APPEAL TO THOSE RESPECTABLE PERSONAGES IN GREAT-BRITAIN AND IRELAND, WHO,
BY THEIR GREAT AND PERMANENT INTEREST IN LANDED PROPERTY, THEIR LIBERAL
EDUCATION, ELEVATED RANK, AND ENLARGED VIEWS, ARE THE ABLEST TO JUDGE, AND
THE FITTEST TO DECIDE, WHETHER A CONNECTION WITH, OR A SEPARATION FROM THE
CONTINENTAL COLONIES OF AMERICA, BE MOST FOR THE NATIONAL ADVANTAGE, AND
THE LASTING BENEFIT OF THESE KINGDOMS***


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AN
HUMBLE ADDRESS
AND
EARNEST APPEAL
TO
THOSE RESPECTABLE PERSONAGES
IN GREAT-BRITAIN AND IRELAND,
WHO,
BY THEIR GREAT AND PERMANENT INTEREST
IN LANDED PROPERTY,
THEIR LIBERAL EDUCATION, ELEVATED RANK,
AND ENLARGED VIEWS,
ARE THE ABLEST TO JUDGE, AND THE FITTEST TO DECIDE,
WHETHER A
CONNECTION WITH, OR A SEPARATION FROM
THE
CONTINENTAL COLONIES OF AMERICA,
BE MOST FOR THE NATIONAL ADVANTAGE, AND THE
LASTING BENEFIT OF THESE KINGDOMS.


  _Suis et ipsa Roma viribus ruit._       HOR.


BY JOSIAH TUCKER, D. D.
DEAN OF GLOCESTER.







GLOCESTER:
PRINTED BY R. RAIKES;
AND SOLD BY
T. CADELL, IN THE STRAND, LONDON.
M.DCC.LXXV.




AN HUMBLE ADDRESS, &c.


MY LORDS AND GENTLEMEN,

Though the Author of the ensuing Tract may be below your Notice, as an
Individual, yet the Subject he treats upon, highly deserves your most
serious Attention. In the present unhappy Disputes between the
Parent-State and the Colonies, he undertakes to point out, what Measures
the Landed-Interest of _Great-Britain_ and _Ireland_ ought to pursue in
future, for the Sake of themselves and their Posterity. And if what he has
to offer, should, after a due Examination, be found to be reasonable,
solid, and satisfactory, he relies so much on your own good Sense and
Judgment, as to believe, that you will not reject his Plan, merely because
it originated from an inferior Hand. This is all the Favour he asks, or
expects from you.

Upon this Subject, he waves the Consideration of every Thing, which might
have a Tendency to keep the present Question out of Sight. _Great-Britain_
and her Colonies are now at open War. THIS IS THE FACT. But if it should
be asked, How these Things came to pass? From what Causes did they spring?
Which are the real, and which are the apparent Motives in this
Controversy? Moreover, who were originally and principally to blame? And
what Methods ought to have been taken at first, in order to have prevented
Matters from coming to their present Height?--The Author having already
given his Sentiments on each of these Heads in his 3d, 4th, and 5th
preceding Tracts, and also in his Letter to Mr. BURKE, will not here
repeat the same Things.--The grand Object now before him is simply this;
_Great Britain and her Colonies are at open War_: And the proper and
important Question arising from such a Fact is the following, _What is to
be done at the present Crisis?_

Three Schemes have been proposed;--the Parliamentary,--Mr. BURKE's,--and
my own.

The Parliamentary Scheme is,--To maintain _vi et armis_ the Supremacy of
the Mother-Country over her Colonies, in as full and ample a Manner, as
over any Part of the _British_ Dominions.

Mr. BURKE's is, [tho' not in express _Words_] To resign or relinquish the
Power of the _British_ Parliament over the Colonies, and to erect each
Provincial Assembly into an independent _American_ Parliament;--subject
nevertheless to the King of _Great-Britain_, with his usual
Prerogatives:--For which Favour of acknowledging the same Sovereign, the
Colonists are to be complimented with the most precious Rights,
Privileges, and Advantages of _British_ Subjects:--I say, _complimented_,
and complimented even _gratuitously_:--For as to their contributing any
Proportion, either of Men or Money, towards the public Expence, and in
Return for those Favours--All this is to be entirely left to their own
innate Goodness and Generosity, to do just as they please.

My Scheme [which Mr. BURKE, in his last Speech of _March_ 22, 1775, is
pleased to term a _childish_ one] is,--To separate totally from the
Colonies, and to reject them from being Fellow-Members, and joint
Partakers with us in the Privileges and Advantages of the _British_
Empire; because they refuse to submit to the Authority and Jurisdiction of
the _British_ Legislature:--Offering at the same Time to enter into
Alliances of Friendship, and Treaties of Commerce with them, as with any
other sovereign, independent States.

