THE jealousies which at pre­sent unhappily subsist between Great-Britain and her colonies, render a discourse on this subject as delicate and hazardous, as the fatal con­sequences of a rupture between them make it weighty and important. But though the die be doubtful, yet in so interesting a cause I will venture a cast.

In this discourse I shall consider the mother country and her colonies as a body politic.

[Page 6]By union in a body politic I un­derstand (with Baron Montesquieu) such a harmony as makes all the particular parts, as opposite as they may seem, concur to the general welfare of the whole, as discords in music contribute to the melody of sounds.

Protection requires dependence in re­turn. But to preserve that depend­ence, agreeable to the principles of an English constitution, it is necessary there should be a union of laws and government. And this union is necessary for the se­curity of liberty, and the well conduct­ing of commerce, on which the hap­piness of our political society is founded.

As in the natural body all the inferior springs of life depend upon the motion of the heart, so in the body politic all inferior jurisdictions should flow from one superior fountain. Two distinct in­dependent powers in one civil state are as inconsistent as two hearts in the same na­tural body. Because if such a thing can be imagined, they must constantly in­terfere [Page 7] in their operations, so as to re­duce the WHOLE to anarchy and confu­sion, and bring on a dissolution in the event. A due subordination of the less parts to the greater is therefore neces­sary to the existence of BOTH.

According to the great Mr. Locke—that which constitutes a political society is nothing but the consent of any num­ber of freemen, capable of a majority, to incorporate into such a society. This consent is either expressed or implied: expressed, when men in a state of na­ture for their mutual defence, agree upon certain rules for their govern­ment: Implied, when they come into and continue in a country where there is a civil state already settled, and re­ceive the benefit and protection of the laws of that state.

The common law of England de­clares the original consent of the peo­ple, and may be stiled the constitution of their civil state. But as the affairs of all nations are in a continual fluctuation, by [Page 8] the common law, any part of it then declared may from time to time be al­tered by acts of parliament. Sage and reverend judges, ever since the emi­gration of the American colonists, have often solemnly determined that as they settled a part of the British empire, they tacitly agreed to be governed accord­ing to the common law of their parent country.

These colonies are of two kinds: Such as have been newly found out by the subjects of Great-Britain, and pur­chased from the natives by the authori­ty of the crown, as Pennsylvania, &c. or such as have been conquered in open and just war, as Jamaica, Quebec, &c. In the first, the laws of England were in force immediately upon their discovery and settlement. In the other, the laws of England did not take place till declared so by the conqueror. But in both, acts of the British parliament bind the colonists where they are specially named according to the adjudications of [Page 9] able lawyers and judges throughout Eng­lish America.

His Majesty's predecessors have grant­ed to many of the colonies certain pri­vileges by charters. The laws of Eng­land in force at the time of the settle­ment of new discovered colonies;—Acts of parliament made since, in which they are expressly named;—And laws enacted by themselves in pursuance of their charters, and approved and con­firmed in England, seem then to be the constitutions of such colonies. This also is similar to the constitution of the Roman colonies. They received their laws from the people of Rome, or they enacted them by their inferior senates, or by the consent of the people of the colonies. Though every particular colo­ny had laws distinct from the general laws of Rome, yet they were either dic­tated to them, or confirmed by the Tri­umviri. They are of that sort of colo­nies which Baron Pussendorss mentions [Page 10] as united to the mother country by a kind of unequal confederacy. ^*

The fires kindled by the late act of parliament imposing a duty of three­pence in the pound on tea, have led me into this consideration of the nature of the governments of the British colo­nies. Far be it from me to determine the legality of imposing such duties. The subject has been so amply discussed [Page 11] by abler pens, both in England and America, as to make it unnecessary. But thus much I would observe, no government can be supported without great charge: And every one who en­joys a share of protection should pay his proportion for the maintenance of it in one way or other.

