9. On the 10th of March, 1764, Mr. Grenville, the prime minister, brought before the House of Commons a resolution that it would be proper to charge certain stamp-duties on the American colonies. The news of the measure was borne to America, producing universal excitement. Resolutions against the acts of the ministers were passed in almost every town. Remonstrances were addressed to the king and the Parliament. [Sidenote: =The Stamp Act.=] 10. Nevertheless, in March of 1765, the English Parliament passed the STAMP ACT. In the House of Commons it received a majority of five to one. In the House of Lords the vote was unanimous. On the 22d of the month, the royal assent was given. Benjamin Franklin, then in London, wrote to a friend at home that the sun of American liberty had set. 11. The provisions of the Stamp Act were these: Every legal document required in the colonies should, after the 1st day of the following November, be executed on stamped paper to be furnished by the British government. For each sheet the colonists were required to pay a sum varying from three pence to six pounds sterling. Every pamphlet, almanac, and newspaper was to be printed on paper of the same sort, the value of the stamps ranging from a half-penny to four pence. No contract should be binding unless bearing the stamp. 12. The news of the hateful act created great wrath in America. The bells of Philadelphia and Boston rang a funeral knell. In New York a copy of the Stamp Act was carried through the streets with a death's-head nailed to it, and a placard bearing this inscription: THE FOLLY OF ENGLAND AND THE RUIN OF AMERICA. The general assemblies were at first slow to move; there were many old royalists among the members. But the younger representatives did not hesitate to express their sentiments. In the Virginia House of Burgesses there was a memorable scene. [Sidenote: =Patrick Henry.=] 13. Patrick Henry, the youngest member of the House, after waiting in vain for some older delegate to lead in opposition to Parliament, snatched a blank leaf out of an old law book and drew up a series of six resolutions, declaring that the Virginians were Englishmen with English rights; that the colonists were not bound to yield obedience to any law imposing taxation on them; and that whoever said the contrary was an enemy to the country. [Illustration: Patrick Henry.]