A.D. 1776 
_1RE0. 
LAISSEZ FAIRE 
management by which the resources of our Colonies have 
hitherto been wasted, has, I know, produced in the public 
mind too much of a disposition to regard them as mere 
sources of corruption and loss, and to entertain, with too 
much complacency, the idea of abandoning hem as useless. 
I cannot participate in the notion that it is the part either 
of prudence or of honour to abandon our countrymen, when 
our government of them has plunged them into disorder, or 
our territory, when we discover that we have not turned it 
to proper account. The experiment of keeping Colonies and 
governing them well ought at least to have a trial, ere we 
abandon for ever the vast dominion which might supply the 
wants of our surplus population, and raise up millions of fresh 
consumers of our manufactures, and producers of a supply 
for our wants.” 
R64 
\. Reports, 1839, xvi1. 118.