complexity and infinite modifications, according BOOK to the temper of those who are to be governed, and to the circumstances of things; which being infinitely diversified, government ought to be adapted to them, and to conform itself to their nature, instead of vainly endeavouring to force that to a contrary bias. Circumstances, not in our power to alter or control, made concession on the subject of taxation indispensably essential to the attainment of peace. He observed, that there were three plans afloat for putting an end to the present troubles. The 1st, simple war, in order to a perfect conquest. The 2d, a mixture of war and treaty. And the 3d, peace grounded on concession. Having demonstrated by cogent arguments the inefficacy of the two former systems, he stated the necessity of concession; and he farther maintained, that this necessity being admitted, should be immediately adopted, and appear a mere act of their own free grace. The first ground of treaty must be confidence. All confidence in government on the part of the Americans had been destroyed by the measures pursued during the last ten years. This confidence could only be restored by the interposition of parliament, coming in as an aid and security for government, and tracing out a firm foundation on which to establish a solid and lasting peace. XVII. 1775. XVII. BOOK He stated the reasons which induced him to make the statute de tallagio 35 Edward I. the 1775. pattern for his bill. The ancient disputes between the kings and the people of England were, he observed, extremely analogous to those now subsisting between the parliament and the natives of America. The claim of sovereignty was the same in both instances, and the evils which were effectually removed by the statute de tallagio corresponded exactly with those which the present bill was intended to remedy. Thus they had happily a precedent of the first authority, to afford a clue for their conduct. Our kings were formerly in the practice of levying taxes upon the people by their own authority, and it was held to be an indefeasible right, and inseparable prerogative of the crown. Yet one of the greatest and wisest of our monarchs by an express and positive act cut off from the sovereign power this right of taxing. This statute had been the foundation of the liberty and happiness of England from that time. Yet it was absolutely silent about the right, and confined itself to giving satisfaction in future. It laid down no principles which might tend to affect the royal prerogative in other particulars; but, on the contrary, its tendency was to preserve the other branches of the prerogative by the clear and unreserved surrender of XVII. 1775. this obnoxious power. He showed the confor- BOOK mity of his own bill to the spirit of that act; and though the circumstances were not in every respect parallel, they were sufficiently so to justify his following an example that gave satisfaction and security on the subject of taxation, and left all other rights and powers whatsoever, exactly upon the bottom on which they had stood before that arrangement had taken place upon the whole. The great object of the present bill, he said, was a renunciation of the exercise of taxation, without at all interfering with the question of right; it preserved the power of levying duties for the regulation of commerce; but the money so raised (agreeably to an excellent idea suggested by the conciliatory motion of lord North) was to be at the disposal of the several general assemblies. The tea duty of 1767 was to be repealed, and a general amnesty granted." This was a wise, simple, and rational plan of conciliation; and it met with a less unfavourable reception from the house than any hitherto attempted; but on a division upon the previous question, the numbers were 210 against 105 who voted in support of the original motion, In a few days after this the minister brought in his famous Prohibitory Bill, interdicting all trade and intercourse with the Thirteen United XVII. BOOK Colonies. By this bill, all property of AmeriA cans, whether of ships or goods, on the high 1775. seas or in harbour, is declared forfeited to the captors; so that it amounted in fact to an absolute declaration of war. This, the opposition justly affirmed, was cutting off at the root all hope of future accommodation; and they pronounced it to be a formal ACT of ABDICATION of our government over the colonies; it drove the two countries to the fatal extremity of absolute conquest on the one side, or absolute independency on the other. The offers of pardon, by which the bill was accompanied, were said to be ridiculous when offered to men who acknowledged no crime, and who are conscious not of doing, but merely of suffering, wrong. The repeal of the Boston Port, Fishery, and Restraining Acts, being included in this bill, as entirely superseded by the operation of it, Mr. Fox moved an amendment, to leave out the whole title and body of the bill excepting the parts relative to such repeal. This produced a warm debate, which continued till midnight, when the amendment was rejected by a majority of 192 to 64 voices. In the house of lords the bill was again combated on every ground of policy, humanity, and justice. Lord Mansfield in the course of the debate remarked, "that we had passed the RUBI XVII. 1775. CON, and were not now at liberty to consider the BOOK questions of original right or wrong, justice or injustice. We were engaged in a war, and we must use our utmost efforts to obtain the ends proposed by it; quoting in illustration the laconic speech of a gallant officer serving in the army of Gustavus Adolphus, who, pointing to the enemy, said to his men, "See you those lads! KILL them, or they will kill you." The same sentiment his lordship atfirmed to be applicable to the present case. If we do not get the better of America, America will get the better of us.Are we to stand idle because we are told this is an unjust war, and wait till they have brought their arms to our very doors? The justice of the cause must give way to our present situation. Such were the abominable arguments now used to reconcile the minds of men to this unjust, cruel, and bloody war, by venerable and learned sages wearing the robes and holding the balance of justice. No speech in or out of parliament is supposed to have operated more extensively on the irritated minds of the colonists than this. The great abilities and profound legal knowledge of lord Mansfield were both known and admired in America. That this illustrious oracle of law should declare from the seat of legislation that the justice of the cause was no longer to be regarded, excited the astonishment |