He affirmed[36] the general temper of the Colonists toward Great Britain
to have been, till this act was passed, the best in the world. They
considered themselves as a part of the British empire, and as having one
common interest with it. They did not consider themselves as foreigners.
They were jealous for the honor and prosperity of this nation, and
always were, and always would be, ready to support it as far as their
little power went. They considered the Parliament of Great Britain as
the great bulwark and security of their liberties and privileges, and
always spoke of it with the utmost respect and veneration. They had
given a practical proof of their goodwill by having raised, clothed, and
paid during the last war nearly 25,000 men, and spent many millions; nor
had any Assembly of any Colony ever refused duly to support the
government by proper allowances from time to time to public officers.
They had always been ready, and were ready now, to tax themselves. The
Colonies had Assemblies of their own, which were their Parliaments. They
were, in that respect, in the same situation as Ireland. Their
Assemblies had a right to levy money on the subject, then to grant to
the crown, and, indeed, had constantly done so; and he himself was
specially instructed by the Assembly of his own State to assure the
ministry that, as they always had done, so they should always think it
their duty to grant such aids to the crown as were suitable to their
circumstances and abilities, whenever called upon for the purpose in a
constitutional manner; and that instruction he had communicated to the
ministry. But the Colonies objected to Parliament laying on them such a
tax as that imposed by the Stamp Act. Some duties, they admitted, the
Parliament had a right to impose, but he drew a distinction between
"those duties which were meant to regulate commerce and internal taxes."
The authority of Parliament to regulate commerce had never been disputed
by the Colonists. The sea belonged to Britain. She maintained by her