Mr. Washington in the face, and then turn his back upon him. Mr. Burgoyne is directed to march to New York, or to effect a junction with Mr. Howe. Mr. Howe goes aboard his ships, and after beating to the southward, gets on the other side of Philadelphia. In the mean time Mr. Burgoyne is surrounded by the provincials, and applies for succour to general Clinton. Mr. Clinton is in the very act of complying with the request, when he receives an order from Mr. Howe, for a reinforcement of 4,000 men, to defend himself in his redoubts, in the neighbourhood of Philadelphia. What is the effect of this? Burgoyne is surrounded, aud taken prisoner, with his whole army. Clinton is weakened so much as probably to share the same fate, or at least the detachment from his army under the command of general Vaughan is. New York and Rhode-Island of course become in the most imminent danger; and the provincials, on every side victorious, flock to the standard of Mr. Washington, who, by the aid of this additional force, either takes Mr. Howe and his army prisoners, or compels them to go aboard their vessels, and take shelter in New York or Great Britain. This, my lords, is the general state of our military situation, according to the latest accounts; and such is it in my opinion, that if I do not hear full and sufficient reasons for this extraordinary conduct. that I protest I think Mr. Howe would deserve to be brought home in chains. His lordship proved in the strongest terms, the bad conduct of the war; the fatal consequences of which had even already been of such a nature, that the nation ought to have justice by a public trial and execution of the party really blameable; adding, that if the minister could make appear, that general Howe and general Clinton disobeyed orders, they ought instantly both be put in irons, and sent home to be tried for their lives; if, on the other hand, it turned out to be the fault of the minister, that minister should be forthwith seized, tried and executed; indeed, nothing ought to be held a palliation of his guilt, or soften the severity of his punishment, but a frank and full declaration who it was advised him to take a part, or recommended him to the service of his sovereign at such a critical juncture. it He wished not more than any of his colleagues in opposition, to obtrude him self into office. The man who would enter unsolicited into the service of a person, deserved to have his offers treated with contempt. There was one very material reason why parliament should not be adjourned. It was this; parliament, by attending to the measures, could easily discover the incapacity of the ministers. The surrender of general Burgoyne, and the consequent disgrace of the British arms, was a fact which it was not in the power of sophistry to explain away. Almost 6,000 men had been reduced to the necessity of laying down their arms. The whole of the British northern army had thus surrendered prisoners, and some generals of the provincial militia had escorted them to Boston. Some very respectable characters, who came over in the Warwick, had proved the truth of this catastrophe. A letter had been received from general Fraser which contained this expression; "I am not on a bed of roses, yet I care not for my own person." Some of the most respectable officers had foreseen the calamity which would happen to general Burgoyne; they had remonstrated to him; but, regardless of their remonstrances, he had rushed on, and had met with his fate. How was this obstinate pursuit of a very desperate project to be accounted for? On this principle: the orders to Mr. Burgoyne were positive; he was to push through at any rate. The orders to general Howe, and those to Mr. Clinton, were not positive, but discretionary. The consequences had been such as might be expected. General Vaughan had undertaken an expedition in which it was very probable that he would share the same fate with Mr. Burgoyne. Should a worse befal him, he was not to be pitied. The man who had most inhumanly reduced the town of Esopus to ashes, because it was, in his estimation, inhabited by a nest of villains, should be smitten for his cruelty by the scourge of justice. As to the state of the garrisons in America, general Carleton had only three regiments at Quebec. The last advices from Ticonderoga mention the deplorable sickness which prevailed amongst the troops. What had been the situation of the affairs? Had the smallest degree of unanimity prevailed amongst the officers? Very far from it. Mr. Clinton had been jealous of general Burgoyne; general Howe had not placed much confidence in Mr. Clinton; and general Carleton had shewn the utmost indifference for all those gentlemen. Xenophon ascribes the success of his retreat with the ten-thousand, to the unanimity which prevailed through- | out the army, and to the profound deference which the officers and soldiers paid to each other. The opposite to this had been the case in America. could the populace of Madrid be restrained from violence on the occasion. The people of this country were not of such complexional warmth as those of Spain; the loss of an army of 6,000 men was a trifling calamity which hardly occasioned a rumour in our streets. The good sense of the public had been boasted by the ministers, as affording support to their measures. How many delusive arts had been practised to impose on the good sense of the nation? yet the day of enquiry would come. These convenient adjournments of parliament were so many presages that it was near at hand. Ministers could not meet the force of their op the truth, and, like Pilate, they waved the question, and adjourned the court. This was treating parliament as a mere engine of state; as necessary only for the registry of edicts. When England submitted to this, her liberty would be lost. The liberty of a free people existed no longer, than whilst the poorest man in the community could demand redress of the first minister in the country; and this as a matter of right. The House divided: Contents 47; Not Contents. 