with such industry and resolution, that Holland became the magazine of all the valuable commodities of the East, in the midst of a bloody war. We know, too, by what means they arrived to this importance. They sent out multitudes of vessels, with publick or private commissions, and infested the seas. Are we in a worse situation than Holland then was? “Never contest,” says Mr. Hume, “seemed at first more unequal; never contest was finished with more honour to the weaker party. On the side of Spain were numbers, riches, authority, discipline; on the side of the revolted Provinces were found the attachment to liberty, and the enthusiasm of religion. By her naval enterprises the Republick maintained her armies; and, joining peaceful industry to military valour, she was enabled, by her own force, to support herself, and gradually rely less on those neighbouring Princes who, from jealousy to Spain, were at first prompted to encourage her revolt.” Our situation is infinitely preferable. We have every advantage that the Hollanders were destitute of. Yet we patiently suffer our trade to be destroyed, and our merchantmen to be insulted and plundered with impunity. I deny that it is in the power of Great Britain to destroy our trade, if we exert ourselves. She has not ships to spare to guard a sea-coast of fifteen hundred miles in length. She cannot prevent smuggling upon her own coast, though surrounded by her Navy, and armed with all the terrours of sanguinary laws. Besides, one-half of her maritime force rests upon her American foundation. Take this away, and you strip the royal bird of the plumage that supports his flight; you fix him on the earth. Let armed vessels be instantly fitted out, to open a trade with the neighbouring Colonies at least. Let us make the trial. Let them be well acquainted with the coasts. Let them be of sufficient force to attack the numerous tenders that swarm upon the seas. From what we have already experienced, I pledge myself for their success. We shall then be supplied with provision and fuel at a moderate expense. We shall be enabled to endure the severities of winter and the burdens of war.

Let our sea-ports be fortified without delay, and the people constantly used to arms. In the choice of Magistrates, let us consider the various abilities of the candidates for the publick favour, as well as their integrity and attachment to the cause. There are posts where even integrity alone, though not an useless virtue, is certainly a recommendation that may be fatal to the publick tranquillity. A general attachment to the common weal, distinct from party prejudices and private animosities, which comprehends the whole body of the people, though individuals may differ in some speculative points of their political creed, is a virtue of the first magnitude, and an essential qualification. But publick virtue and patriotism are commonly to be found in the shades and solitudes of life. Let us draw silent merit from obscurity, and distribute the virtues and abilities of individuals according to the offices they are calculated to fill with honour. When they quit the service, let us supply their places with better men than we have lost.

I have explained my sentiments at large. I have supposed that the Colonies have resolved to persist, and that His Majesty’s faithful Ministers are determined to see the laws and liberties of America at their feet. I have answered the charge of representing the gracious Prince upon the throne in a contemptible light, by a full declaration of my opinion. I have given a general description of the Country and its advantages. Upon this foundation I have ventured to point out a mode of defence, which I am persuaded is supported by all the principles of policy and prudence. I am equally convinced that if it is not adopted at present, it must be finally; and we exhaust our strength, to no purpose, by delay. War is just, when necessary. Pursue it with vigour; the event will be success.

DAVID HARTLEY, ESQ., TO HIS CONSTITUENTS AT HULL.

Sodbury, October 2, 1775.

GENTLEMEN: I have not been resident in London since July, having only spent one day there in my return to this country from Kent, where I have been upon a visit to Lord Camden and some other friends. I hope and believe that my absence from London cannot be any material loss in presenting the Address of the Corporation.* I am much obliged to them for their candid consideration of my situation on the subject of American measures. As I have not seen the Address, I cannot speak as to its contents; but I shall always think it my duty to consider any opinions or information from my constituents with the utmost attention and deference.

I agree that the situation of affairs in America is truly alarming. My object in Parliament has always been to soften animosities, and to restore peace. In all disputes whatsoever, anger begets anger, offences are aggravated by misapprehensions, and, if not soothed or composed in an early stage, run headlong to distraction. I thought it my duty, last winter, to throw in my mite, and drew up terms of accommodation conformable, as near as I could judge, to reason, and to the old Constitution of the Colonies. By the late Petition of the Congress to the King, I conceive they have declared their readiness to comply with such terms, and therefore I much lament that the Petition was dismissed without an answer. It is a general opinion that the Americans are in an anxious suspense for the event of their Petition, and therefore I fear that the disappointment will drive them to still greater distraction.

In this unhappy contest, we have ingrafted one dispute upon another. The origin was upon a novel act of taxation, having left the old accustomed and productive mode by requisition. That the assumption of this right was novel and speculative, is universally known. The inexpedience and impolicy of it have likewise been acknowledged, even by the warmest advocates for the right itself.

Now, see the next step. If the Colonies, galled by unremitted grievances, should glance but a word against authority, however confessedly misused, it is catched at instantly; the aggressor shifts from the untenable innovation of taxing, in preference to requisition, and picks a fresh quarrel upon a hasty phrase, produced by the soreness of repeated grievances. If they remonstrate, over and over, that their utmost wish is to return to the happy state of peace and cordiality existing in 1763, a deaf ear is turned to such parts; but a hasty phrase, of which advantage can be taken to irritate and to exasperate all parties, is registered in the black book of offences, and, upon mere suspicions and groundless inferences, a fresh cause of war is declared, under the unsupported accusation that the Colonies mean a general independence. For what are the proofs? There are no proofs of any preliminary steps towards this supposed independence. The very phrases upon which this suspicion is grounded come, in consequence of the heat of previous disputes, from those who are sore with repeated grievances; while every petition for redress has been rejected with contempt. An original spirit of independence is not passive; it does not wait to be driven. Yet the Colonies have never been the first movers or innovators. Let us examine, in the next place, whether their interest leads them to independence. Nothing less; for without their connection with this Country, the cultivation of the land of America, which is the primary object of all settlers, must come to a full stop. Not to mention that any plan of Continental empire, among such various interests, tempers, religious persuasions, and forms of government, would bring on as many Provincial wars amongst them as there are Colonies; therefore, I conclude that the charge of an original plan of independence is unwarranted and groundless.

It is the infallible way to prevent peace and reconcilement, if every word produced by grievance, and uttered in anger, is to be indelibly fixed, and all retreat cut off. Men, in anger, use phrases which ought to be forgotten. Drive them a little farther, and cut off their retreat to peace, and they will find no alternative but to realize every passionate suggestion at all hazards. The maxim for peace is, to give the contending party a golden bridge, and not to hunt them into a corner. All that the Colonies require is to contribute in the accustomed way, by constitutional requisitions, and to be restored to the condition in which they stood at the termination of the late war. That I call the golden bridge of peace; but, says jealousy, in the heat of this dispute, they have denied our authority. Jealousy is

* The humble Address of the Mayor, Recorder, and Aldermen of the Town of Kingston-upon-Hall, in Common Council assembled, dated September 19, 1775.—Sec folio 729.

*