Harry T Dickinson - British Pamphlets on the American Revolution, 1763-1785, Part I, Volume 2

Volume 2

Volume 2 1766-1774

Edited by Harry T. Dickinson

First published 2007 by Pickering & Chatto (Publishers) Limited

Published 2016 by Routledge2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017, USA

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Copyright Taylor & Francis 2007Copyright Editorial material Harry T. Dickinson 2007

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BRITISH CATALOGUING IN PUBLICATION DATA

British pamphlets on the American Revolution, 1763-1785 Part 1, vols. 1-4 1. Pamphlets Great Britain History 18th century Sources 2. United States History Revolution, 1775-1783 Pamphlets I. Dickinson, H. T. 973.3

ISBN-13: 978-1-85196-886-2 (set)

Typeset by Pickering & Chatto (Publishers) Limited

DOI: 10.4324/9781003113720

J. M. of the Inner Temple,

Anon., The Rights of Parliament Vindicated, on Occasion of the Late Stamp-Act(1766)

Anon., The Constitutional Right of the Legislature of Great Britain, to Tax the British Colonies in America (1768)

[John Erskine], Shall I Go to War with my American Brethren?(1769)

[Richard Phelps], The Rights of the Colonies, and the Extent of the Legislative Authority of Great-Britain(1769)

[Francis Maseres], Considerations on the Expediency of Admitting Representatives from the American Colonies into the British House of Commons(1770)

[John Gray], The Right of the British Legislature to Tax the American Colonies Vindicated(1774)

Anon., The Right of the British Legislature to Tax the Colonies Considered(1774)

William Allen, The American Crisis(1774)

DOI: 10.4324/9781003113720-1

J. M. of the Inner Temple, The Legislative Authority of the British Parliament, with Respect to North America, and the Privileges of the Assemblies there, Briefly Considered (London: W. Nicoll, 1766). British Library, shelfmark 8132.d.44.

This pamphlet seeks to defend the sovereignty of Parliament and to reject the claim of the colonists that they can be taxed only by their own consent. The author admits that the colonists possess their own legislative assemblies, but insists that these bodies cannot make laws contrary to the laws of the mother country. Only the Westminster Parliament can perform the role necessary to holding the disparate parts of the British empire together. To perform this role, it needs to be able to exercise wide-ranging powers over the American colonies and to tax them to meet part of the costs of imperial defence. While he acknowledges some flaws in the Stamp Act, he fears that any challenge to the sovereignty of Parliament will lead to increasing demands for change from the colonists. The colonists cannot be allowed to be the sole judges in this imperial dispute and it is to be regretted that British merchants are supporting their protests to Parliament. A wise government might repeal some clauses in the Stamp Act that bear hard upon the colonists, but it should be careful not to surrender its legitimate constitutional authority. To do so would be to encourage the colonists to complain of Britain's commercial regulation of the Atlantic trade. The author reflects the kind of views that made it so difficult for the Rockingham administration to repeal the Stamp Act without also passing the Declaratory Act.

The author of this pamphlet has not been identified.

T LEGISLATIVE AUTHORITY OF THE British Parliament, With respect to NORTH AMERICA, AND THE PRIVILEGES of the ASSEMBLIES there, briefly considered.

By J. M. of the Inner-Temple.

LONDON:

Printed for W. ICOLL, in St. Paul's Church-yard.

M.DCC.LXVI.

THE LEGISLATIVE AUTHORITY OF THE British Parliament, & c.

THE late Disturbances in AMERICA, have induced some to call in Question, the POWER of the Parliamentof GREAT-BRITAIN, as to the making of Laws, for what they call Local Taxes, on the Colonies, and the Question being once raised, they have carried it so far, as to dispute, in a great measure, the Power of making any Law whatever, that can be considered as affecting the Colonies internally.

It is alleged by some, that under the Statute, De Tallagio non concedendo , made in the 34th of Edward the First, that the Americans cannot be taxed, in the British Parliament, as not being represented.

Those who have not the Statutes at large, may see this Act, with the History of, and a Comment upon it, in BRITISH LIBERTIES,a small Work lately published, which also contains the Principles of Civil Policy in general, and a comprehensive View of the Constitution of Great-Britain.

The Words of the Act are, " No Tallage " or Aid shall be taken, or levied, by us, " or our Heirs, in our Realm, without the " Good-Will and Assent of Arch-Bishops, " Bishops, Earls, Barons, Knights, Burgef" fes, and other Freemen of the Land."

It might in Answer be said, that Act was made at the End of the Twelfth Century, and America was not discovered, till the End of the Fourteenth.

Again, this Act only restrained the Crown from laying, or levying any Tax or Subsidy on the People, without the Consent of Parliament, but did not abridge the Power of Parliament, or prescribe the manner in which the People should be represented.

Nor could it have in View, Provinces not then existing, and which had not their Existence, till two or three Centuries after, and which when discovered and conquered, became, and still continue, the Domain of the Crown, which could have given, and did give them, whatever Form of Government, and lay them under whatever Restrictions it pleased.