The New Hampshire Gazette And Historical Chronicle

Portsmouth, July 9. 1770.

From the Pennsylvania Chronicle.

LIBERTAS ET NATALE SOLUM:

The conduct of the people of this continent, in the present dispute with Great Britain, will do honour to them as long as the annals of this country last. The cause of Freedom is a great and good cause, and those only deserve to enjoy it who have the courage to assert it when it is invaded. Had the people wanted this spirit in the reign of Charles I. we all know what would have become of their liberties--they would have sunk into the same abject condition with the people of France. The royal fiat would have become the law of the land, and that admirable form of government, which has been held up by all political writers as the best that any country ever was blessed with, would have been utterly destroyed by the hand of power.---Happy, indeed, was it for us, such free spirits lived at that time-- The names of Pym and Hampden claim our highest veneration and praise: With Roman courage and intrepidity they stood forth in defence of their invaluable rights, and though much blood was shed, and great disorder prevailed, the present happy constitution was the effect of these political contests. The people of this country seem truly to be the legitimate descendants of these glorious ancestors; for they possess the same spirit, and an equal resolution to maintain their rights.

The non-importation of British manufactures is the only means by which we can reach the good sense of our mother-country-- every other method has been used petitions have been sent home to the three branches of the legislature, -- pamphlet after pamphlet has been published, in which the rights of America are clearly and fully stated and explained, and all those without effect. What are we to do then ?--the answer is obvious let us adhere to our agreements firmly and religiously, as the only means we have left to recover our FREEDOM without proceeding to extremities. This is a point in which every freeholder of this province is highly interested, and in which every one of them has a right to a voice. It has been confidently said, the subscribers to the non-importation have an exclusive right to determine that matter. - If so, it follows, that the subscribers to the non-importation have the sole right to determine a question of liberty, that most nearly concerns every freeman of this province. For if it is the only mode of opposition of any force, and these two or three hundred subscribers have a right to make the agreement void whenever they please, is it not a point which affects the liberties of the people of this province. : But I hope every freeman; whether he be farmer; merchant; or mechanic; will insist upon his right to a vote in so important an affair. There will always be selfish and insidious persons in every country ready to support any measure that may tend to their private advantage, however opposite it may be to the common weal.-- These men ought to be marked out as enemies of their country, & their names hung up, that their infamy may not only be proclaimed to their contemporaries, but transmitted down to the latest posterity, as the vilest of the human race: No circumstances of fortune, or connection; ought to save a man from public scorn and contempt, who is so hardy as to avow sentiments inconsistent with the liberties of his country.-- Act with spirit, my countrymen !-- your cause is a good cause.: : be neither biased or baffled by these selfish men,--- speak your sentiments openly, maintain your cause with firmness,--you will have the applause of the wise and good, and what is more, stand justified in your own consciences.

C A T O.