"The motive for repeal was prudence not principle"

Silas Downer to the New York Sons of Liberty, Providence, July 21, 1766

[Part of: “Let Those Flatter Who Fear”: American Independence in Verse.]

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I write returning your congratulations 
On the Stamp Act repeal. But vigilance
Is needed now as much as was before.
The motive for repeal was prudence, not
Principle. Note their strange resolves, that pave
A way for taxes to be laid again.
Petitions from the colonies were met
Only with wrath, and indignation, and
Contempt. And my hands shake when I reflect
That some commoner, representing half
A score of beggars in some English shithole
Town, should talk big about securing our
“Dependence on the mother country,” when
He only means himself. I have see others
Express their thanks, and bow and lick the dust,