52 HISTORY OF THE [book uu 
of the capitulation to the duty of four and an half 
per cent, upon all produce exported from the new¬ 
ly ceded islands, as paid at Barbadoes, &c. had is¬ 
sued letters patent, bearing date the 20 th July 
1764, ordering and directing, by virtue of the pre¬ 
rogative royal, that from and after the 29th of Sep¬ 
tember, then next ensuing, such duty or import in 
specie, should be levied in Grenada; in lieu of all 
customs and duties formerly paid to the French 
king. 
We have seen, in the history of Barbadoes, in 
what manner the inhabitants of that island became 
subject to the duty in question; and to what pur¬ 
poses the money was expressly stipulated to be ap¬ 
plied; but unjustifiable as were the means by which 
that imposition was originally established in Barba¬ 
does, the grant was, apparently, the grant of the 
people themselves, by their representatives in their 
legislative capacity. Even Charles the lid. in 
whose reign the grant passed, though a rapacious 
and unprincipled monarch, did not openly claim the 
right of laying taxes by his own authority in a co¬ 
lony which had an assembly of its own, competent 
to that purpose. The king was ready enough to 
over-awe, or to corrupt the members which com¬ 
posed that assembly; but he left them the form and 
semblance at least, of a free government. 
In defence of the present measure it was urged, 
that Grenada being a conquered country, the king 
was invested with the power of putting the inha- 
