READING HALL "THE DOORS OF WISDOM" 2024

DIVINE HISTORY

Testament of Christ. Creation of the universe. Heart of Mary. Against the Antichrist

WAR OF THE INDEPENDENCE OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

BY

CHARLES BOTTA.

BOOK FIRST.

Summary.— Opinions, manners, customs, and inclinations of the inhabitants of the English colonies in America. Mildness of the British government towards its colonists. Seeds of discontent between the two people. Plan of colonial government proposed by the colonists. Other motives of discontent in America. Justification of ministers. Designs and instigations of the French. All the states of Europe desire to reduce the power of England. New subjects of complaint. Stamp duty projected by the ministers and proposed to parliament. The Americans are alarmed at it, and make remonstrances. Long and violent debates between the advocates of the stamp act and the opposition. The stamp act passes in parliament.

BOOK SECOND

Summary.—Troubles in America on account of the stamp duty. Violent tumult a Boston. Movements in other parts of America. League of citizens desirous of a new order of things. New doctrines relative to political authority. American associations against English commerce. Admirable constancy of the colonists. General congress of New York and its operations. Effects produced in England by the news of the tumults in America. Change of ministers. The new ministry favorable to the Americans. They propose to parliament the repeal of the stamp act. Doctor Franklin is interrogated by the parliament. Discourse of George Grenville in favor of the tax. Answer of William Pitt. The stamp act is revoked. Joy manifested in England on this occasion. The news is transmitted with all dispatch to America.

BOOK THIRD.

Summary.—Extreme joy of the colonists on hearing of the repeal of the stamp act Causes of new discontents. Deliberations of the government on the subject of the opposition of the Americans. Change of ministry. The new ministers propose to parliament, and carry, a bill imposing a duty upon tea, paper, glass, and painters’ colors. This duty is accompanied by other measures, which sow distrust in the colonies. New disturbances and new associations in America. The royal troops enter Boston. Tumult, with effusion of blood, in Boston. Admirable judicial decision in the midst of so great commotion. Condescendence of the English government; it suppresses the taxes, with the exception of that on tea The Americans manifest no greater submission in consequence. The government adopts measures of rigor. The Bostonians throw tea overboard. The ministers adopt rigorous counsels. Violent agitations in America. Events which result from them. New confederations. All the provinces determine to hold a general congress at Philadelphia.

BOOK FOURTH

Summary.—Confidence of the Americans in the general congress. Dispositions of minds in Europe, and particularly in France, towards the Americans. Deliberations of congress. Approved by the provinces. Indifference of minds in England relative to the quarrel with America. Parliament convoked. The ministers will have the inhabitants of Massachusetts declared rebels. Oration of Wilkes against this proposi­tion. Oration of Harvey in support of it. The ministers carry it. They send troops to America. They accompany the measures of rigor with a proposition of arrangement, and a promise of amnesty. Edmund Burke proposes to the parliament another Elan of reconciliation; which does not obtain. Principal reason why the ministers will earken to no proposition of accommodation. Fury of the Americans on learning that the inhabitants of Massachusetts have been declared rebels. Every thing, in America, takes the direction of war. Battle of Lexington. Siege of Boston. Unanimous resolution of the Americans to take arras and enter the field.

BOOK FIFTH.

Summary.—Situation of Boston. State of the two armies. The provinces make preparation for War. Taking of Ticonderoga. Siege of Boston. Battle of Breed’s Hill. New congress in Philadelphia. George Washington elected captain-general. Repairs to the camp of Boston. The congress make new regulations for the army. Eulogy of doctor Warren. The congress take up the subject of finances. Endeavor to secure the Indians. Their manifesto. Religious solemnities to move the people. Address of the congress to the British nation. Another to the king. Another to the Irish people. Letter to the Canadians. Events in Canada. Resolutions of congress relative to the conciliatory proposition of lord North. Articles of union between the provinces proposed by the congress. The royal governors oppose the designs of the popular governors. Serious altercations which result from it. Massachusetts begins to tabor for independence. The other provinces discover repugnance to imitate the example. Military operations near Boston. Painful embarrassments in which Washington finds himself. General Gage succeeded by sir William Howe, in the chief command of the English troops. Boldness of the Americans upon the sea. Difficulties experienced by Howe. Invasion of Canada. Magnanimity of Montgomery. Montreal taken. Surprising enterprise executed by Arnold. Assault of Quebec. Death of Montgomery.

BOOK SIXTH.

Summary.—State of parties in England. Discontent of the people. The ministers take Germans into the pay of England. Parliament convoked. Designs of France. King's speech at the opening of parliament. Occasions violent debates. The ministers carry their Address. Commissioners appointed with power of pardon. Siege of Boston. The English are forced to evacuate it. New disturbances in North Carolina. Success of the American marine. War of Canada. Praises of Montgomery. Designs of the English against South Carolina. They furiously attack fort Moultrie. Strange situation of the American colonies. Independence every day gainb new partisans; and wherefore. The congress propose to declare Independence. Speech of Richard Henry Lee in favor of the proposition. Speech of John Dickinson on the other side. The congress proclaim Independence. Exultation of the people.

BOOK SEVENTH.

Summary.—Immense preparations of the British for the reduction of America. Conference for an arrangement. The Americans lose the battle of Brooklyn. New conferences. The troops of the king take possession of New York. Forts Washington and Lee fall into their power. The English victoriously overrun New Jersey. Danger of Philadelphia. The royal army pause at the Delaware. General Lee is made prisoner. War with the Indians. Campaign of Canada. Firmness of Washington and of congress in adverse fortune; and their deliberations to re-establish it. Dictatorial power granted to Washington; in what manner he uses it. Overtures of congress to the court of France. Franklin sent thither. His character. Prudence and intrepidity of Washington. Howe, after various movements, abandons New Jersey. Embarks at New York to carry the war into another part.

BOOK EIGHTH.

Summary.—Designs of the British ministry. Expedition of Burgoyne. Assembly of the savages. Proclamation of Burgoyne. He puts himself in motion. The Americans prepare to combat him. Description of Ticonderoga. Capture of that fortress; operations which result from it. Burgoyne arrives upon the banks of the Hudson. Siege of fort Stanwix. Affair of Bennington. Embarrassed position of Burgoyne.

HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN WAR.

BOOK I

America, and especially some part by the genius and intrepidity of Italians, received, at various times, as into a place of asylum, the men whom political or religious disturbances had driven from their own countries in Europe. The security which these distant and desert regions presented to their minds, appeared to them preferable even to the endearments of country and of their natal air.

Here they exerted themselves with admirable industry and fortitude, according to the custom of those whom the fervor of opinion agitates and stimulates, in subduing the wild beasts, dispersing or destroying pernicious or importunate animals, repressing or subjecting the barbarous and savage nations that inhabited this New World, draining the marshes, controlling the course of rivers, clearing the forests, furrowing a virgin soil, and commuting to its bosom new and unaccustomed seeds; and thus prepared themselves a climate less rude and hostile to human nature, more secure and more commodious habitations, more salubrious food, and a part of the conveniences and enjoyments proper to civilized life.

This multitude of emigrants, departing principally from England, in the time of the last Stuarts, landed in that part of North America which extends from the thirty-second to the forty-fifth degree of north latitude; and there founded the colonies of New-Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island, which took the general name of New England. To these colonies were afterwards joined those of Virginia, New York, Pennsylvania, Delaware, New Jersey, Maryland, the two Carolinas, and Georgia. Nor must it be understood, that in departing from the land in which they were born, to seek in foreign regions a better condition of life, they abandoned their country on terms of enmity, dissolving every tie of early attachment.

Far from this, besides the customs, the habits, the usages and manners of their common country, they took with them privileges, granted by the royal authority, whereby their laws were constituted upon the model of those of England, and more or less conformed to a free government, or to a more absolute system, according to the character or authority of the prince from whom they emanated. They were also modified by the influence which the people, by means of their organ, the parliament, were found to possess. For, it then being the epoch of those civil and religious dissensions which caused English blood to flow in torrents, the changes were extreme and rapid. Each province, each colony, had an elective assembly, which, under certain limitations, was invested with the authority of parliament; and a governor, who, representing the king to the eyes of the colonists, exercised also a certain portion of his power. To this was added the trial, which is called by jury, not only in criminal matters, but also in civil causes; an institution highly important, and corresponding entirely with the judicial system of England.

But, in point of religion, the colonists enjoyed even greater latitude than in their parent country itself; they had not preserved that ecclesiastical hierarchy, against which they had combated so strenuously, and which they did not cease to abhor, as the primary cause of the long and perilous expatriation to which they had been constrained to resort.

It can, therefore, excite no surprise, if this generation of men not only had their minds imbued with the principles that form the basis of the English constitution, but even if they aspired to a mode of government less rigid, and a liberty more entire; in a word, if they were inflamed with the fervor which is naturally kindled in the hearts of men by obstacles which oppose their religious and political opinions, and still increased by the privations and persecutions they have suffered on their account. And how should this ardor, this excitement of exasperated minds, have been appeased in the vast solitudes of America, where the amusements of Europe were unknown, where assiduity in manual toils must have hardened their bodies, and increased the asperity of their characters? If in England they had shown themselves averse to the prerogative of the crown, how, as to this, should their opinions have been changed in America, where scarcely a vestige was seen of the royal authority and splendor ? where the same occupation being common to all, that of cultivating the earth, must have created in all the opinion and the love of a general equality. They had encountered exile, at the epoch when the war raged moat fiercely in their native country, between the king and the people; at the epoch when the armed subjects contended for the right of resisting the will of the prince, when he usurps their liberty; and even, if the public good require it, of transferring the crown from one head to another. The colonists had supported these principles; and how should they have renounced them? they who, out of the reach of royal authority, and, though still in the infancy of a scarcely yet organized society, enjoyed already, in their new country, a peaceful and happy life? the laws observed, justice administered, the magistrates respected, offences rare or unknown: persons, property and honor, protected from all violation?

They believed it the unalienable right of every English subject, whether freeman or freeholder, not to give his property without his own consent; that the house of commons only, as the representative of the English people, had the right to grant its money to the crown; that taxes are free gifts of the people to those who govern; and that princes are bound to exercise their authority, and employ the public treasure, for the sole benefit and use of the community. “These privileges,” said the colonists, “we have brought with us; distance, or change of climate, cannot have deprived us of English prerogatives; we departed from the kingdom with the consent and under the guarantee of the sovereign authority; the right not to contribute with our money without our own consent, has been solemnly recognized by the government in the charters it has granted to many of the colonies. It is for this purpose that assemblies or courts have been established in each colony, and that they have been invested with authority to investigate and superintend the employment of the public money.” And how, in fact, should the colonists have relinquished such a right; they who derived their subsistence from the American soil, not iven or granted by others, but acquired and possessed by themselves; which they had first occupied, and which their toils had rendered productive? Everything, on the contrary, in English America, tended to favor and develop civil liberty; everything appeared to lead towards national independence.

The Americans, for the most part, were not only Protestants, but Protestants against Protestantism itself, and sided with those who in England are called Dissenters; for, besides, as Protestants, not acknowledging any authority in the affair of religion, whose decision, without other examination, is a rule of faith, claiming to be of themselves, by the light of natural reason alone, sufficient judges of religious dogmas, they had rejected the ecclesiastical hierarchy, and abolished even the names of its dignities; they had, in short, divested themselves of all that deference which man, by his nature, has for the opinions of those who are constituted in eminent stations; and whose dignities, wealth and magnificence, seem to command respect. The intellects of the Americans being therefore perfectly free upon this topic, they exercised the same liberty of thought upon other subjects unconnected with religion, and especially upon the affairs of government, which had been the habitual theme of their conversation, during their residence in the mother country. The colonies, mote than any other country, abounded in lawyers, who, accustomed to the most subtle and the most captious arguments, are commonly, in a country governed by an absolute prince, the most zealous advocates of his power, and in a free country the most ardent defenders of liberty. Thus had arisen, among the Americans, an almost universal familiarity with those sophistical discussions which appertain to the professions of theology and of law, the effect of which is often to generate obstinacy and presumption in the human mind; accordingly, however long their disquisitions upon political and civil liberty, they never seemed to think they had sifted these matters sufficiently. The study of polite literature and the liberal arts having already made a remarkable progress in America, these discussions were adorned with the graces of a florid elocution ; the charms of eloquence fascinated and flattered on the one hand the defenders of bold opinions, as, on the other, they imparted to their discourses greater attraction, and imprinted them more indelibly on the minds of their auditors.

The republican maxims became a common doctrine; and the memory of the Puritans, and of those who in the sanguinary contentions of England had supported the party of the people, and perished for its cause, was immortalized. These were their apostles, these their martyrs: their names, their virtues, their achievements, their unhappy, but to the eyes of the colonists so honorable, death, formed the continual subject of the conversations of children with the authors of their days.

If, before the revolution, the portrait of the king was usually seen in every house, it was not rare to observe near it the images of those who, in the time of Charles I sacrificed their lives in defense of what they termed English liberties. It is impossible to express with what exultation they had received the news of the victories of the republicans in England; with what grief they heard of the restoration of the monarchy, in the person of Charles II. Thus their inclinations and principles were equally contrary to the government, and to the church, which prevailed in Great Britain. Though naturally reserved and circumspect, yet expressions frequently escaped them which manifested a violent hatred for the political and religious establishments of the mother country. Whoever courted popular favor, gratified both himself and his hearers, by inveighing against them; the public hatred, on the contrary, was the portion of the feeble party of the hierarchists, and such as favored England. All things, particularly in New England, conspired to cherish the germs of these propensities and opinions. The colonists had few books; but the greater part of those, which were in the hands of all, only treated of political affairs, or transmitted the history of the persecutions sustained by the Puritans, their ancestors. They found in these narratives, that, tormented in their ancient country on account of their political and religious opinions, their ancestors had taken the intrepid resolution of abandoning it, of traversing an immense ocean, of flying to the most distant, the most inhospitable regions, in order to preserve the liberty of professing openly these cherished principles; and that, to accomplish so generous a design, they had sacrificed all the accommodations and delights of the happy country where they had received birth and education. And what toils, what fatigues, what perils, had they not encountered, upon these unknown and savage shores ? All had opposed them; their bodies had not been accustomed to the extremes of cold in winter, and of heat in summer, both intolerable in the climate of America; the land chiefly covered with forests, and little of it habitable, the soil reluctant, the air pestilential; an untimely death had carried off most of the first founders of the colony: those who had resisted the climate, and survived the famine, to secure their infant establishment, had been forced to combat the natives, a ferocious race, and become still more ferocious at seeing a foreign people, even whose existence they had never heard of, come to appropriate the country of which they had so long been the sole occupants and masters. The colonists, by their fortitude and courage, had gradually surmounted all these obstacles; which result, if on the one hand it secured them greater tranquillity, and improved their condition, on the other it gave them a better opinion of themselves, and inspired them with an elevation of senti­ments, not often paralleled.

