to prepare a Declaration of the causes of taking up arms, brought in their report. The report, being disapproved by the ma jority, was recommitted, and Mr. Jefferson and Mr. Dickinson were added to the committee. This document was designed as a manifesto to the world, justificatory of their resistance to the parent government, and required a sound and skillful disposition. The committee requested Mr. Jefferson to execute the draught. He excused himself; but on their pressing him with urgency, he consented. He brought it from his study, and laid it before the committee. It was too strong for Mr. Dickinson, as was anticipated by the writer. He still retained the hope of reconciliation with the mother country, and was unwilling it should be lessened by offensive statements. "He was so honest a man,' says our reminiscent,, "and so able a one, that he was greatly indulged even by those who could not feel his scruples." They therefore requested him to take the paper, re-mould it according to his own views. He did so preparing an entire new statement, and retaining of the former draught, only the last four paragraphs and half of the preceding one. The committee approved and reported it. In Congress, it encountered the shrugs and grimaces of the revolution party, in every quarter of the House; and the desire of unanimity, ever predominant, was the only motive which silenced their repugnance to its lukewarmness. A humorous circumstance attending its adoption, is related by Mr. Jefferson. It shows the great disparity of opinion which prevailed in that body, and the mutual sacrifices which were constantly required to preserve an unbroken column.

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"Congress gave a signal proof of their indulgence to Mr. Dickinson, and of their great desire not to go too fast for any respectable part of our body, in permitting him to draw their second petition to the King, according to his own ideas, and passing it with scarcely any amendment. The disgust against its humility was general; and Mr. Dickinson's delight at its passage was the only circumstance which reconciled them to it. The vote being passed, although further observation on it was out of order, he could not refrain from rising and expressing his satisfaction, and concluded by saying, 'There is but one word, Mr. President, in the paper which I disapprove, and that is the word Congress; on which Ben Harrison rose and said, 'There is but one word in the paper, Mr. President, of which I approve, and that is the word Congress."

This production enjoys a high reputation. The fact that Mr. Jefferson had any agency in its preparation, or that so strong a dis

crimination of sentiment existed in the Congress of '75, has never been stated by any writer; nor indeed have any of those interesting minutiæ, connected with our ancient history, come to the light, until since the publication of his private 'memoranda.' As a literary performance, and as a specimen of revolutionary fortitude, almost incredible, the effect of which was to charge the entire responsibility of the war upon Great Britain, it possesses great merit. But in a political point of view, it is insufferably tame and humiliating; though even in that light, it was the best, perhaps, that the circumstances of the times allowed, inasmuch as it coincided with the sentiments of the great majority of the American people. It abandoned the whole ground which Mr. Jefferson had taken in his draught, the ground which he had uniformly maintained in his previous writings, and the one which Congress themselves adopted, the next year, as the only orthodox and tenable statement of their cause. It intimated a desire for an amicable compact, something like Magna Charta, in which doubtful, undefined points should be ascertained, so as to secure that proportion of authority and liberty, which would be for the general good of the whole empire. It claimed only a partial exemption from the authority of Parliament; expressed a willingness in the Colonies to contribute, in their own way, to the expenses of government; but made a traverse, at last, in preferring the horrors of war, to submission to the unlimited su'premacy of Parliament.*

Such were the doctrines which influenced a very great majority of Congress, and so continued for a twelve-month. The actual revolutionists were a feeble body in the House. The decision of character requisite to assume a posture so heretical at this time, and so pregnant with the auguries of woe, desolation and death, appeared almost supernatural. It was enjoyed by few even of that race of men. The opinions which Mr. Jefferson had advanced at the outset, contained the essence of independence; and the ardor of his convictions had, as on all other occasions, excited a corresponding tenor of action. The eye of reason and philosophy, with which he viewed the contest, presented to him the strangest inconsistencies in the antagonist opinions; and it was a part of his religion to postpone no principle of right to the principle of expediency, farther

* Ramsay.

than was indispensable to the maintenance and greatest good of that right. It is not surprising, therefore, that he was 'disgusted' with the nature of those grounds upon which the majority chose to submit their cause to the umpirage of the world. But he knew, that public opinion was the only force which America possessed, and, that that was 'growing apace under the fostering hand of the King and Parliament.' He therefore, submitted with patience to the restraints which its present condition imposed. Nor is it to be inferred, that even he aimed at independence as a measure desirable in the abstract; but as an awful alternative only, a matter of the last In this spirit, he had mingled with his protestations of right, and his solemn asseverations of eternal resistance, expressions of a cordial desire for a re-establishment of the union, upon a just and equitable basis. But such an union, he had long been convinced was not within the most distant contemplation of the British Court; and those expressions were retained by him, more as a matter of form than any thing else. After stating the grounds upon which they rested the justification of their appeal to arms, the manifesto concludes in the language of Mr. Jefferson's draught.

resort.

It is worthy of remark, that, while all historians have concurred in ascribing the entire production to Mr. Dickinson, they have, at the same time, generally quoted only Mr. Jefferson's conclusion.

