Gambar halaman
PDF
ePub

"To prevent the success of this unjust system, an union of counsel and action among all the col onies, is undoubtedly necessary. The politician of Italy delivered the result of reason and experience, when he proposed the way to conquest, by division. How to effect this union, in the wisest and firmest manner, perhaps, time and much reflection only can show. But well to understand each other, and timely to be informed of what passes both here and in Great Britain, it would seem that not only select committees should be appointed by all the colonies, but that a private correspondence should be conducted between the lovers of liberty in every province."*

Early in 1769 Mr. Lee introduced into the House of Burgesses, resolutions "denying the right of the mother country to bind the colonies in any case whatever," and firmly remonstrated against the act authorizing the crown to have "the inhabitants of the colonies transported to England to be tried for offences alleged to have been committed in the colonies." These resolutions were considered by the friends of the Crown as seditious, and the Governor dissolved the House so soon as he was informed of their adoption by that body. On the dissolution of the assembly, the mem convened at a private house, where they drew up articles of convention, agreeing not to impor encourage in any way British manufactures, while the revenue acts remained in force. In the orcement of these measures Mr. Lee was very active. In his own family he strictly adhered to the articles, and he was vigilant in watching those whom he suspected of a reluctant acquiescence. To the domestic loom he had recourse for clothing for himself and family, and for 'wine and oil' he resorted to his own hills."

[ocr errors]

The years 1770 and 1771 passed away in comparative quiet. Mr. Lee during this time wisely persevered in the course he had marked out; continued his correspondence and widely spread the information, respecting the probable intentions of the ministry, which he was continually receiving from England, through the vigilance of his brother, Arthur Lee.t In 1772 Parliament determined to establish in the colonies, courts with admiralty jurisdiction and powers. By this proceeding trial by jury was suspended, and the property and lives of the colonists placed at the mercy of judges who were to be appointed by the Crown. Mr. Lee opposed this measure, in the House of Burgesses, and proposed to address an humble petition to his majesty, which, after reciting the grievances of the colonists, should pray, "that he would be most graciously pleased to recommend the repeal of the acts passed for the purpose of raising a revenue in America, and for subjecting American property to the determination of admiralty courts, where the constitutional trial by jury is not permitted."

On the assembling of Congress at Philadelphia, on the fourth of September, 1774, Mr. Lee took his seat in that body together with George Washington and Patrick Henry, who with him had been deputed delegates from the colony of Virginia. In this august assembly, and throughout his Congressional career, Mr. Lee distinguished himself by the boldness of his propositions,

*By this letter it appears Mr. Lee devised a plan of having committees of correspondence between the colonial assemblies and of private corresponding clubs, as early as 1768, and this is in support of General Gadsden of South Carolina, who, a few years previous to his death, remarked on a public occasion, that Richard Henry Lee had invited him to become a member of a private corresponding society, as early as the year 1768, which he (Mr. Lee) was endeavoring to establish between the influential men of the colonies. He stated that Mr. Lee described his object to be, to obtain a mutual pledge from the members to write for the public journals or the papers of their respective colonies, and converse with and inform the people on the subject of their rights and their wrongs, and upon all seasonable occasions to impress upon their minds the necessity of a struggle with Great Britain, for the ultimate establishment of independence.-See Life of Richard Henry Lee, vol. i. p. 64.

+ Dr. Arthur Lee, the youngest brother of Richard Henry Lee, was born on the twentieth of December, 1740. He was educated at Edinburgh, and for some time pursued the practice of medicine at that place. On his return to America, he practised his profession for several years at Williamsburg, Virginia. In 1766 he again went to London, and studied law in the Temple, at the same time becoming an intimate friend of Sir William Jones, the learned lawyer and able historian In England he rendered very important services to his native country, by sending to America the earliest intelligence of the plans of the ministry. In 1769 he wrote the able Monitor's letters, and a few years after a series of letters appeared from his pen, under the signature of “Junius Americanus." As the agent of Virginia in 1775, he presented the second pe tition of Congress to the king. In 1776 he went to Paris, as colleague with Dr. Franklin and Silas Deane, and assisted in negotiating the treaty with France. On the appointment of Dr. Franklin as sole minister to the French Court, Mr. Lee returned to America. In 1784 he was appointed a commissioner to treat with the Indians of the Six Nations, which trust he executed with much honor to himself and great satisfaction to his country. He was admitted to the bar of the Supreme Court of the United States, in February, 1790. Two years afterwards he died. His life, by R. H. Lee, was pub lished in 1829