Much has been said about external and internal taxes. I know but little difference between them. Struggle and contrive as you will, says Mr. Locke; lay your taxes as you please, the tra­ders will shift them off for their own gain; the merchant will bear the least part of them and grow poor last; things of necessity must still be had, and things of fashion will be had as long as men have money or credit. If the merchant pays a quarter more for his commodities he will fell them at a price proportionably raised. But though the duty may be legal, many things are lawful which are not expedient. A strenuous execution of the strict letter of the law is often [Page 12] the greatest injustice. It was a saying of the Emperor Tiberius, in relation to taxes, sheep should be fleeced not flead. The Grand Seignior, according to the constitution of the Ottoman empire, may ordain a taxation; but the universal murmurs of his subjects make him sensi­ble of the necessity of restricting this power. All mankind are liable to be deceived, and to err by misinformation and false appearances: And it is the glory of a man to acknowledge and cor­rect an error when it is discovered: We find the British Senate, upon decent and legal applications, in the case of the stamp-act, did not think it unbecoming their dignity, to reconsider that act. The result of their deliberations was such as fully convinced us, justice and moderation were the noble principles which actuated that august body. They shewed us we may safely confide in them, not only as our protectors from foreign enemies, but as the grand con­servators of liberty, throughout the wide extent of the British dominions. [Page 13] Let us then, on our part, convince them by our conduct, we are a sober, loyal, and grateful people, worthy of their highest favours.

Had the colonists on that occasion, or on occasion of the late acts of parlia­ment concerning trade, been mad enough to have thrown off their de­pendence on Great-Britain, she must have looked upon it as a breach of the ori­ginal compact, and that thereby the constitutional union in legislation and go­vernment was dissolved; the reciprocal advantages of which union will appear, if we consider the bad consequences of it's dissolution.

It is easy to believe, Great-Britain will not tamely give up her right of regula­ting the trade of colonies, which she has planted, raised, supported and protect­ed at a vast expence of blood and trea­sure: Nor will she suffer the profits of that trade to fall into the hands of ri­val nations. And though she is able to crush them as a moth, yet her ex­pences in sending fleets and armies to [Page 14] conquer her own subjects and maintain her sovereignty must be immense; be­sides the loss of the profits of their trade in the mean time; the advantages of which I shall mention hereafter. On the other hand, I will admit, for argument's sake, the colonists are able to protect themselves by land; yet this cannot be done without a union among themselves.

How difficult a thorough union is to be effected in the colonies will appear, besides other instances, from the dis­putes about the quotas which the conti­nental colonies should furnish for their own defence, when the common ene­my were butchering and scalping many hundreds of the inhabitants, and laying waste their frontiers. The animosities which have long subsisted between some of them about settling their boundaries have not yet subsided. By their char­ters they have been used to different forms of internal government and laws. Different modes of worship have been established in many of them. It is, [Page 15] therefore, scarcely probable they ever can or will be united without being un­der the sovereignty of some superior state, whose interest it is to continue them so, and protect them. But admitting they may be united, and, as I said, they can protect themselves on the land side: Yet who would protect their many thou­sands of unarmed ships, their cities, and their long extended, and, at present, defenceless sea coasts, from the depreda­tions of pirates and rovers, or the great­er power of ambitious and aspiring states, who are watching for such an opportunity like vultures hovering o'er their prey? To whom, then, but Great-Britain, can they go for succour? Or, if they would withdraw their dependence, who can deliver them out of her hands? Not France or Spain. The British navy is superior to both united. If it were not, those powers would not consent to defend and protect them for nothing. They would divide them a­mong themselves, and require not on­ly [Page 16] dependence, but absolute subjection. There is no need of arguments to prove, it is more eligible to submit to laws made by a protestant British Sovereign, an august Assembly of right honorable and right reverend Nobles, the repre­sentatives of a free people, connected with them by the ties of blood, simi­larity of manners, and common inte­rests, and by a President General ap­pointed by the crown, at the head of delegates chosen by the colonies to sit in grand council ^*, than by the arbitra­ry edicts of a French monarch, which his parliament is only to register; and it is better for a man to be at liber­ty to worship God in the manner he believes is most agreeable to him, by the toleration of a British government, than be forced to conform to the super­stitious rites and ceremonies of the Ro­mish church by the racks and tortures of a Spanish inquisition. It seems, [Page 17] therefore, as much the interest of the colonies to avoid throwing off their de­pendence on Great-Britain, as it is her's to protect them from their enemies, support them in their liberties, and en­courage them in their commerce;—the reciprocal advantages of which I am next to consider.

