England alone, overburdened as she was by taxation,
could undertake the military defence of her greatly extended Empire.
Their object, therefore, was to create subsidiary armies for its
defence. Ireland already raised by the vote of the Irish Parliament,
and out of exclusively Irish resources, an army consisting of from
twelve to fifteen thousand men, most of whom were available for the
general purposes of the Empire. In India, under a despotic system, a
separate army was maintained for the protection of India. It was the
strong belief of the English Government that a third army should be
maintained in America for the defence of the American colonies and of
the neighbouring islands, and that it was just and reasonable that
America should bear some part of the expense of her own defence. She
was charged with no part of the interest of the National Debt; she
paid nothing towards the cost of the navy which protected her coast;
she was the most lightly taxed and the most prosperous portion of the
Empire; she was the part which had benefited most by the late war, and
she was the part which was most likely to be menaced if the war was
renewed. Under these circumstances Grenville determined that a small
army of ten thousand men should be kept in America, under the distinct
promise that it was never to serve beyond that country and the West
Indian Isles, and he asked America to contribute 100,000_l._ a year,
or about a third part of its expense.

But here the difficulty arose. The Irish army was maintained by the
vote of the Irish Parliament; but there was no single parliament
representing the American colonies, and it soon became evident that it
was impossible to induce thirteen State legislatures to agree upon any
scheme for supporting an army in America. Under these circumstances
Grenville in an ill-omened moment resolved to revive a dormant power
which existed in the Constitution, and levy this new war-tax by
Imperial taxation. He at the same time guaranteed the colonists that
the proceeds of this tax should be expended solely in America; he
intimated to them in the clearest way that if they would meet his
wishes by themselves providing the necessary sum, he would be
abundantly satisfied, and he delayed the enforcement of the measure
for a year in order to give them ample time for doing so.

Such and so small was the original cause of difference between England
and her colonies. Who can fail to see that it was a differenc