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 The Expansion of England 355 an Englishman by birth and principle, I recognize to the Americans their supreme unalienable right in their property, — a right which they are justified in the defense of to the last extremity. To maintain this principle is the common cause of the Whigs on the other side of the Atlantic and on this. " 'Tis liberty to liberty engaged," that they will defend themselves, their families, and their country. In this great cause they are immovably allied : it is the alliance of God and nature, — immovable, eternal, fixed as the firmament of heaven. Four years later, however, George III still saw no reason for not stubbornly continuing the attempt to hold the rebellious colonies at any cost. I should think it the greatest instance among the many I have met with of ingratitude and injustice, if it could be supposed that any man in my dominions more ardently de- sired the restoration of peace and solid happiness in every part of this empire than I do; there is no personal sacrifice I could not readily yield for so desirable an object ; but at the same time no inclination to get out of the present diffi- culties, which certainly keep my mind very far from a state of ease, can incline me to enter into what I look upon as the destruction of the empire. I have heard Lord North fre- quently drop that the advantages to be gained by this con- test could never repay the expense; I own that, let any war be ever so successful, if persons will sit down and weigh the expenses, they will find, as in the last, that it has impover- ished the state, enriched individuals, and perhaps raised the name only of the conquerors. But this is only weighing such events in the scale of a tradesman behind his counter: it is necessary for those in the station it has pleased Divine Providence to place me to weigh whether expenses, though very great, are not sometimes necessary to prevent what might be more ruinous to a country than the loss of money. The present contest with America I cannot help seeing as the most serious in which any country was ever engaged. 377. Letter of George IE to Lord North on the neces- sity of sub- duing the American colonies (June ii, 1779).