17. Their lordships then adjourned to the 20th of January 1778. 1778. As to terms of conciliation, in treating with the colonies for peace, the object of independence, like the preamble to a sta tute, should not be mentioned until the body of conditions were adjusted. One good might result from the evil of defeat; had America not been so successful, she would have been entirely thrown into the arms of France; she would have been the property of our enemies, rather than she would have submitted to our tyranny. The faint glimmering of hope still remain-ponents objections; talk to them about ed. Were we wise, the feeble ray should conduct us, as the star directed the magi of the East, to the dwellings of peace. Should war be still our object, it would be infinitely more conducive even to the pursuit of that measure, for general Howe to treat general Washington, as he did in the Jerseys, to look at him, and return to winter quarters in New York. To suppose that America would ever negociate with those in whose sincerity she could not confide, was to imagine a very vain thing. The negociating talents of the present ministers had been already tried. The first proposition of the noble lord (North) in the other House, had only subjected him to the pity of his friends, and to the ridicule of his enemies. The project for the 8 per cent. revenue from Nova Scotia, had been laughed at by every custom house officer in the British do minions. The powers with which the famous commissioners had been entrusted, extending no further than to grant pardons, and receive submissions, had been scouted by the Americans. Such proofs had the ministers given of the super-excellency of their negociating talents. Had their conduct of the war been marked with the trait of wisdom? Let the expedition of Mr. Burgoyne answer that question. It had been projected by the rashness of folly, and it had been attempted to be executed in the madness of despair. The overthrow of Mr. Burgoyne was a national misfortune of so great a magnitude, that it was very astonishing the indignation of the people had not been rouzed. A disaster of not half so much consequence had thrown Spain into confusion. When general O'Reilly failed in the expedition against the Algerines, he was recalled with indignity; nor Debate in the Commons on raising Troops by Subscription without Consent of Parliament.] January 22, 1778. Sir Philip Jennings Clerke. Sir, I rise to fulfil a promise I made to several of my neighbours, before I left the country, which was, to enquire into the state and circumstances of several new levies of troops, which have been lately ordered to be raised. The people of the country have been told, Sir, that the American war is the war of parliament; they are therefore exceedingly alarmed to hear that a large body of men has been raised during the recess of parliament, without their knowledge or advice, not the least intimation having been given by the minister of such an intention before the adjournment; on the contrary, the noble lord told the House he had a conciliatory proposition to make at their next meeting, which he thought would end to the advantage of this country. The noble lord, instead of a peace, has produced an army, an army raised under the auspices of persons who have never been noted for their loyalty to their sovereign, or their attachment to the constitution. To know into what hands the sword is placed is the grand object of this enquiry. However necessary it may be to raise troops to continue this destructive war, it is incumbent on us to take care that the sword is placed in safe hands; that it is not turned against our selves; and that these powers which are now employed to destroy the freedom of America, in the end may not endanger our own. The motion I am now going to make is, "That an humble Address be presented to his Majesty, that he will be graciously pleased to give directions, that there be laid before this House an Account of the number of Troops ordered to be raised during the late adjournment of parliament; specifying the different corps, and the names of the officers appointed to command them, and also the names of all the officers appointed to serve in each rank in the different corps, and the time each officer has served in any other corps in the army, previous to such appointment; and the rank he held." Lord Barrington had no objection to the motion, but thought that the number of troops raised was improper information, and therefore moved to leave out those words, and to say, an account specifying the different corps which have been ordered to be raised duringthe late adjournment, &c."-The motion was agreed to. Lord North observed, he was happy in having it in his power to inform the House, that the purposes for which the adjournment was originally proposed had not only been answered, by the active exertion of the various officers employed in the several departments of his Majesty's service, but that the voluntary unsolicited efforts of several loyal subjects, had also contributed to this effect. A subscription had lately been set on foot in several parts of the kingdom, that not only intimated the most valid indications of truly patriotic zeal, but also gave a most flattering appearance of the public acquiescence in the conduct of administration. It was no little comfort to persons interested in public employments to observe, that the opinion universally entertained of their management was not influenced by contingencies that human sagacity could not impede, and it was a pleasure peculiarly grateful to an honest Englishman, that amidst such emergencies, the fortitude of the people should shine particularly conspicuous. Mr. T. Townshend asserted the extreme impropriety in the conduct of administration, in making so long a recess, at a time they intended to adopt so important