Page:An address to the people of England, Ireland, and Scotland.djvu/14

 with an almost blameable patience, the innovations which were continually made on their liberty; 'till the ministry, who imagined their moderation proceeded from ignorance and cowardice, by depriving them of almost every part of their rights which remained unviolated, have raised a spirit beyond the Atlantic, which may either recover the opportunities we have lost of restoring the breaches which for near a century have been making in our constitution, or of sinking us into the lowest abyss of national misery.

In these times of general discontent, when almost every act of our Governors, excites a jealousy and apprehension in all those who make the interests of the community their care, there are several among us who, dazzled with the sun-shine of a court, and fattening on the spoils of the people, have used their utmost endeavours to darken your understandings on those subjects, which, at