The British American dominions ex­tend through such various climates that they can produce most of the commodi­ties war or peace require. They can sup­ply most of the delicacies as well as con­veniences and necessaries of life. Yet nature hath poured forth her blessings, in a different manner, upon the diffe­rent regions of the world, for the mu­tual intercourse and traffic of mankind, that thereby they may have a depend­ence upon one another, and be united by their common interest ^*.

Every inhabitable country hath a su­perfluity of some kind of natural pro­duct, and no country can produce all [Page 18] the necessaries and conveniencies of life. Hence arise the reciprocal advantages of commerce in general, as it carries out of a country what is superfluous, and re­turns what is wanting.

The power of a state consists in the multitude of it's subjects well employed, and the riches of it's treasury. Trade encourages the labourer to industry. Industry procures him property, by which he is encouraged to undertake the charge of a family, and to propagate his species. If he cannot be industriously employed, he will scarcely venture to make himself, and a woman whom he loves, miserable, by seeing the tender pledges of their affection, whom they might be the means of bringing into the world, starving for want of bread. It is reckoned a million of the inha­bitants of Great-Britain are daily em­ployed in manufactures for the Ameri­can colonists, most of whom cannot get other employment. Consequently many thousands are thereby induced to marry. Hence it is the number of her [Page 19] inhabitants is not decreased, notwith­standing many thousands have formerly come over to her colonies, or have been destroyed in her wars. The trade and population of the colonies have, therefore, a considerable tendency to increase the number of subjects in Great-Britain.

