wheels of government, and declared he had never charged the hon. gentleman with any such design: that he commended him for his spirit of inquiry, and so far, says he, am I from entertaining the most distant thoughts, of the hon. gentleman's clogging the wheels of government, that I am persuaded he no more clogs them than the fly in the fable, who settling on the chariot wheel, thought she raised the dust with which she was surrounded; whereas, poor innocent thing, she fixed where she had a right to fix, and did not in the least incommode either the action of the wheels, or the quiet of the person who rode within side.

honour. His lordship, in this line of debate, was known to be an original. Whenever the noble lord found himself closely pressed in argument, or fact, it was his known practice to get rid of the question by a joke. His manner was no less curious than his matter; when he was half asleep, or seemingly quite asleep, he collected a store of wit and humour, from Æsop, Phædrus, or Joe Miller, or some other book equally distinguished for such species of drollery; and, instead of reasoning, was sure to treat the House with a laugh. As to his simile of the fly on the chariot wheel, if he and his associates lived in another country, and had their deserts, they would long since have been put upon a proper wheel; such a wheel as the system and principles of the noble lord's government, among other blessings inseparable from despotism, tended to introduce into Great Britain; he would therefore rather be the fly in the fable, than an object of ignominy and detestation, upon the wheel of public vengeance.

After some further conversation, the Resolution was agreed to.

Debate on Mr. Coke's Motion relative to the Manifesto published by the Commissioners for restoring Peace with America.] Dec. 4. Mr. T. W. Coke moved, That the Manifesto and Proclamation from his Majesty's commissioners at New York, to the members of the Congress, the members of the general assemblies, and to other persons, inhabitants of the colonies in America, contained in the printed book presented to this House on Wednesday last, might be read. And the same being read accordingly, he moved, "That an humble Address be presented to his Majesty, to express to his Majesty the displeasure of this House, at a certain Ma

Mr. T. Luttrell said, the noble lord's humorous simile should not divert him from fixing the attention of the House on a business no less serious than important. He contended, that the noble lord had not said a syllable which even tended to meet the charge of embezzlement. He had indeed asserted at random, and taken his assertion as so much proof, that the allowance of 4. per man per month was insufficient to answer wages, wear and tear, ordnance, or victualling. The excess of expenditure, he granted, formed part of the navy debt; but what he still contended was, that no evidence had as yet reached that House, of the appropriation of the surplus, nor the necessity of it; if it had, it was in the power of ministers to instantly give the satisfaction sought. Produce an account of the whole of the navy debt incurred in 1771; shew that a deduction of 450,000l. had been made out of it; that is, shew the nation that they have had credit for that sum. If parliamentary accounts mean any thing, they mean a full account; any thing but a full account means nothing; for whatever is omitted, may, it is true, be applied to the service to which it is stated but unless the specific ser-nifesto and Proclamation, dated the 3rd vices are laid before the House, it is, in the contemplation of the House, no account. The noble lord had endeavoured to shift the charge off his own shoulders, by affirming, that the money issued was by requisition from the treasurer of the navy; that the board, at which he presided, acted only in a ministerial manner, and had no immediate check to either examine or controul the requisition thus made. The treasurer of the navy at that time was lately dead, and his lordship had probably in view the well known adage, that "dead men tell no tales." With regard to the noble lord's apt simile, it had done him

:

of October 1778, and published in America under the hands and seals of the earl of Carlisle, sir Henry Clinton, and William Eden, esq., commissioners for restoring peace to the colonies, and countersigned by Adam Ferguson, esq. secretary to the commission: the said Manifesto containing a declaration of the following tenor:

If there be any persons who, divested of mistaken resentments, and unin'fluenced by selfish interests, really think that it is for the benefit of the colonies to separate themselves from Great Britain, and that, so separated, they will find a constitution more mild, more free,

' and better calculated for their prosperity, jesty's innocent subjects, in all parts of than that which they heretofore enjoyed, his dominions, to cruel and ruinous retaand which we are empowered and dis- liations." 'posed to renew and improve; with such persons we will not dispute a position which seems to be sufficiently contra'dicted by the experience they have had but we think it right to leave them fully ' aware of the change which the maintaining such a position must make in the whole nature and future conduct of this war: more especially, when to this position is added, the pretended alliance with 'the court of France. The policy, as well as the benevolence, of Great Britain, have thus far checked the extremes of war, when they tended to distress a peo'ple still considered as our fellow-subjects, and to desolate a country shortly to become again a source of mutual advantage; but when that country professes 'the unnatural design not only of estranging herself from us, but of mortgaging herself and her resources, to our enemies, the whole contest is changed; and the question is, how far Great Britain may, by every means in her power, destroy, or render useless, a connection contrived for her ruin, and for the aggrandizement ⚫ of France. Under such circumstances the laws of self-preservation must direct 'the conduct of Great Britain, and, if the British colonies are to become an accession to France, will direct her to ren'der that accession of as little avail as pos'sible to her enemy.'

