their own feelings. The
agents of America, however, all replied that they were instructed not
only to oppose the stamp-tax, but every other bill which assumed as a
principle the right of taxing the colonies. They urged in reply to
the statement, that it was reasonable for America to contribute her
proportion toward the general expenses of the empire; that, "America had
never been backward in obeying the constitutional requisitions of the
crown, and contributing liberally, in her own assemblies, towards
the expenses of wars, in which, conjointly with England, she had
been engaged; that in the course of the last memorable contest, her
patriotism had been so conspicuous, that large sums had been repeatedly
voted, as an indemnification to the colonists for exertions allowed
to be far beyond their means and resources; and that the proper
compensation to Britain for the expense of rearing and protecting her
colonies was the monopoly of their trade, the absolute direction and
regulation of which was universally acknowledged to be inherent in the
British legislature."

In all ages of the world sovereign states have assumed to themselves the
right of taxing their dependant colonies for the general good. A glance
at ancient history, however, is sufficient to prove that there is danger
in the expedient. By colonial taxation Athens involved herself in many
dangerous wars, which proved highly prejudicial to her interests, and
which reads a powerful lesson to modern states and kingdoms on this
subject. The British king and British cabinet, however, had, like the
Athenians, to learn a lesson from experience, and not from the pages
of history. Conceiving that they had gone too far to recede, they were
resolutely determined not to yield their claim of right. The memorials
were not even allowed to be read in the house, for the British
legislature, with few exceptions, considered the right which they
questioned to be indisputable. Fifty-five resolutions of the committee
of ways and means, relating to this branch of the revenue, were agreed
to by the commons, and they were afterwards incorporated into an act
for laying nearly the same stamp-duties on the American colonies as were
payable at the time in England. The debate on this subject was generally
languid, but on Townshend venturing to assert, that the Americans were
"children planted by our care and nourished by our indulgence," Colonel
Barre, who had served beyond the Atlantic, and