As the prosperous or adverse events which men have shared to­gether, and the recollections which attend them, have a singular tendency to unite their minds, their affections and their sympathies; the Americans were united not only by the ties which reciprocally attach individuals of the same nation, from the identity of language, of laws, of climate, and of customs, but also by those which result from a common participation in all the vicissitudes to which a people is liable. They offered to the world an image of those congregations of men, subject not only to the general laws of the society of which they are members, but also to particular statutes and regulations, to which they have voluntarily subscribed, and which usually produce, besides an uniformity of opinions, a common zeal and enthusiasm.

It should not be omitted, that even the composition of society in the English colonies, rendered the inhabitants averse to every species of superiority, and inclined them to liberty. Here was but one class of men; the mediocrity of their condition tempted not the rich and the powerful of Europe, to visit their shores; opulence, and hereditary honors, were unknown among them; whence no vestige remained of feudal servitude. From these causes resulted a general Opinion that all men are by nature equal; and the inhabitants of America would have found it difficult to persuade themselves that they owed their lands and their civil rights to the munificence of princes. Few among them had heard mention of Magna Charta; and those who were not ignorant of the history of that important period of the English revolution, in which this compact was confirmed, considered it rather a solemn recognition, by the king of England, of the rights of the people, than any concession. As they referred to heaven the protection which had conducted them through so many perils, to a land, where at length they had found that repose which in their ancient country they had sought in vain; and as they owed to its beneficence the harvests of their exuberant fields, the only and the genuine source of their riches; so not from the concessions of the king of Great Britain, but from the bounty and infinite clemency of the King of the universe, did they derive every right; these opinions, in the minds of a religious and thoughtful people, were likely to have deep and tenacious roots.

From the vast extent of the province occupied, and the abundance of vacant lands, every colonist was, or easily might have become, at the same time, a proprietor, farmer, and laborer.

Finding all his enjoyments in rural life, he saw spring up, grow, prosper, and arrive at maturity, under his own eyes, and often by the labor of his own hands, all things necessary to the life of man; he felt himself free from all subjection, from all dependence; and individual liberty is a powerful incentive to civil independence Each might hunt, fowl and fish, at his pleasure, without fear of possible injury to others; poachers were consequently unknown ip. America. Their parks and reservoirs were boundless forests, vast and numerous lakes, immense rivers, and a sea unrestricted, inex­haustible in fish of every species. As they lived dispersed in the country, mutual affection was increased between the members of the same family; and finding happiness in the domestic circle, they had no temptation to seek diversion in the resorts of idleness, where too often contract the vices which terminate in dependence and habits of servility.

The greater part of the colonists, being proprietors and cultivators of land, lived continually upon their farms; merchants, artificers, and mechanics, composed scarcely a fifth part of the total population. Cultivators of the earth depend only on Providence and their own industry, while the artisan, on the contrary, to render himself agree able to the consumers, is obliged to pay a certain deference to their caprices. It resulted, from the great superiority of the first class, that the colonies abounded in men of independent minds, who. knowing no insurmountable obstacles but those presented by the very nature of things, could not fail to resent with animation, and oppose with indignant energy, every curb which human authority might attempt to impose.

The inhabitants of the colonies wen exempt, and almost out of danger, from ministerial seductions, the seat of government being a such a distance, that far from having proved, they had never even heard of, its secret baits.

It was not therefore customary among them to corrupt and be corrupted; the offices were few, and so little lucrative, that they were far from supplying the means of corruption to those who were invested with them.

The love of the sovereign, and their ancient country, which the first colonists might have retained in their new establishment, gradually diminished in the hearts of their descendants, as successive generations removed them further from their original stock; and when the revolution commenced, of which we purpose to write the history , the inhabitants of the English colonies were, in general, but the third, fourth, and even the fifth generation from the original colonists, who had left England to establish themselves in the new regions of America. At such a distance, the affections of consanguinity became feeble, or extinct; and the remembrance of their ancestors lived more in their memories, than in their hearts.

Commerce, which has power to unite and conciliate a sort of friendship between the inhabitants of the most distant countries, was not, in the early periods of the colonies, so active as to produce these effects between the inhabitants of England and America. The greater part of the colonists had heard nothing of Great Britain, excepting that it was a distant kingdom, from which their ancestors had been barbarously expelled, or hunted away, as they had been forced to take refuge in the deserts and forests of wild America, in­habited only by savage men, and prowling beasts, or venomous and horrible serpents.

The distance of government diminishes its force; either because in the absence of the splendor and magnificence of the throne, men yield obedience only to its power, unsupported by the influence of illusion and respect; or, because the agents of authority in distant countries, exercising a larger discretion in the execution of the laws, inspire the people governed with greater hope of being able to escape their restraints.

What idea must we then form of the force which the British government could exercise in the new world, when it is considered, that the two countries being separated by an ocean three thousand miles in breadth, entire months sometimes transpired, between the date of an order, and its execution?

Let it be added also, that except in cases of war, standing armies, this powerful engine of coercion, were very feeble in England, and much more feeble still in America; their existence even was contrary to law.

It follows, of necessity, that, as the means of constraint became almost illusory in the hands of the government, there must have arisen, and gradually increased, in the minds of the Americans, the hope, and with it the desire, to shake off the yoke of English superiority.

All these considerations apply, especially, to the condition of the eastern provinces of English America. As to the provinces of the south, the land being there more fertile, and the colonists consequently enjoying greater affluence, they could pretend to a more ample liberty, and discover less deference for opinions which differed from their own. Nor should it be imagined, that the happy fate they enjoyed, had enervated their minds, or impaired their courage. Living continually on their plantations, far from the luxury and seductions of cities, frugal and moderate in all their desires, it is certain, on the contrary, that the great abundance of things necessary to life rendered their bodies more vigorous, and their minds more impatient of all subjection.

In these provinces also, the slavery of the blacks, which was in use, seemed, however strange the assertion may appear, to have increased the love of liberty among the white population. Having continually before their eyes, the living picture of the miserable condition of man reduced to slavery, they could better appreciate the liberty they enjoyed. This liberty they considered not merely as a right, but as a franchise and privilege. As it is usual for men, when their own interests and passions are concerned, to judge partially and inconsiderately, the colonists supported impatiently the superiority of the British government. They considered its pretensions as tending to reduce them to a state little different from that of their own slaves; thus detesting, for themselves, what they found convenient to exercise upon others.

The inhabitants of the colonies, especially those of New England, enjoyed not only the shadow, but the substance itself, of the English constitution; for in this respect, little was wanting to their entire independence. They elected their own magistrates; they paid them; and decided all affairs relative to internal administration. The sole evidence of their dependence on the mother country, consisted in this; that they could not enact laws or statutes, contrary to the letter or spirit of the English laws; that the king had the prerogative to annul the deliberations of their assemblies; and that they were subject to such regulations and restrictions of commerce, as the parliament should judge necessary and conducive to the general good of the British empire. This dependence, however, was rather nominal than actual, for the king very rarely refused his sanction; and as to commercial restrictions, they knew how to elude them dexterously, by a contraband traffic.

The provincial assemblies were perfectly free, and more perhaps than the parliament of England itself; the ministers not being there, to diffuse corruption daily. The democratic ardor was under no restraint, or little less than none; for the governors who intervened, in the name of the king, had too little credit to control it, as they received their salaries, not from the crown, but from the province itself; and in some, they were elected by the suffrages of the inhabitants. The religious zeal, or rather enthusiasm, which prevailed among the colonists, and chiefly among the inhabitants of New England, maintained the purity of their manners. Frugality, temperance, and chastity, were virtues peculiar to this people. There were no examples, among them, of wives devoted to luxury, husbands to debauch, and children to the haunts of pleasure. The ministers of a severe religion were respected and revered; for they gave themselves the example of the virtues they preached. Their time was divided between rural occupations, domestic parties, prayers, and thanksgivings, addressed to that God by whose bounty the seasons were made propitious, and the earth to smile on their labors with beauty and abundance, and who showered upon them so many blessings and so many treasures. If we add, further, that the inhabitants of New England, having surmounted the first obstacles, found themselves in a productive and healthful country, it will cease to astonish, that, in the course of a century, the population of the American colonies should have so increased, that from a few destitute families, thrown by misfortune upon this distant shore, should have sprung a great and powerful nation.

Another consideration presents itself here. The fathers of families, in America, were totally exempt from that anxiety, which in Europe torments them incessantly, concerning the subsistence and future establishment of their offspring. In the new World, the iincrease of families, however restricted their means, was not deemed a misfortune: on the contrary, it was not only for the father, but for all about him, that the birth of a son was a joyful event. Tn this immensity of uncultivated lands, the infant, when arrived at the age of labor, was assured of finding a resource for himself, and even the means of aiding his parents; thus, the more numerous were the children, the greater competence and ease were secured to the household.

It is therefore evident, that in America, the climate, the soil, the civil and religious institutions, even the interest of families, all concurred to people it with robust and virtuous fathers, with swarms of vigorous and spirited sons.

Industry, a spirit of enterprise, and an extreme love of gain, are characteristic qualities of those who are separated from other men, and can expect no support but from themselves; and the colonists being descended from a nation distinguished for its boldness and activity in the prosecution of traffic, it is easily conceived that the increase of commerce was in proportion to that of population. Positive facts confirm this assertion. In 1704, the sum total of the commercial exports of Great Britain, inclusive of the merchandise destined for her colonies, had been six millions five hundred and nine thousand pounds sterling; but from this year to 1772, these colonies had so increased in population and prosperity, that at this epoch they of themselves imported from England to the value of six millions twenty-two thousand one hundred and thirty-two pounds sterling; that is to say, that in the year 1772, the colonies alone furnished the mother country with a market for a quantity of merchandise almost equal to that which, sixty-eight years before, sufficed for her com­merce with all parts of the world.

Such was the state of the English colonies in America, such the opinions and dispositions of those who inhabited them, about the middle of the eighteenth century. Powerful in numbers and in force, abounding in riches of every kind, already far advanced in the career of useful arts and of liberal studies, engaged in commerce with all parts of the globe, it was impossible that they should have remained ignorant of what they were capable, and that the progressive development of national pride should not have rendered the British yoke more intolerable.

But this tendency towards a new order of things did not as yet menace a general combustion; and, without particular irritation, would still have kept within the bounds which had already so long sufficed to restrain it. During a century, the British government had prudently avoided to exasperate the minds of the colonists: with parental solicitude, it had protected and encouraged them, when in a state of infancy; regulating, afterwards, by judicious laws, their commerce with the mother country and with foreign nations, it had conducted them to their present prosperous and flourishing condition. In effect, in times immediately following the foundation of the colonies, England, as a tender mother, who defends her own children, had lent them the succor of her troops and her ships, against the attacks of the savage tribes, and against the encroachments of other powers; she granted immunities and privileges to Europeans who were disposed to establish themselves in these new countries; she supplied her colonists, at the most moderate prices, with cloths, stuffs, linens, and all necessary instruments as well for their defense against enemies as for the exercise of useful professions in time of peace, and especially such as were required for clearing the lands, and the labors of agriculture. The English merchants also assisted them with their rich capitals, in order to enable them to engage in enterprises of great importance, such as the construction of ships, the draining of marshes, the diking of rivers, the cutting of forests, the establishing of new plantations, and other similar works.

In exchange for so many advantages, and rather as a necessary consequence of the act of navigation, than as a fiscal restriction, and peculiar to commerce, England only required the colonists to furnish her with the things she wanted, on condition of receiving in return those in which she abounded, and of which they had need. The Americans were therefore obliged to carry to the English all the commodities and productions which their lands abundantly supplied, and, besides, the fleeces of their flocks for the use of her manufacturers. It was also prohibited the colonists to purchase the manufactures of any other part of the world except England, and to buy the produc­tions of lands appertaining to any European people whatever, unless these productions had been first introduced into the English ports.— Such had been the constant scope and object of a great number of acts of parliament, from 1660 down to 1764; in effect, establishing a real commercial monopoly, at the expense of the colonies, and in favor of England : at which, however, the colonists discovered no resentment; either because they received in compensation a real protection on the part of the government, and numerous advantages on that of individuals, or because they considered the weight of this dependence as an equivalent for the taxes and assessments to which the inhabitants of Great Britain were subjected, by laws emanating from parliament.

In all this space of time, parliamentary taxes formed no part of the colonial system of government. In truth, in all the laws relative to the colonies, the expressions sanctioned by usage in the preambles of financial statutes, to designate taxes or duties to be raised for the use of government, were studiously avoided, and those only of free gifts, of grants, and aids lent to the crown, were employed.— The parliament, it is true, had frequently imposed export duties upon many articles of commerce in the colonies; but these were considered rather as restrictions of commerce, than as branches of public revenue. Thus, until the year 1764, the affair of taxation by authority of parliament, slept in silence. England contented herself with the exercise of her supremacy, in regulating the general interests of her colonies, and causing them to concur with those of all the British empire. The Americans submitted to this system, if not without some repugnance, at least with filial obedience.

It appears evident that, though they were not subjected to parliamentary taxes, they were not useless subjects to the state, since they contributed essentially, on the contrary, to the prosperity of the mother country.

It cannot be asserted, however, that ill humors were not agitated, at intervals, between the people of the two countries, by attempts on the one part to maintain and even extend the superiority, and on the other to advance towards independence. A year after the peace of Aix-la-Chapelle, (1749,) a grant was made, near the river Ohio, of six hundred thousand acres of excellent land, to some merchants, whose association was called the Ohio Company. The governor of Canada, at that time a province of France, having had intelligence of this establishment, was apprehensive the English had the intention of interrupting the commerce of the Canadians with the Indians, called Tuigtuis, and of intercepting the direct communication between Canada and Louisiana. He therefore wrote to the governors of New York and of Pennsylvania, to express his surprise that the English merchants had violated the French territory, in order to trade with the Indians: he threatened that he would cause them to be seized, wherever he could find them. This traffic, however, not having been discontinued, detachments of French and Indians made prisoners of the English traders, at the commencement of the year1751.

