USA > Virginia > Washington County > Washington County > History of southwest Virginia, 1746-1786, Washington County, 1777-1870 > Part 15
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"And if it were proposed for the Parliament to impose taxes on the Colonies at all, which the remonstrants take leave to think would be inconsistent with the fundamental principles of the Con- stitution, the exercise of that power, at this time, would be ruinous to Virginia, who exerted herself in the late war, it is feared, beyond her strength, insomuch that to redeem the money granted for that exigency, her people are taxed for several years to come : this, with the larger expenses incurred for defending the frontiers against the restless Indians who have infested her as much since the peace as before, is so grievous, that an increase of the burthen would be intolerable ; especially as the people are very greatly dis- tressed already from the scarcity of circulating cash among them and from the little value of their staple at the British markets.
"And it is presumed that adding to that load which the Colony now labors under will not be more oppressive to her people than destructive of the interest of Great Britain; for the Plantation trade, confined as it is to the mother country, hath been a principal means of multiplying and enriching her inhabitants ; and, if not too much discouraged, may prove an inexhaustible source of treasure to the nation. For satisfaction on this point, let the present state of the British fleets and trade be compared with what they were before the settlement of the Colonies ; and let it be considered, that, whilst property in land may be acquired on very easy terms in the vast uncultivated territory of North America, the Colonists will be mostly, if not wholly, employed in agriculture, whereby the exportation of their commodities to Great Britain and the con- sumption of manufacturers supplied from thence will be daily increasing. But this most desirable connexion between Great Britain and her Colonies, supported by such a happy intercourse of reciprocal benefits as is continually advancing the prosperity of both, must be interrupted, if the people of the latter, reduced
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to extreme poverty, should be compelled to manufacture those arti- eles they have been hitherto furnished with from the former.
"From these considerations, it is hoped that the Honorable House of Commons will not prosecute a measure which those who may suffer under it cannot but look upon as fitter for exiles driven from their native country, after ignominiously forfeiting her favors and protection, than for the posterity of Britons, who have at all times been forward to demonstrate all due reverence to the mother Kingdom and are so instrumental in promoting her glory and felicity ; and that British patriots will never consent to the exercise of any anti-constitutional power, which, even in this remote cor- ner, may be dangerous in its example to the interior parts of the British empire, and will certainly be detrimental to its commerce."
The several papers above given breathe a spirit of humility and dependence that did not correctly voice the sentiments of the Vir- ginia Colonists, and possibly thereby the British Parliament was deceived and led to believe that the American Colonies would not assert their opposition to the tax measures proposed, otherwise than by protest through their Assemblies.
Most of the Colonies adopted resolutions protesting against the enactment of such a law : some offering a specific sum of money in lieu of the proposed tax, provided it was received as a voluntary donation. But no one of the Colonies was willing to admit that the British Parliament had any right to tax them, while they were denied representation therein.
Mr. Grenville and his friends argued that the Colonies were already represented in the same manner as a large proportion of the inhabitants of England who had no vote in the election of mem- bers of Parliament, and this same argument is often indulged in by the advocates of a restricted suffrage at the present time. In answer to this ridiculous argument. the Colonies contended that "the very essence of representation consists in this: that the representative is himself placed in a situation analogous to those whom he represents, so that he shall be himself bound by laws which he is entrusted to enact and shall be liable to the taxes which he is authorized to impose."
But the sound reasoning and the humble petitioning of the American Colonies did not influence the British Parliament, the memorials and petitions were not permitted to be read in the House
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of Commons, and in the month of March, 1765, the bill for laying a stamp duty in America was called up in the House of Commons, but little opposition was shown to the measure, and few indeed were the members who denied the right of Parliament to tax the Colo- nies.
