Chapter 5 IV

Anyone who is willing to take pains to pay attention to the progress and changes of the times and things, as well as the actions of human beings at that time, will find that sometimes abnormal situations do appear before our eyes. This situation is purely natural or Completely new qualities, only the pure can understand them.We must go to things as they are, when many precedents fail to enlighten us; and think as if we were the first to think.This is the real reason why under the current situation, wise men become fools, and fools become wise again.I feel this from the fact that I cannot explain the actions of the Quakers in any other terms: for although they themselves do not seem to be aware of it, we hear many of that group behave very Shrewd, I am astonished at such appalling ignorance when speaking of the subject at hand.Had they held office under the King of England, if they had been governors-general of states, or if it were evident that they represented interests different from ours, it would not be surprising; but since they had no such circumstances, their folly It has to be blamed on that excess of worldly knowledge, which is too cunning in new things, and not wise enough.Friends, go back to the original smooth natural path and start again:

Because in this matter your leaders have gone wrong.You have now reached the height of inconsistency, and at such a speed that you were already ready for the autumn harvest on May 1st.Now is the time for you to rest.You have done your best, and now you must wait for the results. But who can look back on this behavior without concern!Who can watch indifferently as a group of intelligent people rashly wipe out seventy years of work in the space of an hour!Or, how else to excuse them--except that they have entered old age, the cradle age of seventy. But the main purpose of my letter is to show the self-contradiction and partiality of the subordinate factions, and to show them, like a man of unflattering integrity, that their position is dangerous; Do, I must mention the work, events and possible consequences of the most recent election.

What is the work to do that day?It was to elect four state legislators to assist those already elected, and to direct the military action of the state against the power of the King, on whose authority they pretended to hold their seats.Those senators, when elected, should, by the statute of the House of Commons, (as the rest have done) swear allegiance to the king against whom this state, of which they themselves are head, is fighting.And a necessary qualification for many electors is that they too must swear allegiance to the King of England, the same King whom the House of Commons of the same State Assembly had just called upon them to pay or take up arms against his power.Guobang's hypocrisy has never reached such a high level!In the cloak of moderation, we are sinking into the abyss of the most terrible evils.It is now the duty of all to rise up and speak out against it, whether from the pulpit, in the newspapers, in the home, or in the street.God!Have we forgotten our duty to God!Is there no fear of conscience to prevent us from thus sacrificing sacred things?Is this our prerogative?Could it be that in 1704 the Quakers, who then constituted the lower house of the whole [Pennsylvania] State Legislature, zealously defended their own and the rights of the people against the aggressive power of the possessors; but the possessors sought to abolish Substituting the original charter for another, and forcing them to submit to it, they expressed their disapproval of the new charter by saying, "Thus, by 'your' ingenious artifice and device, a deserted The means of replacing the first charter with another charter has been found; and it is so subtle that some have no power to see through it, and many have no time to consider it."—Will these men elect what you elect? the occupants of --author

① Opponents of the American Independence Movement. ——Original Editor Is not feeling sorry for committing a sin a quality we can boast about?The clergy of the Church of England--I am one of them--complain about their situation, and wish for relief;But no matter how much it is verbally blamed on the people, the responsibility for the crime does not rest on them.We can go to the origin of the crime in this state, and see by what means it has deceived others.The crime, concentrated in a few, comes from the same source that greedily bathed the frontiers of this state in blood a few years ago; Wake up so quickly that they cannot rest.

Not long ago there was a motion to elect a conference of representatives to consider the state. This initiative could not have been wiser.Our current situation is astonishing.We are worse off than any other state and such an investigation is desperately needed.The lower house of the state legislature in its present form is not qualified to do the job because it is a branch of power with which we are at war.In addition, they had intercourse with representatives of the State Jade, and the members of the lower house of the state assembly had sworn, as members, to disclose to the King what would inevitably come before them in this inquiry.Their minds are biased and prejudiced by the arbitrary and unlawful issuance of State directives.We are very unfit for the job, also because the inquiry necessarily requires them to consider, as a body, whether it is proper to entrust the people with such unlimited power, as they have recently assumed.At such times, we must go back to the source of the matter; and when we are completely wrong, going back to the source is the only way to correct it.The motion to elect a council frightened the king and the Anglophile occupants; and to every thoughtful mind the motion had a soothing and restorative power.The question is, number one, where are we going wrong—and number two, how do we correct it?The lower houses of the state legislature cannot help us; for they cannot be trial judges, and in such proceedings they themselves, in their present state and power, should be judged.The opponents, however, endeavored to pass a bill for enlarging the House of Representatives, thinking that by this I had found a way of obviating the need for a Congress; The need for meetings.For the greater the power to take office from our enemies, the less safe and dangerous it is for us.It is by no means my intention to condemn the individual members of the lower house of the state legislature; my object is only to object to the privileges which it receives.However, the bill became a law (which means that in Pennsylvania, as in England, there is no constitution, but only a provisional form of government).Meanwhile, in order to show you the inconsistencies in the present state of the House of Representatives, the motion of the Congress was postponed, and four honest gentlemen who advocated independence were nominated as candidates for the enlargement of the delegates; A gentleman, if elected, would not take the oath as a member of the lower house of the state legislature is obliged to do.In that case the House of Commons of the State Legislature would be deprived of a power; for the old part would then still keep the oath of secrecy to the king, to tell the new part in secret what it felt it was its duty to oppose the king. he.

