DR. NISBET'S VIEWS OF AMERICAN SOCIETY, No. 5. DEAR SIR, CARLISLE, PENNSYLVANIA, 31st October, 1797. I was favoured with yours of the 14th June on the 18th September last, & had answered yours of October & November 1796, soon after they came to hand. While I felt severely for your Misfortunes, I was pleased to hear that I was not forgotten by one of the Friends of my Youth. I imagined that you had a genteel Annuity settled on you & your Children by your Sister's Will, which her Executors were bound to pay you yearly, & as this Annuity had been anticipated by the Expences of your Wife's Illness, I expected that as soon as the Produce of it had extinguished these Anticipations, you would be restored to the full Possession of it. I likewise imagined that some of your friends in the Town Council might have procured you an Office in the Revenue, & your having been formerly a Magistrate of the City ought to have had great Weight with them. But it seems they do not proceed on the same Views as they did formerly. To maintain the Honour, & to serve the Interest of their own Body, was wont to be a favorite Object with them.* I have frequently entreated him to write me, but have only been able to draw two Letters from him in twelve years. I had heard of the Zeal that has appeared in so many of your People for propagating the Gospel among the heathen, & although we have Abundance of Heathens at home, I hope that those in Asia & Africa will be more ready to receive the Gospel than those who have heard it, & despised it. I am sorry for what you mention of the Difficulties that are attempted to be thrown in the Way of those who wish to erect Chapels of Ease, as it appears to me that such Institutions are necessary not only for preserving the Body of the People in the Communion of the Established Church, but for promoting the Attendance on Divine Ordinances, in Places where it would otherways be neglected. Hence I have reckoned the Breaking out of the Secession, the Division betwixt the Burgher & Antiburgher Seceders, & the Rise of the Society of Relief, to be so many favourable Dispensations of Providence to the Interests of Religion in Scotland, because altho' they have had some bad Consequences, they have produced many more good ones, by increasing the Number of Ministers & Congregations, to a far greater Extent than could ever have been done by the Commissioners for Plantation of Kirks, or even by the Institution of Chapels of Ease, so that the increasing Population of the Country, which could never have been accommodated in the Parish Churches, have been accommodated at their own Expence by means of these Divisions, & the Gospel has been preached to hundreds of Congregations to which it would not have been preached, had there been no Provision made for it, except the Establishment. Nor is it so great a Misfortune to a National Church to have a Number of Dissenters, who hold the same Standards of Doctrine & the Form of Church Government as themselves. It would have been much worse surely, if all these Dissenters had been Roman Catholics or Episcopals, who hold the A line has been crossed out in the original. * Doctrine & Government of our Church in Abomination, or if they had become Deists or Atheists, as is the Case with many here. I agree that it is a Risk, to trust many People with Arms, but it is sometimes a greater Risk to deny them the Use of Arms. This latter Method has proved unfortunate in Ireland, & the first has not yet produced any bad Consequences in Great Britain. With Regard to your Hints as to the Provision for Ministers by Allotting Lands for that Purpose, I have mostly answered them in my former Letters. But you entirely mistake the Character of the People of this Country, if you imagine that they desire to support a Gospel Ministry or to see them independent. There is nothing in the World indeed that is farther from their thoughts. Nay Ministers themselves dare not say that they wish to be independent, as that would draw down upon them the utmost Vengeance of the Sovereign People. The Truth is that Religion is so little regarded in this Country, that the best Schemes for its Support & Encouragement, could not meet with half so many Friends, as a Proposal for its Extinction or entire Suppression. And indeed nothing could serve this Purpose more effectually than that Equality & Indifference of Religious Opinions that is established by our Political Constitutions. It is this that has divided all our Citizens into two great Parties, the Anythingarians who hold all Religions equally good, & the Nothingarians, who abhor all Religions equally. And in such a Division, you may easily believe that the Anythingarians having no fix'd Principles to rest on, must soon be put down by the Nothingarians, who are the great Majority in this Country as well as in France. Mr. Whitfield was a great Promoter of Anythingarianism in this Country, but he was not aware that he was advancing the Nothingarian Interest by his Preaching. The Consequences of it however are now too palpable to be dissembled or denied. In forming the Constitution of the State of Vermont, something like an Establishment was contemplated, as in every Township of Six Miles square, into which their whole Territory was divided, two contiguous Portions of Land, of an hundred acres each were set