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King's hospitals, and shall be treated in that respect, as the troops of his Britannic Majesty; and the wounded, not in a condition to serve, shall be transported into Europe, landed in some port on the Weser, and sent back to their own country at the King's expence.

ART. VIII. There shall be paid to his most serene highness as levy-money, for each foot soldier as well as gunner, thirty crowns banco, the crown to be reckoned at 53 soles of Holland, one half of this money shall be paid in three weeks after the signature of the treaty, and the other half in two months after the signature.

ART. IX. According to custom three wounded men shall be reckoned as one man killed, a man killed shall be paid for at the rate of the levy-money. If it should happen that any company of this corps should be wholly or in part ruined or destroyed, or that the pieces of artillery or other effects with which it might be furnished, should be lost by accident, his Majesty the king of Great Britain shall cause the expence of the necessary recruits to be paid, as also the value of the said field-pieces and effects, to re-establish this corps and its artillery immediately.

ART. X. The most serene prince reserves to himself the nomination to the vacant employments, as well as the administration of justice. His Britannic Majesty will give orders to the commander in chief of the army in which this corps shall serve, that he does not require from this corps any extraordinary services, or such as are beyond its proportion with the rest of the army; and when it shall serve with of the army; and when it shall serve with the English troops or other auxiliaries, the officers shall command, (as the military service requires of itself) according to their rank, and the seniority of their com missions, without making any distinction with regard to what corps the troops may belong, with which they shall serve in conjunction. This corps shall take the oath of fidelity to his Britannic Majesty, without prejudice to that which they have taken to their own sovereign.

ART. XI, All deserters from the Waldeck regiment shall be faithfully and immediately given up wherever they may be found, in the places dependent on his Britannic Majesty; and especially, it shall not be permitted, as far as is possible, that any of the subjects whatsoever of his most serene highness establish themselves in America without the consent of their sovereign.

§

ART. XII. The pay shall commence fifteen days before the march of this body of troops, and as soon as the troops shall have quitted their quarters, to repair to the place of their destination, all the expences of their march and transport shall be at the charge of his Britannic Majesty.

ART. XIII. His Britannic Majesty shall grant to the most serene prince, during all the time that this body of troops shall be in his Majesty's pay, an annual subsidy of 25,050 crowns banco: his Majesty shall cause notice of the determination of the said subsidy to be given a whole year before it shall cease to be paid, provided that such notice shall not be given till after the return of the troops into the dominions of his most serene highness.

This treaty shall be ratified by the high contracting parties, and the ratifications thereof shall be exchanged as soon as pos sible.

In testimony whereof, we the undersigned, by virtue of our full powers, have signed the present treaty, and have affixed thereto the seals of our arms. Done at Arolsen, this 20th of April, 1776. WILLIAM FAUCITT. (L. S.) FREDERICK LOUIS WIEPERt de Zerbst. (L. S.)

The King's Message for a Vote of Credit.] Lord North presented the following Message from his Majesty :

"GEORGE R.

enced zeal and affection of his faithful "His Majesty, relying on the experienced zeal and affection of his faithful Commons, and considering, that, during the present troubles in North America, the utmost importance, and be attended emergencies may arise, which may be of with the most dangerous consequences, if proper means should not be immediately applied to prevent or defeat them, is de

sirous that this House will enable him to

defray any extraordinary expences incurred, or to be incurred, on account of military services, for the year 1776, and as the exigency of affairs may require. And his Majesty, having judged it expedient to issue his proclamation, in pursuance of an act of parliament, passed in the fourteenth year of his reign, for calling in the remainder of the deficient gold coin, doubts not but that his faithful Commons will enable him to make good the charges which shall be incurred in this service, and which cannot at this time be ascertained.”

Referred to the Committee of Supply.

