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.

As the administration of government requires firmer and more
numerous supports in proportion to its extent, the burdens imposed
on us would be excessive, and we should have the melancholy prospect
of their increasing on our posterity. The scale of officers, from
the rapacious and needy commissioner to the haughty governor, and
from the governor, with his hungry train, to perhaps a licentious
and prodigal viceroy, must be upheld by you and your children. The
fleets and armies which will be employed to silence your murmurs and
complaints must be supported by the fruits of your industry.

And yet with all this enlargement of the expense and powers of
government, the administration of it at such a distance, and over so
extensive a territory, must necessarily fail of putting the laws
into vigorous execution, removing private oppressions, and forming
plans for the advancement of agriculture and commerce, and
preserving the vast empire in any tolerable peace and security. If
our posterity retain any spark of patriotism, they can never tamely
submit to such burthens. This country will be made the field of
bloody contention till it gain that independence for which nature
formed it. It is, therefore, injustice and cruelty to our
offspring, and would stamp us with the character of baseness and
cowardice, to leave the salvation of this country to be worked out
by them with accumulated difficulty and danger.

Prejudice, I confess, may warp our judgments. Let us hear the
decision of Englishmen on this subject, who cannot be suspected of