free-born ancestors;-and by becoming colonists, become altogether aliens ?

Any privileges the colonists have loft, they must have loft either by the bare act of emigration, or by fome agreement or furrender. But they did not lofe any privilege by emigration; for as they only went to another part of the British empire, of which they continue fubjects, they carried with them thofe rights to which British fubjects are intitled. Neither did they lose their privileges by any agreement or furrender.-As to their charters, it is not pretended that they have fuffered themselves to be thereby deprived of the right of reprefentation; except in that of Pennsylvania before mentioned; in which a claufe of that nature it seems has been for fome reason inferted, although you are pleafed to fay the like claufe has been omitted in all the other charters as unneceffary. But fecondly,

They are intitled to the right of reprefentation as MEN; they claim it as their natural as well as political right, and therefore they can never abfolutely part with it, though for a while they may neglect to exercise it.-And fuppofing that by any of their charters, this right had been denied them, yet any furrender their anceflors might have made of this natural right could not be binding on them, as I have before demonftrated, it being impoffible for men to part with the natural rights of their pofterity, which they are intitled to by their birth, and claim as human creatures.

And now in refpect to the conduct of the colonies. It has been afferted, that they are much indebted to their mothercountry, for her care in delivering them from the hands of their enemies-and their refufal to fubmit to the arbitrary taxation of the Britif parliament, has been reprefented as ungenerous and ungrateful. But on the other hand, a candid enquiry will inform us, that let Great-Britain have done what it may for its colonies, they have already repaid her in the most ample manner.-As to the exigencies of the state and the fupport of the mother-country, the colonies have voluntarily contributed, to the utmost of their abilities, and even beyond the most fanguine expectations.—What then can be required-it is not thought enough, that they should give to GreatBritain, what they can afford, but GreatBritain muft force from them, what they Cannot Spare. This is the cafe; and yet you are pleafed to afk, "Whence is all this hurry and tumult?-why is all

America in an uproar?"-I answer in much the fame manner as you do:-By the mischievous devices of infamous and defigning men. Men who are avowed enemies to their king, and haters of their country ?-men, who think to raise themfelves by the ruin of their fellow fubjects,-and therefore bafely fow difcontent between our fovereign and his people.-But yet,-not by men who wish to change our conftitution into a commonwealth;-but men who wish to change it into a kind of ariftocracy;—who wish to get the fupreme power into their hands, and make the KING a cypher, and his people SLAVES. Thefe are the men, who advise murder, bloodsbed, and civil war; thefe are the men who endeavour to deprive the people of their natural and confiitutional rights,-who want to make human creatures become brutes; and free-born men become beafts of burthen.-Thefe, I fay, are the men who have put the whole empire into confufion; thefe are they who have put all America into an uproar.

You afk the Colonists;-" What more civil or religious liberty can they defire? may not every man among them fit under his own VINE?"-I answer, yes; he may fit indeed,—and fit there undifturbed, if he can patiently fuffer others to come and pull off the grapes.-Great Britain will not deny them the branches and the leaves, if they but fuffer ber to run away with the fruit;-if they patiently fuffer themselves to be pillaged of their property;-to be robb'd under the mask of juftice, or murder'd under the fanction of authority.

I have purposely made this anfwer to your addrefs as fhort as poffible, and from the whole I think it is fufficiently evident

That the Colonifts did not, by emigration, forfeit any of thofe rights to which they or their anceflors may have been entitled as British subjects.

That as they are ftill a part of the British empire, they are juffly entitled to the like privileges with the rest of their fellow fubjects.

That as Britifb fubjects, they have a conftitutional claim to the right of reprefentation.

That this is a right founded alfo on the law of nature, and the great principle from which all laus derive their force; it being impoffible that any man should be bound by a law, to which his confent is not given either perfonally or by reprefentation.

That fuppofing the Colonifts had even

Lo

loft this privilege as British fubjects, yet from their natural right to it as men, they may not be deprived of it.

That it is a right, the free exercise of which ought not only to be fecured to every British fubject, but in common to all mankind.

