ENGLAND. 
nwajefty, that lie would give directions for the punifhment 
of the rioters. Parliament now began fenfibly to feel the 
ill effeCts of its indifcretion, in thus committing thein- 
felves by an eager interference with a bufinefs to which 
•their jurifdiftion did not extend, and of which the efta- 
‘blifhed courts of judicature alone could properly take 
•cognizance. Notwithftanding the votes, addreffes, and re- 
-folutions, of the two houfes, Mr.<Wilkes brought his 
aCtion againft the -eatl of Halifax for feizing his papers; 
-and, on the fit'll of December, 1763, after an hearing of 
fifteen hours before lord-chief-juftice Pratt, and a fpecial 
'jury, he obtained a verdiCt for one thou fond pounds da¬ 
mages and full cofis of fuit. In the charge given by the 
■chief-juftice on this occafion to the jury, his lordfhip, va¬ 
rying in fome degree from his former opinion, ventured 
to declare the general warrant under which Mr. Wilkes 
was apprehended, illegal-, with fubmiflion, however, to 
-the opinions of the other judges, and of the kigheft judi¬ 
cial authority in this kingdom, the houfe of peers. “ If, 
<{faid his lordfhip,) t'hefe fuperior jurifdiftions fliould de¬ 
clare my opinion erroneous, I fubmit, as will become me, 
and kifs the rod : but I mud fay, I fhall always confider 
it as a rod of iron for the chaftifement of the people of 
•Great Britain.” 
Scarcely was this affair difpofed of, than the minifler, 
Mr. Grenville, determined upon ameafure in its tendency 
and ultimate Confequences the mofl interefting and im¬ 
portant which ever perhaps came under the cognizance 
of the Britifli parliament. This was the projeftof taxing 
America. The plan had been formerly propofed to fir 
Robert Walpole ; but that fagacious ftatefman replied, 
“ that it was a meafure too hazardous for him to venture 
upon ; he fhould therefore leave it to fome more daring 
fucceffor in office to make the experiment.” Mr. Gren¬ 
ville declared his intention to be, “ to raife a revenue in 
America in aid to the mother country, the entire produce 
of which was to be paid into the exchequer of Great Bri¬ 
tain.” On the roth of March, 1764, the houfe of com¬ 
mons, therefore, at the motion of the minifler, paffed a 
variety of refolutions, refpefting certain new duties on 
foreign goods imported into the Britifli colonies in Ame¬ 
rica, which being primarily of the nature of commercial 
regulations, paffed without any diftinft or particular no¬ 
tice in the Britifli parliament, though their equivocal 
complexion rendered them very diftafteful to the Ameri¬ 
cans. But in the feries of parliamentary refolutions was 
one of fuch peculiar importance, that Mr. Grenville him- 
felf declared his intention to referve the execution of it 
till the next year. This refolution imported, that it 
would be proper to impofe certain ftamp duties in the 
faid colonies and plantations, for the purpofe of raifing 
-an American revenue payable into the Britifli exchequer. 
This new profpeft of being relieved by the taxation of 
America from a portion of the national burdens was fo 
flattering, that the refolution paffed the houfe with no 
ferious oppofition. 
On the 30th of December in this fame year, (1764,) 
died at Rome, in a far advanced age, the pretender, James 
Stuart,. called-the chevalier de St. George, only foil of 
James II. Born with the profpeft of inheriting three 
powerful kingdoms, he experienced during the courfe of 
a long life only a fucceflion of misfortunes. So entirely 
had he furvived his political confequence, that the intel¬ 
ligence of his death was received in Great Britain with 
the utmoft indifference; though his pretenfions to the 
Britifli crown had, within the memory of the majority of 
perfons then living, excited the higheft apprehenfion and 
alarm. The chevalier left two fons, upon the eldeft of 
whom devolved that fhadow of a fliade, the divine and 
indefeafible right of f ucceflion to the throne of Great Bri¬ 
tain. The younger, educated an ecclefiaftic, had been 
advanced to the purple under the appellation of cardinal 
of York ; and he remains the laft claimant of the fallen 
honours of the ancient and royal houfe of Stuart. 
