is a rule of the law of nature, as well as of the law of the land, or rather that the latter has only borrowed it from the farmer. I speak with submission; but he would without doubt proceed that the means used on this occasion were absolutely those necessary ones and no other; that an object was artfully or judiciously chosen for this tax, which is so constant a part of diet or luxury, that it was totally impossible to prevent the tax from taking place without hindering the commodity itself from being introduced; that therefore the Americans must absolutely do that or lose their right; that the endeavouring so to do only by a general conceit and agreement would have been no better than building a City out of the sands of the sea; that thereupon the Town of Boston did, at a sort of publick meeting, use every instance and application possible both with the Captains of the Tea Ships and with the Governour that the Tea might be returned, untouched and damaged as it came; that this would have secured their right, and they desired no more: that this was absolutely refused; that there was thereupon no expedient left for the preserving their right but destroying the Tea; that this was, without any express authority of the Town, done by private people, but in all appearance with the general inclination and with the least mischief and damage possible; that there was some Tea spilt, but no blood; that this refers the whole to the first and original question of the right; that the Americans make thereon the same claim as the people of Scotland would have in an essential circumstance of the union, or those of Ireland, should the line observed between them and Great Britain be passed in any point which would affect their whole interest and welfare as a Nation; that a right in any case whatsoever and an absolute duty of passive obedience and non-resistance in the same are inconsistent terms, a direct contradiction, and totally unintelligible; that in the other Colonies the Governours and Captains consented to the sending back the Tea, or to the shutting it up in such a manner as never to be sold or dispersed; that these did not therefore, in their cases, make immediate force necessary, but that their act was in effect the same, and stands on the same ground. That there is nothing malignant in the whole matter, nothing but a determined desire to support this their great and necessary right. This is no doubt the American idea, as appears by many proofs and papers from that side of the water. I shall myself presume to speak no opinion in the case, much less will I again call on the manes of our ancestors in support of this pretension. But should it be observed that it ends in a question which concerns the bounds and the limits of Government; I cannot, on the occasion, but repeat and enforce by this example the remark before made, of how dangerous and deadly a nature the disputes and contests are, which lead thither.

So much for the rectitude of taxing the Americans. But I may be told that I have not yet touched the true point; that I have been doing little more than a man who rides post out of his road. That Statesmen and Politicians do indeed sometimes talk of the right and wrong, of the justice and injustice of measures; but that this is all only ostensible reasoning, while there may at the bottom be nothing which they really care less about. That the great do everywhere bear hard on the little, the strong on the weak; that the hawk hunts the partridge, the lion the wolf, and the wolf the lamb; that powerful Princes and States oppress the helpless, and the high and the rich those beneath them; that this is the chapter of the law of Nature and Nations, which we intend to consult and to follow; that we want money at home; that our debts are very heavy, and our resources but too nearly at an end; that we have yet Fleets and Armies, and are determined to bend to our will our Colonies of America, and to make them subservient to our wants and occasions; that this is at the bottom, and that all my casuistry may in the mean time serve the purposes of Grocers and Pastry-Cooks; that when people write about matters of state, they ought to do it like men. It is very well; I join issue hereon; only don't let us go too fast; one thing at a time.

I answer that you cannot force them, nor is there any appearance that you can. The number of free people in those Colonies is reckoned at towards two millions. The common calculation is of one fencible or fighting man in five persons; and this is supposed to be rather under than over the truth. This will give us at least between three and four hundred thousand fighting men on the number before mentioned. Mr. Rome goes so far as to tell us in some Letters, &c., lately published in opposition to the Colonies, "that there is hardly any thing more common, than to hear them boast of particular Colonies, that can raise, on a short notice, a hundred thousand fighting men." The country is itself, in some respects, a very strong one; more so than any in Europe, or the better cultivated parts of the world. It is not on the side of the Sea guarded with Forts and Castles built by men; but it is within secured and protected by the natural fortifications of immense Forests and of large Rivers. What expectation or probability then can there be of sending from hence, Armies capable to conquer and subdue so great a force of men, defending and defended by such a Continent.

But can they arm so many? In any country very greatly taxed, and much more so than its inhabitants would willingly bear with, it is impossible, consistently with such a state, of things, to arm the whole body of the people. These might be apt to count noses, and to consider who were the stronger, they themselves, or the Tax-gatherers and the Red-coats, or White-coats, or Black-coats, or any other who support them. The difficulty would be yet greater, were there any further dissatisfaction. But these are all Democratical Governments, where the power is in the hands of the people, and where there is not the least difficulty or jealousy about putting Arms into the hands of every man in the country.

But are they united among themselves? In the cause of not being taxed by us, it is well understood how much they are so. All accounts and reports from thence of all men, and of all parties, run in that style, and concur in that circumstance. It was so experienced to a very great degree, concerning the Stamps, and has now been found the same on the occasion of the Tea. Their conduct has in the case, been everywhere alike and correspondent. The Tea is either returned, without being landed, or received, without being suffered to be sold, at New-York, at Pennsylvania, at Carolina, at all the places to which it was sent. We reckon entirely without our host, if we don't expect to have to do with a union of that Continent, or depend on any measures insufficient' to master and overpower the whole.

But let me ask, how can we expect otherwise? They are not unacquainted with the history of the mother country; they know the weight of the taxing hand here; they have heard of our debt of one hundred and forty millions of Pounds sterling incurred, since the Revolution, besides other hundreds of millions spent currently within the same period. The time to come is to be judged of by the time past. Will our brethren of America expect, that this hand should be lighter on them at a distance, or that our breasts will feel more for them than for ourselves? Let an Englishman make the case his own, and question himself, what he should think, were he of that country, and his whole fortune and concerns there. Would not he believe his all to be at stake upon the cast? Does any one in America, or in England, imagine, that all these disputes and feuds are, at the bottom, only about a Duty of three Pence upon a pound of Tea? How can, then, any candid man, doubt whether there will be a general union and concurrence on the subject, or wonder if there is so?

They are said to have already Committees of Correspondence, and no doubt necessity will teach them other means of moving and acting together. Every thing is there by choice and election; they will probably have at their head, as capable, and as wise men, as are to be found among them. The power and influence of Governours, and other Civil Officers appointed from hence, must, on an open rupture, have an end. Our authority would perhaps then extend little further than where it was enforced by our own Troops. We shall bid fair to begin with the loss of the whole Continent.

But what are an untrained and undisciplined multitude? Could not an experienced Officer, with a few Regular Regiments, do what he would in America? I answer, that a different story may be told. In the war before last, our measures directed at home, were everywhere unsuccessful. The Plains of Flanders were fattened with some of the best blood of Britain and of Ireland. Our Govern-