in the course of the debate, "that the Chairman bad made the deadest point he ever saw in his life."

Lord Camden urged the necessity and justice of their previously accepting the Petition of the Merchants, which he understood the noble Marquis had to present, and hearing the Merchants' allegations; he told the House they not only set there in their representative, but in their judicial capacity, and were therefore bound by all the ties of official duty, to get every light and information upon the subject before them; otherwise, their coming to a determination could not be acting in the spirit of the Constitution. He pressed them but for a day, which would not create any delay, and in that time he had no doubt their Lordships would receive that solid information founded on the truest proofs, commercial experience; which would, perhaps, influence their Lordships to think differently from what they then did.

Earl Gower insisted that such a mode of proceeding was totally unusual and unparliamentary; that very early in life, much about the period the noble and learned Lord alluded to, he remembered a circumstance which came directly in point; it was on an intended motion of the late Lord Halifax's, when the Lord Keeper decided against him, that another noble Lord should be first heard.

The Earl of Denbigh observed that the preference was with the noble Earl, out of the respect due to the other branch of the Legislature.

The question was then put, "Whether the Earl of Dartmouth shall now be heard?"

It was resolved in the Affirmative.

The Earl of Dartmouth accordingly rose, and after putting in his claim to be heard, on the question at large, moved, "To agree with the Commons in the said Address, by filling up the blank with 'Lords Spiritual and Temporal and'".

The Marquis of Rockingham acquainted the House that the matter which he rose to was to present Petitions, one from the Merchants of London, concerned in the commerce to North America, and the other from the West India Merchants and Planters; that he imagined their contents were of the highest importance, were immediately relative to the business under consideration, and were well worthy of arresting any determination of this House, for at least one day, being certain that, within that short period, information of infinite consequence would be laid before their Lordships, perhaps sufficient to alter, or at least soften the rigour of the measures they were now madly, hastily, and blindly proceeding to adopt. His Lordship then desired the Petitions might be read, which being complied with, he observed, as a question was now before the House, that must be first disposed of; and as consequently the subject matter of Petitions could not regularly come under the cognizance of the House; and that he still hoped the House would be willing to hear the Petitioners, as men suffering under the heaviest misfortunes, none of which could be attributed to their own misconduct, he would be under the necessity, as the only means left, of moving the previous question, which would open a door for taking into consideration a general state of the Petitioners' grievances.

He moved the previous question accordingly, and then his Lordship proceeded.

He observed, that until the previous question was first disposed of, he could not regularly enter into a discussion of the Address; but he would, nevertheless, in this stage of the business, assure the House that there was one paragraph in it which he totally disclaimed, and desired to be understood neither to have act or part in, that was, where both Houses were to assure his Majesty they would, in support of the measures therein recommended, hazard their lives and fortunes; for he now openly declared he would neither risk nor hazard life or fortune in such a cause. He said the noble mover adverted to something which he did not perfectly understand about unanimity. If every man who opposed this Address was presumed to be actuated by false notions of popularity, or factious motives, he believed four-fifths of the Nation would fall under that predicament; but this he could answer for himself, at all events, that he should not tread in the steps of his noble, but ill-fated ancestor, (Lord Strafford,) who first courted popular favour, and then deserted the cause he had embarked in; for as he had set out by supporting the cause of the people against the tyranny and arbitrary measures of Ministers, so he should never, for any temptation whatsoever, desert or betray them, but would persevere, to the last, in endeavouring to obtain for them a full reparation for all the injuries they had sustained.

The Earl of Pomfret contended that the Sea was our proper element; was against a Land war, and strenuously urged the necessity of sending a Naval Force sufficient to block up their Harbours, and by that means to cut off their communication with all other Powers, and put a total stop to their commerce.

The Earl of Denbigh united in this opinion on general principles, but insisted that a Military Force would be necessary for the protection of his Majesty's loyal subjects, who would be otherwise exposed to the fury and violence of their merciless persecutors.

Earl Gower adhered closely to the question before the House, the propriety of entering into an immediate examination of the matter contained in the Petitions intended to be presented by the noble Marquis. He said, the Petitioners were persons who deserved every mark of attention and respect which the House could pay them, consistently with the interests of the Empire at large; and although their grievances were imaginary, their complaints were, nevertheless, deserving of indulgence. He trusted, however, when they maturely considered that the steps now taken were to prevent the return of such evils in future, they would cheerfully acquiesce in the wisdom of Parliament in the present instance, and be gratefully thankful hereafter; for if the supremacy of the Legislature was once given up, their trade, commerce, and every possible advantage accruing from either, would soon be annihilated. He therefore hoped that the Merchants would, on the present occasion, submit to a temporary inconvenience, nay, a short-lived distress, to insure the most permanent and important benefits; and manifest that degree of magnanimity which a sense of their own interests, founded in submission and acquiescence to the wisdom of Parliament must, upon mature consideration and past experience, most certainly suggest.

Lord Mansfield said, it was impossible to confine the attention of the House merely to the matter of the previous question. He perfectly coincided in sentiment with the noble Earl, who asserted that we were reduced to the alternative of adopting coercive measures, or of forever relinquishing our claim of sovereignty or dominion over the Colonies; for consider the question in ever so many lights, says his Lordship, every middle way, every attempt to unite the opposite claims of the contending parties, ends, and is ultimately founded in one resolution or the other. His Lordship observed, that one of the most able American writers, after the fullest and clearest investigation of the subject, at last confesses that no medium can possibly be devised, which will exclude the inevitable consequence of either system absolutely prevailing; for that take it up on which ground you would, the supremacy of the British Legislature must be complete, entire, and unconditional; or, on the other hand, the Colonies must be free and independent. His Lordship next proceeded to examine very minutely the several Acts of Parliament complained of in the Congress which assembled at Philadelphia, and endeavoured to prove that every one of them, more or less, con-firmed the principles he had laid down, and the conclusions he had drawn from them, and directly struck at the Legislative superintending power, which it was contended they were willing to submit to, not barely to the subject of taxation. He more particularly adverted to the Acts for the establishing the Admiralty Courts in that country; for regulating the Rates of Postage of Letters; for ordering persons in any part of the Dominions of the Crown to be tried in any English County, for being charged with setting his Majesty's Dockyards on fire; for the quartering of Soldiers, and one or two more of the same nature; any one of which, if repealed, would be a total renunciation of the sovereignty, even if the other proposition were true, that we had no right to tax them. But that claim of non-taxation, it was, he said, that introduced all the rest; if the doctrine was a just one in any instance, it must of inevitable consequence extend to all the rest; for it was to the last degree monstrous and absurd to allow they had a right distinct from the British Legislature in any one particular,