a measure as that of levying and raising, within the kingdom, so considerable a military force as 15,000 men, without the previous consent of parliament. He said, if one regiment, raised in so unconstitutional a manner, could be justified, twenty, fifty, or any given number, might in the same manner. What fence or protection were the constitution and the laws against arbitrary power, if all its friends had to do, in order to establish such a mode of government, was to promote subscriptions for raising troops, and when they were raised and embodied, employing them in support of their favourite doctrines? Respecting the purposes, to effect which those troops were to be employed, and the necessity arising from the present state of our colonies, parliament had no right at all to interfere, or they must have been the best and only judges of both the purposes and the necessity. Why, then, adjourn parliament without consulting them? He would grant in argument every thing those most sanguine for the measure might wish to urge in its favour; but still, though the essence of the constitution was lost, it behoved ministers to at least preserve the forms of it; and not, by adjourning parliament to a long day, on pur pose to exercise its only great constitutional power, that of granting money, incur the actual expenditure, and bind parliamentary faith first, and then call upon that House, as a matter of course, to provide for that expenditure. Lord North rested his defence, first, on the ground of necessity; secondly, on the impracticability of imparting what was not, nor could not be known, to ministers at the time of the adjournment; and thirdly, on their conduct being perfectly constitutional. The necessity, he said, would not be disputed; the very arguments daily urged by gentlemen on the other side, proved it beyond a possibility of doubt. The operations of the next campaign, in America, would call for the most vigorous exertions, if our colonies should obstinately persist in refusing to agree to reasonable terms of accommodation. It was not in the power of administration, before the recess, to bring the matter as a measure before parliament, because, in fact, except in a very few instances, they were totally ignorant of what afterwards happened. Offers had been made; but in what in-funded 5 million, He continued to obstances; other than those already made; serve on the present mode of raising supor how far they might be received or re- plies, that he would consider its propriety jected, could not, at the time parliament in two separate points of view; first, wheadjourned, be possibly in the contempla- ther it was in respect of expence the most tion of ministers. As to the last point, on economical; and secondly, whether it which the right hon. gentleman had deli- was in respect of strength the most effecvered his sentiments with so much vehe- tual. He considered the first expence of mence and acrimony, relative to the con- raising a regiment to be about 5,000. tempt thrown upon parliament, and the So much we receive, supposing that the breach of the constitution, he begged supplies flow from the voluntary gift of the leave to draw a very different conclusion. subscribers. They are embodied in sepaThe American war was a constitutional rate corps, habited, maintained for the war; it was a popular war; and the offers war, discharged, and placed upon the made to the crown, and accepted of, were half-pay list, all which, calculating the perfectly constitutional. The right of the amount of half-pay at ten years purchase, supreme legislature was denied; arms had would cost us 30,000l. so that we in reality been taken up by our rebellious subjects receive 60,000l. as there are 16 regiin America, in maintenance of this denial; ments offered, to pay 480,000l. That this a very loyal part of his Majesty's subjects is economy worthy the people who conhad expressed their abhorrence of such an trived it he was well convinced; the offer unnatural rebellion; and had, in proof of received was a seeming advantage, but an those sentiments, offered their persons and actual loss; for where there was ever octheir purses in support of the constitutional casion for multiplying the supplies granted rights of this country. by parliament, it was most œconomical to raise them in separate corps, while the battalions already raised want more than one half of their war establishments, as it brings a double charge of officers both on full and half-pay, which charge constitutes the expence, amounting, as he said before, to 30,000/. for each 5,000l. Mr. Burke took notice of the zeal of the noble lord, and the warmth of his bosom for the public weal. He supposed it to be that zeal, warmth, and ardour, that had induced him to assist, if not to devise, the raising of men without the knowledge of parliament, and by that means acting unconstitutionally for the good of his country. He remembered that the noble lord voted for an adjournment of parliament for six weeks, for two several reasons; the one, to give him an opportunity of digesting an equitable plan of conciliation, founded on concession; and the other, to guard him from being shot through and through with the long arrows of militant opposition. It had turned out, he said, however, that another more substantial reason existed for the adjournment of parliament-not of contriving propositions of peace, but of securing force towards war, in an illegal, unconstitutional, and extravagant way. He observed on the present crisis of Great Britain, that it was lamentable in the extreme. He said, he had the same day examined the state of our funds, and found that the 3 per cents consolidated stood at 714; and he begged leave to contrast that with the state of the same fund in January, 1760, the fifth year of a war with the united House of Bourbon, when they were 79. In the latter instance they were 79, when we had funded 23 million; and in the first they are 