The vent of ten
millions
of pounds
of this commodity, now locked up by the operation of
an injudicious tax, and rotting in the warehouses of
the Company, would have prevented all this distress,
and all that series of desperate measures which you
thought yourselves obliged to take in consequence of
it.
of this commodity, now locked up by the operation of
an injudicious tax, and rotting in the warehouses of
the Company, would have prevented all this distress,
and all that series of desperate measures which you
thought yourselves obliged to take in consequence of
it.
Edmund Burke
The friends of
administration have been used to attribute a great
deal of the opposition to their measures in America
to the writings published in England. The editor of
this speech kept it back, until all the measures of
government have had their full operation, and can be
no longer affected, if ever they could have been affected, by any publication.
Most readers will recollect the uncommon pains
taken at the beginning of the last session of the last
Parliament, and indeed during the whole course of it,
to asperse the characters and decry the measures of
those who were supposed to be friends to America,
in order to- weaken the effect of their opposition to
the acts of rigor then preparing against the colonies.
The speechl contains a full refutation of the charges
against that party with which Mr. Burke has all
along acted. In doing this, he has taken a review of
? ? ? ? 4 PREFACE.
the effects of all the schemes which have been successively adopted in the government of the plantations. The subject is interesting; the matters of information various and important; and the publication at
this time, the editor hopes, will not be'thought unseasonable.
? ? ? ? SPEECH.
DuRnG' the last'session'of the last Parliament, on the
19th;of April, 1774, Mr. Rose Fuller, member for Rye,
made the following motion: --' That an act made in the:seventh year of the reign of
hispresent: Majesty, intituled,'"An: act for granting certain
duties, in the British colonies and plantations in America;
for allowing a drawback of the duties of customs upon the
exportation from this kingdom of coffee and cocoa-nuts, of
the produce of the said colonies or plantations; for discontinuing the drawbacks payable on china earthenware exported to America; and for more effectually preventing the clandestine running of goods in the said colonies and plantations,' might be read. "
And the same being. read accordingly, he moved,
"That this House will, upon this day sevennight, resolve
itself into a committee of the whole House, to take into consideration the duty of three-pence per pound weight upon
tea, payable:in all his -Majesty's dominions in America, imposed by the said act; and also the appropriation of the
said duty. "
On this latter motion a warm and interesting debate arose,
in which Mr. Burke spoke as follows.
SIR, - I agree with the honorable gentleman * who
spoke last, that this subject is not new in this
House. :: Very disagreeably to this House, very un-': Charles Wolfran Cornwall, Esq. , lately appointed one of the
Lords of the Treasury.
? ? ? ? 6 SPEECH ON AMERICAN TAXATION.
fortunately to this nation, and to the peace and prosperity of this whole empire, no topic has been more
familiar to us. For nine long years, session after
session, we have been lashed round and round this
miserable circle of occasional arguments and temporary expedients. I am sure our heads must turn
and our stomachs nauseate with them. We have
had them in every shape; we have looked at them
in every point of view. Invention is exhausted;
reason is fatigued; experience has given judgment?
but obstinacy is not yet conquered.
The honorable gentleman has made one endeavor
more to diversify the form of this disgusting argument. He has thrown out a speech composed almost entirely of challenges. Challenges are serious things; and as he is a man of prudence as well as
resolution, I dare say he has very well weighed those
challenges before he delivered them. I had long
the happiness to sit at the same side of the House,
and to agree with the honorable gentleman on all
the American questions. 'My sentiments, I am sure,
are well known' to him; and I thought I had been
perfectly acquainted with his. Though I find myself mistaken,' he will still permit me to use the
privilege of an old friendship; he will permit me
to apply myself to the House under the sanction
of his authority, and, on the various grounds he has
measured out, to submit to you the poor opinions
which I have formed upon a matter of importance
enough to demand the fullest consideration I could
bestow upon it.
He has stated to the House two grounds of deliberation: one narrow and simple, and merely confined
to the question on your paper; the other more large
? ? ? ? SPEECH ON AMERICAN TAXATION. 7
and more complicated, - comprehending the whole
series of the Parliamentary proceedings with regard to
America, their causes, and their consequences. With
regard to the latter ground, he states it as useless,
and thinks it may be even dangerous, to enter into so
extensive a field of inquiry. Yet, to my surprise, he
had hardly laid down this restrictive proposition, to
which his authority would have given so much weight,
when directly, and with the same authority, he condemIns it, and declares it absolutely necessary to
enter into the most ample historical detail. His zeal
has thrown him a little, out of his usual accuracy. In
this perplexity, what shall we do, Sir, who are willing
to submit to the law he gives us? He has reprobated
in one part of his speech the rule he had laid down
for debate in the other, and, after narrowing the
ground for all those who are to speak after him, he
takes an excursion, himself, as unbounded as the subject and the extent of his great abilities.
Sir, when I cannot obey all his laws, I will do the
best I can. I will endeavor to obey such of them as
have the sanction of his example, and to stick to
that rule which, though not consistent with the other,
is the most rational. He was certainly in the right,
when he took the matter largely. I cannot prevail
on myself to agree with him in his censure of his own
conduct. It is not, he will give me leave to say,
either useless or dangerous. He asserts, that retrospect is not wise; and the proper, the only proper
subject of inquiry, is " not how we got into this difficulty, but how we are to get out of it. " In other
words, we are, according to him, to consult our invention, and to reject our experience. The mode of delil)eration he recommends is diametrically opposite to
? ? ? ? 8 SPEECH ON'AMERICAN TAXATION.
every:rule of reason and every principle of good sense
established amongst mankind. For that sense and
that. reason I have: always understood absolutely to
prescribe, whenever we are involved in difficulties
from the measures we have pursued, that we should
take a: strict review of those measures, in order to
correct our errors,. if they should be corrigible, - or
at least to avoid a dull uniformity in mischief, and
the un'pitied calamity of being repeatedly caught in
the same snare.
Sir: I will freely follow the honorable gentleman in
his historical discussion, without the least management for men or measures, further than as they shall
seem to me to deserve it. But before I go into that
large consideration, because I would omit nothing
that can give the House satisfaction; I wish to tread
the narrow ground to which alone the honorable gentleman, in one par of his speech, has so strictly confined us. He desires to know, whether, if we were to repeal
this tax, agreeably to the proposition of the honorable gentleman who made the motion, the Americans
would not take post on this concession, in order to
make a new attack on the next body of taxes; and
whether they would not call for a repeal of the duty
on wine as loudly as they do now for the repeal of
the duty on tea. : Sir, I can give no security on this
subject. But I will do all that I can,:. and all that
can be fairly demanded. TO the experience which the
honorable gentleman reprobates in one instant and
reverts to in the next, to that experience, without
the least wavering or hesitation on my part, I steadily
appeal: and would to God there was no other arbiter
to decide on the vote with which the House is to conclude this day!
? ? ? ? SPEECH ON AMERICAN TAXATION. 9
When Parliament repealed the Stamp Act in the
year 1766, I affirm, first, that the Americans did not
in consequence of this measure call upon you to give
up theiformer Parliamentary revenue which subsisted
in that: country, or even anyone of the articles which
compose it. I affirm also, that, when, departing from
the maxims of that repeal, you revived the scheme of
taxation, and thereby filled the minds of the colonists
with;new jealousy and all sorts of apprehensions,
then it was that they quarrelled with the old taxes
as well as the new; then it was, and not till then,
that they questioned all the parts of your legislative
power, and by the battery of such questions have
shaken the solid structure of this empire to its deepest foundations.
Of those two propositions I shall, before I have
done, give such convincing, such damning proof, that,
however the contrary may be whispered in circles or
bawled in newspapers, they never more will dare to
raise their voices in this House. I speak with great
confidence. I have reason for it. The ministers are
with me. They at least are convinced that the repeal
of the Stamp Act had not, and that no repeal can
have, the consequences which the honorable gentleman who defends their measures is so much alarmed
at. To their conduct I refer him for a conclusive
answer to his objection. I carry my proof irresistibly into the very body of both Ministry and Parliament: not on any general reasoning growing out of collateral matter, but on the conduct of the honorable
gentleman's ministerial friends on the new revenue
itself.
