USA > Massachusetts > Worcester County > Historical collections: containing I. The Reformation in France; the rise, progress and destruction of the Huguenot Church. Vol II > Part 11
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ties, I will beg to say a few words at present, leaving the justice, the equity, the policy, the expediency of the act to another time.
"I will only speak to one point, a point which seems not to be gen- erally understood. Some gentlemen seem to have considered it as a point of honor. If gentlemen consider it in that light, they leave all measures of right and wrong to follow a delusion that may lead to destruction. It is my opinion that this kingdom has no right to lay a tax on the colonies. At the same time, I assert the authority of the kingdom over the colonies, to be sovereign and supreme, in every other circumstance of government and legislation whatsoever.
" They are the subjects of this kingdom, equally entitled with your- selves to all the natural rights of mankind and the peculiar privileges of Englishmen. Equally bound by its laws, and equally participating of the constitution of this free country.
" The Americans are the sons, not the bastards, of England. Taxation is no part of the governing or legislative power.
" The taxes are a voluntary gift and grant of the commons alone. In legislation the three estates of the realm are alike concerned, but the concurrence of the peers and the crown to a tax is only necessary to close with the form of a law. The gift and grant is of the commons alone.
" In ancient days the crown, the barons, and the clergy gave and granted to the crown. They gave and granted what was their own. At present, since the discovery of America, and other circumstances permitting, the commons are become the proprietors of the land. The crown has divested itself of its great estates. The church (God bless it) has but a pittance.
" The property of the lords, compared with that of the commons, is as a drop of water in the ocean; and this house represents those com- mons, the proprietors of the lands; and those proprietors virtually repre- sent the rest of the inhabitants. When, therefore, in this house we give and grant, we give and grant what is our own. But, in an American tax. what do we do? We, your majesty's commons of Great Britain, give and grant to your majesty, what? Our own property? No. We give "and grant to your majesty the property of your majesty's commons in America. It is an absurdity in terms.
" The distinction between legislation and taxation is essentially neces- sary to liberty. The crown, the peers, are equally legislative powers with the commons. If taxation be a part of simple legislation, the crown, the peers have rights in taxation as well as yourselves: rights which they will claim, which they will exercise, whenever the principle can be supported by power.
" There is an idea in some that the colonies are virtually represented in this house. I would fain know by whom an American is represented
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here ? Is he represented by any knight of the shire, in any county in this kingdom ? Would to God that respectable representations were augmented to a greater number! Or, will you tell him that he is repre- sented by any representative of a borough, a borough which perhaps no man ever saw. This is what is called the rotten part of the Constitu- tion. It can not continue the century. If it does not drop, it must be amputated.
" The idea of a virtual representation of America in this house is the most contemptible idea that ever entered into the head of a man. It does not deserve a serious refutation.
"The commons of America, represented in their several assemblies, have ever been in possession of the exercise of this, their constitutional right of giving and granting their own money. They would have been slaves, if they had not enjoyed it. At the same time, this kingdom, as the supreme governing and legislative power, has always bound the colonies by her laws, by her regulations, and restrictions in trade, in navigation, in manufactures-in everything, except that of taking their money out of their pockets without their consent. Here I would draw the line."
Mr. Pitt here paused, to hear the remarks of other men- bers, and then resumed his remarks:
" Gentlemen, Sir, (to the speaker), I have been charged with giving birth to sedition in America. They have spoken their sentiments with freedom against this unhappy act, and their freedom has become their crime. Sorry I am to hear the liberty of speech in this house imputed as a crime ; but the imputation shall not discourage me. It is a liberty ] mean to exercise. It is a liberty by which the gentleman who calumni- ates it might have profited. lle ought to have desisted from his project. The gentlemen tell us, 'America is obstinate;' 'America is almost in open rebellion.'
" I rejoice that America has resisted ! Three millions of people, so dead to all the feelings of liberty, as voluntarily to submit to be slaves, would have been fit instruments to make slaves of the rest.
