of meannefs and pufillanimity, decry ing every idea of peace and reconciliation. " Thefe gentlemen may indeed feel fome morti fication, not from generous fympathy, but from difappointed pride, when the natural, however by them unexpected, iffue of their meafures, is ftrongly marked in circumftances of public cala mity. But thefe gentlemen ought to take care how they miftake in others for exultation at the national misfortunes, thpfe emotions of fcorn and indignation, which all men of fenfibility muft dis cover at the infatuated councils from whence our public misfortunes are derived. LV A L E N S. LETTER [9 3 LETTER II. ADDRESSES. Saturday, September 30.* Mr. Miller, THE manner in which adminiftration is em ployed, appears rather extraordinary in the prefent circumftances of the nation. That pe riod, once fo awful ; that day of account, once fo terrible to ftatefmen, the meeting of Parliament, is at hand. It might be imagined, that at fuch a time, Miniftry were exceedingly bufy in fabri cating, for the fatisfaction of the two Houfes, what they have hitherto thought proper to with hold from the public, — fome fort of apology for the total failure of all their projects. It might be fuppofed they were continually oc cupied in a careful and detailed review of their former meafures; that by fuch a review they might difcover to what miftake in the plan, or to what weaknefs in the execution, we were to afcribe the prefent calamitous fituation of our C of [ io ] affairs. One would think they were, at length, bending their attention on fome fcheme for preventing, if poffible, the final difmember- ment of the empire. Inftead of this, they are wholly occupied in the manufacture of addrejfes. To common obfervers this feems to be an odd entertainment for men in their condition. If in deed addreffesto Minifters could infure victories to armies ; if railing at enemies could repair de feats'; if flattery could cover difgraces ; iffervi- lity could give plenty to famine, health to difeafes, and cure to wounds, nothing could be more pro perly applied to the exigencies of Minifters, and to the neceffities of thofe who have the misfor tune to bear arms in their fupport. If addreffes had this virtue, thefe courtly performances would certainly merit all the care and expenee which has been fo profufely lavifhed in obtaining them. Although I think this proceeding of Miniftry in many refpects weak and trifling, yet I confefs' that nothing, no not an addrefs exifts in vain. The managers are able to perceive, among the firft ef fects of this hopeful war (into which they have betrayed their country) an immenfe, an immediate increafe of the public burthens. They fee at length, and they fee only, becaufe they are forced to feel, that they have drawn' up the fluices of an expenee, which will not be in their power to let down at pleafure. They perfevere in their mea fures, C » 1 fures, becaufe they wifh to continue in their places. They know that the meafures, ne- ceffary to their opulence, muft end in the beg gary of their country. When the purfe and pa tience of the people are exhaufted by the accu mulated charges of an unnatural and difgraceful war, it is then that the prefent manoeuvres are to take their effect. The Miniftry will put the peo ple in mind, that they fuffer at their own fpecial re'-, arueft. They will point to their addrejfes, and tell them " Taxation is no Tyranny." , In one part of their project, there is no doubt the Miniftry will fucceed. They will get addreffes enough. None have ever miffed who have ever fought them. All the little agitators in boroughs will eafily pe.rfuade men of much vanity, and no reflection, that their names to an addrefs gives them a confequence at Court. The little, cun ning, buftling politicians, in a corporation, think they may with great fafety exert themfelves to oblige a particular friend, that knows who and who are together, and that, when he pleafes, may fee thofe who fee the King. If things go well, they may plead merit ; if ill, they are loft in the crowd, and protected by their obfcurity. One of thefe fnug Machiavels will reafon thus : — " We " are in for it. If the Minifter chufes a war, he " will go to war, whether we will or not. If the «' taxes go on, little places, and little jobs as C 2 well ' [' 12 ] " well as great ones, will increafe. We 'too, if " we play our cards well, may come in for fhacks ; "whilft the whole burthen' of the war, without " any alleviation, will fall on the grumblers." The little politician at the Town Hall is not al together miftaken. If his principal happens to think of him, after the purpofe is ferved, he may be paid for his work ; but the little politician at the Cockpit will find himfelf miferably deluded. When the national debt and national taxes begin to fwell ; when trade finks under its oppreflions ; when Europe begins to be involved ; and the civil becomes but an introduction to a general war, the Minifter, whoever he is, will find that thofe who are willing to flatter, are not able to protect him, Thofe who are fo ready to advife him to plunge his country into a war, will not be in a capacity to furnifh him with the means of carrying on that war, nor with the expedient for extricating him felf out of it. I believe there are very few of thefe figners, or even of the original promoters of thefe addrefles, who have once given themfelves the trouble to enquire, whether this war, of , which they are fo enamoured, be abfolutely neceffary ? To afk themfelves, how it is to be fupported ? To confi- der, what end it is to anfwer, if fuccefsful ? Or to reflect, if it be unfuccefsful, what remedy is tp be found in fo dreadful a difafter ? One C n ^ One circumftance mcthinks ought to make thefe gentlemen who halloo, or who aie hallooed to war, a little cautious how they dip their hands in blood. The Minifters have fet out in their war with an avowqd confeffion, that they are not able to carry it on with the Jirength of this country. They are at this inftant fuppliant at every Court in Europe. There is not a country in which want and fervi- t'ude have turned" the lives of the fubject into' an object of traffick to the Prince, in which Miniftry are not mortgaging the revenue of England, and plighting the faith of future Parliaments. It is to Hanoverian, to Hessian, to Russian Arms, that England is to owe the recovery, and tlidpre- fervation of our authority in America. Such arms are, I admit, the natural inftru- ments for the eftablifhment of arbitrary power. But the addreffers of fuch meafures would do well to afk themfelves, to whom that arbitrary power is to belong, if foreign force fhould prove fuccefs- ful ? To thofe, by whom conquefts are made, the benefits of conquefts will belong. But I ab hor the idea — Heaven forbid that flaves fhould ever become the mafters of freemen ; or that Ruffian ferocity, fhould triumph over Englifh. va lour in any part of the world. The Miniftry, though they are compleatly dis graced in their principles, for the attempt to ter- [ 14 3 minate Britifh difputes by foreign arms, may be further difgraced by their policy, by their failure in that enterprife. They have not yet been able to gratify their addreffers with any certain affurance that they fhall be permitted to tranfport over the Atlantic ocean 20,600 Calmucks and Coffacks, to lay wafte with fire and fword the habitations of Englifhmen, and to turn one of the faireft part of the Britifh dominions into one of their Tarta rian defarts.* Whoever advifes others to war, ought not only to be perfuaded that the war is juft, but he ought to have a reafonable affurance, that thofe to whom he applies himfelf, are of ability to carry it on with fuccefs. Otherwife he is not only facrificing the intereft of his country, but he is difgracing and ruining the caufe of j uftice itfelf. Of the abi lity of the Minifters for this great talk, the ad dreffers may have fome private knowledge to which they truft. But I muft fay their friends in power have not yet been pleafed to favour the- public, whofe approbation they court, with any means of doing their capacity the honour that perhaps * They have not yet been able to fucceed with regard to Ruflia, but fome German Princes have condefcendedto furnifh^ them with the means of ruining their country, by the mercenary aid of feveral regiments of Heffians, Brunfwickers, Waldecks, and Defiaus. t n 1 perhaps it deferves. Nothing has fucceeded with them, either in their civil provifions, or in their military arrangements. They have made a great number of acts of parliament, f which has left the ftate of govern ment in a thoufand times a worfe condition than they found it. They followed their acts of par liament with above twenty of the beft regiments in the fervice~; with almoft the whole of the ma rines ; with fuch a ftrength of artillery and artil lery companies, as were never employed when we made war with France in America. To give ef fect to this force, they have fent no lefs than four Generals. To the great land force, they have added a great naval power. The refult of all thefe immenfe military arrangements has been, that the Minifters have one town in America — for their armies to ftarve and die in. — This is the faithful abftract of the firft year's hiftory, of our new facial war. Thefe are plain matters of fact. An honeft man, who fees no more than I can fee of the probability of fuccefs in the courfe which has been hitherto purfued, would therefore have his fcruples about urging the fame men to proceed in the fame courfe, which f Bofton Port Aft. Maffachufets Charter Aft. Military Execution Ad. Reflraining fifhery, (commonly called the Starvation) Aft. The reflraining intercourfe Act, &c. &c [ 16 } which has been hitherto fo very unprofperous.' Have thefe flatterers any ground for confidence, that the future proceedings of Minifters will be more fortunate than the paft ? If they have, it will be kind of them to open it a little to their expect ing country. One circumftance of incapacity in thefe Minifters is clear beyond all difpute, they have known nothing of the difficulty of the bufi nefs they were engaged in. As the difficulty was not known, it could not be provided for. In confequence of this ignorance of the real ftate of America, all the force that has hitherto been fent thither is loft. We have all to begin anew, as if nothing had been attempted. England, under their conduct, exhaufted before fhe has acted, is obliged to reft all her hopes on the capricious al liance of a defpotic Court, and the perilous afiift- ance of barbarian mercenary forces. It is for this affiftance, and for thefe forces, that fome deluded people are perfuaded to addrefs, Our misfortunes are aggravated by a mortifying mixture of the ridiculous. We have been brought it feems into this difgraceful fituation of foreign dependance, in order to maintain the honour and dignity of Great Britain. Upon this topic of our dignity, I may fay fomething hereafter. For the prefent, I would ferioufly recommend it to my countrymen, to con- fider r. *7 i fider (-what never has been confidered for them) . the difficulties of their proceeding in the courfe they have begun, and at the fame time the facility which appears for getting out of them. The way before us, if we purfue the prefent courfe, grows every ftep more and more perplexed. The point at which we propofe to reft, recedes further and further from our view. The way, if we change our route, is fhort and fimple. The fingle condition of peace propofed by America is, " That we fhould put things on the footing they flood in 1762." This is the propofition of the Con- grefs ; and this furely is no harfh, cruel, or humi liating injunction. We are defired to put our- felves, and our colonies, into that ftate, in which, from our happy union, we were the envy of the world. ' But the firft terms propofed, are not the laft conclufive ones ; better may be obtained by treaty ; all may be loft by violence. Have we then any rational ground of hope, that by an obftinate war unfkilfully carried on, we fhall be able to force from America more ad vantageous terms of peace, than fhe offers at this moment ? Before any man fets his hand to an ad- drefs, he ought to have a fatisfactory anfwer to the queftion I have put. To abufe America, and to talk of dignity, is not an anfwer. V A L E N S. D LETTER I 18 ] LETTER III. DIGNITY. Saturday, OtJober 7. Mr. Miller, IN this letter I intend to apply myfelf princi pally to thofe of my countrymen, who are commonly diftinguifhed by the name of the Tory Party. There are many things in the doctrine and practice of that body, which I never could per fectly approve. A party whofe diftinguifhing characteriftic is a defire of exalting the pre rogative of the Crown, ought never to take the lead in a government conftituted like ours. But though I could not relifh the doctrines of this po litical fet, I did not of courfe condemn the inten tions of all who held them. I did not, I confefs, think the Tory party entirely well affected to the conftitudon. Their own favourite phrafe, " The eld conftimion" which was, and is continually in their [ i9 ] their mouths, feems to imply an invidious dif- tinction ; and to intimate a diflike to the conftitu- tion, as perfected, or if they pleafe, new model led at the Revolution. But whatever their opi nions of the conftitution might be, I thought them zealous, according to their ideas, for the intereft and honour of their country. In all things which diftinguilh this ifland from any other nation, the exclufive and patriotic partiality of their affections has conftantly broke out, and fometimes not in the moft decent and orderly manner that, could be wifhed. It always appeared to me a circumftance rather fingular, that they whofe principles were fo much of foreign growth, fhould far out go the Whigs themfelves in the abhorrence of foreigners., The great bleffings derived from the Revolution, could not make them forget that King William was a Dutchman. They did not readily forgive even the founders of the fortune and greatnefs of his prefent Majefty, that they were born in Ha nover, and were fuppofed to entertain fentiments of partial regard to their native country. In the principle of all this, though fometimes car ried too far, and fometimes mifapplied, there was fomething refpectable. I remember perfectly well, that when the Heffian troops were brought hither in the laft reign, this party complained very loudly. D 2 The [ 20 ] The imminent invafion of England at that time, did not reconcile them to the meafure of committing any part, even of our moft neceffary defence, to fo reign forces. Thofe foreign troops who were brought over for the purpofe of quieting the trou bles in Scotland (for I mean to fpeak gently) in the year 1 745, did not meet from that party a more fa vourable reception. Their unaffected dread of the prevalence of the Houfe of Stuart in that criti cal conteft, could not make them permit a mo mentary departure from their ancient maxims. Their prefervation from the greateft of all cala- maties, a fubjection to an irritated, a revengeful, a bigotted, even a foreign mafter, a