who have dared to abuse the Throne by their wicked and sanguinary councils, and whose whole conduct has proved them destitute of every principle of justice, humanity and the religion of their country. Their insatiable thirst for Protestant blood has been long evident; and it cries aloud to Heaven for vengeance, as well as for the just indignation of a long-abused, insulted, oppressed people. To exult in the destruction of our most valuable commercial friends and Protestant fellow-subjects; to pray that the same horrid scenes may be repeated; that war, desolation, and bloodshed may pervade the whole continent of America, unless it shall bow its devoted head to Popery, to poverty, to the most abject and ignominious slavery, were not the fact on record, would be thought incredible. That record, sir, to a nation professing a regard to liberty and the rights of humanity, will remain an eternal monument of reproach. Sir, is it probable that the exertions of Ministerial tyranny and revenge will be much longer permitted? that there will be no appeal to stop the further effusion of Protestant blood? Or can it be expected that the people of this country, reducing by thousands to beggary and want, will remain idle spectators till the sword is at their breasts, or dragoons at their doors? God forbid! I am not insensible how much professions of patriotism are become a subject of ridicule. To the astonishment of the world, the love of our country has been ridiculed within these walls. And yet, sir, this shall not restrain me. While I will uniformly withhold the offer of my life and fortune in support of Ministerial despotism, I wish it to be understood, that whenever an occasion may call for it, I will cheerfully sacrifice both in defence of the liberties of the people. The war that you are now waging is an unjust one; it is founded in oppression, and its end will be distress and disgrace. Let not the historian be obliged to say that the Russian and the German slave was hired to subdue the sons of Englishmen and of freedom; and that, in the reign of a Prince of the House of Brunswick, every infamous attempt was made to extinguish that spirit which brought his ancestors to the throne, and, in spite of treachery and rebellion, seated them firmly upon it. I shall not now trouble the House any further than to declare my abhorrence of all the measures which have been adopted against America, measures equally inimical to the principles of commerce, to the spirit of the Constitution, and to the honour, faith, and true dignity of the British nation.

At two o’clock, the question being put, the House divided.

So it was resolved in the affirmative.

Ordered, That the copy of a Treaty between his Majesty and the reigning Duke of Brunswick, signed at Brunswick, the 9th of January, 1776, and Translation, together with a Paper intituled “Note concerning the Levy Money,” and Translation, be referred to the said Committee.

Ordered, That the copy of a Treaty between his Majesty and the Hereditary Prince of Hesse Cassel, signed at Hanau, the 5th of February, 1776, and Translation, be referred to the said Committee.

Ordered, That the Estimate of the charge of twelve thousand three hundred and ninety-four men, the Troops of the Landgrave of Hesse Cassel, in the pay of Great Britain, for the year 1776, pursuant to Treaty, be referred to the said Committee.

Ordered, That the Estimate of the charge of four thousand three hundred men, the Troops of the Reigning Duke of Brunswick, in the pay of Great Britain, for the year 1776, pursuant to Treaty, be referred to the said Committee.

Ordered, That the Estimate of the charge of a Regiment of Foot of Hanau, in the pay of Great Britain, pursuant to Treaty with the Hereditary Prince of Hesse Cassel, from 6th March, 1776, to 24th December following, both inclusive, being two hundred and ninety-four days, be referred to the said Committee.

Ordered, That the Estimate of the charge of six Regiments of Foot from Ireland, and of several augmentations to his Majesty’s Forces, from the respective times within mentioned, to the 24th December, 1776, inclusive, be referred to the said Committee.

Monday, March 4, 1776.

Sir Charles Whitworth, according to order, reported from the Committee of the Whole House (to whom it was referred to consider further of the Supply granted to his Majesty) the Resolutions which the Committee had directed him to report, to the House; which he read in his place, and afterwards delivered in at the Clerk’s table, where the same were read, and are as followeth, viz:

Resolved, That it is the opinion of this Committee, that a sum not exceeding three hundred and eighty-one thousand eight hundred and eighty-seven Pounds four Shillings and five Pence half penny, be granted to his Majesty for defraying the charge of twelve thousand three hundred and ninety-four men, the Troops of the Landgrave of Hesse Cassel, in the pay of Great Britain, together with the subsidy for the year one thousand seven hundred and seventy-six, pursuant to Treaty.

Resolved, That it is the opinion of this Committee, that a sum not exceeding one hundred and twenty-one thousand four hundred and seventy-five Pounds twelve Shillings and one Penny, be granted to his Majesty for defraying the charge of four thousand three hundred men, the Troops of the reigning Duke of Brunswick, in the pay of Great Britain, together with the subsidy for the year one thousand seven hundred and seventy-six, pursuant to Treaty.

Resolved, That it is the opinion of this Committee, that a sum not exceeding nineteen thousand and six Pounds nineteen Shillings three Pence and three Farthings, be granted to his Majesty for defraying the charge of a Regiment of Foot of Hanau, in the pay of Great Britain, together with the subsidy, pursuant to Treaty with the hereditary Prince of Hesse Cassel, from the sixth day of March, one thousand seven hundred and seventy-six, to the twenty-fourth day of December following, both inclusive, being two hundred and ninety-four days.

A motion was made, and the question being put, That the said Resolutions be now read a second time,

Colonel Barré pointed out several objectionable passages in the treaties. Allowing the hiring of foreign troops, even for argument sake, to be a wise and politick measure, he desired to know, in the first instance, as the treaty provided that the Hessian officers should have every emolument that natives are allowed, and to be put on a footing, in every respect, with our own tried veterans, whether the two-pences, in the clothing to the Colonels, was meant to be included; and, likewise, where the clothing was to be procured— whether in Germany or in Britain? He was very jocular on this species of military profit; and said, he did not doubt but this sale of human blood would turn out as advantageous to the woollen manufactures of Brunswick and Hesse, in the clothing branch, as it was already likely to become lucrative to their respective Sovereigns. He observed, that the treaty might probably continue in force for four years, for it was difficult to fix the period, on many accounts, which he forbore now to mention. If, then, by any accident arising from defeat, pestilence, or the danger of the seas, the Hessians should be reduced to eight thousand men, (perhaps to half their number or less,) in such a possible, nay, all circumstances considered, such a probable event, he should be glad to be informed by the Minister, or his trusty friend the Minister of the War Department, who now and then steals a peep into the Cabinet, though he is never permitted within the hallowed door, whether the Landgrave of Hesse or Duke of Brunswick is to have the full pay, as if their respective quotas continued full and complete?

Lord Barrington could not answer that question till he had taken time to consider. After a little pause, his Lordship said, the best time to answer the honourable gentleman’s question will be when such a reduction actually happens.

Mr. J. Johnstone said, it was impossible to deal with people who thus played at cross-purposes; and though a young member, he ventured to pronounce it to be the first time such an answer was given in Parliament. He remarked, it was no bad beginning. The noble Lord used to be pretty liberal of his promises; but so many of them had been lately either falsified or overruled, his Lordship, he presumed, was determined, in future, to make only such as he was certain could neither be falsified nor contradicted; for his promise, if it could be at all called one, was such that, let the event be what it might, he could not possibly be charged with a breach of it.