chap. VIII.} 1763. Sept. |
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On the morning of the twenty-second day of Sep-
tember, three lords of the treasury, George Grenville, Lord North, and one Hunter who completed the number requisite for the transaction of business, held a board in the room set apart for their use in Downingstreet, and, without any hesitancy or discussion, they adopted a minute directing Jenkinson, the First Secretary of the Treasury, to ‘write to the Commissioners of the Stamp Duties to prepare the draft of a bill to be presented to parliament for extending the stamp duties to the colonies.’1 The very next day, Jenkinson accordingly wrote to the commissioners, desiring them ‘to transmit to him the draft of an act for imposing proper stamp duties upon his majesty's subjects in America and the West Indies.’2
Who was the author of the American stamp tax?
At a later day, Jenkinson assured the House of Commons that, ‘if the stamp act was a good measure, the merit of it was not due to Grenville; if it was a bad one, the ill policy did not belong to him;’ but he never confessed to the house where the blame or the merit could rest more justly.
In his late old age he delighted to converse freely, with the son he loved best, on every topic connected with his long career, save only on the one subject, of the contest
1 Treasury Minute, 22 September, 1763: ‘Present, Mr. Grenville, Lord North, Mr. Hunter.’
‘Write to the Commissioners of the Stamp Duties to prepare the draft of a bill, to be presented to parliament, for extending the stamp duties to the colonies.’2 C. Jenkinson to the Commissioners of Stamps. Letter Book, XXII. p. 432: ‘Treasury Chambers. Gentlemen, The Lords Commissioners of His Majesty's Treasury are pleased to direct me to desire that you would forthwith prepare and transmit to me, for their Lordships' consideration, a draught of an Act for imposing proper Stamp Duties upon His Majesty's Subjects in America and the West Indies. I am, &c. C. Jenkinson.—23 Sept. 1763.’
Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1860.
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