another tribunal, of what happened in this House, in consequence of using that freedom, he could not think suitable to the general tenor of his conduct; he was sure it was not constitutional. He was the more surprised at this motion, as the gentlemen who had moved and supported it, had always professed themselves disregardless of men, and concerned only about measures; but this motion was calculated merely for personal chastisement, and rebuke. He agreed entirely in opinion with the counsellor, whoever he was, that might think one Wilkes sufficient; for in deed he thought that it was one too much in any well-regulated government; though he said, to do him justice, it was not easy to find many such. Upon the whole, he could not think it proper to carry up a complaint to the King of measures which had received the sanction of parliament; but for parliament itself to do it would be ridiculous. Mr. Temple Luttrell. I rise to give my thanks to the worthy magistrate who has offered to the House this motion, because I think it, as to spirit, however incorrect its form, replete with duty and true affection to his sovereign, and promises the most effectual relief to the subject throughout every part of the British empire, at a time of imminent peril to our constitution, our trade, and our liberties. I own myself to be one of those persons, who, from an unalterable and inmost conviction of mind, subscribe to the doctrine of the great Mr. Locke, that "the legislature changed from that which was originally constituted by general consent, and fundamental acts of society, such change, however effected, is at once an entire dissolution of the bands of government, and the people are at liberty to constitute to themselves a new legislative power." Now, Sir, that the legislature has been materially changed with respect to your American colonists, from what was in the original and fundamental constitutions of society, there can be no doubt; by disposing of their property contrary to their consent, and by the hostile and savage acts consequent thereto, the bands between the British government and the American colonies are of course dissolved: whether or not they will constitute themselves a new legislative power time only can shew. I very much apprehend, that, unless a speedy and equitable plan of conciliation be held out to them by us, who are the aggressors, such will be the baleful end of our quarrel. But, Sir, we are now to come at the prime authors and promoters of this mischief. Shew us the men, that, betraying the interests of their fellow citizens, and confidence of their sovereign, first carried rapine, famine, and assassination, through that devoted continent. We know that (to speak parliamentary language, and as becomes every well-affected subject) the king' can do no wrong;' we know that his Majesty, from moral principle, will do no wrong. He is perhaps the last man in these dominions, who would commit an act of cruelty or injustice against any individual, much less against a whole community; but Sir, we likewise know, that integrity and a guardless temper of heart, have subjected good kings to a misguidance, which has proved fatal to them in the end. The five dethroned monarchs to be met with at different æras of the English history, were distinguished severally in their day for conjugal and paternal affection. They were exemplary models of virtue in domestic life. Three of them (Edward 2, Richard 2, and Henry 6,) precipitated from a throne, were secretly put to death. One ignominiously suffered upon a scaffold; and the fifth, having forfeited his crown, was sent into exile. Yet, not many hours preceding the fatal, expiative sentence, each of these deluded potentates was assured, by his ministers and sycophants, he could do no wrong. It may be decent, it may be proper, though I have never regarded such assurance, as the syren canticle which has led many of our best princes with a fullswelled canvass on those quicksands they would otherwise have steered clear of. Sir, it is only by protecting the guilty that kings can do wrong, the people of England owe much forbearance, and are slow to commotion; but when once in arms and under the standard of constitutional freedom, however they may have been some. times baffled in partial onsets, they have at the day of decisive battle, proved themselves invincible. Neither has such their laudable enthusiasm been confined to the re-establishing of original laws for the security of their possessions and franchises; but has operated with no less vigour in bringing to condign punishment those traitorous persons who had presumed to infringe them; nay, of this we have striking proofs, without recurring to the moment of actual revolt, and when the executive power was compelled to pay due regard to popular discontent. In the reign of stopped there; but the prince on the throne, fascinated by a false glare of pre rogative, and, plumed with towering notions of his divine vicegerency, could not be prevailed upon to withdraw his auspices from the proper authors of public calamity, till an injured and enraged people were driven to the necessity of bringing home the sum-total of grievances to the account of majesty itself. Hence followed social warfare, rivers of blood, and dethrone ments. Is there an unprejudiced person in this House, endued with a tolerable share of discernment, who, dark as the political Richard 2, the weakest and worst of our kings, (who at one time declared, he would not turn out the meanest scullion in his kitchen to please his parliament) some great men, who had abused the royal confidence, by carrying into execution schemes subversive of public liberty, suffered as being guilty of high treason; and, at the request of his people, this king, in the 10th year of his reign, appointed commissioners to