and the energy with which he supported them. The address he prepared by the direction of Congress in 1775, on behalf of the twelve United Colonies, is an imperishable evidence of his patriotism and eloquence. The important motion of the seventh of June, 1776, "that these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent States; that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British crown; and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is, and ought to be, totally dissolved," was prepared and introduced by Mr. Lee, and he supported them in a brilliant and powerful speech. A few days after the introduction of this motion Mr. Lee was called home on account of the illness of his wife, which circumstance prevented his taking his seat as chairman of the committee upon his resolution according to parliamentary rules. Mr. Jefferson was appointed in his place. In August he returned to Congress, and signed the Declaration of Independence. The following June he returned to Virginia. Again in 1778, he took his seat in the Congress, and for the next two years rendered eminent services, either as the head, or a member of important committees. In the spring of the year 1780, he was re-elected a delegate to the General Assembly of Virginia. The royal troops, defeated in the north, now turned their operations to the southward. The incursions of the enemy upon the coasts of Virginia kept the inhabitants in a state of continual alarm and danger, and the small fleets, which could pass up the rivers, landed troops and pillaged the country. Westmoreland, the county in which Mr. Lee resided, from its situation, was much exposed to these distressing incursions, and he was called upon by the State to take command of the militia and repel the enemy. In this position he evinced his characteristic judgment and activity, annoying the enemy on their approaches and making excellent arrangements for a successful defence.

During the years 1780, 1781, 1782, Mr. Lee remained in the Assembly of his native State, believing that his services would be more profitable to his country in that position, rather than in the Congress of the United Colonies. At this time propositions were introduced in the assembly, to pay debts due to England; to make paper money a legal tender; and to impose a tax to support the clergy. These propositions were advocated by Mr. Lee, and opposed by Mr. Henry with great power.* In 1784 Mr. Lee again returned to Congress, and was chosen president of that body. Under the Federal Constitution he was one of the first members of the United States Senate, in which assembly he fully sustained the exalted reputation he had early acquired. In 1792 he retired altogether from public life, and on the nineteenth of June, 1794, at his home in Chantilly, Virginia, he died in the sixty-fourth year of his age.

THE COLONIES TO GREAT BRITAIN.

By a resolution of Congress passed on the third of June, 1775, a committee was appointed to prepare an address to the inhabitants of Great Britain. Richard Henry Lee, R. R. Livingston and Edmund Randolph composed that

committee, and Mr. Lee, as chairman, drafted the following address, which was adopted by Congress on the eighth of July, 1775, and forwarded to England in charge of Mr. Penn.t your judgment by storm. His was the mediate class of cloquence described by Rollin in his Belles Lettres. He was like a beautiful river meandering through a flowery mead, but which never overflowed its banks. It was Henry who was the mountain torrent, that swept away every thing before it; it was he alone who thundered and lightened, he alone attained that sublime species of eloquence also mentioned by Rollin."

* An interesting comparison of the merits of these great men, at this period of their lives, is given by a correspondent of the author of the life of Patrick Henry. "I met with Patrick Henry in the Assembly, in May, 1783; I also then met with Richard Henry Lee. These two gentlemen were the great leaders of the House of Delegates, and were almost constantly opposed. There wer many other great men who belonged to that body, but as orators they cannot be named with Henry or Lee. Mr. Lee was a polished gentleman. He had lost the use of one of his hands, but his manner was perfectly graceful. His language was always chaste, and, al-June 8d, 1775. The circumstance of there being two, has often though somewhat too monotonous, his speeches were always caused debate as to their authorship.-See Journals of Con pleasing, yet he did not ravish your senses or carry away gress, vol. i. pp. 19, 26, 79, 106.

There were two addresses from the colonies, by their delegates in Congress, to the inhabitants of Great Britain one which was written by John Jay, in accordance with a resolve of Congress of October 11th, 1774, and the one selected; prepared in accordance with a resolve of Congress of

The twelve United Colonies, by their delegates in Congress, to the inhabitants of Great Britain: FRIENDS, COUNTRYMEN AND BRETHREN!-By these, and by every other appellation that may designate the ties which bind us to each other, we entreat your serious attention to this our second attempt to prevent their dissolution. Remembrance of former friendships, pride in the glorious achievements of our common ancestors, and affection for the heirs of their virtues, have hitherto preserved our mutual connection; but when that friendship is violated by the grossest injuries; when the pride of ancestry becomes our reproach, and we are no otherwise allied than as tyrants and slaves, when reduced to the melancholy alternative of renouncing your favor or our freedom; can we hesitate about the choice? Let the spirit of Britons determine.

