He argued,
that to repeal at this time would show such wavering and inconsistent
policy as would defeat the good effects of that vigorous system which
had been too long delayed, and which was now adopted. The expediency of
the repeal, however, was ably advocated by Mr. Burke. He contended, that
from the period of the repeal of the Stamp Act, the practical right of
taxing America ought to have been for ever banished from the minds of
all statesmen; and he severely exposed the absurdity of continuing a
tax merely for the sake of a preamble to an act of parliament, when
five-sixths of the revenue intended to be raised by it had been
abandoned. Burke then gave a concise detail of our ministerial and
political transactions with America; after which he recommended the
repeal of this impost as a measure of policy, and advised the house, if
they found any ill effects arising from this concession, then at once to
stop short, and to oppose the ancient policy and practice of the empire
to innovations on both sides. This, he said, would enable them to stand
on great, manly, and sure grounds. As for the distinctions of rights
he deprecated all reasonings about them. "Leave the Americans," he
observed, "as they anciently stood; and these distinctions, born of our
unhappy contest, will die with it. Be content to bind America by laws
of trade. You have always done so; and let this be your reason for
continuing to do it. Do not burden them with taxes; for you were not
used to do so from the beginning.
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