. Since the accession of King William, many ministers, some of great. others of more moderate abilities, have taken the lead of government. None of these thought, or even dreamed, of robbing the colonies of their . constitutional rights. That was reserved to mark the era of the late administration ; not that there were wanting some, when I had the honor of serving his majesty, to propose to me to burn my fingers with an American Stamp act. With the enemy at their backs, with our bayonets at their breasts, in the day of their distress, perhaps the
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Americans would have submitted to the imposition ;* but it would have been taking an ungenerous and unjust advantage. The gentleman boasts of his bounties to America! Are not those bounties intended finally for the benefit of this kingdom? If they are not, he has misap- plied the national treasures. I am no courtier of America; 1 stand up for this kingdom. I maintain that the Parliament has a right to bind, to restrain America. Our legislative power over the colonies is sovereign and supreme.
" When it ceases to be sovereign and supreme, I would advise every gentleman to sell his lands if he can, and embark for that country. When two countries are connected together, like England and her colonies, without being incorporated, the one must necessarily govern ; the greater must rule the less, as not to contradict the fundamental principles that are common to both.
"The gentleman asks, . When were the colonies emancipated?' But I desire to know when they were made slaves ? But I dwell not upon words.
'. When I had the honor of serving his majesty I availed myself of the information which I derived from my office; I speak, therefore, from knowledge. My materials were good. I will be bold to say, that the profits of Great Britain from the trade of the colonies, through all its branches, is two millions a year ($10,000,000). This is the fund that carried you triumphantly through the last war.
" The estates that were rented at two thousand pounds a year, three score years ago, are at three thousand pounds at present. This is the price that America pays you for protection. And shall a miserable financier come with a boast, that he can fetch a pepper-corn into the treasury to the loss of millions to the nation! I dare not say how much higher these profits may be augmented. Omitting the immense increase of people by natural population, and the migration from every part of Europe.
"A great deal has been said without doors of the power, of the strength of America. It is a topic that onght to be cautiously med- dled with. In a good cause, on a sound bottom, the force of this coun- try can crush America to atoms. But on this ground, on the Stamp act, when so many here will think it a crying injustice, I am one who will lift up my hands against it.
" In such a cause your success would be hazardous. America, if she fell, would fall like a strong man. She would embrace the pillars of the .
* Mr. Pitt here alludes to the last great French war in America. It had been proposed about the time of the Albany convention in 1754, to make some arrangement for raising money in America by a tax bill emanating from the British Parliament. Mr. Pitt was prime minis- ter in 1755, and removed from office by the king; but the people were greatly agitated in his favor when in 1757 the king was forced to call him to the office again, to manage the war then raging with France.
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state, and pull down the constitution along with her. Is this your boasted peace? Not to sheath the sword in its seabbard, but to sheath it in the bowels of your countrymen? Will you quarrel with yourselves, now the whole house of Bourbon is united against you? While France disturbs your fisheries in Newfoundland, embarrasses your slave trade in Africa, and withholds from your subjects in Canada their property stipulated by treaty ; while the ransom for Manillas is denied by Spain, and its gallant conqueror basely traduced into a mean pluinderer, a gen- tleman (Sir W. Draper), whose noble and generous spirit would do honor to the proudest grandee of the country. The Americans have not acted in all respects with prudence and temper.
" They have been wronged. They have been driven to madness by injustice. Will you punish them for the madness you have occasioned? Rather let prudence and temper come from this side.
"Iwill undertake for America, that she will follow the example. There are two lines in a ballad of Prior's of a man's behavior to his wife, so applicable to you and your colonies, that I can not help repeat- ing them :
ยท Be to her faults a little blind; Be to her virtues very kind.'
" Upon the whole. I will beg leave to tell the house what is really my opinion. It is this; that the Stamp act be repealed absolutely, totally, and immediately. That the reason for the repeal be assigned. because it was founded on an erroneous principle. At the same time, let the sovereign authority of this country over the colonies be asserted in as strong terms as can be devised, and be made to extend to every point of legislation whatsoever."
