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Les diagrammes suivants illustrent la mAthode. 1 2 3 32X 1 2 3 4 5 6 A N % «> APPEAL, &c. Ak» [Price One Shilling aitd Six-pence*] ♦ " « .:t. ':«ii » % ,r,. m A N A P P E A L TO THE JUSTICE AND INTERESTS k ] OF THE PEOPLE OF GREAT BRITAIN. |N THE PRESENT DISPUTES WITH AMERICA. BY AN OLD MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT. LONDON: PRINTED rOR J. ALMON OPPOSITE BURLINCTOM- HOUS£> IN PICCADILLY. ^..^ M DCC LXXIV. '■'^''' "- " ^' ' ^^^ niH ! ;( It is againft the franchife of the land for freemen to be taxed, but by their own confent. Sir Edw. Coke. Resolved— That the antient and undoubted rights of every freeman are— that he hath a full and abfolute pro- perty in his goods and eitate, and cannot be taxed but by comon confent:. Cor/itn. Journ. N. i. p. 878. A TAX granted by the parliament of England fhall not bind thofe 0/ Ireland, becaufe they arc not fummoned tg our parliament. Opinion of the judges of EnglanJ^ loth of Henry W, Ireland hath a parliament of its own, and makcth and altereth laws, and our ftatutes do not bind them, becaufe they do not fend knights to our parliament. Opinion of the judges ofEngiand^ zd of Rich, III. You have no right to tax America — I rejoice that Ame- rica has refifted — two millions of our fellow fubjed^s, fo loft to every fenfe of virtue as tamely to give up theii liberties, wpuld be fit inftruments toimpofe chains upon the reft. Lord Chatham, My refearches have more and more convinced me that you have no right to tax America. — I will maintain it with my laft breath—taxation and reprcfentation are infeparable, fst: t L9rdCamd(fU € iiii A N men to be w. Coke. fights of ^lute pro- ed but by p. 878. fhall not imoned tQ r«ryVI. akcth and 1, bccaufe ch. IH. lat Ame- ts, fo loft liberties, reft. athanim me that n it with cparable. A E L. A State of contention between Great Britain and America, is not only difagreeable but dangerous. We have every influence of intereft and atfeftion to attach us to each other, and make us wifh to pre{erve the union indiflbluble. The fame laws, the fame religion, the fame conftitu- tion, the fame feelings, fentiments and habits, are a common bleifing and a common caufe. We have thefe general benefits to defend againft the reft of the world, which is hoftile to all, or to the greater part, of them. With ties fo ftrong to bind us to edch other, is it not ftrange, is it not deplorable, that we fhould differ ? Do they who talk of chaftifing our colonies, and reducing them ta obedience, coniider how much we hazard when we diflblve thefe ties ? What are we to fubftitute in their place ? Force and Fear ; which Tacitus wifely tells us, are infirma vincula, qua ubl removeris, qui timere dejierinty ociijfe incipient* When thefe B confe- ■.' ■ 11 k 3 ■ ;v ( 2 ) confcquences follow from the coercive meafures we are now purfuing, will the counfellors who have impelled us to them, by reprefentations not, I am fiire, very fair, defend \is from their fa- tal effeas ? It is from experience only that nations learn wifdom. But unhappily fometimes the injury of the experiment is irretrievable. We have too much reafon, I think, to apprehend that this will be the event of our prefent conduct. The courfe of the lafl: war gave us proof of the ftrength and fucccfs which arifes from the cordial attachment of our colonies ; and in all human probability, the next war will convince us of the feeblenefs which flows from their difl'affedion. I hope to prove inconteftably, that they aided us during the laft war with a degree of zeal and efficacy which we can never again expert, at leaft unlefs our language and condu£l: be totally reverfed. The war found us united ; it was conduced gloriouf- ly upon the ftrength of that union ; and left us in perfect harmony. Unhappy were the councils which difturbed that harmony ; unhappy was the idea of taxation, which, witliout being productive of any one of the benefits expected from it, has given birth to a thoufand calamities which were not foreften. From the aera of this innovation we are to date all the diftur- bances which have (haken the whole empire ; and which if we do not treat them with more wifdii'n, muft inevitably end in the diiiblution of all American dependence on the parent ftate. Iw confidering this fubjedt, two very material qtieftions immediately preient ihemftlves. Whether I meafurcs Uors who ations not, 1 their fa- ions learn the injury e have too at this will ^he courfe •ength and ittachment robability, J feeblenefs I hope to during the acy which uniefs our fed. The 1 gloriouf- ; and left were the ; unhappy iiout being lS exped^ed calamities le sera of he diftur- e empire; ivith more difiblution irent fiate. y material es. Whether ( 3 ) Whether we have a ric^ht to tax the colonies ? and, Whether it be expedient to exercife that right ? If a difpaffionate examination fliould (hew, that both or either of thefe muft be anfwered in the negative, it will prove that our prtient meafures are not dictated by political wifdom. In order to determine whether we have a right to tax the colonies, we muft confider the natur;j of taxation — in whom the right of granting mo- ney refidcs — and from whence that right arifes. Taxation is the giving and granting the pro- perty of the people, by themfelvcf?, or by perlons authorized by them, who are called their dele- gates or reprefentatives. From htnce it follows, that the right of impoling taxes relides originally in the people, and then in the reprefentative bo- dy ; and that it arifes from the delegation of the people. The very idea of property involves in it an exclufive right of giving it by the immediate or intermediate confent of the poilelibr. For as Mr. Locke fays. What property can I have in that which another may take away at his plea- fure ? It is therefore a fundamental principle in our conftitution, and was, until the reign of Henry the fixlh, the invariable practice of it, that the property of the people, not one man ex- cepted, could not be granted but with his own confent, given by himfelf or his reprefentative chofen by himfelf. It was upon this prux'i'le that until that reign, every man in the ki:igtlv)in gave his vote, or had a right to give his \ cte, for the eleftion of a reprefentative, on wloui ) t- :l B 3 that C 4 ) that power was devolved. The feventh of Henry the fourth, made upon complaint of this right having been difturbed, ordiins, that all the peo^ pie (hall ele(5l indiiTerently. Their beiniiT refi- dents in tne county is the only qualification required. It was not until the eighth year of Henry the fixth, that the poiicffion of f(>rty fliii- lings per anmim, in any part of the kingdom, was made neceflary to give a right of voting ; which qualification was, in the tenth year of the llime reign, reftrifted to freehold in the county. It is plain from this, that the writers who have controverted Mr. Locke's polition, that, upon the principles of the ccnfritution, " the fupreme power cannot take away any man's property without his confent,'* were either unacquainted as uell with the principles as the pradice of the conftitution, or artfully mifreprefented them. This view of our conftitution (hews alfo the propriety of that emphatical and brilliant expref- lion of Lord Camden, that — '* there was not a blade of grafs which when taxed, was not taxed by the confent of the proprietor.'* That taxation and reprefentation are conftitu- tionally infeparable, and that it was the fixed principle of govcnnncnt, that the property of the people could be given by their confent only, fignified by their reprefentatives, chofen by thtmfelves, appears beyond controverfy, both from general confiderations, and from a variety of particular proofs, arifing from ancient and un- doubted records. The general confiderations which fupport ^hefe politions are- — That it is an eternal law the txi (£ t( (( (i ' Lc CO! cer Jim niii CO) as . Fr % lia /«; ex S wo; i ♦• A] «( i( E CO itj M m be of Henry this right 1 the peo^ eitiG^ refi- liiliiication th year of f<>rty (liil- kingdom, f voting ; >'ear of the e county, who have hat, upon le fnpreme property acquainted iiice of the ted them. alfo the mt expref- was not a not taxed I conftitu- the fixed roperty of if confent s, chofen erfy, both a variety It and un- i fupport ternal law %\ ( 5 ) i^f Nature, fo incident to and infeparable from the very idta of property, that no property can efift without it. *' VVhatever is a man's own, *' r\u other perl'on can have a right to take from ** him, without his confent, exprefled by hiin- *' fclf or his reprefentative. Whoever attempts " to do it, attempts an injury ; whoever does it " commits a rubbery he throws down and " dcftroNS the dilVuidion between liberty and " flnery." Nor is this the difcovery of Mr. Locke, or the peculiar provifion of the EngliHi conftitution. It was long iince fet forth by Ci- cero, in thefe words, Hi-ecfunt fun d amenta firmlf" jima Ubertiitis^ fu'i quemque juris retincndi ac ds* mttevdi ejfc arbitrhm. It pervaded every feudal conftitution in Europe, and was exercifed with. as much precifion and jealoufy by the States of France and the Cortes of Spain, as by the Eng- lifh Houfe of Commons. Auxilla^ fays Brafton, Jiunt de gratia, et non de jure ; cu7n dependeant ex gratia tenantium, et non ad volitntatem domi- norum* Dr. Robertfon tells us, " When any ** extraordinary aid was granted by freemen to " their fovereign, it was purely voluntary. *'+ And again, " It was a fundamental principle in *' the feudal fyftem of policy, that no freeman " could be taxed unlefs by his own confent ."J Every one knows, from the moft authentic ac- counts, that in the German conftitution, from its earlieft date, all the people had a right to be prefent in their aflemblies, and a(Ient to what ^ound them : De niinoribus principes confultant ; de * L. 3.C. 16, -j- Hlft, Charles V. p. 360. % lb, p. 36. ii Y I I ( 6 ) de majortbiis omncs.-f Hotoman informs us, that in France it was not lawful to debate on any thing concerning the commonwealth, but in the general council of the ttates.|| So tenacious were they in Spain of this general confent, that in the Cortes it was necefl'ary every member fhould give his aflent before the adl was binding.* And 1 am well informed, that at this very day, no taxes can be raifed upon the free cities of Bruflels, Antwerp, &c. even by the Emprefs Queen, with- out the confent of every individual citizen who is prefent in the aiicmblv. To the facred, etern;il, and univerfal right of giving property, even a tyrant of the north has been obliged to bear his telliniony. We have heard the prefent king of Sweden publiclv de- clare to iiis people that to be taxed by others was repugnant to the moft precious part of their liberty, which confitls in taxing themfclves. " To this right," iliys he, *' of the nation to '* tax itfclf, 1 would have the greateft attention *' paid, becaufe 1 am engaged by oath to let my " fiibjecl:s enjoy their liberties and privileges, ** without any reftrldion." From thefe external propfs and illuftralions of the do(ftrine, that the confent of the owner is eiTential to the juft difpofal of property, fo that the fupieme power cannot, and never could, in any free ftate, take away any man*s property without his confent ; we come now to demon- ftrate it from the praJi( ( »o ) hoiife. It is true, that on the patent roll, 3 Edward I. and in a variety of other inftances, they gave feparately, and of their own property ; but thefe are additional proofs how prevalent the idea was, that property could be given only and abfolutely by thofe who owned it. Lord Clarendon fays, the origin of fupplies in the commons had never been difputed in the worft of times, and that the lords acknowledged it in 1640.