commercial connections outgrew the first model. In some colonies at first there was only a governor assisted by two or three counsel; then more were added; afterward courts of justice were erected; then assemblies were created.
Some things were done by instructions from the secretaries of state; other things were done by order of the king and council; and other things by commissions under the great seal. It is observable that in consequence of these establishments from time to time, and of the dependency of these governments upon the supreme legislature at home, the lenity of each government in the colonies has been extreme toward the subject; and a great inducement has been created for people to come and settle in them. But if all those governments which are now independent of each other should become independent of the mother country, I am afraid that the inhabitants of the colonies are very little aware of the consequences. They would feel in that case very soon the hand of power more heavy upon them in their own governments, than they have yet done or have ever imagined.
The constitutions of the different colonies are thus made up of different principles. They must remain dependent, from the necessity of things and their relation to the jurisdiction of the mother country; or they must be totally dismembered from it and form a league of union among themselves against it, which could be effected without great violences. No one ever
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