I think, then, I am, from those journals, justified in the sixth and last resolution, which is,—­“That it hath been found by experience, that the manner of granting the said supplies and aids by the said general assemblies hath been more agreeable to the inhabitants of the said colonies, and more beneficial and conducive to the public service, than the mode of giving and granting aids and subsidies in Parliament, to be raised and paid in the said colonies.”

This makes the whole of the fundamental part of the plan.  The conclusion is irresistible.  You cannot say that you were driven by any necessity to an exercise of the utmost rights of legislature.  You cannot assert that you took on yourselves the task of imposing colony taxes, from the want of another legal body that is competent to the purpose of supplying the exigencies of the state without wounding the prejudices of the people.  Neither is it true, that the body so qualified, and having that competence, had neglected the duty.

The question now, on all this accumulated matter, is,—­Whether you will choose to abide by a profitable experience or a mischievous theory? whether you choose to build on imagination or fact? whether you prefer enjoyment or hope? satisfaction in your subjects, or discontent?

If these propositions are accepted, everything which has been made to enforce a contrary system must, I take it for granted, fall along with it.  On that ground, I have drawn the following resolution, which, when it comes to be moved, will naturally be divided in a proper manner:—­“That it may be proper to repeal an act, made in the seventh year of the reign of his present Majesty, intituled, ’An act for granting certain duties in the British colonies and plantations in America; for allowing a drawback of the duties of customs, upon the exportation from this kingdom, of coffee and cocoa-nuts, of the produce of the said colonies or plantations; for discontinuing the drawbacks payable on China earthen ware exported to America; and for more effectually preventing the clandestine running of goods in the said colonies and plantations.’—­And also, that it may be proper to repeal an act, made in the fourteenth year of the reign of his present Majesty, intituled, ’An act to discontinue, in such manner and for such time as are therein mentioned, the landing and discharging, lading or shipping, of goods, wares, and merchandise, at the town and within the harbor of Boston, in the province of Massachusetts Bay, in North America.’—­And also, that it may be proper to repeal an act, made in the fourteenth year of the reign of his present Majesty, intituled, ’An act for the impartial administration of justice, in the cases of persons questioned for any acts done by them, in the execution of the law, or for the suppression of riots and tumults, in the province of the Massachusetts Bay, in New England.’—­And also, that it may be proper to repeal an act, made in the fourteenth year of the reign of his present Majesty, intituled,’ An act for the better regulating the government of the province of the Massachusetts Bay, in New England.’—­And also, that it may be proper to explain and amend an act, made in the thirty-fifth year of the reign of King Henry the Eighth, intituled, ’An act for the trial of treasons committed out of the king’s dominions.’”