* We are told in the Cafe ftated,f a work known to be written under the infpec- tion of the lords — that the lords fay, " as to what concerns their rights and privileges, they pretend not to be the beginners of any charge, to be laid on the eftates of the fub- je ( ,2 ) the right ; for there is a manifeft and eternal difference between regulating the mode in which a right may be enjoyed, and eftablifhing a prin- ciple which entirely anniliilates that right. To eftablifli the power of the Bri;i{h parliament to give and grant the property of the people of America, is moll clearly to annihilate their right of confentlng to the difpofal of that pro- perty, in whole or in part, in perfon or by reprefentntion. How far this is confiilent with the exiftence of property, with the principles and praclice of all free conftitutions, and efpecinlly of our own, I have already furnilhed the reader with the ge- neral means of judging. 1 iliall now proceed to ihew, that the fame principle pervades and go- verns the particular inftances, in which it was nccefiiiry that diftinct parts of the empire ihould contribute to the fupport of government, in doing which their own confent was always deemed indifpenlable. In the tenth year of Edward the firft, this prince being under a neceffity of demanding (up- plies, applied to his fubjecls in Ireland, diftindly, to folicit a loan to enable him to carry on the war againft Wales.* Unfettled as the Hate of Ireland then was, the right of granting their own property was coniidered as fo eflential to an Knglifh fubjecl:, that the application was not made to the parliament at Weftminfter, but to the people themfelyes, whofe money was to ba given. When * Rym. ex Rol. Wall, loEd. i. Leland, v. i.p. 248, he ad( pen fiti the] api call ind eternal e in which ing a prin- ight. To liatrent to people of lilate their that pro- on or by e exiftence practice of our own, th the ge- proceed to is and go- ich it was ire Ihoiild iment, in IS always firft, this iding {up- Jiftinaiy, y on the e Hate of ting their lential to 1 was not ', but to as to bo WI len 248. f /3 ) When the fame prince was again in didrcf?;, he applied firft to the clergy of Ireland, for an additional fiftetnth of the fpirituakies, and they peremptorily refufed to comply with therein:- Ution. The King refpeded the right of refufing, though the refiifal itfclf was fo grievous a dif- appointment to him. He therefore neither called in the abfolute power cf his EnglKh parliament, nor of his army, to enforce the re- quiiition, but applied to the laity of Ireland, , from whom he received more latisfai^Ion. Dr. Leland tells us, that " after fome altercation and delnv, tlicy granted him a fifteenth of their eifeds."* Thus this magnanimous prince, well fatisfied that it was the inherent right of an Fnglilh fubjcx^, not to have his property taken frcm him, but by his own confent, given by himlelf or by his reprcfentative chofen by him- felf, whether that iiiljed was in England or Ireland, he applied to Wim or to his reprcfenta- tive for the lupplies which were to arife out of his property. ^'^ But we find the Infeparable connexion of repreftntation and taxation ftill more irrefraga- bly proved, in the rtign of Edward the third. I will ftate the tranfadion in the words of Dr. Lelnnd. It is dittinguiflied and decifive. " The parliament of England grew uneafy •' under the burthen of fuppoj ting the King's " Irilh dominions ; they remonft rated ; they " folicited that ihict enquiry Ihould be made *' into the deficiencies of the royal revenues in ^* this realm. The King was no lefs impatient " to * Leland, p. 251, -I -'•■ J . i % tt a • ( Cb 6k (( «4 4fr i( «t ( U ) to find any pnrt of the fupplies deftined to his military fcr\'ice, diverted to a piirpofc *' which he deemed of much lefi moment, the fuppoit of a difordered government in Ire- land. An agent, called Nicholas Dagworth, was difpatthed into this country : his in- ftrnclions were to rcprefent the neceffities of the crown, and the grievous deficiencies of the Irifli revenue ; to convince the King's mi- nifrcrs of the necefTity of exerting themfelves for the intereft of their royal maitcr. It was particularly directed that an Irifh parliament '* ilioiild be convened v/ithout deiav, for the *' purpofe v-i* granting fuch a liberal fubiidy, as '* ihould provide not only for the exigences of *' their own ilate, but for the affiftance of their '* fovcreign in his foreign wars. The parlia- '* ment was ailcmbled ; they pleaded the poverty '' of the rcuh?!, tiHu rejiifed the fupplies, Ed- ward was provoked ; he iffued his writs of fummons both to the clergy and laity. The bilhops were commanded to chufe two of the clergy in each diocefs ; the commons to chufe two laymen in each county, to repre- fcnt the lords and commons in that county ; the cities and boroughs, in like manner, each to elect two citizens and burgefles. The aiiernbly was directed to repair to the King in England, to treat, confult, and agree with him and his coimcil, as well on the govern- ment of the land of Ireland, as the aid and fupport of the King's war." We have the anlwers of the archbifliop of Armagh, and of the county of Dublin, to this fum- «& it «; (( ii (( {( i( 66 C( c: 66 i( « li »* t C6 «( <6 66 66 46 ! deftined to a piirpofc noment, the nent in Ire- i Dagworth, ry : his in- neceffities of iencies of the King's mi- 3; themfelves ten It was 1 parliament iav, for the fubfidy, as exigences of nee of their The parlia- j the poverty 'ies, Ed- is writs of aity. The life two of mmons to to repre- t county ; nner, each [es. The the; King jigree with »e govern- |e aid and »bi(hop of 1, to this fum- 46 ( '5 ) fummom Jiftin^lly recorded. " We are not «* bni^nd, faid the prehte, agreeable to the liber- " ties, privileges, rights, laws rindcuttoms of the *' church and land of Ireland, to ele£l any of our •* clergy, and to fend them to any part of Eng- *' land, for the pnrpofe of holding parliaments or ** councils in England ; yet on account of our ** reverence to our lord the King of England, and the now imminent neceiiity cf the land aforefaid, faving to us, and to the lords and commons of the faid land, all rights, privi- leges, liberties, laws and cuftoms before-men- tioned, we have eleded reprefentatives to repair to the King in England, to treat and •' confiilt with him and his council ; except, " however, that we do by no means grant to " our faid reprefentatives any power of aflenting *' to any burdens or fubiidies to be impofed on •* us or our clergy, to which wc cannot yield, *' by realoH of" our poverty and duly expence ** indefendijig the land againft the Iri(h enemy. *' In like ni:ii>ncr wc find the county of Dublin at fiiil elei^ed titeir reprefentatives, without power or authority to cmfent to the impoiition of anv burdens. The King com- plained of the election as infufficient and irre- gular, and the Iheriti' was directed to make another return, in prcfc nee of the trcafurer and chief juttice of tlic Kihg's-bench. Difficulties were Itarted and delays contrived ; at length the nobles and commons, unanimoufly and '• v^ith one voic! declare, that, according to the ** rights, privileges, liberties, laws and ciiftoms '' of the land of Ireland, enjoyed from the time * of the conqueltof the faid land, they are not *' bound «i «i n tt «i (I I! U 'I 3 ji ;•'■ ( .6 ) " bound to fend any perlons from the land of " Ireland to the parliament or council of our *' lord the King;, in England, to treat, confult, *' or agree with our lord the King in England, *' as the writ requires. Nothwithftanding, on '* account of their reverence, and the neceility ** and prefent diftrefs of the faid land, they have ** elected reprtfentatives to repair, to the King, *' and to treat and confult with him and his council, refcrving to themfclves the power of vickl'ing or agreeing to any fubhdies. At the latnc time protefting that their prefent c mpliancc is not hereafter to be taken in pre- judice to the rights, privileges, laws and cu- " lioms, which the lords and commons, from the time of the conqueft of the land of Ireland, " have enjoyed. " What w;is the refult of this notable con- tro\ erfy between Edward and his fubjetls of Ireland, or whether or how far the King's ne- CviFities were fupplied, we are not diftindtly inf(^rmcd. It only appears, that the Irifli re- *' prel". ntatives fat at Weftminfter, and that their *' wages were levied on the diocefies, counties " and boroughs which had chofen them.*'* The iinqiieitionable conclufion from this re- cord is, that to give and grant the property of Englifli fubjeds, in an aflembly wherein they were not prcient in perlon or by rcprefentation, was deemed fo unconftitutional, that no neceffity could prompt or julVify it. The parliament at Wellminller did not conlider this dodlrine as repugnant to their rights, or trenching upon their • Ibid. p. jj;, t( i( C( (( ti li c& »c «( t( ->.'y m the land of ouncil of our treat, confult, \ in Engiaiul, liftanding, on the neceffity tid, they have to the King, him and his the power of iblidies. At their prefent taken in pre- aws and cu- nnions, from d of Ireland, lotable con- s fiibjeds of 2 King's ne- t diftinctly :he Irifli rc- id that their es, counties lem."* om this re- property of lerein they •dentation, JO neceffity •liament at o6lrine as tiing upon their ( ■; ) their niuhority ; though they were by no mcins difpofcd to yield any of their priv^ilegps to the crown, or permit an illegal exertion of the prero- gative. This record is alfo a proof that the fole right of giving was fo inherent in the owner of property, that the people at large might delegate it in whole or in part ; might reftrain it entirely, or refer ve to themfelves the controul of confent- ingto the grant of their reprefentatives, to give it final efficacy. It appears too, from the writs illiied upon that occafion, that every perfon concerned, without any farther qualitication in . the conduct of the reprcfentali\ es, was to give his voice in elc£ling them. The words of the writ are, Archieplfcophy cpifcoph^ vke-comitibuSj fenefcalles^ majorihus, fuperioribus ^ priepojttlsy ac omnibus aliis ejufdem terrae quorum intereft, ad eleB'tonem hiijitfrnodi duarinn perfonarum^ in An^ gliam In forma pnvdiSia tranfmittendarum, facien^ dam,^ In tracing the hiftory of the Irifh parliaments, we find they not only knew their right of grant- ing money, but how inftrumental it was in ob- taining a redrefs of grievances. In the reign of Henry the fifth, they accompanied the grant with a reprefentation of grievances. t In the year 1585 the ordinary fubfidy bill was rejected by the commons of Ireland ; the reafon appears to have been a complaint of grievances, and an ap- prehenfion of more, cfpecially of oppreflive and extraordinary taxation.]: Queen Elizabeth, du- ring whofe reign this happened, had too much D fpirit * Appendix to Leiand's hift. p. 365. f Lelaad, v. 3, p. J Jf X Lcland, v. 2, p. ^96. ( >8 ) fpirlt to have acqulefced in this refufal, could fhc or any one about her have conceived that the intervention of her Englifh parliament might grant the fubfidy out of the property of the peo- ple of Ireland, without the moft flagrant vio- lation of their conftitutional rights. Neither is it probable that the Irifh commons would have hazarded fuch a meafure of oppolition, had they imagined themfelves liable to be taxed in the En- glilh parliament, and thereby deprived of this means of enforcing a redrefs of grievances. In the reign of James the firft, we find them reftored to good humour by conciliatory meafures ; and then they granted a liberal fubfidy with fo much alacrity and zeal, that the King returned them thanks, in a flattering letter addrefled to the Lord Lieutenant.* Charles the firft, and his favourite VVentworth, tried every art to perfuade them to make liberal and permanent grants ; the threat of interpofing the King's prerogative was added. Under the influence of promifes and fears, the commons made a grant of four entire fubfidies.-|* Neither the King nor his deputy were fincere, the graces they promifed were not granted ; the commons therefore contrived a method of fi'U- ftrating the colleftion of the fubfidy, and the civil wars which foon followed put an end to all further requifitions, I have been more particular in Hating thefe fa, 4^7. f Iriflijourn. 