George the Third, in point of fact, pledged to the course he was pursuing, and acting under the influence of passionate obstinacy, animated and sustained his ministers and the Parliament in the struggle. In vain were fresh petitions constantly presented to him, always loyal and respectful without insincerity; in vain was his name commended to the favor and protection of God, in the services of religion, according to usual custom. He paid no attention, either to the prayers which were made to him, or to those which were offered to Heaven in his behalf; and by his order the war continued, without ability, without vigorous and well-combined efforts, but with that hard and haughty obstinacy, which destroys in the heart all affection as well as hope. Evidently the day had arrived, when power had forfeited its claim to loyal obedience; and when the people were called upon to protect themselves by force, no longer finding in the established order of things either safety or shelter. Such a moment is a fearful one, big with unknown events; one, which no human sagacity can predict, and no human government can control, but which, notwithstanding, does sometimes come, bearing an impress stamped by the hand of God. {34} If the struggle, which begins at such a moment, were one absolutely forbidden; if, at the mysterious point in which it arises, this great social duty did not press even upon the heads of those who deny its existence, the human race, long ago, wholly fallen under the yoke, would have lost all dignity as well as all happiness. Nor was there wanting another condition, also essential, to the legitimate character of the insurrection of the English colonies. They had a reasonable chance of success. No vigorous hand, at that time, had the management of public affairs in England. The cabinet of Lord North was not remarkable for talent or generosity of feeling. The only eminent man in the country, Lord Chatham, was in the opposition. {35} The times of extreme tyranny had gone by. Proscriptions, judicial and military cruelties, a general and systematic laying waste of the country; all those terrible measures, those atrocious sufferings, which a little while before in the heart of Europe, in a cause equally just, had been inflicted upon the Hollanders, would not have been tolerated in the eighteenth century, by the spectators of the American contest, and, indeed, were never thought of by those who were the most fiercely engaged in it. On the contrary, a powerful party was formed, and eloquent voices were constantly lifted up, in the British Parliament itself, in support of the colonies and of their rights. This is the glory and distinction of a representative government, that it insures to every cause its champions, and brings even into the arena of politics those defences, which were instituted for the sanctuary of the laws.