The Massachusetts spy, or, Thomas's Boston journal. [volume], February 25, 1773, Image 1

About The Massachusetts spy, or, Thomas's Boston journal. [volume] (Boston [Mass.]) 1772-1775

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■life
Or, Thomas’s Bolton Journal.
A Weekly, Political, and Commercial Paper .-—Open to all Parties, but Influenced by None.
•DO thou Great LIBERTY inspire cur Souls,-And make our Lives in THYloffeflion happy,-Or, oiirDcatlisjr/crncr iutiiy ju»l Detente.’
Vol. lI.J
FRIDAY, February 19.
, -„B O S T O N.
1. o'l Tuefixy lift hi> Excellency Che Gwernor
' „„ plx.fcJ .0 feed • "• J'S' hy *« s s cr «"’’
£ tft e honourable H use of Reprefent.lives, di
rafting thei attendance forthwith in the Coon
” 1 Chamber. Tne House went up •ccordrg
! Jy, and aferhis Excellency htd B’* e " h, ‘
w several engr< fled bi Is, he made the following
SPEECH to both houles.
Gcnitenien Ctuntil, and
6 .f<h 'J
proceedings of such of the
inhabitants of 'he town of
Boston, as sffembled toge
® getter and p.ffed ard pub
lifhed their refofees or votes,
as the ad of the town at a Ie
gal tewn meeting, denying
in the m dt exp»eb terms lhe
liameut, and in vitmg every ptinci-
trift tn the province co
pie and to tftabhlh comm t m |n
dence toconfult upon p ope
tain it, and the proccu 5 .
town., in
peed to me to be so «»«««” ~h hl
■ dangerous newe nod reeden ~ s *
myfelf bound to call upon y . x;f coun
opening the leffion. to join woh
aenancmg .nd bes tng * ... 01 ,
geinll such irregole'ittes end innoxxtlon ■
I a .red co you fairly *»*': “ 'J’",
cured, the confttwtion of the ’
the province lb ft- •• «l-« « ' h ' uTrf yon
of .he Inter upon the former. .nd 1 i ft ed
if you diff red from me » fenumeMl, o lh.
m e wirh candor my own error., and o gwe
L, ,e.f n. n ripp-«
I. you m gh. diftr from me. 1
would have considered my speech y J
committees, and have given me a joint nfwe ,
hut as the Hoa.e us Reprc(c«»ci*« h,ve d ‘ c ”
| ned th .t mode of proceeding.
' c’ple. tn government are very k .
obliged co nuke “ d d,S, " a “
plies '
I shall firft apply myfelf » F -
of tbt Council
The two fi.ft parts of your anfwr, wh
f P tft thediforders occsfiones by the > p
L the 6 e.«.1 0f »P’X” u
not appear t? me to have a te f n -ech •
date any thing which 1 have find in my »
for, however the flamp aft. W au tho
immx.li.tx o«.li»«f ‘*l i„
,i,y of px, umxm w» noi-iiM*"'*''' 8 d " r ,ix
order tr juflify or excule them. U ’u >fn ent,
num. ol ihx fu ? rmx .u h.'«r °f f^“r X’
I h.„ nx«. gi... y- «y «'f”!° ‘“fr ‘
J intended . mo.x .bfd... P- 'S
nsturx of jo.crnmxnt Ixt thx form
7. m«- I M ' h '" fo " ' p,( ‘ T" 1
ct you'.rf—xr with 01 any o ' fT'*.-n
alb
aulhoridx. w ich r u baxe b c ! S ■ j b
ail i.xe. ufon En.lifh lot con I
Tino, of tex .a no, of 1U4.0S •'"« I*""! |
mraonwnh the Lo.d. and l-omm»«. > .
krnotd .«y rxa- ily h.»e allowed k . «
Uno da. .ewllty h— .1W•"^ her
of ec>(l.non mutt be piff.d by the fame j -
kutho iiy ‘rd not by the King alone.
Indeed lam not wiling to conttaue ac n
troverfy wi.h you upon any other p» t» of your
•nf*en lam ghd to Sad that iadeper.de ce is
what have nt in contemn anon ; andthat
you will not prcfume to prdC’ibe the riad imits
of the an hority of parliament; only as with
due deference to it. y'U humbiy of opinion,
that aa all human au.h -my in the na.ura of it is
ard tht to be limited, it cannot con ft i tut on
glh extend, for the reifooe you hive fugiefted,
to the letting of taxes in any form on hu Ma-
tefty’s luti- -f this provirc*.