1640. Lifal, could reived that nent might of the peo- grant vio- Neither is voiild have , had they in the £n- cd of this ces. In the m reftored fures ; and h fo much irned them 3 the Lord s favourite de them to the threat was added. fears, the fubfidies.f re fincere, nted; the od of fiu- , and the end to all ing thefe it is im- ilar to that red coun- sel in all the ( 19 ) the agitation of necefllty and pafTion, and the vari- ous expedients it produced, that of impofing tax- es upon Ireland in the Englifh parliament was never attempted. There are however lonie diffe- rences in favour of Americii. In the former, the conquered people and the Englifh were in fome meafure intermixed ; in the latter, they were and Hill continue totally diftln^l. The Englifli fub- jcds who fettled in Ireland carried with them their rights, not exprefled but latent; whereas thofe of the American fettlers were confirmed by charters. I am far from thinking that char- ters crente rights; they are inherent in and unalienable from the perfon of the fubjedl. Al- legiance and prote£lion in thefe rights are a mutual compact betwen the prince and the peo- ple. As emigration does not diilblve allegi- ance, neither can it diveft rights : they in- volve each other, and are infeparable. But fo folemn a recognition and confirmation of them, as charters under the great feal of a kingdom manifeft, renders the violation of them fiill more confpicuous and criminal. From the hi- ftory of Ireland we learn another difference, which is, that taxes were levied in England to defend and protedl that country for fome time after its fettlement; whereas all the old colo- nies in America were fettled, and the wars car- ried on with the natives, folely at the expence of the fettlers themfelves ; this country bearing none of the burthen, but reaping infinite bene- fits from the fettlement. Canada, Florida, and Nova Scotia, are exceptions to this ; but they are acquifitions obtained from France and Spain* D 2 which i ■^ 1 I VJJ^ h ( 20 ) which belong therefore to diis country, and will fooii rcp:iy with intereft the fupplles which h:ive heen voted for them. As it was therefore irofl clearly corifitlered, tjiat Englifli fuhjcds emigrating to and fettling in Ireland, tho' a conquered country, were not liable to he taxed by the Englifli pnrliament, it feems ftrange to contend that the fa iie fub- jeds fettling in America were I'.iiMe to fuch taxation, 'rhefupreme powT of this parlia- ment has been always aiierted and frequently cxercifed over Ireland ; the right of giving and granting their money for the purpofes of a re- venue, never. Who is it that can point out a difference adequate to fo great a diminution of Englilli liberty in the perfon of him who emigrates to America, as that he fliall not on- ly be fuhjecl to the fuprcme power of the Bri- tilh parliament, but to be taxed where he Is not reprefented. Now it is not only impoflible, I conceive, to give any plaufible reafon for this diftlndlon, but it is clear that no fuch Idea was ever ferioufly en- tertained till the year 1 764. What can be a more, decifive proof of this, than that the people of Amciica have alvvays chofen reprefentatives of their own, and that the crown has conftantly applied to thole reprefentatives for the fupplles which were wanting ? If the fettled, notorious, invariable practice of government, be not evi- dence of the conftltution, from whence are we to learn it ? If it had not been confiftent with the conftltution, and cllential to the free ftate of ^n Euglifh fubjed, that he (hould chufe repre- fenta- ■•J:i ^i V, and will "lies which conficlered, nd fettling were not )nrliament, (nnc fub- ie to fiich .Iiis parlla- frequently fiving and s of a re- point out iminution him who 1 not on- f the Bri- ^hcre he is nceive, to ftion, but ioufly en- be a more, people of tatives of onftantly fupplies lotorious, not evi- e are we ent with K ftateof ife repre- fenta- ( 2« ) {entatives who only fliould impofe taxes upon him, how did it happen that both in Ireland and America our colonifts, without any fpecial law to direcl it, frc^m their earlieft infancy cbofe. fuch reprefentatives, who have always exercifed that authority. Had this been illegal, furcly, the crown would not have encouraged it, by con- ftantlv making, requifitions thro* its governors, and giving aficnt to laws impofing taxes by the authority of provincial afiemblies, nor would pariianTnt have permitted a pradlice, which makes thofr- allembllcs coequal with themfelves. It is, I apprehend, rnofl: undeniable, that either parliament has r.o right to impofe taxes upon the people of Ireland and America, or they have the folc ri^ht; for notlnng can be fo abfurd as to fup- pofe a people fiibject to two taxing powers, not coo.imunicating with each other, not knowing what each othtr are doing ; in confequence of which t!ie people might be burthcned with a douV)le tax upon the fame thing, fo as to be pn^ductive of perpetual confufion and diftrefs. This would plainly be fuch an inconfiftency in politics as would render government at once ridiculous and oppreiiive. The afiertion there- fore at this day, of the right of parliament to im- pofe taxes upon Ireland and America, involves in it the higheft criminal charge againft all thofe who have for centuries been active or acquief- cing in the Impolition of taxes upon the people of thofe countries, which according to the mo- dern doArine, the authority of parliament only jcould impofe. If they juftify by pleading that they I ( " ) they were the reprefentatives of the people whofe money they granted, the admiflion of that plea will defeat the pretenfions of parliament, who do not reprefent them, t That reprefentation and taxation were ever deemed infcparable, the following copy of a petition from the county Palatine of Cheftcr, in 1450, is an eminent proof. " Moft chriftian, henigne, and gracious King, *' we your humble fubjeOs, and true, obaifant, ** liege people, the abbot*;, priors, and all the •• clergy, your barons, knights and efquires, •]• There is a folcmn rr folutlon of the hoiife of commons, that no tallage, loan, benevolence, or other like charge, ought to be commanded or levied by the King or any of his minlflcrs, with- out common conlont of parliament, if it had been imagined that this refolution concluded to all the fubjti^s of the empire, if nn idea had been entertained, that the confent of parliament involved in it the confent of Ireland or America, what mini- Ikr would have ventured to advife the King to a(k money from the commons of Ireland and of America, and to have levied it upon the people by the authority of their legiflaturcs ? Every minlfter who gave fuch advice, would have hazarded his head; no parliament would have endured fo open a violation of its rights and of the conftitution. Bul no fuch fuppofition ever entered into any man's head, and therefore, it has been the efta- bliflied and unimpe.nched praftice, ever fince the foundation of our dominion in thofe countries, for the King to make rcc^iii- fitions for fupplics to their reprefentatives, and levy taxes by the authority of their legiflaturcs. The inftanccs of this are innu- merable. It has been done by every miniflcr, .it all times, and in every reign. It has been repeatedly announced with regard to America, to the hoiife of commons, in the King's mefl'a- pes, without rjuefiion or complaint. It remained for the new- fangled doctrine of this day to maintain that America wa» reprc- fcnted in parliament. A doctrine involving confeiiuenccs which they who broached it were far from forefeeing. It would devote their deareft conneilions to impe.ichmcnt, and brand the memory of every minilKr who preceded, as a traitor 10 the conllitution of his country, «* and (( ti ii 46 ;opTe wliofe f that plea nent, who were ever "opy of a 'heftcr, in ions King, , obaifant, nd all the I efquircs, mmons, that ', ought to he nlflcrs, with- en imagined f the empire, jf parliament what mini- money from avc levied it irts ? Every .'d his head; at ion of iti >o(iti()n ever cen the tfta- )undation of make rc<]iii. taxes by the is are inmi. times, and ivith rewartl ny'.s mefla- Ji- the new- I was repre- onfenuenccs fteing. It ment, and as a traitor (< and (C «( i( «( (( «c «( (( it ii «( it cc (( ■it (( «( xt (& ( ^3 ) and all the commonalty of your county Pa- latine of Chefter, meekly prayen and be- feechen your highnefs — Where the faid coun- ty is and hath been a county Palatine, as well before the conqueft of England as con- tinually iince, diftincl and fcparate from the crown of England ; within which county you and all your noble progenitors, fithen it came into your hands, have had your high courts of parliament — and no pofleffioners or inheritors w^ithin the faid county be not chargeable or liable, nor have not been bounden, charged, nor hurt of their bodies, liberties, franchifes, land, goods nor poflef- fions within the fame county, but by fucli laws as they have agreed unto — and alfo they have no knights, citizens, na burgefles, na ever had, of the faid county, to any parlia- ment holden out of the faid county, whereby they might in any way of reafon be bounden — which franchifes, notwithftanding there be your commilfions directed out to feveral com- miffioners of the fame county, for the levy of fubfidy, granted by the commons of your land, in your parliament late begun at Weft- minfter and ended at Leicefter, to make levy thereof within the faid county, after the form of their grant thereof, contrary to the liber- ties, freedoms and franchifes of the faid coun- ty and inheritance of the fame, at all times before this time ufed, that pleafe your noble grace, of your noble favour, the premiles gracioufly to confider, and hereupon to dif- charge all fuch commiirioners of levy of the " faid «4 C( / 24 ) *^ faid fuhfidy wrthin the faid county, dnd of ** your fpeclal meer grace, ever to fee, that '' there be never act in this parliament, nor in any parliament hereafter holdcn out of the lliid county, made to the hurt of any of the '• inheritors or inheritance of the faid coimty, *' of their bodies, liberties, franchifes, goods, *' lands, tenements or pofleffions, being within '* the faid county. For if any fuch aa (hould ** be made, it were clean contrary to the liber- •' ties, freedoms, immunities, and franchifes of *' the faid county, &c. &:c. &c." ANSWER. " The King's will is, to the fubiidy In this " bill contained — Forafmuch as he is learned, " that the befeechers in the fame, their prede- *' ceflors nor anceftors, have not been charged " afore this time, by authority of any parlia- " ment holden out of the faid county, of any *' quindifma or fubfidy, granted to him or any *' of his progenitors in any fuch parliament, *' that the befeechers and each of them be dif- " charged of the paving and levy of the faid " fubfidy, &c. &c. &c." This petition and anfwer require no com- ment : they plainly recognize, that to impofe taxes where the right of doing it is not dele- gated, was unufual and unconiVitutional. The fame principle operated in forming afts of the legiflature for reprefentatives to be fent from Wales and the county of Durliam to the Eng- lilh parliament, and on the crown to ifluc writs to tol tl wl ec fel m niy, dnd of to fee, that ^ent, nor In out of the f any of the faid county, Jifes, goods, )einp; within 1 aft fhould o the liber- Vanchlfes of )ridy In this is learned, their prede- sen charged any parlia- ty, of any lim or any parliament, lem be dif- 3f the faid no com- to impofe not dele- lal. The g afts of fent from the Eng- iTuc writs to ( 25 ) to Calais for the fame purpofe, when it became a part of the empire. It was invariably conceived^ that the property of Englifh fubjedts, conneded with the general dominion, could not be grant- ed but in an aflembly where they were repre- fented. Upon this principle our Confbitutioii manifeftly ftands ; and to fubvert the one, would In effed be to overthrow the other. The prac- tice of every free ftate, efpeclally of England ; the praftice of Ireland, Chefter, Wales, and Calais, as members of the empire ; the conftitu- tion of the church, and the very nature of pro- perty, all confpire to fheWj that this principle is the eflential right of the fubjeft in every part of the dominion. The right of property is the guardian of every