The Indians friendly to England, indignant at the outrage their Confederates had sustained, assembled, and, scouring the forests, fell upon the French traders, whom they transported to Philadelphia.— Not content with this vengeance, the inhabitants of Virginia dispatched to M. de Saint Pierre, commanding, for the king of France, a fort, situated upon the Ohio, major Washington, the same who commanded afterwards the American armies, with orders to demand an explanation of these acts of hostility, and summon him to draw off his troops. Saint Pierre answered, that he could not comply with the demands of the English; that the country appertained to the king of France, his master; that the English had no right to traffic upon those rivers; that, consequently, in execution of the orders he had received, he should cause to be seized and conducted to Canada, every Englishman who should attempt to trade upon the river Ohio, and its dependencies.

This proceeding of the French greatly incensed the ministers of Great Britain; they could not endure to see their friends and confederates oppressed. Their resolution was soon taken; they dispatched instructions to America, that resistance should be made, by force of arms, to the usurpations of the French. This order arrived seasonably in Virginia; hostilities immediately followed, and blood flowed on both sides.

The Board, which in England superintends especially the interests of commerce and the plantations, perceiving that the colonists, divided among themselves, could not resist, without delay and disadvantage, the enterprises of an audacious and determined people, supported by a great number of Indians, recommended to the different provinces to choose deputies, to convene for the purpose of forming a general confederation, and a formal alliance with the Indians, in the name and under the protection of his Britannic majesty. It was agreed that the assembly of the governors and chief men of each colony should be convened nt Albany, situated upon the Hudson river. This convention, after having conciliated the affection of the Indians of the Six Tribes, by suitable presents, proceeded to deliberate upon the most expedient means of defending themselves and their effects from the attacks of the enemy.

They came to the resolution, that it was of urgent importance to unite all the colonies, by a general league. The conditions of it were concluded on the 4th of July, 1754. They purported, in substance, that a petition should be presented to parliament, to obtain an act for the establishment of a general government in America; that under this government, each colony should preserve its internal constitution, with the exception of the changes introduced by the same act; that the general government should be administered by a president-general, appointed and paid by the crown, and by a grand council, elected by the representatives of the people of the colonies; that the president-general should be invested with the right of nega­tive over the acts of the grand council, and authorized to put them in execution ; that with the advice of the grand council, he should have authority to conclude, and carry into effect, any treaties with the Indians, in which all the colonies should have a common interest, ns also to make peace with them, or to declare war against the same; and to take the measures he might judge suitable for regulating the traffic with these tribes; that he should have power to purchase of the Indians, and for account of the crown, lands, situated without the territories of the particular colonies; that he should have authority to establish new colonies upon the acquired lands, and to make laws for the regulation and government of these colonies; that he should have power to levy and pay troops, to construct fortresses, and to equip a fleet for the defense of the coasts, and the protection of commerce; and also, in order to accomplish these purposes, that he should have power to impose such duties, taxes, or excises, as he might deem most convenient; that he should appoint a treasurer­general, and a particular treasurer for the provinces in which it might be thought necessary; that the president-general should have the right to appoint all officers of the service, by land or sea; and that the appointment of all civil officers should appertain to the grand council; and finally, that the laws passed by these two authorities could not be contrary, but should even be conformable to the English laws, and transmitted to the king for approbation.

Such was the model of future government, proposed by the colonies, and sent to England for determination. The Americans attached great hopes to the success of their plan; already every appearance announced an open rupture with France, and the colonists affirmed, that if the confederation was approved, they should be quite able to defend themselves against the French arms, without any other succor on the part of England.

It is not difficult to perceive how much an order of things, thus constituted, would have impaired the authority of the British government, and approached the colonies towards independence. By this establishment, they would have obtained a local power, which would have exercised all the rights appertaining to sovereignty, however dependent it might appear to be on the mother country. But this project was far from being agreeable to the English ministry, who saw with a jealous eye, that the confederation proposed, furnished a plausible pretext for a concert of intrigues in America, all tending to the prejudice of British sovereignty: and, therefore, notwithstanding the imminent peril of a foreign war against a powerful enemy, the articles of the confederation were not approved.

But the ministers of England were not disposed to let this occa­sion escape them, of increasing, if it was possible, the authority of the government in America, and especially that of imposing taxes, a thing most of all desired on the one side of the ocean, and detested on the other. Instead, therefore, of the plan proposed by the Americans, the ministers drew up another, which they addressed to the governors of the colonies, to be offered by them to the colonial assemblies. It was proposed by the ministers, “That the governors of all the colonies, assisted by one or two members of the councils, should assemble, to concert measures, for the organization of a general system of defense, to construct fortresses, to levy troops, with authority to draw upon the British treasury for all sums that might be requisite; the treasure to be reimbursed by way of a tax, which should be laid upon the colonies, by an act of parliament.”

The drift of this ministerial expedient is not difficult to be under­stood, if it be considered that the governors, and members of the council, were almost all appointed by the king. Accordingly, the scheme had no success in America; its motives were ably developed, in a letter of Benjamin Franklin to governor Shirley, who had sent him the plan of the ministers. In this letter, the seeds of the discord which followed soon after, begin to make their appearance.

The general court of Massachusetts wrote to their agent in London, to oppose every measure which should have for its object the establishment of taxes in America, under any pretext of utility whatever, On the contrary, the governors, and particularly Shirley, insisted continually, in their letters to the ministers, that the thing was just, possible, and expedient.

These suspicions, this jealous inquietude, which agitated the minds of the Americans, ever apprehensive of a parliamentary tax, obtained with the more facility, as they found them already imbittered by ancient resentments. They had never been able to accustom themselves to certain laws of parliament, which, though not tending to impose contributions, yet greatly restricted the internal commerce of the colonies, impeded their manufactures, or wounded, in a thousand shapes, the self-love of the Americans, by treating them as if they were not men of the same nature with the English, or as if, by clipping the wings of American genius, it was intended to retain them in a state of inferiority and degradation. Such was the act prohibiting the felling of pitch and white pine trees, not comprehended within enclosures; such was that which interdicted the exportation from the colonies, and also the introduction from one colony into another, of hats, and woollens, of domestic manufacture, and forbade hatters to have, at one time, more than two apprentices; also that passed to facilitate the collection of debts in the colonies, by which houses, lands, slaves, and other real effects, were made liable for the payment of debts; and finally, that which was passed in 1733, at the instance of the sugar colonies, which prohibited the importation of sugar, rum, and molasses, from the French and Dutch colonies in North America, without paying an exorbitant duty. To these should be added another act of parliament, passed in 1750, according to which, after the 24th of June of the same year, certain works in iron could not be executed in the American colonies; by a clause of the same act, the manufacture of steel was forbidden. Nor should we omit another, which regulated and restricted the bills of credit issued by the government of New England, and by which it was declared, that they should not have legal currency in the payment of debts, that English creditors might not be injured by the necessity of receiving a depreciated paper, instead of money. This regulation, though just, the Americans received with displeasure, as tending to discredit their currency. Hence originated the first discontents on the part of the colonists, and the first sentiments of distrust on the part of the English.

At the same time it was pretended, in England, that if the colonists, on account of the commercial restrictions, so beneficial to the mother country, had merely demanded to be treated with tenderness and equity in the imposition of taxes, nothing would have been more just and reasonable; but that it could not be at all endured, that they should refuse the European country every species of ulterior succor; that England, in reserving to herself the commerce of her colonies, had acted according to the practice of all modern nations; that she had imitated the example of the Spaniards and of the Portuguese, and that she had done so with a moderation unknown to the governments of these nations. In founding these distant colonies, it was said, England had caused them to participate in all the rights And privileges that are enjoyed by English subjects themselves in their own country; leaving the colonists at liberty to govern themselves, according to such local laws as the wisdom and prudence of their assemblies had deemed expedient; in a word, she had granted the colonies the most ample authority to pursue their respective interests, only reserving to herself the benefit of their commerce, and a political connection under the same sovereign. The French and Dutch colonies, and particularly those of Spain and Portugal, were far from being treated with the same indulgence; and also, notwithstanding these restrictions, the subject of so much complaint, the English colonies had immense capitals in their commerce, or in their funds; for besides the rich cargoes of the products of their land, exported in British ships which came to trade in their ports, the Americans had their own ships, which served to transport, with an incredible profit, their productions and merchandise, not only to the mother country, but also, thanks to her maternal indulgence, to almost all parts of the world, and to carry home the commodities and luxuries of Europe at will. And thus, in the English colonies, the enormous prices at which European merchandise is sold in the Spanish and Portuguese establishments, were not only unusual, but absolutely unheard of; it was even remarkable that many of these articles were sold in the American colonies at the same, or even at a lower price than in England itself. The restrictions imposed by Great Britain upon the American commerce, tended rather to a just and prudent distribution of this traffic, between all the parts of its vast dominions, than to a real prohibition; if English subjects were allowed to trade in all parts of the world, the same permission was granted to American subjects, with the exception of the north of Europe and the East Indies. In Portugal, in Spain, in Italy, in all the Mediterranean, upon the coasts of Africa, in all the American hemisphere, the ships of the English colonies might freely carry on commerce. The English laws, for the protection of this commerce, were wise and well conceived, since they were calculated to increase the exportation of their own produce from the American ports, and to facilitate, for the colonists, the means of clearing their forests and cultivating their soil, by the certain vent of an immense quantity of timber, with which their country is covered. They could not, it was admitted, procure themselves certain articles, except in the ports of England; but it was just to consider, that the American lands, from their nature and vast extent, must offer sufficient occupation both for the minds and the hands of the inhabitants, without its being necessary that they should ramble abroad in search of gain, like the in­habitants of other countries, already cultivated to perfection.

Besides, if England reserved to herself an exclusive commerce, in certain kinds of merchandise, how did this concern, or how injure, the Americans? These objects appertaining for the most part to the refined luxury of social life, in what country could they procured them in greater perfection, or at a more moderate price, than in England? The affection and liberality of the British government toward its colonies, had gone so far, as not only to abstain from imposing duties upon English manufactures destined for their ports, but even had induced it to exempt foreign merchandise from all duties, when exported by England to America; thus causing it to become so com­mon in some colonies, as to be sold at a lower price than in certain countries of Europe.

It should not be forgotten, that the most entire liberty was granted for the exchange of productions between North America and the islands of the West Indies, a trade from which the English colonists derived immense advantages. And in fact, notwithstanding the restrictions laid upon the commerce of the Americans, did there not remain amply sufficient to render them a rich, happy, and enterprising people? Was not their prosperity known, and even envied, by the whole world? Assuredly, if there was any part of the globe where man enjoyed a sweet and pleasant life, it was especially in English America. Was not this an irrefragable proof, a striking example, of the maternal indulgence of England towards her colonies ? Let the Americans compare their condition with that of foreign colonists, and they would soon confess, not without gratitude towards the mother country, both their real felicity, and the futility of their complaints.

But all these and other considerations that were alleged by Eng­land, had not the effect to satisfy the Americans, and many discontents remained. The French, animated by the spirit of rivalship, which has so long existed between their nation and the British, neglected no means of inflaming the wounds which the Americans had received, or thought they had received, from their fellow citizens in England. The flourishing state of the English colonies, was a spectacle which the French had long been unable to observe with indifference. They had at first the design of establishing others for themselves, in some part of this immense continent, hoping to reap from them the same benefits which the English derived from theirs; and to be able, at length, to give another direction to the commerce of America, and of Europe. They intended, by good laws, or by the employment of their arms, to repair the disadvantages of soil and of climate, observable in the countries which had fallen to their share. But the French government being more inclined for arms than for commerce, and the nation itself having a natural bias much stronger in favor of the one than towards the other of these professions, their resolutions were soon taken accordingly. And as their character, also, disposes them to form vast designs, and renders them impatient to enjoy without delay, they began immediately to fortify themselves, and to enlarge their limits. Bastions, redoubts, arsenals, and magazines, were established at every point, and in a short time a line of French posts was seen to extend from one extremity of the continent to the other; but military power can neither supply population or commerce, nor develop the advantages of either. These fortresses, these arms, these garrisons, occupied desert or sterile regions. An immense solitude, impenetrable forests, surrounded them on all sides.

The conduct of the English was very different; they advanced only step by step, restricting themselves to the cultivation of what they possessed, and not seeking to extend themselves, until urged by the exigencies of an increased population. Their progress was therefore slow, but sure; they occupied no new lands, until those they had occupied at first were carried to the highest degree of cultiva­tion, and inhabited by a sufficient number of individuals. A method so different, could not fail to produce effects totally contrary; and in effect, a century after the foundation of the English and French colonies, the former presented the image of fertility and abundance, while the latter exhibited but a sterile and scarcely inhabited region.

Meanwhile the French, reflecting that either from the rigor of the climate, or the sterility of the soil, or from defect of industry, or of suitable laws, they could not hope to direct towards their establishment the commerce of the English colonies, or at least to share its benefits; convinced, on the other hand, that these colonies were an inexhaustible source of riches and power for a rival nation, they resolved to resort to arms, and to obtain by force what they had failed to acquire by their industry. They hoped that the discontent of the Americans would manifest itself, and produce favorable events; or, at least, that they would be less prompt to engage in the contest. They well knew that in the American arms, men, munitions, and treasure, must consist all the nerve and substance of the war.

Proceeding with their accustomed impatience, without waiting till their preparations were completed, they provoked the enemy, sometimes complaining that he had occupied lands appertaining to them, sometimes themselves invading or disturbing his possessions. This the British government deeply resented; and war between the two nations broke out in the year 1755. But the effects little corresponded with such confident hopes; the councils of England being directed by William Pitt, afterwards earl of Chatham, a man, for the power of his genius, and the purity of his manners, rather single, than rare; the affairs of Great Britain succeeded so prosperously, and her arms acquired so decided a superiority, by land and sea, that her enemies, wearied, worsted, and having lost all hopes of victory, accepted the conditions of the peace of Paris, which was concluded in 1763. It guarantied to the English the possession of the vast continent of North America, from the banks of the Mississippi to the shores of Greenland; but the most important point for them, was the cession made them, by France, of Canada.

England also gained, by this treaty, many valuable islands in the West Indies; and so greatly was her power extended in the east, and so solid were the foundations on which it reposed, that her commerce and her arms soon reigned there almost without a competitor.

The Americans, on their part, displayed so much zeal in sustaining, with their arms and resources, the efforts of the common country, that, besides the glory they acquired, they were deemed worthy to participate in the advantages which resulted to England from so many successes.

