第12期
TAXATION WITHOUT REPRESENTATION
无代表权税收
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.
--乔治三世于1760年登基，他年仅21岁的年轻人，心胸狭窄、 没有主见且没有多少知识。乔治三世很快发现，乔治o 格伦维尔是一名心胸狭窄、思维迟钝且没有主见的律师， 此人会惟命是从。于是，乔治o格伦维尔被任命为政府的首脑， 在他看来，法规就是法规，不容僭越。 如果他想做一件事并可以找到这么做的法律依据，这就足够了 。军事顾问告诉乔治o格伦维尔，一支军队必须在美洲驻扎几年 ，乔治o格伦维尔要做的就是找到钱供给这支军队。 不列颠背负上沉重的国债，在一定程度上， 供养这支军队的目的是为了 保护殖民地居民， 为什么殖民地居民不应该拿出一部分钱来供养这支军队？ 在不列颠王国议会是最高权力机关，它控制着国王、教堂、 陆军和海军，拥有所有这些权利的议会可以向殖民地居民收税 。格伦维尔认定议会可以这么做，并且议会通过《邮政法案》 向殖民地居民征税。
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称议会无权向他们征税。他们认为 ，赋税如何只应该由他们自己或他们的代表来投票表决。 赋税的提出应该是在他们自己的殖民议会上， 任何别的地方都不行。此时帕特里克o 亨利是弗吉尼亚州议会的一个成员，他刚刚当选， 而且是第一次当选。但是， 由于议会的所有老议员都没有提出什么解决方案， 亨利从旧法律书上撕下一页，并在上面写下一套解决方案， 他充满激情地提出这套方案，以维护弗吉尼亚人的权力。 亨利认为，通过议会操作向他们征税是专制，他慷慨陈词：" 有凯撒和塔坤就有布鲁图斯， 有查理一世就有克伦威尔和乔治三世呢--只有谋反，谋反。" 亨利接着说，"我们可以从历史中汲取教训，如果这就是谋反， 我们都来做谋反者。"他的方案得到投票拥护， 弗吉尼亚人民宣称，他们不再接受议会关于收税的决定， 也不接受议会对弗吉尼亚内部事务的干涉。
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，弗吉尼亚人一直对通过亨利方案表示满意， 别的他们也不可能做出什么。他们不可能拒绝服从法律， 因为法律到11月份之后才生效。他们不可能围攻发放印花的人 ，因为没有人知道发放者的名字。直到8月， 发放印花人员名单公布， 人们终于有可能做除通过一套方案之外的事了。 各个殖民地上的人都造访负责印花发放的官员，劝他们辞职。 如果他们不辞职就会遭到围攻，直到其辞职为止。 波士顿的闹事者更为激进，他们痛恨托马斯o哈钦森， 此人是总督助理，掌管着司法并积极从事强制执行航海法。 闹事者攻击托马斯o哈钦森的家，捣毁他的家具，扯碎他的衣服 ，并将他的书和文件付之一炬。
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