Lord John Cavendish seconded the motion. His Lordship spoke in high commendation of Lord and General Howe, as officers; but said they have now got a character which they are entire strangers to, the filling of which, even if the nature of the business would permit, he much doubted whether they were equal to; however, he, who was always against the beginning of this war, and who, ever since it, began, was always for putting an end to it, would never find fault with any means that would stop the effusion of blood, and settle the realm in peace. He owned he doubted of these means, so far as the publick had been able to guess what they were; he was willing to give his assistance to any that would produce peace. That this could not be done without the interposition and sanction of Parliament; and therefore must be of opinion that the instructions ought to be communicated.

Lord North began by answering the argument used, that the Colonies could not trust the Ministry; and, upon explanation of Lord Hillsborough’s letter, he asserted that the Ministers had never deceived the Americans. All which that letter engaged for as to repeal had been done; all that it pledged Government to as to future taxation, had been strictly adhered to. The letter promised the repeal of the tax on glass, paper, and painters’ colours; but it never promised to repeal the tea duty. It promised not to lay any future tax; no future tax has been laid. He said he did not object to the motion on account of the late period of the session in which it is moved. His objection was direct. He would oppose the communication of any instructions previous to their execution, unless there was something special in the case.

He never was of opinion that no Rebels were to be treated with; his opinion always was, that if Great Britain was likely to draw any benefits from any treaty, he could see no objection or difference whether it was with a foreign enemy or with Rebels; with armed Rebels, or with those who had laid down their arms. Those who think we had better give up our rights, because some rival state may interpose against our maintaining them, think meaner of our own strength and power than I feel it to be; and more unjustly of such foreign states than we have any reason to do. Taking the proposition in general, we ought always to be upon our guard against our rivals, and, so far, to fear them; but, in this case, there is no fear. Although he cannot think, and wonders how any person who has ever been entrusted to act with the powers of Government can think, that the modes by which any Commissioner may be instructed to carry any powers into execution, that the secret situation of persons and things, that the springs and motives should be made publick; yet he has no objection to the laying the powers themselves before Parliament and the publick. The act of Parliament doth in general prescribe what they must be, and the commission gives such only as that act authorizes. It gives a power of granting general and also special pardons; it empowers the Commissioners to confer with any of his Majesty’s subjects, without exception; it authorizes and directs them to inquire into the state and causes of their complaints; it cannot offer any terms—no such have ever

at length, all ends in darkness and confusion. Tour words and actions, your statutes and resolutions, are eternally at variance; you differ from your own resolutions before you leave the House, and from each other before you meet again; so that the nation, and every individual in it, is kept in a state of suspense and uncertainty. He next alluded to the letters said by Whitelocke to have been written by Charles I, and the closeting some of the Commissioners sent to him by Parliament; and feared that, in the further prosecution of this business, Parliament was meant to be employed as a mere engine of Government; in which, let the matter end as it might, either in war or conciliation, it was previously determined that Parliament should be disgraced. He could not help remarking, with some degree of indignation, on the language of Ministers : Rebels! and Rebellion ! The affair of 1715 was rebellion; that in 1745 was a rebellion of the foulest and rankest kind; perhaps, if some men’s minds were searched, it would be found that neither of those flagitious attacks on the Constitution and liberties of this country were deemed so. Whether or not, he was fully convinced the present resistance of America was not rebellion. The former endeavoured to bring in a Pretender, known at once to be inimical to the civil and religious liberties of this country; the latter were only fighting like freemen for their lawful liberty and property, and everything they held dear and sacred as men, citizens, or Englishmen.

He then proceeded to arraign the conduct of Administration in the most pointed and severe terms, relative to the prosecution of the war. He said all Canada had been lost by their neglect, Quebeck excepted, and that too, probably, would fall before any succours could arrive; that Boston was a post injudiciously taken, or shamefully abandoned; that the foolish schemes and wild expeditions to the Southward succeeded no better; that if Boston was worth keeping, Administration were to the last degree censurable to let it be lost in the shameful manner it was, when it was in their power so easily to have relieved it; and that, in short, Providence had counteracted every scheme devised for the destruction of America and the annihilation of British liberty. But though (says he) you have hitherto miscarried, I fear one part of your plan will prove successful; the follies and corruptions of the people have rendered them fit for anything you may think proper to inflict on them. I trust, however, the day is not far off, when the names of the prime actors and promoters of this infamous business will be wiped away from the recollection of every honest man, but for the mere purpose of holding them in the almost execration and contempt. But if you have no traces of justice left in your minds; if you feel not for your own honour, for God’s sake pay some little attention to your own individual interests, and the safety of the nation. Do you think, however credulous you may be, that France and Spain will lie by, silent and inactive, with their hands across? Is it French policy to do so? Or will the vindictive spirit of the Spaniard permit him to sleep, when so favourable an opportunity presents itself for avenging his real or ideal wrongs? I have good reason to be persuaded of the contrary. Spain is daily arming. France has a new Minister, who is fond of war, who is a man of enterprise and ability, and is well known not to be well disposed towards this country; and if any reliance ought at any time to be had on assurances given by Ministers, it must now vanish, as it is known to be a settled maxim in French politicks, that promises given by a Minister are no longer looked upon to be binding, either on his master or the nation, than he continues in office. When the Minister is changed, almost uniformly the system is changed; for it is always a change of measures, not of men, which brings about such arrangements in the French Court.

