without his consent, than the assassin who robs on the highway. They also know, that Great Britain claims a right of obliging the Colonists to buy manufactures of none but British merchants; and that, of consequence, a duty laid on them for raising a revenue, is a* tax to all intents and purposes.

Figure to yourselves, my countrymen, the abject situation you are in. It is inconvenient to manufacture for yourselves; indeed Great Britain says you shall not, as in her prohibition of slitting mills, and the transporting of any American woollen manufactures whatsoever, or hats, by land or water, from one Colony to another, she also commands you to buy from her. How complete, then, is your slavery, if she has a right to lay taxes at pleasure on those articles of commerce, which she will neither permit you to make for yourselves, nor buy from any but herself? This short review of the dispute evinces the justice of our opposition to the payment of taxes on British manufactures. By tamely submitting to this usurped claim, you not only reduce yourselves to be tenants at will to the British House of Commons, but also lay a foundation for overturning the Constitution of England herself. Her excellent form of Government is supported on the tripple pillars of Kings, Lords, and Commons; either of these being defective or overgrown, the fabrick will at least totter, if not tumble. The Americans, in one century, will exceed the inhabitants of England. If, then, their property should be at the disposal of the House of Commons, they will grow too strong for the other branches of Legislature, and erect a Government of five hundred and fifty-eight tyrants in the place of the present admirably equipoised Constitution.

From what has been said, it appears, that the duty on tea is founded on the same principles with the Stamp Act, and ought to be opposed with equal firmness. America, through a long tract of two thousand miles, remonstrated against the precedent, and resolved that the tea should sooner be destroyed than landed. Hapless Boston! Not one whit more guilty than the other towns, thy fate was predetermined! Thou wert deliberately ensnared, that thou mightest be superlatively punished.† Delenda est Carthago, was the motto of thine enemies. Thou didst break the dagger that was pointed at the heart of American liberty, and therefore the property of the innocent, as well as the guilty, has been ravished from them, and their lives made to depend on those "whose tender mercies are cruelty."

Here let me pause, and ask, why is the attack made on only one Province, when all are equally guilty? Divide and destroy, is the only answer which can be given. Why are they punished so much beyond the demerit of the offence? To intimidate every American who would dare to dispute the omnipotence of Parliament. Why is the duty on tea so warmly supported, when it scarcely pays the cost of collecting?‡ Not for the trifling sum of three pence a pound, but to establish a precedent to tax us at pleasure. Yes, my countrymen, you may depend on it, a design is formed against your liberties; and that, one by one, you will be victims to Ministerial despotism, unless you unite in the most vigorous self-denying opposition. The exhausted treasury of England is unequal to the support of the increasing number of placemen and pensioners, and therefore they would fain augment their resources by plundering the fair possessions which your industrious forefathers have hewn out of the wilderness of uncultivated America. Golden showers have rained down on the abettors of these accursed schemes, and disgrace fallen on every honest man who opposed them. Witness the promotion of Bernard, Oliver, and the expectations of Hutchinson. Pardon me, illustrious Franklin! if I mention thy venerable name in the same unhallowed page which is stained with those of Hutchinson and Bernard Though you disarmed the Heavens of her thunder, and taught the lightnings to play harmless around our heads, yet, because you opposed the subjugation of your native land, therefore you have been disgraced.

Suppose the Bostonians were wrong in destroying the tea: we should vigorously unite against the present measure, as that mode of punishment is a fatal precedent. If a few people, even if the whole town was guilty, will this justify the taking the Charter from the whole Colony? If restitution was to be made, is that a sufficient reason that the lands, wharfs, and property of thousands, should be given to the King for ever? If these Acts of Parliament are suffered to operate, landholders may consign the deeds by which they hold their property to the tallow chandlers and pastry cooks. If the security of property is the object, why is it not tried at common law? No, my countrymen, nothing less is designed than to beggar three or four worthy patriots of that town, new-model their Constitution, and establish a precedent for the enslaving this free country. Do you need arguments to prove that it is a common cause, and that we should all unite, heart and hand, in some vigorous measures of opposition? Surely no. Methinks I hear almost every one resolve, that tyranny and injustice should not enter in till the body of the last freeman lies in the breach. Sorry am I to hear, that some, insulting the misery of the Bostonians, ludicrously compare them to a fox, "who, having lost his tail, largely inveighed against the use of tails, and persuaded the other foxes to cut off theirs." Ye assassins of America! (for I cannot forbear,) who, though you have received your existence from her indulgence, trample on her rights! What name shall I give you? Ye are not men; for, is it manly to hug yourselves in wanton ease, unconcerned at the sufferings of your brethren, bleeding in the common cause! Ye are not brutes! for "the ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master's crib; but ye neither know nor consider." The surly dog will lick the hand and fawn upon the man who gives him bread; but you, more ungrateful, join in the most unnatural opposition to that country, the bounty of which enables you to bask in the sunshine of prosperity. I trust, my countrymen, you have too much good sense to be influenced by such unfeeling wretches, and that neither ease nor interest will deter you from affording vigorous assistance to your injured brethren. At your proposed meeting, make the plan of operation as perfect as possible. Perhaps it is the last time you will be indulged the liberty of consulting together, on pain of being fired upon, by malicious men, privileged to murder. A Ministerial Parliament has made it unlawful for your neighbours to assemble; and many reasons make it highly probable that this is but act one of the begun tragedy of American liberty. I would, therefore, recommend to you the passing of some resolves on the late oppressive Acts of Parliament; the choosing of Deputies for a general Congress; the entering into solemn agreement not to import goods; (a very few articles excepted;) the appointment of Committees to procure subscriptions to this agreement, and to enforce the observance of it; and also to collect money for the suffering poor in Boston and amongst yourselves. These measures are hard; but unless we willingly impose them on ourselves, much harder are likely to be imposed by our unrighteous task-masters. I repeat it again, (for it cannot be too often insisted upon,) that all evils of this kind fly up, and kick the beam, when weighed against the consequences of our giving up the point. What though you should be obliged to wear the same garb your slaves hitherto have done, or though every fourth man, thrown out of business, should be supported by the liberal and wealthy. Better to remain in this state, calling the little we have our own, than to commit

* I reject the division of taxes into external and internal. Any duty laid to raise a revenue is properly a tax. What is commonly called an external tax, is no more than a regulation of trade; and though the revenue might be accidentally increased by such regulations, they are very different from duties laid expressly to raise money.

† Many things make this probable. Admiral Montagu, writing concerning the destruction of the tea has these words: "During the whole of the transaction, neither the Magistrates, owners, nor revenue officers, ever called for my assistance; if they had, I could easily have prevented the execution of the plan." Why did Hutchinson necessitate the destruction of the tea by the refusal of a pass? His letters complaining of their Charter; the clauses in the Bill del signed to impoverish Hancock, Rowe, &c, and many other things, make it highly probable that the whole was a premeditated juggle between Hutchinson and the Ministry.

‡ The expense of the American Board of Commissioners is between four and five thousand pounds a year; and yet, says the Author of "The Regulations of the Colonies," the whole remittance from all the taxes in the Colonies before this establishment, at an average of thirty years, did not amount to one thousand nine hundred pounds a year. The smallness of this sum proves that these duties were regulations of trade; and the coeval existence of the new Revenue Laws, and the Board of Commissioners, make it obvious to every man that the trifling tax on tea is designed only to try our temper, and to prepare the way for much heavier.