adjudged by his Majesty in Council, upon hearing on complaint from the General Assembly, or on a complaint from the Governour, or the Council, or the House of Representatives, severally, of the Colony in which the said Chief Justice and other Judges have exercised the said office;

It passed in the Negative.

Mr. Burke then moved, and the question being propos ed, That it may be proper to regulate the Courts of Admiralty and Vice Admiralty, authorized by the fifteenth chapter of the fourth George the Third, in such a manner as to make the same more commodious to those who sue, or are sued, in the said Courts;

And the previous question being put, that that question be now put;

It passed in the Negative.

HOUSE OF COMMONS.

MONDAY, March 27, 1775.

Mr. Hartley rose and said:

I find myself under the necessity of making some apology to the House for the trouble which I am going to give them this day, and to assure them that it is with the greatest deference that I presume to obtrude any sentiments of mine, upon the important subject of America. Though I have so lately had the honour of a seat in this House, yet I have for many years turned my thoughts and attention to matters of publick concern and national policy. This question of America is now of many years standing—of the greatest publick notoriety, as to the facts upon which it turns; and every opinion has been so fully debated, over and over, that any man, who has given his mind to publick business, may be supposed equally informed, out of the House, as in it.

When I threw out the Propositions, casually, before Christmas, which I shall offer more formally to you today, my view was in no sort hostile to the Administration. I saw the difficulty that we were got into by our own precipitancy; that unhappy dilemma, which offered nothing but ruin in going forward, or disgrace in the retreat. I was in hopes, from some phrases dropped by the noble Lord at the head of the Treasury, in the beginning of the session, of others being more sanguine and more impatient than himself, that he, at least, would have shown some disposition to relent; and I still believe, if he were at liberty to follow his own inclination and judgement, that it would be so. I am the more warranted in thinking so, from the proposition which the noble Lord himself offered to the House some time ago, [See Folio 1598.] There was in that proposition a show of conciliation to captivate one side of the House, and sufficient to betray what were his own wishes; but on the other side there was the reality of every unrelenting and vindictive measure annexed, to prove that there still were others more sanguine and more impatient than himself, over whom, with all his abilities, with all his eloquence, with all the advantages of his situation, he could not maintain his ascendant. Whatever struggles the noble Lord may have had with himself, or his friends, they are all at an end; the die is cast for war with America. It was found that any conciliatory proposition must have been, in some degree, a concession, which none of his unreleating friends would consent to.

However, by the noble Lord's Proposition, there is one concession made to America, under the authority of this House, which cannot be recalled, and which, finally and conclusively, condemns the conduct of every Administration for these ten years past, one excepted—I mean the repeal of the Stamp Act. If it can be proper now to offer to the Colonies to pay upon requisition, what can this Nation say for having kept out of the only right road for ten years? How can we censure the Colonies for any errours committed by them, which were the consequences of our own beginning at the wrong end? Though a threat is now annexed to the noble Lord's requisition, yet if, at first, we had begun with a requisition instead of taxing, it would have been more just and prudent. There could be no justice or prudence in threatening a people who had always contributed most freely; who never would have called our supposed right in question, but for our misapplication of it. Therefore, sir, when I have brought back the noble Lord's compulsory requisition to my free requisition, it stands confessed, upon the very nature of his proposition itself, that I have set it upon its own true original ground.

There is another objection to the noble Lord's plan, which, as I have mentioned it upon a former occasion, I shall only remind you of in a few words: I mean a breach of faith with the Colonies. A Secretary of State writes, in 1769, a circular letter to the Colonies to assure them that you will never raise a revenue by taxing. A few years after, upon a negotiation with the East India Company, the three-penny Tea Tax becomes not only merely a quit-rent for the point of honour, but rises to an actual revenue. Then you plead that you did not break your word, as the revenue arising was not in your original intentions, but only casual, from a regulation of trade. Hut what can you say now? The noble Lord boasts that he has put the question upon the true ground, a demand for a substantial revenue; a demand attended with threats of compulsion. What is this less than raising a revenue by a tax?

But, in any case, let the noble Lord think what he will of his proposition, why has he not, in so many weeks, given it some practicable shape? Why has he not offered some act of Parliament to give it effect? However, as he has omitted that, I shall take the proposition without its objectionable parts, and propose an Address to the King to give it force; in which motion, I hope to meet with the support of those gentlemen who gave it countenance originally, when it came from the noble Lord. I shall give the whole substance of the proposition, only leaving out, in the Address to the King, any threats of the compulsion which you meditate in reserve. If you think that you have the right of taxing, I pass it over in silence; if you have the power, I do not—I cannot take that away. Then make; a free requisition, and be contented to keep to yourselves the satisfaction of thinking, that you have something in reserve, in case of non-compliance. Keep that sub silentio, at least, till you find that it becomes necessary. I am not an advocate either for the right or the expediency of taxing the Americans, but the contrary. However, as far as we go the same road of requisitions, let us go together.

As what I have to offer will be founded upon requisitions to the Colonies, I will endeavour to answer an objection beforehand, which I have heard in this House: it is to the plan of Royal requisition. This objection to the interference of the Royal name, comes from a side of the House from which one should least have expected it. However, if this bean objection, mine are not Royal requisitions. My motion originates from the House of Commons, to desire the King, as the Executive Magistrate, to put their plan into effect. If the power of making requisitians to the Colonies is not in the King, my motion is to give the authority and sanction of Parliament to this measure. It is so far from being my proposition to enable the Crown to raise what supply it can from America, independent of Parliament, that my motion is the very first which has ever had in contemplation to lay a Parliamentary control upon that power, and to require that all answers from America shall be laid before this House for the very purpose of controlling that power in the Crown. I have so doubly guarded that point, that my motion is not even for the Crown to demand a supply from America, but for services to be performed in America, for the defence, security, and protection of the Colonies themselves.

I would wish to state to the House the merit? of this question, of requisitions to the Colonies, and to see upon what principles it is founded; to revise and settle the accounts between Great Britain and her Colonies; and then, upon a foundation of distributive justice, to come to some settlement. We hear of nothing now but the protection which we have given to them; of the immense expense incurred on their account. We are told that they have done nothing for themselves; that they pay no taxes; in short, every thing is asserted about America to serve the present turn, without the least regard to truth. I would have these matters fairly sifted out.