The new ministers soon turned their attention to the state of the colonies, which they resolved to meliorate, by procuring the abrogation of the laws which had caused such bitter complaints, and particularly of the stamp act. But this they could not do at present, without a great prejudice to the dignity of government; it was also necessary to wait for the regular meeting of parliament, which is usually convened at the close of the year; finally, it was requisite to take, at least in appearance, sufficient time to acquaint themselves thoroughly with the state of affairs in America, and to weigh them with much deliberation, in order to lay them before parliament with all due precision and illustrations. They endeavored, in the mean time, to sooth the minds of the Americans, and bring them back to reason, by pruning from the odious acts all the conditions that could be removed by an extreme laxity of interpretation; by speaking in their correspondence with the governors of the colonies, with great indulgence of the American disturbances; and by encouraging the colonists themselves to hope that their grievances would be redressed.

The board of treasury decided that all the produce of the American stamp duties should be paid, from time to time, to the deputy paymaster in America, to defray the subsistence of the troops, and any military expenses incurred in the colonies.

The members of the board of trade, having taken into consideration the energetic resolutions of the assembly of Virginia, were urgent in their representations to the king, that he should notice them, by a declaration of the royal disapprobation, and send instructions to the agents of the crown in Virginia, to enforce the strict execution of the stamp act, and all other laws proceeding from the legitimate authority of parliament. But all this was but a vain demonstration, for they well knew that their opinion would not be approved by the king's privy council. In effect, the council decided that the present matter could not be determined by the king in his privy council, but was within the competency of parliament.

The resolutions of the other colonial assemblies having been denounced to the king, the privy council made the same answer in respect to them. Thus it was apparent, that a disposition existed to discourage all deliberations directed against America.

The secretary of state, Conway, found himself in a very difficult situation. He could not but condemn the excesses to which the Americans had abandoned themselves; but, on the other hand, he detested the thought of procuring, by force, the execution of a law which had been the cause of such commotions, and was considered by the new ministers, and by himself, perhaps, more than any other, if not unjust, certainly at least, unseasonable and prejudicial. He, therefore, had recourse to temporising and subterfuges; and displayed in all his conduct a surprising address.

In the letters addressed to the lieutenant-governor of Virginia, and to the other colonial governors, he expressed a full persuasion of the attachment of the mass of the Virginians to the mother country; that the violent proceedings of some among them, had in no degree diminished the confidence his majesty had always placed in his good colony of Virginia; that neither the crown nor its servants had any intention to violate the real rights and liberties of any part of his majesty's dominions; that, on the other hand, the government would never endure that the dignity of parliament should be made a sacrifice to certain local and anticipated opinions. He therefore exhorted the governors to maintain, with all their power, but by all prudent measures, the just rights of the British government, (without, however, explaining what rights were intended.) He recommended to them, especially, to preserve the peace and tranquillity of the provinces committed to their care; then, adverting to the violences and outrages which had taken place in the colonies, he did not hesitate to attribute them to the lowest of the population, always fond of change; he was confident, the better and wiser part of the citizens had taken no part in them, who must know that submission and decency are more efficacious than violence and outrage, to obtain redress, indulgence and favor. If prudence and lenity should prove insufficient to calm the fermentation, it would be necessary to provide for the maintenance of peace and good order, by such a timely exertion of force as the occasion might require; for which purpose, they would make the proper applications to general Gage or lord Colvil, commanders of his majesty's land and naval forces in America.'

He praised, however, the patience and magnanimity of the governor of New York, in having abstained from firing the artillery of the fort on the infatuated populace, which so provokingly approached; and testified his joy, that amidst so many disorders no blood had been spilt. He remarked that the distance of places prevented him from giving them more precise instructions; and, finally, that he placed great reliance upon their wisdom, discretion and prudence.

These despatches of the secretary of state, sufficiently evince what was his mode of thinking, with respect to American affairs; for, although he recommends the employment of force, if requisite, for the repression of tumults, he no where speaks of constraining the Americans to submit to the stamp act.

In the midst of so many storms, the year 1765 approached its conclusion, when the parliament was convoked, on the 17th of December. Although the king, in his opening speech, had made mention of American affairs, this subject which held in suspense not only Great Britain and her colonies, but even all Europe, was adjourned till the meeting of parliament after the Christmas holidays. Accordingly, on the 14th of January, 1766, the king adverted again to

the events which had occurred in America, as matters of extreme importance, which would require the most serious attention of parliament during its present session. Things were on all sides brought to maturity. The new ministers had laid before parliament all the information relating to this subject; and, having previously arranged the system of measures they intended to pursue, they were fully prepared to answer the objections which they knew it must encounter from the opposite party. Likewise, those who from personal interest or from conviction, voluntarily or at the suggestion of others, proposed to support the ministers in their debates, had made all the dispositions they believed conducive to the object in view. On the other hand, the late ministers, and all their adherents, had strenuously exerted themselves, in making preparations to defend a law they had ushered into being, and the darling object of their solicitude; fully appprised, apart from partiality for their own opinion, what dishonor, or at least what diminution of credit, they must sustain from its abrogation. But, whatever might have been the motives deducible from reasons of state, for the maintainance of the law, the prejudice which must result from it to the commerce of Great Britain, was already but too evident.

Accordingly, as if all the merchants of the kingdom had leagued for the purpose, they presented themselves at the bar of parliament, with petitions, tending to cause the repeal of the act. They represented how much their commerce had been affected, in consequence of the new regulations and the new laws concerning America.