Debate in the Lords on a Motion for General Howe's Dispatches on leaving Boston.] May 10. The Duke of Manchester rose, and apologized for having troubled the House relative to the American quarrel, after that matter had so repeatedly been debated by their lordships. His grace took a review of the great question, stating every event relative to it as it had arisen, and concluding from the whole that what he had so often urged, namely, that the quarrel was founded in injustice, pursued with wanton cruelty, and in the end threatened ruin to the empire, grew more and more apparent. In adverting to the language of administration last year, relative to the supposed want of bravery in the Americans, he said that bloody proofs had been given of their courage, and he referred their lordships for a confirmation of this assertion to such of the King's officers as were present at the actions of Lexington and Bunker's Hill. He laid it down as a position which experience had confirmed, that courage was neither peculiar to any clime nor to any race of people; that the times made the men; that the ethereal spark latent in every breast was to be brought forth by circumstance, and that whenever oppression and tyranny exerted their influence, it was natural for men to resist, and it rarely happened that those who fought for their liberties fought unsuccessfully. He begged their lordships to consider that since the Americans found themselves under the sad necessity of taking up arms, an apothecary's apprentice had displayed the skill and intrepidity of an experienced general, and had met death at the head of a victorious army with the firmness of a Roman. Others, equally unused to the military science, had made such marches, and performed such exploits as would have done honour to Hannibal. His grace reminded their lordships that Georgia, which had hitherto been thought friendly to administration, had now declared for America, and as that province took such a length of time to consider how she should act, her determination was most probably a decided one, and her opposition to this country would doubtless be the more violent. The Carolinians also were warm in the cause of America; in fact, there was the greatest appearance of unanimity throughout the American colonies. What success therefore could be expected in a campaign against a numerous and united people, inspired by the noblest of all prin[VOL. XVIII.]

ciples, a resolution to maintain their liberties, or berties, or die in their defence.-His grace drew a very different picture of our situation, and came directly to the subject matter of his motion, producing the London Gazette of Saturday last, and commenting, with great severity, on the unsatisfactory manner in which the account of general Howe's evacuating Boston was there given. The Gazette account, his grace observed, was an insult on the public; and instead of conveying that information which they had an undoubted right to be made acquainted with, only served to confound and mislead. He therefore thought it his duty, as a lord of parliament, to make a motion for the purpose of bringing to light the truth of the matter. The King had, on the opening of the session, asked the advice of parliament relative to the conduct of the American war; it was impossible for their lordships to give his Majesty the necessary advice, unless they had a perfect knowledge of the facts as they arose. The abandonment of Boston was a material fact; it was highly important that the manner of that abandonment should be ascertained; much depended upon the nature of it; was it evacuated voluntarily by general Howe, and were the ammunition, artillery, stores, &c. conveyed in safety from Boston, or was the general forced by the batteries of the provincials to make a precipitate retreat on board the ships? The Gazette mentioned it with as much indifference as the march of a regiment in time of peace from one country town to another, but conversation without doors, arising from the letters received by divers individuals, differed much from the tenor of the Gazette account. It was said, and he believed with some truth, that in the course of a night a battery was erected on Dorchester heights, so well contrived and so speedily finished, that it appeared as if produced by the wand of the enchanter ! that a mortar was raised on this battery, and that the provincials were furnished with such experienced engineers that they played on the town of Boston, and that general Howe found himself obliged to form a convention with general Washington in order to preserve the troops by abandoning the town. That general Howe had, with that bravery, characteristic of his family, and in order to preserve the glory of the British name, endeavoured to dislodge the provincials previous to any treaty, but that a violent storm arose and [4 R]

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rendered the attempt ineffectual. storm, which, his grace remarked, was of infinite service to this country, as in all probability it saved the lives of many brave soldiers and officers who would have most probably fallen sacrifices at the shrine of British honour. The duke dwelt on the disgrace of having been obliged to abandon the place of arms, the spot destined for the commencement of the ensuing campaign, a town in which the major part of the artillery of this country was lodged, and in which, although it was but lately the residence of the British forces, the American flag was now triumphantly hoisted! Having enforced the indignity of our being driven from Boston, his grace urged the fatality that had at tended all the measures taken by administration, who after expending such an immense portion of the public money, had now to begin the matter again, without being certain that they were in possession of a place to land the troops at when they arrived. Quebec, for ought they knew, might, ere this, have fallen into the hands of the provincials; and the very storm which prevented general Howe from carrying his attempt, to dislodge the provincials, into execution, might have been the means of destroying the troops which had abandoned Boston. After shewing the design of government to soothe the minds of the public, as far as they might be affected with the account of the troops having quitted Boston, by inserting in the same Gazette an article, informing them that the King had ordered letters patent to be made out, appointing lord Howe and general Howe commissioners for restoring peace to America, his grace said, although he could not but see the reason of then inserting that article, he felt some pleasure from the perusal of it, as it seemed as if administration began to relax a little, and he did not doubt but they would, in proportion to the successes of the Americans, get step by step out of their errors; but possibly by the time they had found it right to conciliate matters, the Americans would then be in no mind to accept of any terms, or to have any further connection with a country which had shewn such an inclination to invade their rights and rob them of their property. His grace concluded with moving, "That an humble Address be presented to his Majesty, requesting his Majesty, that he will be graciously pleased to order the proper officers to lay before this House, copies of

all dispatches received from general Howe and admiral Shuldham, since the first of March last, so far as do not relate to the future operations of the campaign."

