stitutional was not taken up so suddenly or so uníversally as had been witnessed in the case of the stamp act. Many very able political essays appeared in the papers, demonstrating the violation contained in this law of the principles of the English constitution and of English liberty; and earnestly exhorting the people of America to take measures which would defeat its operation. The effect of these essays was gradual but certain; and the public judgment seemed at length convinced, that the same principle which had before been successfully opposed was again approaching under a different garb.

The general court of Massachussetts met in December, and very early in the session took under their consideration several acts of parliament which, during the recess, had been transmitted to the colony. They perceived plainly that the claim to tax America was revived, and they determined to oppose it with all the means in their power.

A very elaborate letter was addressed to Dennis de Berdt, agent for the house of representatives, in which are detailed at great length, and with much weight of argument, all the objections to be made to the late acts of parliament, Letters signed by the Speaker were also addressed to the Earl of Shelburne and General Conway, secretaries of state; to the Marquis of Rockingham, Lord Camden, the Earl of Chatham, and the lords commissioners of the treasury. These letters*, while they breathe

* Prior Documents.

a spirit

a spirit of ardent attachment to the British constitu tion and the British nation, manifest a perfect conviction that their complaints were just; a conviction founded on an entire understanding of the soundest political principles, which ought to have arrested the mad course now recommenced. "Conscious of their own disposition," say they to General Conway, "they rely upon that candour which is a distinguished mark of your character; and however they may have been represented to his Majesty's ministers as undutiful, turbulent, and factious, your sentiments are too generous to impute expressions of uneasiness under the operation of any particular acts of the British parliament, to a peevish or discontented habit, much less to the want of a due veneration for that august assembly.

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This house is at all times ready to recognize his Majesty's high court of parliament, the supreme gislative power over the whole empire: its superintending authority, in all cases consistent with the fundamental rules of the constitution, is as clearly admitted by his Majesty's subjects in this province as by those within the realm. Since the constitution of the state, as it ought to be, is fixed, it is humbly presumed that the subjects in every part of the empire, however remote, have an equitable claim to all the advantages of it."

To the Earl of Shelburne, after stating the hardships encountered by their fathers, and their attachment to the mother country, they insist that the

common law, as well as their charter, gives them all the rights and libertics of British subjects.

"The spirit of the law of nature and nations," they proceed to say, supposes that all the free subjects of any kingdom are entitled equally to all the rights of the constitution; for it appears unnatural and unreasonable to affirm, that local or any other circumstances can justly deprive any part of the subjects of the same prince of the full enjoyment of the rights of that constitution upon which the govern, ment itself is formed, and by which sovereignty and allegiance are ascertained and limited.

“There are, my lord, fundamental rules of the constitution, which it is humbly presumed, neither the supreme legislative nor the supreme executivė can alter. In all free states the constitution is fixed: it is from thence the legislative derives its authority; therefore it cannot change the constitution without destroying its own foundation. If, then, the constitution of Great Britain is the common right of all British subjects, it is humbly referred to your lordship's judgment, whether the supreme legislative of the empire may rightly leap the bounds of it in the exercise of power over the subjects in America, any more than over those in Britain.

"It is the glory of the British constitution that it has its foundation in the laws of God and nature; it is essentially a right that a man shall quietly enjoy and have the disposal of his own property: this right is ingrafted into the British constitution, and is fa

miliar to the American subjects; and your lordship will judge whether any necessity can render it just and equitable in the nature of things, that the supreme legislative of the empire should impose duties, subsidies, talliages and taxes, internal or external, for the sole purpose of raising a revenue upon subjects that are not, and cannot, considering their local circumstances, by any possibility, be equally represented, and consequently whose consent cannot be had in parliament.

"The security of right and property is the great end of government: surely, then, such measures as tend to render right and property precarious, tend to destroy both property and government; for these must stand or fall together. Property is admitted to have existence in the savage state of nature; and if it be necessary for the support of savage life, it becomes by no means le s so in civil society. The house intreats your lordship to consider whether a colonist can be conceived to have any property which he may call his own, if it may be granted away by any other body without his consent; and they submit to your lordship's judgment whether this was not actually done when the act for granting to his majes ty certain duties on paper, glass, and other articles, for the sole and express purpose of raising a revenue in America, was made."

They conclude a very able course of reasoning on the question of the constitutional right to tax America, with saying, "It is by no means, my lord, a disposition

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disposition in the house to dispute the just authority of the supreme legislative of the nation, that induces them thus to address your lordship, but a warm sense of loyalty to their prince, and, they humbly apprehend, a just concern for their natural and constitutional rights. They beg your lordship would excuse their trespassing on your time and attention to the great affairs of state; they apply to you as a friend to the rights of mankind and of British subjects: as Americans, they implore your lordship's patronage, and beseech you to represent their grievances to the king, our sovereign, and employ your happy influence for their relief."

Arguments which would have appeared so conclusive to Englishmen, if urged by themselves, in support of their own rights, had but little weight when used to disprove the existence of their authority over others. The deep and solemn tone of conviction, however, conveyed in all these letters, ought to have produced a certainty that the principles assumed in them had made a strong impression, and would not lightly be abandoned; it ought to have been foreseen that, with such a people, so determined, the conflict must be stern and hazardous; and, even if ultimate success might be counted on, it was well worth the estimate, whether the object would compensate the means used in obtaining it.

A petition to the king was also agreed on, replete with professions of loyalty and attachment to his person and family; but stating, in very explicit terms

the