The Connecticut courant and Hartford weekly intelligencer — Hartford, Conn., 1774-08-09 00:00:00, page 1

TUESDAY, August g,?^ , THE [NUMBER 502.}
COUR AN T,
HARTFORD
INTELLIGENCER.
both FOREIGN and DOMESTIC.
LONDO N.
Mr. E. Burke's SPEECH, at the las Reading
,f of the Boston Port-Bill
I TROUBLE you, Sir, in the last stage of this
bill, because I would not appear petulent when
my objections run to the whole of the bill. I
never knew any thing that has given me a more
heartfelt sorrow than the present measure. This
bill is attempted to be hastened through the House
in such a manner, that I can by no means assent to
it ; it is to be carried by force and threats into ex
ecution ; and you have refufed to hear Mr. Bollan,
their agent, declaring him to be no agent for Massa
chusetts-Bay, or properly authorifed to present such
petition ; you have not now one left in England to
be heard in behalf of the colonies ; the only obftfuc
tion that this bill has had, has been owing to its
vis inertia ; but persons who oppose this bill are
immediately put to the fame kind of punishment,
in the public papers, which offenders in America
are. Look, Sir, into the public papers,, you will
fee Cinna, and a thousand Other Roman names,
throwing out their invectives, and tarring and fea
thering all those who dare oppose the bill : I ftppote
I shall reap my share for such opposition ; but, Sir,
at all events I will enter my reasons andproteft a
.gainh this bill, and will mount my little palfrey, and
speak of the injustice which the bill contains, with
the greatest confidence. . The grievance that is flat
ted in the papers before you on the table, appear to
be an universal refinance from all America, against
any goods or merchandize that shall be loaded with
taxes ; [he desired that part of General Haldiman's
letter, declaring the resolution of the Americans not
to submit to receive goods with duty upon them, be
read ; which was done] he said. th& whole meeting
in the town of Boston confided of fix or. seven hun
dred men of the firft rank dhd.opulent fortune in
the place ; that the proceedings were conducted with
the utmost decency. 'He said, this was not a meet
ing of mean persons, but that the ads of resistance
were , all countenanced by universal consent. Ob
serve, fays he,, that the disturbances are general ;
ffiew me one port in .all America where the goods
have been landed and yended ; the dittemper is ge
neral, but the punifhirent is local, by way of ex
change. Whether jt will be effectual or not, Ido
not know ; but, Sir, let me paint to this House the
impropriety of a measure like this; it is a remedy
of the molt uncertain operation ; view but the con
sequence, and you will repent the meafure} give or
ders at once to your -admirals to burn and destroy
the town ; that will be both eftaual, proper, and mo
derate, and of a piece with the. rest of your proceeds
ings, eventus tri,is. . One town in prescription, the
rest in rebellion, can never be a remedial measure
for general diliurbances.fr Have you considered,
'fays he, whether you have troQps'and ifipr fufficient
to enforce an universal prescription to the trade of
the whole continent of America ? If you have not,
the attempt is childilh, and. the operation fruitless.
Only, Sir, fee the consequence ofiblocking.up one
port, for iriflancq, that of Virginia Bay ; which if
you do, you will deffroy the tobacco trade, and
thereby bring, as it were, a certain ruin on your own
merchants at Glasgow and Edinburgh,, This bill
has been thought a vigorous, but not a rigorous p&
nifhment. It is my opinion'that you might even
punilh the individuals who committed the violence,
without involving the innocent ; I should approve
much of that ; but to. take the trade from the town
of Boston is a severe punishment. Would it not be
a rigorous measure to take away the trade of the
Thames, for infiance, and direct the merchandize to
be landed at Gravefend ? I call this bill very unjust
that is now to be adopted. Is it not fundamentally
unjutt to prevent the parties who have offended be
ing heard in their defence ? Justice, Sir, is not to be
meafure^ by geographical lines nor distance. Eve
ry man, Sir, is authorifed to be a magistrate, to put
a stop to disturbances which he perceives to be com
mitted against his Majehy's peace; but did you ex
pe&that the people who were not present at such
Open to all PARTIES-—not under the influence of ANY.
'difturbances, should be equally punished for not
aiding and affiftingin putting an end to those riots
which they never saw or hea:d of ? This, Sir, fays
he, is surely a doctrine of devils, to require men to
be present in every part of America wherever a riot
happens ; but this bill involves those who have ne
verin the lead been guilty ; end then ydu again fay,
that the disturbances which did happen, ought to
have been immediately put a hop to by the people
of Boston, and that they were bound to prelerve the
good order of the town; but. Sir, I have too ranch
reverence for the image of Ged to conceive that the
honourable gentleman (Mr. Welbore Ellis) does re
ally and truly imbibe such doctrine. [He then
read part of Col. Leslie's letter, No. 4.5, wherein
the Colonel said, that neither the Governor nor. the
Council, nor any of the custom-house officers, have
.ever yet applied to me for any affiftapce ; if they had,
I could most certainly have puta ftopto all their ri
ot and violences, but not without some bloodshed,
and firing upon their town, and killing many inno
-cent people.] .Why, Sir, fays he, did not the Go
vernor at once fend for this affiftahce ? Was it con
trary to, or do you think he would have broken
through his inftrudions, if ne had endeavoured, by
such ways and means, topreferve the public peace,
and prevent violences from being committed ? The
fault of this Governor ought not to be the means of
punishment for the innocent. You have found that
there was no government .? .• Why did not the
Governor exercise his authority ? Why did not the
ships execute their duty ? What was the reason they
did not a& ? Why is not Mr. Hancock, and the
chief people who'are known, punished, and not in
volve the innocent with the guilty in one universal
calamity ? You farely, Sir, cannot have power to
take away the trade of a port, and call it privilege !
