The Pennsylvania packet, or, The general advertiser — Lancaster, Pa.;Philadelphia, Pa., 1783-03-13 00:00:00, page 2

America, 'then 'the o^r ^a word on .which he laid
great stress) might be withdrawn, and would cease
and determine. He spoke with contempt of Spanish
politicks, and alledged that he did not think it fair
argumentation to re rion from what happened to the
Spaniards two hundred years ago, to what happened
now to Great- Britain. If there were certain circum
fiances of fimilArity between the history of P blip 111,
of Spain and the Dutch, and that of George 111. and
the Americans, there were also many circumstances
of d ffimilarity. He vindicated the character of the
American commiffiorters, from the insinuation that
they were under the -direftion of France. He said
that he belie ved them, in his conscience, to be men of
find honour, and that as far as they were bound,
they would fulfil their engagements to France. But
ftiil, their conduct towards Great # Britain, he believ
ed to be free and unconstrained. and he did not know,
that they were in the leaf! influenced by the court of
Versailles. Every exertion, lie assured their lordships,
should be made, in order to obtain an honourable
pea<e. His maiefty's ministers were fully authorifed
to make peace from the sense of the parliament and of
the nation : and although the house of commons did
not constitute parliament, yet his majefly had other
ways of finding out the sense of the nation, than by
the resolutions of that house. His majefly had the
privilege of making peace or war, and the views and
convictions, on which he made either, he might derive
from various sources. He had endea mured to find
out tome means of refloring America to this country,
before he had granted an offer of independency, this
offer, he said, was to him a bitter pill. He repeated
the profeffions he had made when he came into admi
ni ration, and protefltd that he was determined to
abide by them. He came into power with an intenti
on to put an end to the accursed American war: he
bad endeavoured, and would frill endeavour, to re
vive habits of intercourse and affeßion between A
merica and England, before these habits should be in
tirely extinguished; before French habits should
take root in America; before a n-w generation should
spring up with habits, and prejudices hostile to Bri
tain He came into office with a view to bring about
©economy in the civil lift, and to effrd an equal
reprefentetion of the people in parliament : these were
his objects, and these be would pursue. If America
wwo be given up, he insisted that it was the last
administration, that had forced the present, to make
so great a facrifice. He was not the author of
the Boflon port bill, of theduty on tea, or of the
declaratory aft refpeaing America. He answered
lord Sandwich, by paying him compliments on his
openness in parliament, his experience and ability in
negotiation. He could not, without egregious im
pu fence, fay how far he would follow his advice; but
he profeffed a just regard to his opinions. As to in
novations, he hoped that to restore the rights of the
people tobe represented in parliament, would not be
&mfidered as an innovation. His lordship concluded
with a panegyric on the talents and virtues of his
colleagues in office.
Earl Fitzwilliam reminded lord Shelburne of the
tenor of his speeches in June and July last, when
he seemed to indicate a disposition to maintain the
dependence of America on Britain, and asked him
whether any thing had happened to cause an alter
ation in his resolutions? He alledged also, that some
of those ads which had contributed to separate A
merica from Britain, had been pafftd when lord She!
burne was a secretary of Rate,
Lord Stormont also pressed the minister on this head,
and called to his remembrance his affection, that “ 7 he
fun of England's glory would set, whenever indepen
deuce should be granted to America." That fun is
now set, continued his lordship; not a ray of light or
hope; all is utter darkness and horror. I win not,
said his lordship, press this point into any indelicate
expressions concerning particular assertions or dates;
but certainly there was a time when the noble lord did
maintain doHrines very different from those which
feemto govern his conduct at the pretent moment- He
follows, he fays, with reluctance, the dilates of the
people. But surely the voice of the people is not
with this unconditional surrender of America Lord
Stormont observed, that the minister derided Spanish
politicks. Politicians, however, he faid^ who could
retain ten out of seventeen provinces, were more to be
commended, however weak they might be supposed to
be, than those able negociators, who of thirtesn re
tained none. The Spanish minister who a&ed for the
court of Madrid at the peace of Munster, was as able
2 politician as ever existed : and of all the multifarious
negociators, that were now employed by England in
Paris, there was not one whose charade, would fuf
fer by a comparison with that minister.
Lord Shelburne replied, by giving a history of the
circumstances, and the views with which he had come
into office. He had fretted and fermented himfelf, he
said, in order to find out forae other means than those
he had been obliged to use for the purpose of regaining
America ; and all to no purpose.
