If, in the
other charters, no such reserve is made, it must have been omitted, as
not necessary, because it is implied in the nature of subordinate
government. They who are subject to laws, are liable to taxes. If any
such immunity had been granted, it is still revocable by the
legislature, and ought to be revoked, as contrary to the publick good,
which is, in every charter, ultimately intended.
Suppose it true, that any such exemption is contained in the charter of
Maryland, it can be pleaded only by the Marylanders. It is of no use for
any other province; and, with regard even to them, must have been
considered as one of the grants in which the king has been deceived; and
annulled, as mischievous to the publick, by sacrificing to one little
settlement the general interest of the empire; as infringing the system
of dominion, and violating the compact of government. But Dr. Tucker has
shown, that even this charter promises no exemption from parliamentary
taxes.
In the controversy agitated about the beginning of this century, whether
the English laws could bind Ireland, Davenant, who defended against
Molyneux the claims of England, considered it as necessary to prove
nothing more, than that the present Irish must be deemed a colony.
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