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Les diagrammes suivants iilustrent la mAthode. 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 *-V 'A^j^^ ~ RE Th. §• ..v- ,;:,*A^ j\ i C O N S I DE RAT IONS bn the Expediency of admittin* REPRESENTATIVES tROM THE AMERICAN COLONIES ■X INTO ■' ^ ^; •, -.i, ■^''■: irhe Britifti Houfe of Commons^ ^ r-: .,■35 jjBB i^ttBsSfesBsisaa&se J f Price One Shilling.} 4 ;.. ♦».i ■(!*-/ >.'• ••??l»' CONSIDERATIONS O N T H * * EXPEDIENCY OF ADMITTING RE PRES E NTATIVE S FROM THE AMERICAN COLONIES INTO The Britifh Houfe of Commons. •M^^ L O N D ON: Printed for B.WHITE, atHoRACE'sHEAD in Ftcet-Slttlt- 1I.DCCLXX, p^'^^y ^K^mm^mmfm^gmmmgmmimmmmmt^ . • t .u ■irtiNai-,* .,t j; f ^ \ 'jt^^ I i ,■;:; .;j . ' . •' ' i Considerations, ^c. WHOEVER has confidered the relation between the Britifli fub- jedls reliding in America and thofe refiding in Great-Britain, muft, as I con- ceive, be ready to acknowledge that there is fomething of inequality and hardfhip in the condition of the former, if their pro*- perty may be granted awf.y by any Affembly, how great and relpe Now the natural and obvious way of doing this, and which is likewife agreeable to precedents of very refpedlable authority, is to admit the American Colonies to a (hare in the public Councils of the nation, by fending Members to the Britifli Parliament, I know there are difficulties attending fuch a projedi (arifing principally from the diftance at which the American Provinces are fituated) which many people are apt to confider as unfurmountable : but I could never fee any reafon for thinking them fb j nor have thofe who have cenfured this projcft as impradicable, offered to fubftitute Any other in its pl^ce that is more eafy to be carried into execution, or more likely to give the Americans fatisfa(5tion. To defcribe the method by which I conceive this projed: of admitting Reprefentatives from America into the Britifh Parliament might i)c cffeded with fufficient advantage to the B American .* ' [ ID 1 Americans, gnd to obviate the principjil objedtions that are likely to be made to ir, js the dcfign of the following pages. . ^ » About fourfcore perfons might be ad- mitted to lit in Parliament, as Members of the Commons Houfe of Parliament, for all the King's cjominions in America, the Weft Indies a,s well as Nojth America; and their title tr/ght be that of CommijJiQners of th( Colonies of America, This number would be about four Members for each feparatp Colony upor) an average : but they (liould not all fend exgdly the fame number of Jleprefentatives j but fome fhould fend only two, others four, others five or fix, and Pennfylvania perhaps eight : the appointment of the numbers to be fent by each Colony being to be fettled by an adt of Parliament upon a due confideration of their extent, wealth, numbers of inhabitants, and cour tribution to th^ public expences of the nation. *• .»ii.i . These Members (hould be permitted tp fit in the Houfe of Commons without having I having 300/. a year in land, or any bthdf pecuniary qualification, as is allowed with refpedt to the Scottifli Members, and thofe for the two univerfities of Oxford and Cambridge. They (liould be chofen every year on a certain appointed day, which mM^l be the firft of Auguft, by the Affemblies of the feveral Provinces for which they were to be Cdmmiflioners. And this (hould be done of courfe, without the King's writ of fummons. On thefe occafions they fliould receive a commiiTion in writing from their electors, exprefled, as near as may be, in the words of the writ of fummons, and confequently impowering them to fit and vote in the Britiih Houfe of Commons, and confult with the King and the great men of the kingdom and the Commons of the fame in Parliament aflembled, upon the great affairs of the nation, and to confent, on the behalf of the province for which they are chofen, to fuch things as (hall be ordained in Uie Parlia- B 2 mcnt, ! t ment, in all fuch meetings thereof as fliall ht holden by the King, his heirs and fucceflbrs, from the day of their election until the fame day in the following year, and further until fuch time as another commiffion of thr fame kind fhall be given by the faid Affembly cither to them or to other perfons in t eir Head, to reprefent the faid Province for another year, and ihall be produced and read in the Britiih Houfe of Commons. Two or more original commiflions of this kind ihould be fent over to England by different fhips, in order to guard againft accidents of the fea : and there would be a moral certainty that at leaft one of them would always be in England before the firft day of November. Further, though the authority of the Britifli Parliament, efpecially when it ihould have been thus augmented by the admillion of thefe Commiffioners from the American Colonies, Jiiuft be allowed to be fupreme and inconteftable, and all their ads of every kind muft be intitled to univerfal obedience; yet, I conceive, it would be a proper rule '?">-• .'