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arbitrary power: and by several acts of his reign, as well as of some of his successors, the trade of the colonies was laid under such restrictions, as shew what hopes they might form from the justice of a British Parliament, were its uncontroled power ad- mitted over these States.* History has informed us, that bodies of men as well as individuals, are susceptible of the spirit of ty- ranny. <A view of these acts of Parliament for regulation, as it has been affectedly called, of the American trade, if all other evidences were removed out of the case, would undeniably evince the truth of this observation. Besides the duties they impose on our arti- cles of export and import, they prohibit our gomg to any markets Northward of Cape Finisterra, in the kingdom of Spain, for the sale of commodities which Great Britain will not take from us, and for the purchase of others, with which she cannot supply us; and that, for no other than the arbitrary purpose of purchasing ‘for themselves, by a sacrifice of our rights and interests, certain privi- leges in their commerce with an allied state, who, in confidence that their exclusive trade with America will be continued, while the principles and power of the British Parliament be the same, have indulged themselves in every exorbitance which their avarice could dictate, or our necessities extort: have raised their commo- dities called for in America, to the double and treble of what they sold for, before such exclusive privileges were given them, and of what better commodities of the same kind would cost us else- where ; and, at the same time, give us much less for what we carry thither, than might be had at more convenient ports. That these acts prohibit us from carrying, in quest of other purchasers, the sur- plus of our tobaccos, remamimg after the consumption of Great Britain is supplied : so that we must leave them with the British merchant, for whatever he will please to allow us, to be by him re-shipped to foreign markets, where he will reap the benefits of making sale of them for full value. ‘That, to heighten still the idea of Parliamentary justice, and to shew with what moderation they are like to exercise power, where themselves are to feel no part of its weight, we take leave to mention to his Majesty, certain other acts of the British Parliament, by which they would prohibit us from manufacturing, for our own use, the articles we raise on our own lands, with our own labor. By an act passed im the fifth year of the reign of his late Majesty, King George the second, an American subject is forbidden to make a hat for himself, of the fur
- 12. C.2. c.18 15. C.2 c.11. 25, C.2.c.7 7.8. W.M.c.22
11.W.34.Anne. 6. C. 2. c. 13.
VOL. I. 14
- 12th Reign of Charles II, chapter 18; 15th Reign of Charles II, Chapter 11; 25th Reign of Charles II, Chapter 7; 7th & 8th Reign of William III, Chapter 22; 11th Reign of William III, Chapter 34, during Anne's reign; 6th Reign of Charles II, Chapter 13.