It may be worthy to note the circumstances attending the debate upon this measure in the House of Commons. Mr. Charles Townsend, an advocate of this measure, concluded his speech in advocacy of the measure in the following words; "And now, will these Americans, children planted by our care, nourished by our indulgence, till they are grown to a degree of strength and opulence and protected by our arms, will they grudge to contribute their mite to relieve us from the heavy weight of that burden which we lie under?" Colonel Barre, one of the most respectable mem- bers of the House of Commons, with strong feelings of indignation visible in his countenance and manner, thus eloquently replied ; "They planted by your care! No, your oppression planted them in America. They fled from tyranny to a then uncultivated and inhospitable country, where they exposed themselves to almost all the hardships to which human nature is liable, and among others to the cruelty of a savage foe, the most subtle, and I will take upon me to say, the most formidable of any people upon the face of the earth; and yet, actuated by principles of true English liberty, they met all hardships with pleasure compared with those they suffered in their own country from the hands of those that should have been their friends. They nourished by your indulgence! They grew up by your neglect of them. As soon as you began to care about them, that care was exercised in sending persons to rule them in one department and another, who were perhaps the deputies of deputies to some members of this House, sent to spy out their liberties, to misrepresent their actions and to prey upon them. Men whose behaviour, on many occasions, has caused the blood of these sons of liberty to recoil within them, men, who were pro- moted to the highest seats of justice, some who, to my knowledge, were glad, by going to a foreign country to escape being brought to the bar of a court of justice in their own. They protected by your arms! They have nobly taken up arms in your defence, have exerted a valour, amidst their constant and laborious industry, for the defence of a country whose frontier was drenched in blood,
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while its interior parts yielded all its little savings to your emolument. And. believe me, remember I this day told you so. that same spirit of freedom which actuated that people at first. will accompany them still; but prudence forbids me to explain myself further. God knows I do not at this time speak from any motives of party heat. What I deliver are the genuine sentiments of my heart. However superior to me in general knowledge and experience the respectable body of this House may be, yet, I claim to know more of America than most of you, having seen and been conversant in that country. The people, I believe, are as truly loyal as any subjects the King has, but a people jealous of their liberties, and who will vindicate them if ever they should be vio- lated. But the subject is too delicate. I will say no more."
Notwithstanding the opposition made to the passage of this bill, it passed the House of Commons, and on the 22d day of March, 1765, having met with the unanimous approval of the House of Lords, it received the royal assent. By the provisions of this bill, this law was not to go into effect until the first day of November, 1765.
When the intelligence of the passage of this measure reached Virginia, the indignation and rage of the people knew no bounds. While no violence was offered, the Virginia House of Burgesses, by a series of resolutions proposed by Patrick Henry, expressed the sentiments of the people in a dignified and explicit manner, the resolutions being as follows ;
"Resolved, That the first adventurers and settlers of this, his Majesty's Colony and dominion, brought with them and trans- mitted to their posterity and all others his Majesty's subjects since inhabiting in this, his Majesty's said Colony, all the privileges, franchises and immunities that have been at any time held, enjoyed and possessed by the people of Great Britain.
"Resolved, That by two Royal Charters granted by King James the First, the Colonists aforesaid are declared entitled to all the privileges, liberties and immunities of denizens and natural born subjects, to all intents and purposes, as if they had been abiding and born within the realm of England.
"Resolved, That the taxation of the people by themselves, or by persons chosen by themselves to represent them, who can only know what taxes the people are able to bear and the casist mode
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of raising them and are equally affected by such taxes themselves, is the distinguishing characteristic of British freedom, and with- out which the ancient constitution cannot subsist.
"Resolved, That his Majesty's liege people of this most ancient Colony have uninterruptedly enjoyed the right of being thus gov- erned by their own assembly in the article of their taxes and inter- nal police, and the same hath never been forfeited, or in any other way given up, but hath been constantly recognized by the King and people of Great Britain.
"Resolved, therefore, That the General Assembly of this Colony have the sole right and power to lay taxes and impositions upon the inhabitants of this Colony; and that every attempt to vest such power in any person or persons whatsoever, other than the General Assembly aforesaid, has a manifest tendency to destroy British as well as American freedom."