The- act of 1767, which grants this tea-duty, sets
forth in is preamble, that it was expedient to raiso a
? ? ? ? 1IJ SPEECH ON AMERICAN TAXATION.
revenue in America for the support of the civil government there, as well as for. purposes still more extensive. To this support the act assigns six branches
of duties. About two years after this act passed, the
ministry, I mean the present ministry, thought it expedient to repeal five of the duties, and to leave (for
reasons best known to themselves) only the sixth
standing. Suppose any person, at the time of that
repeal, had thus addressed the minister: * " Condemning, as you do, the repeal of the Stamp Act, why do
youventure to repeal the duties upon glass, paper,
and painters' colors? Let your pretence for the repeal be what it will, are you not thoroughly convinced that your concessions will produce, not satisfaction, but insolence in the Americans, and that the giving up these taxes will necessitate the giving
up of all the rest? " This. objection was as palpable
then as it is now; and it was as good for preserving
the five duties as for retaining the' sixth. Besides,
the minister will recollect that the repeal of the
Stamp Act had but just preceded his repeal; and the
ill policy of that measure, (had it been' so impolitic as
it has been represented,) and the mischiefs it produced, were quite recent. Upon the principles, therefore, of the honorable gentleman, upon the principles
of the minister himself, the minister has nothing at
all to answer. He stands condemned by himself, and
by all his associates old and new, as a destroyer, in
the first trust of finance, of the revenues, - and in the
first rank of honor, as a betrayer of the dignity of his
country.
Most men, especially great men, do not always
know their well-wishers. I come to rescue that no* Lord North, then Chancellor of the Exchequer.
? ? ? ? SPEECH ON AMERICAN TAXATION. 11
ble lord out of the hands of those he calls his friends,
and even out of his own. I will do him the justice
he is denied at home. He has not been this wicked
or imprudent man. He knew that a repeal had no
tendency to produce the mischiefs which give so much'alarm to his honorable friend. His work was not bad in its principle, but imperfect in its' execution; and
the -motion on your paper presses him only to complete a proper plan, which, by some unfortunate and unaccountable error, he had left unfinished.
I hope, Sir, the honorable gentleman who spoke
last is thoroughly satisfied,. and satisfied out of the
proceedings of ministry on their own favorite act,
that his fears from a repeal are groundless. If he is
not, I leave him, and the -noble lord who sits by him,
to settle the matter as well as they can together;
for, if the repeal of American taxes destroys all our
government in America, --he is the man! -and he
is the worst of all the repealers, because he- is the
last.
But I hear it rung continually in my ears, now and
formerly, --" The preamble! what will become of
the preamble, if you repeal this tax? "- I am sorry
to be compelled so often to expose the calamities and
disgraces of Parliament. The preamble of this law,
standing as it now stands, has the lie direct given to
it by the provisionary part of the act: if that can be
called provisionary which makes no provision. I
should be afraid to express myself in this manner,
especially in the face of such a formidable array of
ability as is now drawn up before me, composed of
the ancient household troops of that side of the
House andsthe new recruits from this, if the matter
were not cltar and indisputable. Nothing but truth
? ? ? ? 12 SPEECH ON AMERICAN TAXATION.
could: give me this firmness; but plain truth and
clear evidence can be beat down by no ability. The
clerk will be so good as to turn to the act, and to
read this favorite preamble.
"Whereas it is expedient that a revenue should be
raised in your Majesty's dominions in America, for
making a more certain and adequate provision for defraying the charge of the administration of justice and
support of eivil government in such provinces where it
shall be found necessary, and towards further defraying the expenses of defending, protecting, and securing
the said dominions. "
You. have heard this pompous performance. Now
where is the revenue which is to do all these mighty
things? Five sixths repealed, - abandoned, -sunk,
gone,- lost forever. Does the poor solitary teaduty support the purposes - of this preamble? 'Is not
the supply there stated as effectually abandoned as
if the tea-duty had perished in the general wreck?
Here, Mr. Speaker, is a precious mockery: -a preamble without an act, -taxes granted in order, to be
repealed, --and the reasons of the grant still carefully kept: up! This is raising a revenue in America! This is preserving dignity in England! If you. repeal this tax, in compliance with the motion, I readily admit that you lose this fair preamble. Estimate
your loss in it. The object of the act is gone already;
and all you suffer is the purging the statute-book of
the opprobrium of an empty, absurd, and false recital.
It'has been said again and again, that the five
taxes were repealed on commercial principles. It is
so said in the paper in my hand: *a paper which I
3 Lord Hillsborough's Circular Letter to the Governors of the Coio-. iies, concerning the repeal of some of the duties laid in the Act of 1767.
? ? ? ? SPEECH ON AMERICAN TAXATION. 13
constantly carry about; which I have often used,
and shall often use again. What is got by this paltry pretence of commercial principles I know not;
for, if your government in America is destroyed by
the repeal of taxes, it is of no consequence upon what
ideas the repeal is grounded. Repeal this tax, too,
upon commercial principles, if you please. These
principles will serve as well now as they did formerly.
But you know that either your objection to a repeal
from these supposed consequences has no validity, or
that this pretence never could remove it. This commercial motive never was believed by any man, either in America, which this letter is meant to soothe, or
in England, whlich it is meant to deceive. It was impossible it should: because every man, in the least acquainted with the detail of commerce, must know
that several'of the articles on which the tax was repealed were fitter objects of duties than almost any other articles that could possibly be chosen, -without
comparison more so than the tea that was left taxed,
as infinitely less liable to be eluded by contraband.
The tax upon red and white lead was of this nature.
You have in this kingdom an advantage in lead that
amounts to a monopoly. When you find yourself in
this situation of advantage, you sometimes venture to
tax even your own export. You did so soon after
the last war, when, upon this principle, you ventured
to impose a duty on coals. In all the articles of
American contraband trade, who ever heard of the
smuggling of red lead and white lead? You might,
therefore, well enough, without danger of contraband,
and without injury to commerce, (if this were the
whole consideration,) have taxed these commodities.
The same may be said of glass. Besides, some of the
? ? ? ? 14 SPEECH ON AMERICAN TAXATION.
things taxed were so trivial, that the loss of the objects themselves, and their utter annihilation out of American commerce, would have been comparatively
as nothing. But is the article of tea such an object
in the trade of England, as not to be felt, or felt but
slightly, like white lead, and red lead, and painters'
colors? Tea is an object of far other importance.
Tea is perhaps the most important object, taking- it
with its necessary connections,- of any in the mighty
circle of our commerce. If commercial principles
had been the true motives to the repeal, or had they
been at all attended to, tea would have been the last
article we should have left taxed for a subject of controversy. . Sir, it is not a pleasant consideration, but nothing in the world can read so awful and so instructive a
lesson as the conduct of ministry in this business, upon the mischief of not having large and liberal ideas
in the management of great affairs. Never have the
servants of the state looked at the whole of your complicated interests in one connected view. They have taken things by bits and scraps, some at one time
and one pretence, and some at another, just as they
pressed, without any'sort of regard to their relations
or dependencies. They never had any kind of system, right or wrong; but only invented occasionally
some miserable tale for the day, in order meanly to
sneak out of difficulties into which they had proudly
strutted. And they were put to'all these shifts and
devices, full of meanness and full of mischief, in order
to pilfer piecemeal a repeal of an act which they had
not the generous courage, when they found and felt
their error, honorably and fairly to disclaim. By such
management, by the irresistible operation of feeble
? ? ? ? SPEECH ON AMERICAN TAXATION. 15
councils, so paltry a sum as three-pence in the eyes
of a financier, so insignificant an article as tea in the
eyes of a philosopher, have shaken the pillars of a
commercial empire that circled the whole globe.
