I; Essays % 
pay to Great Britain the sum of ——— sterling, 
in annual payments; that is to say, —— per annum, 
for and during the terms of —— years, 
And shall, moreover, grant a free trade to all Brit- 
ish subjects throughout the United States and the 
ceded colonies, and shall guarantee to Great Britain 
the possession of her islands in the West Indies. 
Motives for Proposing a Peace at This Time 
1. The having such propositions in charge will, by 
the law of nations, be some protection to the com- 
missioners or ambassadors, if they should be taken. 
2. As the news of our declared independence will 
tend to unite in Britain all parties against us, so our 
offering peace, with commerce and payments of 
money, will tend to divide them again. For peace is 
as necessary to them as to us; our commerce is 
wanted by their merchants and manufacturers, who 
will therefore incline to the accommodation, even 
though the monopoly is not continued, since it can be 
easily made to appear their share of our growing 
trade will soon be greater than the whole has been 
heretofore. Then, for the landed interest, who wish 
an alleviation of taxes, it is demonstrable by figures, 
that, if we should agree to pay, suppose ten millions 
in one hundred years, viz., one hundred thousand 
pounds per annum for that term, it would, being 
faithfully employed as a sinking fund, more than pay 
off all their present national debt. It is, besides, a 
prevailing opinion in England, that they must in the 
nature of things sooner or later lose the colonies, and 
776] IQ"