troops, I then gave notice that I would present, in a few days, a plan of general reconciliation.-Eleven days have since elapsed, and nothing has been offered by the King's servants. Under such circumstances of emergency on one side, when perhaps a single day may determine the fate of this great empire, and such a shameful negligence, total inattention, and want of ability on the other, what was to be done? No other alternative, in my opinion, remained, but either to abandon the interests of my country, and relinquish my duty, or to propose some plan, when ministry, by their inaction and silence, owned themselves incapable of proposing any. But even now let them speak out, and tell me, that they have a plan to lay before us, and I will give them an example of candour they are by no means deserving of, by instantly withdrawing the present bill. The indecent attempt to stifle this measure in embryo may promise consequences the very reverse of what I am certain will be the case. The friends of the present amendment may flatter themselves, that the contents of the bill will sink into silence, and be forgotten, but I believe they will find the contrary. This bill, though rejected here, will make its way to the public, to the nation, to the remotest wilds of America; it will, in such a course, undergo a deal of cool observation and investigation; and whatever its merits or demerits may be, it will rise or fall by them alone; it will, I trust, remain a monument of my poor endeavours to serve my country; and, however faulty or defective, will at least manifest how zealous I have been to avert those impending storms which seem ready to burst on it, and for ever overwhelm it in ruin. Yet, when I consider the whole case as it lies before me, I am not much astonished; I am not surprised, that men who hate liberty should detest those that prize it; or that those who want virtue themselves, should endeavour to prosecute those who possess it. Were I disposed to pursue this theme to the extent that truth would fully bear me out in, I could demonstrate, that the whole of your political conduct has been one continued series of weakness, temerity, despotism, ignorance, futility, negligence, blundering, and the most notorious servility, incapacity, and corruption. On reconsideration, I must allow you one merit, a strict attention to your own interests: in that view, you appear sound statesmen, and able politicians. You well know, if the present measure should prevail, that you must instantly relinquish your places. I doubt inuch, whether you will be able to keep them on any terms: but sure I am, that such is your well-known characters and abilities, any plan of reconciliation, however moderate, wise, and fea sible, must fail in your hands. Such then being your precarious situations, who can wonder that you should put a negative on any measure which must annihilate your power, deprive you of your emoluments, and at once reduce you to that state of insignificance, for which God and nature designed you? The Earl Gower answered, with strong marks of resentment. He said, let the bill make its way where it might, he was ready to abide the consequences; that he did not doubt but sufficient industry would be exerted to circulate its contents; and that however zealous some persons might be to inflame the people both here and in America, it should have not the least effect on his conduct. He was determined to adhere to the true interests of his country and the dignity of parliament; and to stand with them to the last, or perish in the ruins; nor should the terrors of the block itself oblige him to change his purpose. As to the general charges thrown out against administration by the noble Earl, it was time enough to answer them, when he pointed them in such a manner as to call for defence or explanation; that till then they were unworthy of reply, as the persons included in such a censure only shared the fate of all other administrations he ever remembered, since his first knowledge of public business, his Lordship having uniformly condemned them, though he afterwards thought proper to act with their authors; and if the noble Earl's age did not stand in the way, he had no doubt but that, on the present occasion, his Lordship would give one more proof of his change of sentiment, by warmly espousing the very measures he now so loudly condemned. The Earl of Hillsborough was severe on the noble framer of the bill. He spoke fully on legislation, as involving in it every possible power and exercise of civil government. He contended, that his Lordship's computation of the numbers. in America, who were ready to dispute the dispute the supremacy of parliament, was extremely erroneous; that if that country contained three millions of people, he would be bold to say, from his own certain knowledge of their temper and disposition, that one-third at least were willing to submit to the Parliament of Great Britain; that out of the remainder, the women, children, and old men, could not be deemed fit to bear arms; so that the noble Earl's facts were no less erroneous than his arguments, when he said, that three millions of men, with arms in their hands, would never consent to be taxed by the legislature of this country. He next endeavoured to correct a mistake of the same noble Earl, where he asserted, asserted, that French America took 40,000 men to reduce it; being satisfied, he said, that at no one time was there above 12,000 regular troops employed on that service. He next defended the declaratory law, but insisted, that it conferred no new right, for if it had never been passed, the legislative su premacy of Parliament would have remained the same. And concluded with holding out the favourable disposition of administration towards the colonies, when they manifested a suitable temper on their part, which could never be till they submitted to the great constitutional claims of the British legislature. The Duke of Richmond took a comprehensive view of the question at large. He examined the bills mentioned in the claim of rights, one by one, and shewed with great ability the foundations