The bill laying a stamp duty in America was passed in March, 1765.
During the discussion of the question of the repeal of this act, which had proved so exciting to the English colonists in America, Dr. Benjamin Franklin and a number of other per- sons were ordered to attend the committee of the whole house of commons, to whom it had been referred, to answer any questions touching its effect in the colonies, and upon the sub- ject of taxing the colonies by an act of Parliament in future.
Dr. Franklin appeared before the house of commons, Feb- ruary 3, 1766, and gave answers to a long series of questions relating to the people of the colonies, the action of the differ-
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ent colonial assemblies, and the general feeling in America touching the right of Parliament to tax the colonies.
These answers are remarkable for their explicitness and the extensive scope of information they disclose relative to the general affairs of the colonies, their connection with Great Britain, other European countries, and the West Indies. The excitement upon the Stamp aet in America induced Parlia- ment to a repeal as follows :
" An Act to Repeal an Act Made in the Last Session, Entitled 'An Act for Granting and Applying Certain Stamp Duties and Other Duties in the British Colonies and Plantations in America.' "
On the 17th of March, 1766, objection being made, when, after some discussion, the question was put whether the said bill shall pass, it was resolved in the affirmative ; but with an ill grace, so far as a friendly spirit existed towards the colo- nies. At the same time the Repeal act was passed a bill was brought in for seeuring the dependence of America on Great Britain, in which it was asserted that the Parliament of Great Britain have a right to bind the colonies in all cases whatso- ever.
Notwithstanding this declaratory clause following, and at- tached to the aet repealing the Stamp act, this action of Par- liament gave great satisfaction in America, and produced a general feeling in the colonies that their rights would be prop- erly respected by the government of Great Britain.
On the assembling of the different Legislatures in the sev- cral colonies, resolutions were passed, addressed to liis ma- jesty, the King of Great Britain, expressing, in the most hum- ble and respectful manner, their thanks and gratitude for the great act of kindness done them by Parliament in the act of repeal of the Stamp act.
Their confidence was strengthened in this respect by the sentiments expressed in the speech before the house of com- mons by Mr. Pitt, and also by the very clear and able manner
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in which Dr. Franklin had explained the actions and doings of the colonies, and their affairs and condition generally, when called before the same as before given.
This confidence, however, was not to remain long undis- turbed ; another act, which had for its object the carrying ont the principle of taxing the colonies by an act of Parliament, was passed by that body in 1766, as follows :
"An Act for Punishing Mutiny and Desertion, and for the Better Pay- ment of the Army, and for Providing Quarters."
The principle of taxation by Parliament was, by this act, intended to be sustained, but in a disguised form. The gov- ernors were, under this act, called upon by authority of Par- liament to require the colonial legislatures to raise money for providing for quartering large bodies of troops, which, for some reason, had been located among them.
The colonies, being not deceived by this design, passed no acts for raising money for this object, but by evasion, in most instances, provided for the troops ; and in several instances gave their reasons for not legislating to carry out the act of Parliament in this behalf, alleging that it was an encroachment upon their rights, to be required to tax themselves by an order of Parliament ; and that this, like the Stamp act, was sustaining the principle of right to tax the colonies, when they had no voice in the transaction, being not represented in Parliament.
The doings of the colonies concerning this act of Parlia- ment was received in England in the spirit of a rebellion against the authority of that government.
The action of the assembly of the colony of New York was at this time under consideration in the house of commons; this assembly having declined to legislate and raise money for providing for the English troops then quartered in that colony, in accordance with the act of Parliament, of which they had
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been required by their governor, in pursuance of his orders from the English government.
