1775.

BOOK Colonies. By this bill, all property of AmeriXVII. cans, whether of ships or goods, on the high seas or in harbour, is declared forfeited to the captors; so that it amounted in fact to an absolute declaration of war. This, the opposition justly affirmed, was cutting off at the root all hope of future accommodation; and they pronounced it to be a formal ACT of AEDICATION of our government over the colonies; it drove the two countries to the fatal extremity of absolute conquest on the one side, or absolute independency on the other. The offers of pardon, by which the bill was accompanied, were said to be ridiculous when offered to men who acknowledged no crime, and who are conscious not of doing, but merely of suffering, wrong. The repeal of the Boston Port, Fishery, and Restraining Acts, being included in this bill, as entirely superseded by the operation of it, Mr. Fox moved an amendment, to leave out the whole title and body of the bill excepting the parts relative to such repeal. This produced a warm debate, which continued till midnight, when the amendment was rejected by a majority of 192 to 64 voices.

In the house of lords the bill was again combated on every ground of policy, humanity, and justice. Lord Mansfield in the course of the debate remarked, "that we had passed the RUBI

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CON, and were not now at liberty to consider the BOOK questions of original right or wrong, justice or injustice. We were engaged in a war, and we must use our utmost efforts to obtain the ends proposed by it; quoting in illustration the laconic speech of a gallant officer serving in the army of Gustavus Adolphus, who, pointing to the enemy, said to his men, "See you those lads ! KILL them, or they will kill you." The same sentiment his lordship atfirmed to be applicable to the present case. If we do not get the better of America, America will get the better of us. Are we to stand idle because we are told this is an unjust war, and wait till they have brought their arms to our very doors? The justice of the cause must give way to our present situation. Such were the abominable arguments now used to reconcile the minds of men to this unjust, cruel, and bloody war, by venerable and learned sages wearing the robes and holding the balance of justice. No speech in or out of parliament is supposed to have operated more extensively on the irritated minds of the colonists than this. The great abilities and profound legal knowledge of lord Mansfield were both known and admired in America. That this illustrious oracle of law should declare from the seat of legislation that the justice of the cause was no longer to be regarded, excited the astonishment

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BOOK and cemented the union of the Colonists *. ✓ After much objection and opposition the bill finally passed the house without a division.

1775.

The only notice taken of the conciliatory proposition of the minister was by the assembly of NOVA SCOTIA, which had transmitted a petition to parliament, presented to the house on the first day of the session, by the speaker, founded on the basis of that proposition; and it was now moved by lord North, that the proposal of a poundage duty ad valorem upon all commodities imported, not being the produce of the British dominions in Europe or America, to be disposed of by parliament, should be accepted, and the duty fixed at eight per cent. in lieu of all other taxes; and in reward of this dutiful overture, the Act of Navigation itself was in part dispensed with in their favor, and they were allowed to import ORANGES and LEMONS, and some other articles of equal importance, directly from the place of their growth and produce, But as this barren province was notoriously unequal to the support of its own civil government, the offer of a revenue seemed to carry with it so ludicrous an appearance, that no bill was ever in the sequel brought forward in consequence of the resolu tions now passed.

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A very extraordinary proposition had been re- BOOK cently made by the earl of Harcourt, lord lieutenant of Ireland, to the parliament of that kingdom, on the part of his majesty, who had pledged his royal word, that twelve thousand regular troops on that establishment should always remain stationary in that country; requesting four thousand of the said troops to be employed in the service of Great Britain, and engaging that Ireland should be relieved from the expence of the same; and ALSO, that the said troops should be replaced, if desired, by four thousand foreign protestant troops, to be likewise paid by Great Britain. Soon after the Christmas recess, a motion was made in the English house of commons, by Mr. Thomas Townshend, "that the earl of Harcourt was herein chargeable with a breach of privilege, and had acted in derogation of the authority of that house, and that a committee be appointed to enquire into the same." It was urged, "that it was the highest presumption in the lord lieutenant of Ireland to engage for the payment of any specific sums by the parliament of Great Britain; and much worse to pledge the parliament to the fulfilment of a contract so absurd and extravagant as to defray the expence of eight thousand men for the service of four thousand; and the design of introducing foreign troops into Ireland was represented as

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BOOK fraught with danger and mischief." The minister appeared not a little embarrassed on this occasion; and contented himself with saying, " that he was in no shape responsible for the conduct or actions of the lord lieutenant of Ireland; and he disavowed any knowledge of the specific instructions under which this requisition had been made. He allowed that the bargain appeared improvident, but it might be defended on the ground of necessity; and if it were allowed to be more eligible to employ native troops than foreigners in America, it would be a sufficient justification of the latter part of the proposition." Mr. Jenkinson, however, and others of the king's friends, who took part in the debate, assumed a much higher tone, and insisted upon his majesty's RIGHT of introducing foreign forces into any part of his dominions, when the exigencies of the state rendered it expedient or necessary. Mr. Jenkinson asserted, "that the message was worded in a manner perfectly agreeable to official usage, and that the measure was in exact conformity with, or more properly constituted a part of, that antient and acknowledged prerogative, by which the crown raised troops of its own will, and then applied to parliament for the payment, or entered into treaties for the same purpose with foreign princes, and pledged the national faith for a due performance of the articles." That part