he had, according to those ideas, been instructed by the committee at Leadenhallstreet to resist it on that ground; that he did not choose to tire the House at this season with a fresh opposition, but he trusted administration itself, all circumstances considered, would see the propriety of relaxing in some degree.

Lord North very strongly enforced the arguments started by Mr. Jenkinson. He said that several applications had been made by persons in the manufacturing counties to oblige the Company to a continuance of their agreement; that considering the present low state of the woollen manufacture, if such a permission as that desired by the Company were to take place, it might be productive of the most fatal consequences to that branch of our trade; and that, however severe the present clause might seem, it could be looked upon no more than as a kind of tax paid to the public at large, for the many exclusive advantageous privileges the Company enjoyed by charter.

Mr. Purling differed totally from his lordship in his conclusions relative to the supposed operation of the clause respecting the encouragement intended to be given thereby to the woollen manufacture, as the rottenness and badness of the commodity, by being kept too long on hand, would totally destroy its credit at all the eastern markets; by which that valuable branch of export would be in the end totally lost to the nation.

The proposed amendment at length took place. The Bill was ordered to be engrossed. On the 19th it was read a third time and passed.

The King's Speech at the Close of the Session.] July 1. His Majesty came to the House of Peers, and put an end to the Session with the following Speech to both Houses:

"My Lords, and Gentlemen,

"I cannot close this session without assuring you that I have observed, with much satisfaction, the zeal, assiduity, and perseverance, with which you have applied yourselves to the very important business which, at the meeting of parliament, I recommended to your particular attention; and I hope and trust, that the laws which have been the result of your deliberations will be found to answer the salut ry purposes for which they were intended.

«The continuance of the war between Russia and the Porte (with both of whom

;

I

am closely connected in friendship, although under no engagement to either) gives me great concern; but, from the pacific dispositions of other powers, I have reason to hope that those troubles will extend no further. I shall persevere in my earnest endeavours to preserve the general tranquillity of Europe; at the same time it shall be the constant object of my care to be sufficiently prepared against any event which may affect the honour, safety, or interest, of my kingdoms.

"Gentlemen of the House of Commons, "I return you my hearty thanks for the supplies which you have granted me with so much cheerfulness; and I see, with pleasure, that, notwithstanding the ample provision which you have made for every branch of the public service, and the effectual relief and support which you have afforded to the East India Company, you have been able to make some progress in reducing the national debt.

"My Lords, and Gentlemen,

"The experience I have had of your attention to the public good, and of your attachment to me, convinces me that you will, in your several stations, use your ut most endeavours to assist me in promoting the happiness of my people. I have no other object but their welfare, and no other view but to employ the powers with which I am entrusted in maintaining the credit, reputation, and prosperity of my kingdoms."

the 7th of September; and afterwards to The Parliament was then prorogued to

the 13th of January, 1774.

1774.

SEVENTH SESSION

OF THE

THIRTEENTH PARLIAMENT

OF

GREAT BRITAIN.

The King's Speech on Opening the Session.*] January 13, 1774. The King

"The recess of parliament was attended with nothing remarkable in affairs merely do take place in the minds of the people, than at mestic. In general, a greater quiet seemed to any time since the commencement of the pre sent parliament. The affairs of the East-India Company, in the preceding session, had considerably taken off their attention from those ob

came to the House of Peers, and opened the Session with the following Speech to both Houses:

"My Lords, and Gentlemen, "The unusual length of the last session of parliament made me desirous of giving

jects which were the principal sources of discontent and jealousy.

