Introduction 



the British factory, at Leghorn; and has allowed 

 me to make the use of it which I have here done. 



The present unhappy differences subsisting 

 amongst us, with regard to America, will, I am sen- 

 sible, expose the publication of this account to much 

 censure and criticism; but I can truly aver, that I 

 have been led to it by no party motive whatsoever. 

 My first attachment, as it is natural, is to my native 

 country; my next is to America; and such is my 

 affection for both, that I hope nothing will ever hap- 

 pen to dissolve that union, which is necessary to their 

 common happiness. Let every Englishman and 

 American, but for a moment or two, substitute them- 

 selves in each other's place, and, I think, a mode of 

 reconciliation will soon take effect. Every Ameri- 

 can will then perceive the reasonableness of acknowl- 

 edging the supremacy of the British legislature; and 

 every Englishman, perhaps, the hardship of being 

 taxed where there is no representation, or assent. 



There is scarcely any such thing, I believe, as a 

 perfect government; and solecisms are to be found 

 in all. The present disputes are seemingly the re- 

 sult of one. Nothing can be more undeniable than 

 the supremacy of Parliament over the most distant 

 branches of the British Empire: for although the king 

 being esteemed, in the eye of the law, the original 

 proprietor of all the lands in the kingdom; all lands, 

 upon defect of heirs to succeed to an inheritance, 

 escheat to the king; and all new discovered lands vest 



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