Page:History of the United States of America, Spencer, v1.djvu/354

 that there is not a member in this house but is acquainted with their purport also. There ought, therefore, to be no delay in entering upon this matter; we ought to proceed to it immediately; we ought to seize the first moment to open the door of reconciliation. The Americans will never be in a temper or state to be reconciled; they ought not to be, till the troops are withdrawn. The troops are a perpetual irritation to those people; they are a bar to all confidence and all cordial reconcilement. The way must be immediately opened for reconciliation. It will soon be too late. I know not who advised the present measures; I know not who advises to a perseverance and enforcement of them; but this I will say, that whoever advises them ought to answer for it at his utmost peril. I know that no one will avow that he advised, or that he was the author of these measures; every one shrinks from the charge. But somebody has advised his majesty to these measures, and if he continues to hear such evil counsellors, his majesty will be undone; his majesty may indeed wear his crown, but, the American jewel out of it, it will not be worth the wearing. "What more shall I say? I must not say the king is betrayed; but this I will say, the nation is ruined. What foundation have we for our claims over America? What is our right to persist in such cruel and vindictive measures against that loyal, respectable people? They say you have no right to tax them without their consent. They say truly. Representation and taxation must go together; they are inseparable. Yet there is scarcely a man in our streets, though so poor as scarcely to be able to get his daily bread, but thinks he is the legislator of America. "Our American subjects," is a common phrase in the mouths of the lowest orders of our citizens; but property, my lords, is the sole and entire dominion of the owner: it excludes all the world besides the owner. None can intermeddle with it. It is a unity, a mathematical point. It is an atom; untangible by any but the proprietor. Touch it, and the owner loses his whole property. The touch contaminates the whole mass, the whole property vanishes. The touch of another annihilates it for whatever is a man's own, is absolutely and exclusively his own."

Having stated that the Americans had been shamefully abused by the course pursued towards them, he went on to ask, How have this respectable people behaved under their grievances? With unexampled patience, with unparalleled wisdom. They chose delegates by their free suffrages. No bribery, no corruption, no influence there, my lords. Their representatives meet, with the sentiments and temper, and speak the sense of the continent. For genuine sagacity, for singular moderation, for solid wisdom, manly spirit, sublime sentiments, and simplicity of language, for every thing respectable and honorable, the Congress of Philadelphia shine unrivalled. This wise people speak out. They do not hold the language of slaves; they tell you what they mean. They do not ask you to repeal your laws as a favor; they claim it as a right—they demand