The French, renouncing the hope of reaping any advantage from the chances of war, resorted to the means of address; emissaries traversed the American continent, saying to all that would hear them, “To what end have the Americans lavished their blood, encountered so many dangers, and expended so much treasure, in the late war, if the English supremacy must continue to press upon them with so much harshness and arrogance? In recompense of such fidelity, of so much constancy, the English government, perhaps, has moderated its prohibitions, has enfranchised commerce from trammels so prejudicial to the interests of America? Perhaps the odious and so much lamented laws against manufactures, have been repealed? Perhaps the Americans no longer need toil upon their lands, or traverse the immensity of the seas, exclusively to fill the purses of English merchants? Perhaps the government of England had shown a disposition to abandon for ever the project of parliamentary taxes? Is it not, on the contrary, too evident, that, with its forces and power, have increased its thirst of gold, and the tyranny of its caprices? Was not this admitted by Pitt himself, when he declared, the war being terminated, he should be at no loss to find the means of drawing a public revenue from America, and of putting an end, once for all, to American resistance? Has not England, at present being mistress of Canada, a province recently French, and, as such, more pa­tient of the yoke, has she not the means of imposing it on her colonists themselves, by the hand of her numerous soldiery? Is it not time that the Americans, no longer in a state of infancy, should, at length, consider themselves a nation, strong and formidable of itself? Is it only for the utility of England they have demonstrated, in the late war, what they were capable of achieving? And by what right should a distant island pretend to govern, by its caprices, an immense and populous continent? How long must the partialities and the avarice of England be tolerated  Did ever men, arms, richer, courage, climate, invite to a more glorious enterprise? Let the Americans, then, seize the occasion, with a mind worthy of themselves, now they have proved their arms, now that an enormous public debt overwhelms England, now that her name has become detestable to all! America can place her confidence in foreign succors. What could be objected to a resolution so generous? Consanguinity? But have not the English hitherto treated the colonists more as vassals, than as brothers? Gratitude? But have not the English strangled it, under the pretensions of that mercantile and avaricious spirit which animates them?”.

The general state of Europe was eminently favorable to the secret designs of France. It is certain, that at this epoch, all the powers concurred in considering the enormous, increase of the strength of the British nation, both upon land and sea, as imminently menacing to the repose and liberty of Europe; excessive prosperity but too rarely permitting men to know where to limit their enterprises. Supported with one hand upon her colonies of America, and with the other upon her possessions of the East Indies, England seemed to press the two extremities of the globe, and to aspire at the entire dominion of the ocean. From the day in which was concluded the peace of 1763, England was viewed with the same jealousy which France had inspired under Lewis XIV. She was the object of the same umbrage, of the same distrusts. All desired to see her power reduced; and the more she had shown herself formidable in the preceding war, the more ardently was it wished to take advantage of the present peace, to humble and reduce her. These wishes were much the most fervent with the maritime states, and especially in Holland, to whom England, in these late times, had caused immense losses. The English squadrons had often interrupted, and sometimes by the most outrageous proceedings, the commerce, in the munitions of war, which the Dutch carried on with France ; and, on many occasions, the officers of the British navy made use of this pretext to detain ships, laden with articles that could not really be considered as munitions of war.

The kingdoms of the north reluctantly supported the prepotence of England, and openly complained that she had presumed to harass the commerce of neutrals, in time of war. It was evident they were prepared to seize the first occasion to give her a check. But France, more than any other power, being of a martial spirit, was inflamed with a desire to avenge her defeats, to repair her losses, and reconquer her glory, eclipsed by recent discomfiture; she was incessantly occupied with calculations which might lead to this object of all her wishes; and no means more efficacious could be offered her for attaining it, than to lacerate the bosom of her adversary, by separating from England the American colonies, so important a part of her power and resources.

Excited by so many suggestions, the inhabitants of English America conceived an aversion, still more intense, for the avaricious proceedings of the British government. Already, those who were the most zealous for liberty, or the most ambitious, had formed, in the secret of their hearts, the resolution to shake off the yoke of England, whenever a favorable occasion should present. This design was encouraged by the recent cession of Canada: while that province continued a dependency of France, the vicinity of a restless and powerful nation kept the colonists in continual alarm; they were often constrained to solicit the succors of England, as those from which alone they could expect protection against the incursions of the enemy. But the French having abandoned Canada, the Americans necessarily became more their own protectors; they placed greater reliance up in their own strength, and had less need of recurring to others, for their particular security. It should be considered, besides, that in the late war a great number of the colonists had re­nounced the arts of peace, and assuming the sword instead of the spade, had learned the exercise of arms, inured their bodies to military fatigues, and their minds to the dangers of battle: they had, in a word, lost all the habits of agriculture and of commerce, and acquired those of the military profession. The being that has the consciousness of his force, becomes doubly strong, and the yoke he feels in a condition to break, is borne with reluctance: thus, the skill recently acquired in the use of arms, become general among the Americans, rendered obedience infinitely more intolerable to them. They considered it a shameful and outrageous thing, that a minister, residing at a distance of three thousand miles from their country, could oppress, by his agents, those who had combated with so much valor, and obtained frequent victories over the troops of a powerful, brave, and warlike nation. They often reflected, that this prosperity, in which England exulted, and which was the object of envy to so many nations, was in great part the work of their hands. They alleged that they had repaid with the fruit of their toils, and even with their blood, the fostering cares with which the mother country had protected and sustained them, in the infancy of their establishment; that now there was a greater parity between the two nations, and therefore they had claims to be treated on terms of greater equality. Thus the Americans habitually discoursed, and perhaps the less timid among them aspired to loftier things. The greater number, however, satisfied with the ancient terms of connection with England, were reluctant to dissolve it, provided she would abandon all idea of ulterior usurpations. Even the most intrepid in the defense of their privileges, could not endure the thought of renouncing every species of dependence on their legitimate sovereign. This project they condemned the more decidedly, as they perceived that in its execution they must not only encounter all the forces of England, by so many victories become formidable to the universe, but also must resort to the assistance of a nation, in language, manners and customs, so different from themselves; of a nation they had so long been accustomed to hate, and to combat under the banners of their mother country.

Notwithstanding the suggestions of the French, and the new impulse which their military essays had given to the minds of the Americans, this state of things might have continued still for a long time, if, after the conclusion of the peace of 1763, England had not conceived the extravagant idea of new taxes, of new prohibitions, of new outrages. The English commerce, about the close of the war with France, having arrived at the highest point of prosperity, it would be difficult to estimate the immense number of vessels which brought the productions of all parts of the globe into the ports of Great Britain, and received, in exchange, the produce, and especially the manufactures, of the country, esteemed above all others in foreign markets; and, as these various commodities were subject when introduced or exported, to duties, more or less considerable, this commerce had become a source of riches for the public treasury. But it soon appeared that, to the great prejudice of this reve­nue, the increase of smuggling was in proportion to that of commerce. Government, desirous of arresting so pernicious a scourge, made a regulation, in 1764, by which it was enjoined the commanders of vessels stationed upon the coasts of England, and even those of ships that were destined for America, to perform the functions of revenue officers, and conform themselves to the rules established for the protection of the customs; a strange and pernicious measure, by which those brave officers, who had combated the enemy with so much glory, found themselves degraded into so many tide-waiters and bailiffs of the revenue. The most deplorable effects soon resulted from it; the naval commanders, little conversant with the regulations of the custom-house, seized and confiscated promiscuously the cargoes prohibited, and those that were not.

This confusion was the occasion of manifold abuses, which, if they were soon repaired in England, could not be remedied without extreme difficulty in America, from the distance of places, and the formalities required. Hence loud complaints were heard from all the colonies against the law. It produced, however, consequences still more pernicious. A commerce had been established, for a great length of time, between the English and Spanish colonies, extremely lucrative to both the parties, and, ultimately, also to England. On the part of the British colonies, the principal objects of this traffic were the manufactures of England, which the Americans had acquired in exchange for their productions, and on the part of the Spanish, gold and silver, in specie or ingots, cochineal, medicinal drugs; besides live stock, especially mules, which the Americans transported to the islands of the West Indies, where they were de­manded at great prices. This commerce procured for the Americans an abundance of these metals, and enabled them to make ample purchases of English merchandise ; and furnished their own country, at the same time, with a sufficient quantity of gold and silver coin.

This traffic, if it was not prohibited by the commercial laws of England, was not expressly authorized. Accordingly, the new revenue officers believed it was their duty to interrupt its course, as if it had been contraband; and captured, without distinction, all vessels, whether English or foreign, laden with merchandise of this nature. Hence, in a short time, this commerce was destroyed, to the great prejudice, not only of the colonies upon the continent, but even of the English islands themselves, and particularly of Jamaica.

From the same cause proceeded the ruin of another very important commerce, which was exercised between the English colonies of America on the one part, and the islands appertaining to France on the other; and which had been productive of the greatest reciprocal utility. Its materiel consisted principally of such productions and commodities as were superfluous to the one and totally wanting to the other. It is, therefore, not surprising, that the colonists, at the news of losses so disastrous, should have resolved not to purchase, in future, any English stuffs, with which they had been accustomed to clothe themselves; and, as far as possible, to use none but domestic manufactures. They determined, besides, to give every encouragement to those manufactories which wrought the materials abundantly produced by their lands and animals. But in Boston, particularly, a rich and populous city, where the luxury of British merchandise had been extensively introduced, it is difficult to express how extremely the public mind was exasperated, or with what aptitude all the inhabitants renounced superfluities, and adhered to the resolution of returning to the simplicity of early times: a remarkable example of which was soon observed in the celebration of funerals, which began to take place without habiliments of mourning, and without English gloves. This new economy became so general at Boston, that, in the year 1764, the consumption of British merchandise was diminished upwards of ten thousand pounds sterling.

Other towns followed this example; and, in a short time, ill the colonists concurred in abstaining from the use of all objects of luxury, produced by the manufactories, or by the soil, of England. Besides this, and even of necessity, from the scarcity of money, the merchants of the colonies, finding themselves debtors for large sums to the English, and having no reason to expect new advances, without new payments, which they were not in a situation to make, resorted also to the plan of non-consumption; they renounced all purchase and all expense, to the incredible prejudice of the manufacturers in England.

But the English government did not stop here; as if not satisfied with having excited the discontent of the colonists, it desired also to urge them to desperation. In the month of March, 1764, the parliament passed a regulation, by which, if on the one hand a traffic was permitted between the American colonies and the French islands of the West Indies, and others appertaining to other European powers; on the other, such enormous duties were imposed on merchandise imported from the latter, as to create, as usual, an almost universal contraband, in every article, with immense disad­vantage to the commerce itself, and equal prejudice to mercantile habits and probity. To crown so great an evil, it was ordered, by the same bill, that the sums proceeding from these duties should be paid, in specie, into the treasury of England. The execution of this ordinance must have completely drained the colonies of the little money they had remaining, to be transported to Europe.

The secret exasperation redoubled, at the first intelligence of measures so extraordinary. They remarked that they were even contradictory; that it was requiring a thing, and, at the same time, withholding the means to perform it; since the government deprived them of all faculty of procuring specie, and yet would have them furnish it, to be transported a distance of three thousand miles. But as if the ministry were afraid the tempest of indignation, excited by these new laws, should be appeased too soon, they wrested from the parliament another act, which appeared fifteen days after. It purported, that bills of credit, which might be issued in future by the American colonies, should no longer have legal currency in payments; and that, as to those in circulation, they likewise could not be received as legal payment, after the term prefixed for their redemption and extinction. It is true, however, that all the money proceeding from the duties above mentioned, was directed, by other clauses of the bill, to be kept in reserve, and could only be employed for expenses relative to the colonies; it is true, also, that at the same time the act was framed concerning bills of credit, some others were passed, to promote and regulate the reciprocal commerce between the colonies and mother country, and between the colonies themselves. But these regulations failed to produce the expected effects: for they were necessarily slow in their operation; while those which restricted and attacked the external commerce of the colonies, or shackled their domestic trade, were immediately operative. Some also attempted to demonstrate, that the money carried off by these duties must infallibly flow back into the colonies, for the payment and support of the troops stationed there, to protect and defend them. But who would guaranty to the colonists, that the troops should be quartered among them so long as the law might continue in force? If such was the intention of the legislator, why cause this treasure to travel, with no little risk and expense, from America to England, and thence back to the place from whence it came; thus imposing the necessity of passing it through so many and so different hands? Perhaps, they said, in order that it might have the honor of visiting the British exchequer. And why was it not more expedient to employ it where it was found, without so many voyages and circuits? This plainly demonstrated, that it was but a pretext for the most pernicious designs. Besides, for what purpose, for what good, were so many troops maintained in America? External enemies at present there were none; and for the repression of Indians, the colonies were, doubtless, sufficient of themselves. But the fact was, they continued, the ministers had formed a design to oppress their liberty; and for this purpose did they arm themselves with so many soldiers, and incur such vast expense, in the midst of a people abounding in loyalty and innocence.

All these new regulations, which succeeded each other with such precipitation, were indeed but too well calculated to surprise and alarm the inhabitants of North America. Such a proceeding on the part of the government appeared to them, and was in fact, both new and inauspicious. They felt it profoundly; and by their remonstrances, demonstrated how unjustly they were aggrieved, and demanded incessantly to be restored to their former condition. But they did not stop at bare complaints. When they found that their remonstrances were ineffectual, they resolved to employ some more efficacious means to convince the ministers of the error they had committed. The resolutions taken against British manufactures, which at first had been merely individual, now became general, by combinations to this effect, contracted in the principal cities of America, which were observed with an astonishing constancy and punctuality. Great Britain experienced from these associations an immense detriment, and feared, not without reason, still greater; for as they comprehended men of all conditions, they tended, by degrees, to conduct the manufactures of the country to a certain degree of perfection, the more probable, as the abundance of raw materials would permit their products to be sold at very moderate prices. Finally, it was to be expected, that with the progressive increase of industry, the manufacturers of the colonies might supply with their fabrics the neighboring provinces of Spain and Portugal But, without anticipating the future, it is certain that the interruption alone of commerce between the American colonies and England, was extremely prejudicial to the latter; for it is known, that the colonies, without including the foreign merchandise they received from the hands of England, annually purchased to the value of three millions sterling, of English productions or manufactures. The public revenues suffered materially from the effects of this new policy; the duties upon the exportation of merchandise destined for America, and those upon the importation of articles which foreign merchants sent in exchange for the productions of the English colonies, experienced a continual diminution. Henceforth began to germinate those fatal seeds, which the British government, instead of extirpating, seemed to take pleasure in cultivating, till they produced all the ruin which followed.

