What reason can there be for thinking the colonies not sincere in all these declarations?—In truth; it was not possible they should be otherwise than sincere; for so little did they think of war, at the time when most of these declarations were made, that they were totally unprepared for it: And, even when hostilities were begun at Lexington in April 1775, they were so destitute of every instrument of defence, particularly ammunition, that half the force which is now invading them, would have been sufficient to conquer them at once.
I will beg leave to add on this occasion, the following extracts from letters, written by some leading persons at New-York, the genuineness of which may be depended on.
New-York, August 3d. 1775.—“I am sensible of the many artifices and falshoods which have been used to biass the minds of your countrymen, who believe evil reports of us; and, particularly, that we are aiming at independence.—Of this be assured, that even Hancock and Adams are averse to independence. There was a lye current last week, that the congress had finally agreed upon independence to take place the 10th of March next, should not our grievances be redressed before that time. I wrote to one of our delegates, to enquire whether this report was true. In his answer he declares, upon his honour, that he believed there was not one man in the Congress who would dare to make a motion tending to independence; or, that if any one did, two could not be found to support the motion.—None but those who are on the spot can conceive what a spirit is gone forth among all ranks and degrees of men.—We deserve to be free. It is a heavy sacrifice we are making. Trade is at an end. We expect our city to be knocked about our ears. But I declare solemnly, I will submit to all, and die in a log-house in the wilds of America, and be free; rather than flourish in servitude.”—In a subsequent letter, dated New-York, Jan. 3d. 1776, the same person writes as follows:—“It is in the power of the ministry to annihilate all our disputes, by restoring us to the situation we were in at the conclusion of the last war. If this is done, we shall immediately return to our allegiance. But if not, be assured, that an awful scene will be opened in the spring. Let me repeat a caution to you; believe not the insinuations of our enemies, who would make you all believe that independence is what America aims at. It is an insidious falshood. Madmen will be found in all large societies. It would be singular, were there none such to be found in a body of three millions of people and upwards. But they are like a grain of sand on the sea shore.”
Another person writes thus.—New-York, Nov. 2d. 1775. “We love and honour our King. He has no subjects in all his dominions more attached to his person, family and government, notwithstanding the epithet of rebels bestowed upon us. No charge is more unjust than the charge that we desire an independence on Great Britain. Ninety-nine in a hundred of the inhabitants of this country deprecate this as the heaviest of evils. But if administration will persist in their present measures, this will and must inevitably be the event; for submit to the present claims of the British parliament, while unrepresented in it, you may be assured they never will. And what deserves notice is, that all the violence of Britain only unites the Americans still more firmly together, and renders them more determined to be free or die. This spirit is unconquerable by violence; but they may be easily won by kindness.—Serious people of all denominations among us, episcopal and non-episcopal, are much employed in prayer to God for the success of the present struggles of America. They consider their cause as the cause of God; and as such, they humbly commit it to him, confident of success in the end, whatever blood or treasure it may cost them.”
Since these letters were written, the sentiments of America, with respect to independence, have been much altered. But it should be remembered, that this alteration has been owing entirely to OURSELVES; I mean, to the measures of the last winter and summer, and particularly the following.
First. The rejection of the petition from the Congress brought over by Governor Penn. In this petition they professed, in strong language, that they still retained their loyalty to the King and attachment to this country; and only prayed, “that they might be directed to some mode by which the united applications of the Colonies might be improved into a happy reconciliation; and that, in the mean time, some measures might be taken for preventing their farther destruction, and for repealing such statutes as more immediately distressed them.”—The Colonies had often petitioned before without being heard. They had, therefore, little hope from this application; and meant that, if rejected, it should be their last.
Secondly. The last prohibitory bill, by which our protection of them was withdrawn; their ships and effects confiscated; and open war declared against them.
Thirdly. Employing foreign troops to subdue them. This produced a greater effect in America than is commonly imagined. And it is remarkable, that even the writers in America who answered the pamphlet entitled Common Sense, acknowledge, that should the British ministry have recourse to foreign aid, it might become[95] proper to follow their example, and to embrace the necessity of resolving upon independence.
