ABSTRACT
This chapter presents a letter, regarding the claim of the colonies to an exemption from internal taxes imposed, from a gentleman in London to his friend in America. The right of exemption which the colonies claim from any mode of legislative jurisdiction, which the parliament of Great Britain may think proper to exercise over them, can only be grounded upon the common law of England, which the settlers carried over with them. The grant of the crown conveyed in their charters; the consent and usage of parliament; their want of representation in parliament; or upon the manifest impracticability or public inconvenience of parliaments exercising jurisdiction in such a case. The greatest difficulty incident to a minister in times of public tranquility is the raising the supplies for the year, and his overcoming that difficulty with reputation is a good test of his ability to serve the nation.