mafter who founded his right upon the fuppofed nullity of every right in his fubjects, could not excufe this obnoxious mode of fafety. It was in vain alledged in mitigation of that meafure, that the national troops were engaged abroad, that we had no time to get together, and to difcipline a body of Englifh ; that our foreign enemies had interfered, that fome forces in the French fervice were actually in Scotland ; and the arrival of more was daily apprehended. This was ail urged to inattentive ears. The Tories ftill ex claimed, that the troops of our allies brought hi ther on that occafion were foreigners ; and no thing but the confideration that a late capitulation had [ 21 ] had bound them not to be of any ufe, could in duce the Tory party to bear the prefence of fuch guefts, with any reafonable patience. Sudden emergencies may make the departure from the moft wife and fettled principles juftifia- ble by the evident neceffity of the cafe. But cer tainly, the general principle of keeping foreign powers from interfering in national difputes, is founded in the trueft wifdom, and foundeft po licy. There is not only, no dignity, but no fafety in a different conduct. I was therefore a good deal furprifed, when I found fo many of the Tories not only tolerating, but rejoicing in the attempts made by Minifters for engaging large bodies of foreigners to act in the prefent civil war. To what are we to attribute this extraor dinary change, which that party has made in the only part of their fentiments, in which they were perfectly juftifiable ? Inftead of murmurs, com plaints, and remonftrances, we fee the perfons moft warm in that caufe, almoft every where ac tive, and buftling to procure addreffes of com pliment, in order to give the Minifters all kind of credit and fupport in their "negociations for fo reign troops. In all this I fee no fort of attention to the ho nour of this country. The firft principle of dig nity is independence. A government in profound peace [ 22 ] peace with all its neighbours, which is not able, without external affiftance, to enforce obedience from its own fubjects, is in effect annihilated. The powers on whom fuch a phantom of autho rity depends, are the true and real government. The other is only a vaffal. If we cannot govern it but by the forces of Ruffia and Hanover, Hanover and Ruffia are not only the Rulers of America, but they are the Mafter s of England. There muft be fome extraordinary weaknefs in Adminiftration, fome difinclination to the fer- vice in the grofs of the people, fomething unu- fually colourable in the refiftance, that at the very outfet of the quarrel, has difabled the ftrongeft power in the world. Our Minifters ftumble at the threfhold ; they are out of wind before they have run the firft heat. The firft year of this war in America, they implore foreign nations to bring them out of that ftruggle, which, a little while ago, they told us might be ended by a very few of the fuperfluous regiments, which a prodi gal peace eftablijhment wantonly kept up for pa rade and fhew — Such is the dignity of England in the hands of its prefent truftees ! If we cannot end our own quarrels by our own wifdom, or our own power, they will never be ended. Foreigners very rarely, if ever, interfere with C 23 ] with cordial purpofes to the benefit of the party which calls them in. It will be their bufinefs like lawyers, to prolong the fuit, in order to ex- haUft the litigants. Whilft the quarrel continues, foreign powers know that you muft comply with every demand, and fubmit to every infult. The old enemies of the kingdom will be fure to fan the flames of diffention.- The very beft affected of the foreign Courts will make themfelves neceffary as long as they can. They will affift you juft enough to continue the difpute, but not to end it ; becaufe that difpute, and their fuperiority, muft have ex actly the fame duration. Rather than confent to be thus at the mercy of foreigners, Dignity, if fhe would condefcend to take common-fenfe into her councils, would think, that the cruel alternative propofed by the American Congrefs, " of returning to the fitua- tion in which we flood in 1762," ought to be ac cepted. If Englifh Dignity is to be compro- mifed, I had rather fettle amicably with Ame rica, than be obliged to too polite a fubmiffion to the Houfe of Bourbon. I fhould confent ra ther to bear the Roughnefs of Englifh Liberty, than fubject myfelf to foreign Pride, and barba rian Infolence. I had rather fhake Hancock and Adams t 24 ] Adams by' the hand, than cool my heels in the antichamber of Orloff and Eotemkin. * V A L E N S. * I fear I ought to apologize for a fentiment fo oppolite to the notions adopted by the Minifter, and all his friends. When the Britifh flag was infulted by the Spaniards, in taking off the rudder from an Englifh Man of War, our unimpaffioned Minifter faw with his eyes broad open all the dangers and horrors of a War. The condition of our finances made him tremble at the expences to be brought on, by a conteft with Spain. No principle of dignity retarded the eftablifhment of peace, on the firjl opening that could be found. But a free people, ftruggling for the prefervation of the principle, on which our Conftitution is founded, muft not be heard. Their very petitions muft not be received, until they are at our feet. The horrors of war more mocking as being a Civil war, and an expenee far more deftruftive, as being on both fides out of the bowels of the Britifh fubftance, is to be chearfully borne, rather than fubmit to the Indignity of a Reconciliation with our fellow Citizens. LETTER [ 25 J LETTER IV. THE CAMPAIGN. Saturday, Oclober ii. Mr. Miller, THE proper anfwer to an addrefs for war, is a tax. There can be no doubt, but that fuch an anfwer will be returned . fairly and fpeedily, and without a fhadow of equivocation. In this point at leaft, the Mimfters are capable of giving perfect fatisfa&ion to their admirers. To exhauft the Jinking fund, — to accumulate debt, — to raife the land tax, — to put an additional duty on malt, and on malt liquors, — and to revive the home excife upon cyder, — thefe are things within the power of the moft common financier. The ways of taking the public money, or of fpend- ing it when taken, are tolerably obvious. There is nothing required for thefe purpofes, but pa tience on the part of the people. And Admini- ftration has had, for fome time paft, comfort- E able [ 26 ] able affurances, that the good people of Eng-. land poffefs a fufficient fhare of that fteady and ufeful, though not very fhining virtue. The Addreffers, with an honeft eagernefs and anxiety, afk for war, and they offer their for tunes. They need be under no fort of uneafi- nefs. The one will be given, and the other will be taken ; and as far as I can difcover from the' courtly language of the Gazette, this is what is defired, and all that is defired, in the many dutiful and loyal addreffes with which that inftructive paper has lately fwelled fo much beyond its ufual dimenfions. In former times, when the evil habits of fac tion had rendered men importunate and difficult, a little more than this would have been looked for. People would have been defirous of fome account of the ends and purpofes for which the public money had been expended ; of the man ner in which the war had been conducted ; of the future profpect of fuccefs from the arrange ments already made, or which were in apparent forwardnefs. If they received no fatisfaction in thefe points, war would, in thofe times, have been thought very little more defirable than peace. Succefs, victory, glory, national reputation, na tional power, were the circumftances that for merly made war, and the train of war tolerable to [ 27 ] to a nation. The probability of a favourable event, and the beneficial confequences of victory, when attained, were always more or lefs in con templation. At prefent the fafhionable tafte feems to be, for efforts without vigour, expenee without return, preparation without aclion, and war with out an objeSl. I will not fay, whether I have been well or ill employed ; but abounding in leifure, as you will eafily believe, I have read over all the public per formances of the friends of Miniftry. Not one, I imagine, has efcaped me. The coffee houfe I frequent is well fupplied with the papers. The papers are no lefs liberally fupplied with politi cal effays and paragraphs on the minifterial fide of the queftion. At no time have Minifters more carefully attended to this mode of commu nication with the public ; and they have fpared no expenee nor trouble to engage diligent and induftrious writers in their caufe. One circumftance has ftruck me as very fingu lar. In all the courfe of this extenfive and va rious reading, I never once obferved a letter, or even one fingle paragraph, fo much as infinuating, that " the war with America had been hitherto conducted with common fenfe." If my recol lection Has failed me, fome perfon of more reten- E 2 rive [ 28 ] tive memory or more accurate obfervation will be fo good as to fupply my defects. Notwithftanding this trifling omiffion, the Minifters, I muft admit, have not been wholly wanting to themfelves. They have carried on a notable war with the Mile-End Affembly. They have fought a very ftrenuous battle with Mr. Maf- call. In my opinion, they have gained a com- pleat victory over him. They have laid Mr, Joel on his back. Atkinfon Bujh muft be a bold man if he ventures to fhew his face — For all thefe advantages, I give them full credit. But ftill the profcribed Hancock fits at the head of The United Colqnies ; and Putnam the carpenter, be- fieges and ftarves twelve thoufand Britifh troops with four of the beft Englifh Generals at their head. * I have concealed nothing which has happened in favour of our great ftatefman. The above is a fhort but fair and impartial account of the advantages obtained, and the loffes fuffered by the minifterial arms of all forts, at home and abroad, during the glorious campaign of I775- At * This was written in O&ober. Three winter months have not, we may believe, mended the fituation of thofe gallant men wantonly made the victims of minifterial infatuation. At what a price all this glory has been ac quired we fhall not immediately know, thouo-h our inquifitive. Parliament is fo fhortly to meet. Some part of the burthen we fhall feel very foon. But the whole charge certainly will not be then difplayedj left it lhould throw fome damp on the fpirit of addrefling, Which at prefent feems the grand refource of the nation. There will un doubtedly be a large and conftant demand on this fund of national politenefs ; and it will as largely and conftantlyanfwer the drafts at fight. Whatever may becqme of others, there ; is no danger thac this Bank fhould ever be obliged to flop payment. The vein of addrefling, in a fituation like the prefent, -is a phenomenon rather unufual in the political world, though in the moral it is highly commendable. The compliments paid to defeat and misfortune, are the effect of true genero- fity. If the thing went no further, all might be well. But it grows ferious when a compliment conveys a truft. To this hour the want of fuc cefs was always deemed a prefumption of the want of wifdom. It went beyond a prefumption, if E 30 1 if the ill fuccefs hid attended upon great forces. Men grew out of- humour, arid became unwilling' to commit their lives and fortunes to the care of thofe in whofe hands they found that nothing profpered. If they thought a war eligible, this became a ftrong motive againft confiding to the' unfortu nate, in that precife fituation," in which of all others Fortune has the greateft fhare. They would not fay, "we ought to go to war with America, therefore, make a complimentary ad- drefs to thofe who have loft that country. We ought to ufe force ; therefore fupport thofe under whofe direction power has funk into impotence." The period for thefe congratulatory addreffes, and this folemn approbation of minifterial con- duet is well chofen, and ftrongly • marked. It furely deferves to be as much diftinguifhed as an Mr a in the Chronicles of Great Britain, as any event that has happened fince the foundation of this monarchy. The .SEra, of THE EVA CUATION OF BOSTON. The compli- ¦ ments arrive preeifely in the great important mo ment [ 3* ] ment when the Britifh troops are compelled to quit the laft Britifh town in America. From this period we are, I fuppofe, to begin the reckoning of a new golden age of commerce, liberty, and empire. VALENS. LETTER [ 32 ] LETTER V. OBJECT OF THE WAR. , Saturday, October 24, 1775. Mr. Miller. I Remember Mr. Hume fomewhere in his hiftory obferves, that amidft all the calamities of the great civil war between Charles the Firft and his people, the Englifh enjoyed this fingular good fortune, that no foreign nation interfered in their quarrels. Mr. Hume is in the right. The circumftance was fortunate ; and I am afraid it will continue to be fingular. The prefent melancholy civil war is of another kind, and is to be .carried on, as it was begun, upon very different principles. It is a war in which, as foreigners have the fole intereft, none .but foreigners will finally decide. In the great civil war between Charles the Firft and the national Reprefentative, both parties had in view fuch an object as ufually paffes for ra tional C 33 ] tional. Had Charles the Firft actually fubdued his Parliament, he might poffibly have levied taxes without the confent of thofe who were to pay them. He would then have been to England, what England claims to be to America, the fole virtual Reprefentative of his people. Their con^ fent would have been involved in his will. To refift would be to rebel. So far the politics of Charles the Firft and ours go on together ; but there is a flight circumftance in which they differ. If he had carried his point, his power would have led to profit. The kingdom which he would have reduced, lay under his eye; and all its concerns were within his grafp. By a common revenue eftablifhment, and a moderate ftanding army, there was no doubt but that he might eafily have drawn into his own coffers, as much of the property of his fubjects as would have fupported that eftablifhment, and paid that army ; and left a furplus befides, for the purpofes of avarice, ambition, or diffipation. The nation had the fame intereft to defend, which the King had to attack. Here was a war that had an ob ject. Prince and people ftrongly interefted, they wanted no intervention of foreigners to decide. their quarrel.