other right, and to deprive a people of this, is in faft to deprive them of their liberty. Let me now have leave to rfiew, that thefe have been invariably the fentiments of thofe great men, whom we allow to be the beft ac- quainted with our conilitution, and its firmeil defenders, *' I will begin," fays Sir Edward Coke, " with a noble record — it chears me to think of it, the 26th of Edward III. It is worthy to be written In letters of gold — " Loans againft the will of *' the fubjec^, are againft reafon and the franchifes ** of the land." — What a word is thdxfranchife ! The lord may tax his villain, high or low, but it is againft the franchifes of the land for freemen to be taxed but by their own confent." The reafoning of Mr. Locke Is fo clear and coneluiive, and his authority fo great, that it is E not ( 26 ) not neccfllirv to give the words of Sidney and Milton, vvhofe opinions were precilely the lame. *' The fuprcme powers cannot," fays Mr. Locke, *' take from any man any part of his property, without his own confent. For the prefers ation of property heing the end of go- vernment, and that from which men enter into fociety, it neccflarily fuppofts and requires that tlie people Ihould have property, without which they muft he fiippofcd to have loft that by en- tering into fociety, which was the end for which they entered into it — too grofs an abfurdity for any man to own. Men, therefore, in fociety having property, they have fuch a right to the goods which by the law of the community are theirs, that nobody hath a right to take their fubftance, or any pnrt of it, without their own confent. Without this they have no property at all : for 1 truly have no property in that which another can of right take from me, when he pleafes, Vvithout my confent. Hence, it is a miftake to think that the fupreme or legiflative power of any commonwealth can do what it will, and difpofe of the eftates of the fubjedl ar- bitrarily, or take any part of them at pleafure."* It is impoifible an exprefs advocate for America could fpeak more explicitly to the point, and Mr. Locke's argument is evidently founded on the ftatute ik talUigio f?on concedenc/o, which de- clares, that the goods of no manner of perfon Ihall be taken, without the good will and afl'ent of the party to whom the goods belong ; and upoA * On government, fol, p, 197* ■;/4* =1 •idney and i^ely the ^ays Mr. ^rt of his For the id of go- ^nter into I ires that »iit which t by en- 31* which i'dity for 1 Society it to the »ity are ^Q their ■ir own roperty in that » when ^ it is a Iflative /hat it a ar- fure."* pierica ^ and led on :hde- >erfon a/lent ; and upoA ii ( ^7 ) npon a folemn refolutlon of tiie houfe of com- mons, which maintains that the ancient and undoubted rights of every freeman are, that he hath a full and abfolute property in his goods, and eftate, and that no tallage, loan, benevo- lence, or other like charge, ought to be com- manded or levied by the King, or any of his mlnifters, without common confent in parlia- ment.t I have already (hewed, that it never was the idea that the common confent of America was given in the parliament of England ; the term did not even include the clergy, who ne- ver were taxed in it till they were reprefented ; and who told the commons, in the record I before cited, that they were not to be taxed there ; to which the commons aflented. The doflrine was held neither novel, infolent, nor unconftitu- tional ; and the pradice was uniform, notorious, and uncontroverted. Taking up then the American queftion on this conftitutional ground : either the Ame- ricans are not freemen, or to impofe taxes upon them in parliament, in which not one of them is reprefented and therefore cannot give his con- lent, is to diveft them of all property, and dif* folve the original compad upon which, according to Mr. Locke,, they entered into fociety. Thefe conliderations mark the propriety of what my Lord Camden urged with fo much real eloquence, in his unanfwerable fpeech againft the declaratory bill, " My pofition is this — I repeat it — I will main- " tain It to my laft hour — Taxation and repre- *' fentation are infeparable. This pofition is E 2 « founded f Com. Journ, V, i. p. 878, k' 1 I 1 ( ^8 ) '" founded on the laws of nature. It is more— ^? it is itfelf an eternal law of nature. For •*' whatever is a man's own, is ihfolutely his *' own — no man has a right to take it frniu him *' without his confent. Whoever attempts to *' do it, attempts an injury — vhocvcr does it, *' commits a robbery ; he throws down and " deftroys the diftinc^ion between liberty and «' flavery." Upon thefe principles our own conftitution Hands ; upon thefe principles ihc American claim is founded. If they are fallacious, then were our own claims ulurpatlons upon the crown, and the glorious revolution itfelf was nothing more than a fuccefsful rebellion ; Hampden, Pym, Sidney and Rulfel, than whom Greece with all her patriots, and Rome \yith all her heroes, produced no men who trod this mortal ftage with more dignity, or quitted it with greater luftre, were fturdy traitors. Surely thofe pretenfions cannot be juft, which fo mani- feftly fubvert, in principle, the foundation of our conftitutional liberties ! That this claim and right of giving their pro- perty by their own confent, fignified by their re- prefentatives^ is not novel, but coeval with their exiftence as colonies, will fully appear from the following proof. In 1620 the colony of Virginia, then in its very infancy, chofe reprefentatives,by whom only they have been taxed from that time till 1 764. It was not by charter that they eftablifhed and enjoyed this privilege, but by the operation of thofe rights which are inherent in Englifli- men. E) tic PI ci| t IS more— i^tiire. For rolutely his it frniu him attempts to ^ cr does it, down and liberty and :onflitutioa rican claim then were the crow]i, as nothing Hampden, )m Greece ith all her his mortal :d it with Surely h fo mani- ion of our their pro- Y their re- with their from the len in its hom only 11 1764. flied and ration of Englifh- men. \ ( ^-0 ) nen, in whatever part of the dominion they in- habit. The fame plan of government was pur- fued in every colony in America. In truth, an Englilhman had no idea of any other conftitu- tion, and always confidered it as the bails of public liberty. In 1625 king Charles the firft fignified his intention of fubftituting a governor and coun- cil as the legiilature in Virginia. Upon this a general difquictude and diflatisfa^lion prevailed through the colony. The aflembly remonftrat- ed aguind it, as '• an affault upon their rights and privileges.'* In confequence of this, the privy council at lad fent them a letter, dated the 2 2d of July, 1634, containing the royal afiiirnnce and confirmation of their eftates, trade, v freedom and privileges. Upon the diflblution of monarchy, the commonwealth difpatched a governor with a fquadron to take poileffion of Virginia. He was permitted to land upon ar- ticles, of which the following is one, and deci- lively (hews what were their original ideas of their rights. Article fourth-, *' Virginia (hall be free from all taxes, cuftoms and impolitions "vyhatfoever, and none (hall be impofed on them without confent of the general aflembly." The aflembly of New York, in 1 708, refolved, " That it is, and always has been, the unqueftion- able right of every freeman in this colony, that he hath a perfe^ and entire property in his goods and eilate. That the impofing taxes, and levying of any monies upon her majefty's fub- je6:s of this colony, under any pretence or co- inur whatfoever, without confent in general af- fembly. ( 3° ) fembly, is a grievance, and a violation of the people's property."* Thus wc fee, that this right of giving their money by their own confent alone, has been al- ways claimed, alferted, and exercifed by the Americans ; and that the crown and parliament as conftantly recognized the exercife of it, till the year 1764. Let the right therefore refide really where it will, it b very clear that the novelty of claiming it is on our fide : but if the uniform claim and exercife of a right, with our as uniform recognition and acquiefcence for one hundred and fifty years, will not render it clear and unim- peachable, I know not by what lapfe of time, or by what circumftances, the enjoyment of any privilege can be rendered facrcd and fecure. It is plain that there was no period of thtir exi- ftence at which the colonies would not have re- claimed againft an attempt to raife taxes upon them without the confent and grant of their re- prefentatives. With what truth then can the prefent oppofition to it be imputed to a fpirit of difaffedlion, and a defire to throw off all de- pendence upon the parent ftate ? That depen- dence and fubordination would remain the fame that it ever was or ought to be, were the exer- cife of this novel, odious, and unprofitable claim difowned and aboliflied. There is a moft ma- terial difference between a fubject and a flave ; between fubordination and (lavery. The Ame- ricans are fubordinate, when we controul them, for our own advantages, in the means of ac- quiring property ; when we add to that the ' • ^ - pradice • Smith's Hiflory of New York, p. 115, praci our we, my attei hapj 11 on of the ving their s been al- l by the )arhament it, till the (ide really lovelty of - uniform s uniform nd red and nd unim- of time, nt of any cure. It htir exi- have re- ives upon their re- can the fpirit of all de- depen- he fame he exer- )le claim oft ma- a flave ; le Ame- il them, s of ac- lat the pradbice ( 3' ) pradice of taking the property fo acquired at our pleafurc, they are flavcs. What right have we, or can we have, to make them Haves ? In my opinion we fhall lofe them as fubjedls by attempting to hold them as flaves. When that happens we (Iiall be compleatly undone. There are however fome arguments againft the pofition, that property can only be taken by confent, which are plaufible, and have had fuch an efifedt as makes them worthy of examina- tion. It is faid, that a great part of the people of England are not reprefented, and yet they are all taxed. This is granted : but how will it conclude to America ? Becaufe our reprefenta- tion here is imperfedt, therefore it (hall be abo- liflied in America — btcaufe fome in England are taxed without their confent, therefore all in America fhall be treated in the fame manner. The Americans are not contending that every man in America lh:ill \ote for a reprefenta- tive, or not be taxed ; if they were, this would be a good anfwer, " We are ourfelves but par- tially reprefented ; why fhould the fubordinate require more fecurity than the fupreme ftate?" But to the American queftion this argument is utterly inapplicable The fecurity of property, as Mr. Locke and common reafon tell us, is the great end of reprefcntntion. It is equal enough ■when that end is obtained. Now from the par- ticipation of the eleded and the eledors with the non-eledors in the taxes which are impofed, the latter, as I before obfervcd, have a virtual fe- curity, which is equal to tliat of tliofe who do eled ; •X i ( 30 clcd : but in the cafe of the Americans there U no fuch participation, and confeqiiently no fuch virtual fecurity ; nay, on the the contrary, as the givers of the money of the Americans (fup- pofe them to be the Britifli houfe of commons) iave their own property and that of their con- ftitnents exaftly in proportion to their laviflling that of the Americans, there is a temptation to extortion and extras ngance, and therefore a vir- tual infecurity of property, which is overturn- ing the very foundation of government. If, for example, a tax is laid on Manchefter, Bir- mingham and Sheffield, the fame is borne by London, Briftoland York ; but let Bofton, New York and Philadelphia be taxed, will London, Brillol and York fhare in the burthen of the impofition ? The real fituation of the unrepre- fented in England, and the people of America if fubjeft to the fame power of taxation in the Britifh parliament, would be juft as different as fecurity and infecurity, or right and wrong. We are next told, that