Chap. XXIX.} 1767. May. |
After ordering the Bill to disfranchise New-York, as well as sanctioning the new system of colonial revenue and administration, the House rose; unconscious that it had taken steps which pride would not allow to be recalled; and which, if not retracted, would force the Colonies to unite for Independence.
The bitterness against America grew with its indulgence. On the twenty-first, news came that Georgia1 had refused compliance with the Billeting Act; and for a Colony, that had been established at the public expense, to question the will of Parliament was held to be ‘unexampled insolence.’ The Secretary at War, therefore, as if to ensure confusion, introduced a Bill, extending the obnoxious law a year beyond the time when it would have expired by its own limitation.
The moment was inviting to the Opposition. Raising some trivial questions on the form in which the amnesty Act of Massachusetts had been disallowed, the united factions of Rockingham, Bedford and Temple on one division left the Ministry a majority of but six, and on another of but three.2
On both these occasions the King made two of his brothers vote with the Ministry; of which the dissolution would have left him at the mercy of the coalition. He wished to enforce the absolute authority of Parliament in America, and to consummate his victory over the aristocracy in England. For the one he needed to dismiss Shelburne;3 for