71, when we have So far as to the economy. As to the efficacy, he would only observe, that in our former wars, it was held prudent and expedient to advance the battalions from their peace to their war establishment, which was nearly double, mingling thereby the new with the veteran troops, and adding to the strength of the one the experience of the other. This, he said, was the practice of former times; it was so done last war, and, as we were crowned with conquest, he would not believe that it was wrong, nor would he adopt any other mode in preference to it. He observed, ironically, that of all the expedients used by a skilful ministry towards redeeming public credit, none was ever more truly deserving of attention, or more worthy of applause, than the present. A charitable subscription was begun for the relief of the distressed American prisoners, and the ministry nobly caught at the contrivance, envied the small contributions made to relieve the distress themselves had occasioned, and opened the strings and the mouth of a subscription-bag for the treasury. Convinced as they were, that the country would no longer be induced by interest, to hazard their money in sub-pect that his garter would preserve him scribing towards loans, secured by government, they applied to their benevolence, and, like a beggar asking a boon, received charitable donations from the pity-disposed people of this country. He said the noble lord in the blue ribbon reminded him of Pericles, who exhausted with misfortune, wasted with disease, and lingering with pain, walked abroad, bedecked with amulets, charms, and faws of old women. The loan now unfilled and unpaid, was his disease; and the charitable contributions of his friends were his amulets and charms. He was ready to grant, that voluntary donations might be fairly interpreted, as proofs of a people's affection, but they were no less so of their real poverty. Private and public life exhibited pregnant proofs, that solicitations on one hand, or benevolences on the other, were the common effects of pride, poverty and pity. Persons might be mean from choice, naked from madness; but rags discovered an involuntary madness, or a poverty willing to be concealed. It was true, that France, during the late war, in the midst of her national distresses, was assisted by the people, who delivered their plate for the public service. This was a glorious instance of national patriotism, but it was likewise a proof of national poverty. The mention of the last war must recal to the minds of every person present, the most disagreeable and humiliating ideas, and fill the House, as well as nation, with regret. He then contrasted the state of this country at present, and at the period alluded to, in the most striking point of view; and said, what added a particular aggravation to the nature of our misfortunes was, that every wicked, weak, or blundering measure was sanctioned under the name of the constitution; every thing that was transacted in parliament, cabinet, or elsewhere, was sheltered under that venerable name. The use this word was lately employed in, brought to his recollection, Dean Swift's application of Whitshed, a prostitute Irish crown lawyer's motto on his coach, "libertas et natale solum," which would be applied by every man according to his own ideas, or as his interests led him. Just so with the noble lord; the idea annexed to the word constitution' by him was very different to its true import in a limited monarchy. He might mention it as often as he pleased, and ring the changes upon constitution, constitutional, &c. but he might as well vainly ex from the gout, or his ribbon expel a fever, as to imagine, that to prostitute the word constitution, would prevent an investigation into his conduct at some future period. Mr. Dunning, whatever the noble lord might think, by no means approved of the Highlands of Scotland and the towns of Manchester and Liverpool taking the lead. When the nation, about two years since, were as busy in manufacturing addresses, as they are now in promoting subscriptions, he considered it as ominous that Manchester was the first addresser; and he looked upon it equally ominous now, that she was the first subscriber. He censured the conduct of the committee at the London Tavern, very severely, for the advertisements put forth by them, as both illegal and unconstitutional. He was certain that many displayed their names in the list, who were actuated by no such motive. It could not in its nature be voluntary. Men who lay under obligations to government, were compelled to this ostentation of gratitude, and their adherents, in their turn, made a virtue of necessity so that nothing could be fairly inferred from it concerning the inclinations of the people, or their acquiescence with government. He was not disposed to the invidious task of discriminating in a public catalogue, between the deserving and the undeserving; but he could per ceive, from the list of subscribers, that though the sagacity of some might be confided in, their establishing themselves into a committee, and being thereby in an important national concern, a substitute for parliament, was an act that they were not qualified to exert. He therefore was led to propose an amendment in the terms of this subscription, and that for the future, when such proposals should be made, they should be required to say, "for such uses as the parliament should think fit," and not as a committee should please to direct. Colonel Barré proposed an amendment to the motion, and required that the uses for which the different corps had been raised, should be particularly specified. It was very necessary that parliament should know the peculiar purposes and destinations of all the different bodies of men that were levied under their sanction. This Amendment being complied with, the motion was carried. Mr. Fox observed, that it were happy for the ministry if the House could forget |