“I’m charged with giving birth to sedition in America”

William Pitt, The House of Commons, January 14, 1766.

[Part of: “Let Those Flatter Who Fear”: American Independence in Verse.]

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I spoke my sentiments against this Act,
Freely; and now I’m charged with giving birth
To sedition in America.
And what have we become, when liberty
Of speech is called a crime in Parliament?
The gentleman tells us, America
Tilts toward rebellion; I rejoice to see
Resistance to oppression. And he inquires,
When were the colonies emancipated?
I desire to know when they were made slaves.
The Stamp Act is gross injustice.
I raise my hand against it. Will you punish
Americans for madness you have caused?
We who have acted wrong should be the first
To act with prudence.
	But do not stomp and frown;
I am no courtier of America.
I stand for Britain, and for Parliament’s
Authority to bind and to restrain
The colonies. Our power over them
Is sovereign and supreme. The greater must
Rule the less. And if the cause be just,
Our boot may crush America to dust.

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