But, although these unusual duties had excited a general discon­tent in America, and although the inhabitants complained of them bitterly, as unjust and oppressive burdens, they considered them, nevertheless, not as taxes or imposts, but merely as regulations of commerce, which were within the competency of parliament. They believed, indeed, that in this instance it had departed from that parental benevolence which it had discovered towards them during more than a century; still they did not think it had transcended the limits of its authority. But the English ministers revolved in their minds a design far more lucrative for the exchequer, and still more prejudicial to the interests and liberty of the colonists. This was to impose taxes or excises upon the colonies, by acts of parliament; and to create, in this way, a branch of public revenue, to be placed at the disposal of parliament itself. This project, far from being new, had long been fermenting in English heads. Some of those schemers, who are ever ruminating new plans and expedients to filch money from the pockets of the people, had already suggested, in 1739, during the Spanish war, to Robert Walpole, then prime minister, the idea of taxing the colonies; but this man, no less sagacious than profoundly versed in the science of government and commerce, answered, with an ironical smile, “I will leave this operation to some one of my successor, who shall have more courage than I, and less regard for commerce. I have always, during my administration, thought it my duty to encourage the commerce of the American colonies; and I have done it. Nay, I have even chosen to wink at some irregularities in their traffic with Europe; for my opinion is that if, by favoring their trade with foreign nations, they gain five hundred thousand pounds sterling, at the end of two years, full two hundred and fifty thousand of it will have entered the royal coffers; and that by the industry and productions of England, who sells them an immense quantity of her manufactures. The more they extend their foreign commerce, the more will they consume of our merchandise. This is a mode of taxing them, more conformable to their constitution, and to our own.”

But, at the epoch in question, the power of England had arrived at such a height, that it appeared impossible for the American colonies, though supported by all Europe, to resist her will. So much glory and greatness, however, had not been acquired without enormous sacrifices and the public debt amounted to the prodigious sum of one hundred and forty-eight millions sterling, or about six hundred and fifty-seven millions five hundred thousand dollars. Thus it had become necessary to search out every object, and every occupation, susceptible of taxes or contributions. It was, therefore, thought expedient, and even necessary, to tax the colonies, for whose security and prosperity, principally, a war so terrible had been waged, such dangers encountered, so much blood and treasure expended. As to the species of the tax, it was decided for that of stamped paper, which was already established in England; and it was understood, so far as related to its nature, to be the least odious to the Americans, provided, however, it was established by the president and the grand council, according to the plan of colonial administration proposed by themselves, and not by authority of parliament. There were even found Americans, who, being then in London, not only favored, but perhaps first suggested, this new mode of taxing the colonies; and, among others, it appears that a certain Huske, a native of Portsmouth, in New Hampshire, was one of its principal promoters.

This proposition was received with eagerness, as are, commonly, all the projects of those who are industrious to extort money from the people. English ears could hear no sound more grateful than this; for if the people of England groaned under the weight of taxes both old and new, they were persuaded from what had been told them, that in America there was a redundance of all good things “Shall our colonists,” they said, “enjoy the magnificence of princes while we must drudge, and consume ourselves with efforts to procure a scanty subsistence?”. The officers, who had served in the colo­nics, painted, on their return, in vivid colors, the American prosperity and affluence.

These details were not so much exaggerated as might be thought, at the time of their residence in America. Money was then very abundant in the colonies, the government necessarily remitting thither considerable sums, for the support of the troops, and expenses of the war. At that time, American productions were in great request, and their commerce very flourishing. The inhabitants, being naturally courteous and hospitable, expended generously, to render their houses agreeable to strangers, then very numerous. The war terminated, all dangers averted, the power of an inveterate enemy, hitherto intrenched in the heart of the country, extinguished, the colo­nists conceived it a duty to offer the most honorable reception in their power to those who had contributed so greatly to their present security and felicity.

The necessity of drawing a public revenue from the colonies, being therefore no longer doubted, and the willingness of the colonists to concur in it, by means of the duty upon stamped paper, being presumed, as well as their ability to support it, the house of commons, on the 10th of March, 1764, voted a resolution, purporting that it was proper to charge certain stamp duties, in the colonies and plantations.’ This resolution, not being followed, this year, by any other to carry it into effect, existed merely as an intention to be executed the succeeding year.

If the stamp act had been carried into immediate execution in the colonies, they would perhaps have submitted to it, if not without murmuring, at least without that open opposition which was manifested afterwards; and it is known how much more easily the people are retained in quiet, than appeased when once excited. The principal colonists would not have had time to launch into discussions, in which they predicted to their fellow-citizens the evils which must result from their consent to this new tax; and as evils inspire more alarm at a distance than at approach, the colonists, not having experienced from this sudden imposition the prejudice apprehended in the uncertain future, would probably have become tranquil; they certainly would not have had so much scope to inflame each other against the duty, as they afterwards did. For no sooner was the news of the impost in question received in any place, than it was spread, as it were, in a moment, throughout the country, and produced such an impression upon the minds of all, and especially of the lower classes, that all orders of citizens, waving their ancient rivalships, difference of habits, and diversity of opinion in political and religious matters, were unanimous in maintaining that is impossible to submit to a law enacted in a mode so contrary to ancient usages, to their privileges as colonists, and to their rights as English subjects. Thus, for having chosen to warn before the blow, the British government prepared in the colonies an unanimous and most determined concurrence of opinion against one of its solemn decrees; and deprived itself of that docility resulting among the people from their intestine divisions, and the diversity of their interests.

The prime minister, Grenville, had been the author of this delay, hoping the colonies, upon advice of the bill in agitation, if they disliked the stamp duty, would have proposed some other mode of raising the sum intended to be levied by it. Accordingly, when the agents of the colonies went to pay him their respects, he informed them that he was prepared to receive, on the part of the colonies any other proposal of a tax which would raise the sum wanted  shrewdly insinuating, also, that it was now in their power, by consenting, to establish it as a principle, that they should be consulted before any tax whatever was imposed upon the colonies by authority of parliament. Many in England, and possibly the agents themselves, attributed this conduct of the minister to moderation; but beyond the Atlantic it found a quite different reception, all with one voice exclaiming that this was an interested charity. For they thought, that however civil his offers, the minister would nevertheless exact, to a penny, the entire sum he desired, which in substance was saying, that willingly or otherwise, they must submit to his good pleasure; and, consequently, his complaisance was but that of an accomplished robber. It was known that he would not be satisfied with less than three hundred thousand pounds sterling a year, the sum considered necessary for the support of the army it was resolv­ed to maintain in the colonies for their defense. Not one of the agents was authorized to comply. Two only alleged, they were commissioned to declare that their provinces were ready to bear their proportion of the duty upon stamps, when it should be estab­lished according to ancient usages. The minister, therefore, having heard no proposal that appeared to him acceptable, resolved to pursue the design of a stamp act. Meanwhile, the fermentation in America was violent, not only among private citizens, but also among the members of public and corporate bodies; and all were of one mind, in asserting that the parliament had no right to tax the colonies. In all places, political circles and clubs were formed; the subject of all conversations was the fatal tax. Every day, every hour, diminished the respect and affection of the Americans towards the British nation, and increased their disposition to resist. As it happens in all popular commotions, he that declaimed with the most vehemence was the most applauded, and deemed the best citizen. The benefits conferred by the mother country, during so long a period, were consigned to oblivion; and it had become as frequent as it was grateful to the people, to read the list of British vexations These outrages were represented in the most odious colors by the orators of the multitude, whose minds were continually exasperated by similar harangues. The assemblies of representatives and particularly those of Massachusetts and Virginia, dispatched instructions to their agents in London, to use all diligence, by all possible means, to prevent the intentional act from being passed into a law.

They also addressed remonstrances to the king, and to the two houses of parliament, all tending to the same end. But those of the province of Massachusetts were the most energetic and vehement. This province was particularly distinguished for the warmth with which it had opposed the new and pernicious direction which the ministers had for some time given to American affairs. The colonists acquired a still more determined resolution, when they learned, that in the present contest they were not abandoned to themselves, but that many were found in the mother country itself, even persons illustrious by their rank, their merit, or their dignities, w ho, from conviction, from the desire of renown, or from a wish to supplant the ministers, were continually exclaiming, both in parliament and elsewhere, that such was not the accustomed mode of conduct of the English government towards its subjects; that it was a new tyranny, which, if tolerated, would one day rebound from the shores of America upon those of England; the evil should be resisted in its principles; that governments in prosperity were but too much disposed to arrogate an extension of power; there was much appearance that the government of Great Britain inclined to imitate this usurpation ; that it was therefore essential to watch it with attention; the desires and the arts of Scottish favorites were sufficiently notorious; that America was the means or the instrument, but England the object. And what occasion was there for these new imposts? To protect and defend America, or the conquered territories? Was it to repress the Indian tribes? The colonists, with their light arms, and divided into detachments, were more proper for this service than the heavy English infantry. The Americans had all the courage requisite to defend themselves, and to succor, if necessary, the advanced posts: they had given the proof of this, on numerous occasions. There no longer existed a powerful enemy upon the American continent; whence, therefore, these continual apprehensions of an attack, when the vestige of an enemy is no where to be seen? And what necessity was there for maintaining an army in America, the expense of which must be extorted from the Americans? Precious fruits, truly, had already been gathered from this military parade! the minds of the colonists exasperated, affection converted into hatred, loyalty into a desire of innovation. In other times, had not the ministers obtained from the colonies, by legitimate means, and without such a display of troops, according to the exigency, all the succors at their disposal? Since they had been thought able to furnish subsidies to the mother country, they had never been de­manded, except in the mode of requisitions on the part of the crown, addressed by the governors to the different assemblies. By adhering to this mode, the same subsidies might be obtained, without giving offence, and without danger of revolt. But they would exact a servile obedience, in order to introduce, in due time, into the very bosom of the kingdom, the principles and government of the Stuarts! Too certain indications had been remarked of this, the day George Grenville ventured to produce his project of a bill to authorize officers in the colonies to quarter their soldiers in the houses of the citizens; a thing expressly calculated to strike the people with terror, to degrade them by permitting themselves to be trampled upon, and thus prepare them to receive the intended taxes with submission. The murmurs which had arisen, from every quarter, against so shocking an enormity, had indeed alarmed the minister; but it was time to act more vigorously; for it was the duty of every good citizen to oppose these first attempts.

But the ministers were not to be diverted from their plan; either because they were encouraged by the favorites concealed behind them, or from personal obstinacy, or because they believed, in defiance of all demonstration to the contrary, that the Americans would be intimidated by the confusion and dangerous uncertainty which would prevail in all their affairs, if, in their civil and commercial transactions, they did not make use of stamped paper, and thus pay the duty established. Hence the ministers were often heard to say, that the measure proposed should be a law which would execute itself. The memorials, the remonstrances, the petitions, the resolutions, of the American provinces, were rejected. The bill for imposing a stamp duty was therefore submitted to parliament, in its session of 1765. It is easy to imagine with what animation it was discussed. It may be doubted whether upon any other occasion, cither in times past or present, there has been displayed more vigor or acuteness of intellect, more love of country, or spirit of party, or greater splendor of eloquence, than in these debates. Nor was the shock of opinions less violent, without the walls of Westminster.

All Europe, it may be said, and especially the commercial countries, were attentive to the progress, and to the decision, of this important question.

The members of parliament who opposed the bill, discovered great energy. They cited the authority of the most celebrated political writers, such as Locke, Selden, Harrington, and Puffendorff, who establish it as an axiom, that the very foundation, and ultimate point in view, of all governments, is the good of society. Then, retracing their national history, they alleged;

“That it resulted from Magna Charta, and from all the writs of those times relative to the imposition of taxes for the benefit of the crown, and to the sending of representatives to parliament, as well as from the Declaration of Rights, and the whole history of the English constitution, that no English subject can be taxed, except, in their own phrase, per communem consensum parliamenti, that is, by his own consent, or that of his representatives; that such was the original and general right which the inhabitants of the colonies, as English subjects, carried with them, when they left their native land, to establish themselves in these distant countries; that therefore it must not be imagined their rights were derived from charters, which were granted them merely to regulate the external form of the con­stitution of the colonies; but that the great interior foundation of their constitution was this general right of the British subject, which is the first principle of British liberty,—that is, that no man shall be taxed, but by himself, or by his representative.

“The counties palatine of Chester, Durham and Lancaster,” added these orators, “and the marches of Wales, were not taxed, except in their own assemblies or parliaments, until, at different times, they were called to participate in the national representation.

“The clergy, until the late period, when they were admitted to a share in the general representation, always taxed themselves, and granted the king what they called benevolences, or free gifts,

“There are some, who, extending the power of parliament beyond ail limits, affect to believe that this body can do every thing, and is invested with all rights; but this is not supported, and though true, could only be so in violation of the constitution; for then there would exist in parliament, as might occur in the instance of a single individual, an arbitrary power. But the fact is, that many things are not within the power of parliament. It cannot, for example, make itself executive; it cannot dispose of the offices that belong to the crown; it cannot take the property of any man, not even in cases of enclosures, without his being heard. The Lords cannot reject a money bill passed by the commons; nor the commons erect themselves into a court of justice; neither can the parliament of England tax Ireland.

“It is the birthright of the colonists, as descendants of Englishmen, not to be taxed by any but their own representatives; and so far from being represented in the parliament of Great Britain, they are not even virtually represented here, as the meanest inhabitants of Great Britain are, in consequence of their intimate connection with those who are actually represented.

“And if laws made by the British parliament to tax all except its own members, or even all except such members and those actually represented by them, would be deemed tyrannical, how much more tyrannical and unconstitutional must not such laws appear to those who cannot be said to be either actually or virtually represented!

“The people of Ireland are much more virtually represented in the parliament of Great Britain than the colonists, in consequence of the great number of Englishmen possessed of estates and places of trust and profit in Ireland, and their immediate descendants settled in that country, and of the great number of Irish noblemen and gentlemen in both houses of the British parliament, and the greater number still constantly residing in Great Britain. But, notwithstanding this, the British parliament has never claimed any right to tax the people of Ireland.

“The first founders of the colonies were not only driven out of the mother country by persecution, but they left it at their own risk and expense. Being thus forsaken, if not worse treated, all ties, except those common to mankind, were dissolved between them. They absolved from all duty of obedience to her, as she dispensed herself from all duty of protection to them.

“If they accepted of any royal charters on the occasion, it was done through mere necessity; and, as this necessity was not of their own making, their charters cannot be binding upon them; and even allowing these charters to be binding, they are only bound thereby to that allegiance which the supreme head of the realm may claim indiscriminately from all its subjects.

“It is extremely absurd to affirm that the Americans owe any submission to the legislative power of Great Britain, which had not authority enough to shield them against the violences of the executive; and more absurd still, to say that the people of Great Britain can exercise over them rights which that very people affirm they might justly oppose, if claimed over themselves by others.

