disinterested concurrence in opinion upon public measures, or from the sacred bond of private friendship and esteem. What I mean is, that no single man's private friendships or connexions, however extensive, are sufficient of themselves either to form or overturn an administration. With respect to the Ministry, I believe that they have fewer rivals than they imagine. No prudent man will covet a situation so beset with difficulty and danger.

"I shall trouble your Lordships with but a few words more. His Majesty tells us in his speech, that he will call upon us for our advice, if it should be necessary in the further progress of this affair. It is not easy to say whether or no the Ministry are serious in this declaration; nor what is meant by the progress of an affair which rests upon one fixed point. Hitherto we have not been called upon. But, though we are not consulted, it is our right and duty, as the King's great hereditary council, to offer him our advice. The papers mentioned in the noble Duke's motion, will enable us to form a just and accurate opinion of the conduct of his Majesty's servants, though not of the actual state of their honourable negotiations. The Ministry too seem to want advice upon some points, in which their own safety is immediately concerned. They are now balancing between a war which they ought to have foreseen, but for which they have made no provision, and an ignominious compromise. Let me warn them of their danger.-If they are forced into a war, they stand it at the hazard of their heads. If, by an ignominious compromise, they should stain the honour of the Crown, or sacrifice the rights of the people, let them look to their consciences, and consider whether they will be able to walk the streets in safety."

The Duke of Richmond's motion was negatived by a majority of 65 to 21.

The repugnance of Louis the Fifteenth to involve himself in a fresh war induced the King of Spain to comply with the requisitions of the British Government; to disown the conduct of Buccarelli, and to restore the island. It was however evacuated, three years afterwards, by the British.

DEBATE IN THE LORDS ON THE BILL FOR QUARTERING TROOPS IN NORTH AMERICA.

In the year 1770, the duties on paper, pasteboards, painters' colours, and white and red lead, were taken off; while that of threepence per pound on tea was retained in order to evidence the right of the mother country to tax the colonies. Since the non-importation agreements, the Americans had been principally supplied with tea smuggled from Holland. This had so much reduced the exportation of that article from this country, that about seventeen millions of pounds had accumulated in the

* Vide 10 Geo. III. c. xvii.

warehouses of the East India Company. With a view to furnish a market for this large stock, and thereby to relieve the financial position of the Company, which was at this time very much embarrassed, Lord North, in the year 1773, introduced a measure for permitting them to export tea, duty free, to all parts of the world. By this regulation, though it was loaded on its importation into America with an exceptional duty of three pence in the pound, it would come cheaper to the colonies than before it had been made a source of revenue; for the duty which had been taken off on its exportation from Great Britain amounted to one shilling per pound. The colonists having gained intelligence of the intention of the East India Company to exercise the power with which they had been invested by the legislature, and to freight vessels with tea to the several ports of America, determined to resist this attempt of Great Britain to tax them; and meetings were accordingly held in the capitals of the different provinces, and combinations formed to obstruct the sales of the tea which was expected to be sent by the East India Company. The captains of the vessels which had arrived at New York and Philadelphia, laden with that commodity, being apprised of the resolutions of the people, and fearing the consequences of landing an article charged with an odious duty, in opposition to their declared public sentiments, determined on returning to Great Britain, without making an entry at the Custom-house. It was otherwise however at Boston. Three ships laden with tea having arrived at that port, the captains, who had been compelled to bring them to the wharf, were terrified into a concession, that if they were permitted by the consignees, the Board of Customs, and the fort of Castle William, they would return with their cargoes to England. These promises could not be fulfilled; the consignees refused to discharge the captains from the obligations under which they were chartered for the delivery of their cargoes; the Customhouse refused them a clearance for their return without the previous payment of the duties; and the Governor to grant them a passport to clear the fort without a certificate from the Custom-house. In this state of things, it appeared to the people of Boston that the only alternative left for them in order to prevent the tea from being landed and sold, with the obnoxious duty attached to it, was at once to destroy it. About seventeen men, therefore, under the disguise of Mohawk Indians, boarded the ships, and in a few hours discharged their whole cargoes into the sea, without doing any other damage, or offering any violence to the captains or crews. It was remarkable that the authorities at Boston were totally inactive upon this occasion, and made no attempt to prevent the destruction of the cargoes.