The enlargement of commerce in­creases the riches of a state. The riches of a nation are the sinews of war, and the establishment of peace. Power and strength are principally acquired by money. Money will procure arms and friends. Nothing else is wanting to ob­tain dominion, but wisdom and the per­mission of divine Providence. The or­dinary customs upon merchandize in England which go into the treasury are now above forty times more than they were at the death of Queen Elizabeth, when the American colonies began to be considerable. And Mr. Anderson ob­serves the trade of Great-Britain with her colonies is equal in quantity, and more in profit than all the other commerce she has with the rest of the world. One [Page 20] half, therefore, of these additional riches of the treasury, arises from the colony trade. Hence it is the British navy is now double in number, of larger size, and carries heavier metal than at the re­volution. Many thousand ships are con­stantly employed in this trade, which is a perpetual nursery of seamen to fit out the King's ships. Besides the advan­tages Great-Britain receives from the trade of her colonies, in the increase of her subjects, the employment of her industrious poor in manufactures, the support of government by duties on merchandize, and the increase of her naval power, her landed interest is also greatly increased. This plainly appears from the country gentlemen and farm­ers having better household furniture, greater stocks of cattle, and lands bet­ter improved since she had colonies. The demand for, and consumption of what the farmer produces must be in propor­tion to the number of people employed in manufactures and navigation. Great-Britain, it is thought, may support sixteen [Page 21] millions of inhabitants ^* more than she does at present, and the greater part of these will find employment in manufac­tures, which it will be the interest of the colonies to take off her hands, if they in­crease, as they are likely to do from their great extent of territory. The continental colonies abound in timber and iron ore. There are numberless symp­toms of other valuable ore, which, doubtless, in the course of time, ingeni­ous men, if encouraged, will discover. The land, in general, is very fit for till­age. Pennsylvania and New-York in particular may be justly termed the gra­nary of the West-India islands, which daily increase in the number of inhabi­tants. Besides, without mentioning the wheat which they send to Portugal and Spain, and their dominions, they ship great quantities up the Straits; and some few years ago they relieved Italy [Page 22] from famine; by which means they were enabled to make considerable re­mittances to Great-Britain they could not otherwise have done, on account of the late restriction on their commerce. While therefore the inhabitants can be advan­tageously employed in these branch­es of business, and in the fisheries along their coasts, it is not their interest to engage in manufactures which they can import from Great-Britain at a much cheaper rate than they can make them themselves. Woolen and linen they must have. Fine linen can not be made up, if the flax be not pulled before the seed is ripe. Flax seed brings in more to the farmer, if we consider the price of labour ^*, than the flax itself. The [Page 23] flax-seed which New-York and Penn­sylvania ship to Ireland, I am well in­formed, overpays the fine linen which they import from thence. It is also idle to attempt to raise so many sheep as will produce wool enough for cloathing while they import woolens at the price they now do from Great-Bri­tain. On the frontiers the wolves and foxes destroy the sheep and lambs in such a manner, that few of the farmers attempt to raise them. In the interior parts the profits of the lands in tillage, and the fodder which the sheep require in the long winters, are such, that the farmers do not raise more than is suf­ficient to produce wool to employ their children and servants when they can be spared from agriculture, which [Page 24] is but seldom. Indeed, when a farmer's children are growing up and he must employ servants in the fields and mea­dows in the summer, it is better they should be employed in such manufac­tures than be idle in the winter. Dur­ing the fishing season, most, if not all the tradesmen near the sea coasts in the northern colonies find their account in leaving off their trades and pursuing the fisheries. Manufactories in popu­lous cities like Philadelphia for setting poor vagrants to work are very proper. Sturdy beggars, however, might be better employed in mending the high­ways, in clearing the rivers of the rocks, and thereby improving the communi­cation between different parts of the country. But for the colonists to enter into manufactures in general, in the cir­cumstances I have mentioned, must be greatly to their loss, as well as a preju­dice to the trade, and of consequence to the wealth and power of Great-Britain. For manufactures are founded in po­verty. Wherever there is a vast extent [Page 25] of territory to be settled and cultivated, and lands can be taken up, at an easy rate, especially in this province, under landlords so generous and indulgent to their tenants, as our honourable Proprie­taries, people find it more beneficial to apply themselves to agriculture.

The West-India islands find the ad­vantages so great which they receive from raising and making sugar, molas­ses, rum, ginger, pimento, coffee and drugs, that they make them the princi­pal objects of their industry, and im­port provisions from the continental co­lonies, and their cloathing from Great-Britain: In return for which, they ex­port their own products, which greatly augment his Majesty's customs, and em­ploy many thousands of the manufac­turers and seamen of Great-Britain, and, at the same time, have procured to the planters immense estates. A union, therefore, in commerce, is attended with these reciprocal advantages, that the mother country and the colonies are both more usefully employed in the products [Page 26] they exchange, than by raising or ma­nufacturing all they stand in need of.

The importance of the colonies to Great-Britain will ever be greater, as they increase, which they will still do while they have such a vast extent of country to settle, and can so easily earn bread for the maintenance of a family. Ship timber, house timber, copper, hemp, iron, pitch, tar, turpentine, pot­ash, fish, &c. which she imports from Norway, Sweden, and Russia, can all be supplied by her North American colonies. Virginia, Carolina, and the southern continental colonies produce not only tobacco, rice and indigo, but silk, as good in quality and, very pro­bably, will in time, as much in quantity, as she imports from Italy, Turkey, or the East-Indies. The colonies abound in fruits and drugs equal to Spain, Italy, or any other country. To re­ceive all these articles from her own subjects, a great part of which she re­ceives from foreign nations (who in a case of necessity may refuse to supply [Page 27] her, as Sweden did in the article of iron in this century) will enrich them, while, at the same time, it will increase her naval power, furnish her industrious people at home with employment, en­able her to protect the trade of her co­lonies, continue their immunities, and procure others in the Mediterranean, and other foreign ports, which the powers to whom they belong cannot procure from one another, and render her the Arbitress of Europe. Besides, a time may come, when Great-Britain shall find it her interest to employ a much great­er number of her people in manufac­tures, and upon the loss of a crop in an unfruitful season, may stand in need of bread, with which she can be abundant­ly supplied by her American subjects. On the other hand, as America will con­stantly increase in the number of inha­bitants, and improvement of land, her trade in the manufactures of her mo­ther country must increase in proporti­on, and, consequently, require a more extensive protection from the British flag. [Page 28] This British naval power will also pre­vent the inveterate enemies of both the mother country and her colonies from pos­sessing hereafter any considerable tract of territory on the continent of North-America, and thereby having an op­portunity of stirring up the Indian na­tives to massacre, and butcher the colo­nists: And while the emissaries of France and Spain are kept from amongst them, they will find their account in carrying on the fur and peltry trade with our people; the advantages of which to Great-Britain and the colonies are im­mense.

