"Now there is no possible way to put out this flame, or hinder its rising higher and
higher, but to show that the Americans are not used either cruelly or unjustly; that they are
not injured at all, seeing they are not contending for liberty (this they had, even in its full,
extent, both civil and religious); neither for any legal privileges; for they enjoy all that their
charters grant. But what they contend for is the illegal privilege of being exempt from parliamentary taxation. A privilege this which no charter ever gave to any American colony
yet; which no charter can give, unless it be confirmed both by King, Lords, and Commons;
which, in fact, our colonies never had; which they never claimed till the present reign: and
probably they would not have claimed it now had they not been incited thereto by letters
from England. One of these was read, according to the desire of the writer, not only at the
Continental Congress, but likewise in many congregations throughout the Combined
Provinces. It advised them to seize upon all the King's officers and exhorted them, 'Stand
valiantly, only for six months, and in that time there will be such commotions in England
that you may have your own terms.'
The Journal of John Wesley
The Journal of John Wesley
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