When intelligence of the outrages which had been committed at Boston, on board the three ships laden with tea, reached this country, it was made the subject of a message from the Throne to both Houses of Parliament; and a bill was shortly afterwards introduced, and received the sanction of the legislature, for shutting up the port of Boston, until full satisfaction should

* Vide 13 Geo. III. c. xliv.

VOL. I.

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be made to the East India Company for the loss of their tea.* While this bill was before Parliament, two others, which likewise subsequently became law, were introduced. By the former of these measures, the charter of Massachusetts Bay was entirely subverted, and the nomination of councillors, magistrates, and all civil officers, vested in the Crown; and by the latter it was provided, that if any person were indicted in the province of Massachusetts Bay for murder, or any other capital offence, and it should appear to the Governor, by information on oath, that the fact was committed in the exercise or aid of the magistracy in suppressing tumults and riots, and that a fair trial could not be had in the province, he should send the person so indicted to any other colony, or to Great Britain, for trial.

1774. May 27. Lord Chatham's state of health during the two preceding sessions had precluded him from making any considerable parliamentary exertions, and he had rarely attended in his place in the House of Lords; but finding himself at this period somewhat relieved from the pressure of his complaints, he took the opportunity, on the third reading of the bill for quartering troops in America, to lay before the House and the country his thoughts on this bill, and on American affairs in general, in the following speech. He said:

"My Lords, the unfavourable state of health under which I have long laboured, could not prevent me from laying before your Lordships my thoughts on the bill now upon the table, and on the American affairs in general.

"If we take a transient view of those motives which induced the ancestors of our fellow-subjects in America to leave their native country, to encounter the innumerable difficulties of the unexplored regions of the western world, our astonishment at the present conduct of their descendants will naturally subside. There was no corner of the world into which men of their free and enterprising spirit would not fly with alacrity, rather than submit to the slavish and tyrannical principles which prevailed at that period in their native country. And shall we wonder, my Lords, if the descendants of such illustrious characters spurn with contempt the hand of unconstitutional power, that would snatch from them such dear-bought privileges as they now contend for? Had the British colonies been planted by any other kingdom than our own, the inhabitants would have carried with them the chains of slavery, and spirit of despotism; but as they are, they ought to be remembered as great instances to instruct the world what great exertions mankind will naturally make when they are left to the free exercise of their own powers. And, my Lords, notwithstanding my intention to give my hearty negative to the question now before you, I cannot help condemning, in the

* 14 Geo. III. c. xix. The tea was destroyed at Boston on the 18th of December, 1773, and the message from the Throne delivered on the 7th of March, 1774. The value of the tea destroyed was estimated at £18,000.

† 14 Geo. III. c. xxxix.

14 Geo. III. c. xliv.

severest manner, the late turbulent and unwarrantable conduct of the Americans in some instances, particularly in the late riots of Boston. But, my Lords, the mode which has been pursued to bring them back to a sense of their duty to their parent state, has been so diametrically opposite to the fundamental principles of sound policy, that individuals, possessed of common understanding, must be astonished at such proceedings. By blocking up the harbour of Boston, you have involved the innocent trader in the same punishment with the guilty profligates who destroyed your merchandise; and instead of making a well-concerted effort to secure the real offenders, you clap a naval and military extinguisher over their harbour, and punish the whole body of the inhabitants for the crime of a few lawless depredators and their abettors.

"My Lords, this country is little obliged to the framers and promoters of this tea tax. The Americans had almost forgot, in their excess of gratitude for the repeal of the Stamp Act, any interest but that of the mother country; there seemed an emulation among the different provinces who should be most dutiful and forward in their expressions of loyalty to their real benefactor; as you will readily perceive by the following letter from Governor Bernard to a noble Lord then in office.

