The idea of
conciliation is admissible. First, the House, in accepting the resolution moved
by the noble lord, has admitted, notwithstanding the menacing front of our
address, [Footnote: 12] notwithstanding our heavy bills of pains and penalties--
that we do not think ourselves precluded from all ideas of free grace and
bounty.
The House has gone farther; it has declared conciliation admissible, previous to
any submission on the part of America. It has even shot a good deal beyond that
mark, and has admitted that the complaints of our former mode of exerting the
right of taxation were not wholly unfounded. That right thus exerted is allowed
to have something reprehensible in it, something unwise, or something grievous;
since, in the midst of our heat and resentment, we, of ourselves, have proposed
a capital alteration; and in order to get rid of what seemed so very
exceptionable, have instituted a mode that is altogether new; one that is,
indeed, wholly alien from all the ancient methods and forms of Parliament.
The principle of this proceeding is large enough for my purpose.
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