The duke of Richmond went deeply into the history
of the American war, which he endeavoured to prove
had been oeafioned wholly by the last ministry. He
added, that he h id predicted the reparation of America
from Great-Britain. He then praised the navalexerti
ons of this adminifiration. He said, that Gibraltar
h?d been saved, not solely by general Elliot, although
he had done his duty, but chiefly by lord Howe
whose condud, he declared, h d been Angularly
ikilul, and indeed unparalleled in the naval hiflory
of Britain. It was an honour, he said, to their lord
ffiips, that he had taken his feat among them in that
boufe. Hut, as to the last admini firation, he could
only fay, that not more than eleven ships could be
had for admiral Pigot, when he went to the Weft-
Indies.
Lord Sandwich asked where the present adminiftra.
tio? got all the (hips they had sent to the relief of
Gibraltar ? I will answer (said he) all the noble duke's
insinuations, by declaring, what he cannot contro
vert that there is not at present in his majesty's ser
vice, a ship that was not built, and in commission too,
when I left the admiralty. His lordship insisted, in
apportion to the duke, that Gibraltar had been saved
not by lord Howe chiefly, but almost solely by gene'
ral Elliot. Ido not fay, said he, that lord Howe did
not do his duty, and that too with all possible expe
dition. But who set fire to the Spanish gun boats?
Who furni fried the stores that enabled the garrison t o
hold out before the arrival of lord Howe? Gibraltar
was in effea relieved when the attack of the Spaniards
and French was baffled, with such mighty daughter,
by the brave garrison, under the conduct of their
brave lead r. P mud observe too, continued his lord
ship, that of forty fail of transports, I am well in
formed, not above 28 reached the port of Gibraltar.
The motion, with the amendment, was agreed to
demine contradicerite, add ordered 10 be presented to
his majefly by the lords with white slaves.
HOUSE OF COMMONS.
As soon as the speaker had returned from the other
house, the several members who had been newly
chosen, were sworn in at the table, and the annual
bill of outlawry, as usual, brought in, and read a
firfl time. After which the speaker produced the co
py of hismajefly's speech, and read it to the boute.
Mr. York (member for Cambridgefhire) then rose
and shortly went through the several parts of his ma
jesty's speech, considering them one after another, and
pointingout their immediate importance. Mr. Yorke
spoke so low, that we could not divinely hear all he
said ; the public however are aware, that the cunom
of those members, who move an address, is generally
to dwell in terms ofeulogy upon each particular pas
sage of the speech, and to propose an addrtfs, echo
ing back those passages to nis majefly, accompanied
with warm profeffions of loyalty, zeal and support.
This talk Mr. Yorke pe formed with great diffidence,
but great propriety, and as soon as he had read the
proposed addr^fs,
Mr. Bankes seconded it in a speech somewhat more
digital, heard. NT^ Haukes began with stating the
nature ^ the firft fall communicated to parliament
by his maje'iy in his speech, entering into a d'feuffon
of its importance, and shewing the necessity that im
pelled, and the utility of the measure. He then re
minded the house, that in conceding American inde
pendence, we, in faH, gave her nothing, for tint her
own arms had already obtained it. Having dated
this, he said, that a ray of hope, both rational and
probable, was to be looked up to ; as his majefly had
expressed it, a benefit ri connexion might yet be pre^
served between the t^vo countries, in consequence of
their having the fame religion, and language, i n
sequence of old affection:, and the long eftabliihed
habits of commerce tin r had formerly fubfirted between
them- He next entered upon th- naval fucceffs of
the last campaign; and was warm in praise of our
vidory m the Weft Indies, though no man, he believ
ed, thought Jamaica weald Fill have been fafe, had
th e enemy's fleet purfaed their donation, and not
turned back to protect their trade. He .next declared
the relief of Gibraltar by general Elliot and lord
Howe, was equal to any thing. He printed the dis
tress that those successes muff have cob the , enemy ve
ry firoljgly, but said, great as that undoubtedly , as,
it was not a circumfixnce on which we ought too trium
phantly to rely,and that splendid and glorious at the last
campaign had proved, it ought not to operate so upon
the minds of his country men,as to induce them to ^ le"
ready to treat for peace, or less willing to make feme
facrifices to obtain it. He remarked, that we COVJN
not now exped to obtain terms of pacification so bem^
ficiai as might have been insisted upon at .the end ofri
war more fuccefsful; h^ trusted, therefore, ,that the
nation would not be obflinate, or think that it would
be impolitic to concede fomethiog *s the price of peace,
on account of any wild nations of keeping places mere
ly honorary, or fighting solely for a name, without
