Anno 12.Geo.II. 6. And lastly, to declare, that we are deeply fenfible 1738-9. how unbecoming and pernicious it would be, at any time, to fuffer either Prejudices or Animofities to mix themselves with parliamentary Deliberations; and that his Majefty's gracious Recommendation to us, particularly to avoid them at this important Conjuncture, cannot fail to awaken in us a more than ordinary Caution on that Head. That Great Britain hath but one common Interest, confifting in the Security of his Majefty's Perfon and Government, and the Welfare and Happiness of his People ; and that when his Majefty is pleased to exhort us to Unanimity, it is only calling upon us to unite for our own Prefervation; therefore, to befeech his Majefty, to accept the ftrongest and most affectionate Affurances, that we will zealously and cheafully concur in all fuch Measures, as fhall be moft conducive to thofe great and defirable Ends. Lord Hobart.

Lord Hobart.

Lord Gower,

My Lords,

Though I have never yet troubled your Lordships with my Sentiments on any public Occafion, yet I think the happy Profpect of Affairs given us, in his Majefty's Speech from the Throne, affords me the most favourable Opportunity of thus publicly expreffing my Satisfaction with his Majefty's Measures. Therefore, my Lords, I humbly second the Motion the noble Duke has made.

Lord Gower.

My Lords,

Though I have all the Regard and Duty for his Majesty that every good Subject ought to entertain, yet I own that I cannot prevail with myself fo far as to look upon what we just now heard delivered from the Throne, in any other Light than as the Dictates of a Minifter. As fuch, my Lords, I must beg leave to confider and examine it, and I fhall endeavour to do it with that Freedom and Candor, with which every Lord in this House ought to express himself upon Matters of fo great Importance to the public.

To do this, my Lords, with more Perfpicuity, it is ne ceffary that I fhould review fome of the Transactions that pafs'd laft Seffion upon the fame Subject in this House. This is the more proper upon the prefent Occafion, as they feem to have been either forgot, neglected, or not understood in another Place. Your Lordships may remember that last Seffion, after the Merchants had fully proved their Allegations contain'd in their Petition to his Majefty, your Lordhips came to fome Refolutions; thefe Refolutions, my Lords, I hope are now very proper for our Confideration, and hope your

your Lordships will allow your Clerk to read them [Here Annora.Geo.II. the Clerk read the Refolutions.]

The Day, my Lords, when you came to thefe Refolutions, was the moft joyful Day I ever faw in the Course of my Life: I then obferved that Spirit revive among your Lordships, which gives Weight to all our Councils, and Dignity to all our Resolutions; nor, I think, did any Lord object to the most material Refolution, as it now ftands; which is the firft; a Resolution, my Lords, that is effential to the very Being of our Trade, as Trade is effential to the very Being of this Nation. By that Refolution, my Lords, we fee that your Lordships were of Opinion, that a free and uninterupted Navigation to and from every Place of his Majefty's Dominions, was the Right of this Nation; your Lordships were of Opinion, that fuch Navigation ought, upon no Account whatsoever, to be interrupted; you likewife found, that the Spaniards have interrupted it upon many Occafions, and that all Endeavours to procure Satisfaction had hitherto been useless.

These Resolutions, my Lords, fpoke the Sense of this House upon that great Occafion; and the Senfe of this House, give me leave to fay, ought always to have great Weight; nay, in this Cafe ought to determine the Sense of thofe who confult in another Place: At least, my Lords, our Refolutions, while they ftand in Force upon our Journals, are Rules to ourselves, and we can approve or disapprove of no Measure, but fo far as that Measure is confiftent with them. Now, my Lords, how does it appear to your Lordships, that they have either been understood or regarded in another Place? Can, my Lords, any Man in the Kingdom fay, from the Speech we have juft now heard, that one Tittle, one Iota of what appears to have been the Senfe of this Houfe at that Time, has been perform'd? Does it not confirm, my Lords, a very general Observation withOut Doors, that we have a Miniftry which has neither Courage to make War, nor Skill to make Peace? We require a pofitive and exprefs Security for our Navigation; we require ample Satisfaction for the Injuries the Subjects of this Kingdom have fuffered, and we require Satisfaction for the Wounds that have been given to the Honour of this Nation. How are thefe juft Demands anfwered by the Minifter? (For your Lordships will please to obferve, that I all along fuppofe, that the Speech we have now heard comes from the Minifter.) We are told, my Lords, that a Convention is made with Spain, that the is to pay us a ftipulated Sum for the Injuries onr Merchants have received, and that the Decifion of every thing else is left to Plenipotentiaries. 1738-9. Aaa z

