CHAPTER V.

{GEORGE III. 1773–1775}

The Caribbs of St. Vincents..... Petition of Naval Officers..... Subscription to the Thirty-nine Articles..... Debates on East India Measures..... The Session closed..... Proceedings in the City..... Continental Politics-Irish Affairs..... Disputes with the American Colonies..... Meeting of Parliament..... Early Measures in this Session..... The Bostonian Petition..... Parliamentary Proceedings against America..... Bill for the Administration of Canada..... Prorogation of Parliament..... Proceedings at Boston..... General Election..... Meeting of the New Parliament.

{A.D. 1773}

THE CARIBBS OF ST. VINCENTS.

Before the Christmas holidays, Alderman Trecothick mentioned in the house that the island of St. Vincent had been made a scene of iniquity and cruelty: our troops having committed against the Caribbs, a defenceless and innocent people, the most shocking barbarities. Other members spoke on the same subject, and said that the troops had been barbarously made to suffer even more evils than those they inflicted on the Indians. Papers were produced which seemed to prove that proper care had been taken of the troops, but on the reassembling of parliament, a further inquiry was set on foot upon the subject. It appears that the Caribbs, who were in possession of the most fertile parts of the island, had not been mentioned when it was ceded to Great Britain; and that the British settlers wished them to exchange their districts for tracts which were said to be more appropriate to their occupations of hunting and fishing. This proposal was received by the Caribbs with indignation. They replied that they had held their lands independent of the King of France, and would still hold them independent of the King of England. The planters then submitted a plan to government for transporting this brave people to Africa, which plan met with approbation. The Caribbs, however, were passionately attached to their native plains, and hence determined on resistance. Two regiments were then dispatched from North America, to join others in the island, for the purpose of reducing them to subjection. Several skirmishes took place, but the rainy season and sickness, added to the difficulties of the country, prevented our troops from completing their subjugation. Such was the state of the island when Parliament met, and the account of these hostilities, in which detestable cruelties had been committed on both sides, was made the subject of animadversion. Motions concerning the cause of the war and the state of our troops were made by the opposition, but ministers negatived them with their usual majorities; and before the discussions were over, intelligence arrived, that the Caribbs had acknowledged themselves subject to the British crown, retaining their ancient customs in their intercourse with each other, and ceding certain districts to the British settlers. This put an end to all further debates on the question.

PETITION OF NAVAL OFFICERS.

On the 9th of February, a petition was presented by Lord Howe, from the captains of the navy, praying for a trifling increase of their half-pay. This was opposed by Lord North, who stated that the present state of the public finances put it out of his power to be liberal, and that by granting this petition a door would be open to similar claims. It was, however, so warmly defended by Lord Howe, and other members—some of whom ridiculed the idea that the finances of this great and opulent country were in so wretched a state as not to be able to afford the pittance of £6000 a year, for the relief of men to whom her power and glory were so much indebted—that the prayer of the petition was granted. A motion was carried by which the half-pay of naval officers was increased by the addition of two shillings a day.

SUBSCRIPTION TO THE THIRTY-NINE ARTICLES.

This subject again occupied the attention of parliament in this session. A bill, more generally conceived than the last, was brought into the commons for the relief of Protestant Dissenters. Upon this occasion the Wesleyan methodists, now a numerous and powerful body, made common cause with the church, and denounced any change or innovation in the Act of Toleration, as dangerous. Petitions were sent up to parliament by them against the relief prayed for by the dissenting body, although they were, in point of fact, themselves dissenters. Burke supported the bill, and his eloquence and powerful reasoning had a great effect upon the house. But his exertions this time were scarcely needed, for Lord North himself, and other ministers gave the bill their warmest support, and it passed the commons by large majorities. In the house of lords, it was strongly opposed, and rejected by a majority of 102 against 29. In the debate upon it, the bill was defended by the Earl of Chatham, who in his speech did not even spare the right reverend bench. In the debate, Dr. Drummond, Archbishop of York, had called the dissenting ministers “men of close ambition.” In reply to this, Chatham observed:—“Whoever brought such a charge against them defamed them. The dissenting ministers are represented as men of close ambition. They are so in some respects. Their ambition is to keep close to the college of fishermen, not of cardinals; and to the doctrine of the inspired apostles, not to the decrees of interested and aspiring bishops. They contend for a spiritual creed and a spiritual worship: we have a Calvinistic creed, a Popish liturgy, and an Arminian clergy.” At a later period of the session a motion was made in the commons by Sir William Meredith, for abolishing the subscription to the thirty-nine articles at the time of matriculation, but this was rejected.

DEBATES ON EAST INDIA MEASURES.