“The English people combated long, and shed much blood, with a view of recovering those rights which the crown, it was believed, had usurped over themselves; and how can they now, without becoming guilty of the same usurpation, pretend to exercise these rights over others?

“But admitting that, by the charters granted to the Americans at the time of their emigration, and by them from necessity accepted, they are bound to make no laws but such as. allowing for the difference of circumstances, shall not clash with those of England, this no more subjects them to the parliament of England, than their having been laid under the same restraint with respect to the laws of Scotland, or any other country, would have subjected them to the parliament of Scotland, or the supreme authority of this other country; since, by these charters, they have a right to tax themselves for their own support and defense.

“Whatever assistance the people of Great Britain may have given to the people of the colonies, it must have been given either from motives of humanity and fraternal affection, or with a view of being one day repaid for it, and not as the price of their liberty; at least the colonies can never be presumed to have accepted it in that light.

“If it was given from motives of humanity and fraternal affection, as the people of the colonies have never given the mother country any room to complain of them, so they never will. If, finally, it was given with a view of being one day repaid for it, the colonists are willing to come to a fair account, which, allowing for the assistance they themselves have often given the mother country, for what they must have lost, and the mother country must have gained, by pre­venting their selling to others at higher prices than they could sell to ler, and their buying from others at lower prices than they could buy from her, would, they apprehend, not turn out so much to her advantage as she imagines.

“Their having heretofore submitted to laws made by the British parliament, for their internal government, can no more be brought as a precedent against them, than against the English themselves their tameness under the dictates of a Henry, or the rod of a Star Chamber; the tyranny of many being as grievous to human nature as that of a few, and the tyranny of a few as that of a single person.

“If liberty is the due of those who have sense enough to know the value of it, and courage enough to expose themselves to every danger and fatigue to acquire it, the American colonists are better entitled to possess it than even their brethren of Great Britain; since they not only renounced their native soil, the love of which is so con genial with the human mind, and all those tender charities inseparable from it, but exposed themselves to all the risks and hardships run voidable in a long voyage; and, after escaping the danger of being swallowed up by the waves, encountered, upon those uninhabited and barbarous shores, the more cruel danger of perishing by a slow famine; which having combated, and surmounted, with infinite patience and constancy, they have, as if by a miracle of Divine Providence, at length arrived at this vigorous and prosperous state, so eminently profitable to those from whom they derive their origin.

“If, in the first years of their existence, some of the colonists discovered a turbulent humor, and all were exposed to the incursions of the neighboring tribes, a savage and hostile race, which condition required the interposition and assistance of the British parliament, they have now arrived to such a degree of maturity, in point of polity and strength, as no longer to need such interposition for the future; and therefore, since the proportions are changed which existed between the two nations, it is proper also to change the terms of their ancient connection, and adopt others, more conformable to their present respective power and circumstances.

“The present statutes, promulgated by parliament, do not bind the colonies, unless they are expressly named therein; which evidently demonstrates, that the English general laws do not embrace in their action the American colonies, but need to be sanctioned by special laws.

“The colonies, therefore, stand in much the same relation towards England, as the barons with respect to the sovereigns, in the feudal system of Europe; the obedience of the one, and the submission of the other, are restricted within certain limits.

“The history of colonies, both ancient and modern, comes to the support of these views. Thus the Carthaginians, the Greeks, and other celebrated nations of antiquity, allowed their colonies a very great liberty of internal government, contenting themselves with the advantages they derived from their commerce. Thus the barbarians of the north, who desolated the Roman empire, carried with them their laws, and introduced them among the vanquished, retaining but an extremely slender obedience and submission towards the sovereigns of their country.

“Thus also, in more recent times, the House of Austria had acted in regard to its colonies of the Low Countries, before the latter totally withdrew themselves from its dominations.

“Such examples ought to apprize the English of the conduct they should pursue, in respect to their colonies; and warn them of what they should avoid?

“The colonies are already sufficiently taxed, if the restrictions upon their commerce are taken into view. No other burden should, therefore, be laid upon the Americans, or they should be restored to an entire liberty of commerce ; for otherwise they would be charged doubly, than which nothing can be deemed more tyrannical.

“It is not argued, however, that the American colonies ought not to be subject to certain external duties, which the parliament has authority to establish in their ports, or to some other restrictions, which have been laid upon their commerce by the act of navigation, or other regulations.

“They are in the same case as all other colonies, belonging to the rest of the maritime powers in Europe; from their first establishment, all commerce with foreign nations has been prohibited them.

“What is spoken of are internal taxes, to be levied on the body of the people; and it is contended, that before they can be liable to such taxes, they must first be represented.

“Even admitting, what is denied, that the British parliament has the right to make laws for the colonies, still more to tax them without their concurrence, there lie many objections against all the duties lately imposed on the colonies, and more still, and weightier, against that of the stamps lately projected by the ministers, and now proposed for the sanction of parliament. For, whereas these stamp duties were laid gradually on the people of Great Britain, they are now to be saddled, all at once, with all their increased weight, on those of the colonies; and if these same duties were thought so grievous in England, on account of the great variety of occasions in which they were payable, and the great number of heavy penalties, which the best meaning persons might incur, they must be to the last degree oppressive in the colonies, where the people, in general, cannot be supposed so conversant in matters of this kind, and numbers do not even understand the language of these intricate laws, so foreign to their ordinary pursuits of agriculture and commerce.

“It should be added, that these laws, which savor too much of their native soil, and bear too distinctly the character of that subtilty for which the English financial system is distinguished, must be viewed by foreigners as insidious snares, and tend to discourage them from emigrating, with their families, to the American shores. Need any one be told how prejudicial this would prove to their growing population, and, by rebound, to the interests of England, herself?

“Finally, as the money produced by these duties, according to the terms of the bill proposed, is required to be paid into the English treasury, the colonies, already impoverished by commercial prohibitions must, in a short time, be drained of all their specie, to the ruin of their commerce, both internal and external.”

On the part of the ministers, these objections were answered, as follows:

“First of all, it is necessary to banish from the present question all this parade of science and erudition, so pompously displayed by our opponents, and which they have collected from the books of speculative men, who have written upon the subject of government. All these refinements and arguments of natural lawyers, such as Locke, Selden, Puffendorff, and others, are little to the purpose, in a question of constitutional law.

“And nothing can be more absurd, than to hunt after antiquated charters, to argue from thence the present English constitution; because the constitution is no longer the same; and nobody knows what it was, at some of the times that are quoted; and there are. things even in Magna Charta, which are not constitutional now. All these appeals, therefore, to the records of antiquity, prove nothing as to the constitution such as it now is.

This constitution has always been subject to continual changes and modifications, perpetually gaining or losing something; nor was the representation of the commons of Great Britain formed into any certain system, till the reign of Henry VII.

“With regard to the modes of taxation, when we get beyond the reign of Edward I or king John, we are all in doubt and obscurity; the history of those times is full of uncertainty and confusion. As to the writs upon record, they were issued, some of them according to law, and some not according to law ; and such were those concerning ship money; to call assemblies to tax themselves, or to compel benevolences; other taxes were raised by escuage, or shield service, fees for knight’s service, and other means arising from the feudal system. Benevolences are contrary to law; and it is well known how people resisted the demands of the crown, in the case of ship money; and were prosecuted by the court.

“With respect to the marches of Wales, this privilege of taxing themselves was but of short duration; and was only granted these borderers, for assisting the king, in his wars against the Welsh in the mountains. It commenced and ended with the reign of Edward I; and when the prince of Wales came to be king, they were annexed to the crown, and became subject to taxes, like the rest of the dominions of England.

“Henry VIII was the first king of England who issued writs for it to return two members to parliament; the crown exercised the right of issuing writs, or not, at pleasure; from whence arises the inequality of representation, in our constitution of this day. Henry VIII issued a writ to Calais, to send one burgess to parliament; and one of the counties palatine was taxed fifty years to subsidies, fore it sent members to parliament.

“The clergy at no time were unrepresented in parliament. When they taxed themselves in their assemblies, it was done with the con­currence and consent of parliament.

“The reasoning about the colonies of Great Britain, drawn from the colonies of antiquity, is a mere useless display of learning; for it is well known the colonies of the Tyrians in Africa, and of the Greeks in Asia, were totally different from our system. No nation, before England, formed any regular system of colonization, but the Romans; and their colonial system was altogether military, by garrisons placed in the principal towns of the conquered provinces; and the jurisdiction of the principal country was absolute and unlimited.

“The provinces of Holland were not colonies; but they were states subordinate to the House of Austria, in a feudal dependence. And, finally, nothing could be more different from the laws and customs of the English colonies, than that inundation of northern barbarians, who, at the fall of the Roman empire, invaded and occupied all Europe. Those emigrants renounced all laws, all protection, all connection with their mother countries; they chose their leaders, and marched under their banners, to seek their fortunes, and establish new kingdoms upon the ruins of the Roman empire.

“On the contrary, the founders of the English colonies emigrated under the sanction of the king and parliament; their constitutions were modeled gradually into their present forms, respectively by charters, grants and statutes; but they were never separated from the mother country, or so emancipated as to become independent, and sui juris.

“The commonwealth parliament were very early jealous of the colonies separating themselves from them; and passed a resolution or act, and it is a question whether it is not now in force, to declare and establish the authority of England over her colonies. But if there was no express law, or reason founded upon any necessary inference from an express law, yet the usage alone would be sufficient to support that authority; for, have not the colonies submitted, ever since their first establishment, to the jurisdiction of the mother country? Have they not even invoked it in many instances? In all questions of property, have not the appeals of the colonies been made to the privy council here? And have not these causes been determined, not by the law of the colonies, but by the law of England? And have they not peaceably submitted to these decisions?

“These cases of recourse, however, have been very frequent New Hampshire and Connecticut have been in blood about their differences; Virginia and Maryland were in arms against each other. Does not this show the necessity of one superior decisive jurisdiction, to which all subordinate jurisdictions may recur? Nothing, at any time, could be more fatal to the peace and prosperity of the colonies, than the parliament giving up its superintending authority over them. From this moment, every bond between colony and colony would be dissolved, and a deplorable anarchy would ensue. The elements of discord and faction, already diffused among them, are too well known, not to apprehend an explosion of this sort.

“From this to the total annihilation of the present colonial system, to the creation of new forms of government, and falling a prey to some foreign potentate, how inevitable is their career!

“At present, the several forms of their constitution are very various, having been established one after another, and dictated by the circumstances and events of the times; the forms of government in every colony, were adapted from time to time, according to the size of the colony, and so have been extended again from time to time, as the numbers of the inhabitants, and their commercial connections, outgrew the first model. In some colonies, at first there was only a governor, assisted by two or three counsellors; then more were added; then courts of justice were erected; then assemblies were created.

“As the constitutions of the colonies are made up of different principles, so they must, from the necessity of things, remain dependent upon the jurisdiction of the mother country; no one ever thought the contrary, till this new doctrine was broached. Acts of parliament have been made, not only without a doubt of their legality, but accepted with universal applause, and willingly obeyed. Their ports have been made subject to customs and regulations, which cramped and diminished their trade ; and duties have been laid, affecting the very inmost parts of their commerce, and among others that of the post; and no one ever thought, except these new doctors, that the colonies are not to be taxed, regulated, and bound by parliament.

“There can be no doubt, but that the inhabitants of the colonies are as much represented in parliament, as the greatest part of the people in England are, among nine millions of whom, there are eight who have no votes in electing members of parliament; and, therefore, all these arguments, brought to prove the colonies not dependent on parliament, upon the ground of representation, are vain; nay, they prove too much, since they directly attack the whole present constitution of Great Britain. But the thing is, that a member of parliament, chosen for any borough, represents not only the constituents and inhabitants of that particular place, but he represents the inhabitants of every other borough in Great Britain. He represents the city of London, and all other the commons of the land, and the inhabitants of all the colonies and dominions of Great Britain, and is in duty and conscience bound to take care of their interests.

“The distinction of internal and external taxes, is false and groundless. It is granted, that restrictions upon trade, and duties upon the ports, are legal, at the same time that the right of the parliament of Great Britain, to lay internal taxes upon the colonies, is denied. What real difference can there be in this distinction? Is not a tax, laid in any place, like a pebble falling into and making a circle in a lake, till one circle produces and gives motion to another, and the whole circumference is agitated from the center?

“Nothing can be more clear, than that a tax of ten or twenty per cent, laid upon tobacco either in the ports of Virginia or London, is a real duty laid upon the inland plantations of Virginia itself, ah hundred miles from the sea, wherever the tobacco grows.

“Protection is the ground that gives the right of taxation. The obligation between the colonics and the mother country is natural and reciprocal, consisting of defense on the one side, and obedience on the other; and common sense tells, that the colonies must be dependent in all points upon the mother country, or else not belong to it at all. The question is not what was law, or what was the constitution? but the question is, what is law now, and what is the constitution now?

“And is not this law, is not this the constitution, is not this right, which without contradiction, and for so long a time, and in numberless instances, as such has been exercised on the one part, and approved by obedience on the other?

“No attention whatever is due to those subtile opinions and vain abstractions of speculative men; as remote from the common experience of human affairs, and but too well adapted to seduce and inflame the minds of those, who, having derived such signal advantages from their past submission, ought for the future also to obey the laws of their hitherto indulgent but powerful mother.

“Besides, is not the condition of the Americans, in many respects, preferable to that of the English themselves? The expenses of internal and civil administration, in England, are enormous; so inconsiderable, on the contrary, in the colonies, as almost to surpass belief.

The government of the church, productive of so heavy an expense in England, is of no importance in America; there tithes, there sinecure benefices, are unknown. Pauperism has no existence in the colonies; there, according to the language of Scripture, every one lives under his own fig tree; hunger and nakedness are banished from the land; and vagrants, or beggars, are never seen. Happy would it be for England, if as much could be affirmed of her subjects on this side of the ocean! But the contrary, as every body knows, is the truth.

“What nation has ever shown such tenderness towards its Colonies as England has demonstrated for hers? Have they, in their necessities, ever sought in vain the prompt succor of Great Britain? Was it for their own defense against the enemy, or to advance their domestic prosperity, have not the most ample subsidies been granted them without hesitation?

“Independently of these benefits, what other state has ever extended to a part of its population this species of favor, which had been bestowed by England upon her colonies? She has opened them a credit without which they could never have arrived at this height of prosperity, which excite the astonishment of all that visit them; and this considered, the tax proposed "must be deemed a very moderate interest for the immense sums which Great Britain has lent her colonies.

