d colonies,
and from other circumstances, no method hath hitherto been devised for
procuring a representation in Parliament for the said colonies."

This is an assertion of a fact. I go no further on the paper; though, in
my private judgment, an useful representation is impossible; I am sure
it is not desired by them, nor ought it, perhaps, by us: but I abstain
from opinions.

The fourth resolution is,--"That each of the said colonies hath within
itself a body, chosen, in part or in the whole, by the freemen,
freeholders, or other free inhabitants thereof, commonly called the
General Assembly, or General Court, with powers legally to raise, levy,
and assess, according to the several usages of such colonies, duties and
taxes towards defraying all sorts of public services."

This competence in the colony assemblies is certain. It is proved by the
whole tenor of their acts of supply in all the assemblies, in which the
constant style of granting is, "An aid to his Majesty"; and acts
granting to the crown have regularly, for near a century, passed the
public offices without dispute. Those who have been pleased
paradoxically to deny this right, holding that none but the British
Parliament can grant to the crown, are wished to look to what is done,
not only in the colonies, but in Ireland, in one uniform, unbroken
tenor, every session. Sir, I am surprised that this doctrine should come
from Rome of the law servants of the crown. I say, that, if the crown
could be responsible, his Majesty,--but certainly the ministers, and
even these law officers themselves, through whose hands the acts pass
biennially in Ireland, or annually in the colonies, are in an habitual
course of committing impeachable offences. What habitual offenders have
been all Presidents of the Council, all Secretaries of State, all First
Lords of Trade, all Attorneys and all Solicitors General! However, they
are safe, as no one impeaches them; and there is no ground of charge
against them, except in their own unfounded theories.

The fifth resolution is also a resolution of fact,--"That the said
general assemblies, general courts, or other bodies legally qualified as
aforesaid, have at sundry times freely granted several large subsidies
and public aids for his Majesty's service, according to their abilities,
when required thereto by letter from one of his Majesty's principal
Secretaries of State; and that their right to grant the same, and their
cheerfulness