LXV. established by a domestic political party, springing CHAP. spontaneously from the ranks of the people, and struggling against an active social influence, a numer- 1776. ous religious organization, and the traditional governing classes. The assembly stood adjourned to the twentieth; on the morning of the twenty second a quorum appeared, and as a first concession to the continental congress, the newly elected members were not required to swear allegiance to the king. The protest of the inhabitants of the city and liberties against their powers to carry the resolve of congress into execution, was presented, read, and laid on the table; but no other notice was taken of it. The resolve itself was got out of the way by the appointment of a committee to ask of the continental congress an explanation of its purpose. The proposal to sanction the naturalization of foreigners without requiring oaths of allegiance to the king, was, in like manner, put to sleep by a reference to a committee, composed of those who had most earnestly contested the wishes of the Germans. The assembly seemed to have no purpose, unless to gain time and wait. The constitution was the watchword of the conservative members; union that of the revolutionists; one party represented old established interests, another saw no hope but from independence and a firm confederation; between these two stood Dickinson, whose central position was the hiding place of the irresolute. On the twenty third an address, claiming to proceed from the committee of inspection for the county of Philadelphia, and bearing the name of William Hamilton as chairman, asked the assembly to "adhere May. May. CHAP. religiously to its instructions against independence, LXV. and to oppose altering the least part of their invalua1776. ble constitution." The next day the committee of inspection of the city of Philadelphia came together with Mackean as chairman, and addressed a memorial directly to the continental congress, setting forth, that the assembly did not possess the confidence of the people, nor truly represent the province; that among its members were men who held offices under the crown of Great Britain, and who had been dragged into compliance with most of the recommendations of congress only from the fear of being superseded by a convention; that measures had now been taken to assemble a convention of the people by men whose constituents were fighting men, and were determined to support the union of the province with the other colonies at every hazard. June. The members of the assembly became uneasy: in the first days of June no quorum appeared; on the fifth the proceedings of Virginia, directing her delegates to propose independence, were read in the house. No answer was returned; but a petition from Cumberland county, asking that the instructions to the delegates of Pennsylvania might be withdrawn, was read a second time, and a committee of seven was appointed to bring in new instructions. Of its members, among whom were Dickinson, Morris, Reed, Clymer, and one or two loyalists, all but Clymer were, for the present, opposed to independence. The instructions of Pennsylvania, which they reported on the sixth, conceded that the revolutionists were in the right; "that all hopes of a reconciliation, on reasonable terms, were extinguished;" and never LXV. June. theless, with a full knowledge that the king would CHAP. not yield, they expressed their ardent desire for an end of the civil war; while they expressly sanctioned 1776. a confederation, and "treaties with foreign kingdoms and states," they neither advised nor forbade a declaration of independence, trusting to "the ability, prudence, and integrity" of their delegates. Now the opinion of the majority of those delegates was notorious; but to remove even a possibility of uncertainty, on the seventh of June, before the question on the new instructions was taken, Dickinson, in the assembly, made a speech, in which he pledged his word to Allen, who was the proprietary chief-justice of the province, and to the whole house, that he and the majority of the delegates would continue to vote against independence. On that same day, and perhaps while Dickinson was speaking in the Pennsylvania assembly, Richard Henry Lee, in the name and with the special authority of Virginia, proposed: "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 it is expedient forthwith to take the most effectual measures for forming foreign alliances; and that a plan of confederation be prepared and transmitted to the respective colonies for their consideration and approbation." The resolutions were seconded by John Adams; and "the members were enjoined to attend punctually the next day at ten o'clock, in order to take them into their consideration," LXV. June. CHAP. At nine in the morning of the eighth of June, the assembly of Pennsylvania resumed the consideration 1776. of its new instructions, and adopted them by a vote of thirty one against twelve. The disingenuous measure proved the end of that body; once only did it again bring together a quorum of its members. The moderate and the timid, lending their aid to the proprietary party, had put themselves in the wrong both theoretically and practically; at once conceding the impossibility of reconciliation, and, by their indecision, entailing on Pennsylvania years of distraction and bitter strife. At ten on the same day congress entered into the consideration of Richard Henry Lee's resolve, and the long debate which ensued was the most copious and the most animated ever held on the subject. The argument on the part of its opponents was sustained by Robert Livingston of New York, by Wilson, Dickinson, and Edward Rutledge. They made no objection to a confederacy, and to sending a project of a treaty by proper persons to France; but they contended that a declaration of independence would place America in the power of the British, with whom she was to negotiate; give her enemy notice to counteract her intentions before she had taken steps to carry them into execution; and expose her to ridicule in the eyes of foreign powers by prematurely attempting to bring them into an alliance. Edward Rutledge said privately, "that it required the impudence of a New Englander, for them in their disjointed state to propose a treaty to a nation now at peace; that no reason could be assigned for pressing into this measure but the reason of every madman, a show of spirit." Wilson avowed LXV. June. that the removal of the restriction on his vote by the CHAP. Pennsylvania assembly on that morning, did not change his view of his obligation to resist independ- 1776 ence. On the other hand, John Adams defended the proposed measures as "objects of the most stupendous magnitude, in which the lives and liberties of millions yet unborn were intimately interested;" as the consummation "of a revolution, the most complete, unexpected, and remarkable, of any in the history of nations." The power of all New England, Virginia, and Georgia was put forth on the same side; and the discussion was kept up till seven in the evening. A majority of the colonies, including North Carolina, appeared to be unalterably fixed in favor of an immediate declaration of independence; but the vote on the question was postponed till Monday. On the day of rest which intervened, Keith, the British minister at the court of Vienna, obtained an audience of Joseph the Second, and afterwards of the empress Maria Theresa. The emperor referred to the proclamation which the joint sovereigns had issued, most strictly prohibiting all commerce between their subjects in the Low Countries and the rebel colonies in America, and went on to say: "I am very sorry for the difficulties which have arisen to distress the king's government; the cause in which he is engaged, is in fact the cause of all sovereigns, for they have a joint interest in the maintenance of a just subordination and obedience to law, in all the monarchies which surround them; I saw with pleasure the vigorous exertions of the national strength, which he is now employing to bring his rebellious subjects to a speedy submission, and I most sincerely wish success to those |