Do you forget that in the very last year you stood
on the precipice of general bankruptcy? Your danger was indeed great. You were distressed in the affairs of the East India Company; and you well know what sort of things are involved in the comprehensive energy of that significant appellation. I am not
called upon to enlarge to you on that danger, which
you thought proper yourselves to aggravate, and to
display to the world with all the parade of indiscreet
declamation. The monopoly of the most lucrative
trades and the possession of imperial revenues had
brought you to the verge of beggary and ruin. Such
was your representation; such, in some measure,:was your case.
The vent of ten millions of pounds
of this commodity, now locked up by the operation of
an injudicious tax, and rotting in the warehouses of
the Company, would have prevented all this distress,
and all that series of desperate measures which you
thought yourselves obliged to take in consequence of
it. America would' have furnished that vent, which
no other part of the world can furnish but America,
where tea is next to a necessary of life, and where
the demand grows upon the supply. I hope our dearbought East India Committees have done us at least
so much good, as to let us know, that, without a more
extensive sale of that article, our East India revenues
and acquisitions can have no certain connection with
this country. It is through the American trade of
tea that your East India conquests are to be prevented from crushing you with their burden. They
? ? ? ? -16 SPEECH ON AMERICAN TAXATION.
are ponderous indeed; and they must have that great
country to lean'upon,-or they tumble upon your head.
It is the same folly that has lost you at once the ben-'efit of the West and of the East. This folly has tho0wn'. open folding-doors to contraband, and will
-be the means of giving the profits of the trade of
your coloniesto every nation but yourselves. Never
did' a people su-ffer so much for the empty words of a
preamble. It must be given up. For on what principle does it stand;? This famous revenue stands, at this hour, on all the debate, as a description of revenue not as yet known in all the comprehensive (but too comprehensive! ) vocabulary of finance,- a preanbuclary tax. It is, indeed, a tax of sophistry, a tax of pedantry, a tax of disputation, a tax of war and
rebellion, a tax for anything but benefit to the im
posers or satisfaction to the subject.
Well'! but whatever it is, gentlemen will force the
colonists to take the teas. You will force them? Has
seven years''struggle been yet able to force them?
Oh, but it seems "we are in the right. The tax is
trifling, - in effect it is rather an exoneration than
an imposition; three fourths of the duty formerly
payable on teas exported to America is taken off, -
the place of collection is only shifted; instead of the
retention of a shilling from the drawback here, it is
three-pence custom paid in America. " All this, Sir,
is very true. But this is the very folly and mischief
of the act. Incredible as it may seem, you know that
you have deliberately thrown away a large duty, which
you held secure and quiet in your hands, for the'
vain hope of getting one three fourths less, through
every hazard, through certain litigation, and possibly
through war.
? ? ? ? SPEECH ON AMERICAN. . TAXATION. 17
The manner of proceeding in'the duties on paper
and glass, imposed by the same act, was exactly in
the same spirit. There are heavy excises on those
articles,' when used- in England. On export, these
excises are drawn back. But instead of withholding
the drawback, which might have been done, with
ease, without charge, without possibility of smuggling, and instead of applying the money (money
already in your hands) according to your pleasure,
you began your operations in finance by flinging
away your revenue; you allowed the whole drawback on export, and then you charged the duty,
(which you had before discharged,), payable in the colonies, where it was certain the collection would devour it to the bone, -if any revenue were ever suffered to be collected at all. One spirit pervades and animates the whole mass.
Colld anything be a subject of more just alarm to
Aimerica. than to see you go out of the plain. highroad of finance, and give up your most certain revenues and your clearest interest, merely for the sake:of
insulting your colonies? No man ever doubted that
the'commodity of tea could bear an imposition of
three-pence. But no commodity will bear threepence, or -will bear a penny, when the. general feelings of men are irritated, and two millions of people
are resolved not to pay. The feelings of the colonies
were formerly the feelings of Great Britain. Theirs
were- formerly the feelings of Mr. Hampden, when
called upon for the payment of. twenty shillings.
Would twenty shillings have ruined Mr. - Hampden's
fortune'? No! ' but the payment of -half twenty shillings, on the principle it was demanded, would have
made him a sl-ye. It is the weight of that pre'amble,
vol,. II. 2
? ? ? ? 18 SPEECH, ON AMERICAN TAXATION.
of which you are so'fond, and not the weight of the
duty, that the Americans are unable and unwilling
to bear.
It is, then, Sir, upon the p inciple of this measure, and nothing else, that we are at issue. It is a
principle of:political expediency. Your act of 1767
~asserts that it is expedient to raise a revenue in
America; your act of 1769, which takes away that
revenue, contradicts the act of 1767, and, by something much stronger than words, asserts that it is,not expedient. It is a reflection upon your wisdom
to persist in a solemn Parliamentary declaration of
the expediency of any object, for which, at the same
time, you make no sort of provision. And pray, Sir,
let not this circumstance escape you, - it is very material,- that the preamble of this act which we wish
to repeal is not declaratory of a right, as some gentlemen seem to argue it: it is only a recital of the expedieney- of a certain exercise of a right supposed already to have been asserted; an exercise you are now contending for by ways and means which you confess,
though they were obeyed, to. be utterly insufficient
for their purpose. . You are therefore at this moment
in the awkward situation of fighting for a phantom,
-a quiddity,- a thing that wants, not only a substance, but even a name,- for a thing which is
neither abstract right nor profitable enjoyment.
They tell:you, Sir, that your dignity is tied to it.
I know not how it happens, but tlis dignity of yours
is a terrible incumbrance to you; for it has of late
been ever at war with your interest, your equity, and
every idea of your policy. Show the thing you contend for to be reason, show it to be common sense,
show it to be the means of attaining some. useful
? ? ? ? SPEECH ON AMERICAN TAXATION. 19
end, and then I am content to allow it what dignity
you please. But what dignity is derived from the
perseverance in absurdity is more than ever I could
discern. ) The honorable gentleman has said well,indeed, in most of his general observations I agree
with him, - he says, that this subject does not stand
as it did formerly. Oh, certainly not! Every hour
you continue on tlhis ill-chosen ground, your difficulties thicken on you; and therefore my conclusion is,
remove from a bad position as quickly as you can.
The disgrace, and: the necessity of yielding, both of
them, grow upon you every hour of your delay.
But will you repeal the act, says the honorable
gentleman, at this instant, when America is in open
resistance to your authority, and that you have just
revived your system of taxation? He thinks he has
driven us into a corner. But thus pent up, I am
content to meet him; because I enter the lists supported by my old authority, his new friends, the ministers themselves. The honorable gentleman rememabers that about five years ago as great disturbances as the present prevailed in America on account of the
new taxes. The ministers represented these disturbances as treasonable; and this House thoughlt proper,
on that representation, to make a famous address for
a revival and for a new application of a statute of
Henry the Eighth. We besought the king, in that
well-considered address,:to: inquire into treasons, and
to bring the. supposed traitors from America to Great
Britain for trial. His Majesty was pleased graciously
to' promise a compliance with our request. All the
attempts from this side of the House to resist these
violences, and to bring about a repeal, were treated
with the utmost scorn. An apprehension of the very
? ? ? ? SPEECH ON AMERICAN TAXATION.
consequences now stated by the honorable gentleman
was then given as a' reason for shutting the door
against all hope of such an alteration. And so
strong was the'spirit for supporting the new taxes,
that the session concluded with the following remarkable declaration. After stating the vigorous measures which had been pursued, the speech from the
throne proceeds:" You have assured me of your firm support in the
proseecution of them. Nothing, in my opinion, could
be more likely to enable the well-disposed among my
subjects in that part of the world effectually to discourage and defeat the designs' of the factious and seditious than the hearty concurrence of every branch
of the legislature in the resolution of maintaining the
execution of the laws in every part of my dominions. "
After this no man dreamt that a repeal under this
ministry could possibly take place. The honorable
gentleman knows as well as I, that the idea was utterly exploded by those who sway the House. This
speech was made on the ninth day of May, 1769.
