THE

MONTHLY REVIEW,

For JANUARY, 1776.

ART. 1. An Humble Addrefs and Earnest Appeal to those respectable Perfonages in Great Britain and Ireland, who, by their great and permanent Interest in Landed Property, their liberal Education, elevated Rank, and enlarged Views, are the ableft to judge, and the fittest to decide, whether a Connection with, or a Separation from the Con.. tinental Colonies of America, be moft for the national Advantage, and the lafting Benefit of thefe Kingdoms. By Jofiah Tucker, D. D. Dean of Gloucefter. 8vo. 1 s. 6 d. Cadell. 1775

'GRE

TREAT BRITAIN and her Colonies (fays the Author) are now at open war. THIS IS THE FACT. But if it should be asked, How these things came to pafs? From what causes did they fpring? Which are the real, and which are the apparent motives in this controverfy? Moreover, who were originally and principally to blame? And what methods ought to have been taken at firft, in order to have prevented matters from coming to their prefent height?-The Author having already given his fentiments on each of thefe heads in his 3d, 4th, and 5th preceding tracts, and alfo in his letter to Mr. BURKE, will not here repeat the fame things.-The grand object now before him is fimply this; Great Britain and her Colonies are at open war and the proper and important queftion arifing from fuch a fact is the following, What is to be done at the prefent crifis?

Three fchemes have been propofed ;-the Parliamentary,Mr. BURKE'S,-and my own.

The Parliamentary fcheme is,-To maintain vi et armis the fupremacy of the mother-country over her Colonies, in as full and ample a manner, as over any part of the British dominions.

Mr. BURKE'S is, [though not in exprefs words] To refign or relinquish the power of the British parliament over the VOL. LIV.

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Colonies,

Colonies, and to erect each provincial affembly into an independent American parliament;-fubject nevertheless to the King of Great Britain, with his ufual prerogatives :—for which favour of acknowledging the fame fovereign, the Colonifs are to be complimented with the moft precious rights, privileges, and advantages of British subjects :—I day, complimented, and complimented even gratuitously for as to their contributing any proportion, either of men of money, towards the public expence, and in return for thofe favours-all this is to be entirely left to their own innate goodness and generofity, to do just as they pleafe.

My fcheme [which Mr. BURKE, in his laft speech of March 22, 1775, is pleased to term a childish one] is,-To feparate totally from the Colonies, and to reject them from being fellow-members, and joint partakers with us in the privileges and advantages of the British empire; because they refufe to fubmit to the authority and jurifdiction of the British legiflature-offering at the fame time to enter into alliances of friendship, and treaties of commerce with them, as with any other fovereign, independent ftates.

Now, in order to determine which of these schemes is the moft eligible;-it would be right to confider, which is the eafieft and moft practicable,-which is leaft expensive,-which is likelieft to prevent fimilar difturbances and difputes for the future, and which will leaft endanger the English conftitution and our domeftic tranquillity. For all thefe circumftances. ought to be taken into the account, before a due judgment can be formed.

In regard to the first, I wish for the prefent to be filent about it;-partly out of refpect to that auguft body, which has given a fanction to it ;-partly because it is now upon trial, whether it can be executed or not; and partly likewise because this must fall of course, if either Mr. BURKE's, or mine, fhould be judged to have the preference. For these reasons, I fay, I wish to keep a refpectful filence on this head.'

But with refpect to Mr. Burke, the Dean thinks lefs ceremony neceffary; and accordingly proceeds freely to difcufs the merit of that gentleman's fcheme compared with his own.-In doing this, he confiders himself as standing at the bar of the public tribunal,' and before the jury is ftruck, and the trial begins,' be offers exceptions against particular perfons in the pannel :' and ift, against courtiers and placemen; 2dly, against the whole band of mock patriots; 3dly, against the penfioners of France or Spain, or of any other rival power; and, 4thly, against all perfons of republican principles.'-His objections to each of thefe divifions of people, are accompanied with fome juft, and several trite, reflections; and they are followed

by

by a requeft, that the caufe between Mr. Burke and himself may be tried by the landed intereft only.'

After this difplay of judicial formality, the Dean proceeds to maintain the alledged fuperiority of his own plan over that of Mr. Burke; and here he advances fome fallacious and indefenfible pofitions, without one new fact or argument worthy of particular notice. Indeed, his fcheme, in every point of view, appears fo unprofitable, fo inexpedient, and fo repugnant to the common sense of all nations, (of whom none, within our recollection, ever voluntarily renounced the dominion of any extenfive territory and numerous people) that we do not think it ever will be adopted; at leaft, not till it shall have unfortunately become the only alternative, to the more imprac ticable and deftructive project of conquering the Colonies, and of holding them in fubjugation by force.

The Dean, however, to promote the fuccefs of his propofal, endeavours not only to influence the understandings of those to whom his addrefs is offered, but alfo to excite jealoufies and fears of a feditious nature; and for this purpose he again founds an alarm of danger to the church from what he ftiles the republican party,' to whom he fays, the eftates of the church will fall the firft facrifice;' and left a regard for our ecclefiaftical establishment should not produce the defired alarms and combinations, he adds, But nevertheless, if you, my Lords and Gentlemen, fhould be fo weak as to imagine, that matters will ftop there; and that your own large poffeffions, your splendid titles, your hereditary honours, and ample privileges will escape unhurt, amidst that general wreck of private property, and crush of fubordination, which will neceffarily enfue; you will be woefully mistaken:-and I muft beg leave to fay, that you will have profited but very little, by what has been fo well written in the annals of this very country, for your inftruction and admonition. For depend upon it, the use of committee-men, and the business of fequeftrators, are not yet forgot; depend upon it, I fay, that ways and means are ftill to be found out, for the loweft of the people to get at the poffeffion of the greatest of your eftates, as well in thefe, as in former times. Their appetites are equally keen :-and if thefe hungry patriots fhould fucceed, after fuch an example is fet before your eyes, who are you to blame but yourselves?"

