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alluded to. If they were necessary then, they might be so now. The noble duke who opened the debate, insisted that the very expence of carrying the 20,000 Russians to America would amount 500,000l. He did not doubt it; but if they were to march by land, it would be much more expensive.-He should beg leave to obviate the force of one plausible objection urged by the lords in opposition, relative to the difficulty of obtaining recruits. He could not answer for what might happen without his own depart. ment, but he believed the facts he was going to state applied equally to both services. Since the orders for augmenting the navy had been issued, they had seamen coming to enter themselves as fast as they could be well shipped; by the last accounts he received, they amounted to between 20 and 21,000; and he made no doubt of his being able to complete the whole 28,000 without pressing. The marines he had been equally successful in, the returns being on an average of 80 men per week, some 120, and the lowest 45. So far, then, from the vulgar report, that the people in general were averse to the service, nothing could be more erroneous: they languished for it, and, were it necessary, he could produce numerous applications for an appointment on the American station, arising purely from a zeal to be instrumental in reducing those unnatu ral, ungrateful, and traitorous resisters of the mild government of their most gracious sovereign, and the constitutional rights and supremacy of the mother country.

sians on our part, who were on their march | to join us, should halt in the place that the earliest courier should be able to meet them. On the other hand, France was at the same instant obliged to disband 37,000 of her troops, a force supposed to be equal to our Russian auxiliaries. Again, we were to give up Louisburgh, and they to withdraw their troops from four of the frontier towns, which they had in the course of the war acquired by their arms. I remember a circumstance which happened then, not inapplicable to the attempt made this day; that was, to grant the suspension, and permit them to retain the frontier towns till an actual account of Louisburg being delivered up was received. But I was too cautious, and by resisting the proposition in its first appearance, was fortunate enough to succeed, though the whole negociation had like to have miscarried, for certain secret reasons which I am not permitted to disclose; and must have done so, if a peace had not, as it were, at length fallen from the clouds. The noble earl (of Shelburne) has misinformed your lordships, I will not say designedly, on three material points. He says, the river St. Lawrence is frozen up in October. I contend, it is not; and that, on the authority of one of the ablest navigators this country ever bred, sir Francis Drake himself not excepted. The person I mean is captain Cook, who passed four winters in Canada, and assures me, that the river St. Lawrence is very seldom frozen up till the middle of December; and that the inconvenience of navigating that river and the neighbouring seas, previous to the time I have mentioned, does not arise from the setting in of the frost, but the heavy gales from the north and north-west, which are the monsoons of that part of the world, and set in early in the winter months. His lordship is, I believe, equally mistaken as to the fact to which his reasoning on the above occasion was applied. Who informed his lordship, that the regiments alluded to were destined for Quebec? I now assure him, they were not. As to the third allegation, that the army in America was to consist of 70,000 men, and that 20,000 of them were to be Russians, he thought he knew something of what was intended; but he could solemnly affirm, it was the first he had heard of either arrangement. He however saw no reason why the Russians should not be employed as auxiliaries now, as well as in the war

The Earl of Shelburne said, that as to the general charge of misinformation imputed to him by the noble earl, he thought his lordship would be one of the last who would venture to touch on that ground; because if he, and the noble lords on the same side, were mistaken, it was the fault of the noble earl, and his brethren in office, who compelled them to go to the other' House to seek information, or pick it up wherever they could find it; by withholding from them every degree of parliamentary communication whatever. That 70,000 men were to be employed, was no idle, floating report; for it had originated with the first lord of the Treasury in the other House; and as to the river St. Lawrence being not frozen up till the middle of December, he would not be certain whether his general information did not include early in the month of November;

stating it on that ground, therefore, he was certain that the person from whom he had his information would yield to none in point of experience and judgment. His lordship was severe on the noble earl, for thrusting the negociations of the peace of Aix la Chapelle into the debate. He imagined his lordship's modesty in one event, or his prudence in the other, would have prevented him. It was very tender ground to venture on, because whatever opinion his lordship and his admirers might entertain on that curious business, there were many odd kind of people at this day, and a great majority of the nation at the time of the concluding that famous treaty, who thought the delivering so many British peers hostages to ensure the faithful performance of a treaty, was at once a scandal to the nation, a violation of the dignity of the peerage, and a stigma on the proposers of such a measure, which nothing could ever wipe off. His lordship replied to the representation of the noble lord, relative to the success that had been experienced in procuring seamen and marines, which he attributed solely to the decline of our trade and commerce, that had driven so many seamen out of employment; that the officers of the navy were not languishing for the service, he referred to the advertisements from the board of Admiralty, desiring the officers to furnish the board with an account of their places of abode, and threatening, in case of refusal, to strike them off the list. On the whole, he said, that as the treaty of Aix la Chapelle, to borrow his lordship's words, fell, so must the peace of this country, on the present melancholy and alarming occasion, fall-from the clouds.