I oil only cbferve, that yon- attempt* to
dr-w s lice at the 1 mits of the tuprcme authcn
fv i by d.ftmj.u > • •g
»1 i/h.s .< exempt from such
ru h rity than tie rest, rathrr tend to evince the
Impr.ft’cab lityof drawing fu-h a aneandl that
ot year «f.« •• •"<" * £
ptemrey in the p.evince, attre fame tm- *
L a - k ovl-fre the h-prcmacy of parluxent,
CXXifc <5 .u wj« a » ««« «
th: fm. h all *» J* 01 *
THURSDAY, February 25, 1773-
them to be, in all parts of the dominions, “ un
der a like form of I.egifl.ture.”
From thefa, therefore.and other confideradonr
I cannot help flattering myfelf, that upon more
manure deliberation and in order to a mo e con
fident plan of government, you will chufe rather
to doubt ofthe expediency of parliament’s txercil
ing its au hority in cases that m y happen than
to limit the authority itfelf, tfpeciJly as y u
agree with me in the proper method of ob aining
a redress of giivances by coi.fiitu ional rep e
fentations, which tannot well confiti with a de*
nial of the authority to which the repre
sentations are made; and from the best in •
so mation I have been able to obtain, the denial
of the authority of parliament, expressly orby
implication in those petitions to which you refer
was the c«u<e of their not being aamined, and
not anv advice given by the miniiler to the a
gents of the color ies. ’
I mud enlarge and be much more particular
in mv reply to you>
Genutmtn »f tht Houh ts Rtprtftntativth
I fhali take no notice of that part of your an
fwer which amibutesthe difotders ofthe pro
vince to an undue exercise of the power of par
liament, bec«ufe you take for granted, what can
bv no means be admitted, that parliament had
exercised its power without just authority. The
Him of y< ur aufwer, so far as it is pertinent
to my speech is this.
Y u al edge that the colonies were an acquisi
tion of foreign tenitory not annexed to the
realm of England, and therefore at the
dffpofal of the crowa ; the King having y wu.
ake it, a corfiitutional right to di । pole
httMtt «n» part of his territories not
the realm—that Queen Elizabeth accordingly
conveyed the propei ty, dew ten and Jtvreignty
< f Virginia to Sir Walter Raleigh to be held of
the crows by and a certain render, with
mt referring any flure in the kgiflative end
executive authority—that the febfequent grants
of America were similar in this ref r ed,ihat they
weie without ary reservation for fecuing the
fuhjtdion of the colonies to the parliament and
fttiUie laws of England.—that this was the sense
of the Engiilh crown, the nation and our prede
cefLis when they fit ft uok p.fl’effi'n of this
country—that if .he colonies wee rot then an
nexed to the realm they cannot have been an ,
nexed ft ce that time—hat if they are not now
to the realm they are rot p-rt of the
and corfcqueody not fubjeft to the le- ;
g flati’ve • u:h jrity of the k ngdom ; for no coun- :
t y, by the common law, was fubjeft to the '»*•
or to the parliament but the rca'm of England i
No* if this y jut fourd«tion (hail fail you in |
every part of it, as I thtr.k it will, the fab.-ick
which you hive upon it muftcertainly fa! . |
Let rrte then obs rve to you thst, as Engiilh I
subj fts, and agreeable to the dod ine of feudal
tenure, a 1 our lands and tenements are held
mediate y or immedia aly of the errwn and al
though the pc ffrffiun and ate or profits be in the
fubjed there dill remains a dominion in the
crown. When anv new cm tries are difeover
ed by Enplifh fubjsdt, according to the general
I law ard uf.ge of nations, they become part of
the ftste, and, according to the feudal lyftem,
the lordfhipOr dominion is in the crown and a
right accrues of difpafing of such territories, un
der such tenure or for such services to be per
fo-tned as the crown shall judge proper, and
whensoever any part of such tenitoriea, by grant
from the e<own, becomes the pofltfli >n or pro
perty of private persons, such pei funs, thus ho'd
irg under the crown of England, remain or be
come fubjeds of England to all intents and pur
poses, as fu Iv as if any of the rcyal manors
forefts or other territoiy within the rea'm had
been granted to them upon the like tenu e
But that it is now, or was when the plantations
were fi ft granted, the prerogative of the Kings
of E'gland to alienate such territories from the
crowr, or to confti.u e a number of new govern
menta altogether indeperdent of ths f verdgn
legifl »t ve authority of the Engtfli Empire, I
can by no meirs concede to you. 1 have never
fren any better authority to support such an
opinion than aa anonymous pamphlet by which
I fear you have too easily been milled, for I
shall prefendy stew you that the de derations of
Kvg Junes the fi ft, and of King Charier the
till, admiting they are tru y related by
the author of <hi pamph et ought to have no
.weight with ycu ; uor dees the c ffim or redo
taKon, u-'O'’ a treaty of peace, of csanuies which
hr: bet". IoA or v edii war aid we .ti 4
hefe principles, nor may any part cular aft of
p;wer of a prince in felling or delivering up any
part of his dominions to a foreign priace or state
against the general fen fie of the nation be urged
to invalidate them, and upon examination it will
sppear th at all the grants which have been made
of America a e ' founded upon them and ate
made to conform to them, even th fe which
you have adduced in support of ve y difEient
p inciples.
