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Show [.1041 [105] our Aneef'tors underflood the Words ; and there fore they were unwilling to conform to the Afls of Trade, and dili‘egarded them till they made I'rovifion to give them Force in the Colony by a Law of their own ; laying, that " the Laws of . England did not reach America ; And thofe Acts were an Invalion of their Rights, Liberties and Properties," becaufe they were not " rcprefented in Parliament." The Right of being governed only by Laws which were made by Perlbns in whoi‘eEke'iinn they had aVoice, they looked upon as the Foundation of Englifh Liberties. B the Compaé‘t with the King in the Charter, the were to he as free inAmerica, as they would have been if they had remained within the Realm ; and therefore they freely at'ferted that they " were to be governed by Laws made by themlelves and by Officers ehofen bytheml‘elves." Mr.Dutnmer lays, " It feems reafona‘ole enough to think that the Crown," and he might have‘added our An- celtors, " intended by this Injunction to provide for all its Subjeéis, that they might not be op» prefi‘ed by Arbitrary Power---but-«beingY {till Subjects, they {hould be protet‘i'ed by theyfame mild Laws and enjoy the fame ha )py Gove rn- ment as if they continued within the Realm." And confidering the Words of the Charter in this Light, he looks upon them as defigned to be 311‘ cn-ce againfl Oppreli'im and defpotic PO-VC'I‘. But the Conflruétion which yourExcellencv puts upon the Words, reduces us to a State of Vailalhgct and expoi'es us to ()ppremon and tie-{pone Power. whenever a Parliament fltall Fee fit to make Laws for that Purpofe and put them in ExECG-{1013. We flatter ourfelves that from the large Extracts we have made from your Excellency's Hiflory of the Colony, it appears evidently, that under both Charters it hath been the Senfc of the People and of'theGovernment that they were not under the Jurifdifiion of Parliament. We pray you again to recur to thofe (lucrations and our Obfervations upon them : And we wilh to have your Excellency's judicious Remarks. When we adduced that Hiflory to prove that the Sentiments cit-private Perfons ol" Influence, four or five Years after the Rcfioration, were Very different from what your Excellency apprehend; ed them to be when you delivered your Speech, you feem to concede to it by telling us " it was, as you take it, from the Principle; iméilxed in thofe Times of Anarchy (preceeding the Refleration) that they dilputed the Authority of Parliament ;" but you add, " the Government would not venture to dilpute it." We find to the fame Hiflory a Quotation from a Letter of Mr. Slot/gala", dated 17 Years after the Relieration, mentioning ‘* the Country's not taking Notice of theAéts of Navigation to obfer'vc them." And it was, as we take it, after that Time, that the Government declared in a Letter to their Agents, that they had not fubmitted to them; and they ventured to "dilpute" the Jurtfdtéhon, afl‘erting that they apprehendedthe Afts to be an Invalion of the Rights, Liberties and Properties of the Subjects of his Majeliy in the Colony, 1M} not being reprrfinted in Parliament ; and "that: " the Laws of England du' not read) flmerzca. It very little avails in Proof that they conceded to the Sunreme Authority of Parliament, the" We ‘ telling |