■■'* to C '3 ] to be obferved in praOice and to be made a ftanding order of both Houfes of Parli^ ment, never to pafs any law, whether for impofing a tax or for regulating trade, or for any other purpofe whatfoever, relating to any of the American Colonies, till one whole year after the firft reading of the bill ; unlefs it be to renew fome expiring laws of great importance, and of immediate and urgent neceffity, fuch as the adt for billeting the King's troops, and perhaps fome few others, that might be fpecially excepted in the order. The obfervation of this rule would give the feveral Colonies that were likely to be aifeded by the intended law an opportunity of making proper reprefen- tations againft it, and would confequently be the means of preventing the Parliament from making injudicious laws, not fuited to the condition of the Colonies, from want of proper information concerning them ; the danger of which is one of the principal reafons alledged by the American writers againft the expediency of the British Parlia- mcntV- nndertaking to make laws for America. Lastly, I f •, i f i ' I I H ] Lastly, this legiflative power of the Parliament ihould be exercifed but feldom, and on occafions of great neceiHty. What- ever related to the internal government of any particular Colony (fuch as raifing the neceffary taxes for the fupport of its civil government, and paffing laws for building bridges, or churches, or barracks, or other public edifices) (hould be left to the Gover- nor and Affembly of that Colony to tranfa(ft among themfelves, unlefs in cafes where the domeftic diflenfions of the Colony put a flop to public bufinefs, and created a kind of neceflity for the interpofition of the fupreme legiilature. But when any general tax was to be impofed upon all the American Colonies for the fupport of a war, or any other fuch general purpofe ; or any new law was to be made to regulate the trade of all the Colonies; or to appoint the methods by which debts owing from the inhabitants of one Colony to thofe of another, or of Great- Britain, {hould be recovered j or to dircdt the manner of bringing criminals to juftice who have fled from one Colony into another; or to fettle the manner of quartering the - ' King's r '5 ] King's troops in the fcveral Colonies j or of levying troops in them, and the numbc each Colony fhould contribute j or to fettle the proportional values of different coins that fhould be made CTrent in the feveral Provinces ; or to eftablifli a general paper- currency throughout America ; or for any other general purpofe that relates to feveral Colonies ; in thefe cafes the authority of Parliament fhould be employed, . and would be found to be a blefTed bond of union to all the various dominions of which the Pritifh empire is now compofed. ' Such is the plan upon which I conceive the prefent difputes with America may be equitably terminated, to the lafling and folid advantage of both parties, or perhaps I ought rather to fay, to the prevention of the utter ruin of them both, fince nothing lefs feems likely to be the confequence of carrying the prefent difTenfions to a rupture. Si collidi^ mur^ frangimur. For though Great-Britain may be able, jufl at prefent, to enforce her authority over the Americans without ad- mitting them to fend Members to the Britifh Parliament, [ »6 3 Parliament, yet the fubmifllon that would be the confcquence of fuch an exertion of her power, would not be a happy end of thefe difputes. An opinion of injury and ill treatment would remain rooted in their breads, and the animofity it has already excited againft Great-Britain would be only increafed by our fuccefs ag^'nft them, and the misfortunes they would .lave foffered in the conteft. Who can tell whether it might not drive them, in a fit of rage flfvd indig* nation, to call in the affiftance of our natural enemies the French to enable then) to become intirely independent of us ? or at 'kaft. to refolve, when another generation or two ihall have doubled or quadrupled their nun.bers, to renew the conteft with Jdaeir own ftrength, in order to regain what ^ they confider as £o eilential a part of their liberty ? This woold be the effect of fuccefs in this wretched contention. The con fe* quence of a contrary iffue of it would be the immediate independence of the Colonics on Great-Britain in every other point as well as taxation, which would probably be foon