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Show (60) (6|) " Meet the Colonies on their own ground, in the lat": petition from the Congrefs to the king: The furei‘t, as well as the molt dignified mode of proceeding for-this. country-w Sufpend all hofiilities----Repcal the acts winch immediately diltrefs America, namely, the lad refiraining a€t_,----the charter aé‘t, ----- the act for the more impartial admimitration ofjuftice,----and the (bebec a&.----All the other acts (the cuftom-houfe act, the pelt-office a&,&c.) leave to a tent. perate revifal. ------There will be found much matter which both countries may wifh repealed. Same which can never be given up, the principal being that regulation of trade for the common good of the Empire, which forms our Palladium, Ot/Jrr matter which is fair {ubjeét of mutual accommodation, -----Prefcribe the molt explicit acknowledgment of your right of regulating commerce in its molt extenlive ferric; if the petition and other public aéts of the Colonies Have not already, b their declarations and acknowledgments, left it upon a fu ciently fecure foun‘dation.----4-Belides the power of regulating the general commerce of the Empire, lbrne~~ thing further might be expefied ; provided a due and tender regard were had to the means and abilities of the feverai provinces, as well as to thofe fundamental, unalienable rights of Eng/iflmm, which no father can {tn-render on the part of his (on, no reprefenter on the part of his eleétor, no generation on the part of the fucceeding one; the right of judging not only of the made of raifing, but the gumztum, and the appropriation of fuch aids as they {hall grant. -----:To be more explicit; the debt of England, without entering into invidious diltinétions how it came to be contracted, might be acknowledged the debt of every individual part of the whole Empire, Afia, as well as America, included.----Provided, that full {ecurity were held forth to them, that fuch .free aids, together with the Sinking Fund, (Great. Britain. contributing her {uperior fliare) fhould not be left as the privy purfe of the miniiler, but be unalienably appro-r priated to the original intention of that fund, the difeharge of the debt ; and that by an honefl application of the turbo/e fund, the taxes might in time be lefTened, and the price of our manufactures confequently reduced, {0 that every contributory part might feel the returning fit-{m-always fuppofing the laws of trade duly obfervedbentw and en OFCCC . ‘ ‘ The " The time our", [am confident--- and perhaps :3, when tht-fe points might be obtained upon the ealy, the confirm - tional, and, therefore, the inditpcnlable terms ofan exempt ion from parliamentary taxation, and an admiflion of the famed-net}; of their Charters; inllead of lacrificing their good humour, their atl'eé‘tion, their effectual aids, and the act of NAVIGATION itfeit, (which you are now in the direct road to do) for a commercial quit rent, 4* or a barren metaphyfical chimarra.-----How long theie ends may continue attainable, no man can tell.~--»But ifno words are to be relied on except inch as make againl‘t the Colonics----lf nothing is acceptable, except what is attainable by force ; it only reremai is to apply, what has been to often remarked of un- happy periodsrfl-Qm: a'mr (Kilt/1‘, Ur." Thete are fentiments and propofals of the lull importance; and I am very happy in being able to give them to the public from {o refpeétable an authority, as that of the diltinguilhcd Peerl have mentioned; to whom, I know, this kingdom, as well as America, is much indebted for his zeal to promot e thole grand public points on which the prclervation oiiLiberty among us depends ; and for the firm Oppofition which, jointly with many others(Noblemen and Commoncrs of the firlt cha~ raéter and abilities,) he has made to the preterit mealhrcs. Had inch :1 plan as that now pi-opolcd been adopted a few months ago, ,1 have little doubt but that a pacification would have taken place, on terms highly advantageous to this kingdom. -----In particular. It is probable, that the Colonies would have contented to grant an annual fupply, which, increated by a faring of the money now {pent in maintaining troops among them, and by contributions which might have been gained from other parts of the empire, would have formed a fund confiderably enough, ifunalienably applied, f to redeem the * See the Refolutions on the Now Sam'a petition reported to the Home of Commons, November 29, 1775, by Lord North, Lord George Germaine, &:. and a bill ordered to he bronghtin upon the fluid Refolutions. There is indeed, as Lord Shelburne his hinted, l'omething very altonilhing in thefe Refolutions. They offer a relaxation of the authority of this country, in points to which the Colonies have always confented, and by which we are great gainers; at the fame time, that. with n rigour which hazards the Empire, we are maintaining its autho~ rity in points to which they will never confcnt; and by which nothing can he gained. 1‘ See the Appendix. |