of Derry to submit, which was, to collect the wives, children, and aged parents of the garrison, to drive them under the walls of the Town, there to perish, in the presence of their parents, husbands, and other relations; and if they offered to return, to fire on and massacre them. But as weak, infatuated, and bigoted, as that Prince was, his heart revolted at such a horrid expedient of subduing his enemies; for as soon as it reached his knowledge, he immediately countermanded the barbarous order, and left the innocent and unoffending to their liberty. The principle, lie contended, was the same; the Irish Rebels might have avoided the barbarous purpose, by submitting; so, we should be told, in the course of this day's debate, may the Rebels of America.

The noble Marquis concluded with a general disapprobation of all the measures pursued relative to America, since the repeal of the Stamp Act; and predicted that an useful and constitutional agreement in sentiments, and a cordial reciprocity of interests, would never take place between them and the mother country, till the same principles were once more recurred to.

The Earl of Carlisle was surprised that the noble Marquis could possibly conceive, the Bill was either intended, or could be supposed to operate in the manner he affected to think it would; no such thing being meant, no such thing could take place. The present was not a question about taxation; it was not involved in difficulty, but simply, whether we were justified in employing the most lenient methods of bringing America back to obedience and a proper sense of her duty. The Bill was not formed on the narrow views of loading her with taxes, or for the sake of a paltry revenue. He believed the Ministry had no design of forcing her into any such concession; if they had, he was certain that neither he, nor any of the other Lords who intended to vote for the measure, had any such desire.

The Duke of Manchester censured the Bill generally, as indiscriminately cruel; for it involved the guilty and the innocent in one common punishment. A clause, however, there was, which precluded every hope that the Fishery, of which the New Englanders were thus to be deprived, would ever be restored to them; for, the re-surrender of the Fishery into the hands of the Americans, depended on the restoration of the trade and commerce with Great Britain, and on the re-establishment of peace throughout the Massachusetts. The trade with Great Britain is to be carried on without the smallest interruption, for one calendar month. This fact is to be certified to the Governours and Council of the Provinces of New Hampshire and the Massachusetts, by the Custom House Officers of the respective Provinces; considering, therefore, that the minds of such men are generally actuated by the meanest passions, could it be presumed that they would be in haste to certify what, if true, would contribute to the welfare of those against whom, for some petty injuries received, they may have entertained the most violent prejudices; and who, in their several stations besides, are to share among them the forfeitures to be received under this Act.

With respect to the famine threatened by the Bill, the noble Duke could not perceive the evil in any degree remedied, because some scores of Sheep were scattered on the Island of Nantucket. Were those the property of the Fishermen, whose occupations were to be obstructed by the Bill? If they did not belong to Fishermen, saying they were on the Island, was saying nothing to the purpose. Could the noble Lord who urged this fact, mean that if the Fishermen stood in need of food, they might seize what Sheep they found on the Island, and kill them for their sustenance? This could never be meant; for this would be to authorize injustice, and countenance plunder. What availed it then to allege that Sheep were on the Island? The Fish caught by the industry of the inhabitants, had hitherto afforded them subsistence; to this they had an unquestionable right; but of this they were to be deprived by the Bill, and it was miserable consolation to tell them there were Sheep on the Island, to which they had no right. Equally absurd was the allegation, "that the Americans only would feel the effects of the Bill." The noble Duke had every reason to believe the property of many English Merchants was embarked in the Vessels which carried on the New England Fishery; why was that property to be injured? Why were English adventurers to be punished for crimes, in the commission of which they participated not? Was this justice, or was it tyranny? Was it not like the "tender mercies of the wicked," cruelty in the extreme? On the whole, to whatever part of the Bill the noble Duke turned his eyes, he could descry nothing but what bore the complexion of despotism; and, whether owing to the love of liberty, with which his mind had been early tinctured to a peculiar turn of thought, or to whatever other cause, yet he could not help presaging future evils from measures which carried so arbitrary, so tyrannical an appearance. Admitting the Americans enslaved, yoked, and in every thing obedient to our wishes, extreme dangers were to be apprehended; the Army employed to subjugate the Colonists, might prove instrumental in the destruction of our liberties; it was possible an arbitrary Minister might select that Army for the very purpose; and in the noble Duke's opinion, it was not improbable, but that there were some distinguished personages connected with Administration, who, far from rejecting the idea, would adopt the plan with alacrity.

The Earl of Denbigh rose to correct a mistake which the noble Duke fell into, relative to the inhabitants of Nantucket, by informing him, that the Bill was not correctly printed from the copy; for that in the engrossed Bill every thing which had the least appearance of severity was provided against. As to the certificate required from the Custom House Officers, he said, that proceeded from a misapprehension of the noble Duke, for the application was to be made to the Governour of the Massachusetts Bay, not to the Custom House Officers. His Lordship then disclaimed the imputation thrown out by the noble Duke on Administration, so far as it might be supposed to affect himself, and was certain, that no one member of it ever harboured such a thought.

The Duke of Manchester answered, that the clause respecting Nantucket, however construed, could extend no further than to the Whale Fishery; for it still left all, but those employed in that Fishery, to starve without employment or bread. He still maintained what he asserted, respecting the mode of application to the Custom House Officers, so far as it related to the Colonies of Connecticut and Rhode-Island, and Providence Plantation. His Grace then read the clause out of the Bill, "If it shall be proved to the said Governour and Commander-in-Chief, and Council of Massachusetts Bay, by the testimony of the Officers of his Majesty's Customs," &c. The noble Duke then exculpated his Lordship from the most distant suspicion that he would concur in any design to enslave his country, were he first Minister.

The Earl of Denbigh thanked his Grace for the good opinion he entertained of him; but if his insinuations were directed at a noble Lord who presided at the head of the finances, he begged leave to assure him he was mistaken; for he had known that noble Lord (North) from his early youth; they had been bred up together; he was perfectly acquainted with his disposition, and sentiments; and by a knowledge thus founded and acquired, he could venture to affirm, with the fullest confidence, that there was nor a noble Lord in that House, however zealous, would be further from cooperating in any design for overturning the liberties of his country, than he would. He therefore wished that the noble Duke would explain himself; for however flattering his Grace's sentiments might be respecting him-

sary, as for the protecting all the rest of his Majesty's dutiful subjects, whose goods and chattels he promises to secure, destroying all the rest that cannot be brought conveniently into such places as he shall judge necessary to be preserved, and burning the Houses and Mills, not only of those who are in actual rebellion, but also of their friends and adherents, that no hopes of escaping may be left for any man; beginning this very day to send his necessary orders to all Governours, and other commanders of his Majesty's Forces, and to Colonel Sutherland, commanding a flying Army beyond Ballyshanny; Colonel Sutherland, commanding another towards Inniskillen, and the Duke of Berwick, another on the Fin Water, to cause all the men, women, and children, who are any ways related to those in Londonderry, or any where else in open rebellion, to be forthwith brought to this place, without hopes of withdrawing further into the Kingdom; that, in case, before this said. Monday, the 1st of July, in the year of our Lord 1689, be expired, they do not send us hostages and other deputies, with a full sufficient power to treat With us for the surrender of the said City of Londonderry, on reasonable conditions, that they shall not after this time be admitted to any treaty whatsoever; and the Army which shall continue the siege, and which, with the assistance of God, will soon reduce them, shall hays orders to give no quarter; or spare either age or sex, in else they are taken by force. LE MARESCHAL ROSEN."