Page:American History Told by Contemporaries, v2.djvu/165

No. 48] actually coming to pass, who yet with the same Breath advise that all the Governments on the Continent be form'd into one, by being brought under one Vice-Roy, and into one Assembly. For surely if we in earnest believ'd that there was or would be hereafter a Disposition in the Provinces to Rebel and declare themselves Independent, it would be good Policy to keep them disunited ; because if it were possible they could contrive so wild and rash an Undertaking, yet they would not be hardy enough to put it in Execution, unless they could first strengthen themselves by a Confederacy of all the Parts. . ..

Sum of my Argument is, That the Benefit which Great-Britain receives from the Plantations, arises from their Commerce : That Oppression is the most opposite Thing in the World to Commerce, and the most destructive Enemy it can have : That Governours have in all Times, and in all Countries, bin too much inclin'd to oppress : And consequently, it cannot be the Interest of the Nation to increase their Power, and lessen the Liberties of the People. I am so sanguine in this Opinion, that I really think it would be for the Service of the Crown and Nation to incorporate those Governments which have no Charters, rather than Disfranchize those that have.

last Thing I propos 'd to consider was, how far it may be consistent with Justice, to deprive the Colonies of their Charters, without giving them a fair Tryal or any previous Notice. . ..

. . . It seems therefore a Severity without a Precedent, that a People who have the Misfortune of being a Thousand Leagues distant from their Sovereign, a Misfortune great enough in it self, should depriv'd of all their valuable Privileges, which they and their Fathers have enjoy d for near a Hundred Years. It s true, the Legislative Power is absolute and unaccountable, and King, Lords and Commons may do what they please ; but the Question here is not about Power, but Right: And shall not the Supream Judicature of all the Nation do right? One may say, that what the Parliament can t do justly, they can't do at all. In maximis minima est licentia. The higher the Power is, the greater Caution is to be us'd in the Execution of it, because the Sufferer is helpless and without Resort.