IV. CHAP. yet are greater than Solomon in all his glory." They la often, too, by their valour saved the regular troops from extermination, and averted those fatal consequences, which were to be apprehended from the incapacity of the cabinet and the blind presumption of the officers they had appointed to execute their rash and ill advised projects. cial re straints. 1764. BUT these considerations, however solid, had no weight. Resolute in their plans, they looked only to one side of the subject, and regarded as a pernicious and wicked heresy any attempt to deny their right, or even to doubt their authority. PURSUANT to this opinion, several resolutions Commer- passed in the commons at the instance of the minister, imposing new duties on foreign goods imported into the British colonies in America. These acts, although of a tendency to wound the interest of the colonies, being regarded as March 10. matters of mere regulation, attracted no particu lar attention in parliament. But it soon appeared that these acts were intended to cover designs of a more fatal and formidable import. In introducing this project, even the minister paused, as if appalled by a presentiment of the calamities with which it was fraught. His resolution was merely Declarato declaratory, "that it would be proper to impose certain stamp duties in the said colonies and plantations, for the purpose of raising an American revenue, payable into the British exchequer." ry act. Effect of μια THE execution of this project, by reason of its declared importance, was adjourned until the ensuing year; and time was thus afforded to the good genius of the country to step in and arrest its fatal and destructive progress. FAR different was its reception in that country these pro- which was the immediate object of this operation. The declaratory resolution was a phænomenon CHAP. IV. that immediately attracted every eye and filled. every bosom with apprehension; animated by the collision of opinion, discussion walked ceedings in abroad with the port and stature of eloquence, America. and the feature and countenance of conviction. Nor was the public attention exclusively confined to the declaratory resolution: It passed by a natural transition to the additional duties, which from the matter of the regulations, as well as the obnoxious mode adopted for their enforcement and execution, was regarded as a severe and intolerable hardship. A LUCRATIVE traffic had been carried on, particularly by the northern colonies, with the French and Spanish colonies, the duties on which having been justly regarded as inimical to the true interests of commerce, had been winked at by the government. It was known that a considerable portion of the current specie of the colonies was procured from these sources, and that the greatest part of it would ultimately find its way into Britain in discharge of their mercantile engagements. Of this trade, so necessary to the credit of the colonies, so profitable to the mother country, the additional duties would amount to an absolute prohibition; and if as heretofore, they attempted to evade the payment of duties so justly obnoxious, it was necessary to encounter the rigorous scrutiny of a swarm of revenue officers, whose interest was intimately connected with their vigilance and severity, and to pass through a variety of forms so complex and distressing as to render this trade, formerly so lucrative, an object of indifference. BUT the declaratory resolution was justly considered as the main object of public attention. In it, was involved the constitutional question, and as the decision would equally affect the royal CHAP. and proprietary governments, the barriers whick local prejudices and commercial competition had erected, instantly tumbled down, and the American people entered at once into one vast arena for the purpose of mutual defence and national concert. FROM this moment the history of one province is the history of all, unless the historian chooses to become the frigid annalist of partial events, when he is surrounded by the most brilliant phanomena, and walks in the midst of actions which shake the world to its centre. SEVERAL of the provincial legislatures transmitted petitions to the king, and memorials to both houses of parliament, couched in respectful but animated terms, against the projected statute. The assembly of Massachusetts instructed their agent in London not only to protest against the passage of the stamp act, or any other act of a similar nature, but to solicit the repeal of the obnoxious duties, on the ground of their being eminently prejudicial to the true interests of the colonies and the mother country. Private associations were formed at the same time in various places, with the view of diminishing the use of British and encouraging that of American manufactures. THE administration having unexpectedly encountered this alarming opposition, attempted to gain the object by means less calculated to excite offence and alarm, but which should be equally decisive of the principle contended for, and which might afterwards be brought into a precedent. With this view the agents of the colonies in London were informed that they were at liberty of adopting any other mode more agreeable for raising the sum demanded.* It was also pro 100,000/. CHAP. IV. posed that they would be permitted to plead at the bar of the house by counsel, contrary to the usual parliamentary practice, against the tax in Conduct of behalf of their respective colonies; but these the minipretended concessions were spurned at by the stry. agents as derogatory to the rights and honour of the colonies, who would not on this occasion petition but protest. It was urged by them that the claim of England was not only absolutely novel, but diametrically opposite to the spirit and letter of the English constitution, whieh has established as a fundamental axiom, that taxation is inseparably attached to representation; that as the colonies were not, and from local and political obstacles could not, be represented in the British parliament, it would be of the very essence of tyranny to attempt to exercise an authority over them, which from its very nature must lead to gross and inevitable abuse. For when Great Britain was in full possession of the power now contended for, could it possibly be imagined, when a sum of money for the supply of the exigencies of government was wanting, that the British parliament would not rather choose to vote that it should be paid by the colonists than by themselves and their constituents? "IN reply to the argument which stated as highly reasonable, that America should contribute her proportion to the general expense of the empire, it was said, "that America had never been deficient in contributing, at the constitutional requisition of the crown, in her own assem. blies, to the utmost of her ability, towards the expenses of the wars in which conjointly with England she had been involved; that, in the course of the last memorable contest, large sums had been repeatedly voted by parliament, as an indemnification to the colonies for exertions IV. to It CHAP. which were allowed to be disproportionate their means and resources; that the proper compensation to Britain for the expense of rearing and protecting her colonies was the monopoly of this trade, the absolute direction and regulation of which was universally acknowledged to be inherent in the British legislature." was, however, clearly intimated that a specific sum, in lieu of all other claims, might be obtained from the colonies, if accepted as a voluntary offering, not as a revenue extorted by tyrannical and lawless force, which left them no merit in giving, and which might ultimately leave them nothing to give. THE argument or pretext which appeared to excite most indignation in the breast of the Americans and of their advocates, was that which affected to deem them already represented and as being, if not actually, yet virtually included in the general system of representation, in the same manner as that very large proportion of the inhabitants of the British island who have no votes in the election of members or representatives in the British parliament. "The very essence of representation, * said America, "consists in this, that the representative is himself placed in a situation analagous to those whom he represents, so that he shall be himself bound by the laws which he is entrusted to enact, and liable to the taxes which he is authorised to impose. This is precisely the case with regard to the national representation of Britain. Those who do, and those who do not elect, together with the elected body themselves, are, in respect to this grand and indispensable requisite, * Belsham. |