Page:An Oration Delivered April 2d, 1771.djvu/10

Rh them to find barracks at Brunswick or Lunenburg, at Hanover, or the commodious hall of Westminster? Suppose the last—Suppose this army was informed, nay thought the parliament in actual rebellion, or only on the eve of one against their King, or against those who paid and cloathed them—for there it pinches:—We are rebels against parliament;—we adore the King.

Where, in the case I have stated, would be the value of the boasted English Constitution?

Who are a free people? Not those who do not suffer actual oppression; but those who have a constitutional check upon the power to oppress.

We are slaves or freemen; if, as we are called, the last, where is our check upon the following powers, France, Spain, the States of Holland, or the British Parliament? Now if any one of these (and it is quite immaterial which) has right to make the two acts in question operate within this province, they have right to give us up to an unlimited army, under the sole direction of one Saracen Commander.