The Diplomatic Correspondence of the American Revolution Volume VII Part 23

"The inquiries in question are numerous and important. They do honor to the sagacity which suggested them, and, if fully answered, would produce a very interesting history of the present condition of the American States. On some of the subjects proposed, I can give your Excellency full and positive intelligence; on others, only general and by no means precise information. On all, however, I shall write with candor.

"Such is the nature of the American governments and confederacy, that the Congress, and all other rulers of the people, are responsible to them for their conduct, and cannot withhold from their const.i.tuents a knowledge of their true situation, without subjecting themselves to all the evils, which they experience, who subst.i.tute cunning in the place of wisdom. Hence it is, that a knowledge of their affairs is easily attainable by all who will be at the trouble of collecting it, and as it is neither the policy nor inclination of America to draw a veil over any part of their affairs, your Excellency may be persuaded, that every consideration forbids their servants, by a suppression, or misrepresentation of facts, to deceive or mislead those whose amity they so sincerely endeavor to cultivate, as they do that of Spain.

I. THE CIVIL STATE OF NORTH AMERICA.

"Your Excellency has with great propriety arranged the subjects of your inquiry under two heads; the _Civil_ and _Military_ States of North America. The first of these is again branched into several subdivisions, at the head of which, is the

_Population of each State._

"The exact number of inhabitants in the United States has not, I believe, been ascertained by an actual census in more than two or three of them. The only computation made by Congress was on the 29th of July, 1775; the manner and occasion of which exclude every suspicion of its exceeding the true number. Congress had emitted bills of credit to a very considerable amount, and were apprised of the necessity of emitting more. Justice demanded that this debt should be apportioned among the States according to their respective abilities; an equitable rule whereby to determine that ability became indispensable. After much consideration, Congress resolved, 'that the proportion, or quota of each Colony, should be determined according to the number of the inhabitants of all ages (including negroes and mulattoes) in each Colony,' but as that could not _then_ be ascertained _exactly_, they were obliged to judge of, and compute the number from circ.u.mstantial evidence. The delegates gave to Congress an account of the population of their respective Colonies, made from the best materials then in their power, and so great was their confidence in each other, that from those accounts that computation was princ.i.p.ally formed. Your Excellency will readily perceive, that the delegates were far from being under any temptations to exaggerate the number of their const.i.tuents; they were not ignorant, that by such exaggerations they would increase their portion of aids, both of men and money, and that whatever errors they might commit, could not be rectified by an actual numeration during the war. The computation then formed was as follows.

New Hamps.h.i.+re, 124,069 and a half Ma.s.sachusetts Bay, 434,244 Rhode Island, 71,959 and a half Connecticut, 248,139 New York, 248,139 New Jersey, 161,290 and a half Pennsylvania, 372,208 and a half Delaware, 37,219 and a half Maryland, 310,174 and a half Virginia, 496,278 North Carolina, 248,139 South Carolina, 248,139 --------- 3,000,000

Exclusive of the inhabitants of Georgia, who were not at that time represented in Congress, and of whose numbers I have no information that I can confide in.

_The Form of Government of each State._

"In the pamphlets I have now the honor of transmitting to your Excellency, viz. No. 1, No. 2, No. 3, No. 4, and No. 5, you will find the const.i.tutions of New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and South Carolina. The others I have not with me. The great outlines of them all are very similar.

By the last accounts from America, it appears that Ma.s.sachusetts Bay had not as yet agreed upon their const.i.tution, but had it then under consideration.

"It cannot be necessary to observe to your Excellency, that these new modes of government were formed by persons named and authorised by the people for that express purpose; that they were, in general, inst.i.tuted with great temper and deliberation upon such just and liberal principles, as on the one hand to give effectual security to civil and religious liberty, and on the other make ample provision for the rights of justice, and the due exercise of the necessary powers of government.

"The articles of confederation agreed upon by Congress, and approved by every State in the Union except Maryland, provide for the general government of the Confederacy, and the ordering of all matters essential to the prosperity and preservation of the Union in peace and war. I ought also to inform your Excellency, that the reasons why Maryland has as yet withheld her a.s.sent to those articles, do not arise from any disaffection to the common cause, but merely from their not having adopted certain principles respecting the disposition of certain lands.

