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Show [ I44 l , , the moft fuperficial Obfervef, if his Knowledge extends beyond the Limits of a Newfpaper, _ [ I45 ] and Government of the Mother-Country; yet I will wave all thefe at prefent, and content my- not to know, That t/zir i: swim/y fill/g. And if felf with Proofs {till more authentic and unex« he is at all converfant in the Hifiory of the Co~ ceptionable; I mean the public Statutes of the Realm: For from them it evidently appears, lonies, and has attended to the A ccounts of their original Plantation, their Rife, and Progrefs, he mutt know, that almof'r from the very Be~ ginning, there Were mutual Difconten'ts, mutual Animohties and Reproaclies. Indeed, while thefe Colonies were in a mere State of Infancy, dependent on their Mother-Country not only for daily Proteélion, but almol't for daily Bread, it cannot be l‘uppofed that they _would give themfelves the fame Air's of Self-sufficiency and Independence, as they did afterwards, in Proportion as they grew up to a State of Maturity. But that they began very early to thew no other Marks of Attachment to their antient Parent, than what arofe from Views of SelfInteref'c and Self-Love, many convincing Proofs might be drawn from the Complaints of, and the Infiructions to the Governors of the refpeélive Provinces; from the Memorials of our Boards of Trade, prefent‘ed from Time to Time to his Majefiy's Privy Council againf‘t the Behaviour of the Colonif'ts ; from the frequent Petitions and Remoni'crances of our Merchants and Mann- fafluters tothe fame Efi‘eet , and even from the Votes and Refolutions of feveral of their Provincial Affemblies againft the Interef'c, Laws; an that long before there were any Thoughts of the Stamp-Aét, the Mother-Country had the following Accufations to bring againf't the Co; lonies, viz. lit, That they refufed to fubmit to' her Ordinance and Regulations in Regard to Trade.---2dly, That they attempted to frame Laws, and to erect Jurifdiclions not only independently of her, but even in direct Oppofition to her Authority;--And 3dly,That many ofthem took unlawful Methods to fltreen themfelves from paying the juft Debts they owed to the Merchants and Manufaéturers of Great-Britain; THESE are the Obie-ftions of the Mother- Country to the Behaviour of the Colonies long before their lal't Outrages, and their prefent Conduel :---For even as early as the Year 1670, it cloth appear, that MANY COMPLAINTS (the very Words of the Act) had been made againl't the A'merimn Proprietors of Ships and Veflels, for engaging in Schemes of Traffic, contrary to the Regulations contained in the Act of Navigation, and in other Statutes of the Realm made for confining the Trade of the Colonies to the Mother-Country. Nay, Io fenlible was the Parliament, above an hundred Years ago, that T Pro- |