Five days after this speech, that is, on the thirteenth
of the same month, the public circular letter, a part
of which I am going to read to you, was written by
Lord Hillsborough, Secretary of State for the Colonies. After' reciting the substance of the king's
speech, he goes on thus:"' I can take upon me to assure you, notwithstanding insinuations to the contrary: from men with factious and seditious views, that his Majesty's present administration have at no time entertained a design
to propose to Parliament to lay any further taxes
upon Ameriea, for the purpose of RAISING A REVENUE; an d that it is at present their intention to pro
? ? ? ? SPEECH ON AMERICAN TAX'ATION. 2]
pose, the next session of Parliament, to take off the
duties upon glass, paper, and colors, upon consideration of such duties having been laid contrary to the true
principles of commerce.
"These have always been, and still are, the sentiments of his Majesty's present servants, and by which
their conduct in respect: to America has been governed.
And his Majesty relies upon your prudence and fidelity for such an explanation: of his measures as may
tend. to remove the prejudices which have been excited by the misrepresentations of those who are enemies
to the:peace and prosperity of Great Britain and her
colonies, and to reestablish that mutual confidence
and affection upon which the glory and safety of the
British empire depend. "
Here, Sir, is a canonical book of ministerial scripture: the general epistle to the Americans. What
does the gentleman say to it? -Here a repeal is promised,- promised without condition, -and while your
authority was actually resisted. I pass by the public
promise of a peer relative to the repeal of taxes by
this' House. I pass by the use of the king's name
in a matter of'supply, that sacred and reserved right
of the Commons. I conceal the ridiculous figure of
Parliament hurling its thunders at the gigantic rebellion of America, and then, five days after, prostrate at the feet of those assemblies we, affected to despise,- begging them, by the intervention of our
ministerial sureties, to receive our submission, and
heartily promising amendment. These might have
been serious matters:formerly; but we are grown
wiser than our fathers. Passing, therefore, from the
Constitutional consideration to the mere policy, does
not this letter imply that the idea of taxing America
? ? ? ? 22 SPEECH ON AMERICAN TAXATION.
for the purpose of revenue is an abominable project, when the ministry suppose none but factious
men, and with seditious views, could charge them
with it? does not this letter adopt and sanctify the
American distinction of taxing for a revenue? does it
not formally reject all future taxation on that principle? does it not state the ministerial rejection of
such principle of taxation, not as the occasional, but
the constant opinion of the king's servants? does it
not say, (I care not how consistently,) but does it not
say, that their conduct with regard to America has
been always governed by this policy? It goes a great
deal further. These excellent and trusty servants of
the. king, justly fearful lest they themselves should
have lost all credit with the world, bring out the image of their gracious sovereign from the inmost and most sacred shrine, and they pawn him as a security
for their promises:-" His Majesty: relies on'your
prudence and fidelity for such an explanation of his
measures. " These sentiments of the minister and
these measures of his Majesty -can only relate to the
principle and. practice of taxing for'a revenue; and
accordingly Lord Botetourt, stating it as such, did,
with great propriety, and in the exact spirit of his
instructions, endeavor to remove the fears of the Virginian assembly lest the sentiments. which. it seems (unknown to the world) had always been those of the
ministers, and by which their conduct in respect to
America had been governed, should by some possible
revolution, favorable to wicked American taxers; be
hereafter counteracted. He addresses them in tliis
manner: -
"It may possibly be objected, that, as his Majesty's
present administration are not immortal, their succes
? ? ? ? SPEECH ON AMERICAN:TAXATION. 23
sors may be inclined to attempt to undo what the
present ministers shall have attempted to perform;
and to that objection I can give but. this answer: that
it is my firm opinion, that the plan I have stated to
you will certainly take place, and that it will never
be departed from; and so determined am I forever to
abide by it, that I will be content to be declared infamous, if I do not, to the last hour of my life, at all
times, in: all places, and upon all occasions, exert
every power with which I either am or ever shall be
legally invested, in order to obtain and maintain for
the continent of America thatsatisfaction which I
have been authorized to promise this day by the confidential servants of our gracious sovereign, who tot
my certain knowledge rates his honor so high that~
he would rather part with his crown than preserve it by
deceit. . " *
A glorious and true character! which (since we
suffer his ministers with impunity to answer for his
ideas of taxation) we ought to make it our business
to enable his Majesty to preserve -in all its lustre.
Let him have character, since ours is no more! Let
some part of government be kept in respect!
X A material point is omitted by Mr. Burke in this speech, viz.
the manner in which the continent received this royal assurance. The assembly of Virginia, in their address in answer to Lord Botetourt's
speech, express themselves thus:- "We will not suffer our present
hopes, arising from the pleasing prospect your Lordship hath so kindly
opened and displayed to us, to be dashed by the bitter reflection that
any future administration will entertain a wish to depart from that
plan which affords the surest and most permanent foundation of public tranquillity and happiness. No, my Lord, we are sure our most
gracious sovereign, under whatever changes may happen in his confidential servants, will remain immutable in the ways of truth and justice, and that he is incapable. of deceiving his faithful subjects; and we esteem your Lordship's information not only us warranted, but even
sanctified by the royal word. "
? ? ? ? 24 SPEECH ON AMERICAN,TAXATION.
This epistle was not: the letter of Lord Hillsborough
solely, though'he held the official pen. It was. the
letter of the noble lord upon the floor,* and of all the
king's then ministers, who (with, I think, the exception of two only) are his ministers at this hour. The
very first news that a British Parliament heard of
what it was to do with thle duties which it had given
and granted to the king was by the publication of
the votes of American assemblies. It was in America
that your resolutions were pre-declared. It was from
thence that we knew to a certainty how much exactly,
and not a scruple more nor less, we were to repeal.
We were unworthy to be let into the secret of our
own conduct. The assemblies had confidential communications from his Majesty's confidential servants. . We were nothing. but instruments. Do you, after this, wonder that you have no weight and no respect in the colonies? After this are you surprised
that Parliament is every day and everywhere losing
(I feel it with sorrow, I utter it with reluctance) that
reverential affection. which so endearing a name of
authority ought ever to carry with it? that you are
obeyed solely from respect to the bayonet? and that
this House, the ground and pillar of freedom, is itself
held up only by the treacherous underpinning and
clumsy buttresses of arbitrary power?
If this dignity, which is to stand in the place of
just policy and common sense, had been consulted,
there was a time for preserving it, and for reconciling
it with any concession. If in the session of 1768,
that session of idle'terror and empty menaces, you
-had, as you were often pressed to do, repealed these
taxes, then your strong operations would have c(ome
* Lord North.
? ? ? ? SPEECH ON AMERICAIN TAXATION. 25
justified and. enforced, in case your concessions had
been returned by outrages. But, preposterously. , you
began with violence; and before terrors could have
any effect, either good or bad, your ministers immediately begged pardon, and promised that repeal to
thee obstinate Americans which they had refused in
an easy, good-natured, complying. British Parliament.
The assemblies, which had been publicly and avowedly dissolved for their contumacy, are called together
to receive your submission. Your ministerial directors blustered like tragic tyrants here; and then went
mumping with a sore leg in America, canting, and
whining, and complaining of faction, which represented them as friends to a revenue from the colomies. I hope nobody in this House will hereafter have the impudence to defend American taxes in the name
of ministry. The moment they do, with this letter of
attorney in my hand, I will: tell them, in the authorized terms, they are wretches "with factious and seditious views," "' enemies to the peace and prosperity of the mother country and the colonies," and subverters ". of the mutual affection and confidence on which
the glory and safety of the British empire depend. "
After this letter, the question is no more on propriety or dignity. They are gone already. The
faith of your sovereign is pledged for the political
principle. The general declaration in the letter goes
to the whole of it. You must therefore either abandon the scheme of taxing, or you must send the
ministers tarred and feathered to America, who dared
to hold out the royal faith for a renunciation of all
taxes for revenue. Them you must punish, or this
faith you must preserve.
administration have been used to attribute a great
deal of the opposition to their measures in America
to the writings published in England. The editor of
this speech kept it back, until all the measures of
government have had their full operation, and can be
no longer affected, if ever they could have been affected, by any publication.