This question in the house of commons having been referred to a committee, who made their report on Friday, the 15th of May, 1767, of which, among other things, it was said :
" That the House of Representatives of his majesty's province of New York have, in direct disobedience of the authority of the legislature of Great Britain, refused to make provision for supplying with necessaries his majesty's troops, in such manner as is required by an act of Parliament made in the fifth year of his majesty's reign, entitled . An Act to Amend and Render More Effectual, in His Majesty's Dominions in America, an Act Passed in This Present Session of Parliament, Entitled, 'An Act for Punishing Mutiny and Desertion, and for the Better Payment of the Army, and Providing for their Quarters.""
" It appeared to the committee that an act of assembly hath been passed in the said province for furnishing the barracks in the cities of New York and Albany with fire-wood and candles, and other necessa- ries therein mentioned for his majesty's forces, inconsistent with the provisions, and in opposition to the directions of the said act."
This committee further report :
" That it is the opinion of the committee that until provision shall have been made by the said assembly for furnishing the king's troops with all the necessaries required by the said act of Parliament, the gov- ernor, council, and assembly be respectively restrained and prohibited from passing or assenting to any act of assembly for any other purpose whatever.'
And in accordance with this report a bill was brought in and passed.
Upon the consideration of the aforesaid report, Thomas Pownal, formerly a governor of three of these colonies in America, and now a member of Parliament, who had been a close observer of the character and doings of the legislatures of the several colonies, and possessing a full knowledge of their ideas of their rights as Englishnnen under their charters, and as subjects of the realm, spoke on the subject of this report as follows :
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"Are you determined from hence to direct and regulate the quarter- ing the king's troops in North America? Do it in a way that brings it home to the executive power to carry your directions and regulations into execution ; explain and amend your act ; make it practicable ; make it effective, and then you may fairly decide whether they deny your sovereignty or not. You will find they do not. If you think your way of making an adequate and certain provision for the charge of this ser- vice is by the Parliament imposing a tax upon the people for that purpose, and that you have power, and it is advisable to exert that power to effectuate such supply by such tax, you need not hesitate to avow it openly and directly ; for the people of the colonies, from one end of the continent to the other, do invariably consider the clause in the act of Parliament, directing how that charge shall be supplied as an internal tax imposed upon them.
" It is from this idea that every act of obedience as well as of dis- obedience to your act of Parliament must be construed and explained. Those whom you are willing to understand as having obeyed your act, have contrived to do it in a mode which neither recognizes the act of Parliament nor submits to the taxation as such.
" And although you represent the assembly of the province of New York, alone, as having revolted against this power, believe me, there is not a colony, a province, or a plantation, that will submit to a tar thus im- posed more than New York will. All have shown their readiness to execute this service of quartering as an act of their own-all have, in their zeal to provide for it, by a grant of their own, provided a supply to answer the expense ; but not one single assembly has, or ever will, act under the powers and provisions of this act, as acknowledging, and, in consequence thereof, apportioning, assessing, and levying the supply as a tax imposed by Parliament.
They have either acted without taking notice at all of this act of Parliament, or have contrived, some way or other, to evade in some particulars, sufficient to make the execution and the tax an act of their own. Try the conduct of every province and colony by this rule, and you will find nothing particular in the case of New York. Don't fancy that you can divide the people upon this point, and that you need only dicide to govern ; you will by this conduct only unite them the more inseparably; you will make the cause of New York a common cause, and will call up every other province and colony to stand forth in their justification ; while New York, learning from the complexion of your measure how to avoid or evade the purport of your enforcing bill, will suspend the force of it. instead of suspending the assembly of that province. against whom it is brought forward.
" The clause in the Quartering act, directing that the supply for reim- bursing the expense of quartering the troops shall be raised by the
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respective assemblies of the provinces or colonies, which is by all the people of America considered as (is indeed) a tax imposed by Parlia- ment, has brought, in fact, into discussion that question of the right of tara- tion, which the cautious and (what I think) imprudent wisdom of many have endeavored to keep wrapped up and suspended in theory. Those things which schemes of policy wished to hold in question, acts and deeds will bring into decision.
