You were not contented while you had
her, and to weep for her now is childish.
But Lord Shelburne thinks something may yet be done. What that
something is, or how it is to be accomplished, is a matter in
obscurity. By arms there is no hope. The experience of nearly eight
years, with the expense of an hundred million pounds sterling, and the
loss of two armies, must positively decide that point. Besides, the
British have lost their interest in America with the disaffected.
Every part of it has been tried. There is no new scene left for
delusion: and the thousands who have been ruined by adhering to
them, and have now to quit the settlements which they had acquired,
and be conveyed like transports to cultivate the deserts of
Augustine and Nova Scotia, has put an end to all further
expectations of aid.
If you cast your eyes on the people of England, what have they to
console themselves with for the millions expended? Or, what
encouragement is there left to continue throwing good money after bad?
America can carry on the war for ten years longer, and all the charges
of government included, for less than you can defray the charges of
war and government for one year. And I, who know both countries,
know well, that the people of America can afford to pay their share of
the expense much better than the people of England can. Besides, it is
their own estates and property, their own rights, liberties and
government, that they are defending; and were they not to do it,
they would deserve to lose all, and none would pity them.
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