During the recess, the East India directors reduced their dividend to six per cent. This palliative, however, was of no avail, and they were obliged to pass a vote for applying to government for the loan of one million and a half to relieve them from their pecuniary difficulties. A petition to this effect was presented to parliament, and Lord North, after exculpating government from various insinuations regarding the annual payment of the company, moved a series of resolutions, tending to establish the grant of a loan as a matter of necessary policy, but not as a claim of right or justice. He proposed that £1,400,000 should be advanced, and that their dividends should be restricted to six per cent, till the whole was repaid, and afterwards to seven per cent, until their bond debt was reduced to £1,500,000. This passed without a division. At the same time, Lord North suggested some regulations as proper to prevent the recurrence of similar embarrassments, and to reform all abuses in the government of India. On a future day he moved that the company should be permitted to export tea to America free of all duty, which was accepted by the company as a great boon: they having at that time seventeen millions of pounds of tea in their warehouses in England. Finally, he proposed his grand plan for the regulation of their affairs, as well in India as in Europe. This plan provided that six directors should be elected annually, none holding their seats more than four years; that the stock for the qualification of an elector should be raised from five hundred to one thousand pounds, and possessed twelve months previous to an election; and that in lieu of the mayor’s court at Calcutta, a new tribunal should be established, consisting of a chief justice and three puisne judges appointed by the crown, a superiority being also given to Bengal over all the other presidencies. These latter resolutions occasioned warm debates, and met with vehement opposition, but they were all eventually carried, and a bill framed on them passed through both houses with overwhelming majorities. From this time the affairs of India are generally regarded as being lodged securely in the hands of government.

THE SESSION CLOSED.

During this session, ministers seem to have carried their motions and plans with great facility. The opposition for the most part was tame and spiritless, whence Burke calls it,—“a tedious session.” On one occasion, however, the harmony which prevailed in the cabinet, and between the two houses, was momentarily interrupted. The lords having taken upon themselves to make some amendments in a money bill, sent it again down to the commons, and they resenting this as an infringement of their rights, tossed it over the table, and kicked it out of the house as though it had been a foot-ball. This matter, however, was soon forgotten; and when his majesty put an end to the session, he expressed his satisfaction at the harmony which had subsisted during their deliberations, as well as at the zeal, assiduity, and perseverance which had been displayed. In his speech he regretted the continuance of the war between the Porte and Russia; declared he had a close friendship both with the czarina and sultan, but no engagements with either; applauded the relief and support given to the East India Company; and stated that the national debt had been somewhat reduced. But not one word was said about the fate of Poland.

PROCEEDINGS IN THE CITY.

During the month of May the Duke of Gloucester’s wife was delivered of a daughter, and on this occasion, Wilkes moved at a court of common-council, that an humble address of congratulation should be presented to his majesty on the safe delivery, and the birth of a princess. This motion was supported by Sir Watkin Lewes, but other aldermen opposed it, not only on the ground that the king had never acknowledged the lady for his sister, but because it was unusual for the city to address the king, except for the issue of his immediate heir. Earlier in the year, indeed, the queen had been delivered of another son, Augustus Frederic, the late duke of Sussex, and no mention had then been made of an address, and therefore to have presented one on this occasion, would have been invidious, if not indelicate. This motion, therefore, proved abortive. Wilkes, however, with his friend Oliver, succeeded in obtaining from the court of alderman a resolution “that a frequent appeal to the people by short parliaments was their undoubted right, as well as the only means of obtaining a real representation;” and the livery not only passed a similar resolution, but proposed it as a test for the city candidates at a future election. Another strong petition and remonstrance on the old grievances, the Middlesex election, the imprisonment of the lord mayor, etc., and praying for a dissolution of parliament, and a change of ministers, was got up in the city and presented to the king, by the lord mayor, Sergeant Glynn, Alderman Bull, and others of the city officers, on the 26th of March. Before the citizens were introduced to his majesty, they were given to understand that they would not be allowed the honour of kissing his hand, and when it was presented, the king sternly told them, that their petition was so void of foundation, and conceived in such disrespectful terms, that he felt convinced the petitioners did not seriously imagine that its prayer could be complied with.

CONTINENTAL POLITICS.

While the cabinets of Petersburg, Vienna, and Berlin were occupied in dismembering Poland, and aggrandizing their dominions at the expense of that ill-fated country, France was making preparations to send a powerful fleet into the Baltic. This was evidently the forerunner of some ulterior design, although D’Aigullon, the prime minister of France, endeavoured to keep those designs from the public view. He was, however, unable to elude the vigilance, or to baffle the penetration of the British cabinet. After expatiating on the ambition of Russia, as well as the ties of honour and interest by which France was bound to assist Sweden, D’Aigullon was informed by Lord Stormont, the British ambassador, that, if France sent her ships into the Baltic, they would be followed by a British fleet. The presence of two fleets, he said, would have no more effect than a neutrality, and that, however the British cabinet might desire peace between England and France, it was impossible to foresee the consequences that might arise from accidental collision. This had some effect, for the squadron at Brest was countermanded; but soon after the French minister, in hopes of eluding observation, gave orders for the equipment of an armament at Toulon, under pretence of exercising the sailors of France in naval tactics. Discovering this, the British cabinet made vigorous demonstrations of resistance. The English ambassador was directed to declare that the objections made against a fleet of France occupying the Baltic, applied equally to the Mediterranean, and a memorial was presented to the French minister, accompanied by a demand that it should be laid before the king, and council. This was sufficient: the armament was countermanded and the sailors discharged.

IRISH AFFAIRS.

