give some idea of the vehemence with which he opposed the hostile spirit toward America, and the variety of matter he brought to bear upon the question.

In concluding an animated harangue (26th Jan.) he used a beautiful illustration, which drew great applause, of an archer about to direct an arrow to the heart of his enemy, but found that in his adversary's arms was enfolded his own child. This incident he recommended with cautionary admonition to those statesmen who had in contemplation the destruction of America, unmindful that they could not accomplish so baneful a purpose, without at the same time plunging a dagger into the vitals of Great Britain. "Let your commerce," said he, "come before you see whether it be not your child that America has in its arms-see of what value that child is-examine and consider whether you ought to shoot-and if you must shoot, shoot so as to avoid wounding what is dearest to you in the world. -Without examining your trade you cannot do this."

For his exertions on these occasions the following letter of thanks was forwarded to him, signed by fifteen of the principal merchants of Birmingham

"TO EDMUND BURKE, Esq.

"SIR, "Birmingham, Feb. 8, 1775. "The merchants and manufacturers who have had a principal share of the American trade from this town and neighbourhood, beg your acceptance, through our hands, of their warmest acknowledg

ments for your liberal support of our petition to the honourable House of Commons, wherein are stated the evils we already feel, and the greater we have yet to apprehend from a continued stagnation of so important a branch of our commerce as that with North America.

"At the same time we also unite in expressing our particular thanks for the motion you were pleased to make for an inquiry into the manner of both the late petitions from the town of Birmingham having been obtained, an inquiry which could scarcely have failed to give some useful intelligence, and to have fully justified our application to Parliament at so critical a juncture.

"We cannot wonder, Sir, that defamation should have made its appearance on such an occasion as this, which is the notorious evidence of a weak cause, and whose mischiefs we are persuaded will be as transient as its efforts have been intemperate.

"We only take the liberty, therefore, of adding our sincere wishes, that you may long fill your distinguished place in the British Senate, and that your persevering endeavours to preserve the rights of the subject, to maintain the prosperity of our commerce, and to secure the tranquillity of this extensive empire, may meet with a success adequate to the patriotic zeal with which they are animated. Being with the greatest regard,

"Sir, yours, &c."

Two more important, though indirect, tributes to his public wisdom appeared soon afterwards in the proceedings of the House of Lords: one in the

declaratory act of 1766, said to be chiefly his, and censured then by Lord Chatham, was now adopted by his Lordship as the groundwork of a plan which he brought forward in the Lords to conciliate America. The other respected the taxation of that country which Mr. Burke had so long ineffectually reprobated, when, on an incidental allusion to that measure, Lords North, Mansfield, Camden, the Duke of Grafton, and others, all of whom were advisers of the Crown at the time it was adopted, now, to the surprise of the nation, utterly and angrily disclaimed having taken any part in advising it. The subsequent evidence of Mr. Penn, at the bar of the House of Lords, also seemed to imply, that America would have been quiet had things remained on the footing left by the Rockingham Administration.

Undeterred by the failure just alluded to of Lord Chatham's scheme in the House of Lords for quieting the troubles in America, Mr. Burke, on the 22d of March, 1775, introduced his celebrated thirteen propositions to accomplish the same object, urged to the attempt, it appears, by the persuasions of Mr. Rose Fuller, whose motion for the abolition of the tea duty he had supported the preceding year. His reluctance to come forward on this occasion, and the ain of the measure itself, are stated with much modesty yet force.

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"I felt the truth of what my honourable friend represented; but I felt my situation too. His application might have been made with far greater propriety to many other gentlemen. No man was indeed ever better disposed, or worse qualified, for such an undertaking than myself.

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Though I gave so far into his opinion, that I immediately threw my thoughts into a sort of parliamentary form, I was by no means equally ready to produce them. It generally argues some degree of natural impotence of mind, or some want of knowledge of the world, to hazard plans of government, except from a seat of authority. Propositions are made, not only ineffectually, but somewhat disreputably, when the minds of men are not properly disposed for their reception; and for my part, I am not ambitious of ridicule; not absolutely a candidate for disgrace.

"Besides, Sir, to speak the plain truth, I have in general no very exalted opinion of the virtue of paper government; nor of any politics, in which the plan is to be wholly separated from the execution. But when I saw, that anger and violence prevailed every day more and more; and that things were hastening towards an incurable alienation of our colonies; I confess my caution gave way. I felt this, as one of those few moments in which decorum yields to a higher duty. Public calamity is a mighty leveller; and there are occasions when any, even the slightest, chance of doing good, must be laid hold on, even by the most inconsiderable person.

"To restore order and repose to an empire so great and so distracted as ours, is, merely in the attempt, an undertaking that would ennoble the flights of the highest genius, and obtain pardon for the efforts of the meanest understanding. Struggling a good while with these thoughts, by degrees I felt myself more firm. I derived, at length, some confidence from what in other circumstances usually

produces timidity. I grew less anxious, even from the idea of my own insignificance. For, judging of what you are, by what you ought to be, I persuade l myself, that you would not reject a reasonable proposition, because it had nothing but its reason to recommend it.

"On the other hand, being totally destitute of all shadow of influence, natural or adventitious, I was very sure, that, if my proposition were futile or dangerous; if it were weakly conceived, or improperly timed, there was nothing exterior to it, of power to awe, dazzle, or delude you. You will see it just as it is; and you will treat it just as it deserves.

"The proposition is peace. Not peace through the medium of war; not peace to be hunted through the labyrinth of intricate and endless negociations; not peace to arise out of universal discord, fomented from principle, in all parts of the empire; not peace to depend on the juridical determination of perplexing questions; or the precise marking the shadowy boundaries of a complex government. It is simple peace; sought in its natural course, and in its ordinary haunts. It is peace sought in the spirit of peace; and laid in principles purely pacific. I propose, by removing the ground of the difference, and by restoring the former unsuspecting confidence of the colonies in the mother country, to give permanent satisfaction to your people; and (far from a scheme of ruling by discord) to reconcile them to each other in the same act, and by the bond of the very same interest, which reconciles them to British government.