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COLONIAL REMONSTRANCES. 551
tenor of our conduct have never forfeited), cannot but be affected with the deepest sentiments of sorrow and concern at the present alarming conjuncture, so eminently
threatening our dearest rights and most ^invaluable privileges.
" To prevent, as much as in us lieth,this approaching destruction of our civil liberties,
as well as to testify to all succeeding ages our just abhorrence and detestation of slavery,
and that we dare, by all lawful means to maintain our birth-rights, the subscribers
hereof, with hearts inviolably attached to the person and family of our present most
gracious sovereign, GEORGE the THIRD, and attached with the firmest principles of
fidelity and loyalty to his crown and government, have thought proper to join and concur
in the following resolves:
"First—That the Freemen of this colony, are, and ever have been since their first
emigration from Great Britain, entitled to all the liberties, franchises and privileges, of the
free subjects of Great Britain.
"Secondly—That the imposition of internal taxes on this colony by the British
Parliament, or any other authority whatever, except that of the House of Delegates in
this Province; and the depriving the inhabitants thereof, of the benefit of trials by juries,
by the extension of the jurisdiction of the Courts of Admiralty, is contrary to the spirit of
the English constitution, destructive of our just rights and privileges, and tending to the
slavery and ruin of us and our posterity.
" Thirdly—That the late Act of Parliament, commonly called the Stamp Act (being
an express.violation of magna charta, contrary to the Declaration of Rights, and the
spirit of the Common Law), is unjust, illegal, and unconstitutional.
" Fourthly and lastly—We do hereby promise and agree, cheerfully and cordially to
unite with all our fellow-subjects and countrymen, throughout the whole extended Empire
of British America, in every just and lawful measure, to maintain our rights and
privileges.
" Signed, by order of the committee of correspondence, by Joseph Earle, Secretary,
Cecil County, March 11th, 1766."
Though the frequent colonial remonstrances to the mother country had
been treated with scorn, and petition after petition had been refused a hearing,
parliament viewed with no small concern the representations by their own merchants and manfactures of the effect of the Stamp Act on their cherished
trade, and could but regard with serious alarm the official accounts of
provincial affairs which were now pouring into England. The liockingham
administration had come into power in July, 1765, and as it was
free from the odium which attached to the Grenville ministry for having
devised this system of taxation, the repeal of the law was recommended
upon the very grounds which had prompted its imposition. Accordingly,
early in the year, a bill was introduced into parliament to repeal
the Stamp Act, and speedily passing, was signed by the king on the
18th of March, 1765. As a salve to the wounded pride of the British
government, thus compelled to retrace its steps, and to recede from the
exercise of a power so boldly claimed, its repeal was preceded by an act
declaratory of full power and authority in the king and parliament " to bind
the colonies in all cases whatsoever," and the colonial resolves, asserting that
the sole and exclusive right of taxation resided in the Provincial Assemblies,
were declared derogatory to the authority of parliament, inconsistent with
the dependence of the colonies upon the crown, and null and void.
| 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 | 00000587 |
| Type | Books/Pamphlets |
| Transcript | COLONIAL REMONSTRANCES. 551 tenor of our conduct have never forfeited), cannot but be affected with the deepest sentiments of sorrow and concern at the present alarming conjuncture, so eminently threatening our dearest rights and most ^invaluable privileges. " To prevent, as much as in us lieth,this approaching destruction of our civil liberties, as well as to testify to all succeeding ages our just abhorrence and detestation of slavery, and that we dare, by all lawful means to maintain our birth-rights, the subscribers hereof, with hearts inviolably attached to the person and family of our present most gracious sovereign, GEORGE the THIRD, and attached with the firmest principles of fidelity and loyalty to his crown and government, have thought proper to join and concur in the following resolves: "First—That the Freemen of this colony, are, and ever have been since their first emigration from Great Britain, entitled to all the liberties, franchises and privileges, of the free subjects of Great Britain. "Secondly—That the imposition of internal taxes on this colony by the British Parliament, or any other authority whatever, except that of the House of Delegates in this Province; and the depriving the inhabitants thereof, of the benefit of trials by juries, by the extension of the jurisdiction of the Courts of Admiralty, is contrary to the spirit of the English constitution, destructive of our just rights and privileges, and tending to the slavery and ruin of us and our posterity. " Thirdly—That the late Act of Parliament, commonly called the Stamp Act (being an express.violation of magna charta, contrary to the Declaration of Rights, and the spirit of the Common Law), is unjust, illegal, and unconstitutional. " Fourthly and lastly—We do hereby promise and agree, cheerfully and cordially to unite with all our fellow-subjects and countrymen, throughout the whole extended Empire of British America, in every just and lawful measure, to maintain our rights and privileges. " Signed, by order of the committee of correspondence, by Joseph Earle, Secretary, Cecil County, March 11th, 1766." Though the frequent colonial remonstrances to the mother country had been treated with scorn, and petition after petition had been refused a hearing, parliament viewed with no small concern the representations by their own merchants and manfactures of the effect of the Stamp Act on their cherished trade, and could but regard with serious alarm the official accounts of provincial affairs which were now pouring into England. The liockingham administration had come into power in July, 1765, and as it was free from the odium which attached to the Grenville ministry for having devised this system of taxation, the repeal of the law was recommended upon the very grounds which had prompted its imposition. Accordingly, early in the year, a bill was introduced into parliament to repeal the Stamp Act, and speedily passing, was signed by the king on the 18th of March, 1765. As a salve to the wounded pride of the British government, thus compelled to retrace its steps, and to recede from the exercise of a power so boldly claimed, its repeal was preceded by an act declaratory of full power and authority in the king and parliament " to bind the colonies in all cases whatsoever," and the colonial resolves, asserting that the sole and exclusive right of taxation resided in the Provincial Assemblies, were declared derogatory to the authority of parliament, inconsistent with the dependence of the colonies upon the crown, and null and void. |
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