any thing under it fubflantially advantageous. He
said, ffie real national honour consisted, in his opinion,
io a ftriH adherence to good faith, a rigid preservation
of our public credit, and a just payment of our debts
The war had already cost us eighty millions, the an
nual iotereft of which was about three millions—a fort
of burthen larger than we could have expected to have
incurred, or ought to have been incurred. It behov
- ed us not, therefore, from an imprudent and rash ae
fire to ruin other powers, to makeourfeNea bankrupts,
and endanger the interest and the treasures of those,
with whose money, we must continue the war, if it
After a short pause, Mr. Fox rose and said, he
had rather wished some other person to have taken
the lead that day; on account of certain situations
in which he had flood, and certain suspicions of some
of the present miniflry, which he was above denying
he entertained, that might induce gentlemen to sup
pose he meant meerly to throw obfiruHions in the
way of government, whether the measures pronofed
by them met with bis approbation or not: Chtal
ly, be had no such view or intention . he rose no.v
merely to make a few remarks that flruck him upon
hearing the speech, and upon hearing the very ex
traordinary manner in which the ad irefs had been
moved and seconded (ably undoubtedly, on both
sides, but particutary so on the part of the honour
able gentleman who fecondtd it.) And what flruck
him firft of all was a trifling error, that he could not
confider asat all intentional, but really believed to
have been an inaccuracy only, and an oversight in
those who prepared toe speech and the address, but
which nevertheless it particularly behoved him to
take some notice of. What he alluded to, was the
particular period of time, from which all the good
that the speech declared to have been done for the
country of late, was dated. The speech began with
was to be continued. He said, to make a separate
peace with America was not to be expeded, but if to
be obtained he feared it was not under our present cir
cumstances to be wished for. That a durable peace
waswhat alone we should aim at making, and the only
means of obtaining it, was, bethought, to remove the
cause of war, by conceding some of the objeas that
had induced the present powers to go to war. Spain
once at peace, he imagined would not fp edily go to
war again. Gibraltar had proved impregnable, and
therefore Spain would scarcely make that again her ob
je&. With regard to the ceconomy spoke of in the
Speech, Mr. Bankes dwelt upon it with energy. He
alluded to what had been already done, and said it
was necessary, not barely to introduce ceconomy, but
parsimony, and even avarice, to get rid of our enor
mous debts. To these remarks he added various others,
al tending to recommend peace, and to induce the
house to agree to the address, which, as soon as he
had concluded his speech, was read in the usual form
from the chair.
these ^ords, “ finee the close of the last sessions ;" now,
the proposition, to declare the independence of Ame
rica, the house well know, was agitated long before
that period, as wellas the attempt to make peace, &c.
while some persons then dead, and others still living,
with whom he had the honour to have served his ma
jesty, were in adminifiration. It looked, therefore, a
little as if it wasintended to deprive those persons of
that merit, to which they had a fair claim.---
The chancellor of the exchequer (honourable W.
Pitt,) begged pardon for interrupting the honourable
gentleman for 2 moment, but desired leave to allure
him, that no deception was intended, and that if he
had read the speech, or attended to it with his usual
closeness, he would have found, that his suspicions
were wholly groundless. Mr. Pitt then caafed part of
the speech to be read, after which
Mr. Fox rose again, and said, he acquitted his ma
jesty's miniflers of all intention of error in the particu
lar in queflion, he was sure it was merely an inaccu
racy ; but that nevertheless, it was necessary, for the
fake of the other persons with whom he had the honour
to serve, that he should notice it, lead it might invi
diously be supposed, that they, as well as himfelf, had
not been clearly and decidedly of the opinion, which
he trusted his majefly's miniflers had now adopted in
the provisional terms, viz. that of granting America,
fairly and in the firft ingance an avowal of indepen
dence ; that was, he declared, always iris opinion ; he
spoke it now as 110 after thought, but was merely re
peating what that house had last feflions again arid
again heard him avow, and what he had ever wished
should be done as mo 4 consonant to the character of
Great-Britain, as a matter of the greatest magnanimi
ty, and the greatest explicitness. Nor was it, as the
honourable gentleman, who seconded the address, had
well said, giving America any thing ; she possessed in
dependence already; her arms had given it her, and
experience proved, that we could riot wrest it from her.
