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Show (18) ofevcn this Senate ought to be limited to the common concerns of the Errzpire. ----- l think I have proved that the fundamental principles or Liberty, necefhri‘ily require this. in a word. An Empire is a collection of Rates or communities united by {ome common bond or tye. lf thefe ilates have each of them free conltiiutions of government, and, with telipetit to taxation and internal legillation, are independent of the other llates, but united by comp-.c'ts or alliances, or tubjec't-m- to a Great Council, reprel‘eniing the whole, or to one monarch cntrulletl with the l'upieme executive power: In tire-{3: circuantt. nces, tht Empire will be an Empire of Freemen. -----it, on the contrary, like the different provinces liubjeét to the timed Sié'l'llirfi", none of the lintcs which any independent lt‘gilll‘tlve ziuihnriry; but are all {object to an abfo'ure monarch, whole will is their law; then is the Empire an Empire or Slaves. ------ None of the llates is free, but governs by its will all the other flatcs; then is the Empire, like that ol. the Rim rtns in the times of the republic, an Empire conhliirig of one ltzie‘free, and the rci": in flavcry: Nor does it make any more urhermice in this care, that the governing lla'r‘ is irfclf P AVR T 11. EN the foregoing difquifitions, I have, from one leading principle, deduced a. number of conl‘equences, that teem to me incapable of being (lilputtd. l have meant tllll the} ill uld be applied to the great quellion between this kingdom and the Colonies which has occulioned the preterit war it ith them. It is impolhble, but my readers mull have been all along making this application; and if they {lrll think, that the claims of this kingdom are reconcileablc to the principleé of'ti nc liberty and legitimate government, lam afraid, that nothing lliiall farther fay will have any eflect on theirjudgments. l will], however, they Would have the patience and candour L0 go With me, and grant me a hearing {ome time longer. Though clearly decided in my own judgment on this lubjeft, I am inclined to make great allowances tor the dfi‘erent iudg- merits ot others. \Ve have been ii) ul‘cd to {peak or the Colo- nies as our Colonies, and to think of them as in a {late of {ub- tree, than it times in the cafe ol‘ a kingdom {Lil‘irclr a dypot, that this delimit is himl‘elf tree. I have btfore obierved, that ordination to us, and as holding their exillcnce in A'mrrr‘m only this only makes the flowery worl'e. alarmed, when they find adifl‘erent doctrine maintained. The meanell perlbn amongfl us is dil'potfled to look upon liimfelt as having a body of. lirbjeets in Abner/m; and to be offended at the denial of his right to make laws for them, though perhaps he does nOt know what colour they are (if, or what language they 'l‘hcre is, in the one cafe, :1 chance, that in the quick liucceliinn of defpots, a good one will lometimes arile. But bodies of men continue the lame; and have generally proved the moi} unrelenting of all tyrants. A great writer before * quoted, obferves of the Roman Empire, that while Liberty was at the center, tyranny prevaried in the dillant provinces; that {uch as were free under it were exrremely lo, while more who were flaves groaned under the extremity of ilLivery, and that the fame events that dyirpycdrhe liberti of the former, gave liberty to the latter. I he liberty of the Romans, therefore, was only an additional calamity '2: the provinces governed by themiand though it might "ave been {aid of the citizen; of Rome, that they were the " tux-Pr members (it any civil lociety in the known world ," yet or the lit/{jack (‘lijg7/K‘c7, it mull have been (aid, that they were the complett ll flaves in the known VV'TJ‘ld. w» How remarkable is it, that this Very people, once the {reel} of mankind, but at the lame tune the mull proud and tyrannical, t'hould beicome zit lalt the molt conternptible and abject llaves that ever exil‘ted 3 PART 7 for our ufe, that it is no wonder the prejudices otmany are talk.---Such are the natural prejudices of this country. But the time is coming, I hope, when the unrealonablenefs of them Will be feen; and more jul't fentiments prevail. Before 1 proceed, I beg it may be attended to, that l have ehofen to try this quellion by the general principles of Civil Liberty; and not by the praciice of former times; or by the Charter: granted the colonies. The arguments/hr them, drawn from thefe laft topics, appear to me greatly to outweigh the arguments again/i them. But I with to have this quelliorr brought to a higher tell, and {urer illiue. The quel'tron wrth alL liberal enquirers ought to be, not what juril‘diclion over them Prccedenfs, Statutes, and Charters give, but what reafon and equity, and the rights of humanity give.--‘--This is, in truth, to a quefiion which no kingdom has ever before had oct'ahon agitate. V The cafe of a free country branching rtlelt out in the manner C 2 ./ n "t A." ‘~ 3,? T; ' Montana.) 5 5pm orf Laws, Vol. I. Book it. C. xix. J‘m' - Jim-cal "summit- -W 74.7.- , |