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.

The manifold Advantages attendant on such a Scheme.

And 1st, A Disjunction from the Northern Colonies would effectually put a Stop to our present Emigrations. By the Laws of the Land it is made a capital Offence to inveigle Artificers and Mechanics to leave the Kingdom. But this Law is unhappily superseded at present as far as the Colonies are concerned. Therefore when they come to be dismembered from us, it will operate as strongly against them, and their Kidnappers, as against others. And here it may be worth while to observe, that the Emigrants, who lately sailed in such Multitude from the North of Scotland, and more especially from the North of Ireland, were far from being the most indigent, or the least capable of subsisting in their own Country. No; it was not Poverty or Necessity which compelled, but Ambition which inticed them to forsake their native Soil. For after they began to taste the Sweets of Industry, and to partake of the Comforts of Life, then they became a valuable Prey for these Harpies. In short, such were the Persons to whom these Seducers principally applied; because they found that they had gotten some little Substance together worth devouring. They therefore told them many plausible Stories—that if they would emigrate to North-America, they might have Estates for nothing, and become Gentlemen for ever; whereas if they remained at Home, they had nothing to expect beyond the Condition of a wretched Journeyman, or a small laborious Farmer. Nay, one of these false Guides was known to have put out public Advertisements, some few Years ago, in the North of Ireland, wherein he engaged to carry all, who would follow him, into such a glorious Country, where there was neither Tax, nor Tithe, nor Landlord’s Rent to be paid. This was enough: It took with Thousands: And this he might safely engage to do.—But at the same Time he ought to have told them (as Bishop Berkley in his Queries justly observes) That a Man may possess twenty Miles square in this glorious Country, and yet not be able to get a Dinner.

2dly. Another great Advantage to be derived from a Separation is, that we shall then save between 3 and 400,000l. a Year, by being discharged from the Payment of any civil or military Establishment belonging to the Colonies:—For which generous Benefaction we receive at present no other Return than Invectives and Reproaches.

3dly. The ceasing of the Payment of Bounties on certain Colony Productions will be another great Saving; perhaps not less than 200,000l. a Year: And is very remarkable, that the Goods imported from the Colonies in Consequence of these Bounties, could not have been imported into any other Part of Europe, were there a Liberty to do it; because the Freight and first Cost would have amounted to more than they could be sold for: So that in Fact we give Premiums to the Colonies for selling Goods to us, which would not have been sold at all any where else. However, when the present Bounties shall cease, we may then consider, at our Leisure, whether it would be right to give them again, or not; and we shall have it totally in our Power to favour that Country most, which will shew the greatest Favour to us, and to our Manufactures.

4thly. When we are no longer connected with the Colonies by the imaginary Tie of an Indentity of Government, then our Merchant-Exporters and Manufacturers will have a better Chance of having their Debts paid, than they have at present: For as Matters now stand, the Colonists chuse to carry their ready Cash to other Nations, while they are contracting Debts with their Mother-Country; with whom they think they can take greater Liberties: And provided they are trusted, they care not to what Amount this Debt shall rise:—For when the Time for Payment draws on, they are seized with a Fit of Patriotism; and then Confederacies and Associations are to discharge all Arrears; or, at least, are to postpone the Payment of them sine die.

5thly. After a Separation from the Colonies, our Influence over them will be much greater than ever it was, since they began to feel their own Weight and Importance: For at present we are looked upon in no better a Light than that of Robbers and Usurpers; whereas, we shall then be considered as their Protectors, Mediators, and Benefactors. The Moment a Separation takes Effect, intestine Quarrels will begin: For it is well known, that the Seeds of Discord and Dissention between Province and Province, are now ready to shoot forth; and that they are only kept down by the present Combinations of all the Colonies against us, whom they unhappily fancy to be their common Enemy. When therefore this Object of their Hatred shall be removed by a Declaration on our Parts, that, so far from usurping all Authority, we, from henceforward, will assume none at all against their own Consent; the weaker Provinces will intreat our Protection against the stronger; and the less cautious against the more crafty and designing: So that in short, in Proportion as their factious, republican Spirit shall intrigue and cabal, shall split into Parties, divide, and sub-divide,—in the same Proportion shall we be called in to become their general Umpires and Referees. Not to mention, that many of the late and present Emigrants, when they shall see these Storms arising all around them, and when their promised earthly Paradise turns out to be a dreary, unwholesome, inhospitable, and howling Wilderness,—many of them, I say, will probably return to us again, and take Refuge at last in Old England, with all its Faults and Imperfections.

Lastly. Our West-India Islands themselves will receive signal Benefit by this Separation. Indeed their Size and Situation render them incapable of substracting all Obedience from us; and yet the bad Precedents of their Neighbours on the Continent hath sometimes prompted them to shew as refractory a Spirit as they well could.—But when they come to perceive, what are the bitter Effects of this untractable Disposition, exemplified in the Case of the North-Americans, it is probable, it is reasonable to conclude, that they will learn Wisdom by the Miscarriages and Sufferings of these unhappy People; and that from henceforward they will revere the Authority of a Government, which has the fewest Faults, and grants the greatest Liberty, of any yet known upon Earth.

