summary of events from the repeal of the stamp act, march, 1766, to the end of the year.

the universal joy caused in both great britain and america by the repeal of the stamp act foreshadowed a new era of unity and co-operation between the mother country and the colonies. but though trade and commerce resumed their activity, and mutual expressions of respect and affection characterized the correspondence, private and official, between england and america, the rejoicings of re-union were soon silenced, and mutual confidence, if restored at all, soon yielded to mutual suspicion. the king regretted the repeal of the stamp act as "a fatal compliance" which had "wounded the majesty" of england, and planted "thorns under his own pillow." he soon found a pretext for ridding himself of the ministers who had influenced the parliament, and compelled himself to adopt and sanction that measure, and to surround himself with ministers, some of whom sympathized with the king in his regrets, and all of whom were prepared to compensate for the humiliation to america in the repeal of the stamp act, by imposing obligations and taxes on the colonies in other forms, under the absolute authority of parliament affirmed in the declaratory act, and which the americans had fondly regarded as a mere salve to english pride, and not intended for any practical purpose. mr. pitt had rested his opposition to the stamp act upon the distinction between external and internal taxes, as did dr. franklin in his evidence at the bar of the house of commons; the opposition and the protesting lords denied the distinction; and when dr. franklin was asked—

"does the distinction between internal and external taxes[pg 324] exist in the charter?" he answered: "no, i believe not;" and being asked, "then may they not, by the same interpretation, object to the parliament's right of external taxation?" he answered: "they never have hitherto. many arguments have been lately used here to show them that there is no difference, and that if you have no right to tax them internally, you have no right to tax them externally, or make any other law to bind them. at present they do not reason so, but in time they may possibly be convinced by these arguments."

i now proceed to give a summary statement of the events between great britain and the colonies which followed the repeal of the stamp act, march 19th, 1766.

within ten days of its passing, the act repealing the stamp act was officially transmitted to america by general conway, then secretary of state for america, who accompanied them with a circular to the several governors, in which, while he firmly insisted upon a proper reverence for the king's government, endeavoured affectionately to allay the discontents of the colonists. when the governor of virginia communicated this letter to the house of burgesses, they unanimously voted a statue to the king, and the assembly of massachusetts voted a letter of thanks to mr. pitt and the duke of grafton.

but in addition to the circular letter to the several governors, counselling forgetfulness and oblivion as to the disorders and contentions of the past, general conway wrote a separate letter to governor barnard, of massachusetts, in which he said: "nothing will tend more effectually to every conciliating purpose, and there is nothing, therefore, i have in command more earnestly to require of you, than that you should exert yourself in recommending it strongly to the assembly, that full and ample compensation be made to those who, from the madness of the people, have suffered for their acts in deference to the british legislature." this letter was but a recommendation, not a command or requisition, to the legislature, and seems to have been intended as an instruction to governor barnard alone; but he, now indulging his personal resentments as well as haughty spirit, represented the letter of general conway as a command and requisition founded on "justice and humanity," and that the authority from which it came ought to preclude all doubts about complying with it, adding, "both the business and the time are most critical—let me entreat you to recollect yourselves, and to consider well what you are about. shall the private interests, passions, or resentments of a few[pg 326] men deprive the whole people of the great and manifold advantages which the favour and indulgence of their king and his parliament are now preparing for them? surely after his majesty's commands are known, the very persons who have created the prejudices and prepossessions i now endeavour to combat will be the first to remove them."

the opposition to the stamp act, which the governor interpreted as "prejudices and prepossessions which he now endeavoured to combat," had been justified by the king and parliament themselves in rejecting it; and he thus continued to make enemies of those whom he might have easily conciliated and made friends. the assembly answered him in an indignant and sarcastic tone, and charged him with having exceeded the authority given in secretary conway's letter; concluding in the following words:

"if this recommendation, which your excellency terms a requisition, be founded on so much justice and humanity that it cannot be controverted—if the authority with which it is introduced should preclude all disputation about complying with it, we should be glad to know what freedom we have in the case?

"in answer to the questions which your excellency has proposed with seeming emotion, we beg leave to declare, that we will not suffer ourselves to be in the least influenced by party animosities or domestic feuds, let them exist where they may; that if we can possibly prevent it, this fine country shall never be ruined by any person; that it shall be through no default of ours should this people be deprived of the great and manifest advantages which the favour and indulgence of our most gracious sovereign and his parliament are even now providing for them. on the contrary, that it shall ever be our highest ambition, as it is our duty, so to demean ourselves in public and in private life as shall most clearly demonstrate our loyalty and gratitude to the best of kings, and thereby recommend his people to further gracious marks of the royal clemency and favour.

