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an act of parliament prevent such men as John the Painter from coming into the world, or control them when they are in it? You might as well bring in a bill to prevent the appearance, or regulate the motions, of a comet. John the Painter was so far from fearing death, that he courted it; was so far from concealing his act, that he told full as much as was true, to his own conviction. When once a villian turns enthusiast, he is above all law. Punishment is his reward, and death his glory. But, though this law will be useless against villains, it is dangerous, and may be fatal to many an innocent person. There is not an honest industrious carpenter or sailor, who may not be endangered in the course of his daily labour; they are constantly using fire and combustible matter about shipping, tarring, and pitching, and caulking: accidents are continually happening; and who knows how many of these accidents may be attributed to design? Indeed, the act says, the firing must be done wilfully and maliciously; but judges and juries do not always distinguish right between the fact and the intention. It is the province of a jury only to try the fact by the intention; but they are too apt to judge of the intention by the fact. Justices of peace, however, are not famed for accurate and nice distinctions; and all the horrours of an ignominious death would be too much to threaten every honest shipwright with, for what may happen in the necessary work of his calling.

But, as I think punishment necessary for so heinous an offence, and, as the end of all punishment is example; of the two modes of punishment,

I shall prefer that which is most profitable in point of example. Allowing then the punishment of death its utmost force, it is only short and momentary; that of labour, permanent; and so much example is gained in him who is reserved for labour, more than in him who is put to death, as there are hours in the life of the one, beyond the short moment of the other's death.

SPEECH OF THE EARL OF CHATHAM, ON THE SUBJECT OF EMPLOYING INDIANS TO FIGHT AGAINST THE AMERICANS. 1777.

MY LORDS,

IT has been usual, on similar occasions of public difficulty and distress, for the crown to make application to this house, the great hereditary council of the nation, for advice and assistance. As it is the right of parliament to give, so it is the duty of the crown to ask it. But on this day, and in this extreme momentous exigency, no reliance is reposed on your counsels; no advice is asked of parliament; but the crown, from itself, and by itself, declares an unalterable determination to pursue its own preconcerted measures; measures which have produced hitherto nothing but disappointments and defeats.

I cannot, my lords, I will not, join in congratulation on misfortune and disgrace. This, my lords, is a perilous and tremendous moment; it is not a time for adulation; the smoothness of flattery cannot save us fn this rugged and awful crisis. It is now necessary to instruct the throne in the

language of truth. We must, if possible, dispel the delusion and darkness which envelop it; and display, in its full danger and genuine colours, the ruin which is brought to our doors. Can ministers still presume to expect support in their infatuation? Can parliament be so dead to its dignity and duty, as to give their support to measures thus obtruded and forced upon them? measures, my lords, which have reduced this late flourishing empire to scorn and contempt? But yesterday, and England might have stood against the world; now, none so poor as to do her reverence! The people, whom we at first despised as rebels, but whom we now acknowledge as enemies, are abetted against us, supplied with every military store, their interest consulted, and their ambassadors entertained by our inveterate enemy;-and ministers do not, and dare not, interpose with dignity or effect. The desperate state of our army abroad is in part known. No man more highly esteems and honours the English troops than I do: I know their virtues and their valour: I know they can achieve any thing but impossibilities; and I know that the conquest of English America is an impossibility. You cannot, my lords, you cannot conquer America. What is your present situation there? We do not know the worst: but we know, that in three campaigns we have done nothing, and suffered much. You may swell every expense, accumulate every assistance, and extend your traffic to the shambles of every German despot; your attempts will be for ever vain and impotent ;-doubly so, indeed, from this mercenary aid on which you rely; for it

irritates, to an incurable resentment, the minds of your adversaries, to overrun them with the mercenary sons of rapine and plunder, devoting them and their possessions to the rapacity of hireling cruelty. If I were an American, as I am an Englishman, while a foreign troop was landed in my country I never would lay down my armsnever, never, never. ·

But, my lords, who is the man, that, in addition to the disgraces and mischiefs of the war, has dared to authorize and associate to our arms, the tomohawk and scalping knife of the savage ?—to call into civilized alliance, the wild and inhuman inhabitants of the woods?-to delegate to the merciless Indian, the defence of disputed rights, and to wage the horrours of his barbarous war against our brethren? My lords, these enormities cry aloud for redress and punishment. But, my lords, this barbarous measure has been defended, not only on the principles of policy and necessity, but also on those of morality; for it is perfectly allowable,' says lord Suffolk, to use all the means which God and nature bave put into our hands.' I am astonished, I am shocked, to hear such principles confessed; to hear them avowed in this house, or in this country. My lords, I did not intend to encroach so much on your attention; but I cannot reprèss my indignation—I feel myself impelled to speak. My lords, we are called upon, as members of this house, as men, as Christians, to protest against such horrible barbarity! -"That God and nature have put into our hands!? What ideas of God and nature, that noble lord inay entertain, I know not; but I know, that

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such detestable principles are equally abhorrent to religion and humanity. What! to attribute the sacred sanction of God and nature to the massacres of the Indian scalping knife!—to the cannibal-savage, torturing, murdering, devouring, drinking the blood of his mangled victims! Such notions shock every precept of morality, every feeling of humanity, every sentiment of honour. These abominable principles, and this more abominable avowal of them, demand the most decisive indignation. I call upon that right reverend, and this most learned bench, to vindicate the religion of their God, to support the justice of their country. I call upon the bishops, to interpose the unsullied sanctity of their lawn-upon the judges, to interpose the purity of their ermine, to save us from this pollution. I call upon the honour of your lordships, to reverence the dignity of your ancestors, and to maintain your own. call upon the spirit and humanity of my country, to vindicate the national character. I invoke the genius of the constitution. From the tapestry that adorns these walls, the immortal ancestor of this noble lord frowns with indignation at the disgrace of his country. In vain did he defend the liberty, and establish the religion of Britain, against the tyranny of Rome, if these worse than popish cruelties and inquisitorial practices are endured among us. To send forth the merciless cannibal, thirsting for blood! against whom ?— your protestant brethren!-to lay waste their country, to desolate their dwellings, and extirpate their race and name, by the aid and instrumentality of these horrible savages!-Spain can no

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