orders of Council, to stop the Puritans, who were flying from his persecutions into New England, and next by Louis the Fourteenth, to retain in his kingdom the persecuted Huguenots; and how ineffectual all the power of our crown, with which the Archbishop armed himself, and all the more absolute power of that great French monarch, were, to obtain the end for which they were exerted; and when I consider, too, the extent of coast to be guarded, and the multitude of cruisers necessary effectually to make a prison of the Island for this confinement of free Englishmen, who naturally love liberty, and would probably by the very restraint be more stimulated to break through it; I cannot but think such a law IMPRACTICABLE. The offices would not be applied to for licenses, the ports would not be used for embarkation. And yet the people disposed to leave us would, as the Puritans did, get away by shipfuls.

3dly. As to the POLICY of the Law.

Since I have shown there is no danger of depopulating Britain, but that the place of those that depart will soon be filled up equal to the means of obtaining a livelihood, let us see whether there are not some general advantages to be expected from the present emigration. The new settlers in America, finding plenty of subsistence, and land easily acquired whereon to seat their children, seldom postpone marriage through fear of poverty. Their natural increase is therefore in proportion far beyond what it would have been, if they had remained here. New farms are daily everywhere forming in those immense forests; new towns and villages rising; hence a growing demand for our merchandise, to the greater employment of our manufacturers, and the enriching of our merchants. By this

natural increase of people, the strength of the empire is increased; men are multiplied, out of whom new armies may be formed on occasion, or the old recruited. The long-extended seacoast, too, of that vast country, the great maritime commerce of its ports with each other, its many navigable rivers and lakes, and its plentiful fisheries, breed multitudes of seamen, besides those created and supported by its voyages to Europe; a thriving nursery this, for the manning of our fleets in time of war, and maintaining our importance among foreign nations by that navy, which is also our best security against invasions from our enemies. An extension of empire by conquest of inhabited countries is not so easily obtained, it is not so easily secured; it alarms more the neighbouring states; it is more subject to revolts, and more apt to occasion new wars.

The increase of dominion by colonies proceeding from yourselves, and by the natural growth of your own people, cannot be complained of by your neighbours as an injury; none have a right to be offended with it. Your new possessions are therefore more secure, they are more cheaply gained, they are attached to your nation by natural alliance and affection; and thus they afford an additional strength more certainly to be depended on, than any that can be acquired by a conquering power, though at an immense expense of blood and treasure. These, methinks, are national advantages, that more than equiponderate with the inconveniences suffered by a few Scotch or Irish landlords, who perhaps may find it necessary to abate a little of their present luxury, or of those advanced rents they now so unfeelingly demand. From these considerations, I think I may conclude, that the restraining law proposed would, if practicable, be IMPOLITIC.

4thly. As to the JUSTICE of it.

I apprehend that every Briton, who is made unhappy at home, has a right to remove from any part of his King's dominions into those of any other prince, where he can be happier. If this should be denied me, at least it will be allowed, that he has a right to remove into any other part of the same dominions. For by this right so many Scotchmen remove into England, easing their own country of its supernumeraries, and benefiting ours by their industry. And this is the case with those who go to America. Will not these Scottish lairds be satisfied unless a law passes to pin down all tenants to the estate they are born on, (adscripti gleba,) to be bought and sold with it? God has given to the beasts of the forest, and to the birds of the air, a right, when their subsistence fails in one country, to migrate to another, where they can get a more comfortable living; and shall man be denied a privilege enjoyed by brutes, merely to gratify a few avaricious landlords? Must misery be made permanent, and suffered by many for the emolument of one; while the increase of human beings is prevented, and thousands of their offspring stifled, as it were, in the birth, that this petty Pharaoh may enjoy an excess of opulence? God commands to increase and replenish the earth; the proposed law would forbid increasing, and confine Britons to their present number, keeping half that number too in wretchedness. The common people of Britain and of Ireland contributed by the taxes they paid, and by the blood they lost, to the success of that war, which brought into our hands the vast unpeopled territories of North America; a country favored by Heaven with all the advantages of climate and soil. Germans are now pouring into it, to take possession of it, and fill it with their posterity; and shall Britons and

Irelanders, who have a much better right to it, be forbidden a share of it, and, instead of enjoying there the plenty and happiness that might reward their industry, be compelled to remain here in poverty and misery? Considerations such as these persuade me, that the proposed law would be both UNJUST and

INHUMAN.

If then it is unnecessary, impracticable, impolitic, and unjust, I hope our Parliament will never receive the bill, but leave landlords to their own remedy, an abatement of rents, and frugality of living; and leave the liberties of Britons and Irishmen at least as extensive as it found them. I am, Sir, yours, &c.

A FRIEND TO THE POOR.

VOL. IV.

59

A

TRUE STATE OF THE PROCEEDINGS

IN THE

PARLIAMENT OF GREAT BRITAIN,

AND IN THE

PROVINCE OF MASSACHUSETTS BAY,

RELATIVE TO THE GIVING AND GRANTING THE MONEY OF THE PEOPLE OF THAT PROVINCE, AND ALL AMERICA, IN THE HOUSE OF COMMONS, IN WHICH THEY ARE NOT REPRESENTED.

First published in London anonymously, in the year 1774. It was reprinted in "A Collection of Interesting, Authentic Papers relative to the Dispute between Great Britain and America," otherwise called "Prior Documents," in the year 1777, where Franklin is said to be the author. But it was drawn up by Arthur Lee, from materials furnished mostly by Franklin. — EDITOR.

ON the 12th of November, 1761, Governor Bernard made the following speech to both Houses of Assembly, in the province of Massachusetts Bay.

"At the opening of this General Court, I had the pleasure to observe upon the happy and propitious circumstances, that had attended the commencement of the present reign, and particularly the extinction of parties, and the general coalition of all parties in support of his Majesty's government; and I could not but express my earnest desire, that the same patriotic spirit, which influenced Great Britain, might prevail