Memoirs of Benjamin Franklin Volume I Part 13

_Q._ Have you heard of any difficulties lately laid on the Spanish trade?

_A._ Yes, I have heard that it has been greatly obstructed by some new regulations, and by the English men-of-war and cutters stationed all along the coast in America.

_Q._ Do you think it right that America should be protected by this country, and pay no part of the expense?

_A._ That is not the case. The colonies raised, clothed, and paid, during the last war, near twenty-five thousand men, and spent many millions.

_Q._ Were you not reimbursed by Parliament?

_A._ We were only reimbursed what, in your opinion, we had advanced beyond our proportion, or beyond what might reasonably be expected from us; and it was a very small part of what we spent. Pennsylvania, in particular, disbursed about 500,000; and the reimburs.e.m.e.nts, in the whole, did not exceed 60,000.

_Q._ You have said that you pay heavy taxes in Pennsylvania; what do they amount to in the pound?

_A._ The tax on all estates, real and personal, is eighteen pence in the pound, fully rated; and the tax on the profits of trades and professions, with other taxes, do, I suppose, make full half a crown in the pound.

_Q._ Do you know anything of the _rate of exchange_ in Pennsylvania, and whether it has fallen lately?

_A._ It is commonly from one hundred and seventy to one hundred and seventy-five. I have heard that it has fallen lately from one hundred and seventy-five to one hundred and sixty-two and a half, owing, I suppose, to their lessening their orders for goods; and when their debts to this country are paid, I think the exchange will probably be at par.

_Q._ Do not you think the people of America would submit to pay the stamp duty if it was moderated?

_A._ No, never, unless compelled by force of arms. * * * *

_Q._ What was the temper of America towards Great Britain _before the year_ 1763?

_A._ The best in the world. They submitted willingly to the government of the crown, and paid in their courts obedience to acts of Parliament.

Numerous as the people are in the several old provinces, they cost you nothing in forts, citadels, garrisons, or armies, to keep them in subjection. They were governed by this country at the expense only of a little pen, ink, and paper: they were led by a thread. They had not only a respect, but an affection for Great Britain; for its laws, its customs, and manners; and even a fondness for its fashions, that greatly increased the commerce. Natives of Britain were always treated with particular regard; to be an _Old England-man_ was, of itself, a character of some respect, and gave a kind of rank among us.

_Q._ And what is their temper now?

_A._ Oh, very much altered.

_Q._ Did you ever hear the authority of Parliament to make laws for America questioned till lately?

_A._ The authority of Parliament was allowed to be valid in all laws, except such as should lay internal taxes. It was never disputed in laying duties to regulate commerce.

_Q._ In what proportion had population increased in America?

_A._ I think the inhabitants of all the provinces together, taken at a medium, double in about twenty-five years. But their demand for British manufactures increases much faster; as the consumption is not merely in proportion to their numbers, but grows with the growing abilities of the same numbers to pay for them. In 1723, the whole importation from Britain to Pennsylvania was but about 15,000 sterling; it is now near half a million.

_Q._ In what light did the people of America use to consider the Parliament of Great Britain?

_A._ They considered the Parliament as the great bulwark and security of their liberties and privileges, and always spoke of it with the utmost respect and veneration. Arbitrary ministers, they thought, might possibly, at times, attempt to oppress them; but they relied on it that the Parliament, on application, would always give redress. They remembered, with grat.i.tude, a strong instance of this, when a bill was brought into Parliament, with a clause to make royal instructions laws in the colonies, which the House of Commons would not pa.s.s, and it was thrown out.

_Q._ And have they not still the same respect for Parliament?

_A._ No, it is greatly lessened.

_Q._ To what cause is that owing?

_A._ To a concurrence of causes; the restraints lately laid on their trade, by which the bringing of foreign gold and silver into the colonies was prevented; the prohibition of making paper money among themselves,[19] and then demanding a new and heavy tax by stamps, taking away, at the same time, trials by juries, and refusing to receive and hear their humble pet.i.tions.

_Q._ Don't you think they would submit to the stamp-act if it was modified, the obnoxious parts taken out, and the duty reduced to some particulars of small moment?

_A._ No, they will never submit to it.

_Q._ What do you think is the reason that the people in America increase faster than in England?

_A._ Because they marry younger and more generally.

_Q._ Why so?

_A._ Because any young couple that are industrious may easily obtain land of their own, on which they can raise a family.

_Q._ Are not the lower rank of people more at their ease in America than in England?

_A._ They may be so if they are sober and diligent, as they are better paid for their labour.

_Q._ What is your opinion of a future tax, imposed on the same principle with that of the stamp-act? How would the Americans receive it?

_A._ Just as they do this. They would not pay it.

_Q._ Have you not heard of the resolutions of this house and of the House of Lords, a.s.serting the right of Parliament relating to America, including a power to tax the people there?

_A._ Yes, I have heard of such resolutions.

_Q._ What will be the opinion of the Americans on those resolutions?

_A._ They will think them unconst.i.tutional and unjust.

_Q._ Was it an opinion in America before 1763, that the Parliament had no right to lay taxes and duties there?

_A._ I never heard any objection to the right of laying duties to regulate commerce, but a right to lay internal taxes was never supposed to be in Parliament, as we are not represented there.

_Q._ On what do you found your opinion, that the people in America made any such distinction?

_A._ I know that whenever the subject has occurred in conversation where I have been present, it has appeared to be the opinion of every one, that we could not be taxed by a Parliament wherein we were not represented. But the payment of duties laid by an act of Parliament as regulations of commerce was never disputed.

_Q._ But can you name any act of a.s.sembly, or public act of any of your governments, that made such distinction?

_A._ I do not know that there was any; I think there was never an occasion to make any such act, till now that you have attempted to tax us: _that_ has occasioned resolutions of a.s.sembly declaring the distinction, in which I think every a.s.sembly on the continent, and every member in every a.s.sembly, have been unanimous. * * * *

_Q._ You say the colonies have always submitted to external taxes, and object to the right of Parliament only, in laying internal taxes; now, can you show that there is any kind of _difference between the two taxes_ to the colony on which they may be laid?

_A._ I think the difference is very great. An _external_ tax is a duty laid on commodities imported; that duty is added to the first cost and other charges on the commodity, and, when it is offered for sale, makes a part of the price. If the people do not like it at that price, they refuse it; they are not obliged to pay it. But an _internal_ tax is forced from the people without their consent, if not laid by their own representatives. The stamp-act says we shall have no commerce, make no exchange of property with each other, neither purchase nor grant, nor recover debts; we shall neither marry nor make our wills, unless we pay such and such sums; and thus it is intended to extort our money from us, or ruin us by the consequences of refusing to pay it.

_Q._ But supposing the external tax or duty to be laid on the necessaries of life imported into your colony, will not that be the same thing in its effects as an internal tax?