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Chatham, but all must confess his great and surprising talents as as a Minister. He declared opposition to be cordially united in every part. He retorted on Administration for their having last year roused the younger part of the House by their appeals to the spirit of Englishmen to enforce vigorous measures, and asked whether that spirit was discernible in the pitiful party of the military sent to Boston, or in the vigorous measures of that party; declaring, that if the spirit the Ministry had appealed to was still in existence, it would not be possible for them to keep their places. After severely rebuking them for endeavouring to shift the blame from themselves to General Gasre, he concluded with advising Administraiion to place America where she stood in 1763, and to repeal every act passed since that period, which affected either her freedom or her commerce. Lord North said, he held the pity and contempt of the honourable gentleman [Mr. Fox] in equal indifference. He declared the words quoted with so much humour by another honourable gentleman [Mr. Burke] had never been used by him in the sense in which he had applied them, and complained of the injustice done him both in the English and American newspapers, by printing false accounts of his speeches in Parliament. Respecting the observations made by the last speaker on the changes in the Ministerial Departments at the commencement of the war, he begged the House to recollect, that though the men were changed, the same measures were pursued, but that, for his own part, he wished not to remain a day in office after he was thought inactive, inattentive, or inconsiderate. That if the scheme of repealing every American act passed since 1763 was adopted, there was certainly an end to the dispute, for from that moment America would be independent of England. That many of the acts were framed for the necessary support of the superiority of the mother country, on points in which her right of superiority had never been questioned till America was refractory; that all the acts were rather acts of justice than of cruelty, and that the act preventing the Colonies from trading with other countries, which the gentlemen in opposition made so much route about, was not passed till the Colonies, by a non-importation agreement, had refused to trade with England, who had nurtured them to their present greatness, and had, therefore, on the principles of gratitude and recompense, an exclusive right to the benefits of their commerce. His Lordship then said, that if he understood the meaning of the words Whig and Tory, which the last speaker [Mr. Fox] had mentioned, he conceived that it was the characteristick of Whigism to gain as much for the people as possible, while the aim of Toryism was to increase the prerogative. That, in the present case, Administration contended for the right of Parliament, while the Americans talked of their belonging to the Crown. Their language, therefore, was that of Toryism, although, through the artful designs of the real enemies of freedom, the good sense of the people of England was endeavoured to be misled, and false opinions were industriously inculcated throughout the kingdom. The Speech and the proposed Address tied the House down to no point; it could not, therefore, be of ill consequence to carry the latter to the Throne. The measures Administration meant now to pursue were, to send a powerful sea and land force to America, and at the same time to accompany them with offers of mercy upon a proper submission. This will show we are in earnest, that we are prepared to punish, but are nevertheless ready to forgive; this is, in my opinion, the most likely means of producing an honourable reconciliation. Mr. Dunning was against the Address. He had heard it was the intention of Administration to send a large force to America to compel submission, and that foreign troops were introduced into the British dominions for that purpose. He said the measure ought not to have been taken without the consent of Parliament Without such consent he peremptorily pronounced it to be illegal. To this was to be added, not only the disgrace, but the bad tendency and evil consequences of which this measure might be productive, if suffered to pass into a precedent. Mr. Attorney-General Thurlow, in support of the Address, declared that, in his opinion, there was no illegality in the measure of sending Hanoverian troops to garrison the fortresses of Gibraltar and Mahon, and therefore that no bad tendency or evil consequences could arise from it. Sir A. Fergusson, Mr. Rice, Mr. Jolliffe, and Mr. Freeman, spoke likewise for the Address, and Sir Edward Astlety against it. At four in the morning, the question being put, That the words proposed to be left out stand part of the question: The House divided. The Yeas went forth:
So it was resolved in the affirmative. Then the main question being put : Resolved, That an humble Address be presented to his Majesty, to return his Majesty the thanks of this House for his gracious Speech from the Throne. Ordered, That a Committee be appointed to draw up an Address, to be presented to his Majesty upon the said Resolution. And a Committee was appointed of Mr. Acland, Sir Richard Sutton, Mr. Lyttelton, Mr. Cornwall, Mr. Rice, the Lord Stanley, Mr. Ellis, Mr. Solicitor-General (Wedderlurn,) Mr. Jolliffe, the Lord North, Sir Grey Cooper, Sir Gilbert Elliot, Mr. Charles Townshend, Mr. Robinson, Sir Charles Whitworth, Sir Adam Fergusson, Mr. Freeman, and Lord George Germaine, or any five of them; and they are to withdraw immediately into the Speaker’s Chamber. Ordered, That his Majesty’s most gracious Speech to both Houses of Parliament be referred to the said Committee. Friday, October 27, 1775. Mr. Acland reported from the Committee appointed yesterday to draw up an Address to be presented to his Majesty, that the Committee had drawn up an Address accordingly; which they had directed him to report to the House; and he read the same in his place, and afterwards delivered it in at the Clerk’s table, where the same was read, and is as followeth, viz: “Most Gracious Sovereign: “We, your Majesty’s most dutiful and loyal subjects, the Commons of Great Britain in Parliament assembled, beg leave to return your Majesty the humble thanks of this House for your most gracious speech from the throne. “Permit us, sir, to assure your Majesty that we have long lamented the condition of our unhappy fellow-subjects in America. Seduced from their allegiance by the grossest misrepresentations, and the most wicked and insidious pretences, they have been made the instruments of the ambitious and traitorous designs of those dangerous men who have led them, step by step, to the standard of rebellion, and who *List of the Minority.
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