That's how it was before the election. For our part we had to lose the good citizens of the country before the walls of Quebec and the rest of the Continent; while the Royalists sat at home and enjoyed the benefits of elections.And from the Continental Congress down to the Committee, this malady is more or less prevalent everywhere.A large group of German bourgeoisie, devoted to the cause of liberty, was also ostracized on grounds of infidelity.Nevertheless, the non-Anglicans of the Crown Party, that is, those who were declared enemies of their country, were opponents of the American independence movement. ——Original Editor

① This distinction will be elaborated in future letters. --author was allowed to vote on the other side.It is surprisingly contradictory!Add to this the praising Quakers, who, after being deceived by the most frivolous sentiments and religious melancholy, tried to infect Roman Catholics with the same disease in a dubious and ruthless way.These factions, and certain others they could influence, were headed by the Anglophile occupants, against the public, in favor of Great Britain and the power of the occupants.They boasted that nine-tenths of the people were on their side.What a great majority!Yet this is the case: while we have many disadvantages, for example, many of our votes have been rejected, others have been disqualified from voting for disobedience, and there have been great losses from the fact that many just went out, and others have been Tactical deceit, they shut the gates at seven or eight o'clock, and spread rumors that the adjournment will be over, and the next morning will be over - I say, the situation is that when the votes are counted, the Anglophile side The man with the most votes and the man with the most votes from the Independents, Kramer and Allen, got an equal number of votes each.

To what has been described above of those who oppose us, I may add that they neither united nor assisted each other, or only a very few did: they were brought together by chance by different groups There is no essential connection between them; they reach an agreement only out of hatred, not out of justice; moreover, since they are gathered by chance, they will also become a mess due to the lack of coagulating factors. For our part we have but one aim, and our cause is common; therefore we shall not part, nor would we part.We have weathered this election in order to know the people who are against us.Oh, what are they?Half of them should now be advising the public for their past crimes; the other half may be very lucky that others have not done anything to them.Will they be able to defend themselves when the enemy comes into the country?

Or, are they willing to defend themselves?If not, they would be so foolish as to think that at a time like this, when it is our duty to dig out the rotten wound by the roots, we have ten times their strength and numbers (if the mass of the people were made aware of the matter words) are we, willing to be ruled by a group of cowards and royalists? A wise man will realize that, especially at a time when the present situation is full of volatility and there is no fixed form of government, the safest refuge is the love of the people.Under their protection, all property is safe.Even in countries where violence has occurred among some of the lowest and most dissolute among them, they have never departed from their natural moral path.In order to defend the life and property of those who have done their work or protected them, they are desperate, but the idea of ​​​​dividing property has never entered the minds of the people.This is incompatible with the spirit that drives them to fight.No one has ever heard of greedy masses; nay, even a miser who goes among them and infects their spirits will immediately be cured of their greed.

Before I conclude this letter, I should like to say that the British navy and army have lately begun to carry out a different plan of operations than at first; for instead of attacking those colonies where the spirit of independence is strongest, they attack only those They thought it was the colonial area where the spirit of independence was the lowest.They left Massachusetts Bay and went to North Carolina, where they thought they had many friends. Why would anyone expect them to go to New York?Just because they suspect that the residents there are not by and large independents (yet the state has a lot to offer, despite the discredit of its lower house of state legislature).

From this I conclude that electing the king's deputies as councilors of the town is a pretty invitation to them; Although Mr. Samuel Howell was on their list of candidates, we never regarded him as a pro-British occupant. --author are they?I don't think so, because out of their 923 voters there were never more than sixty armed men, maybe less than sixty.Therefore, if such a thing should happen (and it probably will), I must cast my first vote here, hoping that the property of those who invited them will be withheld, and used as military expenses against them. forest dweller