But after all, there is one Thing more, to which I must make some Reply.—Many, perhaps most of my Readers, will be apt to ask,—What is all this about? And what doth this Author really mean?—Can he seriously think, that because he hath taken such Pains to prove a Separation to be a right Measure, that therefore we shall separate in good Earnest? And is he still so much a Novice as not to know, that Measures are rarely adopted merely because they are right, but because they can serve a present Turn?—Therefore let it be asked, What present Convenience or Advantage doth he propose either to Administration, or to Anti-Administration, by the Execution of his Plan?—This is coming to the Point, and without it, all that he has said will pass for nothing.

I frankly acknowledge, I propose no present Convenience or Advantage to either; nay, I firmly believe, that no Minister, as Things are now circumstanced, will dare to do so much Good to his Country; and as to the Herd of Anti-Ministers, they, I am persuaded, would not wish to see it done; because it would deprive them of one of their most plentiful Sources for Clamour and Detraction: And yet I have observed, and have myself had some Experience, that Measures evidently right will prevail at last: Therefore I make not the least Doubt but that a Separation from the northern Colonies, and also another right Measure, viz. a complete Union and Incorporation with Ireland (however unpopular either of them may now appear) will both take Place within half a Century:—And perhaps that which happens to be first accomplished, will greatly accelerate the Accomplishment of the other. Indeed almost all People are apt to startle at first at bold Truths:—But it is observable, that in Proportion as they grow familiarized to them, and can see and consider them from different Points of View, their Fears subside, and they become reconciled by Degrees:—Nay, it is not an uncommon Thing for them to adopt those salutary Measures afterwards with as much Zeal and Ardor, as they had rejected them before with Anger and Indignation.

Need I add, That the Man, who will have Resolution enough to advance any bold unwelcome Truth (unwelcome I mean at its first Appearance) ought to be such an one, whose Competency of Fortune, joined to a natural Independency of Spirit, places him in that happy Situation, as to be equally indifferent to the Smiles, or Frowns either of the Great, or the Vulgar?

Lastly, some Persons perhaps may wonder, that, being myself a Clergyman, I have said nothing about the Persecution which the Church of England daily suffers in America, by being denied those Rights which every other Sect of Christians so amply enjoys. I own I have hitherto omitted to make Mention of that Circumstance, not thro’ Inadvertence, but by Design; as being unwilling to embarrass my general Plan with what might be deemed by some Readers to be foreign to the Subject: And therefore I shall be very short in what I have to add at present.

That each Religious Persuasion ought to have a full Toleration from the State to worship Almighty God, according to the Dictates of their own Consciences, is to me so clear a Case, that I shall not attempt to make it clearer; and nothing but the maintaining some monstrous Opinion inconsistent with the Safety of Society,—and that not barely in Theory and Speculation, but by open Practice and outward Actions,—I say, nothing but the avowedly maintaining of such dangerous Principles can justify the Magistrate in abridging any Set of Men of these their natural Rights. It is also equally evident, that the Church of England doth not, cannot fall under the Censure of holding Opinions inconsistent with the Safety of the State, and the Good of Mankind,—even her Enemies themselves being Judges: And yet the Church of England alone doth not enjoy a Toleration in that full Extent, which is granted to the Members of every other Denomination. What then can be the Cause of putting so injurious a Distinction between the Church of England, and other Churches in this Respect? The Reason is plain. The Americans have taken it into their Heads to believe, that an Episcopate would operate as some further Tie upon them, not to break loose from those Obligations which they owe to the Mother Country; and that this is to be used as an Engine, under the Masque of Religion, to rivet those Chains, which they imagine we are forging for them. Let therefore the Mother-Country herself resign up all Claim of Authority over them, as well Ecclesiastical as Civil; let her declare North-America to be independent of Great Britain in every Respect whatever;—let her do this, I say, and then all their Fears will vanish away, and their Panics be at an End: And then, a Bishop, who has no more Connections with England either in Church or State, than he has with Germany, Sweden, or any other Country, will be no longer looked upon in America as a Monster but a Man. In short, when all Motives for Opposition are at an End, it is observable, that the Opposition itself soon ceases and dies away. In a Word, an Episcopate may then take Place; and whether this new Ecclesiastical Officer be called from a Name derived from the Greek, the Latin, or the German,—that is, whether he be stiled Episcopus, Superintendent, Supervisor, Overseer, &c. &c. it matters not,—provided he be invested with competent Authority to ordain and confirm such of the Members of his own Persuasion, as shall voluntarily offer themselves, and to inspect the Lives and Morals of his own Clergy.

FINIS.