CHAP. V. Speech from the throne. Amendment moved to the addrefs in the House of Commons. Great Debates. Amendment rejected upon a divifion. Oppofition to the addrefs in general in the Houfe of Lords, but no amendment propofed. Addrefs carried upon a divifion. Motion to address the Crown, in the House of Commons, for a difavowal of certain paffages in the late manifefto iffued by the Commiffioners at New York. The motion, after long debates, rejected upon a divifion. Similar motion by the Marquis of Rockingham, likewife caufes much debate, and is rejected upon a divifion. Proteft. Circumftances which tended to the rendering the late ddion off Breft a fubject of parliamentary difcuffion. Admiral Keppel, being called upon, gives fome account of that bufinefs in the House of Commons. Anfwered by Sir Hugh Pallifer. Reply. Court martial ordered for the trial of Admiral Keppel. Conduct of the admiralty cenfured and fupported: Queftion relative to the difcretionary powers of that board much agitated. Bill brought in and passed for the holding of the trial of Admiral Keppel on shore, (in confideration of his ill fate of health) inftead of its being held a board fhip, as before prescribed by the law. Recefs. ANY circumftances contri- certain differences between the Nov. 26th, of parliament, at the opening of the feffion 1778. on which we are now to enter, an object of peculiar expectation to the public. The clofe of the first campaign of a war with France opened a wide field for difcuffion, as well as fpeculation. The principal officers who had held commands in America were now returned to their feats in parlia ment. The commiffioners appointed under an act of the last feffion to fettle the difturbances in America were likewife returned. And although the unfortunate event of the propofitions was well known, much information, with regard to the military, as well as to the civil affairs of that country, was expected from the ability and stations of the gentlemen who were joined in the commiffion. An opinion of excited the curiofity of all men ; people being ever fure to look on with a peculiar intereft, when the importance of public questions is enlivened by a mixture of perfonal anecdote. The fpeech from the throne was replete with complaints of the unexampled and unprovoked hoftility of the court of France. With regard to the events of the war, it was fhort and inexplicit; grounding the hopes of fuccefs on future exertions, on the ftate of preparation, and on the spirit of the people, more than on the actions of the campaign; which were alluded to with a coldness that might eafily be conftrued into cenfure. Notice was, however, taken of the protection afforded to commerce, and of the large reprisals made upon the injurious aggreffors. The The profeffions of neutral powers were reprefented as friendly; but their armaments fufpicious-The failure of the conciliatory measures was regretted-The neceflity of active exertions by fea and land, pointed out by the fituation of affairs, was urged in general terms, without fpecifying any plan of operations-With regard to the American war, a total filence was obferved. The addrefs of the Houfe of Commons, with the ufual profeffions of attachment and fupport, repeated, in nearly the fame expreflions, the fentiments contained in the fpeech. The oppofition moved to fubftitute, in the place of part of the addrefs, the following amendment-"To affure his Majefty, that, with the trueft zeal for the honour of the crown, and the warmeft affection for his Majefty's perfon and family, the Houfe was ready to give the most ample fupport to fuch measures as might be thought neceffary for the defence of these kingdoms, or for fruftrating the defigns of that reftlefs power, which has fo often difturbed the peace of Europe; but that they thought it one of their most important duties, in the prefent melancholy posture of affairs, to enquire by what fatal councils, and unhappy fyftems of policy, this country had been reduced from that fplendid fituation, which, in the early part of his Majesty's reign, made her the envy of all Europe, to fuch a dangerous ftate as that which had of late called forth our utmost exertions, without any adequate benefit." It was contended on the fide of oppofition, that if the unanimity, fo ftrongly recommended by the propofers of the addrefs, was indeed an infallible resource in the ruin of public affairs, the minifters, it must be owned, had ufed every means to induce the people to concur in its ncceffity. But, they faid, that the utility of a general concurrence in any meafure depended entirely upon the wisdom of the measure in question. That the approbation of measures muft be either retrospective or profpective. With regard to the first, no plans already executed could be affected by any fubfequent difference of opinion. With regard to the latter, as no plan for the conduct of the war was announced in the fpeech, or even hinted at by minifters, to agree to unanimity upon an object not yet propofed, was perfectly abfurd. Then, what was to induce the