The Connecticut courant, and the weekly intelligencer — Hartford [Conn.], 1782-12-17 00:00:00, page 1

To the E ARL of SHELBURNE.
A SPEECH which has been printed in several of the British
and New-York news-papers, as coming from your
Lordship, in answer to one from the Duke of Richmond, of
the loth of July last, contains expreflions and opinions so
new and singular, and so enveloped in mysterious reasoning,
that I address this publication to you, for the purpofc of giv
ing them a free and candid examination. The fpecch I
allude to is in thefc words :/
66 His Lordship said, it had been mentioned in another
place, that he had been guilty of incontinence. To clear
himfelf of this, he asserted, that he still held the fame prin
ciples, in refpcd 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 forever. Such
were the sentiments he pofTeffed on a former day, and such
the sentiments he continued to hold at this hour. It was
the opinion of Lord Chatham, and the opinion of many
able statesmen. Other noble Lords, however, think differ
ently ; and as the majority of the Cabinet support them, he
acquiefeed in the measure, dissenting from the ilea ; and
the point is fettledfor bringing the matter into the full dis
cussion 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 up
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 forever; he looked for a spark at Icaft
to be left, which might in time light us up to a new day.
But if independence was to be granted, if Parliament deem
ed that measure prudent, he forefaw;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 ofthat
country as well as of this, and that he might exercise what
ever powers he possessed, as an orator, to save both from
xuin, in a convidion to Congress, that.if their independence
was signed, their liberties were gone forever.
<c Peace, his Lordship added, was a definable obje&; but
it must be an honorable peace, and not an humiliating one,
dilated by France, or infilled on by America. It was ve
ry true this kingdom was not in a flourishing state ; it was
impoverished by war : But if we were not rich, it wasevi
dentthat France was poor. If we were straitened in our fi
nances, the enemy were exhausted in their resources. This
was agreat empire; it abounded with brave men, who
were able and willing to fight in a common cause: The
language of humiliation should not therefore be the lan
guage of G r eat Britain. His Lordship said that he was not
ashamed nor afraid, ofthofc expressions going to America.
There were numbers, great numbers there, who were of the
fame way of thinking, in refpea to that country being de
pendent on this, and,who, with his Lordship, perceived ru
in and independence linked together."
Thus far the speech, on which I remark—That his lord
ship is a total Granger to the mind and sentiments of Ame
rica ; that he has wrapped himfelf up in fond delufio , that
something less than independence may, under his admini
stration, be accepted; and he wishes himlelf lent to Con
gress, to prove the molt extraordinary of all do& ines,
which is, that independence, the fublimcft 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 insults ; and when the base terms of
unconditional fubmiffijn were demanded, or undiftinguish
able deftru&ion threatened. Itis nothing to us that the M;-
niftry 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, tho' but for a monent, think and
a& as England has done, can never afterwards be believed
or trusted. There are cases in which it is as impossible to
restore chara&er to life, as it is to recover the dead. It is
a phoenix that can expire but once, and from whose ashes
there is no refurre&ion. Some offences are of such a flight
corspoficion, that they reach no further th in the temper,
and are created or cured by a thought. But the fin afEng
land has struck the heart of America, and nature has not
left it in our power to fay we can forgive.
Your Lordship wishes for an opportunity to plead before
Congress the cause of England and America, and to five, as
you fay, both from ruin.
That the country, which, for more than seven years, has
fought our deftru& o n, should now cringe to solicit our pro
tedion, is adding tire wretchedness ofdifgrace to the misery
of disappointment ; and if England has the least fpaik of
supposed honor left, that spark must be darkned by asking,
and extinguished by receiving, the fmalleflfarar from Amt-
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WEEKLY TNTEILTGKNCFR
HARTFORD: Printed by HUDSON and GOOD WI N, near the Great Bridge^
T U E S D A. Y, December 17, 1782.
ricar For the criminal,' who owes his life to the grace and
mercy of the injured, is more executed by living, than he
who dies.