I have, further, reason to believe, that the answer to the last petition of the City of London, presented in March 1776,[96] had no small share in producing the same effect.
By these measures, and others of the same kind, those Colonists who had all along most dreaded and abhorred independence, were at last reconciled to it.—I can, however, say from particular information, that even so lately as the month of June last, an accommodation might have been obtained with the Colonies, on a reasonable and moderate plan; without giving up any one of the rights claimed by this country, except that of altering their charters and disposing of their property.—And, as it would have restored peace and prevented the desolating calamities into which America and Britain are now plunged, no friend to humanity can avoid regretting that such a plan, when offered, was not adopted. But our rulers preferred coercion and conquest: And the consequence has been, that the Colonies, after being goaded and irritated to the utmost, resolved to disengage themselves, and directed the Congress to declare them Independent States; which was accordingly done, as is well-known, on the 4th of July last. Since that time, they have, probably, been making applications to foreign powers; and it is to be feared, that now we may in vain offer them the very terms for which they once sued.—All this is the necessary consequence of the principles by which human nature is governed.—There was a time when, perhaps, we should ourselves have acted with more violence; and, instead of remonstrating and praying, as America has done, have refused the most advantageous terms when offered with defiance, and under an awe from a military force. Had King William, instead of coming over by invitation to deliver us, invaded us; and, at the head of an army, offered us the Bill of Rights; we should, perhaps, have spurned at it; and considered Liberty itself as no better than Slavery, when enjoyed as a boon from an insolent conqueror.—But we have all along acted as if we thought the people of America did not possess the feelings and passions of men, much less of Englishmen.—It is indeed strange our ministers did not long ago see, that they had mistaken the proper method of treating the Colonies; and that though they might be gradually influenced to any thing, they could be dragooned to nothing.—Had King James the Second avoided violence; and been a little more patient and secret in pursuing his views, he might have gained all he wished for. But an eager haste and an open avowal of the odious claims of prerogative ruined him.—This has been since considered; and a plan both here and in Ireland,[97] less expeditious indeed, but more sure, has been pursued. And had the same plan been pursued in America, the whole empire might in time have been brought, without a struggle, to rest itself quietly in the lap of corruption and slavery. It may, therefore, in the issue prove happy to the Colonies, that they have not been thought worthy of any such cautious treatment. Our coercive measures have done all for them that their warmest patriots could have desired. They have united them among themselves, and bound them together under one government. They have checked them in the career of vicious luxury; guarded them against any farther infection from hence; taught them to seek all their resources within themselves; instructed them in the use of arms; and led them to form a naval and military power which may, perhaps, in time, become superior to any force that can attack them, and prove the means of preserving from invasion and violence, a government of justice and virtue, to which the oppressed in every quarter of the globe may fly, and find peace, protection, and liberty.—In short. These measures have, in all probability, hastened that disruption of the new from the old world, which will begin a new æra in the annals of mankind;[98] and produce a revolution more important, perhaps, than any that has happened in human affairs.—As a friend, therefore, to the general interest of mankind, I ought, probably, to rejoice in these measures; and to bless that all-governing Providence, which, often, out of the evil intended by wretched mortals, brings the greatest good.—But when I consider the present sufferings which these measures must occasion, and the catastrophe with which they threaten Great-Britain; I am shocked; and feel myself incapable of looking forward, without distress, to the fate of an empire, once united and happy, but now torn to pieces, and falling a sacrifice to despotic violence and blindness. Under the impressions of these sentiments, and dreading the awful crisis before us, I cannot help, however impotent my voice, crying out to this country—“Make no longer war against yourselves. Withdraw your armies from your Colonies. Offer your power to them as a protecting, not a destroying power. Grant the security they desire to their property and charters; and renounce those notions of dignity, which lead you to prefer the exactions of force to the offerings of gratitude, and to hazard every thing to gain nothing.—By such wisdom and equity America may, perhaps, be still preserved; and that dreadful breach healed, which your enemies are viewing with triumph, and all Europe with astonishment.”