The New-Jersey gazette — Burlington [N.J.], 1778-03-11 00:00:00, page 1

The hiring of foreign troops the Earl also repro
bated as impolitic in the highest degree; and after
haying laboured to prove that it would have been
more constitutional to have raised new levies of Bri
tish troops, declaring that he would fell his shirt off
-his back to serve his country in a right cause, but
that he would not give government a shilling to car
ry on the present ruinous and unnatural war ; he lu
dicrously said, government made so many new con
nections, and some of them were so strange, that it
now only remained for. them to enter into a treaty
with the king of the Gypsies, in order to complete
the motley lift of their allies. He described the Ame
ricans as a brave, thinking people, men every way
superior to the petty, paltry German Princes, who
fold their fubjeds as butchers did their meat at the
ihambles ; and to ftrehgthen his argument for an im
mediate alteration of measures, he described America
as rising every day in power, and increasing in mili
tary strength, particularly her armies, and by way of
pppofition declared, that the military discipline a
mong our troops across the Atlantic was scandalous
ly relaxed, and daily growing woffe ; that our mili-
LONDO N.
HOUSE OF LORD S.
Thursday, November 20.
AS soon as his Majesty had left the House
the Earl of Harcourt and Lord Percy
were introduced, and took their feats ;
the Lord Chancellor then read his
Majesty's speech, and afterwards the
Clerk of the House. Lord Percy then
rose up, and in a very ihort speech, which could
not be heard below the bar, moved for an humble
Address to be presented to his Majesty, to return
him thanks for his most gracious speech. The Earl
of Chefterfield,, in another short speech, seconded
his Lordship. After which, Lord Coventry got up,
and opposed the motion for the Address, and con
cluded with recommending to his Majesty's Mini
sters to withdraw the troops from America.
Lord Chatham then rose, and entered into a series
of lamentations on the iniquitous conduct of the
Ministry, the impolicy of the American war, the im
proper mode ofcondudting.it, and the dreadful crisis
of public affairs.
The Earl began with complaining that Parliament
were most cavalierly treated by the Ministry ; that
instead of the latter's persuading his Majesty, agree
able to ancient custom, to. aik the advice of the great
council of the nation, when matters stood in such a
very alarming situation, when the very exigence of
the constitution was at flake, the speech, in the most
peremptory and dictatorial terms, talked of the line
cf conduct to be followed by government as, a matter
already fettled, and only using the words .w/y&W and
fuppprt in addressing the great council of the nation,
begged that parliament would make every grant of
troops, money, &c. however inordinate and impro
per, which the Miniftcr thought proper to ask. This
language, the. Earl observed, was equally new and
improper. Jt struck him,in so reprehensible a point
of view, that he fcrt|p!ed not to fay the Minister who
dared to advise the use of it ought to be called to a
most feveye account, and he wiihed to fee the front
of the man who was fufficiently confident to venture
to tell the King that his affairs were in a hopeful
condition, flaying finifhed his animadversions on the
speech, he drew a most tremendous picture of the
times, and dwelt upon the necessity of instantly chang
ing the mtafures of government, and instead of pur
suing the war, of taking the most effectual means of
procuring peace and tranquillity. In the course of
bis speech, he took occasion to be particularly severe
on thofc who had consented to the turning the la
vages loose upon the rebels with the tomahawk and
fcalpiqg knife, and said it was not only-la molt in
human and barbarous mode of carrying on the war,
but that it was a cjrcumftjnce the Americans never
would forget or forgive. He called it disgracing the
Britilh banner, lowering our national character as
men, of courage, polluting the fame which the suc
cess of our arms had created in all parts of the world,
and sacrificing to a mean revenge the noblest princi
ples of honour and humanity. " Is bidding a band
,of.ravages' ymbrue their barbarous hands in the blood
of our fellow ,fubje& (added his Lordlh'ip)a piece
.of conduct confifterirwith the great idea of the poet?
Does it speak
" The pomp; pride, and circumstance of glorious
war! ;,
.No, it favours of want of feeling, want of a neces
sary conception of the mature of juftifiable ambition,
and I will venture to fay, it is not consonant to
law." <
[Vol. I.] THE [Numb. i„
NEW-JERSEY GAZETTE.
