I am much against any further experiments which tend
to put to the proof any more of these allowed opinions which contribute so much
to the public tranquillity. In effect we suffer as much at home by this
loosening of all ties, and this concussion of all established opinions as we do
abroad; for in order to prove that the Americans have no right to their
liberties, we are every day endeavoring to subvert the maxims which preserve the
whole spirit of our own. To prove that the Americans ought not to be free, we
are obliged to depreciate the value of freedom itself; and we never seem to gain
a paltry advantage over them in debate without attacking some of those
principles, or deriding some of those feelings, for which our ancestors have
shed their blood.
But, Sir, in wishing to put an end to pernicious experiments, I do not mean to
preclude the fullest inquiry. Far from it. Far from deciding on a sudden or
partial view, [Footnote: 31] I would patiently go round and round the subject,
and survey it minutely in every possible aspect. Sir, if I were capable of
engaging you to an equal attention, I would state that, as far as I am capable
of discerning, there are but three ways [Footnote: 32] of proceeding relative to
this stubborn spirit which prevails in your Colonies, and disturbs your
government.
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