The Connecticut courant and Hartford weekly intelligencer — Hartford, Conn., 1777-11-18 00:00:00, page 2

our fpecoe leaves th, king^rn to purchase
those commodir es ? which besides the com
mon advantages derived from them in a
commercial view, were all received in ex
change for our own manufactures.
We have, my Lords, tried hitherto to
no purpose. Is there the thoft distant rati
onal profpe& that affairs will bear a better
face at the end of this year, than they did the
Dft ? We haveexert,ed our utmost strength
to little or no purpose. We have talked of
conquering America. Have we done' it ?
No, my Lords, we have nothing to boast of
but a few trifling advantages, which, when
we confider the price paid for them, and the
circumstances which attended the obtaining
them, wear in fad every solid appearance of
defeat. We continue to fend troops, and
have voted millions ; and what, my Lords,
are we told ? That our army, after such enor
mous supplies, will be just equal to what it
was last year, when it effected nothing, or
next to nothing.
His Lordihip shewed the absurdity of re
lying longer on the mere force of arms, and
very pathetically pressed the necessity of a
speedy reconciliation. We were, he laid, on
the brinlc of a precipice; on the very verge
of deftrudion; and defined their Lordships
to snatch the present moment, 'as probably
the last, in which they would have the op
portunity of procuring the national salvation.
A few weeks, nay, a single day's delay might
bee too late. War, lays his Lordship has
been tried ; let us, my Lords, fee what con
ciliation will do ; let us recollect our critical
Situation ; let us confider, should we perse
vere in the fame wild, ruinous and oppressive
system, the inevitable alternatives with which
we are surrounded on either hand. Should
we lose America, America will be added in
fad to the French Empire. Should we
prove luccefsful in the struggle, debilitated,
exhausted, and impoverished as we must be,
we (hall in that event have conquered Ame
rica for France, If not waiting for either of
those events, France should change her
present fyltem, Which I can hardly think die
will, except by some very unexpected change
in her Councils, then America as a matter of
course, will be loft forever to this country.
Should this latter be the case, and 'that she
fhduld make a public avowal of het senti
ments, by supporting the eaufe of America ;
though we had but five Chips of war in the
world I should instantly be for declaring war
against her, as the only reparation that could
possibly fatisfy the wounded honour of a
great nation, be the event what it might.
His LoTdfhip reminded the House, likcwife,
of the proportions moved by his bill and
motion, early in 1775, before a" drop of
blood had been fried on either fide ; pointed
out the fatal policy which caused their rejec
tion, and the very violent and indecent man
ner in which they were rejected. His ford
fhip spoke for above fifty minutes.
Lord Camden, it is with pieafure I rife to
bear testimony how much I approve of the
motion made this day by my noble friend,
and to expreh, my sense of the very singular
obligations this ' country owes him, particu
larly on this occafyn, when, setting every
impediment at a distance, lie offered his af
hhance in refeuing us from the ruin with
which this country is surrounded. Before I
ipcak to the immediate objects of the moti
on, I shall fay a few words on the fubjedt to
irhich it relates. The noble Lords, on the
other tide, deny that Britain was the aggref
furin this quarrel; and aTrr, that America
always-aimed at independency. I shall prove,
I trust, before I fit down, that both assertions
^equally falter 1 shall prove that we are
the c^grehors ; and, consequently, that the
charge of independencycan be only supported
upon what they intended to have done at
lame future period, and not upon what has
actually tappored ; the aggreff^ in HI con
tests bcin^ chargeable wbh the cen^qu.^N^ .
I (hall not renew the controversy so often
diicuhfed within rh.de walls, relative to taxa
tion. You pafftd a law for laying a tax up
on tea ; but you could not collect it, be
caule neither importer, nor vender, nor con
sumer c>uld be found. You passed another
law, which Miniflers flattered themselves
would force the tax Quo operation. You
gave the Eaft-Ind:a company £ draw back
on their' teas expotted to America, particu
larly to Bolton, where a large quantity was
destroyed. What did we do ? Without de
manding reparation, without enquiry, with
out hearing the party accused, nay, even
proof of the sass you condemned the people
of Boston ; you shut up their port ; you an
nihilated private property ; you reduced
thousands of innocent people to beggary.
You did not stop here ; you resolved to
punish the whole province as well as the
town. You deprived them of their charter,
upon a process equally re^ularan^ just ; and,
to fill the mealure of the oppressions witn
which you were resolved to aftiiCh them, you
deprived them of the benefit of the trial by
jury, either as a terror to the guilty, or a pro
te&ion to the innocent.---What were yopr
preparations, in order to secure the execution
of those oppressive and cruel measures ? The
language of administration was, that a file
of mufquetecrs would march ft bm one end of
America [o' the other, without molestation;
that the ads were so wifely and judiciously
planned, that they wouldexecute themselves,
Gen. Gage was sent out to command a force
confiding of four regiments, which were
fully adequate, it was said, to the purpose;
that was what was emphatically stiled, on
the passing of the firft of those bills, by a
noble Lord I now fee in his placet (Lord
M )faffing the Rubicon. ---Neither the
file of mufquetecrs, nor the four regiments,
however, anfwer^d what was promised from
them. Twelve months having nearly passed,
General Gage, from the weakness of his little
army, was obliged to remain inactive, and
beheld the Provincials making daily prepa
rations before his face, for a vigorous refin
ance. Early in the next year we declared
these people to be in rebellion ; we prohibit
ed them from trading, with each other ; we
deprived them of their fifhery ; 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 proceeded to hostilities; and if they
were not defeated in the field, we know that
America was not conquered, but that the
royal army fuffered io battlle, and moulder
ed away in such a manner, that they were
frightened and besieged in their quarters for
full eight months, and escaped with difficul
ty on board their fliips and vessels of war.
