The New-York gazette, and the weekly Mercury — New-York [N.Y.], 1775-04-17 00:00:00, page 1

'The SPEECH of the Right Honourable the Earl of
CHATHAM, in the House of Lords, Jan. 20.
1775, °" tbe Jollo-wing Motion made by his Lordfoip.
" That an humble Address be presented to his Ma
jesty, most humbly to advise, and beseech him,
that, in order to open the way towards an happy
Settlement of the dangerous troubles in America,
by beginning to allay ferments, and foften animo
sities there; and above all, for preventing, in the
mean time, any sudden and fatal catastrophe at
Boston, now fuffering under the daily irritation of
an army before their eyes, and posted in their
town. It may graciously please his Majesty, that
immediate orders be dispatched to General Gage
for removing bis Majeflfs forces from the to c wn of
Boflon, as soon as the vigour of the season, and
other circumstances indispensable to the fafety and
accommodation of the said troops, may render the
fame practicable.”
My Lords,
IR ISE with vast astonishment to fee these papers *
brought to your table in so late a period of this
business; papers, I am sure, the contents of which
are already known, not only to every noble Lord in
this House, but almost to every person in this king
dom, who has made American affairs in the lead an
obje& of enquiry; yet now, in the very tail of this
business, when measures should be long since deter
mined on, we are furnifhed with an empty parade of
parchments---to tell us what ?—-why, what all the
world knew before---that the Americans, fore under
injuries, and irritated by wrongs, ftript of their in
born Rights and dearest Privileges, have resisted, and
entered into associations for the preservation of that
blessing to which life and property are but secondary
Considerations.
Give me leave to ask you, my Lords, how these
associations have been formed ? has the tide of cor
ruption yet flowed in upon their elections ? have those
delegates beer )fuborned? or have great interest,
great power, br great threats been used (as is too
much the case in this our boasted mother country) to
crayon out what conduct they fliould adopt? no
nothing like this has appeared; the electors seem to
be prompted by no other motive than that glorious,
and exalted one, the preservation of their common Li
berties; and under this idea they have been induced
to appoint men competent to so great an undertaking;
men of tried and found principles, embarked in the
fame great cause, and, from iimiiar sentiments,
taught to pity the miseries of the whole.
Invented then with this right, (the choice of a free
people) these delegates have^eliberated with pru
dence, wisdom, and spirit; and, in consequence of
these deliberations, have addressed the justice, and
honour of this country. This is their fault; this is
their crime; petitioning for that, without which a
free people cannot pdffibly exift;---yet, for ageing
this boon, this unalienable privilege of Englishmen,
are they reprobated, and ftigmatifed with the epithets
of ingrates-- traitors---and rebels.
Hau the early Situation of the people of Boston been
attended to, my Lords, it would not have come to
this---but the infant complaints of Boston were lite
raly treated like the capricious squalls of a child,
who, it was said, did not know whether it was ag
grieved, or not.---But full well, my Lords, I knew,
at that time, that this child, if not redressed, would
soon assume the courage, and voice of a man. The
Bostonians did not then complain upon flight, or
temporary evil; but on an evil which sapped the very
vitals of their constitution, and reduced all the great
blessings of life to chance, equivocation, and insecu
rity. Full well I knew that the sons of ancestors,
born under the fame free constitution, and once
breathing the fame liberal air as Englishmen, an
cettors, who even quitted this land of Liberty, the
moment it became the land of Oppression, and, in
refinance to bigotted councils, and oppressive mea
sures, tore themselves from their dearest connections;
I fay, my Lords, full well I knew that the offspring
of such ancestors would refill upon the fame princi
ples, and on the fame occasions.
It has, however, gone abroad, thatthe refulutions,
and petitions, of the Congress are not the real refo-
Jutions and petitions of the sober, refpe&able, and
dispassionate; but the very dregs and refufe of the
people; and to circulate this report the better, letters
are handed about from some very refpe&able mer
chants (as they are called) from the different provin
ces. But well I know how to describe such mer
chants-—little paltry, peddling fellows, venders of
twopenny wares, and falfhoods, who under the idea
of trade, fell every thing in their power----Honour,
Trust, and Confeience.
