ment, on the one
hand, and that the powers of Europe ought not and could not with safety
consent to it, if they were so inclined, on the other; why should a
source of contention be left open, for future contingencies to involve
the nations of Europe in still more bloodshed, when, by one decisive
step of the maritime powers, in making treaties with a nation long in
possession of sovereignty by right and in fact, it might be closed?

The example of your High Mightinesses would, it is, hoped, be followed
by all the maritime powers, especially those which are parties to the
late marine treaty: nor can the apprehension that the independence of
America would be injurious to the trade of the Baltic, be any objection.
This jealousy is so groundless that the reverse would happen. The
freight and insurance in voyages across the Atlantic are so high, and
the price of labour in America so dear, that tar, pitch, turpentine, and
ship-timber never can be transported to Europe at so cheap a rate, as it
has been and will be afforded by countries round the Baltic. This
commerce was supported by the English before the revolution with
difficulty, and not without large parliamentary bounties. Of hemp,
cordage, and sail-cloth there will not probably be a sufficiency raised
in America for her own consumption in many centuries, for the plainest
of all reasons, because these articles may be imported from Amsterdam,
or even from Petersburg and Archangel, cheaper than they can be raised
at home. America will therefore be for ages a market for these articles
of the Baltic trade.

Nor is there more solidity in another supposition, propagated by the
English to prevent other nations from pursuing their true interests,
that the colonies of other nations will follow the example of the United
States. Those powers, who have as large possessions as any beyond seas,
have already declared against England, apprehending no such
consequences. Indeed there is no probability of any other power of
Europe following the example of England, in attempting to change the
whole system of the government of colonies, and reducing them by
oppression to the necessity of governing themselves: and, without such
manifest injustice and cruelty on the part of the metropolis, there is
no danger of colonies attempting innovations. Established governments
are founded deep in the hearts, the passions, the imaginations and
understandings of the people; and without some violent chang