The earl of Shelburne ne^d not therefore be afraid of
avowing it; he need not thinlc “ the fun of this coun
try had been set" by him, he need not fear sealing
the avowal with his blood. He would ensure him
from impeachment. No peer should dare arraign him
for it. no trial had he to dread from it. With regard
to the conflitution and conftruHion of the present mi
nistry, he owned he had suspicions, but so far from
urging a charge against them from this, they had done
well; th^y deserved praise for it, and knowing and
fufpeamg the sincerity of the ear! of Shelburne, as he
did, he conld not be niggard of what was his due on
thi* occasion, but would apply two lines of a ludicrous
poem to him, and wou'd fay,
You've done a noble turn, tho' in your nature's
fpite#
You think you're in the wrong, I know you're in
the right.
Slaving railed a hearty laugh at ffiefe lines, Mr.
Fox went on to 'ffate wnat h ad been the difference of
opinion upon which he had quitted his majefly's ser
vice, &nd imputed it roundly to lord Shelburne's du
plicity. He said te had written a letter to Mr. Gren
ville at Faris, by his majefly's order, in which he di
refted him to acknowledge the independence of Ame
rica io the firft infiance, not as a reserved condition
of any nature whatsoever : that lord Shelburne, then
secretary of Rate for America, had written the fame
words to fir Guy Carleton ; that at the time his joy
had been excessive, conceiving from that moment
peace with America to be at hand; that to his utter
astonishment a few days afterwards, he beared it endea
voured to be maintained, that the words in the two
letters did not mean an avowal of the independence
of America in the firft in dance, but merely an offer
of .it, as the basis and price of peace. That he saw
himfelf ensnared, and encompassed round with treache
ry. .He saw e was not fafe in fach hands, and he
quitted ' bis Gruation. He repeated it, that he thought
the avowal of the independence the best part of the
whole speech, but he withed it had been more explicit.
There leenjed ro be an aim at expressing personal re
htftmce in his majefy in the very aft of doing that,
which his minhflefluho'hd hive advised him to havedose
graci&udy. fT did not ,?lfo like the not calling Ame
rica the United Sterns. vV y not do it in the speech,
as well 25 in the Pir^t^r,' of ft ate s letter to the lord
mayor ? He could n^' concefD".e f/'e difference was in
tentional, or that tue secretary mean f '° rob his ro,~
pi mafler of th> ~credit ct the expreffieM, by adopting
it in his own letter, and by another e,,reffion's ap
pearing in the Teeth. ThLueb the prov 'honal treaty
ddnot a&ually put nd at p^ace with Arnica, Mr.
F,% said, ne conceived it put us in a fla e fa like
peace, that we might now consider ourfrives as at
war but with thr^e enemies, and therefore we Arvid
be the better enabled to d^r a all our efforts agaiuft
the hutife of Bourbon. He descanted on the benefits
of such a situation, and then went into a considerati
on of the propriety of hiking peaca. He said a peace
was worth obtaining, if only for so short a (pace as
two years ; and for these reasons; we might in that
case be assured, w, never should have the fame four
powers contained again ft us, and we should have Jei
fure to make alliances; he understood there were
courts inclined to affiri thus country, new we were
come to our Tn.'^, though they would not join us
when we were mad. With regard to the successes of
cite last campaign, he was loud in extolling them, but
particularly the condoß of lord Howe before Gibral
tar, which he declared was equal to that of any ad
miral that ever exifled. He also with particular
warmth reprobated the attempts that had been made
to revile and traders that noble lord's eharaaer, by
dark, unauthenticated insinuations. Insinuations not
more scandalous than :41 founded. He had himfelf,
he declared, seen a letter from a foreign nobleman, in
which the writer extolled his lordfllip's conduct to the
skies, and said his country r^fbuhded with his praise
from one end to the other ; nay, this noble foreigner
wrote over, that his countrymen were so convinced of
his amazing frill and good conduct in the affair of re
lieving Gibraltar, that it was universally expelled by
them, that w eo thp noble lord arrived in England,
he would instantly be brought to a court martial.
One great cause of the noble lord's success, in fuper
addition to bis wonderful personal merit, Mf' Fo<
declared was afcribeable to the vigour of the prefenfim^
val administration, which had done more 2nd deferred
more praise, than any that ever had preceded it. Our
navy, Mr. Fox said, he had himfelf defcrifxd w be ift
a miserable state, when he had the honour $® Ui R sf.