"That the Petitioners very sincerely lament the unhappy differences which have already arisen between Great Britain and her Colonies, and cannot, without great concern and abhorrence, reflect upon that seditious spirit which hath broken out with such violence in the Province of Massachusetts Bay, particularly in the Town of Boston, whose inhabitants, by their disobedience, have set at defiance the Laws and Government of this Kingdom; that the Petitioners, from the present disposition of the Americans, most humbly apprehend that the Trade and Commerce of Great Britain with her Colonies, cannot be effectually restored, and permanently secured, without a due and proper submission and obedience to the Laws and Government of this Kingdom;" and therefore, praying their Lordships "to take such measures as to them may seem most likely to secure and maintain the supreme authority, honour, and dignity of Great Britain, enforce a due obedience to her laws, and restore subordination, order, and good government in America."

Ordered, That the said Petition do lie upon the table.

THURSDAY, March 9, 1775.

A Message was brought from the House of Commons, by Mr. Cooper, and others;

With a Bill, entituled, "An Act to restrain the Trade and Commerce of the Provinces of Massachusetts Bay and New-Hampshire, and 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 mentioned, under certain conditions and limitations;" to which they desire the concurrence of this House.

The said Bill was read the first time.

Ordered, That the said Bill be printed.

FRIDAY, March 10, 1775.

Ordered, That the Bill be read a second time on Wednesday next, and the Lords be summoned.

WEDNESDAY, March 15, 1775.

Mr. Rowe, from the Commissioners of the Customs in Scotland, delivered at the Bar,

An Account of what number of Ships from Scotland have been employed in the Whale Fishery to Davis's Straits and the Greenland Seas, with their respective names and burthens, from whence they were fitted out, and at what Port they were discharged; also, what quantity of Oil and Whale Fins each Ship has imported, from the 10th of October, 1773, to the 10th of October, 1774.

Ordered, That the said Account do lie on the table.

Upon reading the Petition of the Lord Mayor, Aldermen, and Commons, of the City of London, in Common Council assembled, taking notice of a Bill depending in this House, entituled, "An Act to restrain the Trade and Commerce of the Provinces of Massachusetts Bay and New-Hampshire, and 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 mentioned, under certain conditions and limitations; and praying, for the reasons therein mentioned, that the said Bill may not pass into a law;"

It is Ordered. That the said Petition do lie upon the table.

The Marquis of Rockingham presented the following Petition against the Bill:

To the Right Honourable the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, in Parliament assembled:

The Petition of the Merchants, Traders, and others, of the City of LONDON, interested in the AMERICAN Commerce, humbly Sheweth—

That your Petitioners are deeply concerned to find that there is now depending before this right honourable House, a Bill to restrain the Trade and Commerce of the Provinces of Massachusetts Bay and New-Hampshire, and 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 restrictions, and for a time to be limited.

Your Petitioners beg leave to represent, that the said Bill, should it pass into a law, will, in its operation, deprive thousands of his Majesty's loyal subjects of their actual subsistence, and reduce them to extreme distress, even that of famine, the said Provinces not generally raising Corn sufficient for their own support; and by this Bill, they will be prevented from receiving any Supplies from their sister Colonies, and precluded from their natural resource—the Sea.

Your Petitioners have reason to believe, that very great numbers of men, bred and employed in the Fisheries, who in hardiness and intrepidity are not exceeded by any in this extensive Empire, will be impelled, by the pressing calls of hunger and want, and a just feeling of their violated rights, to such a conduct as may be productive of devastation and bloodshed, which may endanger the peace and welfare of his Majesty' American Dominions; or be induced to employ themselves in fishing for the French, and thereby give our rivals the means of supplying the markets in Europe, which will render it difficult for us ever to regain that valuable branch of commerce.

Your Petitioners beg leave further to represent, that there is now due from the said Provinces and Colonies, to the City of London only, one million sterling, and upwards; that their remittances are almost entirely made by means of the Fisheries, and consequently, the ruin brought on those Colonies will deeply injure the commercial interest of Great Britain, and ultimately fall on the landed property of these Kingdoms.

That among the other grievances of which our fellow-subjects in America so generally complain, is their being deprived of Trial by Jury in particular cases, and the extension of the jurisdiction of the Admiralty Courts; which grievances your Petitioners, with much concern, find are not only continued, but extended by the present Bill; and they think it their duty to represent it as their firm opinion to this right honourable House, that the disquietudes which universally prevail in the minds of their fellow-subjects in America, will be increased and confirmed by this Bill, which is unjust, as they conceive, because it involves the punishment of those who are allowed to be innocent, with those who are supposed to be guilty, and that these disquietudes will never be removed, unless lenient measures are pursued, and their grievances redressed.

Your Petitioners therefore most humbly pray, that the said Bill may not pass into a law.

The Petition was read.

Ordered, That the said Petition do lie upon the table.

The Marquis of Rockingham observed, with regard to the City Petition, that it originated from a body, the members of which demanded every attention, on account of their official respectability. The Petition of the Merchants and Traders, his Lordship did not conceive stood in need of the collateral aid of oral evidence, which, however, was ready to be produced at the bar, if the House deemed such evidence necessary. The general principles of the Bill he inveighed against, as so many glaring infringements on the Constitution, and consequently fraught with every political evil to be apprehended from despotism in the extreme.

The Earl of Sandwich entirely dissented in opinion from the illustrious Marquis; he wished that evidence might be called in support of the allegations contained in each Petition; for as he was confident that most of the noble Lords present were either partially mistaken in, or wholly misunderstood the nature of, the American Fishery, his Lordship proposed on the part of the Bill, to have such evidences called as in his opinion would elucidate the several facts, and communicate that species of information necessary for the House to be possessed of, previous to the commencement of debates on the merits of the Bill.

A Message was sent to the House of Commons, to desire, "That they will give leave to Sir Hugh Palliser and Molyneux Shuldham, Esquire, Members of that House,