liberties. But still my countrymen, I would wish to see you adopt constitutional measures of redress. Let subscriptions be opened in every town and county on the Continent of America, to supply the inhabitants of the town of Boston liberally with every necessary. Let every supply of fresh provisions and other necessaries be withheld from the Navy and Army employed in the detestable service of endeavouring to enslave their brethren and fellow-subjects. Let every Colony in particular, and all America in general Congress, protest against the illegality of the measures, and resolve to support every person who shall infringe or oppose it. Let vessels attempt to go in and out of the port of Boston as usual, us if no such Act of Parliament existed. If the ships of war should seize them, or the soldiers obstruct any man in the use of his wharf, prosecute in the Courts of law every officer, either of the army or navy, for acting so illegally, and every Judge who shall presume to condemn the vessels seized. Let the expense of such prosecutions be defrayed, and the losses of private men made good, by the general contributions of all America. If any violent measures are taken by the tools of the British aristocracy to impede the course of justice, recur to the first law of nature, and repel the aggressors; and though the inhabitants of New England are sufficiently numerous to repel any illegal force which can be raised upon such an occasion, yet, in order to make it one general act of all America, let each Colony send a quota of men to perform this service, and let the respective quotas be settled in the general Congress.

These measures will, in my opinion, be the most moderate, the most constitutional, and the most effectual, you can pursue, and will, I doubt not, add such weight to your Address to the Throne, that the British aristocracy, convinced that you are in earnest, will listen to reasonable terms of accommodation; and you, by preserving your own liberty, be such a constant check to their ambitious designs as will restrain them within the bounds of moderation, even in Britain; and by restoring your Sovereign to his necessary weight in the National Councils, prevent Great Britain from becoming a prey to those aristocratical vultures which are endeavouring to destroy her very vitals. But, if debased by corruption, prostituted by venality, and lost to all sense of shame, Britain, like a contented fond wanton, loves and caresses the ravishers who have debauched and undone her, should attempt to sacrifice her American offspring to their ambition, and, regardless of your complaints, determine to enforce the legislation of a British Parliament in America; or, in other words, if all your efforts are ineffectual to save your mother country, and she must sink, you must then take care not to sink with her; but, by preserving your own liberty, prepare an asylum in America for such of the inhabitants of Britain who still desire or deserve to be free. You must then, and not till then, break off all connections with Great Britain; you must stop your imports and exports to and from thence; you must banish every custom-house officer from amongst you; you must invite all other Nations of the world to supply you with necessaries, by giving them liberty to trade with you, duty free; you must proclaim universal freedom throughout America; you must draw your swords in a just cause, and rely upon that God who assists the righteous, to support your endeavours to preserve that liberty he gave, and the love of which he hath implanted in your hearts, as essential to your nature. But these are measures which the British aristocracy, when they reflect upon those consequences of a war with the Colonies, which I enlarged upon in a former letter,* will never force you into. They are measures which nothing but necessity can justify; measures too delicate to be enlarged upon, and measures which I touch with a trembling hand, because though they will, they must effectually preserve the liberty of America, they will probably occasion the destruction of Britain; and though she has treated us unnaturally, and, I will add, ungratefully, she is our mother country still, and as such I would wish to preserve her.

And now, my friends, fellow-citizens, and countrymen, to convince you that I am in earnest in the advice 1 have given you, notwithstanding the personal danger I expose myself to in so doing; notwithstanding the threats thrown out by the British aristocracy, of punishing in England those who shall dare to oppose them in America; yet, because I do not wish to survive the liberty of my country one single moment: because I am determined to risk my all in supporting that liberty, and because I think it in some measure dishonourable to skulk under a borrowed name upon such an occasion as this, I am neither afraid or ashamed to avow, that the Letters signed by A British American, were written by the hand, and flowed from the heart of

THOMSON MASON.

TO THE PEOPLE OF PENNSYLVANIA.

