Page:American History Told by Contemporaries, v2.djvu/164

 shall they only reap, who have neither sow'd nor planted? Monstrous Absurdity! Horrid inverted Order!

Proceedings, however Arbitrary and Oppressive, were but the Prelude: The Catastrophe was, if possible, yet more dismal. Having invaded their Liberties, by an easy Transition the next Attack was directly on their Properties. Their Title to their Lands was absolutely deny'd by the Governour and his Creatures upon two Pretences: One, that their Conveyances were not according to the Law of England; the Other, that if they might be thought to have had something like a Title formerly, yet it now ceas'd by the Revocation of their Charters. So that they who had fairly purchas'd their Lands, and held them in quiet Possession for above Fifty Years, were now oblig'd to accept new Deeds from the Governour, and pay for them a third Part of their Value, in order to ascertain their Titles, or otherwise they would be seiz'd for the Crown. &hellip;

is one Thing more I have heard often urg'd that the Charter Colonies, and indeed 'tis what one meets with from People of all Conditions and Qualities, tho' with due respect to their better Judgments, I can see neither Reason nor Colour for it. 'Tis said, that their increasing Numbers and Wealth join'd to their great Distance from Britain will give them an Opportunity in the Course of some Years to throw off their Dependance on the Nation, and declare themselves a free State, if not curb'd in Time by being made entirely subject to the Crown. Whereas in Truth there's no Body tho' but little acquainted with these or any of the Northern Plantations, who does not know and confess, that their Poverty and the declining State of their Trade is so great at present, that there's far more Danger of their sinking, without some extraordinary Support from the Crown, than of their ever revolting from it. So that I may say without being ludicrous, that it would not be more absurd to place two of His Majesty's Beef-Eaters to watch an Infant in the Cradle that it don't rise and cut its Father's Throat, than to guard these weak Infant Colonies to prevent their shaking off the British Yoke. Besides, they are so distinct from one another in their Forms of Government, in their Religious Rites, in their Emulation of Trade, and consequently in their Affections, that they can never be suppos'd to unite in so dangerous an Enterprize. It is for this Reason I have often wondered to hear some Great Men profess their Belief of the Feasibleness of it, and the Probability of it s some Time or other