WEDNESDAY, March n, 1778.
tary at home and in Ireland were by no means equal
to the preservation of Great-Britain in case of an
attack from the House of Bourbon ; that our navy at
home was so shockingly weak, and unfit for service,
that no man of credit would undertake the command
of it ; and, in fad, that the kingdom, in consequence
of the present ruinous war, was altogether in a de
fencelefs state. Among other proofs of our daily de
creasing in power arid advantage, he instanced, that
our channel was daily pestered with privateers, which
annoyed our commerce much more than was ever
known in times of foreign war, and added, that our
being shut out of Lisbon river was not the smallest
inconvenience we felt. After having uttered innu
merable praises of ' America, his Lordship boasted,
that as far as they had refilled for the fake of free
dom, he would juftify their conduct, but that he was
not altogether so entirely of opinion with them as to
undertake either to defend or support every thing
they have done; America, his Lordship declared,
was not to be juftified in throwing off her dependency
on Great-Britain; the mother country had an un
doubted right to a superiority, but then she should
enjoy and use it mutually for her own interest and
that of her Colonies, and not with a view to derive
great advantage to herfelf, and to oppress America.
The Act of Navigation should be allowed, and every
pretence to independency retracted on the one hand,
every desire of unconditional fubmifiion given up on
the other; this his Lo,dlhip afferttd was the only
rational idea of accommodation that could be adopt
ed ; and that it was at once honourable, eafr, and
promised to be permanent. The present moment
his Lordship pointed out as the proper point of time
to begin attempting such a mode of accommodation :
France, by her late declarations of not assisting .Ame
rica, seemed not to be on the best terms with the
Congress, arid probably the secret reason was, that
some treaty was on the carpet between her and the
Congress-Deputies, the terms of which she meant to
terrify the latter into a compliance with, by appear
ing to be in earned, in her profeflions to the'Court of
Great-Britain ; that we ought to take advantage of
this fluctuation of affairs, and while there was an
apparent coolness between France and America, to
fettle matters with the latter, and restore our own
diftradted affairs to such order as was absolutely ne
cessary for the fafety of the empire. As a firft step
towards effecting what his Lordship advised, he mov
ed an amendment to the Address proposed to be pre
sented ; which amendment was as follows:
" That this House does most humbly advise and
supplicate his Majesty to be pleased to cause the most
speedy and effectual measures to be taken for restor
ing peace in America ; and that no time may be loft
in proposing an immediate collation of hostilities
there, in order to the opening a treaty for the final
fcttlement'of the . tranquillity of these invaluable pro
vinces, by a removal of the unhappy causes of this
ruinous civil war, and by ajuft find adequate security
against the return of the like ' calamities in time to
come. And this House desire to offer the most du
tiful assurance to his Majesty, that they will, in due
time cheerfully Co-operate with the magnanimity and
tender goo'dnefs of his Majesty, for the preservation
of his people, by such explicit and most solemn de
clarations and provifibns of fundamental and irrevoc
able laws, as may be judged necessary for afeertain
ing and fixing, for ever, the refpeftive rights of
Great-Britain and her Colonies."
This amendment having been read by the Lord
Chancellor,
The Earl of Sandwich got up, and said it was with
great diffidence he rose to reply to a noble Lord so re
nowned as a wife statesman and powerful orator, as
the pfopofer of the amendment ; but as he was con
vinced from what had fallen from the noble Earl, that
he not only was an able politician, but had a real and
sincere regard for his country, he thought it his duty
to let his Lordfllip right refpe&ing fevcral particulars
which he had advanced, and which were absolutely
falfe in fa&. He premised that he was well aware
the noble Earl did not mean to mislead the House,
or to misrepresent any one matter which he had taken
upon him to mention in the course of his speech ;
since however it was evident that the noble Earl had
been mifinfornied, he would undeceive him in re
fpeft to such of the points as fell immediately under
his cognizance, and which he could prove to be very
differently situated from the noble Earl's description.
