The text proposition is—"That, from the distance of the said Colonies, and from other circumstances, no method hath hitherto been devised for procuring a representation in parliament for the said Colonies." This is an assertion of a fact. I go no further on the paper; though, in my private judgement, an useful representation is impossible; I am sure it is not desired by them; nor ought it, perhaps, by us; but I abstain from opinions.

The fourth Resolution is—"That each of the said Colonies hath within itself a body, chosen, in part, or in the whole, by the freemen, freeholders, or other free inhabitants thereof commonly called the General Assembly, or General Court, with powers legally to raise, levy, and assess, according to the several usage of such Colonies, Duties and Taxes towards defraying all sorts of publick services."

This competence in the Colony Assemblies is certain. It, is proved by the whole tenour of their acts of supply in all the Assemblies, in which the constant style of granting is, "an aid to his Majesty;" and Acts granting to the Crown have regularly, for near a century, passed the publick offices without dispute. Those who have been pleased, paradoxically, to deny this right, holding that none but the British Parliament can grant to the Crown, are wished to look to what is done, not only in the Colonies, but in Ireland, in one uniform, unbroken tenour every session. Sir, I am surprised that this doctrine should come from some of the law servants of the Crown. I say, that if the Crown, could be responsible, his Majesty—but certainly the Ministers, and even these law officers themselves, through whose hands the Acts pass biennially in Ireland, or annually in the Colonies, are in an habitual course of committing impeachable offences. What habitual offenders have been all Presidents of the Council, all Secretaries of State, all first Lords of Trade, all Attorneys and all Solicitor General? However, they are safe, as no one impeaches them; and there is no ground of charge against them, except in their own unfounded theories.

The fifth Resolution is also a resolution of fact—"That the said General Assemblies, General Courts, or other bodies legally qualified, as aforesaid, have, at sundry times, freely granted several large subsidies and publick aids, for his Majesty's service, according to their abilities, when required thereto by Letter from one of his Majesty's principal Secretaries of State; and that their right to grant the same, and their cheerfulness and sufficiency in the said grants, have been, at sundry times, acknowledged by Parliament." To say nothing of their great expenses fir the Indian wars; and not to take their exertion in foreign ones, so high as the supplies in the year 1695; not to go back to their publick contributions in the year 1710; I shall begin to travel only where the Journals give me light; resolving to deal in nothing but fact, authenticated By Parliamentary record; and to build myself wholly oil that solid basis.

On the 4th of April, 1748,* a Committee of this House came to the following Resolution:

"Resolved, That it is the opinion of this Committee, That it is just and reasonable that the several Provinces and Colonies of Massachusetts Bay, New-Hampshire, Connecticut, and Rhode-Island, be reimbursed the expenses they have been at in taking and securing to the Crown of Great Britain, the Island of Cape Breton, and its dependencies."

These expenses were immense for such Colonies. They were above two hundred thousand Pounds sterling; money first raised and advanced on their publick credit.

On the 28th of January, 1756,† a Message from the King came to us to this effect:—"His Majesty, being sensible of the zeal and vigour with which his faithful subjects of certain Colonies in North America have exerted themselves in defence of his Majesty's just rights and possessions, recommends it to this House to take the same in to their consideration, and to enable his Majesty to given such assistance as may be a proper reward and encouragement."

On the 3d of February, 1756, ‡ the House came to a Suitable Resolution, expressed in words nearly the same as those of the Message: but, with the further addition, that the money then voted was as an encouragement to the Colonies to exert themselves with vigour. It will not be necessary to go through all the testimonies which your own records have given to the truth of my Resolutions. I will only refer you to the places in the Journals: Vol. xxvii.—16lh and 19th May, 1757. Vol. xxviii.—June 1st, 1758; April 26th and 30th, 1759; March 26 and 31, and April 28, 1760; January 9 and 20, 1761. Vol. xxix.—January 22 and 26, 1762; March 14 and 17, 1763.

Sir, here is the repeated acknowledgement of Parliament, that the Colonies not only gave, but gave to satiety. This nation has formally acknowledged two things; first, that the Colonies had gone beyond their abilities, Parliament having thought it necessary to reimburse them; secondly, that they had acted legally and laudably in their grants of money, and their maintenance of troops, since the compensation is expressly given as reward and encouragement. Reward is not bestowed for acts that are unlawful; and encouragement is not held out to things that deserve reprehension. My Resolution, therefore, does nothing more than collect into one proposition what is scattered through your Journals. I give you nothing but your own; and you cannot refuse, in the gross, what you have so often acknowledged in detail. The admission of this, which will be so honourable to them and to you, will, indeed, be mortal to all the miserable stories by which the passions of the misguided people have been engaged in an unhappy system. The people heard, indeed, from the beginning of these disputes, one thing continually dinned in their ears, that reason and justice demanded, that the Americans, who paid no taxes, should be compelled to contribute. How did that fact of their paying nothing stand when the taxing system began? When Mr. Grenville began to form his system of American Revenue, he stated in this House, that the Colonies were then in debt £2,600,000 sterling money; and was of opinion they would discharge that debt in four years. On this state, those untaxed people were actually subject to the payment of taxes to the amount of £650,000 a year. In fact, however, Mr. Grenville was mistaken. The funds given for sinking the debt did not prove quite so ample as both the Colonies and he expected. The calculation was too sanguine: the reduction was not completed till some years after, and at different times in different Colonies. However, the taxes, after the war, continued too great to bear any addition, with prudence or propriety; and when the burthens imposed in consequence of former requisitions were discharged, our tone became too high to resort again to requisition. No Colony, since that time, ever has had any requisition, whatsoever, made to it.

We see the sense of the Crown and the sense of Parliament, on the productive nature of a revenue by grant. Now search the same Journals for the produce of the revenue by imposition. Where is it?—let us know the volume and the page—what is the gross, what is the nett produce? —to what service is it applied?—how have you appropriated its surplus?—What, can none of the many skilful index-makers, that we are now employing, find any trace of it?—Well, let them, and that, rest together. But are the Journals, which say nothing of the revenue, as silent on the discontent? Oh no ! a child may find it. It is the melancholy burthen and blot of every page.

I think, then, I am, from those Journals, justified in the sixth and last Resolution, which is—"That it hath been found by experience, that the manner of granting the said Supplies and Aids, by the said General Assemblies, hath been more agreeable to the said Colonies, and more beneficial and conducive to the publick service, than the mode of giving and granting Aids in Parliament, to be raised and paid in the said Colonies." This makes the whole of the fundamental part of the plan. The conclusion is irresistible. You cannot say, that you were driven by any necessity to an exercise of the utmost rights of Legislature. You cannot assert that you took on yourselves the task of imposing Colony taxes, for the want of another legal body, that is competent to the purpose of supplying the exigencies of the state without wounding the prejudices of the people. Neither is it true that the body so qualified, and Haying that competence, had neglected the duty.

The question now, on all this accumulated matter, is—Whether you will choose to abide by a profitable experi-

* Journal's, Vol. xxv, page 614

† Ibid. Vol. xxvii, page 414.

‡ Ibid. Vol.XXVII, page424