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God that all our legislators felt the weight of this objection which can as easily mislead moral and religious people in the present age, as it did in the last! Would to God they would exert themselves in such a manner, that all unprejudiced men might see the king and parliament have "the better men," as well as "the better cause!" Would to God that by timely reformation, and solemn addresses to the throne of grace, we might convince Dr. Price, and all the Americans, that in submitting to the British legislature, they will not submit to libertinism and Atheism, but to a venerable body of virtuous and godly senators, who know that the first care of God's representatives on earth-the principal study of poli tical gods, should be to promote God's fear, by setting a good example before the people committed to their charge, and by steadily enforcing the observance of the moral law!

I need not tell you, sir, what effect this would have on our pious American brethren. You feel it in your own breast. The bare idea of such a reformation softens your prejudices. Were it to take place, it would overcome Dr. Price himself. Pious joy would set him upon writing as warmly for the government, as he had done against it; and in the midst of his deep repentance for the dangerous errors he has published, he would have the consolation to think that one of his observations has done more good than all his sophisms have done mischief. These are some of the reflections which Dr. Price's religious argument has drawn from my pen, and which I doubt not but some of our governors have already made by the help of that wisdom which prompts them to improve our former calamities, and to study what may promote our happiness in Church and state. I am, &c,

J. FLETCHER.

LETTER V.

A Scriptural plea for the revolted colonies, with some hints concerning a Christian method of bringing about a lasting reconciliation between them and the mother country-The king and parliament humbly addressed on the subject.

REVEREND SIR,-Christians are, in a special manner, debtors to all mankind. I owe love to all my fellow subjects, as well as loyalty to the king, and duty to the parliament; and my love to our American colonies, as well as my regard for equity, obliges me to say what can reasonably be said on their behalf; that prejudice on both sides may give place to Christian forbearance and conciliatory kindness.

I hope, sir, you are by this time convinced that the American revolt is absolutely unjustifiable; and that the king and parliament have an indubitable right proportionably to tax the colonists, as well as the English; although the colonists are not directly and adequately represented in parliament, any more than multitudes of Britons who live abroad, and millions who reside in Great Britain. And now, sir, I candidly allow, that although the colonists cannot without absurdity insist on an equal representation, yet they may humbly request to be particularly repre. sented in the British legislature; and that, although strict justice does not oblige Great Britain to grant them such a request, yet parental wis.

dom and brotherly condescension require her to grant something to the notion, that a direct representation in parliament is inseparably connected with civil liberty. This notion, I confess, is irrational, unscriptural, and unconstitutional. But it is a prevailing notion, and if we look at it in one point of view, it seems to wear the badge of British liberty, and therefore has some claim to the indulgence of Britons.

Permit me to illustrate my meaning by a Scriptural simile. Through a strong national prejudice, the Jews, who had embraced Christianity, fancied that no man could be a true Christian without being circumcised; and they supported their assertion by God's positive command to the father of the faithful; a command this which Christ had not expressly repealed, and to which he and his disciples had religiously submitted.The apostles saw that the Christianized Jews were under a capital mistake. Nevertheless, in condescension to human weakness and national prejudice, they allowed them to circumcise their children: and Paul himself, though he detested their error, yielded to them so far as to have his convert Timothy circumcised. I grant that a direct and adequate representation in parliament is no more essential to British liberty, than circumcision to true Christianity. But, as the governors of the Christian Church made some concessions to Jewish weakness, might not also the governors of the British empire make some to American prejudice; especially considering that it will be as difficult for them peaceably to rule the Americans without such an act of condescension, as it would have been for the apostles to govern the Jews, without the above-mentioned complaisance?

Beside, in some cases, constitutional and unconstitutional taxation may border so nearly upon each other, that the most judicious politicians will be as much at a loss to draw the line between them, as the most skilful painter would be to draw the line between the primitive colours of the rainbow. This bordering of a faint constitutional privilege, upon an unconstitutional, absolute want of privilege, has deceived the colonists. As a man who is passionately fond of flaming crimson, takes a faint red to be no red at all; they have pronounced that to be no representation, which is an indirect representation discernible to all but the prejudiced. In their patriotic fright they have fancied that the ship of constitutional liberty struck on a rock, because it did not carry so many sails as they imagined it should. You may compare their mistake to that of impatient, suspicious passengers, who, when they have all their fortune on board a ship, are apt to think that she does not move at all, because her motion is not so rapid as they could wish; and because their anxious fears turn every sail they see into a privateer in chase of their property. Their error deserves then compassion, as well as blame; and will appear excusable to those who know the immense value of liberty.

