AN

ADDRESS

TO THE

BRITISH GOVERNMENT

ON A

SUBJECT OF PRESENT CONCERN.

1776.

Under the cloak of Whiggism are concealed factions, which, if suffered ta gain ground, would prove no less dangerous to the House of Hanover than to the Church and Monarchy.

Dr. Jablonski's Letter to the King of Prussia,

dated London, March 17th, 1711.

THE situation of our public affairs at this time may have opened the minds of people to receive those friendly informations, which they would have rejected some years ago as the insinuations of an enemy; it is therefore now a duty incumbent on those who would preserve as well as restore the peace of this kingdom, to take this opportunity of reminding the government, that episcopacy ought, according to the laws of God, and the rights of Englishmen, in the great charter of this country, to have been settled in the American

Colonies above an hundred years ago; and had likewise a political as well as a religious claim to be protected against all other interests, as congenial and friendly to the British government. But instead of this it has been left under every possible disadvantage. All attempts made by good men, either here or in America, to introduce episcopacy, have either been coldly neglected by those in power, or purposely defeated; and this, either by silent artifice, or clamorous opposition. And why? Because the Presbyterians would be disobliged. But now this paroxysm of moderation is come to a crisis, we may have sense and spirit to inquire at last, who the Presbyterians are, and why it is of such great consequence not to disoblige them? They are Calvinists by profession, and Republicans in their politics, who never can side with kingly government, but are of the same opinion with Hugh Peters, that the office of a king is useless, chargeable, and dangerous; and that all kings, especially the best, are to be blackened as much as possible, to bring about a Republican Revolution. When it serves their turn, they will affect to be in the interest of the government, and yet never fail to oppose it, if its establishment is of service to any party but themselves. They sided with William, but it was for the sake of ruining the episcopacy of Scotland; they favoured the Hanoverian succession, but it was out of hatred to Queen Anne, who had favoured the Church of England. And having now nothing to oppose but the Hanover family on the throne, they have at last taken up arms against that, and will carry on a war against the authority, the commerce, and the honour of this country, as long as they have the means of rebellion in their hands; for this has been a Presbyterian war from the beginning as certainly as that in 1641; and

accordingly the first firing against the King's troops was from a Massachuset meeting-house.

These are the people, whom it hath been the ruling policy of this government not to disoblige for almost a hundred years past; and now they are justly raised up to scourge us for our folly, by bringing upon us a most expensive war, exposing us to the attempts of our natural enemies, and hazarding the very existence of the British empire. The rule has been, let us not encourage episcopacy in the colonies, lest we offend the Presbyterians, and they turn against us. So the Jews said, lest the Romans come and take away our place and nation; for which treacherous policy, the Romans, by the just judgment of God, were made the instruments of their punishment, and brought to pass all those things, against which they were securing themselves by a wicked and foolish timidity. God forbid that the issue should be any thing like to this in our own case; but no wise or good man, who considers what is past, and is used to compare events with their causes, can wonder if the fruitless cries of our episcopal brethren in America, who have been almost afraid to utter their voice, while their enemies have been indulged to the uttermost in all their unreasonable clamours, should at last bring down some signal misfortune on those, who on so many occasions have refused to hear them. God knows where the chief blame is to be laid; whether the State or the Clergy have been most in fault. When Herring was Archbishop of Canterbury, Bishop Sherlock of London desired his concurrence in a petition to the Throne, for leave to consecrate suffragans (Bishops without sees) for America; but was answered, that he would have no hand in any proceedings that might give offence to our dissenting brethren: on which Dr.

Sherlock is said to have replied, that he had always heard the Church would be in danger when his Grace should be at the head of it, and now he found the suspicion verified. In the late excellent Dr. Secker, the Church of England had a sincere friend, who endeavoured both in word and deed to promote episcopacy in America: and if the measure had then succeeded, it would have given a seasonable check to the growth of the rebellion, which has since broke out, by raising the spirits of the episcopal party, and adding influence to those good principles of obedience and loyalty, which never fail to thrive under episcopal government; but with what scorn and violence were his pious attempts treated by Dr. Mayhew, a dissenting orator in the Colonies, and the furious author of the Confessional at home! And now we understand the views, with which the Dissenters have kept up a clamour against American episcopacy: the Colonies were to throw off their dependence on the mothercountry, and form themselves into a Republic of United Provinces, under the arbitrary power of the Hancocks, the Adams's, and the other sovereigns of the Congress; while the poor, loyal, episcopal party, the Issachar the new, as they have long been of the old world, were to be dragooned into submission under Presbyterian taxers and task-masters. This is the end to be accomplished in America, if they can support themselves in what they have undertaken; and when we are wasted and weakened with emigrations, additional taxes, and all the consequences of a civil war, our domestic Republicans, who have been their mapagers here in the whole business from the beginning, will have a strong party there to assist them, when matters shall be ripe for overturning the constitution at home. Then will our religion be new modelled,

till the experiments of reforming-chemistry shall reduce it to a caput mortuum; and all the power and wealth of the state shall fall into the merciless hands of Republican usurpation; till the constitution of this country, fermenting with heterogeneous mixtures, shall undergo a total dissolution, and furnish the materials for a new form of existence at the arbitration of some foreign power. When Cassandra said what. would come of it, the people were infatuated, and understood her not; but now the Greeks are descended from the Trojan horse in broad day-light, he must be worse than an idiot who cannot read their intentions in their actions, and will not provide for his own security. Lest we should forget the share the Presbyterians have had in the present troubles, our memories have very lately been refreshed by the production of Dr. Price. Whence do all these seditious pieces originate but from the Dissenters? Is not Dr. Price a Dissenter? And what is the design of his pamphlet? Is it not plainly calculated to make the government odious; to dispirit all Englishmen by representing to them the desperate state of their affairs; and to justify the Americans in their rebellion, by shifting the cause from the principles of positive law, and the common rights of possession, by which only it must be tried, to those other visionary principles of Republican enthusiasts, who confound the freedom of human action with the authority of civil government, and make every man his own king, pope, and chancellor, by the great char◄ ter of human nature, to be found among the archives of the moon, and interpreted by the Earl of Se, and his Presbyterian sectaries? Such is the plan of our Dissenters at home, who go on to insult the government without molestation, and have a noisy multitude always ready to magnify the wisdom of every