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"We are reduced to the alternative of choosing an unconditional submission to the tyranny of irritated ministers, or resistance by force the latter is our choice. We have counted the cost of this contest, and find nothing so dreadful as voluntary slavery. Honor, justice, and humanity, forbid us tamely to surrender that freedom which we received from our gallant ancestors, and which our innocent posterity have a right to receive from us. We cannot endure the infamy and guilt of resigning succeeding generations to that wretchedness which inevitably awaits them, if we basely entail hereditary bondage upon them.

"Our cause is just. Our union is perfect. Our internal resources are great; and, if necessary, foreign assistance is undoubtedly attainable. We gratefully acknowledge, as signal instances of the Divine favour towards us, that his providence would not permit us to be called into this severe controversy, until we were grown up to our present strength, had been previously exercised in warlike operation, and possessed of the means of defending ourselves. With hearts fortified with these animating reflections, we most solemnly, before God and the world, declare, that, exerting the utmost energy of those powers, which our beneficent Creator hath

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graciously 'bestowed on us, the arms we have been compelled by our enemies to assume, we will, in defiance of every hazard, with unabating firmness and perseverance, employ for the preservation of our liberties; being with one mind resolved to die freemen, rather than to live slaves.

"Lest this declaration should disquiet the minds of our friends and fellow subjects in any part of the empire, we assure them, that we mean not to dissolve that union which has so long and so happily subsisted between us, and which we sincerely wish to see restored-necessity has not yet driven us into that desperate measure, or induced us to excite any other nation to war against them—we have not raised armies with ambitious designs of separating from Great Britain, and establishing independent States. We fight not for glory or for conquest. We exhibit to mankind the remarkable spectacle, of a people attacked by unprovoked enemies, without any imputation or even suspicion of offence. They boast of their privileges and civilization, and yet proffer no milder conditions than servitude or death.

"In our own native land, in defence of the freedom that is our birth right, and which we ever enjoyed until the late violation of it -for the protection of our property, acquired solely by the honest industry of our forefathers and ourselves, against violence actually offered, we have taken up arms. We shall lay them down when hostilities shall cease on the part of the aggressors, and all danger of their being renewed shall be removed—and not before.

"With an humble confidence in the mercies of the Supreme and impartial Judge and Ruler of the universe, we most devoutly implore his divine goodness to protect us happily through this great conflict, to dispose our adversaries to reconciliation on reasonable terms, and thereby to relieve the empire from the calamities of civil war."

This declaration was published to the army by General Washington; and proclaimed from the pulpit, with great solemnity, by the ministers of religion.

On the 22d of July, Congress took into consideration the Conciliatory Proposition of Lord North. This was a final measure, and it is said, they delayed their answer, under pretext of dignity, with a view to wait the event of the first actions, from which they might draw some prognostics of the probable issue of the war. However this may be, they exercised great discrimination in constituting the committee, who should prepare the instrument. Being elected by ballot, the number of votes which each received, decided his station on the committee-which was in the following order: Dr. Franklin, Mr. Jefferson, John Adams and Richard H. Lee. "A stronger committee could not have been raised in that House. It combined the

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greatest maturity of judgment, with the soundest revolutionary principles. It was a signal compliment to Mr. Jefferson, who was but a new member, and the youngest man in the whole body. The answer of the Virginia Assembly, upon the same subject, having been known and admired, the committee requested its distinguished author, to prepare the present report. He consented; and, as before observed, made his reply on the former occasion, the basis of this. Being intimately blended with the reputation of the writer, and the next in importance among our revolutionary papers, to his own 'Declaration,' it requires a place in this volume,

"The Congress took the said resolution into consideration, and are thereupon of opinion:

"That the Colonies of America are entitled to the sole and exclusive privilege, of giving and granting their own money; that this involves a right of deliberating, whether they will make any gift, for what purpose it shall be made, and what shall be its amount; that it is a high breach of this privilege, for any body of men, extraneous of their constitutions, to prescribe the purposes for which money shall be levied on them; to take to themselves the authority of judging of their conditions, circumstances, and situations, and of determining the amount of the contributions to be levied; and that, as the Colonies possess a right of appropriating their gifts, so are they entitled, at all times, to inquire into their application, to see that they are not wasted among the venal and corrupt, for the pur pose of undermining the civil rights of the givers, nor yet be diverted to the support of standing armies, inconsistent with freedom and subversive of their quiet.

"To propose, therefore, as this resolution does, that the monies, given by the Colonies, shall be subject to the disposal of Parliament alone, is to propose, that they shall relinquish this right of inquiry, and put it in the power of others, to render their gifts ruinous, in proportion as they are liberal

That this privilege, of giving, or of withholding our monies, is an important barrier against the undue exertion of prerogative, which, if left altogether without control, may be exercised to our great oppression; and all history shows how efficacious is its intercession for redress of grievances, and re-establishment of rights, and how improvident it would be, to part with so powerful a mediator.

"We are of opinion, that the proposition, contained in this resolution, is unreasonable and insidious. Unreasonable; because, if we declare we accede to it, we declare, without reservation, we will purchase the favor of Parliament, not knowing, at the same time, at what price they will please to estimate their favor. Insidious; be cause, individual Colonies, having bid and bidden again, till they

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