But, my Lords and Gentlemen, this is not all; and my Scheme of an Union with Ireland is calculated not only to introduce Wealth, and to prevent Idleness in the single City of Dublin; but also to diffuse constitutional Strength and Firmness, and to create a Stability and Compactness throughout the whole Empire: Whereas Mr. Burke’s has as necessary a Tendency to weaken and disjoint every Part of it, and to sow Jealousies and Dissentions both at Home and Abroad, in the Mother-Country, and in the Colonies:—The unavoidable Consequence of which would be at the last, arbitrary and despotic Power. In one Word, the true Motto for my Scheme is, Vis unita fortior; and for his, Divide et impera. Judge therefore, as Men who are more deeply concerned in preserving and improving the present Constitution, than any Class of Men whatever;—judge, I say, whether Mr. Burke’s Scheme or mine, in regard to America, ought to have the Preference. You have every Means of Information now at your Command: Your Birth, your Rank, and Education, lift you up much above the Prejudices of the Vulgar; whilst your patrimonial Estates and ample Fortunes screen you from a Multitude of those Temptations, to which other Men are grievously exposed. And yet, my Lords and Gentlemen, let me tell you, that if you will not exert yourselves on this trying Occasion, in some Degree proportionate to the Importance of the Cause now before you, perhaps it may never be in your Power to exert yourselves hereafter, when you would wish most ardently to do it. Remember, therefore, I beseech you, the Words, the emphatic, and perhaps even the prophetic, Words of a celebrated Partizan, whose Name I need not mention:—“Why, Gentlemen, will not you, who are Men of great Landed Estates, take an active Part in the present Disputes? Your Neutrality, I do assure you, will not protect you. For if you will still remain inactive at such a Crisis, what has happened before will happen again; and the *****’s and the *****’s who have but little to lose, but may have much to get in Times of general Confusion, will certainly become the great Men of this Nation.”

Fas est et ab hoste doceri.

Indeed the Estates of the Church, we all know, will fall the first Sacrifice, should the Republican Party now prevail. But nevertheless, if you, my Lords and Gentlemen, should be so weak as to imagine, that Matters will stop there; and that your own large Possessions, your splendid Titles, your hereditary Honours, and ample Privileges will escape unhurt, amidst that general Wreck of private Property, and Crush of Subordination, which will necessarily ensue; you will be woefully mistaken:—And I must beg Leave to say, that you will have profited but very little, by what has been so well written in the Annals of this very Country, for your Instruction and Admonition. For depend upon it, the Use of Committee-Men, and the Business of Sequestrators are not yet forgot; depend upon it, I say, that Ways and Means are still to be found out, for the lowest of the People to get at the Possession of the greatest of your Estates, as well in these, as in former Times. Their Appetites are equally keen:—And if these hungry Patriots should succeed, after such an Example is set before your Eyes, who are you to blame but yourselves?—In one Word, you know, or ought to know, that even the tender Mercies of a Republic are cruel. Or, if you are not yet convinced of the Truth of this Assertion, look abroad into the World; nay, look into what is now doing by the Republican Congresses in America; and then see how you would approve such Men as these for your Masters.

HERE therefore I willingly close the whole Dispute between Mr. Burke and me: And I most chearfully submit the Decision of this important Question to those (but to those only) who are the best qualified, the most able, and the most concerned to decide impartially. What therefore is to follow in this Treatise, is to be considered rather ex abundanti, than as strictly necessary for the Support of my Argument, and the Confutation of my Opponent. Yet, seeing that the following Points may serve to elucidate some of the former, and seeing that so much has been said, and such confident Boastings have been uttered, concerning the Advantages, and even the Immensity of the Colony-Trade; I will enter the more particularly into these Matters.

And first of all, and previous to any Enquiry into the Fact, I enter a solemn Protest against the disingenuous Artifice, so often practiced by the Partizans of America, viz. That of begging the Question. They beg the Question, when they take for granted, that if America were separated from Great-Britain, all commercial Intercourse would cease between the two Countries. For this is the very Point, which they ought to have proved, instead of taking it for granted. And prove it they never can, ’till they shall have first demonstrated, that the Americans will no longer adhere to their own Interest, when they shall be disunited from us. A difficult Task this! In regard to which, they will find all the World to be Unbelievers. Indeed I have already so effectually silenced this Plea in my Fourth Tract from Page 203 to Page 220, [2d Edit. printed for Rivington, &c.] that I hope I may be excused from repeating the same Things. And as the Arguments there urged have never been attempted to be answered, notwithstanding so much Good-Will to do it, and that my Opponents most certainly would do it, if they could, the natural Conclusion is, that they are UNANSWERABLE.

Therefore I now enter upon the Subject itself; and as the Trade to Holland and Germany (and more particularly to Hanover) hath been frequently represented as being very inconsiderable, and of small Importance; I have for this very Reason, selected this Trade from others, to make it the Subject of our Comparison with the Trade to all the revolted Provinces of North-America.

An Account of the Value of the Exports from England to Germany and Holland; and also to those North-American Provinces, which are now under the Dominion of the Congress, for nine Years successively, viz. from Christmas 1763 to Christmas 1772, distinguishing each Country, and each Year.

From Christmas 1763
to Christmas 1764.		1765.1766.1767.1768.1769.1770.1771.1772.Totals.
Value of Exports.Value of Exports.Value of Exports.Value of Exports.Value of Exports.Value of Exports.Value of Exports.Value of Exports.Value of Exports.Value of Exports.
£.s.d.£.s.d.£.s.d.£.s.d.£.s.d.£.s.d.£.s.d.£.s.d.£.s.d.£.s.d.
Germany2,264,315391,869,4651881,811,268231,506,29310111,499,732041,338,866981,272,569041,316,492141,354,1816614,233,183139
Holland2,040,467992,026,77216111,602,924671,539,7051801,744,974581,658,5511311,766,3331021,685,3971601,997,8151416,060,942176
Total of both Countries30,294,126113
The REVOLTED PROVINCES of North-America.
Carolina305,80816334,709128296,73214244,09360289,868123306,60056146,273170409,16994449,610222,782,86577
New-England’s four Provinces459,765011451,299147409,64276406,08192419,79794207,993143394,451751,420,11911824,830894,993,980130
New-York515,416121382,349111330,829158417,957155482,93014474,918710475,991120653,62176343,9701993,677,986158
Pensilvania435,191140363,368175327,31453371,830810432,107174199,9091711134,881155728,7441910507,9091403,501,259100
Virginia and Maryland515,192106383,224130372,548161437,62826475,95462488,362151717,782173920,32638793,9101325,104,930175
Totals of the revolted Provinces20,061,02338
Superiority of the Value of the Exports to Holland and Germany over the Exports to the revolted Provinces of America £.10,233,10377

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