"To acquaint his Majesty with the sense of this House, that the said commissioners had no authority whatsoever, under the act of parliament, in virtue of which they were appointed by his Majesty, to make the said declaration, or to make any declaration to the same or to the like purport; nor can this House be easily brought to believe, that the said commissioners derived any such authority from his Majesty's instructions:

"Humbly to beseech his Majesty, that so much of the Manifesto as contains the said declaration, be forthwith publicly disavowed by his Majesty, as containing matter inconsistent with the humanity and generous courage which in all times have distinguished the British nation, subversive of the maxims which have been established among Christian and civilized communities, derogatory to the dignity of the crown of this realm, tending to debase the spirit, and to subvert the discipline of his Majesty's armies; and to expose his Ma.

He expressed his indignation at finding, that a new system of war was likely to be pursued in America, by which the generous spirit of the nation would be perverted, and barbarity called forth to reign over the ruins of civilization and society. He could not think that the planners of such a system could have attended for a moment to the rules of policy and self-preservation. If a new mode of war was to be introduced, reprisals and retaliation ought naturally to be expected. Our situation at present forbad us to provoke them; the northern coasts of England and Scotland were not covered, and Ireland was naked and defenceless, Privateers had landed men in our own country, and if they did not burn and destroy, it was not because they had not the power, but because we had not, by our conduct, set them an example of retaliating on ourselves. In the just dread, therefore, of attacks, which, though we might provoke, we were not able to prevent: in the just dread of a degeneracy of spirit in the nation, and in support of the rights of humanity, he could not but pronounce his detestation of the principle by which the article in the proclamation was dictated, which threatened the Americans with the horrors of a new system of hostilities, which every law, as well human as divine, equally reprobated; and to express this detestation more fully, as well as to vindicate his country, in the eyes of the world, from the character of barbarity it might gain by following the threatened system, he moved this Address.

Mr. Conolly, though he despaired of success from all the arguments that might be adduced in support of the motion, could not but rise to exonerate himself from the blame that would hereafter attend the measure which the motion was calculated to condemn: he wished that posterity might know that he had had no share in bringing on the calamities that this country had suffered by the American war, for which he had never given a vote; nor in those to which it would be exposed by the new system that was about to be laid down. If severity could be used towards the guilty among the rebels, it might be exercised with justice, and with his approbation; if the Congress. that assembly of men who had set every right of nations and humanity at defiance, could be seized

be inflicted on them; but he could not in justice, in honour, in humanity, but condemn a system, which must equally involve the innocent and guilty in destruction.

beasts or savages, but like common enemies, for whom we no longer retained any trace of affection, which their unnaturál alliance had absolutely effaced, but which had subsisted longer than it could have prudently been expected, after the many unprecedented provocations they had given us to take off the ties of affection at a much more early period. War now they should have in its full vigour; not such an one as they had been all along accustomed to, and which had been so tempered with peace, that it scarcely deserved the name of war. This le conceived to be the meaning of the words in the proclamation: he hoped it would have the desired effect on the rebels; he flattered himself that it was a happy omen to see the friends of America so alarmed at it; and their terrors he would deem the forerunners of that general consternation in America, which would make the deluded colonists open their eyes before it should be too late, and return to their allegiance to the mother country. And as this warning did not convey to his mind the shadow of an idea, that wanton slaughter and desolation were to mark the footsteps of our army, he could not but give his negative to the motion.

Mr. Hans Stanley could not bear with temper the affront that was going to be put upon his profession, when soldiers were to be converted into butchers, assassins, and incendiaries: he liked open honest war, but could not bear to sheathe his sword in the bowels of age or inno cence: he would not tarnish the lustre of the British name by acts of barbarity, nor give his sanction to the measures of the most infamous administration that ever disgraced a free country. He then paid some very high compliments to the army in America, in which he had had the honour to serve three years, and to the general who lately commanded it. As a representative of a great trading county, which lay exposed to the ravages of an enemy, where, if an enemy should land with only 500 men, the most dreadful devastation might be committed with impunity, he would but ill discharge the trust reposed in him, if he did not, with all his power, oppose a system which would be a plain invitation to France and America to burn our towns, destroy our manufactures, and butcher in cold blood our helpless and inoffensive women and children.

disgrace on a people who piqued themselves on their humanity. It was not against America, but against France that we should shew our resentment; the spoils of the French should make us some amends for the loss of three millions of subjects, thirteen provinces, and the island of Dominica. He condemned that pitiful policy dictated by despair, of burning what it was not in our power to retain.