“As to the scarcity of money, the declamations upon this head are equally futile: gold and silver can never be wanting in a country so fertile in excellent productions as North America. The stamp duty proposed being not only moderate, but even trivial, could never withdraw from the country so considerable a quantity of specie, as to drain its sources, especially as the product of this duty will be kept in reserve in the treasury, and being destined to defray the expenses of the protection and defense of the colonies, must therefore of necessity be totally reimbursed.

“This supremacy of England, about which such clamor has been raised, amounts then, in reality, to nothing but a superiority of power and of efforts to guard and protect all her dependencies, and fill her dominions; which she has done at a price that has brought her to the brink of ruin. Great Britain, it is true, has acquired in this struggle a glory which admits of no addition ; but all her colonies participate in this. The Americans are not only graced by the reflected splendor of their ancient country, but she has also lavished upon them the honors and benefits which belong to the members of the British empire, while England alone has paid the countless cost of so much glory.”

Such were the arguments advanced in parliament, with equal ability and warmth, on the one part, and on the other, in favor, and against, the American tax. While the question was in suspense, the merchants of London, interested in the commerce of America, tortured with the fear of losing or not having punctually remitted, the capitals they had placed in the hands of the Americans, presented a petition against the bill, on the day of its second reading; for they plainly foresaw that among their debtors, some from necessity, and others with this pretext, would not fail to delay remittances. But it was alleged, that the usage of the house of commons is not to hear petitions directed against tax laws; and this of the London merchants, was, accordingly, rejected.

Meanwhile, the ministers, and particularly George Grenville, exclaimed;

“These Americans, our own children, planted by our cares, nourished by our indulgence, protected by our arms, until they are grown to a good degree of strength and opulence; will they now turn their backs upon us, and grudge to contribute their mite to relieve us from the heavy load which overwhelms us?”

Colonel Barre caught the words, and with a vehemence becoming in a soldier, said;

“Planted by your cares! No! your oppression planted them in America; they fled from your tyranny, into a then uncultivated land, where they were exposed to almost all the hardships to which human nature is liable, and among others, to the savage cruelty of the enemy of the country, a people the most subtle, and, I take upon me to say, the most truly terrible, of any people that ever inhabited any part of God’s earth; and yet, actuated by principles of true English liberty, they met all these 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 up by your indulgence! They grew by your neglect; as soon as you began to care about them, that care was exercised in sending persons to rule over them, in one department and another, who were, perhaps, the deputies of some members of this house, sent to spy out their liberty, to misrepresent their actions, and to prey upon them; men, whose behavior, on many occasions, had caused the blood of these sons of liberty to recoil within them; men, promoted to the highest seats of justice, some of whom, to my knowledge, were glad, by going in foreign countries, to escape the vengeance of the laws in their own.

“They protected by your arms! They have nobly taken up arms in your defense, have exerted their valor amidst their constant and laborious industry, for the defense of a country, whose frontiers, while drenched in blood, its interior parts have yielded, for your enlargement, the little savings of their frugality, and the fruits of their toils. And believe me, remember, I  this day told you so, that the same spirit which actuated that people at first, will continue with them still; but prudence forbids me to explain my self any further. God knows, I do not, at this time, speak from motives of party heat; what I assert proceeds from the sentiments of my heart. However superior to me in general knowledge and experience, any one here may be, yet I claim to know more of America, having seen, and been more conversant in that country. The people there are as truly loyal as any subjects the king has; but a people jealous of their liberties, and who will vindicate them, if they should be violated; but the subject is delicate; I will say no more.”

This discourse was pronounced by the colonel without preparation, and with such a tone of energy, that all the house remained, as it were, petrified with surprise, and all viewed him with attention, without uttering a word.

But the pride of the ministers would not permit them to retreat, and the parliament could not hear, with patience, its authority to tax America called in question. Accordingly, many voted in favor of the bill, because they believed it just and expedient; others, because the ministers knew how to make it appear such; others, finally, and perhaps the greater number, from jealousy of their contested authority. Thus, when the house divided on the 7th of February, 1765, the nays were not found to exceed fifty, and the yeas were two hundred and fifty. The bill was, therefore, passed, and was approved with great alacrity in the house of lords, on the 8th of March following, and sanctioned by the king the 22d of the same month.

Such was this famous scheme, invented by the most subtle, by the most sapient heads in England; whether the spirit of sophistry in which it originated, or the moment selected for its promulgation, be the most deserving of admiration, is left for others to pronounce. Certain it is, that it gave occasion in America to those intestine com­motions, that violent fermentation, which, after kindling a civil war, involving all Europe in its flames, terminated in the total disjunction from the British empire of one of its fairest possessions.

If, in this great revolution, the arms of England suffered no dim­inution of splendor and glory, owing to the valor and gallantry displayed by her soldiers throughout the war, it cannot be disguised that her power and influence were essentially impaired among all nations of the world.

The very night the act was passed, doctor Franklin, who was then in London, wrote to Charles Thompson, afterwards secretary of congress: The sun of liberty is set; the Americans must light the lamps of industry and economy.

To which Mr. Thompson answered: Be assured we shall light torches of quite another sort.

Thus predicting the convulsions that were about to follow.

NOTES TO BOOK I

FRANKLIN’S LETTER.

“Excluding the people of the colonies from all share in the choice of the grand council, would probably give extreme dissatisfaction, as well as the taxing them by act of parliament, where they have no representation.

“In matters of general concern to the people, and especially when burthens are to be laid upon them, it is of use to consider, as well what they will be apt to think and say, as what they ought to think; I shall, therefore, as your excellency requires it of me, briefly mention what of either kind occurs to me on this occasion.

“First, they will say, and perhaps with justice, that the body of the people in the colonies are as loyal, and as firmly attached to the present constitution, and reigning family, as any subjects in the king’s dominions.

“That there is no reason to doubt the readiness and willingness of the representatives they may choose, to grant, from time to time, such supplies for the defense of the country, as snail be judged necessary, so far as their abilities allow.

“That the people in the colonies, who are to feel the immediate mischiefs of invasion and conquest by an enemy, in the loss of their estates, lives, and liberties, are likely to be better judges of the quantity of forces necessary to be raised and maintained, forts to be built and supported, and of their own abilities to bear the expense, than the parliament of England, at so great a distance.

“That governors often come to the colonies merely to make fortunes with which they intend to return to Britain; are not always men of the best abilities or integrity; have, many of them, no estates here, nor any natural connections with us$ that should make them heartily concerned for our welfare; and might, possibly, be fond of raising and keeping up more forces than necessary, from the profits accruing to themselves, and to make provision for their friends and dependants.

“That the counsellors, in most of the colonies, being appointed by the crown, on the recommendation of governors, are often persons of small estates, frequently dependent on the governors for offices, and therefore too much under influence.

“That there is, therefore, great reason to be jealous of a power in such governors and councils, to raise such sums as they shall judge necessary, by drafts on the lords of the treasury, to be afterwards laid on the colonies by act of parliament, and paid by the people here; since they might abuse it, by projecting useless expeditions, harassing rely to create

“That the parliament of England is at a great distance, subject to be misinformed and misled by such governors and councils, whose united interests might, probably, secure them against the effect of any complaint from hence.

“That it is supposed an undoubted right of Englishmen, not to be taxed, but by their own consent, given through their representatives; that the colonies have no representatives in parliament.

“That to propose taxing them by parliament, and refuse them the liberty of choosing a representative council, to meet in the colonies, and consider and judge of the necessity of any general tax, and the quantum, shows a suspicion of their loyalty to the crown, or of their regard for their country, or of their common sense and understanding; which they have not deserved.

“That compelling the colonies to pay money without their consent, would be rather like raising contributions in an enemy’s country, than taxing of Englishmen for their own public benefit; that it would be treating them as a conquered people, and not as true British subjects.

“That a tax laid by the representatives of the colonies might be easily lessened us the occasions should lessen; but being once laid by parliament, under the influence of the representations made by governors, would probably be kept up and continued for the benefit of governors, to the grievous burthen and discontentment of the colonies, and prevention of their growth and increase.

“That a power in governors, to march the inhabitants from one end of the British and French colonies to the other, being a country of at least one thousand five hundred miles long, without the approbation or the consent of their representatives first obtained, to such expeditions, might be grievous and ruinous to the people, and would put them upon a footing with the subjects of France in Canada, that now groan under such oppression from their governor, who, for two years past, has harassed them with long and destructive marches to Ohio.

“That if the colonies, in a body, maybe well governed, by governors and councils appointed by the crown, without representatives, particular colonies may as well, or better, be so governed; a tax may be laid upon them all by act of parliament, for support of government; and their assemblies may be dismissed as an useless part of the constitution.

“That the powers proposed by the Albany plan of union, to be vested in a grand council representative of the people, even with regard to military matters, are not so great as those which the colonies of Rhode Island and Connecticut are entrusted with by their charters, and have never abused ; for by this plan, the president-general is appointed by the crown, and controls all by his negative ; but in those governments, the people choose the governor, and yet allow him no negative.

“That the British colonies bordering on the French, are frontiers of the British empire ; and the frontiers of an empire are properly defended at the joint expense of the body of the people in such empire: it would now be thought hard, by act of parliament, to oblige the Cinque Ports, or sea coasts of Britain, to maintain the whole navy, because they are more immediately defended by it, not allowing them, at the same time, a vote in choosing members of parliament; and as the frontiers of America bear the expense of their own defense, it seems hard to allow them no share in voting the money, judging of the necessity of the sum, or advising the measures.

“That besides the taxes necessary for the defense of the frontiers, the colonies pay yearly great sums to the mother country unnoticed; for,

1.     Taxes paid in Britain by the land-holder, or artificer, must enter into and increase the price of the produce of land and manufactures made of it, and great part of this is paid by consumers in the colonies, who thereby pay a considerable part of the British taxes.

2.    We are restrained in our trade with foreign nations; and where we could be supplied with any manufacture cheaper from them, but must buy the same dearer from Britain, the difference of price is a clear tax to Britain.

3.    We are obliged to carry a part of our produce directly to Britain; and when the duties laid upon it lessen its price to the planter, or it sells for less than it would in foreign markets, the difference is a tax paid to Britain.

4.    Some manufactures we could make, but are forbidden, and must take them of British merchants; the whole price is a tax paid to Britain.

5.    By our greatly increasing demand and consumption of British manufactures, their price is considerably raised of late years; the advantage is clear profit to Britain, and enables its people better to pay great taxes; and much of it being paid by us, is clear tax to Britain.

6.    In short, as we are not suffered to regulate our trade, and restrain the importation and consumption of British superfluities, as Britain can the consumption of foreign superfluities, our whole wealth centers finally among the merchants and inhabitants of Britain; and if we make them richer, ana enable them better to pay their taxes, it is nearly the same as being taxed ourselves, and equally beneficial to the crown.

“These kind of secondary taxes, however, we do not complain of, though we have no share in laying or disposing of them; but to pay immediate heavy taxes, in the laying, appropriation, and disposition of which, we have no part, and which, perhaps, wo may know to be as unnecessary as grievous, must seem hard measures to Englishmen, who cannot conceive, that by hazarding their lives and fortunes in subduing and settling new countries, extending the dominion, and increasing the commerce of the mother nation, they have forfeited the native rights of Britons, which they think ought rather to be given to them as due to such merit, if they had been before in a state of slavery.

“These, and such kinds of things as these, I apprehend will be thought and said by the people, if the proposed alteration of the Albany plan should take place. Then the administration of the board of governors and council so appointed, not having the representative body of the people to approve and unite in its measures, and conciliate the minds of the people to them, will probably become suspected and odious: dangerous animosities and feuds will arise between the governors and governed, and every tiring go into confusion.’

This was the letter of Franklin.

NOTE II. STAMP ACT.

Whereas, by an act made in the last session of Parliament, several duties were granted, continued, and appropriated towards defraying the expenses of defending, protecting, and securing the British colonies and plantations in America; and whereas it is first necessary, that provision be made for raising a further revenue within your majesty’s dominions in America, towards defraying the said expenses; we, your majesty’s most dutiful and loyal subjects, the Commons of Great Britain, in parliament assembled, have therefore resolved to give and grant unto your majesty the several rights and duties hereinafter mentioned; and do most humbly beseech your majesty that it may be enacted, And be it enacted by the king’s most excellent majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the lords spiritual and temporal, and commons, m this present parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, That from and after the first day of November, one thousand seven hundred and sixty-five, there shall be raised, levied, collected, and paid unto his majesty, his heirs, and successors, throughout the colonies and plantations in America, which now are, or hereafter may be, under the dominion of his majesty, his heirs and successors,

1.     For every skin of vellum or parchment, or sheet or piece of paper, on which shall be engrossed, written, or printed, any declaration, plea, replication, rejoinder, demurrer, or other pleading, or any copy thereof, in any court of law within the British colonies and plantations in America, a stamp duty of three pence.

2.    For every skin or piece of vellum or parchment, or sheet or piece of paper, on which shall be engrossed, written or printed, any special bail, and appearance upon such bail in any such court, a stamp duty of two shillings.

3.    For every skin or piece of vellum or parchment, or sheet or piece of paper, on which may be engrossed, written or printed, any petition, bill or answer, claim, plea, replication, rejoinder, demurrer, or other pleading in any court of chancery or equity within the said colonies and plantations, a stamp duty of one shilling and six pence.

4.    For every skin or piece of vellum or parchment, or sheet or piece of paper, on which shall be engrossed, written, or printed, any copy of any petition, bill, answer, claim, plea, replication, rejoinder, demurrer, or other pleading, in any such court, a stamp duty of three pence.

5.    For every skin or piece of vellum or parchment, or sheet or piece of paper, on which shall be engrossed, written or printed, any monition, libel, answer, allegation, inventory, or renunciation, in ecclesiastical matters, in any court of probate, court of the ordinary, or other court exercising ecclesiastical jurisdiction within the said colonies and plantations, a stamp duty of one shilling.

G. For every skin or piece of vellum or parchment, or sheet or piece of paper, on which shall be engrossed, written or printed, any copy of any will, (other than the probate thereof), monition, libel, answer, allegation, inventory, or renunciation, in ecclesiastical matters, in any such court, a stamp duty of six pence.

7.    For every skin or piece of vellum or parchment, or sheet or piece of paper, on which shall be engrossed, written or printed, any donation, presentation, collation or institution, of or to any benefice, or any writ or instrument for the like purpose, or any register, entry, testimonial, or certificate of any degree taken in any university, academy, college, or seminary of learning, within the said colonies and plantations, a stamp duty of two pounds.

8.    For every skin or piece of vellum or parchment, or sheet or piece of paper, on which shall be engrossed, written, or printed, any monition, libel, claim, answer, allegation, information, letter of request, execution, renunciation, inventory, or other pleading in any admiralty court within the said colonies and plantations, a stamp duty of one shilling.