Most readers will recollect the uncommon pains
taken at the beginning of the last session of the last
Parliament, and indeed during the whole course of it,
to asperse the characters and decry the measures of
those who were supposed to be friends to America,
in order to- weaken the effect of their opposition to
the acts of rigor then preparing against the colonies.
The speechl contains a full refutation of the charges
against that party with which Mr. Burke has all
along acted. In doing this, he has taken a review of
? ? ? ? 4 PREFACE.
the effects of all the schemes which have been successively adopted in the government of the plantations. The subject is interesting; the matters of information various and important; and the publication at
this time, the editor hopes, will not be'thought unseasonable.
? ? ? ? SPEECH.
DuRnG' the last'session'of the last Parliament, on the
19th;of April, 1774, Mr. Rose Fuller, member for Rye,
made the following motion: --' That an act made in the:seventh year of the reign of
hispresent: Majesty, intituled,'"An: act for granting certain
duties, in the British colonies and plantations in America;
for allowing a drawback of the duties of customs upon the
exportation from this kingdom of coffee and cocoa-nuts, of
the produce of the said colonies or plantations; for discontinuing the drawbacks payable on china earthenware exported to America; and for more effectually preventing the clandestine running of goods in the said colonies and plantations,' might be read. "
And the same being. read accordingly, he moved,
"That this House will, upon this day sevennight, resolve
itself into a committee of the whole House, to take into consideration the duty of three-pence per pound weight upon
tea, payable:in all his -Majesty's dominions in America, imposed by the said act; and also the appropriation of the
said duty. "
On this latter motion a warm and interesting debate arose,
in which Mr. Burke spoke as follows.
SIR, - I agree with the honorable gentleman * who
spoke last, that this subject is not new in this
House. :: Very disagreeably to this House, very un-': Charles Wolfran Cornwall, Esq. , lately appointed one of the
Lords of the Treasury.
? ? ? ? 6 SPEECH ON AMERICAN TAXATION.
fortunately to this nation, and to the peace and prosperity of this whole empire, no topic has been more
familiar to us. For nine long years, session after
session, we have been lashed round and round this
miserable circle of occasional arguments and temporary expedients. I am sure our heads must turn
and our stomachs nauseate with them. We have
had them in every shape; we have looked at them
in every point of view. Invention is exhausted;
reason is fatigued; experience has given judgment?
but obstinacy is not yet conquered.
The honorable gentleman has made one endeavor
more to diversify the form of this disgusting argument. He has thrown out a speech composed almost entirely of challenges. Challenges are serious things; and as he is a man of prudence as well as
resolution, I dare say he has very well weighed those
challenges before he delivered them. I had long
the happiness to sit at the same side of the House,
and to agree with the honorable gentleman on all
the American questions. 'My sentiments, I am sure,
are well known' to him; and I thought I had been
perfectly acquainted with his. Though I find myself mistaken,' he will still permit me to use the
privilege of an old friendship; he will permit me
to apply myself to the House under the sanction
of his authority, and, on the various grounds he has
measured out, to submit to you the poor opinions
which I have formed upon a matter of importance
enough to demand the fullest consideration I could
bestow upon it.
He has stated to the House two grounds of deliberation: one narrow and simple, and merely confined
to the question on your paper; the other more large
? ? ? ? SPEECH ON AMERICAN TAXATION. 7
and more complicated, - comprehending the whole
series of the Parliamentary proceedings with regard to
America, their causes, and their consequences. With
regard to the latter ground, he states it as useless,
and thinks it may be even dangerous, to enter into so
extensive a field of inquiry. Yet, to my surprise, he
had hardly laid down this restrictive proposition, to
which his authority would have given so much weight,
when directly, and with the same authority, he condemIns it, and declares it absolutely necessary to
enter into the most ample historical detail. His zeal
has thrown him a little, out of his usual accuracy. In
this perplexity, what shall we do, Sir, who are willing
to submit to the law he gives us? He has reprobated
in one part of his speech the rule he had laid down
for debate in the other, and, after narrowing the
ground for all those who are to speak after him, he
takes an excursion, himself, as unbounded as the subject and the extent of his great abilities.
Sir, when I cannot obey all his laws, I will do the
best I can. I will endeavor to obey such of them as
have the sanction of his example, and to stick to
that rule which, though not consistent with the other,
is the most rational. He was certainly in the right,
when he took the matter largely. I cannot prevail
on myself to agree with him in his censure of his own
conduct. It is not, he will give me leave to say,
either useless or dangerous. He asserts, that retrospect is not wise; and the proper, the only proper
subject of inquiry, is " not how we got into this difficulty, but how we are to get out of it. " In other
words, we are, according to him, to consult our invention, and to reject our experience. The mode of delil)eration he recommends is diametrically opposite to
? ? ? ? 8 SPEECH ON'AMERICAN TAXATION.
every:rule of reason and every principle of good sense
established amongst mankind. For that sense and
that. reason I have: always understood absolutely to
prescribe, whenever we are involved in difficulties
from the measures we have pursued, that we should
take a: strict review of those measures, in order to
correct our errors,. if they should be corrigible, - or
at least to avoid a dull uniformity in mischief, and
the un'pitied calamity of being repeatedly caught in
the same snare.
Sir: I will freely follow the honorable gentleman in
his historical discussion, without the least management for men or measures, further than as they shall
seem to me to deserve it. But before I go into that
large consideration, because I would omit nothing
that can give the House satisfaction; I wish to tread
the narrow ground to which alone the honorable gentleman, in one par of his speech, has so strictly confined us. He desires to know, whether, if we were to repeal
this tax, agreeably to the proposition of the honorable gentleman who made the motion, the Americans
would not take post on this concession, in order to
make a new attack on the next body of taxes; and
whether they would not call for a repeal of the duty
on wine as loudly as they do now for the repeal of
the duty on tea. : Sir, I can give no security on this
subject. But I will do all that I can,:. and all that
can be fairly demanded. TO the experience which the
honorable gentleman reprobates in one instant and
reverts to in the next, to that experience, without
the least wavering or hesitation on my part, I steadily
appeal: and would to God there was no other arbiter
to decide on the vote with which the House is to conclude this day!
? ? ? ? SPEECH ON AMERICAN TAXATION. 9
When Parliament repealed the Stamp Act in the
year 1766, I affirm, first, that the Americans did not
in consequence of this measure call upon you to give
up theiformer Parliamentary revenue which subsisted
in that: country, or even anyone of the articles which
compose it. I affirm also, that, when, departing from
the maxims of that repeal, you revived the scheme of
taxation, and thereby filled the minds of the colonists
with;new jealousy and all sorts of apprehensions,
then it was that they quarrelled with the old taxes
as well as the new; then it was, and not till then,
that they questioned all the parts of your legislative
power, and by the battery of such questions have
shaken the solid structure of this empire to its deepest foundations.
Of those two propositions I shall, before I have
done, give such convincing, such damning proof, that,
however the contrary may be whispered in circles or
bawled in newspapers, they never more will dare to
raise their voices in this House. I speak with great
confidence. I have reason for it. The ministers are
with me. They at least are convinced that the repeal
of the Stamp Act had not, and that no repeal can
have, the consequences which the honorable gentleman who defends their measures is so much alarmed
at. To their conduct I refer him for a conclusive
answer to his objection. I carry my proof irresistibly into the very body of both Ministry and Parliament: not on any general reasoning growing out of collateral matter, but on the conduct of the honorable
gentleman's ministerial friends on the new revenue
itself.
