other, that though there may be an inequality in rank and fortune, every one can act freely according to his own judgment. But nothing, it may be, excited a greater alarm in the breasts of those to whom it was communicated, than the following anecdote, viz. The Rev. Mr. _Whitefield_, ere he left _Portsmouth_ in _New-Hampshire_, on Monday afternoon, April the second, 1764, sent for Dr. _Langdon_ and Mr. Haven, the congregational ministers of the town, and upon their coming and being alone with him, said, “I can’t in conscience leave the town without acquainting you with a secret. My heart bleeds for _America_. O poor _New-England_! There is a deep laid plot against both your civil and religious liberties, and they will be lost. Your golden days are at an end. You have nothing but trouble before you. My information comes from the best authority in _Great Britain_. I was allowed to speak of the affair in general, but enjoined not to mention particulars. Your liberties will be lost.”[68] Mr. Whitefield could not have heard what the commons did in the preceding month; his information must have been of an earlier date, and might have been communicated before he left Great Britain. Beside the general design of taxing the colonies, the plan was probably, this in substance—Let the parliament be engaged to enter heartily and fully into American matters; and then under its sanction let all the governments be altered, and all the councils be appointed by the king, and the assemblies be reduced to a small number like that of New-York. After that, the more effectually to secure the power of civil government by the junction of church influence, let their be a revisal of all the acts in the several colonies with a view of setting aside those in particular, which provide for the support of the ministers. But if the temper of the people make it necessary, let a new bill for the purpose of supporting them pass the house, and the council refuse their concurrence; if that will be improper, then the governor to negative it. If that cannot be done in good policy, then the bill to go home and let the king disallow it. Let bishops be introduced, and provision be made for the support of the episcopal clergy. Let the congregational and presbyterian clergy, who will receive episcopal ordination, be supported; and the leading ministers among them be bought off by large salaries.—Let the liturgy be revised and altered. Let episcopacy be accommodated as much as possible to the cast of the people. Let places of power, trust and honor, be conferred only upon episcopalians, or those that will conform. When episcopacy is once thoroughly established, increase its resemblance to the English hierarchy at pleasure.