A. D. 1766. 443 



tion of Britifh manufactures, and alfo of foreign goods fliipped for Ame- 

 rica, wi.ich were paid lor with Britifh or American lioods ; the valuable 

 nature of the returns received from America, being moltly either the 

 materials of our manufidures or of a profitable re-exportation; befides 

 which we annually received large balances in bullion or bills of ex- 

 change, which were in facSt the profits made by the colonifts in their 

 trade with other coimtries, poured into the general mafs of Britifh 

 wealth: and it was obferved that many thoufands of manufacturers, 

 labourers, and feamcn, employed in the various operations of that ex- 

 tenfive commerce, muft: now be thrown defbtute, or driven into the 

 fervice of other nations. But thele compofitions, as we may well fup- 

 pofe, were not free of exaggeration *. 



The arguments urged in parliament, and in innumerable publications, 

 for and againfl: the right and expediency of Great Britain impofuig 

 taxes upon America, are foreign to the nature of this work. It is fuffi- 

 cient here to fay, that the wifdom of the legiflature faw the propriety of 

 repealing the damp adl. The ad for its repeal [6 Geo. Ill, r. 11] was 

 paJlld cm the i 8th of March, on which occafion the fl:ups in the River 

 Thames, the coffee-houfes frequented by the American merchants, and 

 alfo many private houfes, exhibited the ufual demonftrations of public 

 rejoicing f. 



But this gracious and healing adi was immediately followed by one, 

 which in the preamble refleds on the American provincial legillutures 

 for affuming, againfl law, the exclulive right of impofing taxes upon his 

 IVIajefty's fubjeds in the colonies, and declares the American colonies 

 fubordinate to, and dependent upon, the crown and parliament of Great 

 Britain, whofe legiflative authority is expretsly allcrtcd to extend to, and 

 bind, the people of the American colonies, as fubjeds, in all cafes what- 

 foever. [6 Geo. I/I, c. 12.] 



Some doubts in an ad of lafi: feffion [r. 43.] for regulating the duties 

 onRuflia linens imported, were removed by a new ad for regulating the 

 duties. Doubts having alfo arifen concerning the right of importing 

 tea by any other than the Eafl-India company's fliips, it was by the lante 

 ad declared, that licences might be granted to import limited quanti- 

 ties from any part of Europe. [6 Geo. Ill, c. 13.] 



April 1 1 '' — The duties laid on foreign cyder and perry imported (by 

 ad 3 Geo. Ill, c. 1 2) were raifed to/^3 per tun, and thofe on the lame articles 



•That the American noiiimporlation agree- exerted himfclf for tlie repeal, and nfoliitions were 



ments had not the fmallell effcft upon the woollen made to prcpaie new dniTts made of Britilh ma- 



manulafturesof York- (hire, will appear from a view nufai^turcb for celebrating the luurtii of J;nic, fhc 



of the progicfs of it, to be given in the year l 783. birth-day of their molt j;raci(iiis fovercij;n, and to 



•j- When the news of the repeal reached Anieri- give their home-lpiin elotlicr. to tlie poo;. Thefe 



ca, it was, notwiihftanding the difagreeable natme are proofs, that the fpirit of difaifcction tf) the 



of the concomitant act, [r. 12J lectivcd with uni- Britidi governniciil, though it had taken root, had 



verfal denainllrations ot joy. Snbfcriptions were not yet acquiied any contirmej llrcngth among the 



rnedc for erctting ftaturs to Mr. Pitt, who had generality of the people of Ameiica. 



A ' 3 K 2 