In a former address we asserted our rights, and stated the injuries we had then received. We hoped that the mention of our wrongs would have roused that honest indignation which has slept too long for your honor, or the welfare of the empire. But we have not been permitted to entertain this pleasing expectation. Every day brought on accumulation of injuries, and the invention of the ministry has been constantly exercised in adding to the calamities of your American brethren.

To confirm this assertion, let us recall your attention to the affairs of America, since our last address. Let us combat the calumnies of our enemies; and let us warn you of the dangers that threaten you in our destruction. Many of your fellow subjects, whose situation deprived them of other support, drew their maintenance from the sea; but the deprivation of our liberty being insufficient to satisfy the resentment of our enemies, the horrors of famine were superadded, and a British Parliament, who, in better times, were the protectors of innocence and the patrons of humanity, have, without distinction of age or sex, robbed thousands of the food, which they were accustomed to draw from that inexhaustible source, placed in their neighborhood by the benevolent Creator.

Another act of your legislature shuts our ports, and prohibits our trade with any but those States from whom the great law of selfpreservation renders it absolutely necessary we should at present withhold our commerce. But this act (whatever may have been its design) we consider rather as injurious to your opulence than our interest. All our commerce terminates with you; and the wealth we procure from other nations, is soon exchanged for your superfluities. Our remittances must then cease with our trade; and our refinements with our affluence. We trust, however, that laws which deprive us of every blessing but a soil that teems After the most valuable right of legislation with the necessaries of life, and that liberty was infringed; when the powers assumed by which renders the enjoyment of them secure, your Parliament, in which we are not rep- will not relax our vigor in their defence. We resented, and from our local and other circum- might here observe on the cruelty and inconstances cannot be properly represented, render- sistency of those, who, while they publicly ed our property precarious; after being denied brand us with reproachful and unworthy epithat mode of trial to which we have been long thets, endeavor to deprive us of the means of indebted for the safety of our persons and the defence by their interposition with foreign preservation of our liberties; after being in powers, and to deliver us to the lawless ravages imany instances divested of those laws which of a merciless soldiery. But happily we are were transmitted to us by our common ances- not without resources; and though the timid tors, and subjected to an arbitrary code, com- and humiliating applications of a British minispiled under the auspices of Roman tyrants; try should prevail with foreign nations, yet inafter those charters, which encouraged our pre-dustry, prompted by necessity, will not leave us decessors to brave death and danger in every shape, on unknown seas, in deserts unexplored, amidst barbarous and inhospitable nations, were annulled; when, without the form of trial, without a public accusation, whole colonies were condemned, their trade destroyed, their inhabitants impoverished; when soldiers were encouraged to imbrue their hands in the blood of Americans, by offers of impunity; when new modes of trial were instituted for the ruin That once populous, flourishing, and commerof the accused, where the charge carried with cial town, is now garrisoned by an army, sent it the horrors of conviction; when a despotic not to protect, but to enslave its inhabitants. government was established in a neighboring The civil government is overturned, and a miliprovince, and its limits extended to every part tary despotism erected upon its ruins. With of our frontiers; we little imagined that any-out law, without right, powers are assumed un thing could be added to this black catalogue of known to the constitution. Private property is unprovoked injuries: but we have unhappily unjustly invaded. The inhabitants, daily subbeen deceived, and the late measures of thejected to the licentiousness of the soldiery, are British ministry fully convince us, that their object is the reduction of these colonies to slavery and ruin.

without the necessary supplies.

We could wish to go no further, and, not to wound the ear of humanity, leave untold those rigorous acts of oppression, which are daily exercised in the town of Boston, did not we hope, that by disclaiming their deeds, and punishing the perpetrators, you would shortly vindicate the honor of the British name, and re-establish the violated laws of justice.

forbid to remove, in defiance of their natural rights, in violation of the most solemn compacts. Or, if after long and wearisome solici

tation, a pass is procured, their effects are de- | you have not been equally seditious. We are tained, and even those who are most favored, accused of aiming at independence; but how is have no alternative but poverty or slavery. this accusation supported? By the allegations The distress of many thousand people, wantonly of your ministers-not by our actions. Abused, deprived of the necessaries of life, is a subject, insulted, and contemned, what steps have we on which we would not wish to enlarge. pursued to obtain redress? We have carried our dutiful petitions to the throne. We have applied to your justice for relief. We have retrenched our luxury, and withheld our trade.

