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      THE

      CRISIS

      With Rage from Hell the Tyrant’s Heart may glow, But He’s no Briton who can strike the Blow.

      Every Englishman must deplore the ill Success, and abhor the unworthy Treatment which attended the two late Conciliatory Plans in relation to America. Pregnant with good Sense, Benevolence, and sound Reason; they will do eternal Honour to the Wisdom, Justice, Policy, and Humanity, of the Heads and Hearts that formed them. How different was the Plan of North? Crafty, Mean, Insidious, Impolitic, Irrational, Shallow, and (like himself and his Coadjutors) beneath Contempt.¹ This was not treating with America, but insulting her: every Step against her, hitherto, has been founded in the greatest Inhumanity, the grossest Ignorance, and the worst Policy. I will proceed to prove my Assertions, and defy the whole Cabal of Ministerial Slaughtermen to confute me. I do not call upon the Master-Butcher, because He can only be considered (after the Part he has acted by asserting) as an executive, and not as a rational Monster in this Business.—First then, for the Humanity of these Proceedings. Let it be granted only (as it

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      must) that the Crown stands in the same Relation to America, as a Parent to her Child, and my first Assertion proves itself. Have any gentle, tender, sensible Means, been used to reconcile her? Have not her humble Remonstrances, Proposals, Submissions, and Supplications, been treated with Contempt?—not suffered to lie upon the Table of a British House of Commons? Have they been deemed Worthy of a Thought by her pious Sovereign? Has she not been branded with the ignominious Name of Rebel, by Act of Parliament, for no other Reason (I mean no true one) than because she has wisely and calmly deliberated upon, remonstrated against, and steadily, but not tumultuously, resented the repeated Injuries she has received?—as to Riots by Mobs, they are not to be imputed to her as Treason and Rebellion. America (as a Nation most unconstitutionally oppressed) has hitherto only deliberated upon her Sufferings:—She has not acted.—My Lords Suffolk, Pomfret, Radnor, Apsley, Sandwich, they have not acted.—It is, as yet, no Treason, my Lords, to think, to advise, to fear, and to prepare. You cannot, you dare not, move to annull (as you may wish) the Statute of Treasons in America. The Americans have as good a Right to that as your Lordships. I mean as yet, my Lords, because I am not quite satisfied that (even in the Present smuggled and corrupt Parliament) the Boldest and most venal Prostitute, durst make so dangerous a Trial upon the Patience and long Suffrance of this Kingdom.—I will now inform your Lordships that it is contrary to the Law of Nations to attempt the Destruction even of the most inveterate Enemy by Famine, until he has been first solemnly summoned to submit. Have the Americans ever yet been (though, if Men, they shortly will be) in Arms? Have they yet had a Prospect of any other Terms than such as would make them Slaves? Will they be Weak enough to submit to such Conditions? the Preliminaries hitherto proposed, have been founded in Oppression, not in Reason: they are fit for Brutes, not Men. The lenient, the compassionate North, has treated America like the Assassin of an Alley—with his Knife at her Throat, he has humanely left it at her Choice to strip herself, for Fear she should be stripped by him.—Why have the Ministry had recourse at first to this inhuman Scheme of Famine? They fear the Army will relent, when they find they must Wade through the Blood of

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      their own Country-men. Their present General (Gage) has, to his Honour, declined the Bloody Task. Even a foreigner, to whom the same Command was offered, has revolted at the Thought.² Is not this Stratagem of starving Freemen into Slavery, the most Inhuman, as well as the most Cowardly, of all others, especially when it is considered that all the Remonstrances of these unhappy Sufferers, have been rejected? I should insult the Reader’s understanding by waiting for a Reply,—I therefore come to the next Ingredient in the American Persecution, Ignorance.—I must first Remark that some of their wise Lordships were for having Maryland and Virginia (very remote inland Countrys) prohibited from the FISHERY.—Thus far have some of the great and sage Counsellors of this Nation been Ignorant even of the Situation of that Part of their Fellow-Creatures, whom they wish to involve in the most dreadful of all Calamities,—Famine. But the very Scheme itself is Impracticable; these wretched People cannot be totally destroyed either by Butchery or Famine: their Numbers are great and formidable; in such a vast extent of Country their resourses will be endless: they are not destitute of Arms already, and they will be supplied with more in spite of our vigilant Fleet. They have all the Materials necessary for War in the Bowels of their Country: they have Artists, Handicraftsmen, Manufacturers, and Mechanics of all Sorts; Cattle of all kinds; Fruit of the Earth in vast aboundance; fine streams and Rivers: though, no doubt, Administration (for the sake of Consistency) will give strict Orders, and pay highly for the poisoning of these; but that will not easily be effected: these People in General, know the use of Arms; they have Perseverance, Courage, Resolution,—and above all, (most prophetic Lord Sandwich) they have Virtue, which can never be overcome. Should our Army strike, and fail, the hatred, enmity, and revolt of America, is

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      fixed for ever: they never will submit to lick the Tyrant-hand, which has once been raised against their Liberties, their Properties, and their Lives. Under the above Considerations, the Present scheme of Government must seem Impracticable; if so, or if from Rancour and Resentment, it has been viewed but Partially, it is the grossest Ignorance to pursue it. Should Heaven interpose on the Side of Justice, we shall perceive our Error too late; but were our Attempts by Sword or Famine, sure of Success, Government is only destroying its own Vitals.—What then is the Policy of this unnatural War? It is like the War between the Belly and the other Members; the whole State must feel is Consequences. Shallow North told his House of Commons (for it is his) that the Imports from the American Continent were inconsiderable. Now my Lord? You ought to know (and in Honour you should have declared) that the Imports