"You have, on one hand, by your declaratory law, asserted your rights and power of taxation over the colonies ; and so far as this act goes, you have exerted that power. On the other hand, it is a fact which the house ought to know, and be apprised of in all its extent, that the people of America, universally, unitedly, and unalterably, are resolved not to submit to any internal tar imposed upon them by any legislature in which they hare not a share by representatives of their own election.
" This claim must not be understood, as though it were only the pretenses of party leaders and demagogues ; as though it were only the visions of speculative enthusiasts ; as though it were the mere ebullition of a faction which must subside; as though it were only temporary or partial ;- it is the cool, deliberate, principal maxim of every man of business in the country."
In addition to the direct internal taxation contemplated by the Quartering bill, there was another mode of taxation adopted by Parliament-the levying duties or imposts upon articles of commerce, which proved a greatly injurious restriction upon their maritime trade. This was referred to in a petition by the merchants of New York in 1767, as follows:
"It is the singular disadvantage of the Northern British colonies, that, while they stand in need of vast quantities of the manufactures of Great Britain, the country produces very little that affords a direct re- mittance thither in payment; therefore, from necessity, they have been driven to seek a market for their produce, and, by a course of traffic, to acquire either money or such merchandise as would answer the purpose of a remittance, and enable them to sustain a credit with the mother country. This native produce has been chiefly sent to our own and foreign West India Islands, and bartered for sugar, rum, molasses, cot- ton, and indigo; the sugar, cotton, and indigo served as remittances to Great Britain ; while the rum and molasses constituted essential branches of their commerce, and enabled them to barter with our own colonies for fish and rice, and by that means to pursue a valuable trade with Spain, Portugal, and Italy, where they chiefly obtained money or bills of exchange in return, and likewise qualified them for adventures to
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Africa, where they had the advantage of putting off great quantities of British manufactures, and receiving in exchange, gold, ivory, and slaves, which last being disposed of in the West India Islands, com- manded money or bills; rum was indispensable in their Indian trade, and, with British manufactures, procured furs and skins, which both served for considerable returns to Great Britain, and increased its revenue.
" The trade to the bay of Honduras was also of great importance, it being managed with small cargoes of provisions, rum, and British manu- factures, which, while they were at liberty to send foreign logwood to different ports in Europe, furnished them with another remittance.
"From this view, it is evident, that sugar, rum, molasses, and logwood, with cotton and indigo, are the essentials of their return cargoes, and the chief sources from which, in a course of trade, they have maintained their credit with Great Britain.
" That considering the prodigious consumption of the produce of the West Indies in Great Britain, Ireland, and the colonies on the continent of America, the rapid increase of those colonies, the vast accession of sub- jects by the late conquest (the Canadas), the utter incapacity of our own islands to supply so great a demand, will, the petitioners presume, be out of all question ; on the other hand, the lumber produced from clear- ing this immense territory, and the provisions extracted from a fertile soil, must raise a supply for exportation much greater than all our islands can consume ; it seems consistent with a sound policy, therefore, to indulge those colonies both in the free and unrestrained exportation of all the lumber and produce they can spare, and an ample importation of sugar, rum, and molasses, to supply the various branches of their trade; since without the one, the clearing of lands will be discouraged, and provisions, for want of vent, become of little profit to the farmer ; without the other, the petitioners must be plunged into a total incapacity of making good their payment of British debts, their credit must sink, and their imports from Great Britain gradually diminish, till they are contracted to the narrow compass of remittances in articles of their own produce; when the colonists must, from inevitable necessity, betake themselves to manufactures of their own, which will be attended with consequences very detrimental to those of Great Britain."
The plain reasoning here set forth for leaving the trade of the colonies free, with the West Indies, and all parts of Europe, except to restrict them in the purchase of the actual manufac- tures of Great Britain, ought to have convinced any reasona- ble mind. But the ignorant and arrogant persons, who at
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