XVII. nister for referring them to a committee of sup- BOOK ply, a vehement debate ensued. "Great Britain," it was said, "was now disgraced in the eyes of 1775. all Europe-She was to be impoverished, and, what was still worse, degraded by an humiliating application to the petty princes of Germany for succours to enable her to subdue her own subjects. Such also were the extravagant terms on which these troops were obtained, that the use of 18,000 mercenaries would not, taking in all contingencies, cost the nation less than one million and a half sterling. There were no limits to the extortion of these princely butchers, who sold their subjects like so many beasts for the slaughter. They were to have levy-money; they were to have a double subsidy; their corps were to be kept up complete; they were to be paid till the troops returned to their respective countries, and the subsidies were to be continued two years after the performance of the service." In answer to these objections, the ministers alleged, that the terms were more reasonable, considering the distance and other diagreeable circumstances attending this novel service, than could be expected; that had they been still higher, necessity would have justified compliance. It was intimated, that so great a force would be employed, that these troops would have little more to do than to shew themselves in America and return: XVIL BOOK that there was every reason to believe that the war would be terminated in a single campaign, 1775. in which case the terms would be found very ad vantageous: if indeed it should be protracted to a distant period, it was allowed that the expence would be enormous, but this was so improbable as to merit little consideration. The question was carried by the force of these reasonings in favor of the court, by a majority of 242 to 88 voices.-The same question was discussed with equal warmth in the house of peers, in consequence of a motion of the duke of Richmond for an address to the king, "That his majesty would be pleased to countermand the march of these troops;" and the duke of Cumberland, who had for some time past, as well as the duke of Gloucester, voted in the minority, "lamented that Brunswickers, once the advocates of liberty in Europe, should now be sent to subjugate it in America." The division was in this house no less in favor of the ministers than in that of the commons; the numbers, on putting the question, being 100 to 32. On a demand unexpectedly made by the secretary of war for the sum of 845,0001. for army extraordinaries, all the ardor of the opposition revived. They demonstrated, by a reference to the journals, that neither the glorious campaign of 1704, which saved the German empire, nor that of 1760, which was XVII. crowned by the conquest of Canada, had in any BOOK degree equalled the expence of the disgraceful campaign of the last year. Schellenburg and 1775. Blenheim were opposed to Lexington and Bunker's Hill; and the river Mystic ludicrously contrasted with the Rhine and the Danube. The ministers, apparently overwhelmed with a torrent of wit, argument, and invective, relied on this occasion much more securely on the strength of their numbers than their cause; and the question, on a division, was carried by a majority of 180 to 57. On the 14th of March, 1776, a very important motion was made by the duke of Grafton, "for an address to the king, that, in order to prevent the further effusion of blood, a proclamation might be issued, declaring, that if the colonies shall present a petition to the commissioners appointed under the late act, setting forth what they consider to be their just rights and real grievances, that in such a case his majesty will consent to a suspension of arms; and that assurance shall be given them, that their petition shall be received, considered, and answered." This motion was designed and wisely calculated to supply the palpable deficiency of the late commission, which empowered the commissioners merely to grant pardons on submission, holding out by these means a mere delusive show of peace, with XVII. 1775. BOOK out furnishing the means indispensable to its attainment. The noble mover observed, "that the adoption of the present motion, or of something equivalent to it, exclusive of the evident reasonableness of the thing, seemed to be rendered at this time absolutely necessary by two circumstances, to which his grace particularly called the attention of the house. The first was the doctrine of UNCONDITIONAL SUBMISSION, so much insisted upon in the other house by the noble lord at the head of the American department. It was the object of the present motion to disarm the Americans of the rage and horror which this doctrine had excited in their minds; and to inculcate the idea that there were terms and conditions implying mutual concessions, on which a satisfactory and permanent accommodation might be founded, and their constitutional rights secured. The second circumstance to which the noble mover alluded, was the certain intelligence which his grace had himself received, that two French gentlemen, charged, as there was good reason to believe, with a commission of high and momentous import, had lately been introduced by general Washington to the congress, with whom conferences had been actually commenced. Thus a direct interference on the part of foreign powers in our civil contentions had undoubtedly taken place, and XVII. from a most dangerous and hostile quarter. No BOOK time was therefore to be lost to counteract its effects, and upon the decision of the present moment the fate of the empire depended." In vain were the powers of reason and eloquence exhausted in support of this motion. The spirit of infatuation and delusion seemed to have attained to its acmé. The lords in administration openly avowed and vindicated the doctrine of unconditional submission. They asserted, "that the power of granting pardons with proper exceptions was competent to every just and requisite purpose; they asserted the impossibility of an effectual assistance on the part of America; they declared their utter disregard and disbelief of any interference on the part of France, or any other foreign power, which, possessing colonies of its own, could never be so devoid of policy as to encourage the spirit of revolt in those of another nation ;"-not in the least sensible that the whole tenor of their own conduct afforded the most striking proof how infinitely motives of pride, passion, and revenge, predominate in the heart of man and the councils of princes, over those of reason, policy, and discretion. After a debate, continued to a very late hour, the motion was rejected by 91 yoices to 31; and from this moment all rational hope of conciliation vanished. What had been VOL. VI. 1776. |