be effectual; and I shall the readier undertake it, as next week I shall be otherwise employed.

It is curious to observe what are the auxiliaries which the present Administration call to the assistance of the British Constitution— Catholicks, from Canada, if, they can be induced to act; Irish Papists; a new Militia in England, composed of a description of men exceedingly different from those who composed the old one; a Scotch Militia, of a description that I will not name; Hanoverian mercenaries to garrison the two great fortresses of the Mediterranean; and, to crown the whole, twenty thousand Russians, to protect the legislative authority of this country. It has been declared, in another House, that the Russians are not to be sent to America, therefore they are, we may presume, to be brought here. He wished to know what object we were now contending for with America. It was not for taxes, as we might easily perceive by General Burgoyne’s letter to General Lee; for a gentleman of his good sense, and who held so high a post under Government, would not venture to assert so much without some authority. It could not be said that we were contending for the general unlimited power of Parliament over every part of the empire; for the Secretary of a neighbouring kingdom had contradicted that idea, by asserting “that expressions of that kind which had been made in that House by a gentleman high in office, were no more than the rash, inconsiderate opinion of a hasty individual.” He wished to be fairly understood with regard to his ideas of rebellion: he never had considered it as a genus which might be divided into several distinct species; yet he was apt to imagine that there might be one sort of rebellion less deserving our hatred than another; that there might be a provoked and an unprovoked rebellion, of which each merited different degrees of censure. He then proceeded to ridicule the motley complexion of our intended forces, which were to consist of Hanoverians, Russians, savage Canadians, and Irish Roman Catholicks. He said he had heard that a single regiment could march from one end of North-America to the other; but he desired to know if it was not more probable that twenty thousand Russians could march from John o’Grott’s house to the Land’s-End. On the whole, he declared that he was against this, as well as most of the other measures of Government; that he stood alone, unconnected with any party; that he despised any man who, at such a critical juncture as the present, could be swayed by any personal motive whatever; that, for his part, he spoke ex animo, and he hoped the House would give him credit for his assertion. He concluded by observing, that although he might not, perhaps, be able to give that close attendance to the business of the House which he could wish, yet he would uniformly oppose the Ministry in every step they should take to enforce measures which he heartily” condemned.

Sir George Yonge informed the House of the manner in which the Devonshire Address was obtained, without the knowledge or concurrence of the gentlemen of property in the County.

Mr. Rigby. I should not have risen to the present question, had not the learned gentleman brought me into a conspicuous light, from what an Irish Secretary is said to have mentioned in another place. I have a great opinion of that gentleman’s abilities; and it is plain he has a very good opinion of me, from the way he treats me. Because the Irish Secretary says I am a rash and inconsiderate individual, therefore Administration says I am so, for such and such sentiments. As to the right of taxing Ireland, I assert it upon the solid authority of an act of Parliament. If this Parliament has a right to deprive the House of Lords of Ireland of their judicial right in the dernier resort, it has a right to do everything else. But the learned gentleman has taken a wider field; he has given us a rueful catalogue of troops, which are to execute the measures, and among the rest, twenty thousand Russians. This is the first time that I ever heard a. syllable of Russians coming here. It is true, I am not of the Cabinet; I never was there in my life; but from the connections I have, and from all my information, I know of no such design. But whenever a war has been opened which demands foreign auxiliaries, various are those that have been hired. The last war saw Wolfenbuttlers, Hessians, Hanoverians, and I know not what, in our service; and there was a Britannick legion, which consisted of all the thieves in Europe: the learned member, if disposed to ridicule, might call them, and the Mahrattas of the East, allies of the King of England. The learned member enters very logically into the distinctions of rebellion, and, from attending minutely to them, all I can learn is, that there are two sorts of rebellion: one which the gentleman likes very well, and one which he likes not at all. He detests the rebellion of 1745, but likes the present passing well. Now, for my part, although I think there is but one kind of rebellion, I cannot carry my sentiments so far back as the honourable gentleman; for, whenever the Americans shall return to their duty, and behave as loyally as the people of Manchester, I shall not, by any means, consider them as deserving my hatred; but shall readily give up the point of taxation for honourable terms of accommodation with them.

Colonel Barré observed, that he had lately heard many gentlemen in Administration speak very moderately of American affairs, and he exhorted them to throw some kind of a conciliatory proposition together, as a step towards an accommodation. He requested the friends of Ministry not to be so very fond of war, as to overlook an easy and honourable peace, which lay so immediately in their way that they could not but see it, if they would but give themselves the trouble to look for it; and concluded by reminding the House that Philip lost the now United Provinces by being too tenacious of one single post.

Mr. Acland. As I do not intend that some aspersions the learned gentleman [Mr. Dunning] has thrown out on me shall go unnoticed, I rise now to give the learned gentleman an opportunity of replying, if he chooses it. The learned gentleman began by calling me his honourable friend, and immediately proceeded to give me the most unequivocal proofs of his friendship, by throwing out assertions as detrimental to an independent character as they were unfounded in fact. The learned gentleman has said that the address of the First Regiment of Devonshire Militia, which I had the honour of presenting, was corrected by the noble Lord. If 1 were to give way to the just dictates of my resentment, no expression the English language contained would be strong enough to, mark in its true colours such an unwarranted assertion; but I will content myself with declaring to this House, this full gallery, and the whole world, that it is untrue. The address which has had the misfortune of drawing down the weight of that gentleman’s resentment upon it, and which I, it seems, in an unfortunate hour presented to his Majesty, if its containing strong sentiments of loyalty to the King, and attachment to the Constitution, be a crime, is, I confess, most criminal. But, sir, sorry am I to find that expressions of loyalty to the King and attachment to the Constitution, should appear so criminal to that learned gentleman. This address, at which the gentleman is so much displeased, expresses, sir, a just abhorrence of every attempt to alienate the minds of his Majesty’s subjects, and a readiness, when properly called on, to endeavour to suppress any internal enemies of the King and Constitution. It is necessary that I should inform this House, that about the time that this and many other Western addresses originated in the country, many inflammatory papers, breathing a spirit adverse to all order and tranquillity, had been, with an assiduity hitherto unknown, dispersed through the West; amongst others, letters inviting to associate had been sent to many of the principal Magistrates and first gentlemen of property. These associations were recommended on the principle that associations of the same nature had been entered into previous to the Revolution. Now, sir, we unfortunate country gentlemen, who are not blessed with those abilities which teach us to understand black when we read white, did conclude, that if these letters of association, so recommended, implied anything, they implied the necessity of another revolution. Under such circumstances, sir, in such times, were we not justified? Did we not act the part of good citizens and good subjects, publickly to declare to the whole world our just abhorrence of every attempt to alienate the minds of his Majesty’s subjects, and to express our readiness, when properly called on, to exert our utmost endeavours to suppress any internal enemies of the King and this Constitution? for, sir, such inflammatory papers, and such circular letters of association, are attempts to alienate the minds of his Majesty’s subjects; and those men, I care not who they are, by whom such papers and such letters were circulated, are enemies to the King and this