AFFAIRS IN VIRGINIA.
During these events Lord Dunmore had been making a last effort to retrieve the king’s affairs in Virginia. With the consent of General Howe he sent Mr. Connelly, a native of Pennsylvania, to induce the people in the back and inland parts of the colony, together with several of the Indian tribes, to take up arms for government. Connelly had already reached the back-settlements, but soon after his arrival he was recognized by a tradesman to whom he was known, who denounced him to one of the nearest revolutionary committees. Connelly was seized with all his papers, and sent to Philadelphia, where he was put in irons and treated with the utmost severity. The scheme of Lord Dunmore was developed by his papers, and the whole was in consequence frustrated.
DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE BY CONGRESS.
It required no prophetic eye to foresee that at no very distant period, notwithstanding the sentiments of loyalty expressed in their papers by congress, they would, nevertheless, take one vast stride in the march of revolution and proclaim their independence. As early as the 15th of May the congress, in their sitting at Philadelphia, resolved:—“That it should be recommended to all the various assemblies and conventions in the United States of America, where no form of government adequate to the exigencies of affairs had yet been adopted, to establish such a constitution as should be most conducive to the public welfare and security.” This resolution was published in the newspapers, with a preamble, stating that as the king and parliament of Great Britain had excluded the inhabitants of the colonies from the protection of their mother country, it behoved them to abolish the power and constitution which had been derived from thence. By this measure of congress the mask was at length thrown off, and many Americans now stepped forward to claim the honour of having been the originator of the grand idea. The glory is, however, generally attributed by Americans to Benjamin Franklin;—the man who, while in England, strove with all his might, and in the depth of guile, to make the Earl of Chatham, and all the great orators of opposition, believe that the wish was furthest from his thought;—that he earnestly desired to preserve the connexion of the colonies with his “dear old mother country.” While at the same time, however, that American writers attribute the origin of the grand idea to Benjamin Franklin, they admit that it was the pen of an English writer that rendered the most effective service in this particular—a pen that was wielded by the infidel, Thomas Paine! Originally a Quaker and stay-maker in Norfolk, Paine first made himself known as a political writer by the publication of a pamphlet. This pamphlet recommended him to the notice of Franklin, who advised the poor author to try his fortune in America, now affording a wide field for the talents of adventurers. Paine accordingly settled at Philadelphia in 1774, where he became first a contributor to newspapers and periodicals, and then editor of the “Philadelphia Magazine.” By this time the public mind had been prepared by various productions issued from the press, to entertain thoughts of independence. Paine turned his wit to this subject, and in 1776 he brought out his famous pamphlet, called “Common Sense,” which contained bolder sentiments than any written by all the other various pamphleteers. His production met with unparalleled success. Copies were distributed throughout the colonies, and “Common Sense” became literally the study of the whole American world. It was even read, admired, and eulogised in England by men of sense and talent: Burke calls it “that celebrated pamphlet which prepared the minds of the people for independence.” Its chief merit, however, seems to have consisted in rough, sarcastic wit, which was well calculated to flatter the prejudices as well as to inflame the resentment of the American people. The effects it produced were wonderful. Multitudes were brought over by it to the cause of independence, who but a few months before would have regarded the proposition with abhorrence. As for the writer he at once gained by it the topmost pinnacle of the temple of popularity. The legislature of Pennsylvania voted him £500; the university of the same province conferred on him the degree of Master of Arts; he was elected member of the American Philosophical Society, founded by Franklin; and he was subsequently made clerk to the committee of foreign affairs, while he was consulted by all members of government and congress as an oracle.
