Men who content themselves with the semblance of truth, and a display of words, talk much of our obligations to Great Britain for protection.  Had she a single eye to our advantage?  A nation of shopkeepers are very seldom so disinterested.  Let us not be so amused with words; the extension of her commerce was her object.  When she defended our coasts, she fought for her customers, and convoyed our ships loaded with wealth, which we had acquired for her by our industry.  She has treated us as beasts of burthen, whom the lordly masters cherish that they may carry a greater load.  Let us inquire also against whom she has protected us?  Against her own enemies with whom we had no quarrel, or only on her account, and against whom we always readily exerted our wealth and strength when they were required.  Were these colonies backward in giving assistance to Great Britain, when they were called upon in 1739 to aid the expedition against Carthagena?  They at that time sent three thousand men to join the British army, although the war commenced without their consent.  But the last war, ’tis said, was purely American.  This is a vulgar error, which, like many others, has gained credit by being confidently repeated.  The dispute between the courts of Great Britain and France related to the limits of Canada and Nova Scotia.  The controverted territory was not claimed by any in the colonies, but by the crown of Great Britain.  It was therefore their own quarrel.  The infringement of a right which England had, by the treaty of Utrecht, of trading in the Indian country of Ohio, was another cause of the war.  The French seized large quantities of British manufacture and took possession of a fort which a company of British merchants and factors had erected for the security of their commerce.  The war was therefore waged in defense of lands claimed by the crown, and for the protection of British property.  The French at that time had no quarrel with America, and, as appears by letters sent from their commander-in-chief, to some of the colonies, wished to remain in peace with us.  The part, therefore, which we then took, and the miseries to which we exposed ourselves, ought to be charged to our affection to Britain.  These colonies granted more than their proportion to the support of the war.  They raised, clothed, and maintained nearly twenty-five thousand men, and so sensible were the people of England of our great exertions, that a message was annually sent to the House of Commons purporting, “that his Majesty, being highly satisfied with the zeal and vigor with which his faithful subjects in North America had exerted themselves in defense of his Majesty’s just rights and possessions, recommend it to the House to take the same into consideration, and enable him to give them a proper compensation.”

But what purpose can arguments of this kind answer?  Did the protection we received annul our rights as men, and lay us under an obligation of being miserable?