per, should a
civil tumult break out the very day after reconciliation! I have heard
some men say, many of whom I believe spoke without thinking, that they
dreaded an independence, fearing that it would produce civil wars. It
is but seldom that our first thoughts are truly correct, and that is
the case here; for there are ten times more to dread from a patched up
connection than from independence. I make the sufferers case my own,
and I protest, that were I driven from house and home, my property
destroyed, and my circumstances ruined, that as man, sensible of
injuries, I could never relish the doctrine of reconciliation, or
consider myself bound thereby.

The colonies have manifested such a spirit of good order and obedience
to continental government, as is sufficient to make every reasonable
person easy and happy on that head. No man can assign the least
pretence for his fears, on any other grounds, than such as are truly
childish and ridiculous, viz. that one colony will be striving for
superiority over another.

Where there are no distinctions there can be no superiority, perfect
equality affords no temptation. The republics of Europe are all (and
we may say always) in peace. Holland and Switzerland are without wars,
foreign or domestic: Monarchical governments, it is true, are never
long at rest; the crown itself is a temptation to enterprising ruffians
at HOME; and that degree of pride and insolence ever attendant on regal
authority, swells into a rupture with foreign powers, in instances,
where a republican government, by being formed on more natural
principles, would negotiate the mistake.

If there is any true cause of fear respecting independence, it is
because no plan is yet laid down. Men do not see their way out--
Wherefore, as an opening into that business, I offer the following
hints; at the same time modestly affirming, that I have no other
opinion of them myself, than that they may be the means of giving rise
to something better. Could the straggling thoughts of individuals be
collected, they would frequently form materials for wise and able men
to improve into useful matter.

LET the assemblies be annual, with a President only. The
representation more equal. Their business wholly domestic, and subject
to the authority of a Continental Congress.

Let each colony be divided into six, eight, or ten, convenient
districts, each district to send a proper number of delegates to
Congress, so