England had
not borne her share in the seven years' war without a considerable
augmentation of the national debt, and a corresponding increase in the
amount of yearly revenue which it had become necessary to raise;[33] and
Mr. Grenville, as Chancellor of the Exchequer, had to devise the means
of meeting the demand. A year before, he had supported with great warmth
the proposal of Sir Francis Dashwood, his predecessor at the Exchequer,
to lay a new tax upon cider. Now that he himself had succeeded to that
office, he cast his eyes across the Atlantic, and, on the plea that the
late war had to a certain extent been undertaken for the defence of the
Colonies in North America, he proposed to make them bear a share in the
burden caused by enterprises from which they had profited. Accordingly,
in March, 1764, he proposed a series of resolutions imposing a variety
of import duties on different articles of foreign produce imported into
"the British Colonies and plantations in America," and also export
duties on a few articles of American growth when "exported or conveyed
to any other place except to Great Britain." Another resolution affirmed
"that, toward defraying the said expense, it might be proper to charge
certain stamp-duties in the said Colonies and plantations."
The resolutions imposing import and export duties were passed by both
Houses almost without comment.
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