"OF WHOM THE WORLD WAS NOT WORTHY"
-16-
JANUARY
“There is an idea, in some,
that the colonies are virtually represented in this house. They never
have been represented at all in parliament; they were not even virtually
represented at the time when this law, as captious as it is iniquitous,
was passed to deprive them of the most inestimable of their privileges.
I would fain know by whom an American is represented here? Is he
represented by any knight of the shire, in any county of this kingdom?
Would to God that respectable representation was augmented to a greater
number. Or will you tell him that he is represented by any
representative of a borough, --a borough which, perhaps, no man ever
saw? This is what is called the rotten part of the constitution. It
cannot endure the century. If it does not drop, it must be amputated.
The idea of a virtual representation of America in this house is the
most contemptible that ever entered into the head of a man. It does not
deserve a serious refutation.
“The commons of America, represented in their several
assemblies, have ever been in possession of the exercise of this their
constitutional right, of giving and granting their own money. They would
have been slaves, if they had not enjoyed it.
“And how is the right of taxing the colonies internally
compatible with that of framing regulations without number for their
trade? The laws of this kind, which Parliament is daily making, prove
that they form a body separate from Great Britain. While you hold their
manufactures in the most servile restraint, will you add a new tax to
deprive them of the last remnants of their liberty? This would be to
plunge them into the most odious slavery, against which their charters
should protect them.
“If this House suffers the stamp act to continue in
force, France will gain more by your colonies than she ever could have
done, if her arms in the last war had been victorious.
“I never shall own the justice of taxing America
internally until she enjoys the right of representation. In every other
point of legislation, the authority of parliament is like the North
Star, fixed for the reciprocal benefit of the parent country and her
colonies. The British parliament, as the supreme governing and
legislative power, has always bound them by her laws, by her regulations
of their trade and manufactures, and even in a more absolute
interdiction of both. The power of parliament, like the circulation from
the human heart, active, vigorous, and perfect in the smallest fibre of
the arterial system, may be known in the colonies by the prohibition of
their carrying a hat to market over the line of one province into
another, or by breaking down a loom in the most distant corner of the
British empire in America; and, if this power were denied, I would not
permit them to manufacture a lock of wool or a horseshoe or a hobnail.
But, I repeat, the House has no right to lay an internal tax upon
America, that country not being represented.
“I know not what we may hope or fear from those now in
place; but I have confidence in their good intentions. I could not
refrain from expressing the reflections I have made in my retirement,
which I hope long to enjoy, beholding, as I do, ministries changed one
after another, and passing away like shadows.”
A pause ensues as he ceases, when Mr. Conway rises and
speaks: “I not only adopt all that has just been said, but believe it
expresses the sentiments of most, if not all, the king’s servants, and
wish it may be the unanimous opinion of the House. I have been
accidentally called to the high employment I bear; I can follow no
principles more safe or more enlightened than those of the perfect model
before my eyes; and I should always be most happy to act by his advice,
and even to serve under his orders. Yet, for myself and my colleagues, I
disclaim an overruling influence. The notice given to parliament of the
troubles in America was not early, because the first accounts were too
vague and imperfect to be worth its attention.”
“The disturbances in America,” replies Mr. Grenville,
who by this time has recovered self-possession,” began in July, and now
we are in the middle of January; lately they were only occurrences; they
are now grown to tumults and riots; they border on open rebellion; and,
if the doctrine I have heard this day be confirmed, nothing can tend
more directly to produce a revolution. The government over them being
dissolved, a revolution will take place in America.
“External and internal taxes are the same in effect,
and only differ in name. That this kingdom is the sovereign, the supreme
legislative power over America, cannot he denied; and taxation is a part
of that sovereign power. It is one branch of the legislation. It has
been, and it is, exercised over those who are not, who were never,
represented. It is exercised over the India Company, the merchants of
London, the proprietors of the stocks, and over many great manufacturing
towns. It was exercised over the palatinate of Chester and the bishopric
of Durham, before they sent any representatives to parliament. I appeal
for proof to the preambles of the acts which gave them representatives,
the one in the reign of Henry VIII, the other in that of Charles II.” He
then quoted the statutes exactly, and desired they might be real; which
being done, he resumed.
“To hold that the king, by the concession of a charter,
can exempt a family or a colony from taxation by parliament, degrades
the constitution of England. If the colonies, instead of throwing off
entirely the authority of parliament, had presented a petition to send
to it deputies elected among themselves, this step would have marked
their attachment to the crown and their affection for the mother
country, and would have merited attention.