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[520] thoughts and arguments, the facts which he cited,
Chap. LII.} 1774. April.
and his glowing appeals, fell naturally into their places; so that his long and elaborate speech seemed to burst from his mind as one harmonious and unbroken emanation. He first demonstrated that the repeal of the tax would be productive of unmixed good; he then surveyed comprehensively the whole series of the Parliamentary proceedings with regard to America, in their causes and their consequences. After exhausting the subject, he entreated Parliament to ‘reason not at all,’ but to ‘oppose the ancient policy and practice of the empire, as a rampart against the speculations of innovators on both sides of the question.’

‘Again and again,’ such was his entreaty, ‘revert to your old principles-seek peace and ensue itleave America, if she has taxable matter, to tax herself. Be content to bind America by laws of trade; you have always done it. Let this be your reason for binding their trade. Do not burden them by taxes; you were not used to do so from the beginning. Let this be your reason for not taxing. These are the arguments of states and kingdoms. Leave the rest to the schools. The several provincial Legislatures ought all to be subordinate to the Parliament of Great Britain. She, as from the throne of Heaven, superintends and guides and controls them all. To coerce, to restrain and to aid, her powers must be boundless.’

Such was the adjustment which was advocated by Burke. He left questions of right to the schools, and proposed to conform Colonial Government to the facts of the past. It was all that America had been for ten years soliciting; it was advice to which despotism

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