much further bloodshed. It cannot be doubted that those who are loyally disposed, of whom there are many, want but a pretext to shake off their obedience to the resolutions of the Congress, to which they now submit through compulsion.

As to the West-India Islands, your effecting the conquest of even only two or three of the principal towns on the Continent would, in a great measure, furnish them with necessaries; this should be done with all the despatch possible. With regard to our manufactures at home, (a no less important object,) if the proposed exportation should take place, they would be kept in employment, and thereby much uneasiness prevented. It is surely of the last consequence that the distresses of the industrious part of the nation should be alleviated to the utmost, and their affections to Government preserved. How is this to be effected, if no goods are to be sent to America? The manufactures ought, nevertheless, to be purchased at the risk of the pub-lick, and the goods laid up in store till a demand for them should offer. This is a common cause, and should be supported at the general expense, if any should be incurred.

Sir, I must beg leave also to mention the situation of another class of men suffering great hardship—I mean the merchants and traders to North-America, whose fortunes are locked up whilst the present disputes subsist; not owing to the want of inclination in their principal correspondents abroad to remit, for there are men of as great honour in North-America as anywhere, and who have sent all the payments they could; but in the present general confusion, which obstructs the administration of justice, a stagnation of payments follows of course. It is impossible for the merchant, under these circumstances, to discharge his debts to the shopkeeper and mechanick, and this brings on a general distress. To remedy this evil, a committee of merchants, not in the American trade, might be appointed to examine into the difficulties which the North-American merchants labour under. What they want is money, or a credit for it, to answer their present exigencies; and, I presume, they would be well satisfied with a sum equivalent to one-half of what they are disappointed in. To effect this valuable purpose, I am persuaded a less sum than one million would be sufficient. Government, for this end, might issue bills under the sanction of Parliament, bearing four per cent, interest, to be lent to such merchants as may be found entitled to this aid, under the stipulation of their paying the interest on the bills so lent, half-yearly, to the possessor of them; it being further understood, that the borrower shall, besides his own security, find two sufficient bondsmen to be answerable, by endorsing the bills, for the repayment of the loan at the end of two years after peace is re-established with America, or with the particular Colony where any individual’s effects may be detained. Still further, in order to give full satisfaction, both to the holders of said bills and to the publick, they must be so qualified as to return on the merchant and his two securities, and be no longer passable after the two years are elapsed, from the time publick notice has been given that peace is restored, and courts of law open for the recovery of debts. In this, or some such mode, a very necessary piece of business might be transacted, without much, if any, loss to the publick; and, indeed, no loss can happen, unless not only the merchant, but likewise both his bondsmen, should become insolvent. My own concerns in North-America are too small to induce me to propose this plan from selfish motives; I hope, therefore, this House will do me the justice to believe I am only pleading a general cause, from the satisfaction it would give me to be in the smallest degree instrumental towards promoting the happiness of the British merchants. This is no new thing in the commercial world, for within these few years the Empress of Russia, at a time of general distress, ordered a considerable sum of money to be lent to the merchants in her dominions, which prevented the ruin of several of them.

The manufacturers and traders, who are afraid of the loss of their business, are much mistaken if they think it is to be preserved by a repeal of the acts complained of, or by a submission to the Americans. To rely on their affection to this country would indeed be to build on a sandy foundation. It is notorious to every merchant in the American trade, that the most northern of the Colonies have long been in the practice of smuggling every article of goods they could from Holland and Germany; and all the Colonies, without exception, have discovered great partiality to the French Islands, in preference to the British. If you give up your authority over the Colonies, it is losing the substance for the sake of the shadow; it is sacrificing a lasting trade for a momentary, ill-judged tranquillity.

You have been told, with apparent gravity, that “peace is in your power; that you have only to embrace her to possess her.” But consider what kind of peace is meant, and from whose mouths the voice of peace proceeds. Does it come from the lips of bosom friends? Does it flow from those you have reason to believe sincere? Is it not rather the language of mockers, revilers, and deceivers, of men who wish your destruction? Peace is recommended by some right honourable gentlemen who tell you the Declaratory Act (an act passed while, they themselves were in office) means nothing. That act certainly meant something at the time it was made: the intention of it must at least have been a deception on this country, to palliate the disgrace of repealing the Stamp Act. Those advocates for a paltry and inglorious peace, seem to depend too much on their rhetorical abilities; they wantonly sport with the Constitution of this great nation, merely with the view to overturn the present Ministry, under the pretence of rescuing their country from imminent danger. Supposing those mighty patriots were to prevail in the present struggle for power, and to have settled with the Americans upon their own terms, these honourable gentlemen, when in office, may again change their language, and tell the Provincials, as they have told you, that they meant nothing. Let the Americans trust them, if they will; but as you have been already deceived by their dissimulation, it would be the height of folly in this country to put confidence in such men a second time.

You are upbraided with insolence, cruelty, and bloodshed. Ridiculous, false, unjust! Did not the Rebels first begin the attack on the King’s troops in both the engagements? Admitting the Tea Act was wrong, does that justify the audacious steps their lawless mobs look to show their resentment against it? Can any act of Government, even a mistaken zeal for the authority of this country over her Colonists, justify the raising of armies, the concerting and conducting every other device of war, to resist the Legislature of this country? Have they not exercised such cruelties over our loyal subjects as our most inveterate enemies would shudder at? Will you not resent such inhuman acts, committed on your defenceless friends and subjects, who have been (men, women, and children) driven from their peaceful habitations? Did not the Congress first, by their resolves, endeavour to starve your West-India Islands, and also to deprive your industrious manufacturers of employment? Have they not, by every art, endeavoured to throw this kingdom into the utmost consternation and confusion? Can you bear such repeated insults? Can you, after so many and deliberate indignities offered you, treat with them hut as with revolted, rebellious subjects, who ought thankfully to submit to such conditions as you may think proper to give them? I hope and trust the Ministry will continue firm, and that after ages shall not be able to say, that in the days of George III America was lost to England. Let us be steady in pursuing the interests of this country, but at the same time merciful and forgiving. It is more than probable that the ringleaders in this mischief are but few in number; if they can be laid hold of they deserve no mercy; convince the lower class of those infatuated people that the imaginary liberty they are so eagerly pursuing is not by any means to be compared to that which the Constitution of this happy country already permits them to enjoy. Patience and perseverance in this great work are absolutely necessary. The time does not yet seem to have arrived for the Americans to acknowledge their error. The natural course of things will do more for you than great armies. Where is the necessity of haste? It is even better to risk a war also with your real enemies, than to end the present contest in a dishonourable, pitiful, and disgraceful way. Some things require great despatch; others, mature deliberation. The more time you take to settle these controversies, you will obtain the better terms. Negotiations for peace resemble transactions in trade—he who is most eager to buy or sell usually makes the worst bargain.

This country, when united, which it certainly must be in