ibllowed by the iofs of her trade and the :::i-i ruiO m [ '7 ] ruin of her public credit. But if Great- Britain offers the Americans the foregoing, or any other, plan of an equitable union with herfelf, it may be hoped that they will thankfully accept it, and that a cordial afFcdion will take place again, as heretofore, between the fubjedls of the Crown on this and the other fide of the water. At lead we may fuppofe that the Southern and middle Colonies, and the Weft India iflands, and likewife Nova Scotia and Quebec, would be glad of fuch an offer ; and then perhaps the Provinces of New England, if they fhould not be pleafed with it, might not think it prudent for themfelves alone to en- gage in a contention with the power of Great-Britain. ' It remains that I take notice of feverai objections which are likely to be made to the foregoing propofal, and mention the refpe(flive anfwers which I apprehend m^y juftly be given (to theip. In the fird: place it has been faid, as an pbjedion to the admiflion of Reprefentativcs C from C i8 ] from America into the Britifli Parliament, that when Parliaments are to be convened on a fudden upon fome great and unforefeen emergency, there will not be time to fend notice of fuch meetings to the Americans, fo that tiieir Members may attend. This objedion is removed in the fore- going plan, by providing that it fhall not be necefTary to fend the King's writ of furn- mons acrofs the Atlantic Ocean every time a new Parliament is to meet j but that thefe Commiflioners of the Colonies fhall be chofen every year on a certain day appointed for that purpofe, to wit, the firft of Auguft, whether a Parliament is then in being or not, fo that they will always be ready to attend their duty in Parliament whenever the King thinks proper to call one. And if jhe Parliament ihould by an extraordinary chance happen to fit for the difpatch of bufinefs during the interyal between the end of the year for which they are chofen and the arrival of the next commifTion in ^nglapd, that is, between the firft of ^uguft and about the firft of Oa-ober (whjch , . " ' woulcj [ tg ] Would not happen once in fifty years) the Colonics would not be unreprefented evert during that interval, though the new Com- miflion would be then at fea; becaufe it is provided that the Commiffioners of the foriTier year fhall fit and vote during fucH interval, or until the arrival and publication of the new commiflionsi Another objedion is, that it would bd highly inconvenient to the Reprefentatives fo chofen by the Colonies to be forced to crofs the ocean twice a year, to the hazard of their healths and lives, the lofs of a third part of their whole time, and the cohfequent neglcdl of their private affairs* * J^ii::. . f,f The anfwer is, that according to the foregoing plan they may be chofen in their abfence, and confequently need not crofs the fea at all. hy this means alfo they may continue in England the whole year, and be conftantly ready to give their atten- dance at every meeting of Parliament that (hall be called* Ca A THIRD [ «o } A THIRD objection is, that it would be too great a burthen of expcnce upon many of the Colonies, efpecially the Northern ones, to pay their Commiilioners fuch wages or falaries as would be neceflary to induce them to undertake the ofHce, and to enable them to maintain a decent appearance in England as Members of the Britifli Parlia- ment i which could not well be lefs than 1 000 A a year to each Commiffioner. In anfwer to this objedion, which is much more plaulible than the former ones, it may be obferved in the firft place, that mapy of the American provinces, as, for inftance, the Weft India iflands, the Carolinas, Virginia, Maryland, and Pennfylvania, could well enough afford this expence of a few thoufand pounds a year to reward the fervices of their Commiffioners. And, if they could afford it, it would certainly be money extremely well laid out, and would be returned to them with advantage by the zeal and adtivity with which their interefts would be fupported in Parliament. \HrA-' And H [ *I 1 And fccondly, as to thofe Colonies which could not well afford fuch an expence, it may be anfwered, that they could eafily find perfons who would undertake thefe honour- able employments without any pecuniary recompencc. I KNOW it will be here faid, and with , truth, that there is not on the continent of North America, or at Icaft in the Northern half of it, an order of gentry, as in Old England, that is, of perfons of liberal education and eafy patrimonial fortunes fufKcient to enable them to undertake honourable offices for the fervice of their country without any pecuniary advantage j — that the richeft people among them arc