56 HISTORY OF THE [book hi. 
done if the assembly should obstinately continue to 
withhold all the usual supplies.” They reported, 
that “ if Jamaica was still to be considered as a 
conquered island, the king had a right to levy taxes 
upon the inhabitants; but if it was to be considered 
in the same light as ike other colonies, no tax could 
be imposed on the inhabitants but by an assembly 
of the island, or by an act of parliament .” 
It is impossible, I think, not to perceive, through¬ 
out these, and other parts of the learned judge’s 
argument, a certain degree of bias arising from the 
unhappy dissentions which, about that period, 
broke out into a civil war between Great Britain 
and her colonies; in the progress of which, it is be¬ 
lieved, this noble person distinguished himself as 
an active partizan, and a powerful advocate for the 
unconditional supremacy of the mother-country. I 
might otherwise be chargeable with great arrogance 
in presuming to differ from such weight of authori¬ 
ty ; but, surely, it will be permitted me to examine 
the doctrine maintained on this occasion, by the 
test of those cases, which the noble judge himself 
adduced in its support. In such an examination, 
plain argument and common sense may supply the 
subtleties of legal refinement, and the want of pro¬ 
fessional learning. 
The cases chiefly relied on by the learned judge, 
were those of Ireland, Wales, Berwick and New 
York; in all which places it was asserted, that the 
king, after their conquest, had, of his own autho- 