The- act of 1767, which grants this tea-duty, sets
forth in is preamble, that it was expedient to raiso a
? ? ? ? 1IJ SPEECH ON AMERICAN TAXATION.
revenue in America for the support of the civil government there, as well as for. purposes still more extensive. To this support the act assigns six branches
of duties. About two years after this act passed, the
ministry, I mean the present ministry, thought it expedient to repeal five of the duties, and to leave (for
reasons best known to themselves) only the sixth
standing. Suppose any person, at the time of that
repeal, had thus addressed the minister: * " Condemning, as you do, the repeal of the Stamp Act, why do
youventure to repeal the duties upon glass, paper,
and painters' colors? Let your pretence for the repeal be what it will, are you not thoroughly convinced that your concessions will produce, not satisfaction, but insolence in the Americans, and that the giving up these taxes will necessitate the giving
up of all the rest? " This. objection was as palpable
then as it is now; and it was as good for preserving
the five duties as for retaining the' sixth. Besides,
the minister will recollect that the repeal of the
Stamp Act had but just preceded his repeal; and the
ill policy of that measure, (had it been' so impolitic as
it has been represented,) and the mischiefs it produced, were quite recent. Upon the principles, therefore, of the honorable gentleman, upon the principles
of the minister himself, the minister has nothing at
all to answer. He stands condemned by himself, and
by all his associates old and new, as a destroyer, in
the first trust of finance, of the revenues, - and in the
first rank of honor, as a betrayer of the dignity of his
country.
Most men, especially great men, do not always
know their well-wishers. I come to rescue that no* Lord North, then Chancellor of the Exchequer.
? ? ? ? SPEECH ON AMERICAN TAXATION. 11
ble lord out of the hands of those he calls his friends,
and even out of his own. I will do him the justice
he is denied at home. He has not been this wicked
or imprudent man. He knew that a repeal had no
tendency to produce the mischiefs which give so much'alarm to his honorable friend. His work was not bad in its principle, but imperfect in its' execution; and
the -motion on your paper presses him only to complete a proper plan, which, by some unfortunate and unaccountable error, he had left unfinished.
I hope, Sir, the honorable gentleman who spoke
last is thoroughly satisfied,. and satisfied out of the
proceedings of ministry on their own favorite act,
that his fears from a repeal are groundless. If he is
not, I leave him, and the -noble lord who sits by him,
to settle the matter as well as they can together;
for, if the repeal of American taxes destroys all our
government in America, --he is the man! -and he
is the worst of all the repealers, because he- is the
last.
But I hear it rung continually in my ears, now and
formerly, --" The preamble! what will become of
the preamble, if you repeal this tax? "- I am sorry
to be compelled so often to expose the calamities and
disgraces of Parliament. The preamble of this law,
standing as it now stands, has the lie direct given to
it by the provisionary part of the act: if that can be
called provisionary which makes no provision. I
should be afraid to express myself in this manner,
especially in the face of such a formidable array of
ability as is now drawn up before me, composed of
the ancient household troops of that side of the
House andsthe new recruits from this, if the matter
were not cltar and indisputable. Nothing but truth
? ? ? ? 12 SPEECH ON AMERICAN TAXATION.
could: give me this firmness; but plain truth and
clear evidence can be beat down by no ability. The
clerk will be so good as to turn to the act, and to
read this favorite preamble.
"Whereas it is expedient that a revenue should be
raised in your Majesty's dominions in America, for
making a more certain and adequate provision for defraying the charge of the administration of justice and
support of eivil government in such provinces where it
shall be found necessary, and towards further defraying the expenses of defending, protecting, and securing
the said dominions. "
You. have heard this pompous performance. Now
where is the revenue which is to do all these mighty
things? Five sixths repealed, - abandoned, -sunk,
gone,- lost forever. Does the poor solitary teaduty support the purposes - of this preamble? 'Is not
the supply there stated as effectually abandoned as
if the tea-duty had perished in the general wreck?
Here, Mr. Speaker, is a precious mockery: -a preamble without an act, -taxes granted in order, to be
repealed, --and the reasons of the grant still carefully kept: up! This is raising a revenue in America! This is preserving dignity in England! If you. repeal this tax, in compliance with the motion, I readily admit that you lose this fair preamble. Estimate
your loss in it. The object of the act is gone already;
and all you suffer is the purging the statute-book of
the opprobrium of an empty, absurd, and false recital.
It'has been said again and again, that the five
taxes were repealed on commercial principles. It is
so said in the paper in my hand: *a paper which I
3 Lord Hillsborough's Circular Letter to the Governors of the Coio-. iies, concerning the repeal of some of the duties laid in the Act of 1767.
? ? ? ? SPEECH ON AMERICAN TAXATION. 13
constantly carry about; which I have often used,
and shall often use again. What is got by this paltry pretence of commercial principles I know not;
for, if your government in America is destroyed by
the repeal of taxes, it is of no consequence upon what
ideas the repeal is grounded. Repeal this tax, too,
upon commercial principles, if you please. These
principles will serve as well now as they did formerly.
But you know that either your objection to a repeal
from these supposed consequences has no validity, or
that this pretence never could remove it. This commercial motive never was believed by any man, either in America, which this letter is meant to soothe, or
in England, whlich it is meant to deceive. It was impossible it should: because every man, in the least acquainted with the detail of commerce, must know
that several'of the articles on which the tax was repealed were fitter objects of duties than almost any other articles that could possibly be chosen, -without
comparison more so than the tea that was left taxed,
as infinitely less liable to be eluded by contraband.
The tax upon red and white lead was of this nature.
You have in this kingdom an advantage in lead that
amounts to a monopoly. When you find yourself in
this situation of advantage, you sometimes venture to
tax even your own export. You did so soon after
the last war, when, upon this principle, you ventured
to impose a duty on coals. In all the articles of
American contraband trade, who ever heard of the
smuggling of red lead and white lead? You might,
therefore, well enough, without danger of contraband,
and without injury to commerce, (if this were the
whole consideration,) have taxed these commodities.
The same may be said of glass. Besides, some of the
? ? ? ? 14 SPEECH ON AMERICAN TAXATION.
things taxed were so trivial, that the loss of the objects themselves, and their utter annihilation out of American commerce, would have been comparatively
as nothing. But is the article of tea such an object
in the trade of England, as not to be felt, or felt but
slightly, like white lead, and red lead, and painters'
colors? Tea is an object of far other importance.
Tea is perhaps the most important object, taking- it
with its necessary connections,- of any in the mighty
circle of our commerce. If commercial principles
had been the true motives to the repeal, or had they
been at all attended to, tea would have been the last
article we should have left taxed for a subject of controversy. . Sir, it is not a pleasant consideration, but nothing in the world can read so awful and so instructive a
lesson as the conduct of ministry in this business, upon the mischief of not having large and liberal ideas
in the management of great affairs. Never have the
servants of the state looked at the whole of your complicated interests in one connected view. They have taken things by bits and scraps, some at one time
and one pretence, and some at another, just as they
pressed, without any'sort of regard to their relations
or dependencies. They never had any kind of system, right or wrong; but only invented occasionally
some miserable tale for the day, in order meanly to
sneak out of difficulties into which they had proudly
strutted. And they were put to'all these shifts and
devices, full of meanness and full of mischief, in order
to pilfer piecemeal a repeal of an act which they had
not the generous courage, when they found and felt
their error, honorably and fairly to disclaim. By such
management, by the irresistible operation of feeble
? ? ? ? SPEECH ON AMERICAN TAXATION. 15
councils, so paltry a sum as three-pence in the eyes
of a financier, so insignificant an article as tea in the
eyes of a philosopher, have shaken the pillars of a
commercial empire that circled the whole globe.
