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known. But, said he, they have taken care, to a degree of affectation, to inform you that it is the rights not of the Crown but of Parliament, for which they are fighting; and yet, with an inconsistency worthy only of themselves, they will not allow Parliament the least information to know how to fight for those rights which they say are peculiarly its own, This is the conduct, Sir, which has driven from them some of the most manly and respectable characters in the kingdom. They were deceived; they openly tell these men who call themselves ministers, "You deceived us; you would not let us know the state either of America, or of the force you had there to quell the disturbances: acting thus in the dark, we were led into error, but we will not persist in it; we know your intentional deceit, and we leave you." This, Sir, is also the case with parliament; and the only remedy is for Parliament to imitate the conduct of those manly characters, by refusing to vote away the money of their constituents for measures about which they are absolutely in the dark.

The House divided: Yeas 63: Noes 170.

BILL FOR EMBODYING THE MILITIA.

November 2.

THE HE King, in his Speech to both Houses at the Opening of the Session, informed them, "That he had sent to the garrison's of Gibraltar and Port Mahon, a part of his Electoral troops, in order that a larger number of the established forces of this kingdom might be applied to the maintenance of its authority; and the national Militia, planned and regulated with equal regard to the rights, safety, and protection of his crown and people, might give a farther extent and activity to our military operations." consequence of this passage, a Bill for embodying the Militia was brought in. On the motion for the second reading, the Bill was warmly opposed by Mr. Dunning, Mr. Thomas Townshend, Mr. Burke, and Mr. Fox.

In

Mr. Fox declared he did not think so meanly of the understandings of the present ministry, as to suppose they would leave this country without an army of some kind. He approved of a militia as a succedaneum for an army, but by the present bill they were evidently to serve as a part of the army itself. He then entered into a definition of the original

meaning and intention of the English militia, and laid it down as a doctrine, that formerly a militia-man was merely armed and disciplined, that he might, when danger was at his door and pressed upon him, defend himself. He said, that he should certainly be against the introduction of foreign troops, and was also against a standing army; that the purpose of the present bill was to create a standing army, and to increase the power of the crown; that he saw no difference between a standing army of regulars, and a standing army of militia, whom the King could call out whenever he pleased; for that in this country, and every other extensive dominion, there would always, in some part or other, be a riot, which the minister might think proper to call a rebellion. There might be a disturbance among the negroes in Jamaica, in Bengal, or in any other distant place, which might serve as a pretext for embodying the militia. That many gentlemen would frequently be embarrassed who served in it, by being put upon disagreeable duty; and that at present, if he was a militia officer, he would resign. He concluded with declaring, that administration were taking advantage of the present situation of affairs, to put the people under martial law; that all the late American acts tended to increase the power of the crown, and to demolish the rights of the people; and that as the present bill evidently would have that effect, he should oppose it.

On the motion for the second reading, the House divided: Yeas 259: Noes 50.

AMERICAN PROHIBITORY BILL.

November 20.

LORD NORTH moved, "That leave be given to bring in a

Bill, to prohibit all trade and intercourse with the colonies of New Hampshire, Massachuset's Bay, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, the three lower counties on Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia, during the continuance of the present rebellion within the said colonies respectively; for repealing an Act, made in the 14th of his present Majesty, to discontinue the landing and discharging, lading or shipping, of goods, wares, and merchandize, at the town and within the harbour of Boston, in the province of Massachuset's Bay; and also two Acts, made in the last session of parliament, for restraining the trade and commerce of the colonies,

in the said Acts respectively mentioned: and to enable His Majesty to appoint commissioners, and to issue proclamations in the cases and for the purposes therein to be mentioned."

Mr. Fox said, that this proposition was cutting off and destroying all trade with America. Even if the noble lord's other measures had not done it, this would effectually. Though the House had not at present the manufacturers at their door, he prophesied they would have them next year. The true intention of this Bill was, to break up the manufacturers, who, through want of subsistence, would be obliged to enlist, and thus the noble lord thought he should be enabled to fill the ranks of that army which would not otherwise be recruited. As the noble lord had now proposed the repeal of three oppressive Acts, he begged to ask him, as a man of honour and a gentleman, whether he did not wish that he had adopted the opinion of the noble duke (of Grafton) who was first lord of the treasury, when the repeal of the tea duty was moved in that House, and supported it? He repeated, that there were differences of opinions amongst persons high in office at that time; and he asked the noble lord whether he did not now wish he had been of opinion with those who were for repealing that duty, because they saw, and therefore wished to avoid, that chain of misfortunes, which the continuance of it had drawn after it? This proposition of peace, he said, like that of last year, was meant to lead on this country under a delusion of flattering hopes of peace; and to endeavour to deceive, which it would not do, the Americans into a belief, that this country wished for a peace of the description which the noble lord held out, or was unanimously determined to prosecute the war, if such peace could not be effected. The whole was insidious, and therefore could have no other effect upon the Americans than to destroy their confidence in government, if any such yet remained. If the Americans should believe the spirit of this country was unanimous against their rights, they had nothing to do but prepare immediately for war, as their only defence against a system of despotism. This proposition, therefore, was a declaration of perpetual war; and were he to give his vote for it, he should consider himself as giving his vote for a declaration of war. However, as he had always said that he would support any measure of reconciliation, he should go so far with the noble lord, as the repeal of the three Acts he had mentioned. Therefore he should move the following Amendment: To leave out from the word "Bill" to the words "for repealing," and from the words "respectively mentioned," to the end of the question.