"Other matters concurred to this state of public quiet. Those who had so often petitioued for the dissolution of the present parliament, and many others, who, as little satisfied with some of its proceedings, had notwithstanding, from various causes, refrained from that mode of seeking relief, now consoled themselves with the reflection, that the period of its political existence approached; and were not without hopes, that as the time grew nearer, when the representatives would be returned to their constituents, and might expect, that their past conduct would become the measure of future support, they would accordingly provide for that event by some popular acts, which, if they did not immediately strike at the root of those measures that were deemed the most obnoxious, would at least have given general satisfaction in other respects. This was the more hoped for, not only as it was consonant to former experience, but that, as the beat and bitterness of contention would have time to wear away, a calmer season of reflection, and a more undisturbed view of things might, as opposition thought, naturally be expected.

"Administration had long carried every thing with so triumphant a sway, that no common event seemed capable of endangering its security. The opinion of their stability was increased even by the nature of the measures which had been adopted: the more unlikely they were to succeed, the more splendid the success of the undertaking appeared. The minds of the people, engaged by a succession of new objects, were no longer quite so powerfully affected by what had so strongly agitated them for some years past. This remission in the spirit of the people at large had given a facility for desertions of several from the opposition to the court, which was liberal in rewarding those seasonable conversions.

"There was no very material change in the state of parties, except that general decline of strength in the opposition. The Rockingham party still continued whole and unbroken, and invariably pursued its original line of public conduct. By this means, though constantly overpowered, it notwithstanding continued in some degree formidable. The same differences of opinion or affections, and the same occasional junction in others, still took place between them and that which was attached to the earl of Chatham,

"While affairs were in this dormant state at home, fresh matter unfortunately occurred, for the blowing up into a flame those embers of

you as long a recess as the public service would admit. I have therefore been glad to find myself under no necessity of calling you from your respective counties at an earlier season; and I doubt not but you are now met together in the best dis

discontent and discord, which had too long been kept alive in America. The insignificant duty of 3d. per pound on tea, which had been left behind singly in the year 1770, when all the other articles enumerated in the same Bill for the purpose of raising a revenue had been repealed, was now doomed to be the fatal bone of contention between the mother country and her colonies.-The consequent discontents and disorders continued to prevail, in a greater or lesser degree, through all the old colonies on the contineut. The same spirit pervaded the whole. Even those colonies which depended most upon the mother country for the consumption of their productions, entered into similar associations with the others; and nothing was to be heard of, but resolutions for the encouragement of their own manufactures, the consumption of home products, the discouragement of foreign articles, and the retrenchment of all superfluities. But still these were only symptoms of discontent, which had little effect on the trade to the colonies. That trade, which had somewhat stagnated on the late nonimportation agreement, revived again, and even flourished. The article indeed of tea, was by the resolutions of several colonies strictly prohibited; but it still continued to be introduced both from England and other countries, and the duties were paid, though with some small appearance of exterior guard and caution.

"In the mean time, the governors of most of the colonies, and the people, were in a continual state of warfare. Assemblies were repeatedly called, and suddenly dissolved. Their time was employed, while sitting, in reiterating grievances, and framing remonstrances. Other matters sprung up, besides the tea duty and the

custom-houses, to increase the general discontent. The late adopted measure, of the governors and judges being paid their salaries by the crown, and thereby, as they were removable at pleasure, rendered entirely dependent on that, and totally independent of the people, and provincial assemblies, however right or necessary in the present state of affairs, afforded an inexhaustible source of ill-humour and complaint.

"The greatest outrage, which was committed in this state of disorder, happened at Providence in Rhode-island, where bis Majesty's armed schooner, the Gaspee, having been stationed to prevent the smuggling for which that place was notorious, the vigilance of the officer, who commanded the vessel, so enraged the people, that they boarded her at midnight, to the number of 200 armed men, and after wounding him, and forcing him and his people to go on shore, concluded this daring

servation of which no endeavours of mine, consistent with the honour of my crown, and the interests of my people, shall ever be wanting.

