have acquired so great an Addition of Power & Influence to the
Crown? Or are such Hopes to be gatherd from the Treatment given
to our own Petitions the last May, when they were discountenancd
for no other Reason but because the Rights of our Charter were
therein pleaded as a Reason against a measure which if a little
while persisted in, will infallibly establish a Despotism in the
End? Surely this is not a time for us to testify the least
Confidence in the Spirit of the British Government, or from
flattering Hopes that their designs are to alter measures, to
trust to their Discretion or good Will.

I am apt to think that Ministry have two great Events in
Contemplation both which in all probability will take place
shortly. The one is a War & the other a new Election of
Parliament Men. In order to improve these Events to their own
purpose, it will become necessary to sooth & flatter the
Americans with Hopes of Reliefe. In Case of a War, America if in
good Humour will be no contemptible Ally. She will be able by her
Exertions to annoy the Enemy much. Her aid will therefore be
courted. And to bring her into this good Humour, the Ministry
must be lavish in promises of great things to be done for her.
Perhaps some Concessions will be made; but these Concessions will
flow from policy not from Justice. Should they recall their
Troops from the Castle, or do twenty other seemingly kind things,
we ought never to think their Designs are benevolent toward us,
while they continue to exercise the pretended Right to tax us at
their pleasure, and appropriate our money to their own purposes.
And this they have certainly no Thought at present of yielding
up. With regard to the Election of another House of Commons, that
will not take place within these Eighteen months unless a