have of Decency Temperance & Dutifulness as applyd to this Case.
Our late petitions against the Independency of the Governor &
Judges were deemd indecent intemperate & undutiful, not because
they were expressd in exceptionable Words, but because it was
therein said that by the Charter it plainly appeard to us to be
intended by the Royal Grantors that the General Assembly should
be the constituted Judge of the adequate Support of the
Government of the province and the Ways & Means of providing for
the same; and further that this operation of an Act of
parliament, by which the People are taxed & the money is
appropriated & used for that purpose, derogates from one of the
most sacred Rights granted in the Charter, & most essential to
the Freedom of the Constituion, & divests the Genl Assembly of a
most important part of legislative Power and Authority expressly
granted therein, and necessary for the Good and Welfare of the
province & the Support and Government of the same. The Subject
Matter of our Complaint was, not that a Burden greater than our
proportion was laid upon us by Parliament; such a Complaint we
might have made salva Authoritate parliamentaria: But that the
Parliament had assumed & exercisd the power of taxing us & thus
appropriating our money, when by Charter it was the exclusive
right of the General Assembly. We could not otherwise have
explaind to his Majesty the Grievance which we meant to complain
of; and yet he is pleasd in his answer to declare that he has
well weighd the Subject Matter of the petitions--and is
determined to support the Constitution and to resist with
firmness every Attempt to derogate from the Authority of the
supreme Legislature. Does not this imply that the parliament is
the supreme Legislature & its Authority over the Colonies of the
Constitution? And that until we frame our petitions so as that it