Slavery they can have anywhere--it is a weed that grows in every soil. They may
have it from Spain; they may have it from Prussia. But, until you become lost to
all feeling of your true interest and your natural dignity, freedom they can
have from none but you. This is the commodity of price of which you have the
monopoly. This is the true Act of Navigation which binds to you the commerce of
the Colonies, and through them secures to you the wealth of the world. Deny them
this participation of freedom, and you break that sole bond which originally
made, and must still preserve, the unity of the Empire. Do not entertain so weak
an imagination as that your registers and your bonds, your affidavits and your
sufferances, your cockets and your clearances, are what form the great
securities of your commerce. Do not dream that your letters of office, and your
instructions, and your suspending clauses, are the things that hold together the
great contexture of the mysterious whole. These things do not make your
government. Dead instruments, passive tools as they are, it is the spirit of the
English communion that gives all their life and efficacy to them.
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