The Virginia Gazette

From the PUBLICK LEDGER.

To the PRINTER.

Please insert the following in your first paper, and you will oblige a friend to Great Britain and her colonies, and

Your humble servant,

V. A.

OBSERVED in some of the papers, the other day, a paragraph wherein the publick were assured that the Ministry had taken proper measures to put an end to the dispute which had so long subsisted between Great Britain and her colonies, and that the acts of Parliament which had been much and so justly complained of by the latter would be repealed at the meeting of the next session of Parliament. A letter in the Chronicle, of Monday last, contains the same assurances; it is Signed Vindex, and he says from authority.

My affection for my native country, my esteem for the Americans, and my sincere good wishes for the prosperity of both, induced me to give credit to these flattering assurances; and I began to indulge the pleasing hope that the Ministry had at last seen their error, were determined, like honest men, to do justice to the injured, and by such conduct restore that harmony and confidence which is so necessary to promote the happiness and greatness of the British empire.

But, Sir, upon a serious review of the whole matter, I cannot help entertaining an opinion that some different measures are designed. It is well known that towards the close of the last session of Parliament a motion was made for a repeal of the laws above mentioned; but this motion, being opposed by the Ministry, did not succeed. In order, however, to give satisfaction to the colonies at present, and to show that there was yet a probability of their obtaining redress, it was desired that the House would come to a resolution to take this business into consideration at the meeting of the next session; but neither could this be obtained, it meeting with the same opposition, so that the colonies are now left without any prospect of relief, except what may be effected by a proper exertion of their own natural powers in the establishment of manufactories amongst themselves, to supply those wants which have hitherto kept them dependent on Great Britain. I believe it will not be denied that both the soil and climate of America are such as must enable them to succeed in this laudable attempt, a success, however, which would be fatal to the commerce of this kingdom, and must soon reduce it to so abject a state as no human policy will be sufficient to recover it from.

If therefore a measure so salutary and necessary as a repeal of those laws is really designed, let it be made known to the people by an assurance solemn as the nature of the case requires. It is not long since we saw a Royal proclamation declaring the pardon of a criminal whom the laws of his country had doomed to death for murder; and shall an act of justice to two millions of people, and the happiness of a great nation, be considered as a matter of less importance than the fate of a ruffian? Whenever, therefore, you would believe that such redress is really designed, take care that you have a Royal word for it; nor will it be derogatory of the highest authority in this kingdom to publish so gracious an intention. This kind of declaration appears also the more necessary when we consider that the King's speech at the close of the session did not seem to promise that such, or any other alteration in measures, would take place; and the Ministry, whenever application has been made to them by the Agents, and others properly connected with the colonies, to be well informed of their situation, and desirous, from the most amiable motives, to see an end to those differences which had so long subsisted, the Ministry, I say, gave for answer that the conduct of the colonists themselves must procure them the redress required. To their conduct (however it may have been represented) I appeal, a fair and impartial state of which will, ere long, be laid before the publick, and I think it will appear such as to merit the highest approbation: They have submitted to have their houses filled with armed men, to the establishment of a Board of Commissioners, vested with an authority inconsistent with the constitution, and which would excite horror in the mind of every Englishman were it known; a total suspension of their legislatures (the very life and spirit of freedom) and the cruel and unjust reproaches of behaving licentious and traitorous, for having only desired a reestablishment of those rights which their forefathers had acquired at the expense of their blood, and which is the boast and glory of every Englishman.

From these considerations, I cannot help thinking that the Ministry, by such reports, design only to amuse the people of Great Britain, and deceive the colonies into a security, or rather inattention to their interest, which will, in the end, prove their destruction. If they continue to complain of the load of oppression under which they labour, such complaints will be considered as disrespectful and disloyal; and, on the contrary, should they be silent, and make no application for relief, that silence would be construed into an acquiescence under the present regulations, and any alteration in measures deemed unnecessary. Look, therefore, upon these kind insinuations as having no other tendency than to reduce the Americans into a state of the most abject slavery; and when that blow is once effectually given to liberty, in the distant parts of the British empire, it will not be long ere it pierce the vitals, as the cold hand of death, though it first seize on the extremities, never fails to reach the heart. Be warned then in time, O ye people of Great Britain, and you the inhabitants of America, and do not let your supineness on this important occasion be your ruin.