The foregoing resolutions passed the House of Burgesses in May, 1765, and formed the first opposition to the Stamp Act and the scheme of taxing America by the British Parliament. Heretofore, it had been humble petitions, now, we have reached the point where the Colonies were defiantly asserting their rights. Patrick Henry, at this time, was quite a young man, this being the first time that he had served his country in the House of Burgesses, and, while he was inexperienced, he was inspired by that spirit of liberty which was the common heritage of the early settlers of the Amer- ican wilderness. When these resolutions were offered in the House of Burgesses, many violent debates took place, and, after a great deal of opposition, the resolutions were adopted by a majority of, possibly, one or two votes. During the progress of the debate upon these resolutions, Patrick Henry gave utterance to the following words ;
"Cæsar," exclaimed the orator, "had his Brutus; Charles the First, his Cromwell, and George the Third may profit by his ex- ample."
The passage of these resolutions gave impetus to the cause of American liberty and produced an alarming state of affairs among the more timid and loyal inhabitants. In Massachusetts the opposi- tion took a different form, and, in the city of Boston, the populace indulged in every act of violence that could be imagined, in the exhibition of their dislike of the law and the law officers. The
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ships in the harbor placed their flags at half mast, the bells throughout the town were tolling, the ship masters who bought the stamps were mistreated and insulted and required to deliver the stamps to the people, who made a bonfire of them and of the law. Meetings were held throughout the colonies, protesting against this act of the British Parliament and asserting the inalienable right of the American people.
On the second Tuesday in October, 1765, pursuant to a resolu- tion adopted by the Assembly of Massachusetts, the first Conti- mental Congress assembled at New York, "to consult as to the circumstances of the Colonies and to consider the most proper means of averting the difficulties under which they labored." Twenty-eight deputies, representing the States of Massachusetts. Rhode Island, Connecticut, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland and South Carolina, composed this, the first Continental Congress held on American soil; Virginia, New York, North Caro- lina and Georgia were prevented from sending delegates to this Congress by the action of their royal Governors, by dissolving their respective assemblies before action could be taken in the premises.
This Congress adopted a series of resolutions stating the griev- ances of the Colonies and, in positive terms, asserting the exemp- tion of the Colonies from all taxes not imposed by their own Legis- latures. They also addressed a petition to the House of Lords and to the King and Commons, and on the 25th of October adjourned.
The first day of November, 1765, the date fixed for the Stamp Act to take effect, arrived, and the day in the city of Boston was ushered in by the closing of business houses and the tolling of church bells, and Governor Bernard and Justice Hutchinson, the advocates of the British Parliament in Massachusetts, were hung in effigy on Boston Neck, where the effigies were permitted to remain awhile. when they were cut down and torn to pieces, to the great delight of the people. In many places public notice was given to the friends of Liberty to attend her funeral, and a large coffin was prepared, upon which was written the word LIBERTY. This coffin was attended to the grave by an immense concourse of people, where, after the firing of minute-guns. an oration was pro- nounced, and the word REVIVED added to the former inscription, amidst the shouts and acclamations of the people. Throughout the Colonies the stamp papers were forcibly taken from the stamp
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officials and destroyed, and the business of the country proceeded as if the Stamp law had never been enacted.