on which they rested. He dwelt particularly on the acts for establishing courts of admiralty, and for altering the charter of the Massachuset's Bay. He said, the former erected a jurisdiction, the judges of which were interested in the decision; and the latter, under the colour of constituting juries on the plan of those in England, lodged the power of selecting persons fit to serve, in an officer called a Sheriff, it is true, but an officer, at the same time, as little known in our constitution, as any Turkish or Russian magistrate. An English sheriff, being irremovable by any power under Heaven, but for malversation in his office, while a sheriff in the province of Massachuset's Bay is to be removable by his Majesty, his governor, or deputy-governor: by which means, the executive power has virtually the appointing of juries, and consequently the lives, fortunes, and personal ¡iberty of the subjects of that province totally at their disposal and mercy; a state of subjugation, he hoped, no Englishman would ever be so mean, slavish, or servile to submit to. He then insisted that the administration had uniformly, for a number of years back, endeavoured to deceive the colonies; that they had so repeatedly violated their most solemn promises, that all confidence was at an end: that out of numberless instances he should only select one, which was the letter written by the very noble Earl himself, (Earl of Hillsborough) accompanying the revenue act, wherein he pledged himself, by the most solemn assurances, that they were mere matter of form, and were meant to be immediately repealed, being intended as a nominal assertion of the declaratory law passed in 1766. [Here his Grace was called to order by the Earl of Hillsborough, who insisted, that the promise contained in the letter was not broke. His Grace contended it was, and said he would appeal to the letter itself, which he desired might be read. It was not however read.] His Grace proceeded to recount the particulars relative to that transaction, how the duties on paper, painters colours, and glass were repealed, in a pretended performance of that promise, while that on tea, the cause of all the present confusions, was continued. He then turned to the avowed firmness of a noble Earl, high in office, (Earl Gower) who seemed so willing to court danger, to face the block, and fall with the ruins of the constitution, or triumph in its constitutional maintenance. He comforted the noble Earl with the strongest assurances of his being in no danger; for it was easily avoided, by only at a convenient time altering his opinion; to prove which, he would take the liberty of adverting to a particular fact, which came within his own knowledge. And then he jocularly observed, that however small the minority may appear on the present question, he had seen as small hourly increase till it became the majority; and then told the following anecdote, which happened when Lord Bute was at the head of the treasury, to prove it: "I remember, says his Grace, at that period, a bill was brought into this House to prevent the members from being screened from their debts;-I heartily acceded to this bill upon principle, and had the honour of being joined by the noble Lord then at the head of the treasury. On the division the noes as usual went below the bar; when, missing their leader, they turned short, and were much surprised to see him on the other side." The late Charles Townshend remarked upon this circumstance, that he would hold two to one, in less than a year those very members who divided against him, would creep under the table to join him. Had he been taken up he would have won his wager. He next reminded the noble Earl (Earl Gower) of a circumstance of his dacility, which came more directly home to him, as being personally concerned. It was in the year 1766, before Christmas, when a noble friend of his (the late Duke of Bedford) made a motion for taking into consideration the state of the nation. He doubted not but the noble Earl was to the full as ready to face the block then as now, in support of what he deemed his duty; but what was the consequence? The noble Earl, the author of the present bill, having in the interim met him at Bath, and having had some conversation with him, the Parliament was adjourned to the day after the state of the nation was to be taken into consideration; all enquiry was at an end, and the nation left to shift for itself. The The Duke of Manchester lamented, in a very sensible manner, the present situation of affairs, the dangerous consequences of a civil war, which he feared would terminate as the social war among the Romans did, in the inevitable destruction of the whole empire. He was moderate, pathetic, and drew the attention of every side of the House. He did not pretend to determine on the contents of the present bill, nor adopt it throughout; all he wished was, that one sober view should be taken of the great question, before perhaps we blindly rushed into a scene of confusion and civil strife, the event of which it was impossible to foresee. The Earl Temple said, that he had never given, in public or private, a decided opinion, whether it was wise or not to pass the stamp act; but that he was abundantly convinced that all the evils and distractions now complained of, were derived from the fatal repeal of it. That the bills of last year were more exceptionable as to the mode than as to the matter. He said nothing with regard to the contents of the bill which had been read, and finished with expressing his disapprobation of rejecting in so harsh and unprecedented a manner, a bill designed for the most salutary purposes, and presented to their Lordships, by a hand so truly respectable as that of his noble friend and relation. This reason alone deciding upon his vote. This debate lasted till almost ten o'clock, when the question being put, there appeared for the Earl of Sandwich's amendment, Contents 61, Non-contents 32; so the bill was rejected, and not suffered to lay upon the table. The minority were, Dukes of Cumberland Richmond Devonshire Earls of Temple Radnor Spencer Ferrers |