Houfe to unanimity, but the recommendation of a fet of men, who were known to agree with each other in no one article of difpofition, principle, council, or action? Unanimity, they faid, was a plaufible and fpecious word, but the thing could hardly ever exift, because the wife and the ignorant would always differ; and if it ever should take place, infinite mifchief would enfue, as that could only happen through the prevalence of obftinacy, which is the natural and conftant companion of folly. That, in the prefent inftance, it would ferve only to give fanction to the past, and energy to the future blunders of adminiftration; and to commit the fate of the nation in a new and ftill more dangerous war to the inability of the fame men, who had in fo wretched and fo ruinous a manner conducted the old. That, to concur in an addrefs, which conveyed conveyed an idea of the flighteft fatisfaction in the prefent minifters, inftead of producing vigour in our own exertions, or terror in our enemies, would only ferve to fill Englifhmen with despair, and Frenchmen with joy and confidence, at feeing that the deliberative government was as abject as the executive was contemptible, and that the incapacity of the one could only be equalled by the fervility of the other. Confidering the fpeech from the throne merely as the words of the minifter, it was infifted, that it advanced an abfolute falfehood. For the speech afferted, that our arms had not been attended with the fuccefs which the juftice of our cause, and the vigour of our exertions, feemed to promife. But they infifted, that the fuccefs was far greater than could have been expected, confidering the inferiority of our fleets, and the fhameful tardiness of our preparations. That, taking in thefe circumftances, our escaping in any manner from ruin or difgrace, might well be accounted as a very high degree of good fortune; and, indeed, as far exceeding all rational expectation. And that, confequently," the fpeech not only afferted a falfehood, but that it allo threw a falfe, unjust, and illiberal flander on the commanders in the fervice of the crown; loading them with a cenfure which ought to fall on the minifters alone." They further urged, that the fpeech included no lefs than a direct libel upon parliament, in calling the late measures which had been taken to pacify America the plans of parliament. That the arrival of the commiffioners at Phi ladelphia, without any knowledge of the intention to evacuate that city, had faddled them from the beginning with the diftruft which was held of their immediate employers, and had taken away that appearance of openness, and that opinion of confidence and authority, which form the neceffary foundation of every treaty and every pacification. It was afked, whether the glaring abfurdity of that conduct was the plan of parliament? Or was parliament called together every winter for no other purpose, than to relieve the minif ters from the yearly burthen of difgrace, which was the certain refult of all their measures? The conciliatory propofitions themselves were arraigned, as being at once humiliating to England, and unfatisfactory to America. But, it was afferted, that, notwithstanding its defects and abfurdity, the adoption of that scheme could not be faid to be wholly ufelefs; for it had cut up by the roots every fallacious argument by which minifters had beguiled the nation into the fatal American war, by the universal surrender of all its objects. With regard to the fyftem to be recommended in the conduct of the war, oppofition feemed to hold no fecond opinion, and to call out, as with one voice-Attack France France, faid they, entered into alliance with America from motives of interest. When she finds herself vigorously attacked, and feels the heavy impreffions of war, with all their confequences and diftreffes, in her own dominions, fhe will grow weary of the profpect of remote and uncertain advantages, and abandon an ally from whom whom she receives nothing but a participation of war and calamity. On the other hand, they faid, the fpirit of America is fuftained by the powerful incentives both of liberty and felf-prefervation. Every effort we make to fubdue that fpirit drives our colonies ftill more into the arms of France, who, in the mean time, feels no inconvenience from the protection fhe affords. And, confequently, every drop of English blood which we shed in America, ferves only to cement an alliance fatal to the power and happiness of the British empire. On the other fide, the friends of adminiftration feemed rather to follow the example of the fpeech, by declining to enter into a difcuffion of the policy of the American war: either because it was not thought prudent to avow the determination they had made in their own minds, or that they chofe to leave themfelves open to embrace whatever fyftem of conduct the neceffity of affairs might hereafter require. But upon the past conduct of the war, and the preparation and diftribution of the armaments employed in the fummer, they entered into a detailed