channel they enjoyed the blessings of peace. But, alas! Peace, with all her loveliness, has few admirers. Sedition, that battered hag, steps forth with all the frippery of delusive tinsel—the admiring crowd pursue with eager eyes—to all she promises the wished event. “Fear not, my faithful sons, my bold Republicans, the time draws nigh when honours shall be dealt out with a liberal hand; my spiritual agents in New-England shall roll in chariots; my favourite Adams shall be head of their mightinesses; the name of King shall not be known among us; our Troops shall be commanded by the famous wanderer, Lee; and you, Mr. Dickinson, shall be Prime Council to the States General.” Whether you believe this or not, I will be answerable it is the creed of your morning star in Market-Street, and of your new puritanick relation, Charles Thomson, who grins horribly on all a ghastly smile.

Now, Sir, permit a man who has been an eye witness to the unhappy consequences of one rebellion, to warn you of impending misery. You are too well acquainted with the human heart not to know that an English Senator is as capable of resenting an injury, as any member of the Grand Continental Congress. Consider, Sir, when the people of England speak, it comes from the mouths of cannon, backed by men whose approved courage and ardour have rendered them the terrour of those enemies, a few of whom (were it not for the protection of Old England last war) would have laid your estates, as well as those of your neighbours, under heavy contributions.

I am at a loss what name to give your boasted intentions of wounding the commercial interest of Great Britain. If you really mean what you say, it is the grossest infatuation. The Island of Teneriffe might, with as great a prospect of success, threaten to ruin Willing and Morris, by not trading with them, when every other corner of the habitable globe pants for their correspondence.

Let an old man entreat you, Sir, to consider the people who look to you; the lower order of men in Pennsylvania are as bigoted to you, as the deluded papists to their Priests in Ireland.

Our gracious Sovereign, ever watchful over the lives and happiness of his subjects, has made choice of a man, whose persevering humanity and unshaken steadiness in the discharge of his present complicated and important command, reflect the highest honour on the judgment of his master, and will stand unparalleled in the records of merit. And would you, Sir, wish to counteract the godlike work of preventing bloodshed in the Colonies, and a disgraceful submission on the part of the Mother Country? Figure to yourself the sword unsheathed; a soldiery (who knows no stop) let loose at men, women, and children, with the word rebellion ringing in their ears; and to complete the dreadful picture, the Lords of the Ocean thundering the resentment of the British Nation through your houses and the cradles of your guiltless offspring. This, Sir, is not commerical; I believe the probability of it as much as I do proofs of Holy Writ. From your private character, I suppose there is no man who would more readily dry up the tears of the widow, and pour balm into the wounds of the infant; but remember, Sir, if you are a principal in promoting them, your good offices will be considered as a death-bed repentance.

SENEX.

TO THE COMMITTEE OF INSPECTION FOR THE CITY AND COUNTY OF NEW-YORK.

New-York, March 23, 1775.

GENTLEMEN: While the late Committee of fifty-one acted as a Committee of Correspondence for the City, the generality of its inhabitants, particularly the most sensible and judicious part of them, were happy in reposing the trust with so respectable a body, composed as it was of the principal citizens; but when the present Committee was formed out of the ruins, as I may say, of the old Committee, was there a cool, considerate man among us who did not forebode evil?

It has been remarked, that we have but one Press in this Colony which has been at all times strictly impartial. Now an impartial Press is observed, for reasons best known to themselves, to be extremely obnoxious to a certain party; they have not failed to persecute their supporters in all parts of America. And that we have had our share of the same persecuting spirit, may be seen in the Republican Resolves at and near Elizabethtown-—Resolves that are subversive of the very idea of freedom. You, gentlemen, who compose our City Committee, to show that you are as highly seasoned with the old leaven, seem only to have waited for an opportunity of playing the same game; and before the occasion could well be said to have arrived,* you greedily descend, like a hawk upon his prey, and seize the poor Printer in your talons; meanly condescending to be the echo of little, piddling, Country Committees. But let me caution you to beware how you tread upon this hallowed ground, lest, instead of the Printer’s, you work your own downfall.

The liberty of the Press is a sacred privilege; it is the only means in the hands of the people, that can be safely used to check the growth of arbitrary power. Should those who have fixed themselves as sentinels upon the watch-tower of liberty, to give notice of all invaders, be the first to curtail this darling immunity, will it not give the people cause to suspect that they themselves are about to establish a power more arbitrary and tyrannical than any thing we have hitherto complained of? Will not a severe reprehension for what can be scarcely called a crime in a Printer, coming from a quarter that could have been the least suspected, raise alarming apprehensions in the minds of their fellow-citizens? The tenour of your publication speaks for itself, and needs no comment; it does not appear as barely intended to rectify the errours of the Press, but it breathes a spirit of intimidation towards the Printer. Were I to put the same sentiment into plainer language, I should translate it thus: “Beware, Mr. Printer, we, the Grand Committee of New-York, are not to be trifled with! Ours is a sacred body! and must not be made the sport of Printers or their devils. Abuse the Parliament as much as you list, glut your spleen upon the House of Assembly, but come not within the verge of our jurisdiction, at your utmost peril.”

In your eagerness to censure the Printer, you forgot to inform us what you had done; we are only told what you have not done, but are left in the dark as to the foundation for the report in question, though it is still believed that something passed in your Committee respecting the nomination or election of Delegates, but what this was is artfully concealed from us.

If you are afraid of your conduct being misrepresented, why are not your proceedings published? Your office is of so extraordinary a nature, that your conduct will be canvassed by thousands who never converse with any of your members. It is the peculiar excellency of the British Constitution, that the proceedings of all publick bodies should be freely discussed; and amidst so many inquirers, it is scarcely possible to avoid some misrepresentations; to guard against which, nothing is more necessary than to lay the particulars before the publick, and if any censure is due at all, it is to a neglect of this precaution.

ANTI- TYRANNICUS.

New-York, Thursday, March 23, 1775.

On Monday afternoon, expresses arrived in Town from the County of Cumberland, in this Province, who bring accounts from thence of a very extraordinary and alarming nature, on the Monday afternoon preceding, March 13th, the day for holding the Inferiour Courts, several rioters and disorderly persons, to the number of between eighty and ninety, assembled at the Court-House, of which they took possession, with an avowed intent of preventing the Court from being held the next day; many of them had arms, and those who were unprovided for were collecting both arms and ammunition with all possible despatch. Many of the Magistrates having come to Town, it was thought advisable that the Sheriff should make the usual proclamation against riotous assemblies, and demand possession of the

* The reader is requested to compare the Resolves of the Committee with those of Parliament, on the subject of common report, and then he will see clearly the dangerous tendency of all assumed powers.

Resolved, That common report is not a sufficient authority for any Printer in this City to publish any mattersas facts rolative to this Committee, &c.

1 Car. I, 1625.—Resolved, That common fame is a good ground of proceedings for this House, either by inquiry, or presenting the complaint (if the House find cause) to the King and Lords.

Vide Lex Parliamentaria, where it is recited by the authority of Rushworth, one of the Republican party, and Secretary to Lord Fairfax.

*