The firft of these was the state of the navy in Europe,
which the noble Earl had declared not only to be
weak, and unfit for service, but in so despicable and
deplorable a state, that no man of credit in his pro
feflion would take the command of it. So far was
this from being the case, that he was mog heartily
happy to be able to fay, in the hearing of the House,
and of the Grangers, and not to care how universal
ly it was reported, that our navy never was in so
powerful and refpedable a condition as at present.
We have no less than forty-two ships of the line in
commission in Europe, thirty-five of which were ful
ly manned, excepting only a deficiency of about nine
hundred men upon their entire complements, which
was an uncommonly trifling deficiency, and very easily
made up in case of necessity: that the seven other
ships were lately put into commission, and therefore
not yet manned; but that all the marines necessary
for them were ready, and that no doubt their com
plements would soon be procured. This naval force,
his Lordship remarked, was superior to what France,
or any of the continental powers had ; and that when
it was considered we had more line of battle ships,
full manned, in different parts of the world, an in
credible number of frigates, and other armed vessels
in America, and a most extraordinary addition of
frigates and small vessels built and bought, and now
preparing for sea, surely it could not be argued, that
our navy was in any thing like a weak state, or an
unserviceable condition. With regard further to the
ab'ertibri, " that no officer of credit would take the
command of the fleet in Europe," it was equally
falfe ; a noble, arid an able officer, of one of the firft
families in the kingdom, and of an irreproachable
character, was both ready and willing to take the
command ; nor was he the only officer of reputation
ready to accept it; others, many others, were also
willing, @4 God forbid that the fafety of the king
dom Ihould rest solely on the experience and valour
of an. individual in any profeflion, however excellent
his character, however great his abilities 1
His Lordship, with a view to fatisfy the House re
fpe&ing the state of the navy, produced papers, from
which he read a variety of matters, all tending to
prove his assertions, by fpecifying the. particulars ne
deffary to convey an exadt information of the num
bers, size, crews, &c. &c. of the various vessels. in
the service ; and after very circumstantially proving
that our navy was now much superior to the united
fleets of the House of Bourbon, the Earl declared,
that it was a doctrine he most heartily fubferibed to,
and hoped every successor to him would feel the forqe
of, that the person who presided at the Admiralty
Board in Great-Britain, was no longer worthy of
holding his office, than while he kept the navy of
this country in a state of superiority over that of
every other European power.
He paid Lord Chatham very high compliments on his
declaration, that he wished not to have America inde
pendent, but would at all events preserve the supe
riority of Great-Britain, and oblige the Americans to
allow the force of the Navigation A&. This, his
Lordihip remarked, was a style of thinking which
was very different from the. general language of oppb
fition ; and he doubted not that many, of the noble
Lords, who would go entirely with the Earl in the
buiinefs and debate of the day, entertained sentiments
of a very opposite nature.
The noble Earl had declared, that among other
losses this country felt from pursuing the American
war, the river of Lilbon was shut up. This decla
ration, his Lordship said, was to him altogether un
intelligible ; we had two men ,of war mow Rationed
in the river of Lisbon, and we had the free use of the
river as much as ever. Add to this, the Portuguese
publickly denied countenancing the Americans, and
in consequence some ofthe rebel privateers had attack
ed and taken one of the Portuguese ships, richly laden.
With regard to France, he said he would venture
to declare, that remonstrances, strong remonstrances,
had been made to the Court of Versailles on the
score of affixing the Americans, and countenancing
their privateers. That as a nation the French-had
solemnly declared their intentions to adt amicably te
Great-Britain ; that their publick ordinances, many
of which had been lately issued, corresponded with
this declaration'; that as a further corroboration pf
it, they had lately ordered that no American Blip
should come into their ports, unless in cases of parti
cular and urgent distress; and that no longer since
than a fortnight ago, they had obliged the American
Captain, who brought in two of our Weft-India fleet
to a port in France, to give up his prizes, and had re
stored them to the merchants here, and that the ships
were now on their way to England. That Great-
Britain had every national assurance of friendfhip
from France ; and although it could not be denied,
nor avoided, but that in such a situation as we stood
in with America, private persons in France might clan
destinely fend out stores, and furnifh the rebels with
assistance, —that it would surely be impoliticly to
commerce a new war on fu.ph an account; and that