yet been settled by Parliament; nor has the Congress, nor any of the Americans, ever yet offered any which Parliament could listen to. These being the only powers of the commission, the instructions can give no power of agreeing upon or settling any terms of accommodation; they hold out no ultimatum; they make no concessions; they do not presume to bind Parliament—they cannot do that; they go to empowering the Commissioners not to treat, but to confer and to sound for grounds of peace; but all must be referred to Parliament. They are not Plenipotentiaries; they cannot have full powers. Whatever gentlemen may think of the affections of the Americans in general towards this country, and their readiness to come to terms with us, I am sure their leaders will never feel or express such duty towards us, unless they have some proof of our resolution and power. It would be dangerous even to peace itself, to hold out any proposition which might not succeed. The full extent of the plan, as contained in the commission, has been suggested to the persons employed; further communications at present would be very improper. After the experiment is made, and the service actually gone into, whether it succeeds or not, it will then be a proper object for Parliament to take under consideration, in every part of it; at present, I must object to those communications which the motion requires.

Mr. Burke. The noble Lord has not only refused to give the instructions, but also to give any reason why he will not. The noble Lord made, indeed, an exception in his refusal, and did allow there might be a special case in which such previous communication might be requisite; but if the special case as stated by the right honourable mover is not that special case, his Lordship’s candour might have spared itself the trouble of that exception, for there never can be any special case wherein such communication can be proper. I do justice, however, to the principles of the noble Lord. In spite of all violence which he is drawn to do to them, he has again relapsed into his natural bias towards justice and humanity. He is willing to give up taxation; he has no objection to treating, or at least conferring with Rebels; with Rebels without exception, whether with arms in their hands, or after they laid down their arms. Although he will not tell this House what the terms to be offered or accepted are, yet, to talk of conferring without some instructions on what terms the persons conferring are to meet, is nonsense, downright nonsense. Some conditions are therefore in embryo at least; but, then, how is this to be reconciled to the doctrine of another noble Lord, who, it is said, has the confidence and the lead in these American measures, who is the Executive Minister in this department? He can admit no preliminary but unconditional submission. Between the various jarring opinions of Ministers themselves, (more opposite at times than even those of Opposition itself are to them,) the object of the war, or the ends of peace have never yet been clearly fixed. In the very session in which unconditional submission seemed to predominate and become the fixed object of the war; in the very session in which, after many puzzling and perplexed clashings, a revenue seemed to be the end aimed at; in that very session

that if we were in doubt whether we should he able to maintain our right, it was at least our duty to try and exert every means in our power. The stake we played for was a great and important one, and we should exert every nerve to obtain it. It was the wish of Administration to avoid the effusion of blood as much as possible; but nothing specifick could be done till the claims of America were known: then it would be time enough to acquaint Parliament, who would be enabled to judge whether they were such as would accord with the dignity and interests of this country.

Mr. Fox was uncommonly violent. He doubted much if the Commissioners were at all empowered to treat, or even to sound; but were rather instructed to carry fire, sword, and devastation, wherever they were to go. He dwelt a considerable time on the wanton cruelties exercised in the course of our naval operations; such as burning the towns of Norfolk, in Virginia, and of Falmouth. He said it was a barbarous disposition to do mischief for mischief’s sake; it was unmanly, base, and would forever remain a disgrace to the British arms. He spoke much of a certain pamphlet, (Dr. Price’s,) and observed that it had opened the eyes of the people, who saw plainly that this country was brought to the brink of ruin and destruction, and that the first great event would probably be an account of General Howe’s total defeat, followed by a national bankruptcy; and concluded with observing, that one general system of power had of late years been adopted, which was uniformly directed to annihilate and overturn the liberties of this country; that this plan had been unremittingly pursued by the Minister; that slavery was the ultimate object of all his measures; and that it mattered very little who was the deviser of this unnatural conspiracy, for it was plain that the Minister, by the whole tenour of his conduct, had made himself responsible to the nation: he pursued with ardour, and without remorse, whatever desperate scheme his traitorous and concealed employers chalked out for him.

Mr. Adam disapproved of the motion, because it was unusual to call for instructions till something had been done in the business; and that, however, he formed little or no expectation from the Commission which was the subject of the present motion. He believed it would meet with a similar fate to that of the noble Lord’s conciliatory proposition : that was, in his opinion, surrendering the dignity of Parliament to answer no purpose. He begged that such gentlemen as did him the honour to remember anything he said, would recollect that he foretold the fate of that proposition the very instant it was made; and he was inclined to think that the commission and instructions would meet with the same fate. He was always of opinion that no middle path could be struck out; that either America must be abandoned, or the legislative control of this country be maintained without diminution; for as soon as the authority of this country came to be a conditional authority, unless the conditions were prescribed by Great Britain, we should from that instant cease to have substantial or beneficial authority over America at all.

