of this unhappy contest; not only supported with his vote on every division, but with the best of his abilities in most of the debates. He showed a ready wit in answer to some words which fell from the gentleman who spoke before him: “There was a time less alarming than the present, less dangerous to the realm, though the bloodiest of the Tudors sat upon the throne, [Queen Mary,] when every member rose from his seat, and laid his hand upon his sword.” Mr. Rigby observed that the dispute could not be decided in a way more disadvantageous to the minority; who were always boasting of the superiority of their host, without doors, when in this onset there would be three swords to one, unless the friends to Government were to throw away theirs. He assured Mr. Luttrell he had no occasion to be angry with himself for his meekness or moderation; advised the right honourable magistrate to define the Constitution and state of Ireland before he adopted it, or at least expected the House to adopt it for the American Colonists. With respect to the Scotch Peers, the mountaineer Lords as they were called, he believed the creation would do no harm, if it did no good; what good it would do them, was best known to themselves; but he must observe that the case was not without more precedents than one.

The Lord-Mayor, [Mr. Sawbridge,] in reply to what Mr. Rigby had thrown out relative to the Constitution of Ireland, assured that gentleman he was ready to enter at large upon the subject, if the House would fairly canvass it; and of course it would come properly at the close of the debate, when the mover of a question was always indulged with being heard a second time.

Lord Irnham exceedingly disapproved of the treatment the first magistrate of the greatest city in the world was now receiving from Administration; at a time, too, when he was delivering the sentiments of the better part of the subjects of this commercial empire; who, in a struggle for illegal and unattainable claims, were not inclined madly to risk everything that a wise people could hold essential to renown or prosperity. However defective the Constitution of Ireland might be in some respects, yet the power of taxing themselves was sufficiently perfect for a groundwork of conciliation with America, if immediately proffered. He instanced the Constitution of the German empire, in proof that taxation and legislation are not inseparable, and quoted very able civilians of the Northern nations to confirm this assertion. He said, that whenever the Ministers were conscious of having the weakest side in disputation, they had refuge under the wit and pleasantry of a Paymaster-General.

Mr. Burke took a review of the measures pursued by Administration since the commencement of the session. He called upon Lord North to tell a single act that had been done within that period. His Lordship, it was true, might say, that he had voted ten millions out of the pockets of the people. He might boast that he had taken twenty thousand Germans into pay, and turned our British transport-vessels into German hospitals. He might desire the representatives of the nation to tell their constituents that, in return for such lavish grants, new taxes had been laid on them, and a four shillings land tax rendered perpetual. He might inform them that America had one hundred thousand men in arms; that every Governour, from Halifax to Florida, was driven to seek protection on board his Majesty’s ships-of-war; and, to conclude the narrative, he might instruct the representatives of the people to carry a sufficient number of Gazettes down to the country, and, when questioned about the state of affairs in America, desire them to peruse those oracles of truth, and launch forth in the highest encomiums on the military conduct of General Howe, and the bravery of the troops under his command. He next reprehended the Minister on his conduct respecting the Nova-Scotia duties; and said, that favourite measure, from which such salutary consequences were expected, was suffered to come to nothing, though he pledged himself to the House that he would bring in a bill framed on the resolutions of the Committee appointed to take into consideration the petition from the Speaker and House of Assembly of that Province. He next turned to the commission granted to Lord Howe and his brother, for restoring peace and granting pardons to the people of America, and said, that those gentlemen, however high they stood in respect to their respective professions, were by no means calculated for carrying into execution the professed objects of that commission; but allowing that they were ever so able in that line, he contended that the King could not grant them a single power which would enable them to treat with the Provincials. The idea was as absurd as it was delusive. The question was taxation. Could they give it up? The King himself had no such power, he could not therefore delegate it. He might grant pardons; so might the Admiral and General, and that was all. And he doubted not but they would grant pardons as soon as they were asked; but who were to sue for them was more than he could venture to foretell.

Mr. Hartley. The motion which has been made to you to-day, comes with the best recommendation that any proposition can come with to this House: I mean the recommendation of that great and most respectable body the City of London. The worthy magistrate who has made it, has supported it so ably, that there is very little occasion to detain you long upon the subject. The friends to peace and to America have been incessant in their endeavours to suggest every possible chance of accommodation. But Administration continues deaf to every entreaty. We must, I fear, content ourselves, without prospect of success, only to lay in our continual protests against the present vindictive measures. My honourable friend near me [Mr. Burke] has in this session offered to you a proposition, similar to the present, under another shape, viz: that of his Conciliatory Bill, which you have rejected. I myself did trouble the House likewise with some propositions suited to the very terms declared by Administration at the opening of the session, viz: that the Colonies should be replaced to their situation in 1763, if the honour of Government could be sheltered in the retreat. For the sake of peace, therefore, I did propose a test of compromise, by an acceptance on the part of the Colonists of an act of Parliament, which should lay the foundation for the extirpation of the horrid custom of slavery in the New World. No one can think it less expedient than I do, for a British legislature, at the distance of three thousand miles, to interfere in the internal police of America, in which we must at the best be ignorant, and of which our only information must come through partial hands. My motion, therefore, was not with any view to be drawn into example, but simply as an act of compromise and reconciliation; and as far as it was a legislative act, it was still to have been applied in correcting the laws of slavery in America, which I considered as repugnant to the laws of the realm of England, and to the fundamentals of our Constitution. Such a compromise would at the same time have saved the national honour. I likewise took the liberty a second time in this session, to suggest to the House the proposition of putting the Colonies upon the footing of Ireland, with regard to the right of giving and granting their own money, and to give them security that their Charters should be maintained inviolable. The proposition of putting them upon the footing of Ireland, as expressed in the motion of this day, has only respect to that one article of being masters of their own grants of money, in answer to a kind of objection which has been started, that if we had not a right of taxing them, such an exemption would constitute an imperium in imperio. The case of Ireland is, therefore, adduced as an argument and example in point. Unhappily for us, sir, all these propositions, under whatever shape they have been moved, have been rejected; and, what is worst of all, they have been rejected upon the principle of requiring unconditional submission, previous to any treaty or proposition for reconciliation. I consider the proposition which is offered to you today to be the same in substance with that solemn assurance which the Earl of Hillsborough, by a circular letter of the 13th of May, 1769, gave to the Colonies, that they might rest in full confidence that no further taxes should be laid by Parliament for the purposes of raising a revenue. Yet what are we at war for now, if it be not for a substantial revenue, to be collected by threats and compulsion? The proposition which was made to them upon the 27th of February, 1775, commonly called the Conciliatory proposition, is a direct breach of the national faith, as pledged by Lord Hillsborough’s letter; for that proposition declares, in the most explicit terms, that you mean only to forbear to levy, or impose any duty, tax, or assessment, as long as the Colonies, under this threat, shall deliver their money to you, to such an amount as