第12期
TAXATION WITHOUT REPRESENTATION
無代表權稅收
107.George III and George Grenville.
George III became king in 1760. He was a narrow, stupid, well-meaning, ignorant young man of twenty-one. He soon found in George Grenville a narrow, dull, well-meaning lawyer, a man who would do what he was told. So George Grenville became the head of the government. To him the law was the law. If he wished to do a thing and could find the law for it, he asked for nothing more. His military advisers told him that an army must be kept in America for years. It was Grenville's business to find the money to support this army. Great Britain was burdened with a national debt. The army was to be maintained, partly, at least, for the protection of the colonists. Why should they not pay a part of the cost of maintaining it? Parliament was the supreme power in the British Empire. It controlled the king, the church, the army, and the navy. Surely a Parliament that had all this power could tax the colonists. At all events, Grenville thought it could, and Parliament passed the Stamp Act to tax them.
--喬治三世于1760年登基，他年僅21歲的年輕人，心胸狹窄、 沒有主見且沒有多少知識。喬治三世很快發現，喬治o 格倫維爾是一名心胸狹窄、思維遲鈍且沒有主見的律師， 此人會惟命是從。于是，喬治o格倫維爾被任命為政府的首腦， 在他看來，法規就是法規，不容僭越。 如果他想做一件事并可以找到這么做的法律依據，這就足夠了 。軍事顧問告訴喬治o格倫維爾，一支軍隊必須在美洲駐扎幾年 ，喬治o格倫維爾要做的就是找到錢供給這支軍隊。 不列顛背負上沉重的國債，在一定程度上， 供養這支軍隊的目的是為了 保護殖民地居民， 為什么殖民地居民不應該拿出一部分錢來供養這支軍隊？ 在不列顛王國議會是最高權力機關，它控制著國王、教堂、 陸軍和海軍，擁有所有這些權利的議會可以向殖民地居民收稅 。格倫維爾認定議會可以這么做，并且議會通過《郵政法案》 向殖民地居民征稅。
108.Henry's Resolutions, 1765.
The colonists, however, with one voice, declared that Parliament had no power to tax them. Taxes, they said, could be voted only by themselves or their representatives. They were represented in their own colonial assemblies, and nowhere else. Patrick Henry was now a member of the Virginia assembly. He had just been elected for the first time. But as none of the older members of the assembly proposed any action, Henry tore a leaf from an old law-book and wrote on it a set of resolutions. These he presented in a burning speech, upholding the rights of the Virginians. He said that to tax them by act of Parliament was tyranny."Caesar and Tarquin had each his Brutus, Charles I his Cromwell, and George III"-"Treason, treason," shouted the speaker. "May profit by their example," slowly Henry went on. "If that be treason, make the most of it." The resolutions were voted. In them the Virginians declared that they were not subject to Acts of Parliament laying taxes or interfering in theinternal affairs of Virginia.
然而殖民地居民一致宣稱議會無權向他們征稅。他們認為 ，賦稅如何只應該由他們自己或他們的代表來投票表決。 賦稅的提出應該是在他們自己的殖民議會上， 任何別的地方都不行。此時帕特里克o 亨利是弗吉尼亞州議會的一個成員，他剛剛當選， 而且是第一次當選。但是， 由于議會的所有老議員都沒有提出什么解決方案， 亨利從舊法律書上撕下一頁，并在上面寫下一套解決方案， 他充滿激情地提出這套方案，以維護弗吉尼亞人的權力。 亨利認為，通過議會操作向他們征稅是專制，他慷慨陳詞：" 有凱撒和塔坤就有布魯圖斯， 有查理一世就有克倫威爾和喬治三世呢--只有謀反，謀反。" 亨利接著說，"我們可以從歷史中汲取教訓，如果這就是謀反， 我們都來做謀反者。"他的方案得到投票擁護， 弗吉尼亞人民宣稱，他們不再接受議會關于收稅的決定， 也不接受議會對弗吉尼亞內部事務的干涉。
109.Stamp Act Riots, 1765.
Until the summer of 1765 the colonists contented themselves with passing resolutions. There was little else that they could do. They could not refuse to obey the law because it would not go into effect until November. They could not mob the stamp distributers because no one knew their names. In August the names of the stamp distributers were published. Now at last it was possible to do something besides passing resolutions. In every colony the people visited the stamp officers and told them to resign. If they refused, they were mobbed until they resigned. In Boston the rioters were especially active. They detested Thomas Hutchinson. He was lieutenant-governor and chief justice and had been active in enforcing the navigation acts. The rioters attacked his house. They broke his furniture, destroyed his clothing, and made a bonfire of his books and papers.
--直到1765年，弗吉尼亞人一直對通過亨利方案表示滿意， 別的他們也不可能做出什么。他們不可能拒絕服從法律， 因為法律到11月份之后才生效。他們不可能圍攻發放印花的人 ，因為沒有人知道發放者的名字。直到8月， 發放印花人員名單公布， 人們終于有可能做除通過一套方案之外的事了。 各個殖民地上的人都造訪負責印花發放的官員，勸他們辭職。 如果他們不辭職就會遭到圍攻，直到其辭職為止。 波士頓的鬧事者更為激進，他們痛恨托馬斯o哈欽森， 此人是總督助理，掌管著司法并積極從事強制執行航海法。 鬧事者攻擊托馬斯o哈欽森的家，搗毀他的家具，扯碎他的衣服 ，并將他的書和文件付之一炬。
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