that they only returned about four in five of their true numbers, and it was pretty certain that other places in New-England returned a still less proportion; yet the whole number amounted to three millions and a half; it can therefore be no exaggeration to say, that they considerably exceed four millions.

Their plan of finance is admirable for its solidity and simplicity. In September last, the General Congress issued three millions of dollars in paper, for the security of which all property in the twelve Colonies stands pledged. They will, this summer, lay a tax amounting to about a dollar per head, which will probably bring in most of their bills, which will be again issued in payment of the troops, &c. For the convenience of the individuals, each Colony will issue about half a million in smaller bills, on its separate credit, which will be issued from the Provincial Treasury, where the Continental bills will be received and returned to the general treasury. What a different paper credit is this from what is now weighing down this unfortunate country. How worthy is the plan of imitation, wherever the annual revenue can be made to bear any proportion to the annual expense.

In the summer of last year, the General Congress fixed the price of powder and other stores; also, of provisions, &c. One hundred pounds of good powder was rated at fifty dollars; for this the importer would receive, at his option, silver to that amount, or two thousand five hundred pounds of flour, or in proportion of lumber, or other provisions: this, in the West-India Islands, would fetch thirty pounds; so there is no fear of their being deprived of either their silver or their supply of military stores. Some have doubted whether they had any silver; but they should consider that, besides the contraband trade, our army must furnish them with some millions of dollars in specie every year.

Those who doubt their meeting with foreign assistance, would do well to satisfy themselves that the Agent from Madrid to Philadelphia had really no other business than to present the colleges in America with the labours of the illustrious translator of Sallust. It is also worth their inquiry, whether or no the French merchants have bought American commodities with arms out of the Royal magazines, delivered at twenty per cent, less than the current prices. Another idea has been, that they wanted saltpetre. To obviate this, the General Congress printed and dispersed an account of the best and simplest method of making it. In August last, a saltpetre work was become a necessary appendage to a farm; and no doubt is made but, from the numbers now established, saltpetre will become a considerable article of their future exports.

The management of the Indians was an early object of attention. The General Congress, considering what an unprincipled gang the bulk of Indian traders were, prevailed on a sufficient number of respectable men to undertake that trade. The natural event was, that the former traders were execrated, not without some reflections on those who should have prevented, not encouraged, the abominable frauds they had been subject to.

I should now wish your Lordships to advert to your situation nearer home. The Spaniards are again armed, and France has also prepared a considerable force. May not their late misfortune at Algiers make them wiser? If zeal for religion be supposed to actuate them, is it not possible that France may convince them that, by going to Ireland, they would serve both their spiritual and temporal interests? I appeal to a noble Viscount in my eye, if more than half that kingdom is not in their interest? They would be joined by numbers the moment they land, between Cork and the Shannon; and what force have you to oppose them, either by sea or land?

My Lords, I never can stand up in your Lordships’ presence without throwing in a few words on the justice of this unnatural war. The principal foundation on which it rests, is an idea which has been, with much pains, promulgated of late, that taxes are not de gratiâ but de jure; that the necessity of the State gives to the legislative body a right to impose them, and that the people have no right to withhold them. I need no other proof that these principles are encouraged by Government, than that books, published by persons who enjoy pensions and favours, contain them; while there is no instance of any court favour being extended to any of those who have laid down other doctrines. Indeed, my Lords, the situation in which some of these libellers of the Constitution are placed, decency forbids me to name; but this I will assert, that whatever doctrines others may hold, and whatever name they may please to give to their own principles, the moment I am satisfied of the truth of these arguments, I shall become a most determined and zealous Jaoobite, and shall hold myself bound, in conscience and honour, to go all lengths, and risk all I hold dear as an Englishman, in atonement of having approved the Revolution, and sworn allegiance to the House of Brunswick.

Earl Talbot. The noble Earl who spoke last has certainly hit off one leading feature of the Americans. His Lordship tells you that even in the midst of their zeal for freedom and independency, they were not able to conquer their natural propensity to fraud and concealment. He tells you, that to evade the order of the Congress for supplying their quotas of men and money, they purposely concealed their real numbers. However I may differ from the noble Earl in the deduction he has drawn from this fact, I am not permitted to doubt the truth of it, as coming from a person in whose estimation they bear so high a place. This, with me, would be the strongest reason imaginable for not trusting to their professions, when it is seriously stated, that they are to be held by no ties whatever, not even by their most sacred engagements to support a cause which they deem essential to their very existence as a free people. They have had all along a reluctance to order and good Government, since their first settlement in that country; and I am every day more and more convinced that this people will never be brought back to their duty, and the subordinate relation they stand in to this country, till reduced to unconditional submission. Let them promise or hold out what present convenience or future views of independence may suggest, believe me, my Lords, they will never give up their favourite object, till they are fully convinced that the object is unattainable. No concession on our part, no lenity, no endurance, will have any other effect but that of increasing their insolence, and encouraging them daily to rise in their demands. They have been obstinate, undutiful, and ungovernable, from the beginning—from their first early and infant settlements in that country. They began to manifest this spirit so early as the reign of Charles I. They disputed our right of fishing on their coasts, in the times of the Commonwealth and Protectorate. But was this claim to exemption acceded to on our part, or this privilege, inseparably connected with sovereignty, relinquished? No: then, as now, they were treated as presumptuous and ridiculous. Indeed, the principle of absolute, unconditional supremacy, was so fully established in the reign of Charles II, that what by some people establishes a right on our part, of partial taxation over the Province of Pennsylvania, was, at the time, granted as a favour to Mr. Penn, who then had a strong personal interest with the Sovereign. Penn was a sensible penetrating man. He knew the power to tax existed in the Sovereign; he therefore got the right transferred to the Parliament, lest he or some of his successors should suffer under a tax laid on at the will and discretion of the Sovereign for the time being. This right was first vested in Parliament at the Revolution. It was not, to be sure, a full Parliament, but a Convention, which laid a foundation for the privileges the nation now enjoys. From that time, the right has continued clearly in Parliament, in the three branches of the Legislature conjunctively; so that taking the right of taxing, as derived from the Sovereign through Parliament, in the manner here described, or considering it inherently existing in the whole Legislature, as part of its very essence, the effect would be the same; for still it comes to this, that the supreme power retains the sovereignty over its several subordinate members, and of course among the other various powers which it possesses, is constitutionally entitled to exercise the right of taxation, whenever the common interest or exigencies of the State may render the exercise of such a right necessary.

Earl Temple. My Lords, I have heard, with the greatest sensibility, the very honourable testimony which has been given by the noble Earl [Earl Talbot] who spoke last, to the memory of one so deservedly dear to me; and I think the House is much obliged to his Lordship for the information he has given, and the new lights which he has thrown upon the question of sovereignty over America, in which