"It is pleasant to observe by what regular gradations we surmount local prejudices, as we enlarge our acquaintance with the world. A man born in any town in England divided into parishes, will naturally associate most with his fellow-parishioners--because their interests, in many cases, will be common--and distinguish him by the name of _neighbor_; if he meet him but a few miles from home, he drops the narrow idea of a street, and salutes him by the name of _townsman_; if he travel out of the county, and meets him in any other, he forgets the minor division of street and town, and calls him _countryman_--_i. e._, _countyman_; but if, in their foreign excursions, they should associate in France, or any other part of _Europe_, their local remembrance would be enlarged into that of _Englishmen_. And, by a just parity of reasoning, all Europeans meeting in America, or any other quarter of the globe, are _countrymen_; for England, Holland, Germany, or Sweden, when compared with the whole, stand in the same places on the larger scale which the divisions of street, town, and county do on the smaller one--distinctions too limited for continental minds. Not one-third of the inhabitants, even of this province, are of English descent. Wherefore, I reprobate the phrase of parent, or mother country, applied to England only, as being false, selfish, narrow, and ungenerous. "But, admitting that we were all of English descent, what does it amount to? Nothing. Britain, being now an open enemy, extinguishes every other name and title; and to say that reconciliation is our duty, is truly farcical. The first King of England, of the present line--William the Conqueror--was a Frenchman, and half the peers of England are descendants from the same country; wherefore, by the same method of reasoning, England ought to be governed by France. "Much hath been said of the united strength of Britain and the colonies--that, in conjunction, they might bid defiance to the world. But this is mere presumption; the fate of war is uncertain, neither do the expressions mean anything; for this continent would never suffer itself to be drained of inhabitants to support the British arms in either Asia, Africa, or Europe. "Besides, what have we to do with setting the world at defiance? Our plan is commerce, and that, well attended to, will secure us the peace and friendship of all Europe, because it is the interest of all Europe to have America a _free port_. Her trade will always be a protection, and her barrenness of gold and silver secure her from invaders. "I challenge the warmest advocate for reconciliation to show a single advantage that this continent can reap by being connected with Great Britain. I repeat the challenge; not a single advantage is derived. Our corn will fetch its price in any market in Europe, and our imported goods must be paid for, buy them where we will.