parliament being the legiflature, its a^ls muft bind in all cafes whatfo- ever ; that no line can be drawn, and therefore parliament has a conftitutional right to impofe taxes. Before parliament has conftitutional powers, it muft be conftitutionally formed. There is no magic or efficient power in the word which can give it that power ; it muft be in part con- ftitiited by the people over whom its laws have fway in all cafes whatfoever, or ellfe it is not a conftitutional power. With refpe^ to Great Britain, it is fo conftituted ; with regard to America, :ans there 15 itly no fuch ontrary, as •leans (fup- commons) their con- :Ir lavifhing nptation to efore a vir- ) overturn - iment. If, lefter, Bir- is borne by )fton, New I London, ^hen of the le iinrepre- America if ion in the different as wrong, being the es whatfo- d therefore to impofe I powers, It lere is no )rd which I part con- laws have : is not a to Great regard to America, ( 33 ) America, It is not ; its power therefore cannot or ought not to be the fame over both countries. The delegation of the people is the fource of that power, moft efpecially in point of taxation. That delegation is wanting on the part of America, and therefore the right cannot exift. It is true that the authority of the legiflature makes laws for the levying money upon the fubjeft : but unlefs the gift be previoufly made by the repre- fentatives of the people, there is nothing on which the aft cart work : the gift muft be made firft and diftinft ; the law comes after to prefcribe the mode of levying it. The reprefentatives are the fole fource of the gift, the legiflative a£l is the completion of it ; but without a beginning there can be no end. It is therefore a pofition founded in the eflential principles of the conftitu- tion, that " the fupreme power, however it may make laws for regulating the ftate, cannot take the money of the people without their confent."*' The fubfidies of the clergy, and a gene- ral pardon, will fully illuftrate this. The houfes of the legiflature can alter nothing in them, and yet they give their aflent to palling them into laws. But the things themfelves on which the laws are founded are eccentric to par- liament ; they have their motion in another fphere : the convocation gives the one, the King of his free grace beftows the other : the parlia- ment gives them only the force of laws, and may chufe in that, when they are prepared to their hands ; but with the things themfelves it cannot meddle, to originate or modify them. F Any '*' Locke, f i 34 ) Any other mode of applying the power of the le- giflatiire to the levying of taxes is not conftitu- tlonal, but arbitrary. It is confounding the prin- ciples of the conftitution in the jargon of words, to fay that parliament, becaufe it is the fupreme power, muft therefore have a right to impofe taxes upon the people, whether they are repre- fentcd in it or not. Such a parliament would only be a plaufible and powerful rnftrunterjt of arbitrary power. I Ihall clofe this queftion: of right by obferv- ing, that as the power of giving is the gieat fe- curity of our liberties, fo it is the only one which the Americans enjoy. Deprived of this, xheir lituation would be defperate, Expofed to that jealoufy which thoufands are perpetually en- deavouring to ftimulate againft them with- out any power or mean» to coimtcraft or reiift its eftefts— — they wouki be at the mer- cy of eveiy informer, of every governer, mi- ll ifter, and member of parliament. Whatever was moved againft them would meet with no oppofition ; whatever was charged upon them would be received without queltion or enquhy. They would riot only be flaves, bwt the moft miferable of all flaves. In vain would they fay. What is tlie freedom, what are thofe brutiik pri- vileges to which our charters have told us we are intitkd ? Wliere are thofe rights we have poiiefled above an hundred years ago, which we derived from folemn compad, which we have purchafed by the reftraint of our trade, by our acquilitions under thofe reftraints, emptied into your lap as the great mart of our pro- ii J »!l rofthe Je- ot conftitu- igthe prill. 1 of words, he fupreme to irapofe are repre- neiit would ftruniem of by obferv- he gieat fe- ^ one which " this, xheir fed to that etuall/ en- 1 with- mteraft or at the mci- ^erner, mi- Whatever et with no upon them or cnquiiy. t the Hioft d they fay, Jrutifti pri- toJd us we 5 we have go, which which we our trade, reflraitits, irt of our pro- i 35 ) produce and of our confumptlons, by fraternal attachment and unfhaken allegiance ? Thefc were the price we paid for your friendfhip and your protedion : but you have now left us no- thing to pay, nothing to be protefted. Upon the whole of this queflion, it feem? moft manifeft, that it is the ancient, undoubted right of Englifh fubjeds, being freemen or free- holders, to give their property by their own con- fent only, figniiied by tlicmfelves or their reprc- fentatives — That the right of giving mpney, and the right of making laws, are and ever were fepa- rate and didindt ; the one refidirtg in the reprefen- tative, the other in the legrfl^tive body — That the houfe of commons claim and exercifc the fole and incommunicable right of granting the money of the people of Great Britain, becaufe that houfe alone reprefents them — That the houfe of commons ought not to claim or exercife fuch n right over the people of America, becaufe that hou(e does not reprefent them— That to levy taxes upon the people of America, by the autlwrity of the Britiih parliament, in which they arc not repreferited, is unconftitutional ; deprives them of the right of Engliihmen* and reduces them to a ftatc of abfolute villanage. From the coniideration of the rigktt we come next to that of the policy of railing a ^-evenue in America by the Britilh parliament. Is it practicable ? — Is it profitable ? Upon thefe points the policy muft turn. To raife a re- venue upon a diftant and difperfcd people uni- verfally in oppofition to it, by an authority, queftionable at Icaft upon the foundeft princi- F 2 pl«« I ■11 ( 36 ) pics of the conftltution, and in fact denied — -# Is this pradicable ? *' Oh, certainly," fays an ad^ vocate for this mode of government, *' have we not a fyperior force, have we not fleets and armies to compel their obedience ?" Be it fo - But will the revenue pay the expence of this coUeftion ? If it will not, how is it to be pro^ fitable ? One hundred thoufand pounds fer an* fium is the titmoft that the moft extravagant imagination ever expected from the taxation of America. Ten fliips and as many regiments have not collected a twentieth part of it : double your force, and fuppofe it to colle£l the whole ; your expence will at leaft treble your colledlion. My fuppofitions are extravagantly favourable to the coercive fide of the queflion, and yet the conclufion is inevitably againft it. Are theie ways and means to anfwer the demands of a nation, finking, as it is faid, under its debt and its eftablifliment ? «: But let us give this dodlrine of force and of coertion its utmoft efted. Let us fuppofe, that under a convi£^ion of their inability to re- fift the whole force of Great Britain in a time of profound peace, every colony, every aflem-. bly, were to acknowledge your right, and pro- mife implicit obedience, could you truft this • acquiefcence ? Could any man be fo weak as not to pcrcei v e, that they were referving thtir refiftanbe, till the time of war and the neceilkry avocation of our force fhould cnfure its fucccfs ? Is there any man in his fenfes, who can fe- rioufly imagine we ihall remain in peace for i|ivc years. Three young monarchs upon the principal pu obi Allied — ^ ays an ad* ' have we fleets and itfo ,. :e of this :o be pro- is per an* :travagant axation of regunents It; double le whole ; :olle£^Ion. 'avourable id yet the Are thefe ands of a debt and force and s fuppofc, ty to re- n a time f ailem^ and pro- ruft this weak as ng their neceflary fucGcfs ? can fe< leace for jpon the rincipal ( 37 ) principal thrones of Europe ; two old ones look- ing with hatred and revenge againfl: us. Is this a Sate in which a continuance of peace is to be expected ? To give the advocates then for com*' pulfion their utmoft wiih, what is it but to obtain an uncert;iin advantage for fome years, at the hazard of our ruin or humiliation for ever after? Let any man who has the leaft idea of the difficulties of conducing a war againft the houfe of Bourbon and its allies, inform iis, what wifdom, what refources could fave this country from ruin, if in the emergency of fuch a war our American colonies ihould unanimouHy revolt from all obedience, and rejeft all com- merce with us. Who is it that thinks we could furvive fuch a ftrbke ? And yet this coer- cive policy is rendering it inevitable as fate. Of the difpofition of the Americans to refift our authority as of late extended, which they think utterly unjuft, there cannot be a doubt. If they fufpend the efforts of that difpofition, it can only be in their wifdom, to watch the moft favourable moment. That of our being hard prefled in war is plainly fuch. The moft dan- gerous conduiSl, therefore, for us, would be their acquiefcence ; yet we ihould certainly fee the ideots who are condudVmg thefe meafures, triumph upon the receipt of fuch accounts from America. I^)rd North would be held up as the wifeft and the moft fpirited minifter that ever exifted, and he would fnuif up the incenfe of this adulation, in the very fincerity of his va- nity and folly. But it is neither Lord North j)or hi{) flatterers \yho will ftand forth when the ftorin , HI :Sfi.« ( 38 ) ftomi rages, to ihield us from the ruin their want of wifdom and of juftice will bring upon us. We hsivc feen what would be the probable confcquence of an acquielcence on the part of America, how dangerous, how fatal to us. Let us take another view of it. Let us fnppofe the Americflns detertnincd to refift our attempts to impdfe upon them this tribute. It will he Inconfiftem with our dignity to retract. The wifdom, the juftice, the utility of perfevcring — thefe Mt all out of the Cjueftion. Lord North will have America at his feet. They are his very words. Who faysf Lord North is not a bold fpeaking minift^r ? To gratify him, let its fee if we can compel the Americans to abfolute obedience — How we can is doubtful— 4hat wc cannot, without ruining ourfelves, is certain. * I ackfiotvledge, I admire, even to cnthufiafm, the bravery of our troops; what men can do, they will do : but in a country forniihed with faftnefles atid defiles without number, intimately known lo the enemy you are to combat, where difcipline is unavailing or embarraiiing, and -valour ufelefs ; it requires more than human power to fucceed to any permanent purpofe. God forbid that the bravery of fuch troops as the Englifli, fhould be fo vainly, fo fatally em- ployed. Let us fuppofe it true, as ibme vain- glorioois military men have vaunted, that with four regiments yon might march from one end of the continent to the other — What would this exploit avail you ? The moment you quit one provmce for another, the commotions your prdoAce fiippreflcd will revive, Wh«n -you I . . - . have ruin their ng upon us. he probable the part of ital to us. ns fnppofe Lir attempts It will he ra6t. The •revering — .ord North hey are his h is not a tiim, let irs to abfolute l^-4hat wc » certam. enthufiarm, len can do, lifhed with intimately bat, where Ifing, and ban human It piirpofe. h troops as fatally cm- fome vain- , that with »m one end hat would It you quit otions your iVhen -you have ( 39 ) have marched through, you will have to maroh back again. But fuch bravadoes are contempti- ble. The man who is moft forward to advife, is leaft fit to execute fuch arduous enterprifos. Nor would the execution anfwer any other pur- pofe,but that of pluming an individual at the ex- pence of his country. They who remember the fatal overthrow of Braddoc by a few Indians in ambufh, an overthrow incurred by the vej;y difcipUne in which he vainly put his truft, will be apt to doubt t)ie facility of reducing the co- lonies by military force. Difficult