CHA P. XXV. 1775. Lord Shelburne. field. am ready to meet their charges, and prepared for the event, either to cover my adverfaries with fhame and difgrace, or in my fall, rifque the remnant of a life nearly drawing to a conclufion, and confequently not worth much folicitude." LORD SHELBURNE again preffed his former observations, and more than infinuated that the chiefjuftice of the King's Bench had not spoken the truth: Lord Mans upon which lord Mansfield, with confiderable warmth, lamented that for the first time, he witneffed a deviation from the usual practice of that house, to behave like gentlemen, and accused the last speaker of utterLord Shel- ing grofs falfehoods. Lord Shelburne retorted the charge; and after fome extraneous fpeeches relative to the navy, this difgraceful and indecorous debate was terminated, by adopting the affirmative of the previous queftion, and agreeing to the addrefs of the houfe of commons'. A protest on each subject was entered on the journals. burne. Original motion carried. Protefts. 10th Feb. tion of forces. 13th. THE king's anfwer to the address was accompanied Augmenta- with a meffage, in confequence of which 2000 additional feamen, and 4383 land forces were voted, though not without many fevere cenfures on the conduct of government, the deceit practifed by ministers in the fmall force at first demanded, and infinuations on the infufficiency of the armament to effect any beneficial purpose; the probability of foreign interference was not omitted, and captain Walfingham afferted that France had feventy-five fail of the line, one-half of which were manned and fit for actual fervice. 10th Feb. New Eng IN pursuance of his plan, lord North introduced a to the 24th. bill for reftraining the commerce of the New England land reftrain provinces to Great Britain, Ireland, and the West Indies, and prohibiting them from carrying on, for a limited time, any fishery on the banks of Newfound ing bill. The previous queftion is, Whether the main question shall be now put? which was carried by 104 to 29: the divifion on the principal queftion was 87 to 27. The protefts were figned by 18 peers. 2 land, XXV. land, with an exception in favour of individuals who CHAP fhould obtain from the governors of certain provinces, certificates of good behaviour, and take a test acknowledging the rights of parliament. THE bill was juftified by the rebellious state of those provinces, as proved by the papers before the house: the arguments in its fupport were, that as the Americans had refufed to trade with this kingdom, it was just to prevent their commerce with other nations. Whatever distress they might feel, their own conduct left them no right of complaint: they had begun the practice by an affociation calculated to ruin our merchants, impoverish our manufacturers, and ftarve the West India islands. 1775. THE oppofition urged the impolicy of deftroying a Opposition. trade which could never be reftored: God and nature, they argued, had given the Newfoundland fishery to New, and not to Old England. The penalties confounded the innocent with the guilty; nor was it poffible for government to iffue fuch a proclamation as would afford security to all who were well intentioned. The bill was calculated to irritate the Americans and ftarve four provinces; and the danger of the Americans withholding the debts due to British merchants was ftrongly urged. Petitions. DURING the progrefs of the bill, petitions were 24th Feb. prefented from the American merchants in London, from the merchants of Poole, from the quakers, and 28th. from the merchants of Waterford. They were re- 28th Feb. ferred to a committee, and many witneffes examined; Evidence. but their evidence did not prove the inexpediency of the measure. to 6th Mar the third On the third reading, Mr. Hartley propofed an Debate on amendment, permitting the importation of fuel, corn, readingmeal, flour, and other victual, carried coastwife from other parts of America, into the profcribed provinces. This motion brought before the house, in aggravated colours, the queftion of involving in one common famine the friend and the foe of government; the refifting XXV. 1775. CHA P. refifting adult, the feeble infant, the pregnant feniale, and the decrepid elder. The people, Mr. Burke obferved, were already reduced to beggary, and now the beggar's fcrip was taken from them; even the morfel tendered by the hand of charity was dafhed from the mouth of hunger. 