of the measures by which we have been led into our present dilemma. Sir, past errours may be great and manifest; every Administration for ten years past may have had their share. It is not my present purpose to justify any. Inquiries may be very proper, at a proper time; but as a Member of Parliament, I hold myself indispensably called upon to take up the question upon this important, now this unparalleled moment in the English, history, when we tamely suffered Government to be suspended, when we sit here the mere shadow of authority, the phantom of a Parliament, assembling only to lament the substance we have lost, and to propose and subtilize questions of our own impotency.

Sir, another method of evading a debate upon the true merits of this question, has been, to confound the understanding. Ingenious men will run changes upon real and virtual representation, external and internal taxes, revenue and regulation, till one's head grows dizzy with distinctions, and the most gross absurdities and contradictions become, for a moment, specious. But it is not in rhetorick or sophistry to argue the great rational majority of the people of England out of the plain, simple proposition which is contained in the Declaratory Act of the sixth of the present King. The reason of the Nation has been long convinced; the trial now only is, whether we have spirit to support our conviction.

Sir, if the whole body of the Kingdom does not rouse at this alarm, and shake off that torpitude under which our publick spirit has long shamefully languished: if every class and distinction of men do not join in this great cause; if our Merchants and Manufacturers do not in one instance take example from the Americans, and render it glorious by adapting it to a better cause; if they do not feel insult and affront in the suspicion, that while one country dares the interruption of commerce to effectuate her chimerical claims, the other will not exert equal fortitude to vindicate her fundamental rights; if this be our wretched state, I agree that the sooner a formal surrender is made, the better; let Great Britain revert to her primitive insignificancy in the map of the world, and the Congress of Philadelphia be the Legislature to dispense the blessings of empire. Let us spare the blood of our subjects, let us spare the treasures of the state; but let us at the same time confess we are no more a people.

Sir, after this avowal of my principles, it might be thought that I sought the situation in which I am going to be employed. I publickly declare I did not seek it. I will take leave to say, on the part of my colleagues, it was sought by none of us, but it was accepted with that submission which is due from servants of the crown, and with that sense of gratitude to his Majesty which the importance of the trust required. I feel an additional call of gratitude on my own part for the honour my name receives in being classed with those of the distinguished officers to whom I have alluded.

I will trespass no longer upon the time of the House. With the sentiments I have expressed, I take leave of all American questions; with these sentiments I shall take leave of my country; I shall endeavour to maintain them in arguments, if admitted to any intercourse in America. I shall enforce them to the best of my power, if called upon to act in the line of my profession, conscientiously convinced that upon the due support of them both here and on the other side the Atlantic, the existence of this country and Constitution directly, emphatically, and conclusively depends.

Governour Johnstone replied to several things which dropped from the noble Lord. He said that, on a former occasion, Parliament had charged the East India Company will eleven millions for Ships, Forces, &c., sent to their assistance, but owned afterwards it was not so much; and he doubted not but that several of the millions now so roundly charged to the account of America, would be discovered to be no better founded, though we even brought the expenses of the present formidable Armament to account. He supposed, if America consented to the grants now proposed, that they would in time be managed as the Irish are, and that douceurs out of the sums raised would be distributed with equal success among the Colonists, and what could not be effected one way would be carried another: blue ribbons, red ribbons, Lords and Knights, would bring about great things. The Minister well understood to put this House in good humour at all times; and he supposed in time that he would cause this good humour to reach the other side of the Atlantic, though he had hitherto failed in his attempts. He concluded by observing, that there had been no precedent for our obliging the Colonies to raise taxes, but the Romans, who plundered those who were under their dominion, and brought the plunder to Rome, which was in the end the cause of the destruction of that once glorious and powerful Empire.

The question was then taken, and the Resolution was agreed to.

HOUSE OF COMMONS.

FRIDAY, February 10, 1775.

The Lord North acquainted the House, that he had a Message from his Majesty, to this House, signed by his Majesty; and he presented the same to the House, and it was read by Mr. Speaker, all the Members of the House being uncovered, and is as followeth, viz:

GEORGE R.

His Majesty being determined, in consequence of the Address of both Houses of Parliament, to take the most speedy and effectual measures for supporting the just rights of his Crown and the two Houses of Parliament, thinks proper to acquaint this House, that some addition to his Forces by Sea and Land will be necessary for that purpose; and doubts not but his faithful Commons, in whose zeal and affection he entirely relies, will enable him to make such augmentation to his Forces as the present occasion shall be thought to require

G. R.

Ordered, That his Majesty's said most gracious Message be referred to the consideration of the Committee of the Whole House, to whom it is referred to consider further of the Supply granted to his Majesty.

The Order of the Day being read, for the House to resolve itself into a Committee of the Whole House, to consider further of the Supply granted to his Majesty;

Resolved, That this House will, upon Monday morning next, resolve itself into the said Committee.

The other Order of the Day being read,

The House resolved itself into a Committee of the Whole House, to consider further of the several Papers which were presented to the House by the Lord North, upon the 19th and 31st days of January last, and the 1st day of this instant, February, by his Majesty's command.

Lord North moved, "That leave be given to bring in a Bill to restrain the Trade and Commerce of the Provinces of Massachusetts Bay and New-Hampshire, the Colonies of Connecticut and Rhode-Island, and Providence Plantation, in North America, to Great Britain, Ireland, and the British Islands in the West Indies; and to prohibit such Provinces and Colonies from carrying on any Fishery on the banks of Newfoundland, or other places therein to be mentioned, under certain conditions, and for a time to be limited." He supported his motion, by declaring, that as the Americans had refused to trade with this Kingdom, it was but just that we should not suffer them to trade with any other Nation. That the restraints of the Act of Navigation were their Charter; and that the several relaxations of that law, were so many acts of grace and favour; which, when the Colonies ceased to merit, it was but reasonable the British Legislature should recall. In particular, he said, that the Fishery on the banks of Newfoundland, and the other banks, and all the others in America, was the undoubted right of Great Britain. Therefore, we might dispose of them as we pleased. That, although the two Houses had not declared all Massachusetts Bay in rebellion, they had declared, that there is a rebellion in that Province. It was just, therefore, to deprive that Province of its Fisheries. That in the Province of New-Hampshire, there was still a Governour and a Government; but Government was weak in that Colony;