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too nearly upon contempt, but to thwart, and endeavour to overbear him on fmaller matters, in a manner, which, in other places, would have probably been confidered, at leaf, as captions and petulant.

The noble Earl found great fault, both as to matter and manner, with the fpeech from the throne. He faid, it had been cuftomary on fimilar occafions, not to lead parliament, but to be guided by it; it had been ufual to afk the advice of that Houfe, the hereditary Great Council of the nation, not to dictate to it. But the prefent fpeech, faid he, tells of meafures already agreed upon, and very cavalierly defires your concurrence. It indeed talks of wifdom and fupport; and it counts on the certainty of events yet in the womb of time; but in point of plan and defign it is peremptory and dictatorial. This, he infifted, was treating them in the most contemptuous manner; it was a language not fit to be endured, and for which the minifters who advised it deferved the fevereft reprehenfion. It was befides the language of an ill founded confidence, fupported only by a fucceflion of difappointments, difgraces, and defeats. It required them to place an unlimited confidence in thofe who had hitherto mifguided, deceived, and mifled them; and to grant, not what they might be fatisfied was neceffary, but what the minifters might think fo; troops, fleets, treaties, and fubfidies, not yet revealed. If they fhould agree to the propofed addrefs, they should ftand pledged for all thefe, what ever their extent; they could not retreat; whatever they might be,

they muft ftand bound to the con fequences.

In ftating his arguments for the amendment, he afferted fome facts, and predicted the fame confequences, which were foreseen in the Houfe of Commons. He declared, that the House of Bourbon would break with us; that he knew their intentions to be hostile; and that the prefent was the only time in which parliament or the nation would have it in their pow er to treat with America. That France and Spain had done a great deal; but they had declined to do all that America defired. That America was at that time in an ill humour; and might then be detached from her connexions with thofe powers, if reasonable terms of accommodation were held

out to her; but if not, the opportunity would be loft; an opportanity, which, he foretold, we should never again have. And, defcribing the war with its confequences, in that strong and comprehenfive language, by which he was fo particularly diftinguished, after declaring that the plans of the minifters were founded in deftruction and difgrace, he faid further, "It is, my Lords, a ruinous and deftructive war; it is full of danger; it teems with difgrace, and muft end in ruin."

The motion for the amendment was fupported by nearly all the eloquence and ability on that fide of the Houfe; moft of the diftinguifhed fpeakers having taken fo full and active a fhare in the debate, as to render it exceedingly interefting. As the immediate danger of a foreign war, and our inability to fupport it whilft we continued involved in our unhappy

domeftic

tion.

domeftic conteft, was one of the ftrongeft new grounds of argument taken by the oppofition, in fupport of all other and former motives for an accommodation, the noble Lord at the head of the Admiralty, to obviate any effect founded upon that apprehenfion, drew a moft flattering reprefentation of our then ftate of naval force and preparaThat minifter is faid to bave declared, that we had at that inftant a naval force in readiness for immediate service, fuperior to any thing which the whole House of Bourbon could then oppose to it; that we were fo forward in point of preparation, as to infure to a certainty a continuance of that fuperiority; that he fhould be wanting in the difcharge of his duty if it were otherwife; and that, happy in giving the prefent information, he wifhed it to be generally known, that we had nothing to dread from France and Spain, but fhould be at full liberty to profecute this war to a fair, honourable, and happy issue.

The noble Lord who moved the amendment, had alfo dwelt long, and with much severity of animadverfion, not only on the war and on its confequences, but on the mode of carrying it on, by which, he faid, all remains of brotherly love towards us, must be eradicated from the bofoms of our countrymen in America. That the tomohawk and the scalping knife were difgraceful weapons for enforcing British authority. That the calling on the favages, whofe way of making war is to murder women and children, and to burn their prisoners of war alive by flow fires, and then to eat their flefh, was a scandalous proceeding in a

civilized and Chriftian nation. A noble Duke, long celebrated in oppofition, after calling on the right reverend Bench, to affift in the Chriftian purpose of stopping the effuffion of Chriftian Proteftant blood, reminded them, that their temporal concerns were only a fe condary object of their fitting there; that their firft duty was, by example, mildness, and perfuafion, to foften the public deliberations; and particularly in cafes which fo materially affect the object of all religion, as the morality of actions, and were of fuch extent as that now under deliberation. That it became a mere jeft to retire from that Houfe when a poor criminal was at their bar, becaufe they could not bring themfelves to vote in a cafe of blood, and yet to advise the most fanguinary measures, in which the lives

of thousands were involved.