Mr. T. Townhend observed, that Parliament had talked in a high strain against America; but what Parliament thought or resolved, one way or the other, was of very little consequence, for Administration would act just as they liked. Parliament, instead of taking the lead, was at length degraded into a mere engine of Government—one day to bully, another to conciliate, and the next, he foresaw, would be to sue for terms to America, Such was the case a few years back, in the case of Lord Hillsborough’ s circulatory letter to the Colonies. While Parliament was asserting the supremacy of this country, and the unlimited, unconditional right of taxation over America, this letter contained the most specifiek declaration that no tax whatever should be ever laid on that country. He said, however, that that letter was productive of much worse consequences than barely contradicting the sense of Parliament. A British Administration was no longer to be relied on; for the solemn engagement made for his Majesty to three millions of his subjects, was no sooner made than it was shamefully violated. What dependance, then, could America have on any future promise I How could she trust to the sincerity of our professions, when all Administrations had to do would be to get Parliament to overrule them, or remove the Minister under whose immediate directions the faith of the nation had been pledged? This was precisely the case with the letter in question. America rested satisfied with the assurances it contained; and when the system was to be changed, the Minister was removed, and his engagement on the part of this nation set at naught, as a mere unauthorized act of office.

Lord George Germaine said the Commissioners had no power to enter into any treaty whatever with our rebellious subjects in America, further than to receive the submissions of such as were disposed to return to their duty, and acknowledge the authority of the British Government; and as the Parliament had agreed to send Commissioners, he had no doubt but those named by his Majesty wore the fittest for effecting the objects of the commission. It was proper to make the experiment; none of the operations on sea or land would be suspended; and though the matter should not be brought to maturity, nor the objects of the commission succeed, it was necessary that the intentions of Parliament should be complied with.

Colonel Barré took notice that the noble Lord in the blue ribbon had confessed that the Commissioners were sent out not to treat, but to sound. He said it was a happy, and, he believed, very proper expression. It might be every way descriptive of the fate of the errand; and it was not very improbable that both the noble Commissioner and his brother would be employed in sounding the coasts of America. [A loud laugh on the Opposition side of the House.] He said he knew both the gentlemen extremely well; they were men of integrity and high honour, and of eminent skill in their respective professions. He had served with one of them in America, during the late war, and was personally acquainted with the other; but at the same time he did not think that Administration could have picked out two men more unqualified for she effectuating so abstruse, difficult, and arduous a business, as that committed to their charge by the commission. He was extremely severe on the conduct of Administration; said the armaments, both by sea and land, were shamefully delayed; that neither were the troops nor transports ready; part of the Hessians had not yet left Germany, though the 22nd of May was arrived. Surely Ministers, ignorant as they were, could not imagine that troops still in Germany would arrive early enough in America, this season, to carry on the operations of an offensive war, a war of conquest. He then took a general view of the state of the whole empire, and its several parts of Ireland and the East and West-Indies. He said the Parliament of Ireland, from its obsequiousness to the Minister, had rendered that country totally defenceless, by stripping it of its troops; that the East-Indies was in a state of internal confusion and external imbecility; that the West-Indies was on the eve of famine, and that North-America was forever lost; so that, without any attempt from a foreign enemy, the consequences to be expected were dreadful to think on; but if France should take an advantage of such a state of things, one or all of them must fall a prey to the ambitious designs of that restless power.

Governour Johnstone closed the debate, and was personally severe on the Minister. He expatiated greatly on the numerous infamous jobs that were every day going on, and enumerated the various methods there were devised for creating corrupt majorities in that House. He spoke of the licenses granted by the Admiralty Board, and remarked a curious fact which had come out in the papers laid before the House, which was a contract of Sir James Cockburn and James Bogle French, for ten thousand gallons of rum, at four shillings per gallon, though it was well known that the contract might be executed at two shillings a gallon. No wonder that the people were plundered and the nation undone. No wonder that there were decisive majorities in that House, and numerous addresses from every part of the kingdom. No wonder that the American war was become a favourite war with the majority of that House, though hated and disapproved of by every man in the kingdom, who had not a personal interest in its continuance.— St. James’s Chronicle.