These fellows (for such is the lot ofhumanity) are
ever to be found in all countries---and are always in
great plenty when their country is at stake, who,
without ever regarding consequences, and that gene
ral ruin might ensue,, press forward to the goal of
lucre, and cut out the shortest passage to their own
interests.
Yet these are the men, who are held out to us to
take a true state of the country from; Men who aft,
upon the most illiberal principles, children of the
world; who have no fixed residence no lading
attachments, but to the shrine of Mammon. But it
is not such that ever speak the voice of a people---it
is the proprietors, and tillers of the ground—-men
who have a permanent-natural right in the place---
and who from being nursed in the bosom of cultiva
tion, form strong and honourable attachments to their
country ;---it is to these, credit and authority are to
be given, and from these our belt informations are
to be drawn.
Much, my Lords, has been said about the autho-
Monday, April 17, 1775. THE [No. 1227.]
N E ^-ro R r{%@fflG A ZET T E:
AND JU^rfTJ™^ THE
WEEKLYME R C U' R Y.
' Containing tbe freWeff SUUices foreign anti ^omc^r^.
* The ivhole of the American papers just then deli
vered in at the table by Lord Dartmouth, at the
commandos bis Majefj.
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ilb. igoz. for 4 Coppers.
Published 3d April, 1775.
0 Printed by HUGH GAINE, Printer, Bookseller, and Stationer, at the Bible and Crown, in Hanover-Square.
But, my Lords, government, so far from once
turning its eves to the policy and delhu&ive conse
quence of this scheme, are constantly fending out
more troops; and we are told, in the language of
menace, that if seventeen thousand men wont do,
fifty thousand Shall. 'Tistrue, my Lords, with this
force they may ravage the country; wafle and destroy
as they match; but in the progress of Seventeen
hundred miles, can they occupy the places they have
passed ? will not a country, which can produce three
millions of people, wronged and insulted as they are,
start up like Hydras in every corner, -rd gather frefh
Strength from frefh opposition ? nay, what dependance
can you have upon the Soldiery, the unhappy engines
of your wrath? They are Englishmen, who must
feel for the privileges of Englishmen; and their car
rying muskets and bayonets about them, surely does
not exclude them the pale of civil community. Do
you think that these men, then, can turn their arms
against their brethren ?---Surely no--'-a* vi&ory must
be to them a defeat-- Carnage---a facrifice.
But, my Lords, it is not merely three millions of
people, the produce of America, we have to combat
with, in this unnatural Struggle; many more are on
their fide, difperfcd over the face of this wide empire.
Every Whig in this country is for them. Ireland is
with them to a man; nay, even those Englishmen,
who may be now temporarily inactive, when they
once come to be rouzed to a sense of recollection ;
when they come to weigh the great line of right, for
which their brethren in America are contending for,
the sense of their own danger will inftruft them to
range themselves on their fide.
Who then, in the name of Heaven! could advise
this measure ? or who can continue to give this
Strange and unconstitutional advice? I do not mean
to level at one man, or any particular set of men ;
but thus much I will declare, that if his M con
tinues to hear such counfellors, he will not only be
badly advised, but undone. He may wear his C---n
indeed, it is true, but it will not be worth his wear
ing : robbed of so principal a jewel as America, it
will lose its luftre, and no longer beam that efful
gence which Should irradiate the brow of M~.~-—y.
What then is become of this boasted country of En
gland, once so renowned in arts, as well as arms ?
what is become of her constitution, that has hitherto
been the wonder as well as the envy of surrounding
nations! has She changed her civil power, and^jw-
rity of Parliament in these cases, and when men aio
driven for want of argument, they fly to this as their
last refourc.e---“ A&s of Parliament (fay their advo
cates) are sacred, and should be implicitly submitted
to; for if the supreme power does not lodge some
where operatively and effe&ually, there must be an
end of all legillation.” But my Lords, they who
argue, or rather dogmatize in this manner, do not
fee the whole of this question on great, wife, and li
beral grounds; for in all free states the constitution
is fixed, and all legislative power and authority,
wherever placed, either in collective bodies or indi
vidually, must. derive under that constitution who
framed them.---A&s of legislation, therefore,.hpw
ever strong and effective they may be, when they are
framed in the spirit of this constitution, yet when
they resist, they attack their own foundation; for it is
the constitution, and it alone, that limits both so
vereignty and allegiance:
This doctrine, my Lords, is no temporary do&rine,
taken up on particular occasions to answer particular
purposes, it is involved in no metaphysical doubts
and intricacies—but clear, preeife, and determined.