their merchants, who cannot negleft their trade without running the rifque of being ruined J — that their landholders, though many of them own large trads of land of th'rty or forty thouland acres, yet are either forced to keep their land in their own hands, and cultivate it by negroe flaves, which requires their own continual prelence and iuperintendance J or, if they let it to tenants it [ 22 3 tenants, to let it at fuch very loW rates, that they are unable to undertake fo expenfive an employment as that of a CommifTioner to the Britifh Parliament without a fab.ry j— • and therefore that thefe Colonies will not be able to procure fuch Commiflioners. I But to this it may be anfwered, in the firft place, :.hat i i fome of thofc Colonies there is an order of gentry very evidently riiing up, that in a couple of generations will produce a confiderable number of perfons of fufHcient patrimonial fortunes for the purpofe here mentioned : more efpecially in the provinces of New York and New Jerfey, where the Englifh law of inheritance by primogeniture takes place. And fecondly, fuppofing that there n'^'ither now is, nor ever will be in iime to come, in the Colonics themfelves a lufficiertt number of perfons able and willing to undertake thefe employments gratis, yet there are numbers of gentlemen in England who would be glad to undertake them, and would efteem themfelves highly honoured by [ *3 ] by the Colonies which (hould think fit to chufe them 5 and many of thefe gentlemen might be as fit for thefe employments, and as likely to ferve their conftituents with zeal and fidelity, as the natives of America themfelves. Three forts of perfbns occur to me upon this occafion as likely to anfwsr this defcription. The firft fort confifls of fuch perfons as hayc been governours, or lieutenant-governours, or chief juftices, or commanders of garrifons or of regiments, or officers of the Crown in any other office of truft or importance, and who have gained the confidence and good opinion of the inhabitants of the Colonies in which they have ferved during their continuance in their offices, but are fince returned to England to fpend the remainder of their days in their native country. Thefe gentlemen would be well acquainted with the circumftances of the Colonies they had belonged to, their con- ftitutions, genius, laws, and trade, and would be the moft able and intelligent Commiffioners in Parliament that they could chufe ; [ «4 ] chiife: and It may well be Tuppofed that they *'would likewife retain an afFecftion for the people amongft whom they had fpent a confi'derablc part of their lives, and from whom they had received fo honourable a mark of confidence and efteem. The fecond fort confifts of the Engliih merchants, refiding at London or elfewhere in England, who trade to the feveral 'Colonies in America. Thefe perfons would tinderftand at lead the mercantile interefts of the Colonies they traded to, and would be fincerely concerned for their welfare, with which their own interefts would have fo clofe a connedion j as is experienced at this prefent time in the zeal with which the London merchants concerned in the trade to America fupport the claims of the Americans. And there is no doubt that ' thefe Englifli merchants would gladly under- take the office of Commiflioners of the Colonies, to which they traded, in the Britifh Parlianient witliout a falary. The t »5 1 The third fet of Perfons who would, as I conceive, be glad to undertake thefe em- ployments without a falary, are Engliih gentlemen of independent fortune 5 who would, as I conjedure, employ part of their wealth in the purchafe of landei eftates in the American Colop'?s, and would go and refide upon them for a few years, in order to acquire a knowledge of the con- cerns of the Provinces in v/hich they were fituated, and recommend themfelves to the inhabitants of thofe Provinces as fit perfons to reprefent them in the Britifli Parliament. This would be of advantage to the Provinces in which thefe purchafes were made, in two refpedls : firft, by the money it would bring into thofe Provinces to make the purchafes with, which would quicken trade and in* duftry : and fecondly, by promoting a friendly intercourfe between the inhabitants of thofe Provinces and thofe of Great- Britain, when the fame perfons would often be proprietors of land in both countries, and confequer.tly would have occafion to go from the one to the other to infpedl the condilion of their property, which would D doubtlefs t« [ 26 ] doubtlefs be followed by perfonal friendships between the refidents of both countries and their refpedive families, and often by inter- marriages J which are grounds and means of union that ought