It must afford singular pleasure to every lover of liberty and his country, to observe the unanimity of sentiment with respect to the present system of American Government. That the Parliament of Great Britain has no right to tax the unrepresented Americans, is now become a fixed and settled principle, in which the zealous and the moderate equally agree. But the modes of resistance to this claim are various, according to the different informations, conceptions, ideas, and I fear, the different interests of those who may be affected by that which shall be finally adopted. There are some who go yet farther, and think the payment of the tea destroyed at Boston should precede all farther opposing measures on the part of America. I incline to think the number of these to be but few—But as it has been the subject of publick discussion, in the town of Boston, and may have more advocates than I am aware of, I shall submit the following reasons against it, to the judgment of my fellow-citizens.

As a sacrifice to peace, I am persuaded no one would object; but as an act of justice, necessarily or properly pre-

* As the letter here alluded to was published many years ago, like this, in a newspaper, and, in all human probability, hath been long consigned to oblivion, it may not be amiss to give the following extract from it:

"If Great Britain should ever determine to enslave America, it is more than probable that she would have more difficulties to encounter than she at present apprehends. Suppose the Americans, alarmed at the approaching danger, should discreetly determine to retreat to a considerable distance from navigation, and carry off their provisions and live stock of every kind with them, would troops who had been confined to a close ship, upon salt provisions, for near three months; without fresh provisions; without horses to draw their artillery, be in a very proper condition to pursue them? If they did, would not the scurvy, the unwholesomeness of the climate, and the many disorders incident to America, which attack the Europeans with double force upon their first arrival, render the success of such an expedition impracticable, and enable the Americans to preserve their liberty, without imbruing their hands in blood? Is it reasonable to suppose that three millions of British subjects would tamely submit to slavery, without striking a single blow? Would not their knowledge of the country enable them to attack with advantage? Would not the consideration, that they were lighting pro arts et focis, add enthusiasm to their courage? Inured to the climate, and well supplied with provisions, would not they be better able to undergo the fatigues of such a war, than their invaders? If the British troops, with all the assistance and supplies of necessary refreshments which they received from their American friends last war, thought an American campaign the severest they had ever experienced, what must such a campaign be without such assistance and supplies? Could Great Britain spare even 50,000 men, to reduce a people actuated with sentiments of liberty, and possessed of British freedom, of twenty times their number, would those troops engage with alacrity in such a cause? Would not some murmurings of humanity whisper to their consciences that they were butchering their fellow-subjects for showing themselves worthy of the race from whence they sprung, and for acting the same laudable part which they themselves would do under a like oppression? When the sluices of their trade were stopped, and all communication with her Colonies broke off; could she long support the expense of such an armament? Is she well assured that the other Powers of Europe would stand idle, and calmly see her trampling upon the rights of mankind? Would not the generous design of preventing so execrable a purpose, furnish them with a just pretext for interposing in support of the injured rights of the Colonies? And might not Britain, whilst she was endeavouring to enforce slavery with fire and sword, in America, fall an easy prey to the first invader, and thus involve herself in the ruin she designed for others? But suppose Britain was able to crush America with the smallest exertion of her force, and to extirpate its present inhabitants, without losing the life of a single man sent against it, would such a conquest redound either to her honour or advantage? Would not the life of every American spent upon such an occasion, be really a loss to Britain, by lessening the export of her manufactures, and the import of rough materials, which furnish her with the means of extending her trade to every corner of the Globe? What mighty advantage would she reap from an uncultivated desert? Would it be easy for her to persuade her other subjects to supply the place of the slaughtered, with such example of the perfidy, cruelty, and ingratitude of their mother country before their eyes? Does she think that the extirpation of liberty would be a spur to industry, or that slavery has such charms as to contribute to the increase of the Colonies? Should the Northern endeavour to deprive the Western counties of England of their rights, and a civil war ensue, would the conflict be advantageous even to the conquerors? These are considerations which must and will have weight with the British Parliament, and restrain them from entering into a war with the Colonies."