Page:Works of the Late Doctor Benjamin Franklin (1793).djvu/150

140 other violent and oppreſſive meaſures, at length excited an ardent ſpirit of oppoſition. Inſtead of endeavouring to allay this by a more lenient conduct, the miniſtry ſeemed reſolutely bent upon reducing the colonies to the moſt ſlaviſh obedience to their decrees. But this tended only to aggravate. Vain were all the efforts made uſe of to prevail upon them to lay aſide their deſigns, to convince them of the impoſſibility of carrying them into effect, and of the miſchievous conſequences which muſt enſue from a continuance of the attempt. They perſevered, with a degree of inflexibility ſcarcely paralleled.

The advantages which Great-Britain derived from her colonies were ſo great, that nothing but a degree of infatuation, little ſhort of madneſs, could have produced a continuance of meaſures calculated to keep up a ſpirit of uneaſineſs, which might occaſion the ſlighteſt wiſh for a ſeparation. When we confider the great improvements in the ſcience of government, the general diffuſion of the principles of liberty amongſt the people of Europe, the effects which theſe have already produced in France, and the probable conſequences which will reſult from them elſewhere, all of which are the offspring of the American revolution, it cannot but appear ſtrange, that events of ſo great moment to the happineſs of mankind, ſhould have been ultimately occaſioned by the wickedneſs or ignorance of a Britiſh miniſtry. Dr. Franklin left nothing untried to prevail upon the miniſtry to conſent to a change of meaſures. In private converſations, and in letters to perſons in government, he continually expatiated upon the impolicy and injuſtice of their conduct towards America; and ſtated, that, notwithſtanding the attachment of the coloniſts to the