The Connecticut courant, and the weekly intelligencer — Hartford [Conn.], 1782-04-09 00:00:00, page 1

From Rivington's ROYAL GAZETTE.
LONDO N, November 2,.
HOUSE of COMMON S.
ON a motion being made to bring up the report of the
address to his Majesty.
The Hon. William Pict begged pardon for troubling the
house on a fubje& upon which they had already heard so
much, more especially as his argumancs would be dire&ed
to the support of others which had fallen the proceeding day
from men so much abler than himfelf, but he could not a
void standing up to give vent to those emotions that filled
his breast, and rendered his fixation too painful to be borne.
Before gentlemen ultimately rcfolved to approach the throne
with an address that pledged the house in the most diced
manner to prosecute the American war, and support the con
tinuance of that fatal system which had led this country step
by step to the most calamitous, difafterous and difgraceful
fixation, that ever a once flourishing and glorious stare
could possibly be driven to ! a filiation that threatened the
final dissolution of the empire, if not prevented by timely,
wife and vigorous efforts, he implored them to pause a mo
ment, and confider what they were doing. The address
then at the bar was couched in terms the most hypocritical
and delusive, and if fuffered, in a crisis alarming and me
lancholly as the present, on all hands confeffedly was, to be
published to the world as 'the real sentiments of the House
of Commons, it would be an additional misfortune, greater
than any thathad yet proceeded it, inasmuch as it would at
once deceivethe King, prostitute the judgment of parlia
ment, and degrade its dignity, insult the people, and induce
consequences fatal to the ve , being and exigence of the
empire. At this moment when every man's heart was de
pressed and funk with the news of a recent and weighty ca
lamity, a calamity which was too powerfully felt to stand in
need of description, was it becoming the parliament of a
free people to echo back words, which a minister, long
pradiled in the arts of delusion, had dared' to put into the
royal mouth, but which were every way unworthy of the
Prince who delivered them. What information had they
before them to warrant such a step ? In the better days of
parliament, the attempt to entrap the house into a coun
tenance of assertions, wholly unexplained, and unexamined,
merely on the authority of the miniftc/s word, would have
been resented and treated with the indignation such an insult
deferred. It had been pretended by those, whose interest it
was to carry on the deceit, that the prosecution of the Ame
rican war was not the import of the address, but let any
man accurately read the words of the addrefs^ and he would
instantly fee that the prosecution of that deftrudive war was
,s plainly and as fully the meaning of it, as language could
possibly convey. Was there a man on either fide the house,
that really doubted; was there a man in the street, into
whose hands the address could be put, that would not, on
the firft perusal, instantly fay as much ? Why then was that
house alone to facrifice their understandings to the will of
the minister, and to support his delusion ! It was with the
greatest sincerity he declared, that nothing but his earnest
wish to refeue the British commons from the disgrace and
infamy that must necessarily follow the presenting such an
address, induced him to call thys earnestly upon the house,
and before they adopted a proposition of a stamp with all
the measures, which had so deeply injured the honor of par
liament, and so fruitlefsly wafted the blood and money of
the kingdom, to fee it in its true light, and by a close atten
tion to be convinced that it was founded on the most empty,
weak and shallow thought that ever entered the brain of a
minister. Let gentlemen read the address, and judge for
themselves. What rights and what interests could be meant
but those rights that had been given away one after ano
ther, and those interests that had long since been abandon
ed. What then could make the American war an obje& so
fteadfaftly to be adhered to ? Was there any national obje&
in the pursuit ? Certainly there was none. The real truth
was, it was an appendage to the firft Lord of the treasury
too dear to be parted with ! it was the grand pillar, builton
the ruins of the constitution, by which he held his situation,
rhe great means of extending that baleful influence of the
crown, on which alone he placed all his security ! For his
part, ever since he left the house when it rose in the mor
ning, so convinced had he long been of the ruinous tenden
cy of the war, that hefpent his time in asking himfelf what
fort of arguments they were, which those who had most oc
casion to juftify their support of the address had advanced ;
and he begged leave for a moment to interrupt the fupcrcili
ous silence, and what was still more insulting, the empty lo
quacity of those who were its advocates by word and vote,
by reminding the house of what had been said upon the fub
ie&. One of its avowed fupperters, the noble Lord in the
Blue ribband, speaking ofthe Ame/ican wa-, haldec ared,
thathe ever had considered it, and still did confider it, as a
war just and necessary, founded in the claim of a moderate
G^G<; of a right that was wndi^uteds wi^h regard &> ^
(TQ n^ ^^(^^(rawt 161^11^
WFFKTY TNTFfT ThFXrr FR
HARTFORD : Printed by H UDSON and GOO DWI N, hear the Great Bridge.