- To

all this the miniftry an fwered, that a ftate of war was as little defired by them as by the Lords in oppofition; but that when they were at war, they must ufe the inftruments of war. Much declamation, they faid, had been poured out; and much artifice ufed to foften us into a falfe tendernefs, by dwelling on the use of the fcalping knife and tomohawk; but that the mufquet and the bayonet were far more terrible weapons. If the favages deftroyed more than they were wifhed to deftroy, and that women and children fell (contrary to the wishes and endeavours of thofe who em ployed the favages) in the common havock, they alone were to be blamed, who by their unprovoked rebellion firft brought on the neceffity of arms, and then by tam[D] =

pering

pering with the favages, had thought to fet the example from which they fuffered. That it was not, however, of importance, who first fet the example of the employment of that people. They were found in the country, and whoever made war there, must have them for friends or enemies. That they had been used in the late war between the French and English indiscriminately, as each could obtain their affiftance, both having equally endeavoured at it. That the very terror of their mode of making war, renders them the most eligible inftrument for speedily extinguishing the rebellion, as it would operate more powerfully on the minds of those who were at a distance, and yet untouched; and fince war cannot be made without bloodshed, it ought to be confidered as merciful rather than cruel; as it tended to fhorten the calamities of that dreadful state-and one of the minifters concluded with faying, that he thought the meafure perfectly juft and wife; and that the adminiftration would be highly cenfurable, if, entrusted as they were with the fuppreffion of fo unnatural a rebellion, they had not used all the means which God and nature had put into their hands. The whole of thefe arguments, but particularly the laft expreffion,

rekindled the flame of Lord Chat ham's eloquence; and he had been feldom known fo brilliant as in the fevere animadverfions he made on the hypothefis of the noble Lord, that the indifcriminate flaughter of men, women, and children, and the torturing and devouring of captives, were the means of war furnished by God and nature; which notions, he faid, ftanding fo near the throne, muft pollute the ear of Majefty.

In this manner, and with vehement altercations, the whole conduct and principle of the war, and of the oppofition to it, was torn to pieces. The queftion being at length put towards eleven at night, the amendment was rejected by a majority of 97, including 13 proxies, to 28 Lords who fupported the motion. The main question on the addrefs being then put, was carried without a divifion. A fhort proteft was entered by the Duke. of Richmond and Earl of Effingham, which contained their diffent only in thefe words" Becaufe this address is a repetition of, or rather an improvement on, the ful fome adulation offered, and the blind engagements entered into on former occafions by by this Houfe, relative to this unhappy civil war."

را

CHAP.

CHA P. IV.

Parliamentary enquiries into the flate of public affairs, adopted by the Oppofition in both Houses. Motion for 60,000 Jeamen. Animadverfions on the fate of the navy. Debates on the motion for a new bill, to continue the powers granted by the former, for the fufpenfion, in certain cafes, of the Habeas Corpus Law. Progress of the bill. Debates on the motion for four fbillings in the pound, land tax. Motion by Mr. Fox for an enquiry into the fate of the nation. Subfequent motions. Motion for certain papers, after long debates, rejected upon a divifion. Circum fances attending the difclofure of the unhappy event at Saratoga. Debates upon the magnitude of the fum granted in the committee of Supply for the ordnance fervice. Motion by Colonel Barre for papers, rejected. Mr. Hartley's motions relative to the American war, rejected. Motion by Mr. Wilkes for the repeal of the declaratory law, rejected upon a divifion. Great debates upon the motion of adjournment. Amendment moved by Mr. Burke. Original motion carried upon a divifion by a great majority, Tranfa&ions in the House of Lords, fimilar to thofe of the ComDuke of Richmond's motion for an enquiry into the fate of the nation, agreed to. Lord Chatham's motion for the orders and inftructions to General Burgoyne, after confiderable debates, rejected upon a divifion. Debates upon a fecond motion by the fame noble Lord, relative to the employment of the favages in the American war. Motion rejected on a divifion. Debates upon the question of adjournment. Motion carried upon a divifion.

mons.

