[Cartwright?], Taxation, Tyranny

Cartwright, furthermore, theorized in the Burke letter that an ‘imitation of the capital defects observable in the Doctor’s stile, like the mimickry of an aukward attitude or ridiculous gesture, could at first sight strike the reader with a resemblance’ to Johnson’s writing. It is interesting, then, that Cartwright’s literary style in A Letter to Edmund Burke and that of the author of Taxation Tyranny is ornate, sometimes baroque, perhaps in ‘mimickry of an aukward attitude or ridiculous gesture’. ‘By Magna Charta’, it notes, by other Statutes of England, and by the Bill of Rights, it was granted and confirmed, that no subject should be compelled to contribute to any tax, tallage, aid, or other like charge, not set by common consent of Parliament. Taxation without representation was not only against constitutional and statute laws but also ‘certain original rights are inherent to the People, of which the Parliament never can deprive them’.