Timothy Pickering, the father of the distinguished Revolutionary officer and statesman of the same name, addressed an open letter to King George III., which is printed in the "Salem Gazette," Oct. 31, 1769. It is a very quaint production, but it shows the writer's love of simplicity and downright honesty. He was a sturdy Puritan.
"Oct. 31, 1769.
"To the King of Great Britain.
"Great Sir,—Your Kingdom is like a Houſe divided againſt itſelf. Something Extraordinary muſt be done. Our Parliaments for fifty years paſt (or ſome of them) have ruined the Nation, in making a monſtrous Debt by hiring Money, while greater Sums have been expended in Pride and Luxury. Thirteen hundred Thouſand Pounds Sterling, the Public Prints tell us, is paid annually to the Dutch as Intereſt money. My Advice is that all Rulers and Officers, who have high Salaries, drop them, except ſo much as is neceſſary for plain Living;—(Samuel had more Honour in his plain Living with his upright Mind, than Saul had in all his Princely Grandeur,)—And that all unneceſſary Penſions ceaſe together with military Officers half-pay, (How Unequal are our Ways: Theſe Officers muſt have large Half-Pay, while the common Soldiers are not allowed ſmall Half-Pay—who have been expoſed generally to greater Hardships than their Officers. Either let all have Half-Pay or none. The Soldiers are to be reſpected as well as their Officers and are as neceſſary,) and that high Taxes very high be laid on all Pride and Luxury, wherever it is found, the Clergy and the Women not excepted; And that great Taxes be laid on the Rich. I have an Income of but about eighty Pounds Sterling a Year, including my own Hands Labour, nevertheleſs I am freely willing to pay one quarter Part of it in Taxes till my Public Debts are paid. Others that have Two hundred a Year, can with Eaſe pay one half of it in Taxes, if need be. Pay thy Debts; Owe no man anything is Law, Divine and Moral. Immoral Men are in the road that leads to Hell; if they attend Public Worſhip, they are Hypocrites, like the Scribes and Phariſees, of whom Chriſt ſaid, Ye are of your Father the Devil. If I underſtand the Apoſtle, when such Men ſit or kneel at a Communion Table, it is a Table of Devils to them. Pray, Sir, tell your Placemen that the vaſt Multitude of your Subjects are very uneaſy that ſo much of the Public Money, when raiſed is ſunk in the Gulph of Exhorbitancy. My Governor, Mr. Francis Bernard, demands a thouſand Pounds Sterling a Year; one half that Sum is more than Enough, eſpecially as the Nation is ready to ſink with the Weight of its Public Debt. The Clergy can tell their Congregations that the New Teſtament rather reproves than commands the wearing of coſtly Array and faring ſumptuouſly every Day; And I may venture to tell my Readers that all thoſe who neglect taking a conſcientious care to pay their Debts, private Debts, as well as public, are in the high Way to Deſtruction; the commonneſs of the Sin don't abate the Malignity of it.
P.S. Your Majeſty ſees how diligent Governor Nehemiah was in reforming what was amiſs in Iſrael. He was obliged indeed to contend with the Nobles and the Rulers who oppoſed him, but he ſubdued them, and no wonder! Becauſe he feared God and not Man.
From a loyal Subject of my King and a ſincere Friend to his Kingdom.
TIMOTHY PICKERING.
Mr. Pickering wrote a letter to his son, while the latter was a student at Harvard College, requesting him not to play at cards, a practice which he regarded as wicked. But the son (Colonel Timothy Pickering afterwards), as Mr. Upham, his biographer, well remarks, was altogether too busy with his studies to waste time over cards.
We do not observe in the old papers much that would indicate a belief in modern Spiritualism; but it would seem from some accounts that "angels" were occasionally seen. In the cases we quote, the kind of "angels" is not stated. Whether they were real live beauties, or not, can only be conjectured. Who would not now like to buy one of these books at "four Coppers," so as to read all about these angels?