In three letters to the honourable Mr. W. Strahan, he has, in the extract, these remarkable words:-- "_London, November, 1768._ "DEAR SIR, "With respect to the present dispute between Great Britain and the colonies, there is nothing I wish for more than to see it amicably settled. But _Providence_ brings about its own ends by its own means; and if it intends the downfall of a nation, that nation will be so blinded by its pride and other passions as not to see its danger, or how its fall may be prevented. "The friends of the ministry say that this tax is but a _trifle_; granted. But who does not see what will be the consequence of submitting to it? Is it not the more dangerous for being a trifle? Is it not in this way that the devil himself most effectually works our ruin? If he can but prevail on a poor thoughtless youth to shake hands with innocence, and to _steal_, he is abundantly satisfied. To get the boy's _hand in_, is all he wants. And he would as leave the simpleton should begin with stealing a halter as a horse. For he well knows that if he but begins with the one he is sure to end with the other. Just so the minister, angling for American liberty, artfully covers his hook with this delicate bait. But the truth is, I have talked and written so much and so long on the subject of this unhappy quarrel, that my acquaintance are weary of hearing, and the public of reading, any more of it; which begins to make me weary of talking and writing; especially as I do not find that I have gained any point in either country, except that of rendering myself suspected, by my impartiality, in England of being too much an _American_, and in America of being too much an _Englishman_. However, as in reply to your polite question, "_what is to be_ done _to settle this alarming dispute?_" I have often told you what I think the minister _ought_ to do: I now go a step farther, and tell you what I fear he will do.