however as the redu^ion of our colonies may be, the preferving them in obedience to fuch a government would be infinitely more imprafticable. But in the mean time, while our troops are employed in flaughtering the Americans, who is to cultivate the kinds in America ? Who is to furnifii the grofs materials of our commerce witlv tl>em ? Wiio is to confume the manufactures, and main- tain the mamifafturers to whom tb2|t commei;ce was daily bread ? The wife^minifiers who-planned thefe ^ meafures have furely provided for this. The iieccifity of fuch forefight could not poffi- bly cdape them : but what that provifion. will bci pafles my underftanding. I am, however, much afraid it will not be ouite fubftantial enough to fqed numbers who will be neceilarily idle. i - ■ • ti ' >■ , ':u. )K'r ■>'< The tiaval ilorcSj the iron, the indigo, the tobacco, the flax feed, which the labour of the Americans Airni(hes us, are we able to fubfift without them, or. to procure them from other nationi? Have we forgot the humiliating terms to ■'*! i:l b I * -Sili C 40 ) to which Sweden attempted to reduce tiS? Our recourfe then was to America, She fup- plied us, and removed that dependence, which would otherwife have left us at the mercy of foreign nations. When our wife meafurcs have ftopped up the American channel of fupply, what will (hield us from the exhorbitancy of Sweden and Denmark ? Naval ftores are ne- ceflaries ; if we reflore the monopoly of them, we muft take the confcquences of our folly, • Until South Carolina and Georgia fupplied us with indigo, we paid annually to our enemies, the French, 200,000/. in fpecie, for this article, fo eflential to the exiftence of a variety of im- portant man r failures. We oiiered a bounty upon it. The Americans fupplied us not only for our own confuniption, but for foreign mar- kets.* Inftead of fpecie, they take in return our manufactures, loaded with all our taxes. If the policy which encouraged this commerce was wi{e, that which ftops it muft be foolifh. The duty upon tobacco brings into the re- venue at leaft 400, 000/. per annum. By what ways and means will this deficiency be fupplied ? The profit to this kingdom, upon the confine- ment of this article alone to the ports of Great Britain, and the returns for it in Britifh manufac- tures and merchandize, amounts, at the lowed computation, to half a million yearly, cxcluiive of the duty. I (hall be glad to know how this lofs will be compenfated. I will not enter into the thoufand little ft reams of our Ameri- can commerce, which all combined form a .... . • noble - * See Anderfon's Oi*^. of Commerce^ dnce 11^ ? She fup- :e, which mercy of fures have f fupply, )itaijcy of s are ne- of them, 3ur folly, ipplied us r enemies, lis article, :ty of im- a bounty not only sign mar- in return >ur taxes. :ommerce bolifh. o the re- By what fupplied ? : confine- of Great manufac- he loweft exclufive ow how not enter r Ameri- form a noble ( 41 ) noble river, that pourifhes the navy, the manu- fadures, the fields of England ; and maintains her upon that eminence of grandeur and glory, to which (he is exalted. The value of the whole is incomputable. But I (hall not think the detail neceflkry, till I fee it rendered pro- bable that this extorted American revenue will reimburfe us for the lofs of any one of ihefe articles, indigo, tobacco, or naval ftores. Upon thejuppofition then, that in confequence of the meafures we have lately adopted, unexam- pled in their rigour, unexampled in the violence and injuftice with which they were conduc- ed, America (hould be driven into real reliftance ; what will be the confequence ? Our commerce, our navy, our revenue, our trade, our manufac- tures, will receive immediately a dangerous if not a fatal blow. But we fliall be avenged ! Our difciplined troops will put them to the fword, and deftroy their plantations ; our navy v/iU burn their cities and their trading veflels* Alas, thefe would be fatal vidlories I lliefe are the men whofe induftry and labour furniih the materials of our bell commerce, the fupply of whofe confumption gives life to our manufac- tures ; thefe are the plantations, the harvefts of which we ultimately reap: thefe are the cities which are the refervoirs of an infinity of iVrcams of trade, the profits of which are at laft emptied into the lap of Great Britain. Were thefe men, thefe plantations, thefe cities trebled, the profits vvpuld centre in Great Bri- tain, and a4d fo mucli ,morp to her ftrength anil opulence. To diminilh, to deftroy them — G it ii.^l ;t ( 42 > it IS nilfchief Irreparable, it is madnefs In the extreme ; yet it is the inevitable confequence of the whole fyftem of American meafures, iincc the prefent reign. We have thnsfeen the probable iffue of hoftlle meafures towards America. If we fuceed, we are ruined. If we do not fuceeed — if by thole extraordinary exertions which have often pro- ceeded from people contending for their liberties, or by any of thofe accidents which have fre- quently decided the fate of battles and of em- pires, taking the vidory from the ftrong and the race from the fwift, we fhoiild be repulfed, to what a ftate of humiliation fhall we be re- duced ! Such is the infuperable abfurdity of the meafure, that whether vigors or vimquifhed we are fure of being fufferers. 1 have not fa id a word about the intervention of other powers. Our wife minifters will tell us, this is improbable. There is not a part of the world upon which France looks with a more attentive eye than upon America. There is not the fmalleft event, relative to our pro- ceedings towards the colonies, of which they arc not minutely informed. If they (hould be idle fpciflators of fuch a conteft, it would be one of the moft extraordinary events that ever happened. No folly, lefs blind than that which formed thefe meafures againft America, would hazard fuch a fuppofitlon. In every vitw of our proceedings againft America, we fee them unwife, perilous, and unprofitable. If pailion and prejudice have not totally taken ^^q of realon and en- m fs in the ^iience of res, iincc ofhofiile iceed, we ' by thole ften pro- • liberties, bave fre- l of em- rong and repulfed, T be rc- Itv of the mquifhed ervention will tell a part of i with a There our pro- ich they hould be ^oiild be hat ever at which would againil perilous, jrejudice fon and en- ( 43 ) enquiry, let the planners of this fyftem (hew us what they rationally expeft from it. The mod confidential men have repeatedly declared, in both houfes of parliament, that a revenue is not the obje<3:. Lord Mansfield will not deny his declaration at lead, and there is an hoft in him. In truth, whether this was meant in good faith or not, it is molt veritable. No adequate revenue will ever be obtained from thence by forcible means. To what purpofe then are we hazarding fo great a ftake as the commerce of this kingdom and the peace of America ? Is it that the Whig principles are ^ odious at court ? Is it that the fpirit of the re- * volution, which animates them, is hateful to every man who has abandoned the cnce loved Cocoa-tree, for the more auipicious clofet ? — Is it I that a ferious iyftem of flavery has afcended the I back flairs, the firft line of which is to fubju- gate America ? One would be very apt to (ii- Iped this, had we not the royal afTurance that his majefty has no intercfl:, can have no intereft, feparate from that of his people. A fyftem of flavery can never be the intereft of his people : but a little Popery, a little arbitrary power, French law, French religion, French govern- ment, and in America only — there can be no harm in that ; there is no wind can blow them over to England ; and if fuch an accident fhould happen, there will be honeft men enough found to perfuade us there is no harm in that cither. One is always happy to fee declarations fo well fupported by a£^ions ; and if it were pofliblc to doubt the fincerity of the royal word, the Quebcv » 5 i'i 4 J.- i^' I m SM .«.( s ( 44 ) Quebec bill, would make us bliifh at our Aifpl- cions. The people are interefted ; it is to them I fpeak. There is no feeling for their interefts either in the cabinet or in parliament ; their reprefentatives facrifice every thing to their own pride and profit ; it now only remains with them, as the laft re- fource, to infift on their reprefentatives procuring a retraction of thofe foolifh and arbitrary mea- furcs which have thrown all America into con- fufion, and threaten the utter ruin of the moft valuable commerce we poflefs. The taxation of America may provide places and penfions for the tools and dependants of a minifttr ; but it never can rclifcve our national diftrefles, nor even compenfate for the expence of carrying it into execution. The produce of American la- bour is fpent in Britifh manufactures ; the ba- lance of trade is greatly againft them ; whatever you take dire£tly in taxes, is in effect taken from your own commerce. If the minifter feizes the money with which the American fhould pay his debts and come to market, the merchant and the trader cannot expcdt him as a cu- ftomer ; nor can the debts already contrafted be paid. 'I'his is cutting up commerce by the roots : it is like the folly of a young man who takes from tlie principal of his eftate to fupply his wants ; we know in his cafe that fuch a practice will prove his ruin. The com- merce of this kingdom is to the ftate what the principal of his fortune is to a private maii. The fame cohdudl leads to the fame end. Suppole we obtained from An)eri(:a a million inftead of to ■4 \ our lufpi- im I fpeak. 5 either in efentatives md profit ; the laft re- procuring rary mea- into con- 'the moft e taxation i penfions fttr ; but :cfles, nor arrying it lerican la- ; the ba- whatever iken from lei/xs the ould pay merchant as a cu- ontrafted merce by Ling man eftate to cafe that 'he com- wlut the n. The Suppole iiftead of Tin 1 ( 45 ) an hundred thoufand pounds, it would be fup- plying our prefent exigences by the future ruin of our commerce. ^Nothing can be more ob- vious. What is it then that can make us per- fevere in a mcafure, the very fuccefs of which muft be our ruin ? We are told, however, that the Americans pay no taxes, while ours are very heavy ; and that as they equally enjoy protection, they ought to contribute their proportion ro the expence. But the queftion is not whether the Ameri- cans fhall contribute, but hoiJif they (ball con- tribute ? Whether they Ihall be taxed by their own reprefentatives or by ours ? They contri-, buted during the war, but it was by their own afi'emblies ; the proof of this is from the records of the houfe of commons itfelf. The following is a copy of a meflage from liis majefty to the houfe of commoi.s, repeated for four feffions. Die Jovls 26^ j^priih^ anno 32° Georgit/ecumil J^^gih 1759- George Rex, ' '.