by no means to be (lifrcgarded by two remote branches of the fame nation that fincerely defire to continue under the fame dominion. FrozvI fome of thefe three clafTes of men reiiding in Great-Britain the Americans would always be able to chufe a fufficient number of intelligent and faithful Com- iniiliunsio to reprefent them in the Britifli Farlianient. A FOURTH objedlon to this propofal arifes from the bad opinion the Americans in general entertain of the Members of th-* Eritilh Parliament. They fay that corruption is openly pradifed in it j — that no Member of Parliament is at all aihanied to take a place or penfion to betray his truR, and vote as the Minifterdireds j — and that, this being the prevailing falhion, there is reafon to spprehcnd that the Members that fhould be chofcn I V ] chofen to reprefent the Colonies, if the foregoing plan were adopted, whether Ame- ricans or Englishmen, would h\\ in with it, ]ike their neighbours, and endeavour to advance their private fortunes by facrificing the interefts of their conftituents. In anfwer to this objed:ion, I might queftion the truth of the fadl on which it is grounded, the extreme corruption of the Members of the Britifh Parliament. At leaft I cannot allow it to be true in the extent in which the Americans reprefent it, as if the Houfe of Commons in their public adings had no regard at all to the intereft of their country or the duties of their truft, but v/ere ready to pafs any iniquitous laws to the prejudice of public liberty, and to grant any fums of money however exorbitant without any apparent neceffity, to the prejudice of the property of their conftituents, whenever the ICing's Minifters (hould require them fo to do. It is certain that no fuch laws have been palled at the infligation of the Minifters, D 2 and [ 28 1 and that no fuch grants as are above mcn-t tioned have been made, unlefs perhaps in the fingle inflance of the fum of 513,000!. granted to his prefent Majefty for the dif- charge of the debts of Kis civil lift. And in this cafe I can eafily fuppofe that a motive of companion for the numbers of innocent perfbns who would otherwife have been fufFerers from that load upon his Majefty's revenue, and an affedtionate defire of re- lieving their excellent Sovereign (who has in no inftance endeavoured to violate the liberties of his fubje6ls) from the unworthy ftraights and inconveniences, ill becoming the royal dignity, into which fome of his Minifters had brought him by the injudicious management of his revenue, may have in- duced many Members of the Houfe of Commons to confent to this grant, without any view to their own private intereftj though at the fame time I acknowledge it to be, confidering all its circumftances, a dangerous compliance, and not worthy tq |)e dfawn into example. And trsmrm [ *p 3 And as to the other fad which has been made the ground of fuch fevcre cenfures upon the Houfe of Commons, the expuliion and incapacitation of Mr. Wilkes to fit in the prefent Parliament, it is a matter of fo much nicety and difficulty, fupported fo well by ufage and precedents, and a general acquiefcence of the people under the power of expuliion exercifed by the Houfe of Commons from the year 1580 to the year 171 1, without an endeavour to re-eled the expelled Members, or any traces of an opinion in the Members them- felves that were expelled, that they were capable of being re-eleded, and confirmed in that year by a deciiion of the Houfe of Commons in the cafe of Sir Robert Walpole (which was never afterwards reverfcd or publickly cenfured, notwithflanding the fub- fequent changes of the times and Sir Robert's long continuance in power) that an expelled Member was incapable of being re-eleded during the fame Parliament* I fay, the dodtrine that has prevailed was fo well fupported by all thefe circumflances, that I ^m perfuaded that numbers of thofe who voted ^fcT i* * m:*K "■ ,1 'i f 30 1 voted in fupport of Mr. Wilkes's incapacity did it upon full convidion that they were doing right, and that they were bound to vote in that manner by the law and ufage of Parliament. I mention this only to juftify the condud of many Members of the Houfe of Commons in a moral view, by obferving that it is probable they meant to. do right on that occafion, and not to infinuatc that the judgment they pafled on this fubje(5t was free from errour, or that every expulfion of a Member of the Houfe of Commons creates, or ought to create, in him an incapacity of being re-eledted to ferve in the fame Parliament -, or even that the Houfe of Commons is rightfully pof- fefled of any power of expelling a Member at ail upon a pretence of unlitnefs or un- worthinefs, or for any crime vvhatever that