Chapter VI: {george III. 1775–1776} (1)

Debates on America..... Pacific Measure of Lord North.....
Burke’s Plan of Conciliation..... Close of the Session.....
Petition of the City of London..... Departure of
Franklin..... Proceedings of the Americans..... Expedition
to seize Stores at Salem..... Affair at Lexington, etc......
Meeting of the Assemblies and General Congress..... Battle
of Bunker’s Hill..... General Washington..... Expedition
against Ticonderoga and Crown Point, etc,..... Expedition
against Canada..... Disposition and Revolt of the
Virginians..... Conduct of Congress towards New York,
etc...... Proceedings in England..... Prosecution and Trial
of Home Tooke, etc...... Meeting-of Parliament..... Changes
in the Ministry..... The Militia Bill..... The Navy and
Land Estimates..... Petition of Nova Scotia..... Petition
of Congress..... Motions of the Duke of Grafton..... The
Land-tax increased..... Burke’s Second Conciliatory
Motion..... Lord North’s Prohibitory bill.

{A.D. 1775}

DEBATES ON AMERICA.

During the Christmas recess, ministers had received more alarming intelligence from America, coming down to the seizure of Fort William and Mary by the people of New Hampshire, as previously recorded. When parliament again met, therefore, which was on the 20th of January, the affairs of America became the prominent subject of discussion. Before that day it had been concerted between the Earl of Chatham and his friends that he should make one of his grand displays on the subject in the house of lords. After the minister had laid some important documents respecting the state of the colonies before the house, Chatham accordingly rose. He commenced by condemning all that the ministers had done, and by reproving them for their tardiness in communicating the American papers. He then congratulated their lordships upon the fact that the business was at last entered upon, by the noble lords laying these papers before them, and expressing a supposition that their contents were well known, he next made this motion: “That an humble address be presented to his majesty, to desire and beseech that, in order to open the way towards a happy settlement of the dangerous troubles in America, by beginning to allay ferments and soften animosities there; and, above all, for preventing, in the mean time, any sudden and fatal catastrophe at Boston, now suffering under the daily irritation of an army before their eyes, posted in their town; it may graciously please his majesty that immediate orders be dispatched to General Gage, for removing his majesty’s forces from the town of Boston, as soon as the rigour of the season and other circumstances indispensable to the safety and accommodation of the said troops may render the same practicable.” In continuation, Chatham proceeded to discuss the whole question: a question which, he said, demanded instant attention, as an hour lost might produce years of calamity. He remarked: “I will not desert for a single moment the conduct of this weighty business; unless nailed to my bed by extremity of sickness, I will give it my unremitted attention. I will knock at the door of this sleeping and confounded ministry, and will rouse them to a sense of their impending danger. When I state the importance of the colonies, and the magnitude of the danger hanging over this country from the present plan of mis-administration practised against them, I desire not to be understood to argue for a reciprocity of indulgence between England and America. I contend not for indulgence but justice to America; and I shall ever contend, that the Americans justly owe obedience to us in a limited degree; they owe obedience to our ordinances of trade and navigation. But let the line be skilfully drawn between the objects of those ordinances and their private internal property; let the sacredness of their property remain inviolate; let it be taxed only by their own consent, given in their provincial assemblies, else it will cease to be property. As to the metaphysical refinements, attempting to show that the Americans are equally free from obedience and commercial restraints as from taxation of revenue, being unrepresented here, I pronounce them futile, frivolous, and groundless. Resistance to your acts was necessary as it was just; and your vain declaration of the omnipotence of parliament, and your imperious doctrines of the necessity of submission, will be found equally impotent to convince or enslave your fellow-subjects in America, who feel that tyranny, whether ambitioned by an individual part, of the legislature or by the bodies who compose it, is equally intolerable to British subjects.” Chatham next drew a startling yet not unfaithful picture of the army of General Gage, which he represented as placed in a dangerous position, as being penned up and pining in inglorious inactivity, and as being alike an army of impotence and contempt, as well as of irritation and vexation. He then proceeded to declare that activity would be even worse than this inglorious inactivity, and that the first drop of blood shed in this civil and unnatural war would produce an incurable wound. Chatham next, by a strange infatuation, extolled the congress of Philadelphia for its decency, firmness, and wisdom, and even maintained that it was more wise than the assemblies of ancient Greece! He remarked:—“I must declare and avow, that in all my reading—and it has been my favourite study, and I have read Thucydides, and have studied and admired the master-states of the world—for solidity of reasoning, force of sagacity, and wisdom of conclusion, under such a complication of difficult circumstances, no nation or body of men can stand in preference to the general congress at Philadelphia!” If Chatham did not take this view of the proceedings of the congress of Philadelphia out of sheer opposition to the existing administration, which it was his pleasure always to gall and oppose, then he must have been miserably blinded by the half-speaking papers, which no man in his senses could misinterpret, and which that congress had issued. Having passed this strange eulogium on that body, Chatham next called upon ministers to retract now that they might do it with a good grace, and asserted that they had derived their information from wrong sources, from selfish merchants, packers, and factors, and such servile classes of Americans, whose strength and stamina were not worthy to be compared with the cultivators of the land, in whose simplicity of life was to be found the simpleness of virtue, and the integrity of courage and freedom. He continued: “These true genuine sons of the earth are invincible. They surround and hem in the mercantile bodies, and if it were proposed to desert the cause of liberty, they would virtuously exclaim, ‘If trade and slavery are companions, we quit trade; let trade and slavery seek other shores; they are not for us!’ This resistance to your arbitrary taxation might have been foreseen: it was obvious from the nature of things and of mankind; but above all, from the Whiggish spirit flourishing in that country. The spirit which now resists your taxation in America, is the same which formerly opposed loans, benevolences, and ship-money in England: the same spirit which called all England on its legs, and by the Bill of Rights vindicated the constitution; the same principle which established the great fundamental and essential maxim of our liberties, that no subject of England shall be taxed but by his own consent. This glorious spirit of whiggism animates three millions in America, who prefer poverty with liberty, to gilded chains and sordid affluence, and who will die in defence of their rights as men—as freemen.” Chatham enlarged greatly upon this glorious spirit of Whiggism displayed on both sides of the Atlantic, asserting that it would finally compel the ministers not only to abandon their present measures and principles, however many noses they might count on a division, but to hide their heads in shame. He continued: “They cannot my lords, they cannot stir a step; they have not a move left; they are check-mated. It is not repealing this or that act of parliament—it is not repealing a piece of parchment—that can restore America to our bosom; you must repeal her fears and her resentments, and you may then hope for her love and gratitude. But now, insulted by an armed force at Boston, irritated by a hostile array before her eyes, her concessions, if they could be forced, would be suspicious and insecure; they will be _irato animo_, not sound honourable factions of freemen, but dictates of fear and extortions of force. It is, however, more than evident, you cannot force them, principled and united as they are, to your unworthy terms of submission. It is impossible.” Having been pathetic on General Gage in one part of his speech, Chatham now was witty upon him, comparing him with the great General Condé, who upon being asked why he did not capture his adversary Turenne, replied, that he was afraid Turenne would take him. Chatham then contended that nothing was left but to withdraw the troops from Boston, and to repeal all the acts of parliament. This, he imagined, might satisfy the Americans, and have the effect of binding them to an acknowledgment of our sovereignty, and our rights to regulate their navigation and commerce. Concessions, he said, must be made at some time or other, and they had better be made now, when they might do it as became their dignity. He concluded his speech thus:—“Every danger impends to deter you from perseverance in the present ruinous measures. Foreign war is hanging over your heads by a slight and brittle thread. France and Spain are watching your conduct, and waiting for the maturity of your errors. If ministers thus persevere in misadvising and misleading the king, I will not say they can alienate the affections of his subjects from the crown; but I will affirm, that they make the crown not worth his wearing; I will not say the king is betrayed, but I will pronounce the kingdom undone.” Chatham’s motion was supported by the Duke of Richmond, the Marquess of Rockingham, the Earl of Shelburne, and Lord Camden, who were, however, not fully agreed as to the propriety of recalling the troops, and who seem to have considered that proper concessions had not been made by the people of Boston, and that concessions made on the part of the British government on previous occasions had been misinterpreted in America, and had told to our disadvantage. On the other hand, the motion was opposed by the Earls of Suffolk, Rochford, and Gower, Viscounts Weymouth and Townshend, and Lord Lyttleton, who defended the recent acts of parliament, vindicated the legislative supremacy of parliament, and controverted the eulogy passed on the American congress, maintaining rightly that its acts and resolutions savoured strongly of a rebellious spirit. In the course of their arguments it was said that all conciliating means had proved ineffectual, or had only tended to increase the disorders; that if we gave way now from notions of present advantages in trade and commerce, such a yielding would defeat its own object, as the Navigation Act, and all other acts regulating trade, would inevitably fall victims to the interested and ambitious views of the colonists. This was a cogent argument, and Chatham rose to reply to it. He remarked, “If the noble lord should prove correct in suggesting that the views of the Americans are ultimately directed to abrogate the Act of Navigation and the other regulating acts, so wisely calculated to promote a reciprocity of interests, and to advance the grandeur and prosperity of the whole empire, no person present, however zealous, would be readier than myself to resist and crush their endeavours; but to arrive at any certain knowledge of the real sentiments of the Americans, it would first be proper to do them justice—to treat them like subjects before we condemn them as aliens and traitors.” Chatham then went over some of his previous arguments, especially contending that the right of taxing-was not included in legislation, and that sovereignty and supremacy did not imply that we could touch the money of the Americans, except by measures of trade and commerce. The motion was negatived by a majority of 68 against 18.