TUESDA Y, A p r i l 9, 1782. 8 ? 8 2.
grammatical or logical corredi* of this reason, he would
not institute an inquiry, nor would he now enter into an ar
gument upon the juttice of the war; that point having been
Sufficiently difeuffed, for mankind to have made up their
mind up6n it. What the noble Lord meant by necessary, if
he meant any thing short of a phyficalmeceflity, he was at a
loss to imagine. That an end could not be put to the war,
if parliament resolved on such a measure, was too absurd
an idea to be maintained. The war had been proved by
fatal experience to be fruitlefs, and every day we persisted
in it clearly removed us farther off from the day of reconci
liation and reason, and tended rather to create new difficul
ties than smooth the path to peace and friendship. That
the war was originally just and necessary, was, however, the
only argument of the noble Lord ; let the House recollect,
what had fallen from another noble Lord, whose situation
rendered all that he said upon the fubjed peculiarly the ob
jed of attention. That noble Lord had held a veiy differ
entlanguage. Without laying claim to that boldness of
pride and ambition, which alone could generate the' hope of
making America the vi&im of conquest, he had said, all his
hope reded on the more mild, lenient, and moderate expec
tation ofthe pra&icability of fending a fufficient force into
the country, to enable the numerous friends of Great-Bri
tain, to get the better of the party that opposed them, and
bad possessed themselves of power. The noble Lord has told
them, that he mever imagined America could be recovered
by arms, but that the loyalists, who, according to his ac
count, far outnumberedthe Americans of a different politi
cal complexion, would be able, with their assistance, to ef
fed: all that could be wished for. In order to fee the wis
dom of this conceit, Mr. Pitt advised the house to look back
to the events of the war, and efpeciaHy to those of the last
campaign,which were too recent to hand in need of recital,
and which every man's breast was too full of to render it
neceiTary for him to undergo the anguish of dwelling up
on.—Above all, he begged the house, if they wanted far
ther proofofche power of protedion which Great-Britain
was warranted to hold out, let them look at the articles of
the capitulation of Lord Cornwallis, and let them cast their
eye on the answer to the loth article. They would there
fee, that all the friends of Great-Britain, all the loyalists,
who had been treacherously deluded to join Lord Cornwal
lis, and deceived by fade hopes and ill-founded promiles, so
far from being protested, were left---r$ the civil justice of the
country. What the civil justice of America was, it was ut
terly impossible for him to fay ; but if the fame treacherous
system that had long disgraced Great-Britain, was fuffered
to be persevered in after what had happened, perhaps the ci
cil justice of this country, would soon overtake some men,
who were undoubtedly much properer objects of its ven
geance, than those unfortunate wretches, who, looking up
to, the British standard with that reverence and opinion of
its influence which in better times, and when measures were
more wifely planned, and more ably conduced, it was wont
to create wherever it was ereded, had foolishly tacrificed
their lives and fortunes to the empty promises of an aban
doned administration.
After arguing with peculiar force of language upon what
had fallen the preceeding day from the firft Lord of the trea
sury, and the American Secretary, Mr. Pitt returned to the
fubje& of the address, which he termed a dark and despe
rate attempt to blind the eyes of the King, and insult the
people of England. He asked, where, under the dreadful
pressure of national calamity, was a monarch of a free peo
ple to take refuge and find resource, but in the honest, un
disguised, and loyal councils of his fubje&s ; would fallcy
administer comfort to the wounded mind ; would fraud
support a falling state ? He called upon any one advocate
forthe measures of adrmniftration, who, prided himfelf on
the independence of his principles, to stand up in his place
and fay, whether those men who had hitherto so misguided
the affairs of the kingdom, and in whose hands almost eve
ry one undertaking had failed, ought to be trusted with the
further management of a war, which they had hitherto con
duced so ill. Could the nation have confidence in an ad
miniltration composed of members who had no confidence
in themselves ? Run from one end of the treafary bench to
the other, and who would venture to declare that any one
person there feared could truss the person who fat next him ?
with an administration so disunited, was any confidence to
be reposed ? Let the house recoiled what was already past.