That the Colonists, in general, have not been deprived of this right by their charters; and admitting they were, yet any furrender of this natural right made by their ancestors, cannot be binding upon them, or their descendants, hereafter.-And

That their being deprived of the exercife of this right, is an arbitrary and tyrannical act of Great Britain, and contrary to the known principles of reaJon and natural juftice.

If then the Colonifts have been deprived of, or refufed this great privilege; --if taxes have been impofed on them, without their confent, by the ufurped power of the British Parliament, in which not a fingle man of them is repreJented;-if befides this daring infringement on their rights as men and British fubjects, they have in other inftances been cruelly and unjustly oppreffed-if a wicked and corrupt miniftry, with an intent to reduce them into a state of flavery, have mifguided their sovereign by dangerous and evil council; and to gratify their infamous defigns, have advised the deftruction of a generous people; who are involved in the miferies of a civil war, for attempting to preferve their rights, and the freedom of themselves and their pofterity;-if this be the cafe, and the Colonifts have therefore flood upon their defence; and like the defcendants of British ancestors, bravely refused to bend their necks to the yoke of flavery, -who can blame them?-Are they for this to be reprefented as an infatuated, a deluded people?-No. They hereby prove themselves worthy of the ancestry from which they came :-they prove themselves the fons of freemen; born to the inheritance of civil liberty-Men who could act otherways, would be a scandal to their country; a disgrace to Britifh fubjects, and a reproach to man-kind. And now, Sir, I fhall conclude with a with as fincere as you can poffibly give, for a speedy reconciliation between Great Britain and her Colonies. But yet, fuffer me to wish it may be fuch a one, as hall be established upon the true principles of Juftice and Freedom.-And may that day foon arrive, in which the domeftic enemies of our country may meet with their reward;-when our once glorious conflitu Appendix, 1775.

tion fhall be reflor'd to its former purity, and the trueborn fons of liberty become a terror to the promoters of flavery and oppreffion.

Reflections on the Character of the two Sexes, as oppofed to each other, and the Danger of Mifrepresentation, illustrated by Examples.

as a compound of weaknefs and WOMEN are generally defcribed caprice; and young girls are almost univerfally taught to look upon men as infidious villains, on the watch to betray, or cruel monsters ready to devour them. Nothing can be more abfurd or dangerous than fuch mifreprefentations: they tend to the extinction of all efteem in the one fex, and all confidence in the other; and before experience can undeceive either, or at leaft lead them to a right judgment, into how many misfortunes are they not too often unhappily betrayed!

The youth of ftrong paffions who enters upon life with a perfuafion of female weaknefs, not only thinks every woman may be feduced from the paths of duty, but confiders the most amiable of her fex merely as an object of animal delight; as a lovely flower that captivates his fenfes, or a delicious fruit prepared by nature for the gratification of his appetite. Her refittance he denominates vanity or caprice; he preffes his affiduities; and fhe, too often mistaking the ardour of paffion for affection, gives him reason to conclude his conjecture was juft.-But in the courfe of his licentious pursuits, fo ruinous to thofe whom heaven intend ed as the virtuous partners of our happinefs, he often receives a wound in his bofom, which fetters till death. Of this fad truth Mr. Freelove is a melancholy example.

Frank Freelove was early diftinguished at the university of Oxford, as a young gentleman of a lively genius, and an elegant addrefs. His morals were found, and his manners irreproachable. But being too liberally supplied with money by his father, he made frequent excurfions to London; attended the public diversions, and vifited the ladies of eafy virtue. By thefe means his character was fuddenly changed: he affected the air of diffipation, talked indecently, and was guilty of numberlefs irregularities. Female virtue became his derifion; and as he had chiefly been acquainted with thofe women whose weakness is their pride, he entertained a contemptible opinion of the whole fex. In this opinion he was confirmed by the concurring teflimony of

Iiiii

his

his libertine companions, and the fuccefs of his licentious amours.