You do not recoiled that, prior to what you
call the firft grant by to fi Walter
Raieiyh. a grant had been made, by the fame
princess, to fi' Humphry Gilbert of all such
ccuntries as he fojuld difeover which were to be
ts ibt »fb>r,htr bein tnd luccifftn but,
he dying in the p ofecuti m of his voyage, a se
cond giant was made to Sir Walter, Rale'gh
which, you fay, conveyed the dominion and
f >veretgnty wi hout any refer ve of 'egifl.tive or
executive authority bting bt'd by bun gt and a
rtndtr, • To hold by bomagt, which implies
fealty,and a rndtr is defcriptiveof focage tenure
as fully as if i h.d been C*id to hold at of onr
manor of Ea/i Grttnuuitb the words in your
ch >rter. Now this slone was a reserve of domi
nion and fove eignty in the Queen her hei s and
fucceflbra and, tefides this, the grant is made
upon this express condition, which you pass
over, that tbt pttfU romain Jubjefi to tbt crown
of England, the head of that legiflattve authority
*»hich, by the Engiilh conftiiulion, is equally
extei five with the aothority of the crown
every part of the dominions. Now
if wbJmld suppose the Queen to have acquired
ieperatdfrom her relation to her fuhjzfts or in
capacity, which she could not do, a
TTTfto a country difeovered by her fubjefts and
then to g ant the fame country to English fub
jefts in her public capacity as Queen of England
Itdl by this grant she annexed it to the crown
Thus by nut diftinyuilhing between the crown
of England and <he Kings and Queens of Eng
land in their perlons) or natural capacities, you
have been led into a fundamental error which
mull p ove fatal to your system; It is not
material whe her Vinnie reverted to the crown
by fir Waite's attainder or whether he never
teuk any benefit frum his grant, though the
latter is most probable feeing he ce fed from a I
attempts to take pofEflion of the country after a
few years trial. There were, undoubtedly,
divers grants made by King James the firft of
the continent of Am rici in die beginning of the
17th century and funilar to the grant of
El zabethin thia lefpeft, that they were depen
slant on the crown ? T'te cht'ttr to the cou ci 1
at Plymou h in Dev.n dated November* 3d,
1&20 tn -re immedute.'y re• pests us, and of that
we have the most auth ntiik remiiqs.
By thia charter, upon the petition of Str Fer
dinando Go’ges • corporation was constituted to
be and continue by fucceflion forever in the
town of Plymouth afurtfaid, to which corporati
on that part of the American contir ent which
lies between the47® and 48®dtg res of lati
tude wa granted to bo btld of tbt King bit boirt
and IncCtffor t nt of tbt manor of East Grtenwicb
with powera to conftitote fubordioate govern
ments in America and to make laws for such
governments, ntt repugnant to tbt lawi and
ftatutet of England From this corporation
you’ prcdecefT rs obtained a grant of the foil of
thcco'onyof MafTachufetts-Bay, in 1617, and,
in 1618. they obtained a cnarter from K.
Charles the fi ft making them a difbnft co’po
ration, also within the realm, and giving them
full prwers within the limits of their patent,
। very like to those of the council of Plymouth
hrooghout their more extenfivc te rito-y.
We will now confider what must have been
the fenfie of the King of the nation ar.d of the pa.
tebtees atthe time of gtantirg these patents, bn m
the year i6oa the banks ano fee eoails of New-.