Upon the assembling of Parliament on the 14th day of January, 1766, upon a motion for an address to the King, William Pitt, one of the greatest of English statesmen, offered the following remarks upon the state of the country ;
"It is a long time, Mr. Speaker," said he, "since I have attended in Parliament. When the resolutions were taken in this House to tax America, I was ill in bed. If I could have endured to have been carried in my bed, so great was the agitation of my mind for the consequences, I would have solicited some kind hand to have laid me down on this floor to have borne my testimony against it. It is my opinion that this Kingdom has no right to lay a tax upon the Colonies. At the same time, I assert the authority of this Kingdom to be sovereign and supreme in every circumstance of government and legislature whatever. Taxation is no part of the governing or legislative power; the taxes are a voluntary gift and grant of the Commons alone. The concurrence of the Peers and of the Crown is necessary only as a form of law. This House repre- sents the Commons of Great Britain. When in this House we give and grant, therefore, we give and grant what is our own, but can we give and grant the property of the Commons of America? It is an absurdity in terms. There is an idea in some, that the Colonies are virtually represented in this House. I would fain know by whom ?. The idea of virtual representation is the most contemptible that ever entered into the head of man; it does not deserve a serious refutation. The Commons in America, repre- sented in their several assembles, have invariably exercised this 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 has ever professed the power of legislative and commercial control. The Colonies acknowledge your authority in all things, with the sole exception that you shall not take their money out of their pockets without their consent. Here would I draw the line; quam ultra citraque nequit consistere rectum."
This address was replied to by Mr. Grenville in a speech that voiced the sentiments of that part of the people of England that wished to tax the Colonies, and, in reply, William Pitt submitted the following remarks :
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"Sir, a charge is brought aginst gentlemen sitting in this House, for giving birth to sedition in America. The freedom with which they have spoken their sentiments against this unhappy act is imputed to them as a crime, but the imputation shall not dis- courage me. It is a liberty which I hope no gentleman will be afraid to exercise: it is a liberty by which the gentleman who calumniates it might have profited .. He ought to have desisted from his project. We are told America is obstinate, America is almost in open rebellion. Sir, I rejoice that America has resisted; three millions of people so dead to all the feelings of liberty as volun- tarily to submit to be slaves, would have been fit instruments to make slaves of all the rest.
I maintain that Parliment has a right to bind, to restrain America. Our legislative power over the Colonies is sovereign and supreme. The honorable gentlemen tells us he understands not the difference between internal and external taxation ; but surely there is a plain distinction between taxation levied for the purpose of raising a revenue and duties imposed for the regulation of commerce. 'When,' said the honorable gentleman, 'were the Colonies emanci- pated?' At what time, say I, in answer, 'were they made slaves?' I speak from accurate knowledge when I say, that the profits to Great Britain from the trade of the Colonies, through all its branches, is two millions per annum. This is the fund which car- ried you triumphantly through the war; this is the price America pays you for her protection ; and shall a miserable financier come with a boast that he can fetch a pepper-corn into the Exchequer at the loss of millions to the nation? I know the valour of your troops, I know the skill of your officers, I know the force of this country ; but in such a cause your success would be hazard- ous. America, if she fell, would fall like the strong man ; she would embrace the pillars of the state and pull down the Constitution with her. Is this your boasted peace? not to sheathe the sword in the scabbard, but to sheathe it in the bowels of your countrymen ? The Americans have been wronged, they have been driven to mad- ness by injustice. Will you punish them for the madness you have occasioned? No; let this country be the first to resume its prudence and temper. I will pledge myself for the Colonies, that, on their part, animosity and resentment will cease. The system
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of policy I would earnestly exhort Great Britain to adopt in rela- tion to America is happily expressed in the words of a favorite poet :
'Be to her faults a little blind, Be to her virtues very kind; Let all her ways be unconfin'd, And clap your padlock on her mind.'
Upon the whole, I will beg leave to tell the House in a few words what is really my opinion. It is, That the Stamp Act be repealed, ABSOLUTELY, TOTALLY and IMMEDIATELY."
On the 22d day of February, 1766, a bill was introduced in the House of Commons having for its purpose the repeal of the Stamp Act, which bill was carried by a vote of 275 for, to 177 against, its repeal. The joy of the people at the result of this action of the House of Commons was great. The opposition to the repeal of the Stamp Act in the House of Peers was much stronger than in the House of Commons, and it was not till the 18th day of March, 1766, that the repeal was carried, and then by a majority of only 34. On the 19th day of March, 1766, the King appeared in the House of Commons and gave his assent, and thereby the war between the English Colonies and the British Government was averted for the time being.
