efforts of this unrivaled propagandist, were powerfully reinforced by those solid appeals to the reason and conscience, which were propounded to individual characters of weight, in different sections, through the dignified medium of Private Correspondence. This was the great political lever of Mr. Jefferson; and upon this, as upon all other occasions, its power, in application to the moral, was like that of Archimedes to the material, world. These active moral causes, mingling in confluence, poured a steady stream of excitement into the popular mind. The brilliant success of the American arms, in several important engagements, strengthened the general proclivity; and the unmitigable rigor of the parent despotism, pursuing with unbridled ferocity, the destruction of her devoted offspring, swelled the torrent of irritation and of generous enthusiasm, to its ultimatum.

In Congress also, at this period, May, '76, corresponding advances had been made in political sentiment. The doctrines of Mr. Jefferson were now clearly in the ascendant. It was no longer heresy to maintain the sovereignty of the people, and the co-ordinate sovereignty of the States with Great Britain, in all matters of government, external as well as internal; at least, it was not so in practice, however it may have been in the abstract. The revolution party were predominant. A powerful minority, however, still existed, who clung with filial suppliancy to the supposed ties, which bound them in conscience and in honor, to the parent government. But, happily, this party were terribly shaken in their faith, by a recent act of Parliament, which declared the Colonies in a State of rebellion, and out of the protection of the British Crown. They reasoned from this, that as protection and dependence were recipro cal, the one having ceased, the other might also; and that therefore, Great Britain herself had actually declared them independent! This was a sound conclusion; and who can sufficiently admire the stupendous folly of the British Parliament? Still, however, cautious approaches to the last extremities, were requisite, to preserve the customary unanimity.

A preparatory step was accordingly taken by the Patriots, which discovered great address. A resolution was proposed declaring, that 'whereas the government of Great Britain had excluded the United Colonies from the protection of the Crown, it was therefore irreconcilable to reason and good conscience, for the people to con

tinue their allegiance to the government under that Crown; and they accordingly recommended the several Colonies to establish independent governments of their own!

This resolution was adopted on the 15th of May; and by a remarkable coincidence, the Convention of Virginia had, on the same day, adopted the resolution appointing a committee to prepare a declaration of rights and plan of government for that Colony. It is said, that Mr. Jefferson, being constantly apprised of the progress of the Convention, promoted this singular concurrence of parallel results, with a view to popular effect. Be this as it may, he was an ardent patron of the measure in Congress; regarding it, as he did, the entering wedge of the grand proposition, which he throbbed with impatience to see carried.

On the 28th of May, upon motion of Mr. Jefferson, Congress resolved, "that an animated Address be published, to impress the minds of the people with the necessity of now stepping forward to save their country, their freedom, and their property." Being appointed chairman of the committee upon this resolution, he prepared the address; and an animated address it was; conceived in his happiest manner, with a power of expression and of argument, which carried conviction and courage to the breast of every man. This was another ingenious stroke of policy, designed to prepare the popular mind for a favorable reception of the momentous decision in reserve.

The plot of the magnificent drama now began to thicken. The delegates from Virginia received their Independence instructions early in June, and immediately held a conference to arrange the preliminaries for acting upon them, with all the solemnity which the nature of the occasion required. Richard H. Lee, being the oldest in the delegation, and endowed with extraordinary powers of eloquence, was designated to make the introductory motion, and the seventh of June was ordered as the day. Accordingly, on that day he rose from his seat and moved, that Congress should declare, That these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent States, that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is, and ought to be, totally dissolved; that measures should be immediately taken for procur

ing the assistance of foreign powers, and a Confederation be formed to bind the Colonies more closely together.'

The House being obliged to attend at that time, to some other business, the proposition was deferred to the next day, when the members were ordered to attend punctually at ten o'clock.

Saturday, June Sth, Congress proceeded to take the subject into consideration, and referred it to a Committee of the Whole, into which they immediately resolved themselves, and passed that day and Monday, the 10th, in warm and vehement debates.

The conflict was painful. The hardest metal of that hard race of legislators, was brought into collision. All the strong combatants in that giant Areopagus, the impetuous declaimer, and the astute logician, were marshaled in fearful array, and the most mometous question that ever agitated a political assembly, alternately oppugned and defended, with a power and pertinacity which set imagination at defiance. The heads only, of the arguments delivered on this interesting occasion, have been preserved-by one man alone, Mr. Jefferson; and they owe their first disclosure to the world, to his posthumous publication. They shall be given here in the summary form, in which they were left by him.

