And this
I think a sufficient answer to a strange question which Chronus
thinks it "not improper for our zealous Patriots to answer, viz.
What those liberties and rights are of which we have been deprived.
- If Chronus is really as ignorant as he pretends to be, of the
present state of the colonies, their universal and just complaints
of the most violent infractions of their liberties, and their
repeated petitions to the throne upon that account, I hope I shall
be excused in taking up any room in your valuable paper, with a view
of answering a question, which to him must be of the utmost
importance. - But if he is not, I think his question not only
impertinent, but a gross affront to the understanding of the public.
We have lost the constitutional right which the Commons of America
in their several Assemblies have ever before possessed, of giving
and granting their own money, as much of it as they please, and no
more; and appropriating it for the support of their own government,
for their own defence, and such other purposes as they please. The
great Mr. Pitt, in his speech in parliament in favor of the repeal
of the stamp-act, declared that "we should have been slaves if we
had not enjoy'd this right.
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