The Freeman 1972 - The Ludwig von Mises Institute

118 THE FREEMAN Februaryancient loyalties toward new visions.Occasions for expressing thesechanging sentiments were notlong in coming. In fact, a changein ministries in Britain had occurredbefore some of the aboveevents which set the stage for provocativeaction. In April of 1763,George Grenville became Chancellorof the Exchequer and formedaround him a new government.Grenville should have been ableto deal with Britain's financialproblems, if anyone could, for hehad long experience in finance. Hehad served earlier as a lord of thetreasury and as treasurer of thenavy. Moreover, "Grenville's chiefconcern was revenue and economy;they were his passion, which hepursued relentlessly.... He couldnot endure the sight of red ink,an unbalanced budget, or wasteand extravagance...."6 KingGeorge found him to be a borewith his interminable talk ofmoney, but Grenville was the mangiven the task of doing something,and do something he did from1763 to 1765.George Grenville's ministry wasresponsible for two major Jines ofaction on the American colonies.One was the tightening of administrationand enforcement of the6 John C. Miller, Origins of the AmericanRevolution (Boston: Little, Brownand Co., 1943), p. 83.laws. The other was the passageof laws which were aimed at raisingrevenue from the colonies. Anapparently casual action by Parliamentin 1763 set the stage formuch that followed. In March ofthat year funds were voted formaintaining a standing army inAmerica. This was handled withoutmuch ado, since there wasalready an army in America inconnection with the war. Grenvillehad a more direct hand instationing naval vessels in America.He was First Lord of theAdmiralty, and had much to dowith getting the la.w passed whicheffected this. "The law gave navalofficers power to act as customsofficials.... By the autumn of1763, naval vessels were cruisingin American waters from Newfoundlandto the West Indies, withtheir officers and crews on thealert for the profits to be gainedfrom the capture and successfulprosecution of illegal traders."7 Aprofound change was occurringbetween Britain and her colonies;the decision to have military forceavailable was a prelude to increasedexercise of authority byBritain. This change could bemade with little fanfare becauseit did not differ on the surfacefrom what had just been doneduring the French and IndianWar.1 Jensen, Ope cit., p. 45.