In opposition to the measure, it was argued by Dickinson and Wilson of Pennsylvania, Robert R. Livingston of New York, Edward Rutledge of South Carolina, and others—

"That, though they were friends to the measures themselves, and saw the impossibility that we should ever again be united with Great Britain, yet they were against adopting them at this time: "That the conduct we had formerly observed was wise and proper now, of deferring to take any capital step till the voice of the people drove us into it:

"That they were our power, and without them our declarations could not be carried into effect:

"That the people of the middle Colonies (Maryland, Delaware, Pennsylvania, the Jerseys and New York) were not yet ripe for bidding adieu to British connection, but that they were fast ripening, and in a short time, would join in the general voice of Amer

ica:

"That the resolution, entered into by this House on the 15th of May, for suppressing the exercise of all powers derived from the Crown, had shown, by the ferment into which it had thrown these middle Colonies, that they had not yet accommodated their minds to a separation from the mother country:

"That some of them had expressly forbidden their Delegates to

consent to such a declaration, and others had given no instructions, and consequently no powers to give such consent :

"That if the Delegates of any particular Colony had no power to declare such Colony independent, certain they were, the others could not declare it for them; the Colonies being as yet perfectly independent of each other:

"That the Assembly of Pennsylvania was now sitting above stairs, their Convention would sit within a few days; the convention of New York was now sitting; and those of the Jerseys and Delaware counties would meet on the Monday following, and it was probable these bodies would take up the question of Independence, and would declare to their Delegates the voice of their State :

"That if such a declaration should now be agreed to, these Delegates must retire, and possibly their Colonies might secede from the Union:

"That such a secession would weaken us more than could be compensated by any foreign alliance:

"That in the event of such a division, foreign powers would either refuse to join themselves to our fortunes, or, having us so much in their power as that desperate declaration would place us, they would insist on terms proportionably more hard and prejudicial:

"That we have little reason to expect an alliance with those to whom alone, as yet, we have cast our eyes:

"That France and Spain had reason to be jealous of that rising power, which would one day certainly strip them of all their American possessions:

"That it was more likely they should form a connection with the British Court, who, if they should find themselves unable otherwise to extricate themselves from their difficulties, would agree to a partition of our territories, restoring Canada to France, and the Floridas to Spain, to accomplish for themselves a recovery of these Colonies:

"That it would not be long before we should receive certain information of the disposition of the French Court, from the agent whom we had sent to Paris for that purpose:

"That if this disposition should be favorable, by waiting the event of the present campaign, which we all hoped would be successful, we should have reason to expect an alliance on better terms:

"That this would in fact work no delay of any effectual aid from such an ally, as, from the advance of the season and distance of our situation, it was impossible we could receive any assistance during this campaign:

66

That it was prudent to fix among ourselves the terms on which we would form an alliance, before we declared we would form one at all events:

"And that, if these were agreed on, and our Declaration of Inde

pendence ready, by the time our Ambassador should be prepared to sail, it would be as well, as to go into that Declaration at this day."

In support of the proposition, it was urged by Mr. Jefferson, John and Samuel Adams, Lee, Wythe, and others—

"That no gentleman had argued against the policy or the right of separation from Britain, nor had supposed it possible we should ever renew our connection; that they had only opposed its being now declared:

"That the question was not whether, by a Declaration of Independence, we should make ourselves what we are not; but whether we should declare a fact which already exists:

"That, as to the people or Parliament of England, we had always been independent of them, their restraints on our trade deriving efficacy from our acquiescence only, and not from any rights they possessed of imposing them, and that so far, our connection had been federal only, and was now dissolved by the commencement of hostilities:

"That, as to the King, we had been bound to him by allegiance, but that this bond was now dissolved by his assent to the late act of Parliament, by which he declares us out of his protection, and by his levying war on us, a fact which had long ago proved us out of his protection; it being a certain position in law, that allegiance and protection are reciprocal, the one ceasing when the other is withdrawn:

"That James the II. never declared the people of England out of his protection, yet his actions proved it and the Parliament declared it: "No Delegates then can be denied, or ever want, a power of declaring an existent truth:

"That the Delegates from the Delaware counties having declared their constituents ready to join, there are only two Colonies, Pennsylvania and Maryland, whose Delegates are absolutely tied up, and that these had, by their instructions, only reserved a right of confirming or rejecting the measure :

"That the instructions from Pennsylvania might be accounted for, from the times in which they were drawn, near a twelvemonth ago, since which the face of affairs has totally changed:

"That within that time, it had become apparent that Britain was determined to accept nothing less than a carte-blanche, and that the King's answer to the Lord Mayor, Aldermen, and Common Council of London, which had come to hand four days ago, must have satisfied every one of this point:

"That the people wait for us to lead the way :

"That they are in favor of the measure, though the instructions given by some of their representatives are not:

"That the voice of the representatives is not always consonant