and glaring lights, that I can pretend to add nothing to the conviction and indignation it has raised. Sir, as to the great national objection, the searching your fhips, that favorite word, as it is called, is not omitted, indeed, in the Preamble to the Convention, but it ftands there as the reproach of the whole, as the strongest evidence of the fatal fubmiffion that follows: On the part of Spain, an ufurpation, an inhuman tyranny claimed and exercifed over the American feas; on the part of England, an undoubted right by Treaties and from God and Nature, declared and afferted in the Refolutions of Parliament, are referred to the difcuffion of Plenipotentiaries upon one and the fame equal foot. Sir, I fay this undoubted right is to be difcuffed, and to be regulated, and if to regulate be to prefcribe rules (as in all conftructions it is) this right is, by the exprefs words of this Convention, to be given up and facrificed; for it must cease to be any thing, from the moment it is fubmitted to limits. The Court of Spain has plainly told you, (as appears by papers laid on the table) you shall steer a due course, you shall navigate by a line to and from your plantations in America; if you draw near to her coafts (though from the circumstances of that navigation you are under a neceffity of doing it) you fhall be feized and confiscated: if then upon these terms only, she has confented to refer, what becomes at once of all the fecurity we are flattered with in confequence of this reference? Plenipotentiaries are to regulate finally the refpective pretenfions of the two Crowns, with regard to trade and navigation in America; but does a man in Spain reason, that these pretenfions must be regulated to the fatisfaction and honor of England? No, Sir; they conclude, and with reason, from the high fpirit of their Administration, from the fuperiority with which they have so long trufted you, that this reference must end, as it has begun, to their honor and advantage. But Gentlemen fay, the Treaties fubfifting are to be the measure of this regulation. Sir, as to Treaties, I will take part part of the words of Sir William Temple, quoted by the Honofable Gentleman near me, It is in vain to negotiate and make Treaties, if there is not dignity and rigor to enforce the obfervance of them; for under the misconstruction and mifinterpretation of these very Treaties fubfifting, this intolerable grievance has arisen, it has been growing upon you Treaty after Treaty, through twenty years of negotiation, and even under the dif cuffion of Commiffaries to whom it was referred. You have heard from Captain Vaughan at your bar, at what time these injuries and indignities were continued; as a kind of explanatory comment upon the Convention Spain has thought fit to grant you, as another infolent proteft, under the validity and force of which fhe has fuffered this Convention to be proceeded on. We will treat with you, but we will search and take your ships; we will fign a Convention, but we will keep your subjects prisoners, prisoners in Old Spain; the Weft-Indies are remote, Europe fhall be witness how we use you. Sir, as to the interference of an admiffion of our right not to be searched, drawn from a reparation made for ships unduly feized and confiscated, I think that argument is very inconclufive. The right claimed by Spain, to search our ships, is one thing, and the exceffes admitted to have been committed, in confequence of this pretended right, is another: but furely, Sir, reafoning from inferences and implication only, is below the dignity of your proceedings, upon a right of this vaft importance. What this reparation is, what fort of compofition for your loffes, forced upon you by Spain in an inftance that has come to light, where your own Commiffaries could not in confcience decide against your claim, has fully appeared upon examination; and as for the payment of the fum ftipulated, (all but seven and twenty thousand pounds) it is evidently a fallacious, nominal payment only. I will not attempt to enter into a detail of a dark, confused, and scarcely intelligible account; I will only beg leave to conclude with one word upon it in the light of a fubmiffion, as well as of an adequate reparation. Spain ftipulates to pay to the Crown of England, 95,000l. by a preliminary protest of the King of Spain, the South Sea Company is at once to pay 68,000 1. of it: If they refuse, Spain, I admit, is fill to pay the 95,000l. but how does it ftand then? The Affiento Contract is to be fufpended: you are to purchase this fum at the price of an exclufive trade, pursuant to a national treaty, and at an immenfe debt of God knows how many hundred thousand pounds, due from Spain to the South Sea Company. Here, Sir, is the fubmiffion of Spain by the pay-. ment of a stipulated fum; a tax laid upon fubjects of England, under the severest penalties, with the reciprocal accord of an. English Minifter, as a preliminary that the Convention may be figned: a condition imposed by Spain in the most absolute imperious manner, and received by the Minifters of England in the most tame and abject. Can any verbal