The Virginia Gazette

The House of Commons, March 7.

Lord North lamented the necessity he was under of proposing new taxes to be laid by Parliament on the subjects of Great Britain, who had already, he confessed, contributed largely to the support of government in the present dangerous crisis. He entreated the House to reflect, that it was not the person who proposed the taxes, who created the necessity of imposing them; it was the situation of Great Britain with regard to France, Spain, and a third power, now as hostile to her as either of these. It was a just and necessary war, that created a necessary, though he hoped not an intolerable expense. True, he had advised the war, or rather he had concurred with the sentiments of a very respectable majority of this House, in thinking that England ought not tamely to relinquish her claim to the sovereignty over colonies which she had nursed at a great expense, and protected and defended with much blood and treasure. If the incidents of war, which are various and uncertain, had prolonged the struggle, and the burden of maintaining it, he hoped that Gentlemen who voted with him at the commencement of the war, would not lay these to his charge. He had done his duty, and would, when that important business should be finished, which could not be delayed, meet the accusations with which he was daily threatened, undismayed, and with confidence. But that, said his Lordship, is not the business before us, I therefore haste to the taxes for the purpose of defraying the expense of the annuity of twelve millions, which have been borrowed for the current year; he said, that it was his present object to raise six hundred and ninety seven thousand and five hundred pounds, by such taxes as should prove substantial and productive, but which he would endeavour to make as light to poor people as possible.