But, waving the protection of the mother country, with what state can the colo­nists carry on a trade to advantage equal to that with her. Most of the branches, before enumerated, are the leading arti­cles of their commerce, which Great­Britain wants, and other parts of Eu­rope produce in common with the colo­nies, and of which she would take from her colonies only, if they could, as they will in time, be able to furnish her with [Page 29] a sufficient quantity, duties will be im­posed upon commodities of foreign growth or production, and, very pro­bably, bounties given for the same pro­duced in the colonies, as was lately pro­posed in the article of iron. These re­ciprocal advantages of a union must, there­fore, be as long as Great-Britain conti­nues mistress of the ocean; her indus­trious manufacturers multiply by being enabled to marry, and maintain their children, and the American seas abound in fish, the mines with ore, or the hills covered with timber, and the many millions of acres yet unplanted can pro­duce any of the commodities before enumerated.

Let us now consider Great-Britain and her American colonies as a family, the establishment of which depends upon unity, friendship, and a continued series of mutual good offices.

Colonies, my Lord Bacon observes, are the children of more ancient nations. Children receive nourishment from the milk of their mothers, till they are capa­ble [Page 30] of digesting other food! And they receive from the hands of their parents, protection from the insults and injuries, to which their feeble, infant state is ex­posed. They ought, therefore, when they have attained the state of youth, or manhood, to evidence their grati­tude, by a pious love and filial obedi­ence. But though, obedience be due to parents, parents ought not to pro­voke their children to wrath. The state of minority is temporary. When that state ceases, the right of chastise­ment and absolute command ceases also. But honor, reverence, esteem and sup­port, when wanted, in return for nourishment, education, and protection are perpetually due to the parent.

Great-Britain has been a nurseing mother to her colonies. Her first embark­ations to America, and her first con­quests there, were attended with great expence, without any immediate return of profit; and, at the same time, drained her of many people useful at home. Her floating castles have protected and [Page 31] daily do protect their trade. Royal li­cences have been granted to collect mo­ney for the promotion of learning and virtue in the colonies; and the money was generously given by their brethren in Great-Britain. The inhabitants of Great-Britain have, above sixty years ago, no­bly and generously established and sup­ported, and still do support a venera­ble society, who send over gentlemen of piety, learning, and virtue, to publish the glad tidings of salvation in the colo­nies, which before were the haunts of wild beasts, and idolatrous savages: And she hath lately, at a great expence of blood, and millions of treasure, saved them from the butchering knife of savage, and the unjust encroachments of ambitious enemies.

On the other hand, the advantages which (as I mentioned before) she re­ceives in the encouragement of her manufactures, the extension of her commerce, and the increase of power, by sea and land, from the trade of her industrious colonists, have already ren­dered [Page 32] her the Queen of nations; and in a short time, Great-Britain and her Ame­rican colonies, if they continue united, must inevitably be the most powerful Empire in the world. The advantages of which are not only reciprocal to them, but to all the protestant and christian states of Europe. Because the love of virtue and liberty, which is predomi­nant and peculiar in Englishmen, will diffuse itself wherever it can have INFLUENCE.