The Massachusetts spy, or, Thomas's Boston journal. [volume], October 07, 1773, Image 1

About The Massachusetts spy, or, Thomas's Boston journal. [volume] (Boston [Mass.]) 1772-1775

Image provided by: Boston Public Library

                
raw f
£;
zts^a iV7r l
A Weekly, Political, and Commercial Paper .-—Open to all Parties, but Influenced by None.
cDOthqu Great LIBERTY inspirf our Souls,—And make our Livesin thy PotTe flion happy, Or,ourDcaths glorious in thy just Defence.*
Vol. lII.]
For the Massachusetts SPY.
Mr. Thomas,
The Dialogue continued between the Britons
and Americans.
Americans.
OU have ali'arcd us, that
if reason preponderates in
our vour v ou
mit to its didates, and if
you will the difpu'.c may
i° un en^ » or
reason ot mankind is on our fide, and n..
truth in nature is capable of clearer demon
stration than this, if we arc taxed and con
fronted by you without our own consent,
v/e are in a Rate of slavery. 1o be free
men, is to governed by laws of our own
making, but to be governed by laws which
we do not make nor consent to, is'compete
tyranny on your part and slavery on our part.
Britons. Theory and pradice arc differ
ent things; in theory as you have stated the
matter, you have made it tyranny in us to
govern you by laws which you do not con
tent to; but we do not desire nor intend to
tranfgrtft the rules of rigbteoufnefs, nor do
any thing inconfifteut with the tenderness of
a parent to his child; we ad for the good
or the whose Empire and comprehend your
interest as well as our own, and if you
were easy you would find in the end it
would be happy for you.
Americans. Your aflurances give us
little tausfadton, for own our reasons as web
As experience contradids them. Already A
ire ican MW has been feed by your tyranny,
the iob of our Goodie and for us to
•truHtoyour government after such treat
ment, would be the height of folly,and rend
der us the contempt of all the world. The
Lb- iticsofa people are never fafe but in
tbei> own bands ; and whenever they have
fruited them in the hands of others they
have always been enfiaved. And you will
find the Americaas too sensible, spirited,
and dctermmed.ever to submit to your ufarp
ed authority ; and if ynu do not m- ke
peace wi h them soon, by restoring their
rights thev will difeard you for ever.
Britons. You are so obftina ely fixed in
your principles of independence that we do
not expert to convince yau, but we have
the power of governing in our hands and we
intend to keep you in order; people that
will not be governed by reason mutt be go
‘ verned by fomethmg qlle.
Americans. We understand you very
well, we have fetn and felt your government,
and found (as all the world has ever done)
xhat power, without a check on the part of
the people, ts tyranny. But thanks be given
to the just and merciful ruler of the world
he has placed us in a fituaticn to do our
feUm justice; we stand upon thefineftcon
. twent in the world, it is more than one
hundred times larger than your Island of Bri
tain, and accommodated with every advan
tage for a rich and potent commonwealth,
and we can cafily in a very short time com
plete it.
Britons. We are not concerned about
your commonwealth, you will rather fub
mt< to our controul than run the risk of
forming a new government ; « is difficult
to dissolve old governments and form new
ones; we know that you have fame high
foos. as you call them, who would be g'ad
to have an independent commonwealth, but
the body of the people will not join them.
W« eXpcd you will continue to talk and
bluffer about the commonwealth of Amert
ca ; and this is all.
Americans. So said the tyrant Charles,
when h« was threatened by his parliament, :
they never will dune to earn makers to
extremity, and if I bold out agatnft them a i
>Ule longer i Ihaii cftabhfii my au bority.” |
Or, Thomass Bolton Journal.
THURSDAY, October 7, 1773.
r hcfequelwe need not mention ; yuuhavc
often heard upon your mock 30th of January
falls, bow Charles's policy fuccecded. If
you persevere, I dare fay you will meet with
r qual success. Happy for the world if all the
tyrants in it should receive Charles’s reward
The forming an independent common
wealth is so practicable and easy, and the peo
ple of th s country are prefled with so many
realons for doing it, there can be no rational
doubt but it will be done; unless you immc
dia'dy come tn honourable terms with us.
Britons. How in the name of Neptune,
could you build and support a navy fupetior
to ours ? We fhculd blow you to the cen
te, and drive you to the other fide the
world.
Americans. Not so hft, brothers ; -our
plan is complete, guards against every evil,
and secures every advantage. We do not
intend to be at the txpence of maintaining a
navy.
Britons. We can not imagine how you
think to defend yourselves without a navy ?
Americans. By one stroke of policy, we
can at once secure our sea-ports, and save
the expence of a navy ; open our ports to
all nations, and offer a free trade to the world.
So vafi ate the advantages which the nations
in Europe will receive from our trade, they
will all unite to defend it. Interest is the
only principle which governs nations, and
th 1 will for ever induce them to defend our
trade from your piracy, for their own ad
vantage. This superior advantage is pecu
liar to America, as our trade is very exten
live, and continually growing ; and it ik
highly probable we (hall in time rival all na
tkms in the commercial wcrld.
