[Extract]
. . . of this spirit of independence, animating the nation of America, I have the most authentic information. It is not new among them; it is, and has ever been, their established principle, their confirmed. persuasion: it is their nature and their doctrine. . . .
Trade is an extended and complicated consideration: it reaches as far as ships can sail or winds can blow: it is a great and various machine. To regulate the numberless movements of its several parts, and combine them into effect, for the good of the whole, requires the superintending wisdom and energy of the supreme power in the empire. . . .
When your lordships look at the papers transmitted us from America; when you consider their decency, firmness, and wisdom, you cannot but respect their cause, and wish to make it your own. . . . I have read Thucydides, and have studied and admired the master-states of the world ー that for solidity of reasoning, force of sagacity, and wisdom of conclusion, under such a complication of difficult circumstances, no nation or body of men, can stand in preference to the general Congress at Philadelphia. . . .
Every motive, therefore, of justice and of policy, of dignity and of prudence, urges you to allay the ferment in America ー by a removal of your troops from Boston ー by a repeal of your acts of parliament ー and by demonstration of amicable dispositions towards your colonies. On the other hand, every danger and every hazard impend, to deter you from perserverance in your present ruinous measures. ー Foreign war hanging over your heads by a slight and brittle thread: France and Spain watching your conduct, and waiting for the maturity of your errors; ー with a vigilant eye to America, and the temper of your colonies, more than to their own concerns, be they what they may.
