As to that part of the act which related to piracy, Mr. BURKE obferves, that it did not fairly defcribe its obje: the perfons. who made a naval war upon us, in confequence of the late difputes, might be rebels; but to call and treat them as pirates was. confounding not only the natural diftinction of things, but the order of crimes; which, whether by putting them from the higher part of the fcale to the lower, or from the lower to the higher, was never done without dangerously disordering the whole frame of jurifprudence.. "Though piracy," he adds,

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may be, in the eye of the law, a lefs offence than treason; yet as both are, in effect, punished with the fame death, the same forfeiture, and the fame corruption of blood, I never would take from any fellow-creature whatever, any sort of advantage which. he may derive to his fafety from the pity of mankind, or to his reputation from their general feelings, by degrading his offence, when I cannot foften his punishment. *** Befides, L could not vote for, or countenance in any way, a ftatute, which ftigmatizes with the crime of piracy, these men, whom an act of parliament had previously put out of the protection of the law.. When the legislature of this kingdom had ordered all their ships and goods, for the mere new-created offence of exercising trade, to be divided as a fpoil among the feamen of the navy,---to con-sider the necessary reprizal of an unhappy, profcribed, interdicted people, as the crime of piracy, would have appeared, in any other: legislature than ours, a ftrain of the most infulting and most un-natural cruelty and injuftice."

Many other arguments are urged by Mr. BURKE against the: new law, as being a partial and most alarming suspension of the babeas corpus act. He then paffes to his apology for not having. joined Mr. DUNNING and a few more of the minority in their refiftance

refiftance to fo unconftitutional a measure. "I have not debated," fays he," against this bill in its progress through the house; because it would have been vain to oppofe, and impoffible to correct it. It is fome time fince I have been clearly convinced, that in the present state of things, all oppofition to any measures proposed by ministers, where the name of America appears, is vain and frivolous. You You may be fure, that I do not speak of my oppofition, which in all circumstances must be fo; but that of men of the greatest wisdom and authority in the nation. Every thing propofed against America is fuppofed of course to be in favor of Great Britain. Good and ill-fuccess are equally admitted as reafons for perfevering in the present methods. Several very prudent, and very well-intentioned perfons were of opinion, that during the prevalence of fuch difpofitions, all struggle rather inflamed than leffened the diftemper of the public counfels. Finding fuch resistance to be confidered as factious by most within doors, and by very many without, I cannot confcientiously support what is against my opinion, nor prudently contend with what I know is irresistible. Preferving my principles unshaken, I referve my activity for rational endeavours; and I hope that my past conduct has given fufficient evidence, that if I am a fingle day from my place, it is not owing to indolence or love of diffipation. The flightest hope of doing good is fufficient to recal me to what I quitted with regret. In declining for fome time my ufual strict attendance, I do not in the least condemn the spirit of thofe gentlemen, who with a juft confidence in their abilities, (in which I claim a fort of share from my love and admiration of them) were of opinion, that their exertions in this desperate case might be of fome fervice. They thought that, by contracting the sphere of its application, they might leffen the malignity of an evil princi

ple.

"S SURNAME k capitals)

OF SEAT

ple. Perhaps they were in the right. But when my opinion.
was fo very clearly to the contrary for the reafons I have just ftated,
I am fure
my attendance must be ridiculous. I muft add, in fur-
ther explanation of my conduct, that far from foftening the fea-
tures of such a principle, and thereby removing any part of the
popular odium or natural terrors attending it, I fhould be very
forry, that any thing framed in contradiction to the fpirit of the
constitution did not inftantly produce, in fact, the groffest of the
evils with which it was pregnant in its nature. It is by lying
dormant a long time, or being at firft very rarely exercifed, that arbi-
trary power heals upon a people. On the next unconstitutional
act, all the fashionable world will be ready to fay---Your prophe-
cies are ridiculous; your fears are vain; you fee how little of the
mifchiefs which you formerly foreboded are come to pass. Thus,
by degrees, that artful foftening of all arbitrary power, the alledged
infrequency or narrow extent of its operation, will be received as a fort
of aphorifm ;---and Mr. HUME will not be fingular in telling us,
that the felicity of mankind is no more disturbed by it, than by earth-
quakes, or thunder, or the other more unusual accidents of nature.”

