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thought it proper to acquaint you thereof; but I am at a loss to determine which may be best for the general cause, for it to go to the camp, or to be sold out here, so that people in general may be better qualified to defend the sea coast. Our General Assembly is now sitting, and I expect will order every Town in this Colony, adjoining on the sea, bay, or river, to equip themselves immediately, with two field-pieces to each Town, to be mounted on field-carriages, and an Artillery Company to be formed in each, to hold themselves ready at a moment’s notice. Five hundred men are already ordered to be raised, which are to be stationed on the Islands of Rhode-Island, Conanicut, Prudence, &c. I gave my Captain orders to purchase all the powder he possibly could, but no more was to be had on any terms; and, indeed, could L sell this for six Shillings, sterling money, per pound, it would not equal, as to profit to me, the article he would have brought had he not got the powder. If it arrives here safe, (being landed on the back of Long-Island,) and you think it best for the chief of it to go to the camp, I will spare fifteen or sixteen hundred weight of it to your order. I would also acquaint you that the owners of the furnace Hope, in Scituate, are about to put said furnace in blast, as soon as may be, to make pig iron, this article being now in demand; and as their making up what stock they now have will put it out of their power to put said furnace in blast again towards next fall, and as the metal made in said furnace is of the very best kind for making cannon, of which General Greene can fully acquaint you, and as the Continent will doubtless be in want of cannon, &c., in the spring, I therefore, in behalf of the persons concerned in said furnace, give you this notice, that in case you may please to order any quantity of cannon and other warlike stores made, that the stock now provided for said furnace (which suppose may make from one hundred and fifty to two hundred ton weight of iron) may be made into such cannon, &c., as you may see fit to order. Your answer, as soon as convenient, will oblige, dear Sir, your obedient humble servant, JOHN BROWN. P. S. The owners are confident that they can make as large cannon as eighteen pounders, and they expect, ere the blast is finished, that they can make twenty-four pounders. November 4.—Since the above, our General Assembly has applied for the refusal of the powder; and if they give the price, (which will make it as good to me as though the money had been laid out in . . . . . . ) viz: six Shillings per pound, must give them the preference. EPHRAIM BOWEN TO GENERAL GATES. Plymouth, November 3, 1775. HONOURED SIR: When I wrote you last, I expected that Captain Coit would have sailed yesterday morning, with Captain Manly, of the Lee, but the wind coming ahead has detained him; he will, however, sail the first wind that can get him out of the harbour. Captain Martindale’s vessel will sail as soon as possible, as he is fitting with all speed. I beg you would send down five hundred pump nails as soon as possible, as there is none to be had here. Captain Manly’s vessel is completely fitted. Since seeing her I have been very happy, as I thought before that the expense Captain Martindale was at would be disliked by the General. I am, Sir, your humble servant, EPHRAIM BOWEN, JUN. To General Gates. WILLIAM WATSON TO GENERAL WASHINGTON. Plymouth, November 3, 1775. SIR: I have just this moment received intelligence of the shipwreck of a vessel, bound to Boston, from Philadelphia, at Eastham, inside of our bay, laden with one hundred and twenty pipes of wine, and that the wine is all saved excepting two pipes, stove in landing it. Your Excellency will please to order in what manner this wine shall be disposed of; whether it shall be sent to Head-Quarters, or whether it shall remain where it is. I would acquaint your Excellency that the Schooner Harrison has been some time ready to sail, but bad weather hinders; and that the Schooner Lee, Captain Manly, is now in this port, who, with the Harrison, Captain Coit, will sail the first wind. Captain Martindale would have been ready by this, had not the rains and some impediments respecting cannon intervened. I have the honour to be your Excellency’s most obliged humble servant, WILLIAM WATSON. To his Excellency General Washington, Esq. COSMOPOLITAN, NO. II. To the Inhabitants of the AMERICAN Colonies. Friends and Fellow-Citizens: In all periods, the history of mankind, however diversified, however disguised, has its outlines and internal principles nearly the same. That like causes should produce effects that are similar, is an institution of Heaven. Nature has said it, experience verifies it. When the dissolution of political establishments has been derived from a feeble original, when from the insidious sappings and the craft of a Court, the story of its slow and gradual advances exhibits the indications of intrigue, address, and an artful prostitution of constitutional formalities by the ambitious usurper; and on the part of the subject are seen the vestiges of a willing confidence, remissness, and a dangerous scrupulosity of contending with Government. The best of establishments have by insensible transitions been laid in ruins. But when cunning and policy fail of success, the rapacious and aspiring attempt the pinnacle by bolder strides. In the practice of the tyrant who aims at wielding the sceptre with unlimited sway, at extending his prerogatives by open violences, or arms reeking with blood, is reversed the old maxim, of enlarging the lion’s by the skin of the fox. When this succeeds, the dignity of the citizen yields to the feelings of a slave. The womanish fear of a military conflict, which terrifies the subject in his private retreat, strikes a panick through the multitude, and produces a scene of wild confusion, or a plan of defence strongly marked with the symptoms of irresolution, diffidence, and despair. In many such cases the subject has found to his sorrow, though too late, that magnanimity and firmness, unanimity and bravery, would have preserved those blessings which cowardice has surrendered; and oftentimes, that the price which is paid for the privilege of yielding would have purchased their lasting security. Stinging reflection! And to a mind whose prospects run parallel with time, and open into futurity, nothing more cutting, than to be loaded with the execrations of an enslaved posterity. History is a magazine of knowledge and important instruction. It lays a foundation for general prudence, and accommodates itself to the circumstances and situation of every state, in all ages. To become acquainted with the characters of men, the marks, sources, and effects of their passions, prejudices, power, customs, and intrigues, is a necessary step to prudential conduct. It teaches us to make other men’s experience our own, to profit by it, and to learn wisdom from their misfortunes. The same tragedy is now acting that has been acted a hundred times on the theatre of the world; and the scenes are opened by the same agents, and by springs that are similar. Every community has sooner or later been invaded by the rapacious hand of bloody assailants, and, for a time, been enrobed in armour and in blood. The Assyrian, the Persian, and the more ancient monarchies of the world which have gone to decay, seemed to have laid the basis of their despotick power in violence and force. The particular characteristicks of the subjects of these Empires, whether they were sunk into a total lethargy, and all their spirits chilled by the biting frost of stupidity and want, or whether there were some displays of genius in a vigorous opposition, seem buried amidst the rubbish of ages. Greece was attacked by Philip of Macedon, and he was opposed by the struggling Spartans. This State, anciently eminent for wit and learning, for the noble actions of its numerous heroes, is now groaning under the Turkish yoke, and those admired feats of knowledge, liberty, and politeness, are swept away by a deluge of ignorance and barbarity. Rome, it is certain, did not die of a lethargy. She was dazzled by the clemency of the smiling Cæsar, before she bled by the point of his dagger. Denmark was gradual and irregular
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