colonists. Some of them, alas! know too well what tyranny and cruel servitude are. When poor, naked, bleeding slaves, ready to expire under the repeated strokes of a cutting whip, are obliged to keep in their groans, and to stifle their sighs, for fear of raising the cruelty of their tyrants to an higher pitch of fierceness ;-when this is the case, I say, of all the men upon earth, it least becomes the hard masters, the domestic sovereigns, of these poor creatures to complain of the mild government they are under, and to scream, "Tyranny! slavery! robbery! murder!" And why? Truly, because some of them are enjoined to pay taxes about thirty times lighter than those which millions of their fellow-subjects, who have no vote, cheerfully pay in England; because the parliament will not suffer them to destroy with impunity the property of our merchants; and because the king will not have the collectors of the public revenue be in continual danger of being murdered among them. O partiality, how high is thy glaring throne, and how many are thy warm votaries in America, and thy sanguine advocates in England!

I shall esteem myself happy, sir, if this check to licentiousness recommends itself to your conscience as a protestant, and to your candour as a well-wisher to the cause of true liberty. Think not that the plainness with which I have addressed you springs from malice or disrespect. Though I have bluntly attacked your errors, I sincerely love and honour you as an enemy to tyranny, and a mistaken assertor of British liberty. Therefore, whilst I blame your dangerous performance, I gladly do justice to your good meaning; and I cordially join you, where you express a loyal, ardent wish, that a speedy reconciliation may take place betwixt us and our colonies, upon an honourable, constitutional basis, and that our beloved sovereign may long live to sway the sceptre over a free people, provided you do not mean by a "free people," tumultuous, mobbing people, making liberty to consist in refusing to pay taxes, and in giving to the scriptural yoke of civil government the opprobrious name of "abject slavery."

Should you accuse me, sir, as you do Mr. Wesley, of

"inflaming the minds of the people here against our. American brethren," you will do me as much injustice as you do to my friend. Our only design is to promote a proper obedience to those parts of the gospel of peace which enjoin us a due subjection to our superiors; and to enforce the articles of religion which the last reformers drew up to keep over-doing protestants from the enthusiasm of wild republicans. Far from being prejudiced against the colonists, I feel a deep concern for their spiritual and temporal welfare. Yea, such is my partiality to them, and my fear of a greater effusion of the blood of Britons and sons of Britons, that I even wish the government would make the easy yoke of which they causelessly complain easier still, by granting them some privileges denied, not only to millions of Britons here, but also to the members of parliament, and to the king's own brothers, who, whilst they are out of England, are all taxed without being consulted. I humbly wish that our legislators would condescend to consult with the colonists about the taxes which suit their country and circumstances best. And as British senators know how to pity the prejudices of mankind, especially the prejudices of sons of Britons, with respect to the precious blessing of liberty, I wish that the king and parliament would extend their greatest mercy to subjects who have been hurried out of the way of loyalty, chiefly by their inattention to the blessings which they enjoy, and by the delusive hopes with which, it is to be feared, some of our own countrymen have rashly flattered and artfully seduced them. In a word, I ardently wish that, upon the return of the colonists to their duty, the government would bind them to their mother-country, both by the silken cords of pardoning love, and by the silver bands of some prerogatives which may convince them, that Great Britain considers them, not only as subjects, but also as younger brothers.

Such kindness, together with the scourge of a civil war which they so severely feel already, would probably attach them to the parent state for ever. Should this be the case, how great will be the joy of those who properly value the blessings of peace and order! And

how full the disappointment of the demon of discord, who envies us the singular blessings which we enjoy! Great Britain and America will then become the fixed and unrivalled seats of truth, arts, sciences, and commerce. They will collect the treasures of the old and new world; they will play into each other's hands the wealth of the universe; and, joined together, they will be more than a match for their combined enemies; so shall genuine protestantism, sober liberty, uninterrupted peace, and growing prosperity conspire to crown the richest island and the finest continent in the world. Happy, for ever happy, will they be, if their riches and grandeur do not corrupt and intoxicate them, and if civil and religious frenzy never hinder them more from paying an humble regard to our Lord's important precept, "Render to Cæsar the things which are Cæsar's, and to God the things which are God's." That you, sir, I, and all our fellow-labourers in the gospel, may faithfully practise and zealously preach this neglected part of the doctrine of Christ; that our most sanguine patriotism may always be tempered by a due sense of what we owe to our governors; and that our warmest loyalty may always be attended with a proper consciousness of what we owe to God, to our fellow-citizens, and to posterity; are the Christian, constitutional prayers which I ardently offer to the King of kings, and in which I invite you to join,

Reverend sir,

Your affectionate brother,

and obedient servant,

JOHN FLETCHER.

AMERICAN PATRIOTISM

FARTHER CONFRONTED WITH

REASON, SCRIPTURE, AND THE CONSTITUTION

BEING

OBSERVATIONS

ON

THE DANGEROUS POLITICS

TAUGHT BY THE REV. MR. EVANS, M.A., AND THE REV. DR. PRICE.

WITH

A SCRIPTURAL PLEA FOR THE REVOLTED COLONISTS.

BY JOHN FLETCHER,

VICAR OF MADELEY, SALOP.

"SKILL in politics contributeth not a little to the understanding of divinity. I learned more from Mr. Lawson, than from any divine. Especially his instigating me to the study of politics, in which he much lamented the ignorance of divines, did prove a singular benefit to me."

THE REV. MR. R. BAXTER'S LIFE, pp. 107, 108.

CONTENTS.

PREFACE.

What distinguishes this pamphlet from those which have been written on the same subject.—Nothing but scripture and reason can make the colonies properly submit to Great Britain.

LETTER I.

The arguments by which Mr. Evans tries to support his American politics are shown to be contrary, 1. To sound reason; 2. To plain scripture; and, 3. To the British constitution.

II.

A view of Mr. Evans's mistakes concerning, 1. The absoluteness of our property; 2. The nature of slavery; 3. The origin of power; and, 4. The proper cause of the war with America.-A note concerning the anabaptists.

III.

Dr. Price's politics are shown to be as irrational, unscriptural, and unconstitutional as those of Mr. Evans. His principal arguments are retorted.The foundation of his capital error is sapped.—The legislative freedom of the members of the house of commons is asserted, in opposition to the legislative pretensions of plebeian levellers.-The partiality and inconsistency of the London patriots is pointed out.On Dr. Price's levelling principles, there is an end of all subjection both on earth and in heaven.-A conditional reproof to Mr. Evans and Dr. Price.