Do you forget that in the very last year you stood
on the precipice of general bankruptcy? Your danger was indeed great. You were distressed in the affairs of the East India Company; and you well know what sort of things are involved in the comprehensive energy of that significant appellation. I am not
called upon to enlarge to you on that danger, which
you thought proper yourselves to aggravate, and to
display to the world with all the parade of indiscreet
declamation. The monopoly of the most lucrative
trades and the possession of imperial revenues had
brought you to the verge of beggary and ruin. Such
was your representation; such, in some measure,:was your case.
The vent of ten millions of pounds
of this commodity, now locked up by the operation of
an injudicious tax, and rotting in the warehouses of
the Company, would have prevented all this distress,
and all that series of desperate measures which you
thought yourselves obliged to take in consequence of
it. America would' have furnished that vent, which
no other part of the world can furnish but America,
where tea is next to a necessary of life, and where
the demand grows upon the supply. I hope our dearbought East India Committees have done us at least
so much good, as to let us know, that, without a more
extensive sale of that article, our East India revenues
and acquisitions can have no certain connection with
this country. It is through the American trade of
tea that your East India conquests are to be prevented from crushing you with their burden. They
? ? ? ? -16 SPEECH ON AMERICAN TAXATION.
are ponderous indeed; and they must have that great
country to lean'upon,-or they tumble upon your head.
It is the same folly that has lost you at once the ben-'efit of the West and of the East. This folly has tho0wn'. open folding-doors to contraband, and will
-be the means of giving the profits of the trade of
your coloniesto every nation but yourselves. Never
did' a people su-ffer so much for the empty words of a
preamble. It must be given up. For on what principle does it stand;? This famous revenue stands, at this hour, on all the debate, as a description of revenue not as yet known in all the comprehensive (but too comprehensive! ) vocabulary of finance,- a preanbuclary tax. It is, indeed, a tax of sophistry, a tax of pedantry, a tax of disputation, a tax of war and
rebellion, a tax for anything but benefit to the im
posers or satisfaction to the subject.
Well'! but whatever it is, gentlemen will force the
colonists to take the teas. You will force them? Has
seven years''struggle been yet able to force them?
Oh, but it seems "we are in the right. The tax is
trifling, - in effect it is rather an exoneration than
an imposition; three fourths of the duty formerly
payable on teas exported to America is taken off, -
the place of collection is only shifted; instead of the
retention of a shilling from the drawback here, it is
three-pence custom paid in America. " All this, Sir,
is very true. But this is the very folly and mischief
of the act. Incredible as it may seem, you know that
you have deliberately thrown away a large duty, which
you held secure and quiet in your hands, for the'
vain hope of getting one three fourths less, through
every hazard, through certain litigation, and possibly
through war.
? ? ? ? SPEECH ON AMERICAN. . TAXATION. 17
The manner of proceeding in'the duties on paper
and glass, imposed by the same act, was exactly in
the same spirit. There are heavy excises on those
articles,' when used- in England. On export, these
excises are drawn back. But instead of withholding
the drawback, which might have been done, with
ease, without charge, without possibility of smuggling, and instead of applying the money (money
already in your hands) according to your pleasure,
you began your operations in finance by flinging
away your revenue; you allowed the whole drawback on export, and then you charged the duty,
(which you had before discharged,), payable in the colonies, where it was certain the collection would devour it to the bone, -if any revenue were ever suffered to be collected at all. One spirit pervades and animates the whole mass.
Colld anything be a subject of more just alarm to
Aimerica. than to see you go out of the plain. highroad of finance, and give up your most certain revenues and your clearest interest, merely for the sake:of
insulting your colonies? No man ever doubted that
the'commodity of tea could bear an imposition of
three-pence. But no commodity will bear threepence, or -will bear a penny, when the. general feelings of men are irritated, and two millions of people
are resolved not to pay. The feelings of the colonies
were formerly the feelings of Great Britain. Theirs
were- formerly the feelings of Mr. Hampden, when
called upon for the payment of. twenty shillings.
Would twenty shillings have ruined Mr. - Hampden's
fortune'? No! ' but the payment of -half twenty shillings, on the principle it was demanded, would have
made him a sl-ye. It is the weight of that pre'amble,
vol,. II. 2
? ? ? ? 18 SPEECH, ON AMERICAN TAXATION.
of which you are so'fond, and not the weight of the
duty, that the Americans are unable and unwilling
to bear.
It is, then, Sir, upon the p inciple of this measure, and nothing else, that we are at issue. It is a
principle of:political expediency. Your act of 1767
~asserts that it is expedient to raise a revenue in
America; your act of 1769, which takes away that
revenue, contradicts the act of 1767, and, by something much stronger than words, asserts that it is,not expedient. It is a reflection upon your wisdom
to persist in a solemn Parliamentary declaration of
the expediency of any object, for which, at the same
time, you make no sort of provision. And pray, Sir,
let not this circumstance escape you, - it is very material,- that the preamble of this act which we wish
to repeal is not declaratory of a right, as some gentlemen seem to argue it: it is only a recital of the expedieney- of a certain exercise of a right supposed already to have been asserted; an exercise you are now contending for by ways and means which you confess,
though they were obeyed, to. be utterly insufficient
for their purpose. . You are therefore at this moment
in the awkward situation of fighting for a phantom,
-a quiddity,- a thing that wants, not only a substance, but even a name,- for a thing which is
neither abstract right nor profitable enjoyment.
They tell:you, Sir, that your dignity is tied to it.
I know not how it happens, but tlis dignity of yours
is a terrible incumbrance to you; for it has of late
been ever at war with your interest, your equity, and
every idea of your policy. Show the thing you contend for to be reason, show it to be common sense,
show it to be the means of attaining some. useful
? ? ? ? SPEECH ON AMERICAN TAXATION. 19
end, and then I am content to allow it what dignity
you please. But what dignity is derived from the
perseverance in absurdity is more than ever I could
discern. ) The honorable gentleman has said well,indeed, in most of his general observations I agree
with him, - he says, that this subject does not stand
as it did formerly. Oh, certainly not! Every hour
you continue on tlhis ill-chosen ground, your difficulties thicken on you; and therefore my conclusion is,
remove from a bad position as quickly as you can.
The disgrace, and: the necessity of yielding, both of
them, grow upon you every hour of your delay.
But will you repeal the act, says the honorable
gentleman, at this instant, when America is in open
resistance to your authority, and that you have just
revived your system of taxation? He thinks he has
driven us into a corner. But thus pent up, I am
content to meet him; because I enter the lists supported by my old authority, his new friends, the ministers themselves. The honorable gentleman rememabers that about five years ago as great disturbances as the present prevailed in America on account of the
new taxes. The ministers represented these disturbances as treasonable; and this House thoughlt proper,
on that representation, to make a famous address for
a revival and for a new application of a statute of
Henry the Eighth. We besought the king, in that
well-considered address,:to: inquire into treasons, and
to bring the. supposed traitors from America to Great
Britain for trial. His Majesty was pleased graciously
to' promise a compliance with our request. All the
attempts from this side of the House to resist these
violences, and to bring about a repeal, were treated
with the utmost scorn. An apprehension of the very
? ? ? ? SPEECH ON AMERICAN TAXATION.
consequences now stated by the honorable gentleman
was then given as a' reason for shutting the door
against all hope of such an alteration. And so
strong was the'spirit for supporting the new taxes,
that the session concluded with the following remarkable declaration. After stating the vigorous measures which had been pursued, the speech from the
throne proceeds:" You have assured me of your firm support in the
proseecution of them. Nothing, in my opinion, could
be more likely to enable the well-disposed among my
subjects in that part of the world effectually to discourage and defeat the designs' of the factious and seditious than the hearty concurrence of every branch
of the legislature in the resolution of maintaining the
execution of the laws in every part of my dominions. "
After this no man dreamt that a repeal under this
ministry could possibly take place. The honorable
gentleman knows as well as I, that the idea was utterly exploded by those who sway the House. This
speech was made on the ninth day of May, 1769.