The Earl of Sandwich said, he should not observe on the word scandalous' used by the noble lord relative to the giving hostages, for the due performance of the treaty of Aix la Chapelle, for he perceived the noble lord who had used that very improper expression was already sorry for it; and so little did that transaction deserve to have the epithet scandalous applied to it, that it was the action of his life from which he claimed the greatest merit; to which he begged leave to add, for farther confirmation, that there was a noble lord now present, (lord Cathcart) who had been one of the hostages, and whose conduct through his whole life, both public and private, had to every one's knowledge, been so full of prudence and prosperity, that nothing would have pre

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vailed upon him to have accepted a commission of that sort, without the strongest conviction that it was necessary to the essential interests of the nation, and consistent with her honour, as well as his own dignity as a peer.

The House divided: For the motion 27; Proxies 6; Against it 60; Proxies 26.

Debate in the Commons on raising the Land Tax to Four Shillings in the Pound.] Nov. 13. The House being in a Committee of Supply,

Lord North, after briefly stating some of the public accounts, spoke of the necessity of quelling the disturbances in America, remarked on the expence of this measure, and then on the propriety and expediency of applying to the landed gentlemen for their support, at a time, when the other resources of the state were incompetent to the purpose. He therefore moved, That the land-tax for 1776 be four shillings in the pound.

Sir Joseph Mawbey said the American war was unnecessary and wanton; and it was difficult to determine whether it was most founded in folly or injustice.

Mr. J. Johnstone said, that however unacquainted he might be with parliamentary proceedings, he had observed, since the commencement of the present session, it was expected by the friends of adminis tration, that no proposition of theirs, however wild, extravagant, or novel, should be questioned. This to him was a most extraordinary procedure, nor could he see to what end parliament assembled, if they only assembled to vote, not to deliberate. He hoped, however, for the sake of appearances, that the minister would stand forth, when he came to demand the public money, and tell the House to what purposes he really meant to apply it.

Sir George Yonge moved an amendment, that it should be three shillings instead of four.

Mr. Sawbridge said, though the landtax was a tax the easiest collected, and gave the minister the least influence in its mode of collection; yet no consideration of convenience could balance, what he felt on the present occasion, when not only the treasure and blood, but the ho nour of the nation were sacrificed, to the traitorous and despotic designs of a junto, carried into execution by the most unprincipled prostitute tools that ever disgraced this country.

Mr. Vyner said, he had hitherto sup

*

tax, as the first happy fruits of American

measures.

ported the measures of the minister respecting America, though he condemned the introducing foreigners into any part of the dominions of Great Britain, without the previous consent of parliament. Standing thus affected, when the motion for the recommitment of the Address was made, as he approved of the great line sketched out in the Speech, he found himself under a necessity of voting for that measure. The vote, however, he gave on that occasion, was a conditional one; it was on the supposition that a Bill of Indemnity was to be brought in, in order to legalize that unconstitutional manner of introducing those troops. In a few days after, a Bill of Indemnity was brought in, and read a first time, and ordered to be read a second time; but a fortnight had since passed, and he never heard a syllable more concerning it. His reason for rising was, to assure the minister of his support, and cheerfully to agree to the proposed resolution, provided his lordship kept his word with his best friends. He begged his lordship to tell him whether the Indemnity Bill was in being, or whether it had been starved or stifled, or had its throat cut in the cradle, which in his opinion would be cruel, as he had understood since it came to be first mentioned, that he was pleased to own it for one of his own children.

Mr. Hartley said, that it required but little foresight last year, to prophesy as he had done, that if the ruinous system of American measures continued, our landtax must be raised to four shillings. He wished that his present fears might prove in the event less well-founded, but he saw no probability of the land-tax being ever reduced below four shillings. Instead of the promised revenue from America, we shall find a perpetual mortgage on our land, to pay for unjust and ill-executed measures. It requires but a very slight accumulation of debt, a very trifling loss upon the revenue, to make a three shilling land-tax with the sinking-fund insufficient for the ordinary peace establishment. The land tax at three shillings added to the annual malt-tax, produce net about 1,900,000l. The sinking-fund, upon an average of seven years, about 2,500,000/. The profit upon an annual lottery 150,000l.; altogether making about 4,550,000l. The annual rate of expence from 1768 to 1774, upon an average, including the annual increase of the navy debt, has been about 4,150,000l. As soon as the difference between our annual income and our annual expences, which is but about 400,000l. is lost by falling off of the revenue, or swallowed up to pay the interest of the enormous debts which are now contract

Lord North replied, that the child he seemed to be so solicitous about, was safe from all the accidents he affected to dreading, it follows unquestionably, that we so much; and he would move to-morrow to have the Bill read a second time.