But Mr. Freelove's principles were ftill in a greater measure entire, not withftanding the errors in his conduct: he abhorred any action that had the appearance of bafenefs, injuftice, or inhumanity; yet, blinded by his paffions and his prejudices, he was habitually unjuft to that fex, which it ought to have been his glory to prote&, and at last was guilty of the greatest cruelty to the woman whom, above all others, he should have 'treated with tenderness, and whofe virtue deferved to be cherished with the fondeft regard. Alas! how fatal to both! When Mr. Freelove left the univerfity, he spent fome time at LovemoreHall, in Lancashire, the feat of his family, in order to get acquainted with the neighbouring gentlemen, before he should fet out on his travels. A young gentleman, fo accomplished both in mind and perfon, could not fail to attract univerfal notice; and the young ladies of that country, fo diftinguished by their beauty, did not escape the glance of his amorous eye. The libertinifm of his character was not there known; and as he poffeffed that poifoning, but too often prevail. ing art,

"Which can, with a refiftlefs charm, impart

"The loofeft wishes to the chafleft heart,"

there is much reafon to believe that he frequently fucceeded in his attempts upon unguarded virtue. But one lady more particularly engaged his attention, and long with flood all his attacks. What pity that he could not refift to the latt -Or that his paffions, and ftill more his pernicious opinions, fhould fo far have extinguished his humanity, as to make him profecute, with unrelenting ardour, the ruin of fo much innocence and loveliness!

This amiable perfon, whom I thall call Emilia, was the daughter of a neighbouring clergyman, and about nineteen years of age. She had originally receiv`ed a good education, and had lived fome time with a relation in London; fie had vifited the places of public entertainment; fhe had feen all that commonly attracts' the youthful heart, and too often intoxicates the youthful mind. But Emilia had only known the world to guard herfelf against its contagion; to fear its vices, and to fhun its follies. She had acquired, however, a tafte for elegant manners and polite conversation, which made the country gentlemen, in general, dif

agreeable to her, and contributed to her fall not lefs than the affiduities of her lover, or the treachery of her own feelings. She no fooner faw Mr. Freelove, than fhe was captivated with his air; his converfation charmed her, and the immediately flattered herself with a mutual fympathy, without reflecting on the danger to which fuch a fympathy mult expofe her.

Mr. Freelove, on his part, was no lefs captivated with Emilia: he was equally furprised and transported to find in the fame perfon, the accomplishments of the court lady, and the fimplicity of the country girl. In order to enjoy more frequently the pleasure of her company, he invited her to spend part of the fummer at Lovemore-Hall along with his fifter, with whom he was very intimate. Emilia's heart whifpered confent; but fhe prudently referred all to the will of her pious and affectionate father: the good man agreed, and Emilia fet out on her journey with as much inward fatiffaction, as if fhe had been going to take poffeffion of the mansion, and be united to its accomplished owner, So fome fair facrifice. fome kid or fawn, The spotlefs-beauty of the flowery lawn, Sincere in innocence, as gay is feen, Led to the fane, as frifking on the green.

But the worthy clergyman, though he had granted his confent to the vifit, was not without his fears of its confeqences: his mind even feemed to presage fome fatal evil.

"My dear Emily," faid he, on the morning of her departure, “ I never could contradict you in any matter of harmless amufement, neither will I in the prefent, to which I have already given my fanction; but if I had known that you promifed yourself fo much happine fs at Lovemore-Hall, I fhould never have confented to this vifit."

"How! dear Sir, can you be fo cruel!" cried Emilia," as to entertain fuch a thought!-Have you not often told me that this world is no better than a vale of tears, compared to the primitive fiate of man?--What need have we not then of every little comfort to cheer our forelorn condition!-Would it not be peculiarly hard to deprive the inhabitants of Greenland of one ray of funshine, after their half year's night; or to exclude them from a bank of flowers, if flowers could grow amid thofe regions of eternal froft?"

"I am obliged to you, my child, for `the fimilitude. The paths of youth are as flippery as those fronty regions, of which

You

you fpeak, and ought to be trod with caution by all, but more efpecially by young women;—for if, feduced by the profpect of momentary pleasure, (to which, alas! their unguarded hearts are often but too much inclined) they fhould flip a foot, their ruin is inevitable: they glide immediately to the gulph of infamy, or are dafhed in pieces on the rock of deftruction.".

