William Pitt, Earl of Chatham, and the growth and division of the British Empire, 1708-1778; . Parliamentary authority by Congresswas to precede the operation of the clause declaringthe sole right of the colonies in the matter of taxa-tion. Further, the Admiralty Courts in Americawere reduced to their ancient limits, trial by jurywas restored, and the jury of vicinage. A list ofacts followed which were suspended from the dateof the act, and to be repealed from the day on whichthe colonies recognised the authority of acts were those against which the Congresshad protested. The
William Pitt, Earl of Chatham, and the growth and division of the British Empire, 1708-1778; . Parliamentary authority by Congresswas to precede the operation of the clause declaringthe sole right of the colonies in the matter of taxa-tion. Further, the Admiralty Courts in Americawere reduced to their ancient limits, trial by jurywas restored, and the jury of vicinage. A list ofacts followed which were suspended from the dateof the act, and to be repealed from the day on whichthe colonies recognised the authority of acts were those against which the Congresshad protested. The Judges were to be paid by theCrown but to hold office quam diu se bene gesserint,and the Charters of the several colonies were not tobe invaded or resumed except on some legal groundof forfeiture. Chatham, while preparing this scheme, had lengthyconsultations with Franklin. Mr. Franklin claimedno share in its authorship, his principal work beingto copy into the Bill a list of the acts of whichCongress had demanded the repeal. It is perhapsidle to discuss the capacity of this scheme to turn. BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. AFTER THE PAINTING BY DUPLESSI8. 1778] The Attempt to Save the Empire. 349 the current of destiny. It offered a solution of theproblem, but what was there to persuade men toadopt it? The wisdom of the schools could notavail when power was in the hand of George III., ofSandwich and Gower and Hillsborough. The Lordswould not even admit the Bill to a second reading,and in America the scheme received little attention.*It was not unnatural that the greatest Englishmanof the day should be angered by the contemptuoususage he received from the men who were hurryingEngland into a disastrous war, which they wereutterly incapable of conducting; and Chatham an-ticipated the verdict of history in a passage of fierceinvective against the Ministers. The whole of yourpolitical conduct has been one continued series ofweakness, temerity, despotism, ignorance, futiHty,negligence, and the mos
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