scrutinize and reform his cabinet and household. Henry 6, (impotent of mind, and obstinate of disposition as he was) in his 29th year, at the suit of the Commons, banished between 20 and 30 of his counsellors and minions from his pre-horizon around us now is, cannot discover sence, not to be seen for a year within further mischief to be complotted on the twelve miles of the court; their sentence basis of these transatlantic piracies? Are says, "that they may be duly improved." we, Sir, to remain silent and passive till It was their master's sad mishap, who re- an army of civilized Britons, in compact called many of them at the expiration of with the barbarians of Russia, shall have the term mentioned, that they were found enforced and perpetuated slavery in all incorrigible. Under Henry 8, the greatest our American colonies? Till your Popish tyrant of the most tyrannic race that ever brigades have taken good account of the grasped the sceptre of this realm, others liberties of Ireland? Till a mountaineersuffered for being the chief promoters of militia pours in upon us from the northern very iniquitous extortions during the pre- confines of this island? Till the merce ceding reign. Did not a Lord High naries of a German electorate shall have Chancellor experience, in the time of the assumed the guardianship of Portsmouth, first Stuart, that neither personal endow Plymouth, and the rest of our sea-port ments, nor elevated station, could shield towns; till, I say, all these motley legions him from the punishment due to his cor shall have united, to accomplish the hope. rupt practices? Sir, in the reign of Charles ful purposes of such zealous addressers as 1, certain Judges met the severest repre- appeared in the London Gazette of last hension for attempting to deliver opinions week? Then shall the uplifted hand of which were deemed subversive of the vengeance and outlawry fall upon the rights of the people; and, in the subse- scattered, helpless corps of petitioners quent reign, we likewise see instances throughout the several counties of Eng when great men were impeached before land: those unreasonable petitioners to a parliament for high misdemeanors in car-prince of the Brunswick family, in behalf rying on the administration of justice. of Revolution principles and lawful freeThese, and other innumerable examples to be found in your annals and codes of parliament, sufficiently evince that no official influence, no honorary dignity, could, in the days of our ancestors, screen the infractors on the lawful tranquillity of the subject from punishment, though they were the nearest servants of the crown, and illumined with the brightest rays of kingly favour. Sir, I am well aware that the malversations of government have, in the detail, been usually brought as a heavy charge upon the minister only, keeping clear of the monarch: that they have been imputed to a De Vere; a Le Despencer; a bishop Laud; to a father Peters; and had such incendiaries, with their base adherents, been timely and voluntarily given up for a sacrifice, atonement might have dom! Then shall the provinces of Ame rica, like many of those in Asia and Africa, be governed by bashaws; by a knout, or a bow-string, and a parliament here at home dastardly and dependent as the Ottoman Divan, maintaining Janissary. law, shall establish the sway of an arbitrary sultan on the ruins of limited monarchy, and of the best constitution that the wisdom and spirit of mankind ever framed for the happiness and glory of their fellow-creatures. Sir, the hon. gentleman who made this motion is for tracing this torrent of iniquity to its source, and it is our duty so to do. If there are efficient or super-efficient ministers behind the curl tain, let them no longer remain latent, but be dragged forth to public execration. Certain I am, that the only fabricators of 1 licentious pursuit after power; dominion to be acquired by the most desperate hazards, and the most savage enterprizes; by the burning of whole towns, the habitations of men, the temples of the Divinity innocent families to be butchered, and the entire demolition of the common-wealth at her halcyon zenith of peace, harmony, and abundance. Whether or not midst the arcana of their cabinet, they, like the Cataline-junto, pass' from lip to hip, the chalice filled with human blood, as a pledge of secrecy and co-operative zeal, and to "rivet them to coercion," is best known among themselves; but if one may judge by the diabolical creeds which they have not scrupled to avow, such may well be the cup of their sacrament. Men of affluent incomes they have among them, yet chiefly, from the stipends of office, not a patrimonial inheritance, nor the fruits of an honest industry; we may, it is true, give them the credit for a few renegadoconverts of note, taken in upon the Sherwood forest system of policy in the days of Robin-Hood, who recruited his troops from time to time, with such needy strag glers, as could stand a tough-buffeting with the arch-contrabandist himself, hand to fist. the American war are in this island; they are in this metropolis; they are most of them in this 'House. Several oblique hints and insinuations have at different times been cast to these benches near me from over the way. Some of the persons I allude to must own it their duty in a double capacity; their duty within these walls, and their duty elsewhere, if they have substantial grounds for such charge, to produce and bring home evidence to the criminal persons. Are they naturally backward at employing spies, or filing informations; or have they not such correct alertness in composing warrants of commitment? Where, then, are these enemies to their country on our side of the House? Are they to be found among those gentlemen opposing your present measures, who withdrew from the