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This Amendment, which went to the omission of Lord North's proposition, except what related to the repeal of the Boston Port, the Fishery, and the restraining Acts, occasioned very warm debates and much animadversion, which continued till after midnight, when the Amendment was rejected upon a division, by a majority of 192 to 64.

December 8.

The order of the day being read for receiving the Report of the American Prohibitory Bill, Lord North moved, that the Amendments made in the Committee be agreed to. Upon this occasion,

Mr. Fox said:-I have always given it as my opinion, that the war now carrying on against the Americans is unjust; but admitting it to be a just war, admitting that it is practicable, I insist that the means made use of, (are not such as will obtain the end. I shall confine myself singly to this ground, and shew that this Bill, like every other measure, proves the want of policy, the folly and madness, of the present ministers. I was in great hopes, that they had seen their error, (and had given over coercion, and the idea of carrying on war against America by means of acts of parliament. In order to induce the Americans to submit to your legislature, you pass laws against them, cruel and tyrannical in the extreme. If they complain of one law, your answer to their complaint, is to pass another more rigorous than the former. But they are in rebellion, you say; if so, treat them as rebels are wont to be treated. Send out your fleets and armies against them, and subdue them; but let them have no reason to complain of your laws. Shew them, that your laws are mild, just, and equitable, that they therefore are in the wrong, and deserve the punishment they meet with. The very contrary of this has been your wretched policy. I have ever understood it as a first principle, that in rebellion you punish the individuals, but spare the country; but in a war against the enemy, it is your policy to spare the individuals, and lay waste the country. This last has been invariably your conduct against America. I suggested this to you, when the Boston Port Bill passed. I advised you to find out the offending persons, and to punish them; but what did you do instead of this? You laid the whole town of Boston under terrible contribution, punishing the innocent with the guilty. You answer, that you could not come at the guilty. This very answer, shews how unfit, how unable you are, to govern America. If you are forced to punish the innocent to come at the guilty, your government there, is, and ought to be at an end. But, by the bill now before us, you not only punish those innocent persons who are unfortunately

mixed with the guilty in North America, but you punish and starve whole islands of unoffending people, unconnected with, and separated from them. Hitherto the Americans have separated the right of taxation from your legislative authority; although they have denied the former, they have acknowledged the latter. This Bill will make them deny the one as well as the other. "What signifies," say they, "your giving up the right of taxation, if you are to inforce your legislative authority in the manner you do. This legislative authority so inforced, will at any time coerce taxation, and take from us whatever you think fit to demand." The present is a Bill which should be entitled, a Bill for carrying more effectually into execution the resolves of the Congress.

The question being put on Lord North's motion, the House divided: Yeas 143: Noes 38.

MR. FOX'S MOTION FOR AN ACCOUNT OF THE EXPENCE OF THE BRITISH ARMY IN AMERICA.

MR.

November 22.

R. FOX moved, "That there be laid before this House, an Account of the Expences of the staff, hospitals, extraordinaries, and all military contingencies whatsoever, of the army in America, from August 1773 to October 1775, inclusive." He said, he had drawn up the motion in these words, because it would lay open an astonishing scene of ministerial delusion held out by the pretended estimate laid before the House a few days ago. It would bring the staff into the full glare of day, which had been hitherto artfully held back; it would shew, that the expence of the ordnance this year had exceeded any one of the Duke of Marlborough's campaigns, while in the midst of repeated victories, he was immortalizing the British name; and it would convince the greatest court infidels, of the temerity of the minister, who, to the very day of the session, insisted and declared, that the military service, in every branch, and under every description, was amply provided for; that all his arrangements were made; and who thus durst, in the bare article of the ordnance alone, incur a debt of upwards of 240,000l. He said it would be a farce to sit any longer in that House, if accounts of this nature were refused; that the motion was parliamentary; that it

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