light-headed, would ye not treat them with an indulgence suitable to their deplorable case? And would not natural affection concur with reason, to make you overlook the petulance and wildness of their behaviour? Ye will extend your mercy to your American subjects with double readiness, if ye consider, that they are not all guilty. A few warm men among them open the flood-gates of patriotic licentiousness; and whilst the fierce and roaring torrent frightened myriads into a temporary compliance to revolt; it carried away myriads more before they knew what they were about. Nor have they perhaps had it yet in their power to recollect themselves. Vouchsafe, then, to shew yourselves their tender physicians, as well as their indulgent parents; nor heal their moral fever by burning corrosives, so long as there is the least prospect of doing it by cooling applications. If Christianity commands us to restore, in the spirit of meekness, those that are fallen, to become weak to the weak, yea, to become all things to all men, that by all means we may gain and save some;' be abundantly condescending to your American people, that you may save thousands of precious lives, prevent the devastation of your own dominions, and disappoint your enemies, who flatter themselves, that, when Great Britain and her Colonies shall have exhausted their strength in a destructive war, the British empire, or some part of it, will become an easy prey to their greedy and watchful ambition.

But I peculiarly address thee, Thou majestic Head, and executive Hand, of the legislative power. By thy steadiness, thou hast shewn thyself a king worthy of commanding a people, who display lions in their standards. And now, like Messiah, the Prince,' like the generous 'Lion of the tribe of Judah,' vouchsafe to shew thyself the Prince of peace.' Let all the earth know, that thou art a representative of the God of all grace, and of the Lamb that taketh away the sin of the world.' Is not the right of shewing mercy to the condemned, the noblest of all thy royal prerogatives, and the brightest jewel of thy imperial crown? Oh! let

that jewel shine in this cloudy day, and it will reflect the light of the Sun of righteousness' across the Atlantic, and cheer the western world. The proclamation of a general pardon, accompanied by the grant of a direct representation, and of a security for the equitable proportion, which their taxes shall always bear to ours; --such a proclamation, I say, enforced by the sound of thy trumpets, the roar of thy cannons, the sight of thy fleets, and the terror of thy armies, will shew, that thou art eminently qualified to reign over a brave and free people. Thou mayest thus be merciful without weakness. A Lee and a Washington are resolute enough to stand for a time the shock of thy forces: An Adams and an Hancock are obstinate enough to bury themselves in the ruins of their country. But, resolute and obstinate as they are, thy mercy confounds-thine indulgence disarms them. The paroxysm is over.-Candour and loyalty return together. The fiery heroes come back to sober heroism; and the rash patriots, to true patriotism. -Thy royal mercy has melted them into tears.--With shame they fix their weeping eyes on the ground; with admiration they lift them up to heaven.-They claim the honour of bringing in person the restitution-money thou insistest upon for thy injured subjects.-They haste to throw themselves at the feet of a sovereign, who knows how to protect, conquer, and pardon. My imagination sees them cross the Atlantic:-They enter your gates:-They throw American swords at your feet :They ask pardon for themselves, and the guilty people they represent:- They kiss the royal hand, which has averted their impending ruin, and pour out their grateful souls in such words as these :

"Merciful and great king, and ye, his legislative assessors, permit us to distinguish ourselves by our peni. tential return, as we once did by our rash revolt. With feelings proportionable to the sense we have of our guilt, of the king's mercy, and the parliament's condescension, we lament our misapprehensions; and deploring the bloodshed which they have caused, we acknowledge

Christians by the name of the mild Potentate, who interceded for his mobbing murderers. When they poured floods of contempt upon his royal head :-When they pierced his temples with thorns, his hands with nails, his heart with sarcasms:-And when they prepared to pierce his side with a spear; even then, he not only forgave them himself, but turned their excuser, and said, ‘Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.' The divine plea prevailed. It obtained an evangelical proclamation of pardon on the most condescending terms. • Where sin had abounded, there grace did much more abound.' Where rebellion had set up her bloody banner, there mercy gloried to erect her superior standard. Jerusalem, ungrateful, hypocritical rebellious Jerusalem:-Jerusalem, guilty of the murder of the King of kings:-Jerusalem, the still rebellious and unrelenting city, was first blessed with the news of a free pardon; and thousands of relenting rebels submitted to the terms of the gracious proclamation. By this unexpected effort of mercy, the Lord of glory subjugated those stiff religionists. Pardoning love effectually conquered their stubbornness; and a nation of loyal subjects was born in a day.