It is recorded in all our law books, it is written in
the great volume of nature—it is the essential, unal
terable right of Englishmen—it accords with all the
principles of justice and civil policy, which neither
armed force on the one fide, nor submission on the
other, can upon any occasion whatever eradicate.
It was this doCtrine that was the great guide and
spirit to the framers of the bill of rights, at the period
of the glorious revolution-men of the greatest accu
racy, wisdom, and honesty; and, without any dis
paragement to the present day, few such councilors
are now to be seen. Recolle&, my Lords, for a
moment, the arguments used by these men—and fee
how wife, liberal, and constitutional they were; turn
then to their opponents, and how flimfy, thin, and
unprovided they appear! if then we applaud our an-1
ceftors for obtaining such liberties for us, at a time
when all the rights of Englishmen were trampled
upon, and despotism had trodden down the laws,
surely we canhot, in reason, deny that portion of li
berty (so hardly and honourably obtained) to our
own brethren—brethren by the fame common parent,
and who are unquestionable heirs of the fame glorioiA
inheritance.
The fafls being then, my Lords, as I have fated
them, what has government done ? they have sent an
aimed force, confiding of above seventeen thousand
men, to dragoon the Bostonians into what is called
their duty, and for the chastisement of a final! rabble,
confiding of the necessitous and chara&erlefs in doing
an unlawful a&, have involved above thirty thousand
inhabitants in the greatest difficulty, oppression, and
conflernation. Is this the way to win men to their
duty, and recover in them the principles of affe&ion
and British allegiance? Do you think, that men who
could be routed to forego their profits, their pleasures,
and the peaceable enjoyment of their dearest connec
tions---all for the fake ofliberty, will be whipped
into vassalage like (laves? Why, my Lords, this con
du& in government is so fantaftical and aerial in
pra&ice, that it by far exceeds the bolded wing o f
poetry ; for poetry has often read pleasing, as well as
inftru&ive lessons to mankind; and ' though it some
times amuses herfelf in daion, that fi&ioh, to please,
should be founded on verisimilitude. But in this wife
system there is nothing like truth, nothing like policy,
nothing like justice, experience, or common sense.
Monday, ^4 Min. after to
Tuesday, 16 Min. after 11
Wednesday,2l Min. after 12
Thursday, 15 Min. after 1
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Friday, ii Min. after 2
Saturday, 7 Min. after 3
Sunday, 59 Min. after 3
Last Quarter next Saturday.
tary laws for a military code? or has flic transferred
her feat of empire to Constantinople ?-----Has she,
who has often shed her dearest blood in the manly re
finance of despotism, now not only tamely fubnrtted to
if, but fat down herfelf to forge the arbitrary chains?
But our present governors, alas! think so little of
this matter, that I hear General Gage has been
thought to hate acted too tardy in this business--that
he has not been fwiffenough to execute vengence, and.
sheath the sword in the bowls of his countrymen.
I really,pity the unfortunate situation of that gentle
man, who has approved himfelf on many occasions
a gallant soldier, and humane man ; for what, from
being under the difagretable predicament of doing
his duty on the one fide, and his own feelings of
justice and policy on the other, what a conflift mbit
he have ! his situation, my Lords, puts me in mind
of a similar tranfa&ion in the civil wars of France,
when the great Conde on one fide, and Marshal
Turenne on the other, commanded different armies ;
the latter confeious &hat terrible consequences a vic
tory muff produce to himfelf and country, though
often in his power, avoided blows as much as possible.
After the affair was over, the Marffial was thus
reprimanded at court for not ^t least taking the
Prince ; peurquoi no rarest wous pas pris ? but that
.great General very sensibly replied, parceque, Sire,
fje Pavois fait tout Paris cn revanche m'auroit pris.
" Should I take him, please your Majesty, I was
afraid all Paris would take me.”