In submitting this motion to the house, the Earl of Chatham said that he had prepared a plan for healing all differences between England and America! This plan he afterwards submitted to Franklin, with whom he had recently much communication, and on Wednesday, the 1st of February, he submitted it to the house. He called it “A Provisional Bill for settling the Troubles in America, and for asserting the supreme legislative Authority and superintending Power of Great Britain over the Colonies.” In the speech made on this occasion, lie said, he offered this bill as a basis of measures for averting the dangers which threatened the British empire, and expressed a hope that it would obtain the approbation of both sides of the house. In stating the urgent necessity of such a measure, he represented England and America as drawn up in martial array, waiting for the signal to engage in a contest, in which it was little matter for whom victory declared, as the ruin of both parties was certain. He stood forth, he said, from a principle of duty and affection, to act as a mediator. In doing so, he represented that he would hold the scales of justice even-handed. He remarked, “No regard for popularity, no predilection for his country, not the high esteem he entertained for America on the one hand, nor the unalterable steady regard he entertained for the dignity of Great Britain on the other, should at all influence his conduct; for though he loved the Americans as men prizing and setting the just value on that inestimable blessing, liberty, yet if he could once bring himself to believe that they entertained the most distant intentions of throwing off the legislative supremacy and great constitutional superintending power and control of the British legislature, he should be the very person himself who would be the first and most zealous mover for securing and enforcing that power by every possible exertion this country was capable of making.” Chatham concluded by entreating the house to revise and correct the bill, and to reduce it to that form which was suited to the dignity and importance of the subject; and by declaring that he was actuated by no narrow principle or personal consideration, for though his bill might be looked upon as one of concession, it was likewise one of assertion. The bill which Chatham proposed was briefly to the following effect: That the parliament of Great Britain had full power to bind America in all matters touching the weal of the whole dominion of the crown of Great Britain, and especially in making laws for the regulation of navigation and trade throughout the complicated system of British commerce, etc.; that it should be declared that no military force could ever be lawfully employed to destroy the best rights of the people, while at the same time the authority of sending troops to the colonies of the British dominions should be maintained, independent of the voice of the provincial assemblies in the colonies; that no taxes for his majesty’s revenue should be levied in America without consent of the provincial assemblies; that the congress of Philadelphia should be legalized and empowered to meet again on the 9th of May ensuing, for the purpose of making due recognition of the supreme legislative authority and superintending power over the colonies, and of voting a free grant to the crown of a certain perpetual revenue, etc.; that the prayer of the petition of congress should then be granted, and that the powers of admiralty and vice-admiralty courts in America should be confined to their ancient limits, and the trial by jury in civil cases should be restored wherever they had been abolished, etc.; that all the recent acts of parliament which had been the cause of the agitation in America should be forthwith suspended; and that, in order to secure due and impartial administration in the colonies, his majesty’s judges in the courts of law, who were appointed in America by the crown with salaries, should hold their offices and salaries in the same manner as his majesty’s judges in England; _quamdiu se benè gesserint_. The bill which Chatham introduced concluded thus: “And it is here by further declared that the colonies in America are justly entitled to the privileges, franchises, and immunities granted by their several charters or constitutions; and that the said charters or constitutions ought not to be invaded or resumed, unless for misuser, or some legal ground of forfeiture. So shall a true reconcilement avert impending calamities, and this most solemn national accord between Great Britain and her colonies stand an everlasting monument clemency and magnanimity in the benignant father of his people; of wisdom and moderation in this great nation, famed for humanity as for valour; and of fidelity and grateful affection from brave and loyal colonies to their parent kingdom, which will ever protect and cherish them.”

