capable of arriving at, had ſhe, as ſhe ought to have, the legiſlative powers in her own hands. England is, at this time, proudly coveting what would do her no good, were ſhe to accompliſh it; and the Continent heſitating on a matter, which will be her final ruin if neglected. It is the commerce, and not the conqueſt of America, by which England is to be benefited, and that would in a great meaſure continue, were the countries as independent of each other as France and Spain; becauſe, in many articles, neither can go to a better market. But it is the independence of this country on Britain, or any other, which is now the main and only object worthy of contention, and which, like all other truths diſcovered by neceſſity, will appear clearer and ſtronger every day.
Firſt. Becauſe it will come to that one time or other.
Secondly. Becauſe the longer it is delayed, the harder it will be to accompliſh.
I have frequently amuſed myſelf, both in public and private companies, with ſilently remarking the ſpecious errors of thoſe who ſpeak without reflecting. And among the many which I have heard, the following ſeems the moſt general, viz. that had this rupture happened forty or fifty years hence, inſtead of now, the Continent would have been more able to have ſhaken off the dependence. To which I reply, that our military ability, at this time, ariſes from the experience gained in the laſt war, and which in forty or fifty years time would have been totally extinct. The Continent would not by that time have had a General, or even a military officer left; and we, or thoſe who may ſucceed us, would have been as ignorant of martial matters as the ancient Indians: And this ſingle poſition, cloſely attended to, will unanſwerably prove, that the preſent time is preferable to all others: The argument turns thus:—At the concluſion of the laſt war, we had experience, but wanted numbers; and forty or fifty years hence, we ſhould have numbers, without experience; wherefore, the proper point of time muſt be ſome particular point between the two extremes, in which a ſufficiency of the former remains, and a proper encreaſe of the latter is obtained: And that point of time is the preſent time.
The reader will pardon this digreſſion, as it does not properly come under the head I firſt ſet out with, and to which I again return by the following poſition, viz.
Should affairs be patched up with Britain, and ſhe to remain the governing and ſovereign power of America (which, as matters are now circumſtanced, is giving up the point entirely) we ſhall deprive ourſelves of the very means of ſinking the debt we have, or may contract. The value of the back lands, which ſome of the provinces are clandeſtinely deprived of, by the unjuſt extention of the limits of Canada, valued only at five pounds ſterling per hundred acres, amount to upwards of twenty-five millions, Pennſylvania currency; and the quit-rents, at one penny ſterling per acre, to two millions yearly.