Why was not four force that was present applied to
quell the disturbances ? How came they to be.fo
feeble and inactive ? : How are you fare that the or
ders and frigates which you now fend will aft bet
ter ? I cannot think this, by any means, a prudent
measure, to be blocking up one port after another $
the consequence will be dreadful, and I am afraid
deftrudive ; you will draw a foreign force upon
you, perhaps at a time when you little fufpe& it ;
I will not fay where that wilkcnd ; I will be silent
on that head, and go no further, but think of the con
fequeneq. Again, Sir, in on© of the claufes-of the
bill you proscribe the property of the people, to be
governed and measured by. the will of the crown)
This is ^ruinous and dangerous principle to adopt.
.There is an universal difeor tent throughout all A
^nerica, from, an internal bad government. There
me but two ways to govern America, either to make
'it subservient to all your laws, or to let it govern it
felf by its own internal policy.. . labhoY the measure
of taxation where it is only for a quarrel, and not for
a revenue ; a measure that is teaming and irritating,
without any good effect; but arevifiah of this quefa
pion will one day or other come, wherein I hope to
give my opinions But this is the day that you with
,to go to war with all Ani^ica-,. in order to con
ciliate that country tothis ; and to fay that Ame
rica ffiall be obedient to all the laws of this country.
I wish to fee a new regulation and plan of a new
.Jegiilation in th^t country,mot founded on your laws
and statutes here, but grounded upon the vital prin
ciple of English liberty. .;
From the London Morning Post of May 14.
, To Lord NORTH.
. My Lord, . . '
TT is but feidom I trouble your Lordihip, orthe
A public, with my sentiments torching Parliamen
tary affairs ;---my profeffion leads me to the pursuit
of a different study, and my. attention is never en
gaged in any political broil, in which those of my
profeffion are not deeply concerned ; and be assured,
my Lord, that nothing lefsxhan the certainty.of that
once honourable profeffion finking into contempt,
and bringing on it the curses of the injured innocent,
and the detestation of all.men, could have induced
me to take up my pen. I revere the name, and have
studied the duty of a soldier from my infancy ; and
when that duty was confined to the legal protection
and defence of the state, and the laws of the realm,
it was a pleasure as well as an honour to wear a
cockade ; and fuffer me to remind your Lordship,
that in the old King's days, a soldier had a friend in
every house : The fad reverse, now alas sonly brings
to mind that we one©.were happy.
It is only, within the circle of a few years pass,
that the army, my Lord, could with any degree of
propriety be deservedly branded with the epithets
of military executioners ; that firebrand of cruelty, that
very sperm and eftence of Scottish tyranny, Lieute
nant General M--, , began the bloody tragedy,
by massacring the people, and clipping the ears of
the civil magistrates in Canada,about the year 1761;
since which the fucceffiori of a brutal and corrupt
administration have, with equal violence TO the
known laws of God and society, made streams of
Innocent blood flow in the streets of our capitals,
both at home and abroad, to the disgrace of human,
nature, and the total dishonour and infamy of the
army.
The time is now coming, and wh hope is near at
hand, when that blood, unjustly end wantonly fpilt
in Great-Britain and America, will from the earth
call out aloud for vengeance, the perpetrators bro't
to condign punishment, and the land, as well as the
name or Soldier, be freed from the curse. : .
• Your expedition to Boston goes on rapidly, r,y
Lord, and you carry your mea'ares in Parliament
with as much ease, and with as high a hand, as if
the whole power of legislation and taxation were
veiled in your bosom solely. But foftly, my Lord,
are you lure those meafures' will take on the weft
fide the Atlantic ? And have you considered well
and reconciled yourfelf to the consequences if the,
should not ? Perhaps your Lordship depends upon
the circumstance ofthe people of Boston anting in
open and avowed rebellion to juftify every part of
your condua :---there, my Lord, you will find your
felf fatally mistaken-.; The inhabitants of that town,
and indeed of the whole province; 'are too great po
liticians to be ever drove into a measure of that na
ture ; they have disputed every inch of ground with
you, upon the principles of the British constitution,
and the express letter of their charter. You had
fairly 101 l the field, ,and now you are preparing to
attack them upon new ground by condemning
them unheard, and Gripping them of eveiy right
and privilege at one ftroke.' How earnestly does
your Lordship drive to make that brave and hard,
race of men desperate, and to force them into that
rebellion 'the enemies &f the date so much wish for :
And how stupidly insensible and regardless of the
consequences, which you must know can be nothing
less than inevitable ruin and bankruptcy on the
trading part of this kingdom. ->
' •What a happy sera for the Court of V'erfailles,
who have long wilhed for a favourable moment to
regain their poffeflions in the western world ; but te
that as it may, it is well worth your Lordship's while
to refled, - how contemptible you must appear in the
opinion of every thinking and judicious man, where
it is made known that those very measures which
you have foftered, and are now palming upon the
HoujfeqfParliament, were planned and formed in
Boston, by those enemies tq mankind, Hutchinson„
Elucker,^ Oliver, Sewal, Trobridge, Paxton and
Rugleo, and delivered into your hands, ready cut:
and dried, by Sir Francis Bernard.
. These fads (which are known to but few people)
I shall take occasion to elucidate in my next, and
will conclude this letter with the invocation of the
poet ;— - :-^^-"
If, ye footer ^divine ! / - /
Z°e mark the movements of this nether eWorld,
And bring them to account,
Crujh ! cruJh * those vipers,-
Who,Jingled out by a community to guard their rights.
Shall, for a grasp of filthy ore, or paltry office,
Betray them to the foe.
A SOLDIER
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