"The House of Representatives (says he), from the time of opening the session to this day, has shown a disposition to avoid all dispute with me; every thing having passed with as much good humour as I could desire. They have acted, in all things, with temper and moderation; they have avoided some subjects of dispute, and have laid a foundation for removing some causes of former altercation.'

"This, my Lords, was the temper of the Americans; and it would have continued, had it not been interrupted by your fruitless endeavours to tax them without their consent: but the moment they perceived your intention was renewed to tax them, under a pretence of serving the East India Company, their resentment got the ascendant of their moderation, and hurried them into actions contrary to law, which, in their cooler hours, they would have thought on with horror; for I sincerely believe the destroying of the tea was the effect of despair.

"But, my Lords, from the complexion of the whole of the proceedings, I think that Administration has purposely irritated them into those late violent acts, for which they now so severely smart; purposely to be revenged on them for the victory they gained by the repeal of the Stamp Act; a measure in which they seemingly acquiesced, but to which at the bottom they were real enemies. For what other motive could induce them to dress taxation, that father of American sedition, in the robes of an East India Director, but to break in upon that mutual peace and harmony which then so happily subsisted between them and the mother country?

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My Lords, I am an old man, and would advise the noble Lords in office to adopt a more gentle method of governing America: for the day is not far distant when America may vie with these kingdoms, not only in arms, but

in arts also. It is an established fact, that the principal towns in America are learned and polite, and understand the constitution of the empire as well as the noble Lords who are now in office; and, consequently, they will have a watchful eye over their liberties, to prevent the least encroachment on their hereditary rights.

"This observation has been so recently exemplified in an excellent pamphlet, which comes from the pen of an American gentleman, that I shall take the liberty of reading to your Lordships his thoughts on the competency of the British Parliament to tax America, which, in my opinion, puts this interesting matter in the clearest view.

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:

"The High Court of Parliament,' says he, is the supreme legislative power over the whole empire; in all free states the constitution is fixed; and as the supreme legislature derives its power and authority from the constitution, it cannot overleap the bounds of it, without destroying its own foundation. The constitution ascertains and limits both sovereignty and allegiance and therefore his Majesty's American subjects, who acknowledge themselves bound by the ties of allegiance, have an equitable claim to the full enjoyment of the fundamental rules of the English constitution; and that it is an essential unalterable right in nature, ingrafted into the British constitution as a fundamental law, and ever held sacred and irrevocable by the subjects within the realm-that what a man has honestly acquired, is absolutely his own; which he may freely give, but which cannot be taken from him without his consent.'

ever.

"This, my Lords, though no new doctrine, has always been my received and unalterable opinion, and I will carry it to my grave, that this country had no right under heaven to tax America. It is contrary to all the principles of justice and civil policy, which neither the exigencies of the state, nor even an acquiescence in the taxes, could justify upon any occasion whatSuch proceedings will never meet with their wished-for success; and, instead of adding to their miseries, as the bill now before you most undoubtedly does, adopt some lenient measures, which may lure them to their duty; act like a kind and affectionate parent towards a child whom he tenderly loves; and, instead of those harsh and severe proceedings, pass an amnesty on all their youthful errors; clasp them once more in your fond and affectionate arms; and, I will venture to affirm, you will find them children worthy of their sire. But should their turbulence exist after your proffered terms of forgiveness, which I hope and expect this House will immediately adopt, I will be among the foremost of your Lordships to move for such measures as will effectually prevent a future relapse, and make them feel what it is to provoke a fond and forgiving parent! a parent, my Lords, whose welfare has ever been my greatest and most pleasing consolation. This declaration may seem unnecessary; but I will venture to declare, the period is not far distant when she will want the assistance of her most distant friends but should the all-disposing hand of Providence prevent me from affording her my poor assistance, my prayers shall be ever for her welfare.