wounded; his charity, as a Christian, may be moved; but his political
principles must go through all the cases on one side or the other. He
cannot be a Whig in this stage, and a Tory in that. If he says he is
against the united independence of the continent, he is to all
intents and purposes against her in all the rest; because this last
comprehends the whole. And he may just as well say, that Britain was
right in declaring us rebels; right in taxing us; and right in
declaring her "right to bind the colonies in all cases whatsoever."
It signifies nothing what neutral ground, of his own creating, he may
skulk upon for shelter, for the quarrel in no stage of it hath
afforded any such ground; and either we or Britain are absolutely
right or absolutely wrong through the whole.

Britain, like a gamester nearly ruined, has now put all her losses
into one bet, and is playing a desperate game for the total. If she
wins it, she wins from me my life; she wins the continent as the
forfeited property of rebels; the right of taxing those that are left
as reduced subjects; and the power of binding them slaves: and the
single die which determines this unparalleled event is, whether we
support our independence or she overturn it. This is coming to the
point at once. Here is the touchstone to try men by. He that is not a
supporter of the independent States of America in the same degree
that his religious and political principles would suffer him to
support the government of any other country, of which he called
himself a subject, is, in the American sense of the word, A TORY; and
the instant that he endeavors to bring his toryism into practice, he
becomes A TRAITOR. The first can only be detected by a general test,
and the law hath already provided for the latter.

It is unnatural and impolitic to admit men who would root up our