The Online Library of Liberty

A project of Liberty Fund, Inc.

• Preface.
• Four Tracts, On Political and Commercial Subjects.
• Tract I.
• Case I.
• Case II.
• Postscript.
• Tract II.
• Tract III.: A Letter From a Merchant In London to His Nephew In America.
• Tract IV.
• First Scheme.
• Scheme II.
• Third Scheme.
• Fourth Scheme.
• Fifth Scheme.
• The Manifold Advantages Attendant On Such a Scheme.

THIRD SCHEME.

The Expediency of having Recourse to Arms, in order to compel the Colonies to submit to the Authority and Jurisdiction of the supreme Council of the British Empire, the Parliament of Great-Britain.

In regard to which important Point, the Gentleman reasons after the following Manner:—“After such an Offer (of an Union, as above described) and the contemptuous Refusal of it by the Colonies, we may well suppose, that they (the Inhabitants of Great-Britain) will act as one Man, to support the just and lawful, and necessary Authority of the supreme Legislature of the British Nation over all the Dominions of the Crown. The Justice of their Cause will give Vigour to their Measures; and the Colonies that shall have the Folly and Presumption to resist them, will be quickly reduced to Obedience.”

It is possible, nay indeed it is very probable, that if a War was to be speedily undertaken, before Great-Britain and Ireland had been too much exhausted of their Inhabitants, emigrating to North-America,—the Forces of the Mother-Country might prevail, and America, however unwilling, be forced to submit, But alas! Victory alone is but a poor Compensation for all the Blood and Treasure which must be spilt on such an Occasion. Not to mention, that after a Conquest of their Country, the Americans would certainly be less disposed, even than they are at present, to become our good Customers, and to take our Manufactures in return for those Injuries and Oppressions which they had suffered from us:—I say, Injuries and Oppressions: because the Colonies would most undoubtedly give no softer an Appellation to this Conquest, tho’ perhaps it would be no other in itself, than a just Chastisement for the manifold Offences they had committed. Moreover, as the Americans are endeavouring even at present to set up all Sorts of mechanic Trades in order to rival us, or at least to supersede the Use of our Manufactures in their Country,—can any Man suppose, that their Ardor for setting up Manufactures would be abated, by their being forced to deal at the only one European Shop, which they most detested?

But what is still worse, if possible,—though the British Troops might over-run the great Continent of North-America at first, it doth by no Means follow, that they could be able to maintain a Superiority in it afterwards for any Length of Time: And my Reason is, because the governing of a Country after a Peace, is a much more arduous Task, in certain Circumstances, than the conquering it during a War. Thus for Example, when a Peace ensues (and surely it is not intended that we shall be for ever in a State of War) then a civil Constitution of some Kind or other must necessarily be established; and in the Case before us, there seems to be no other Alternative, but either the permitting the Colonies to enjoy once more those Advantages of English Liberty, and of an English Constitution, which they had forfeited; or else a Resolution to govern them for the future by arbitrary Sway and despotic Power. If the latter should be the Plan adopted, I then humbly submit it to be duly weighed and considered, what a baleful Influence this Government a la Prusse would have on every other Part of the British Empire. England free, and America in Chains! And how soon would the enslaved Part of the Constitution, and perhaps the greater, contaminate the free and the lesser? Nay, as America was found to increase in Strength and Numbers, an Army of English-born Soldiers (for no others could be trusted) first of 50,000, and afterwards perhaps of 100,000, would scarcely be sufficient to keep these turbulent Spirits in Awe, and to prevent them, at such a prodigious Distance from the Center of Government, from breaking out into Insurrections and Rebellions at every favourable Opportunity. But if the former were to prevail, and a Return of English Liberties was again to take Place, it must also follow, that the System of Trials by Juries must return with them: And then, when America shall grow stronger and stronger every Day, and England proportionably weaker, how is an Insurrection to be quelled in America? And what English Officer, civil or military, would dare to do it? Nay, I ask, further, granting that he was so brave, or rather so fool-hardy, as to attempt to do his Duty, who is to protect him in the Execution of his Office? Or how is he to be preserved, by due Forms of Law, against the Determination of an American Jury? A Tumult is excited;—the Military is called forth;—the Soldiers are insulted;—many perhaps wounded, and some even killed. The Patience of the Officers worn out, and in their own Defence, they are obliged to give the Word of Command to fire. The Relations of those who fell by this Fire, bring on an Appeal of Blood. The American Jury find the Officers who commanded, and perhaps the whole Corps who fired, guilty of wilful Murder; and then all the Power of the Crown, legally exerted, is not able to save the Lives of these poor innocent Men. * Pitiable sure is such a Case; and yet it is a Case which would and must frequently then happen in the natural Course of Things, according to our legal Constitution.

Perhaps it might be said, that American Juries are as conscientious as other Juries in bringing in their Verdicts according to Law; and that it is very uncharitable even to suppose the contrary.—Be it so: But the Question here runs on, What will be the Suggestions of Conscience in the Breast of an American on such an Occasion?—What would be his Ideas of Law, Justice, or Equity, when England and America stood in Competition?—Certainly, if ever the Inhabitants of that Country should come (and they are for the most Part come already) to be fully persuaded, that the British Parliament hath no Right to make Laws either to tax or to govern them [and the having once beaten them will not be taken as a convincing Proof that we always have either the Right or the Power to beat them] then every Attempt towards throwing off this odious Yoke, would appear in their Eyes as so many noble Struggles for the Cause of Liberty: And therefore the base English Hireling, who would dare to injure this sacred Cause, deserved to die a thousand Deaths. Such undoubtedly would be the Language, and such the Sentiments of the great Majority of Americans, whenever such a Case should happen. In a Word, an erroneous Conscience, and a false Zeal, would have just the same bad Effects in the new World respecting civil Government, as they have formerly had in the old, in regard to Religion: And therefore, either Way, whether we should treat these Americans as an enslaved People, or whether we should restore to them, after a Conquest, the same Constitution which we enjoy ourselves, the Event would finally come to this,—That England would be the greatest Sufferer; and that America is not to be governed against its own Inclinations. Wherefore let us now come to the

[* ]Since the first Edition of this Pamphlet, an Act has past for remedying the Evils so justly apprehended relative to the Case of Appeals of Blood.—But still, tho’ this Difficulty is removed, many and various ones yet remain.