In concluding these words he caught Emilia in his arms, and bedewed her cheek with his tears. Surprised at his emotion, she looked at him anxiously, and said,

"I will not go, fince it gives you fo much concern."

"Yes," replied he, " you must go, fince we have both engaged our promife; but be greatly cautious of Mr. Freelove. A young woman fhould feldom truft herfelf alone with a man of her own age, and never with him fhe loves."

"If that is all your fear," cried Emilia, with an air of indifference," you may make yourself perfectly easy. Maria is my particular friend, and I fhall have no occafion to be in her brother's company without her. But though I fhould, Mr. Freelove, I hope, is too much a gentleman to attempt any liberties with a lady who never gave him encouragement by her levities, and too generous to take advantage of a tender partiality, if he fhould even difcover one." "I have a very good opinion of Mr. Freelove, but would advise you not to trust too much to his generofity, efpecially in an affair where his paffions, and perhaps your own may be concerned: credulity ruins more women than virtue faves."

"My virtue, I truft, will not be put to the trial. The difparity of Mr. Freelove's condition, or at least his fortune, and mine, is too manifeft for any credulity but the moft blind and self-deluding, to build its hopes upon."

"I am glad you are fenfible of it," faid her venerable father, with a smile of approbation, handing her into the chaife.

And well had it been for her if she had continued fenfible of it; for if girls did not flatter themselves with vain hopes, or were convinced, that they had nothing to expect from their feducers but the pleasures of vice, the vicious only would fubmit.

Every thing confpired to lull the fears, and awaken the hopes of Emilia. Mr. Freelove treated her with the fondeft attention; his countenance feemed to

brighten in her prefence: her company infpired him with new life: her amufement appeared to be his fole ftudy: her pleasure his fole delight; and an undeviating refpect characterised his whole conduct, and made his affiduities doubly dangerous.--The leaft feemed entitled to regard, and vanity noted the more confiderable as favours; and favours, even from pride, feem to claim a return. Emilia found her heart infenfibly difpoled to gratitude, and nodding reafon ratified the fentiment.

"Mr. Freelove," faid fhe to herself, "is incapable of any views but what are honourable: my father's fears were unjutt, and injurious to the moft amiable of men and moft refpectful of lovers. Let me not be ungenerous; let me treat him with lefs referve; let me make the dear youth fome small return for fo many civilities."

In confequence of this way of thinking, Emilia became more free in her manner, and more gay in her converfation.--Mr. Freelove obferved the change; but instead of afcribing it to its true caufe, the overflowing tenderness of an affectionate heart, he confidered it as a levity of difpofition.

Emilia," faid he to himself, "like all her fex, ftruggled with nature and inclination, till the combat became difagreeable to her, and now the gives it up. Such a bleffed thing is female virtue, and fo truly worthy of adoration!-- But I, thank heaven, am no more its dupe, nor the dupe of the fex, to which it is falfely fuppofed to belong.--No, my chaimer, I will not difappoint thy wifhes, by worfhipping the idol of thy vanity: thou fhalt own the ardour of my glowing paffion, and find a lover worthy of thy beauty."

He accordingly became more bold in his manner, and took every opportunity to plead his boundless flame, which he did fo warmly, and with fo much addrefs, that Emilia confeffed a mutual fympathy. -That confeflion proved fatal to her. New proofs of her tenderness were every day demanded, till fhe had almoft none to give.--She faw herself on the brink of ruin, and attempted a retreat. by quarrelling with her lover. Alas! how effectually! Mr. Freelove bore her difpleafure with much feeming indifference; and when he thought he had humbled her fufficiently, and given her choler time to cool, he fell at her feet. and implored forgiveness with all the carnefinefs of a condemned criminal. His pardon was fealed with yet untasted I iiii 2

proofe

proofs of tenderness; and the ungenerous youth, to whom the had given fo much, laid hold of this melting moment of reconciliation, to rob her of what the yalued more than life.

