The Connecticut courant and Hartford weekly intelligencer — Hartford, Conn., 1777-11-18 00:00:00, page 1

rUESDA Y, N^kr i®, i„%
CONNECTICUT
AND
WEEKLY
Containing the Fr^ft AD '7ICES,
LOND ON, June 177%
^fiance of Lord Chatham's speech, in the
House of Lords, on Friday last, as delivered
by his Lordfhp, his;Lord/hip fitting in his
face wish his hat on, both of which deviations
from the custom iry rules of debate he prayed as
mt indulgence.—The (Beads of which were pub
lifoed in September last.
My Lords,
THE affairs of this country are in so pre
carious and critical a situation, that I
could not, confident with my duty, any lon
ger postpone submitting my thoughts to the
House, in humble expectation, that whatever
I may offer will be received as intended only
for the dignity, honor, and interest of my
country, to promote the luftre of the crown,
th& case and happiness of my sovereign, and
the general benefit of every part of the Bri
tish Empire. If the effect of the motion I
arri going to propose to your Lordships
should arrest the hand of power, and were
to answer the zeal and earned willies of him
who mak^s it, he would indeed be equally
happy and fuccefsful.
My Lords, in explaining the obje^s of
my motion, I wish to keep every thing from
your recollection that m y give you pain ;
but while I state to your Lordfhips'the
grounds of the proposition I am about to
make, it is indifpenfaoly necessary that I
should tell your Lordships what has caused
the evils with which we are at prelent thfeat
ened6 My Lords, you voted away the pro
perty of the Americans without their con-
tent; when they complained, you would not
hear their complaints ; you called them fac
tious, seditious, and rebellious. You quar
reled with your fubje& on the other fide of
the Atlantic about a paltry tax upon tea ;
you have fp nt many millions in support of
this tax. The war, imy Lords, is got to a
height no man could forefee; to a height
which now threatens ruin and deftrucLon to
this country. America is loft. I fear, Eng
land is undone. What have you dane, my
Lords ? You have rendered Britain a depen
dent state ; dependent on the precarious
friendfhip, or the more precarious neutrality
of France. Wnat did you da, my Lords ?
You condemned a whole province without
hearing, without even demanding fatisfafti
on for the injury you sustained. You pro
scribed them ; you Print up their ports and
harbours ; you robbed them of their char
tered rights ; you deprived them, my Lords;
of their mod valuable privileges, of the in
alienable birthright of an Englishman,,the
trial by jury, the trial ot the vicinage, of
Judges acquainted with the parties, me of
fence, the provocation, and dr myafure of
pun'ifhment. What was the canfequenc%
my Lords? Three millions of people refut
ed to be bound by your arbitrary edi&s.--I
b^g your Lordships pardon : Minivers wre
mi(taken; it was Englifllmen that were to
be bound and enihvtd. My Lords, they
refuted it. The skill and bravery of your
Generals, the prowess of ye'ur troops, the
Strength and pride of this once" powerful
country, your navy w^s found infuFLicciL
the last war will tell such of your Lordships
as are not old enough to remember, how they
fought', and how they bled ; the, will tell
you, how generously they contributed, how
like loving brethren they shared the com
mon burthen and the danger. These; my
Lords, are r he unhappy men you have cru
elly devoted to deftruffion ; whose towns'
you would rule, whose commerce you would
annihilate, whose liberties you would destroy
by the sword, whose properties you would
conhfeare, arid whole persons you would en
slave ; these are the people whom your Mi
nilters would extirpate; Wnat has been the
system pursued by Adminillration, arid what
have been the measures taken for carrying
it into execution ? Your fyltem has been a:
government, erected on the ruins of the
constitution, and founded in conquest, and
you have Iwept *ll Germany of its refute as
its means. There is not a petty, infignihcant
Prince; whom you have not solicited for aid:
You are become the suiters at every German
cout; and have ,our ministers enrolled in
the German Chancery, as tlac contra^ing
parties, in behalf of this once great and glo
rious country. The laurels of Britain are
faded, her arms are disrated; her negotia
tions are spurned at; arid her councils tailed
into contempt. My Lords; you have vain-,
h tried to coroner America by the aid of
Gentian mercenaries by the arms est twenty
thoufarid undifciplinedGerman boots; glean
ed arid Golle&ed from every obfeure corner
of that courier ; you have fitbfrditd their
matters ; you' have lavished the public tre'a ; -
fures on them ; arm what have yorr effect
ed ? Nothing, my Lord's, but forcing the
colonies to declare themfel'v'es independent
states. You h^ roofed themy my Lorids;
What, my Lords, were you obliged to do ?
