The New Hampshire Gazette And Historical Chronicle

LONDON, April 26.

To the MINISTRY.

To protect, defend, and secure the Colonies.

Gentlemen,

Fifty years before the Author of my motto was born, and whilst Canada, Cape Breton, & Louisiana were in the hands of France, the Colonies defended themselves, and often gave succour to this Kingdom; but now when all these Countries are in subjection to the Crown of England, & that the Colonies have several hundred thousand men more than heretofore, and not an enemy within three thousand miles of them, the Author of my Motto declared they wanted protection, security, and defence; but, Gentlemen, his real intention was to support a standing army amongst the most loyal people on earth, (for a Traytor was never born there) & therefore the Stamp Act passed for the purpose of a Revenue.

His successor, Mr. Charles Townshend's head was full of the same ideas; he brought in a Bill to impose Duties on Glass, Paper, Painters Colours & Tea, for the same laudable purpose of a Revenue to support a standing Army, from which when he was dissuaded by the writer of this Letter. his answer was, 'That whilst he had any share in Administration he would be invulnerable in the Colonies, & therefore keep an army there;' the Act passed; but to collect the Duties. he thought it necessary to send a Board of Commissioners of Customs. & Judge of Vice Admiralty, with all their train of dependants; the consequence was general discontent.

You are his successors not only in office but in errors too, as you have hitherto adopted the Same measures; you ought, Gentlemen, to have become wise by the mistakes of Messrs. G-ille & Townshend, for during their Administration, you saw what discontent & confusion they had excited in America, and alienated the affection of the Colonies from this Country; you are well acquainted with the discontent and disgust which prevails there on account of the Army, & the frequent outrages committed there by Soldiers, not only on the people but on the Laws too, for at New-York they have at twelve o'clock at noon, cut open the doors of his Majesty's Prison & proclaimed a Goal Delivery to Malefactors and others.

You are well informed of the frequent disturbances at Boston, and that the Army has planted there two pieces of cannon before the Town Hall, that the Representatives of the People, & the King's Council were obliged to pass between two rows of Grenadiers, with Bayonets fixed and without whose leave they could not enter the Hall.

The late Massacre at Boston, committed by the King's Troops, surpasses the barbarity and inhumanity of the Spaniards at Mexico, who let loose blood hounds, armed with teeth only, on the innocent natives, whilst the King's soldiers at Boston, armed with swords & bayonets, more cruel than Spaniards, murdered their fellow Subjects, whom it is said they were sent to protect and defend.

These and many more acts of Despotism & Tyranny, Gentlemen, ought to alarm you in time: remember that it can never deserve reproach to correct human error, for the Rulers of Kingdoms are fallible as well as other men, and it is happy if they see their errors before it be too late, & not persevere in them rather than discover to the world that they have been wrong as has been too frequently and too unhappily the case.

If sentiments like these should possess your minds, to retract your errors and dispose you to a sincere reconciliation with our Colonies, to recover their lost affection, to restore our Trade. to save this Kingdom an immense expense, to save your Country and your successors infinite uneasiness, and to secure to yourselves immortal honour, adopt the following advice, and all those most desirable ends will be obtained.

1. Order home your Army from America, & whenever the Crown wants assistance from thence make a requisition in the Colonies, they will obey as they have done heretofore in the reigns of King William, Queen Ann, George the IId. and in the late War.

2. Repeal all those Duties which were imposed for the purpose of a Revenue, for there can be no need of them when the Army is ordered home; in doing this you will undoubtedly restore our lost Trade with the Colonies.

3. Abolish the Board of Commissioners of Customs with all their numerous train of dependants, for they are not only an oppression to the Colonies, but will become absolutely useless when your revenue acts are repealed.

4. Dissolve the Courts of Vice Admiralty, for the arbitrary principle on which they are founded is incompatible with commerce.

This, Gentlemen, is certainly true policy, & the real interest of Great-Britain; proceed then on these principles and remove every just cause of complaint, and you will restore content and harmony between us; this I think is the true system that ought to be observed,& those who fail in pursuing it will be the just abhorrence both of Britain and America.