Cabinet, but Parliamentary information, such as was fit and safe for Ministry to disclose, and necessary for Parliament to know, in order to direct them in their future deliberations. We know, said his Grace, that an army was voted last session; we know that an army, such as it was, commenced hostilities; we have heard, by common report, that considerable reinforcements have been sent since that period; we have been informed, through the same channel, that the troops met with a severe repulse in their first attempts to subdue the natives, and that the second, in which there was a kind of trial of skill and courage, was not in its consequences far short of an open defeat. We do not want to be told, that from that last action to this instant, the Royal army has remained cooped up in the town of Boston, mouldering away by sickness and famine, and almost daily waiting for its fate, that of being destroyed or made prisoners by a force infinitely superior in point of numbers and strength. In such an alarming crisis, what are we to do? The noble Lords who have the direction of his Majesty’s counsels have ingenuously confessed that they have been “deceived.” Apologies of various kinds have been made: explanations have followed those apologies. We have been told of ill-founded information, false reasonings, mistaken conclusions. Oblique censures have been thrown out upon the commanders both by sea and land. Now, my Lords, in such a state of darkness and uncertainty, such charges, such blunders, such mistakes, such imputed negligence or incapacity, or both, I would humbly submit to your Lordships’ judgment, whether the motion I am about to propose be not a most necessary one; not as a retrospective one, implying the least degree of censure, but merely cautionary, in order to prevent a return of the same fatal evils. I repeat again, that I do not desire to know the number of men voted with an intention of comparing the estimate with the returns; nor to enter into any inquiry directed to have the wrong information, by which Ministers have confessed themselves “deceived” and misled, traced to its source; all I wish to know is, that general state of things, and those facts, which, while it will warn us of the difficulties we have to encounter with, will, at the same time, point out the best means of obviating or surmounting them. That can never be effected so well as by learning the true state of the force preparing against us; comparing it with our own abilities and immediate resources, and, on the whole, coming to such mature resolutions respecting future measures, whether of coercion or conciliation, as may be best suited to the dignity, national justice, and permanent interests of this country. His Grace concluded with moving,

“That an humble Address be presented to his Majesty, to desire that he will be graciously pleased to direct the proper officers to lay before this House the state of the Land Forces in North-America, according to the last returns, which preceded the commencement of hostilities there in April last; specifying as well the numbers of officers and men effective and fit for duty as also their distribution at that time, with the numbers stationed at each post; and likewise the numbers of Land Forces, both of complete Regiments, of drafts from other Corps, and of Recruits sent to America since that time from different parts of the King’s dominions, specifying the dates of the different orders for each separate embarcation.”

Earl Gower. I rise thus early to give a direct negative to the motion made by the noble Duke; because his Grace has manifestly proceeded on a mistake. He supposes this country, at least I am led to conclude so by his reasoning, in a state of absolute tranquillity, whereas it is confessedly in a state of war. Disclosing, therefore, our plans of military operations might be productive of the worst consequences. I have it from an officer of eminence on the spot, that whatever measures are determined on at this side of the water, are known in the Rebel camp much earlier than any account of them reaches the King’s Army. What, then, will be the consequence, but that whatever information may be brought to light by this motion, and several others which I dare say will follow, if it should meet with your Lordships’ approbation, the Rebels will be apprised of? The plans we intend to pursue will thereby be made known, and the Provincials furnished with the readier means of defeating them. Besides, I cannot see what possible good this motion can answer in any light, even in the strictest conformity to the sentiments the noble Duke declares to profess, unless he makes it a leading question to a string of propositions of a similar nature, tending to lay open the species of information which, as one of his Majesty’s Ministers, I look upon myself bound, for the reasons before assigned, most strenuously to withhold. But, my Lords, if I have very cogent reasons for opposing the motion singly on the ground I have now stated, I have still much stronger motives for opposing it on principle: I mean the dangerous precedent it might establish in the further progress of this important business, that of the legislative forcing itself and breaking in on the executive power; a mode of conducting business which, if it should ever prevail, will, of course, totally obstruct the measures of Government. On the other hand, if Administration is supported by the confidence of Parliament, by a proper dependance and reliance that the powers entrusted to them will be exerted with suitable ability and fidelity, I make no doubt, from the present disposition of a great number of people in that country, who want only to be protected to openly avow themselves the friends of Great Britain, that this arduous affair will be finally brought to a fair, happy, and honourable issue.

The Earl of Dartmouth against the motion, said, it was the most extraordinary proposition he ever heard, that now, when it could be no longer doubted that we were in an actual state of war, to have the strength, number, and destination of our troops laid open to the Americans, was such an idea as he could not have thought possible for any noble Lord in that House so much as to conceive. He confirmed the assertions of the noble Earl who spoke last, that every fact or information called forth by this motion, would be instantly transmitted to America, and would, consequently, teach them to rise in their demands on one hand, or cause them to take such measures of resistance as would be most effectual towards defeating whatever might be determined on in this country. He observed, if the Duke’s motion was intended to reach no farther than it professed, it might be answered with great safety, and with very little trouble. The number of effective men in each regiment was well known; the number of battalions was seventeen; there were upwards of three hundred sick in the hospitals, and about eight hundred non-effective; which two last items deducted out of the returns, supposing them to be complete, would give an exact amount of the troops previous to the commencement of hostilities. There were some detachments out at the time, but they were not very considerable; so that the whole of the force, at the time the noble Duke’s motion pointed to, might be very easily ascertained.

Lord Camden. The noble Earl in the blue ribbon, [Earl Gower,]and the other noble Earl very lately a Secretary of State, [Earl of Dartmouth,] seem to oppose the present motion on two grounds: first, as it may be the means of giving intelligence to the Provincials relative to the state, condition, and number of our troops in America; and, secondly, as this motion, should it receive your Lordships’ approbation, may be productive of several others directed to the same object. I heartily approve of their Lordships’ caution and foresight; for I believe, though I have no reason to know it, as the noble Duke has not communicated his intentions to me, that their Lordships fears are well founded. I dare say the noble Duke, should he carry his first point, does not mean to rest his inquiry there, and proceed no farther. I rather think he will go on: I am sure the present situation of affairs, both in England and America, requires that he should. The noble Lords have talked of the accounts of measures agreed on in this country being so early known in the Rebel camp. I should be glad to know what species of information their Lordships allude to. They will not say it is Parliamentary information, because no Rebel camp existed at the time we last sat here, at least, so as to reach it any considerable time after Parliament rose. If it be Cabinet information, that is a matter we are, it seems, to have nothing to do with. But there is something extremely curious in another part of this argument: the noble Lords in office tell you, that by giving an account of the number of troops in Boston and its neighbourhood previous to the affair at Lexington, we shall furnish the Rebels with intelligence of a very dangerous nature. What! Surely not, if the Rebel camp be so very well informed; much less so, if the inquiry goes only to a point, I suppose well known to every man this instant within the Province of Massachusetts-Bay.