From this moment nothing was heard from America but questions on the right of taxation, and whether the colonists had not carried with them all the birthrights of English freemen: whether their assemblies were not Parliaments, and whether any man could be taxed who was not represented. Parallels were drawn between the Americans, Scotland, and Ireland; and while all obedience was acknowledged[63] to the Crown, the jurisdiction of the British Parliament came to be undervalued, and set at nought. Every assumption of liberty that had been pleaded here against our kings, was now set up against the jurisdiction of England. The overflow of political writings in these islands had long been transmitted for vent to America, and were now the basis of a new paper war. Nor were there wanting in the chief provinces men of subtle and liberal minds, who knew how to set their pretensions in the fairest light. Still less was there a dearth of aspiring demagogues, who felt how much consideration must attend real or affected patriotism. On both sides of the ocean, there happily were found some men of that moderate frame of mind, who, though commonly the last to attain credit in the loud cry of faction, were successful in tempering the evil, though censured at home, and but ill rewarded with the attention they merited from America. I have thus touched upon the outlines of this ill-omened dispute. More must be said on it hereafter; yet shall I sparingly treat a subject on which so many volumes have been written, and which at the moment I write[64] seems calmed--I fear, not composed. New pretensions erected, and the honour of old claims to be asserted, seldom moulder away _pulveris exigui jactu_. These disputes, like all others on government, date from the foresight always wanting in new institutions. Men talk of patriarchal systems, and original compacts. Necessity and accident formed all systems, and men were governed long before they reasoned. Where ambition was in the govern_ed_, and wisdom and humanity in the governors, the system proved gentle and moderate. Where the contrary happened, power was earlier felt. When once formed, succeeding men were ambitious to usurp government, not to correct it. When it grew intolerable, it was patriotism to force it back to its principles. At last, patriotism itself was found to be the shortest, as it was the most plausible step to power: and the patriot becoming the attorney for his countrymen, proved the only winner by the gain of the cause. When the New World was discovered, it was parcelled out as the property of the princes whose subjects made discoveries. The expense of settling it, after driving out or butchering the natives, would have been enormous: the hazard from such long voyages and new climates, most unpromising. To tempt their old subjects to make the experiment, it was necessary for the European sovereigns to offer both great and specious encouragement. From Britain especially, where