Lord John Cavendish seconded the motion. He said the nation had been led into a war with America imperceptibly; and, from a question of right, they had artfully worked it up into a trial of power; but as the nation had been wrought upon by the arts of delusion and misrepresentation, he trusted the people would at length be restored to their senses, and bring the authors to condign punishment. He reminded the House of the part he took immediately before the Christmas recess, 1774, when he informed Administration that if America was to be coerced, it would never be by a peace military establishment, and a reduced peace naval establishment from twenty to sixteen thousand men; and when the petty augmentations took place, early in the ensuing spring, he again told them, that the force they were sending out would answer no other end but to disgrace the British arms. The event showed that his predictions were true; and at the commencement of the present session, he was once more under the necessity of telling them of their blunders, and incapacity of conducting the affairs of a great nation, either in war or peace; yet, even at this last period, he perceived that Administration were not to be taught by experience. They regimented an army on paper; twenty-five thousand men were to conquer America; three months were elapsed, yet half the number were not to be procured, though Great Britain and Ireland were ransacked and left defenceless; at length foreigners were applied to; foreigners were procured; more than one-half of them still remained in their country, the other half were now tossing about in the Bay of Biscay, and America was lost.

Lord North said he was against the motion, but not for the reason the honourable gentleman who moved it seemed about to apologize. It was, to be sure, partly late in the season; but if the nation could derive the least benefit from it, he had not the least objection to sit weeks or months; but to call for instructions given to Commissioners was a matter totally new to him, either as an official man or a member of that House. His Lordship observed, that in matters of negotiation, it was usual to give instructions, to let the treaty go on, to wait for the issue of it, and then form a judgment. If the treaty should miscarry, if no fruits should be produced from it, then it would be time enough to inquire into the tenour of the instructions, to see whether they were such as ought to have been given, and such as, from their professed objects, were likely to succeed. He said, in some situations, the business of a General was as much to negotiate as to fight. The knowledge of his own strength, as well as that of the enemy, led him into many important secrets, which frequently served as a basis of future accommodation. As to the original cause of the present disputes, he was not in office when they arose. He had his own opinion, and it was always the same, that you must couple the claim of this country with a tax framed in some shape or other; but nothing was farther from his thoughts than to press his opinion on any man. Some were for taxation, others were for adhering to the supremacy of this country; some again thought that the American Charters ought to be inviolably preserved, while others imputed all the present evils to that source; in all events, among such a variety of discordant opinions, he should always abide by the sense of that House; and finally, that the real intention of the Commission now sent out was not so much to agree upon any specifick terms, as to sound the real disposition of America, in order to learn what the people of that country were ultimately desirous to obtain.

Mr. Burke was very severe on Administration. He contended that the House had a right to know what powers were delegated to the Commissioners; for as it was a Parliamentary affair, Parliament ought to be made acquainted with every material step taken. He said he wished to know in what manner the Commissioners were instructed to treat with the two persons (Hancock and Adams) excepted out of General Gage’s famous Proclamation, offering a pardon and indemnity to all America, or with General Lee; whether unconditional submission, in the language of a noble Lord [Lord George Germaine] over the way, was intended to be the ultimatum. He said that the noble Lord who spoke last talked much of the necessity of supporting Government and Administration, as if they were synonymous terms. For his part, he looked upon them to be extremely different; and a stronger proof need not be given than that, though Administration were swept away, Government would nevertheless remain the same. If the noble Lord had not asserted it himself, he could hardly have imagined a commission was granted, and instructions given, without any specifick directions whatever, further than to sound the disposition of America, or, in other words, to feel its pulse.

Lord North said a few words by way of explanation. He observed,