Sir William Wake observed, the minister comes with a Bill in one hand, and tells you very seriously, that he has framed it, he has presented it, but when it is past, it will signify no more than so much waste paper; for it is granting a pardon for no crime; and indemnifying a man against his inclination and his judgment.

Lord North said he never sought to shield his public conduct by an act of parliament; and the more so on the present occasion, because he entirely relied on the purity of his intentions. Other gentlemen, however, happened to be of contrary sentiments, to whose opinions he wished to pay every reasonable degree of respect. It was to meet the ideas of those gentlemen he took upon him to frame and sup port such a Bill; and he was resolved to do all in his power to carry their ideas into

execution.

Mr. Byng congratulated the country gentlemen on the additional shilling land

must require the additional shilling upon land, to support even the peace establishments, which we have hitherto mentioned. As a foretaste of the losses to be expected in the revenue, one branch is gone; the revenue on tobacco. The produce of that is nearly 300,000l. besides all the profit of the trade and commission. This cuts deep into the 400,000l. surplus just now stated. How many times 300,000l. may be cut off from the revenue, when the fatal influence of these measures come to be felt, in every branch, and throughout the whole circuit of our commerce, should be matter of the most alarming apprehension. In the next place, for the debts that we are so blindly contracting, they will probably be kept out of the public sight as long as possible, but they must come out at last. The navy debt immense. The transport service perhaps greater than at any period in the late war. And for the army extraordinaries, if we are to maintain an immense army, at the distance of 3,000 milcs, to be supported

with every necessary from hence, who can say what proportion they may bear to any case hitherto experienced? Over and above all these losses upon the revenue, all debts contracted, and to be contracted, which must be supplied with the perpetuity of the four shillings upon land, another annual charge has been announced by the noble lord a proposed augmentation of the civil list. Why are ministers so obstinately bent to plunge this nation into inextricable perplexities and boundless expence. Even upon the ground of the interested views of administration, if the considerations of humanity and justice have lost all influence with them, let them chuse deliberately, whether they prefer the waste and ruin of the public revenue to procure the destruction of their fellow subjects; or, whether they will cultivate the good-will of the people of England, by providing those proper resources, by which, without oppressive burdens or the prospect of bankruptcy, they might be enabled, upon suitable occasions to be ready to testify their affections to a gracious sovereign. The continuance of the American war, and its consequences, must defeat the possibility of any perpetual augmentation of the civil list.

Mr. Baldwin said, he had always understood, the dispute with America, was for a revenue to be raised there to relieve the country gentlemen; but having since heard, that the idea of taxation was given up, he thought it was improper to expend any more money in the contest, and therefore should be against the noble lord's motion.

Lord North said, the hon. gentleman, who supposed the sinking-fund would in the course of the year 1776, be anticipated 700,000l. was egregiously mistaken. The hon. gentleman had pointed out how much more meritorious it would be to pay his Majesty's debts, than squander away the national treasure in acts of such a nature as would make the most obdurate feel and tremble. He suspected the hon. gentleman was as ignorant of the true disposition of our gracious prince, as he was of the nature of the dispute, which he called a wanton effusion of blood. I will tell him then, continued his lordship, that his Majesty, like the true father of his people, more zealous and anxious for their interests, their reputation, and their honour, than his own, has foregone every private consideration; he has kept back his own wants, in order to make room for those of

his country. Instead, therefore, of reminding parliament of his very urgent necessities, he has only desired it to take care of the general interests of his subjects and their own honour; carefully avoiding so much as to hint at his own wants till the great national objects shall be first adjusted. The hon. gentleman seems to affirm, with great confidence, that the Virginians are determined to turn their tobacco plantations into corn grounds. I beg leave to differ from the hon. gentleman, and that from authority on which I can depend. They are not so infatuated as to forego the singular advantages they enjoy from this very beneficial trade. He says, the mother-country reaps much the larger part of the gross proceeds. In this, he is equally mistaken; for, from the best intelligence I have been able to gain, I find, that the profits are divided in the proportion of seven to America, and three to England. He likewise exaggerates the duties upon tobacco, much beyond their true estimate; for, by the latest return, the duty in England amounts to 240,000l. per ann. and in Scotland, to 20,000l. per ann. Another hon. gentleman is afraid the idea of taxing America is given up. It is true taxation was the original question with America, but now the dispute is much higher. Still he had not a doubt but some mode would be adopted by which a contribution would be obtained from America and brought into the public treasury here. When his Majesty's ministers said, that the idea of taxation was abandoned, they never intended by that expression more, than that it was abandoned for the present; that is, that taxation was but a matter of secondary consideration, when the supremacy and legislative authority of this country was at stake. When, therefore, his Majesty's ministers spoke in the general terms above alluded to, I would have my hon. friend perfectly understand, that taxation is not nor ever was out of their view. Mr. Baldwin said he was satisfied with this explanation.

