sent to it; and they had no time to consult their assemblies for particular powers, before he passed his first revenue act: he had also declared his opinion, an hundred times in the house, that the colonies could not legally grant any revenue to the crown, and that infinite mischiefs would be the consequence of such a power: he had even told one of the members, who had stated his dislike to the stamp act, that he was willing to exchange that duty for any other equally productive; but that any objections to the Americans being taxed by parliament were useless, as he was determined on the measure. It was therefore evident, that the Chancellor of the Exchequer had no idea of leaving it at the option of the colonial assemblies to tax themselves.

Mr. BURKE goes on in a tone of triumph, "Thus, Sir, he adds, "I have difpofed of this falfehood. But falsehood has a perennial spring. It is said, that no conjecture could be made of the dislike of the colonies to the principle. This is as untrue as the other. After the resolution of the house, and before the paffing of the stamp act, the colonies of Massachuset's Bay and New York did send remonstrances, objecting to this mode of parliamentary taxation. What was the consequence? They were suppressed; they were put under the table, notwithstanding an order of council to the contrary, by the ministry which composed the very council that had made the order; and thus the House proceeded to its business of taxing, without the least regular knowledge of the objections which were made to it. But to give that House its due, it was not over desirous to receive information, or to hear remonstrance. On the fifteenth of February 1765, whilst the stamp act was under deliberation, they refused with scorn even so much as to receive four petitions presented from so respectable colo

nies as Connecticut, Rhode Island, Virginia, and Carolina, besides one from the traders of Jamaica. As to the colonies, they had no alternative left to them, but to disobey, or to pay the taxes imposed by that parliament, which was not suffered, or did not suffer itself even to hear them remonstrate upon the subject."

After this survey of the character and measures of Mr. GEORGE GRENVILLE, the next portrait which attracts our notice in Mr. BURKE's historical gallery, is that of the Marquis of ROCKINGHAM, to whom he thus describes his first introduction, in a strain of the most captivating modesty. "In the year sixty-five, being in a very private station, far from any line of business, and not having the honor of a seat in this house, it was my fortune, by the intervention of a common friend, to become connected with a very noble person, and at the head of the treasury department. It was indeed in a situation of little rank, and no consequence, suitable to the mediocrity of my talents and pretensions; but a situation near enough to enable me to see, as well as others, what was going on; and I did see in that noble person such sound principles, such an enlargement of mind, such clear and sagacious sense, and such unshaken fortitude, as have bound me, as well as others much better than me, by an inviolable attachment to him from that time forward."

After these introductory remarks, the orator describes the steps taken by the marquis to redress a grievance, arising from the former minister's commercial regulations in America; which, he says, threatened total ruin to the Spanish trade; and then adds, "on the conclusion of this business, the news of the troubles, on account of the stamp act, arrived in England. No sooner had the sound of that mighty tempest reached us, than

the

the whole of the then opposition, instead of feeling humbled by the unhappy issue of their measures, seemed to be infinitely elated, and cried out, that the ministry, from envy to the glory of their predecessors, were prepared to repeal the stamp act." Here Mr. BURKE charges the censurers of the repeal with shifting their ground, and challenging the authors of it to say, whether they had come to such a resolution till a considerable time after the meeting of parliament? To this he answers, that they weighed the matter as its difficulty and importance required; that they considered maturely amongst themselves, and consulted all who could give them advice or information; in consequence of which it was not determined till a little before the meeting of parliament; but it was determined; and the main lines of their own plan marked out, before that meeting. Two questions. had arisen; the first, whether the repeal should be total, or only partial, taking out every thing burthensome and productive, and reserving only an empty acknowledgement, such as a stamp on cards and dice? The other question was, on what principle the act should be repealed? On this head also, two principles were started, one that the legislative rights of this country, with regard to America, were not entire, but had certain restrictions and limitations; the other, that taxes of this kind were contrary to the fundamental principles of commerce on which the colonies were founded, and contrary to every idea of political equity, by which equity we were bound as much as possible to extend the spirit and benefit of the British constitution to every part of the British dominions. The option both of the measure, and of the principle of repeal, continued Mr. BURKE, "was made before the Seffion; and I wonder how any one can read the king's

speech at the opening of that session, without seeing in that speech both the repeal and the declaratory act very sufficiently crayoned out. Those who cannot see this can see nothing."

As the orator passes on, he does not forget in the rapidity of his career to take notice, that the ministry had used as much dispatch as was consistent with due deliberation; and he then states the reasons which had determined their choice both of the measure and its principle. A partial repeal," says he, " or as the bon ton of the court then was, a modification would have satisfied a timid, unsyftematic, procrastinating ministry, as such a measure has since done such a ministry. A mo dification is the constant resource of weak, undeciding minds. To repeal by a denial of our right to tax in the preamble (and this too did not want advisers) would have cut in the heroic style the Gordian knot with a sword. Either measure would have cost no more than a day's debate. But when the total repeal was adopted, and adopted on principles of policy, of equity, and of commerce, this plan made it necessary to enter into many and difficult measures. It became necessary to open a very large field of evidence commensurate to these extensive views. I think the inquiry lasted in the committee for six weeks; and, at its conclusion, this House, by an independent, noble, spirited, and unexpected majorityby a majority that will redeem all the acts ever done by majorities in parliament,—in the teeth of all the old mercenary Swifs of State-in despite of all the speculators and augurs of political events-in defiance of the whole embattled legion of veteran pensioners and practifed instruments of a court, gave a total repeal to the stamp act; and, if it had been so permitted, a lasting peace to this whole empire."

These

These particulars were very judiciously stated for the purpose of shewing how inconsistent it would be to attribute such an act of spirit and fortitude to timidity. "It," says Mr. BURKE, "the conduct of ministry in proposing the repeal had arisen fron. timidity with regard to themselves, it would have been greatly to have been condemned. Interested timidity disgraces as much in the cabinet, as personal timidity does in the field. But timidity, in regard to the well-being of our country, is heroic virtue. The noble lord who then conducted affairs, and his worthy colleagues, whilst they trembled at the prospect of such distresses as you have since brought upon yourselves, were not afraid steadily to look in the face that glaring and dazzling influence at which the eyes of eagles have blenched. He looked in the face one of the ablest, and, let me say, not the most scrupulous oppositions that perhaps ever was in this House, and withstood it, unaided by even one of the usual supports of administration."

After some pointed strictures on the gross falsehood and absurdity of a report, that lord ROCKINGHAM had been bullied into the repeal by Mr. PITT, the orator concludes this head with a burst of eloquence, in praise of his noble patron, which has seldom been equalled, and perhaps never surpassed in sublimity, and beauty. "I confess," said he, "when I look back to that time, I consider him as placed in one of the most trying situations, in which, perhaps, any man ever stood. In the House of Peers there were very few of the ministry out of the noble lord's own particular connexion, except lord EGMONT, who acted, as far as I could discern, an honourable and manly part, that did not look to some other future arrangement, that warped his politics. There were, in both houses, new and menacing appearances,