reap, to glut the avarice of the men who have let
loose on us the dogs of war to riot in our blood, and hunt us from the
face of the earth? If ye love wealth better than liberty, the
tranquillity of servitude than the animating contest of freedom--go from
us in peace. We ask not your counsels or arms. Crouch down and lick the
hands which feed you. May your chains set lightly upon you, and may
posterity, forget that ye were our countrymen.

To unite the Supremacy of Great Britain and the Liberty of America, is
utterly impossible. So vast a continent and of such a distance from the
seat of empire, will every day grow more unmanageable. The motion of so
unwieldy a body cannot be directed with any dispatch and uniformity,
without committing to the Parliament of Great Britain, powers
inconsistent with our freedom. The authority and force which would be
absolutely necessary for the preservation of the peace and good order of
this continent, would put all our valuable rights within the reach of
that nation.

* * * * * * *

Some who would persuade us that they have tender feelings for future
generations, while they are insensible to the happiness of the present,
are perpetually foreboding a train of dissensions under our popular
system. Such men's reasoning amounts to this--give up all that is
valuable to Great Britain, and then you will have no inducements to
quarrel among yourselves; or suffer yourselves to be chained down by
your enemies, that you may not be able to fight with your friends.

This is an insult on your virtue as well as your common sense. Your
unanimity this day and through the course of the war is a decisive
refutation of such invidious predictions. Our enemies have already had
evidence that our present constitution contains in it the justice and
ardor of freedom, and the wisdom and vigor of the most absolute system.
When the law is the will of the people, it will be uniform and coherent;
but fluctuation, contradiction, and inconsistency of councils must be
expected under those governments where every revolution in the ministry
of a court produces one in the state. Such being the folly and pride of
all ministers, that they ever pursue measures directly opposite to those
of their predecessors.

We shall neither be exposed to the necessary convulsions of elective
Monarchies, nor to the want of wisdom, fortitude, and virtue, to which
hereditary succession is liable. In your hands it