adopted; neither would it answer, if Administration were wicked enough to make the attempt: the state of slavery cuts off all the great magnanimous inventive powers of the human mind, but it rather strengthens fidelity and attachment. The Roman history fully confirms this. Amidst the multiplied treachery of friends and relations, amidst the greatest temptations, during the corruptions of that Government, the slave was seldom or ever unfaithful to his master. The principle lies in human nature. Where mankind are deprived of the means of getting subsistence, where they are accustomed to look up to another for food, raiment and protection, they insensibly forget the original injury they sustained, and become attached to their master. In general, I must also observe, that masters are kind to their slaves. It is not he who uses the scourge and the whip, which the honourable gentleman has mentioned, that is the first to put the musket on his shoulders in such glorious contests as these. It is not he who tortures and frets his fellow-creatures; but he who feels that universal benevolence which extends his affections to all men in their several stations; who feels the spirit of equality, who knows the principles of liberty, who understands the consequence of those rights, without which we are always worse men and worse subjects, and who is willing, for the benefit of children yet unborn, to seal the truth of his doctrine with his blood. It is not to men of this temper that slaves will prove unfaithful. I shall rather expect to see them flock round his standard, though I admit the experiment is too dangerous on either side. I say again, the whole of our blunders, oppressions, and mistakes in these unfortunate disputes, have arisen from ignorance in the first principles of Government; gross ignorance in the several Constitutions of the Colonies; ignorance in the power we could apply to subdue them, and still greater ignorance of the end to be obtained by such an attempt. To each of these I will severally speak. I say it demonstrates a perfect ignorance of the history of civil society, to assert (which is the captivating argument used in this House for breaking down all the barriers of liberty in America) that two independent legislatures cannot exist in the same community, and therefore we are to destroy the whole fabrick of those Governments which have subsisted for so many years. Mankind are constantly quoting some trite maxim, and appealing to their limited theory in politicks, while they reject established facts. I say, a free Government necessarily involves many clashing jurisdictions, if pushed to the extreme. I maintain this species of Government must ever depend more on the spirit of freedom that first established it, than on all the parchment you can cover with words. I aver that in the most active triumphant commonwealth which ever appeared on the stage of the world, two distinct legislative authorities did actually exist: the comitia tributa and the comitia centuriata. The whole Government of Athens would appear as containing so many ridiculous paradoxes to those wise politicians. The actual state of Holland, where every town is a distinct Government within itself; the deliberations of the States-General, where no money can be raised unless the whole are unanimous; no new laws made or any old repealed against one dissenting voice;—all these would appear impossible to such politicians who are ever supposing mankind ready to destroy themselves; nevertheless the facts are equally certain. If the best parts of our Constitution were to be stated to a foreigner: the trial by jury, where twelve men must be unanimous in their opinion, in causes the most intricate and nice, where even the ablest counsel differ in opinion, he would be led to imagine justice might stand still; yet we all know nothing proves so easy in the execution. The danger of pushing things to extreme, makes the good sense of men prevail, while the power of resisting in every individual juryman, prevents prejudice and injustice from trying their strength on matters that are not tenable. The springs of a free Government are not obvious to every understanding, while the meanest foot-soldier knows all the powers of despotism. Here the supremacy of the magistrate solves every question. In the same manner the advantages derived from America, in the circle of commerce, are not so evident to a vulgar understanding, as so much palpable cash paid into the exchequer. For this reason I am ready to forgive those who differ with me in opinion concerning this American contest. It demands a process of reasoning to which common understandings are not generally accustomed. I should not be surprised if half the people in England should at first join against the Americans; national prejudice, pride, false glory, and false arithmetick, all contribute to deceive them; but that any man assuming the character of a statesman, should proceed in this mad career, to destroy in a few years that beautiful system of empire our ancestors have been raising with so much pains and glory; first under the false pretence of raising a revenue, and next under a more false pretence that America wishes to throw off her just dependance on Great Britain; this, I confess, does surprise me. For this reason my indignation chiefly rises against the noble Lord on the floor. I am willing to acquit all his colleagues and most of his followers, even if they had not the interested motives of places and pensions to bias their judgment; but that the noble Lord, who yearly considers the riches that come into the publick treasury, who knows and can trace all the circuitous channels by which riches flow into this country, that he should place no more to the credit of America than the paltry sum collected by his insignificant Commissioners, and endeavour to mislead others by such assertions,—this, indeed, is beyond belief. When the noble Lord is pleased to take the other side of the argument, what abundance of wealth does he sometimes pour forth in the most copious flow of eloquence. When he supports this rugged coercive system, how he labours and flags; nothing but sounding words and unmeaning phrases. The dignity of Parliament! Now I say this is the best supported by humanity and justice, and maintaining the freedom of the subject. The supremacy of the legislative authority of Great Britain! This I call unintelligible jargon. Instead of running the different privileges belonging to the various parts of the empire into one common mass of power, gentlemen should consider that the very first principles of good government in this wide-extended dominion, consist in subdividing the empire into many parts, and giving to each individual an immediate interest, that the community to which he belongs should be well regulated. This is the principle upon which our ancestors established those different Colonies or communities; this is the principle on which they have flourished so long and so prosperously; this is the principle on which alone they can be well governed at such a distance from the seat of the empire. Yet we are breaking through all those sacred maxims of our forefathers, and giving the alarm to every wise man on the Continent of America, that all his rights depend on the will of men whose corruptions are notorious, who regard him as an enemy, and who have no interest in his prosperity, and feel no control from him as a constituent.

The most learned writer on Government has defined civil and political liberty to consist in a perfect security as to a man’s rights. After the acts of Parliament of last year, can any man on the great continent of America say that he feels that security? Could anything less than a dread of losing every essential privilege have united a people so divided in customs, manners, climate, and communications? Could anything less than an entire want of policy, a species of political phrensy here, have produced this wonderful effect? You blame the Americans, but do not consider the next step which your conduct necessarily drives them to. You assert they aim at independence. I assert they wish for nothing more than a constitutional dependance on Great Britain, according as they have subsisted from their first establishments, and according as Ireland depends on the British legislature at this moment. Can any man who knows the power of the Crown in the legislative and executive parts of our Colony Government; who understands the force of the several acts of navigation; who knows the incitements and attachments by the education of youth in this country; who knows what would be the effects of mixing the Colonists in our fleets and armies, and every other office in our Government; who considers the effects of appeals in the last resort to his Majesty in Council; who knows the power of his Majesty in annulling laws made in the Colonies within three years; who perceives the advantages that every part of the empire derives from the prosperity of the other;—who is there, I say, capable of digesting those thoughts, and can entertain the ignoble jealousies daily expressed against the Americans, or show any motive why the people in America should break the bond of union with this country for ages yet to come, unless driven to that