The Pennsylvania packet, or, The general advertiser — Lancaster, Pa.;Philadelphia, Pa., 1777-12-03 00:00:00, page 1

T a E
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OR I V<}%,„l THE
G E N ERA L AAAR^^i ADVERTISER.
Sabftance of Lord Camden's SPEECH
on Lord Chatham's M^io^.
IT is with pleasure 1 rife to bear testimo
ny how much I approve of the motion
made this day by my noble friend, and to
express my lente of the very singular obli
gations this country owes him, particularly
on this occasion, when, fitting every im
pediment at a dirtance, he offe r s hi^aflirt
ancc in relcuing us from the ruin with
which this country is surrounded. Before
I Ipeak to the im nediate objects of the
motion, 1 fhJl lav A few words on the fub
jed to which it relates. The noble Lords
on the other fid. d-m.y that Britain was the
aggressor in this quarrel; and atiert that
America always ai led it Independency.
I flball prove, I trud, before 1 if down,
that bth affertio:s are equally fade; 1
(ball prove that we were the aggrthors; and
confequenth that the charge of Indepen
dency c^n be only supported upon what
they intended to have done at tome future
period, and not upon what has actually
happened; the agreflor in all conceits be
ing chargeable with the consequences. I
ihajl not renew the controversy io often dd
cuffed within these walls relative to taxa
tion. You passed a law for laying a tax
upon tea, but you could not colled it, be
cause neither importer, nor vender, nor
conlumer could be found. Ton passed
anotner law, which Marders Bartered
themselves would force the tax into ope
ration. You gave the Eart. India Compa
ny a drawback on their teas exported to
America. The teas were sent to America,
particularly to Borton, wherea large quan
tity was destroyed. What did we do?
Without demanding reparation, without
enquiry, without hearing the party accused,
nay, even without proof of the tad, you
condemned the people bf Borton; you (hut
up their port; you annihilated private pro
perty; you reduced thousands of innocent
people to beggary. You did not flop here:
You refolded to punilh the whole province
as well as the town. You deprived them
of their charter, upon a p-ocels equally
regular and juft•, and, to fill the measure
of the oppreffion^ with which you Were
revived to affl'& them, you deprived them
of the benefit of the trial by jury, either as
a terror to the guilty, or a protection to
the innocent.-— What were your prepara
tions, in order to leCure the execution of
thole opprertive and cruel measures? The
language of Adminiftrarion waj, that a file
of mulqueteers would march from one end
of America to the other, without moles
tation; that the arts were so wifely and
judiciously, planned, that they would exe
cute themielves: Left, however, they
might not execute-themselves, Gen. Gage
was fenrout to command a force confining
of four regiments, which were fully adc-
WEDNESDAY, DEC E MB E R 3, 1777.
quate, it was laid, ^o the purpose; that
was what was e.nph.nca ly tilled, on the
parting of the firfl of those bills, by a no
ble Lord I now fee in his place, I Lord
Mansfield) pacing t^e Rubicon. —-Neither
the file of mulqueteers nor the four regi
ments, however, answered what was pro
mised from them. Twelve months having
nearly passed, Gen. Gage, from the weak
ness of his little army, was obliged to re
main inadive, and beheld the Provincials
making daily preparations before his face,
for a vigorous refinance. Early in tne
next year we declared those people to be in
rebellion; we prohibited them from trad
ing wirh each other; we deprived them of
rheir fishery; and a noble Lord in the other
House pledged himfelf to that House that
with an army of 10,000 men, which would
reach America early in the summer, the
conquest of that country would be certain.
The troops arrived, the 10,000 men pro
ceeded to hostilities; and if they were not
defeated in the field, we know that Ame
rica was not conquered, but that the royal
armv fuffered in bar'e and mouldered
away in such a manner, that they were
(heightened and besieged in their quarters
for full eight months, and eleaped with
difficulty on board their Ihips and < effels
of war.—Well, the next session arrived ;
Ministers owned they were deceived in the
accounts they received of the disposition
of the people of America; the most deci
sive measures were to be adopted. The
fame noble Lord, for the third time, grew
confident; the full force of this country
was to be exerted; 70,000 men and an
hundred ships of war were to be employed;
foreign mercenary veterans were to supply
the place of raw levies; the iword was to
be bom in one hand, and the olive branch
in the other. A commission was announ.
ced from the throne to hold out the alter
native. What has been the effed of all
this? From the fame authority we are told,
we ,Rwft prepare for another campaign;
the decifivc measures, and full exertions,
have produced nothing material. Ihe re
peated predictions, relative to conquest
arid subjugation, have failed. What part
of America is your own? Just as much as
you occupy, or as you can command with
the mouths of your cannon.
His Lordship next proceeded to Ihew in
what an unbecoming manner Administra
tion had behaved in refped to the commis
sion, and the powers granted by that aril
called the Prohibitory Aft, which he de
clared to be the epitome of every thing
cruel and oppressive, and what, with the
employing foreign mercenaries to cut their
throats, ultimately determined the Ameri
cans to declare themselves independent—
He declared, in his confeience, that those
were the aQs, and those only, which forced
the Colonies to take up arms, in the firft
instance; and tojuftity their resistance, by
throwing off the yoke of oppretiion and
deipotilm.
His Lerdfhip next turned to the ruin,
ous Hate of our trade; by thole adfs, par
ticularly by the Fishery and Capture Ads,
you drove the people employed in com
merce to desperation. 'l'heir wants and
relemments united in urging them to the
resolution of making a Naval War upon
you. What has been the confquence ?
The seas are covered with their privateers ;
the French ports arc full of them ; they
come to the very mouth of your river, and
insult you, which has railed the insurance
of your ships io high, that your merchants
can do nothing. Your whole trade tn the
Mediterranean and up the Streighrs is car
ried on in Fren h vessels. 7 here are no
fewer than twenty eight French bottoms
now taking in their cargoes in the Thames.
If your commerce languifh.es ; if your
trade decays, where will you find the
means of carrying on a war ? While your
ships arc rotting in your harbours; while
your merchants are unable to pay the in
surance, the French become your carriers,
and the former are left to lament their de
plorable and dirtrefsful situation. This at
once puts an end to the ad of navigation,
and defeats every benefit it was intended
to Secure. But extending our views a lit
tie further, what other fatal consequences
do we behold produced by this unnatural
war ? The ru n of the Wert-India inlands;
the loss of their produce; and the very
considerable bankruptcies which it has oc
cartoned. The proprietors of the eftatet
and plantations in those islands, from a
state of affluence, are drove to poverty and
despair. lam well informed that no left
than two hundred families who resided
here upon ample incomes, drawn from
thence, have been obliged to return thi
ther, being no longer able to maintain
themselves in this country. These are
melancholy confederations, my Lords; and
(hould be very powerful motives with you
for agreeing with the present motion. The
two noble Lords who have (poke on the
other fide, have positively denied that
France has taken, or means to take, a part
in the present dispute. Ido contend they
do this minute take a parr, and that they
have continued to do so from the begin
ning. I would desire your Lordfltips to
recoiled what was mentioned by the noble
Duke in the blue ribbon, and myfelf in
the year 1775, relative to the two French
gentlemen who went to Washington, then
lying before Borton, and who were by
him sent to the Congress, where they re
mained several months. The story was
then treated by the noble Lords in Adri
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