" Ever since the first settlement of these colonies, Great Britain has claimed and exercised the right of jurisdiction over them, and her claim was founded in reason, and in the nature of civil government, for it is certain beyond all manner of doubt and controversy, that the supreme authority of every empire, mubt extend over the whole and every part of that empire, otherwise there must be imperium in imperio, two absolute and distinct powers in one and the same government, which is impossible ; and consequently the supreme authority of the British empire, which is vested in the king, lords, and commons, must extend over these colonies, which are a part of the British empire. This authority was never disputed by the colonies, till the tim.e of the stamp act, and then no farther than as to the right of imposing internal taxes ; for the right of regulating trade, and of imposing duties upon articles of commerce, was universally acknowledged as essential to the supremacy of the British parliament. Their right of internal taxation over the Colonies, was by the Americans ojiposod upon this principle, that it was contrary to one of the fundamentals of our free Constitution, which forbids the taking of the subjects' money without their consesit, given either personally or by their representative. This power of disposing of their property, they imagined and asserted, was lodged in their Provincial Legislatures only. Be that as it will, this was certainly placing their liberty upon a proper basis : here they ought to have rested ; here they ought to have bounded their demands ; this would have been a sufficient barrier against arbitrary power. The Parliament, in consequence of this, although they did not relinquish their claim or right to tax the Colonies, repealed that impolitic and oppressive act ; and although they afterwards imposed duties on paper, glass, paints, colors, &c., yet those also, in compliance with our demands, were taken off: so indulgent has our mother country been to the claims and humors of her children.