Believe
me, should the British parliament, which claims a right to tax you at
discretion, ever be guided by a wicked and corrupt administration,
and how near they are approaching to it, I will leave you to judge,
you will then find one revenue act succeeding another, till the
fatal influence shall extend to your own parliaments. Bribes and
tensions will be as frequent here, as they are in the unhappy
kingdom of Ireland, and you and your posterity will be made, by
means of your own money, as subservient to the will of a British
ministry, or an obsequious Governor, as the vassals of France are to
that of their grand monarch. What will prevent this misery and
infamy, but your being finally oblig'd to have recourse to the
ultima ratio! But is it probable that you will ever make any manly
efforts to recover your liberty, after you have been inur'd, without
any remorse, to contemplate yourselves as slaves? Custom, says the
Farmer, gradually reconciles us to objects even of dread and
detestation. It reigns in nothing more arbitrarily than in publick
Affairs. When an act injurious to freedom has once been done, and
the people bear it, the repetition of it is more likely to meet with
submission.
Pages:
339
340
341
342
343
344
345
346
347
348
349
350
351
352
353
354
355
356
357
358
359
360
361
362
363