Yet we cannot but observe, that a British fleet (unjustified even by acts of your legislature) are daily employed in ruining our commerce, seizing our ships, and depriving whole communities of their daily bread. Nor will a regard for your honor permit us to be silent, while British troops sully your glory, by actions, which the most inveterate enmity will not palliate among civilized nations, the wanton and unnecessary destruction of Charlestown, a large, ancient and once populous town, just before deserted by its inhabitants, who had fled to avoid the fury of your soldiery.

The advantages of our commerce were dosigned as a compensation for your protection. When you ceased to protect, for what were we to compensate?

What has been the success of our endeavors? The clemency of our sovereign is unhappily diverted; our petitions are treated with indig nity; our prayers answered by insults. Our application to you remains unnoticed, and leaves us the melancholy apprehension of your wanting either the will or the power to assist

Even under these circumstances, what mea

If still you retain those sentiments of compassion by which Britons have ever been dis-us. tinguished; if the humanity which tempered the valor of our common ancestors has not de-sures have we taken that betray a desire of ingenerated into cruelty, you will lament the miseries of their descendants.

To what are we to attribute this treatment? If to any secret principle of the constitution, let it be mentioned; let us learn that the government we have long revered is not without its defects, and that while it gives freedom to a part, it necessarily enslaves the remainder of the empire. If such a principle exists, why for ages has it ceased to operate? Why at this time is it called into action? Can no reason be assigned for this conduct? or must it be resolved into the wanton exercise of arbitrary power? And shall the descendants of Britons tamely submit to this? No, sirs! We never will; while we revere the memory of our gallant and virtuous ancestors, we never can surrender those glorious privileges for which they fought, bled, and conquered. Admit that your fleets could destroy our towns, and ravage our sea-coasts; these are inconsiderable objects, things of no moment to men whose bosoms glow with the ardor of liberty. We can retire beyond the reach of your navy, and, without any sensible diminution of the necessaries of life, enjoy a luxury, which from that period you will want-the luxury of being free.

[ocr errors]

dependence? Have we called in the aid of those foreign powers who are the rivals of your grandeur? When your troops were few and defenceless, did we take advantage of their distress, and expel them our towns? or have we permitted them to fortify, to receive new aid, and to acquire additional strength?

Let not your enemies and ours persuade you that in this we were influenced by fear, or any other unworthy motive. The lives of Britons are still dear to us. They are the children of our parents, and an uninterrupted intercourse of mutual benefits had knit the bonds of friendship. When hostilities were commenced-when on a late occasion we were wantonly attacked by your troops, though we repelled their assaults and returned their blows, yet we lamented the wounds they obliged us to give; nor have we yet learned to rejoice at a victory over Englishmen.

As we wish not to color our actions, or disguise our thoughts, we shall, in the simple language of truth, avow the measures we have pursued, the motives upon which we have acted, and our future designs.

When our late petition to the throne produced no other effect than fresh injuries, and votes of your legislature, calculated to justify every severity; when your fleets and your armies were prepared to wrest from us our prop erty, to rob us of our liberties or our lives; when the hostile attempts of General Gage evinced his designs, we levied armies for our security and defence. When the powers vest

We know the force of your arms, and was it called forth in the cause of justice and your country, we might dread the exertion; but will Britons fight under the banners of tyranny? Will they counteract the labors, and disgrace the victories of their ancestors? Will they forge chains for their posterity? If they descend to this unworthy task, will their swordsed in the governor of Canada gave us reason retain their edge, their arms their accustomed vigor? Britons can never become the instruments of oppression, till they lose the spirit of freedom, by which alone they are invincible.

Our enemies charge us with sedition. In what does it consist? In our refusal to submit to unwarrantable acts of injustice and cruelty? If so, show us a period in your history in which

to apprehend danger from that quarter, and we had frequent intimations that a cruel and savage enemy was to be let loose upon the defenceless inhabitants of our frontiers, we took such measures as prudence dictated, as necessity will justify. We possessed ourselves of Crown Point and Ticonderoga. Yet give us leave most solemnly to assure you, that we have not

yet lost sight of the object we have ever had in | they treat with freedom, while their towns are view-a reconciliation with you on constitu- sacked; when daily instances of injustice and tional principles, and a restoration of that oppression disturb the slower operations of reafriendly intercourse which, to the advantage of both, we till lately maintained.

