Á PARAPHRASE ON A PASSAGE IN A SERMON PREACHED BY THE MOST REVEREND DR. WILLIAM MARKHAM, ARCHBISHOP OF YORK, BEFORE THE SOCIETY FOR PROPAGATING THE GOSPEL, ON THE 21st OF FEBRUARY, 1777;

WHEN IT WAS EXPECTED BY THE PERSONS WHO HAD ADVISED

THE AMERICAN WAR, THAT THE REVOLTED COLONIES IN AMERICA WOULD SOON BE INTIRELY SUBDUED, AND REDUCED TO TIIE OBEDIENCE OF THE BRITISH PARLIAMENT.

The passage itself, which is here intended to be paraphrased, is in these words. “ Our prospects indeed bave • been long dark. We may now, perbaps, discover a ray

of brightness. But for the continuance and increase of it

we must rely on the wisdom of our Governours; in confid “dence that Necesity will at_laf provide those remedies “ wbicb_Forefight did not ; that the dependance of the “ colonies may be no longer nominal. And, for our Spirió " tual interests, we hope the reasoning which was so just in “ the case of Canada, “ That, if you allowed their religion,

you must allow a maintenance for their Clergy,” will be “ thought at least equally prong when it pleads for our own 6 Church : that those who are disposed to worship God in

peace and charity, may be thought entitled to a regular “ and decent support for their ministers ;-that they may not “ continue to want the important office of Confirmation ; witbós out the benefit of which even a Toleration is not compleat; " -and that those who have a call to the ministry may not “ le obliged to fcek Ordination at an expence wbich is very “ grievous, and witb the bazards of a long voyage, which " bas been already fatal to many of them. We bave furely

a right to expeët, that the only Established Church sbould “ not, against all example, remain in a pate of oppreffion,

" and that, whatever encouragements may be afjordeid, " they should ratber be for the profelling it than against

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As to wbat relates to the delinquents, we, for our parts, should wish to say, “ Go, and fin no more. ' But " the Interests of great States

require securities that are not “ precarious.”

This passage is exprefled in finooth and plausible language : but it contains a variety of mott bitter propositions. I prefume it may be fairly paraphrased in the following man

ner.

“Our prospects of reducing the rebel Americans to an is

unconditional submillion to the authority of the mother

country, since the breaking out of the present troubles, “ have, till lately, Keen but gloomy. Their armies had in“ vaded and reduced all Canada to their obedience, in the “ winter of the year 1775, except the single town of Que“ beck ;-and bad blocked-up General Howe, with all the “ British troops that were then in New-England, within • the town of Boston during the same winter, and had at 6 last obliged him to abandon it in the month of March of or the following year 1776, and fly with his army to Halifax “ in Nova Scotia ;- and they had repulsed the British fleet " and army under the command of General Clinton and « Sir Peter Parker, in an attempt they made in the fame

year to pofless themselves of Charles-Town in South “ Carolina :-insomuch that, about half a year ago, do neither his Majesty's troops, nor those subjects of his

Majesty in America who had preserved their allegiance " to him, poffeffed a single foot of land throughout all the " thirteen revolted colonies. But now of late the for' tune of the war has begun to change. A ray of brighi“ nefs has broke-forth in the fuccefles of the army under “ Sir William lIowe in New-York and Now-Jersey, and

" of

" of that under General Burgoyne and General Carleton
“ in Canada. The fiege of Quebeck has been raised, and
" the whole of that extensive province recovered by the
“ latter generals; and the principal army of the rebel
“ Americans has been defeated by General Howe in Long
« I0and; and they have been fince driven from their forti.
“ fied posts at New-York and King's Bridge, and from
“ their forts near Hudson's river; and great part of the
“ provinces of New-York and New-Jersey has been redu-
“ ced to the obedience of the British Crown :- And, from
“ the precipitate manner in which the American army
“ has every where fled before the Britifh troops, there is
“ good ground to hope that, in the course of one more