"In this state of foreign affairs you will have full leisure to attend to the improve

ment of our internal and domestic situation; and to the prosecution of measures more immediately respecting the preservation and advancement of the revenue and commerce of the kingdom. Among the objects which, in this view, will come

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people. It was at an unlucky time that they thought they saw a monopoly formed in favour of the most obnoxious persons, and that too for the purpose of coufirming an odious tax. The same spirit seemed to run like wild fire throughout the colonies, and without any apparent previous concert, it was every where determined to prevent the landing of the teas at all events. At the same time the East India Company became so exceedingly odious to the people, that a mere opposition to her interests, abstracted from all other causes, would have embarrassed any measure that was undertaken in her favour. The colonists said, that she was quitting her usual line of conduct, and wantonly becoming the instrument of giving efficacy to a law which they detested: thereby involving them, as they affirmed, in the present dangerous dilemma, either of submission to the establishment of a precedent which they deemed fatal to their liberties, or of bringing matters to a crisis which they dreaded, by adopting the only means that seemed left to prevent its execution.

and accordingly consulted some of the most eminent persons in the tea trade upon the subject. By some of the most intelligent of these it was represented, as the wildest scheme that could be imagined, and the most remote from affording the relief which they wanted. That even supposing it attended with all the success of which it was possibly capable, the returns would be too slow and too precarious, to supply in any degree the Company's present exigencies in point of cash; that on the other hand, it would be offering the greatest injury to the merchants, who were their established and never failing customers; who purchased their teas at all risks, and paid vast sums of money at stated times independent of them. Certain measures were also proposed, relative to the holding of two public sales within given distances of time, by which the Company would not only dispose of all its teas, but would receive, as they supposed, by the first payment, at the end only of five months, no less than 1,200,000l. in cash: a sum so considerable, and to be paid in so short a time, that it would probably enable them to refrain from the fatal loan, which they were negociating with the public. The first measure, being a favourite with government, was adopted, notwithstanding these reasons and proposals.

"As the time approached when the arrival of the tea ships for the execution of the new plan was expected, the people assembled at different places in great bodies, and began to take such measures as seemed most effectual to prevent the landing of their cargoes. The tea consignees, who had been appointed by the India Company, were obliged in most places (and in some at the peril of property, if not of life) to relinquish their appointments and to enter into public engagements not to act in that capacity. Committees were appointed by the people in different towus and provinces, whom they armed with such power as they supposed themselves enabled to bestow. They were authorized to inspect merchants' books, to propose tests, to punish those whom they considered as contumacious, by the dangerous proscription of declaring them enemies to their country, and of assembling the people when they thought necessary. In a word, their powers were as indefinite, as the authority under which they acted.

"If such were the opinions formed upon this scheme at home, it was universally considered in the colonies, as calculated merely to circumvent them into a compliance with the revenue law, and thereby open the door to an unlimited taxation. For it was easily seen, that if the tea was once landed and in the custody of the consignees, no associations, nor other measures, would be sufficient to prevent its sale and consumption; and nobody could pretend to imagine, that when taxation was established in one instance, it would restrain itself in others. Besides that all the dealers, both legal and clandestine, who as tea is an article of such general consumption in America, were extremely powerful, saw their trade taken at once out of their hands. They supposed that it would all fall into the hands of the Company's consignees, to whom they must become in a great measure dependent, if they could hope to trade at all. The East India Company by the late regulations was brought entirely under the direction of government. The consignees were of course such as favoured administration, and for that reason the most unpopular people in America. Particularly at Boston, they were of the family and nearest connections of those gentlemen, whose letters as we have observed, had at that time kindled such prodigious heat and animosities among the

In the tumultuous assemblies which were frequently held upon this occasion, numberless resolutions were passed, extremely derogatory with respect to the authority of the supreme legislature. Inflammatory hand-bills, and other seditious papers were continually published; nor were the conductors of news-papers, nor the writers of various pamphlets, much more guarded in their conduct, or temperate in their manner. Even at Philadelphia, which had been so long celebrated, for the excellency of its police and government, and the temperate manners of its inhabitants, printed pa