Letter 5.

LETTER 5.

A Scriptural plea for the remitted 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 represented in the British legislature; and that, although strict justice does not oblige Great Britain to grant them such a request, yet parental wisdom and brotherly condescension require her to grant something to the notion, that a direct representation in parliament is inseparably connected with cavil 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their assertion by God’s positive command to the father of the faithful; a command this which Christ had not expressly repealed, and to which he and his disciples had religiously submitted.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 Christianised 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 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 allowance 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; f41 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: thy 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 beaded knees, from the dust, with trembling awe, I present my bold, mediatorial plea: -

O king, live and reign in righteousness for ever! And ye, his patrician and plebeian senators, f42 help him long to sway the sceptre with Christian 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 confession becomes a prostrate suppliant. They have sinned against Heaven and against you. They have preposterously charged you with robbery, when they themselves robbed f43 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 growing 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 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: Jerusalem, 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 entitled to parental indulgence from you? My lord the king is an angel of God, to discern good and bad: he knows, and ye, his legislative assessors, know that political, as well as religious enthusiasm, is a fever of the mind, which throws those who are attacked with it, into a temporary delirium: and that, in the paroxysm, heated religionists and patriots, like delirious people, say and do a thousand things of which they are ashamed when they come to themselves again. If your own children were dangerously ill and light headed, would ye not treat them with an indulgence suitable to their deplorable case? And would not natural affection concur with reason, to make you overlook the petulance and wildness of their behaviour? Ye will extend your mercy to your American subjects with double readiness, if ye consider that they are not all guilty. A few warm men among them open the flood gates of patriotic licentiousness; and while the fierce and roaring torrent frightened myriads into a temporary compliance to revolt, it carried away myriads more before they knew what they were about. Nor have they perhaps had it yet in their power to recollect themselves. Vouchsafe, then, to show yourselves their tender physicians, as well as their indulgent parents; nor heal their moral fever by burning corrosives, so long as there is the least prospect of doing it by cooling applications. If Christianity commands us to “restore, in the spirit of meekness, those that are fallen, to become weak to the weak, yea, to become all things to all men, that by all means we may gain and save some;” be abundantly condescending to your American people, that you may save thousands of precious lives, prevent the devastation of your own dominions, and disappoint your enemies, who flatter themselves that, when Great Britain and her colonies shall have exhausted their strength in a destructive war, the British empire, or some part of it, will become an easy prey to their greedy and watchful ambition. But I peculiarly address thee, thou majestic head, and executive hand of the legislative power. By thy steadiness thou hast shown thyself a king worthy of commanding a people who display lions in their standards. And now, like “Messiah, the Prince,” like the generous “Lion of the tribe of Judah,” vouchsafe to show thyself “the prince of peace.” Let all the earth know that thou art a representative of the God “of all grace, and of the Lamb that taketh away the sin of the world.” Is not the right of showing mercy to the condemned, the noblest of all thy royal prerogatives, and the brightest jewel of thy imperial crown? O! let that jewel shine in this cloudy day, and it will reflect the light of the “Sun of righteousness” across the Atlantic, and cheer the western world. The proclamation of a general pardon, accompanied by the grant of a direct representation, and of a security for the equitable proportion, which their taxes shall always bear to ours; such a proclamation, I say, enforced by the sound of thy trumpets, the roar of thy cannons the sight of thy fleets, and the terror of thy armies, will show that thou art eminently qualified to reign over a brave and free people. Thou mayest thus be merciful without weakness. A Lee and a Washington are resolute enough to stand for a time the shock of thy forces: An Adams and a Hancock are obstinate enough to bury themselves in the ruins of their country. But resolute and obstinate as they are, thy mercy confounds - thy indulgence disarms them. The paroxysm is over. Candour and loyalty return together. The fiery heroes come back to sober heroism; and the rash patriots to true patriotism. Thy royal mercy has melted them into tears. With shame they fix their weeping eyes on the ground; with admiration they lift them up to heaven. They claim the honour of bringing in person the restitution money thou insistest upon for thy injured subjects. They haste to throw themselves at the feet of a sovereign who knows how to protect, conquer and pardon. My imagination sees them cross the Atlantic: they enter your gates: they throw American swords at your feet: they ask pardon for themselves, and the guilty people they represent: they kiss the royal hand which has averted their impending ruin, and pour out their grateful souls in such words as these: -

