"If parliament has a right to tax the colonies, why should this right be exercised with more delicacy in America than it has ever been even in Great Britain itself? 1765. Feb. "One method, indeed, has been hinted at, and but one, that might render the exercise of this power in a British parliament just and legal, which is the introduction of representatives from the several colonies into that body. But I have lately seen so many specimens of the great powers of speech of which these American gentlemen are possessed that I should be afraid the sudden importation of so much eloquence at once would endanger the safety of England. It will be much cheaper for us to pay their army than their orators. "The right of the legislature of Great Britain to impose taxes on her colonies, and not only the expediency, but the absolute necessity of exercising that right, have been so clearly, though concisely, proved, that it is to be hoped all parties and factions, all connections, every member of the British parliament, will most cordially unite to support this measure, which every man who has any property or common sense must approve, and which every English subject ought to require of an English administration." While the colleagues of Grenville scoffed at the idea of an American representation, he was resolved on proposing it indirectly; and he refused to take part in raising the army in America above the civil power. A dispute had arisen in West Florida between the halffrantic governor, Johnstone, and the commanding officer. Johnstone insisted on the subordination of the military: the occasion was seized to proclaim its supremacy in America. The continent was divided into a northern and southern district, each with its brigadier, beside a commander in chief for the whole; and, on the morning of the sixth of February, Welbore Ellis, secretary of war, who, at the request of Halifax, had taken the king's pleasure on the subject, made known his intention "that the orders of his commander in chief, and under him of the brigadiersgeneral commanding in the northern and southern departments, in all military matters, should be supreme, and be 1764. Feb. 6. Feb. 6. obeyed by the troops as such in all the civil governments of America." In the absence, and only in the absence, 1765. of the general and of the brigadiers, the civil governor might give the word. And these instructions, which concentrated undefined power in the hands of the commander in chief, rested on the words of the commission which Hardwicke had prepared for governing the troops in time of war. At a few hours later on the same day, George Grenville proposed to the committee of ways and means of the whole house of commons fifty-five resolutions, embracing the details of a stamp act for America, and making all offences against it cognizable in the courts of admiralty, without any trial by jury. To prove the fitness of the tax, Grenville argued that the colonies had a right to demand protection from parliament, and parliament, in return, had a right to enforce a revenue from the colonies; that protection implied an army, an army must receive pay, and pay required taxes; that, on the peace, it was found necessary to maintain a body of ten thousand men, at a cost exceeding three hundred thousand pounds, most of which was a new expense; that the duties and taxes already imposed or designed would not yield more than one hundred thousand pounds, so that England would still have to advance two thirds of the new expense; that it was reasonable for the colonies to contribute this one third part of the expense necessary for their own security; that the debt of England was one hundred and forty millions sterling, of America but eight hundred thousand pounds; that the increase of annual taxes in England, within ten years, was three millions, while all the establishments of America, according to accounts which were produced, cost the Americans but seventy-five thousand pounds. ་ The charters of the colonies were referred to, and Grenville interpreted their meaning. The clause under which a special exemption was claimed for Maryland was read; and he argued that that province, upon a public emergency, is subject to taxation, in like manner with the rest of the colonies, or the sovereignty over it would cease; and, if it were otherwise, why is there a duty on its staple of tobacco? and why it is bound at present by several acts affecting all America, and passed since the grant 1765 of its charter? Besides, all charters, he insisted, were under the control of the legislature. "The colonies claim, it is true," he continued, "the privilege which is common to all British subjects, of being taxed only with their own consent, given by their representatives; and may they ever enjoy the privilege in all its extent; may this sacred pledge of liberty be preserved inviolate to the utmost verge of our dominions, and to the latest pages of our history." “ "I would never lend my hand towards forging chains for America, lest in so doing I should forge them for myself." "But the remonstrances of the Americans fail in the great point of the colonies not being represented in parliament, which is the common council of the whole empire, and as such is as capable of imposing internal taxes as impost duties, or taxes on intercolonial trade, or laws of navigation." The house was full, and all present seemed to acquiesce in silence. Beckford, a member for London, a friend of Pitt, and himself a large owner of West India estates, without disputing the supreme authority of parliament, declared his opinion that "taxing America for the sake of raising a revenue would never do." Jackson, who had concerted with Grenville to propose an American representation in parliament, spoke and voted against the resolutions. "The parliament," he argued, "may choose whether they will tax America or not; they have a right to tax Ireland, yet do not exercise that right. Still stronger objections may be urged against their taxing America. Other ways of raising the moneys there requisite for the public service exist, and have not yet failed; but the colonies, in general, have with alacrity contributed to the common cause. It is hard all should suffer for the fault of two or three. Parliament is undoubtedly the universal, unlimited legislature of the British dominions, but it should voluntarily set bounds to the exercise of its power; and, if the majority think they ought not to set these bounds, then they should give a share of the election of the legislature to the American colonies, otherwise the liberties of America, I do not 1765. say will be lost, but will be in danger; and they cannot be injured without danger to the liberties of Great Britain." Feb. 6. Grenville had urged the house not to suffer themselves to be moved by resentment. One member, however, referred with asperity to the votes of New York and Massachusetts; and it was generally held that America was as virtually represented in parliament as the great majority of the inhabitants of Great Britain. Isaac Barré, the companion and friend of Wolfe, sharer of the dangers and glories of Louisburg and Quebec, seemed to admit the power of parliament to tax America, yet derided the idea of virtual representation. "Who of you, reasoning upon this subject, feels warmly from the heart,” he cried, putting his hand to his breast, "who of you feels for the Americans as you would for yourselves, or as you would for the people of your own native country? " and he taunted the house with its ignorance of American affairs. The charge of ignorance called upon his feet Charles Townshend, the professed master of them. He confirmed the equity of the taxation, and insisted that the colonies had borne but a small proportion of the expenses of the last war, and had yet obtained by it immense advantages at a vast expense to the mother country. “And now,” said he, "will these American children, planted by our care, nourished up by our indulgence to a degree of strength and opulence, and protected by our arms, grudge to contribute their mite to relieve us from the heavy burden under which we lie?" As he sat down, Barré rose, and, with eyes darting fire and outstretched arm, uttered an unpremeditated reply: "They planted by YOUR care! No: your oppressions planted them in America. They fled from your tyranny to a then uncultivated, unhospitable country, where they exposed themselves to almost all the hardships to which human nature is liable; and, among others, to the cruelties 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 God's 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 who should have been their friends. They nourished up by YOUR indulgence! They grew 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 behavior on many occasions has caused the blood of those SONS OF LIBERTY to recoil within them; men promoted 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 valor, amidst their constant and laborious industry, for the defence of a country whose frontier was drenched in blood, while its interior parts yielded all its little savings to your emolument. And believe me— remember I this day told you the 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 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 violated. But the subject is too delicate; I will say no more." 1765. Feb. 6. As Barré spoke, there sat in the gallery Ingersoll, of Connecticut, a semi-royalist, yet joint agent for that province. Delighted with the speech, he made a report of it, which the next packet carried across the At |