ss,
having published certain resolutions unanimously entered into, had come
to be the symbol of America united in defense of its rights; and what
American, if indeed one might call him such, would wish to be thought
disloyal to America or an enemy of its liberties? It required a degree
of assurance for any man to set up his individual judgment against the
deliberate and united judgment of the chosen representatives of all the
colonies; and that must be indeed a very subtle mind which could draw
the distinction between an enemy of liberty and a friend of liberty who
was unwilling to observe the Association.

Some such subtle minds there were--a considerable number in most
colonies who declared themselves friends of liberty but not of the
Association, loyal to America but not to the Congress. One of these was
Samuel Seabury, an Episcopalian clergyman living in Westchester
County, New York, a vigorous, downright man, who at once expressed his
sentiments in a forcible and logical manner, and with much sarcastic
humor, in a series of pamphlets which were widely read and much
commended by those who found in them their own views so effectively
expressed. This Westchester Farmer--for so he signed himself--proclaimed
that he had always been, and was still, a friend of liberty in general
and of American liberty in particular. The late British measures he
thought unwise and il-liberal, and he had hoped that the Congress
would be able to obtain redress, and perhaps even to effect a permanent
reconciliation. But, these hopes were seen to be vain from the day when
the Congress approved the Suffolk Resolutions and, instead of adopting
Mr. Galloway's plan, adopted the Association. For no sane man could
doubt that, under the thin disguise of "recommendations," Congress had
assumed the powers of government and counseled rebellion. The obvious
conclusion from this was that, if one could not be a loyal American
without submitting to Congress, then it was impossible to be at the same
time a loyal American and a loyal British subject.

But, if the problem were rightly considered, Mr. Seabury thought one
might be loyal to America in the best sense without supporting Congress;
for, apart from any question of legality, the Association was highly
inexpedient, inasmuch as non-importation would injure America more than
it injured England, and, for this reason if for no others, it would be
found impossible to "bully and frighten the supreme govern