2dly. I particularly except against the whole Band of Mock-Patriots. And my Reason is, because this Race of Men will of Course, prefer that Scheme, whatever it be, which can furnish them with the most lasting Fund for Opposition and Complaint. Now it is evident, that our Conjunction with _North-America_, upon any Terms, and under any, or every Modification, will not fail of becoming an inexhaustible Source of Altercation and Reproach, let whatever Measures be pursued. For Example: Had the Ministry proposed at first that very Scheme, which Mr. BURKE has now thought proper to recommend, the Heads of the Faction, and even Mr. BURKE himself (if he had not been a Pensioner to _North-America_) would most probably have proposed just the Reverse; that is, they and he would have insisted on the Necessity of _obliging_ the Colonies to contribute a Share, _proportionable to their Interests, and to the growing Benefits they receive_, towards the Maintenance, the Grandeur, and the Glory of that Empire, from which their own Preservation and Prosperity are derived. And then the popular Cry would have been, that a wicked and a profligate Administration were going to sacrifice the Honour and Dignity of the _British_ Crown, and the dear-bought Rights and Privileges of the _British_ Nation to _American_ Gold, and _American_ Ingratitude.--Then we should have been told (and every Town and Country News-Paper would have echoed and re-echoed the Tale) that _America_ was the Property of _Great-Britain_ by every possible and legal Claim;--by Right of Discovery,--Right of Occupancy,--Right of Possession,--uninterrupted Prescription,--Communication of Benefits,--Participation of Posts of Honour, and Places of Profit,--general Protection,--never-ceasing Defence, &c. &c. And then we should have been told with peculiar Emphasis, that this new-fangled, ministerial Scheme of erecting so many new Parliaments, all co-ordinate with each other, under one general Monarch, was not only a notorious Breach of the _English_ Constitution, and utterly repugnant to the Law of the Land,--but was also a deep-laid, diabolical Contrivance to subjugate these petty Parliaments, one after another, and all in their Turns, to the irresistible Power of one grand Despot:--In short, then it would have been said (and with great Appearance of Truth) that _divide, et impera_ was the ministerial Maxim;--and that, what was done, or going to be done in _America_, was only the Omen and Prelude to the like fatal Establishments here in _Britain_. For the next Step would be (and upon a Pretence full as good, and altogether as constitutional) to break to Pieces the united Force of the _British_ Parliament, by erecting one diminutive Assembly of States at _Edinburgh_, another at _York_, a third at _London_, and a fourth at _Bath_, or _Exeter_, or somewhere in the West: And then, partly by flattering and cajoling,--partly by Bribes or Bullying,--by exciting their Hopes, or their Fears at one Time,--and their