Nature, in the arrangement of
mankind, has fitted some for every service in life: were all soldiers,
all would starve and go naked, and were none soldiers, all would be
slaves. As disaffection to independence is the badge of a Tory, so
affection to it is the mark of a Whig; and the different services of
the Whigs, down from those who nobly contribute every thing, to
those who have nothing to render but their wishes, tend all to the
same center, though with different degrees of merit and ability. The
larger we make the circle, the more we shall harmonize, and the
stronger we shall be. All we want to shut out is disaffection, and,
that excluded, we must accept from each other such duties as we are
best fitted to bestow. A narrow system of politics, like a narrow
system of religion, is calculated only to sour the temper, and be at
variance with mankind.
All we want to know in America is simply this, who is for
independence, and who is not? Those who are for it, will support it,
and the remainder will undoubtedly see the reasonableness of paying
the charges; while those who oppose or seek to betray it, must
expect the more rigid fate of the jail and the gibbet. There is a
bastard kind of generosity, which being extended to all men, is as
fatal to society, on one hand, as the want of true generosity is on
the other. A lax manner of administering justice, falsely termed
moderation, has a tendency both to dispirit public virtue, and promote
the growth of public evils. Had the late committee of safety taken
cognizance of the last Testimony of the Quakers and proceeded
against such delinquents as were concerned therein, they had,
probably, prevented the treasonable plans which have been concerted
since.
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