Five days after this speech, that is, on the thirteenth
of the same month, the public circular letter, a part
of which I am going to read to you, was written by
Lord Hillsborough, Secretary of State for the Colonies. After' reciting the substance of the king's
speech, he goes on thus:"' I can take upon me to assure you, notwithstanding insinuations to the contrary: from men with factious and seditious views, that his Majesty's present administration have at no time entertained a design
to propose to Parliament to lay any further taxes
upon Ameriea, for the purpose of RAISING A REVENUE; an d that it is at present their intention to pro
? ? ? ? SPEECH ON AMERICAN TAX'ATION. 2]
pose, the next session of Parliament, to take off the
duties upon glass, paper, and colors, upon consideration of such duties having been laid contrary to the true
principles of commerce.
"These have always been, and still are, the sentiments of his Majesty's present servants, and by which
their conduct in respect: to America has been governed.
And his Majesty relies upon your prudence and fidelity for such an explanation: of his measures as may
tend. to remove the prejudices which have been excited by the misrepresentations of those who are enemies
to the:peace and prosperity of Great Britain and her
colonies, and to reestablish that mutual confidence
and affection upon which the glory and safety of the
British empire depend. "
Here, Sir, is a canonical book of ministerial scripture: the general epistle to the Americans. What
does the gentleman say to it? -Here a repeal is promised,- promised without condition, -and while your
authority was actually resisted. I pass by the public
promise of a peer relative to the repeal of taxes by
this' House. I pass by the use of the king's name
in a matter of'supply, that sacred and reserved right
of the Commons. I conceal the ridiculous figure of
Parliament hurling its thunders at the gigantic rebellion of America, and then, five days after, prostrate at the feet of those assemblies we, affected to despise,- begging them, by the intervention of our
ministerial sureties, to receive our submission, and
heartily promising amendment. These might have
been serious matters:formerly; but we are grown
wiser than our fathers. Passing, therefore, from the
Constitutional consideration to the mere policy, does
not this letter imply that the idea of taxing America
? ? ? ? 22 SPEECH ON AMERICAN TAXATION.
for the purpose of revenue is an abominable project, when the ministry suppose none but factious
men, and with seditious views, could charge them
with it? does not this letter adopt and sanctify the
American distinction of taxing for a revenue? does it
not formally reject all future taxation on that principle? does it not state the ministerial rejection of
such principle of taxation, not as the occasional, but
the constant opinion of the king's servants? does it
not say, (I care not how consistently,) but does it not
say, that their conduct with regard to America has
been always governed by this policy? It goes a great
deal further. These excellent and trusty servants of
the. king, justly fearful lest they themselves should
have lost all credit with the world, bring out the image of their gracious sovereign from the inmost and most sacred shrine, and they pawn him as a security
for their promises:-" His Majesty: relies on'your
prudence and fidelity for such an explanation of his
measures. " These sentiments of the minister and
these measures of his Majesty -can only relate to the
principle and. practice of taxing for'a revenue; and
accordingly Lord Botetourt, stating it as such, did,
with great propriety, and in the exact spirit of his
instructions, endeavor to remove the fears of the Virginian assembly lest the sentiments. which. it seems (unknown to the world) had always been those of the
ministers, and by which their conduct in respect to
America had been governed, should by some possible
revolution, favorable to wicked American taxers; be
hereafter counteracted. He addresses them in tliis
manner: -
"It may possibly be objected, that, as his Majesty's
present administration are not immortal, their succes
? ? ? ? SPEECH ON AMERICAN:TAXATION. 23
sors may be inclined to attempt to undo what the
present ministers shall have attempted to perform;
and to that objection I can give but. this answer: that
it is my firm opinion, that the plan I have stated to
you will certainly take place, and that it will never
be departed from; and so determined am I forever to
abide by it, that I will be content to be declared infamous, if I do not, to the last hour of my life, at all
times, in: all places, and upon all occasions, exert
every power with which I either am or ever shall be
legally invested, in order to obtain and maintain for
the continent of America thatsatisfaction which I
have been authorized to promise this day by the confidential servants of our gracious sovereign, who tot
my certain knowledge rates his honor so high that~
he would rather part with his crown than preserve it by
deceit. . " *
A glorious and true character! which (since we
suffer his ministers with impunity to answer for his
ideas of taxation) we ought to make it our business
to enable his Majesty to preserve -in all its lustre.
Let him have character, since ours is no more! Let
some part of government be kept in respect!
X A material point is omitted by Mr. Burke in this speech, viz.
the manner in which the continent received this royal assurance. The assembly of Virginia, in their address in answer to Lord Botetourt's
speech, express themselves thus:- "We will not suffer our present
hopes, arising from the pleasing prospect your Lordship hath so kindly
opened and displayed to us, to be dashed by the bitter reflection that
any future administration will entertain a wish to depart from that
plan which affords the surest and most permanent foundation of public tranquillity and happiness. No, my Lord, we are sure our most
gracious sovereign, under whatever changes may happen in his confidential servants, will remain immutable in the ways of truth and justice, and that he is incapable. of deceiving his faithful subjects; and we esteem your Lordship's information not only us warranted, but even
sanctified by the royal word. "
? ? ? ? 24 SPEECH ON AMERICAN,TAXATION.
This epistle was not: the letter of Lord Hillsborough
solely, though'he held the official pen. It was. the
letter of the noble lord upon the floor,* and of all the
king's then ministers, who (with, I think, the exception of two only) are his ministers at this hour. The
very first news that a British Parliament heard of
what it was to do with thle duties which it had given
and granted to the king was by the publication of
the votes of American assemblies. It was in America
that your resolutions were pre-declared. It was from
thence that we knew to a certainty how much exactly,
and not a scruple more nor less, we were to repeal.
We were unworthy to be let into the secret of our
own conduct. The assemblies had confidential communications from his Majesty's confidential servants. . We were nothing. but instruments. Do you, after this, wonder that you have no weight and no respect in the colonies? After this are you surprised
that Parliament is every day and everywhere losing
(I feel it with sorrow, I utter it with reluctance) that
reverential affection. which so endearing a name of
authority ought ever to carry with it? that you are
obeyed solely from respect to the bayonet? and that
this House, the ground and pillar of freedom, is itself
held up only by the treacherous underpinning and
clumsy buttresses of arbitrary power?
If this dignity, which is to stand in the place of
just policy and common sense, had been consulted,
there was a time for preserving it, and for reconciling
it with any concession. If in the session of 1768,
that session of idle'terror and empty menaces, you
-had, as you were often pressed to do, repealed these
taxes, then your strong operations would have c(ome
* Lord North.
? ? ? ? SPEECH ON AMERICAIN TAXATION. 25
justified and. enforced, in case your concessions had
been returned by outrages. But, preposterously. , you
began with violence; and before terrors could have
any effect, either good or bad, your ministers immediately begged pardon, and promised that repeal to
thee obstinate Americans which they had refused in
an easy, good-natured, complying. British Parliament.
The assemblies, which had been publicly and avowedly dissolved for their contumacy, are called together
to receive your submission. Your ministerial directors blustered like tragic tyrants here; and then went
mumping with a sore leg in America, canting, and
whining, and complaining of faction, which represented them as friends to a revenue from the colomies. I hope nobody in this House will hereafter have the impudence to defend American taxes in the name
of ministry. The moment they do, with this letter of
attorney in my hand, I will: tell them, in the authorized terms, they are wretches "with factious and seditious views," "' enemies to the peace and prosperity of the mother country and the colonies," and subverters ". of the mutual affection and confidence on which
the glory and safety of the British empire depend. "
After this letter, the question is no more on propriety or dignity. They are gone already. The
faith of your sovereign is pledged for the political
principle. The general declaration in the letter goes
to the whole of it. You must therefore either abandon the scheme of taxing, or you must send the
ministers tarred and feathered to America, who dared
to hold out the royal faith for a renunciation of all
taxes for revenue. Them you must punish, or this
faith you must preserve.
