It is,
in truth, nothing more than the old and, as I thought, exploded problem of
tyranny, which proposes to beggar its subjects into submission. But remember,
when you have completed your system of impoverishment, that nature still
proceeds in her ordinary course; that discontent will increase with misery; and
that there are critical moments in the fortune of all states when they who are
too weak to contribute to your prosperity may be strong enough to complete your
ruin. Spoliatis arma supersunt. [Footnote: 34]
The temper and character which prevail in our Colonies are, I am afraid,
unalterable by any human art. We cannot, I fear, falsify the pedigree of this
fierce people, and persuade them that they are not sprung from a nation in whose
veins the blood of freedom circulates. The language in which they would hear you
tell them this tale would detect the imposition; your speech would betray you.
[Footnote: 35] An Englishman is the unfittest person on earth to argue another
Englishman into slavery.
I think it is nearly as little in our power to change their republican religion
as their free descent; or to substitute the Roman Catholic as a penalty, or the
Church of England as an improvement.
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