'At this moment,' they said, 'we see accumulated or perishing in our warehouses, immense quantities of British manufactures, which heretofore have found a ready market in America; a very great number of artisans, manufacturers, and seamen, are without employment, and destitute of support. England is deprived of rice, indigo, tobacco, naval stores, oil, whale fins, furs, potash, and other commodities of American growth, that were brought by its inhabitants to our ports, in exchange for British manufactures. The merchants of Great Britain are frustrated of the remittances, in bills of exchange and bullion, which the Americans have hitherto procured them; and which they obtained in payment for articles of their produce, not required for the British market, and therefore exported to other places; already, many articles are wanting, heretofore procured by the Americans with their own funds, and with English manufactures, and which they brought eventually to the ports of England. From the nature of this trade, consisting of British manufactures exported, and of the import of raw materials from America, it must be deemed of the highest importance to the British nation; since, among other advantages, it tended to lessen its dependence on foreign states; but it is henceforth annihilated, without the immediate interposition of parliament The merchants of Great Britain are in advance to the

colonists for the sum of several millions sterling, who are no longer able to make good their engagements, as they have heretofore done, so great is the damage they have sustained from the regulations of commerce recently introduced; and many bankruptcies have actually occurred of late in the colonies, a thing almost without example in times past.' The petitioners added, that their situation was critical; that without the immediate succours of parliament, they must be totally ruined; that a multitude of manufacturers would likewise be reduced to the necessity of seeking subsistence in foreign countries, to the great prejudice of their own. They implored the parliament to preserve the strength of the nation entire, the prosperity of its commerce, the abundance of its revenues, the power of its navy, the immensity and wealth of its navigation, (the sources of the true glory of England, and her strongest bulwark) and finally, to maintain the colonies, from inclination, duty, and interest, firmly attached to the mother country.

The agent of Jamaica also presented a petition, in which were detailed the pernicious effects produced, in that Island by a stamp law, which had originated in the assembly of its own representatives. Other petitions were presented by the agents of Virginia and Georgia. All these were got up, at the suggestion of the ministers. The representations of the congress of New York were not admitted, because this assembly was unconstitutionally formed.

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Not trusting to these preparatives, the ministers, passionately desirous of obtaining the revocation, resolved to employ the name and authority of Benjamin Franklin, a man who enjoyed at that time the greatest reputation. He was therefore interrogated, during the debates, in the presence of the house of commons. The celebrity of the person, the candor of his character, the recollection of all the services he had rendered his country, and the whole human race, by his physical discoveries, roused the attention of every mind. The galleries were crowded with spectators, eager to hear so distinguished an individual speak upon a subject of so much moment. He answered with gravity, and with extreme presence of mind. The Americans,' he said, already pay taxes on all estates, real and personal; a poll tax; a tax on all offices, professions, trades and businesses, according to their profits; an excise on all wine, rum, and other spirits; and a duty of ten pounds per head, on all negroes imported; with some other duties. The assessinents upon real and personal estates amount to eighteen pence in the pound; and those upon the profits of employments to half a crown. The colonies could not in any way pay the stamp duty; there is not gold and silver enough, in all the colonies, to pay the stamp duty even for one year. The Germans who inhabit Pennsylvania are more dissatisfied with this duty than the native colonists themselves. The Americans, since the new laws, have abated much of their affection for Great

Britain, and of their respect for parliament. There exists a great difference between internal and external duties; duties laid on commodities imported have no other effect than to raise the price of these articles in the American market; they make, in fact, a part of this price; but it is optional with the people either to buy them or not, and consequently to pay the duty or not. But an internal tax is forced from the people without their own consent, if not laid by their own representatives. The stamp act says, we shall have no commerce, make no exchange of property with each other, neither purchase nor grant, nor recover debts, we shall neither marry, nor make our wills, unless we pay such and such sums; and thus it is intended to extort our money from us, or ruin us by the consequences of refusing to pay it. The American colonists could, in a short time, find in their own manufactures the means of sufficing to themselves. The repeal of the stamp act would restore tranquillity, and things would resume their pristine course.'

Thus spoke Franklin; and his words were a powerful support to the ministers. But the advocates of the law were not inactive; and they marshalled all their strength to obstruct their repeal. The disquisitions and debates had continued with equal warmth on both sides, and the moment of decision approached; when George Grenville, the same who, being prime minister, had first proposed the stamp act in parliament, a man whose influence was extensive, and his adherents very numerous, arose in his place, and spoke in the following terms; If I could persuade myself that the pride of opinion, the spirit of party, or the affection which man usually bears to things done by himself, had so fascinated my intellectual sight and biassed the faculties of my mind, as to deprive me of all power to see and distinguish that which is manifest, I certainly, on this occasion, should have intrenched myself in silence, and thus displayed, if not my zeal for the public service, at least my prudence and discretion. But, as the affair now before us has been the subject of my most attentive consideration, and of my most deliberate reflection, at a period when the general tranquillity was uninterrupted by scandalous excesses; and as, from a contingency for which I claim no merit, it appears that to my honor and reputation the honor and dignity of this kingdom are attached, my prudence might be reputed coldness, and my discretion a base desertion.

But where is the public, where is the private man, whatever may be his moderation, who is not roused at the present dangers which so imminently threaten the safety of our country?-who does not put forth all his strength to avert them? And who can help indulging the most sinister anticipations, in contemplating the new counsels and fatal inactivity of the present servants of the crown? A solemn law has been enacted in parliament, already a year since. It was, and still is, the duty of ministers to carry it into effect. The

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