ntry News-Paper would have
echoed and re-echoed the Tale) that _America_ was the Property of
_Great-Britain_ by every possible and legal Claim;--by Right of
Discovery,--Right of Occupancy,--Right of Possession,--uninterrupted
Prescription,--Communication of Benefits,--Participation of Posts of
Honour, and Places of Profit,--general Protection,--never-ceasing Defence,
&c. &c. And then we should have been told with peculiar Emphasis, that
this new-fangled, ministerial Scheme of erecting so many new Parliaments,
all co-ordinate with each other, under one general Monarch, was not only a
notorious Breach of the _English_ Constitution, and utterly repugnant to
the Law of the Land,--but was also a deep-laid, diabolical Contrivance to
subjugate these petty Parliaments, one after another, and all in their
Turns, to the irresistible Power of one grand Despot:--In short, then it
would have been said (and with great Appearance of Truth) that _divide, et
impera_ was the ministerial Maxim;--and that, what was done, or going to
be done in _America_, was only the Omen and Prelude to the like fatal
Establishments here in _Britain_. For the next Step would be (and upon a
Pretence full as good, and altogether as constitutional) to break to
Pieces the united Force of the _British_ Parliament, by erecting one
diminutive Assembly of States at _Edinburgh_, another at _York_, a third
at _London_, and a fourth at _Bath_, or _Exeter_, or somewhere in the
West: And then, partly by flattering and cajoling,--partly by Bribes or
Bullying,--by exciting their Hopes, or their Fears at one Time,--and their
Jealousies at another,--and by playing off each of these puny Assemblies
against its Rival, the Minister would necessarily become omnipotent;--and
then farewell to the Liberties of _Old England_.

3dly. I object also against all those of whatever Denomination, from the
roaring Patriot in the Senate, to the miserable Scribbler in the Garret,
who are the Pensioners of _France_, or _Spain_, or of any other rival
Power:--I say, I object against their being Judges in this Dispute,
because the very Intent of their receiving Pay is to promote Discord, and
to cherish Faction;--and because they cannot earn their Wages with more
Facility, or with surer Success to their Employers, than by patronizing
such Schemes, as will necessarily keep up the Disputes between
_Great-Britain_ and her Colonies.

But here the Smartness of Debate (to use one of Mr. BURKE's very s