- F But I 34 J Bjut-if Ghar^g the Firft h^d invohieid hjmf&lf in all bis- difficulties, in order to tax, without their eonfe.nt, a people who were 390.0 miles- by fea diftant from him — if the people at that diftanco were fcattered ove.r a Wildernefs, 1700 miles in length, and 500 in breadth — if their extended fea cofb was pervious by a thoufand havens, bays and creeks to every fraud, and every elu- fioo of duties — if thefe duties, by the beft col lection, far from being able to fupport a vaft ftanding army, a powerful navy, and numerous fortifications, would confeffedly not fuffice for the maintenance of a tenth part of a competent Revenue eftablifhment — if fuch had been the at tempts of Charles, the Firft, nothing but the con- fideration of his infanity could have drawn the leaft degree of pity upon his misfortunes, The great fubject of curiofity would be, how he carne, to find any abettors in fo frantic an attempt. It would have been but natural for him to feek his inftruments in every country but his own ; as thofe people would he the moft fit to fight his battles who were the leaft acquainted with his caufe. Charles, befides the obvious lucrative advan tage which he poUefTed, had another apology for his arbitrary undertakings ; and Mr. Hume is too fkilful an advocate to let it pafs. His peo ple t 35 ] pit were far from liberal in their fupplies. They frequently even refu'fed any fubfidy to his greateft •wants. What an aggravation would it have been of his mifcondUct, if all the world had known, and if he Mm'felf had cOnfeffed on re cord, that the grants of his people had Outgone his requisitions, and that their fupplies, while vo luntary, had far exceeded their abilities? Join then together the two fuppo'fitions which I have made, and let every candid man form a judg ment on the wifdom of that fbvefeign power (call it King or Parliament, or by what name you £>leafe) which could wage a deftructive war for ah object of taxation impoffible to be attained, in order to avoid having recourfe to a quiet mode of application which had never failed. It is in our power obftinately to fh'u't our eyes to the genuine appearances of things. If we pteafe, we may 'flop our ears againft reafon ; or we may prevent the voice of truth from being heard, by the din of our own pafiionate talk ing. But ftill reafon and truth will one way or other have their operatipn ; and though not feen or heard, they will caufe themfelves to be felt. They are at this minute in full energy ; and are now, though not fo fenfibly in the mode as in the effects, acting with irrefiftible power. While Parliament votes, and Corporations ad- F 2 drefs, [ 36 3 drefs, a general torpor and deadnefs have be numbed the whole community. The ftate is paralytic. We have nothing left alive, but that miferable and feeble voice, with which we fue for compaffion to the enemies of our former greatnefs, and call upon foreign nations to ob tain for us fome fort of authority among our own people. England feels fhe has no intereft in this quar rel. The army cannot be recruited to any to lerable degree of ftrength, much lefs to a force adequate to the neceffities of the prefent bloody fervice. It is becaufe the yet uncorrupted body of the people of England are brave and generous, that they do not chufe to fhed their blood in this quarrel. All the ink that has been, or ever can be fhed in addrefles, will not perfuade them to join with German vaffals and Ruffian flaves, in exterminating the little remnant of freedom which ftill continues to blefs the world. Unfupported by Englifh arms, the Minifters fly to Scotland. The gallant and fagacious peo ple of that country, worthy to be for ever, in fentiments as in government, one with Eng land, have declined to employ their valour for the deftruction of their fole afylum from defpo- tifm and opprffioen. They will not chufe to pafs from prasdial to military fervitude. They will [ 37 3 will not fuffer themfelves to be turned into mer chandize, for the profit of thofe men who are bartering for lucrative places and for regiments, the lives that are not yet facrificed to their ava rice as landlords. * The Scotch are indeed going to America ; but they are going as fettlers, not as foldiers. An illegal order has been iffued to compel them by force to continue in the houfe of bondage, and to keep them from tafting the fertility and freedom of America. The application to Ireland has been as unfuc cefsful as it was indecent. jDid they imagine that generous people to be fuch an herd of blun derers, as to fpill their blood, in order to enable Minifters to tax, without their confent, all the countries fubject to this crown ? The Irilh Ro-, man Catholics feel as the Proteftants do. They alfo know America as an Afylum. None but a very few vagabonds have been captivated by the half guinea liberality of the Earl of Ken- more, or the military rhetoric of Major Boyle Roche. Englifh, Scotch, Irifh, failing; Canada, French and Popifh, has been applied to as the laft re- fource among Britifh fubjects. Canada, French and Popifh, have refufed. Laws have been fuf- pended, and military defpotifm proclaimed in vain. * The Author confeffes himfelf fomewhat miftaken with re gard to the Parliament of Ireland, and the people of Scotland. r 3§ i vain. The Canadians have heard the found of liberty. The Miniftry thus difowned, not in words but in practice by every old and every new fubject of this empire, are obliged to go about begging at the door of every petty Court and every venal State of Germany. They have prOftr&ted Eng lifh dignity before Ruffian defpotifm. They are fatisfied to fneak like fervile Gentlemen U'fhers before the Stated? the French Ambaffador ; while all Europe looks with derifion at their aukward, fecond-hand airs, and 'their imitated grimaces of exotic complaifance. They ftoop their ftiff backs, to kifs the b'aflied hands of Spain. Our heroic Minifters tremble before the fugitive? from Algiers. Sir Jofeph Yorke, under their direc tion, \s employed in "a manner that is certainly odious to fo liberal a mind as his ; and, indeed, muft be fo to any man who has ferved his coun try in better times. He is alert and active, and watches day and night. But he watches, not the Councils, but the Ports of Holland. He is obliged to thruft his nofe into the hatchway of every Dutch. Dogger, and to rummage and crofs examine every paltry Package. The Ambaffador Fxtraordinary of England is funk into an atten tive Tidewaiter. But all this expenee of honour has purchafed fcarce any fort of advantage. Their negociations [ 39 1 negotiations and their fearches have been as un fuccefsful and as impotent as their arms. All they can as yet do, is to dfliver over Gibraltar and Minorca to Hanoveriaps. But though they h^ve failed in procuring other nations to deftroy our Colonies, our Colonies may imitate their ex- synjpje in, calling * in foreign aid ; and as with a more * It does not appear that th& Colonies have as yet made any attempt to call in foreign fuccour§. That humiliating glony has been left to the haughty fuperior. We hear that we have lately had fome appearance of fuccefs in clearing the jails and hofpitals of Germany, much- to the relief of thofe coun tries, whatever it may be to ours . The Hefflan and Brunfwick reinforcements arefor the greater part raw andnew levies. A fpe- cimenof them, of about three hundred, has been lately exhibited on the fliore of Kent. If this complication of mifery and villainy can be man ufaftured into an army by the fkilland au thority of a German Prince, yet will Lord G.Germamebe K 2 ployment. [ te ] ployment. To tell him that the Americans are defective in their duty, will not be a reafon for him to neglect his own, or to fuffer Minifters to neglect theirs. He will never believe, that the way of fuppreffing or quieting rebellion in Ame rica, confifts in encouraging deceit, negligence, or mifmanagement at home. At a time like this, a true Englifh country gentleman will dif- tinguifh himfelf by a conftitutional fufpicion;, and a conftant defire of account and informa tion. On the contrary, the courtier in mafque- rade, like thofe that compound felony in the news-papers, and advertife for ftolen goods, of fers his money, and affures that " no queftions will be afked." It is true that this latter defcription of country gentlemen, not at all troubled with an imperti nent, incommodious folicitude, and teizing cu- riofity, have received, bountifully and of free grace (for they called for none) fome fatisfaction from the Minifters for all the money they have voted. They were told, with due folemnity, with much pomp, and true oracular gravity, in both Houfes of Parliament, " That there is " fomething in the nature and complexion of " this country, which difpofes it to be difgraced " and beaten in the beginning of a war ; that it « has been always fo ; and that as we have beo-un " the C *9 3 " the American war in our natural and habitual " manner, we fhall, as formerly, rife from " contempt to honour, and from defeat to " glory."I do not mean to derogate, in the fmalleft de gree, from any one particle of this fatisfactory account of our paft failure, and this folid ground of our future hopes. Let the facts and inferences remain for ever unimpeached. It would be cruel to nibble at the leaft crum of this comfort. It is indeed the only apology that has been fo much as attempted, for Minifters and their fupporters. It is the fimple and fole account which gentle men have to render to their conftituents at the Chriftmas recefs, of a Land Tax entailed on pofterity at four fnillings in the pound ; and a finking fund, alienated for ever from its original purpofes, to an eternal but inadequate provifion for the intereft of growing debts, and aggravated eftablifhments. V A L E N S. LETTER I 70 ] LETTER VIII. HOUSE OF COMMONS SHUT. Monday, November 30, Mr. Miller, TH E gallery of the Houfe of Commons has for about three weeks been fhut againft ftrangers, for fome reafon far more weighty, I muft fuppofe, than, the mere accomodation of the few members, who, in this cold feafon, chufe to fhiver on the half deferted benches, or to huddle themfelves together, and blow their fin gers about the Speaker's chair. I am told, the Minifters complain, that their fpeeches are mifreprefented ; and this mifrepre- fentation is afligned to the Houfe as a juftifiable caufe for an utter exclufion of their conftitu ents. With all the deference which I bear to the opinions of thofe gentlemen, I muft think they are famewhat miftaken in this method of prevent ing mifreprefentation. The Houfe cannot hin der I 71 ] der the members from gratifying the curiofity of their friends with accounts of what paffes in the debates. The fentiments and opinions of Mi-. nifters, will very naturally be the firft object of that curiofity. Paffion and prejudice on the one fide, and the ill conception of a drowfy and oblivious acquiefcence on the other, will, not un naturally, render the accounts fallacious or erro neous. Thus a material injury may be done to the language of the cleareft, fpeakers, and to the. fentiments of the moft accurate, clofe, and fyfte- matic thinkers. A numerous auditory is there fore the only fecurity againft the weak accounts of friends, and the malignant interpretation of enemies. Moft men, who would not have their fenfe miftaken, wifh to be their own interpre ters ; and thofe who complain that malicious re ports are circulated to their difadvantage, cannot object to ah opportunity of clearing themfelves to the world ; for I always take it as granted, that the ftrangers, as. we are called, are not more to be fufpected by Minifters of an ill difpo fition towards them, than many of thofe, whom it is not yet in their power to exclude. This fear of mifreprefentation being but a poor reafon for turning a popular reprefentative into a fecret conclave, I rather fufpect, that ftrangers are excluded, not becaufe Minifters are mifrepre- L 7»" ] mifreprefented, but becaufe they cannot be un- derftobd. I have fometimes the honour of being admitted,' at a coffee houfe where the members take refrefhment, to a converfation with fome worthy gentlemen who always vote in the majo rity. It muft be admitted in their favour, that if they are in the fecret, they are perfectly worthy of the truft repofed in them ; for they appear to be no more enlightened than myfelf, with regard to the objects which Minifters have in view, or with regard to their means of attaining any ob ject whatever. In faying this, 1 would not infi- nuate a thing fo much to their prejudice, as that their total Want of information concerning the plans, arguments, and opinions of Minifters, make the leaft abatement in the zeal with which they fupport them. Happily the Houfe of Lords is more acceffible. What can be the caufe ? Is it, that this Houfe, being the great natural council of the Crown, muft of courfe be lefs in the fecret of affairs, than an affembly merely popular ? Or is it, that not being accountable to the people at a general election, the Lords are more indifferent than our worthy reprefentatives, about the difcovery of their fentiments ? Or muft we fuppofe, that the great Minifters there are fo much more clear and determinate in their ideas, than the involved Oracles [ 73 ] Oracles of the Houfe of Commons, that they are not more afraid of being mifunderftood by two hundred than by twenty ? In that refidence of well-bred, eafy, popular manners, I had lately the happinefs of hearing a noble and learned Peer, who poffeffes as great a fliare of clearnefs in explaining, as he does of power in guiding the public meafures. From him I thought I fhould have received that fatis- faction, which I had in vain fought in other places. I was, however, I muft confefs, perhaps to my fhame, a little difappointed. Lord Mans field, inftead of -opening new matter to us from his own abundant magazines of policy, thought proper to refer us to DoCior Tucker, whofe pam phlet I had juft bought for a {hilling. Doctor Tucker is, it feems, the only perfon who has put the long agitated queftion of America on its proper bottom. Whatever many of us might have thought before, we dare no longer treat the projects of that worthy, political, and commer-, cial divine, as vifionary. They have received the fanction of the higheft authority in the kingdom for ftation, wit, learning, and abilities. The great author of thefe projects, we are told, has hit *' upon the true alternative, either to make the " Colonies fubmit, or totally to abandon them, " and then treat with them for peace, as an inde- " pendent country."