miſing: Emigrants of property will not chooſe to come to a country whoſe form of government hangs but by a thread, and who is everyday tottering on the brink of commotion and diſturbance: And numbers of the preſent inhabitants would lay hold of the interval to diſpoſe of their effects, and quit the Continent.
But the moſt powerful of all arguments is, that nothing but independence, i. e. a Continental form of government, can keep the peace of the Continent, and preſerve it inviolate from civil wars. I dread the event of a reconciliation with Britain now, as it is more than probable, than it will be followed by a revolt ſomewhere or other, the conſequences of which may be far more fatal than all the malice of Britain.
Thouſands are already ruined by Britiſh barbarity: Thouſands more will probably ſuffer the ſame fate. Thoſe men have other feelings than us who have nothing ſuffered. All they now poſſeſs is liberty, what they before enjoyed is ſacrificed to its ſervice, and having nothing more to loſe, they diſdain ſubmiſſion. Beſides, the general temper of the Colonies towards a Britiſh government will be like that of a youth, who is nearly out of his time; they will care very little about her: And a government which cannot preſerve the peace, is no government at all, and in that caſe we pay our money for nothing; and pray what is it that Britain can do, whoſe power will be wholly on paper, ſhould a civil tumult break out the very day after reconciliation? I have heard ſome men ſay, many of whom I believe ſpoke without thinking, that they dreaded an independence, fearing that it would produce civil wars: It is but ſeldom that our firſt thoughts are truly correct, and that is the caſe here; for there are ten times more to dread from a patched up connexion, than from independence. I make the ſufferers caſe my own, and I proteſt, that were I driven from houſe and home, my property deſtroyed, and my circumſtances ruined, that as a man ſenſible of injuries, I could never reliſh the doctrine of reconciliation, or conſider myſelf bound thereby.
The Colonies have manifeſted ſuch a ſpirit of good order and obedience to Continental government, as is ſufficient to make every reaſonable perſon eaſy and happy on that head. No man can aſſign the leaſt pretence for his fears, on any other grounds, than ſuch as are truly childiſh and ridiculous, viz. that one Colony will be ſtriving for ſuperiority over another.
Where there are no diſtinctions, there can be no ſuperiority; perfect equality affords no temptation. The republics of Europe are all (and we may ſay always) in peace. Holland and Swiſſerland are without wars, foreign or domeſtic: Monarchical governments, it is true, are never long at reſt; the Crown itſelf is a temptation to enterpriſing ruffians at home; and that degree of pride and inſolence ever attendant on regal authority, ſwells into a rupture with foreign powers, in inſtances, where a republican government, by being formed on more natural principles, would negociate the miſtake.
If