You could not procure men at home ; En
glishmen do not like to enfave Englilhmen,
nor trample on the rights of their fellow
fubje&si What did your Lordships do ?
You hired 20,000. German boors; your Mi
nisters, I fay, hired them, to cut the throats
of your inuffending colonies. Those colo
nists are now, my Lords, called rebels ; they
are ftigmatifed with every base arid abusive
epithet in the Englifli language. Yet, my
Lords, I remember when this country was
waging war with the united powers of France
and Spain, when their was a rebellion, and a
Scotch rebellion, within this land ; I remem
ber when our fleets were useless, our armies
unfuccefsful, that these men now described
as the blacked and baled of all rebels; nay
more, that very colony which has been re
presented as the hot bed of sedition and trea
son ; that colony against which the keened
lightnings of government are denounced, and
have been directed ; 1 remember, I fay, my
Lords, this very colony fending forth the
four regiments of undisciplined militia,which
gave the hrd check to France in her proud
careers and erected the standard of conquest
on the walls of Louifburgh. But, my
Lords, we need not point out particular fads
in proof of the bravery, the zeal, the duty;
and affection of this people ; the annals of
*^rfi^^:to
Mr U ki,E ^ u'4.
COURANT,
^rfRTFbRD
iNf^LttGiiNcii&
Q^,,„^^3^=^^^^^^^ =—■=•*^=^-=-^^±^l^^^
Both FOREIGN and DOMESTIC.
to act with vigor and resolution ; you hav
united and combined them; you have bf
this unnatural ad cemented th^m, and giveti
them but one foul. Their, breads, my
Lords, are filled with indignation ; they ard
fired with juf resentments ; they burn witti
ardor to revenge their injuries, and retaliate
with inte est on their cruel and rtercilefs op
pieffors. Yes, my Lords, I lay, three milli
ons of freemen will never submit to twenty
thoufind mercenaries. No, my Lords, the
idea is preposterous; the attempt is abfurdj
ftrengt.lt
This cfuteT arid uririaftrfad wa'r, my Lords;
Idread will be a fatal war, you have pre
-Icribed yorir own ehiLiren ; you have turned
a'deaf rar to then dutiful petition's, their ser
vant entreaties ; and have interpreted their
honest confbtutional remonftrai-ces into t ea
fon and rebellion. You nave, my Lorch#
bolt America 7 yotf have poured the richesof
America into the lap of the house cf Boor-,
bort. Will France forget her own interest
so much, as to think ot war? To effect
what; my Lords ? What this country is cf-.
feeding at the rate of twenty millions per an
nu^r France; my Lords a knows her at?
intereft' better. France is Tiirig her arftriah
with naval Lores; me is difpofi'ng of her
manufactures; Sire is acctfmulatihg in fee
ftorchoufes the produce of Anfericz. Sir
is cultivating and extending her comritercr,
and wifely opening Rew sources of infefiy^
Wealth, and external strength; while we Con
tinue daily to waste our own flre.%tc,
while our c&mme r cc larigxf&s, arid wG^
f,*s'~.^/^
imagine that nothing is to be dreaded front
that quarter, because France has not inter
fered directly in favor of America. But my°
Lords; do minifters;.when they build fuck
mighty things on this circumstance; recol
le&; that they drgue as if France were riiad^
would they have France run the rifque, ha
zard and expence of war, when Britain Ist
doing all for France fire can puffibly wifli or
desire :It was a gross nii/conception 'to fup
pole, that France ever thought a fingfe mi
nute about giving a direct aid to the colo
nies ; the never mea'nt, my Lords; to inter
rupt this country in its wild career, or stand
between it and its colonies : No, n~y Lords;
ffie has taken care from' her condu'T; to feed
and riburifh the mad notions cf conqueff
and dominions which bate unfortunately
prevailed within these walls. She has been
equally sedulous to give just that degree of
cou tenarece and protection, wich has hither
to served to keep the civil war alive, so as
to baffle your defigris, and to Waffe your
as well might I expert to conquer them with
this crutch, as to foppofe America will ever
submit to so contemptible a force.
I would recommend peace to yodr Lord
ships at all events ; the longer the unhappy
contest is continued, the more difficult if
will be to conciliate, and the less able w 4
shall be to prosecute with vigour and effect;
or accommodate with honor or advantage;
Ministers, as they have blundered from the
brgining, are led into a fatal error; respec
ting our natural enemies the French. .They