Governor Johnstone was for lord North's motion, because having voted the services, there must be money for their support, and the land-tax he thought the best, it was the only increased tax that was ever remitted, whereas raising money in any other mode has ever been found to be a perpetual tax.

Mr. T. Townshend was for the motion, for the same reason; that as the army and navy were voted they must not be

starved.

He observed that the American war would involve the ministry in so many debts the additional shilling would never be taken off.

The House divided upon the amendment. For it 47: Against it 182. The main question was then put, and agreed to.

Debate in the Lords on the Duke of Grafton's Motion, respecting the British Forces in America.] Nov. 15. The Duke of Grafton said he should move an Ad

Sir George Savile said, he was astonished to hear such ministerial language, for the first time, as had that night fallen from the noble lord at the head of the Treasury; that a vote upon one occasion should bind in every possible instance that *It was not difficult to foresee that the might arise. Such a language, he insisted, late unexpected conduct of the duke of Grafton was unparliamentary. For instance, there would occasion, at least, one remove among were many gentlemen, who at the first the great offices of state. It was, however, blush of a business, might have hastily licly thought of. Whether the unhappy state accompanied with some which were not pubagreed to measures of coercion, who, when of American affairs had disgusted the earl of they came to consider the consequences, Dartmouth with the office of conducting them, might be very ready to retract, and be or that government imagined a more austere glad to return to the right path. His and inflexible character, with their natural congeneral sentiments were well known; he comitant a determinate conduct, were neces abhorred the idea of robbing the Ame- sary to restore peace and order, however it was, ricans of their liberty; but supposing he that nobleman now quitted the American secrehad first been of a different way of think-taryship, and received the privy seal, which ing, when he came to support measures had been held by the duke of Grafton. with his purse, when he came to give the rican department was reposed in lord George "The arduous task of conducting the Ameonly true test of his sentiments, he might Sackville Germaine. The principal attachment probably alter his opinion; and whatever of that noble lord had been to Mr. Grenville. the current language might be of a dis- After Mr. Grenville's death, indeed, he contiinclination to burden their constituents, nued for some time firm on his former ground; he believed it was one of the most whole- and did not join in that defection from the misome and constitutional checks on the re- nority which immediately followed that event. presentative, that when he bound the reBut he began at length to slacken in opposition. presented, he at the same time bound and ings against the East-India Company in 1773; He fell in with administration in the proceedtaxed himself. He said besides, that this and took a full and decided part in all the coermethod of voting money for services un- cive measures which had been pursued against known to the House, or at least on which the Americans, during the present troubles. they had no substantial controul, furnished His connections with Mr. Grenville probably ministers with opportunities of bribery and made him support with more zeal and steadicorruption, which were to the last degree ness the highest claims of parliamentary aufatal and ruinous in their consequences. thority; and as he was generally esteemed a Lord North rose to contradict what he man of business, and an able debater, he was termed a most ridiculous and absurd asser-powers in the same line, upon the other side, sought for at a time, when the extraordinary tion; the King had his revenue, the several departments had theirs; and though it was impossible in the nature of things, to check them immediately, yet the ensuing session, when the several accounts of the preceding one were made up, any gentleman was at liberty to examine them, to detect errors if there were any, and to call the ministerial officers in their several departments to account, and if proved guilty of malversation in office, to bring them to condign punishment.

Mr. Innes said, he was for the 4s. landtax, as it did not affect him.

Sir Joseph Mawbey thought what fell from the last hon. gentleman deserved the attention of the House. If he was not affected by the land tax, he should be glad to know where his qualification was?

seemed, notwithstanding the superiority of numbers, not a little to distress administration. It will not be conceived, that this appointment strengthened the hope or increased the satisfaction of those who held the opinion, that conciliatory measures could only bring the present troubles to a speedy and happy conclusion.

having retired from public business, was succeeded as Secretary of State for the Southern department by lord Weymouth, who had continued out of employment since his resignation on the affair of Falkland island. And a few days after, lord Lyttelton, who had been distinguished at the opening of the session by the severity of his strictures upon administration, Chief Justice in Eyre beyond Trent. Lord was called to the privy council, and appointed Pelham was also appointed to the great wardrobe, and lord Ashburnham, Keeper of the Stole." Annual Register.

"At the same time, the earl of Rochford

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