My dear Emilia," faid he, when he faw her foul abforbed in foft ideas, "I am obliged to go to London in a few days, and from thence to Paris.-Theneceffity that I am under of paying obedience to my tutors only could feparate me from her I love.-But I hope to return; and when I do, my hand and fortune, both at my difpofal, will leave Emilia no room to doubt of my affection.-What pity that the bafhfulness of that heart fhould ftill give me reason to suspect the fincerity of your's!" and he preffed her tenderly to his bofom.

Emilia, overcome by a crowd of emotions, was incapable of refiftance: Mr. Freelove accomplished his purpofe; fhe was undone. He faw her forrow, and fled from her reproaches, "That the form might blow by," as he would have exprefled it; but he found it to be the blait of death.

As foon as the lovely girl was reflored to reflection, the fell on her knees, and lifted her hands and eyes to heaven, in all the agony of defpair.-Maria entered at that inftant, the fufpected what had happened, but was afraid to communicate her fears to her friend: they gazed in filence on each other. At lait Emilia fprung up, and cried in a frantic

tone

"Flee me! Maria! flee me!-I am become unworthy of your regard! flee me! my company is contagious!" and The tore the beauteous ringlets of her hair.

To thefe frantic ravings fucceeded a fettled melancholy, which preyed upon her life. Her father was fent for; but fhe had fo much regard for his peace, as to hide the caufe of her diforder.-The aids of phylic were tried in vain. Mr. Freelove, for a time, confidered all as the effect of female artifice, and wounded pride; but when he faw that the life of the young lady was in danger, that The faded daily like a blafted flower, and yet ftill concealed, even from a tender parent, the fource of her malady, and the author of her fhame, his heart was filled with forrow and remorfe. He begged to be admitted to her prefence; he knelt down by her bed fide; he feized her hand, preffed it to his lips, and prayed forgivenefs; offering to make what reparation was in his power, for a crime, which, though not altogether in

voluntary, he urged was the effect of blind paffion, and mistaken opinion.

"Mr. Freelove," said fhe, in an affecting tone, "can the murderer make reparation to the flain for the blood he has fhed -The lofs of a woman's honour is moral death; and after that, natural life is little worth preserving.Your intentions towards me, therefore, though generous, in the phrafe of the world, are equally fruitlefs and unneceffary. I could never agree to make a friend and fellow-traveller of my betrayer; and happily my journey is near an end. But though fuch are my fentiments and my condition, it gives me pleasure to see that you are fenfible of your crime; that you are not at once guilty and unfeeling. By a proper repentance, you may live to make fome other woman happy: you may yet be, what I fondly thought you a generous lover; and you may be what my vain wifes figured you, a tender husband: but you can never be any thing to the injured Emilia, nor fle to you!-and The expired in a ftruggle of emotions.

Mr. Freelove was now inconfolable. The charms of Emilia, her virtue, her tenderness, all rofe upon his mind, and ftung his foul like daggers. He fied from a place where every thing was torment to him; but, alas! he forgot that the heart cannot fly from its woe. The tour of France and Italy, with all their fcenes of gaiety and diffipation, only confirmed his melancholy-It clung to his heart like rufi, and eat out every chearful feeling. He returned to England more difconfolate than he went away; and now exhibits at Lovemore Hall, in joylefs days, and fleepless nights, an awful leffon to the rake and the libertine. The ladies too may be benefited by it, as it cannot fail to recall to their thoughts the untimely fate of the fair Emilia, and the danger of liftening to the dictates of a too tender and too generous heart.

But I have another leffon for the ladies;-an example drawn from their own fex, of "the bad conféquences of being taught to confider men in a worfe light than they deferve."

Cleora Freeport had the misfortune to lofe her parents at seven years of age, and was left to the care of a maiden aunt, who took upon herself the fole direction of her niece's education.-Diffi tisfied with the world and with their own condition, old maids are generally dif pofed to be fevere; to rail at thole weakneffes of which they are no longer