FROM this time to the recefs, a strong and determined opinion,

and indeed during the greater part of the feffion, enquiry into the conduct of public affairs, whether particular or general, became the great object of oppofition in both Houfes. Neither the highly pleafing reprefentation of the ftate of our Navy, both in point of immediate effect, and forwardness of preparation for future fervice, which had been laid before the Lords, nor the further confirmation of that state, which was given by the board of Admiralty in the Houfe of Commons, were in any degree capable of curing the infidelity of thofe, who, either from what they stated as direct information, or for other reafons, held

that the navy was fhamefully and dangerously deficient in both refpects.

very

Indeed, that favourable reprefentation produced effects different from what were probably wifhed or expected; for instead of removing doubt, or filencing enquiry, it increafed the one, and added a fpur to the other. At the fame time it involved the Admiralty in a kind of dilemma, which it was not eafy to get clear of. For if our navy was in that powerful and flourishing state which had been defcribed, it was not eafy to affign any colourable reafon for concealment; and to oppofe, with good grace, enquiries tending

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to the establishment and promulgation of a fact, which it was our intereft that all mankind fhould be acquainted with; and which would hold out the only effectual bar to reftrain the designs of our enemies, if they intended to profit of our inteftine troubles.

The unhappy news which arrived from America, opened alfo an ample field for enquiry, as well with refpect to the plans and fcheme of the war framed at home, as to the conduct and means which were used for their accomplifhment abroad. It seemed neceffary to know, whether the failure of fuccefs lay with the defign or the execution; or if with neither, but proceeding merely from fuch inherent obftacles as it was impoffible to furmount, to devife the fpeedieft measures, with the leaft poffible lofs or difhonour, for withdrawing from fo unfortunate and ruinous a pursuit.

Upon a motion in Nov. 26th. the committee of fupply, that 60,000 feamen fhould be voted for the fea fervice of the enfuing year, 1778, as the Commiffioner of the Admiralty who made the motion, was, in purfuance of a call upon him for that purpofe, entering into fome detail of the difpofition and ftate of the navy, fo far as related to the fhips upon fervice abroad, and in commiffion at home, the firft law officer of the crown in that Houfe excited fome furprize, by objecting to his proceeding in that official explanation of matters appertaining to his own department, and immediately relative to the queftion before them, although it had been freely entered into as foon as it was propofed by the

Lord of the Admiralty, and who feemed naturally to be the competent judge of its propriety. The learned gentleman contended, that the disclosure of particular ftrength or weakness which fuch a detail must afford to our enemies, would be equally improper and pernicious; that if any hoftile intentions were entertained, it would be, in fact, pointing out and inftructing them, where and in what manner to direct their operations; that fecrecy was the very life and fpirit of all military enterprize; that the difclofure of fuch fecrets to enemies, would be an act of the most unparalleled infanity; and that the honourable gentleman muft undoubtedly have mif. taken the nature of the queftion, when he indicated a difpofition to an official compliance.

Such a check upon information, from fo unexpected a quarter, and to which the matter feemed fo entirely foreign, brought out much fevere obfervation on the other fide, and gradually extended the debate to a great variety of matter. They faid, that to refuse official information relative to the ftate and ftrength of the navy, at a time that 'fo vaft a demand was made upon them for its fupport, was a procedure contrary to the known rules and ufages of parliament; that they had a right to know, as well what they were voting for, as what they were voting; and that they trufted, however compliant the House had been upon every matter relative to the American war, they would not endure fuch a refufal without proper animadverfion.

They faid, that the French were well acquainted both with the

ftate

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