thereof. In this conference, thus assembled, will be united, the two grand principles of
business KNOWLEDGE and POWER. The members of Congress, Assemblies, or
Conventions, by having had experience in national concerns, will be able and useful
counsellors, and the whole, being empowered by the people, will have a truly legal
authority.
The conferring members being met, let their business be to frame a CONTINENTAL
CHARTER, or Charter of the United Colonies; (answering to what is called the Magna
Carta of England) fixing the number and manner of choosing members of Congress,
members of Assembly, with their date of sitting, and drawing the line of business and
jurisdiction between them: (Always remembering, that our strength is continental, not
provincial:) Securing freedom and property to all men, and above all things, the free
exercise of religion, according to the dictates of conscience; with such other matter as is
necessary for a charter to contain. Immediately after which, the said Conference to
dissolve, and the bodies which shall be chosen comformable to the said charter, to be the
legislators and governors of this continent for the time being: Whose peace and happiness
may God preserve, Amen.
Should any body of men be hereafter delegated for this or some similar purpose, I offer
them the following extracts from that wise observer on governments DRAGONETTI.
"The science" says he "of the politician consists in fixing the true point of happiness and
freedom. Those men would deserve the gratitude of ages, who should discover a mode of
government that contained the greatest sum of individual happiness, with the least
national expense." [Dragonetti on virtue and rewards]
But where, says some, is the King of America? I'll tell you. Friend, he reigns above, and
doth not make havoc of mankind like the Royal Brute of Britain. Yet that we may not
appear to be defective even in earthly honors, let a day be solemnly set apart for
proclaiming the charter; let it be brought forth placed on the divine law, the word of God;
let a crown be placed thereon, by which the world may know, that so far as we approve of
monarchy, that in America THE LAW IS KING. For as in absolute governments the
King is law, so in free countries the law OUGHT to be King; and there ought to be no
other. But lest any ill use should afterwards arise, let the crown at the conclusion of the
ceremony, be demolished, and scattered among the people whose right it is.
A government of our own is our natural right: And when a man seriously reflects on the
precariousness of human affairs, he will become convinced, that it is infinitely wiser and
safer, to form a constitution of our own in a cool deliberate manner, while we have it in
our power, than to trust such an interesting event to time and chance. If we omit it now,
some [Thomas Anello otherwise Massanello a fisherman of Naples, who after spiriting
up his countrymen in the public marketplace, against the oppressions of the Spaniards, to
whom the place was then subject prompted them to revolt, and in the space of a day
became king.] Massanello may hereafter arise, who laying hold of popular disquietudes,
may collect together the desperate and the discontented, and by assuming to themselves
the powers of government, may sweep away the liberties of the continent like a deluge.
Should the government of America return again into the hands of Britain, the tottering
