1783-12-04 (static/transcriptions/1783/12/005.jpg)

Though not to enlarge, on those events, all of which I have attentively considered, and on the result of those debates, at most of which I was present. Such expectations, if such have been formed, I should be very loth to disappoint; and, as I shall express my sentiments without reserve, you will hear them, I am confident, with perfect candour.

None of you, I hope, will suspect me of political zeal for any set of ministers in England, with which vice my mind has never been infected, nor of political attachments here, which in my station it will ever behove me to disclaim, if, in the character of a magistrate appointed to preserve the public tranquility, I congratulate you, who are assembled to inquire into all violations of it, on the happy prospect of a general peace in every part of the world, with which our country is connected. The certain fruits of this pacification will be the revival and extension of commerce in all the dependencies of Britain, the improvement
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