XVI. them into one harmonious effect, for the good of BOOK the whole, requires the superintending wisdom and energy of the supreme power of the em- 1775. pire. On this grand practical distinction then let us rest; taxation is theirs, commercial regu→ lation is ours. As to the metaphysical refinements, attempting to show that the Americans are equally free from legislative control and commercial restraint, as from taxation for the purpose of revenue, I pronounce them futile, frivolous, and groundless. When your lordships have perused the papers transmitted us from America, when you consider the dignity, the firmness, and the wisdom with which the Americans have acted, you cannot but respect their cause. History, my lords, has been my favorite study, and in the celebrated writings of antiquity have I often admired the patriotism of Greece and Rome; but, my lords, I must declare and avow, that, in the master-states of the world, I know not the people, or the senate, who, in such a complication of difficult circumstances, can stand in preference to the delegates of America assembled in general congress at Philadelphia. I trust it is obvious to your lordships, that all attempts to impose servitude upon such men, to establish despotism over such a mighty continental nation, must be vain, must be futile. Can such a national principled union be resisted BOOK by the tricks of office or ministerial manœuvres? XVL Heaping papers on the table, or counting your 1775. majorities on a division, will not avert or post pone the hour of danger. It must arrive, my lords, unless these fatal acts are done away; it must arrive in all its horrors; and then these boastful ministers, in spite of all their confidence and all their manœuvres, shall be compelled to hide their heads. But it is not repealing this or that act of parliament, it is not repealing a piece of parchment, that can restore America to your bosom; you must repeal her fears and resentments, and then you may hope for her love and gratitude. But now, insulted with an armed force, irritated with an hostile array before her eyes, her concessions, if you could force them, would be suspicious and insecure. But it is more than evident that you cannot force them to your unworthy terms of submission; it is impossible; we ourselves shall be forced ultimately to retract; let us retract while we can, not when we must. I repeat it, my lords, we shall one day be forced to undo these violent oppressive acts; they must be repealed, you will repeal them; I pledge myself for it, that you will in the end repeal them; I stake my reputation on it; I will consent to be taken for an IDIOT if they are not repealed. Avoid then this humiliating disgraceful necessity. With a dignity . XVI. 1775. becoming your exalted situation, make the first BOOK advances to concord, to peace, and to hap piness. Concession comes with better grace and more salutary effect from superior power; it reconciles superiority of power with the feelings of man, and establishes solid confidence on the foundations of affection and gratitude. On the other hand, every danger and every hazard impend to deter you from perseverance in the present ruinous measures; foreign war hanging over your heads by a slight and brittle thread; France and Spain watching your conduct, and waiting for the maturity of your errors, with a vigilant eye to America and the temper of your colonies, MORE THAN TO THEIR OWN CONCERNS, BE THEY WHAT THEY MAY. To conclude, my lords, if the ministers thus persevere in misadvising and misleading the KING, I will not say that they can alienate the affections of his subjects from the crown; but I affirm, they will make the crown not worth his wearing. I will not say that the KING IS BETRAYED, but I - will pronounce that the KINGDOM IS UNDONE. The motion of lord Chatham was most ably seconded and supported by lord Camden: "King, lords, and commons," said this great constitutional lawyer," are grand and sounding names : but king, lords, and commons, may become tyrants as well as others. Tyranny in one or XVI. BOOK more is the same: it is as lawful to resist the tyranny of many as of one; this has been a doctrine known and acted upon in this country When the famous Selden was asked, 1775. for ages. by what statute resistance to tyranny could be justified? his reply was, "It is to be justified by the custom of England, which is a part of the law of the land." I will affirm, my lords, not only as a statesman, politician, and philosopher, but as a common lawyer, that you have no right to tax America. No man, agreeably to the principles of natural or civil liberty, can be divested of any part of his property without his consent; and whenever oppression begins, resistance becomes lawful and right." The language of the lords in administration was high and decisive; it was declared, that the mother country should never relax till America confessed her supremacy, and obedience must be enforced by arms. Lord Gower, president of the council, is reported, in addition to his menaces, to have said with an air of contempt and disdain: "Let the Americans, so long as these measures are enforced, sit talking about their natural and divine rights, their rights as men and citizens, their rights from GoD and nature!" In the result the motion was rejected by 68 voices against 18. In the house of commons the American papers XVI. were, by motion of lord North, referred to a BOOK committee of the whole house, on the 26th of January 1775; previous to which petitions were 1775. presented to the house from the merchants of London, Bristol, Glasgow, &c. which, by an artifice characteristic of the present ministry, were, on a division of 197 to 81 members, consigned to a separate committee, to meet on the 27th of January-so that the house must necessarily come to a final decision on the grand question before the petitions were admitted to a hearing. This committee was denominated therefore, by the opposition, the Committee of Oblivion. The ground on which the ministry justified this procedure was, that commerce and politics were matters totally distinct, and that the house must decide on the question of peace and war solely upon political considerations; but that due care would be taken to secure the commercial interests and property of the merchants whose petitions were before the house. To which the petitioners replied, "that they were under no apprehensions for their property, but from the measures which might be adopted by that honorable house in order to secure it." The petition from the congress to the king having been referred by his majesty, amidst the common mass of American papers, to the house, the American agents, Mr. Bollan, Dr. Franklin, and |