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MARYLAND COUNCIL OF SAFETY TO VIRGINIA COMMITTEE OF SAFETY.
GENTLEMENT: In consequence of a letter from two of our Delegates, (a copy of which we send you enclosed,) we have given Mr. Alexander Ross a permit to pass to your Board; and as his business is to be settled in your Colony, we leave the propriety of granting him a further passport to your determination. We are, &c. To the Committee of Safety of Virginia. MAHYLAND COUNCIL OF SAFETY TO BALTIMORE COMMITTEE.
GENTLEMENT: The man-of-war, of what particular force we know not, and her sloop or schooner tenders, are now, we are certainly informed, up as high as South River. We are not certain that they may put into this river; they have in tow a provision vessel they seized in the bay. If there be any vessels located in your river, we would have you fall on the best expedients you can to secure them. Apprize Captain Nicholson, or the commanding officer of the ship Defence, of the intelligence directly. You will acquaint us as soon as you can with any measures you may think necessary for your defence, that may be in our power, and we will forward them with all expedition. We are, &c. To the Committee of Observation for Baltimore County. MARYLAND COUNCIL OF SAFETY TO COLONEL WILLIAM SMALLWOOD.
SIR: A ship-of-war and two tenders have just hove in sight. We request, therefore, that you will immediately repair to this city, and order Captain Storm to march up with his company as expeditiously as he can. The Captain will call at Upper Marlborough on his way hither, and receive such publick arms as may be collected there by the Committee of Observation for Prince George’s County. We are, &c. To Colonel William Smallwood. MARYLAND COUNCIL OF SAFETY TO PRINCE GEORGE’S COUNTY COMMITTEE.
GENTLEMENT: We request you will immediately collect all the publick arms in your County, and deliver them to Captain Stone, or his order. The service of the publick requires the utmost expedition in this pleasure. We are, &c. To the Committee of Observation for Prince George’s County. MARYLAND COUNCIL OF SAFETY TO BALTIMORE COMMITTEE.
GENTLEMENT: The man-of-war with her tenders have passed by this harbour, and are standing up the bay, we presume for your town. Yours, &c. To the Committee of Observation for Baltimore County. MARYLAND COUNCIL OF SAFETY TO COLONEL THOMAS DORSEY.
SIR: The man-of-war and tenders are gone past the mouth of the Severn, and are bound, as we believe, up the bay to Baltimore Town. You are therefore to march immediately to Baltimore Town with your battalion, and endeavour to repel any hostile attempts that may be made. Should any powder or lead be wanted, you may be supplied from Major Gaither’s. We are, &c. To Colonel Thomas Dorsey. TO THE PEOPLE OF PENNSYLVANIA. In my last directed to you, I pointed out the consequences of an Independency, so far as it respects the States of Europe . The reasons on which I founded our safety from foreign invasions, I think, will scarcely be denied, or if they should, will not be easily confuted. I hear but little said on that head at present. Perhaps it ceases to be a scarecrow, and is therefore taken down; but as it will never do for the enemies of our liberties to give up the point, it is only to hang up a more terrifick in its stead. Intestine confusions, continual wars with each other, Republicks, and Presbyterian Governments, compose the bugbear of the day, and the very name of them frightens people, more than the whole force of Great Britain. My present design is to remove this dreadful chimera from your imaginations, and to show you that nothing but a reluctance in you to independency, can ever be the cause of any such evils, and I earnestly crave your attention to the subject, and entreat you to weigh my reasons impartially. In the first place, then, it never was, nor can it ever be, the interest of any civil society, to exalt any set of religious tenets above all others, or to unite the Church and State. Most of the wars which deluged the world in blood for centuries together, arose from tills false policy. The priesthood of any sect in religion, with sorrow I repeat it, can easily be made the tools of tyranny and arbitrary power. To crowned heads they are useful; but where no such exist, there establishments of the kind are truly a nuisance. We have no establishment in this Province, and consequently little distinction of sects, all men living in good neighbourhood with one another, however different in religious sentiments. The States-General, even in the days of fiery persecution, soon found the necessity of effectually excluding religion from interfering in State affairs; and in our days, when that edge is totally destroyed, and mankind have learned to think more liberally, none can suspect anything of the kind, but those who labour incessantly to deserve it. And yet they have been hitherto disappointed, and I hope ever shall. I know the present Continental Congress, or any other assembly of men of sentiment and education in America, would as soon agree to subject the United Colonies to the King of Caffraria, or to the See of Rome, as to any one sect of religion now existing in the world. Doubtless, every sect will be permitted to enjoy its complete privileges within itself. But for any one to be allied to the State is absurd to imagine. Depend on it, they who hold it up to terrify you, believe no such thing. They cannot, unless they have taken leave of their senses. In the next place, war is not, nor can it ever be, our element. Trade and agriculture are the true sources of wealth and happiness to a society. The majority of no nation ever gained anything by war, except when in defence of their privileges. And even in that case, the retaining them is the utmost they can expect. An ambitious monarch, who prefers self-exaltation to the blood of his subjects, may be for war, because, as the war is carried on at the expense of the people, and he alone reaps the rewards of victory, he has a chance to be a gainer thereby. His subjects cannot, for they must not only fight his battles, but pay all the expense of the war. I set it down, therefore, that the representatives of a free people, if free from the influence of royalty, can never be for war, except when the rights of the society are invaded. Besides, the Colonies are at present nearly on an equality with respect to warlike knowledge, and will be completely so before the present war is at an end. There will therefore be no temptation on that score, and all the regular troops, as long as such are needful, will be in the pay of the Continent, and can never be employed by one Colony against another. Disband them at the end of the war, and settle them on plantations, or assist them in setting up their trades, and let your strength consist in a well-regulated Militia, and you will have done with war forever. For freemen to prefer the chance of war to peace, liberty, trade, and agriculture, is as unnatural as to prefer wounds, bruises, poverty, and death, to health, riches, and all the pleasures and enjoyments of life. To see a society of farmers, tradesmen, and merchants, quit their peaceful employments, and make war upon one another, would be a phenomenon which the world has not yet beheld, and I
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