Britons. This ia a feheme we did not
think of ; but can you be so unnatural as to
forfake your parent who has guarded and
supported you in your infancy, now you are
become a confiaerable people, and your con
nexion with us may be greatly to our
advantage ?
Americans. Nothing but your unnatural
abuse and tytanny would have driven us into
the contemplation of a feperate state. At a
proper time we will difeourfe further upon
this m«»ter.
Ftom the Public Ledger, July 30.
DARTMOUTH.
My Lord,
IF Chiilliarjiy was compatible with the
lazy apathy of the itoics; if rational piety
wts (he p >rent of fanaticifm, you, my Lord,
would be tbc belt chrifiian and the bell pietilt
that hath exited since the days of Constantine.
If moral honefly would serve as a substitute far
political virtue, you would alia nuke an admir
able minister. But unfortunately there is a gift
with which you are not endowed ; there are ta
lents which fcldom fall to the lot of men of your
Lordship’s call, yet are so effen ial, that with
out th s gift, without these talents, to attempt
moving in ihc Ipbere of political lilt, is truly
ridiculous, is altogether contemptible. May I
whilpcr id your Lordship’s ear, what the loud
trump of nature hath founded forth to all the
world beside, that you was designed for private
not for public flation 1 To grace some lonely
Mookilh cell, not fi 6 ure in a drawing room !
Th s whilprr of truth, if attended to in time,
will lead to a correction of a miflake, by pro
ducing your RESIGNATION.
You have raihly been prevailed upon to un
dertake the fupciintcndence of American af
fairs, and that too at a time, when those affairs
were hour'y hastening to a most unfortunate
catastrophe ; Lxd Hillfb irough farelaw this,
and p udently retired, before the storm gather
ed to an head. The Calu ftical Barc.net of Ner
tieham, he too quitted the feene of allion, con
tent wi*h having thrown the whole drama into
cunlufion; you my Loid, are left disconsolate
in the critical emergency of distress : The peri
od is now arrived, when you must incur the
cenlure or npphufc of aacuraged, inluked, yet •
oyal people. I
•he Amir icans have been mill fc« d
loufly tra uced, and i; is now apparent *"<o
have been their traducers ; the letters ot M firs.
Hucchinfon and Oiver, prove beyond contia
didion, that the deftrudion of the chatter
rights, and liberties of the colonies, hath bee i
aimed at by the Ministry at home, as well a.
the friends of that Ministry abroad ; the sh ime
ful feheme was conceived by our cabinet coun
cil.and it remained for such agenta as Hutchin
son, Oliver, Paxton, and others, to give it
existence. As the design was execrable,
the meant employed to execute it, were infa
mous, were difhoncurable, and such as would
cause a blush in (he cheeks of an infidel savage
to countenance. A Chief Justice of a province
degenerating into a common Informer ! ar
gues a species of villainous reichery language
cannot paint: A Chief Jultice of a province,
basely undermining that conllitution he was
appointed to support, ufiog every art to er fl ve
those people whole freedom he was sworn to
maintain! What, my Lord, is this, but to h ap
perjury upon (reason, and for pure “ villainies’’
fake, to be villainous in rhe ex reme • Yet men
guil y of such crimes, have be< n not only coun
tcranced.but carreflcd.not merely em bred hut
highly honored by your predecefT -a in office I
Will you, Lord Da a difeip’e of juf
tice, a profeflor of the Chullian graces, will yon
consent to the continuance of such men in pla.
Css of profit, of honour and of t ulf f Will you
thus commence patron of inhum nity f Will
you (hr - lenity to ihofr who, actuated by prin
espies of birbarity, have evufe 4 the deftrudi n
of their fellow fiibjefls f I (peak bo dly but I
(peak tru hs,i > oroer that «i Lins may fee! dag
gr-r»,ard honeit na<ure he sh.. k.rf.
I affirm then that •• all the tr üb'es ard mili.
“ lary murdert m America, during thole t ru
'* bies, happened in conlequence ol ihe traitor*
“ cu- anlreprtjcrtatitnt ot he King's Mioiflers
•« in th «t country.” Is more affirmed chan the
confidential com Iponden ell Huichinlon.Pax
ron. and Ol ver piovea I What can we think
whaa the Chief Jafiiceof a free province, writes
thus in a letter : “ Thee mull be an tbriage
meut of what are called Englilh libertiei " And
who can doubt the intentions of the Britilh
court, when we lee such a man held ia cd 1 ma
tion by the King and Ministry.
Ag in, Charles Paxton lays, '* unlela we
have immediately two or three regiments, it i»
the opinion of ail the frintdt of g vtmmtnt, that
Boftoo will be in open rebellion ” To this, a
mongft other informations, America is indeb ed
tor the introduXi nos f many troops at Bos
ton, and the subsequent (laughter of the inhabi
tants by the military.
