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522 HISTORY OF MARYLAND.
close of the seventeenth century, this idea had been started, but it was not
then relished even by the people of England. It received at the time a refutation of distinguishing clearness, argument and force, upon the ground then
taken and ever after maintained, that taxation and representation are inseparable—that as the colonies were not represented in, neither could they be
taxed by parliament, without their consent. The sentiments of the people of
Maryland at that very period, are fully expressed in a letter written, by Mr.
Nicholson, then governor of Maryland, in August 1698, to the Council of
Trade in England. " I have observed," says he, " that a great many people, in
all these provinces and colonies, especially in those under proprietaries, and
the two others under Connecticut and Rhode Island, think that no law of
England ought to be in force and binding upon them without their consent;
for they foolishly say, they have no representatives sent from themselves •■ to
the parliament of England; and they look upon all laws made in England
that put any restraint upon them, as great hardships." *
' The war with France, of 1754, re-animated the proposition to tax the
colonies; and as the statesmen of England had entered upon the task of
legislating for the colonies, they found this work so congenial to their tastes,
that the very opposition their measures awakened served to confirm them in
their course.
Governor Sharpe, in his devotion to the crown and the proprietary, continued to urge upon Caecilius Calvert, secretary of the province, in London,
the necessity of parliament " raising a fund in the several provinces by a
poll-tax," or by imports, " or by a stamp duty;"3 officers in every colony
clamored for the same object; and Lord Halifax, in July, 1755, insisted with
the ministry on a " general system to ease the mother country of the great
and heavy expenses with which it of late years was burdened." It was
accordingly resolved " to raise funds for American affairs by a stamp duty,
and a duty on products of the West Indies imported into the continental
colonies." A tax upon " stamped paper" was likewise suggested, which was
to be " so diffused as to be in a manner insensible." These projects were
pressed upon Pitt immediately upon his accession to the ministry, but he
"scorned to take an unjust and ungenerous advantage" of the colonies.
Though the war with France prevented its immediate prosecution, yet
measures of taxation were not abandoned by the English press or people.
The debt of the English government, at the close of the war, amounted in
the aggregate to one hundred and forty millions of pounds sterling, of which
seventy millions were borrowed. For relief from the burden of debt, of
which all classes complained, it was authoritatively announced that it was
"just and necessary that a revenue be raised in his majesty's dominions in
America for defraying the expenses of defending, protecting, and securing
the same."
1 Chalmers, p. 442. 2 Letter, dated September 15,1754.
| Title | History of Maryland - 1 |
| Creator | Scharf, J. Thomas (John Thomas) |
| Publisher | J. B. Piet |
| Place of Publication | Baltimore |
| Date | 1879 |
| Language | eng |
| Type | Books/Pamphlets |
| Title | 00000556 |
| Type | Books/Pamphlets |
| Transcript | 522 HISTORY OF MARYLAND. close of the seventeenth century, this idea had been started, but it was not then relished even by the people of England. It received at the time a refutation of distinguishing clearness, argument and force, upon the ground then taken and ever after maintained, that taxation and representation are inseparable—that as the colonies were not represented in, neither could they be taxed by parliament, without their consent. The sentiments of the people of Maryland at that very period, are fully expressed in a letter written, by Mr. Nicholson, then governor of Maryland, in August 1698, to the Council of Trade in England. " I have observed," says he, " that a great many people, in all these provinces and colonies, especially in those under proprietaries, and the two others under Connecticut and Rhode Island, think that no law of England ought to be in force and binding upon them without their consent; for they foolishly say, they have no representatives sent from themselves •■ to the parliament of England; and they look upon all laws made in England that put any restraint upon them, as great hardships." * ' The war with France, of 1754, re-animated the proposition to tax the colonies; and as the statesmen of England had entered upon the task of legislating for the colonies, they found this work so congenial to their tastes, that the very opposition their measures awakened served to confirm them in their course. Governor Sharpe, in his devotion to the crown and the proprietary, continued to urge upon Caecilius Calvert, secretary of the province, in London, the necessity of parliament " raising a fund in the several provinces by a poll-tax," or by imports, " or by a stamp duty;"3 officers in every colony clamored for the same object; and Lord Halifax, in July, 1755, insisted with the ministry on a " general system to ease the mother country of the great and heavy expenses with which it of late years was burdened." It was accordingly resolved " to raise funds for American affairs by a stamp duty, and a duty on products of the West Indies imported into the continental colonies." A tax upon " stamped paper" was likewise suggested, which was to be " so diffused as to be in a manner insensible." These projects were pressed upon Pitt immediately upon his accession to the ministry, but he "scorned to take an unjust and ungenerous advantage" of the colonies. Though the war with France prevented its immediate prosecution, yet measures of taxation were not abandoned by the English press or people. The debt of the English government, at the close of the war, amounted in the aggregate to one hundred and forty millions of pounds sterling, of which seventy millions were borrowed. For relief from the burden of debt, of which all classes complained, it was authoritatively announced that it was "just and necessary that a revenue be raised in his majesty's dominions in America for defraying the expenses of defending, protecting, and securing the same." 1 Chalmers, p. 442. 2 Letter, dated September 15,1754. |
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