juftification. They faid, that if the fleet under Admiral Byron had been fent out earlier than it was, an opportunity would have been given to the fleet under M. d'Estaing to have joined that at Breft; and thereby, that France would have obtained a fuperiority in the Channel. That fuch a conduct would have left us in a state of weakness at home, of which it would be impoffible that the enemy fhould not take advantage. That, by maintaining the fuperiority in the Chan nel, we prevented France from making our own feas the scene of her exertions; and, in a manner, obliged her to detach and divide her forces. And what nation would not, if she could, keep the feat of war at a diftance from her own territories? It was likewife contended, that the evacuation of Philadelphia was a measure dictated by the foundeft principles of policy. For, they faid, that on the acceffion of France to this war, the defence of our own iflands, and the attacking her's, became an object, though not, as the oppofition would have it, an exclufive object. That this of neceffity drew off a confiderable body of our troops; and the grand army being thus weakened, it had been judged neceffary to diminish the extent of our line, in order to unite and compact our forces. That it was too well known to require argument or proof, that the operation of a closely united force was far more efficacious, ferv ing at once to impress terror and to overpower refiftance, than if it had been weakened by extenfion and distance. That, to garrifon every town on the continent of America, was an undertaking for which no army could fuffice; and that an attempt of the fort was certainly not the method by which any man could hope to crush the prefent rebellion. It being therefore neceffary to compact the forces into one body, the only question was, when one or the other muft be adopted, whether New York or Pennfylvania fhould be abandoned? And, faid they, what rea fon could be affigned for collecting the whole army into Philadelphia? The fituation is not near fo central with regard to the colonies as New York; nor is it near fo convenient in other refpects, whether with regard to the co-operation of the feet, the receiving of fupplies, or to the general operations of the war. These arguments must be allowed to be fatisfactory with regard to the measure in queftion. But the oppofers of administration were too acute not to turn them to their own advantage. They accordingly afferted, that the juftification of the individual measure was the full condemnation of the whole system from which it arofe. That the advocates of the Ame rican war had themselves now fully demonftrated the impoffibility of fuccefs. For they had fhewn, that every advance which the army could make in America reduced it to this alternative, either by retaining the acquifition to divide and debilitate its own ftrength, or else to stand expofed to the difgrace and mortification, by treading back their own fteps, to fhew the inutility of all their labours. That no man could dream of conquering a continent by fitting down in a fingle town. That therefore, while the nation perfifted in carrying on an offenfive war in America, whether our army advanced, whether it retreated, or whether it stood still, the effect would be the fame; a fruitlefs, hopeless, expensive, and cruel, because unneceffary, war. Although the minifters were obferved to decline entering into a fubject, which had already been fo often and fo thoroughly debated, and upon which their adverfaries always fhewed a defire to prefs them, there arofe, from a new and unexpected quarter, an advocate for the continuation of the fyftem of coercion. One of the gentlemen employed in the late commiffion to America, whether the information he received in that country induced him to confide in the operation of force, or whether a nearer view of the object, mixed with a sense of dif appointment at the failure of one plan of pacification, had animated him with the hopes of conqueft, in a long fpeech, here and there interfperfed with fome expreffions of diffidence, ftrongly urged the continuance of an offenfive war with America. He faid his view had always been, that force should accom→ pany conceffion, and that the Americans fhould fee in this country a manly determined fpirit of perfeverance: that thereby they might be moved to confider well between the evils of war in a dubious conteft and the immediate advan. tages of peace upon honourable and advantageous terms. He said, it was néceffary to confirm the minds of your friends, as well as to terrify your enemies; that he believed two-thirds of the people of America fully defired to return to their antient connection with Great Britain; that nothing but a furrounding army, and the diffidence they had in the fupport of government, prevented that fpirit from breaking out into acts of hoftility with the Congrefs. And that therefore the failure of the conciliatory plans was to be imputed to the fudden retreat of the army from Philadelphia, and not to the weakness of the English intereft there. Notwith |