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Show (26> (27) I anfwer that you cannot force them, nor- is‘there any appearance that you can. that flile, and concur in that circumftance. It Was {a The number of free experienced, toavery great degree, concerning the people in thefe colonies is reckoned. at towards two millions. The common calculation IS of one fenCible Stamps, and has now been found the fame, on the or fighting man in five perform, and this is fuppoled to be rather under than over the truth. This Will give us at leaft between three and four hundred thou'fa'nd fighting men on the number before mentioned. Mr. ' occafion of the l‘ea. Their conduét has, in the cafe, been every where alike, and correfpondent. The Tea, is either reurned, Without being landed, or re- ce ved, Without being fulfercd to be fold, at NewYork, at l'ennl‘y'lvania, at Carolina, at all the places to which it was "firm. We reckon entirely without Rome tells us indeed, in fume letters, 85c. lately pub~ lifhed in oppofition to the colonies ;- " that there is " hardly any thing more common, than to hear them " boai't of particular colonies that can rai-fe on a fhort " noticea hundred thoufind fighting men." However to have nothing to do with tliefe exaggerations, and to take only the number before mentioned ; what eXipeétation can there be of fending from hence an army fit to {ubdue that continent? A country not defended of that continent, or depend on any ineafures infuffi-l cient to fubdue the whole. But, let me ask ; how can we expect otherwife? They are not nnacquaintcd with the hit‘tory of the mother-country. They know the weightof the taxing hand here. They have heard of our debt, of one hundred and forty millions of pounds fierling, indeed on the fide of the fea, with fortS'and caflles incurred fince the Revolution, befides other hundreds built by men, but extremely ferng within, by the natural fortifications of foreits and of rivers. of millions fpent currently within the fame period. The time to come is to be judged of by the time pail. Will our brethren of America expect, that this hand Butcan they arm {0 many? In any country very greatly taxed, and much more fo than its inhabitants would willingly bear with, it is not impoHible, confiftently with inch a {late of things, to armthe whole body of the people. Thefe might be apt to count nofes and to confider, who were the f'tronger. they themielves, or the tax-gzttlierers, and the Red-coats, or White-coats, or Black coats, or any other, who {upporttliein. The difficulty would be yet greater, were there any further diifatisfaétion. But thefe are alldeinocratical governments, where the power is in our hott, if we don't ex eét to have to do with a union fhould be lighter on them, at a diflance, or that our breafts will feel more for them. than for ourielves? Let an Englifltman make the cafe his own, and queiltion himfelf; what he {hould think, were he of that country, and his whole fortune and concerns there. Would not he believe his all, to be at {take upon. the cafi? Does any one in America, or in England, ima- gine, that all thefe difputes and feuds are onlyr at the bottom, about aduty of three pence upon a pound leafi difficulty, or jealoufy about putting arms int® the hands of every man in the country. But are they united among theinfelves? In the caufe of not being taxed by us, it is well underflood. oftea? How can then any candid man doubt, whev ther there will be a general union and concurrence ‘ on the fubjet‘t, or wonder if there is {of Lotof They are faid to have already Committees refpondence, and no doubt neceflity Will teach them other means of moving avd acting together. Every how much. they are (0. All accounts and reports thing is done there by choice and election ; they Will from thence, of all men, and of all parties, run in Pmbttbly have at their head, as capable and as wife men, the hands of the people, and where there is not the that ‘ i as |
