GENERAL CONGRESS. the violation of charters by altering the constitution of the Legislative Council, the change of venue in criminal indictments were all acts of oppression and wrong, to which they plainly declared that the people of America would not submit. 20 L. Ch. 18. 1774 Congress. These topics were varied in three other papers Papers of of a similar character, addressed respectively to the Colonies, to the King, and to the People of Great Britain. These papers were highly creditable to the literary ability and good sense of their authors. Precise in statement, measured in language, well reasoned, and dignified in style, they were calculated to made an impression upon those who dissented most widely from their conclusions.a Still, had it not been for the wise precautions which they adopted of debating with closed doors, and of resolving that no division of opinion should appear on the record of their proceedings, a I cannot quite concur, however, in the eulogium pronounced upon the papers of Congress by Lord Chatham. 'When your lordships look at the papers transmitted to us from America when you consider their decency, firmness and wisdom, you cannot but respect their cause, and wish to make it your own. For myself, I must declare and avow, that in all my reading and observation - and it has been my favourite study — I have read Thucydides, I have studied and admired the master states of the world that for solidity of reasoning, force of sagacity and wisdom of conclusion under such a complication of difficult cirumstances, no nation or body of men can stand in preference to the General Congress at Philadelphia.'- Speech in the Lords, 20th January, 1775. 202 Ch. 18. 1774 PROCEEDINGS OF THE it is probable that this famous assembly would have separated without having arrived at any result, and certainly without having exhibited to their constituents and to England that formidable display of union, discretion and firmness which excited so much admiration and respect. The Congress had many difficulties to encounter. They met under circumstances by no means promising. The representatives of the different States were for the most part personal strangers to each other. The democratic and independent spirit of the New England provinces, so far from being acceptable to the other States, was regarded by them with jealousy and distrust. Accordingly, at the first meeting of the Congress, nobody appeared willing to take the lead, and it was only after a long pause that Patrick Henry, the eloquent and zealous representative of Virginia, rose up and uttered a few stirring sentences. The delegates from Massachusetts, conscious of the prejudice against the extreme counsels which they were expected to advocate, studiously kept back. It was not until after much animated discussion that the Congress could arrive at an agreement upon any point. At length a proposition was made which fairly put the sense of the Assembly to the test. Mr. Galloway, one of the members for Pennsylvania, a gentleman of large fortune and influence, brought forward a plan for effecting a settlement of the conflicting pretensions of Great Britain and the Colonies on GENERAL CONGRESS. the subject of legislation. The principle of his proposal was, that over all matters of local concern, the provincial assemblies should have exclusive control; but in questions of a mixed character involving considerations of general and imperial interest, there should be a concurrent action between the local legislatures and the Parliament of Great Britain. His idea seemed to have been the establishment of a relation somewhat analogous to that which exists between the two Chambers in the system of the English Constitution; but his details were imperfectly defined; nor is it probable that such a scheme could ever have been reduced to a practical form. Nevertheless, the proposal was eagerly supported by the friends of British connection; and notwithstanding all the efforts and arguments of the patriotic party, who saw that the adoption of such a proposal could have no other effect than to stultify the Congress, it was rejected only by a single vote. Galloway, the mover, in the following year, when arms were taken up, joined the Royalists. 203 Ch. 18. 1774 party over After this trial of strength, the moderate party Moderate in Congress gave way to the energy and deter- ruled. mination of those who denounced the policy of compromise, and no serious opposition was offered to the vigorous counsels which subsequently prevailed. b Life and Works of John Adams. Boston, 1856. Diary, vol. ii. p. 377, n. 204 Ch. 18. 1774 East Indian and American affairs. EDMUND BURKE. Parliament was occupied during the sessions of 1773-4, chiefly by East Indian and American affairs. The colonial measures, though sanctioned by large majorities in both Houses, and some of them without a division, underwent severe scrutiny and strong animadversion. Dunning, Dowdeswell, Barré, Fox, at different stages of the discussions, opposed the bills with great ability; but Burke's speech on a motion for the repeal of the tea duty, in April 1774, was a finished specimen of the highest order of eloquence. The whole history of the American question was comprised in this splendid composition, together with every argument that could be urged against the justice and policy of the recent legislation for the colonies; yet the style is so diffuse, so discursive, and so redundant in illustration, that the perspicuity of the statement is dimmed, and the chain of the reasoning is relaxed, and sometimes dropped. Some topics are also introduced, which have only a collateral and incidental connexion with the subject. The characters of the statesmen who took foremost parts in American politics Grenville, Charles Townshend, Chatham, and Lord North-admirable as they were, could only have the effect of diverting attention from the wrongs of America, the horrors of civil war, and the perils of a divided empire. This great oration produced little effect upon the House. While speeches, which it is an effort to read, have carried away the au . HIS CHARACTER AS AN ORATOR. dience, the eloquence of Burke, which will be studied with delight as long as the language endures, was barely tolerated by a listless and impatient assembly. Though a master of composition, and accomplished in all the arts of rhetoric, he was wholly wanting in the more essential qualifications of an orator. With the aspect and manner of a pedagogue, a monotonous voice and a provincial brogue, his singular ignorance of tact and taste, gave perpetual offence to the most fastidious audience in the world. The speeches of Burke abound with passages the conception of which is so exquisite, that nothing but the most execrable delivery could have marred their effect. I will quote a single example from the speech on American taxation. He had been shewing that the tax of three-pence a pound on tea, payable on entry at the American port would, from its insignificance as a source of revenue, and its inadequacy to supply the place of the duty for which it was substituted, be considered only as imposed for the purpose of asserting the obnoxious right of imposing a customs' duty. "Could anything,' he said, 'be a subject of more just alarm to America, than to see you go out of the plain high road of finance, and give up your most certain revenues, and your dearest interest, merely for the sake of insulting your colonies? No man ever doubted that the commodity of tea could bear an imposition of three pence. But no commodity will bear three pence, or will bear a 205 Ch. 18. 1774 |