Page:History of the United States of America, Spencer, v1.djvu/291

] manufactures till the Stamp Act should be repealed. In this manner British liberty was made to operate against British tyranny. Agreeably to the free constitution of Great Britain, the subject was at liberty to buy, or not to buy, as he pleased. By suspending their future purchases till the repeal of the Stamp Act, the colonists made it the interest of merchants and manufacturers to solicit for that repeal. They had usually purchased so great a proportion of British manufactures, that the sudden stoppage of all their orders, amounting annually to several millions sterling, threw some thousands in England out of employment, and induced them, from a regard to their own interest, to advocate the measures wished for by America. The petitions from the colonies were seconded by petitions from the merchants and manufacturers of Great Britain. What the former prayed for as a matter of right, the latter solicited from motives of interest. The colonists showed their spirit by encouraging domestic manufactures. Coarse, common cloths came into use in preference to those imported from the mother country. Foreign elegancies were dispensed with. The zeal of the women surpassed that of the men, and they agreed to forego ornaments and luxuries to support the good cause. This was bringing the question to a point; the English artisans and others felt the effect immediately, and many of them were reduced to great distress by there being no work for them to do. The Sons of Liberty entered into an agreement by which they bound themselves "to march with the utmost expedition, at their own proper cost and expense, with their whole force, to the relief of those that should be in danger from the Stamp Act, or its promoters and abettors, or anything relative to it, on account of anything that may have been done in opposition to its obtaining."

A change in the English ministry took place in July of this year, the news of which encouraged the Americans in the stand they had taken. The Marquis of Rockingham became the new prime minister, and was liberally disposed. Parliament met in January, 1766, and the colonial affairs at once occupied its attention. In the speech from the throne the king declared "his firm confidence in the wisdom and zeal of the members, which would, he doubted not, guide them to such sound and prudent resolutions as might tend at once to preserve the constitutional rights of the British legislature over the colonies, and to restore to them that harmony and tranquillity which had lately been interrupted by disorders of the most dangerous nature." The correspondence of the colonial governors, and other papers, were produced. Numerous petitions also from British merchants were presented to the two Houses. The ex-ministers, who were now in the opposition, defended their line of policy and their acts. Pitt, who was not connected with either the Grenville or the Rockingham ministry, and who had taken but little part of late in public affairs, owing to ill health, now appeared in his place in the House