this line of connection we hold out the right hand of fellowship to
all men. But we should conceive ourselves to be unworthy members of
the free and independent States of America, were we unconcernedly to
see or to suffer any treasonable wound, public or private, directly or
indirectly, to be given against the peace and safety of the same. We
inquire not into the rank of the offenders, nor into their religious
persuasion; we have no business with either, our part being only to
find them out and exhibit them to justice.

  "A printed paper, dated the 20th of November, and signed 'John
Pemberton,' whom we suppose to be an inhabitant of this city, has
lately been dispersed abroad, a copy of which accompanies this. Had
the framers and publishers of that paper conceived it their duty to
exhort the youth and others of their society, to a patient
submission under the present trying visitations, and humbly to wait
the event of heaven towards them, they had therein shown a Christian
temper, and we had been silent; but the anger and political
virulence with which their instructions are given, and the abuse
with which they stigmatize all ranks of men not thinking like
themselves, leave no doubt on our minds from what spirit their
publication proceeded: and it is disgraceful to the pure cause of
truth, that men can dally with words of the most sacred import, and
play them off as mechanically as if religion consisted only in
contrivance. We know of no instance in which the Quakers have been
compelled to bear arms, or to do any thing which might strain their
conscience; wherefore their advice, 'to withstand and refuse to submit
to the arbitrary instructions and ordinances of men,' appear to us a
false alarm, and could only be treasonably calculated to gain favor
with our enemies, when they are seemingly on the brink of invading
this State, or, what is still worse, to weaken the hands of our
defence, that their entrance into this city might be made
practicable and easy.

  "We disclaim all tumult and disorder in the punishment of offenders;
and wish to be governed, not by temper but by reason, in the manner of
treating them. We are sensible that our cause has suffered by the
two following errors: first, by ill-judged lenity to traitorous
persons in some cases; and, secondly, by only a passionate treatment
of them in others. For the future we disown both, and wish to be
steady in our proceedings, and serious in our punishments.

  "Every State in America has, by the repeated voice of its
inhabitants, directed and authorized the Continental Congress to
publish a formal Declaration of Independence of, and separation
from, the oppressive king and Parliament of Great Britain; and we look
on every man as an enemy, who does not in some line or other, give his
assistance towards supporting the same; at the same time we consider
the offence to be heightened to a degree of unpardonable guilt, when
such persons, under the show of religion, endeavor, either by writing,
speaking, or otherwise, to subvert, overturn, or bring reproach upon
the independence of this continent as declared by Congress.

  "The publishers of the paper signed 'John Pemberton,' have called in
a loud manner to their friends and connections, 'to withstand or
refuse' obedience to whatever 'instructions or ordinances' may be
published, not warranted by (what they call) 'that happy
Constitution under which they and others long enjoyed tranquillity and
peace.' If this be not treason, we know not what may properly be
called by that name.

  "To us it is a matter of surprise and astonishment, that men with
the word 'peace, peace,' continually on their lips, should be so
fond of living under and supporting a government, and at the same time
calling it 'happy,' which is never better pleased than when a war-
that has filled India with carnage and famine, Africa with slavery,
and tampered with Indians and negroes to cut the throats of the
freemen of America. We conceive it a disgrace to this State, to harbor
or wink at such palpable hypocrisy. But as we seek not to hurt the
hair of any man's head, when we can make ourselves safe without, we
wish such persons to restore peace to themselves and us, by removing
themselves to some part of the king of Great Britain's dominions, as
by that means they may live unmolested by us and we by them; for our
fixed opinion is, that those who do not deserve a place among us,
ought not to have one.

  "We conclude with requesting the Council of Safety to take into
consideration the paper signed 'John Pemberton,' and if it shall
appear to them to be of a dangerous tendency, or of a treasonable
nature, that they would commit the signer, together with such other
persons as they can discover were concerned therein, into custody,
until such time as some mode of trial shall ascertain the full
degree of their guilt and punishment; in the doing of which, we wish
their judges, whoever they may be, to disregard the man, his
connections, interest, riches, poverty, or principles of religion, and
to attend to the nature of his offence only."

  The most cavilling sectarian cannot accuse the foregoing with
containing the least ingredient of persecution. The free spirit on
which the American cause is founded, disdains to mix with such an
impurity, and leaves it as rubbish fit only for narrow and
suspicious minds to grovel in. Suspicion and persecution are weeds
of the same dunghill, and flourish together. Had the Quakers minded
their religion and their business, they might have lived through
this dispute in enviable ease, and none would have molested them.
The common phrase with these people is, 'Our principles are peace.' To
which may be replied, and your practices are the reverse; for never
did the conduct of men oppose their own doctrine more notoriously than
the present race of the Quakers. They have artfully changed themselves
into a different sort of people to what they used to be, and yet
have the address to persuade each other that they are not altered;