Early in the year 1765, the queftion refpefting Anieri- 
Vol. VI. No. 387. 
737 
can taxation was revived with redoubled warmth and 
vigour. The indulgence of the minifler in deferring the 
impofition of the ftamp duties till the prefent year, had 
not produced any advances towards an accommodation. 
The difference of principle occalioned by the agitation of 
this queftion, was in faft far too great to admit ot any ami¬ 
cable compromife. Numerous petitions were therefore 
tranfmitted from the different colonies againft this new- 
principle of taxation. But the minifler was inflexible ; 
and anarchy followed. 
On the 14th of January, 17 66, the parliament being 
convened for the difpatch of bufinefs, their attention was 
arrefted by the difturbances and tumults which had taken 
place in almoft all parts of the continent of America, in 
confequence of the ftamp aft. As the queftion relative to 
this famous aft was chiefly a conteft of principle, founded 
on the juftice of taxi g the colonies for the protection 
afforded them, it is fcarcely worth while to remark the 
abfurdity arifing from the parting, and immediate repeal, 
of the aft itfelf. For the repeal, Mr. Pitt’s arguments 
were decifive. He infifted that their protection was abund¬ 
antly compenfated by the profits of their commerce. “ I 
fpeak from accurate knowledge when I fay, that the 
profits to Great Britain from the trade of the colonies, 
through all its-branches, is two millions per annum. This 
is the fund which carried you triumphantly through the 
laft war; this is the price America pays you for her pro¬ 
tection ; and fhall a miferable financier come with a boaft 
that he can fetch a pepper-corn into the exchequer at the 
lofs of millions to the nation ? I know the valour of your 
troops; I know the (kill of your officers ; 1 know the 
force of this country ; but in fuch a caufe your fuccefs 
would be hazardous. America, if flie fell, would fall 
like the ftrong man ; flie would embrace the pillars of the 
ftate, and pull down the conftitution with her. Is this 
your bonded peace ? Not to (heath the fvvord in the fcab- 
bard, but to (heath it in the bowels of your country¬ 
men ? The Americans have been wronged ; they have 
been driven to madnefs by injuftice. Will you punifh 
them for the madnefs you have occalioned ? No : let this 
country be the firft to refume its prudence and temper: 
I will pledge myfelf for the colonies, that, on their part, 
animofity and refentment will ceafe. Let affeftion be the 
only bond of coercion. The fyftem of policy I would 
earneftly exhort Great Britain to adopt, is, That the ftamp 
aft be repealed abfolutely, totally, and immediately.” 
In a fhort time a bill was brought in for this purpofe, 
which paffed both houfes by confiderable majorities, and 
received the royal aifent; accompanied at the fame time 
with a declaratory aft, afferting the power and right of 
Great Britain, neverthelefs, to bind the colonies in all 
cafes whatfoever. The joy in America was extreme at 
the intelligence of this repeal ; and the mere declaration 
of an abftraft right, which they imagined to be with re. 
fpeft to the claim of taxation in fact: relinquifhed, and 
which feemed chiefly intended as a falvo for the honour 
of parliament, gave them little apprehenfion or uneafi- 
nefs ; and it was not till after an interval of feveral years, 
when the colonies had been haraffed and wearied out by 
a long feries of vexations, that the afi’embly of Maflaclvu- 
fetts at length, by a formal refolution, voted the declara¬ 
tory aft to be a grievance. 
Though in aftual circumftances nothing could be more 
wife and feafonable than the repeal of the ftamp aft, it 
is not to be imagined that this was a meafure attended 
with no political inconvenience ; far from itbut in the 
dilemma to which miniftry were reduced, they adopted 
that line of conduft which juftice and policy marked out, 
and which appeared incomparably the lead of the two 
difficulties. By an egregious want of penetration, the 
government of Great Britain had attempted to carry into 
efteft a meafure, which upon trial it was found impofli- 
ble, without bloodfhed and confufion, to enforce. But 
as political power exifts only by opinion, this projeft, 
however ablurd, could not be relinquifhed without ex- 
9 A poling 