distinctions, any evafions whatever, poffibly explain away this public infamy? To whom would we disguise it? To ourselves and to the nation I wish we could hide it from the eyes of every Court in Europe: They fee Spain has talked to you like your Master, they see this arbitrary fundamental condition, and it must stand with diftinction, with a pre-eminence of fhame, as a part even of this Convention. This Convention, Sir, I think from my foul is nothing but a ftipulation for national ignominy, an illufory expedient to baffle the refentment of the nation; a truce without a suspension of hoftilities, on the part of Spain; on the part of England, a fufpenfion; as to Georgia, of the first law of nature, felf-prefervation and self-defence; a furrender of the trade and rights of England to the mercy of Plenipotentiaries, and in this infinitely highest and facred point, future fecurity, not only inadequate, but directly repugnant to the Refolutions of Parliament, and the gracious Promife from the Throne. The complaints of your defpairing Merchants, the voice of England has condemned it; be the guilt of it upon the head of the ad viser; God forbid that this Committee should share the guilt by approving it! William Pitt, Efq; March 6, 1739. AMONG the many advantages arifing from our happy Conftitution, there is one that is reciprocal to King and People, which is a legal and regular method by which the People may lay their grievances, complaints, and opinions, before their Sovereign; not only with regard to the measures he pursues, but also with regard to the perfons he employs. In abfolute monarchies, the People may fuffer, they may complain; but though their fufferings be public, their complaints must be private; they must not fo much as murmur against their King's Measures or Minifters; if they do, it is certain perdition to the few that are guilty of fo much indifcretion. This is a most terrible misfortune to the People in all abfolute monarchies, and occafions thofe fevere punishments and cruel tortures, which are fo frequent in all fuch; but it is a misfortune to the abfolute Monarch, as well as to the people under his despotic sway, for as he has no way of coming at the knowledge of the unpopularity of his Minifters or Measures, he often goes on pursuing the fame Measures, or employing the fame Ministers, till the discontents of his People become quite univerfal and furious; and then by a general infurrection, he and his Ministers are involved in one common ruin. However upright his intentions may have been, however much he may have been imposed on by his Minifters, an impetuous domineering mob can feldom make any difference: The defpotic Monarch himself, and fometimes his whole family, are borne down by the impetuofity of the torrent, and become a facrifice to the refentment of an injured populace, In this kingdom, Sir, it can never be fo, as long as the King allows Parliaments to fit regularly and freely, and the Members of this House perform faithfully the duty they owe to their King, their Conftituents, and their Country. As Members C 3 Members of this Houfe, Sir, we are obliged to represent to his Majesty, not only the grievances, but the fentiments of the People, with regard to the measures he purfues, and the perfons he advises with or employs in the executive part of our Government; and therefore whilst we fit here and do our duty, no general discontent can arife, without his Majesty's being informed of its caufes, and of the methods for allaying it: If we neglect to do fo, or from selfish motives abftain, or delay giving his Majefty a proper information and advice upon any fuch occafion, we neglect or betray, not only our duty to our Country and Conftituents, but alfo our duty to our Sovereign. This, Sir, is my opinion; this must be the opinion of every man who has a true notion of our Conftitution; and therefore, I can no longer delay making you the Motion, with which I fhall conclude what I have to fay upon this occafion. I believe there is not a Gentleman of this Houfe, who is not fenfible, that both the foreign and domeftic measures of our Government, for several years paft, have been diffatisfactory to a great majority of the nation; I may fay to almoft every man in the nation, who has not been concerned in advifing or carrying them on. I believe there is not a Gentleman in this Houfe, if he will freely declare his fentiments, who is not fenfible, that one fingle perfon in Administration has not only been thought to be, but has actually been the chief, if not the fole adviser and promoter of all thofe measures. This is known without doors, as well as it is within; and therefore the difcontents, the reproaches, and even the curfes of the people, are all directed against that fingle perfon. They complain of our prefent meafures; they have fuffered by paft measures; they expect no redrefs; they expect no alteration, or amendment, whilst he has a fhare in advifing or directing our future. Thefe, Sir, are the fentiments of the People with regard to that Minifter: These fentiments we are in honor and duty bound to reprefent to his Majefty, and the proper method for |