There is full evidence that Chatham, in bringing such a bill as this before the house—a bill which was rather theoretical than practical—did not expect that it would be adopted. In a consultation over the bill between himself and Franklin, after certain suggestions made by the philosopher, none of which were adopted, he said that there was not time to make alterations and another fair copy; that neither of them expected it would be adopted; and that it might be afterwards amended. On the part of Franklin, no desire seems to have existed in his mind for its adoption. What he chiefly wanted, was another brilliant speech from the veteran statesman, that government might be further embarrassed, and the resistance of the colonies further stimulated. This appears to have escaped the penetration of Chatham. Sincere himself in the matter, he thought Franklin also sincere: otherwise there can be no doubt that he would have spurned him from his door. Franklin, in truth, took care to throw dust in the eye of Chatham. At a previous interview, he assured him that he had never heard any person, drunk or sober, express a wish for the disseveration of the two countries, or hint that such a thing would be advantageous to America. This he expressly states in a letter to his son, so that he stands condemned by his own handwriting of the most gross duplicity for ulterior purposes. It is pitiable to see a mind so highly gifted as was that of Franklin stoop so low in a matter of such momentous consequences The eyes of all America were turned towards him as their champion in England, and had he been so inclined there is little doubt but he could have procured great and lasting benefits to his country without the shedding one drop of precious blood. But his single aim was the dismemberment of the empire.

