hath joined them; no British government can put them asunder. To
endeavor to do so is to stab our very vitals." And he objected to the
first clause (that which declared the power and right to tax), on the
ground that if the ministers "wantonly pressed this declaration,
although they were now repealing the Stamp Act, they might pass it again
in a month." He even argued that "they must have future taxation in
view, or they would hardly assert their right to enjoy the pleasure of
offering an insult." He was answered by Lord Northington (the
Chancellor) and by Lord Mansfield (the Chief-justice), both of whom
supported the motion to repeal the tax, but who also agreed in denying
the soundness of his doctrine that, as far as the power was concerned,
there was any distinction between a law to tax and a law for any other
purpose; and Lord Mansfield farther denied the validity of the argument
which it had been attempted to found on the circumstance that the
Colonies were not represented in Parliament, propounding, on the
contrary, what Lord Campbell calls "his doctrine of virtual
representation." "There can," said he, "be no doubt but that the
inhabitants of the Colonies are represented in Parliament, as the
greatest part of the people of England are represented, among nine
millions of whom there are eight who have no votes in electing members
of Parliament. Every objection, therefore, to the dependency of the
Colonies upon Parliament which arises upon the ground of representation
goes to the whole present constitution of Great Britain.... For what
purpose, then, are arguments drawn from a distinction in which there is
no real difference of a virtual and an actual representation? A member
of Parliament chosen for any borough represents not only the
constituents and inhabitants of that particular place, but he represents
the inhabitants of every other borough in Great Britain. He represents
the City of London and all the other Commons of the land, and the
inhabitants of all the colonies and dominions of Great Britain, and is