This part of Mr. BURKE's letter prompted the earl of ABINGDON to write and publish a pamphlet, in which he condemned in very warm terms a partial feceffion, and defended the conduct of thofe members of the minority who had not withdrawn from

This was the object aimed at in two amendments, which thofe gentlemen propofed, and which were adopted. In one the crime of piracy was defined, by declaring, "that nothing should be deemed fo but acts of felony committed on the fhips or goods of the fubject on the high feas:" the other, which was moved by Mr. DUNNING, after fome alteration, flood thus; "Provided alfo, and be it hereby declared, that nothing herein contained is intended, or fhall be conftrued, to extend to the cafe of any other prifoner, or prifoners, than fuch as have been out of the realm, at the time or times of the offence or offences, wherewith he or they fhali be charged, or of which they fhall be fufpected."

parliament, but had perfevered in their oppofition to every arbitrary measure, and by that perfeverance had obtained thofe amendments of the treafon and piracy act which are specified in the preceding note. He himself was the only peer in the minority who attended its progrefs through the house of lords, and entered his proteft on the journals. Mr. BURKE made no reply; but it appears from the earl's public avowal of his own feelings, that Mr. BURKE'S filence upon that and feveral other occafions was more mortifying to his lordship than the keenest stings of that gentleman's wit or ridicule.

In a few days after the date of the above letter, Mr. BURKE and his friends were fummoned to their duty, by a meffage from the throne, stating the difficulties his majesty laboured under from the civil lift debt, which amounted to upwards of fix hundred thoufand pounds; and expreffing his reliance on the loyalty and affection of his faithful commons for enabling him to discharge this debt, and that they would at the fame time make some future provifion for the better fupport of his houfhold, and of the honour and dignity of the crown. On the fixteenth of April, the day appointed for referring the meffage to the confideration of a committee of fupply, lord JoHN CAVENDISH moved, that the order of reference be discharged. Then, inftead of carrying the question directly into the committee of fupply, to be determined by a rash and inconfiderate vote, the accounts of the expenditure, the causes of the excefs, the means of preventing it in future, and the propriety of complying in the whole or in part with the requifitions, must have been accurately examined, and duly difcuffed in a committee of the whole houfe. Mr. BURKE did not fhew much tenderness, either to the king, or his miniiters, upon this occafion. He reprobated in the most indignant terms the indecency and im

propriety

propriety of bringing in such a demand, in such a season of public calamity and danger. Nothing, he afferted, but a confidence in the fervility, and an experience in the carelessness of the public interefts, which were now prevalent, could have encouraged the ministers to hazard fo defperate a measure. They have," faid he, "plunged us into a dreadful war, which has already cost the nation twenty millions of money: they have fevered the empire, destroyed our commerce, funk the revenue, and given a mortal blow to public credit: we have loft thirteen flourishing and growing provinces, fome of which were already, in point of importance, if not of power, nearly equal to ancient kingdoms; and were now engaged in a destructive and hopeless attempt, to recover by force, what our folly and violence have loft. Is this then a feafon, when we shall be under a neceffity of taxing every gentleman's houfe in England, even to the finalleft domeftic accommodation, and to accumulate burthen upon burthen on a people already finking under their load, to come and tell us, that we have not hitherto made a provifion for the crown adequate to its grandeur, and that we must now find new funds for the increase of its fplendor? Is the real luftre, which it has unhappily loft, to be fupplied by the false glare of profufion? and the oftenfive expences of government, to increase in a due proportion to its poverty and weakness? It will be a new discovery in the policy of nations, that the only means of replacing the lofs of half an empire, is by the boundless prodigality of the remainder!" Then viewing the subject in another light, he asked, what proofs had been given of the inadequacy of the former provifion? A large debt had been incurred, and had also been paid off by a vote of the house in 1769; but was the accumulation of a new debt,---was a man's extravagance to become the measure of his fupply? In order to know whether

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