Is she too deeply prejudiced, or too old in error, to attempt a new
system of policy?

In what single respect has she ever proved herself a good parent to
any of her Colonies? Whilst supplying them with Government Officers,
she has fettered them with unwholesome laws; whilst giving them a
trifling preference over foreign states in their commerce, she has
laid her grasp upon their soil; whilst allowing them to legislate in
a small degree for themselves, she has reserved the prerogative of
annulling all enactments that interfere with her own selfish or
mistaken views; whilst permitting their inhabitants to live under a
lightened pressure of taxation, she has debarred them from wealth,
rank, honours, rewards, hopes -- all those incentives to action that
lead men forward to glory, and stamp nations with greatness.

What has she done for her Colonies -- this careful and beneficent
parent? She has permitted them to exist, but bound them down in
serf-like dependence; and so she keeps them -- feeble, helpless, and
hopeless. She grants them the sanction of her flag, and the
privilege of boasting of her baneful protection.

Years -- ages have gone by, and her policy has been the same --
darkening the heart and crushing the energies of Man in climes where
Nature sparkles with hope and teems with plenty.

Time, however, too powerful for statesmen, continues his silent but
steady advance in the great work of amelioration. The condition of
the Colonies must be elevated to that of the counties of England.
Absolute rule must cease to prevail in them. Men must be allowed to
win there, as at home, honours and rank. Time, the grand minister of