sunshine of a court, and relinquished offices of great honour and profit, rather than sanctify such projects as their consciences revolted against? Are they among those opulent commoners who have a landed property, and hereditary consequence at stake, equal to the best subjects in Europe? Are they to be found in those heroic commanders who fought at the head of your fleets in the last war with a prowess beyond the idea of the most romantic ages of antiquity? Or must we look for them in those intrepid magistrates, whose public conduct has gained them the confidence and affection of their fellow-subjects in the greatest city of the whole commercial world, and who are justly revered throughout the most respectable trading communities in all parts of the British empire: those magistrates, to whose talents, vigilance, and stability, we now turn an eye of expiring hope, as to our sheet-anchor, which can alone preserve the labouring vessel of the state from the dreadful rocks by which it is encom passed? Sir, there are no Catilines on this side of the House. Far be it from me to charge any gentleman on the other side with meriting altogether that appellation. Many, very many, there are facing me, who act, I am sure, from such principles as they persuade themselves are principles of wisdom and rectitude: but, Sir, I will say, that in the line of ministers; in that sanguinary phalanx, at least, which during all the evolutions and revolutions of government for several years past, has remained unshaken and impregnable; in them, and in the composition of their principles, I see many Catalinarian ingredients; an insatiate thirst of riches; a Let us now look for their military coadjutors. Those few they could claim of high reputation, and to whose abilities and spirit we might, on a future foreign war, venture to give in custodium the inestimable glories of the last, these ministers have grouped in a triumvirate, and trans ported to America upon a worse than buc caneering expedition. We know, that they were last session among the deceived at home, and have this year been already disgraced abroad; at this hour I am speaking, are perhaps in ignominious durance, or dead; if dead, be it for their best repu tation, and the repose of their departed spirits, that they achieved no part of the errand they were sent upon. This, Sir, puts me in mind of another martialist, (looking at lord G. Germaine) not unsig nalized in former campaigns, who being now exalted to a place of the greatest public importance; if no other members better qualified than myself, shall undertake the task, I perhaps may, on a future occasion, hold it my duty to give him that distinct and copious eulogium which is his just due. Yet before I sit down, I can by no means omit mentioning the person in office, who with little better pretensions, in my humble opinion, than the daily run ner of a faction, (looking at Mr. Jenkinson) having climbed into a post of high financial trust, the first duty of which is to be provident of the treasure of his sovereign and his country, measuring his claims by his own presumption and rapaciousness, not by desert, exacted from the crown a more liberal gratuity than has heretofore been given for eminent and splendid national services; more than was asked by a Burleigh, a Godolphin, or an earl of Chatham; and more than was deemed sufficient, by a munificent and grateful nation, for an illustrious naval conqueror (sir Edward Hawke) who is now passing the evening of his life in humble frugality. Tell this, Sir, to the people of America; and tell them, that a secretary of state (lord Rochford) retiring from, or rather deserting the public duty, at a conjuncture of some embarrassment, either through indolence, apprehension, or conscious insufficiency, is to be pensioned on the state to the amount of 3,000l. per annum. I say, Sir, relate these recent marks, how admirably we Britons appropriate our own money, and the colonists can no longer hesitate to make us trustees for the disposal of theirs; especially if it be to pass through the same hands, and for the like hallowed purposes. However, I shall still flatter myself, as a consequence of this motion, that our gracious sovereign will, from the transcendent goodness of his heart, and reflective wisdom, at length give ear to the supplications of his afflicted people; and notwithstanding he may, from an impulse of lenity, preserve the guilty ministers from the punishment their offences demand, he will, for the sake of humanity, and for his own safety, remove them from his council and presence for ever. Mr. Hayley, instructed as he was by his constituents, could not give a silent vote on the occasion; and thought, that as all the petitions presented to the King had been rejected with disdain, the present method of an Address to the King from the House was a proper measure. Lord Folkestone highly complimented the hon. mover, both as a public and a private man, and said, that he held a seat in that House on the most honourable terms; that, for his own part, he condemned all the measures which had been taken against America; because they were adopted in defiance of every principle on which we support our own liberties; that particularly the Act for establishing despotism and popery in Canada, was most obnoxious; for not to mention the annihilation of every species of civil liberty which it establishes, it plainly declares, that in the opinion of parliament, all religions are equal; and that the only foundation of preference of any, is, its being the more easily converted into an engine of state. But as the motion was directed against acts of parliament, it was impossible to agree to it. The movers of them are, said he, sufficiently known. We do not want to be informed of that. It is sufficient at present, that parliament