The Americans will have no interest contrary to the grandeur and glory of
England, when they are not oppressed by the weight of it; and they will rather
be inclined to respect the acts of a superintending legislature when they see
them the acts of that power which is itself the security, not the rival, of
their secondary importance. In this assurance my mind most perfectly acquiesces,
and I confess I feel not the least alarm from the discontents which are to arise
from putting people at their ease, nor do I apprehend the destruction of this
Empire from giving, by an act of free grace and indulgence, to two millions of
my fellow-citizens some share of those rights upon which. I have always been
taught to value myself.
It is said, indeed, that this power of granting, vested in American Assemblies,
would dissolve the unity of the Empire, which was preserved entire, although
Wales, and Chester, and Durham were added to it. Truly, Mr. Speaker, I do not
know what this unity means, nor has it ever been heard of, that I know, in the
constitutional policy of this country.
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