HOUSE OF COMMONS.

Monday, November 27, 1775.

Mr. Alderman Oliver said, that the motion which he had then to make, related to the advising and counselling the King in matters of great national concern—an object of no small importance; it had ever been considered as such in this nation, and in all Monarchies where the interest of the whole employed the attention of the individual; and must especially be considered so by those (amongst whom he ranked himself) who were most warmly attached to the rights and dignity of the Crown, and most personally affectionate to the present Monarch. The wisdom of our Constitution had never at any moment, from its first establishment, neglected this most important province. The great Council of the nation, the hereditary Counsellors of the Crown, the Privy Council, were all names with which we were constitutionally acquainted; and the oath appointed for the last made any arguments from him unnecessary to show the superlative importance of the office. To these, his motion had not any reference. Modern times, he said, had presented us with novel institutions, and we now talked familiarly of a Cabinet Council. Very modern times had brought us acquainted with something further; and the present House of Commons would know (which preceding Houses did not) what was meant by the name of an efficient Cabinet Council. Whether these were blemishes or improvements in our system of Government, it belonged not to him to pronounce; for to these likewise his motion had not any reference. His motion went to those, who not as members of any of the Councils he had mentioned, but as something still more efficient, have the undoubted merit or demerit of counselling and advising to his Majesty the late measures concerning America, before those measures were brought forward in Parliament. That there were such counsellors and advisers, he took to be an undoubted fact; and he must be permitted to entertain his own private opinion of the veracity and integrity of any intelligent person who should seriously and solemnly declare that he believed there was none of this description. He presumed it would not be denied that the unanimous opinion of an ostensible Prime Minister, a Chancellor, and a responsible Secretary of State, composing even this efficient Cabinet Council, had been overruled by this something still more efficient. There was one measure, and a measure which he conceived to be the most important and uncommon that ever was produced in an English Parliament—the establishment of absolute despotism in Canada—the author and adviser of which remained to this moment unknown. Though approved, and admired, and adopted, as it had been, by Parliament; yet no Privy Counsellor, no Cabinet, no efficient Cabinet Counsellor, had ever yet assumed its merit; but all to whom it has been imputed had invariably disavowed it. The unanimous complaint of all those who had been in Administration during the present reign, as well as the frequent mortification and distressing embarrassment, self-contradiction, tergiversation, apparent inconsistency, and seemingly intended imposition on Parliament, of those who were now in Administration, all proved the existence of these unknown Counsellors. He did not mean to charge the present Administration with any real inconsistency in their opinions, or with any intention themselves of imposing on Parliament; he entirely acquitted them of both. He believed them innocent of these charges, for they were obliged to give way to an efficiency they could not counteract, and in which they had not the smallest share. Now these super-efficient Counsellors—for he knew not what other name to give them —were the sole objects of his present inquiry. Upon these the attention of the House should fix; as that of the nation had long been fixed. These he desired to have declared to that House authentically; and he desired it now, when they would enjoy the full popularity to which those measures entitled them, which the sense of the nation was said to approve.

And therefore he moved—

“That an humble Address be presented to his Majesty, humbly requesting that his Majesty would be graciously pleased to impart to this House who were the original Authors and Advisers to his Majesty of the following measures, before they were proposed in Parliament, viz:

“For taxing America without the consent of its Assemblies, for the purpose of a revenue.

“For extending the jurisdiction of the Courts of Admiralty and Vice-Admiralty.

“For taking away the Charter of the Province of Massachusetts-Bay.

“For restraining the American Fishery.

“For exempting murderers from trial in America.

“For transporting accused Colonists to England for trial.

“And, most especially, for establishing Popery and despotism in Canada.”

Mr. Sawbridge seconded the motion, which he did in compliance with the instructions of his constituents. He said, it was his opinion that resistance was justifiable even to acts of Parliament, if they were unjust and oppressive. He had himself once been in danger, together with the late Mr. Beckford and Mr. Townshend, of suffering unjustly by an act of Parliament; for that one gentleman in the House [Mr. Ellis] had come prepared with a string of motions on which to ground a bill of pains and penalties, although the only crime of himself and his colleagues was that of petitioning the King for a redress of grievances; but that this intended punishment had been overruled by one person in the Cabinet, who had sense enough to foresee that if they went on with persecution, instead of having one Wilkes to deal with, they should have five.

Mr. Storer rose to oppose the motion. He said the motion might be very well intended, for that some people were very apt to suspect too much, and some might think they knew too little, but he thought it proceeded from a very unnecessary curiosity. As to the planner and original contriver of the measures, no doubt the noble Lord at the head of the Treasury must be the person; and he could not see why all the other most excellent measures which his Lordship had carried through, were not likewise inquired after, as well as those mentioned in the motion; that indeed there was no occasion to inquire after the author of any of them, for that the noble Lord had himself avowed them without any inquiry.

Mr. Wilkes. Mr. Speaker: The address to his Majesty, which the honourable gentleman has moved this day, is so essentially different from all other late addresses to the Throne, that I own it meets with my hearty concurrence. I think it, sir, of the utmost consequence to know the original authors and advisers of this unjust, pernicious, and calamitous war, which has already deluged with blood a part of America, and spread horrour and devastation through that whole Northern Continent. When so many Provinces of the empire are already lost, and the rest actually engaged in a cruel civil war, we ought not to sit down in a criminal supineness. It becomes our duty, as the grand inquest of the nation, to find out and punish the delinquents, by whose fatal counsels such evils have been brought upon this convulsed and almost ruined State. We owe it to the people at large; and several of us have it in express charge from our constituents.

We are, I fear, sir, on the eve of an eternal political separation from the Western world, unless a very speedy reconciliation should take place. If the present motion happily meets with success, I am sure it will do more towards a sincere, lasting, and hearty union with America, than all the captious and fallacious proposals of Administration. The Americans will then believe we indeed desire a reconciliation with them, and they will at length begin to have confidence in our counsels, when they see the vengeance of Parliament fall on the authors of our common calamities. The principles of violence and injustice, which have hitherto prevailed, they will see, if the House is really in earnest to treat, yield to equity and moderation; a negotiation on fair, equal, and just terms, may ensue, and a general tranquillity be reestablished in an empire which is now shaken to its very foundation.

I really think, sir, this is almost the only method now left of extricating ourselves with honour and dignity from our present alarming difficulties. You have voted fleets and armies, and your forces figure greatly in the papers of the Secretary at War, and in the expensive estimates on your table. But the Minister knows very well they are not equal to the mad project of subjugating the vast continent of America, nor do I believe the whole strength of this kingdom adequate to such an attempt. After a very bloody campaign you have conquered only one hill of less than a