were unprincipled arts of servility and corruption, lest, as his lordship ludicrously remarked, the breed of the true court-spaniel should become extinct. He next spoke of the American Tories, who he said might be classed under three descriptions, those who acted from principle, those who being misled, or having views of their own, associated as the friends of government, and those of profligate lives and desperate fortunes, who deceived, inflamed, and misled government for motives the most base and diabolical. He should leave the two latter to their fortunes and deserts, and only consider such of the people of America as took a part in defence and maintenance of the rights of this country upon principle. Those men were, of all the people on earth, most to be commiserated. They lay at the mercy of their enemies and persecutors; their estates were confiscated; their persons banished or imprisoned, or their families left to famish; yet those unhappy men abandoned to their fate; and if at a future time, any occasion should occur, either in America or elsewhere, for the assistance of the loyal part of our subjects, the fate of the loyal, brave, and honest Americans, who were sacrificed by British perfidy, would sufficiently deter any man from trusting to British promises of security and protection. His lordship spoke of the hidden over-ruling influence which surrounded the throne; and whence all those baleful measures proceeded. Thence was their encouragement, instructions, and rewards; and to that source the people in the day of difficulty would look for satisfaction and redress, and demand justice on those who had been the cause of their ruin. The Earl of Bristol. My lords, late as it is, I should think myself unpardonable to go away without expressing my approbation of the motion: but, my lords, I must also express my surprise, that after the noble duke had so manifestly shewn, that the alarming state we were reduced to, was in great measure owing to the situation and management of our fleet, that the noble lord who superintends the remains of our once flourishing navy, has not deigned to say one single word. Surely, my lords, it must be alarming, when we have so lately heard in this House, that the fleet of England, which, till this unhappy period, had given law to all Europe, is now so reduced, that, however necessary it might be, it would not be prudent to detach from it; an avowal as shameful to him who made it, as it is prejudicial to the nation, and injurious to the honour of the crown. And although the collective force of this remaining fleet has been for several months repeatedly said to be in readiness for service, yet it has been so inactive, and kept in such a situation, that I must lament the brave admiral who is at the head of a squadron of that fleet, not having the command of the whole ships in England, by which means his hands are tied from the proper distribution he would otherwise make of them, and which might be a greater security for our coasts. My lords, it is but last week that those ships under admiral Keppel were ready to drop down even to St. Helen's, and I believe the Victory has not been ready, in spite of all the diligence that could be used, to go down till Satur day last. My lords, the sailing of the Toulon fleet ever since the 13th of April, the ignorance of their destination, and the consequences that may ensue from that armament, and our total want of intelligence which way they are gone, is very alarming. My lords, I have a letter in my pocket, which I shewed a noble lord in high office, which proves that fleet to have been the 7th of May between Gibraltar and Malaga, being met by a Swede ship gone into Alicant the 9th. I have therefore reason to believe, that the accounts I have seen in another letter, that the Toulon fleet must have passed the streights the 9th are true. My lords, what is then become of our islands? What is become of that fleet of four or five line of battle ships, and all our frigates under that brave officer lord Howe, with 14 or 15,000 seamen, the flower of our fleet, so much wanted now? And if they fall, what is to become of our army in America? Is not this alarming, my lords? And is this situation not such as to require our wishes that the great hereditary council of this nation, the guardian of the people, should be kept together, and ready to prove by this step, to the whole kingdom and to all Europe, that we mean, we wish, and hold ourselves ready at a moment's notice, to support his Majesty with our advice, as well as our lives and fortunes. My lords, I must say it is no less alarming, after all the expence the public has been at for our navy, that in so long a time we have not been able to collect ships enough to answer every purpose, which it is impossible the present number now in the channel can do: and, my lords, where is the The Earl of Sandwich denied he had ever said we were not able to detach ships; he only said, in a former debate, that perhaps it might not be prudent to do it. With regard to admiral Keppel's fleet not being ready to sail for St. Helen's till last week, they were now sailed from St. Helen's. The noble admiral who commanded them had not his hands tied, as that noble earl would one day see, whenever his orders were made known. He was surprised the noble earl's intelligence was so bad, as to say that we had ever 139 ships of the line, which the noble earl mentioned the other day. We never had that number; and we now had ships enough; it was men we wanted. The moble earl also had said one day, that an embargo was necessary; why was not an embargo laid? And now an embargo is laid the noble lord condemns it as improper. The noble earl I allow to be a great officer, a great seaman, and a man of great abilities; but, my lords, I