[The Constitutional History of England From 1760 to 1860 by Charles Duke Yonge]@TWC D-Link book
The Constitutional History of England From 1760 to 1860

CHAPTER III
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But, when that doctrine was so misunderstood as to be supposed to give temporary immunity to outrage, it was most important that such a misconstruction should be corrected, and that it should be universally known that military discipline does not require the soldier to abstain from the performance of the duty incumbent on every citizen, the prevention of crime.
Notes: [Footnote 33: It is worth while to preserve the amount, if for no other reason, for the contrast that the expenditure and resources of the kingdom a hundred years ago present to those of the present day.

The supply required in 1764 was in round numbers L7,712,000; in 1755, before the war broke out, L4,073,000, and even that included a million for the augmentation of the army and navy.

In 1761, when the war was at its height, the sum voted was L19,616,000.] [Footnote 34: The report in the "Parliamentary History," xvi., 37, says: "This act (the Stamp Act) passed the Commons almost without debate; two or three members spoke against it, but without force or apparent interest, except a vehement harangue from Colonel Barre (date, March 6, 1765)."] [Footnote 35: Lord Stanhope ("History of England," v., 131) quotes a letter of Dr.Franklin to one of his friends in America, in which, after deploring the impossibility of preventing the act from being passed, he expresses a hope that "frugality and industry will go a great way toward indemnifying us." And he complied with Mr.Grenville's request to select a person to act as Distributor of Stamps in Pennsylvania whom he thought likely to be generally acceptable.] [Footnote 36: These statements and arguments of Franklin are taken from different parts of his examination before the House of Commons, as preserved in the "Parliamentary History," xvi., 137-160.] [Footnote 37: In the Assembly of Virginia, one of the members--Patrick Henry--after declaiming with bitterness against the supposed arbitrary measures of the present reign, exclaimed, "Caesar had his Brutus, Charles I.his Oliver Cromwell, and George III.--" A cry of "Treason!" was uttered.

The Speaker called Mr.Henry to order, and declared he would quit the chair unless he were supported by the House in restraining such intemperate speeches .-- Adolphus, _History of England_, i., 188.] [Footnote 38: On this point the law has been affirmed by a judge of high reputation to be still what Lord Rockingham and his colleagues asserted.
In 1868, on the trial of Governor Eyre for an indictment arising out of disturbances in Jamaica, Judge Blackburne laid it down "that, although the general rule is that the Legislative Assembly has the sole right of imposing taxes in the colony, yet, when the Imperial Legislature chooses to impose taxes, according to the rule of English law they have a _right_ to do it."] [Footnote 39: See his speech on American taxation in April, 1774.] [Footnote 40: The chief divisions were: in the Commons, 275 to 167; in the Lords, 105 to 71.] [Footnote 41: "History of England," vol.v., c.xlv., p.

218, ed.


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