resolution, at the hazard of our lives and properties, to stand by his Majesty against all rebellious attempts, in the maintenance of the just rights of his Majesty and the two Houses of Parliament.

Lord John Cavendish moved that it be recommitted. He strongly recommended the reconsideration of a measure which he deemed fraught with so much mischief; commented on the proposed Address; thought it improper to assert that a rebellion existed; mentioned the insecurity created by the Act for changing the Government of Massachusetts Bay; said the inhabitants knew not for a moment under what Government they lived. His head and heart combined to deprecate the horrours of civil war, necessarily involving a foreign one also, with the combined forces of very powerful Nations. He represented the jealousy of our neighbours, from their disgrace and our glory in the last war. If the Americans should hear of our having declared them Rebels, and that more force was coming, might they not determine rather to attack a part than wait for the whole? a small rather than a greater number? He stated our domestic situation, our state with the Colonies and with foreign Powers. He called the attention of the House to the unequal balance of our loss and our gain in the event; in which we might find our Revenue destroyed, our Trade annihilated, and our Empire itself overturned; and if we succeeded in subduing America, we could gain nothing.

Lord Lumley seconded the motion. He expressed himself with modesty, handsomely making his youth a personal plea for his wishing the utmost time for reconsideration on a matter so important.

The Lord Mayor, Mr. Wilkes. Mr. Speaker: the business before the House, in its full extent, respecting the British Colonies in America, is of as great importance as was ever debated in Parliament. It comprehends almost every question relative to the common rights of mankind, almost every question of policy and legislation. I do not mean to enter into so vast, so well-trodden a field. I will confine myself to the immediate business of this day. The Address now reported from the Committee of the Whole House, appears to be unfounded, rash, and sanguinary. It draws the sword unjustly against America; but before Administration are suffered to plunge the Nation into the horrours of a civil war, before they are permitted to force Englishmen to sheath their swords in the bowels of their fellow-subjects, I hope this House will seriously weigh the original ground and cause of this unhappy dispute, and in time reflect whether justice is on our side, and gives a sanction to the intended hostile proceedings. The assumed right of taxation, without the consent of the subject, is plainly the primary cause of the present quarrel. Have we, then, sir, any right to tax the Americans? That is the great important question. The fundamental laws of human nature, and the principles of the English Constitution, are equally repugnant to the claim. The very idea of property excludes the right of another's taking any thing from me without my consent, otherwise I cannot call it my own. No tenure can be so precarious as the will of another. What property have I in what another person can seize at his pleasure? If any part of my property is subject to the discretionary powers of others, the whole may be so likewise. If we can tax the Americans without their consent, they have no property; nothing they can call their own with certainty; for we might by violence take the whole as well as the part. The words liberty and property, so dear to an Englishman, so pleasing in our ears, would become a cruel mockery, an insult to an American. The laws of society are professedly calculated to secure the property of each individual, of every subject of the state. This point is no less clearly determined by the great principles of that happy Constitution under which we live. All subsidies to the Crown have always been considered, and expressly declared, to be grants from the Commons of the Realm, free gifts from the people. Their full consent is stated in the grant. Much has been said of the Palatinate of Chester, and the Principality of Wales, and the period of their taxation; but, sir, there is a more remarkable case in point, which alone would determine this question. If gentlemen will search the Records in the Tower, and the Chapel of the Rolls, they will find that the Town of Calais, in France, when it belonged to the Imperial Crown of this Realm, was not taxed till it sent a Representative to Parliament. A Thomas Fowler actually sat and voted in this House as a Burgess of the Town of Calais. From that period, and not till then, was Calais taxed. The Writ out of Chancery, and the Return in the reign of Edward Sixth, are still extant. I faithfully gave them to the publick from attested copies.

It will, I foresee, sir, be objected; is America then to enjoy the protection of Great Britain, and to contribute nothing to the support of that parent state, which has so long afforded it safety and security, which has carefully and tenderly nursed it to this hour of its present strength and greatness? The Americans themselves have given the fullest answer to this objection, in a manner not to be controverted, by their conduct through a long series of years, and by the most explicit declarations. Equally in words and actions, of the most unequivocal nature, they have demonstrated their love, their ardour, their strong filial piety towards the mother country. They have always appeared ready, not only to contribute towards the expenses of their own Government, but likewise to the wants and necessities of this state, although perhaps they may not be over-fond of all the proud, expensive trappings of royalty. In the two last wars with France, they far exceeded the cold line of prudence. With the most liberal hearts, they cheerfully gave you nearly their all, and they fought gallantly and victoriously by your side, with equal valour against our and their enemy, the common enemy of the liberties of Europe and America, the ambitious, faithless French, whom now we fear and flatter. Our Journals, sir, will bear witness to the grateful sense we had of the important services of our brethren in America, by the great sums we shall find voted to be repaid them for what they expended in the spirited warlike expeditions, which they carried through with equal courage and conduct. The siege and capture of Louisbourg, the various successful operations against the general foe, without the least knowledge, much less participation, on our part, are the fullest proofs of the warm affection of their hearts to this country, and of their readiness to bear more than their share of the publick expense and burthen. But, sir, the whole was the gift of freemen, our fellow-subjects, who feel that they are, and know they have a right to be, as free as ourselves. What is their language even now, at a moment when you are planning their destruction, when you are branding them with the odious appellation of Rebels? In the late Petition of the Congress to the King, they declare, "they are ready and willing, as they ever have been, when constitutionally required, to demonstrate their loyalty to his Majesty, by exerting their most strenuous efforts in granting Supplies and raising Forces." This is the unanimous Resolution of a Congress, composed of Deputies from the several Colonies of New-Hampshire, Massachusetts Bay, Rhode-Island and Providence Plantations, Connecticut, New-York, New-Jersey, Pennsylvania, the Counties of Newcastle, Kent, and Sussex, on Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, and the two Carolinas.

I have heard, sir, of a plan of accommodation, which, I believe, would reconcile all differences. But alas, sir, it does not come from any servant of the Crown. It comes from the noble Lord, to whom this country has the most essential obligations; to whom it is so highly indebted for its late splendour and glory. The plan is, to assemble another Congress in the Spring, under the authority of the Parliament of Great Britain; the Deputies of the several Colonies to meet together, and to be jointly empowered to regulate the various quotas to be paid by each Province to the General Treasury of the whole Empire. I would, in addition to that plan, propose that a regulation, similar to what actually takes place with respect to Scotland, be adopted as to America. The proportion of each Colony might be settled according to the Land-Tax in England, at one, two, or more Shillings in the Pound. I am not deep politician enough to know what the proportion should be of each Province, which will vary greatly in half a century; but I speak of each quota being at all times to be regulated according to the Land-Tax of this country. The very extensive and flourishing Colonies of the Massachusetts Bay, Virginia, and South Carolina, for instance, should contribute more; the smaller and poorer Colonies of New-Hampshire and New-Jersey, less; but, sir, I insist, not a Shilling can be taken without their consent. After this day's debate, should the Address now moved for, be