* L • I fhould ft With treat deference, the commercial Divine is in fort of agreement of opinion with this beft of all noffible Adminiftration:,. The Dean (and he is fyvom never to be a Biliior,) is of opinion that '.he Colonies are jofitively pre*. [ 74 ] I fhould hardly have imagined, that a man of Lord Mansfield's real accuracy and penetration, Could have been fo wonderfully ftruck with this ftate of the important queftion, which now en gages the attention of the world. The alterna tive propofed by the Doctor, under favour, feems not to be a true ftate of the queftion ; for be- fides abfolute fubmiffion, and total feparaiion there, is in all internal difputes evidently a third me thod, I mean that of reconciliation and compromife. This is a method which, though it feems now out of fafhion, has formerly been fometimes men*. tioned, when nations were involved in a Civil War. Lord Mansfield in this "fine fpeech, for fuch it was, ftrongly recommended a coalition of par ties. The defign is certainly laudable. But fo long as he adheres to this favourite alternative, the execution, it fhould feem, cannot be without great difficulty. Whatever may become of this defign, furely a great ftatefman ought to have larger views. Would it not be altogether as wor thy of this great perfon's conciliatory and lenient talents, to bring about a coalition in empire, as in party? His Lordfhip valued himfelf on having brought about the famous coalition of parties prejudicial to this country, and the connexion mifchievous. The Dean therefore draws his conclusion fairly — " Get rid of the Colonis." — Allow his premifes, and his conclufion is juft what every man in his fenfes would draw. If, therefore, the grave Judge agrees with the Divine, , he muft allow the war to be the abfurdeft aft that madmen ever imagined in their phrenzy, yea,. perhaps the moft cxpenfive war that ever was undertaken, to infure an ob ject that 15 /pund practice ! I flatter myfelf I have fhewn, that- the p,ppofi-« tion to the .extent qf parliamentary powers has, not been confined to America. I have fhewn, {'hat .the denial in Ireland was of a larger enten^ than that in. America ; and therefore a denial of a lefs extent (confined to the right to tax) could be. no proof of a formed defign of independency, on the part of the Colonies, if denial in & larger extent canqot convict Ireland of the Tame offence. I have, '? Our correfpondent teems to allude to Mr. Rigby and Mr. Charles Jenkinfon, who afferted in the Englifh Houfe of Commons the right of the Englifh Parliament to; tax Ireland, which affertion of theirs Sir John Blaquiere treated as Valeaa. reprefents it — Vide the fpeeches in; Almon's Regifter. I IOI ] have fhewn that the Parliament of Ireland never made any formal acknowledgement of the power of this legiflature to bind that kingdom ; that the power of England there arote from our not pufh- jng every point j and that the aftonifhing ohfe, qujoufnefs of Ireland at this hour, is owing ta our not having made ufe of any one of thofe me thods of aflerting authority, which have been re* commended and ufed in America. All this forms at leaft a prefumption againft the utility of fuch, methods. I hope indulgence a little longer in this humble plea to Lord Mansfield, on the trial of America,' for mijprijion of independence. If in the end (what I will not imagine) the Judge fhould give a harllj charge, the jury of the public may poflihly prove* as refractory to the1 authority of Lord Mansfield, as the Houfe of Peers has been on a late occafibn y and though he directs them to convict, they may ftill with fome remains of Englifh .firmnefs, bring- in the prifoner Not Guilty, VALENS, LETTER [ 102 ] LETTER XI. CRIMINAL INTENTIONS. , • $bturfjlay\ Nov- 2> Mr, Miller, IT feems to be in the natural courfe of 'things, that men are very rarely brought to a fenfe of guilt or folly, but through the medium of fu£ fering. We are. obliged to the Miniftry for havr ing placed us in this fchool of whojefonie difci pline -, The mifconduct of the prefent war will by degrees lead the nation into a difpofition to en-' quire into the juftice of it. Never was a war more open' to an impartial examination of its me rits. No Glare of falfe glory in the execution of our American meafures, has hidden the de^ fects, or gilded over the errors of the original plan. We have only to pray, that our inftruc- tion may not come too late for our amendment. 2 I can- t 103 T I cannot eafily quit the opinion, that however bitterly we may quarrel, there is ftill fuch a bot tom of good nature, generofity, and good fenfe, both in the European and American part of the Englifh nation, as will at length incline the one to hold out unequivocal, folid, honeft terms of ac commodation, and induce the other, to meet thofe terms (though late and ungracious in the offer) with a cordial and dutiful acquiefcence. " The Americans are at war," (fays Lord Mansfield, the great affertor of the plan of hof- tility) " they are acting on the offenflive->-\?he- " ther we were right or wrong, we muft proceed — " we muft add violence to violence, rigour to " rigour — we are not to difcriminate the inno- " cent from the guilty — if we do not kill them, *' they will kill us." It is really fingular that a man in the cool de* dine of life, bred through the whole courfe of it in a profeflion of peace, a Civil Magiftrate, a Judge, covered to the chin with judicial pur ple, and bloodlefs unfpotted ermins, fhould be diftinguifhed above all others, for a character of hazard and defperatenefs in his counfels. Lord Mansfield's politics always Hand upon a preci pice. When he acted with others, in advifing the late coercive meafures, he alone was under no delufion. His eyes were broad open to the con sequences, C «°4- 3 fequences, Knowing that thofe meafures led bevitably to Civil War, he ufed the fatal ex-^ preffion and aufpice of Csfar, when he ftood on the execrated brink of that ftream, the crofling of which brought ruin on his country. He told die Houfe of Lords in plain words, that " they " had now paffed the Rubkon." This Year he exhorts them to pufh on that Civil War, in a manner fcarcely different from the precedent of Caefar's * fpeech before the battle of Pharfalia. But we are not yet hardened by this inflamma tory eloquence into fuch black and decided en mity, as to unfit us for a temperate examination of his caufe and arguments. " Kill them, or "they will kill us!" — Alas! my good Lord, Englifhmen cannot chearfully accept this alter native, which you are fo good to offer, until we are thoroughly convinced, that to kill them is not mortally to wound ourfelves. This military adage, " Kill them, or they " will kill us," is as proper in the field of bat tle, as it is mifplaced and dangerous in council. When -Dum tela micant non vos pietatis Imago Ulla, nee adverfa confpefti Fronteparentes Commoveant ; vultus gladio turbate verendos. Sive quis infefto cognata in peftora ferro lb-it, feu nullum violabit vulnere pighus Ignoti jugulum tantJttam fcelus imputet hoftis. t 10^ ] When men have the bayonet to each other's breaft, there is no time for reafoning. But men deliberating at their eate, are not in that defperate fituation. It is not therefore neceffary that they fhould be animated with thefe defpe rate fentiments. The bufinefs of the Statefman, and that of the General, ought never to be Con founded. It is the Province of the latter to con- fider only how War is to be made. It is the duty of the former fometimes to confider how war is to be ended. Reconciliation, treaty, negocia- tion, and conceffion enter into the plan of the Statefman, though not in the operations of the General. If Lord Mansfield's fentiments fhould prevail as maxims of policy, it would follow, that when men, upon whatever grounds, are driven to draw their fwords, there muft be no peace until one party or the other is exter minated. That learned Lord refts much on the offenfive war undertaken by the Americans, in (what is called) the Invafion of Canada. This he adduces as a. proof of their defign of independency. If war had been as much Lord Mansfield's ftudy, as it feems to be his inclination, he muft have perceived, that it never was, nor ever could be confined to ftrict defence. The very idea is full of abfurdity. When war -is once begun, the P manner manner of conducting it, will be fuch aspids the fairefl for fuccefs. It concludes nothing . concern-- ing the original motive for hoftility, .nor con cerning the propriety. or impropriety of making peace. • - .. ¦ ¦ . .. :u-zL -'¦¦'-¦¦ Thefe Things ftand upon grounds, totally dif-. ferent ; the defire of independency, like every other motive to war, muft be judged of by the. proceedings previous to that event. For inftance, lean conceive a cafe, in which Scotland might take up arms, Scotland might de fend fhe terms of the treaty of union, even againft the Unlimitable authority of Parliament, which that treaty, by " a prepofterous parade rt of civil arrangements," certainly does affebl to limit. I can conceive in argument, that acts of parliament might pafs to exclude the fixteen Peers of Scotland from their feats in the Houfe of Lords — or to alter the prefent happy eftablifh ment of the Church of Scotland — or to change her . ¦> ° laws for thofe of England — or on the plea of her increate of trade and wealth, to raife the proportion of their land-tax. I can conceive too the poffibility, that many Murrays, many Humes, many Campbells, many Stuarts, many Wedderburnes, 'many Dundaffes, and many El liotts, might take up arms in favour of thofe' limitations of the power of Parliament, which the [ *°7 ] the act of Union affetls to eftablifh; and not contenting themfelves with defending Sterling, and blocking up Edinburgh, they 'might enter England, and lay fiege to Berwick, or penetrate to Newcaflle. But I fhould not therefore infer, that our Northern Kinfmen, who thus took up .arms, "were aiming at an independency, which would deprive fo many of them of the well-earned emoluments, which are the confequence of their connection with England. If fuch a cafe were to happen, I venture to af- fure Lord Mansfield, that I, and many Englifh men of far other confequence, would hear him plead in favour of peace, and for thofe rebels in 1776, with as much approbation, as we, felt when he pleaded for juftice againft other rebels in 1746. If any Lord, heated with faction, or intoxicated with Court favour, fhould then tell him in debate, that Englifhmen were not to look at the juftice of the caufe— --that we muft not diftinguifh the innocent from the guiky — that his countrymen had acted on the offenfive — that if we did not kill them, they would kill us ! —we might pardon fuch a Lord his prejudice, from our indulgence to " his zeal ; but we could never be brought to. approve of his temper, or to adopt his opinions'. P 2 If [ XoB ] If another Lord at the expenee of his can- dour-and judgement, fhould chufe to difplay his knowledge in hiftory, and recapitulate all the ravages of the Scotch from the earlieft times ; their natural adherence to our natural enemy, France; their fierce, ftruggles for independency, notwith Handing the well-proved rights of our ancient Kings— If a third (for fuch a load of calumny would be too great for the fhoulders of any two ordinary orators-)- fhould carry down the ftory to the prefent day ; if he fhould ftate the defign of a teparate fettlement of their crown in favour of the Pretender, from which their Chiefs were brought off with fo much difficulty, and at fo great an expenee ; if this odious remembrancer fhould then revive the memory of the two rebel lions fince the act of Union, for the purpofe of deftroying thatvunion, all this might found plau- fible to fome prejudiced ears ; but I think in well difpofed minds, it would excite the ftrongeft in dignation. I fhould rejoice to hear the thunder of that eloquence which Lord Mansfield would certainly hurl at the unfeeling fophiftry of this unjuft, invidious, and plaufible kind of ar gument againft peace. He would have the hearts and applaufes of all true Englifhmen. True Englifhmen would hot fear that Scotland would be made ungovernable by our lenity; they would [ io9 ] would readily truft to the fraternal affection of our Scotch brethren for a reftoration of lafting peace ; and with it, the rich Commerce of that country, and the fervice and fociety of thofe few of its natives, who might not think fit to repafs the Tweed, to enjoy at home the fweets of that liberty which their valour had purchafed for their country. In this mannej I fhould reafon on a Scotch re bellion growing from fuch a principle. I mean a rebellion for preferving themfelves in a ftate of freedom ; not a rebellion for the purpofe of re ducing themfelves and us to a common flavery. I cannot avoid applying the fame reafonings to America. I would endeavour to make peace with both on the avowed ground of the war j and I perfuade myfelf, that whatever the lan guage of a few North-Britons about the Court, or expecting to get about the Court,, may be, the body of the Scotch nation think and argue as I do. I have no right to endeavour at difcovering by divination the fecret motives of any man's con duct ; whilft the oftenfible are fuch as may fairly influence an honeft and a reafonable man. To fupport in argument, that independency was the original object of American refiftance, we muft affume, or prove, that they had no colourable complaint C no 3 complaint or grievance. Lord Mansfield has too much honour and good fenfe to affert, that there was nothing colourable or plaufibte in their objection to their being taxed, in their circum- ftances and fituation, without their confent. The practice on our fide may, .for aught I know, be> reconciled to principles of ftrict formal law, but we all know it can never be reconciled to any principles of liberty, ' , The .C^ueftion is then, whether an attempt to govern thtm contrary to the principles of liberty, could be a real caute of quarrel, or was fo idle and frivolous, as to oblige us to fcarch for fome other ground of their conduct. Whatever the firft caute was, or whatever diforders arofe from it, the Americans did not go to extremities upon that. It is fome proof of their not having premeditated a fcheme of in dependency, that they waited for feveral other grievances before they took up arms. Bofton loft its port, and the Colony of Maffa- 'chufett's Bay forfeited, its Charter— juftly fays Lord Mansfield, but certainly" without charge,- evidence cr hearing. Men confider the right of being -heard, as of fome import in juftice; if it be not, Lord Mansfield's office muft become a finecure." Among other human frailties, men' have a natural love for their local conftitutions and and particular privileges.