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Contempo-
rary Printed
Pamphlet
Md.Hist.Soc.
p. 23
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Taxes to discharge the Arrearages due for Aids granted by them
in the late War.
That the Balance of Trade will ever be much against the Colonies,
and in Favour of Great-Britain, whilst we consume her Manu-
factures, the Demand for which must ever Increase in Proportion
to the Number of Inhabitants settled here, with the Means of Pur-
chasing them. We therefore humbly conceive it to be the Interest of
Great-Britain, to increase, rather than diminish, those Means, as the
Profits of all the Trade of the Colonies ultimately center there to pay
for her Manufactures, as we are not allowed to purchase elsewhere;
and by the Consumption of which, at the advanced Prices the British
Taxes oblige the Makers and Venders to set on them, we eventually
contribute very largely to the Revenue of the Crown.
That from the Nature of American Business, the Multiplicity of
Suits and Papers used in Matters of small Value, in a Country where
Freeholds are so minutely divided, and Property so frequently trans-
ferr'd, a Stamp Duty must ever be very Burthensome and Unequal.
That it is extremely improbable that the Honourable House of
Commons, shou'd at all Times, be thoroughly acquainted with our
Condition, and all Facts requisite to a just and equal Taxation of
the Colonies.
It is also humbly submitted, Whether there be not a material
Distinction in Reason and sound Policy, at least, between the neces-
sary Exercise of Parliamentary Jurisdiction in general Acts, for the
Amendment of the Common Law, and the Regulation of Trade and
Commerce through the whole Empire, and the Exercise of that
Jurisdiction, by imposing Taxes on the Colonies.
That the several subordinate Provincial Legislatures have been
moulded into Forms, as nearly resembling that of their Mother
Country, as by his Majesty's Royal Predecessors was thought con-
venient; and their Legislatures seem to have been wisely and gra-
ciously established, that the Subjects in the Colonies might, under
the due Administration thereof, enjoy the happy Fruits of the
British Government, which in their present Circumstances, they can-
not be so fully and clearly availed of, any other Way under these
Forms of Government we and our Ancestors have been Born or
Settled, and have had our Lives, Liberties, and Properties, pro-
tected. The People here, as every where else, retain a great Fond-
ness for their old Customs and Usages, and we trust that his Maj-
esty's Service, and the Interest of the Nation, so far from being
obstructed, have been vastly promoted by the Provincial Legislatures.
That we esteem our Connections with, and Dependance on Great-
Britain, as one of our greatest Blessings, and apprehend the latter
will appear to be sufficiently secure, when it is considered, that the
Inhabitants in the Colonies have the most unbounded Affection for
his Majesty's Person, Family, and Government, as well as for the
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