the peace of the continent and preserve it inviolate from civil
wars. I dread the event of a reconciliation with Britain now, as
it is more than probable that it will be followed by a revolt
somewhere or other, the consequences of which may be far more
fatal than all the malice of Britain.

"Thousands are already ruined by British barbarity. (Thousands
more will probably suffer the same fate.) Those men have other
feelings than us who have nothing suffered. All they _now_ possess
is liberty; what they before enjoyed is sacrificed to its service,
and, having nothing more to lose, they disdain submission.
Besides, the general temper of the colonies toward a British
government will be like that of a youth who is nearly out of his
time--they will care very little about her. And a government which
can not preserve the peace is no government at all, and in that
case we pay our money for nothing; and pray what is it that
Britain can do, whose power will be wholly on paper, 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 is ten times more to
dread from a patched up connection than from independence. I make
the sufferer's case my own, and I protest that, were I driven from
house and home, my property destroyed, and my circumstances
ruined, that as a 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 pretense 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