The New-Jersey gazette — Burlington [N.J.], 1782-12-04 00:00:00, page 1

To the Earl of Shelburne.
A SPEECH which has been printed in se
veral of the British and New-York news
/, papers, as coming from your Lordship,
'' " in answer to one from the Duke of Rich
'the loth of July last, contains expressions
minions so new and singular, and so enveloped
mysterious reasoning, that I address this publi
cation to you, for the>purpofe of giving them a free
and candid examination. The speech I allude to
is in these words :
“ His Lordship said it had been mentioned in
" another place, that he had been guilty of incon
" fiftence. To clear himfelf of this, he affeited
" that he still held the fame principles in refped to
" American independence, which he at firft imbibed.
" He had been, and yet was of opinion, whenever
" the Parliament of Great-Britain acknowledges
" that point, the fun of England's glory is set for
" ever. Such were the sentiments he poffefTed on
" a former day, and such the sentiments he conti
" nued to hold at this hour. It was the opinion of
" Lord Chatham, and the opinion of many able
" statesmen. Other noble Lords, however, think
" differently; and as the majority of the cabinet
" support them, he acquiesced in the measure, dis
" fenting from the idea, and the point is fettled
" for bringing the matter into the full difeuffion of
" Parliament, where it will be candidly, fairly,
" and impartially debated. The independence of
" America would end in the ruin of England; and
" that a peace patched tip with France would give
“ that proud enemy the means of yet trampling on
" this country. The fun of England's glory he
" wished not to fee set for ever; he looked for a
-spark at least to be left, which might in time
" light us up to a new day. But if independence
" was to be granted, if Parliament deemed that
" measure prudent, he rorefaw in his own mind that
"England was undone. He wished to GOD that
“ he had been deputed to Congress, that he might
“ plead the cause of that country as well as of this,
“ and that he might exercise whatever poweis he
" pofleffed, as an orator, to save both from ruin,
" in a conviction to Congress, that, if their inde
" pendence was signed, their liberties were gone for
" ever.
' " Peace, his Lordfliip added, was a desirable ob
" jest, but it must be an honourable peace, and not
“ a humiliating one, dictated by France, or infilled
“on by America. It was very true this kingdom
" was not in a flourifhing state, it was impoverished
“by war. But if we were not rich, it was evident
" that France was poor. If we were straitened in
" our finances, the enemy were exhaulled in their
" resources. This was a great empire; it abounded
" with brave men, who were able and willing to
" fight in a common cause ; the language of huim
" liation should not therefore be the language of
" Great-Britain. His Lordship said that he was
" not alhamed nor afraid of those expressions going
“to America. There were numbers, great num
“ bers there; who were of the fame way of think
" ing, in refped to that country being dependent on
" this, and who, with his Lordship, perceived ruin
" and independence linked together."
Thus far the speech, on which 1 remark, —That
his Lordfllip is a total stranger to the mind and
sentiments of America ; that he has wrapped him
felf up in fond delusion that something loss than
independence may, under his administration, be ac
cepted ; and he wishes himfelf sent to Congress, to
prove, the most extraordinary of all doctrines, which
is, that independence, the sublimest of all human
conditions, is loss of liberty.
In answer to which we may fay, that in order to
know what the contrary word dependence means,
we have only to look back to those years of severe
humiliation, when the mildest of all petitions could
obtain no other notice than the haughtiest of all in
sults; and when the base terms of unconditional
submission were demanded, or undiftinguifiiable de
ftru&ion threatened. It is nothing to us that the
>a._. J -• O
NEW-JERSEY GAZETTE.
[Vol. V.j
WEDNESDAY, December 4, 1782
Bliniftry have been changed, for they may be changed
again. The guilt of government is the crime of
a whole country; and the nation that can, though
but for a moment, think and aft as "England has
done, can never afterwards be believed or trusted.
'1 here are cases in which it is as impossible to re
store character to life, as it is to recover the dead.
It is a phoenix that can expire but once, and from
whose allies there is no refurre&ion. Some offences
arc of such a flight competition, that they reach no
further than the temper, and are created or cured
by a thought., But the fin of England has struck
the heart of America, and nature has not left it in
our power to fay we can forgive.
1 our Lordship wishes for an opportunity to plead
before Congress th, cause of England and Ame
rica, and to fare, as you fl , both from ruin.
That the country^ which, for more than seven
years, has fought opr deftruftion, should now cringe
to solicit our protection, is adding the wretchedqefs
of disgrace to the misery of difappdiotment; and if
England has the leaf: spark of supposed honour left,
that spark mull be darkened by asking, and extin
guilhed by receiving, the Imalleft favour from Ame
rica: for the criminal, who owes his life to the
glace and mercy of the injured, is more executed
by living than he who dies.
But a thousand pleadings, even from your Lord
fnip,can have no effect. Honour, interest, and every
sensation of the heart would plead againftyou. We
are a people who think not as you think; and what
is 'equally true, you cannot feel as We feel. The
lituation of the two countries ate exceedingly dif
ferent. We have been the feat of war. You have
seen nothing of it. The met wanton deftrudion
has been committed in our fight. The most inso
lent barbarity has been afted on our feelings. We
can look round and let the remains of burnt and de
stroyed houses, once the fair fruit of hatd industry,
and now the striking monuments of British brutali
ty. We walk over the dead whom we loved, in
every part of America, and remember by whom
they fell. There is scarcely a village but brings to
life fume melancholy thought, and reminds us of
what we have fuffered, and of those we have loft
by the brutilhnefs of Britain. A thousand images
arise to us, which, from situation, you cannot fee,
and are accompanied by as many ideas which you
cannot know, and therefore your supposed system
of reasoning would apply to nothing, and all your
expectations die of themselves.