The spirit of disaffection was still rife in Ireland. The Earl of Harcourt having been appointed to the government, was at first received with great joy, but he soon found that his popularity was not sufficient to ensure obedience to the dictates of the British cabinet, or to repress the overflowings of human passion. The White Boys, and the Hearts of Steel, still exhibited a turbulent spirit, which nothing could allay or soothe. Nor was it among the populace alone that ill-feeling was displayed. When the Irish parliament met, the spirit of liberty was discerned in that assembly likewise. The speaker of the house of commons, in a speech to his excellency before the lords, expressed the inability of the country to endure any additional taxation, by reason of those commercial restrictions, which, he said, had fettered all its energies. The claim of commercial freedom was, indeed, warmly repeated in the official addresses of the speaker during the continuance of the government of this viceroy, and a spirit of jealousy also appeared in a refusal to admit foreign mercenaries, when the British troops were withdrawn to America, although the English government offered to defray all the expenses. A relaxation of the penal code, however, by which the condition of the Roman Catholics was improved, had the effect of lowering the angry feelings of the nation, and on the whole the government of the Earl of Harcourt is looked upon as having produced beneficial results to the country. Dr. Miller says, “The government of Lord Townshend had termininated the oligarchical administration: that of Lord Harcourt unfolded those germs of political energy, which were soon to expand themselves into national prosperity and importance.”

DISPUTES WITH THE AMERICAN COLONIES.

The storm which had long been gathering in the horizon, was now gathering thick over our American colonies, and threatened ere long to pour out its fury throughout the whole length and breadth of the conn-try. It was now increased by the attempt of Lord North at taking the payment of the colonial judges and governors out of the hands of the houses of assembly. This the Americans declared was an attempt of the British government to impose its own arbitrary instruments upon them; to destroy the very essence of their charters and liberties, by making the judges and governors wholly independent of the people, and dependent on the crown. Resistance was therefore resolved upon. A series of protests were issued from the assembly of Boston, and the example was followed by all the assemblies throughout the colonies. For the purpose of making the opposition more effectual, a corresponding committee was established, with branches and ramifications, which reached nearly to every town and village throughout the colonies, and the effect of this great lever of the revolution was soon seen in a general combination of measures, a unanimity of language, and a general persecution of all those who were in favour of the British government. The movement, which had hitherto been slow in its progress, now took rapid strides, the celerity of which nothing could impede. The assembly of Boston, always in the van, next got up a manifesto, which treated the authority of the British parliament with contempt. This manifesto declared that the British parliament had no right to legislate for the colonies in any matter whatever; denounced the declaratory act recommended by Chatham, and passed in 1768, as an unjust assumption of a legislative power, without the consent of the colonists; and charged the British ministry with a design to complete a system of slavery begun in the house of commons. Copies of this manifesto were dispersed throughout the province of Massachusets, urging the people not to dose any longer, or to sit supinely, whilst the hand of oppression was plucking the choicest fruits from the tree of liberty. The people, however, seem to have considered it as too violent, for it was not responded to as the Bostonians expected it would have been, and they were compelled somewhat to retrace their steps, They apologized to the British government for having gone thus far, throwing the whole blame on their new governor, Mr. Hutchinson, who, they said, had provoked them to act thus by his intemperate conduct. At the same time they stated that they were faithful subjects of his majesty, and that they conceived themselves happy in their connexion with Great Britain! At this critical moment, however, when the minds of the people of New England wavered, and when the southern and middle countries were comparatively peaceable, communications were received from England, which set the whole country in commotion.

