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CONGRESSIONAL AND PARLIAMENTARY PROCEEDINGS OF 1776.

HE commander-in-chief plainly perceived, after his retreat through the Jerseys, that the British intended to take possession of Philadelphia, as soon as the river Delaware should be frozen over; and that city seemed to be inevitably lost. For greater safety, Congress changed their place of meeting from Philadelphia to Baltimore, on the 12th of December. After retreating to that place, the members, instead of despairing of success, took the most effectual measures for a vigorous prosecution of the war. Being removed from the commanderin-chief, they deemed it necessary, in order to secure vigour in the operations of the army, to confer unlimited military powers upon him for a short time.

On the 27th of December, after declaring that "the unjust, but determined purpose of the British court to enslave these free states, obvious notwithstanding every insinuation to the contrary, having placed things in such a situation, that the very exercise of civil liberty now depends on the judicious exercise of military powers; and the vigorous and decisive conduct of these being impossible to distant, numerous, and deliberative bodies," they passed the following resolve, “That General Washington shall be, and he is hereby invested with full, ample, and complete powers, to raise and collect together in the most speedy and effectual manner, from any or all of these United States, sixteen battalions of infantry in addition

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ACTS OF CONGRESS.

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to those already voted by Congress; to appoint officers for the said battalions of infantry; to raise, officer, and equip three thousand light-horse; three regiments of artillery, and a corps of engineers, and to establish their pay; to apply to of the states for such aid of the militia as he shall deem necessary; to form such magazines of provisions, and in such places as he shall think proper; to displace and appoint all officers under the rank of brigadier-general, and to fill all vacancies in every other department of the American armies; to take, wherever he may be, whatever he may want for the use of the army, if the inhabitants will not sell it, allowing a reasonable price for the same; to arrest and confine all persons, who refuse to take the continental currency, or are any otherwise disaffected to the American cause; and to return to the states, of which they are citizens, their names, and the nature of their offences, together with the witnesses to prove them."

These powers were vested in Washington for six months, unless sooner determined by Congress; and he assured Congress that his utmost endeavours should be employed to the furtherance of those objects which had given rise to this mark of distinction. So successfully did he carry out his intentions, that in February, Congress was enabled to return to Philadelphia, New Jersey being in part recovered from its late possessors, and public confidence restored.

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Meanwhile they were diligently employed in prosecuting the means which were most likely to lead to the success of their On the 30th of December, it was resolved that commissioners be forthwith sent to the courts of Vienna, Spain, Prussia, and the Grand Duke of Tuscany, with directions to assure them of their earnest intentions to secure their independence, to endeavour to prevent more foreign troops being sent to America, and to procure the recall of those already there. They were also directed to induce the King of France, if possible, to attack the British possessions in Europe or the West Indies; promising, in order to recompense him for thus aiding them, the right equally with them,

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MEETING OF PARLIAMENT.

of fishing off the Banks of Newfoundland, which island, with that of Cape Breton, and the province of Nova Scotia, were to be reduced by their allied forces.

The commissioners to the courts of France and Spain, were to consult together, and prepare a treaty of commerce and alliance, to be proposed to the court of Spain, offering to assist that government in the reduction of Pensacola.

Much action was afterwards had upon the subject of prisoners, and in consequence of the refusal of General Howe to exchange General Lee, Congress ordered that Colonel Campbell and six Hessian field-officers, who were prisoners in Massachusetts, should be closely confined.

In the course of the summer, the British ministers pretended to have discovered that many of the American privateers were French ships, which had taken out papers and commissions from the American Congress, and were manned with mixed crews, of which the greater part were Frenchmen. They also asserted that France and Spain were fitting out great armaments, and that those governments allowed the privateers with American commissions to sell prizes in their ports. On this pretext, they fitted out sixteen more ships of the line, and laid an embargo upon the exportation of provisions.

Parliament assembled on the 31st of October. In the opening speech, the king declared that "nothing could have 1 afforded him so much pleasure as to be able to state that the troubles in the American colonies were at an end, and that the unhappy people, recovered from their delusion, had delivered themselves from the oppression of their political leaders, and had returned to their duty. But," he continued, "so daring and desperate is the spirit of those leaders, whose object has always been dominion and power, that they have now openly renounced all allegiance to the crown, and all political connexion with this country; they have rejected, with circumstances of indignity and insult, the means of conciliation held out to them under the authority of our commission; and they have presumed to set up their rebellious

SPEECH OF THE KING.

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confederacies for independent states. If their treason be suffered to take root, much mischief must grow from it, to the safety of my loyal colonies, to the commerce of my kingdom, and indeed to the present system of all Europe. One great advantage, however, will be derived from their object being openly avowed and clearly understood-we shall have unanimity at home, founded in the general conviction of the justice and necessity of our measures."

Although he advised them to prepare for another campaign, he was happy to inform them, that by the blessing of Divine Providence on the valour and good conduct of his officers and forces by sea and land, and on the zeal and bravery of the foreign troops, Canada was recovered; and that, though from unavoidable delays, the operations at New York could not begin before the month of August, the success in that province had been such as to give the strongest hopes of the most decisive consequences.

He declared that he continued to receive assurances of amity from the several courts of Europe; and that he indulged the hope that all misunderstanding might be removed, and Europe continue to enjoy the inestimable blessing of peace. He thought, nevertheless, that, in the present situation of affairs, it was expedient that the government should be in a respectable state of defence at home. He trusted that his faithful Commons would readily and cheerfully grant such supplies as the maintenance of the honour of his crown, the vindication of the just rights of parliament, and the public welfare, should be found to require.

In conclusion, he said, "In this arduous contest I can have no other object but to promote the true interests of all my subjects. No people ever enjoyed more happiness, or lived under milder government, than those now revolted provinces: the improvements in every art, of which they boast, declare it: their numbers, their wealth, their strength by sea and land, which they think sufficient to enable them to make head against the whole power of the mother country, are irrefragable proofs of it. My desire is to restore them to the

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LORD CAVENDISH'S AMENDMENT

blessings of law and liberty, equally enjoyed by every British subject, which they have fatally and desperately exchanged for all the calamities of war, and the arbitrary tyranny of their chiefs."

The addresses in both houses brought on violent debates, in which the animosity of party was more discernible than anything else.

In the House of Commons, Lord John Cavendish moved an amendment, which was longer than the whole of the preposed address, and included a view of the entire ministerial management of American affairs. After a declaration of zeal and loyalty, it expressed the deepest concern at beholding the minds of a very large and lately loyal and affectionate part of his majesty's subjects entirely alienated from his government; and then, it inferred, that the disaffection and revolt of a whole people could not have taken place without some considerable errors in the conduct of ministers and parliament. These errors it imputed to the want of sufficient information, and the too great confidence in ministers, who, though by duty bound to know the temper and disposition of the Americans, had totally failed for want of that knowledge. It insisted that every act of parliament which ministers had proposed, as a means of procuring peace and submission, had become a new cause of hostility and revolt, until the nation was inextricably involved in a bloody and expensive civil war, which would exhaust its strength, expose its allies to the designs of their enemies, and leave the kingdom in a most perilous situation. It affirmed that no hearing had been afforded to the reiterated complaints and petitions of the colonies, no ground laid for removing the original cause of the quarrel, no proper authority given to the commissioners nominated for the apparent purpose of making peace: and it represented that all these things, and the delay in sending out the commissioners, had driven the colonists to despair, and had furnished them with reasons for breaking off their dependence on the crown of England. It stated that it could only be by withdrawing their confidence from ministers who

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