At the conclusion of Chatham’s speech, the Earl of Dartmouth, secretary of state for America, moved that the bill should lie on the table, till the papers referred to the house by his majesty should have been taken into consideration. On the other hand, the Earl of Sandwich moved that the bill should be at once rejected with the contempt it deserved. He could not, he said, believe it was the production of a British peer. It appeared to him the work of an American, and seeing Franklin leaning on the bar of the house, he pointed him out as its author, and as one of the bitterest and most mischievous enemies this country had ever known. To make any concession at this moment, he said, would be an abandonment of the whole cause of government, since the one grand aim of the Americans was absolute independence. At this very time, he asserted they were courting the trade of other nations, and he stated that he had letters in his pocket to prove that ships were being-laden at some European ports with East India produce and European commodities for America. Lord Sandwich was supported by Earls Gower and Hillsborough, and the Duke of Grafton, the latter of whom denounced the way in which the bill had been hurried into the house, as irregular and unparliamentary. The bill was supported by the Duke of Richmond, the Earl of Shelburne, and Lord Camden, who analysed the laws proposed to be repealed with great severity, and pointed out the evils of foreign interference, and the danger of famine at home, from the discontinuance of supplies from America. Another party in the house, consisting of the Duke of Manchester, Earl Temple, and Lord Lyttleton, were for taking a more moderate course, that is, not to reject the bill thus summarily, on consideration of the exalted character of its proposer. An angry debate followed, in the course of which one noble lord mentioned with applause the candid proposal of a member of the administration for the bill to lie on the table. But this had the contrary effect to that which the noble lord intended. Lord Dartmouth instantly rose and said that he had altered his opinion, and that he could not accept praise offered to him for candour of which he was now ashamed. The Earl of Chatham rose to defend both himself and his bill from the numerous attacks which had been made in the course of the debate. He commenced by avowing that the bill was the offspring of his own creation, though he had sought the advice of Franklin. He then attacked his quondam colleague in office, the Duke of Grafton, with severity, and inveighed against the whole administration in the most bitter terms. He remarked:—“The noble duke is extremely angry with me that I did not previously consult him on the bringing in of the present bill. I would ask the noble lord, does he consult me? or do I desire to be previously told of any motion he thinks fit to propose to this house? His grace seems to be much offended at the manner this bill has been hurried. I am certain he could not be serious, if he gave himself a minute to consider how the case really stands. Here we are told that America is in a state of rebellion, and we are now got to the 1st of February, and no one step is taken to crush this rebellion: yet such being the case I am charged with hurrying matters; but whether my conduct may be more justly charged with hurrying this business into, or his grace with hurrying it out of the house, I believe requires no great depth of penetration to discover. As to the other general objections, I presume it will be recollected that the last day I submitted the proposition about withdrawing the 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 inaction, 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 ministers 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, 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 motion 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 the 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 much surprised, that men who hate liberty should detest those who prize it, or that those who want virtue themselves should endeavour to persecute 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, 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 that if the present measure should prevail, that you must instantly relinquish your places. I doubt much whether you will be able to keep them on any terms; but sure I am such are your well-known characters and abilities, that any plan of reconciliation, however moderate, wise, and feasible, must fail in your hands. Such, then, being your precarious situation, who could 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.” Earls Gower and Hillsborough reprobated this severe language of Chatham, as calculated to inflame the public mind both here and in the colonies, and questioned if the noble lord would not, on some future day, if his age permitted, give another of the many proofs of his versatility, by acting with the ministers he condemned, and patronising the measures he now censured. Upon a division, the bill was rejected by a majority of sixty-one against thirty-two. Its rejection proved a fine theme out of doors for those adverse to the ministry. A vote of thanks was passed by the corporation of the city of London to Chatham, for his humane design; and Franklin enlarged upon the folly and madness of the ministers in rejecting it, although he had not expressed his approbation of it even to Chatham himself. He obtained, however, by its introduction what he most wanted—namely, a subject by means of which he could widen the breach between America and the “dear old mother country.”

In the meantime debates had taken place in the commons upon various petitions presented to the house, and especially upon one presented from Franklin, Bolland, and Lee, who prayed to be examined at the bar in support of the demands made by the general congress at Philadelphia. A motion, that this petition should be brought up, was negatived, on the ground that it would have the appearance of sanctioning the proceedings of the congress.