Mr. Powys said, when he supported the motion, he deemed himself the friend of humanity; he wished to prevent war being Mr. James Grenville was against the armed with new terrors. Bravery and proclamation, becaase he could deduce humanity had ever been the inseparable from it, that it pronounced the approaches attendants on a British army; they were of a new scene of hostilities, such as ought now going to be banished from it; cruelty not to be exhibited by any civilized naand barbarity were to replace them. The tion. Such a war might well be approved American war had been called the war of by an Onondegon, a Chicksaw, or Cheparliament. Had parliament ever autho-rokee savage, but would imprint indelible rised a war that militated against humanity? Did parliament ever hold out as instruments of reconciliation, the tomahawk and scalping knife? Did parliament ever tell the Americans that they were to walk over the bodies of their innocent wives and children, and the smoking ashes of their cities, to make their peace with our commissioners? Why, then, attempt to give the sanction of parliament to measures which it had never dictated, which it had never approved; nay, which were a libel upon parliament? It were impossible to expect peace from such measures; ministers by their conduct had murdered peace. If the Congress could be picked up, man by man, and put to the most exemplary punishment, they should all fall unpitied by him, because they really deserved every severity that could [VOL. XIX.]

Sir William Howe could not approve of measures that in any wise savoured of cruelty; several reflections had been thrown on his character in his absence; and perhaps it was because he had shewn too much mildness in the prosecution of the war. He did not know to whom he ought to ascribe the attacks on his repu tation; if they had not originated from, or been encouraged by ministers, at least [4 U]

they had not been contradicted by them. He thought it not improper then, when he was on his legs, to say a few words about his resignation of the command in America. He declared that it had been in consequence of a total disregard to his opinions, and to his recommendations of meritorious officers. The war had not been left to his management; and yet when he applied for instructions, he frequently could not get them. The noble lord at the head of the Treasury had indeed supported him; but the noble secretary for the American department had not used him well;-had often left him without instructions, to shift for himself at the opening of a campaign, without sending information how to act. He expressed a desire to see a parliamentary enquiry take place, when, on a clear investigation of the whole business, the House, and the nation at large, might be enabled to form a just opinion; and to pronounce which was to blame, himself or the American secretary. He concluded with saying, that whatever orders were sent to America for the conduct of the war, he was sure they never could be executed to the satisfaction and advantage of this country, while they went through the hands of that noble lord.

down to col. Harcourt, that he might be included in it; and, as a proof of his particular esteem, the King immediately after appointed him one of his aides de camp. The second instance was that of a major White, who was sent over with a plan for dismounting 500 dragoons, forming them into a battalion, and sending them over to America: this plan was not approved, for two reasons; 1. because, in the then state of the nation, all the cavalry at home was necessary for our own defence. 2. Because it might create jealousy and discontent in the army to see a battalion serving on foot, with higher pay than any other corps in the army. The third instance of a capt. Emmerie, who produced a plan that was seemingly so romantic and imprudent, that for his part he did not imagine the general was serious in his recommendation: this captain was a man of no property, and yet the first thing that was to be done for him, to enable him to raise 1 or 2,000 German Chasseurs, was to give him 1,000l. after the receipt of which he was to go over to Germany and establish his quarters in the electorate of Hanover. One thing very curious there was in his plan, that his Chasseurs were to have among them a body of horse, which were to be Lord G. Germain was surprised at so stallions brought from Poland to mend unexpected an attack upon him: if he had the breed at New York; this appeared so foreseen the charge brought against him, extravagant that it was imagined that sir he would have come prepared; but as it William had given way to the solicitation was, he would defend himself as well as of the planner, only to get rid of his imhis memory would permit him. He de- portunities. The general might perhaps clared that he had never dropped an ex- have had some cause of complaint about pression prejudicial to the hon. gentle- the promotion of officers at the War Ofman's character out of the House; that fice; but for that he was excusable, as it he had never done so in the House, every was quite out of his department. Withgentleman there could bear witness: he out regard to the leave the general had had never suffered 24 hours to elapse after solicited to return home, he had laid his the receipt of dispatches from the hon. request before the King; and had by order gentleman, without carrying them to the returned for answer, that it gave his MaKing; and he never once omitted to se-jesty concern that he should think of recond, with all his influence, every project, every recommendation sent by the general. He could only remember three instances, when his recommendations were not immediately complied with: the first was, when he had recommended as gallant an officer as any in the service, lieut. col. Harcourt, to the rank of colonel; the King had expressed himself in as warm and flattering terms of the young officer's merits as any prince could do; but deJayed his royal favour for three days, because a promotion of colonels was going forward, which was purposely brought

signing his command; that he would, however, take his request into consideration. The campaign had not at that time been closed, and the King had not thought proper to appoint a successor to the general before the close of it; he then sent him leave to return home, provided sir H. Clinton were still in America to take the command; but that if sir Henry should not be in America on the arrival of the leave, (for sir Henry had likewise solicited permission to return), that the general was to wait until a successor should be appointed: this was the plain truth; and