Tbefe/*#/, my Lord,and some others, which
will shortly be made oublic, account fufficiently
for those differences which havefo iongunhap
pily fubftfted between Great Britain and her co
lonies.
The nature of your office implies a power of
healing those diffe ences, of amicably adjusting
each fubjed of complaint; by your conduit we
(ball fee whether you adually poffefa this power,
for if fpeedv justice is rendered the colonies, by
the removal, and pnntjhment of those heralds of
sedition, thole traitors to their tmft.Hutchinfon,
Oliver, Paxton, and the rest of the cabal j if thia
be done, we (had then know that you are in ve
ry deed American Minister; if it be not done,
it will be manifeft to the world, that you are
the puppet y the day, incapable to move unless
some lecret hand ihall touch the MASTER
WIRE. AN AMERICAN.
[Continuedfrom our la/I.J
SOUTH-CAROLIN A.
In the Upper House of Assembly.
Friday, the day of September, 1773.
RESOLVED on Motion. That the
Hon.VVilliam-Henry Drayton, Elq; a
member of this house, has been guilty of a
breach of privilege and contempt of this
house, in being instrumental to the publicati
on of the protest printed in the South Caroli
na Gaaettc Extraordinary No. 1967, pub
lilhed by T. Powell, 3c Co.
Before putting the question, ihe Honour
able William Henry Drayton, Efqi obtained
leave to enter his protest.
DISSENTIENT*
BECAUSE) in the debate it appeared,
’Numb. 140.
t iat i had on v publilhed the protest, by lub
fnittmg it to lonic gentlemen for their opini
on and advice ; and it was allowed by bit
Majesty's Attorney-General, that such n
publication was not c’iminal in the rye f
the law yet upon this principle have I been
c mdemiied as guilty of a contempt, which
judgment, in my opinion, is contrary to the
laws of the land and of pailiament, and is a
vio'ationef the rights of the members ol thia
huufe.
WILLIAM HENRY DRAYTON,
Mr. Drayton was thereupon directed to
withdraw, which he did accordingly.
Refdved, That when I'. Powell was be
fore this house, his whole deportment and
behaviour, manifefted the moll inlolcnt dif
relpcd, and so far was he from difeovering
any contrition for his offence, that he flatly
declared, that he did not know that he had
committed any, and ihertfore thought it hard
to ask pardon ; and being infoimed by tha
Picfi ’ent, that the houle was of a different
opinion, hr Hill obftinatcly per lifted that he
could not ask pardon.
Friday, the \d day of September, P» M.
HiS Honour the Ptcfident inhumed the
houle, that since the last meeting of this
h >ufe, he had received the following letter
from the Honourable William Henry Dray
ton, Eq
“SIR,
“ IN co fideration that the house did
observe so much decorum, as that they did
11 t proceed thisdav to the last extremity,
i confidcr that some return ia due on my
part: I do therfore now accquamt you,
that upon the meeting of the house this af
ternoon, 1 sh di declare the perlon by whose
authority the protest has been printed ;
and 1 (lull do this the more readily, as [
conceive such information will be fatisfac
tory to the house, and will be deemed a
lufficicnt purgation from the charge of
contempt as 1 understood du'ing debate. I
am, Sir,your molt humble servant,
WILLIAM HENRY DRAY TON.”
Two o'eftk, >
Whereupon the said William Henry
Drayton informed-the house, that he nei
ther sent the protest to the printers, or or
dered any other perlon to cirry it or even
defi cd the printer or any other person to
pubhfh it, and that he was informed by
Mr. Edward Rutledge, that he had lent a
copy ol the protest to the printers.
Resolved, That the Honourable Wil
liam-Henry Dray tori, by the above infor
mation has purged himfclf of the contempt
and breach of privilege with which he
Hands charged by the vote of this house.
Ordered, That Roger Bickney, Elqg
the bherift for Charlcftown diflridl, be or
dered to attend this house to nvrrow morn
ing at ten o’clock, and that the clerk do
lerve him with a copy of this order.
Weare informed, that Mr. PowclL after
four days confinement, was bailed out by
two magistrates, who gave security for his
appearance to stand trial fur the pretended
offence.
BOSTON.
FRIDA Y, OXober 1.
On the 7 h ult. a fchconer from Boffon for
Dominica, Capt. Michael Dupte, was spoke
with in lat. 39, 29. lon. 6a. out five days.
And on the 14 r h Capt. M'Dufli:, from Caf*
co- Bay for St. Vincen’*, was spoke with, out
three days. Also a fforp horn Button for
Africa
Perth Amboy, Sep’emler 15. The
wives and lelattuns o» n.< *1 ot the unhappy
money makers, now under (entente of
death, are here with ’lie Governor, in ol
der »o folic t h»m for a lepmie. So many
unhappy peoo’c wandeting about tie ftree's,
is realty an affcXmp