Now, in order to determine, which of these Schemes is the most
eligible;--it would be right to consider, which is the easiest and most
practicable,--which is least expensive,--which is likeliest to prevent
similar Disturbances and Disputes for the future,--and which will least
endanger the _English_ Constitution and our domestic Tranquility. For all
these Circumstances ought to be taken into the Account, before a due
Judgment can be formed.

In regard to the first, I wish for the present to be silent about
it;--partly out of Respect to that august Body, which has given a Sanction
to it;--partly because it is now upon Trial, whether it can be executed or
not;--and partly likewise because this must fall of Course, if either Mr.
BURKE's, or mine, should be judged to have the Preference. For these
Reasons, I say, I wish to keep a respectful Silence on this Head.

But in respect to Mr. BURKE, I need not stand on so much Ceremony. For
tho' he is confessedly a great _Rhetorician_, and can with his magic Voice
raise a mighty Tempest of metaphorical Lightenings and Thunders;--yet,
Heaven be praised, there is the Period of all his Powers: And his _verba
ardentia_, his _flaming Words_, are found to end at last (like many other
Explosions) in Noise and Smoke. Nor doth it, I humbly apprehend, at all
follow, that the Orator is endowed with a greater Portion of political
Discernment than other Men, or with more disinterested Sincerity, and real
Love of his Country, in making a just and honest Application of that
Discernment;--merely because he has more Words at Command, and can muster
up a greater Army of bright Similes, and florid Expressions.

But be that as it may:--I now consider myself as standing at the Bar of
the public Tribunal: And therefore before the Jury is struck, and the
Trial begins, I humbly beg Leave to claim, and to exercise one of the
distinguishing Privileges of _Englishmen_ in such Cases, viz. To except
against all such Persons in the Pannel, who appear to be under a wrong
Biass, and an undue Influence respecting the Nature of this Dispute.

And 1st. I except against _Courtiers and Placemen_, considered _as such_.
This is not uttered out of a Spirit of Resentment, Pique, or
Disappointment, according to the Mode of modern Times. For, I thank God, I
have no Cause to complain of any Disappointment; having since my
Advancement to the Deanery of _Glocester_ in the Year 1758, neither
directly nor indirectly made the least, or the most distant Application
for any other or higher Station. This Renunciation of aspiring Views is a
Circumstance, which I am persuaded Mr. BURKE knew perfectly well, by
various Means, and from different Persons, especially from a noble Lord,
formerly high in Office, and a great _Favourite_ at Court, but now his
Coadjutor, and a flaming Patriot. And yet the Orator has been pleased to
characterize me by Name in his Speech of the 19th of _April_, 1774, with
out any Provocation, as one of those _Court-Vermin_ (such was his polite
Phrase) who would do any thing for the Sake of a Bishopric.--Moreover I do
not make this Exception against Courtiers from any bad Opinion I have
conceived of the present Set of Ministers; for I think it may be fairly
allowed, without paying them any Compliment, that they are to the full as
_able_, and as _honest_ as the best of those who are endeavouring to
supplant them. But nevertheless, as they are subject to many unhappy
Biasses, which may draw their Judgments aside without sinister Intentions,
they ought to be excepted against in the present Dispute. In fact, while
the great Continent of _North America_ shall continue to be united to this
Island under any mode whatever, Persons in Administration will necessarily
have a Multitude of Places and Sine-cures to dispose of, many lucrative
Contracts to bestow; and, to speak in coarse tho' very expressive
_English_, many JOBS of various Kinds, wherewith to gratify their Friends,
and Dependents. Not to mention, that if ever a total Separation (such as
proposed by my Plan) should ensue, the Ministry for the Time being, would
run a great Risque of falling a Sacrifice to the blind Zeal of popular
Discontents, and the knavish Intrigues of Party-Factions. Therefore for
all these Reasons, I must insist, that Courtiers and Placemen ought to be
excepted against, as being not sufficiently unbiassed, or disinterested to
determine impartially on the present Subject.

2dly. I particularly except against the whole Band of Mock-Patriots. And
my Reason is, because this Race of Men will of Course, prefer that Scheme,
whatever it be, which can furnish them with the most lasting Fund for
Opposition and Complaint. Now it is evident, that our Conjunction with
_North-America_, upon any Terms, and under any, or every Modification,
will not fail of becoming an inexhaustible Source of Altercation and
Reproach, let whatever Measures be pursued. For Example: Had the Ministry
proposed at first that very Scheme, which Mr. BURKE has now thought proper
to recommend, the Heads of the Faction, and even Mr. BURKE himself (if he
had not been a Pensioner to _North-America_) would most probably have
proposed just the Reverse; that is, they and he would have insisted on the
Necessity of _obliging_ the Colonies to contribute a Share,
_proportionable to their Interests, and to the growing Benefits they
receive_, towards the Maintenance, the Grandeur, and the Glory of that
Empire, from which their own Preservation and Prosperity are derived. And
then the popular Cry would have been, that a wicked and a profligate
Administration were going to sacrifice the Honour and Dignity of the