The recommendation of congress to the various assemblies and conventions in the United States of America met with all due attention, and many prepared for the organization of a new government. Thus the convention of New York appointed a committee to take the resolution into consideration, and on the 27th of May this committee presented a report, replete with democratic principle, and going the whole length which the recommendation involved. The men of the hot south, however, the Virginians, went to work in a less round-about manner than those of the other states. The convention of that colony, which met at Williamsburg on the 6th of May, instructed their delegates at congress to propose to that body an immediate declaration of independence. Accordingly, on the 7th of June, Richard Henry Lee, one of their delegates, moved that the congress should forthwith declare:—“That these united colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent states; that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British crown, and that all political connexion between them and the state of Great Britain is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that measures should immediately be taken for procuring the assistance of foreign powers, and a confederation be formed for binding the colonies more closely together.” Vehement debates followed this proposition, its principal supporter being John Adams, and its chief opposer John Dickenson. On the question being put, six delegates voted in the affirmative, and an equal number in the negative; the delegates from Pennsylvania being equally divided. The debate, therefore, was resumed on the following day, when Dickenson relinquished his opposition, and by his vote decided the contest. Congress now assumed the title of “Representatives of the United States of America,” and on the 4th of July they published a definite declaration, or act of independence. This declaration was drawn up by Jefferson, and slightly altered first by Franklin and Adams, and afterwards by the whole committee to whom it was submitted. As passed by congress it commenced with asserting that all men were originally equal, and that all people have an unalienable right to choose their own government. It then set forth that the history of the present King of Great Britain had been a history of injuries and usurpations, having for their direct object the establishment of an absolute tyranny over America. The sins of the monarch—for it was against the king himself that congress chiefly aimed their blows—were set forth in eighteen separate clauses, and it must be confessed that if the monarch was so great a sinner as he was represented to be in these clauses, then the summing up of the act of independence was justifiable. This summing up declared,—“That a prince marked by every act which may define a tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people: consequently, congress, in the name and by the authority of the good people of America, had solemnly published and declared that the colonies were free and independent states, absolved from allegiance to the British crown; that all political connexion between them and Great Britain was broken; and they, as free and independent states, had full power to levy war, conclude peace, contract alliances, and establish commerce.” But though the people of England were not calumniated by congress in such bold and unwarrantable language as their monarch, they nevertheless were condemned by the act of independence. A clause in it with reference to the British people, reads thus:—“Nor have we been wanting in attentions to our British brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts made by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of an emigration and settlement here; we have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity; and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow those usurpations which interrupted our connexion and correspondence. But they have been deaf to the voice of justice and consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity which pronounces our separation, and hold them as we hold the rest of mankind, enemies in war, in peace, friends. We, therefore, the representatives of the United States of America, in general congress assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentional do, in the name and by the authority of the good people of these colonies, solemnly publish and declare, that these united colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent states; that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British crown, and that all political connexion between them and the state of Great Britain is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as free and independent states, they have full power to levy war, conclude peace, contract alliances, establish commerce, and to do all other acts and things which independent states may of right do. And for the support of this declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honour.”
This declaration went forth to the world as the unanimous act of congress and of the whole American people. Nevertheless, several delegates, among whom was Mr. Dickenson, refused to sign the paper, and it is well known that there were many among the American people, and men of great influence and talent, who dissented from the act. Washington himself conceived that congress was going too far, although he still continued at the head of their army to fight their battles. But there was now no alternative but to fight or be considered a renegade. The great body of the nation was in favour of the measure of congress, and were prepared to stand by its consequences. And in this they were encouraged by the inherent power which they possessed; by the physical advantages which their country presented; and by the difficulties which Great Britain, split into factions, and with a divided parliament, must encounter in carrying on a war in such a far distant country. The Americans also appear to have been encouraged, even at this early stage of their rebellion, by foreign powers. It is an indisputable fact, indeed, that their sole reliance was not upon “native swords and native ranks.” Secret agents had been sent to America from powers clandestinely inimical to the British nation; and American agents had been sent secretly to the courts of Paris, Madrid, Naples, the Hague, and St. Petersburgh. The Americans, moreover, drew encouragement from the hope that there might be a rebellion in Ireland, if not in England itself. To ensure such a consummation in Ireland, they even sent addresses to the Irish people which were well calculated to lead to it. How artfully these addresses were worded may be seen from the following extract of one, in which the Americans expressed their regret that they had been compelled to include Ireland with Great Britain in their non-importation agreements. It states:—“Your parliament had done us no wrong. You had ever been friendly to the rights of mankind, and we acknowledge with pleasure and gratitude that your nation has produced patriots who have nobly distinguished themselves in the cause of humanity and America. On the other hand we were not ignorant that the labour and manufactures of Ireland, like those of the silkworm, were of little moment to herself, but served only to give luxury to those who neither toil nor spin. We perceived that if we continued our commerce with you, our agreement not to import from Britain must be fruitless. Compelled to behold thousands of our countrymen imprisoned; and men, women, and children in promiscuous and unmerited misery—when we found all faith at an end, and sacred treaties turned into tricks of state—when we perceived our friends and kinsmen massacred, our habitations plundered, our houses in flames, and their once happy inhabitants fed only by the hand of charity—who can blame us for endeavouring to restrain the progress of the desolation? Who can censure us for repelling the barbarous band? Who in such circumstances would not obey the great, the universal, the divine law of self-preservation? Though vilified as wanting spirit, we are determined to behave like men; though insulted and abused, we wish for reconciliation; though defamed as seditious, we are ready to obey the laws: and though charged with rebellion, we will cheerfully bleed in defence of our sovereign in a righteous cause. What more can we say? What more can we offer? We know that you are not without your grievances. We sympathize with you in your distress, and are pleased to find that the design of subjugating us has persuaded the administration to dispense to Ireland some vagrant rays of ministerial sunshine. Even the tender mercies of government have long been cruel towards you. In the fat pastures of Ireland many hungry parricides have fed and grown strong to labour in her destruction. We hope the patient abiding of the meek may not always be forgotten.” The Americans could scarcely have spoken plainer than this, and the Irish people could not fail rightly to interpret their language as an incitement to join in that sin which the sacred penman has likened to the sin of witchcraft—rebellion.
GEORGE III. 1776-1777