But a thousand pleadings, even from your Lordship, can
have no eff,&. Honor, interest and every sensation of rhe
heart would plead agaioft you. We are a people who think
not as you think ; and what is equally true, you cannot feel
as we feel. The situation of the two countries are exceed
ingly different. We have been the feat of war. You have
seen nothing of it. The most wanton d'eßru&ion has
been Committed in our fight. The mast infolcnt bar
barity has been aded in our feelings. We can look round
and fee the remains of burnt and destroyed houses, once the
fair fruit of hard industry, and new the striking monuments
of British brutality. We walk over the dead whom we lov
cd, in every part of America, and remember by whom they
fell. There is scarcely a< village but brings to life feme
melancholy thought, and reminds us of what we have Suf
fered, and of thofc we have loft by the brutishness cf Bri
tain. A thousand images arise to us, which, from fiuation,
you cannot fee, and are accompanied by as many ideas
which you cannot know ; and therefore your supposed sys
tem of reasoning would apply to nothing, and all your ex
peditions die of themselves.
The question, whether England shall accede to the inde
pendence of America, and which your Lordship fays is to
undergo a parliamentary difeumon, is so very simple, and
composed offo few c^fes, that it scarcely needs a debate.
It is the only way out of an expensive and ruinous war,
which has now no objed, and without which acknowledg
ment there can be no peace.
But your Lordship fays, “ The fen of Great Britain will be
set whenever she acknowledges % the independence of America °
Whereas the metaphor would have been ftii&ly just to h,ve
left the fun wholly out of rhe figure and have ascribed her,"
not acknowledging it to the influence of the moon.
But the expression, if true, is the g^eateft confeffion of
disgrace thatcould be made, and furnishes America with the
bigheft notions offovereign, independent importance. Mr.
Wedder urne, abcut the year 1776, made use of an idea of
much the lame kind.—-'' Relinquish America ! f,ys he,
What is it bat to defae a Giant to shrink fpontaneoaf) into a
dwarf?
Alas ! Are thofc people who call themselves Englishmen,
of to little internal consequence, that when America is gone,
or shuts her eyes upon them, their fun is set, they can shine
no more, but grope about in obfeurity, and contrad, into
infignificant amimals ? Was America, then, the giant of
the empire, and England only her dwarf in waiting ? Is the
case so ftrangel, altered, that those who orce thought we
could not live without them, now declare they cannot exist
without us ? Will they tell to rhe world, and that from their
fi-ft Miniver 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, uho threatened to bri g us at
their feet, now call themselves at ours, ^nd own that with
out u>thc, are not a nation ? Are they become so unqualifi
ed to debate on independence, that they have loft all idea of
i: in themselves, and are calling to the rocks and mountains
of America to cover infigniffcance ? Or, if America is loft,
is it manly to fob overit like a child for its rattle, and invite
the laughter of the world, by declarations ofdifgrace ? Sure
ly the more confident conduct would be to bear it without
complaint, and to shew that England, without America,
can preserve her independence and a suitable rank with 0-
ther European powers. You were not contented while you
had her, and to weep for her now is childish.
But Lord Shelburne thinks that something- ma, yet be
done. What that something is, or how it is to be accom
plished, is a matter of obfeurity. By arms there is no hope.
The experience of nearly eight years, with the experce of an
hundred million pounds fferling, and the loss of two armies,
must positively decide that point. Besides, the British have
loft their inrereft in America with the difaffe&ed. Every
part of it has been tried. There is no new feene left for de
lusion : And the thousands who have been ruined by adher
ing co them, ?nd have now to quit the settlements the, had
acquired, and be conveyed like transports to cultivate the de
farts of Auguftihe aud Nova Scotia, has put an end to all fur
ther cxpe&sious of aid.
If you cast your eyes on the people of England, what heve
they to confide themselves with for the millions expended,
or what encouragement is there left to continue throwing
good money after bad / America can carry on the war for
ten years longer, and all the-cKarges of government includ
ed, for less than you can defray the charges of war and go
vernment for one year. And I, who know both countries
know well that the people of America can afford to pay their
share of the expence much better than the people of Eng
land can. Besides, it is their own effaces and property,
their own rights, liberties and government, they are defend
ing, and were they not to do it, the, wouMdeferre rolofcall,
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 war
lasts. The, enjoy an easy and indolent life. They fatten
on the folly of one country and the spoils ofanother; and
between their plunder and their pay, may go home rich
But the case is very different with the labouring farmer, the
working tradesman, and necessitous poor in England, the
Iweat of whole brow goes day ,fter day to feed, in prodi
gality and ,th, the army that is robbing both them and us.
f '? m the eye ° f the cou ""y th * c (uppers them,
and dilhntfrom 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 Ame
rica is independent.
