The inherent supremacy of the
state in regulating and protecting the navigation and commerce of all
her subjects is necessary for the mutual benefit and preservation of
every part, to constitute and preserve the prosperous arrangement of the
whole empire.
You cannot conciliate America by your present measures. You cannot
subdue her by your present, or by any measures. What, then, can you do?
You cannot conquer, you cannot gain, but you can address; you can lull
the fears and anxieties of the moment into an ignorance of the danger
that should produce them. But, my lords, the time demands the language
of truth. We must not now apply the flattering unction of servile
compliance or blind complaisance. In a just and necessary war to
maintain the rights or honor of my country, I would strip the shirt from
my back to support it. But in such a war as this, unjust in principle,
impracticable in its means, and ruinous in its consequences, I would not
contribute a single effort, nor a single shilling. I do not call for
vengeance on the heads of those who have been guilty; I only recommend
to them to make their retreat; and let them make haste, or they may be
assured that speedy and condign punishment will overtake them.
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