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1775.

BOOK in the highest degree unconstitutional and dangerous; and the minister not seeming very willing to give any satisfaction on this head, many gentlemen left the house without voting. On the report, the opposition was renewed with fresh vigor; and a motion being now formally made by one of the country members for inserting in lieu of the obnoxious clause, the words, "And we will immediately take into our consideration the measure of introducing foreign troops into any part of the dominions of Great Britain without the previous consent of parlia ment;" the minister began to see the necessity of making some concession; and quitting the high but unsure ground of authority, he now declared, "that though he believed the measure to be right, as other gentlemen for whom he had the highest deference seemed to be of another opinion, he had no objection that the matter should be brought in a regular and parliamentary manner before the house, that its advisers might, if the necessity of the case required it, receive the benefit of an Act of Indemnity." This acknowledgment brought back the deserters to the ministerial standard, and the address finally passed by a great majority. In the sequel, a Bill of Indemnity was actually brought into the house of Commons, and passed with general approbation; but after great debate it was, little to

1

the satisfaction of the public, rejected by the воок

lords.

XVII.

On the 10th of November 1775, the duke of 1775. Richmond moved for the examination of Mr. Penn at the bar of the house of lords; to which the peers in administration gave a very reluctant assent. In the course of this remarkable examination, it appeared that no questions had been asked of Mr. Penn, or any enquiry made by ministers, since his arrival in England, although he had been governor of the colony in which the congress held their session, and was held in universal esteem as a man of great candor, ability, and information. He declared his firm belief, "that the congress had hitherto entertained no designs of independency; that the members of that assembly were men of character, fairly elected, and fully competent to declare the sense of their constituents; that the different provinces would certainly be governed by their decisions; that the war was levied and carried on by the colonists, merely in defence of what they conceived to be their undoubted rights and liberties; that the spirit of resistance was general, and that they believed themselves able to defend their liberties against the arms of Great Britain; that the colonies had been greatly dissatisfied with the reception of their former petitions, but had formed great hopes on the success of that

BOOK brought over by him, which was styled by them XVIL 'The Olive Branch,' and that he had been con1775. gratulated by his friends upon his being the

bearer of it: that it was greatly to be feared, that, if conciliatory measures were not speedily pursued, they would form connections with foreign powers, and that such connections, once made, it would be found very difficult to dissolve. He affirmed, that the prevailing wish of America was restoration of friendship with England; but that the most intelligent men on the continent were of opinion, that a rejection of the present petition would prove an insuperable bar to reconcilement. He said, that the Americans were well satisfied with the repeal of the Stamp Act, notwithstanding the declaratory law which accompanied it; and if no innovations had been afterwards made, they would have remained content; that they would allow the imperial authority of Great Britain, but not its right of taxation." The examination being finished, the duke of Richmond moved, "That the petition from the continental congress to the king was ground for a conciliation of the unhappy differences subsisting between Great Britain and America." After a violent debate, the motion was negatived by 86 to 33 voices.

The minister having moved in the house of commons, that the land-tax for the year 1776

XVII.

be four shillings in the pound, the country gen- Book tlemen were congratulated by the members in opposition on this additional taxation, as the first 1775. fruits of their darling scheme for the coercion of America; and it was predicted, that below the present level the land-tax would NEVER AGAIN The country members, irritated

BE REDUCED.

equally by the increase of the tax and the bitter sarcasms by which it was accompanied, and displeased also with the language now held by lord North, "that the contest was not for taxation but for sovereignty," declared through the medium of their leaders, that they had supported government in its plans of coercion, in the firm persuasion that their burthens would be eventually diminished by a great revenue to be drawn from America; but if the idea of a revenue were abandoned, they could not think of expending any more money in a contest attended with so many evils, and wholly unproductive of benefit; and they would therefore oppose the noble lord's motion for the increase of the land-tax. The minister, who was a great adept in the art of accommodation, and perfectly skilled in the science of government within the walls of that house, instantly perceived the necessity, as at other times and on other favourite points, of conciliating this occasionally obstinate and refractory class of members. He now therefore

3

BOOK assured them, "that the idea of taxation, and of levying a productive revenue from America, was never abandoned; and that when any thing of that sort was affirmed, nothing more was meant than that it was dropped for the present; taxation being a matter of secondary consideration only, when the supremacy of the country was at stake. He even declared, that no means existed by which the legislative authority and commercial control of this country over the colonies could be insured, but by combining them with taxation." This explanation giving much satisfaction, the motion was carried by a great majo rity; and thus were these credulous and honest gentlemen, the loyal and zealous DE COVERLEYS of the house, led to believe, that a war carried on at so enormous and incalculable an expence, was a war founded on the economical principle of reducing taxes and diminishing burdens*; though it is remarkable, that the