In this alarming crisis, this diftra&ed view of
affairs, I come, my Lords, with this paper in my
hand (holding out his motion) to offer you the belt
of my experience and advice, which is “ to beseech
his Majesty that he would be graciously pleased to
give immediate orders to Gen. Gage to withdaw his
troops from before the town of Boston, in order to
open the way for a plan of concord and reconcilia
tion ;” and this, my Lords, upon the mod mature
and deliberate grounds, is the best advice I can give
you at this jun&ure. Such a conduit will con
vince America that you mean to try her cattle in the
spirit of freedom and enquiry, and not in letters of
blood ; it will be a pledge to her that you mean
nothing more than friendihip and equity, and she, I
trull, will meet you half way. But how can she trust
you with the bayonet at her bread ? nay, how does
she know, but after having submitted to the sword,
you mean to forge for her heavier chains, the general
consequence of ferocious vi&ory.
Sometime after the repeal of that aft, I happened
to be in company (at the house of a mutual friend
above 100 miles from this town) with one of the most
considerable, and intelligent merchants in this coun
try ; in a .conversation I had with him upon this
fubje&, I begged him to be as explicit as possible
in giving me his opinion on the repeal. This
gentleman then told me, and confirmed his account
by several written and refpe&able evidences, that the
people of Boston, previous to the repeal, waited in
fallen Silence the deliberations of the British parlia
ment, and were ppfitively determined, if that day's
victory had not been obtained, immediately, to aban
don the town, their residence, and all the benefits of
commerce; to the country they were determined to
sQc with their families and friends, more happy to
I have crawled, my Lords, to this house to day,
to tell you so---I think it my duty to give the whole
of my experience, and council to my country at all
times, but more particularly, when she is in so much
need of it; and having thus entered on the tltrefhold
of this business, I will knock at your gates of justice,
and never flop, except infirmities shall nail me to my
bed, until I have at lead, tried every thing in my
power, to heal those unhappy divisions.
There is no time to be loft--every hour is big with
danger---perhaps even whilst I am now speaking,
the decisive blow is (truck, which may involve mil
lions in the consequence; and believe me, the very
firft drop of blood that is spilled, will not bea wound
easily skinned over---it will be irritabile valnus] a
wound of that rancorous and fettering kind, that, in
all probability, will mortify the whole body.
Let us then, my Lords, instantly begin with this
business, |>t let us not a^, as hitherto has been
aaed---f3king it up by bits and scrapes, as exigen
cies prefled, without any regard to general relations,
and dependencies. What lignifies merely; repealing
this, or that particular a& ? this is but meanly freak
ing out of one difficulty perhaps to get into a worse,
and can never answer the purpofes.of a wife, amicable,
and constitutional system. The mere annihilation of
a few, little dirty fhredx of parchment-can never
produce any lading effe& on the happiness, and com
merce of three millions of people, hitherto ground
down with miseries and wrongs, and In hourly idread
of having them occasionally rehearsed.
We mull look on this great business in one large
connected view, work on it, step by step, with cau
tion, and liberality, and never lose fight of it until it
is accomplished ;—-this is the way, not only to obtain
confidence for the present, but solid, and lading hap
pinels for. the future : The line thus drawn, the
Americans will have something to trust to---and we
shall be taught not to tranfgrel's that line. Thus
mutual confidence will be begun, and mutual benefit
must follow. I know that it has been in circulation,
that if the flamp a& had never been repealed, we
should be at this hour in peace and quietness with
America ; and from this many people urge thedanger,
as well as inefficacy of conciliating measures at
present. But though I could readily refute the falf
hood, and absurdity of this assertion, by appealing
to the very official letters from your American go
vernors at that period---! shall wave this ground, and
only mention to your Lordfllips a circumstance,
which will set this matter in a bill clearer light, and
shew you the temper, firmnefs, and complexion of
the Bostonians on that occasion.
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Lord Lytt---—n supported Lord Suff---. He
began by paying every refpe& to the great authority
of the noble Earl who opened the debate, and was
very furry to differ from him ; but his own candour
and opinion decided him to reprobate highly the
condu& of the Americans, whom he called Rebels
and Insurgents. In short, be relied the principal part
of his argument on the infallibility of Acts of Par
liament, which any power that resisted, he said,
should be compelled to submit to.
Lord Shelburne spoke ably in defence of the
Americans; said he flood totally unconne&ed both
with men and measures, but that the noble Earl's
motion carried with it such a conciliating mode,
that he heartily adopted it.