And might ye not, O ye Christian rulers, imitate the Lord of glory without prostituting your dignity? Directed by the example of our meek Redeemer, might not thy mercy, O King, issue out a proclamation of pardon, upon such terms as might raise the astonishment of an Adams and a Washington? Are Lee and Hancock fiercer against thee, than Saul of Tarsus was against his Saviour? Have they breathed out more threatenings and slaugh'er than that enthusiastic zealot, who, not satisfied with his personal contempt of the Lord of lords, compelled others to blaspheme him, and persecuted to death those who would not? Nevertheless, when he fell to the ground, mercy raised him up, not only to the dignity of a Christisn, but to that of an apostle: And the service which he did the church in that high office, far exceeded the injury he had done her by his bloody enthusiasm. Could ye not, O ye Chris

tian legislators, try the same successful method with your American subjects? If mercy alone would make them insolent; and if power alone would make them desperate; could not power and mercy, combined by your wisdom, effectually disarm them, and for ever attach them to your steady and mild government?

Nor will you by this means overcome the Americans alone. You will also disarm the minority of your respectable body, and their numerous partisans in the kingdom. When we are wrongfully accused of intending things we never thought of, does not prudence call upon us to remove the very appearances, by which the charge seems supported? And how can these appearances be fully removed in the present case, otherwise than by granting your American subjects the privilege of some direct representation, together with some security, that the taxes laid upon them shall always bear an equitable proportion to the taxes laid upon your British subjects? Might I not also presume to ask, whether all the grievances complained of are imaginary, and whether no needless provocation has been given them by some of our countrymen, and no secret encouragement by others? Besides, are ye not divided among yourselves? And if ye have taught them the unhappy art of rising against you, by rising against each other, should you not pity them? And should ye not bear a little with their turbulency, since you are obliged to bear so much from those of your own body, who openly countenance their rash patriotism?

Again:- If we are the politic parents of the Colonists, are they not entitled to parental indulgence from you ? My lord the king is an angel of God, to discern good and bad: He knows, and ye, his legislative assessors, know, that political, as well as religious enthusiasm is a fever of the mind, which throws those, who are attacked with it, into a temporary delirium: and that, in the paroxysm, heated religionists and patriots, like delirious people, say and do a thousand things, of which they are ashamed when they come to themselves again. If your own children were dangerously ill and

light-headed, would ye not treat them with an indulgence suitable to their deplorable case? And would not natural affection concur with reason, to make you overlook the petulance and wildness of their behaviour? Ye will extend your mercy to your American subjects with double readiness, if ye consider, that they are not all guilty. A few warm men among them open the flood-gates of patriotic licentiousness; and whilst the fierce and roaring torrent frightened myriads into a temporary compliance to revolt; it carried away myriads more before they knew what they were about. Nor have they perhaps had it yet in their power to recollect themselves. Vouchsafe, then, to shew yourselves their tender physicians, as well as their indulgent parents; nor heal their moral fever by burning corrosives, so long as there is the least prospect of doing it by cooling applications. If Christianity commands us to restore, in the spirit of meekness, those that are fallen, to become weak to the weak, yea, to become all things to all men, that by all means we may gain and save some;' be abundantly condescending to your American people, that you may save thousands of precious lives, prevent the devastation of your own dominions, and disappoint your enemies, who flatter themselves, that, when Great Britain and her Colonies shall have exhausted their strength in a destructive war, the British empire, or some part of it, will become an easy prey to their greedy and watchful ambition.

But I peculiarly address thee, Thou majestic Head, and executive Hand, of the legislative power. By thy steadiness, thou hast shewn thyself a king worthy of commanding a people, who display lions in their standards. And now, like Messiah, the Prince,' like the generous Lion of the tribe of Judah,' vouchsafe to shew thyself the Prince of peace.' Let all the earth know, that thou art a representative of the God of all grace, and of the Lamb that taketh away the sin of the world.' Is not the right of shewing mercy to the condemned, the noblest of all thy royal prerogatives, and the brightest jewel of thy imperial crown? Oh! let

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