They fully believed that no practical grievance could arise from it.

They looked upon it merely as a salve to the wounded pride of England; as only that 'bridge of gold' which, according to the old French saying, should always be allowed to a retreating assailant."[41] A recent writer, however, has condemned the addition of the declaration of the abstract right to tax with great vehemence.

"Nothing," says Lord Campbell,[42] "could exceed the folly of accompanying the repeal of the Stamp Act with the statutable declaration of the abstract right to tax." But it does not seem difficult to justify the conduct of the ministry in this particular.

For, besides the great weight deservedly attached to Franklin's assurance that the declaration would not be objected to by the Colonists, and besides the consideration that, on a general view, it was desirable, if not indispensable, to impress on all classes of subjects, whether at home or abroad, the constitutional doctrine of the omnipotence of Parliament, the line of argument adopted by Mr.Pitt and Lord Camden, in denying that omnipotence, left the ministers no alternative but that of asserting it, unless they were prepared to betray their trust as guardians of the constitution.

Forbearance to insist on the Declaratory Act could not fail to have been regarded as an acquiescence on their part in a doctrine which Lord Campbell in the same breath admits to be false.