the British parliament. Whereas they have Indulged themselves in the agreeable perswasion that they ought to be Considered as inferior to none of their fellow subjects in loyalty & affection.

That they Do not affect an independancy of their parent Kingdom the prosperity of which they are bound to the utmost of their abilities to promote but Cheerfully acquiesce in the Authority of Parliament to make laws for preserving a necessary Dependance & for Regulating the trade of the Colonys Yet they Cannot Conceive and humbly insist it is not essential to support a proper Relation between a mother Country & Colonies transplanted from her, that She Should have a right to Raise Money from them Without their Consent, and presume they Do not aspire to more than the Natural Rights of British Subjects when they assert that no power on Earth has a right to impose taxes on the people or to take the Smallest portion of their propertys without their Consent given by their representatives in Parliament. This has ever been Considered as the Chief Pillar of the Constitution. Without this Support no Man Can be said to have the least Shadow of liberty since they can have no property in that which another can by right take from them when he pleases without their Consent. That their Ancestors brought over with them entire & transmitted to their Descendants the Natural and Constitutional rights they had enjoyed in their native Country, and the first principles of the British Constitution were early engrafted into the Constitution of the Colonies Hence a Legislative authority essential in all free states was Derived and assimilated as nearly as might be to that in England the executive power & the Right of assenting or Dissenting to all laws Reserved to the Crown & the privileges of Choosing their own Representatives Continued to the people & Confirmed to them by repeated and Express Stipula

tions. The Government thus established they Enjoyed the fruit of their own Labour with a serenity which Liberty only can Impart, Upon pressing Occasions they Applyed to his Majesty for relief & Gratefully acknowledge they have frequently received it from their mother Country; whenever their assistance was Necessary Requisitions Have constantly Been made from the Crown to the Representatives of the people who have Complied with them to the utmost extent of their abilities. The ample Provision made for the support of the civil Government in the reign of King Charles the Second & at his request & the large Supplies voted During the Last War upon requisitions from his Majesty & his royal Grandfather afford Early & late instances of the Disposition of the Assemblies of this Colony & are Sufficient proofs that the parliament of Great Brittain Did not till lately Assume a power of imposing taxes on the people for the purpose of Raising a revinue, To say that the Commons of Great Brittain have a right to Impose Internal Taxes on the Inhabitants of the Continent who are not and Cannot be Represented is in Effect to bid them prepare for a State of Slavery what must be their Situation Should such a right be established?

The Colonies have no Constitutional check on their liberty in Giving away their money Cannot have an oppertunity of Explaining their grievances or pointing out the Easiest method of taxation; for their Doom will Generally be Determined Before they are acquainted that the subject has Been agitated in parliament and the Commons Bear no proportion of the taxes they Lay upon them. The notion of a virtual representation which would render all our Rights merely ideal has been so often & so Clearly refuted that nothing need be said on that head. The oppres sive stamp Act Confessedly imposed Internal taxes, and the late acts of Parliament giving & granting cer

(tain

(tain Duties in the british Colonies plainly tend to the same point, Duties have Been imposed to Restrain the Commerce of one part of the Empire that was likely to prove injurious to another & by these means the Wellfare of the whole promoted But Duties Imposed on such of the British exports as are necessarys of Life to be paid by the Colonists on Importation without any View to the Interest of Commerce but merely to raise a revenue or in other words to Compel the Colonists to part with their money against their Inclinations they Concieve to be a tax internal to all Intents & purposes. And can it be thought just or reasonable restricted as they are in their trade Confined as they are in their Exports obliged to purchase these very necessaries at the British Market that they shou'd now be told they shall not have them without paying a Duty for them.

The Act suspending the Legislative power of New York they consider as still more alarming to the Colonies tho' it has that single province in View. If the parliament Can Compel them to furnish a Single Article to the troops sent over they may by the same rule oblige them to furnish Cloaths Arms & Every other necessary even the pay the Officers & Soldiers a Doctrine replete with Every mischief & Utterly Subversive of all thats Dear & Valuable for what advantage can the people of the Colonies Derive from their Right of choosing their own Representatives if those Representatives when Chosen not permitted to Exercise their own Judgments, were under a necessaty (on pain of being Deprived of their Legislative authority) of inforcing the Mandates of a British parliament

* *

This Sir is a sketch of their Sentiments as they are Expressed in a petition to his Majesty, a memorial to the Right Honourable the Lords Spiritual and temporal in parliament assembled in a Remonstrance to the Knights Citizens & Burgesses of Great Brittain in

Parliament assembled; In all these Proceedings the Council of this Colony have Conceived & have Directed their Agent James Abercrombie Esq to join Edward Montague Esq the agent for his Colony in applying for redress of the Grievances they so Justly Complain of; Coppies were Delivered to the president who is Desired to transmitt them to the Secretary of State appointed by his Majesty to manage the affairs of North America and M Montague is enjoined to Consult the Agents of the other Colonies & to Cooperate with them in Every measure that shall be thought Necessary on this Delicate point. This House hope they have Expressed Themselves on this Occasion with a ffirmness that Becomes free men pleading for fundamental rights & with a Decency that will Exempt them from any Imputation of faction or Disloyalty; They have made known their proceedings on this subject with a view that the Representatives of your province being acquainted with them may go hand in hand in their opposition to measures which they think have an immediate tendency to inslave them & are perswaded the Candour of your respectable House will Consider it in no other light; They are not without hopes that by a hearty union of the Colonies the Constitution may be again established on its own genuine principles an End Equally to be Desired both by the Mother Country & her Colonies.

In the name & by order of the House of Burgesses, I am with the greatest respect

Your most obedient humle Serv

PEYTON RANDOLPH, Speaker.

Representation from the Board of Trade to the King, recommending the repeal of an Act to appoint Commissioners for supplying the several Barracks, etc.

[From P. R. O., B. T., New Jersey, Vol. 17, p. 206.]

WHITEHALL, June 10, 1768.

To the Kings most Excellent Majesty.

May it please your Majesty,

Amongst the Laws passed in your Majesty's Colony of New Jersey in June 1767, intituled,

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6.

"An Act to appoint Commissioners for supplying "the several Barracks erected in the Colony of New Jersey with Furniture and other Necessary's for accommodating the King's Troops in, or marching "thro' the same, for supplying Deficiencies, and De'fraying other incidental Charges." Whereupon we beg leave humbly to represent.

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That by an Act of Parliament passed in the fifth year of your Majesty's Reign, "for amending the "Mutiny Act, and for rendering it more effectual in "your Majesty's Dominions in America;" various Regulations and Directions are laid down relative to the quartering your Majesty's Troops in the Colonies, the mode pointed out in which that Service is to be provided for, and the Articles enumerated of which those supplies are to consist. In the provincial Law now submitted to your Majesty, the nomination of the Commissioners for furnishing and supplying the Barracks in your Majesty's Colony of New Jersey is made the Act of the general Legislature, deviating thereby from the directions of the Act of Parliament, which empowers the Governor and Council to authorize and