00000136 |
Previous | 136 of 684 | Next |
|
small (250x250 max)
medium (500x500 max)
Large
Extra Large
large ( > 500x500)
Full Resolution
All (PDF)
|
THE IMPENDING PENALTY. 109
" Thus happy in the enjoyment of the rights and privileges of natural-born subjects,
have they and their posterity lived, and been treated as freemen, and thus hath the great
fundamental principle of the constitution, that no man shall be taxed, but with his own
consent, given by himself, or by his representative, been ever extended, and preserved
inviolate in this remote part of your majesty's dominion, until questioned lately by your
parliament.
" It is therefore with the deepest sorrow, may it please your most excellent Majestyy
that we now approach the throne, on behalf of your faithful subjects of this province,
with all humility, to represent to your Majesty, that by several statutes, lately enacted in
the parliament of Great Britain, by which sundry rates and duties are to be raised and
collected within your Majesty's colonies in America, for the sole and express purpose of
raising a revenue, this great fundamental principle of the constitution is in our apprehension infringed.
" The people of this province, Royal Sire, are not in any manner, nor can they ever
possibly be, effectually represented in the British parliament. While, therefore, your
Majesty's commons of Great Britain continue to give and grant the property of the
people in America, your faithful subjects of this, and every other colony, must be
deprived of that most invaluable privilege, the power of granting their own money, and
of every opportunity of manifesting, by cheerful aids, their attachment to their king, and
zeal for his service; they must be cut off from all intercourse with their sovereign, and
expect not to hear of the royal approbation; they must submit to the power of the
commons of Great Britain ; and, precluded the blessings, shall scarcely retain the name
of freedom."
At the same time a reply was made to the circular, embodying an explicit
avowal of full concurrence with the Lower House of Assembly in Massachusetts in the declaration, that those Acts of Parliament " do infringe the great
and fundamental principle" upon which the right of taxation is based.
This reply brought down upon them the impending penalty of prorogation
on the 22d of June, 1768, but not before the adoption of resolutions displaying
the whole matters at issue in the clearest light—resolutions to which we may
recur as a lucid exposition of colonial rights, and a convincing evidence of
the firm principles and commanding abilities of the men to whom was then
committed the peculiar care of the province.1
On the same day the assembly was prorogued, Governor Sharpe addressed
the following letter to Lord Hillsborough :
"The letter your lordship was pleased to transmit to me the 21st of April, together
with a copy of one from the House of Representatives of the colony of Massachusetts, having been by me received the 20th of this month when the assembly of this Province
happened to be sitting, I immediately communicated the contents to the Lower House,
hoping that when his Majesty's sentiments with regard to the step taken by the Massachusetts Assembly were so explicitly made known to them they would drop any design:
they may have adopted in consequence of the letter from Boston; but the result was, to my
great mortification, just the reverse of what I wished it to be; for after ruminating upon
my message more than a day, they presented to me this afternoon the inclosed address,,
whereupon an end was put to the session, and I should have immediately dissolved the
assembly had not experience taught me that no step is so likely to attach the people to
their representatives as a sudden dissolution, and that on a new election instantly follow-
1 T. H. Hagner, p. 22. McMahon, p. 374.
| Title | History of Maryland - 2 |
| Creator | Scharf, J. Thomas (John Thomas) |
| Publisher | J. B. Piet |
| Place of Publication | Baltimore |
| Date | 1879 |
| Language | eng |
| Type | Books/Pamphlets |
| Title | 00000136 |
| Type | Books/Pamphlets |
| Transcript | THE IMPENDING PENALTY. 109 " Thus happy in the enjoyment of the rights and privileges of natural-born subjects, have they and their posterity lived, and been treated as freemen, and thus hath the great fundamental principle of the constitution, that no man shall be taxed, but with his own consent, given by himself, or by his representative, been ever extended, and preserved inviolate in this remote part of your majesty's dominion, until questioned lately by your parliament. " It is therefore with the deepest sorrow, may it please your most excellent Majestyy that we now approach the throne, on behalf of your faithful subjects of this province, with all humility, to represent to your Majesty, that by several statutes, lately enacted in the parliament of Great Britain, by which sundry rates and duties are to be raised and collected within your Majesty's colonies in America, for the sole and express purpose of raising a revenue, this great fundamental principle of the constitution is in our apprehension infringed. " The people of this province, Royal Sire, are not in any manner, nor can they ever possibly be, effectually represented in the British parliament. While, therefore, your Majesty's commons of Great Britain continue to give and grant the property of the people in America, your faithful subjects of this, and every other colony, must be deprived of that most invaluable privilege, the power of granting their own money, and of every opportunity of manifesting, by cheerful aids, their attachment to their king, and zeal for his service; they must be cut off from all intercourse with their sovereign, and expect not to hear of the royal approbation; they must submit to the power of the commons of Great Britain ; and, precluded the blessings, shall scarcely retain the name of freedom." At the same time a reply was made to the circular, embodying an explicit avowal of full concurrence with the Lower House of Assembly in Massachusetts in the declaration, that those Acts of Parliament " do infringe the great and fundamental principle" upon which the right of taxation is based. This reply brought down upon them the impending penalty of prorogation on the 22d of June, 1768, but not before the adoption of resolutions displaying the whole matters at issue in the clearest light—resolutions to which we may recur as a lucid exposition of colonial rights, and a convincing evidence of the firm principles and commanding abilities of the men to whom was then committed the peculiar care of the province.1 On the same day the assembly was prorogued, Governor Sharpe addressed the following letter to Lord Hillsborough : "The letter your lordship was pleased to transmit to me the 21st of April, together with a copy of one from the House of Representatives of the colony of Massachusetts, having been by me received the 20th of this month when the assembly of this Province happened to be sitting, I immediately communicated the contents to the Lower House, hoping that when his Majesty's sentiments with regard to the step taken by the Massachusetts Assembly were so explicitly made known to them they would drop any design: they may have adopted in consequence of the letter from Boston; but the result was, to my great mortification, just the reverse of what I wished it to be; for after ruminating upon my message more than a day, they presented to me this afternoon the inclosed address,, whereupon an end was put to the session, and I should have immediately dissolved the assembly had not experience taught me that no step is so likely to attach the people to their representatives as a sudden dissolution, and that on a new election instantly follow- 1 T. H. Hagner, p. 22. McMahon, p. 374. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| B |
|
| C |
|
| G |
|
| H |
|
| M |
|
| T |
|
