Irons. Col. James Livingston is about to raise a Regiment of Canadians in our pay for One Year. Arnold is near Quebec but has not Men enough to surround it and his Powder so damaged, that he has only 5 Rounds apiece. Montgomerys Soldiers very disobedient and many of them come Home without Leave. Frauds discovered in some of his Officers. Gen. Washn in great Want of Powder and most of the Connectt Troops have left his Army. Accounts of a Skirmish in Virginia and great Preparations in England for an Invasion of Us in the Spring. We sat from 10 oCloc till the Dusk of the Evening.
Diary of Richard Smith in the Continental Congress, in American Historical Review (New York, etc., 1896), I, 289-296 passim.
186. A Call for Independence (1776)
BY THOMAS PAINE
For Paine, see No. 159 above. — Bibliography of independence : Winsor, Narrative and Critical History, VI, 255-262; Frothingham, Rise of the Republic, chs. v, vi, xi; Lecky, England, iii, 412-459; Channing and Hart, Guide, § 137. — For earlier suggestions of independence, see above, Nos. 122, 148, 153.
. . . L EAVING the moral part to private reflection, I shall chiefly confine my farther remarks to the following heads :
First, That it is the interest of America to be seperated from Britain.
Secondly, Which is the easiest and most practicable plan, reconciliation or independance? with some occasional remarks.
In support of the first, I could, if I judged it proper, produce the opinion of some of the ablest and most experienced men on this continent ; and whose sentiments, on that head, are not yet publicly known. It is in reality a self-evident position : For no nation, in a state of for eign dependance, limited in its commerce, and cramped and fettered in its legislative powers, can ever arrive at any material eminence. America doth not yet know what opulence is ; and although the progress which she hath made, stands unparalleled in the history of other nations, it is but childhood, compared with what she would be capable of arriving at, had she, as she ought to have, the legislative powers in her own hands. England is, at this time, proudly coveting what would do her no good, were she to accomplish it ; and the continent hesitating on a matter, which will be her final ruin if neglected. It is the commerce, and not the conquest of America, by which England is to be benefited,
