still have been free, had not the principles of corruption been concealed in the elements of their constitutions. Let us not avail ourselves of the just spirit of the times, but bind up posterity to be freemen. Our Congress were actuated with this prophetick benevolence, when they dissolved themselves, and recommended a new choice of Delegates in the Spring.

7. There is some reason to fear that the steps we are obliged to take to defend our liberties, will render us careless in establishing them. Wise and good men in Britain have lifted up the curtain of futurity in America. Let us not be afraid to look through it. Ye intuitive Spirits who see through the connection of cause and effect. Ye holy Spirits who have been accustomed to trace the operations of Divine Providence. Ye decisive Spirits who resolve and execute at once.—Ye know what I mean. "In eternitatem pingo" said a poet. Let us neither think, write, speak, nor act, without keeping our eyes fixed upon the period which shall dissolve our connexion with Great Britain. The delirium of the present Ministry may precipitate it: But the ordinary course of human things must accomplish it. Britain may relax from her present arbitrary measures, but political necessity, not justice, must hereafter be the measure of her actions. Freemen cannot bear a middle state between liberty and slavery. It is essential to the happiness of liberty, that it should be secure and perpetual.

8. A rotation of offices is one of the life guards of liberty. The right as well as the obligations to Legislation, are alike binding upon all men. To prevent pride and excessive popularity, and to diffuse knowledge and virtue, are the surest methods of securing and perpetuating publick liberty. These are to be obtained only by a constant rotation of offices.

9. I almost wish to live to hear the triumphs of the Jubilee in the year 1874; to see the medals, pictures, fragments of writings, &c., that shall be displayed to revive the memory of the proceedings of the Congress in the year 1774. If any adventitious circumstance shall give precedency on that day it shall be to inherit the blood or even to possess the name of a member of that glorious assembly. I cannot after this, be understood to mean the least reflection upon any one of that body when I urge, that only one-half, or at most two-thirds of the old Members should be returned from each Colony to attend the next Congress. The good dispositions in human nature sometimes lead us astray in publick affairs. Do not, illustrious Senators, avail yourselves of the gratitude and veneration of your countrymen. You have, we trust, made them free. But a nobler task awaits you. Instruct them, instruct posterity in the great science of securing and perpetuating Freedom.

Philadelphia, November 25, 1774.

Some perfectly original observations have made their appearance in the last Packet, addressed to the People of America, and their purposes being evidently to stir up dissension and create divisions in the Colonies, thereby greatly to prejudice the common cause of American Liberty, I beg you will insert in your next the following hints for the perusal of your author, which I hope will put an end to any further lucubrations, notwithstanding his promise to favour the publick with a continuation of them.

To the Man to whom it belongs: Any apology for considering you as an open, an avowed Republican, would be absurd. You have declared yourself an enemy to all Kings. You have declared yourself at enmity with the English Constitution: a fabrick that is the work of ages, that has long been the admiration of the whole world; you have therefore declared yourself an enemy to your country. A good King, you say, "is a miracle." "That God gives to mankind Kings only in his anger; that Kings are the source of the misery of all Kingdoms in the world." In these observations I know not whether your ignorance or your depravity verges nearest to excess. You tell us, "that the Congress derive all their authority from the People; it is treason therefore to make the least deviation from their Resolves." Let me ask you from whence Kings derive their authority? Is it not from the People? Have not the Congress recognised this authority, and does not the Congress represent the People? Do you not therefore in your attempt to subvert their transactions, deviate from their Resolves, and (to take you upon your own ground) of what crime are you then guilty? "Treason." Such treason as few villains have ever had an opportunity of committing." What punishment then does your complicated guilt merit? The tortures of Damien and of Ravillac are too lenient. Reflect then on your happy situation, in having escaped the vengeance you would have inflicted on another, for the atrocious crime of which you yourself are guilty. "The Congress have annexed no penalties to their laws." Unsuspicious of their harbouring in their bosom so gross a violator of them as yourself, they have omitted a penalty equal to your guilt. Infamy, however, is your portion. Rejoice that your punishment is so slight, from concealing a name that hath in it rancour sufficient to contaminate the human race.

You tell us, we are now laying the foundation of a new Constitution. The Congress tell the inhabitants of Great Britain to place us "in the same happy situation we were in at the close of the last war, and our former harmony will be restored." You have therefore given the lie to that respectable body; you attempt to counteract the very measures they have devised for the preservation of our liberties, and for bringing about an happy reconciliation. The Congress, in their Memorial to the People of Great Britain, say "you have been told that we are impatient of Government, and desirous of independency; be assured these are not facts, but calumnies." You discover the greatest impatience of Government, and the strongest desire of independency.

While the Congress are using their utmost endeavours to remove the prejudices, which our enemies have with industry propagated against us, you are endeavouring to confirm those prejudices, instead of exerting your efforts to stop their circulation. Under a specious pretext of extolling their abilities and wisdom, and declaiming on their dignity, you undermine their proceedings, and sap the base of their stability. You compliment the rectitude and wisdom of a Legislature so equitable; you offer the incense of adulation with an unlimited profusion; yet you insinuate, that only one half, or at most two-thirds of the old Members are fit to be returned for the ensuing Congress: this reflection is mean, pitiful, and unmanly, but it is not singularly so.

Upon the whole, you have convinced the world that you are in possession of a weak head, and a depraved heart; the one wanting ability to execute what the other would dictate; the feeble efforts of the former are only capable of displaying the extremes of folly, and a strong propensity to deceive characterises the latter.

Hence confine your dissertations to things within the sphere of your understanding. Nature never formed you for a politician; if she had she would have divested you of ignorance and madness.

Desist therefore from your disorderly observations.

Amici hunc cavete.

NESTOR.

TO THE PRINTER OF THE NEW-YORK GAZETTEER.

SIR: Happening to be in several companies lately, where the conversation fell upon a most extraordinary piece published in the Pennsylvania Packet, and afterwards transcribed into the New-York Journal, entitled "Political Observations, without Order, addressed to the People of America," it was by all present, except myself, condemned as a vile, inflammatory, and treasonable publication. As I could wish my reasons for dissenting from the opinions of so many respectable persons were more generally known, I beg leave, through the channel of your paper, to lay them before the publick.

Every essay that makes its appearance in a paper which is confessedly under the influence of the Republican Party, and is copied into other papers of the same stamp, I consider as containing the sentiments of that party; it is their general way of broaching a new doctrine, to try how it will be relished by the palates of the People. As to myself, I am without a doubt that the Republicans of North America, particularly those of New England, have long been aiming at independency, and that they have eagerly seized this golden opportunity, when discontent prevails through-