is committed out of the Houfe, and is cognizable by the ordinary courts of law : all which has always appeared to me, as it now feems to be generally eftecmed by the body of the nation, to be an arbitrary, unneceffary, and dangerous power illegally ^fTumed by them over each other, and over the !ii^ \ "W I 3' ] the rights of their ele£lors 5 and I heartily wi(h it may be taken away (now that the evil tendency of it is generally underftood and complained of) together with the powet exercifed by them of imprifoning their fellow-fubjeds that are not members of their body, by an adl of the whole legiflature in fome future feflion of Parliament. But the exercife of it in the cafe of Mr. Wilkes ought not to be mentioned as a proof of the corruption of the Houfe of Commons and of their readinefs to facrifice the dearefl interefls and franchifes of their conftituents to the arbitrary dire<5lions of a Minifter. These are the only two inftances of the corruption of the prefcnt Houfe of Commons brought by the moil formidable arraigner of their condud, the ingenious author of the Thoughts on the Caujes of the frefent Difcontents : and therefore we may fafely conclude that no other has exifted. But if there were many, and thofe not capable of being juftified in any degree, what ought to be the confcqucnce? not, fiirelv, [ 3== ] furely, that the Americans (l^.oulcl feparate themfelves from their rcllow-t'uhjeds of Britain and refufe to fend their Delegates, when invited to do fo by proper authority, to the general and fupreme Council of the nation : but that all the fubjeds of the Empire in every part of it fhould join in endeavouring by every legal method to obtain a redrefs of fo important a grievance and reftore the vigour of the conftitution ; either by making the elections for Members of Parliament annual ; or by making the Members, who are properly the attornies of the people who chufe them, liable to be changed, like other attornies, at the pleafure of their conflituents ; or by difqualifying perfbns who have places, or penfions, during the pleafure of the Crown, from fitting in Parliament ; or (fince thefe, which are the mod: obvious remedies for this dangerous Itate-difeafe, do not feem to be approved by thofe who complain moft of its malignity) by fuch other methods, hitherto unknown, as (hall be thought mofl: adequate to the nature and magnitude of the evil. But in the [ 33 ] the mean time the Americans v 'II furely have no reafon to complain, if they are put upon the fame footing with their brethren in Great-Britain, and partake of the benefits of the Britifh conftitution, imperfedl as it may be, as it exifts in the center apd heart of the empire. This I conceive to be a fufEcIent anfwer to the fourth objedlion. But further, by the foregoing plan the Americans will have an advantage over their fellov^r-fubjedls of Great-Briiain : for they will have the privilege of chufing their Commiflioners to the Britifh Parliament every year, notwith- ilanding the Reprefentatives for Great- Britain fliould continue to be chofen only once in fevcn years. Now this advantage L allowed them in order to counterbalance the inconvenience arifing from their diftance from the fcene of adion in which their Reprefentatives will be engaged, who might otherwife, being fo far removed from the infped:ion and converfation of their con- ftituents, be induced to forget, negledt, or facfifice their interefts. But with this con- E tinual I 34 ] tinual dependence upon them for an annual re-eledion, I conceive they would ever be attentive to their interefts, and careful to prefer ve their good opinion. A FIFTH objedionto the above-mentioned propofal is, that though the Commilfioners for the American Provinces fhould continue honeft and faithful to their truft, yet their integrity v^^ould be of little ufe to their conftituents, becaufe there is reafon to ap- prehend that in every queftion relating to any new tax, or other burthen, to l)e im- pofed on America, the Members for Great- JBritain would all unite againft them and out-vote them. ■ Now, in anfwer to this objedion, I would only defire thofe who make it to confider the cafe of Scotland, Only forty- five Members are admitted into the Britifh Houfe of Commons as Reprefentatives for Scotland ; that is, about one thirteenth part of the whole number of which ihe Houfc confifts : yet this number is found to be ' amply fufficient to prote<5t the interefts of that N [ 35 ] that part of the united kingdom againft the oppreffion of the other. And indeed no attempt has been made, nor, as it fliould feem, has even a wifti been ever entertained by their more numerous Englifh neighbours, to opprefs them. On the contrary, they enjoy