“Merciful and great king, and ye his legislative assessors, permit us to distinguish ourselves by our penitential return, as we once did by our rash revolt. With feelings proportionable to the sense we have of our guilt, of the king’s mercy, and the parliament’s condescension, we lament our misapprehensions; and deploring the bloodshed which they have caused, we acknowledge that we owe you the reasonable taxes due to the supreme, protecting power, by the consent of all civilized nations, and by the express command of God; and since you condescend to grant us the privilege of a share in your legislature, we will not only religiously, but cheerfully pay them for the time to come. In the meanwhile we refund at your feet sums equivalent to the goods which our rash citizens buried in the sea; and we own it is just that we should, in due proportion, help to discharge the national debt, which has been in part contracted for our protection, and which our unhappy revolt has of late so greatly increased. Made wiser by our misfortunes, and taught both to revere and love our mother country, we shall, at every proper opportunity, express our grateful sense of her parental regard. We are indeed separated by the Atlantic ocean, which we lately looked upon as a boundary to your dominions, a vast moat to keep us asunder, and a rampart to defend our continent against your incursions: but now our views are changed, and we consider that wide sea as a magnificent channel, which Divine Providence seems to have prepared to facilitate our friendly and commercial intercourse; to enrich our respective countries with the treasures of the old and new world; to make us live in a constant exercise of the art of navigation, and enable us, by these means, powerfully to support the British claims to the empire of the sea. Such are the pleasing thoughts we have of our happy re - union. May they appear delightful to all who wish well to the British empire! And may the poisonous breath of discord, more dangerous than all the storms of the Atlantic, never break the sweet calm which royal mercy and parliamentary condescension have restored to our distracted provinces!”

“Take up your swords, ye brave, though rash patriots,” replies the speaker. “Your courage and love of liberty entitle you to this honour of receiving them again, on condition that you beat them into plough shares, or use them only against our common enemies. It is the first, see that it be the last time they are stained with British blood, and lifted up against the breast that gave you suck. And as the world sees the political and military leaders of the colonies at the foot of the throne, and of a British senate; the world shall see that the king and parliament can not only

Parcere subjectis, et debellare superbos, but that they know how to conquer the generous friends of liberty by generous acts of condescending love. Rise, ye mistaken sons of liberty, rise to demonstrate, that, as we can fight like Britons, so we can forgive as Christians, and indulge as brethren. Take your seats among British senators, and particularly represent the American provinces. But beware of considering this privilege as a bribe bestowed by a timorous administration, much less as a reward for your rash revolt. Though we make allowance for your mistakes, and put a favourable construction upon your intentions, we abhor and bear our solemn testimony against your proceedings. But the mantle of royal mercy, and of your repentance, having covered all, we shall not upbraid you with antichristian principles, and bloody scenes, which we wish to be buried in eternal oblivion. If we grant you some seats in the house of commons, it is only to remove your jealousies by a condescension which becomes a mother country and a mild government; and to regain the filial confidence of our American colonies, by permitting the men, who have been most prejudiced against us, to be eye witnesses of our firm attachment to the constitution, of our impartial zeal for the dignity of the crown, of our guardian care for the constitutional liberty of the people, and of our prudent endeavours to secure the due obedience of the British subjects.

“The wound which the demon of discord has given to our union, can not be perfectly healed but by an amputation, or a consolidation. The former expedient is inconsistent with our mutual affection, and our common interest; but the latter is perfectly agreeable to both; and our consanguinity loudly demands that it should be preferred. Help us, then, to consolidate the lacerated parts of the British empire. Let your filial gratitude meet our paternal condescension half way; so shall reconciling love cast the bridge of union across the Atlantic, and firmly join our happy island with your fortunate continent. And may genuine, sober, Scriptural patriotism, like an adamantine key, for ever bind the solid arch! May one blood, one language, one constitution, one religion, one king, one supreme legislature, one temporal and eternal interest, combine to make us one flourishing empire, till the kingdom of God swallow up all other kingdoms! Nor let it be said any more, Audiet rives acuisse ferrum,

Quo graves Turcaae melius perirent;

Audiet pugnas, vitio parentum

Rara juventus” f44

While the speaker concludes this patriotic speech, my imagination returns from her pleasing excursion. The awful parliamentary scene vanishes “like the baseless fabric of a vision.” But “a wreck is left behind.” Hints of a Scriptural method of reconciliation are humbly suggested; and you have some expressions of my cordial concern for the glory of our sovereign, and the satisfaction of our American fellow subjects, to whom, as well as to Dr. Price and yourself, I sincerely wish all the sweets of Christian and British liberty, without any of the bitters of religious and civil licentiousness. “Of making many books, (says Solomon,) there is no end. Let us then hear the conclusion of the whole matter: - Fear GOD, and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.” Or, if you prefer St. Peter’s words, “Fear God, and honour the king,” for this is the sum of the two tables of Christ’s law. That, instead of breaking one of these tables under pretence of keeping the other, we may always agree to pay a cheerful obedience to both, is the final and highest wish of, reverend sir, your obedient servant in a Gospel, which neither makes void the law through faith, nor supersedes loyalty through liberty,

J. FLETCHER.