Past time. Affirm.
If he had or was yesterday—uncertainty. If he had have,[119] or had been yesterday—certainty that he had not, or was not.
Negative.
If he had or was not—uncertainty. If he had not have, or had not been—certainty that he had or was.[120]
I cannot close my remarks on the tenses of the English verb, without noticing a common error, which must have sprung from inattention, and is perhaps too general now to admit of correction. It is the use of the past tense after another verb or that, when the sense requires a change of tenses. Thus,
"Suppose I were to say, that to every art there was a system of such various and well approved principles."——Harris.
The first part of the sentence is hypothetical, suppose I were to say; but the last becomes declaratory under the supposition, and therefore the form of the verb should be changed to the present, indicative, that to every art there is a system: For it must be remarked that when the English speak of general existence, they use the present time; as, truth is great above all things; the scriptures are a rule of faith; the heavens display the glory of the Lord. The past or the future, in such cases, would be highly improper. Hence the absurdity of the passage just quoted; the supposition is that every art has (generally—at all times) a system of principles.
"If the taxes laid by government were the only ones we had to pay."
The author's meaning is, "the only taxes we have to pay;" and he was probably led into the mistake by not understanding the preceding hypothetical verb, were, which actually speaks of the present time conditionally.