_The Union and Resolution of the Inhabitants to continue the War with Vigor as long as may be necessary._

"On this subject I can give your Excellency certain and positive information; the storm of tyranny and oppression, which had for some years been constantly growing more black and more terrible, began to burst with violence on the people of North America in the year 1774. It was seen and felt and deprecated by all except those, who expected to gather spoils in the ruins it was designed to occasion. These were those who enjoyed, or expected, emoluments from Great Britain, together with their immediate dependants and connexions; such as the officers of government throughout the Colonies, but with some very distinguished exceptions; those of the clergy of the church of England almost without exception, who received annual salaries from the society established in England for Propagating the Gospel in Foreign Parts; foreign adventurers, buyers and sellers, who, being no further attached to the country than as it afforded the means of gain, soon prepared to speculate in confiscations, and courted the notice of their sovereign by intemperate zeal for the ruin of his subjects. With these exceptions, the great body of the people moved together, and united in such firm and considerate measures for the common safety, and conducted their affairs with such regularity, order, and system, as to leave no room to suppose them to be the work of only a prevailing party, as our enemies have always represented and affected to consider them.

"There was, it is true, another cla.s.s of persons not much less dangerous, though far more contemptible than those I first mentioned; persons who in every revolution, like floating weeds in every storm, obey the strongest wind, and pa.s.s from side to side as that happens to change. I mean the _neutrals_, a pusillanimous race, who having balanced in their minds the advantages and disadvantages, the gains and dangers of joining either side, are seduced by their fears to form a thousand pretexts for joining neither; who, to manifest their loyalty to their King, when his armies were successful, gave them every aid in their power, except drawing their swords against their country, and who, when their countrymen prevailed, were ready to render them all possible service, except taking arms against their Prince.

"The auxiliaries, whom the British measures and forces found in the country, consisted of persons from these cla.s.ses. And although when these first appeared in, and wounded the bosom of America, she was obliged to extend her arms to repel the a.s.saults of a foreign enemy, yet such was the union and spirit of her inhabitants, that she was soon enabled not only to put them under her feet, but on the ruins of her former governments to erect new ones in the midst of invasions from without, and treacherous combinations from within. Being able to obtain no other terms of peace than unconditional obedience, she had sufficient courage to declare herself independent in the face of one of the best appointed armies Britain could ever boast of, as well as sufficient strength to limit its operations, and reduce its numbers.

"It may perhaps be observed, that the first object of the war was a redress of grievances; that the present object is _independence_; and it may be asked whether the people are as much united with respect to the last as they were with respect to the first.

"I am certain that the people of America never were so well united as they are at present, in that of their independence.

Exclusive of actual observation on the spot, I think so because,

"1st. The Declaration of Independence was made by Congress at a time, when the great body of their const.i.tuents called for it.

"2dly. Because that declaration was immediately recognised by the general a.s.semblies and legislatures of the several States, without exception.

"3dly. Because the successful army under General Burgoyne was defeated and captured by a great collection of the neighboring militia, to whom he had offered peace and tranquillity on their remaining at home, terms which it was natural to suppose a great many of them would have accepted, had the Declaration of Independence been disagreeable to them.

"4thly. Because the Congress, consisting of members annually elected, have repeatedly, expressly, and unanimously declared their determination to support it at every hazard.

"5thly. Because their internal enemies have been either expelled or reduced, and their estates to a very great amount in some of the States confiscated and actually sold.

"6thly. Because const.i.tutions and forms of government have since been inst.i.tuted and completely organised, in which the people partic.i.p.ate, from which they have experienced essential advantages, and to which they have of consequence become greatly attached.

"7thly. Because Congress unanimously refused to enter into treaty with the British Commissioners on any terms short of independence, and because every State, though afterwards separately solicited, refused to treat otherwise than collectively by their delegates in Congress.

"8thly. Because the inhuman and very barbarous manner in which the war has been conducted by the enemy, has so alienated the affections of the people from the King and government of Britain, and filled their hearts with such deep rooted and just resentments, as render a cordial reconciliation, much less a dependence on them, utterly impossible.

"9thly. Because the doctrine propagated in America by the servants of the King of Great Britain, that no faith was to be kept with Americans in arms against him, and the uniformity with which they have adhered to it, in their practice as well as professions, have destroyed all confidence, and leave the Americans no room to doubt, but that, should they again become subjects of the King of Britain on certain terms, those terms would as little impede the progress of future oppression, as the capitulation of Limerick, in 1691, did with respect to Ireland.

"10thly. Because the treaty with France, and consequently virtue, honor, and every obligation due to the reputation of a rising nation, whose fame is unsullied by violated compacts, forbid it.

"11thly. Because it is the evident, and well known interest of North America to remain independent.

"12thly. Because the history of mankind, from the earliest ages, with a loud voice calls upon those who draw their swords against a Prince, deaf to the supplication of his people, to throw away that scabbard.

