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Page 16
Let each colony be divided into six, eight, or ten, convenient districts,
each district to send a proper number of delegates to Congress,
so that each colony send at least thirty. The whole number in Congress
will be at least 390. Each Congress to sit and to choose a president
by the following method. When the delegates are met, let a colony be taken
from the whole thirteen colonies by lot, after which, let the whole Congress
choose (by ballot) a president from out of the delegates of that province.
In the next Congress, let a colony be taken by lot from twelve only, omitting
that colony from which the president was taken in the former Congress, and so
proceeding on till the whole thirteen shall have had their proper rotation.
And in order that nothing may pass into a law but what is satisfactorily
just not less than three fifths of the Congress to be called a majority--
He that will promote discord, under a government so equally formed as this,
would have joined Lucifer in his revolt.
But as there is a peculiar delicacy, from whom, or in what manner,
this business must first arise, and as it seems most agreeable
and consistent, that it should come from some intermediate body
between the governed and the governors, that is, between the Congress
and the people. Let a CONTINENTAL CONFERENCE be held, in the following
manner, and for the following purpose.
A committee of twenty-six members of Congress, viz. two for each colony.
Two Members from each House of Assembly, or Provincial Convention;
and five representatives of the people at large, to be chosen in the capital
city or town of each province, for and in behalf of the whole province,
by as many qualified voters as shall think proper to attend from
all parts of the province for that purpose; or, if more convenient,
the representatives may be chosen in two or three of the most populous
parts thereof. In this conference, thus assembled, will be united,
the two grand principles of business KNOWLEDGE and POWER. The members
of Congress, Assemblies, or Conventions, by having had experience in
national concerns, will be able and useful counsellors, and the whole,
being empowered by the people, will have a truly legal authority.
The conferring members being met, let their business be to frame
a CONTINENTAL CHARTER, or Charter of the United Colonies;
(answering to what is called the Magna Carta of England) fixing
the number and manner of choosing members of Congress, members of Assembly,
with their date of sitting, and drawing the line of business and jurisdiction
between them: (Always remembering, that our strength is continental,
not provincial:) Securing freedom and property to all men, and above
all things, the free exercise of religion, according to the dictates
of conscience; with such other matter as is necessary for a charter
to contain. Immediately after which, the said Conference to dissolve,
and the bodies which shall be chosen comformable to the said charter,
to be the legislators and governors of this continent for the time being:
Whose peace and happiness may God preserve, Amen.
Should any body of men be hereafter delegated for this
or some similar purpose, I offer them the following extracts
from that wise observer on governments DRAGONETTI.
"The science" says he "of the politician consists
in fixing the true point of happiness and freedom.
Those men would deserve the gratitude of ages,
who should discover a mode of government that contained
the greatest sum of individual happiness, with the least
national expense." [Dragonetti on virtue and rewards]
But where, says some, is the King of America? I'll tell you.
Friend, he reigns above, and doth not make havoc of mankind
like the Royal Brute of Britain. Yet that we may not appear
to be defective even in earthly honors, let a day be solemnly
set apart for proclaiming the charter; let it be brought forth
placed on the divine law, the word of God; let a crown be placed thereon,
by which the world may know, that so far as we approve of monarchy,
that in America THE LAW IS KING. For as in absolute governments
the King is law, so in free countries the law OUGHT to be King;
and there ought to be no other. But lest any ill use should
afterwards arise, let the crown at the conclusion of the ceremony,
be demolished, and scattered among the people whose right it is.
A government of our own is our natural right: And when a man seriously
reflects on the precariousness of human affairs, he will become convinced,
that it is infinitely wiser and safer, to form a constitution
of our own in a cool deliberate manner, while we have it in our power,
than to trust such an interesting event to time and chance.
If we omit it now, some [Thomas Anello otherwise Massanello
a fisherman of Naples, who after spiriting up his countrymen
in the public marketplace, against the oppressions of the Spaniards,
to whom the place was then subject prompted them to revolt,
and in the space of a day became king.] Massanello may hereafter arise,
who laying hold of popular disquietudes, may collect together the desperate
and the discontented, and by assuming to themselves the powers of government,
may sweep away the liberties of the continent like a deluge. Should the
government of America return again into the hands of Britain, the tottering
situation of things will be a temptation for some desperate adventurer
to try his fortune; and in such a case, that relief can Britain give?
Ere she could hear the news, the fatal business might be done;
and ourselves suffering like the wretched Britons under
the oppression of the Conqueror. Ye that oppose independence now,
ye know not what ye do; ye are opening a door to eternal tyranny,
by keeping vacant the seat of government. There are thousands,
and tens of thousands, who would think it glorious
to expel from the continent that barbarous and hellish power,
which hath stirred up the Indians and Negroes to destroy us;
the cruelty hath a double guilt, it is dealing brutally by us,
and treacherously by them.
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