So with the British ministry—they were madly bent on reducing the American colonies to unconditional subjection, and after a short interval again commenced a system of oppression upon a broader and bolder scale. Once more the people appealed to their king—but appealed in vain. Mr. Rodney was upon the committee that prepared the second address to his majesty just before the commencement of the revolution. The following extract will show the reader the views of the colonists and the grievances complained of. “The sense of our deplorable condition will, we hope, plead with your majesty in our behalf for the freedom we take in dutifully remonstrating against the proceedings of a British parliament, confessedly the wisest and greatest assembly upon earth. But if our fellow subjects of Great Britain, who derive no authority from us, who cannot, in our humble opinion, represent us, and to whom we will not yield in loyalty and affection to your majesty, can, at their will and pleasure, of right give and grant away our property; if they can enforce an implicit obedience to every order or act of theirs for that purpose, and deprive all or any of the assemblies on this continent of the power of legislation for differing with them in opinion in matters which intimately affect their rights and interests, and every thing that is dear and valuable to Englishmen, we cannot imagine a case more miserable—we cannot think that we shall have even the shadow of liberty left. We conceive it to be an inherent right in your majesty’s subjects, derived to them from God and nature, handed down from their ancestors, confirmed by your royal predecessors and the constitution, in person or by their representatives, to give and grant to their sovereign those things which their own labours and their own cares have acquired and saved, and in such proportions and at such times as the national honour and interest may require. Your majesty’s faithful subjects of this government have enjoyed this inestimable privilege, uninterrupted, from its first existence till of late. They have at all times cheerfully contributed to the utmost of their abilities for your majesty’s service as often as your royal requisitions were made known, and they cannot now, but with the greatest uneasiness and distress of mind, part with the power of demonstrating their loyalty and affection to their beloved king.” Addresses similar to this were laid at the foot of the throne from all the colonies and from the Congress of 1774. The struggle between filial affection and a submission to wrongs, was of the most agonizing kind. This, united with the known weakness of the colonies, renders the American revolution a striking lesson to those in power, admonishing them not to draw the cords of authority too closely, and gives encouragement to freemen to resist every encroachment upon their liberty.