Our lawgivers, who are peculiarly acquainted with the worth of this jewel, can above all men put a favourable construction upon the panic of a people afraid of being enslaved. Depending, therefore, on their condescension, I shall presume to ask, if now that the government has plainly asserted and powerfully supported the just claims of Great Britain, it might not safely relax a little the reins of authority, and kindly condescend to the fears of the colonists. And should the Americans show themselves just in indemnifying our injured merchants, penitent in laying VOL. IV. 35

down their arms, and loyal in acknowledging the right that Great Britain has to expect proportionable taxes from them; might not the king and parliament show themselves kind, in granting them the privilege of a special representation in the British legislature; or in passing an act of security, to fix just bounds to the power of parliamentary taxation with respect to the Americans; to promise the colonies that a proper allow. ance shall always be made them for the superior commercial privileges of Great Britain; to ascertain, in an equitable manner, the quantum of that allowance; and to remove their dread of being disproportionably taxed by the most solemn assurances, that their taxes shall always rise or fall in exact proportion to our own, according to the plan laid down in pages 510, 511?

I would not carry matters so far as to say, with the poet, Summum jus summa injuria ;* but might I not observe, that parental love, brotherly kindness, and British equity require that some condescension be shown to the colonists? Should not British legislators show themselves gods, by imitating the God of gods,

Who conquers all, beneath, above,

Devils with force, and men with love?

While the Atlantic foams under the weight of the transports, which carry the troops sent over to subdue the revolted provinces, might not love suspend the destructive stroke, and conquer them without farther effusion of blood? Is their hardness absolutely desperate? While the sight of a force so superior to that which quelled them at Bunker's Hill, works upon their prudence; and while Scriptural expostulations enlighten their consciences, might not some gracious and timely concessions work upon their gratitude, excite their admiration, and regain their confidence? O that you, sir, and I could imitate those courageous women, who, when the Romans, their husbands, and the Sabines, their brothers, were going to engage, rushed between the two armies, and so wrought upon them, by tender expostulations, that the fierce antagonists, instead of plunging their swords into each other's breasts, fell upon each other's necks, and turned the field of battle into a field of reconciliation! If a heathen country saw the delightful scene, might not a Christian land behold it also? The pleasing thought transports my mind: my imagination, warmed by the fond hope, carries me beyond myself: methinks I rush between the parliament and the congress, and after having pleaded the sovereign's cause before the patriots, I plead that of the patriots before the sovereign. Fancying myself at the foot of the throne, and seeing the king raised on high above all the British lawgivers, on my bended knees, from the dust, with trembling awe, I present my bold, mediato rial plea

:

O king, live and reign in righteousness for ever! And ye, his patrician and plebeian senators,† help him long to sway the sceptre with Chris

Right, carried to the height, is the height of injustice.

There is a symmetrical excellence in the British constitution which escapes the attention of many Britons. I have observed that the capital business of the parliament is to keep the balance even between the king and the people; that neither oppressive despotism, (or the tyranny of one,) nor mobbing anarchy, (or the tyranny of many,) may prevail. I now add, that the two houses of parlia ment are two mediatorial courts between the king and the people. The house of

tian gentleness and British fortitude! As his faithful assessors, and partakers with him of the legislative power, firmly support on his royal head the ponderous crown, which gives him the dominion over the British islands, half of the western world, and the whole aqueous globe!One of your adopted subjects, warmed with gratitude for the religious and civil liberty which he enjoys under your mild government; and deeply concerned for your glory and the prosperity of your dominions, intrudes into your awful presence to intercede for his guilty brethren. If the King of kings and Lord of lords vouchsafes to receive his fervent addresses to the throne of grace for you; do not reject, O ye gods, his humble address for your American colonies.