"with regard to the rest of your excellency's speech, we are constrained to observe, that the general air and style of it savours more of an act of grace and pardon than of a parliamentary address to the two houses of assembly; and we most sincerely wish your excellency had been pleased to reserve it, if needful, for a proclamation."

it was thus that fresh seed of animosity and hostility was sown between governor barnard and the massachusetts assembly, and sown by the governor himself, and the growth of which he further promoted by refusing to confirm the choice of mr. hancock, whom the assembly had elected as their speaker, and refused to sanction six of their twenty-eight nominations to the council, because they had not nominated the four judges of the supreme court and the crown officers. hence the animosity of their reply to his speech above quoted. but as the governor had, by the charter, a veto on the election of speaker and councillors, the legislature submitted without a murmur.

but in the course of the session (six months after the governor's speech upon the subject), the assembly passed an act granting compensation to the sufferers by the late riots, the principal of whom were the lieutenant-governor, the collector of customs, and the appointed distributor of stamps. the act was accompanied by a declaration that it was a free gift of the province, and not an acknowledgment of the justice of their claim; it also contained a provision of amnesty to the rioters. the act was agreed to by the council and assented to by the governor; but it was disallowed by the king on the advice of the english attorney and solicitor general, because, as alleged, it assumed an act of grace which it belonged to the king to bestow, through an act of oblivion of the evils of those who had acted unlawfully in endeavouring to enforce the stamp act, which had been passed by the british parliament the same year. the massachusetts assembly ordered that their debates should henceforth be open to the public.

the legislature of new york also passed an act granting compensation to those who had suffered a loss of property for their adherence to the stamp act, but stated it to be a free gift.

before the close of 1766, dissatisfaction and distrust were manifest in several colonies, and apprehensions of other encroachments by the british parliament upon what they held to be their constitutional rights. even the general assembly of virginia, which had in the spring session voted a statue to the king, and an obelisk to mr. pitt and several other members of parliament, postponed, in the december following, the final consideration of the resolution until the next session. the virginia press said: "the americans are hasty in expressing their gratitude, if the repeal of the stamp act is not, at least, a tacit compact that great britain will never again tax us;" and advised the different assemblies, without mentioning the proceedings of parliament, to enter upon their journals as strong declarations of their own rights as words could express.[289]

the assembly of new york met early in 1766, in the best spirit; voted to raise on bowling green an equestrian statue to the king, and a statue of william pitt—"twice the preserver of his country."

"but the clause of the mutiny or billeting act (passed in 1765, in the same session in which the stamp act was passed), directing colonial legislatures to make specific contributions towards the support of the army, placed new york, where the head-quarters were established, in the dilemma of submitting immediately and unconditionally to the authority of parliament, or taking the lead in a new career of resistance. the rescript was in theory worse than the stamp act. for how could one legislative body command what another legislative body should enact? and viewed as a tax it was unjust, for it threw all the burden of the colony where the troops chanced to be collected. the requisition of the general, made through the governor, 'agreeably to the act of parliament,' was therefore declared to be unprecedented in its character and unreasonable in its amount; yet in the exercise of the right of free deliberation, everything asked for was voted, except such articles as were not provided in europe for british troops which were in barracks."

footnotes:

in the house of lords, lord mansfield, replying to lord camden, said: "the noble lord who quoted so much law, and denied the right of the parliament of great britain to levy internal taxes upon the colonies, allowed at the same time that restrictions upon trade and duties upon the ports were legal. but i cannot see any real difference in this distinction; for i hold it to be true, that a tax laid in any place is like a pebble falling into and making a circle in a lake, till one circle produces and gives motion to another, and the whole circumference is agitated from the centre. a tax on tobacco, either in the ports of virginia or london, is a duty laid upon the inland plantations of virginia, a hundred miles from the sea, wherever the tobacco grows." (quoted in bancroft's history of the united states, vol. v., p. 411.)

mr. grenville argued in the same strain in the house of commons; and the americans, as apt pupils, soon learned by such arguments to resist external as they had successfully resisted internal taxes.

general conway, as leader of the house of commons, moved the resolution for the repeal of the stamp act, and also moved the resolution for the declaratory bill. colonel barré moved an amendment to strike out from the resolution the words "in all cases whatsoever." he was seconded by pitt, and sustained by beckford. "only three men, or rather pitt alone, 'debated strenuously the rights of america' against more than as many hundred; and yet the house of commons, half-conscious of the fatality of its decision, was so awed by the overhanging shadow of coming events that it seemed to shrink from pronouncing its opinion. edmund burke, eager to add glory as an orator to his just renown as an author, argued for england's right in such a manner that the strongest friends of power declared his speech to have been 'far superior to that of every other speaker;' while grenville, yorke, and all the lawyers; the temperate richard hussey, who yet was practically for humanity and justice; blackstone, the commentator on the laws of england, who still disliked internal taxation of america by parliament, filled many hours with solemn arguments for england's unlimited supremacy. they persuaded one another, and the house, that the charters which kings had granted were, by the unbroken opinions of lawyers, from 1689, subordinate to the good-will of the houses of parliament; that parliament, for a stronger reason, had power to tax—a power which it had been proposed to exert in 1713, while harley was at the head of the treasury, and again at the opening of the seven years' war." ...

"so the watches of the long winter's night wore away, and at about four o'clock in the morning, when the question was called, less than ten voices, some say five, or four, some said but three, spoke out in the minority; and the resolution passed for england's right to do what the treasury pleased with three millions of freemen in america." (bancroft's history of the united states., vol. v., pp. 415-417.)

allen's history of the american revolution, vol. i., chap. v., p. 101. bancroft's history of the united states, vol. vi., chap. xxv., p. 6.

bancroft's history of the united states, vol. vi., chap. xxv., pp. 15, 16.

"the colonies were required, at their own expense, to furnish the troops quartered upon them by parliament with fuel, bedding, utensils for cooking, and various articles of food and drink. to take off the edge from this bill, bounties were granted on the importation of lumber and timber from the plantations; coffee of domestic growth was exempted from additional duty; and iron was permitted to be carried to ireland." (barry's history of massachusetts, second period, chap. x., p. 295.)