attending a retreat urged. They had determined not to make a stand till they got to the mouth of the Sorel; but a letter coming from General Arnold, promising a reinforcement of men and cannon, they determined to wait here until an officer could return, who was sent to Montreal by General Thomas. The fleet is arrived at Quebeck. A frigate of thirty-six guns, a ship of twenty guns or upwards, and a schooner taken from us, have sailed up the river as far as this place, and remained here two days. They landed eight boat loads of men about four miles off, who were obliged to embark by a party of the rear, before a party of one hundred and fifty men, that we marched from hence, could get up with them.

“SURE BIND SURE FIND.”

A Declaration of Independency on every exotick power, supposes a firm foundation within ourselves on which to depend; and this, however great all other means are, must be our union, the bond of which is compact. Small political bodies are made up of natural ones; a number of individuals joined in a constancy of living together, constitute a family; a number of families a Parish or Precinct; Parishes Towns; Towns Counties; Counties Provinces and Colonies; and a number of Provinces and Colonies, properly united and connected under one head, a General Council or Congress, compose an Empire or State. An American State or Empire is much talked of; the materials of which it is to be formed are a number of flourishing Colonies and Provinces, heretofore independent of each other. The materials are noble, and the building vast. The master-builders ought to look to the foundation that is to support and hold together this mighty fabrick, that it be surely laid and indissolubly cemented before they attempt the superstructure. To make a Declaration of Independency before a proper foundation is laid by the union of the Colonies for it to rest upon, is like beginning to build at the top. There is an accidental temporary union, and there is a perpetual union; the former often springs from principles of interest and of fear, in the particular, exigency of the times, and ceaseth with those circumstances that gave it birth. All America are united, because all are endangered; remove the common danger that threatens, and at once you will loosen the bands of the general union, and each Colony’s attention will be turned to its particular interest and perils—too precarious a foundation to erect a mighty State or Empire upon.

But as there are certain rights and liberties common to all the Colonies, a general safety in which all are concerned, and common dangers against which every one needs defence, all are interested in having the strength of the whole engaged for the security and protection of each; the universal. voice is, therefore, that there must be, as the foundation corner-stone of American Independency, an explicit league and covenant, offensive and defensive, containing articles of confederation, formed and solemnly ratified and confirmed by all the Colonies, as the bond of their union and basis of their government: containing the purposes of their union, defining and limiting the power of their head or Congress over them, and securing the rights and privileges of the Colonies confederating; also, containing the confederation itself; and all in such a manner as to advance the publick weal and safety in proportion as the whole is greater than part, without infringing the rights of any. Should Independency be declared before this is done, the Colonies would be like so many balls in the air, without any earthly power over them, or bond of union to connect them, or any solid foundation underneath to support and uphold them. These articles of confederation answer the same purposes in the political, as the centripetal force in the solar system, to preserve the planets in their natural orbits, and prevent their flying off in eccentrick courses; or the ligaments in the natural body, that holds together and connects all the members; and, like them, however other parts of the body may be wasted and changed, these must remain unalterable, and have perpetuity through all successions of the State. Of this the honourable Continental Congress are fully sensible, and therefore proceed with caution and deliberation to avoid every impropriety or danger that might be occasioned by too hasty a procedure; and consider themselves in this, like the painter of old, as designing for perpetuity.

J. R.

SUPPLEMENT TO “SURE BIND SURE FIND.”

By nature, all mankind are in a state of severalty and equal in point of dominion; mutual wants and a fondness for social pleasures induce them to enter into society, and mutual protection to constitute Government. Common dangers may huddle together in one body an innumerable multitude of unconnected mortals, and urge a temporary submission to Government; their object is safety, and their principle fear; but compact is the bond of society and pillar of Government; an explicit agreement voluntarily engaged in, is the only permanent bond of political union and basis of civil authority. Civil communities without this, like natural bodies without the attraction of cohesion, will crumble into as many parts as there are atoms which compose them.

What wonders have, or rather what wonders have not political confederacies wrought? It enabled the twelve tribes of Israel to withstand the attacks of numerous and mighty enemies, and to vanquish every opposing foe, when they entered Canaan’s happy land.

The twelve cities of ancient Greece were originally independent and unconnected, and governed by their particular Princes; and, in consequence, were involved in perpetual wars with each other, were defenceless against foreign invasions, and unable to engage in any considerable enterprise. Amphyction, one of their Princes, and one of those uncommon geniuses that appear in the world to bless the age in which they live, at once discerned the cause and the cure of their miseries. He proposed to and prevailed on the several States to enter into a mutual confederation, offensive and defensive, and thereby united them in one body; which put an end to their destroying each other, rendered them powerful and peaceable at home, and formidable abroad. Matters of common concernment were governed and ordered by a General Council, composed of two delegates sent from each city, and each State was left in full possession of all their former laws, privileges, and powers of Government, with authority to regulate its internal police; and this was done by the explicit agreement of each individual State, and laid the foundation of their after greatness and glory.

The solemn league and covenant entered into at Smal-kalde, by the oppressed Protestant States in Germany, on the 22d of December, Anno Domini 1530, enabled them (under God) to withstand the power and policy of Pope and Emperour, that were combined for their destruction, and supported the Reformers, like so many illustrious luminaries, to bless the world with divine light at a time of the greatest obscurity. The famous league and covenant subscribed in Anno Domini 1637, was the means of preserving Protestantism in Great Britain, and of saving that Island from being overrun with Popery and tyranny in the reign of Charles I.

A mutual confederation gave strength, stability, and prowess, to the States of Holland, and rendered them, who otherwise were feeble, invincible by the power of Spain, and soon raised them from a low, unconnected, dependant condition, to ride mistress on the seas, and, sit as a Queen among the nations. Of this likewise the Swiss Cantons are a living and lasting monument. Such a confederacy, explicitly engaged in, gives strength and permanency to every State, stability and influence to Government; it combines the members with the body; forms great Empires of lesser communities, by uniting and connecting them in one; and, like the nervous system in the human body, it spreads sensibility over all the parts, and forms and tightens the larger ligaments, whereby the whole body politick is compacted and drawn to exert its force, when needed for preservation and defence, as the strength of one man. Was the necessity of such a union ever greater, or more evident than at this day? Does not our salvation depend upon it? All the world without this cannot save us, but with it we may be safe without the assistance of any. Ought not the several Colonies, each for herself, to frame and adopt such a Constitution of civil Government as they shall choose? And ought not articles of agreement to be drawn, confederaring all the Colonies in one body, for mutual safety and defence, without infringement upon the rights of either, and by them be solemnly and explicitly acceded to and confirmed? If it is of importance that our country should be saved, and if union is the means of our safety, and compact the bond of our union, then that Colony or individual that opposes