The Pennsylvania evening post — Philadelphia, Pa., 1776-01-18 00:00:00, page 1

LONDO N, October 2s.
The following, it is said, was the amendment proposed on
Thursday last in the House of Lords, by the Marquis of
Rockingham.
—\HAT we behold, with the utmost concern, the dis
orders and diicontents in the British Colonies, rather
increased than diminished, by the means that have
== been used to suppress and allay them ; a circum
stance alone fufficient to give this House just reason to fear
that those means were not originally well considered, or pro
perly adapted to answer the ends to which they were di
reded.
“ We are fatisfied, by experience, that the misfortune has,
in a great measure, arisen from the want of full and proper
information being laid before the Parliament of the true state
and condition of the colonies ; by reason of which, measures
have been carried into execution injurious and inefficacious,
from whence no salutary end was reasonably to be expefted ;
tending to tarnish the luftre of the British arms, to bring dis
credit on the wisdom of his Majesty's councils, and to nourish,
without hope of end, a most unhappy civil war.
" Deeply impressed with a melancholy date of public con
cerns, we shall, in the fulleft information we can obtain, and
with the most mature deliberation we can employ, review the
whole of the late proceedings, that we may be enabled to dis
cover, as we shall be most willing to apply, the most effectual
means of restoring order to the diftrafted affairs of the British
empire, confidence to his Majesty's government, obedience,
by a prudent and temperate use of its powers, to the authority
of Parliament, and fatisfadion and happiness to all his people.
" By these means we trust we shall avoid any occasion of
having recourse to the alarming and dangerous expedient of
calling in foreign forces to the support of his Majesty's autho
rity within his own dominions, and the hill more dreadful ca
lamity of shedding British blood by British arms."
In the House of Lords on Thursday, before any motion
could be made for taking his Majesty's speech into considera
tion, Lord Camden rose and presented a petition from the
Lord Mayor, Aldermen, and Common Council of the city of
London. The petition was accordingly received, read, and
ordered to lie on the table.—The Lord Chancellor rose with
some degree of warmth, and condemned the impropriety of
the condud of the noble Lord who presented the petition;
said that it had been always a rule in that House, on such oc
casions as the present, not to receive or enter upon any busi
ness whatever, till the speech from the throne was previously
taken into consideration. He added, it was a compliment
uniformly paid and expected; that a failure of it was looked
upon as a mark of difrefpeft, but that however, since the
learned and noble Lord had thought proper to depart from
that rule, he should, in turn, beg leave to present a petition
from the freeholders, &c. of his Majesty's colony of Nova-
Scotia. His Lordship then presented the petition, in his
place, which was of course read by the clerk. It is a very
long one, and asserts the sovereignty and supremacy of the
Mother Country, in the strongest and most fpecific terms;
makes offers of assistance, and teftifies their loyalty, obedience
The PENNSYLVANIA EVENING POST.
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THURSDAY, JANUARY 18, 1776.
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31
and zeal of the Nova-Scotians in expreflions as the most zealous
supporters of the claims of British Parliament could possibly
didate. But, before the clerk had proceeded quite half though,
the .matter took a strange turn, for, after this political confef
\ fion of faith, the Nova-Scotians immediately change their
note, and enter into a very long enumeration and detail of
their grievances, condemn the whole system of colony go
vernment; point out several modes of redress and regulation;
and, in fine, become at once the authoritative Counfellors; and,
if not the a&ual, at lead the virtual accusers of their trusty
friends the present Ministers. When the clerk was beginning
to read this part of the petition, it seemed to be the with of
some of the noble Lords in office and their friends to fink it;
but several of the noble Lords in opposition infixed that it
should be read through, that the whole might be received or
rejected together. • It was ordered to lie on the table.
The SPEECH of the LORD MAYOR, JOHN WILKES,
Esq; last Thursday in the House of Commons, on the motion
for an Address to the King:
" Mr. Speaker,
" I intirely agree with the Honorable Gentleman, who
seconded the motion for an Address to his Majesty, that every
man ought now to speak out, and in a moment so important
as the present to the whole empire, Ithink it ill becomes the
dignity and duty of Parliament to lose itfelf in such a fulfome,
adulatory Address to the throne as that now proposed. We
ought rather, Sir, to approach our Sovereign with found and
wholesome advice, and even with remonstrances again ft the
conduct of his Ministers, who have precipitated the nation
into an unjust, ruinous, felonious and murderous war. I call
the war with our brethren in America, an unjust, felonious
war, because the primary cause and confeffed origin of it is
the attempt to take their money from them without their con
sent, contrary to the common rights of all mankind, and
those great fundamental principles of the Englilh constitution
for which Hampden bled. I assert, Sir, that it is in conse
quence a murderous war, because it is an attempt to deprive
men of their lives, for standing up in the just cause of the
defence of their property and their clear rights. It becomes
no less a murderous war with refped to many of our fellow
fubjeds of this island, for every man, either of the navy or ar
my, who has been sent by government to America, and has
fallen a victim in this unnatural and unjust contest, has been
murdered by Administration, and his blood lies at their door.
Such a war, I fear, Sir, will draw down the vengeance of
Heaven upon this devoted kingdom.
" I think this war, Sir, fatal and ruinous to our country.
It absolutely annihilates the only great source of our wealth,
which we enjoyed unrivalled by other nations, and deprives
us of the fruits of the laborious industry of near three millions
of fubjeds, which centered here. That commerce has already
taken its Hight, and our American merchants are now deplor
ing the consequences of a wretched policy, which has been
pursued to their deftrudion. It is, Sir, no less ruinous, with
regard to the enormous expence of the fleets and armies ne
cessary for this nefarious undertaking, so that we are wafting
[Num. 155.