[Footnote: 26] This study readers men acute,
inquisitive, dexterous, prompt in attack, ready in defence, full of resources.
In other countries, the people, more simple, and of a less mercurial cast, judge
of an ill principle in government only by an actual grievance; here they
anticipate the evil, and judge of the pressure of the grievance by the badness
of the principle. They augur misgovernment at a distance, and snuff the approach
of tyranny in every tainted breeze.
The last cause of this disobedient spirit in the Colonies is hardly less
powerful than the rest, as it is not merely moral, but laid deep in the natural
constitution of things. Three thousand miles of ocean lie between you and them.
No contrivance can prevent the effect of this distance in weakening government.
Seas roll, and months pass, between the order and the execution, and the want of
a speedy explanation of a single point is enough to defeat a whole system. You
have, indeed, winged ministers of vengeance, [Footnote: 27] who carry your bolts
in their pounces to the remotest verge of the sea. But there a power steps in
that limits the arrogance of raging passions and furious elements, and says, SO
FAR SHALL THOU GO, AND NO FARTHER.
Pages:
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81