tions; and endeavoured to prove, that if Great Britain should give way on the present occasion, from mistaken motives of present advantages in trade, commerce, &c, such a concession would inevitably defeat its own object; for it was plain, that the Navigation Act, and all other regulatory Acts, which formed the great basis on which those advantages rested, and the true interests of both countries depended, would fall a victim to the interested and ambitious views of America. Now, therefore, was the time to assert the authority of Great Britain; for if we did not, he had not a single doubt but every concession on our side would produce a new demand on theirs; and in the end, bring about that state of traitorous independency, at which it was too plain they were now aiming. He lamented the disgraceful, miserable state of the Troops under General Gage, daily crumbling away with sickness and desertion, destitute of covering and sustenance, and, what was much worse, their spirits broken, and themselves disheartened, with the insolent taunts and repeated provocations of a rebellious surrounding rabble. He reflected severely on the conduct of those, that put him and kept him in so disgraceful a situation. He said he should be glad to know by what secret power, or over-ruling influence, the wishes of Parliament had been defeated. On the other hand, if it was from that gentleman's own suggestions he acted, he freely declared, that however prevalent it might be, from every side of the House, to bestow encomiums on him, he must continue to think his conduct extremely reprehensible, and deserving of censure. His Lordship disclaimed all personal connection with Administration. He said he supported them, because he imagined and believed them to be right.

Lord Camden said he would not enter into the large field of discussion, or collateral reasoning, applicable to the abstruse and metaphysical distinctions necessary to the investigation of the omnipotence of Parliament; but this be would venture to assert, that the natural right of mankind, and the immutable laws of justice, were clearly in favour of the Americans. He observed that great stress had been laid on the legislative supremacy of Great Britain; and as jar as the doctrine was directed to its proper objects, it was a just one; but it was no less true in fact, that consonant to all the reasonings of all the speculative writers on government, that no man, either agreeable to the true principles of natural or civil liberty, could be divested of any part of his property without his own consent. He pledged himself, at a proper time, to prove that the law of England did not give the right claimed by Parliament, to tax America. That no book or record expressed such right; that he could not tell where to look for it; that he consulted law and history, and his search was equally fruitless in both. In what King's reign, he asked, could it be found? Was it in the old times, before our Colonies' existed; or when? He said that in the time of Charles the First, when that great constitutional lawyer, Mr. Selden, was pressed to declare on what legal grounds resistance was justifiable, he replied it was by the custom of England, and that was part of the law of the land—and concluded by referring to the works of Judge Blackstone, where avoiding to state the rule, when resistance is justifiable, be lays down the Revolution as the only precedent; but adds, though the various circumstances and incidents, which may justify resistance, cannot be exactly defined, it is plain, the people at large, who possess the original rights necessary to their own happiness and preservation, have the same right to recall it, whenever the power and authority thus delegated by them, has been abused, and manifestly employed to their own ruin and destruction.

The Earl of Chatham, in reply, observed that if the Noble Lord (Lyttelton) who suggested that the views of America Were ultimately pointed to the defeating the Act of Navigation, and the other regulatory Acts so wisely framed and calculated for that reciprocity of interests so essentially necessary to the grandeur and prosperity of the whole Empire, was right, there was no person present, however zealous, would be readier than himself to resist and crush any attempt of that nature in the first instance; but to come at any certain knowledge of their real sentiments, it would be proper first to do them justice; to treat them like. subjects, before they wore condemned as aliens or traitors. He entirely acquiesced in the sentiments of his noble friend, (Lord Camden,) that the present was not a subject proper for nice, metaphysical discussion: that property was a simple subject, distinct and unconnected with the variously complex ideas in which other questions relative to policy were inevitably involved; that he still remained, and ever should continue of opinion, that the right which God and nature, and the Constitution, had given a British subject to his property, was invariably in-alienated, without his own consent; and that no power under Heaven could touch it without that consent, either implied, or expressly and directly given. He treated the idea of taxation, being included in legislation, in the most ludicrous terms. He contended, that they were two operations in our Constitution totally distinct and foreign to each other; that the latter plainly originated from the power vested in the Legislative Great Council, to control, direct, and watch over the interests of the. whole society, by way of regulation and coercion, for the common benefit, while the former was inseparably connected with property, and must forever suit itself to the true nature and disposition of property in general.

Lord Townshend desired several Acts of his present Majesty might be read. He endeavoured to prove that some of them were nearly connected with the Act of Navigation passed in the reign of Charles the Second. The Resolutions of the American Congress condemning those Acts, shewed, he said, that the views of America are not confined to the redress of grievances, real or imaginary, but are immediately directed to the total overthrow of that great palladium of British commerce, the. Act of Navigation. The question was not now barely a question of Revenue; but whether that great commercial system on which the strength and prosperity of Great Britain, and the mutual interests of both countries vitally depended, should be destroyed in order to gratify the foolishly ambitious temper of a turbulent, ungrateful people. He contended strongly if concessions of that nature were to be made, restrictions taken off, and trade allowed to flow, in what was called its natural channels, Ireland, who helped to man our Fleets and Armies; who had contributed so generously and freely to the common; support; who. had so cheerfully assisted in alleviating our burdens, was much better entitled to it than America.

The Earl of Rochford was for firm and decisive measures. To retreat, he insisted, was to be vanquished: and condemned those who were for conceding at this critical juncture. The unity of the British Empire should, in his opinion, supersede every inferior consideration, because on that its prosperity, stability, and external, grandeur immediately depended. He disclaimed, in the name of the King's Ministers, all imputations and insinuations thrown out by a noble Lord. He said he believed the General was as little censurable as they were, and that it was next to impossible to decide on that gentleman's conduct at so great a distance, and without knowing the motives that lead to it.

Earl Gower was well informed that the, language now held by the Americans, was the language of the rabble and a few factious leaders; that the Delegates at the Congress were far from expressing the true sense of the respectable part of their constituents; that in many places they were chosen by a kind of force, in which the people of. consequence were afraid, unprotected as they were, to interpose; and where it was otherwise, they were borne down by faction in some instances, and perverted by the most false misrepresentations in others; that taking it in either light, the measures proper to be pursued by Great Britain were plain, and did not admit of the least controversy; for either, said his Lordship, they are disposed as I have now represented, or they are not: if they are, they deserve our utmost protection; if they are not, we should exert and strain every nerve to make them submit. I have all along been of that opinion. I now avow it; and be the event what it may, I never mean to shrink from the consequences of an advice which I am proud to own.

The Marquis of Rockingham observed, that as Ministry had avowed an intention of sending out more Troops to Boston, and as that was a measure totally repugnant to his plan of reconciliation, he was glad of an opportunity of resisting that; mischievous and dangerous design of governing' the Colonies by force. He said that the Troops which had so idly beep sent thither, were, by their instructions,