to the grand jury for the district of Charleston, by the Hon.
William Henry Drayton, chief justice of South Carolina, [April 23,
1776]. This performance, and the address of the convention of New
York, are pieces, in my humble opinion, of the first rank in America.

  The principal causes why independence has not been so universally
supported as it ought, are fear and indolence, and the causes why it
has been opposed, are, avarice, down-right villany, and lust of
personal power. There is not such a being in America as a Tory from
conscience; some secret defect or other is interwoven in the character
of all those, be they men or women, who can look with patience on
the brutality, luxury and debauchery of the British court, and the
violations of their army here. A woman's virtue must sit very
lightly on her who can even hint a favorable sentiment in their
behalf. It is remarkable that the whole race of prostitutes in New
York were tories; and the schemes for supporting the Tory cause in
this city, for which several are now in jail, and one hanged, were
concerted and carried on in common bawdy-houses, assisted by those who
kept them.

  The connection between vice and meanness is a fit subject for
satire, but when the satire is a fact, it cuts with the irresistible
power of a diamond. If a Quaker, in defence of his just rights, his
property, and the chastity of his house, takes up a musket, he is
expelled the meeting; but the present king of England, who seduced and
took into keeping a sister of their society, is reverenced and
supported by repeated Testimonies, while, the friendly noodle from
whom she was taken (and who is now in this city) continues a drudge in
the service of his rival, as if proud of being cuckolded by a creature
called a king.

  Our support and success depend on such a variety of men and
circumstances, that every one who does but wish well, is of some
use: there are men who have a strange aversion to arms, yet have
hearts to risk every shilling in the cause, or in support of those who
have better talents for defending it. 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. When one villain is suffered to escape, it encourages another
to proceed, either from a hope of escaping likewise, or an
apprehension that we dare not punish. It has been a matter of
general surprise, that no notice was taken of the incendiary
publication of the Quakers, of the 20th of November last; a
publication evidently intended to promote sedition and treason, and
encourage the enemy, who were then within a day's march of this
city, to proceed on and possess it. I here present the reader with a
memorial which was laid before the board of safety a few days after
the Testimony appeared. Not a member of that board, that I conversed
with, but expressed the highest detestation of the perverted
principles and conduct of the Quaker junto, and a wish that the
board would take the matter up; notwithstanding which, it was suffered
to pass away unnoticed, to the encouragement of new acts of treason,
the general danger of the cause, and the disgrace of the state.

         To the honorable the Council of Safety of the State of

                              Pennsylvania.

  At a meeting of a reputable number of the inhabitants of the city of
Philadelphia, impressed with a proper sense of the justice of the
cause which this continent is engaged in, and animated with a generous
fervor for supporting the same, it was resolved, that the following be
laid before the board of safety:

  "We profess liberality of sentiment to all men; with this
distinction only, that those who do not deserve it would become wise
and seek to deserve it. We hold the pure doctrines of universal
liberty of conscience, and conceive it our duty to endeavor to
secure that sacred right to others, as well as to defend it for
ourselves; for we undertake not to judge of the religious rectitude of
tenets, but leave the whole matter to Him who made us.

  "We persecute no man, neither will we abet in the persecution of any
man for religion's sake; our common relation to others being that of
fellow-citizens and fellow-subjects of one single community; and in