\ 1 he question whether England shall accede to
the independence of America, and which your Lord-
Iliip fays is to undergo a parliamentary ddcuffion,is
so very simple, and compoled of so few cales, that
it scarcely needs a debate.
It is the only way out of an expensive and ruin
ous war, which has now no object, and without
which acknowledgment there can be no peace.
But your Loidhip fays, " The fun of Great
" Britain will be jet whenever foe acknowledges
" the independence of America" W hereas' the
metaphor would have been ftriftly just to have left
the fun wholly out of the figuie, and have ascribed
her not acknowledging it to the influence of the
moon.
But the expression, if true, is the greatest con
feffion of disgrace that could be made, and iurnifhes
America with the highett notions of sovereign in
dependent importance. Mr. Weddetburne, about
the year 1776, made life of an idea of much the
fame kind.—" Rclinquifo America ! lays he, IVbat
" is it but to desire a Giant to Jhrink fpontane
" oufy into a Dwarf."
Alas! Are those people, who call themselves
Englithmen, of so little internal consequence, that
when America is gone, or (huts her eyes upon them,
thefor fun is set, they can shine no more, but grope
about in obfeurity, and contrail into infignificant
animals. Was America, then, the giant of the em
pire, and England only her dwarf in waiting? Is
the case so strangely altered, that those who once
thought we could not live without them, now de
clare rhev cannot rvill withnnt ^' t<cti t ^,„ , p ||
THE
But Lord Shelburne thinks that something may
yet be done. What that something is, or how it
is to be accomplillied, is a matter in obfeurity By
arms there is no hope. 3he experience of nearly
eight y^rs , with the expence of an hundred million
pounds sterling, and the loss of two armies must
positively decide that point. Befidcs the British
have 101 l their interest in America with the difar
feded. Every part of it has been tried. There
is no new feene left for delusion: And the thoufar.ds
who have been ruined by adhering to them, and
have now to quit the settlements they had acquired,
and be conveyed like transports to cultivate the de-'
lerts of Augustine and Nova-Scotia, has put an end
to all further expectations of aid.
If you cdl your eyes ^ the people c f England,
what have they to console themselves with for the mil
lions expended, or what encouragement is there left
to continue throwing good money after bad? Ame
rica can carry on the war for ten years longer, and
all the charges of government included, for lels
than you can defray the charges of war and go
vernment for one year. And I, who know^oth
countries, know well that the people of America
can afford to pay their share of the expence much
better than the people of England can. Besides, it
is their own estates and property, their own rights,
libeities and government, they are defending; and'
were they not to do it, they would deserve to lose
all, and none would pity them. The fault would
be their own, and their punishment just.
The British army in America care not how long
the wa^ lasts. They enjoy an easy and indolent
^ h ey fatten on the folly of one countrv and
the spoils of another; and, between their plunder
and their pay, may go home rich. But the case is
very different with the labouring farmer, the work
ing tradesman, and the necessitous poor in England,
the sweat of whose brow goes day after day to feed'
in prodigality and sloth, the army that is robbing
both them and us. Removed from the eye of the
country that supports them, and distant from the
government that employs them, they cut and carve
for themselves, and there is none to call them to
account.
But England will be ruined, fays Lord Shelburne,
if America is independent. _'
, 1 hen, I fay, is England already ruined, for Ame
rica is already independent: And if Lord Shelburne
will not allow this, he immediately denies the fad
which he infers. Betides, to make England the
nieie creature of America, is paying too great a com
pliment to 11s, and too little to himfelf.
but the declaration is a rhapiody of inconsistence
For to fay, as Lord Shelburne has numberless
times said, that the war against America is ruinous -
and yet to continue the prosecution of that ruinous
war for the purpose of avoiding ruin, is a language
which cannot be understood. Neither is it pofc
ble to fee how the independence cf America is to
accomplish the ruin of England after the war is over,
and yet not effeft it before. America cannot be
more independent of her, nor a greater enemy to
her hereafter than lhe is now ; nor England derive
|pfc lAvnntn~o n C- 11
to the world, and that from their firft Minister of
State, that America is their all in all, that it is by
her importance only they can live and breathe and
have a being? Will they, who threatened to bring
us at their feet, now cast themselves at ours, and
own that without us they are not a nation?' Are
they become so unqualified to debate on indepen
dence, that they have loft all idea of it within them
lelves, and are calling to the rocks and mountains
o America to cover their infignificance? Or, if
America is loft, is it manly to fob over it like a
child for its rattle, and invite the laughter of the
world, by declarations of disgrace? Surely the most
confident conduct would be to bear it without com
p Lint, and to Ihew that England, without Ameri
ca, can preserve her independence, and a suitable
rauk with other European powers. You were not
contented while you had her, and to weep for her
now is chiidifh.
[Numb. 258.]