It is not my design to extenuate their crime. An ingenuous confes. sion becomes a prostrate suppliant. They have sinned against Heaven and against you. They have preposterously charged you with robbery, when they themselves robbed* God, by keeping from his political representatives the reasonable and legal taxes due to the supreme power; to a creative and protective power that gave them birth, and raised them from a state of infant weakness and want, to youthful vigour and grow. ing opulence. Their crime is complicate: they have openly encouraged the lawless mobs which trampled upon your authority, and destroyed the property of your loyal subjects: they have obstinately protected felony and sedition: they have audaciously hindered the course of justice their congress has met to oppose your claim of taxation in the capital of that very province, by the express terms of whose charter they are solemnly bound to pay you taxes: they have armed by sea and land to cut off your forces: and, not satisfied with asserting their assumed supremacy over the revolted provinces, they have aimed at making conquests: they have completed their guilt by a daring attempt to annex your immense province of Canada to the empire they have newly set up. And now what can I say in their behalf? My grand plea, O ye insulted powers, is taken from yourselves. As your majesty is, so is your mercy. Ye are called Christians by the name of the mild Potentate who interceded for his mobbing murderers. When they poured floods of contempt upon his royal head: when they pierced his temples with thorns, his hands with nails, his heart with sarcasms: and when they prepared commons is composed of senators chosen by the people, to be a check upon the king and nobles; and the house of lords is composed of senators chosen by the king, to be a check upon the people and their representatives. Hence it appears that the house of lords is peculiarly bound to maintain the prerogatives of the crown, against the encroachments of mobs and mobbing patriots; and that it is the peculiar duty of the house of commons to maintain the privileges of the people, against the encroachments of despots and despotic ministers. In the last century the lords failing in their duty, the balance was broken: the commons prevailed; and the consequence was what might naturally be expected: the house of lords was set aside, the king beheaded, and the constitution overthrown. This remarkable event should teach our senators the wisdom peculiarly necessary to a faithful discharge of their high office.

I would not dare to use such an expression, if the Scriptures did not bear me out. The Lord, speaking by the Prophet Malachi, says: "Will a man ROB GOD? Yet ye have ROBBED ME. But ye say, Wherein have we ROBBED THEE? In TITHES," Mal. iii, 8. I infer from this answer, that if God accounts himself robbed, when tithes are detained from HIS priests; he does so much more when reasonable and legal taxes are detained from sovereigns, HIS primary representatives, whom he calls HIS anointed, and to whom he allows the title of gods.

to pierce his side with a spear; even then he not only forgave them himself, but turned their excuser, and said, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." The Divine plea prevailed. It obtained an evangelical proclamation of pardon on the most condescending terms. "Where sin had abounded, there grace did much more abound." Where rebellion had set up her bloody banner, there mercy gloried to erect her superior standard. Jerusalem, ungrateful, hypocritical, rebellious Jerusalem Jerusalem, guilty of the murder of the King of kings: Jerusa. lem, the still rebellious and unrelenting city, was first blessed with the news of a free pardon; and thousands of relenting rebels submitted to the terms of the gracious proclamation. By this unexpected effort of mercy, the Lord of glory subjugated those stiff religionists. Pardoning love effectually conquered their stubbornness; and a nation of loyal subjects was born in a day.

And might ye not, O ye Christian rulers, imitate the Lord of glory without prostituting your dignity? Directed by the example of our meek Redeemer, might not thy mercy, O king, issue out a proclamation of pardon upon such terms as might raise the astonishment of an Adams and a Washington? Are Lee and Hancock fiercer against thee, than Saul of Tarsus was against his Saviour? Have they breathed out more threatenings and slaughter than that enthusiastic zealot, who, not satisfied with his personal contempt of the Lord of lords, compelled others to blaspheme him, and persecuted to death those who would not? Nevertheless, when he fell to the ground, mercy raised him up, not only to the dignity of a Christian, but to that of an apostle : and the service which he did the Church in that high office far exceeded the injury he had done her by his bloody enthusiasm. Could ye not, O ye Christian legislators, try the same successful method with your American subjects? If mercy alone would make them insolent, and if power alone would make them desperate, could not power and mercy, combined by your wisdom, effectually disarm them, and for ever attach them to your steady and mild government?

Nor will you by this means overcome the Americans alone. You will also disarm the minority of your respectable body, and their numerous partisans in the kingdom. When we are wrongfully accused of intending things we never thought of, does not prudence call upon us to remove the very appearances by which the charge seems supported? And how can these appearances be fully removed in the present case, otherwise than by granting your American subjects the privilege of some direct representation, together with some security that the taxes laid upon them shall always bear an equitable proportion to the taxes laid upon. your British subjects?

Might I not also presume to ask, whether all the grievances complained of are imaginary, and whether no needless provocation has been given them by some of our countrymen, and no secret encouragement by others? Beside, are ye not divided among yourselves? And if ye have taught them the unhappy art of rising against you, by rising against each other, should you not pity them? And should ye not bear a little with their turbulency, since you are obliged to bear so much from those of your own body, who openly countenance their rash patriotism?

Again: if we are the politic parents of the colonists, are they not en

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