George Bancroft, History of the United States from the Discovery of the American Continent, Vol. 4, 15th edition.

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Neither the king nor the court of the Prince of

chap. IV.} 1753.

Wales was, therefore, ready to heed the communication of Dinwiddie; but it found the Lords of Trade bent on sustaining the extended limits of America. In the study of the Western World no one of them was so persevering and indefatigable as Charles Townshend. The elaborate memorial on the limits of Acadia, delivered in Paris, by the English commissioners, in January, 1753, was entirely his work,¹ and, though unsound in its foundation, won for him great praise² for research and ability. He now joined with his colleagues in advising the secretary of state to the immediate occupation of the eastern bank of the Ohio, lest the valley of the ‘beautiful river’ should be gained by France.

Many proposals, too, were ‘made for laying taxes on North America.’ The Board of Trade had not ceased to be urgent ‘for a revenue with which to fix settled salaries on the Northern governors, and defray the cost of Indian alliances.’ ‘Persons of consequence,’ we are told, ‘had repeatedly, and without concealment, expressed undigested notions of raising revenues out of the colonies.’³ Some proposed to obtain them from the post-office, a modification of the acts of trade, and a general stamp act for America.⁴ With Pelham's concurrence, the Board of Trade⁵ on