At page 47, the Dean profeffes to clofe the whole difpute between Mr. Burke and himfelf; and tells us, that what is to follow in this treatife, is to be confidered rather ex abundanti, than as ftrictly neceffary for the fupport of his argument, and the confutation of his opponent."

At page 48, the Author introduces a table, containing an account of the value of the exports from England to Germany

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and

and Holland; and alfo to thofe North-American provinces, which are now under the government of the Congress, for nine years fucceffively, viz. from Chriftmas 1763, to Chriftmas 1772, diftinguifhing each country, and each year.' And therein he ftates the total value of the exports to Holland and Germany, as exceeding the value of the exports to the Colonies, by more than ten millions. But how far this comparative ftate is fairly and justly made, we have neither time nor facts fufficient to afcertain; though from a ftrong defire, which the Author frequently betrays, to undervalue every benefit derived from the Colonies, and from the unfupportable affertions which he does not fcruple occafionally to advance as facts, we are disposed to entertain fufpicions on this fubject and indeed one fallacy in this estimate appears at the flighteft view; for though the Dean profeffes to give an account' of the exports to all the affociated Colonies, feveral of them are totally omitted in the table under confideration.-It ought likewife to be obferved, that rice,' tobacco, and many other articles which form a confiderable part of our boafted exports to Germany and Holland, are fent hither by the Colonists; and that if the propofed feparation fhould take place, this part of our trade would totally ceafe. It fhould alfo be noticed, that the benefits derived from our commerce with the Colonists, with whom we have the advantages of a monopoly, are much more confiderable than thofe obtained from foreigners, who receive from us only fuch articles as we can furnish on better terms than those at which they may be procured in other places.

From the 48th to the 76th page of our Author's Addrefs, we are prefented with a fucceffion of ex abundanti' remarks; feveral of which are founded on errors that we have formerly and most indifputably detected. Thefe, together with fome effufions of malevolence against Dr. Franklin, we fhall pafs over, and proceed to the Author's Poftfcript,' which demands particular animadverfion, and is as follows:

ner :

In a note at the bottom of page 52, (2d edition) of my letter to Mr. BURKE, I expreffed myself in the following man"The inftances which Mr. BURKE has brought, [at pages 74 and 75 of his fpeech, 2d edit. 8vo.] to prove that the Colonies, or rather that a few out of the many Colonies, have been liberal in their grants to Great Britain, during the continuance of a privateering, fmuggling, trucking, and huckftering American fea-war, in which they were fure to be the greatest gainers, fhall be particularly confidered in an ensuing treatife, An Addrefs to the Landed Intereft of Great Britain and Ireland."

The minutes which I took at that time relative to this affair, and which I intended to have inferted in the body of this Trea

Life, were the following, that the leading men in the govern-. ment of the province of Maffachufets, had, fome time before their famous expedition against Cape Breton, been guilty of certain mal practices in the adminiftration of public affairs, for which they were in danger of being called to an account. That in order to divert the ftorm, and to throw a barrel to the whale, they projected the plan, of an expedition, knowing the temper of the English, and their rage for conquefts. Therefore, hearing that the fortifications of Cape Breton were very ruinous, and the garrifon both weak and mutinous for want of pay, cloathing, and provifions, they bent their forces against this place. The scheme fucceeded, and Cape Breton was yielded up; but the joy of the English nation knew no bounds: for the people, from the highett to the loweft, were fo intoxicated with notions of the importance of this port, [though now it is evident, that it is a very ufelefs one if compared with others] that they forgot every other idea in the general tranfport; fo that the planners and conductors of the expedition, inftead of their being called to an account for their former mifdemeanors, found themfelves careffed and applauded by the whole nation; and to crown all, the parliament itfelf voted a prodigious fum of money to reimburse the New-Englanders for their expences, and their fervices in this glorious work.

This, I fay, or to this effect, was the account which I received; and which I believe in my own mind, will be found to be for the most part very true, when it can be very thoroughly examined into. But as I have been hurried, by the early meeting of parliament, to publifh the present treatise at least three months fooner than intended, I cannot at present authenticate facts and dates in the manner I wish to do, in an affair of fuch importance. Therefore I give this public notice, that I build nothing on the prefent narration; and I only offer it (because not corroborated by fufficient evidence) as a probable cafe, and as my own opinion.

Indeed, I have a particular reafon for acting in this cautious manner; feeing that I have fuffered already by making a flip in an affair of this nature, which in any other caufe or controverly, would have been reckoned to be a very venial one. The cafe was this: in the first edition of my fourth tract, I had accufed Dr. FRANKLIN with having acted a verv difingenuous part, in oppofing and denying the authority of the British parliament, to lay a tax [the Stamp-duty] on America, when he himself had folicited to be employed as an agent in the collection of that very tax. In letters which paffed between us, he denied the charge, afferting firft, that he did not make intereft for a place in the ftamp-office, till the bill was paffed into a law;-And, adly, That the place, for which he asked, was

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not