The Connecticut courant, and the weekly intelligencer — Hartford [Conn.], 1779-03-23 00:00:00, page 1

Extract from the genuine SPEECH of Governor
JOHNSTONE, in the Brit,fh House of Com
moat, at the Opening of the Session.
MY honorable friend has obferved,that I was
very fanzine in my expectations of success
from the commission, and remarks with an air of tri
umph, and his friends join in a smile of fatisfa&ion,
that the means which were attempted have failed.
For my part, lam sorry, sincerely sorry ; and yet
lam glad the attempt was made. All men will now
confers the Americans have a bad and wicked cause ;
that they have no just cbje& to contend for, being
now united with France for the profeffed purpose of
reducing this country. All good men ought to join
most heartily to oppose them. Ifwe saw such a uni
on at home, under proper miniflers, I have no doubt
the faccefs of our cause would be certain. While we
are divided- I pronounce with caution -it is the
state of parlies at home, which makes me hesitate not
the want of refoarces, or the firength of the Americans.
One set of men have loft the confidence of the people
by mi(management; another want to yield up all that
is worth contending for in the centeft, without fay
ing at what point they will make a fland or tracing
the coafequences of the meafurcs they would reccm
mend, but my hopes of the success of the com
mission were never so sanguine as the Hon. gentle
man states. The house will do me the justice to re
colle&, that I declared in my place, that I believed
the success would chiefiy depend on the ratification
of the treaty with France. I pressed the departure of
the commissioners again and again before! was a
member of it. I told you, that I believed, if they
had ratified their treaty effenfive and defer , five with
France, that they would not recede without strong
exotic :r, and lam Happy to know that it has not yet
been ratified in a confbtutional manner. Why the
comm ffioners were not sent off sooner, is a question
that merits enquiry. lam sure from the time that I
accepted, no time was loft on my part; from the mo
ment that I accepted, to the time I was on board
ship, there Raffed but ten days, and those negle&-
ing all private affairs, were employed for promoting
the purpose of our mission; and I was at Portsmouth
the day before the commission was finned.
My view always was, that force fhou!d accompany
the concession, and that the Americans ffiould fee a
manly, determined spirit of perseverance in this coun
try, that they might confider well between the evils
of war, in a dubious contest, and the certain advan
tages of immediate peace upon the most honorable &
advantageous terms. The noble lord, in my eye,
will do me the justice to fay, that I wrote a letter to
him before my departure, expressive of those senti
ments, recommending the regimenting the Provinci
als and Canadians, giving them rank, half pay and
emoluments, — The orders to Sir Henry Clinton,
which were shewn me, breathed forth a spirit of acti
vity and coertion. I thought; with the measures I
recommended, the army was fufficient; Ithinkfo still;
nay, lam perfectly convinced of it now, and I am
supported by the opinions of the best officers on the
fpct. Inftcad of that, we secretly duelled an igno
minious retreat, after all the preparations and expence
meceffary for a vigorous campaign had been incurred.
Can it be said with justice that I have failed in my
expe&ations, when every thing I was made to be
lieve, and which I deemed necessary for the effe&,
was disappointed and contradi&ed, nay; concealed
not only from me, but from the other Commissioners;
with whom Ihad the honor to be joined ? Isl had
knov/n Philadelphia had been ordered to be evacuated,
I would never have gone. The other Commissioners
have often declared the fame sentiments on the fubje&.
I remember well the Hon. gentleman seconded the
noble Lord's motion for the Conciliatory Bills ; it
was what we had long been contending for, as a
right and proper meafore. Ware we afterwards to
fradrate or impede, what we on this fide had so long
flight for, and approved when made ? My spirit of
party connections does not lead me to this conduct ;
for nctwith handing the critic.fm of the worthy gen
tiemao_oa I. words unanm/ry, I Rill maintain the
T UESD A Y, March 2s, 1,79- THE (Number 739
CONNECTICUT COURANT,
AND THE
WEEKLY I NTELLIGENC E R.
HARTFORD: Printed by HUDSON and GOODWIN, near the Great-Bridge.
unanimity was lingular on the fubje& of the Ameri,
can affairs. In questions of such consequence Ido
not enquire what turnpike bills had passed without a
negative.
The Hon. gentleman, after whom I rose, has also
indulged himfelf in some other satirical smiles on the
character of the other Commissioners. lam sure I
am much obliged to him for the tenderness with which
he has treated me, by much the most considerable,
after his tossing and goring so many Ministers. lam
sensible I am nothing in his hand, but I must beg
leave to fay a word for those who are absent. I be
lieve the Hon. gentleman takes the character of the
nobh Lord [the Right Hon. the Earl of Carlisle] at
the head of the Commission from news paper reports,
as I once did. He well knows that nothing is so fal
lacious I have such an opinion of his liberality and
good humour, that in case he knew that nobleman as
well as I do, he would be as ready to retract his o
pinions of him as I was, and as willing publicly to
declare it ; for a young nobleman of more worth,
more honor, more dignity, or greater zeal for the
public service, and the execution of the trust com
mitted to him, I never knew. The other gentleman
is so well known to every Member of this House, and
his reputation for business so well established, that it
stands above my praise, or the Hon. gentleman's
censure.
I will now take notice what fell from another Hon.
gentleman, who spoke most eloquently in this debate.
