eased with any person, who should tell him, that
he did not attend sufficiently to those concerns. He thought he did so,
when he regulated the colonies over and over again: he thought he did so
when he formed two general systems of revenue; one of port-duties, and
the other of internal taxation. These systems supposed, or ought to
suppose, the greatest attention to and the most detailed information
of, all their affairs. However, by contending for the American
representation, he seems at last driven virtually to admit, that great
caution ought to be used in the exercise of _all_ our legislative rights
over an object so remote from our eye, and so little connected with our
immediate feelings; that in prudence we ought not to be quite so ready
with our taxes, until we can secure the desired representation in
Parliament. Perhaps it may be some time before this hopeful scheme can
be brought to perfect maturity, although the author seems to be in no
wise aware of any obstructions that lie in the way of it. He talks of
his union, just as he does of his taxes and his savings, with as much
_sang froid_ and ease as if his wish and the enjoyment were exactly the
same thing. He appears not to have troubled his head with the infinite
difficulty of settling that representation on a fair balance of wealth
and numbers throughout the several provinces of America and the West
Indies, under such an infinite variety of circumstances. It costs him
nothing to fight with nature, and to conquer the order of Providence,
which manifestly opposes itself to the possibility of such a
Parliamentary union.

But let us, to indulge his passion for projects and power, suppose the
happy time arrived, when the author comes into the ministry, and is to
realize his speculations. The writs are issued for electing members for
America and the West Indies. Some provinces receive them in six weeks,
some in ten, some in twenty. A vessel may be lost, and then some
provinces may not receive them at all. But let it be, that they all
receive them at once, and in the shortest time. A proper space must be
given for proclamation and for the election; some weeks at least. But
the members are chosen; and if ships are ready to sail, in about six
more they arrive in London. In the mean time the Parliament has sat and
business far advanced without American representatives. Nay, by this
time, it may happen that the Parliament is dissolved; and then the
members ship themselve