"13thly. Because they do not consider the support of their independence as difficult. The country is very defensible and fertile; the people are all soldiers, who with reason consider their liberty and lives as the most valuable of the possessions left them, and which they are determined shall neither be wrested or purchased from them but with blood.

"14thly. Because for the support of their independence, they have expressly, by a most solemn act, pledged to each other their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor; so that their bond of union, for this very purpose, thus formed of all the ties of common interest, common safety, mutual affection, general resentments, and the great obligations of virtue, honor, patriotism, and religion, may with reason be deemed equal to the importance of that great object.

_Whether there is any powerful Party in Favor of England, and what Consequences are to be apprehended from it? Whether the Heads of this Party suffer themselves to be seduced by the Promises of the British Government?_

"What has been already said, on the subject of the union of the people in North America, will I imagine in a great measure answer these questions.

"If by a party in favor of England is meant a party for relinquis.h.i.+ng the independence of the United States, and returning to the dominion of Britain, on any terms whatever, I answer there is no such party in North America; all the open adherents of the Crown of Great Britain having either voluntarily quitted or been expelled from the country.

"That Britain has emissaries and masked adherents in America, industrious in their little spheres to perplex the public measures, and disturb the public tranquillity, is a fact of which I have not the most distant doubt, and it is equally true, that some of these wicked men are by a few weak ones thought to be patriots, but they cannot with any propriety be called a party, or even a faction. The chief mischief they do, is collecting and transmitting intelligence, raising false reports, and spreading calumnies of public men and measures; such characters will be found in every country so circ.u.mstanced, and America has not been negligent in providing laws for their punishment.

"The obvious policy of the Court of London has induced them to boast perpetually of their party in America; but where it is? of whom composed? what it has done, or is doing? are questions to which they constantly give evasive answers. Much also have they said of the numbers that have joined their arms in America. The truth is, that at Boston, Rhode Island, New York, and Philadelphia, they gleaned some of that refuse of mankind, to be found and purchased by any body in all commercial cities. It is also true, that some men of weight and influence in the country, who joined the enemy on their first successes, did draw away with them several of their immediate dependents, whom they persuaded or otherwise influenced to enlist in their service. To these may also be added the prisoners, who at different times they forced into their service by famine, and other severities too numerous as well as barbarous to be here particularized. But I have no reason to believe, that all these aids put together ever exceeded three thousand men. This business, however, (except with respect to prisoners,) has long been over, and before I left America many of those deluded people had returned and implored the pardon of their country.

"In America, as in all other popular governments, your Excellency knows there must and ever will be parties for and against particular measures and particular men. The enemy, adverting to this circ.u.mstance, have had address enough to ascribe differences and temporary heats arising from this source, in which they were not interested, to causes much higher, and more flattering to their importance; and this they have done with so much art, as to have imposed in some instances on the credulity of men high in reputation for sagacity and discernment.

"If your Excellency will be pleased to peruse a pamphlet marked No. 6, which you will find enclosed with the other papers I herewith transmit, and ent.i.tled 'Observations on the American Revolution,' you will perceive that nothing is to be apprehended from this supposed party in North America.

_A Statement of the Revenues of the States, and of their Ability to contribute to the General Expense; whether they will be able long to support this Burthen, and increase it if necessary?_

"The Confederated States have no fixed revenues, nor are such revenues necessary, because all the private property in the country is at the public service. The only restriction imposed by the people is, that it be taken from them with wisdom and justice, or to be more explicit, that the sums required be proportionate to the public exigencies, and a.s.sessed on the individuals in proportion to their respective abilities.

"A nation can seldom be dest.i.tute of the means of continuing a war, while they remain unsubdued in the field, and cheerfully devote their all to that service. They may indeed experience great distress, but no distress being equal to that of subjection to exasperated oppressors, whose most tender mercies are cruel, the Americans had little difficulty in making their election.

_A Statement of the Public Debts._

"This subject your Excellency will find fully discussed in an address of Congress to their const.i.tuents, in which they compute their debts, and mention the means they had taken to preserve the public credit. It is also herewith enclosed, and marked No. 7.

_A Statement of the Debts of each particular State._

"Although exact accounts of these debts are contained in the public printed acts of each State, yet as I neither have any of those acts or extracts from them with me, and my general knowledge on this hand is very imperfect, I am deterred from giving your Excellency any information respecting it, by the very great risk I should run of misleading you on this point.

_The Resources to lessen these Debts._

"Taxes; foreign and domestic loans; sales of confiscated estates, and ungranted lands.

_The possibility of their supporting their Credit in all the Operations of Government, in the Commerce of their Inhabitants, and, above all, in the Protection of National Industry._