Happy herself, under a Constitution which is the Envy and Admiration of surrounding Nations, she wishes to include in one comprehensive system of Felicity, all the Branches of a stock, intimately connected by the Ties of Language, Manners, Laws, Customs, Habits, Interests, Religion and Blood.
I lament with the ingenuous Thousands of America who are irreconcileable to the unnatural Separation so inauspicious to yourselves, as well as all the Rest of Your Fellow Subjects in the other Quarters of the World, that the Few who have found Means to acquire a Sway in the Management of your Affairs, have been averse to every uniting System of Policy and studiously shunned the Paths to Harmony and Peace.
But it is not my aim to call them to a hopeless and mortifying Review of their Conduct. Can they want Evidence at this day, of the Detestafion of their Measures, by an increasing Majority of. their own Countrymen? And having every thing to fear from
ROYAL GOVERNOR OF NEW YORK. 1087
their exhausted Patience, I warn them to desist from any future Attempts to restrain and seduce the Loyalty of others, and wisely to provide against their Resentment, by signalizing themselves as heretofore in exciting so now in closing, the scene of their intollerable Calamities. And I hereby give the strongest Assurances of effectual Countenance, Protection and support to all Persons who avail themselves of the Proclamation issued by his Excellency Sir Henry Clinton, dated at James Island the third day of March.