What had been done for the blood that had been fpilr, the
supplies that had been given, and the money that had been
trusted to their hands ? The great events of the war were
but so many fatal disasters ; defeat and disgrace following
every effort of our arms, from one end of the continent to
the other. He declared to God, he spoke to answer no pri
vate purpose whatever, his feelings were public, and what
he had said, he said in discharge of bis corfcience, and in
difeharge of his duty to his King, and what he felt as a still
fhuo^et dai% his dixy to his oca*try. He once more
; therefore earnefily implored the house not to vote an ad
dress fraught with hypocrisy and treachery. An address,
which could not have been framed by any who felt the
smallest spark of private regard for the King, or public jea
lousy for the honor of his crown, and the dignity of his par
liament. He concluded with apologizing for Having tres
passed so long on the patience of the house, but he thought:
it did not become him as a member of the parliament of a
free people to have said less. He hoped, however, he had
not presumed too much, and he declared, if he had made
any impression in the minus of his hearers that should in
duce them to forego the fatal measure of voting the address,
he was purfuaded he not only unloaded his own bosom from
the weight that oppressed it, but should have saved his Prince
from a degree of anguish, which, soon or late, muff be the
inevitable consequence of prosecuting the American war,
and which none but the most cruel and inhuman could wish
to inflift on the mind of their sovereign, already fufficient
ly prefled with misfortune and calamity.
Mr. Pitt, in the course of his speech, paid Lord Cornwal
lis the highest compliment, by faying, he was infinitely
above his praise; he hoped time would shew, he was equal
ly beyond the reach of detradion.
LONDON, December 4.
YESTERDAY Lord Rawdon arrived at
Lord Huntingdon's house, in St. James's
Palace, on his parole from France.
Dec. ig. Yeftculay Lord Rawdon and Cob
D'Oylcy were at the levee at St. James's for tha
firft time since their return from France, from
whence they came On their parole of honor.
SU PP LI E S granted for 1782;
That 49,45 g effcßive meny commissioned and
non-commiilioned officers, including 4,175 in
valids, be imployed for land service for 1782.
That 1,242,8351. be granted for defraying the
charge of maintaining the said men.
1,315,523!. for maintaining the forces in the
plantations, Minorca, Gibraltar, North-Ameri
ca, Nova-Scotia, Newfoundland and the Weft^
Indies, including Africa.
36,2801. for the pay of one regiment of light
dragoons, and seven battalions of foot, for the
East-India service.
677,4971. for defraying the charges of the em
bodied militia and fencibles in North-Britain.
10,549!. for defraying the charge ofcloathing
for the imbodied militia in North-Britain.
43,-849). for the pay of Generals and General
Staffofficers.
43,660 b for defraying the, charge of 1559
troops ofthe Margrave of Brandenburg Anfpach,
in the pay of Great-Britain, pursuant to treaty.
23,8181. for defraying the charge of 963 troops
ofthe Priri'ce of Anhalt Zerbft, in British pay
pursuant to treaty;
55,4691. for the charge of prorifiohs for fo
reign troops in North-America—British pay.
15,4991. to make good the deficiency of sums
voted for the troops Of the Prince of Hesse Caf
fe! in Bfrtifh pay, being a charge ofan augmenta
tion to said troops, from 6th April, 1781, to 24th
of December following.
3,2821. to make good the deficiency cf firms
voted for the troops of Anfpach in Britifh' pa:,
being a charge of an augmentation to the said
troops, from 2d March, 1781, to 24th December
following.
4,942 b to make good the deficiency for sums
voted for the troops of Anhalt, in British pay, ,
being the charge of an augmentation to the said
troops, from the 18th April, 1781, to 24th De
cember following.
27,683 b for defraying the charges of artillery
for the foreign troops, pursuant to treaty.
11,329 b for defraying the charges„of a regi
ment of light dragoons, and two ditto cf-foot,
from the 24th September, 1781, to 24th Decem
^r followin.