The Order of the Day being read for the third reading of the Bill, entituled An Act to repeal an act made in the last session of parliament, entituled, An Act for granting and applying certain stamp duties, and other duties in the British Colonies and Plantations in America,...Then the said Bill was read a third Time, and it being proposed to pass the Bill, the same was objected to. After some Debate thereupon, the Question was put, Whether the said Bill shall pass: it was resolved in the Affirmative.

Dissentient, [because the protesting lords think that the Declaratory Bill passed last week] cannot possibly obviate the growing mischiefs in America, where it may seem calculated only to deceive the people of Great Britain, by holding forth a delusive and nugatory affirmance of the Legislative Right of this Kingdom,

whilst the enacting part of it does no more than abrogate the Resolutions of the House of Representatives in the North American Colonies, [bf: It cannot abrogate them] which have not in themselves the least colour of authority; and declares, that which is apparently and certainly criminal, only null and void [bf: neither].

[Because the particular objections made to the Stamp Act in America and adopted in the course of the debates on the repealing bill are contradicted by undeniable evidence before us] First, that all the money to be collected by this Tax was to be annually remitted hither, and that the North American Colonies would thereby be drained of all their specie;

and Secondly, That the institution of Vice Admiralty Courts in those Colonies, for the recovery of Penalties upon Revenue Laws without Juries, is a novel practice, [whereby the colonists would be deprived of trial by jury, “one of their most valuable Liberties,” and would thereby be distinguished from fellow subjects in Britain;]

[In reference to the first of these objections, it appears that the Treasury had ordered that the revenue to be raised by the act was to be paid over directly] to the Deputy Pay-master in America, to defray the subsistence of the troops, and any military expences incurred in the colonies.

[In reference to the second objection, sundry acts of Parliament show that a jurisdiction has been assigned to the judges of the Admiralty Courts] for the recovery of penalties upon the Laws of Revenue and of Trade, without Juries for near a century past [and in some colonies these Admiralty judges] are the only Judges not elected by the people:

[The Americans are far from being distinguished by being deprived of trials by jury, for the laws regarding stamp duties in Great Britain provide that penalties are to be] recoverable also without a Jury, before two Justices of the Peace, with the like Powers in both cases;

[the Lords are glad to learn, moreover, that the Treasury reported on July 4 last a plan to erect] three different Courts of Vice Admiralty at the most convenient Places [in America], with proper Districts annexed to each; and to give the Judges sufficient and Honorable Salaries in lieu of all poundage and fees whatsoever;

[The Lords observe with concern and surprise that this representation was incorporated in a clause in the Stamp Act, and was expressly calculated to relieve the American subjects] from many unnecessary hardships and oppressions, to which they are now liable by many other Laws still subsisting

[but that this arrangement] should be totally disregarded for several months, and be suffered to remain unexecuted in every part of it even to this day; [and no notice of this plan has been sent to the governors, although the matter had been fully “opened and approved in Parliament” when the Stamp Act was proposed;] and as the total neglect of it has given occasion to great Clamour and Dissatisfaction in the Colonies.

[The Stamp Act was not to take place until November 1; if Parliament had been summoned early] their determinations, either for enforcing or repealing that Law, would probably have delivered the Merchants and Manufacturers here from all the difficulties and distress to which they have been for so many months exposed; nor would the disorders in America, where all government is prostrate, have risen to so great a height, or taken so deep a root.

[Because the argument is “extremely ill founded” that the experiment of a Stamp Act has failed; if it had been properly tried] with the same zeal for its success with which it was first proposed, it would not have failed in any of the Colonies: and that this was the opinion of the greater part of the Governors in North America;

and of many of the most intelligent and respectable persons in those provinces [is evidenced by letters from the governors now on our table and from] the latter having applied for, and accepted the Office of Distributor of the Stamps under that Act, which they certainly would not have done [thereby exposing their lives and fortunes, had they considered the success of the act precarious:]

[and we have heard of no “impracticability” attending the act in Jamaica, Barbados,] and some other of the West India islands, or in those of our Colonies in North America, where it has been executed.

Because, a Precedent of the two Houses of Parliament, lending their Power, from motives of Fear or Impatience under a present uneasiness, to overturn in one month a Plan of Measures, undertaken with their warmest Approbation and Concurrence, after the most mature deliberation of two years together,

for the improvement of our Revenue, and the relief of our People

will effectually discourage all officers of the Crown in America from doing their duty, and executing the Laws of this Kingdom;

and is enough to deter future Ministers, in any circumstances of distress or danger to their Country, from opposing their fortitude and zeal for the service of the Publick, to strong Combinations of private and particular Interests, to the Clamour of Multitudes, or the Malice of Faction [which will create such weakness as will soon end in the downfall of the State].

Because, the Repeal of this Law under the present Circumstances, will, we fear,

not only surrender the Honour and essential Interests of the Kingdom now and for ever, both at home and abroad,

but will also deeply affect the fundamental Principles of our Constitution;

for if we pass this Bill against our Opinion, from the Threats and Compulsion publickly avowed in our Colonies, and enforced by the most unjustifiable means within Great Britain, we disclaim that Legislative Authority over the subjects, which we own ourselves unable to maintain.

[If the lords give assent to this bill without conviction that it is right, merely because it has passed the Commons,] we in effect annihilate this branch of the Legislature, and vote ourselves useless. Or if by passing this Bill, we mean to justify those, who in America, and even in Great Britain, have treated a series of British Acts of Parliament as so many Acts of Tyranny and Oppression, which it is scarcely criminal to resist;

[or to justify] those officers of the Crown, who, under the eye, and with the knowledge of Government, have taken upon themselves, whilst the Parliament was Sitting, without its Consent, to suspend the Execution of the Stamp Act, by admitting Ships from the Colonies, with unstampt Clearances, to an Entry, in direct Violation of it,

[which appears to have been done;] we shall then give our approbation to an open breach of the first Article of that great Palladium of our Liberties, the Bill of Rights;* [which declares the suspending of laws without the consent of Parliament to be illegal].

Lastly, If we ground our Proceedings upon the Opinion of those who have contended in this House, that from the Constitution of our Colonies they ought never to be taxed,†

even for their own immediate Defence, we fear that such a Declaration, by which near a fifth part of the subjects of Great Britain, who by the Acts of Parliament to restrain the Pressing of Seamen in America, are already exempted from furnishing Men to our Navy, are to be for ever exempted from contributing their share towards their own support in money likewise, will, from the flagrant Partiality and Injustice of it,

either depopulate this Kingdom, or shake the basis of Equality, and of that Original Compact, upon which every Society is founded; and as we believe, that there is no instance of such a permanent Exemption

of so large a body of the subjects of any State in any History, antient or modern, we are extremely apprehensive of the fatal Consequences

of this unhappy Measure

to which, for these Reasons, in addition to those contained in the Protest of the 11th of this month, our Duty to the King, and Justice to our Country, oblige us to enter this our Solemn Dissent. [Here follow the names of 28 members of the House of Lords who signed this Protest. As BF had done with the first Protest, he underlined the names of the Earls of Abercorn, Ker, and Eglintoun, as Scots of whose right to deal with colonial matters he had there expressed doubts.]

[On the next three pages appears “A List of the Lords who Voted and Protested against the Repeal of the American Stamp Act, March 11, 1766,” that is, at the second reading. The list includes the names of 71 individuals, 10 of whom acted by proxy. There were 7 dukes (including the King’s brother, the Duke of York), 33 earls, 6 viscounts, 17 barons, and 8 bishops.]