Page:Works of the Late Doctor Benjamin Franklin (1793).djvu/149

139 by Mr. Pitt. This right was never recognized by the coloniſts; but, as they flattered themſelves that it would not be exerciſed, they were not very active in remonſtrating againſt it. Had this pretended right been ſuffered to remain dormant, the coloniſts would cheerfully have furniſhed their quota of ſupplies, in the mode to which they had been accuſtomed; that is, by acts of their own aſſemblies, in conſequence of requiſitions from the ſecretary of ſtate. If this practice had been purſued, ſuch was the diſpoſition of the colonies towards the mother country, that, notwithſtanding the diſadvantages under which they laboured, from reſtraints upon their trade, calculated ſolely for the benefit of the commercial and manufacturing intereſts of Great-Britain, a ſeparation of the two countries might have been a far diſtant event. The Americans, from their earlieſt infancy, were taught to venerate a people from whom they were deſcended; whoſe language, laws, and manners, were the ſame as their own. They looked up to them as models of perfectionſ; and, in their prejudiced minds, the moſt enlightened nations of Europe were conſidered as almoſt barbarians, in compariſon with Engliſhmen. The name of an Engliſhman conveyed to an American the idea of every thing good and great. Such ſentiments inſtilled into them in early life, what but a repetition of unjuſt treatment could have induced them to entertain the moſt diſtant thought of ſeparation! The duties on glaſs, paper, leather, painters' colours, tea, &c.; the disfranchiſement of ſome of the colonies; the obſtruction to the meaſures of the legiſlature in others, by the king's governors; the contemptuous treatment of their humble remonſtrances, ſtating their grievances and praying a redreſs of them, and