The inhabitants of this country apply themselves chiefly to agriculture and commerce. As their fashions and manners are similar to yours, your markets must afford them the conveniences and luxuries for which they exchange the produce of their labors. The wealth of this extended continent centres with you; and our trade is so regulated as to be subservient only to your interest. You are too reasonable to expect, that by taxes (in addition to this), we should contribute to your expense; to believe after diverting the fountain, that the streams can flow with unabated force.

It has been said that we refuse to submit to the restrictions on our commerce. From whence is this inference drawn? Not from our words; we have repeatedly declared the contrary, and we again profess our submission to the several acts of trade and navigation passed before the year 1763, trusting, nevertheless, in the equity and justice of Parliament, that such of them as, upon cool and impartial consideration, shall appear to have imposed unnecessary or grievous restrictions, will, at some happier period, be repealed or altered. And we cheerfully consent to the operation of such acts of the British Parliament as shall be restrained to the regula- | tion of our external commerce, for the purpose of securing the commercial advantages of the whole empire to the mother country, and the commercial benefits of its respective members; excluding every idea of taxation, internal or external, for raising a revenue on the subjects in America without their consent.

It is alleged that we contribute nothing to the common defence. To this we answer, that the advantages which Great Britain receives from the monopoly of our trade, far exceed our proportion of the expense necessary for that purpose. But should these advantages be inadequate thereto, let the restrictions on our trade be removed, and we will cheerfully contribute such proportion when constitutionally required.

It is a fundamental principle of the British Constitution, that every man should have at least a representative share in the formation of those laws by which he is bound. Were it otherwise, the regulation of our internal police by a British Parliament, who are, and ever will be, unacquainted with our local circumstances, must be always inconvenient, and frequently oppressive, working our wrong, without yielding any possible advantage to you.

A plan of accommodation (as it has been absurdly called) has been proposed by your ministers to our respective assemblies. Were this proposal free from every other objection but that which arises from the time of the offer, it would not be unexceptionable. Can men deiberate with the bayonet at their breast? Can

son?

If this proposal is really such as you would offer, and we accept, why was it delayed till the nation was put to useless expense, and we were reduced to our present melancholy situation? If it holds forth nothing, why was it proposed? unless, indeed, to deceive you into a belief that we were unwilling to listen to any terms of accommodation. But what is submitted to our consideration? We contend for the disposal of our property. We are told that our demand is unreasonable that our Assemblies may indeed collect our money, but that they must at the same time offer, not what your exigencies or ours may require, but so much as shall be deemed sufficient to satisfy the desires of a minister, and enable him to provide for favorites and dependants. A recurrence to your own treasury will convince you how little of the money already extorted from us, has been applied to the relief of your burthens. To suppose that we would thus grasp the shadow, and give up the substance, is adding insult to injuries.

We have nevertheless again presented an humble and dutiful petition to our sovereign; and to remove every imputation of obstinacy, have requested his majesty to direct some mode by which the united applications of his faithful colonists may be improved into a happy and permanent reconciliation. We are willing to treat on such terms as can alone render an accommodation lasting; and we flatter ourselves, that our pacific endeavors will be attended with a removal of ministerial troops, and a repeal of those laws, of the operation of which we complain, on the one part, and a disbanding of our army, and a dissolution of our commercial associations, on the other.

Yet, conclude not from this that we propose to surrender our property into the hands of your ministry, or vest your Parliament with a power which may terminate in our destruction. The great bulwarks of our constitution we have desired to maintain by every temperate, by every peaceable means; but your ministers (equal foes to British and American freedom) have added to their former oppressions an attempt to reduce us, by the sword, to a base and abject submission. On the sword, therefore, we are compelled to rely for protection. Should victory declare in your favor, yet men trained to arms from their infancy, and animated by the love of liberty, will afford neither a cheap nor easy conquest. Of this, at least, we are assured, that our struggle will be glorious. our success certain; since, even in death we shall find that freedom which in life you forbid us to enjoy.

Let us now ask, what advantages are to attend our reduction? The trade of a ruined and desolate country is always inconsiderable, its revenue trifling; the expense of subjecting and

« SebelumnyaLanjutkan »