22 CAUSES WHICH LED TO THE as Avell as inclination, induce us to support and ad¬ vance." " At the conclusion of the last war," they go on to observe, in one of their addresses to the king and people of Great Britain, " the Genius of England , and the spirit of wisdom, as if offended at the un¬ grateful treatment of her sons, withdrew from the British councils, and left the nation a prey to a race of ministers, with whom ancient English honesty and benevolence disdained to dwell." " They did not complain of Parliament, for it had done them no wrong, but solely of the measures of ministers." The complaints of the colonists have always been acknowledged temperate and well founded, until the conduct of ministers convinced them that nothing but passive obedience to any measure of taxation, would be satisfactory.* That they afterwards, at their countless popular assemblies, but more espe¬ cially in their public prints, used language both vio¬ lent and licentious, can neither be denied nor defend¬ ed ; and the outrageous conduct of the populace was not only unjustifiable, but often highly indecorous. Their bitter invectives against the British people, who long wished them success in resisting acts which were solely those of ministers, cannot easily be forgotten. In all countries, however, we meet with frequent examples of such violent conduct among the popu¬ lace, and in none more frequently than in England . It is, therefore, unjust to stigmatize a whole people, by * Note C. /-' \