15th and 16th Mar. Oppofition in the houfe of lords. GOVERNOR POWNALL answered all these arguments by ftating as a fact, that the New English colonies (although agriculture was neglected) were in no danger of famine: they were great grazing fettlements, and the flour and bifcuit imported from Philadelphia and New York were merely articles of luxury for the rich : he therefore ridiculed the imputations of obduracy and cruelty fo liberally advanced against the ministry, and confidering the bill as a mere commercial regulation, withholding indulgences from colonies, who prohibited trade with England, gave it his cordial fupport. The motion was negatived". IN the lords, the bill was oppofed, as in the lower houfe. Petitions were prefented, and witneffes examined, to the fame effect. On the motion for its commitment, the marquis of Rockingham compared the conduct of miniftry to that of marfhal Rozen, king James the Second's French general in Ireland, who, in order to reduce the garrison of Derry, collected the wives, children, and aged parents of the befieged under the walls, there to perifh by famine, or to be maffacred if they attempted to retreat. "But," the marquis added, "weak, infatuated, and bigotted, as that prince was, his heart revolted at fuch a horrid expedient for fubduing his enemies; as foon as it reached his knowledge, he immediately countermanded the barbarous order, and left the innocent and unoffending at liberty." THE minifterial members explicitly denied the imputation of intending to fubject the colónifts to famine: tar from thinking themfelves driven to that refource, m 188 to 58. they 66 XXV. 1775. they confidered, that in the event of armed resistance, CHA P. the Americans would afford an eafy and inglorious conqueft. Suppofe the colonies to abound in men," lord Sandwich injudiciously exclaimed, "of what importance is the fact? They are raw, undifciplined, and cowardly. I wifh, inftead of forty or fifty thoufand of thefe brave fellows, they would produce, at leaft, two hundred thoufand; the more the better! the easier would be the conqueft:-if they did not run away, they would ftarve themselves into compliance with our measures." The duke of Grafton maintained, that the bill was founded on the principle of retaliation and punishment, for an outrage as daring as it was unprovoked, ftill further heightened and aggravated by refiftance to all lawful authority, and almost a pofitive avowal of total independence on the mother-country ". ON the third reading, an amendment was made, 21 Mar. invalidating protecting certificates obtained from the Amendment governors of New Jerfey, Pennfylvania, Maryland, Virginia, and South Carolina, on the ground, that these colonies were as much in a state of rebellion as thofe of New England. The bill, thus altered, not Conference." agreeing with its title, the house of commons defired a conference, when the lords withdrew their amend ment, and the bill paffed in its original form. proteft against it was figned by fixteen peers. 27th Mar. withdrawn., A Proteft. Amendment THE amendment of the lords was, in fact, rendered unnecessary by a bill, which lord North introduced, when the New England reftraining act had paffed the house of commons, for laying reftrictions, nearly fimilar, on the provinces they had fpecified. It paffed the lower house, not without fome oppofition; but no new argument was offered, and in the proceedings of the house of lords, neither debate nor protest appears. "The numbers for committing the bill were 104 to 29. • The amendment was carried 52 to 23: the amended bill 73 to 21. VOL. II. To 9th March to 5th April. Bill for retraining other co lonies. CHAP. XXV. 1775. 11th and 27th April. Bounties to Ireland. 20th Feb. conciliatory To counterbalance the inconveniencies which might be expected from these laws, the minifters allowed bounties on the importation of flax-feed, and to Irish fhips engaged in the Newfoundland and Greenland fisheries, and removed fome reftraints which in other respects affected the Irish commerce. WHILE the bill for reftraining the trade and fifheries Lord North's of the New England provinces was yet depending, propofitions. lord North, to the furprife of oppofition, and of many adherents of miniftry, brought forward, in a 'committee, propofitions for conciliating the differences with America. Adverting to the terms of the addrefs on the American papers, he obferved, although parliament could never relinquish the right of taxation, yet if the Americans would propofe means of contributing their fhare to the common defence, the exercise of the right might without hesitation be suspended, and the privilege of raifing their own portion of contribution conceded to the colonists. This being the sense, and he believed the very words, in which he moved the addrefs, he propofed as a refolution, "That when the governor, council and affembly, or general court of any of his majesty's provinces, or colonies, fhall propofe to make provifion for contributing their proportion to the common defence; to be raifed under the authorities of the general court, or general affembly, and difpofable by parliament; and fhall engage to make provifion alfo for the fupport of the civil government, and adminiftration of juftice; it will be proper, if fuch propofal fhall be approved by his majefly in parliament, and for fo long as fuch provifion thall be made accordingly, to forbear in refpe&t of fuch province or colony, to levy any duty, tax, or affeffment, except for the regulation of commerce; the net produce of which fhall be carried to the account of fuch province, colony, or plantation." His fpeech. To this motion, lord North anticipated objections from various quarters; but the terms being fuch as |