On the 2nd of February, Lord North, in the commons, in a committee of the whole house, moved for an address of thanks to the king for the communication of the papers. In introducing this motion Lord North intimated that a large military force was to be sent to America, and that the foreign commerce of New England and their fishing on the banks of Newfoundland were to be effectually stopped, until they should return to their duty. Fox moved an amendment, censuring ministers for having rather inflamed than healed differences, and praying for their removal. In doing so he descanted largely on the injustice of the motion for an address; predicting defeat in America and ruin at home. The amendment was negatived by a large majority, and, on a second division, the motion for an address was carried. It was reported on the 6th of February, when there was another warm debate, in which Wilkes, whose conduct on this subject was steady and consistent, took part. He remarked:—“Who can tell whether, in consequence of this day’s violent and mad address, the scabbard may not be thrown away by the Americans, as well as by us; and should success attend them, whether, in a few years, they may not celebrate the glorious era of the revolution of 1775, as we do that of 1608? Success crowned the generous efforts of our forefathers for freedom, else they had died on the scaffold as traitors and rebels; and the period of our history which does us most honour would have been deemed a rebellion against lawful authority—not a resistance sanctioned by all the laws of God and man, and the expulsion of a tyrant.” There is much truth in these observations; but in reply it was observed, that the present crisis had been produced as much by a zeal for their cause and a seditious spirit at home, as by the restless spirit of the colonists themselves; and that, while the proceedings of the Americans evidently tended to independence, and a future age might perhaps see them successful, it was the duty of all to unite in preventing the evil day from arriving at that period, and affixing an indelible stain on that age. At the commencement of this debate Lord John Cavendish had moved, that the address should be recommitted, but it was in the end negatived by two hundred and eighty-eight to one hundred and five.

A conference between the two houses on the address was held on the 7th of February, after which Lord Dartmouth moved, that the lords should concur in it; and on this motion the previous question was demanded. Another warm debate ensued. Lord Mansfield first rose, and, in a long and argumentative speech, he combated the arguments of those who maintained that the Americans were merely contending for exemption from taxation. He next minutely analysed the declarations of congress, and the acts of parliament of which they complained; in the course of which he insisted, that to annul any laws, except the acts of taxation, would be a renunciation of sovereignty. As a lawyer, he declared, from the documents before the house, that the Americans were already in a state of rebellion; and he condemned the taxes imposed in the year 1767, as the origin of the ferment in the colonies, and as tending to injure British commerce, inasmuch as they had furnished the colonists with a temptation to smuggle. On the other hand, Lord Camden, as a lawyer, denied that the Americans were in a state of rebellion, and drew sundry nice distinctions between actual treason and constructive treason. He also disclaimed all participation in the law for taxing America, as he had not been consulted on the subject. The Duke of Grafton complained of both these lords, and accused Camden of meanness and shuffling, in endeavouring to screen himself by accusing others; reminding him, that at the time the act was passed, he was lord-chancellor, and had signified the royal approbation of the act in his official capacity. Lord Lyttleton seconded the blow given to the ex-chancellor by his quondam colleague; but Lord Shelburne acquitted both Camden and the Duke of Grafton of approving the cabinet scheme for taxing America, and expressed a hope that public retribution would soon fall upon the author of the present despotic measures. The Duke of Richmond endeavoured to show that Lord Mansfield was its foster-parent; and a scene of mutual recrimination took place between them, in which other noble lords took an active part. Each one strove to lay the blame upon the shoulders of their opponents—all feeling that a blunder had been committed, which was likely to lead to the most disastrous consequences. This stormy altercation, however, terminated by the house agreeing to the address of the commons by a majority of nearly four to one. The king’s reply to the address was accompanied by a message to the commons, recommending an augmentation to the forces by sea and land; and, in consequence of this message, 2000 additional seamen and 4,400 soldiers were voted—an increase altogether inadequate to meet the contingency; especially as France was at this moment increasing her fleets, and getting many line-of-battle ships ready for sea, which many members justly looked upon with suspicion.