campaign, the whole appearance of resistance to the “ authority of Great-Britain in America will be at an end. " Then will be the time for confirming and rivetting the “ dominion of the Mother-country over those turbulent as and ungrateful dependencies, by making such wise and “ effectual civil regulations as shall prevent a return of the “ present disturbances ;-regulations which ought to have “ been made long ago by the government of Great-Bri“ tain, if that government had had a proper degree of fore“ fight and attention to the seditious and republican prin

ciples that had long prevailed in those colonies, and to “. the mischiefs which those principles were likely one day " to produce. They will, however, be now made at last, “ since the want of them has been so fatally experienced, “ The dependance of those colonies on Great-Britain will “ be no longer nominal, but real and strong and permanent, “ in consequence of these new regulations which Necesity “ will have taught the British government at length to 66 establish.

“ What these regulations will be, cannot yet be known “ with certainty. But, from the measures which the wil.

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“ dom of Parliament has already adopted with refpect to “ some parts of North-America, we may conje&ure that " they will not be very different from those that follow.

“ In the first place, the democratical charters of Con“ necticut and Rhode-Itland (which vest in the people of “ those provinces the right of annually chuosing their own “ Governors, Councils, and Assemblies without any inter“ ference of the crown,) will be either totally abolished, as « absurd and incompatible with the genius of the British

government, (which, though in some respects limited, is, " in its essence and principle, monarchical,) or will be

greatly altered by the wisdom of the British legislature, " and rendered more dependant on the crown; as the char. • ter of that other, and most turbulent, province of New« England, the Massachusett's Bay, (though less democrati. o cal than the two former,) was in the year 1774, by the « advice of those eminent ftatemen, Lord North and Lord " George Germaine*.

" In the second place, the proprietary governments of

Pensylvania and Maryland will, most probab’y, be also “ corrected by the same wise and supreme legislature; and “ the powers of government which are vested by the char« 'ters of tbofe colonies in the heirs of William Penn and " Lord Baltimore, (the founders of them,) will be resumed “ into the king's bands, upon reasonable compensations in “ honour and profit made to the said heirs for the loss of “ those hereditary jurisdictions, and will be annexed perpetu" ally to the crown, from which they ought never to have “ been separated. This measure we may consider as almost “ sure of being adopted in the new regulation of the Anie

* See Almon's Parliamentary Debates for the year 1774, pages 116192.

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rican colonies that is now in contemplation, on account ~ of its indispensable importance lowards establishing that

dependance of those colonies on Great-Britain which is “ so much the object of our wishes.

And, thirdly, we may suppose that in the said province " of Pensylvania, (in which, hitherto, can you believe it? " there has been no council to balance and controul the “ assembly elected by the people,) the wisdom of parlia“ ment will think it necessary to establish a council that “ shall be composed of persons of the greatest weight and “ dignity in the province, to be nominated by the Crown, " and who shall also be removeable at the pleasure of the “ Crown. And it seems probable, also, that the number of “ counsellors so to be appointed will be made variable at the “ pleasure of the Crown between the numbers of twelve “ counsellors and thirty-fix, or some other pretty distant “ limits; so that the king, in his royal wisdom, may, at “ any time, either adel to, or take from, the faid coun“ cil a great number of members, whenever he shall think “ the menibers already belonging to it not fufficiently at“ tentive to the maintenance of his royal prerogative. “ For this has been already done with respect to the new " council established in the Massachu'eti's Bay by the late

judicious act for amending their charter, which was “ passed in the year 1774 by the advice of the aforesaid

great statesmen.

“ In the fourth place, we may hope that all the judges " and theriffs, and other officers of justice in the several

provinces in America, will be made compleatly depen“ dant on the Crown, so as to be both nominated by the

king, and reinoveable by him at his pleasure, instead of "s either being elected by the people, (as they now are in “ some of the colonies by virtue of their unfortunate char“ ters,) or of being appointed by the crown in a permanent

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manner,