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 424 besides these there is little else in the power of, my dear Camm,

4em

December 31, 1765.

But what hath given a most general alarm to all the colonists on this continent, and most of those in the islands, and struck us with the most universal consternation that ever seized a people so widely diffused, is a late Act of the British Parliament, subjecting us to a heavy tax, by the imposition of stamp duties on all manner of papers required in trade, law, or private dealings; on pamphlets, newspapers, almanacs, calendars, and even advertisements; and ordaining that the causes of delinquents against the Act, wheresoever such delinquents may reside, shall be cognizable, and finally determinable by any Court of Admiralty upon the continent, to which either plaintiff or defendant shall think proper to appeal from the sentence either of the inferior Courts of Justice or the superior. The execution of this Act was to have commenced on the first of the last month all over British America, but hath been, with an unprecedented unanimity, opposed and prevented by every province on the continent, and by all the islands, whence we have had any advices since that date. For this 'tis probable some may brand us with the odious name of rebels, and others may applaud us for that generous love of liberty which we inherit from our glorious forefathers, while some few may prudently suspend their judgment till they shall have heard what may be said on either side of the question.

If the Parliament indeed have a right to impose taxes on