=128. Repeal of the Stamp Act.=—It was not long before even Grenville was convinced that the Stamp Act was a failure. As it could not be enforced, and as it brought very little revenue, it was repealed the very year after it had become a law. There are, however, two ways of doing an act demanded by the people: to do it with a tact that will convey the largest amount of satisfaction; or to do it with some reservation or qualification that leaves a sting behind it. The latter course was taken by the British government, which said in substance: We repeal the act, because its enforcement will be injurious to our commercial interests, but in doing so we expressly declare “the supreme right of Parliament to make laws and statutes of sufficient force and validity to bind the colonies and the people of America in all ways whatever.” =129. The Townshend Acts.=—The “Stamp Act” was followed by the “Townshend Acts” in 1767. One of these acts forbade the colonies to trade with the West Indies and was evidently designed to force the Americans to buy West Indian goods in Great Britain. Another provided for a new duty on all imports of glass, paper, paints, and teas. Still another, and the most obnoxious of the Townshend Acts, was one which legalized “Writs of Assistance.” Such writs had formerly been unlawfully used as a means of enforcing the statute against smuggling. These papers, by being signed in blank, so that names could be inserted at the convenience of the officer, provided a means by which any sheriff or constable could enter any man’s house to search for whatever he wanted to find. [Illustration: JOHN DICKINSON.] =130. Opposition to the Townshend Acts.=—The Townshend Acts provoked instant opposition. Associations pledged to abstain from using any of the articles taxed, were formed in various parts of the country. The Massachusetts Assembly sent a circular letter to the other colonies, inviting them to concerted resistance; but this letter so provoked the king that he ordered the governor of Massachusetts to demand that the Assembly rescind the vote, on pain of dissolution. The Assembly promptly refused, whereupon Governor Bernard promptly dissolved it. Everywhere a similar spirit of opposition prevailed. =131. The Farmer’s Letters.=—The next year, 1768, public feeling was greatly intensified and united by what were known as the _Farmer’s Letters_—a remarkable series of papers written by John Dickinson,[62] a young lawyer of Philadelphia, endowed with wealth, education, and brilliant talents. He set forth with great skill the claims of the colonies and the dangers to the liberties of the people from a policy of submission. These letters were so widely read that they had a vast influence in shaping the course of the colonies.[63] [Illustration: GOVERNOR HUTCHINSON.]