Administration appeared to be startled at this fair
honest, candid, and impartial representation ; but
resuming their former countenance, Lord Sus--- is
said to rife up, and after condemning the conduct of
the Americans with great vehemence, (aid that govern
ment had took every gentle measure that was in their
power, but to no efle& ; that things were at last
come to that crisis, that cither the mother country
must assert their authority or resign, that for his part
he was proud to acknowledge himfelf as one of his
Majesty's Ministers who fird advised coercive mea
sures, and he would abide by such advice at all
hazards.
Lord Camden rose next, and in a very persuasive,
argumentative manner, supported the opinions of his
noble friend Lord Chatham. He went into an able
and masterly examination of the original rights of a
free people, which he defined with his usual accuracy,
temper, and precision. He observed, in an inference
from these premises, that arbitrary power may as well
be lodged in a collective body as a single person ; but
wherever it was exerted, it was unlawful, and may
be resisted ;---that this was no novel do&rine, but as
old as the constitution, and may be found in all the
law books, from Selden down to a gentleman (mean
ing Judge Blackstone) whose Commentaries had been
so justly and universally received in the world ;---
thattherefore acts of the date were not always infal
lible doctrines, but were, and ought to be, in
particular cases, fubjeft to the rights' and freedoms
of the people at large, who had the original right
veiled in them, of delegating their power and autho
rity. [To which give me leave to add, no people
have a right to delegate to others the power of taking
away such rightof delegation ; 'tis the birth-right of
their.fons and of their sons sons, and this can never
happen but where tyranny and arbitray power des
troy the liberty of the people.]
Lord Townsend is said to have quoted several Afis
of Parliament, on which the Americans had tram
pled upon legislative authority ; he should therefore
be for reducing them to obedience by force of arms.
The Duke of Richmond, in his usual masterly
manner, took a large view of the question ; and on
the whole, concluded with coinciding with the
opinion of Lord Chatham for withdrawing the troops
from Boston, as the only way to open a plan of re
conciliation. He next answered the assertion thrown
out by some of the Lords in office, that the Ameri
cans would not be content witli being excluded
internal taxation, but wanted a repeal of the navi
gation A&; This he did by going to the table, and
referring to the petition of the Congress, which he
read in his place, and by which it appeared that they
asked no such matter. He concluded by drawing a
comparison between the timid behaviour of Admini
stration at the surrender of Falkland's illands, and
their swaggering conduct now used to their own
children.
The Marquis of Rockingham very pathetically
lamented the unhappy situation of the town of Boston,
and asked what good fending the soldiery had already
produced. That they had been there for some time,
incapable of using their arms, or bringing about
the purposes of government. From this experience of
your ill concerted measures (continues his Lordship
you ought to be taught wisdom and prudent legisla
tion ; and the only way to recover stability to your
councils, and open a door to reconciliation, will be
to begin by withdrawing the soldiery from the town
of Boston.
After the Lords Gower, Rochford, and Wey
mouth had avowed the fettled refolation of govern
ment, to compel the Americans to Submit to what
demands government Should think fit to impose upon
them, the quellion being put whether Lord Chatham's
motion to address his Majesty to withdraw his troops
from the town of Boston, Should pass or be set aside,
ministerial influence carried it with a high hand.
77 Not Contents.
Against — 18 that were Content.
^freemen, tho' tillers of the earth, than saves
under the greatest prosperity. Does this resolution
look like tamely fubiriitting to indignities ? or does
it shew that it is owing to this just relaxation of
government, that they have been taught to a& with
that firmnefs, and perseverance, they have since that
period pursued?
I would not, however, wish, my Lords, by this
to encourage America to proceed beyond the line of
right---l leprobate as much as any of you those
a&s of violence which a few of her mobility have
committed; but when her inherent, constitutional
rights are invaded, those rights file has an equitable
claim to the full enjoyment of, by the fundamental
laws of the English constitution, and ingrafted on
that Constitution by the unalterable laws of nature ;
then town myfeif an American; and feeling myfelf
as such, shall, to the verge of my life, vindicate her
Rights. If America, however, should, at any time
lose fight of this Line, I fliall be an Englishman, and
defend those Rights against any power, under Hea
ven, that would oppose them.
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