government of Massachusets, Mr. Rose Fuller, on the 19th of April,
moved that the house should, that day se'nnight, resolve itself into a
committee for taking into consideration the question of a total repeal
of the tea duty. This was opposed by Lord North, who contended that no
acts of lenity ought to attend their restrictive measures. He argued,
that to repeal at this time would show such wavering and inconsistent
policy as would defeat the good effects of that vigorous system which
had been too long delayed, and which was now adopted. The expediency of
the repeal, however, was ably advocated by Mr. Burke. He contended, that
from the period of the repeal of the Stamp Act, the practical right of
taxing America ought to have been for ever banished from the minds of
all statesmen; and he severely exposed the absurdity of continuing a
tax merely for the sake of a preamble to an act of parliament, when
five-sixths of the revenue intended to be raised by it had been
abandoned. Burke then gave a concise detail of our ministerial and
political transactions with America; after which he recommended the
repeal of this impost as a measure of policy, and advised the house, if
they found any ill effects arising from this concession, then at once to
stop short, and to oppose the ancient policy and practice of the empire
to innovations on both sides. This, he said, would enable them to stand
on great, manly, and sure grounds. As for the distinctions of rights
he deprecated all reasonings about them. "Leave the Americans," he
observed, "as they anciently stood; and these distinctions, born of our
unhappy contest, will die with it. Be content to bind America by laws
of trade. You have always done so; and let this be your reason for
continuing to do it. Do not burden them with taxes; for you were not
used to do so from the beginning. These are arguments for states
and kingdoms: leave the rest to the schools where alone they can be
discussed with safety." The rejection of this advice, he said, would
be followed by resistance on the part of the colonies; for if the
sovereignty of England and the freedom of America could not be
reconciled, the Americans would be sure to cast off sovereignty: no man
would be argued into slavery. The opinions which Burke uttered on this
occasion were at variance with those expressed on the passing of the
Declaratory Act, and with the act itself. He attempted to reconcile
them, however, by the nice distinction