During the course of the disputes, certain letters had been written by Mr. Hutchinson, Mr. Oliver, lieutenant-governor., and others, to the home government, reflecting strongly on the character of the colonial opposition, and recommending the adoption of coercive measures, and a material change in the system of the government of the colonies. These letters were strictly confidential, but they were purloined from the office in which they were deposited by some person favourable to American interests, and placed in the hands of Dr. Franklin, agent for the province of Massachusets. Franklin thought proper to transmit these letters to a friend in that province, with a strict injunction against their being printed, as he had given a promise to the friend who had furnished him with them to that effect. Their contents, however, soon became known, and the legislative assembly obliged Franklin’s correspondent to produce them, and having resolved that the tendency of them was to overthrow the constitution and to introduce arbitrary power into the province, the house of assembly drew up a petition to the king, charging the governor with betraying his trust, and slandering the people under his government; declaring him an enemy to the colony; and praying for the instant dismissal of both Hutchinson and Oliver, the governor and deputy-governor of the province. Copies of this petition, and also of the letters which gave rise to it, were soon scattered over all the continent, from the Lawrence to the Mississippi, and from the shores of the Atlantic to the regions of the far west; and their effects soon became manifest. Long before this, in 1772, the people of Rhode Island had insulted the British flag by boarding, capturing, and burning a British ship of war, and though government had offered a large reward with pardon, if claimed by an accomplice, for the discovery and apprehension of any persons engaged in the outrage, all the offenders had escaped with impunity. Opposition to the British government, now that the letters transmitted by Franklin had inflamed the public mind, grew more bold. In the midst of the discontent two ships arrived at Boston with the cargoes of tea which Lord North had allowed the East India Company to export duty free. Anterior to their arrival, meetings had been held and mobs raised, to terrify the consignees into an engagement not to receive the tea, and when they arrived, another meeting of the inhabitants of Boston and all the neighbouring towns was called to prevent its being landed. At this meeting a resolution was passed, asserting among other things that the tea ships were sent for the purpose of enslaving and poisoning all freeborn Americans, and that the tea which came charged with a duty to be paid in America should not be landed, but be sent back in the same bottoms. The consignees offered to store the teas till they could receive further instructions; but this moderate offer was rejected with disdain, and a strong body of Bostonians armed with muskets, rifles, swords, and cutlasses, were sent down to Griffin’s wharf to watch the ships, in order to prevent a single leaf from being put on shore. This was on the 30th of November, and on the 14th of December, two other ships freighted by the East India Company having arrived, another crowded meeting was held at the Old South Meeting-house, whence orders were sent to the captains of the tea vessels to return without delay. The answer received was, that the collector could not give any clearance until the vessels had discharged their cargoes, and, indeed, if the captains had been disposed to return, they could not have complied with the demand, as the governor had ordered that they should not be allowed to pass the forts without a permit signed by himself, and Admiral Montague had sent two ships of war to guard all the passages out of the harbour. The meeting waited for the reply, and when it arrived, a question was put whether those assembled would abide by their former resolutions respecting the tea, which was carried unanimously. A message was then sent to desire the governor to give the ships a permit to depart, and he replied that he could not consistently with his duty to the king give any pass unless the vessels were properly qualified from the custom-house. The meeting was about to consider this reply, when a person disguised like an Indian, began uttering the war-whoop in tones so natural that he might have been taken for a real savage. His yell was succeeded by the cry of “A mob, a mob!” and some, more cautious than the rest, moved that the meeting should be dissolved. This was done, and many of the people ran at once from the old meeting-house to Griffin’s wharf, where they were met by a number of men disguised as Mohawk Indians, and by a still greater number of skippers, sailors, boatmen, and men of colour. In overwhelming force these boarded the ships, split open the tea-chests, and having emptied their contents into the sea, returned, without being discovered, to their homes. The moment of excitement was followed by trembling anxiety. The Bostonians now began to tremble for their charter, their property, and their trade; and, as before, some attempted to throw all the blame upon the conduct of their governor. As for the governor himself, he represented to the ministry at home, that it was out of his power to prevent the destruction of the tea, without yielding to unreasonable demands, and thereby rendering the authority of government null and void. It is to be regretted that the assembly took part with the mob, and thereby accelerated the fearful consummation of their violent proceedings. As if animated by the popular proceedings they renewed their personal contests with the governor, and even proceeded so far as to vote articles of impeachment against the chief justice, Peter Oliver, for a design of introducing a partial, arbitrary, and corrupt administration of the laws, he having declined to receive the annual grant of the assembly, and accepted a stipend from his majesty. The message conveying this resolution was indignantly rejected by the governor, who disclaimed all power of determining on such cases, and as the house persevered in attempting to force it on him under a different form, he dissolved the assembly.

{A.D. 1774}

MEETING OF PARLIAMENT.

Parliament met on the 13th of January. At that time little was known of the disturbances in America, and the king’s speech represented the state of foreign affairs to be in such a quiescent state, that the legislature would have ample time to attend to the improvement of our domestic concerns, and to the prosecution of measures immediately connected with the revenue and commerce of the kingdom. The deteriorated state of the gold coin was especially mentioned as an object requiring attention. The addresses were voted in both houses with little or no debate.

EARLY MEASURES IN THIS SESSION.

In the early part of this session public attention was excited by the proceedings of the house of commons, respecting a libel on their speaker, which had been published in the Public Advertiser. The house issued an order for Woodfall the printer to attend at the bar, which was obeyed without hesitation, and being interrogated as to the author, he gave the name of the Rev. John Home. Woodfall was then ordered into the custody of the sergeant-at-arms, and Home was then brought before the house. Home inquired whether Woodfall’s declaration was to be taken as evidence, or as the charge against him, and being told that it constituted the charge, he pleaded “Not guilty,” as in an ordinary court. The house was embarrassed; Woodfall was again called in and confronted with Home, but as he was implicated in the guilt of the publication, his evidence was not sufficient to warrant conviction. Three of Woodfall’s printers were next brought before the house; but they failed in proving the accusation, and Home was set at liberty.

The first parliamentary struggle in this session, took place on the ministerial motion for 20,000 seamen, as in the preceding year. The opposition argued that it was absurd to talk of peace and yet keep up such an establishment, and they called upon ministers to state how they had disposed of the supplies voted in the last meeting of parliament for the navy. This motion, however, was carried without a division. On the part of the opposition two motions were made and negatived: the first being that of Alderman Sawbridge for shortening the duration of parliament, and the second, that of Sir George Saville, concerning the Middlesex election, and the infringement of the rights of electors. Ministers, however, were not so successful in their opposition to a motion made by Sir Edward Stanley, to bring in a bill for rendering Grenville’s Controverted Election Act perpetual. Experience seems to have proved its utility, and though Lord North appeared at the head of the opposition, many of his friends forsook him on this occasion, and the bill was passed by a large majority, and received the royal assent before the end of the session. From this period disputed elections have been tried with the same scrupulousness and solemnity as any other titles: while previous to it, as Dr. Johnson observed, “the nation was insulted with a mock election, and the parliament was filled with spurious representatives.”