will not give up my official knowledge to him or any sea officers whatever; and to shew that I am as good a seaman as either of those noble lords, who asked the other day, why could not eleven ships work down the Channel as well as one, which was admiral Barrington? I will tell them why; because there must always be in a number a heavier sailing ship than another, and the rest must keep company with the worst, which happened to sir John Norris, when attempting to work down the channel, his ships fell aboard of each other, and forced him to put back, and he never could get beyond Torbay. remedy for all these evils which the ad-rised to suppose, he is not able to detach, ministration has brought upon us? Surely because he has not, when it is very well those men who have brought us into this known, the Toulon squadron are at sea, situation, are not the persons proper to and that, if left to themselves unwatched, advise his Majesty in this alarming situa- unpursued, we have every thing to fear for tion ? our colonies, and for our poor frigates, and our great army in America, as well as our trade. Next, with regard to the bad information the noble lord is pleased to say I have, his lordship does me honour, because the noble lord made use of the very same polite terms and words to that great statesman, now no more (earl of Chatham) on a similar attack from him in this very House; so that, my lords, it is a phrase with his lordship as a thing of course when he cannot confute what is advanced. Next, my lords, I think his lordship said, that I had said, admiral Keppel's hands were tied, and that he could not act, and how did I know that he could not? I deny the words: what I had said was, that I was sorry admiral Keppel's hands were tied from not commanding the whole fleet in England; for, that so well I knew the skill and bravery of that excellent officer and the officers under him, that had he the command of the whole fleet, there would have been a very different description made of them, and we should have had much less to have dreaded from an enemy; for well I knew, if he had the good fortune to meet the French fleet, he would certainly beat them; and that I must remind their lordships of what I said the other day, that I wished him most sincerely not only the command of all our fleets on float, but also on shore. I know no man so fit for it, so beloved by all the officers, so much wished for by the public, and no one who would do more honour to his King and country. The noble lord also says, I misrepresented when I said there were ever 139 sail of the line. My lords, I am astonished at his lordship's denying this fact. Let him look at the little clasped book I produced the other day here, which is from the navy-board, dated May 1771. He will there see from thence 139 ships of the line, 382 ships and frigates, bombs, &c. the grand total. And I repeat again, that when I came into the board of Admiralty in 1771, there were 81 ships of the line fit for service, 24 under repair, 7 foreign ones bought, besides others in want of great repair. My lords, what then is become of all those ships, when the noble earl in office told us there were only 49 in England fit for service? Shameful it is to see the reduction of the great fleet of Eng The Earl of Bristol rose again, and told their lordships that he was used to that noble lord's Machiavilian policy, of endeavouring to turn all his arguments into ridicule when he could not answer them; but he only desired their lordships' indulgence, to prove to them how the noble lord had endeavoured to misrepresent what he had said. And first, my lords, as to his denial of having said the other day, he could not detach, I appeal to the House, whether the noble lord did not say, it would not be prudent to detach; and that as I find the noble lord has not detached, nor has detained admiral Byron to join admiral Keppel, whether I am not autho land after the sums given to it! Nor care | but the embargo and the deplorable state of the navy, were surely reasons sufficiently cogent to prevent a prorogation. The complement of men on board our fleets was 10,000 short of the establishment: such a deficiency was truly alarming, and réquired the utmost attention of parliament. I whether it is the noble lord or not; but so it is, there has been mismanagement, misconduct, negligence and ignorance in this great and essential department; and were we to sit longer here, I pledge myself, some how or other, to sift it out. The House divided: Contents 20. Notcontents 42, Debate on Sir James Lowther's Motion for an Address to the King to defer the Prorogation of Parliament.] June 2. Sir James Lowther adverted to the critical situation of public affairs, when the wisdom of parliament would be highly necessary; and when consequently it would, to the last degree, be improper to put an end to the session: wisdom was to be expected from a multitude of counsellors; it would be therefore most advantageous to the kingdom that the parliament might be permitted to continue sitting. For these reasons he moved, "That an humble Address be presented to his Majesty, to represent to his Majesty the very alarming state of these kingdoms, which will be much increased by a prorogation of parliament, whereby his Majesty would be deprived of that natural and constitutional advice and assistance which may be so necessary at this critical conjuncture, when the whole legislative authority, and the united wisdom of the kingdom, is absolutely essential to secure us from impending danger; and most humbly to implore his Majesty, that he would be graciously pleased to defer the prorogation of parliament until the present dangerous crisis may be happily terminated." Sir P.J, Clerke seconded the motion, on the general ground of