- We ¦muft' allow* thai (however merited) the lofs of a favourite form of Government will be confidered and felt as a very great hardfhip. Nations have thought an arbitrary. and: C&mpulfory change, even of ha bits, to be grievous. A. form of government changed, is a matter' of ifomewhat more confe quence than the compulfory deprivation of a flapped hat at Madrid, or being ftripped of the plaid, and forced into breeches in the -f 'Hfo-h- lands. iCt , The bringing the perfons of the Americans to trial in England, by a revival and extenfion of a Statute of Henry the VHIth •, and the fendino- themby.an original act of -George the Hid, to England, to look for juftice On any fdldier or Caftom-Houfe Officer who fhould commit m order on their relation,-^thete have alfo fomething of the air of a grievance. I fhall fay nothing of the '¦ -Act: * The reader need fcarce be told, that in the year iyj56 the attempt to oblige the Spaniards by force to leave off a douched hat that was in ufe among them, created fuch a difturbance among the people of Madrid, as obliged the King to fly from his capital, and made it neceffary for him to fend his Favourite- out of the kingdom, , who has never returned fince. Much lefs do we fuppofe it neceffary to inform the reader, that the p'ermiffion of quitting his breeches, and refuming his plaid, is. at this moment-held out as a bribe to allure the 'Highlander! into the new levies againft America. r n2 3 Act for preventing their Fifhery, or of that for prohibiting all intercourte between. Colony and Co lony, — all thefe have furely fo much the air of hardfhips (I mean to thofe who fuffer under them) that I fhould be much lefs furprifed to find a people at length provoked to independency by fuch acts, than I am to hear them accuted of originally fcheming that independency becaufe they refifted them. Men are not always ready to humble themfelves even before their Creator, and to acknowledge his punifhments for tokens of loving-kindnefs. With men they are more in clined to difpute ; and the arguments which per fectly fatisfy thofe who are in hafle to inflict pu- nifhment, are not quite fo convincing t6 thofe who are to fuffer it. All thofe laws (which look fevere even in cold reading) preceded the commencement of hoftilities, offefinve or defenfive. It is not true, that adefire of free fubjection is in nature the fame thing with a fcheme of independence ; and we may fuppofe men earneft to preterve privileges, without rejecting government. The Colonies, like others who have engaged in wars with their Sovereign, had therefore their grievance. But there the likenefs ftops ; for there are perhaps no inftances on record of a people in fuch a fituation, who have perfevered with E "3 ] with fuch a pertinacious humility, in. repeating their fupplications for redrefs. There are few or no inftances of men in arms againft the ordinary Authority, who have fo long confined their applications folely to their own fovereign. Scarce any, where they have religioufly avoided all caballing and tampering with foreign Powers. None where they have fo nobly paid their debts. to the commerce of that power, with which they were at war. Whatever power we have of fub- fifting without them, or of acting againft them, is owing in a great meafure to their defire of avoid ing a final rupture with us. Men .aiming at independency could never have acted in this man ner. . Why, in common fenfe, fhould we be more irritated againft the Colonift than againft other nations ? or why fhould we ufe other rules to prevent pacification, than we ufe towards a foreign power ? I fhould be glad to know whether this mode of reafoning concerning old delinquency, or modern ill defign, was adopted at the late treaty of Paris ? Did the late Duke of Bedford's inftructions oblige him to a difcuflion of the mo tives of France and Spain for half a century back? I don't find that our Court has received any fatisfaction on that head. If the zeal' and in- Q_ duftry [ H4 ] duftry of Sir John Dalrymple, or Mr. Macpherfon , have made any difcovery in this curious mode of negotiation, they will favour the world with a new quarto volume for the information of future Statefmen. In the mean time, I mufLthink, that I do Juftice to the late Duke of Bedford (a Man of fenfe, and a good practical man of bufinefs) in fuppofing that he troubled himfelf with no idle enquiries that could obftructthe work of pacifica tion. ¦ I do not hear that Lord Mansfield has ever accufed that Duke of a neglect duty. But we muft not treat with Rebels ! What hif tory is it that fupplies us with this maxim? Lord Mansfield will allow, that the war againft Charles the Firft was a rebellion ; Lord Claren don, I believe, ftiles it by pre-eminence the great rebellion, — -does the hiftory of that time fupply us with no treaty between Charles the Firft and the people in arms againft him? Go to earlier times. How was the conteft between Stephen and Henry ? Stephen was confidered as an ufur- per, and perhaps he was fo. He treated Henry's partizans as rebels; but thefe harfh names of Rebel and Ufurper never prevented negotiation. Treaty and battle went on, as it were, hand in hand; and at laft. the conteft ended in a com- promite. The I "5 J The fhort and violent rebellion of Wat Ty ler, fhort as it was, yet afforded time for treating, and that too by the King in perfon. Does the Scotch Hiftory fupply no inftances of treaties between the rebellious Lords and their Kings ? All hiftories are full of them. Government often finds it fafer to treat with her fubjects, and to yield too, than to rifle the uncertain event of arms. But in all wars foreign or civil, in all dif putes public or private, it is utterly impoflible to terminate a controverfy while one of the litigant parties chutes to affume a fort of fupernatural ta lent of difcovering the motives of mens actions; and loftily tells his adverfary, " I dont value " your offers and profeffions. I know you mean " what you dont fay; and I will not treat with " you on the avowed and apparent caute of the " quartel, until my curiofity is fatisfied upon " the ground of a fufpicion which I am refolved " to entertain." I am perfuaded, that this learned Lord would not argue fo inronclufively, or wafte his breath upon a point not in iffue, if the real object of Miniftry was to terminate the difpute. What his Lordfhip's object is, I who take the liberty of complaining of his faculty of divination, and who am, by no means, pro vided with the endlefs line of his fagacity in fathom ed 2 in* [ "6 ] ing the motives of men, do not at all know, — and certainly dare not guefs. But; the effect of the conduct of his friends in pertinacioufly con tinuing and weakly conducting a war without an object, will inevitably operate to the difmember- ment of the Britifh Empire. TALENS. LETTER [ "7 1 LETTER XII. THE GAZETTE. Thurfday, June g, 1776. Mr. Miller, TN my paper of the 20th of January laft, I com- -1- pleated, to the beft of my power, the little plan I had originally formed. I had propofedto take a view of the policy of the American war; its objects; its conduct; and the motives for en gaging in it. When this was done, being no po litician by profeflion, I laid down my pen. I re- fume it for a moment, in order to make a few re marks upon the manner in which the Miniftry have handled their's. I have formerly endea voured to do juftice to their merit as.Statefmen ; I am now to confider their fkill as writers. As all men have their virtues a little balanced by fome failings, it is furely a good-natured part not to dwell upon the qualities they are deficient 3 in, [ "3 ] in, but rather to fix our attention on thofe points of their character, in which they evidently excell. I fhould think it the cruelleft thing in the world to dwell upon Lord George Germain's conduct of the civil war ; but I am happy to join with the world in applauding his Lordfhip's dexterous ma nagement of the Gazette. Whilft under his aufpices, and animated by his example, our commanders, by happily Jhifting of their pofition, by taking the- refdlution of eva^ euating towns, and by effecting retreats without lofs, are (though quite in a new way) conquering Provinces abroad ; his Lordfhip is employed, ac cording to the foundeft principles of the beft cri tics, in recording their great exploits at home. Livy has been cenfured as diffute; Salluft, Thu- cydides, and Tacitus, have been criticized for an affected brevity, bordering on the obfcure. Thefe general remarks favour of pedantry, and meer li terary cant. To judge of the faults or excellence of the diffute, or the concife, of the perfpicuous, or the obfcure ftyles, we muft confider well the nature of the fubject, and the defign of the au thor. No univerfalruecanbe laid down; Some things cannot be difplayed too amply, and too minutely to the public curiofity. Others had bet ter be juft touched upon. Some fhould fhine in a glare of light ; others fhould be caft modeftly into the [ "9 1 the fhade. Some ought to be proclaimed by the found of trumpet; others there are, in which filence is the real eloquence. If you would know how well Lord George Germain has employed alb thefe flyles (and this no flyle) you muft confider the end and purpofe for which (befides fame and immortality) a Secretary of State condefcends to become an author. The world at large is not aware of the real ob ject of our war in America. The fole drift and end of all our operations there, has hitherto been, neither more nor lefs, than to difpofe of the fums of money that have been raited here. Thefe have been vaft; and thedifperfion of them has not been fb perfectly eafy, as the common run of people might imagine. But, by the aid of our kind and difinterefted friends, (the London contractors, and the German Princes) the thing may be done. The facility however, of the expenditure, may not always facilitate the fupply. A great Statefman, like other ingenious artifts, muft tickle the ear, .whilft he extracts the purfe. The mob out of doors love a little good news, though it be at their own coft. A victory is worth a million ; and a sood bonfire compenfates a tax. The wife Minif ter (like the induftrious ant) forecafts the winter, and prepares the mind for the ways and means of the teffion, by the intelligence with which he en tertains [ 120 ] us during the recefs. In the execution of this ' plan, he flrictly follows the great mafters of an tiquity. The polite critic of the Courfe of Auguftus, Horace, was intended by that great Emperor (not lb happy in obtaining obedience to his commands as our Sovereign) for the office of * Secretary of State. Whilft that bufinefs was in agitation, he wrote thofe excellent rules for Gazettes, which have been unaccountably miftaken for the rules of 'dramatic poetry. A grofs error ! for what has a Secretary of State to do with writing tragedies ? Or how can we imagine that Horace, after com manding a Roman legion, and diftinguifhing him felf in war, fhould condefcend to undertake the direction of the opera? The Gazette is the pro per bufinefs of his department. Befides the ob- fervations on ftyle that I have juft made, and which I confefs I borrowed from this great judge, he makes feveral others of moment. He advites his Gazette writer to mix his falfhood with fome truth, ita mentitur (fays he) ut veris falfa remifcet. And he gives his reafon,- and a very folid one, Primo ne medium, medio ne difcrepat imum. He * Ab Epiftolis. He recommends it to them to put off, and to bring on matters, as may beft fuit political purpofes, XJt uunc die at jam nunc debentia dici, Pleraque differ at, et prefens in tempus omittat. But if facts prove fo very untraceable, as by no art of mixture or procraftination, to be made pleafant, why then he thinks they are to be totally omitted, Defperat tradata nitefcere poffe, relinquit. To exemplify in the moft fatisfactory manner his Lordfhip's fkill in conducting his Gazette upon thefe rules, the reader may remember the ample account we had of the exploits of Lord Dunmore. Not one captive piece was omitted of thofe mifer- able old cannon, which, until they were to " open their mouths, and fhew forth his praife," had flept and rufted in neglect on the wharfs of Virgi nia. All the pompous difplay of Livy and Cla rendon, were employed to decorate the triumph of this favourite General. After this great and de- cifive advantage obtained by Lord Dunmore (as far as we could difcover from the Gazette) we had nothing to do, but to take poffeflion of a difarmed Province. The gratitude of the nation was equal to the tervices of the General. His Lordfhip was immortalized in the Gazette. He was adopted R into [ I22 ,] into the facred fixteen, levees, affemblies, coffee^. hoUfes, all agreed (and they were certainly right) that if every Governor had acted with the fpirit of Lord Dunmore, we muft have eftablifhed our do minion in all the other Provinces, as perfectly as we had done in Virginia*. In the midft of all the joy that arote from fuch important victories as Lord Dunmore's, fo amply difplayed, an odd fort of an account arrived. A very brave officer, as brave and as intelli* gent an officer as any in the King's tervice, Major Fordyce, with a detachment of our beft grena diers, was tent by this heroic Commander Lord Dunmore, upon a well-planned expedition, to which there were but two fmall objections. One, that it was perfectly impracticable ; the other, that if it did fucceed, it could be of no kind of ufe. Accordingly Major Fordyce was killed. The party was defeated ; ,all the grenadiers flain or made prifoners — What faid the lately communi cative Gazette ? Not a fyllable. The Secretary of State had wafted his ftock of eloquence in his Panegyric on Lord Dunmore. He had nothing left * His Lordfhip had the honour of being the firft Governor \vho thought it neceffary to quit his government, and take re fuge on board his Majefty's fleet. HihLoidfhip at length aban doned to the mercy of their matters the wretched 62 negroes, that remained alive out of the 1500, whom his promifes and proclamations had eugaged to join the minii'lerial part, and with" a few people in a ilarved condition, fled liis province. [ -123 ] left for the funeral oration of Fordyce. He was as filent as the grave in which that gallant officer and his brave foldiers were laid. And where was the neceffity for much difcourte ? The man was dead ; and what did it fignify to put ourtelves into an ill humour about what we could not pof- fibly help. This Virginian hiftory is an inftance of the dif- futed ftile of the Gazette,' contrafted with the op- pofite extreme of excellence, — the expreffive and eloquent filence. The inftances of a lefs violent, but equally judicious contrail, are frequent, and happily mixed in. I will endeavour to recall them to the reader's memory. Without fuch a retrofpect it will not be eafy to enter into the true fpirit of this exquifite politico-literary performance, which is now the fole fource of authentic intelli gence, and the only vehicle of our fummer's de light and information. * When the forts of St, John and Chamble were taken by the Provincials, and upwards of 500 regular troops made prifoners, there was a demand for the compact, clote, laconic, ftyle. The Gazette did not altogether omit thefe events ; but with a wonderful energy and brevity, related them in much fewer lines than the fhorteft article of. the capitulation, by which thofe unhappy troops R 2 had * YiAs Gazette, December 23, f 1*4 1 had furrendered prifoners of war. Of cannofl and ftores, not one word. Thefe were left to the imagination of the reader. All accounts of the taking of cannon, in the explicit flile, belonged, exclufively, to Lord Dunmore. We may remember too, that when Arnold made the aftonifhing march, which will for ever immortalize his name, the Gazette was not ab- folutely filent. It gave to merit one honeft line -, and in the laconic brevity of Lord George Ger main, " one Arnold appeared at Point Levi *." Of the taking of Montreal, which place with the whole ftrength of England and America con joined, had formerly given glory and Peerage to Lord Amherft— on the part of the Gazette SILENCE ;— Col. Prefcot, his fhips, his foldiers, his ftores taken afterwards— SILENCE. This uniformity of filence, however prudent, and even chaflly eloquent, might feem rather dull, and at length begin to difguft. People might learn an ugly habit of looking elfewhere for intelligence. In this diftrefs an event hap pened, which juftified the drawing up the flood gate, and letting out all that flow of eloquence which had been fo long dammed in. Montgomery, an obfcure