apart, one of which was to be given to the first Minister that should be chosen by the People to settle among them, & the Heirs of said Minister, and the other to the Same Minister & his Successors in Office. But in accomodating this Constitution to that of the United States, I am afraid that this Provision has been abolished, although I know one Minister, an Antiburgher Seceder, who was settled on these terms, but there was a previous Vote in the Congregation whether they would have a Minister or not, & it carried only by a few Voices that they should have one. He had likewise a Stipend paid in Wheat, by a Proportion, from all the Estates in his Parish. I have not seen him since his Settlement, but have my fears that in most of the Townships of that State it will be carried by a previous Vote, to have no Minister. The number of those that are trained for the Ministry in this Country, is not small, but the Number of those that abandon it for other Professions, is very great in Proportion. Some turn Lawyers, others Merchants Farmers & Members of Congress. Very little Learning is required for making a Minister in this Country, & there are some Seminaries, which bring Men from the Plough, the Waggon & the Loom, into the Pulpit, in the Space of a Year. The State of things that prevails here is such as could not be conceived or believed by any one that has not seen it. We have no Professors of Divinity in any of our The name has been crossed out in the original. Seminaries, as no God nor Religion is owned by any of our Constitutions, & for the same Reason there is no Mention of any God in the Oath of Allegiance prescribed by the United States; only a Person says, "I swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States." Now whether it means, "I say that I swear," or "I swear that I say ", is not very clear, but neither of these can constitute a strong Obligation. For this Reason I think that the Divine Providence has a Controversy with the United States, & that neither their Union nor their Constitution will be lasting, as God is not owned in it. Perhaps it has already seen its best Days. The French are taking our Vessels by Scores every day, both in Europe & the West Indies, and on our own Coasts, & many of our Merchants are Owners in those Privateers that capture the Vessels of their Countrymen. We have no such thing as Patriotism, & those who call themselves Patriots among us, like those who call themselves friends of the People among you, have only a blind Attachment to the French Republic, & a blind Zeal for subjecting their own Country & all others to the infernal Dominion of that Tyranny. Levies of Men are making just now in South Carolina, for the Service of the French Republic, & as they are at Peace with Spain, these Levies can be for no other Purpose than for subduing this Country. The Governor of South Carolina has been obliged for form's Sake, to publish a Proclamation prohibiting the Levying of Men for the Service of a foreign Power. But as the Governor himself is of the French Party, he durst not name what foreign Power he meant, & the Business goes on, notwithstanding his Prohibition. What will be the Issue, God alone knows. The same Design was attempted at Philadelphia some Months ago, but the Design was disowned as soon as it was discovered, by some Persons refusing to sign their Names. In Philadelphia it was meant that Men should enroll themselves privately, but in South Carolina the Levies are public & acknowledged in Print. Bankruptcy, real & fraudulent, abounds among our Merchants, & on Account of the daily Captures of our Ships, may be expected to abound much more. Most of our Merchants, who were deeply indebted to England, will probably become Bankrupts, to avoid the Payment of their English Debts according to Treaty. The Population of this Country is daily turning thinner, by the Emigration of Multitudes to the Western Frontier, & the French & Spaniards, are instigating these New Settlers to erect a New Republic beyond the Mountains, dependant on France, but independent on the United States, & their Endeavours have had considerable Success, for although some of their Agents have been seized & imprisoned, they were quickly let go again, for fear of displeasing the French Republic. We are a divided People, & hastening to Ruin, & God seems to be bringing it upon us by that Nation to which we have been blindly devoted, in the same Manner as he punished the Jewish People of old, by those idolatrous Nations whose Customs they were so prone to imitate. If a General Peace is established in Europe, the French will have nothing to do but to disorganise & subdue this Country in the same Manner as they have done to so many others, unless they should chuse to begin with Great Britain, where they have many friends, tho' probably not so many in Proportion, as they have here. For which Reason I am afraid to hear of a general Peace with France in its present Condition, as I am persuaded that it would be fatal to Great Britain, as well as to America. Such a Peace would be no sooner Signed, & the British Navy disarmed & laid up, when Millions of Incendiaries, Assassins & Disorganisers would come over from France, who with the Assistance of your own Traitors & Mob, would quickly overturn the British Constitution, & commit as many Violences & Massacres in the Name of Liberty & Equality & the Rights of Man, as have taken Place in France for these eight years past. Your People complain loudly of the War, which indeed must be burdensom, but they have a thousand times more Reason to be afraid of a Peace, of which they would complain in vain, when the Government that might have defended them, is overturned by the French. Where is now the Republic of Holland, Venice, Genoa & Geneva, the Austrian Provinces of the Netherlands, & most of the States of Italy? All are ruined by having made Peace with the French. Yet your Patriots are eager to bring your Country into the very same Condition. Where is the Republic of the United States, which has shown such a gross Partiality to the French Republic? It is, as you see, abused, insulted, plundered & threatened by that very Nation to which our People have sacrificed the Interests of their own Country. What Charms then can your People see in a Peace with the French, who have never yet made Peace with any Nation, except on the Terms of absolute Submission? The Kingdoms of Spain & Portugal are now in the same State of Vassalage to the French as the European Republics, & the Swiss Cantons at last are threat. ened with the same fate. Great Britain alone is free from their Insults, but it will be no longer free than it continues the War, & supports its Navies, its only Bulwarks against the French. No Reliance can be made on a Treaty concluded with a Nation of Atheists, & we see that the Preliminary Articles of Peace with the Emperor were broken in less than a Week after they were signed, by the French laying heavy Contributions on those Provinces of Germany which they had agreed to abandon. Every thing that has happened, strongly dissuades from a Peace with the French. Yet this is the Object on which your foolish People are blindly set. It appears to me that they are under a judicial Infatuation. You gave me no Direction, either in this or your two former Letters, how to address my Letters to you, for which Reason I addressed one of them to the Care of Dr. Johnston of North Leith, not knowing but your Residence there might be merely temporary. If you direct to me at Carlisle, Pennsylvania, it will come to hand from any Port or Post Office of the United States. I should be glad to hear that your Affairs are in a better Situation, & that you have got friends to support your Interest. My Wife & family, as well as myself, are in ordinary health at present, & the yellow Fever which has raged in Philadelphia since August last, is greatly abated, so that the Citizens who had fled, are returning to their homes. Expecting to hear from you, I remain with sincere Esteem, PROPOSALS FOR COLONIAL COMMITTEES OF CORRESPONDENCE IN 1773. (From the original manuscript in the Emmet Collection, New York Public Library.) June 39 1773 "The House of Representatives of this Province being earnestly attentive to the Controversy between Great Britain and the Colonies, And considering that the Authority claimed and exercised by Parliament on the one side, and by the general Assemblies of this Continent on the other, greatly militates and so is productive of this unhappy Contention; think it of the utmost Importance to the Welfare of both and particularly of the Colonies, that the constitutional Rights and powers of each be enquired into, delineated and fully ascertained. "That his Majesty's Subjects of America are intitled to the same Rights and Liberties as those of Great Britain; and that these ought in Justice by the Constitution, to be as well guaranteed and secured to the one as to the other; are Truths too apparent to be denied. "It is by this House humbly conceived to be likewise undeniable, that the Authority Assumed and now forceably exercised by Parliament over the Colonies is utterly subversive of Freedom in the latter; And that while his Majesty's loyal Subjects in America have the Mortification daily to see new Abridgments of their Rights and Liberties, they have not the least Security for those which at present remain. Were the Colonists only affected by a Legislative, subject to their Controul, they would even then have no other Security than belongs to them by the Laws of Nature and the English Constitution; but shou'd the Authority now claimed by Parliament be fully supported by Power or Submitted to by the Colonies, It appears to this House there will be an end to Liberty in America, and that the Colonists will then change the name of Freemen for that of Slaves. In Order to adjust and settle these important Concerns, the free and magnanimous Burgesses of Virginia have proposed a Method for uniting the Councils of it's Sister Colonies; and it appearing to this House to be a Measure very wise and Salutary is chearfully received and heartily adopted. With very great Respect to your honourable Assembly, and in Confidence that a Matter which so nearly affects the Safety of each Colony will be assisted by it's wise Councils; permit this House to inclose a Copy of the Resolutions lately entered into here, and to request that you'll Communicate the same at a Convenient Opportunity. In the Name & by order of the House I have the Honor to be with great Truth & regard THOMAS CUSHING Speaker "To the Speaker of the Honble House of Representatives of the Province of Merryland" |