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Show l [II] IO ] from all the ancient methods and forms of Par- thefe queflions we have gained (as I have juft taken the liberty of obierviug to you) tome liament. ground. But I am fenfible that a good deal more The principle of this proceeding is large enough for my purpofe. The means propofed by .thc Noble Lord for carrying his ideas into execution, I think indeed, are very indifferently {uited to the end ; and this I {hall endeavour to {hew you beforeIfit down. But, for the prelent, I take my ground on the admitted principle. I mean is llill to be done. Indeed, Sir, to enable us to determine both on the one and the other of thefe great quellions with a firm and precife judge- Peace implies reconcrliation; will or not, we mull govern America, according to that nature, and to thole circumflances; and not according to our own imaginations; to give peace. and where there has been a material difpute, re- conciliation does in a manner always imply concellion on the one part or on the other. In this {late of things I make no difficulty in affirming, that the propofal ought to originate from us. Great and acknowledged force is not impaired, either in effect or in opinion, by an unwillingnefs to exert itfelf. The fuperior power may offer peace with honour and with fafety. Such an ofi"er from fuch a power will be attributed to magnanirnity. But the conceflions of the weak are the concefiions of fear. When {uch a one is difarmed, he is wholly at the mercy of his fuperior; and he lofes for ever that time and thofe chances, which, as they happen to all men, are the firength and refources of all inferior power. ment, 1 think it may be neceflary to confider dillinfily the true nature and the peculiar cir¢ cuml ances of the objeét which we have before us. Becaule after all our ftruggle, whether we not according to £1l)fil".1€t ideas of right; by no means according to mere general theories of government, the relbrt to which appears to me, in our preterit lituation, no better than arrant trifling. I {hall therefore endeavour, with your leave, to lay before you Ibme of the mofl: material of thele circumf‘tances in as full and as clear a manner as I am able to Hate them. The firlt thing that we have to confider with regard to the nature of the object is-the number of people in the Colonies. I have taken for fome years a good deal of pains on that point. I can by no calculation jufiify myfelf in placing the number below Two Millions of inhabitants of The capital leading quef'tions on which you our own European blood and colour; beliales at Firf'r, whe- leafl 500,000 others, who form no incouliderable ther you ought to concede; and lecondly, what your concefiion ought to be. On the firf} or" part of the fireugth and opulence of the whole. This, Sir, is, I believe, about the true number. t icle There mufi this day decide, are thefe two. |