man, of whom we had heard nothing before from authority \ was kilted at Quebec, and his * Vide Gazette, December 23., t 125 1 his troops repulfed. But unfortunately, even on this faireft of all occafions, we were again fadly at a lofs. This happy opportunity was in danger of being wholly thrown away. The queftion arote, where is the authority for this good news ? The conquering General was too clofely blocked up, to fend a meffenger of the decifive victory he had obtained. To take intelligence from the Philadelphia news papers, and to put at the foot of the account, " Charles Thompfon," (not our Sir Charles) and " by order of the Congrefs," was too much. In effect, it was to regifter a rebellious libel among the contecrated records of office. This was hard undoubtedly. The difficulty ftaggered the American Secretary of State. In an hurry a council is called. The Attorney General, in his firm, fturdy, direct way, objected to the meafure, He relied on it, that fuch a flep might teach people to put fome truft in rebellious publications ; and would, be fides, totally take away the beft, and fometimes only excufe we had for our prudent reterve on moft of our defeats, viz. that we had them only from the narrative of the rebels. This had fome weight. But Mr. Weddurburne, whofe forte is dexterity and refinement, obferved, that the Congrefs, as they are a raw, new government, and to that time unacquainted with difgraces, had not [ ^6 ] not learned the art of gloffmg a misfortune, buC had- delivered " a plain round, unvarnifhed tale" of their defeat. This advantage is not to be miffed. Here (faid Mr. Wedderburne) we may di late at the expenee of an enemy. The narrative, as far as it goes, is their own ; and our imagi nation is atliberty to add full enough on this foun* dation. We cloath ourtelves with the- fpoils of the enemy. We may drefs ourtelves " a la Con grefs." Danaumq ; infignia nobis Apt emus, dolus an virtus quis in hofte requiril ? Lord George carried it for his friend the Solici tor's opinion. The Philadelphia Congrefs Ga zette fupplied the materials for our's ; and here, (but at their expenee) we expatiated again. The ftunted Gazette once more fhot out into a full luxuriance of narrative. This mode, however, of borrowing an enemy's account is too ticklifh to be adopted as a regu lar practice. Then came in the great delicate point in all human affairs, u to know when to leave off." For, unluckily thofe exotic Congrefs News-papers began to fhoot out fome things that would not bear tranfplanting, and were not at all adapted to flourifh in the foil of the London Ga zette. [ I27 ] zette. The taking, for inftance, of Brigadier General Macdonald' in North Carolina — the kil ling Colonel Macleod — the defeat of 1500 of our Highland troops, and the difarming of the whole party ; although all undeniably true — was not proper fluff for a London Gazette. — The expedition of General Schuyler into the Indian country, although equally certain — the capitula tion of Sir John Johnfon— the making him a prifo- ner on parole — the fubmiffion and laying down their arms by 600 of our loyal fubjects (Scots and Tories) and the compelling fome of our natural allies, the humane Savages of the Five Nations, to lay down the hatchet — thefe accounts, one fees at firft fight, could by no art be made fitting for the Gazette. Of thefe, therefore, nothing was faid. The end of writing is et prodeffe et deleCfare. In a paper where the profit of Minifters, and the delight of the people, were to be the great objects, it would be a piece of downright abfurdity to men tion fuch things as cannot poffibly tell to the ad vantage of the one of the parties, or afford any fort of fatisfaction to either of them. Mr. Miller, I find it impoflible to do juftice to the merits of Minifters, as Hiftorians of their own exploits, in a fingle paper. The fubject grows upon me, as the matter rites in dignity, and importance. Referving therefore the inimi table r 128 ] table beauties of the Bofton narrative to another time, I fhall for the prefent fatisfy myfelf with re marking, that the naval part of the war,, though probably it comes from another quarter, is related on the fame principle, and with no lefs perfection than that, which is carried on upon the Terra firma. One of our men of war returns home rather in a fhabby condition. But what does fhe come home for ? In reality to bring the news pf her own efcape from the Americans. Since our af fairs are in that pleafant fituation, that retreats are happy Jhif 'tings of pofition, and, that efcapes are to take rank as victories, it becomes neceffary to difplay this eminent advantage at full length; and it is accordingly related at large in the true technical ftyle,, and with all the elegant perfpi- cuity of the nautical dialect. The Gazette, fo lately on the reterve, here becomes prodigal of information. We have, on the efcape of the Glaf- gow (for the , firft time) an account of Com modore Hopkins's fquadron ; the number of vef- fels ; the number of guns ; the number of men ; an account as exact as if we were furnifhed with it from the Navy Office of Philadelphia. The ftate of the Britifh Navy was refufed on the motion of a Marine officer in Parliament, laft teffion. Amends are now made by a precife detail (given gratis) of one of the American Fleets. We have the fatis- faction I i29 1 •faction to find that this navy is in fhoal water, (but fafe enough) in New England. In the late war, the efcape of one of our flout frigates, built and furnifhed for war, from a little fquadron, con- fiftingof a decayed merchantman, with a floop and fchooner or two, haftily and ill fitted into privateers, would fcarce have deferved along laboured account in the Gazette. But things are altered ; Mr. Pitt was, Lord George Germaine is, Secretary 6f State. In this laft piece we are furnifhed at one and the fame time with a curious example pf the various excellencies of the full difplay, and of the judi cious reterve. The Gazette, which knows fo minutely every gun in Hopkins's fleet, and its weight of metal, fays nothing at all of this fellow's carrying his convoy, and the military ftores with which he was heavily laden, fafely to the place of their deftination : Nor does it know, that he had taken a tranfport and tender in his Majefty's tervice, i It even omits a piece of good fortune of the Glaf- gow, whofe fhot in the very firft broadfide damag ed Hopkins's rudder in fuch a manner, that his fhip lay for two hours incapable of purfuit or flght. To compleat this account of the American Re gatta, made for our fpecial amutement ; by the fame ufe of light and fhade in the narrative, we are informed that a great number of fhips and S veffels [ i3<> 1 veffels have been taken. By this judicious choice of terms, the number is as effectually fwelled by the teizure of a cock boat, as by the taking of the largeft fhip that ever failed in the Virginia trade. As to captures made on the part of the Ameri-. cans, we might conclude from the prudent filence of the Gazette, that there were abfolutely none. If it were not for an impertinent tell-tale in the city, called Lloyd's Lift, (who, in all good policy ought to be filenced) we fhould never have gueffed that above FIFTY tranfport fhips had been taken by the Americans ; * the fhips themfelves, ex- clufive of the cargoes, of as much value at leaft as the whole of the prizes taken from the Arneri-r cans. In a word, whether by land or fea, we are fcarcely intitled from authority to believe, that one misfortune has happened in the whole war, All is Glory, Succefs, and Victory. Yet Thirteen Provinces are loft, V A L E N S, * The number has fince beer^ very much increafed, the Portugal trade has fuffered not a little, and the Newfound land trade has not efcaped ; thefe rebellious privateers take our fhips upon our own coaft. LETTER t *$* ] LETTER XIIL SHIFTING of POSITION, Thurfday, July it, 177& MR; MlLLERj THE emifiiort of authorifed news-papers is an homage paid by the moft defpotic powers to public opinion* By the tending abroad Gazettes, they tacitly, but fully admit two very material points. Firft; the right of the people to be informed of the ftate of national affairs; Se condly, the influence of popular judgement on tneir own fortune; They know it would be an enterprife too defperate, to think of keeping the people wholly in the dark. We af e apt to entertain rather too rheah an opi nion of the fpirit and underftanding of our neigh bours. There is not a nation in Europe fo fer- vilely paffivej as to abandon all concern -about its Own welfare ; and to give a credit abfolutely un- S 2 limited t *32 ] limited to its adminiftration. It is true, that the people under defpotic governments, have it not in their power to take a legal vengeance on thofe who abufe their truft, or to remove thofe who fhew themfelves unequal to it. This is the grand defect of their fcheme of government. But na ture fometimes fupplies the place.. of law,~and their illegal fenfibility frequently takes a fevere vengeance on thofe, who confiding in the weak- nefs and imperfection of the conftitution of their country, prefume to act in violation of the fpirit of all laws. Even when fuch a people are not able to punifh an unfkilful ftate actor, their voice is generally fufficient to explode, and hifs him from the public ffiage. We have teen not long ago, that the fame King of Spain, who with an high hand protected, pro moted, honoured, and rewarded Don Francifco Bucarelli, although he was impeached of high crimes and mifdemeanors, even from the throne of Great Britain itfelf, was obliged to difmifs and banifh the Marquis of Squillace, his Favourite and Prime Minifter, to appeaie the difcontents of the people of Madrid. The fame King was but the. other day obliged, on account of the difplea- fure j?f .his fubjects, to difmifs and remove from Court the Conde O'Reilly, a Minifter and a ... • General [ *33 ] General high in his favour, upon his failure in an enterprize againft Algiers. The King of France, on the difcontent of a part of his people, and the ill fuccefs of fome financial projects, difmiffed, Monfieur Turgot, as he had raited that Minifter, to gratify theopinion of his fubjects., Minifters in other countries finding themfelves obliged to: humble their pride before their necek fities, do not venture to keep all information from the people. On the contrary, they affect to fup ply them with it very liberally, and very honeftly. Poffeffed of the only fource of authentic intelli gence, they indeed glofs and varnifh, but never attempt grofly to mifreprefent, much lefs wholly to conceal. Even at Conftantinople, the Minifter Hands in awe of public opinion. Not having a prefs there, the government keeps in its pay a tet of walking Gazettes (fomewhat like our Court runners) who mount on a ftool in Coffee-houfes, and entertain their grave turban'd hearers with an account of the defigns of the Court of Peterfburgh, or the progrefs of the. rebellion in Egypt. As a nation declining from greatnefs is the moft mean, and a people finking from freedom are the moft eminently fervile, our Minifters think this is a fit feafon for an ; experiment, to find out the maximum of human patience, fubmiffion, and paffive- [ 134 J paffive-obedience. Their proceedings in the Ga-= zette, with regard to the late war in New-Eng land, fhew what progrefs they have made in that experiment. From the begining of our prefent troubles, our* hopes and fears were all engaged at Bofton. This was the heart and vital fpring of all diforder* It was not fo much the metropolis of America, as the head-quarters of rebellion. Bofton accord-* ingly became the object of all our civil regula tions for feveral teffions, and of all our mili tary operations for two years together. Our eyes were never a moment turned from it. Expecta tion panted on every Weftern breeze—when the Gazette fuddenly announced to a longing and anxious people, that General Howe had taken d refolution to evacuate Bofton, and was actually on his way to Halifax* Habituated as we are fo every thing extraordinary, the eafy brevity of this account did excite fbme degree of furprife. There was nothing in it which could give you the leaft idea of war, or warlike operations. It was deli vered with as eafy and carelefs an air, as if the ftory was nothing more than that a corps had changed their country quarters; juft as if General Howe's regiment had fhifted their quarters from Bofton in Lincolnfhire, to Halifax in Yorkfhirc And this is all the fatisfaction that the nation has ever yet I l35 ] yet received for fix millions expended, and the. laft town in thirteen Provinces loft. Lord George Germain's experiment on the temper of the people of England was made, and it arifwered. This proud and jealous nation bore that treatment with a patience, that would have fhamed the hired credulity of contented cuck- oldom, Thofe who would have impoted Ovid's Metamorphofes for articles of faith, never pre- fumed fo much upon the weaknefs of the human underftanding. A more perfect paffive-obedience was never preached by interefted priefts, for the .practice of the credulous laity, A Turk, blinded with the fmoke of tobacco, and dozed with opium, would have pufhed his live Gazette from his flool, and kicked him out of the Coffee-houte, if he had dared to give this account of the evacuation of Ockzakow or Bender. Even the foreign Ga zettes, {killed and practifed as they are in the trade and myftery of intelligence, flood jn aftor nifhment at the bold pufh of their dear brother of Whitehall ; and publicly avowed their amaze* ment at this new political phenomenon. * That noble and venerable body, in which a Minifter of State f lately boafted that he had con, pealed from them, and from his own colleagues,, the * Vide Hague Gazette. ^ The Earl of Sandwich, the Firft Lord of the Admiralty 2 [ *36 ] the true ftate of their affairs, left they fhould be flow in entering into a civil war, they of courfe defired to know nothing. They looked on the proceedings of their Minifter, as on the feats of Mr. Breflaw, in which a knowledge of the flight would' only fpoil their pleafure in the deception. Both Houfes are coolly and deliberately acting their part in this great work. Declaring, them felves totally indifferent about every part of pub lic duty, and even deftitute of common human feelings, they are preparing to make their coun try as indifferent about theexiftence of Parliament itfelf. Several worthy and diligent Members air- ready fhew themfelves heartily tired of parliamen tary attendance. They imagine, that with their talents they might get as much under any other form, of government as under this, with an at tendance lefs fatiguing, and a far lighter expenee, They think a Minifter' s levee room, has as whole- fome an air as St. Stephen's chapel ; and that the domeftics of a Court Favourite, are a cheaper ob ject of bribery, and full as worthy an object of adulation, as the fcot and lot of a venal borough. Perhaps they may be in the right. On occafion of this real Gazette Extraordinary, the Earl of Suffolk, one of his Majefty's princi pal Secretaries