But

1738-9.

Anno 12.Geo. II. But at the fame Time we are neither told what this Conven1738-9. tion is, what the ftipulated Sum is, nor what particular Differences betwixt the Kingdoms, thefe Plenipotentiaries have to regulate. Is all this any Satisfaction to this House? Is it any Satisfaction to this Nation? Yet, my Lords, we are as it were called upon to approve of this Manner of Procecding: We are called upon to approve of Measures that have been concerted and carried on with the Knowledge and Approbation, I believe, of few Lords in this Houfe: A Meafure which, tho' of the greatest Importance to the future Well-being of this Nation, has been ratified at a Time when, my Lords, he who is, in many Refpects, befides that of his Birth, the fecond Perfon of this Kingdom, has no Accefs to his Majefty's Perfon! When the Heir of the Crown has no more Share in his Majefty's Councils, than any Lord who fits on the lowest Bench in this Houfe!

I have the Honour, my Lords, to fit on the lowest Bench in this Houfe, and I am fure I have not the Honour to have the fmalleft Share in his Majefly's Councils; yet, my Lords, that royal Perfonage has no more Share in them than I have. This I have mention'd, to fhew your Lordships how cauticus we ought to be in giving the smallest Degree of Sanction to fuch Meafures, and to fuch Councils. But, my Lords, were not this the Cafe, it is very evident that the Conduct of the Ministry, fince our laft Meeting in this Place, as it appears even from the Speech we have now heard, makes it highly improper for us to agree to the Motion made by the noble Duke.

If the Sum ftipulated by this Convention is no more than what it is generally given out to be, it bears no Proportion to the Injuries our Merchants have fuftained. If the Proceedings of the Plenipotentiaries are to be on the Foot of Treaties now in Force, I will be bold to fay, my Lords, that no Differences can fubfift betwixt Spain and us, but thofe Plenipotentiaries may create; for the Treaties betwixt us are ftrong, clear, and exprefs, impoffible, my Lords, to be mended by any fubfequent Negotiation. So that, my Lords, this Convention is, probably, like other late Masterpieces of our negotiating Policy, only an Expedient to gain Time; and tho' we cannot tell what its particular Terms are, yet we may venture to tell what they are not. No Lord here, who has not feen this Convention, as I own I have not, can fay that it is fuch as puts the future Navigation of this Kingdom on a proper Foot to free our Merchants from all Apprehenfions of being infulted, prey'd upon, and murder'd by their injurious Neighbours. He cannot affirm that the firft, or any Stipulation in it, is anfwerable to the first Refolution

1738-9.

Refolution that this Houfe came to laft Year; I mean an Anno 12. Geo II Exemption from all Stop or Search, on any Account whatfoever, to those Veffels who are in a lawful Way of Trade upon the open Seas. Neither can he tell us, my Lords, that the Sum ftipulated is adequate to what our Merchants have fuffered by the Spanish Depredations; nor that an ample Satisfaction is made for the Infults and Indignities done to his Majefty and the Nation: And if Lords are in the dark as to all these Points, on what can they found their Approbation of the Addrefs proposed by the noble Duke?