THE BOSTONIAN PETITION.

It has been seen that the assembly of Boston had voted a petition to the king for the removal of their governor and deputy governor. This petition, together with attested copies of the letters, were transmitted to Dr. Franklin, the agent for the colony, or house of representatives of Massachusets. These were delivered by Franklin to Lord Dartmouth, who presented them to the king, and his majesty signified his pleasure that they should be laid before the privy council.

In the mean time the affair had been the cause of bloodshed. Mr. Whately, secretary to the treasury, to whom the letters had been originally addressed, had recently died, and a sharp correspondence took place between his brother, a banker in Lombard-street, and Mr. John Temple, lieutenant-governor of New Hampshire: the former wishing to avoid the charge of giving up the documents, and the latter that of purloining them. The dispute ran so high that a duel was the consequence, in which Mr. Whately was dangerously wounded. The event caused great excitement, and Dr. Franklin wrote and published a letter in the Public Advertiser, in which he declared that neither Mr. Whately nor Mr. Temple had any thing to do with the letters, and that both of them were totally ignorant of the transaction. His words are:—“I think it incumbent on me to declare, for the prevention of further mischief, that I alone am the person who obtained and transmitted to Boston the letters in question. Mr. Whately could not communicate them, because they were never in his possession; and for the same reason, they could not have been taken from him by Mr. Temple. They were not of the nature of private letters between friends; they were written by public officers to persons in public stations, on public affairs, and intended to procure public measures; they were, therefore, handed to other public persons, who might be influenced by them to produce those measures; their tendency was to incense the mother country against her colonies, and by the steps recommended to widen the breach, which they effected. The chief caution expressed with regard to privacy was, to keep their contents from the colony agents, who, the writers apprehended, might return them, or copies of them, to America. That apprehension was, it seems, well founded; for the first agent who laid his hands on them thought it his duty to transmit them to his constituents.”

It was on the 29th of January that the subject of the Bostonian petition was brought before the privy council. On that day, Franklin, with Mr. Dunning as council, attended to support the petition, and Mr. Wedderburne, the solicitor-general, attended as counsel for the governor. The counsel for the Assembly of Boston was first heard, and he endeavoured to substantiate their complaints, by exhibiting the letters which had been published, and drawing an inference from them, that the writers were unworthy of confidence, either from the government or the province of Massachusets. He called for the instant dismissal of an officer so hostile to the rights and liberties of his countrymen. He argued that the man who declared that “there must be an abridgment of English liberty in the colonies,” was justly charged with making wicked and injurious representations, designed to influence the ministry and the nation, and to excite jealousies in the breast of the king against his faithful subjects.

Mr. Dunning was replied to by Mr. Wedderburne, whose naturally sharp tongue was on this occasion rendered still sharper by his friendship for Mr. Whately who was lying between life and death. After reviewing the arguments of the opposite counsel, Wedderburne directed himself to an inculpation of the assembly and people of Massachusets; in the course of which he attacked Dr. Franklin in a strain of bitter invective, on the ground of having violated private confidence in the disclosure of the letters. He observed, “These could not have come to Dr. Franklin by fair means; the writers did not give them to him, nor yet did the deceased correspondent, who from our intimacy, would otherwise have told me of it. Nothing then will acquit Dr. Franklin of the charge of obtaining them by fraudulent or corrupt means, for the most malignant of purposes, unless he stole them from the person who stole them.... I hope, my lords, you will mark and brand the man for the honour of this country, of Europe, and of mankind. Private correspondence has hitherto been held sacred in times of the greatest party rage, not only in politics, but religion;—he has forfeited all the respect of societies and of men. Into what companies will he hereafter go with an unembarrassed face, or the honest intrepidity of virtue? Men will watch him with a jealous eye; they will hide their papers from him, and lock up their escrutoires; he will henceforth esteem it a libel to be called a man of letters; _homo trium literarum_! He not only took away the letters from one brother, but kept himself concealed till he nearly occasioned the murder of the other. It is impossible to read his account, expressive of the coolest and most deliberate malice, without horror.” Wedderburne concluded with this indignant burst of feeling:—“Amidst tranquil events, here is a man who, with the utmost insensibility of remorse, stands up and avows himself the author of all. I can compare him only to Zanga, in Dr. Young’s Revenge:—

‘Know, then, ’twas I. I forged the letter—I disposed the picture—I hated—I despised—and I destroy’

I ask, my lords, whether the revengeful temper attributed to the bloody African, is not surpassed by the coolness and apathy of the wily American?”