necessity. He said, the nation was in imminent danger, for that he had been informed, since he came into the House, that the Brest flect had been seen within a few leagues of Ply mouth, He said he was more particularly for the motion from the old adage, that "in the multitude of counsellors there is safety." Earl Nugent said, he fancied, that if even the motion was carried, the last speaker would be disappointed in his hopes, as he believed very few counsellors would remain in town. He moved the other orders of the day. Mr. T. Luttrell said, that many were the reasons that could be adduced to shew the necessity of keeping the parliament together; it were needless to repeat them; The Hon. Richard Fitzpatrick declared that he would have remained silent, if the noble lord in his eye had thought proper to lay before the House the intelligence he had received from America: but as his lordship had declined that, he thought it his duty to give the House such information, as, from his situation, he was enabled to collect. About ten days before he sailed from Philadelphia, a copy of the Conciliatory Bills had been brought to that city: their reception was such as they deserved. The army received them with the most inexpressible indignation; some of the officers had in his presence torn their cockades from their hats and flung them into the streets. They had been deluded so far as to imbibe the ministerial spirit for war; and when they looked for reinforcements, and expected 20,000 men to enable them to open the campaign with some signal and decisive blow, a set of Bills were sent out to them, which loaded them with disgrace. These Bills were not transmitted to the Congress nor to general Washington; they were dispersed through the country by individuals, and through them found their way at length into the American army. Their reception there was still worse than in the British army: they were kicked about, torn, nay, burned by the hands of the common hangman. They were looked upon as calculated to spread discord through the country, and that idea tended more to rivet them more closely than to disunite them. Some offi. cers in general Washington's confidence, with whom he had had an opportunity to converse, told him, that it was the opinion among their people that these drafts of Bills were nothing more than a pretence to amuse the Americans, and dispose them to desert the Congress; and that the parliament knew nothing of them, when he had assured them that it was really the intention of parliament to pass these Bills into laws, and to send out new commissioners; they said, that if such proposals had been made to them by lord Chatham they would have probably received them; but that they never could listen to terms proposed by the men who had brought on must destroy both lord and general Howe's forces; which were now so few in number, that they could act only on the defensive, He complained of the scandalous manner in which sir William Howe was abused here, while he was beloved, respected, nay adored by the whole army in America. the war. On his arrival in England he had formed a resolution not to be astonished at any thing the ministry could do; for after the sample they had given him, he saw they were capable of the greatest extravagancies; but when he found the situation we were in with regard to France; when he found that a gallant general was treated in the most unbecoming manner, he was, in spite of his resolution, perfectly astonished. He felt as a soldier for the situation of that brave officer; he felt the utmost indignation against those who could so disgrace the military profession as to treat a soldier who had fought their battles, in a manner so disgraceful to a soldier. He had discovered the dawning of a spirit among the people, which he hoped would soon blaze forth, and make ministers feel that they have acted wrong. Lord George Germain said he would not attempt to contradict any thing the hon. gentleman had advanced from his own knowledge; but he would certainly set him right in what he delivered as conjectures: for there he was better informed. There had been no promise made to the army in America to send out 20,000 men to reinforce them this campaign. If the hon. gentleman informed the House that the drafts of the Bills had been received with contempt by the Americans, he also informed them, that if they had been planned by other men, they would have been received: it was not therefore the measures but the men that America objected to: if they had no other objection, it would be a very easy matter to make peace. If they should reject the terms as not making sufficient concessions, it would then appear that they were not disposed to treat upon any terms; and then he should be sorry that the Bills had ever been sent out. With regard to the general alluded to, he did not understand that he had mentioned any cause of complaint but one, and that was, that he had been prevented from going into the royal presence: and that was a hardship which he felt in common with every officer whose conduct required an enquiry. Mr. Fitzpatrick did not mean to charge the noble lord with having made a promise to send out 20,000 men ; but this he would say, that reinforcements were promised; that the new levies had been destined for America; and when the army there should expect to see them arrive, their longing eyes were to be saluted by count d'Estaing's fleet, which in all probability t | General Burgoyne said, he had more causes than one to complain; but he did not wish to take up the time of the House with his personal affairs. When he arrived in town, he waited on the noble lord; and entered into a long conversation with him, in which he unbosomed himself to him as one friend would to another: at the end of it, to his