On the other hand, my Lords, any Lord, tho' he has not feen the Convention, yet if he has heard the Speech juft now delivered from the Throne, may venture to fay what this Convention is not. He may venture to fay, that it is not a definitive Treaty, whereby the Rights of Navigation and Commerce, which this Houfe found this Nation was justly entitled to, are fecured against all future Violations, and put beyond the Poffibility of ever afterwards being infring'd in Time of Peace. My Lords, if it is not such a definitive Treaty, if it is not to be attended with thefe Confequences, your Lordships Advice which was laid before his Majefty laft Year, has been neglected, it has been despised. If this is the Cafe, my Lords, as in all Appearance it is, this is not a Time for us to come to the Refolution propofed by the noble Duke who made the Motion; this is not a Time for us to make Compliments to the Crown, which may be the more dangerous, as they may mislead his Majefty into the Belief that this Measure is agreeable to the Senfe of the People in general, because agreeable to the Senfe of this Houfe. This, I fay, my Lords, would be a fatal Compliment, it would tend to give his Majefly fuch favourable Impreffions of the Abilities of his Minifters, as again to entrust them with the Management of thefe great Affairs, upon which the Peace and Welfare of this Kingdom depend; both which have already fuffered fo greatly in their Hands. Such a Proceeding might poffefs his Majefty and all the World, with an Opinion that we are weak, inconfiftent, and inconfiderate in our Refolutions; by our coming in one Seffion to Refolutions, and prefenting them to his Majefly as the Senfe of this House ; and next Seffion approving of Measures in which not only no Regard has been had to these Resolutions, but that are abfolutely inconfiftent with them.

But, my Lords, tho' I am entirely against our inferting any Words in our Addrefs, that may give his Majesty and the Nation Reafon to think that we are fatisfied with the Measures purfued fince laft Seffion, yet I am not at all a

gainft

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Anno 12.Geo. II. gainft any Expreffions, however ftrong, that may evidence our Zeal for his Majesty's Service, and our Affection to his Perfon. But thefe, give me Leave to fay, are best confulted, by giving his Majefty to understand, from our Silence, as to that Part of the Speech that concerns the Convention, that we are by no Means fatisfied with fuch a Measure; that we are refolved not to be fatisfied with any thing less than an ample and exprefs Renunciation from Spain, of all her Claims upon the Liberty of our Navigation, of all her Claims to any Part of our Territories, and of her Pretences to a Sovereignty in the American Seas: I am far, my Lords, from entering now upon any Difquifition into the Terms which this Convention may contain; I have already profefs'd myself entirely ignorant of them, and I wish they may prove in the Event honourable to the Nation. The only Confideration that now lies before us is, how far, by what appears from the Speech we have now heard, we have any Grounds whereon we can found an Approbation of the Measures taken by the Miniftry, with regard to Spain, fince the laft Seffion. And tho', my Lords, I have given my Opinion as to that Matter, yet I have chiefly confined my Arguments to the Inconfiftency which appears betwixt the Refolutions now read, and our prefent Situation with Spain, fo far as it can be gathered from his Majefty's Speech.

I fhall now take the Liberty to trouble your Lordships with fome other Arguments, arifing from other Circumstances. The Parliament, towards the Clofe of laft Seffion, thought proper to ftrengthen his Majesty's Hands, by voting a confiderable Addition to the Sea-Forces. In Confequence of this Refolution, Preparations were made, the Trade of the Nation was laid under very great Disadvantages and Encumbrances, and the Nation itself put to the Expence of upwards of 500,000 7. All this, my Lords, was chearfully borne; our Seamen were glad of an Opportunity to revenge their Injuries, our Merchants were pleased with the Prospect of repairing their Loffes, and the Nation in general was fond of an Occafion to vindicate her Honour. The leaft, my Lords, that could have been expected from fuch mighty Preparations, from fuch happy Difpofitions, was Reparation of past, and Security from future Injuries; or if we fail'd in that, to have known the worst, to have fallen like Men, with our Swords in our Hands, and no longer to have continued in this political Purgatory betwixt Peace and War, which gives us every thing to fear, which leaves us nothing to hope. But, my Lords, instead of being put out of Uncertainty, we are put into greater Uncertainty than ever;

both