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THE NATURE AND CAUSES OE

duce of the colony taxes, which was over and above whatwas necessary for defraying the expense of their own civiland military establishments, were to be remitted to Great Britain in gold and silver, the colonies have abundantlywherewithal to purchase the requisite quantity of those me-tals. They would in this case be obliged, indeed, to exchangea part of their surplus produce, with which they now pur-chase active and productive stock, for dead stock. In trans-acting their domestic business they would be obliged to em-ploy a costly instead of a cheap instrument of commerce;and the expense of purchasing this costly instrument mightdamp somewhat the vivacity and ardour of their excessiveenterprise in the improvement of land. It might not, how-ever, be necessary to remit any part of the American revenuein gold and silver. It might be remitted in bills drawn uponand accepted by particular merchants or companies in Great Britain , to whom a part of the surplus produce of America had been consigned, who would pay into the treasury theAmerican revenue in money, after having themselves receivedthe value of it in goods ; and the whole business might fre-quently be transacted without exporting a single ounce ofgold or silver from America .

It is not contrary to justice that both Ireland and America should contribute towards the discharge of the public debtof Great Britain . That debt has been contracted in supportof the government established by the Revolution, a govern-ment to which the protestants of Ireland owe, not only thewhole authority which they at present enjoy in their owncountry, but every security which they possess for theirliberty, their property, and their religion; a government towhich several of the colonies of America owe their presentcharters, and consequently their present constitution; and towhich all the colonies of America owe the liberty, security,and property which they have ever since enjoyed. Thatpublic debt has been contracted in the defence, not of Great Britain alone, but of all the dilferent provinces of the em-pire ; the immense debt contracted in the late war in parti-cular, and a great part of that contracted in the war before,were both properly contracted in defence of America .

By a union with Great Britain , Ireland would gain besidesthe freedom of trade, other advantages much more import-ant, and which would much more than compensate any in-crease of taxes that might accompany that union. By the