of State, difcovered fome marks of good breeding, though he. does not come quite t 137 1 Up to all the graces which Lord Chefterfield re quires as qualifications to office. He has, I fup pofe, fome remains of complaifance to that mino rity, in which he made fo flaming a proteft againft his prefent affociates. In condefcenfion to the weaknefs of the Lords in oppofition, he fubmitted to tell them the reafon why he told them nothing; He lamented in the moft pathetic ftrains to his noble audience, the neceffity he was under of not producing any part of General Howe^s letter ; for (he faid) "the account of the retreat was fo mixed with matters that went before, and operations which were to follow after (very improper to be publicly known J that he could not poffibly difen- tangle them ; and that thus he was difabled from doing juftice to the incomparable merits of the General, who had made fo happy " ajhifting of po^ fition." y Every thing has its place, and in the Houfe of- Lords this gave fatisfaction. We the rabble be low the bar, however, thought it odd, that what had paffed before General Howe's retreat fhould be concealed from us, fince it could never have been concealed from the enemy. Perhaps what went before', might be the caute of the retreat that followed after. If indeed this preceding caufe fhould confift in fome batteries too fierce to be borne, and too ftrong to be forced, this I admit T was [ Ijj I was a good reafon for concealment. We, ought not to know that the rebels have any cannon fince Lord Dunmore feized all their artillery ; or that they know how to erect batteries, or that they have courage to defend them. The other part of the reafon for concealing the account of General Flowe's retreat, I muft beg leave to obferve, is not quite fo honourable to the clearnefs of head of that General, or derhon- ftrates fo fully as one could wifli, the calm filia tion of one who makes an undifturbed retreat. So perplexed and involved (if we believe Lord Suffolk) was General Howe's account, that the Secretary of State's office,, in full practice of gar bling papers for the diverfion of Parliament, was not able to unravel the complicated texture of the commentaries of our American Caefar,, or to give one particular of his proceedingsfor feveral months to the hour of his departure, withotit dlfclofing all the feerets of the coming campaign. With all due deference to my Lord Suffolk, I do not believe fo ill of the abilities- either of Ge neral Howe, or of his Lordfhip, I can never be lieve the alledged confufion of General Howe's ideas, to be the real reafon for concealing from us every fingle circumftance of his precipitate de reliction of the precious purchafe of millions. His Lordfhip told the Peers,, that this confufion dif- abted i 139 ] abied him from doing juftice to General Howe's merits. Under favour there was no queftion Of that General's merits. We are very fure that He did his duty, and that He gave an account of it naturally and clearly. This concealment was ne ver for his fake, or the fake of his operations. But for whatever purpofe this account of v Lord Suffolk's was given, it could anfwer no rational end. If we could believe this account, the friends of the war would be obliged to entertain but gloomy hopes of its future fuccefs,. Partial as they are to the authors of civil contention, they muft condemn the Minifter for committing the fortune of their pious quarrel into fuch hands,. To admit their plea in the j unification of their Gazette, is to find a verdict againft the wifdom of their Cabinet. No fooner had that Gazette notified to us that General Howe had taken this refolu-tion, than we were entertained with verbal comments upon it, more curious than the original text. The Mini ftry affumed a face of joy equal to that which would have attended the moft decifive victory. As foon as Bofton was evacuated, Bofton at once changed its nature. It no longer ftood under the fame parallel of latitude. It then became the worft chofen fpot on the whole continent for the operations of war. We were too happy in getting T 2 rid [ 14° 1 rid of it. The Americans were anew charged with cowardice for letting us efcape. The Lords publicly congratulated each other on having fhaken off fo intolerable a yoke. In this exultation they forgot one trifling cir- cumftance, which fomewhat regards their credit for the prefent ; and may perhaps a little affect their fafety on fome future day of account. Sup- pofe a fpirit of enquiry fhould arite, and it fhould be afked, who were they who brought his Ma jefty's army into a place from whence it was a tri umph to efcape? If Bofton was not a fpot worth holding for its own fake, or for its convenience for other operations, why did the troops continue there for near two years ? Why were they rein forced day after day, and regiment after regiment, for the defence' of that place, until they amount ed to upwards of 12,000 men? Why were four Generals tent to command them? Why was the Ordnance Office emptied to defend Bofton? Why was the finking fund fwallowed up, only by its military extraor dinar ies, which amounted to up wards of 850,000k ? Why were 6"o,ooo ton of tranfports employed in that fervice ? Why was this nation almoft ftarved to feed that town ? Why was a fleet commanded by a fucceffion of Britifh Admirals, and at an incredible expenee flattened in its harbour? Why waste much brave blood fhed at L' 141 1 at Buhker's-Hill to prevent its being infulted? Every fhilling fpent at Bofton is a peculation of public money ; every life loft there . is a cruel murder, if Bofton was not a place worth preferv ing. To exhauft yourfelf in defence of an object that is not worth having, or not to take fufficient means of defending an object of real value, are both of them crimes. If there be any difference;, the firft crime is the worft ; as it is worte wholly to miftake the end, than to mitealculate the means. It is, however, for this capital blunder, that the Minifters claim the applaufes of their country.. According to this rule, the merit of our Generals is to efcape from the place where the providence of our Minifters had flattened them ; no hopes are entertained by themtejves of the war, if all its plans are not wholly reverted in the exe-> cution. Such is the cafe on their own reprefentation, which is worte than the moft malignant adverfary could have ftated it. But as they are poor in counfel, the Court muft not record the . plea. General Howe did not abandon Bofton, becaufe it was a place ill fitted, and never went to Hali fax, becaufe it was a place well fitted for a center of military operations. The Minifters of the Ga zette fuppofe we know nothing of American geo graphy, when we are told that in order to direct his I 142 ] his operations on the middle colonies, General Howe fled to the very extremity of the northern. It is neither more nor. lefs than to tell us, that a General in London, who intended to attack Do ver Caftle, would find it his beft way thither to inarch his troopsfrom hence to Edinburgh. I was at firft at a lofs to know how the ..Miniftry could give into this apparently infolent and un feeling difcourfe. How they could think to glory in - their fhame, and to defend themfelves by the very circumftances which aggravate their offence. But on putting things together, it may be ac counted for. It was to prepare the minds of the ¦people for the events which in fpite of any favour of fortune, muft inevitably follow from the courfe they have purfued. They have»told the public that Bofton was worth nothing, becaufe they were not able to keep it, and had no hopes of recover ing it. If they find that the nation can be per fuaded to make violent efforts, on a fuppofition of the value of the object, and then to take com fort on their failure, from a confideration of its infignincance, all they wiih is effected. They have -already, by many fpeeches and publications con cerning the Colonies, been preparing the public for • the lofs of the whole. They are already fpreading with infinite diligence, an opinion that extenfive empire is mifchievous', and that the vaft acquifi- 2 tions [ 143 ] tions in the eaft and weft corrupt our minds, and Weaken our induftry. This is the confolation they hoard up for us againft the day 'of our bitter diftrefs, when we fhall have undone ourtelves in an attempt to ruin our countrymen. Stripped of her dependencies, the nakednefs of England is to be covered with the tattered cloak of a compelled, beggarly, Cynic philofophy. The lofs of glory and dominion are to be compenfated by dull, common-place obter- tations on the inftability bf empire, and the emp- tinefs of all human honours. Our Minifters of State are preparing themfelves to become minifters of the church, and to preach patience and refigna- tion to a tractable auditory, reduced at length to a real Chriftian humility, and to a true po verty of purfe and of fpirit, by the falutary oper ation of their councils. Hitherto they have done every thing to bring us to the ftate for which they are preparing us. But if the events of war fhould belye their plans ; and if the bravery of General Heifter and his Heffian troops, fhould recover what Britifh valour (under the direction of our Minifters) could not keep, it- is then that in their fuccefs the mifchief and weak- nefs of their plans will appear in full luftre. The funfhine of fortune will only difplay, in a glare of light, the inanity of the object for which the Miniftry and their German troops are contending. The [ 144 1 The Colonies, in all the fubmiffion of difafter and defeat, will prove' full as unfruitful of the revenue for which we are at war, and which alone can pay for that war, as the fame colonies, in all the he'ighth and infolence of fuccefsful refiftance. Then it will appear that the Miniftry and their runners were not idly employed when they told us the Colonies are of no advantage to this country. This will be the event when Lord George Sackvilte's Gazette fhall have fatiated us with the pompous narrative of the victories obtained by the troops of the- Duke of Brunfwick (difciplined by Prince Ferdi nand) over the miferable Englifh on the other fide of the water. Until that glorious day, announced with fuch fingular propriety, arrives, when the Gazette fhall flow in as copious ftreams as the Wefer or the Elbe, its fcanty current continues to be. directed fo as to fructify the proper plants, . and to ftarve the reft. In my laft paper I remarked on the man ner in which the Secretary's Office communicates and witholds intelligence. They profit of my praifes ; and fo encouraged, they perfevere reli- gioufly in the plan., for which I had commended them. In the Gazette of the 29th of laft month, Lord George copies the beft of examples, him felf. In the laft war the captures of merchant fhips [ - 145 ]" fhips was never the food of the Gazette. B ut. now. a Secretary of State ferves up an account of the taking of 26 fhips and veffels of the rebels, ex actly on the principles I ftated in my laft fetter; but not a word of the-tranfport loaded with arms and ammunition that thefe rebels have taken. His Lordfhip has, on the fame principles, carefully avoided all mention of the arrival of Sir Peter Parker and Lord Cornwallis at Cape Fear; although he has certainly received ah account of that event ; and although it might be thought that the public would feel fome degree of anxiety concerning the fate of fo great a fleet and army, which had been confidered as loft. The produc tion of the credit fide of the account of captures, with the total filence on -the important expedition of Sir Peter Parker and Lord Cornwallis, fhews, that the Minifter confiders the whole people of this once great country as the mercenary inhabi tants of fome little fea port, fome neft of fifher- men, fmugglers, and pirates, fuch as Dunkirk, St. Sebaftian, the Ifle of Providence, or any other dirty hole at home or abroad, where they are in high fpirits on hearing of the arrival of fome mi- ferable plunder, but are totally indifferent to all the great and important operations of war.- It muft give the Minifter heart- felt pleafure if they fhould find that the fpirit of the late act fbr ani- U mating t h6 3 mating the exertions of the navy by the holding out the plunder of their fellow citizens, is grown as diffufive as they could wifh, that the whole na tion feel in the fame wayi! If this fhould be the cafe, one act of theirs has not been made in vain. y A L E N S, LETTER t 147 3 LETTER XiV, PROSPECT from SUCCESS, Tuefday, Nov. 5, 1776* Mr. Mi14.br, „ IT is' now the third winter fince the commence ment of the prefent natural and aufpicious war againft our Colonies. It is, I think, fo long fince General Gage was tent to Bofton with a fleet and army, together with a heavy train of artillery, formed of the well-ternpered metal of thofe found Acts of Parliament, which were to bat^ ter down all refiftance to the authority of Britifh Government. For the greateft part of that period our expences were continually on the increafe, and our hopes continually on the wane. At length news arrives, as unexpected as it is fatisfactory ; — that 25,oooHeffian and Britifh. troops, with the aid of a fquadron pf nien of war, II 2 had [ 148 1 had furprifed 7000 Provincials out of their in- trenchments, turned their flanks, and thrown them into confufion ; on which their lines are abandoned, and the city of New- York left ex- poted and untenable. This news arrives in the very nick of time, as if it had been befpoke. It is done to a turn. It came juft at the mee'ting" of Parliament. With out it Miniftry had been fadly at a lofs. With out this victory, the expulfion from Bofton, the repulfe at Charles-Town, and the petty defeats in almoft every creek and harbour of North- America, together with the capture of fo many valuable merchantmen in the teas of the Weft- Indies, and even of Europe, would have .fur nifhed more fuitable matter for an impeachment of Minifters, than a fpeech from the throne. I have heard, that as this news did not arrive early in the feafon, the fpeech, as firft prepared, was (as in reafon it ought) written in a very dif ferent ftyle from the prefent. The expreffions were at leaft as gracious to the Englifh fubject here; and the epithets not nearly fo high fea- foned with regard to thofe on the other fide of the great water. There was not a word of trea fon in it. It expreffed, according to report, fome 'difpofition to concede and reconcile, of which this fpeech fhews no figns at all. But on the whole, it [ 149 ] it was as fine a performance in the tender and pa thetic ftyle, as the vpretent is: in the grand and lofty. It is a pity we are not favoured with the firft. fketch; for Minifters, like poets, — — Lote half the praife they would have got, Were it but known what they difcreetly blot. Victory has deprived us for ever of that fine compofition. It has, however, made full amends. This victory, and, the effect of it, is moft happily and ably defcribed in the prefent (not evafive and hypocritical) but clear and ingenuous, as well as moft gracious, humane, and merciful oration. " The fuccefs in that province (fays the fpeech) " has been fo important, as to give the ftrongeft " hopes • of the- moft decijive good confequences", I fuppofe the royal and noble authors of this finifhed performance, are fo intent on enforcing the laws of the land, that they quite forget thofe of grammar; and are fo eager about breaking ftubborn heads, that in their hurry they miftake" Prifcian for Yankee. I therefore make no remarks on the conftruction of this tentence. I am carried away by the higher beauties of the performance. I am tenfible that it was fafhioned on the principles of the fciences now in the greateft eftimation. Writers have done much for gardening. Gar dening again has paid its tribute to literary com pofition. [ *5°. 