OF LANCASTER COUNTY. 211 



and alliances binding us — of appointing all officers, except in cases -where 

 other provision is made, by grants from the Crown, or laws approved by 

 the Crown — of confirming or annulling every act of our Assembly 

 within the allowed time — and of hearing and determining finally, in 

 council, appeals from our courts of justice. " The prerogatives are 

 limited,"^ as a learned judge observes, "by bounds so certain and noto- 

 rious, that it is impossible to exceed them, without the consent of the 

 people on the one hand, or without, on the other, a violation of that 

 original contract, which, in all states implicitly, and in ours most expressly, 

 subsists between the Prince and Subject— For these prerogatives are 

 vested in the Crown for the supjMrt of society, and do not intrench any 

 farther on our natural liberties, than is expedient for the maintenance of 

 our civiiy 



But it is our misfortune, that we are compelled loudly to call your 

 attention to the consideration of another power, totally different in kind 

 — limited, as it is alleged, by no " bounds,"^ and " wearing a most dread- 

 ful aspect" with regard to America. We mean the power claimed by 

 Parliament, of right to bind the people of these colonies by statutes, ' IN 

 ALL CASES whatsoever' — a power, as we are not, and, from local cir- 

 cumstances, cannot be represented there, utterly subversive of our natu- 

 ral and civil liberties — past events and reason convincing us, that there 

 never existed, and never can exist, a state thiLs subordinate to another, 

 and yet retaining the slightest portion of freedom or happiness. 



The import of the words above quoted needs no descant ; for the wit 

 of man, as we apprehend, cannot possibly form a more clear, concise, 

 and comprehensive definition and sentence of slavery, than these expres- 

 sions contain. 



This power claimed by Great Britain, and the late attempts to exercise 

 it over these Colonies, present to our view two events, one of which must 

 inevitahhj take place, if she shall continue to insist on her pretensions. 

 Either, the Colonists will sink from the rank of freemen into the class of 

 slaves, overwhelmed with all the miseries and vices, proved by the his- 

 tory of mankind to be inseparably annexed to that deplorable condition: 

 Or, if they have sense and virtue enough to exert themselves in striving 

 to avoid this perdition, they must be involved in an opposition dreadful 

 even in contemplation. 



Honor, justice, and humanittj call upon us to hold, and to transmit to 

 our posterity, that liberty, which we received from our ancestors. It is 

 not our duty to leave wealth to our children : But it is our duty to leave 

 liberty to them. No infamy, iniquity, or cruelty, can exceed our own, if 

 we, born and educated in a country of freedom, entitled to its blessings, 

 and knowing their value, pusillanimously deserting the post assigned us 

 iBlackstone, 237. '^ Ibid 370. 



