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Rh appeals were allowed to the same authority, from the decisions of the highest provincial tribunals. There is no reason to believe that these appeals were in general otherwise decided than the justice of the case required; but the power of rejecting the acts of the legislature, was sometimes capriciously exercised. It may perhaps have been deemed expedient by the English ministry, to keep alive the sense of colonial dependance [sic] whenever the charter afforded the opportunity.

In general the courts of Vice Admiralty were retained under the direction of the crown, who appointed the judges of them and exercised exclusive jurisdiction as well in relation to the proper subjects of maritime jurisdiction, as the collection of so much of the revenue as arose from trade, the exclusive power of regulating which was uniformly understood to be reserved. Little direct commercial intercourse was allowed between the colonies and any other than the British dominions: their mutual or internal commerce and their manufactures, were seldom interfered with, yet one or two regulations calculated to promote the interests of English manufactures, were justly complained of, although they were peaceably submitted to.

But, for a long time, Great Britain abstained from imposing internal taxation. On some great public exigencies, when their own safety was endangered, the colonists spontaneously rendered assistance to the extent of their ability, and with these filial efforts, and with the revenue derived from imposts on trade, the parent country appeared to be satisfied. But at length the increase and prosperity of the colonies suggested to the ministry, the idea of a new contributory fund, to be subject to their own power and not to be dependent on