spoke last; acknowledged his not being deep in the secrets of the Cabinet; and that what he said in the House was the result only of his own private judgment, grounded on the best information he could collect, and desired he might be considered in no other light.

Colonel Barré, to explain, said he was in the judgment of the House, if the noble Lord at the head of the War Department did not state twenty-five thousand men as the whole of the force intended for America, for the service of the year 1776, on the day he presented the military estimates, adding, at the same time, that not a single foreigner was to be taken into British pay.

Lord North answered several objections made to the treaties, as well as others relative to the state of our navy at home. He said that this country would not be in danger when the armament destined for America had sailed, for we should still have the usual number of guard-ships; and it was not intended to send one line-of-battle ship to that part of the world.

General Conway insisted that Administration had most shamefully, if not basely, broken their word with America, respecting the Circular Letter written by Lord Hillsborough to the several Provincial Assemblies, while Secretary of State for that country. He observed that Administration one day profess to relinquish all idea of a revenue; the next day they insist on taxation; a third, they solely contend for supremacy and commercial control; and again, we will not tax, but we will have a certain specifick sum of money. He appealed to the candour and good sense of those who heard him, if it were possible for America to know what to do, or what she could depend on; for, supposing she were willing to consent to any one, or all of those schemes, what certainty would she have in such unsteadiness of counsels, but that the very next day the whole system may be abandoned, and some new claim made upon them, perhaps the fruitful parent of a hundred more. What was the conciliatory proposition of last year, taking it in the most favourable interpretation, but the old claim of taxing, dressed in another garb? In short, he could see nothing but naked destruction present itself on every side; for let America consent, or let her resist, he was perfectly satisfied that the ruin of this empire was inevitable. He treated the idea of reducing America as impracticable and absurd; and if it were not, he pronounced it at once cruel, oppressive, impolitick, ruinous, and unjust.

Lord Mulgrave said, he had ever approved of Mr. Grenville’s system of Colony Government; that his prophecy was now literally fulfilled; for, he said, if the Stamp Act should be repealed, it would produce all the consequences that have since happened. That the repealing that act was the cause of all our present disputes; and that whatever was thrown out respecting his conduct, was equally untrue and ill-founded; for, as he was always against the repeal, so he was now in favour of coercive measures, never considering on which side Administration voted.

Lord North, in reply to General Conway, said he was not responsible for what Lord Hillsborough, or any other member of Administration, might have promised before he came into office; yet, if he had been one of the advisers of that measure, he thought he could fully justify himself on the conciliatory proposition which he had the honour to submit to the House last year, for that went beyond anything contained in the Circular Letter said to be written by the noble Lord. The proposition secured the application of the port duties to the services of the Colony where such duties should happen to arise, which plainly removed the only objection that had been previously made to them, that of drawing the produce of such duties into the British Exchequer. His Lordship was then extremely jocular on some of the arguments made use of by Governour Johnstone, General Conway, and Colonel Barré, relative to the native strength of America, and the personal prowess of its inhabitants, on the dangers of a foreign invasion, and on the probable consequences of introducing a body of foreigners into our dominions in America, and the miraculous effects of American paper credit.

Mr. Burke complimented the noble Lord on his talents for ridiculo, his political witicisms, and his ironical strictures. He observed that his Lordship one day came down to the House with a very grave, serious, argumentative air, and told the country gentlemen that they should have a revenue, for it was the very point in issue. The next he changed his tone, and as gravely affirmed, that nothing was farther from his intentions, for it was the supreme legislative power of Parliament that employed all his sleeping and waking thoughts—a paltry trifling revenue was beneath the dignity and wise consideration of a British Parliament. Again, the dispute only related to the destruction of the tea at Boston; neither the revenue nor supremacy made any part of the controversy. At the beginning of the session not a single foreigner was intended to be employed; now, nothing was to be effected without the aid of foreign mercenaries; but if necessity should compel us to employ foreigners, it was only because they could be procured upon cheaper terms. The necessity is arrived; but the pretence of cheapness is at once abandoned; for it turns out, that for every one thousand foreigners we have taken into our service, we shall pay as much as for fifteen hundred natives. If his Lordship was charged with being the promoter of those measures, the fact was denied—he only co-operated with the rest of the King’s servants; if they were attributed to any other set of men, he instantly put in his claim to the whole merit. If he was reproached with versatility of sentiment, or contrariety of opinion, he laughed at his opponents, and turned the whole into a mere matter of ridicule. So that, on the whole, supremacy or no supremacy, revenue or no revenue, foreigners or natives, cheapness or dearness, responsibility or no responsibility, his Lordship seemed to regard very little; the whole was made to end in a joke; promises, reasons, and arguments, were made to yield to Ministerial pleasantry and good humour; the House was made merry, a laugh was created, and the mere grumblers were, as they deserved, turned into ridicule and contempt.

Mr. Stanhope condemned the measures pursued by Administration, as leading to consequences of a most serious and alarming nature. The means proposed to carry them into execution were not less exceptionable than the policy which gave birth to them; and if persisted in, must not only cause the entire loss of America, but subject us to additional burdens we should never be able to bear.

Sir George Savile entered into several comparative computations relative to the terms of the present treaties; and showed that it was never known since the present custom of hiring mercenary troops prevailed, that so disgraceful or dear a bargain had been made, even when the total dissolution of the established form of Government had been threatened, and rebellions had existed in the very bowels of the kingdom.

Mr. Rigby observed, that in the beginning of the session Opposition objected that the military estimates were too low, and not adequate to the purposes of absolute coercion; yet now that defect was attempted to be remedied, they were ready to oppose the increased expense, and seemed resolved to find fault in either event. He said he should not be surprised to hear them find fault with the war itself; but he confessed he was astonished to hear them condemn the most effectual mode of obtaining the objects for which only it was set on foot—that of compelling America to return to a state of obedience. They might, indeed, controvert the justice of the war; but he could not possibly conceive how they could oppose those who were already convinced of its justice, contrary to their own express sentiments, declared in Parliament. Among the rest, he expressed his astonishment at what had fallen from Colonel Barré, who had condemned the war as impolitick, ruinous, and unjust, when he recollected that that very gentleman had both spoken and voted for the Boston Port Bill, which was the great leading and fundamental basis of the present civil war.

Colonel Barré owned the charge; but he contended it proceeded from misinformation; for the Minister had given the most explicit assurances that the Merchants of Boston had desired such a bill; and that the people of the Massachusetts-Bay would, as soon as it was passed, immediately return to their duty. Experience, however, had taught him what degree of credit any official or Ministerial information deserved.

Mr. Alderman Bull. I cannot, sir, forbear to express my astonishment and concern that, early in the present session, so many gentlemen should have been prevailed upon, by any considerations, to stand forth in the most serious and solemn manner, to approve and sanctify those arbitrary measures which were recommended and have been fatally carried into execution by an unfeeling and unrelenting Administration,