NOTE 41, p. 191.—It must be confessed this is a little pompous. Burke’s scheme was simply to yield to the colonies what they claimed, and it was not good policy to pronounce such an encomium on it in advance. There were those who said: “On this simple principle of granting every thing required, and stipulating for nothing in return, we can terminate every difference throughout the world.” NOTE 42, p. 191.—The Congress of Philadelphia in 1774 declared that after the Repeal of the Stamp Act the colonies “fell into their ancient state of unsuspecting confidence in the mother country.” Burke comments on this statement in his letter to the Sheriffs of Bristol in 1777. NOTE 43, p. 192.—Lord North’s plan of conciliation, already described in the introduction to this speech. NOTE 44, p. 193.—The address to the King declaring that rebellion existed in Massachusetts, requesting the King to take energetic measures to suppress it, and pledging the coöperation of Parliament. NOTE 45, p. 196.—The computation carefully made by Mr. Bancroft (“Hist.,” 8vo ed., vol. iv., p. 128) more than justifies Burke’s figures. Bancroft gives the following: -----+-----------+---------+---------- | White. | Black. | Total. -----+-----------+---------+---------- 1750 | 1,040,000 | 220,000 | 1,260,000 1754 | 1,165,000 | 260,000 | 1,425,000 1760 | 1,385,000 | 310,000 | 1,695,000 1770 | 1,850,000 | 462,000 | 2,312,000 1780 | 2,383,000 | 562,000 | 2,945,000 1790 | 3,177,257 | 752,069 | 3,927,326 -----+-----------+---------+---------- See Johnson’s “Taxation no Tyranny” (Works, x., 96) in which he savagely speaks of “3,000,000 Whigs, fierce for liberty, which multiply with the fecundity of their own rattlesnakes.” He thought the eggs should be destroyed. NOTE 46, p. 197.—Reference to the legal maxim, “_De minimis non jurat lex_.” NOTE 47, p. 198.—Mr. Glover who appeared at the bar to support a petition of the West Indian planters praying that peace might be concluded with the colonies. NOTE 48, p. 199.—Davenant afterward published a somewhat important work entitled “Discourses on Revenue and Trade,” and it was probably the MS. of this to which Burke referred. NOTE 49, p. 202.—Burke’s reasoning has been more than justified by subsequent history. Cobden: “Writings,” i., 98, more than fifty years after Burke spoke, declared: “The people of the United States constitute our largest and most valuable connection. The business we carry on with them is nearly twice as extensive as that with any other people.” The American official returns since 1850 show that more than one third of the imports came from England, and that more than one half of the exports go to England.