ince wherein the seizures are made, to be levied with rigidness.

4. To prevent, as much as possible, the illicit practice of Smuggling, the Province or Island detected in encouraging it, shall be liable to maintain, agreeable to a stipulation in the Tariff of Trade, whatever Military force or additional number of Revenue Officers the British Legislature shall think fit to announce.

5. Considerable premiums shall be assigned to such persons in the Provinces as rear and keep the best flocks of Spanish Sheep, whose wool shall be judged the nearest in quality to that of Spain.

6. A distribution of premiums and every national encouragement to be afforded for the growth of Indigo, for planting Vineyards of French, Spanish, and Portuguese Grapes, as well as those of the Archipelago; for planting and cultivating Mulberry Trees for the Silk Worms; for the growth of Hemp, Flax, and other commodities, which the climate of America is calculated to raise.

7. Premiums should be assigned for the erection of the best kind of Saw-mills, in those forests where Oak might be prepared for the use of the English Navy.

Ships built for the American trade should have a back freight from the Government or the Merchants, that the price of timber might be as low as possible." The Sawmills used near Ostend are universally allowed to be the best constructed.

8. As the foreign Hat trade is nearly annihilated, in Great Britain, America, possessing the materials, might, with industry and encouragement, undermine almost every Nation of Europe in that branch of commerce. To accomplish this, the Colonists should be prohibited from exporting Furs, Beavers, &c., (unless to the United Kingdoms subject to the Crown of Great Britain.) In which case, by taking off the Drawback, the Americans might raise a manufacture that would more than amply compensate for the loss sustained in being deprived of their Looms.

9. The Duties on Rums should be considerably lessoned, and that on Brandies considerably augmented.

I have now, my Lord, submitted to the inspection of my countrymen a "Plan for Regulating the American Affairs." That it is not thoroughly digested, I admit; that it is wholly undeserving of notice, I cannot be made to believe. You, no question, have superiour lights, whilst ordinary men have scarce a glimmering to guide them through the labyrinth of politicks; yet, my Lord, with all these lights, of what complexion are your measures? Is there any thing like system in your conduct, unless tyranny be deserving of the name? Where is that superiour skill; where that penetrating sagacity which takes in the whole of things, and from an intimate acquaintance with the vast machine of state, perceives when a single movement is out of order, and adjusts it with such precision as immediately to restore the corresponding harmony? Endowments of this kind are necessary in a Minister. Are they to be found in the catalogue of your Lordship's qualities? You are gifted, indeed, but then it is with arithmetick powers; and whilst we wonder at your elevation to the post of Prime Minister, we deplore that your expertness in the science of numbers should be lost to the community! You would keep a numerical register with exactness; you make dreadful blunders when reckoning on the virtue, the spirit, or abilities of the Colonists! They are above your strength to compute, your capacity to comprehend.

In the behalf, then, of Commerce and of Liberty; in behalf of the English Nation, let me conjure you to desist from measures destructive to the Empire; let the Americans be heard in their Provincial Assemblies; let them state their Grievances, and propose their conditions; and, as an earnest of future justice, let the Port of Boston be instantly opened until some system affording but a prospect of reconciliation can be devised. But, my Lord, on no account venture to push matters to extremity; the baneful influence of your measures is already felt in the miseries of the times; if those miseries continue, an insulted people may grow furious with exasperation; they may cast aside restraint and mindful only of their Saviour's admonition: "those who have no swords may part with their garments for the purchase;" the love of liberty shall animate them to wield; the arm of Omnipotence will successfully direct their points to the breasts of those who aim only at the establishment of despotism in Great Britain and her Colonies.

SAMUEL CLAY HARVEY.

King street, Soho.

THOMAS CUSHING TO ARTHUR LEE.

Boston, February, 1775.

DEAR SIR: I am obliged to you for your favour of the 6th of December last. I heartily rejoice to hear you are safely arrived in London; we are much obliged to you for travelling night and day from Rome, in order to do what service you can at so important a crisis. The people in America are not all dismayed at the King's Speech; they wish for peace, and for an amicable and equitable settlement of this unhappy controversy; but if their hopes should be called off by the intemperate and violent conduct of the mother country, after the conciliatory offers that have been made by the Continental Congress, by which they have reduced the dispute to mere matter of speculation, and Administration should determine to carry into execution the late Acts of Parliament, by a Military Force, the people of America, I am persuaded, will make the last appeal. They are determined life and liberty shall go together. You need not be concerned; firmness, and unanimity prevail through all the Colonies; the Association of the Continental Congress is sacredly adhered to, and I have just been informed that the Merchants at New-York have obliged, a Vessel that arrived there from Scotland, since the 1st of February, to return immediately without breaking bulk. Our people are prompt and forward in their military exercises. There never was, since we have been a people, such a military spirit prevailing as at present; but God forbid we should settle this dispute by Arms. May the great Governour of the Universe direct the Councils of the Nation, and lead them into such measures as may restore peace, harmony, and happiness to both countries. I had the pleasure of seeing your brother, Colonel Jute, at the Congress, at Philadelphia, and spending many an agreeable hour with him; he is a steady friend to his country, and an able defender of her rights. Pray let me hear from you by every opportunity, and advise me constantly of the designs of Administration relative to America. I am, with great truth, your sincere friend and humble servant,

THOMAS CUSHING.

Arthur Lee, Esquire, London.

P. S. The terms of accommodation between Great Britain and the. Colonies, which you and I have joined in judgment in, and have heretofore thought reasonable, happen to be approved by all the leading men in America, as you will perceive by the Resolutions of the Continental Congress.

T. C.

EXTRACT OF A LETTER FROM ANNAPOLIS TO A GENTLEMAN IN NEW-YORK, DATED FEBRUARY, 1775.

Oblige me by tendering my thanks to Mr. Rivington for the "Alarm," which I received as soon as it was possible, after it? publication. Several copies were distributed among our leading Patriots, who were alarmed sufficiently. Johnson, by far the most shrewd and sagacious amongst them, declared that the political salvation of America depended on the present conduct of your Legislature;—and I think so too. Ob, my good friend, could it but be that they would break their chains and shew us the way, by only declaring aloud, what every man, in private, must think, that those Congressmen and their satellites; the Committee-men, are the truest, though absurdest tyrants that any country ever had cause to complain of; depend upon it, we should follow them in shoals. There warns but a head: the foolishest and maddest are tired of their projects; and were it not that their leaders, with horrid cunning, have rendered a retreat so difficult, I foresee thousands anxious for a defection; and yet, what are the difficulties that would attend a return to their duty and allegiance compared with the dismal, the unutterable distresses which must of necessity be the final portion of such unhappy men as shall blindly or wickedly persevere in their present line of conduct.