■ . ' His majefty being fenfible of the a£live zeal and vigour with which his faithful fubjcdls of North America, have exerted thcmfelves, in defence of his majefty's juft rights and poflef- iions, recommends it to this houfe to take the famf; into confideration, and to enable his ma- jefty to give them a proper compenfation for the expences incurred by the refpeftive provinces, in the levying, doathing and pay of the troops raii'ed by the fame, according as the a^live vi- gour ( 46 ) gour and ftreniious efforts of the rcfpe^?live pro- vinces (hall juftly appear to merit. G. R. This was in the good days of George the fe- cond. There was no junto, no back ftairs bn- finefs then ; a Whig King and Whig minifter, fpeaking to a Whig people. A Kini; who did not pr^efs that he had no intereft diftind from that of his people, but made them read it in his aftions : a King who had too much dignity to deceive his people ; too much honour to contrive the ruin of their liberties. The fyftem then was to ^Jk the aid of the people ; the fyftem now is, to command it. The Americans, we fee, con- tributed then with xeal and vigour; the event will (hew whether the new fyftem is calculated to inflame their zeal and encreafe their ardour. Let us however remember,in the mean time, what credit thofe minifterial tools deferve, who have fo confidently affirmed that the Americans did not contribute to the expences of the late war. With equal truth is it faid, that the Ameri- cans pay no taxes. I will give an eftimate of the taxes, both internal and externa], paid by the colony of Virginia, with the income and ex- pence of the colony, and the balance will fhew their ability to bear additional impofitions. ■;t ' EXPENCE. Quit| Impc Tonl 13i it'll ofl Bi ( 47 ) ^»5live pro- ?. R. ^e the fc ftairs bii- ; minlfter, ; who did Ind from i it in his lignity to ) contrive then was 1 now IS, fee, con- he event ralculatcd " ardour, me, what ho have cans did e war. Ameri- mate of id by the and ex- ill fhew lis. iNCE, E X P E N C E. £. Quit rents — — io,ooo Impofl on tobacco ■ 5,000 Tonnage on (hipping — 5,000* Btitifh manufa£tures, one third of which, according to the Britifti writers, arifes from various taxes — — 8oo,000 Pole tax, land taxj wheel tax, &c. — — «— - 100,000 From tobacco being reftri£led to the ports of Great Britain 100,000 Commiflion on the fale of the tobacco — — 120,000 GROSS PRODUCE. From tobacco — — Lumber, corn, grain and provi- Total 1,140,000 £■ C6o,oco 300,000 960,000 It appears from this eftimate, that a ninth part of the grofs produce of the colony is paid for internal taxes — that as much is facrificed to the a^^s of navigation, which reftrift their trade to this country for our benefit — that a fum, almoft equal to the whole, is expended in Britifli manufadlures and merchandize, which leaves the colony in debt, annually, 180,000/. The vail profits which the Briti(h merchants make upon this commerce, enable them to afford this • Thefe three fums, amounting to 20,000/. together with the quit rents in the other North American colonics, and the duty of 4f pir ce/itt on all the produce of the Weft India iflands, except Jamaica, amounting annually, at the lovveft computation, to 100,000/. are paid to the crown, and never accounted for to parliament. Before any farther aid can with propriety be alked of our Ainerican brethren, (hould we not fliew them that this 100,0001/. is really applied tg the exigencies of the ftatc. credit ; H I i W; 'H ( 48 ) credit ; which when it rifes to an extreme, is reduced by greater frugality in the planter, or by an extraordinarily favourable year increaling the quantity, quality, or price of his produce, and confequently the grofs income of the co- lony. The public will judge, from this Htuation of one of the richeft colonies, of the ability of America to bear additional taxes. Were the right of impofing them ever fo unqueftipnable, the impropriety of it would be manifefV. A young people, loaded with an enormous debt of fix millions, with the balance of trade annually againft them, arifing entirely from the reftric- tions we impofe upon their trade, are not fit ob- jecls of additional taxation. Were thefe circum- fiances reverfed, there would be fome propriety in applying to them for relief from the load of our national debt and cflablifhment : but as it is, were they ever fo little inclined to quef^ion your right, or to rcfift the impofition of taxes, the confeqiience of impofing them would be ruinous ; the inhabitants finding it impoffible to live in fuch circumlknoesi would retire back In troops, as our own are now emigrating from Great Britain and Ireland. Remote from the fea coaft, they would live entirely within themfclves, re- iinquifhing all commerce with the mother coun- ti*y, and bidding defiance equally to the mer- chant for his debt, and the crown for its taxes. Thefe mcafures being prompted by neceffity would be irrefiflible : they would leave us a depopulated frontier to tyrannize over ; and for this you would have facrlficed a valuable and growing . i extreme, is planter, or increafing IS produce, 3f the co- it nation of ability of Were the eftipnable, nifeft. A >us debt of - annually he reftric- lot fit ob- fe circum- •oprlcty in >ad of our as it i?, Hon your -axes, the ruinous ; 3 live in n troops, m Great fea coaft, Ives, rc« ler coun- the mer- ts taxes, neceffity ive us a and for able and growing m ( 49 ) growing- commerce, with all the flrength and aid which we have received from the active zeal and vigorous efforts of an affeftionate, induftri- ous, loyal people. Were I an enemy to Great Britain, I would promote this very fyftem, to humble, to overthrow her. Nothing operates like necelfitv : no human wifdom or virtue can produce equal effe^ls. Perfevere in thefe meafures, and you will create that nectffity, which will effcft the independence of America beyond the operation of policy or perfuafion. How then are we to avert thefe evils ? How are we to regain the confidence of America, and the commerce of Great Britain ? Nothing more eafy. Recall your fleets and armies ; recall your commifiioners ; repeal your ufclefs, your ob- loxious laws ; reflore the eflablifhment of America to what it was at the conclufion of the late war ; ceafe to hold out rewards, as if in the public gazette, for fraud and impolition. The Barnards, the Hutchinfbns, the Olivers, will without end make fuch credulity the ruinous inftrumcnts of their revenge, avarice and am- bition. Such men never want the fpecious pre- text of loyalty and order, to cover their interefted views. But it will be faid, that to retraft would be to rcfign our authority over our colonies. What had we no authority over America till the year 1 764, when thefe meafures com- menced ? Was no revenue collected, no ads of parliament obeyed, no fupreme power cxercifed or acknowledged till the ftamp-ad ? Was that ad founded upon any complaint of this kind ? H The *;1 ;. '' t' ( 5« ) The faft IS fo far the reverfe, that the revenue officers remitted more money home before, than lince that aft; the laws of trade were much better obeyed ; nor was ourfupreme controuling power queftioned or oppofed. If thcfe pofitions are not tme, let thole who advife thefe Ame- rican mcafiircs, produce, if they can, any au- thentic evidence to refute them. 1 will refer to fomc of thole laws, which, in our Sovereignty, we made for America, and which, in their reluftance to difpute with us, they obeyed. In the reftritlionof their trade and manufadures, the excrcife of our power was wantonly op- prcffive ; yet until we paflTed that line, and at- tempted to take their money from them without their confent, that is, to make them the moft abjeft flaves, \vc hear of no petitions, remon- ftrances, and aiibciations againft our acls. In proof of what 1 have fujd, 1 will recite fomc of tlie moft grievous exertions of our fupreme au- thority to which they fubmitted. Firlt, The prohibition from making fteel, or treding fteel furnaces. This was the more fe- vere, as it facriticed all America to five or fix perfons in England, engaged in this manufac- ture, who are fo far from being able to fupplj the market, that coniiderable quantities are year- ly imported from (jermany. Secondly, Obliging them to land the Spanidi and Portugal wines and fruit, which they im- port, in England, fubject to high duties and heavy charges for re-ihipping. This reftric- tion not only grievoufly enhances the price of thcfe neceflary articles, but expolbs their veflels to ?> revenue )re, than •e miicli trouling pofitions Ame- any au- refer to relgnty, in their obeyed. ifadures, )nly op- and at- without the inoft remon- acis. In ^ fome of reme au- fteel, or more fe- ve or fix nanufac- o fupply arc year- J Spanidi they im- ities and reftric- price of Ir vefiek to ( 5' ) to the. danger and expence of an ncklitlonal voy- age of I GOO miles, in a boifterous fca, in time of peace ; and in time of war, to an advanced infurancc of 25 per cent. Thirdly, The reftraint Inid onthe fale of hats, and the prohibition of exporting them. In con- fequence of this, an inhabitant of one province cannot buy a hat from his nei<;hbour, being a hatter, in the other ; but muft fend 30.00 miles for it, at three times the price, for the benefit of our mnnufa^flurcs. Is this no facrifice on the part of America r No advantage on ours ? Fourthly, They are not fuflfered to eved: plating or flitlng miIls,or tilt hammers. Thusthough iron is the produce of their own country, they muft fend it :<. England, and pay us for manufaduring it, bcfo; ; are fuffcrcd to avail themfelves of thofe ads^iuges which God has given them. Nails, hoes, ploughs, axes, &c. they are under ihe greateft necelfity of ufing, from the nature of their country, in great quantities ; yet they are obliged to take fuch as we plcafe to give them, at our own price, loaded with our taxes, and the charges of double freight, commiilions, &c. Fifthly, They arc prohibited from carrying wool, or any kind of woollen goods made in one colony, to another. A fingle fleece of wool or a dozen of home-made hofe carried from one colony to another, is not only forfeited, but fub- jecls the veflt 1 if conveyed by water, or the wag- gon and horfes, if by land, to a feizure, and the owner to a heavy fine. Sixthly, The Americans are not permitted to carry logwood to any foreign market, without H z pre- '1 : i ( 5^ ) prcvionfly bringing it to fonie Britifli port, to land and re-ihip it, at a great rifque, expence, and lofs of time. I will not trouble the reader with more in- ftances, though there are many. Thefe are am- ply fufficient to Ihew wliat authority we had over them, and how rigoroufly we exercifc;d it — how much to our own advantage, and to their lofs. When we have deftroycd the Americans, or diflblved by our injultice nnd extortion their connection with us, where is it we (hall find another people whom we may thus make the inflruments of our manufactures and commerce? Where is it we can fecure a monopoly of the grofs article, and of its confumption when ma- nufactured ? It is plain from thefe very reftric- tions that America is capable of manufacturing for herfelf ; there is no doubt but that a little time would enable her to fupply other nations. The defifting from this, confining themfelves to the culture of raw materials, and confumingour manufactures loaded with every charge, tax and impofitlon, is the price they paid for the protec- tion we gave them. We exaCted it rigoroufly, yet they paid it willingly ; fevere as the reftraints were, they fiouriflied under them, and therefore did not complain : but when we afTumed a t;reater power ; when, not content with reftrain- mit his pro- perty to the arbitration of fuch a judge, and whether the dccifion be for or againft him, he can ! ii. 19i it t'i : 1 SI' 'm ( 54 ) can have no retribution for his expenccs, or for the delay, or for the damage his cargo may have received. The law has made the judge's certi- ficate a protection to the officer againft an adion of damages. It feemed however, that the oppreflion of America was not yet fufficiently fevere ; all their judges were therefore rendered dependent upon the crown for their falaries and their places. The lives and liberties as well as the property of the people were to be nt the mercy of the crown. To make the fyftem compleat, their governors were rendered as abfolute as the Spanifh Vice- roys ; in fine, to convince them that they were doomed to experience the laft: exertion of arbi- trary power, a military force was fent to execute this fyftem. After all thefe imuries and infults, we are fur- prized that the Americans fhould be difcon- tented ! We think it extraordinary that they (hould deftroy the tea fent on purpofe to com- pel the payment of a duty fo impofed 1 It is an injury to private property : but who offered the firft injury to private property ? Who was it that claimed and exercifed a right to difpofc of all the property in America at their pleafure ? The Britifh, not the American houfe of com- mons. A fet of men afiembled at Weftminfter, who have juft as much right to difpofe of pro- perty in America as the Divan at Conftantmo- ple has in England. This was the firft inter- ruption of that harmony which fubfifted be- tween the two countries ; a harmony under which the commerce and manufadures of this country s, or for lay have *;e's certi- an ad ion eflion of vere ; all cpendent ir places. property le crown. Governors ifh Vice- hcy were I of