Free Empire by Edward Cline

Kenrick,” said Edgar Cullis. “It is unthinkable that all the Crown’s men are hostile to the colonies, or are blinded by plain avarice. There are many in Parliament, too, in both Houses, who question the wisdom of Crown policies, past and contemplated.”
    Hugh’s face brightened, for two reasons. He thought of Dogmael Jones, member for Swansditch, and the coterie of allies he had drawn around him in the Commons. But he said, “You are mistaken, sir, only about the ministers and members of Parliament being blinded by avarice. Most of them know full well the motive and ends of their policies.” He had thought, too, of his uncle, and of Henoch Pannell, and Crispin Hillier. “Do not underestimate their determination to subjugate us, nor should you overestimate their capacity for civil persuasion. If they were so susceptible to reason and good sense, we should never know their names, nor feel the consequences of their actions, except if they wrote books on logic or music, or authored papers on anatomy or the best way to grow tobacco.”
    Vishonn cocked his head in studious concession, but which Hugh sensed was dismissal of an irrelevancy. He sat down again. “You are better acquainted with these gentlemen than we are, good sir, and we defer to your appraisal.”
    Hugh smiled again, and rose from his desk to pace thoughtfully behind it. Then he turned to his visitors, his eyes sparkling with mischief. “Here is a sample of a speech I would likely make in the House, sirs. Please listen to it, and then tell me that you still wish me to run for burgess.”
    Vishonn and Cullis glanced at each other, then nodded.
    Hugh rubbed the palms of his hands together once, then spoke. “Does not the Board of Trade behave like another unelected legislature, so that we, the unenfranchised liege subjects of His Majesty, are cornered by both it and Parliament? Are not the Board and Parliament two horns of the Crown bull that, in turn or together, regularly gore us, so that the weighty beast can more easily grind and crush us beneath its hooves?”
    Hugh paused to observe the reaction of his visitors.
    Vishonn and Cullis regarded their host now with patent doubt. They stared up at him with wide, startled eyes.
    Hugh waved a hand. “All magazine caricature aside — we are not represented in Parliament, sirs, and so cannot oppose and counsel the Board’s nefarious depredations. We are unable to box the ears of their lordships who sit on that Board by proposing in the Commons that their arrogance be rewarded by censure and a reduction of their munificent salaries. Nor are we represented by anyone on that Board, for no prince or lord has originated in these colonies, no ancestral vassal from these shores ever joined with his
peers
to force King John to set his mark upon the Great Charter. Nor has anyone native to these shores ever been invited to sit on it.” Again, Hugh grinned in mischief. “You must concede, gentlemen, that a Duke of Pennsylvania, an Earl of Massachusetts, or a Marquess of Virginia would be a nomenclature ludicrously alien to ears on both sides of the Atlantic.”
    He paused again, to allow the humor to register on the faces of his listeners. But their faces remained stolidly amazed. He resumed a grave expression. “And so, no British-American ever can or ever will be appointed to that Board, thus denying us a voice on it to caution the Commons against the reprobating laws passed there. Therefore, I move that this House appoint a committee to compose a petition to Parliament, or to a group of liberty-minded members of it, to make it an order of its natural business to discuss the begging necessity of colonial representation in that august body. For surely, sirs, there is room enough in that cramped chamber for a dozen or so more bodies! It is not so frequently attended by all the members that those guilty of habitual delinquency could object to a
colonial bench
!” Hugh addressed Edgar Cullis. “Sir, will you be so