It is said that during this celebrated invective the members of the council laughed with exultation; none preserving a decent gravity, except Lord North. On the other hand, Franklin is said to have heard it all with composure, standing erect in one corner of the room, and not suffering the slightest alteration of his countenance to be visible. The words of Wedderburne, however, coupled with the derisive and exulting laugh of the council, sank deep into the soul of Franklin. He appeared in a full dress of spotted Manchester velvet, and it is said that, when he returned to his lodgings he took off this dress, and vowed he would never wear it again until he should sign the degradation of England and the independence of America. After proceedings against him tended to perpetuate that feeling. Hitherto he had been allowed to retain the profitable place of postmaster general for America, but three days after the meeting of the council, he was dismissed by letter from that office. The report of the council also, on the subject of the petition, tended to confirm him in feelings of hostility toward the British government. It stated “that the petition was founded on resolutions which were formed on false and erroneous allegations: that it was groundless, vexatious, scandalous, and calculated only for the seditious purpose of keeping up a spirit of clamour and discontent in the province: that nothing had appeared to impeach in any degree the honour, integrity, and conduct of the governor or deputy-governor; and that their lordships were humbly of opinion that the said petition ought to be dismissed.” Moreover, the sympathy which Franklin met with from some of the leading members of the opposition, tended still further to embitter the passions which had been roused in the mind of the philosopher. That boastful patriot himself—the great Earl of Chatham—hastened to express his sympathy with Franklin, and his detestation of the treatment he had received from Wedderburne and the government. It is due to the character of Chatham, however, to say that had he been aware of Franklin’s extreme intentions, he would, instead of affording him his sympathy, have joined with Wedderburne in holding him up to public contempt. That great orator, indeed, at all times, whether in office or out of office, whether in favour of the measures of government or banding against them, invariably held that the dependence of the colonies was absolutely and vitally essential, not merely to the honour and greatness and wealth of the mother country, but also to her safety and existence. He had, in truth, asserted that the moment America should be free, wholly independent of, and separated from Great Britain, the sun of England would set for ever. It cannot be, therefore, supposed for one moment, that he would willingly and knowingly have aided in lopping this fair and fruitful branch from the parent tree. In point of fact, Franklin endeavoured, to conceal his extreme views from the public eye; for while in private life, and to bosom friends, he stated his unalterable resolution of procuring the independence of America, he was openly professing to his best advocates, the leaders of the opposition in both houses of parliament, that the wish dearest to his heart—in common with the hearts of all honest Americans—was a continuance of the connexion with his dear old mother country!

{GEORGE III. 1773–1775}

PARLIAMENTARY PROCEEDINGS AGAINST AMERICA.

At length intelligence arrived in England concerning the alarming transactions in America. The news excited strong national resentment, so that when the subject was brought before parliament, ministers had not to encounter any formidable opposition to the measures they proposed in order to meet the case. It was on the 7th of March that Lord North introduced this subject to the house. On that day he delivered a message to the members from the king, in which a design was intimated of correcting and preventing such disorders, and submitted a vast mass of documents from the governor of Boston, and other persons in authority for their inspection. In reply to this message, a motion was made for an address to the throne, to return thanks for it, and the gracious communication of the papers, with an assurance that they would not fail to exert every means in their power of effectually providing for objects so important to the general welfare as maintaining the due execution of the laws, and securing the just dependence of the colonies upon the crown and parliament of Great Britain. Some few opposed this address, although they admitted that the conduct of the Bostonians and Rhode Islanders was exasperating in the highest degree; but the motion was nevertheless carried without a division. Following up this address, on the 14th of March, Lord North moved for leave to bring in a bill “for the immediate removal of all officers concerned in the collection and management of his majesty’s duties and customs from the town of Boston; and to discontinue the landing and discharging, lading and shipping, of goods, wares, and merchandize at the said town of Boston, or within the harbour thereof.” This bill encountered scarcely more opposition than the address had met with. On its first introduction it was received with general applause, and it was pushed on with such vigour that it passed through both houses within fourteen days, and on the 31st of March it received the royal assent: the trade of Boston was annihilated.

While the Boston Port Bill was before the lords, North, in a committee of the whole house, brought in a bill “for better regulating the government of Massachusets Bay.” The object of this bill was to alter the constitution of that province as it stood upon the charter of William III.; to do away with the popular elections, which decided everything in that colony; to take the executive power out of the hands of the democratic party; and to vest the nomination of the members of the council, of the judges, and of magistrates, including sheriffs, in the crown, and in the king’s governor. In support of this bill, Lord North said, that the province of Massachusets Bay had been turbulent beyond all bearing, and had set an ill example to all the colonies; that an executive power was required in that province, inasmuch as the force of the civil power consisted solely in the _posse comitatus_: that is, in the very people by whom the tumults were excited. He asked if the democratic party exhibits a contempt for the laws, how any governor was to enforce them, if he had not the power either of appointing or removing magistrates? He could now, he said, give no order without the assent of seven members of the popularly elected council; and he urged that it was in vain laws and regulations were made in England, when there were none found to execute them in America. In conclusion, he expressed a hope that the present bill would create an executive power, and give strength and spirit to the civil magistracy; and professed himself open to discussion and a change of opinion, if his views were proved to be erroneous.