arbi- o execute e are fur- t difcon> hat they to coin- ! It is an Ffered the o was it lifpofe of pleafure ? of com- ftminfter, e of pro- tilantino- 'ft inter- rifted be- ly under :s of this country ( 55 ) country fo eminently profpered. The Americans were not the agreflbrs : they received the news of the intended ftamp-a£l with aftonifhment ; it was feme time before they could believe it poP- iible, that a parliament which they regarded with rcfpeft could be guilty of fuch an outrage againft their rights ; that a houfe of commons, who cxifted only by the eledion of the people of England, who would not fufFer any other branch of the legiflature to touch the property of the peo- ple, becaufe they only are deputed by them,(hould lerioufly refolve that it might be juft and expe- dient for them to give and grant the property of the people of America. One reads, to this mo- ment, fucha refolution with a mixture of aftoniih- mcnt and ridicule. Had they refolved that it would be juft and proper for that houfe to turn all the white people in America into blacks, it would not have been more ridiculous. For God's fake whence did they derive the right of giving the property of the people of America? Did that people ever delegate to them fuch a right ? Can fuch a right exift without the delegation of the community to whom the property belongs ? Yet from this abfurd refolution we proceeded to ads which have alienated and inflamed all America. Are the Americans to blame for all this ? Are they culpable for the confequences ? Are we to put fire in a man's hand and puniih him for ex- prefling a fenfe of pain and endeavouring to re- jeft it. Are the Americans divefted of the feel- ings of humanity ? If they are not, the, things which are calculated to rouze and irritate thole feelings, muft have their effeds. In thefe cir- cumftance* I 'I If I ^^;t:,- ( 56 ) cumftances, the tea was deftroved at Bofton by perfons unknown. Without enquiring after the guihy, without evidence, without a hearing, (their agent refufed a hearing, upon a quibble which would have difgraced the Old Bailey) we proceed to punifli the town of Bofton, to a thoufand times the amount of the damage fu- Gained. But this was not enough ; in violation of the royal faith, we alter their charter, with- out any act of forfeiture even pretended. Their juries who were chofcn by lot, and therefore as far as human precaution could effeft, were rendered impartial, \\& have direded to be re- turned by the (heriff, who is a creature of the governor's appointment ; and thus a way is found out to have the lives, liberties and proper* tv of the people at the mercy of the crown, un- der the form of law. by pack*d juries as well as de- pendent judges. Thefc are the meafures which are to calm the commotions of America, and re- ftore the harmony we have interrupted. Yet after all thele proceedings, calculated to exafpe- rate and inflame the Americans, and to convince them that we have neither juftice nor wifdom to guide us, the men who have been infirumental in all this are gravely told, that the *' temper and firmnefs with which they have a£led, will cnfure fuccefs" — and that a bill for eftablifliing popery and arbitrary government in America " is founded upon the cleareft principles of hu- manity and juftice." On any other occaiion one would have been tempted to think this was faid to ridicule them ; let it have been meant as it will, fuch praife is the fevereft fatire. Spirit lofton by after the hearing, I quibble Bailey) :on, to a mage fu- violatioii ;r, with- d. Their therefore eft, were to be re- re of the I way is d proper- own, un- veil as de- res which a, and re- ted. Yet o exafpe- ) convince vifdom to trumental " temper aed, will ftablifliing America les of hu- ' occaiion : this was :en meant latire. Spirit 1 ( 5? ) Spirit of theSteuarts, look down and wonder ! This iingle trajifadion will put all your merits to the blufii ! Every ftep we have taken rcfpcftlng America, for ten years paft, has been repugnar.t to the practice of our anceftors. It was th^ir policy to conciliate the people, and fecure their com- merce to Great Britain. Our fyftem has been to alienate and irritate them. We have made it a public virtue in America to dllbontinue all commerce with u?, and to encourage Inuig- gling; we fliall attempt, perhaps too late, to re- turn to the wifdom of fonncr tjiues. if there were any defects in the America!i conllitutions, we have not taken the proper Ikps to re,^ify them. •■' Time only, and long experience," fay^ Sully, '* can bring remedies to ihe defecls in a flare whofc form is alieady determined ; and this ought always to be attempted, witli a view to the plan of its original conftitution : this is fo certain, that whenever vye fee a Hate conducted by mea- fures contrary to thofe made ule of in its foun- dation, v\ e may be allured a great revolution is at hand."* The American conftitutions were modelled upon that of England. We have began the reformation : but tlie taxing the pe^iple without their being reprefented — the depriving them of all influence in the government — ihe abolition of juries in part, and rendering the reft liable to be packed by the crown olficers — the making their judges dependent, and their governors ab- folute — the impowering cuftom-houi'e officers ' * 1 * Memoirs, v. a. at ( 58 ) nt ilic'ir pleafnre, to break open a man's doors, cabinets, chefts, &c. rendering; his honfe no longer his caftle of protection — thefe are the reformations we have attempted in America. They are indeed with a view to' the original conftitution, bnt maniftflly with a view to overturn it. The event will (hew whether Sully's confcquence will follow, whether a great revolution will enfiie. In my judgment it will be inevitable, imlefs the intervention of the people at large-, who in every view are in- tereftcd'to prevent it, fhould exert thofe powers which they have in the ftate, and prevail on par- liament to retradl: all thofe obnoxiovis, unton- liitutional meafures, and reftore America to that ilate in which they were at the end of the war. Our commerce with her then was un- interrupted, profperous and profitable ; our au- thority over her was fully fufficient to prtf^rve this advantage. By arrogating more, we en- danger tl.e lols of the whole, either by the de- ftruclion or difconnection of the people upon whom it depended. That our authority over America, and the advantages we derived from her, before thefe r.icafurcs commenced, were as great as in reafon imd juiVice we (liould require, is the opinion of a wife and well informed foreigner; a writer who has viewed the ftate of all the European colonies, with great impartiality and attention ; I mean the celebrated author of the Hifloire phil-oJopJiique des hides. His lentiments are thefe : *« Great _ ( 59 ) " Great Britain enjoys all the power over " her colonics that ihe ought to defirc. She ** has a negative on all the laws they make. " The executive power is entirely in the hands *' of her delegates. There is an appeal to her " from all their civil courts. 7\11 their com- *' mercial movements are in her arbitration. *' To increafc the voke of a domination fa " wifely framed, would be to plunge the con- *' tinent anew into that diforder from which " they have hardly extricated themfelvcs by " two centuries of continual labour and hard- *' Ihips — it would be to compel the induftrious *' labourers, who have cleared it, to arm in ** defence of thofe facred rights which they *' hold equally from nature and focicty. The *' people of England, a people fo devoted to *' liberty, who have fometimcs proie<£lcd It in " regions unallicd to them — can they forget " thofe principles -.vhich their glory, their vir- " tue, their feeling?, tluir fafety, render an *' eternal duty ? Will they betray thofc rights, ** which are fo dear to themfelvcs, fo far as *' to contribute to reduce their brothers to ** llavery ? If however it fliould happen, that *' fome incendiary ipirits Ihould devife fo fatal ** a meafure, ;,nd in inme mouKnt of madnefs ** ihould have it adopted by Great Britain, '' what ouffht then to be the conduct of the '' colonies, to prevent their falling under tlie *' moll odious fervitude ? " Before they proceed to extremie?, they " fliould remember all the advantages they *' derive from the more powerful ftate. " England ( 6° ) England has always been a bulwark to them, againft the nations of Europe. She has been a guide to them, and a prelerver from thofe civil dilfeiitions, which jealoufy and rivalfhip but too often excite among nei- bouring llntes, in their infancy and proj^refs. *' It is to the influence of her excellent confti- tution that they owe the profperity thiry en- joy. As long as the colonies continue under wife and moderate regulations, they will con- tinue to extend the progrefs of tlieir indultry to the fartheft extremity of thiir country. *' But may their lo\ e for Great Britain be, *' ifi the mean time, accompanied by a certain jealoufy of their liberties. Let their rights be frequently exa.jined, difcuflld and ex- plained. Let them cherifh thofe as their heft " citizens, who inceflimtly warn them. This jeal'jus fpirlt is nccefiary in all free ftates ; but more efpecially in a mixed conflitution, where liberty is joined with a certain depen- dence necefHary to the connedion between two diftant ftates. Such vigilance will be the fureft guardian of that union, which ought " for ever to conneft Great Britain and her ** American colonies. " But if the miniftry, which always, even " in free ftates, confifts of ambitious men, *' fhould attempt to augment the power of the ** crown, or the revenue of the ftate, to the injury of the colonies, they ought firmly to relift the ufurpation — Yet they are too much enlightened not to know, that they cannot be juflified in proceeding to extremities, till " they (( t( li K 4( (( i( (( i( 4( C( ti a a (( THE tenth and eleventh volumes of the Debates and Proceedin"-s of the Houfe of Commons, which com- plete that Work to the Diillution of the laft Parliament, on the firft of Ot'^tober, 1774, los. 6d. in Boards. !^ Thofe Noblemen and Gentlemen, who are in poflef- fion of any of the former Volumes of this Work, are defired to complete their Sets as foon as pofllble j becaufe there will be no more detached Volumes fold, when the prefent im- preflion is difpofcd of, Jujl puhlijhed. 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A new Edition. By Jofeph Mar- ihaU £fqi Three Voliunes0^a¥0, i8s. ■ -■-<• ft ^ .^ The Royal Kalendar for England, Scotland, Ireland, and .Anierica, for 1775 } containing accurate Lifts of the new Parliament elected in 1774^* alfo the complete Eftabliih- ,;m^ts oP Grrat^^ljpitain, Ireland, and America, all the Pftcers of Statf^ l^venue. Law, Mc. in the three King- doms, Army, Navy, Hofpitals, &c. 2S. bound, and 2s. gd. withanAlmanack. ^ .. ^ s, ,,: , A Companion to the Royal K^alendar (printed in the fame Size, m order to bind witn the Kalendan-) containing cor- rect Lifts of all the Changes made in Adminiftration, from the Acceffion of the prefent King, in October 1760, to the End of 06iober 1 774. To which is prefixed, a Lift of the late and prefent Houfe of Commons, (hewing the Changes made in the Members of Parliament by the general Elei^ion in 1774. p- gr This ufeful little Book may be bound with the Roy- alendar for 1775. 3s. or with an Almanack aadKakn- .dar, 3s. gd. The Advantaj^es and DifaJvantages of inclofing wafte Lands and open Fields, impartially ftatcd and confidered. By a Country Gentleman BiDLIOTlIECA 1? f LMONf England ; partl- iners and Litera- ), 6s. , vj , « ■■. ^ ritain confidered. otes, and an Ap- ancient free ftate , before the Lofs rancis Hotoman.. "wprtb, with his *. ■ ■ ■ J • • many, Denmarlc, ajriil, in the Years irly minuted, the g their Agricul- ce, the Arts, and By Jofeph Mar- land, Ireland, and Lifts of the new mplete Eftablifh- Aimerica, all the the three Kin*- aund, and 2s. 9a. rinted in the fame -containing cor- niniftration, from )bcr 1 760, to the ted, a Lift of the ing the Changes e general Election nd with the Roy- uiack and Kal«n- inclofing wafte and confidered. ^**^,