chap. VIII.} 1763. Sept. |
While Massachusetts was in danger of an essential violation of its charter with regard to one branch of its legislature, the Assembly of South Carolina was engaged in a long contest for ‘that most essential privilege, solely to judge and finally determine the validity of the election of their own members;’ for Boone, the governor, claimed exclusive authority to administer the required oaths, and on occasion of administering them, assumed the power to reject members whom the House declared duly elected and returned, ‘thereby taking upon himself to be the sole judge of elections.’2
The ‘arbitrary and imperious’ governor was too clearly in the wrong to be sustained;3 but the controversy which had already continued for a twelvemonth, and was now at its height, lasted long enough to train the statesmen of South Carolina to systematical opinions on the rights of their legislature, and of the king's power in matters of their privilege.
The details of the colonial administration belonged to Halifax. No sooner was the ministry definitively established, than Grenville, as the head of the treasury, proceeded to redeem the promise made to the House of Commons of an American revenue. The revenue from the customs in America could by no means produce a sufficient fund to meet the expenses of its military establishment.
