manufactures.[181]

[Footnote 181: Minot.]

The administration, perceiving the opposition to be encountered by
adhering to the vote of the preceding session, informed the agents of
the colonies in London that, if they would propose any other mode of
raising the sum required[182], their proposition would be accepted,
and the stamp duty laid aside. The agents replied that they were not
authorised to propose any substitute, but were ordered to oppose the
bill when it should be brought into the house, by petitions
questioning the right of parliament to tax the colonies. This reply
placed the controversy on ground which admitted of no compromise.
Determined to persevere in the system he had adopted, and believing
successful resistance to be impossible, Mr. Grenville brought into
parliament his celebrated act for imposing stamp duties in America;
and it passed both houses by great majorities, but not without
animated debate. So little weight does the human mind allow to the
most conclusive arguments, when directed against the existence of
power in ourselves, that general Conway is said to have stood
alone[183] in denying the right claimed by parliament.

[Footnote 182: 100,000_l_. sterling.]

[Footnote 183: Mr. Pitt was not in the house; and Mr.
Ingersoll, in his letter, states that Alderman Beckford
joined General Conway. Mr. Belsham, therefore, who makes
this statement, was probably mistaken.]

This act excited serious alarm throughout the colonies. It was
sincerely believed to wound vitally the constitution of the country,
and to destroy the most sacred principles of liberty. Combinations
against its execution were formed; and the utmost exertions were used
to diffuse among the people a knowledge of the pernicious consequences
which must flow from admitting that the colonists could be taxed by a
legislature in which they were not represented.

The assembly of Virginia was in session when the intelligence was
received; and, by a small majority, passed several resolutions
introduced by Mr. Henry, and seconded by Mr. Johnson,[184] one of
which asserts the exclusive right of that assembly to lay taxes and
impositions on the inhabitants of that colony.[185]

[Footnote 184: See note No. III, at the end of the volume.]

[Footnote 185: Prior documents. Virginia Gazette.]

On the passage of these resolutions, the governor dissolved the
assembly; and writs for new elections were is