The Earl of Suffolk said, that the cause of the quarrel with America, and the mode of conducting the war, had been so often discussed in parliament, that he trusted their lordships would excuse his following the noble duke through the large field of argument which he had pursued: he should therefore come immediately to the point, and give a positive negative to the motion, because it was impossible to comply with it consistently with the safety, the honour, and dignity of the state. The letters in question did not simply mention the fact of evacuating Boston, but contained such a mixture of matter, such a blended variety as well relative to what was past, as to the operations intended in future, that it would be highly improper for them to be made public. The London Gazette had given the fact relative to the evacuation of Boston: it was the business of that paper to state matters of fact, and in the present case it had been done as concisely as possible. He heartily wished he could agree to the motion, not so much for the sake of gratifying public curiosity as for the sake of doing justice to the very excellent character who commanded in America, and who had so properly managed the embarkation of the troops. As far as he could inform the noble duke, without indiscretion, he would; he told him therefore that it never was intended to commence the operations of the ensuing campaign at Boston; that orders had long been sent for general Howe to leave Boston, and to bring the troops away as soon as he thought proper; that in consequence of these orders the general had, as the Gazette mentioned, evacuated Boston on the 17th of March; that he had done it with safety to the troops, and had brought away all the ammunition and stores, all of the towns-people who were the friends of government, all their effects, and every thing likely to have been of service to the rebels: that in fact it was a mere shifting of a position, but that it had been executed with great success. Until this day his lordship said it had been usual with opposition to term the possession of Boston one of the most disgraceful circumstances that could possibly exist; they had repeatedly ridiculed the army being cooped up in that town, and now all of a sudden, when the troops left it, the tone was

amuse the reader, that it was impossible to peruse it with a serious countenance. His lordship urged the folly of deceiving the public, as well as the criminality of such conduct, and most heartily seconded the duke's motion.

changed, and it was a disgrace to quit a | place which it had hitherto been a disgrace to hold; and it was a matter dreadful to think of, that the flag of the rebels should be hoisted in a town which the British forces had thought no longer worth preserving, and had therefore voluntarily evacuated. Much had fallen from the noble duke relative to the courage of the rebels; he had never questioned it; but he begged to know what extraordinary proofs the rebels had given of their courage-he knew of none. The noble duke had also said, their engineers were remarkably expert-that was to him equally a novelty. He would tell the House what had been the effect of the expertness of those who were in the battery at Dorchester Heights. They had fired into the town, and they had wounded six people, of whom two were since dead of their wounds: that was the great effect of their expertness! The noble duke had said a great deal relative to the dispiritedness of our troops: general Howe wrote in a very different stile of them; he by no means talked of their being dispirited, but on the contrary gave administration hopes that they should soon hear of their doing something effectual for the service of their country. The troops had evacuated Boston after having made every possible use of the town; they had left it voluntarily, and without any convention between the king's and the rebel general. They were now gone to effect a matter of great consequence, to put Halifax in a state of safety.

The Marquis of Rockingham observed that the noble lord's account of the manner of General Howe's bringing the troops from Boston, was by no means satisfactory. He re-urged many of the arguments of the noble mover, and said, that according to the system of cruelty laid down by administration, general Howe ought to have burnt the town of Boston when he quitted it, and that if there was no convention between him and general Washington, he was answerable to government for having acted contrary to their system of the war, in not burning the town. The marquis made a variety of pointed remarks on the measures of government, and said the Gazette of Saturday last was ridiculous as well as improbable. That the following the fiction relative to the evacuation of Boston, with the article appointing lord and general Howe commissioners for restoring peace to America, was so palpably calculated to

The Earl of Effingham contended, that it was impossible for the evacuation of Boston to have been effected without a convention, observing at the same time, that he thought general Howe merited great praise for having preserved the troops at any rate. His lordship had conversed with several officers, and they all agreed with him in opinion, that it was impossible under the cannonade of the provincials from Dorchester Heights to have embarked the troops without most dreadful slaughter; he therefore believed, that there was an article of capitulation between the two generals, otherwise why not burn the town, which might have been so much more easily effected than any other town, as, while in possession of it, the houses might have been filled with combustibles. He asked whether the lords in office could say, general Howe and the troops were now in Halifax? How were they sure the wind and waves, which no administration could command, had not sent them to Antigua? and even if they had arrived at Halifax, he feared there was not time to fortify it. It was well known to be a new built town, the houses only of wood, and the fortification slight. Besides, 15,000 of the provincial army might have marched there from Boston after general Howe had quitted that town, and have possessed themselves of Halifax before the transports with our troops arrived. And if that were not the case, where was the provision for our troops, when in Halifax? He believed we should still be obliged to feed them from Leadenhall market.-His lordship declared he was a warm advocate for the motion.