Well, the next session arrived; Ministers
owned they were deceived in the accounts
they received of the difpofitkm of the peo
ple of America ; the most decisive 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 a hundred ships of war,
were to be employed ; foreign mercenary
veterans were to supply rhe place of raw
levies , the sword was to be borne in one
hand and the olive branch in the other. A
commihion was announced from the Throne
to hold out the alternative. What has been
the ehect of all this? From the fame autho
rity we are told, we must prepare for another
campaign ; the decisive measures and full ex
ertions have produced nothing material. The
repeated prediction) relative to conquest and
subjugation have failed. What part of A
merica is your own r Just as much as you
occupy, or as you can command with the
mouths of your cannon. His Lordship next
proceeded to [hew in what an unbecoming
'E?E n . e r gdmipiftration had behaved in refpe^
io the cornmiffiorf, anJ the powers granted
by that aft, called the Prohibitory Aljf, which
he decla'co to be the epitome of every thing
cruel and oppressive; and what, with the
employing foreign mercenaries to cut their
throats, ultimately determined the Americans
to declare themlelves independent. He de
clared, in his conscience, that thole were the'
adds, and those only, which forced the colo
nies to take up arms, in the firft instance $
and to juftify their resistance by throwing off
the yoke of oppression and ckfpotifm. His
Lordship next turnedto the ru nous detect
trade; by those ads, particularly by the
filhery and capture acts you drove the people
employedin commerce to defoliation. Their
wants and relentmerts united in urging them
to the resolution of making a naval war up
on you. What has been the confcquence?
Ihe leas are covered with their privateers ;"
the Fiench ports are full of them / they
come to the very mouth of your river, and
inlult you, which has railed the inlurance
of your fliips so high-hat yourmerchants can
go nothing. Your whole trade to the Me
/ diterranean and up the Streights, is carried
on intrench vcfiels. There are no fewer
than 28 French bottoms now talking in their'
cargoes in the 1 hames. If your commerce
languish; it your trade decays, where will
you find the means of carrying on the war ?
While your fliips are rotting in your har-
noble Lords who have spoke on the other
fide, have positively denied that France has
taken, or means to take a part in the present
dilpute. Ido contend they do this minute
take a part, and that they have continued to
do lo from the beginning. I would desire
your Lordihips to recoiled: what was menti
oned by thenoble Duke in the.blue ribb >n,
&mvfelf in the year 1775; retype to the two
French gentlemen who went to Washington,
then lying before Boston, and who were by
him sent to theCongrefs, where they remain
ed federal months, dhe story was then
tieated by the noble Lords in administrating
in a ludicrous manner : yet this, I believe,
was the beginning of what may hereafter
.produce very serious consequences. I sin
cerely believe the firft overtures came from
France ; and that those gentlemen were the
bearers of the message. % Every thing which
has since happened confirms me in that opi
nion. It is plain, that the firft notice the
Ministers received ofir was in this House
aftondhed at the information, I remember
they laid it was notlyng but a visit of mere
idle curiosity. Let us compare the sequel.
In the course of the ensuing fummrt Mr.
Deane comes to Paris, and the Chridmas #
following was followed by Di. Franklin.
What has been their reception ? They fre
quently appear at Versailles, affront Lord
Stormont in the .Anti chamber, and a r e ad
mitted to conferrences with the French King's
Ministers. He then assured their Lordihips,
that he had the ft r ongeft reckons to believe
boors ; while your me chants are unable to
pay the inlurance, the French become your
carriers, and the former are left to lament
their deplorable and dihrefsful situation.
This at once puts an end to the aft ofnaviga
tion, and defeats every benefit it was intended
to secure. But extending our views a little
further, what other fatal conlequences do we
behold produced by this unnatural war ?
Ihe ruin of the Weftlndia islands; the
loss of their produce ; and the very consider
able bankruptcies which it has occasioned.
The proprietors of the estates and plantati
ons 'in those iflands,from a date of affluence,
are drove to poverty and despair. lam well
informed that no lets than two hundred fa
milies who resided here upon ample incomes,
drawn from thence, have been obliged to re
turn thither, being no longer able to main
tain themselves in this country, These are'
melancholly considerations, my Lords ; and
should be very powerfu 1 motives with you
for agreeing with the present motion.Thetwo