3248. FREE TRADE, Alliance for.—
I
think nothing can bring the security of our
continent and its cause into danger, if we can
support the credit of our paper. To do that,
I apprehend, one of two steps must be taken.
Either to procure free trade by alliance with
some naval power able to protect it; or, if
we find there is no prospect of that, to shut
our ports totally, to all the world, and turn
our Colonies into manufactories. The former
would be most eligible, because most conformable
to the habits and wishes of our people.—
To Benjamin Franklin. Washington ed. i, 205.
Ford ed., ii, 132.
(1777)
