Page:An Answer to the Declaration of the American Congress.djvu/14

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INTRODUCTION.

His Majeſty inſulted for ſupporting our intereſts.In the event therefore of this conteſt—let us again repeat it—not the ſeparate intereſts of his Majeſty, but thoſe of his Britiſh ſubjects are involved. If the Americans inſult him by groundleſs complaints of his government, it is becauſe he aſſerted our rights:—if they have dared to renounce all allegiance to his Crown, it is becauſe he determined not to give up our rights[1].

The general charge brought againſt his Majeſty.The general charge brought againſt his Majeſty, in this audacious paper, is, that "the hiſtory of his reign is a hiſtory of repeated injuries and uſurpations; all having in direct object the eſtabliſhment of an abſolute tyranny over"—what they call—"theſe ſtates,"—what we ſhould call—his Majeſty's ſubjects in America.

Proofs alleged in ſupport of the charge.In ſupport of this atrocious charge certain maxims are advanced; a theory of Government is eſtabliſhed; and what the Authors of the Declaration call Facts, are ſubmitted, as they tell us, to "the candid world."

Method obſerved in the examination of the pretended proofs, by which this charge is ſupported.These maxims, this theory, and theſe facts we are now about to examine. We ſhall begin by the facts. And to ſtate them more clearly, the ſeveral charges are numbered; and divided into ſo many ſeparate Articles. They are given in the order in which they ſtand in the Declaration; and each conſidered apart. But as there is a ſtudied confuſion
  1. This has been expreſsly acknowledged by the Author of Common Senſe. A book which has been in ſome ſort adopted by the Congreſs; many of the moſt ſtriking paſſages of the Declaration being borrowed from it. The charge there alleged agaiſt the King is—"That he has undertaken in his own right, to ſupport the Parliament in what he calls theirs." "It is by this combination"—adds the Author, and the Declaration adopts the phraſe,—"that the good people of America are grievouſly oppreſſed," [Introduction.]
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