Then I (ay, is England already ruined, for America is al
ready independent : And if Lord Shelburne will not allow
this, he immediately denies the f..& which he infers. Le
hdes, to make England the mere creature of America is
paying too great a compliment to us, and too little to him-
But the declaration is a rhaptod, of incorfiftance. For
to fay, as Lord Shelburne has numberless times said. that the
war agairft America is i tiinous, andyet to continue the pro
secution of that ruinous war for the purpose of avoiding ru
in, is a language which cannot be underwood. Neither is
it possible to fee how the independence of America is to ac
comphsh the ruin of England afte, the war is over .and vet
not it before. America cannot be morels dependent:
of her, nor a greater enemy to her, hereafter, than she is
; nor , glard derive less advantage from her than ac
preterit : Why then is ruin to follow in the best state of the
calc, a s d not in the worst ? and if notin the worst wha
it co follow at all? 'wny is
That a nation as to be ruined by peace and commerce 1
and fourteen or fifteen millions , year less experts than
before, is a new doline in politics. % have heard much
clamour of national layings and economy, but fe re > the
true economy wcn!d be to save tk whole charge of a fill,
foolish and headlong war ; bee use, compared with tbis'
all other retrenchments are bibles and trifles'
But is it poffib echat Lord Shelburne can be feriQus in sup
posing the lf.lt advantage can be obtained by arms, or thac
any advaxtdge can be equal to the expence ortho danger of
CT?% Wiling the capture of one arm y af ^ „ o _
thcr fatisfy him, but all filuft become prisoners ? Must Erg
land ever be the sport of hope, and the dupe of delufioii
Sometime out currency was co fail; another time our army
Vasto diftund ; then whole provinces were to revolt; s uc h
a General laid this and that ; another wrote so and 0
Lo d Chatham was of this opinion; a , d Lord fom^h
elle of another: to-day ac coo Ruffians and zoßnffi <n '
of the line were to come; to-morrow the Empress <
bused without mercy or decency : then th; Emperor ef'cer
ft eras to be bribed with a million of mone ,%,,dthc Ki ^
of Prufln was to do wonderful things; at one rim- .
Lo here ! and then it ^ Lo there ! S^ e J m:s
and sometimes that power, was to engage in the war '
as if rhe whole world was as mad and foolish as
And thus, from year to year, has every straw Been cached
at, and every will-with-a-whifp led them a newdance
This year a still newer folly is to take place. 10l shel
burnt wishes to be sent to Congress, an d then thi ks th^
lometiring may be done.
Are not the repeated answers which Congress has riven•
and which all America supports, that they will not even
hear any pro pofais whatever, until the unco dhior al and
unequivocal independence of America is recognifed are
not, I fay, these declarations answer enough?'
But for England to receive an, thing fiem America no—
after so many mful, injures and outrages, a&ed towards
us, would shew luch a spirit of meanness in her that we
could not but difpife her for accepting of it. And so far
from Lord Shelburne coming herd to fidicit it, it would be
the gre^teft disgrace we could do them, to offer it. England
would appear wretched indeed, at this time of day to ask
or owe ary thing to the bounty of America Bas net the
name of Englishman blots enough upon it, without invenr
r".' c ? even , Lti cifcr would (corn to reign in heaven by
permit, ; and yet an Englishman can creep for o^v an
entrance into America. Or has a land of liberty so many
churns fhatto be a door-keeper in it is better than to
an English Miriftcr ofState?
Blit what can this expected something be ? Or, if obtain
ed, »h.t can ir amount to. but new disgraces, contention
and quarrels ? The people of America have for years ac
customed themselves to think and speak so freely and con
temytnoufly of English authority, and the inveteracr is so
deeply rooted, that a perlon invested with an, aurhori^
f ° m ^l'°",^ ?° d ^tempting to cxercife it here, would
have the life of a toad «nder a harrow They wsuld look
(No. 934.1