The Duke of Grafton, while he remained
Prime-minister, was eager to withdraw all the duties of which they
complained; but he was overruled by the majority of his colleagues. He
prevailed, however, so far that Lord Hillsborough, the Secretary of
State, was authorized to write a circular-letter to the governors of the
different provinces, in which he disowned, in the most distinct language
possible, "a design to propose to Parliament to lay any farther taxes
upon America for the purpose of raising a revenue," and promised for the
next session a repeal of all the taxes except that on tea; and when the
Duke retired from the Treasury, and was succeeded by Lord North, that
statesman himself brought forward the promised repeal in an elaborate
speech,[47] in which he explained that the duty on tea, which he alone
proposed to retain, had been originally a boon to the Americans rather
than an injury, as being accompanied by the removal of a far heavier
tax. But he admitted that even that consideration was not the one which
influenced him in his opinion that that duty should be maintained, so
greatly was the perception that the real object of those who complained
of it was, not the redress of a grievance, but the extinction of a right
which was an essential part of "the controlling supremacy of England.
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