great surprise, he was informed that a court of enquiry had been appointed to enquire into his conduct, and that he should absent himself from court till after that enquiry: he declared that he could not have been more astonished if the noble lord had pulled a dagger from his pocket to strike him with: an enquiry he wished for most earnestly. But his idea led to a court-martial; and he did not expect that the business would have been carried on in such a manner. The general then adverted to the desertions from the northern army; and desired to know if any steps had been taken to release that gallant army, which, without disparagement, would be equal to twice their number in the field; from having been accustomed to hardships, lying without tents, living on slender meals, and being well used to fire. He complained that officers well acquainted with the whole business of the expedition, had never been examined by the noble lord relative to it; whilst runaways and fugitives, with M. St. Luc at their head, were questioned and caressed; nay, while a menial servant of his own, who had been turned out of his family, was heard with attention. Lord George Germain was of opinion, that the declaration of the Congress relative to the convention, was well worthy the most serious consideration: no one wished more heartily for the release of the army than he did; but the utmost circumspection was necessary, With regard to the general he did not think he deserved such severe censure; he had at night received a letter by colonel Jenkinson from him, informing him that he was in town; not knowing what to do on the occasion, he sent the letter to the King, from whom it was returned to him the next day, with an intimation that it had been settled that a court of enquiry should sit upon him, and that he should not in the mean time appear at court. That was all he knew of the affair. He had not thought it necessary to call upon such of the officers as were in England for information, when he had received such circumstantial accounts from the general's own public and private letters. He never gave encouragement to any one who wished to defame the general. There had been one who announced himself as an officer, who said he had been ill-treated by general Burgoyne; and that he wanted to lodge a formal complaint against him; and yet though several persons spoke well of that man, still he never would and never did consent to see him, because he thought it would have been indecent. Mr. Fox entered largely into the arguments which he thought most forcibly proved the inexpediency of a prorogation at the present juncture: he condemned the manner in which the drafts of the Conciliatory Bills had been introduced among the Americans; ridiculed the idea of expecting that America would treat with us, while the King on his birth-day bestowed in the most solemn manner cinque ports and blue ribbons as marks of approbation on those very men, who had plunged the colonies and the mother country into the war. He shewed the inconsistency of the Tories, who in New York on the 30th of November last, St. Andrew's day, had pulled down the statue of lord Chatham; and now trophies and statues were to be erected to his memory. They hated him living and revered him dead; and were somewhat like the emperor of Germany, who seeing a sumptuous monument which had been raised over his rival in the empire, wished that all his enemies were as sumptuously interred. The question being put, that the order of the day be now read, the House divided: The Speaker of the House of Commons, on presenting the Money Bills, addressed his Majesty in substance as follows: "That, at this time of public alarm, his faithful Commons were happy to find that his Majesty had called out the constitutional force of the kingdom for its defence; that they hoped his Majesty would in consequence be enabled to employ his other forces on essential services without the realm; that as they had liberally granted supplies to the fullest wishes of his servants, they trusted his Majesty would make such use of the money as was most likely to preserve the honour and dignity of his crown, and promote the welfare and interest of his dominions; finally, that they heartily wished for a speedy return of the Americans to their allegiance, and did not doubt but in due time his Majesty would be able to chastise and repress the insolence of his natural enemies." The King's Speech at the Close of the Session.] His Majesty closed the Session with the following Speech to both Houses: "My Lords, and Gentlemen; "After so long and laborious an application to the public business, I think it proper at this season of the year to give you some recess : I come at the same time to return you my particular thanks, for the zeal you have shewn in supporting the honour of my crown, and for your attention to the real interests of all my subjects, in the wise, just and humane laws which have been the result of your deliberations, and which, I hope, will be attended with the most salutary effects in every part of the British empire. "My desire to preserve the tranquillity of Europe has been uniform and sincere ; I reflect with great satisfaction, that I have made the faith of treaties and the law of nations the rule of my conduct; and that it has been my constant care to give no just cause of offence to any foreign power; let that power by whom this tranquillity shall be disturbed, answer to their subjects and to the world, for all the fatal consequences of war. "The vigour and firmness of my parliament have enabled me to be prepared for such events and emergencies as may happen; and I trust that the experienced valour and discipline of my feets and armies, and the loyal and united ardour of the nation, armed and animated in the de |