1 pofition. This rural fcience even Kings do not difdain to cultivate.. One of the leading prin^ ciples in this modifh gardening, is, as Pope ex^ preffes it, " Decentjy to hide." All muft not come upon UP at once. We are to be on the very edge of , the fkulking haha, and ready to tumble into it, before we are to be put on our guard. This the rules of the art require ; and the principle is tranfplanted into the fpeech. Had that fpeech bluntly and plainly told us, that the action was decifive, the terms would be well enough underftood ; that is, decifive of the for tune of war ; but then (obferve the judgment) the main point would be loft. For we- mould im mediately begin to think of enjoying the revenue of the conquered country, and of fome fort of1 oeconomy in regard to our own. On the other hand, had the Miniftry, who are equally com municative through their goodnefs, and^eferved through their wifdom, held out no hopes at all of an end to that bufinefs, this nation would hardly be perfuaded to go on this journey with her ufvial alacrity. But here we have a new phrafe to ex- prefs a new fituation. — What " an hope of Jeci- " Jive good confequences" means, I do not per fectly underftand ; though the words are brave words, and certainly very plea^ng •, becaufe hope, decifion, C X51 3 decifion, and good confequences, are always agreeable founds to well-tuned ears, let them be placed or connected in what manner they may. What the good confequences are — when they will probably happen — from whence they are to arife -»— or how far they are to extend, we know not. All this lies wrapt in clouds and darknefs. But for this obteurity we are foon made ample amends, and the whole is cleared up in the next fentencd. We loft fight of the building in the mazes of the terpentine walk ; but we catch it again in a very agreeable manner ; it breaks in upon us with double effect. " But liotwithftand- *' ing this fair profpetl, (fays the fpeech) we muft *' at all events prepare for another campaign." Thus the riddle of the " decifive good confe* quences" is folved. It fignifies neither more nor Jefs than this ; that we are in an happy train of {pending twenty millions this year in addi tion to the fifteen millions which we fpent in the laft. I "heartily congratulate the Miniftry and my country on thofe Jlrong hopes,, and thofe deci five good confequences. If defeat entitled us to fpend fifteen millions, it is certainly reafonable that victory, as it is more worth, fhould be more expenfive. This is indeed at length diftinctly promifed, though in terms rather unufual ; *' This important tonjideration will neceffarily be 2 " followed [ 152 J <•' followed with great expenee." — With fubmif fion, I fear, that all the great expenee incurred, and likely to be incurred, has ariten from want of consideration. The next paragraph of the fpeech is full of hopes too. It has likewife its windings and mazes. " The affurances of amity from the feveral " Courts of Europe" are not (it teems) now for the firft time given, — but his Majefty " continues " to receive them.'* You would naturally ex pect, in confequence of this uniformity of faith ful affurances, that his Majefty's" mind ftill refted in the fame perfect repofe it has hitherto enjoyed on that foft cufhion of ftate from the beginning of thefe troubles. From thefe affurances, nobody living, I am perfuaded, could expect the conclu fion, which comes on you like a ftroke of thun der, " that it is expedient in the pretent fituation of " affairs, that we Jhould be in a refpeCiable ftate of " defence at home." It feems then, that the effect of royal affur ances (t mean from abroad) is to leffen confidence ih the direct ratio of their continuance. When I read this, I was immediately put in mind of the good old adage " Multa levant promiffa fidem," Which I never faw fo thoroughly exemplified be fore. In c J53 1 In this Dart of the fpeech we, difcover a fecond point, perfectly worthy the congratulations which our. gracious Sovereign has condescended to make to his obedient people ; namely, — that we are likely to have a Spanifh and French war to en liven the dull uniformity of our civil diffentions." Such an event we were told laft year was abfo- lutely impoffible ; and what is very remarkable, it was exprefsly faid to be impoffible, then, for the very reafons given for apprehending it in the fpeech of this year ; that is, from the tendency of the fuccefs of America to untettle thtjyftem of Europe. If I perfectly underftand the expreffion in the fpeech, it means, that the fuccefs of the Americans would encourage the colonies of other , nations, to rebel. Our rulers therefore (laft year) concluded it impoffible that thofe nations fhould give them encouragement. Be this as it may, we know tfiat the impoffibility of laft year on the principles afligned in the fpeech of this year, has already coft to our conftitution two illegal embar goes ; to our credit an heavy fall of ftock ; and to our finances it will be immediately followed by an augmentation of * 20,000 teamen ; a call of the militia ; an increafe of the ftanding army. Thefe are fome of the decifive good confequences of " con tinuing to receive affurances of amity from the feveral foreign Courts ; and of a favourite and po- X pular * Only 17,000 for the prefent. [ 154 1 pular civil war ; in which poffibility and impoffi- bility, hope and fear, lofs or gain, victory and defeat, all alike, as rays from every part of a vaft circumference, tend to a common centre, meeting in this ' one point Public Bank ruptcy. I believe that thofe who have addreffed fo duti fully, and prayed fo charitably for the bleffing of an American war, hardly infifted on this Euro pean war into the bargain ; even with all, its de cifive good confequences. But a gracious and bountiful Miniftry always gives heaped meafure. Perhaps the addreffers, though they fo chearfully voted lives and fortunes, did not abfolutely infift upon giving near a million fterling of their "trad ing property, in order to nurte to maturity the infant naval power of the Colonies ; though after the lofs, the captures have, I admit, given the Admiralty an opportunity of difplaying its vigi lance and forefight in providing convoys. An other advantage, not within fhe ftipulation, and which is given to the addreffers of free grace and bounty, is the rife of infurance on the trade ! which amounts to a prodigious fum ; and is there fore, to all intents and purpofes, a tax to that amount on the commercial property of England. I do not know wnether the flaughters that have been made and fuffered in many parts of Ame rica; and the burthens which have been impoted, ox E 155 3 or are in a courfe of being impofed at home, are fufficient to fatisfy us. I remember it was the language of laft year, in excute for not offering terms to North America, that We could not make peace with dignity until we had given our colo nies fome heavy blow. Is hot this blow of New- York heavy enough for our dignity ? We have al ready facrificed many millions of our own trea- fure, a good many lives of the irfvJ.ar Englifh, and at one ftroke about 3000 of the Continental Englifh to that- fierce Court-God, Dignity.' Is the feafon not yet arrived when we are to give fome attention to that humble, houfhold God, Self-Inter eft ? But we are, " at all events, to prepare for another Campaign." We do not quite forget,* that when 50,000 regular troops, and an hundred filips of force, and fuch an artillery as never was employed in any foreign war, were fent laft year to America, all this vaft power and expenee was faid to be employed in order to prevent hoftiliiies from being drawn out into length, and to finifh the war in another campaign. But that fecond ano ther is, we fee, to produce a third another ¦, and thus, as our poet fays, " To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow " Creeps on his petty pace from day to day, " To the laft fyllable of fqcorfted time, U-2 "And [ 15* 3 "And all our yefterdays have lighted fools " The way to dufty death." \ And thus fhall we war on, till after irreparable injuries done and received, we fhall, from mere wearinefs and fatigue, fall back to the miterable, vexatious, and precarious ftate of peace without. reconciliation. I will fuppofe America laid at Lord North's- feet, and reduced to Lord George Germaine's " unconditioned fubmiffion," yet without the formal eftablifhment of liberty to fatisfy and content, or the formal eftablifhment of flavery in its inftru- ment a mercenary army, to awe- and, terrify, do you ferioufly, my countrymen, Whigs or Tories, as you may be, do ycu ferioufly expect a continu ance of obedience ? There has been a great victory at Long I (land. Many Englifh were butchered by the Heflians after they had laid down their arms. This, it feems, was proper, and was juftified by the law of arms, and fhews that a rabble of freemen are net to trifle with Heffian fpirit and refentment. Col. Balfour has brought an account of the tak ing of the uninhabited walls of New York, which were fnatched, half burnt, from the fire. Has he brought any account of any thing like a move ment towards a general fubmiffion in all the Co lonies ? or even in^ny one of them ? Very far from [ i57 3 from it. The Heffians muft, juftifiably, flaughter more men in cold blood ; your people mu,ft aban don, and in defpair burn more of their towns ; there muft be more mutual rapine of the pro perty of Englifh on Englifh : Thus we muft go on — For what ? To eftablifh a ftanding army in America for our ruin, in order to furnifh Com- miflions to theyounger Adelphi of antient decayed Northern Families. It can be for nothing elte ; for I do not believe that any one man living has the folly to imagine that all the taxes to be drawn from America for a century together, will even pay for the repair of New York, fo as to fit it, for its only purpofe, a barrack for General Heifter's and General Howe's army. The cafe in fhort is this. Our war for taxa tion, in America, has not yet, and never will produce a revenue. America is not taxed — but England is. America is impoverifhed, undone if you pleafe, but England is not enriched. The Colonies have now avowed -independence. I have ever faid, and I think fhewn in my former let ters, that it was in no fort their original inten tion in this conteft; but that they would infalli bly be driven to it by the meafures of violence hotly and obftinately purfued, and by the rejec* tion with the fame intemperate pertinacity, - of every means of reconciliation. But one phrafe • ferveg [ 153 1 ferves for all reafons. " They have avowed in* " dependency." They have fo; and is it be caufe America has avowed independency, thaD England muft be ruined ? can we be quite certain that the offer of terms of liberty, which will coft us nothing, will not draw them from that inde pendency ; when we are fure, that offers of fla- very, which have coft' us millions, have driven them to it ? It would, in my opinion, be wife to feize this firft moment of fuccefs to do proudly, what long fince we ought to have done wifely — To repeal the obnoxious acts — To put things on the foot ing they ftood on in 1763' — To unite this coun try, and to give a juftification to your friends in America, for adhering to the free and reafonable dependence of that country on this — This falu- tary and wholefome end, is not to be effected by evafion and chicane. " Means of conciliation," * one of the new invented phrafes, that aims to convey a fenfe which facts will not fupport. It would convey to, the reader, that terms and con ditions of reconciliation have been rejected by the Americans. It is a truth now univerfally no torious, that no terms have been offered to them. Lord George Germaine at the end of laft feffion, pofitively and juftly declared, that the commiffion . , neither * Which makes fuch a figure in the fpeech. [ 159 1 "neither had, nor could have powers of giving other terms of peace ; except thofe of pardon on the laying down their arms. It carried fimply the power of accepting " unconditioned fubmif- " fion." In the dialect of minifters, this is means of conciliation ; in the language of common fenfe, it is a declaration of an eternal war. But, to make peace, terms and conditions muft be held out; and to fatisfy our grand idea of dig nity, they ought to be held now, in this firft mo ment of fuccefs. For can we affirm, that war, however fuccefsful, is not liable to revertes of fortune ? No man can fay where a fpark may arile from the apparently extinguifhed fire of revolt and infurrection. In the beginning of thefe troubles, the majo rity in both Houfes have nOt been afhamed to vote the rebellion in America, as confined to one fpot; when the very fame diftemper, whatever it was, raged over the whole continent. This was done to inftigate a civil war; why fhould, they be afhamed of a fimilar fineffe to reftore do- meftic peace, at a time too when we are threat ened with the hoftility of foreign powers ? Let them now vote, that all America is fubdued, and to a people conquered, gracioufly beftow " the " bleffings of peace and the fecurity of liberty." The fuccefs, real or pretended, may, if they pleafe, [ rfo 3 pleafe, be made the preamble to the act of re peal and fettlemerit. If war be not exempt from mutability, even in this hitherto fingle- handed war with our Colonies alone," what will be the confequences of an un-v favourable turn in a war with France and Spain united ? I would not therefore put my whole truft in war,fo as to neglect every thing elfe; left, agree ably to the minifterial prognoftic,) tho' I am far from prefuming to adopt the lofty tone of the epithets fo becoming them, but fo little becom ing me,) " if their treafon be fuffered £o take " root, much mifchief muft grow from it, to the "fafety of the loyal Colonies — to the commerce " of thefe kingdoms ; — and indeed to the pretent " fyftem of all Europe." May treafon (fince this revolt muft be fo) never take root from the continuance of tyranny ! — — This is my prayer, My Lords the Bifhops will hardly find a better, in. their form for the faft. You will not be farther troubled on thefe Ame rican affairs by your humble fervant, and his coun try's true, difinterefted, and uninfluenced friend, V A L E N S, 3 9002 08477 DTI IKm l^JTVEf^ YALE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY Gift of WILLIAM SM; ES3* %m SP&^S - «fi