has adopted them: the time, he hoped, would come, when we shall know who concealed that information; who suppressed that evidence, which if parliament had received, it would not have adopted them. He should reserve himself till that time, and therefore at present moved the previous question. Mr. Hussey seconded this motion. The Attorney General said, that an application to the crown concerning measures which had once passed the parliament, was highly unconstitutional, and derogatory to their honour; but he was against the previous question, as he should chuse to give the motion itself a flat negative. Mr. Fox said he should be against the motion, because it seemed to excuse administration, and to throw the whole guilt on some other persons; whereas he thought administration equally guilty; but he did not think that punishment could be constitutionally inflicted for any thing which should be done in parliament; this conduct there, will always be followed by the loss of reputation; and that he should therefore move the order of the day, as the best method of getting rid of the motion. Governor Johnstone disliked the doc trine, that ministers were only punishable by loss of reputation. He quoted sir Edward Coke's authority, that acts of parliament, obtained by undue influence, or by misinformation, were neither a constitutional excuse, nor by precedent could be made a shelter for the misconduct of ministers. He said, that he disliked the frequent use of the word 'impeachment;' that impeachment was a great power of the state, seldom to be exerted, but never to be mentioned without a probability of carrying it into effect against some great criminal. He objected to the motion, because he thought an inquiry should begin by proving some fact; and hoped, that on the Petition from the General Assembly of the province of Nova Scotia: (See p. 698.) from the variety of opinions in the House, and the treatment this motion met with,that gentlemen would be taught how necessary it was to act in concert, and consult and act with a number of other persons in their motions and measures. Mr. Rigby took this occasion to ridicule most strongly the conduct of opposition. He remarked their distraction; and the abject state to which every independent gentleman in the House must reduce himself, as a member of opposition; that he must follow a leader much more slavishly and implicitly than in any administration; for that if any unconnected member should make the very motion which opposition had itself determined, yet if he did it without their previous consent and permission, they would themselves turn round upon the honest gentleman as a rebel, and treat him with more indignity, than any of which they complained in behalf of the Americans. He reminded the city members, that as they professed to act in consequence of the instruction of their constituents, they ought to obey them universally; that there were particular points which they had overlooked; that they ought to rub up their memories, before they professed such obedience; that he wished them to obey them universally; that he might have an opportunity of negativing them universally. The question was then put for the crder of the day, which passed in the negative, without a division. The previous question was then put, That the said proposed question be now put; the House divided. Tellers. YEAS Lord Lisburne NOES Mr. Robinson Lord Folkestone } } 159 16 Mr. Hussey So it was resolved in the affirmative. Then the said proposed question being put; the House divided. 1.That the proposition contained in the Address, Petition, and Memorial of the House of Assembly of the province of Nova Scotia, of granting to his Majesty, in perpetuity, a duty of poundage, ad valorem, upon all commodities imported into the province of Nova Scotia, not being the produce of the British dominions in Europe and America (bay salt excepted) the said duty to be disposed of by parliament, is fit to be accepted, and that the amount of the said duty should be 8 per cent. upon all such commodities.-2. That when and as soon as an act, or acts, shall have been passed by the General Assembly of the said province of Nova Scotia, conformable to the foregoing Resolution, and his Majesty shall have given his royal approbation to such act or acts, all and every duty, tax, and assessment, upon any goods, wares, or merchandize, imported into the said province, and which duty, tax, and assessment, hath been imposed and levied within the said province, by any act or acts of parliament now in force, ought to cease and be discontinued; and that for so long as the act or acts of Assembly, for granting to his Majesty the said poundage duty, shall continue in force, no other or further duties, taxes or assessments, ought to be imposed or levied by act of parliament, within the said province, except such duties only as it may be expedient to continue to levy, or to impose, for the regulation of commerce, the net produce of the duties last mentioned to be carried to the account of the said province.-3. That it will be advisable to admit a direct importation into the province of Nova Scotia by his Majesty's subjects, in ships and vessels, qualified by law, of all wines, oranges, lemons, currants, and raisins, the growth and produce of any foreign country whatsoever, provided such wines, oranges, lemons, currants, and raisins, be imported directly from the place of their growth and produce; and provided also, that the said commodities be not imported into any other port or place within the said province, except the port of Halifax." Lord North said, in explanation of the first Resolution, that it might be proper the committee who would be appointed to bring in a Bill upon the Resolutions, should be instructed to explain that nothing was meant to interfere with the |