ey were prepared to correct the mistake, which
could be done without abandoning the right.

[Note 18: Grenville had laid down the proposition that England was
"the sovereign, the supreme legislative power over America," and that
"taxation is a part of that sovereign power."]

[Note 19: Bancroft, _Hist. U. S._ v. 385-387.]

As this feeling visibly gained ground the ministry gathered courage to
consider the expediency of introducing a bill to repeal the act. Could
the king have had his way they would not have survived in office to do
so. He would have had their ministerial heads off, as he had stricken
those of their immediate predecessors. But efforts which he made to find
successors for them were fruitless, and so they remained in places which
no others could be induced to fill. Pitt was sounded, to see whether he
would ally himself with them; but he would not. Had he been gained the
fight would not have come simply upon the repeal of the act as
unsatisfactory, but as being contrary to the constitution of England.
The narrower battle-ground was selected by Rockingham.

The immediate forerunner in Parliament of the repeal of the Stamp Act
was significant. A resolution was introduced into the House of Lords,
February 3, 1766, that the "king in Parliament has full power to bind
the colonies and people of America in all cases whatsoever." The debate
which followed showed what importance this American question had assumed
in England; the expression of feeling was intense, the display of
ability very great. Lord Camden and Lord Mansfield encountered each
other; but the former, with the best of the argument, had much the worst
of the division. One hundred and twenty-five peers voted for the
resolution, only five against it. In the Commons, Pitt assailed the
resolution, with no better success than had attended Camden. No one
knew how many voted Nay, but it was "less than ten voices, some said
five or four, some said but three."[20] Immediately after this assertion
of a principle, the same Parliament prepared to set aside the only
application of it which had ever been attempted. It was well understood
that the repeal of the Stamp Act was close at hand.

[Note 20: Bancroft, _Hist. U. S._ v. 417.]

It was at this juncture that Franklin, who had been by no means idle
during the long struggle, appeared as a witness in that examination
which perhaps displayed his ability to better advantage than any other
single act in his life