In Virginia, this information was received with great joy by all classes of people, and the Virginia House of Burgesses voted a statue to the King. The joy that followed the repeal of the Stamp Act was of but short duration. The Colonies began to realize that, by the repeal of the Stamp Act, England had virtually surrendered nothing, as Parliament still maintained the right to tax the Colonists, and, by the fall of the year 1766, discontent again pervaded the Colonies. The Virginia House of Burgesses post- poned the consideration of the Act providing for a statue for the King until some succeeding session. When the new Parliament assembled in the year 1767, they received information that the Assembly of New York had refused to pass a bill providing for the support of his Majesty's troops which had been stationed among the people of that Colony. Whereupon Mr. Grenville, the leader of the Parliamentary forces favoring the taxation of the American colonies, introduced a bill the object of which was to restrain the Assembly and Council of New York from passing any act, until they had complied with the requisition of the act thus mentioned,
Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786.
which bill was almost immediately passed and became a law. About the same time a body of British troops arrived in Boston, and Governor Bernard immediately began to provide for their support. out of the public treasury. Both of the above acts produced a great deal of discontent in the Colonies, and in the month of June, 1767, a bill was introduced by Charles Townsend in the British Parlia- ment, imposing duties on glass, painters' colours, tea and paper, imported into the Colonies. Also, another bill authorizing the King to appoint a Board of Trade to reside in the Colonies. Also, a bill establishing a Board of Admiralty in the Colonies to be paid from the colonial revenue, but to be independent of all colonial regulations, and another bill fixing the salaries of the Governors and other officials of the American Colonies. These several bills passed the House of Commons with but two dissenting votes, and received the royal assent on the 2d day of July, 1767.
It will be observed that the system of taxation proposed by Mr. Townsend and adopted by the British Parliament was, beyond question, a legal exercise of the right of Parliament to regulate the commerce of the Colonies, and this right had oftentimes, thereto- fore, been admitted by the American Colonists, but the people of New York and of Massachusetts were greatly irritated by the presence of the British soldiery in their respective Colonies, and acting upon the presumption that this action of the British Parlia- ment was nothing more than a forerunner of other oppressive meas- ures against the Colonies, numerous petitions and remonstrances were addressed to the King and Parliament, but failed to accom- plish any good result. The merchants and citizens of nearly all the Colonies assembled in their different towns and bound them- selves not to purchase goods of any character from the British manufacturers, while these obnoxious laws continued in force.
The Assembly of Massachusetts Colony addressed a circular letter to the Legislatures of the other Colonies requesting their assistance and co-operation, which letter was responded to by all the Colonies, expressing their willingness to stand with Massachusetts by what had been done and expressing their readiness to co-operate in what might further be proposed for the common security and welfare of the Colonies.
Bernard, the Royal Governor of Massachusetts, communicated to Lord Hillsborough, the Secretary for the Colonies, the action of the
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Massachusetts Assembly ; whereupon, his lordship directed Gover- nor Bernard to require the Massachusetts Legislature, in his Majesty's name, to rescind their action, upon the penalty of being dissolved, which message the Governor immediately communicated to the Assembly, whereupon, the Assembly voted not to rescind their action, the vote being 17 yeas to 19 nays, and they declared, "if the votes of the House are to be controlled by the direction of a minister, we have left us but a vain semblance of liberty." The Governor, thereupon, dissolved the House according to his threat, and the Governors of the other Colonies dissolved their respective Assemblies upon their refusing to rescind their action endorsing the Massachusetts resolves.
Lord Hillsborough, upon the receipt of this information, wrote to General Gage, the British Commander at Boston, that at least one regiment of troop would be sent to Boston to assist in preserving peace. Upon receipt of this information, a meeting was held by the people of Boston, and a committee appointed to wait upon the Governor and request him to call the Assembly together. This committee waited upon the Governor and presented their request, which was denied. Thereupon, it was determined to hold a general convention in the city of Boston, on the 22d of September, and all the towns in the province of Massachusetts were requested to send and did send delegates to this Convention.
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