9.    For every skin or piece of vellum or parchment, or sheet or piece of paper, on which any copy of any such monition, libel, claim, answer, allegation, information, letter of request, execution, renunciation, inventory, or other pleading shall be engrossed, written, or printed, a stamp duty of sixpence.

10.  For every skin or piece of vellum or parchment, or sheet or piece of paper, on which shall be engrossed, written, or printed, any appeal, writ of error, writ of dower, ad quod damnum, certiorari, statute merchant, statute staple, attestation, or certificate, by any officer, or exemplification of any record or pros ceding, in any court whatsoever within the said colonies and plantations, (except appeals, writs of error, certiorari, attestations, certificates, and exemplifications, for, or relating to the removal of any proceedings from before a single justice of the peace,) a stamp duty of ten shillings.

11.   For every skin or piece of vellum or parchment, or sheet or piece of paper, on which shall be engrossed, written, or printed, any writ of covenant for levying fines, writ of entry for suffering a common recovery, or attachment issuing out of or returnable into any court within the said colonies and plantations, a stamp duty of five shillings.

12.  For every skin or piece of vellum or parchment, or sheet or piece of paper, on which shall be engrossed, written, or printed, any judgment, decree, or sentence, or dimission, or any record of nisi prius or postea, in any court within the said colonies and plantations, a stamp duty of four shillings.

13.  For every skin or piece of vellum or parchment, or sheet or piece of paper, on which shall be engrossed, written, or printed, any affidavit, common bail, or appear­ance, interrogatory, deposition, rule, order or warrant of any court, or any dedimus potestaium, capias subpoena, summons, compulsory citation, commission, recognizance, or any other writ, process, or mandate, issuing out of, or returnable into, any court, or any office belonging thereto, or any other proceeding therein whatsoever, or any copy thereof, or or any record not herein before charged, within the said colonies and plantations, (except warrants relating to criminal matters, and proceedings thereon, or relating thereto,) a stamp duty of one shilling

14.  For every skin or piece of vellum or parchment, or sheet or piece of paper, on which shall be engrossed, written, or printed, any note or bill of lading, which shall be signed for any Kind of goods, wares, or merchandise, to be exported from, or any cocket or clearance granted within the said colonies and plantations, a stamp duty of four pence.

15.   For every skin or piece of vellum or parchment, or sheet or piece of paper, on which shall be engrossed, written, or printed, letters of mart or commission for private ships of war, within the said colonies and plantations, a stamp duty of twenty shillings.

16.  For every skin or piece of vellum or parchment, 'or sheet or piece of paper, on which shall be engrossed, written, or printed, any grant, appointment, or admission of or to any public beneficial office or employment, for the space of one year, or any lesser time, of or above twenty pounds per annum sterling money, in salary, fees, and perquisites, within the said colonies and plantations, (except commissions and appointments of officers of the army, navy, ordnance, or militia, of judges, and of justices of the peace,) a stamp duty of ten shillings.

17.   For every skin or piece of vellum or parchment, or sheet or piece of paper, on which any grant of any liberty, privilege, or franchise, under the seal or sign manual of any governor, proprietor, or public officer, alone, or in conjunction with any other person or persons, or with any council, or any council and assembly, or any exemplification of the same, shall be engrossed, written, or printed, within the said colonies and plantations, a stamp duty of six pounds.

18.  For every skin or piece of vellum or parchment, or sheet or piece of paper, on which shall be engrossed, written, or printed, any license for retailing of spirituous liquors, to be granted to r,ny person who shall take out the same, within the said colonies and plantations, a stamp duty of twenty shillings.

19.  For every skin or piece of vellum or parchment, or sheet or piece of paper, on which shall be engrossed, written, or printed, any license for retailing of wine, to be granted to any person who shall not take out a license for retailing of spirituous liquors, within the said colonies and plantations, a stamp duty of four pounds.

20.  For every skin or piece of vellum or parchment, or sheet or piece of paper, on which shall be engrossed, written, or printed, any license, for retailing of wine, to be granted to any person who shall take out a license for retailing of spirituous liquors, within the said colonies and plantations, a stamp duty of thru. pounds

21.  For every skin or piece of vellum or parchment, or sheet or piece of paper, on which shall be engrossed, written, or printed, any probate of will, letters of administration or of guardianship for any estate above the value of twenty pounds sterling money, within the British colonies and plantations upon the continent of America, the islands belonging thereto, and the Bermuda and Bahama islands, a stamp duty of five shillings.

22. For every skin or piece of vellum or parchment, or sheet or piece of paper, on which shall be engrossed, written, or printed, any such probate, letters of administration or of guardianship, within all other parts of the British dominions in America, tt stamp duty of ten, shillings.

23.  For every skin or piece of vellum or parchment, or sheet or piece of paper, on which shall be engrossed, written, or printed, any bond for securing the payment of any sum of money, not exceeding the sum of ten pounds, sterling money, within the British colonies and plantations upon the continent of America, the islands belonging thereto, and the Bermuda and Bahama islands, a stamp duty of six pence.

24.  For every skin or piece of vellum or parchment, or sheet or piece of paper, on which shall be engrossed, written, or printed, any bond for securing the payment of any sum of money above ten pounds, and not exceed twenty pounds, sterling money, within such colonies, plantations, and islands, a stamp duty of one shilling.

25.  For every skin or piece of vellum or parchment, or sheet or piece of paper, on which shall be engrossed, written, or printed, any bond for securing the payment of any sum of money above twenty pounds, and not exceeding forty pounds, sterling money, within such colonies, plantations, and islands, a stamp duty of one shilling and sixpence.

26.  For every skin or piece of vellum or parchment, or sheet or piece of paper, on which shall be engrossed, written, or printed, any order or warrant for surveying or setting out any quantity of land, not exceeding one hundred acres, issued by any governor, proprietor, or any public officer, alone, or in conjunction with any other person or persons, or with any council, or any council and assembly, within the British colonies and plantations in America, a stamp duty of six pence.

27. For every skin or piece of vellum or parchment, or sheet or piece of paper, on  which shall be engrossed, written, or printed, any such order or warrant for surveying or setting out any quantity of land above one hundred and not exceeding two hundred acres, within the said colonies and plantations, a stamp duty of one shilling.

28.  For every skin or piece of vellum or parchment, or sheet or piece of paper, on which shall be engrossed, written, or printed, any such order or warrant for surveying or setting out any quantity of land above two hundred and not exceeding three hundred and twenty acres, and in proportion for every such order or warrant for surveying or setting out every other three hundred and twenty acres, within the said colo­nies and plantations, a stamp duty of one shilling and six pence.

29.  For every skin or piece of vellum or parchment, or sheet or piece of paper, on which shall be engrossed, written, or printed, any original grant or any deed, mesne conveyance, or other instrument whatsoever, by which any quantity of land, not exceeding one hundred acres, shall be granted, conveyed, or assigned, within the British colonies and plantations upon the continent of America, the islands belonging thereto, and the Bermuda and Bahama islands, (except leases for any term not exceeding the term of twenty-one years) a stamp duty of one shilling and six pence.

30.  For every skin or piece of vellum or parchment, or sheet or piece of paper, on which shall be engrossed, written, or printed, any such original grant, or any such deed, mesne conveyance, or other instrument whatsoever, by which any quantity of land, above one hundred and not exceeding two hundred acres, shall be granted, conveyed, or assigned, within such colonies, plantations and islands, a stamp duty of two shillings.

31.  For every skin or piece of vellum or parchment, or sheet or piece of paper, on which shall be engrossed, written, or printed, any such original grant, or any such deed, mesne conveyance, or other instrument whatsoever, by which any quantity of land, above two hundred, and not exceeding three hundred and twenty acres, shall be granted, conveyed, or assigned, and in proportion for every such grant, deed, mesne conveyance, or other instrument, granting, conveying, or assigning, every other three hundred and twenty acres, within such colonies, plantations and islands, a stamp duty of two shillings and six pence.

32.  For every skin or piece of vellum or parchment, or sheet oi piece of paper, on which shall be engrossed, written, or printed, any such original grant, or any such deed, mesne conveyance, or other instrument whatsoever, by which any quantity of land, not exceeding one hundred acres, shall be granted, conveyed, or assigned, within all other parts of the British dominions in America, a stamp duty of three shillings.

33.  For every skin or piece of vellum or parchment, or sheet or piece of paper, on which shall be engrossed, written, or printed, any such original grant, or any such deed, mesne conveyance, or other instrument whatsoever, by which any quantity of land, above one hundred and not exceeding two hundred acres, shall be granted, conveyed, or assigned, within the same parts of the said dominions, a stamp duty of Jour shillings.

34.  For every skin or piece of vellum or parchment, or sheet or piece of paper, on which shall be engrossed, written, or printed, any such original grant, or any such deed, mesne conveyance, or other instrument whatsoever, by which any quantity o^r land, above two hundred and not exceeding three hundred and twenty acres, shall be granted, conveyed, or assigned, and in proportion for every such grant, deed, mesne conveyance, or other instrument, granting, conveying, or assigning every other three hundred and twenty acres, within the same parts of the said dominions, a stamp duty of five shillings.

35.  For every skin, or piece of vellum or parchment, or sheet or piece of paper, on which shall be engrossed, written, or printed, any grant, appointment, or admission, of or to any beneficial office or employment, not herein before charged, above the value of twenty pounds per annum sterling money, in salary, fees, and perquisites, or any exemplification of the same, within the British colonies and plantations upon the continent of America, the islands ’belonging thereto, and the Bermuda and Bahama islands, (except commissions of officers of the army, navy, ordnance, or militia, and of justices of the peace,) a stamp duty of four pounds.

36.  For every skin or piece of vellum or parchment, or sheet or piece of paper, on which shall be engrossed, written, or printed, any such grant, appointment, or admission, of or to any such public beneficial office or employment, or any exemplifica­tion of the same, within all other parts of the British dominions in America, a stamp duty of six pounds.

37.  For every skin or piece of vellum or parchment, or sheet or piece of paper, on which shall be engrossed, written, or printed, any indenture, lease, conveyance, con­tract, stipulation, bill of sale, charter party, protest, articles of apprenticeship, or covenant, (except for the hire of servants not apprentices, and also except such other mat­ters as herein before charged,) within the British colonies and plantations in America, a stamp duty of two shillings and six pence.

33. For every skin or piece of vellum or parchment, or sheet or piece of paper, oh which any warrant or order for auditing any public accounts, beneficial warrant, order, grant, or certificate, under any public seal, or under the seal or sign manual of any governor, proprietor, or public officer, alone, or in conjunction with any other person or persons, or with any council, or any council and assembly, not herein before charged, or any passport or letpass, surrender of office, or policy of assurance, shall be engrossed, written, or printed, within the said colonies and plantations, (except warrants or orders for the service of the army, navy, ordnance, or militia, and grants of offices under twen­ty pounds per annum, in salary, fees, and perquisites,) a stamp duty office shillings.

39.  For every skin or piece of vellum or parchment, or sheet or piece of paper, on which shall be engrossed, written, or printed, any notarial act, bond, deed, letter of attorney, procuration, mortgage, release, or other obligatory instrument, not herein before charged, within the said colonics and plantations, a stamp duty of two shillings and three pence.

40.  For every skin or piece of vellum or parchment, or sheet or piece of paper, on which shall be engrossed, written, or printed, any register, entry, or enrollment of any grant, deed, or other instrument whatsoever, herein before charged, within the said colonics and plantations, a stamp duty of three pence.

41.  For every skin or piece of vellum or parchment, or sheet or piece of paper, on which shall be engrossed, written, or printed, any register, entry, or enrollment of any grant, deed, or other instrument whatsoever, not herein before charged, within the said colonies and plantations, a stamp duty of two shillings.

42.  And for and upon every pack of playing cards, and all dice, which shall be sold or used within the said colonies and plantations, the several stamp duties following; (that is to say;)

43.  For every pack of such cards, one shilling.

44.  And for every pair of such dice, ten shillings.

45.  And for and up on every paper called a pamphlet, and upon every newspaper, containing public news, or occurrences, which shall be printed, dispersed, and made public, within any of the said colonies and plantations, and for and upon such adver­tisements as are hereinafter mentioned, the respective duties following; (that is to say,)

46.  For every such pamphlet and paper, contained in a half sheet, or any lesser piece of paper, which shall be so printed, a stamp duty of one half-penny for every printed copy thereof.

47.  For every such pamphlet and paper, (being larger than half a sheet, and not exceeding one whole sheet,) which shall be so printed, a stamp duty of one penny for every printed copy thereof.

48.  For every pamphlet and paper, being larger than one whole sheet, and not exceeding six sheets in octavo, or in a lesser page, or not exceeding twelve sheets in quarto, or twenty sheets in folio, which shall be so printed, a duty after the rate of one shilling for every sheet of any kind of paper which shall be contained in one printed copy thereof.

49.  For every advertisement to be contained in any gazette, newspaper, or other paper, or any pamphlet which shall be so printed, a duty of two shillings.

50.  For every almanac or calendar for any one particular year, or for any time less than a year, which shall be written or printed on one side only of any one sheet, skin or piece of paper, parchment, or vellum, within the said colonies and plantations, a stamp duty of two pence.

51.   For every other almanac, or calendar, for any one particular year, which shall be written or printed within the said colonies and plantations, a stamp duty of four pence.

52.  And for every almanac or calendar, written or printed in the said colonies and plantations, to serve for several years, duties to the same amount respectively shall be paid for every such year.

53.  For every skin or piece of vellum or parchment, or sheet or piece of paper, on which any instrument, proceeding, or other matter or thing aforesaid, shall be engrossed, written, or printed, within the said colonies and plantations, in any other than the English language, a stamp duty of double the amount of the respective duties before charged thereon.

54.  And there shall be also paid, in the said colonies and plantations, a duty of six pence for every twenty shillings, in any sum not exceeding fifty pounds sterling money, which shall be given, paid, contracted, or agreed for, with or in relation to any clerk, or apprentice, which shall be put or placed to or with any master or mistress, to learn any profession, trade, or employment. II. And also a duty of one shilling for every twenty shillings, in any sum exceeding fifty pounds which shall be given, paid, contracted, or agreed for, with, or in relation to, any such clerk or apprentice.

55.  Finally, the produce of all the afore mentioned duties shall be paid into his majesty’s treasury ; and there held in reserve, to be used, from time to time, by the parliament, for the purpose of defraying the expenses necessary for the defense, protection, and security of the said colonies and plantations.