This bill encountered more opposition than that of the Boston Port Bill, and it was considerably altered in committee. As it stood when presented anew, after the Easter recess, the council of Massachusets Bay was placed on the same footing as the councils of other colonies: the nomination was vested in the crown., and they were to have no negative voice, or power to appoint, as hitherto, the judicial officers of the province. Moreover, the mode of choosing juries was altered, and the continual assemblies and town-meetings held in Boston were not to be convened without the consent of the governor, unless for the annual election of certain officers. The bill, as altered, however, encountered much opposition. In support of it Mr. Welbore Ellis asserted that it was the duty of the legislature to alter or take away charters, if they were abused, or found deficient; and he was supported in these views by Mr. Charles Jenkinson and Mr. Dyson, who argued that in this case the house proceeded, not in its judicial, but in its legislative capacity, regulating and supplying deficiencies in charters granted by the crown. The opposition took a different view of the measure, denouncing it as arbitrary and likely to lead to permanent evils. Thus General Conway could see nothing but increased exasperation, misfortune, and ruin from the adoption of such measures; and he, with other members, asked for more time, and demanded that the province should be heard before an act was passed which would deprive its people of their chartered rights. The opposition, also, argued, that the Bostonians and their neighbours had flourished for nearly fourscore years under their democratic charter, and that, therefore, they ought not now to be deprived of it. Some even asked what crime and errors the New Englanders had really been guilty of, as though they had never heard of the outrages which had been committed. In reply to this latter question, Lord North said, with more than his usual warmth, “I will tell you what the Americans have done: they have tarred and feathered the officers and subjects of Great Britain; they have plundered our merchants, burnt our ships, denied all obedience to our laws and authority! Our conduct has been clement and forbearing, but now it is incumbent to take a different course. Whatever may be the consequence, we must risk something, or all is over.” To adopt such a measure as this, however, was clearly risking too much. Governor Pownall, who said that he spoke for the last time on the subject, warned ministers of the more than probable consequences of it, in these terms:—“The measure which you are pursuing will be resisted, not by force or the effect of arms, but by a regular united system. I told this house, four years ago, that the people of America would resist the tax then permitted to remain on them—that they would not oppose power to power, But would become implacable. Have they not been so from that time to this very hour? I tell you again, that they will resist the measures now pursued in a more vigorous way. Committees of correspondence in the different provinces are in constant communication: they do not trust in the conveyance of the post-office; they have set up a constitutional courier, which will quickly grow up to the superseding of your post-office. As soon as intelligence of these affairs reaches them, they will judge it necessary to communicate with each other: it will be found inconvenient and ineffectual to do so by letters. They must confer; they will hold a conference; and to what these committees, thus met in congress, will grow up, I will not say. Should recourse be had to arms, you will hear of other officers than those appointed by your governor Then, as in the late civil wars of this country, it will be of little consequence to dispute who were the aggressors.” Sir Richard Sutton spoke in a similar strain; asserting, that though it was not confessed, the Americans were aiming at total independence, and would never again submit quietly to English laws and regulations of trade.

This debate took place on the second reading of the bill. The third reading occurred on the 2nd of May, when Sir William Meredith insisted that the parliament of Great Britain had an indisputable right to lay duties upon the Americans, and to tax them externally. Mr. Thomas Townshend, also, though equally warm as Sir William Meredith in opposition to ministers on general points, gave this measure his decided support. Though averse to meddling with charters, he said, the evils of town-meetings justified interference, and that the institution of juries was properly altered according to the forms of the mother country. Thurlow, the attorney-general, and Lord North spoke in favour of the bill, likewise, on this occasion, the latter expressing a hope that good consequences might arise from its adoption. It was opposed by Mr. Burke, Mr. Charles Fox, and Colonel Barré, the latter of whom reprobated the violence of both houses. “In the lords,” said he, “the phrase is, ‘We have passed the Rubicon!’—in the commons, ‘Delenda est Carthago!’” But opposition was of no avail. The bill was carried by an overwhelming majority in the lower house; and when it was taken into the upper house, though it was severely criticised, opposed, and denounced by a few lords, most of the peers were in its favour, and it passed into a law.