advantages by the treaty of union above the Englidi ; for, though the extent of their country is more than one fourth of the whole ifland, and the number of their people more than a fixth part of the whole people, and the number of their Reprefen- tatives in the Houfe of Commons is more than one thirteenth part of the whole Houfe, yet they pay only the fortieth part of the land-tax paid by the whole ifland. And, though the value of their lands has, during the laft five-and-twenty years, been con- ftantly increafing at a vaft rate, much fafter than that of land in England, yet no en- deavour has been made to increafe their proportion of this public burthen. And in a great variety of inftances the intereft of Scotland has been confulted and promoted by the Britifti Parliament fince the happy E 2 union m ■ k [ 3^ 1 union of the two kingdoms in Queen Anne's reign. And it will not be difputed that the inhabitants of that part of the ifland have likewifc ever enjoyed, and continue flill to enjoy, their full fliare of the favours of the Crown in preferments of various kinds in all parts of the Britifh dominions. Now, fince forty-five Members chofen into the BritiLT Houfe of Comrrions for Scotland, adling zealoufly for the good of their conftituents and countrymen, are able to procure fuch advantages for them ; why fhould it be apprehended that a body of fburfcore Members fitting in the fame Houfe for the feveral Colonies in America, and made more dependent upon their con- ftituents by the ncceffity of being annually re-eleded, would not be able to procure flmilar advantages for the Colonies for which they would be chofen? Surely no good reafon can be given for entertaining fuch a doubt. • And n d [ 37 ] And further, the experiment has been already tried in fome degree with refpedt to America itfelf, and the event has been found to be highly beneficial to it. Foi, though no Members have hitherto been chofen by any cf the Colonies in America, yet feveral of the rich proprietors of the Weft India iflands, who have reiided in England, have been eleded into Parliament for Englifh boroughs : and even in this mode of ad- miflion they Lave been thought to have had fufficient influence in Parliament to cbtain many important favours for that part of America with which they were con- neded j fo as even to excite the jealoufy of their northern neighbours on the con- tinent of North America. For the latter have often complained of the partiality fhewn by the mother-country to the Weft India iflands in matters relating to the trade of America, and have afcribed it to the very circumftance here mentioned of their having feveral of their principal proprietors elected into the Britifli Houfe of Commons. Surely therefore the admiflfion cf a con- ^^abl^ number of Commiflloners into the Houfe t 28 ] Houfe of Commons, regularly chofen by the feveral Colonies themfelves, and con- tinually dependent upon them for a re- eledion the next year, could not fail of being an effedual fecurity to thofe Colonies againft any unjuft or opprefllve proceedings of the Parliament of Great-Britain. The fixth and laft objedion that, I imagine, will be made to this propofal is, that though it fhould be allowed to be a proper meafure, yet it ought only to be taken at the humble rcqueft of the feveral Colonies of America in memorials preferred to the King's Majefty in his high court of Par- liament, fetting forth their intire obedience to the authority of the Parliament, as the fupreme legiflature of the nation, and their readinefs to fubmit to any laws or taxes that have been, or ihall be, impofed by it, and then reprefenting their own great numbers and the great fliare they endure of the public burthens of the ftate by their large confumption of Britifh manufadures, and the degree in which, by many different ' -- methods, •i:''S [ 39 1 I methods, they contribute to its fupport, and urging the reafonable and equitable right they derive from thefe circumftances to the privilege of having fome fhare in the public counfels and deliberations of the nation by which they are fo deeply affe<5ted, and therefore praying his mofl excellent Majefty to put them upon the fame footing with their fellow-fubjedts refiding in Great-Britain, by permitting them to fend Members to Parliament. J: III This, I confefs, would be the mofl: decent, proper, and conftitutional way of proceeding in this matter, and would be agreeable to the example of the bifhoprick of Durham on the like occafion in the reign of King Charles the Second. But if, as we have reafon to apprehend is now the cafe, America is too much divided and torn by fadions, and too much difgufted with G'e^it-Britain, to proceed in this regular r,:»,^'