XI. Jan. CHAP. bounties to the Americans, as offsets to the intended taxation. "If one bounty," said he to them, "will 1765. not do, I will add two; if two will not do, I will add three.1" He wished to act smoothly in the matter; but he was firmly resolved "to establish as undoubted the authority of. the British legislature in all cases whatsoever.” Feb. The purpose found its warmest advocate in Charles Townshend. In the debates on the forces to be kept up in the navy and the army, he spoke for the largest numbers; "for the colonies," said he, "are not to be emancipated." " Grenville was more obstinate and more cool, abounding in gentle words. The agents of the colonies had several meetings among themselves; and on Saturday, the second of February, Franklin, with Ingersoll, Jackson and Garth, as agents for Pennsylvania, Connecticut, and South Carolina, waited on the minister, to remonstrate in behalf of America, against taxation of the colonies by parliament, and to propose, that if they were to be taxed, they might be invited to tax themselves. "I take no pleasure," replied he, "in bringing upon myself their resentments: it is the duty of my office to manage the revenue. I have really been made to believe that, considering the whole circumstances of the mother country and the colonies, the latter can and ought to pay something to the common cause. I know of no better way than that now pursuing to lay such tax. If you can tell of a better, I will adopt it." Franklin pleaded for the usual 1 1 Grenville, in Cavendish Debates, i. 404. 2 Walpole to Hertford, 27 Jan. 1765. Walpole's Geo. III., ii. 46, 47. XI. Feb. method, by the king's requisition, through the Secre- CHAP. tary of State; and he put into his hands the pledge of Pennsylvania to respect the demand when so 1765. made. "Can you agree," rejoined Grenville, "on the proportions each colony should raise ?" To this they could only answer, no; on which he remarked, that the stamp act would adapt itself to the number and increase of the colonies. Jackson pointed out the danger to the liberties of the colonies, when the crown should have a civil list and support for a standing army from their money, independent of their assemblies. The assemblies, he thought, would soon cease to be called together. "No such thing is intended,” replied Grenville warmly, addressing himself to the Americans. "I have pledged my word for offering the stamp bill to the House, and I cannot forego it: they will hear all objections, and do as they please. I wish you may preserve moderation in America. Resentments indecently expressed on one side of the water will naturally produce resentments on the other. You cannot hope to get any good by a controversy with the mother country. With respect to this bill, her ears will always be open to every remonstrance expressed in a becoming manner." While the Americans in London were unwearied in offering objections to the stamp tax, Soame Jenyns, the oldest member of the Board of Trade, published authoritatively the views of his patrons. He mocked at the "absurdity" of Otis, and "the insolence" of New-York and Massachusetts. "The arguments of America," said he, "mixed up with patriotic words, such as liberty, property, XI. CHAP. and Englishmen, are addressed to the more numerous part of mankind, who have ears but no under1765. standing. Feb. "The great capital argument, the elephant at the head of this nabob's army, is this: that no Englishman is or can be taxed but by his own consent, or the persons whom he has chosen to represent him. But this is the very reverse of truth; for no man that I know of is taxed by his own consent, least of all an Englishman. The unfortunate counties which produce cider were taxed without the consent of their representatives; and while every Englishman is taxed, not one in twenty is represented. Are not the people of Manchester and Birmingham Englishmen? And are they not taxed? "If every Englishman is represented in parliament, why does not this imaginary representation extend to America? If it can travel three hundred miles, why not three thousand? If it can jump over rivers and mountains, why cannot it sail over the ocean? If Manchester and Birmingham are there represented, why not Albany and Boston? Are they not Englishmen ? ་ "But it is urged, if the privilege of being taxed by the legislative power within itself alone is once given up, that liberty, which every Englishman has a right to, is torn from them; they are all slaves, and all is lost. But the liberty of an Englishman cannot mean an exemption from taxes imposed by the authority of the parliament of Great Britain. No charters grant such a privilege to any colony in America; and had they granted it, the grant could have had no force: no charter derived from the crown can possibly supersede the right of the whole legislature. The charters XI. of the colonies are no more than those of all corpora- CHAP. tions. They can no more plead an exemption from parliamentary authority than any other corporation 1765. in England. "If it be said, that though parliament may have power to impose taxes on the colonies, they have no right to use it, I shall only make this short reply: that if parliament can impose no taxes but what are equitable-and the persons taxed are to be the judges of that equity, they will in effect have no power to lay any tax at all. "And can any time be more proper to require some assistance from our colonies than when this country is almost undone by procuring their present safety? Can any time be more proper to impose some tax on their trade, than when they are enabled to rival us in their manufactures by the protection we have given them? Can any time be more proper to oblige them to settle handsome incomes on their governors, than when we find them unable to procure a subsistence on any other terms than those of breaking all their instructions? Can there be a more proper time to compel them to fix certain salaries on their judges, than when we see them so dependent on the humors of their assemblies that they can obtain a livelihood no longer than during their bad behavior? Can there be a more proper time to force them to maintain an army at their expense, than when that army is necessary for their own protection, and we are utterly unable to support it? Lastly; can there be a more proper time for this mother country to leave off feeding out of her own vitals these children whom she has nursed up, than when they are arrived at such strength and maturity as to be well able to Feb. CHAP. provide for themselves, and ought rather with filial XI. duty to give some assistance to her distress? 1765. Feb. "If parliament has a right to tax the colonies, why should this right be exercised with more delicacy in America than it has ever been even in Great Britain itself? "One method, indeed, has been hinted at, and but one, that might render the exercise of this power in a British parliament just and legal, which is the introduction of representatives from the several colonies into that body. But I have lately seen so many specimens of the great powers of speech of which these American gentlemen are possessed, that I should be afraid the sudden importation of so much eloquence at once would endanger the safety of England. It will be much cheaper for us to pay their their orators. army than "The right of the legislature of Great Britain to impose taxes on her colonies, and not only the expediency but the absolute necessity of exercising that right, have been so clearly, though concisely, proved, that it is to be hoped all parties and factions, all connections, every member of the British parliament, will most cordially unite to support this measure, which every man who has any property or common sense must approve, and which every English subject ought to require of an English administration." Thus did the old subordinate of Halifax with supercilious frankness publish the views which the majority of the cabinet and Charles Townshend boldly advocated, and which Grenville dared not openly resist and could never heartily approve. While his colleagues in the ministry scoffed at the |