any future Parliament, or to appeal to the sword, which certainly is
not the most pleasant business men can be engaged in.

For your use I subjoin the following creed of every good American:--I
believe that in every kingdom, state, or empire there must be, from the
necessity of the thing, one supreme legislative power, with authority
to bind every part in all cases the proper object of human laws. I
believe that to be bound by laws to which he does not consent by
himself, or by his representative, is the direct definition of a slave.
I do therefore believe that a dependence on Great Britain, however the
same may be limited or qualified, is utterly inconsistent with every
idea of liberty, for the defence of which I have solemnly pledged my
life and fortune to my countrymen; and this engagement I will sacredly
adhere to so long as I shall live. Amen.

Now, if you will take the poor advice of one who is really a friend to
England and Englishmen, and who hath even some Scotch blood in his
veins,--away with your fleets and your armies, acknowledge the
independence of America; and as ambassadors, and not commissioners,
solicit a treaty of peace, amity, commerce, and alliance with the
rising States of this Western world. Your nation totters on the brink
of a stupendous precipice, and even delay will ruin her.

You have told Congress, "if, after the time that may be necessary to
consider this communication and transmit your answer, the horrors and
devastations of war should continue, we call God and the world to
witness that the evils which must follow are not to be imputed to Great
Britain." I wish you had spared your protestation. Matters of this kind
may appear to you in a trivial light, as mere ornamental flowers of
rhetoric, but they are serious things, registered in the high chancery