He talks of the indignant treatment the Commiffio
ners met with from the Americans, and par icularly
points at their behaviour to me. I cannot acquiesce
in this opinion ; I make no such complaints, be
cause I di^in uifh widely between the people of A
merica and the Congress. b cause I make a just dif
tiufLoa between what men ^o ?n their political capa
city and in their natural. The Congress seem to con
duct themselves with the low cunning of an election
jobber ; their proceedings are ofter calculated for the
mere herd of the people, who are as yet strangers to
the imp firions incident to such a condu&, and hav
ing all the news papers under their direction, they
are excellent engines of such ignoble policy, which
may serve for a time, but never can last,
The Commissioners were received at Philadelphia
with all the joy winch a generous people could ex
press. Why were you so long in coming ? Was the
general cry. Do not abandon us, retain the army,
and fend them against Washington, and the affair is
over; io,coo men will arm for you in this province,
and io 000 in the lower counties, the moment you
take the field, and they can get arms. The decla
rations were general and notorious, and I am persua
ded, if we had been at liberty to have a&ed in the
field, our moll sanguine expectations would have
been fulfilled. I mixed with all ranks of men fora
the prisoner in the gaol, to the firft people in the place,
and as far as I could penetrate the human mind, I
believe the sentiments of reconciliation, and a return
to the happy date in which they formerly lived,
were sincere. But gentlemen fay lamof an eager
temper, and apt to be deceived. It is possible. I
do not pique myfelf on never having been deceived ;
I can only fay I never intentionally deceive. My
judgment, my opinons, may be wrong, but they
are the sentiments of my heart, and people must re
ceive them with all those grains of deduction, for ray
temper and the weakness of my underflanding. Af
ter this precaution, I declare that I firmly believe
two thirds of the people of North America wish to
return to the ancient connection with Great Britain
at this moment, and that nothing but a surrounding
array, and the diffidence they have in our support,
prevents that spirit from Breaking out in a&s of hos
tility against the Congress and Continent.
We were more employed to restrain than encourage
overt a&s, because we knew, under the secret orders,
that no assistance could be given to such efforts,
which therefore could only prove ruinous to well as
felted meritorious individuals: The Hon. gentle
man founds his ideas on what he has remarked in the
proceeding of the Congress refpeAng me. I shall
ever think such a proceeding totally unworthy of
such a body. Some gentleman have praised it as an
excellent refined stroke of policy, to get rid of an
embarrassing question about General Burgoyne's
troops, I again repeat, I disdain all that policy foun
ded on injustice and difhonour, the more artifice to
avoid fair dealing, the more detestable to me ; it is
contemptible in private life - where the dignity of a
people is concerned, it is abominable meanness and
must end in the deftru&iori of those who practice it.
The spirit of their enemies is railed by all such pro
ceeding, their own is always depressed. Of all the
mean and notorious breaches of faith which has ever
been praftifed, of all the low chicane which has ever
been used in the depravity of the Eiftern world, to
avoid a solemn agreement, the different excuses of
fered by the American Congress ate the most dif
graceful to society. I know the most zealous for the
cause of independence disapprove of them ; but A
merica is governed now as England was, under a
mock parliament, and committees of Major Generals.
I am not called upon to fay a word on this fubje&,
but I disdain ingenuity, The accusation slated a
gainst me with refpe& to General Joseph Reed, as far
as the tranfa&ion pretends having authority from me
to make the offer is falfe and injarbus; it is indeed
very cautiously worded, and only implies being
done by my authority. This I deny, and I have
perfea proof in my possession that Mr. Reed never
underwood any message or writing of mine as liable
to that contiruAion. While I fay this, Ido not
mean to disavow I have had tranfaAions where o
ther means bellies persuasion have been used. It was
necessary ; in my Situation it can be no reproach.
This of Mr. Reed I deny, and I can prove by indis
putable evidence in my possession, he did not under
stand any message from me in that lirht, at the time,
nor long fabfequent. The conversion is said to
have passed on the 2ift of June. The mutilated let
ters that are to help out this lame tranfa&ob were
before the Congress the matter had been published
in news papers at that time, but not signed by Mr.
Reed, as Mr. Almon has publ shed, nor signed by
William Henry Drayton. The Cengrefs take no
notice of the business till the i itb of August; then
the indignation of that virtuous assembly rises. At
the very moment they are about to evade a solemn
engagement, and transmit their names with infamy
to future ages, they have the affurande to talk of li
berty and virtue. You, Sir, are well acquainted
with the forms of public proceedings, you know
that any declaration of Mr, Reed, of what a woman
unknown had said to him, could not effect me. The
Congress in this case, were bound to have obliged
Mr. Reed, to have named the lady, and next to
have brought that lady before them, to have heard
her own story, with time, place and circumflahee;
this should have been sent for my answer, and then
they might have pronounced their solemn judgment;
but they knew full well, that no lady whatsoever,
would avow any authority from me, and therefore
they wifely concealed her name.
Those gentlemen who are so extremely exulting
at the ill success of this commission, and plume
themselves so much on their propofiuon for conced
ing independency last year, should confider, if one
or two events had succeeded, the proposers of con
ceding American independency could no^ have ap
peared with equal favour before the public. I shall
fuppefe that Admiral Keppel had actually beaten
Monsieur D'Orvilliers, I mean destroyed half his
fleet : all circumstances considered, the probabilities
that he would have done so we r e ten to one, from so
gallant an Admiral, and so superior a force. I be
lieve the noble Admiral himfelf will net fay the pro
babilities are not ten to one, that he would destroy
the greatest part of the fame fleet, if he was to meet
again with the fame proportion of force. lam per
suaded it w^ owing to the accidents of wind and
weather; I do not mean to throw the flighted impu #
tation cf blame any where. I only fay, if D'Orvil
liers had been destroyed, and it was ten to one this
would have happened, how would the promoters of
a declaration cf American independence havelooked
then ? Or it there a member of this House who be-