Eng’and had been frequented by English fubjdh
foroatchlng and drying cod-fiih When an ekdn
five right to (he fifhery was c aimed, by virtue of
the patent of 1620, the hcafe of commons was
alarmed and a bill was brought in for alloWing
a Mb finery and it wit Upon this occaiijo
that one of the feretaries of (late declared, per
haps ashis own opinion,that (he plantations we e
not annexed to the crown sod so were not with
in the jurifdifiion of parliament, bit. Edwin
Sandys, who wu one of the Virginia company
and an eminent lawyer, declared that he knew
Vi had been annexed and war held •/ tbe
en wu at ts the mw •/ Erf -Green with and be
believed Ncw-EngUnd nufoaiG; and so it
most ceraialv was This drcla’ition, mrde
by one of the Kir g’i servants, y«u f y lh wed
the sense o the crown ard. bring not tecretir
but openly declared in par i men’ y u would
11 ake it the sense of the nation a fi, notwith*
Handing your own aflrrtijn that the Lord* and
comm ins patted a bi I that Ihewed their sense to
be directly the contrary. But ifthere had bean
full evidence of express declaration! made by
King Jim's the firft, and Cha lea <h firft
they were declare i ns contrary to their own
grants, which declare this country to be held
of the crown and confequer tly it mull have
been annexed to it. And m»y not fu h decla
tions be accounted for by ether actions of those
princes who when they we e G icttmgthe par
liament to grant the duties of tonnage and poun
dage with other aids and were, in 'his way, ac
knowledg’ng the rights of pa lument, at the
lame time were requiring the payment of thofe*
duties wi h (hip money, &c. by vtr.ue of their
prerogative ?
- But to remove all doubt of the sense of the
nation and ofthe patentees of this patent or
charter in 1620, I need only refer you to the ac
count publilhed by Sir Ferdinando Gorges him
felf of the proceedings in parliament upon this
occaficD. As he was the most aftive mem
ber of the council of Plymouth and as he relates
what came within his own knowledge and ob
fervation.his narrative,which has all the appeac
ances of truth and fincetity, must carry convic
tion with it. He fays that toon after the patent
was pitted and whilst it lay in <he crown-office
he was fummooed to appear in parliament to
atfwer what was to be objefted agiinll it, and
the house being in a committee and Sir Edwaid
Coke, ih.t gteat Oracle of the law, in the chair,
he was called to the bar ar>d was told by Sir
Edward that thehrufe ur.derftoud that a patent
had been granted to the ftid Sir Ferdinando and
divers other nob e pe-foru for eftabafli ng •
colony in New-England, that this was deemed
a grievance of the comm’m wealth contrary to
tbt lawt.ond to the privileges of the fonjeft,
that it was a monopoly, Ac. and he requiicd
the delivery of the patent into the house. S<r
Ferdinando Gorges made no dcobt of the au
thority of the hvufe but submitted to their dis
posal of the patent as in their wisdom they
thought good “not knowing, under favour,hew
any aftion of that kind could be a grievance to
the public,feeing it was undertaken f>r the ad
vancement of religion tbt tnlorgmtnt tftbe bettnat
of tnr na ion. Arc —He was willing, however,
to (übmit the whole to their horn u able cen
fuxa" After divers attend areas Ie imagined
he h«d (atufied ।he house ihrt the planting a
colony wasrf mucn more c-nf quer.ee than a
fin.ple difuiderly c< use of fiflung. Hr w>a,
r.otwithflar.dirg, difsppointed and, w en the
public grievances of the kingdom wee prdented
by the two houses that of the p tent fur Ncw-
Enghnd was the fi ft. I don know how the
pir iament could have sh wn more fully t e
sense they then had of their authority over this
new acquired territory, ror can vetxpctt
better evidence of the sense which the patentees
had of it, for 1 know of no hiflorical lad cf
which we have left reafrn co duubt.
I*. And now gentlemen I will sh. w you how it
appears from onr charter itfelf, which you lay
I have not yc< been pleased to point out co you
except from that clause which reflrains us from
making laws repugnant co the laws of E gland,
that is was ihe sense of our predecetto a. at the
time when the charter was granted that they
were to remain fubjeft to the flit reme au.iurhy
of po'liawenc. ... • *• e
B tides this daufe, which I stall htvepcwfi n
further to retra k upon before t fi< ilh*ju w !l
find that, by the charter a grant was madeof er
cm ption from all taxes and im potions upon a
oy goodi imported rats expoit
ed from thence into England fur the fpsce «f
twenty one pears, except the custom of five per
cent upon such goud> as, after the expiratinn cf
seven years, should be brought into
Nothing can be mot plain than chat rhe char
ter, as well as ihe patent to the council of I'll
mouth, canftiiu.es a corporation io Fnghad
with powers to Ore Ue a subordinate govern
ment or governmen t within the plantation,
so that there would a ways be fu jeeU of tax
es and impefit ons both io the kingdom and
in the plantation. An exemption for twenty
one years implies a right of impofiboa after
he exoiration of the term and there is no
diftindipn between the kingdom aud the plan-
[Numb. 108.