In order to qualify the severity of the bill for regulating the government of Massachusets, Mr. Rose Fuller, on the 19th of April, moved that the house should, that day se’nnight, resolve itself into a committee for taking into consideration the question of a total repeal of the tea duty. This was opposed by Lord North, who contended that no acts of lenity ought to attend their restrictive measures. He argued, that to repeal at this time would show such wavering and inconsistent policy as would defeat the good effects of that vigorous system which had been too long delayed, and which was now adopted. The expediency of the repeal, however, was ably advocated by Mr. Burke. He contended, that from the period of the repeal of the Stamp Act, the practical right of taxing America ought to have been for ever banished from the minds of all statesmen; and he severely exposed the absurdity of continuing a tax merely for the sake of a preamble to an act of parliament, when five-sixths of the revenue intended to be raised by it had been abandoned. Burke then gave a concise detail of our ministerial and political transactions with America; after which he recommended the repeal of this impost as a measure of policy, and advised the house, if they found any ill effects arising from this concession, then at once to stop short, and to oppose the ancient policy and practice of the empire to innovations on both sides. This, he said, would enable them to stand on great, manly, and sure grounds. As for the distinctions of rights he deprecated all reasonings about them. “Leave the Americans,” he observed, “as they anciently stood; and these distinctions, born of our unhappy contest, will die with it. Be content to bind America by laws of trade. You have always done so; and let this be your reason for continuing to do it. Do not burden them with taxes; for you were not used to do so from the beginning. These are arguments for states and kingdoms: leave the rest to the schools where alone they can be discussed with safety.” The rejection of this advice, he said, would be followed by resistance on the part of the colonies; for if the sovereignty of England and the freedom of America could not be reconciled, the Americans would be sure to cast off sovereignty: no man would be argued into slavery. The opinions which Burke uttered on this occasion were at variance with those expressed on the passing of the Declaratory Act, and with the act itself. He attempted to reconcile them, however, by the nice distinction of a double power in parliament. He remarked:—“The parliament of Great Britain sits at the head of her extensive empire in two capacities—one as the local legislature of this island, with the executive power as her instrument of action; the other and nobler capacity is what I call her imperial character, by which she guides and controls all the inferior and provincial legislatures.” In this, he maintained, her power was boundless; and having entered at large on its utility, and the manner in which it had been exercised, he thus concluded:—“It is agreed that a revenue is not to be had from America: if, then, we lose the profit, let us at least get rid of the odium.” No arguments, however powerful, were of avail—the motion was negatived.

A third measure of restriction introduced into the commons by ministers was “A Bill for the impartial Administration of Justice in the Cases of Persons questioned for any Acts done by them in the Execution of the Laws, as for the Suppression of Riots and Tumults in the Province of Massachusets Bay, in New England.” By this bill the governor, if he found that a person indicted for murder, or any other capital offence, incurred in suppressing such tumults, was not likely to obtain an impartial trial, might send the person so indicted to another colony or to Great Britain, to be fairly tried there. This bill was to be limited to four years, and in support of it Lord North argued, that it was absolutely necessary to give effect to the other coercive measures; that it was in vain to appoint a magistracy that would act if none could be found bold enough to act with them and execute their orders; that these orders would probably be resisted by force; and this force would necessitate force on the side of government, and probably occasion the shedding of blood. He asked, what officers would risk this event if the rioters themselves, or their abettors, were afterwards to sit as their judges? And he alleged, that a precedent was to be found in our own laws, in the case of smuggling, it being customary to remove the trial of smugglers to another county: the Scotch rebels were also, he said, in 1745, tried in England. North next urged, that particular privileges ought to give way on some occasions, and that when the public safety of our own country was endangered even the _Habeas Corpus_ had been suspended. The bill, he remarked, was not meant to screen guilt, but to protect innocence. The Americans, he said, must be taught that we will no longer sit quietly under their insults; and that, being roused, our measures, though free from cruelty and revenge, would be as efficacious as they were necessary. This was the last act, he stated, that he had to propose in order to perfect his plan, and that the rest would depend on the vigilance of his majesty’s servants employed in America. In conclusion, he mentioned that four regiments, usually stationed in different parts of North America, had all been ordered to Boston; and that General Gage was appointed governor and commander-in-chief.

This measure was opposed with greater vehemence and better arguments than those which had preceded it. Colonel Barré, who had given a partial support to the Boston Port Bill, denounced it as unprecedented, unwarranted, and as fraught with misery and oppression to America, and with danger to this country. It stigmatised a whole people, he remarked, as persecutors of innocence, and as men incapable of doing justice, whereas the very reverse was the fact. As a proof of the impartiality of Bostonian courts and juries, he instanced the acquittal of Captain Preston and the soldiers who had killed some persons in a riot; and he denied that the instances of trials for smuggling and for treason, adduced by Lord North, were at all applicable to the present case. He asked, what reliance the Americans could have on the impartiality of juries in other provinces, or in England, and dwelt with great force on the danger of screening the soldiery, whose passions were already inflamed against the people of Massachusets Bay. “A soldier,” he observed, “feels himself so much above the rest of mankind, that the strict hand of the civil power is necessary to check and restrain the haughtiness of disposition which such superiority inspires. What constant care is taken in this country to remind the military that they are under the restraint of civil power! In America their superiority is felt still more. Remove the check of the law, as this bill proposes, and what insolence, what outrage, may you not expect! Every passion that is pernicious to society will be let loose on a people unaccustomed to licentiousness and intemperance. The colonists, who have been long complaining of oppression, will see in the soldiery those who are to enforce it on them; while the military, strongly prepossessed against the people as rebellious, unawed by the civil power, and actuated by that arbitrary spirit which prevails in the best troops, will commit violences that might rouse the tamest people to resistance, and which the vigilance of their officers cannot effectually restrain. The inevitable consequences will be open rebellion, which you profess by this act to obviate. I have been bred a soldier; I have served long; I respect the profession, and live in the strictest habits of friendship with many officers; but no country gentleman in this house looks on the army with a more jealous eye, or would more strenuously resist the setting them above the control of civil power. No man is to be trusted in such a situation. It is not the fault of the soldier, but the vice of human nature, which, unbridled by law, becomes insolent and licentious, wantonly violating the peace of society, and trampling upon the rights of human kind.” In conclusion, Barré warned ministers of the results of their restrictive measures; ent