tial maxim of your liberties, that no subject of England shall be taxed but by his own consent. "This glorious spirit of Whiggism animates three millions in America; who prefer poverty with liberty, to gilded chains and sordid affluence; and who will die in defence of their rights as men, as freemen. What shall oppose this spirit, aided by the congenial flame glowing in the breasts of every Whig in England, to the amount, I hope, of double the American numbers? Ireland they have to a man. In that country, joined as it is with the cause of the colonies, and placed at their head, the distinction I contend for is and must be observed. This country superintends and controls their trade and navigation; but they tax themselves. And this distinction between external and internal control is sacred and insurmountable; it is involved in the abstract nature of things. Property is private, individual, absolute. Trade is an extended and complicated consideration: it reaches as far as ships can sail or winds can blow: it is a great and various machine. To regulate the numberless movements of its several parts, and combine them into effect, for the good of the whole, requires the superintending wisdom and energy of the supreme power in the empire. But this supreme power has no effect towards internal taxation; for it does not exist in that relation; there is no such thing, no such idea in this constitution, as a supreme power operating upon property. Let this distinction then remain for ever ascertained; taxation is theirs, commercial regulation is ours. As an American, I would recognise to England her supreme right of regulating commerce and navigation : as an Englishman by birth and principle, I recognise to the Americans their supreme unalienable right in their property; a right which they are justified in the defence of to the last extremity. To maintain this principle is the common cause of the Whigs on the other side of the Atlantic, and on this. ''Tis liberty to liberty engaged,' that they will defend them selves, their families, and their country. In this great cause they are immovably allied: it is the alliance of God and immutable, eternal - fixed as the firmament of nature heaven. "I trust it is obvious to your Lordships, that all attempts to impose servitude upon such men, to establish despotism over such a mighty continental nation, must be vain, must be fatal. We shall be forced ultimately to retract; let us See p. 311. retract while we can, not when we must. I say we must necessarily undo these violent oppressive acts: they must be repealed — you will repeal them; I pledge myself for it, that you will in the end repeal them; I stake my reputation on it; I will consent to be taken for an idiot, if they are not finally repealed.-Avoid, then, this humiliating, disgraceful necessity. With a dignity becoming your exalted situation, make the first advances to concord, to peace and happiness: for that is your true dignity, to act with prudence and justice. That you should first concede is obvious, from sound and rational policy. Concession comes with better grace and more salutary effect from superior power; it reconciles superiority of power with the feelings of men; and establishes solid confidence on the foundations of affection and gratitude. ... "Every motive, therefore, of justice and of policy, of dignity and of prudence, urges you to allay the ferment in America — by a removal of your troops from Boston — by a repeal of your acts of parliament and by demonstration of amicable dispositions towards your colonies. On the other hand, every danger and every hazard impend, to deter you from perseverance in your present ruinous Foreign war hanging over your heads by a slight and brittle thread: France and Spain watching your conduct, and waiting for the maturity of your errors ; a vigilant eye to America, and the temper of your colonies, more than to their own concerns, be they what they may. measures. - with The motion was lost by a vote of 68-18. The Duke of "To conclude, my Lords: If the ministers thus persevere in misadvising and misleading the King, I will not say, that they can alienate the affections of his subjects from his Cumberland, crown; but I will affirm, that they will make the crown not worth his wearing- I will not say that the King is betrayed; but I will pronounce, that the kingdom is undone." brother of George III, voted with the minority. Correspondence of William Pitt, Earl of Chatham (London, 1840), IV, 380-384. By EDWARD Decline and Empire. He sat in Parlia ment for a few years at the time of the troubles with the American colonies, and gave his support to the Tory side. He spent the last years of his life in Switzerland, I 20. A Great Historian and the Outbreak of the American Revolution (1775) Jan. 31st, 1775 Sometimes people do not write because they are too idle, and sometimes because they are too busy. The former was usually my case, but at present it is the latter. The fate of Europe and America seems fully sufficient to take up the time of one Man; and especially of a Man who gives up a great deal of time for the purpose of public and private information. I think I have sucked Mauduit and Hutcheson very dry; and if my confidence was equal to my eloquence, and my eloquence to my knowledge, perhaps I might make no very intolerable Speaker. . . . For my own part, I am more and more convinced that we have both the right and the power on our side, and that, though watching with the effort may be accompanied with some melancholy cirdismay the develop ments in France. The accom panying ex tracts are from letters cumstances, we are now arrived at the decisive moment of persevering, or of losing for ever both our Trade and Empire. We expect next Thursday or Friday to be a very great day. or 90. Our general divisions are about 250 to 80 |