nity and
importance of the subject; and by declaring that he was actuated by no
narrow principle or personal consideration, for though his bill might be
looked upon as one of concession, it was likewise one of assertion. The
bill which Chatham proposed was briefly to the following effect: That
the parliament of Great Britain had full power to bind America in all
matters touching the weal of the whole dominion of the crown of Great
Britain, and especially in making laws for the regulation of navigation
and trade throughout the complicated system of British commerce, etc.;
that it should be declared that no military force could ever be lawfully
employed to destroy the best rights of the people, while at the same
time the authority of sending troops to the colonies of the British
dominions should be maintained, independent of the voice of the
provincial assemblies in the colonies; that no taxes for his majesty's
revenue should be levied in America without consent of the provincial
assemblies; that the congress of Philadelphia should be legalized and
empowered to meet again on the 9th of May ensuing, for the purpose
of making due recognition of the supreme legislative authority and
superintending power over the colonies, and of voting a free grant to
the crown of a certain perpetual revenue, etc.; that the prayer of the
petition of congress should then be granted, and that the powers of
admiralty and vice-admiralty courts in America should be confined to
their ancient limits, and the trial by jury in civil cases should be
restored wherever they had been abolished, etc.; that all the recent
acts of parliament which had been the cause of the agitation in America
should be forthwith suspended; and that, in order to secure due and
impartial administration in the colonies, his majesty's judges in the
courts of law, who were appointed in America by the crown with salaries,
should hold their offices and salaries in the same manner as his
majesty's judges in England; _quamdiu se bene gesserint_. The bill which
Chatham introduced concluded thus: "And it is here by further declared
that the colonies in America are justly entitled to the privileges,
franchises, and immunities granted by their several charters or
constitutions; and that the said charters or constitutions ought not
to be invaded or resumed, unless for misuser, or some legal ground of
forfeiture. So shall a true reconcilement avert impending calamities,
and this most sole