In pursuance of his plan, on the 10th of February, Lord North moved for leave to bring in his bill for cutting off the commerce of New England and their profitable fishery—excepting such persons as should procure from their governors certificates of good and loyal conduct, and who should subscribe a test, acknowledging the supremacy of the British Parliament. This bill was warmly opposed in both houses, on the grounds of confounding the innocent with the guilty—of destroying a trade which perhaps could never be recovered—and of cruelly starving whole provinces, and thus irritating the Americans to withhold debts due to the British merchants. In support of the bill it was argued, that as the Americans had resolved not to trade with England, it was but fair to prevent their trading with other countries; that as they had entered into associations to ruin British merchants, impoverish British manufacturers, and starve our West India islands, it was a justifiable act of retaliation to return their mischiefs upon their own heads; and that, if any foreign power had only offered a tithe part of the insults and injuries we had received from our colonists, the whole nation would have been aroused to advocate revenge, and the minister who would not have responded to the demand would have been inevitably ruined. The charge of cruelty was denied, and the bill asserted to be one of humanity and mercy as well as of coercion. The colonists had incurred the penalties of rebellion, and had, therefore, rendered themselves liable to military execution; but instead of proceeding to such extremities, government only proposed to bring them back to a sense of duty, by a restriction on their trade—that is, they were to be kept without food instead of undergoing corporeal punishment. It was stated, moreover, that they had too long imposed upon us with their threats of depriving us of their trade, hoping thereby to bend the legislature to a compliance with all their demands, until they had completed their plans for asserting their independence. As for American courage and resources, they were considered by the ministers and their supporters in both houses to be unequal to the task of contending with those of England. It was even wished by Lord Sandwich that the Americans could produce four times the number of forces it was stated they could bring into the field; he contending, that the greater the numbers the easier would be the conquest. He even gravely predicted, that if they did not run away, they would starve themselves into compliance with the measures of government, Taking these views of the matter, which were manifestly erroneous, the bill was sanctioned by large majorities. Another bill also passed very soon after it, laying similar restraints on the colonies of New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, and South Carolina, for the hostilities they had exhibited in their sympathy with the people of New England.

PACIFIC MEASURE OF LORD NORTH.