The Earl of Shelburne said he had often given the House his opinion that the war with America was unnatural, oppressive, and big with ruin to both countries. He had now only to say a few words in support of a motion which he thought highly necessary. After observing on the various blunders and contradictory orders of government respecting sir Peter Parker's fleet, and other matters, he urged the cruelty of taxing the subjects here, merely for the purpose of carrying on a destructive war. He said he knew of no luxury in finance but the articles of foreign im

portation; that the new taxes on cards, dice, newspapers, &c. were taxes on industry; taxes which the nation would feel to be injurious and oppressive, notwithstand ing every gloss thrown over them by a collection of plausible words. He adverted further to the minister's speech in the other House on the opening of the Budget, and asserted that Dr. Price's account of our real situation in point of national wealth, was just and accurate. With regard to putting Halifax into a state of defence, he asked, why at this time it needed such a measure? Why was it not in a state of defence before? His lordship laughed at the form of words used by a noble lord in office, who had said that general Howe only "shifted a position," and shewed that the description of the King's troops evacuating Boston by no means agreed with the common use of that phrase. After pointing out the want of judgment conspicuous in administration, his lordship declared he entirely approved of the motion.

Lord Weymouth took advantage of the arguments of opposition, by saying that it told exceedingly in favour of general Howe that a noble lord bred to the military profession wondered at his having been able to bring off the troops without loss; and that another lord had said the embarkation was managed as easily as the changing of quarters of a regiment stationed in time of peace in a country town in England. His lordship gave his negative to the motion, declaring he thought it highly improper.

Lord Ravensworth insisted, that the public had a right to full information relative to every matter of fact, and cited various precedents in the Secretaryship of lord Chatham, to shew it was always customary to publish the entire letters sent from the commanders on such occasions in the London Gazette. His lordship declared he thought it right to keep the intentions of government, as to any future matters, a secret; he therefore moved that the words "so far as do not relate to the intended operations of the present campaign," be added to the motion, by way of amendment.

The Earl of Suffolk objected equally to the amendments as to the original motion: his lordship explained what he had said relative to the putting Halifax into a state of defence, by declaring it was already in a state of defence, but not so effectually as general Howe would

render it.

The Duke of Manchester, after enlarging upon the impropriety of refusing parlia ment the necessary information, thanked the noble lord for his amendment, declaring it was indifferent to him which way the motion was put. His grace then read some extracts of a letter from Philadelphia, giving an account of the strength, unanimity, and firmness of the Americans. The Duke of Bolton spoke in support of the motion, as amended. His grace remarked, that we had furnished America with the ammunition they now used against us; nay, the very mortar which they fired at Dorchester Heights was taken by the Americans in a vessel sent by the Board of Ordnance to Boston. His grace asked how that vessel came to be dispatched from hence unarmed, and was severe on administration respecting that particular. The Earl of Sandwich explained the matter, by saying that the vessel on board of which the mortar was sent to America, sailed under convoy of a man of war; that she was separated in a gale of wind, and so became a capture to the rebels. His lordship begged it might be remembered that admiral Shuldham deserved his share of the praise due on the safe embarkation of the troops on the evacuation of Boston, as he did not doubt but that the admiral's proper disposition of the transports favoured the embarkation, which in all probability was concerted and effected by the concurring advice and care of the land and sea commander.

The House divided: Contents 27; Noncontents 64.

Debate in the Commons on Mr. Sawbridge's Motion for continuing America upon the same footing of giving and granting Money as Ireland.] May 10. Mr. Sawbridge (Lord Mayor) moved, "That his Majesty's colonies in America be continued upon the same footing of giving and granting their money, as his Majesty's subjects in Ireland are, by their own representatives." He said, there was no necessity for going into a long discussion of the state of America, or the consequences which might be expected from our obstinately persisting to coerce them, which he ventured to foretel we should never be able to effect. Powerful as those motives might appear to persons who measured right only by the probable success of effecting wrong; the equity and justice of the English nation, he hoped, would be called forth by reasons of a different na

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