Having adopted such measures as the above, it could hardly be expected that Lord North would lower his tone. Yet, to the surprise of all parties, and even of many of his own adherents, Lord North, in a committee of the whole house, moved the following resolution:—“That when the governor, council, and assembly, or general court of any of his majesty’s provinces or colonies, shall propose to make provision for contributing their proportion to the common defence, such proportion to be raised under the authority of the general court, or general assembly of such province or colony, and disposable by parliament; and shall engage to make provision also for the support of the civil government and administration of justice in such province or colony, it will be proper, if such proposal shall be approved by his majesty in parliament, and for so long as such provision shall be made accordingly, to forbear, in respect of such province or colony, to levy any duties, tax, or assessment, or to impose any further duty, tax, or assessment, except only such duties as it may be expedient to impose for the regulation of commerce—the net produce of which duties last mentioned shall be carried to the account of such province, colony, or plantation exclusively.” Lord North endeavoured to show that this resolution arose out of the following passage in the address:—“And whenever any of the colonies shall make a proper application to us, we shall be ready to afford them every just and reasonable indulgence.” The terms of the resolution, he said, being such as in the hour of victory would be good and just, would afford a test as to the pretensions of the Americans. If their ostensible causes of opposition were real, he conceived that they must agree with such proposals, and that, if they did not agree with them, then it would be proved that they had other views and were actuated by other motives than those which they professed. He added:—“To offer terms of peace is wise and humane; if the colonists reject them, their blood must be on their own heads.” Burke, in his Annual Register, says, that the court party, who always loved a strong government in whatever hands it might be lodged, and accordingly had upon principle ever opposed any relaxation in favour of the colonies, heard these proposals with horror, and considered themselves abandoned and betrayed. Be that as it may, it is certain that opposition to the minister’s motion commenced on the treasury benches. The party, called “the King’s Friends,” at the head of whom were Mr. Welbore Ellis and Mr. Rigby, contended that Lord North’s propositions were in direct opposition to every principle and idea of the address; that the scheme was at variance with all the preceding acts and declarations of parliament, and designed to pay court to the opposition; and that they went to acknowledge that there was, in reality, something unjust and grievous in the idea of taxing the Americans by parliament. In fact, they denounced the whole matter as a shameful prevarication and a mean departure from principle, and boldly asserted that they would make no concessions to rebels with arms in their hands, or give their consent to any measure for a settlement with the Americans, in which an express and definitive acknowledgment of the supremacy of the British parliament was not a preliminary article. Mr. Ackland went so far, indeed, as to move that the chairman should leave the chair, or, in other words, that the committee should be dissolved and the house resumed without the resolutions being put to the vote. Lord North had never been in such a dilemma before, and it seems probable that he would have yielded to the storm he had unconsciously raised, had not Sir Gilbert Elliot and Mr. Wedderburne rose to his rescue. Sir Gilbert Elliot remarked, that the address contained two correspondent lines of conduct—the one tending to repress rebellion, for which measures of restriction had been resorted to, the other offering indulgence to those who would return to their duty. In the address this was necessarily intimated in general and vague terms; but was so far from being contradictory to it, that without it, the plan adopted at the beginning of the session would be defective and unjust. When Wedderburne rose, he declared that nothing was further from the intention of Lord North than a dereliction of the rights of parliament, or a yielding to the insolence of the Americans. What he really proposed was, to enforce the one and repress the other. For himself, he contended, that indulgence should be offered to such of the colonists as would return to their duty, but the contumacious should be proceeded against with an increased army and navy, with gallant officers, who were going to America to enforce the spirited proposition. He added:—“We have at length put the dispute upon its proper footing—revenue or no revenue.” The resolution being thus reconciled with the address, and Lord North having stated that the measure was designed to separate the grain from the chaff, and to disunite the colonies, the “king’s friends” were satisfied. This healing of the breach on the treasury benches, however, had the effect of widening it on the side of the opposition, who had been exulting in the strife. Fox rejoiced in the retrograde movement of the minister; but doubted the sincerity of the motion made, and predicted, that the Americans would reject them with disdain. He was followed by Colonel Barré, who indulged in bitter sarcasm upon Lord North’s recent embarrassment and danger from his friends, and said, that his motion was founded upon the pitiful and abominable maxim, _divide et impera_. It was to divide the Americans, and dissolve their generous union in defence of their rights and liberties; but, he added, “The Americans are not such gudgeons as to be caught with so foolish a bait.” Lord North had by this time recovered his fortitude and he defended himself with great spirit from the attacks which had been made upon him, and justified his motion, on the ground that it would have the effect of sifting the reasonable from the unreasonable—of distinguishing those who acted upon principle, from those who wished to profit by the general confusion and ruin—of dividing the good from the bad, and of giving aid and support to the friends of peace and good government. Burke next attacked the minister. He declared, that the measure was mean without being conciliatory, and that it was a more oppressive mode of taxation than any that had yet been adopted. It was proposed, he said, that the colonies were to be held in durance by troops and fleets, until, singly and separately, they should offer to contribute to a service they could not know, and in a proportion they could not guess, since ministers had not even ventured to hint at the extent of their expectations. This conduct he compared to that of Nebuchadnezzar, who, when he had forgotten his dream, ordered his wise men to relate what he had dreamt, and likewise to give him its interpretation. He added, that every benefit, natural and political, must be acquired in the order of things and in its proper season, and that revenue from a free people must be the consequence, not the condition, of peace. Dunning next followed, showering more sarcasms and more odious comparisons on the head of Lord North than any of the preceding speakers; but in the end the resolution was adopted by a majority of two hundred and seventy-four against eighteen.

{GEORGE III. 1775–1776}

BURKE’S PLAN OF CONCILIATION.