by the king's ministers. He believed that House was tainted with interest, and that corruption was to be found in it; but it was from the people of England that they were to receive rebuke as well as counsel. The executive government was not appointed to controul the legislature, nor to teach them their duty; they knew their duty, and if they failed to discharge it, their constituents, he hoped, always would, as they ought, come forward and correct them. At length folding up the Speech, he begged the House to excuse him for having preached so very long a sermon, but he desired them to remember, that he deserved not the name of Parson Spintext, for he held in his hand the longest text that ever required a comment; and a long text, they all knew, made a long comment indispensable. Having been upon his legs a considerable time, and used a great deal of laughable, mixed with a great deal of serious argument, Mr. Burke, in terms of great earnestness, declared, he thought the Speech a compound of hypocrisy, self-commendation, contradiction, and folly; and were it not that unanimity was so absolutely necessary, just at the present crisis, he would move an amendment, and even yet he was not determined whether he would not still propose one. The Address was however agreed to without any amendment or division. ADDRESS ON THE PRELIMINARY ARTICLES of Peace. February 17. 1783. THE 'HE preliminary articles of peace between Great Britain and France, and between Great Britain and Spain, were signed at Versailles on the 20th of January 1783; and ́on the 27th copies of the same, and of the provisional treaty with the United States of America, were laid before both houses of parliament, and after a short debate, ordered to be printed. Monday, the 17th of February, was appointed for taking them into consideration; and in the intermediate time several motions were made for such papers and documents as might assist the House in deciding on their merits. On the day appointed upwards of four hundred and fifty members were assembled. After the papers were read, a motion was made by Mr. Thomas Pitt, and seconded by Mr. Wilberforce, "That an humble address be presented to his majesty, to return his majesty our most humble thanks for having been graciously pleased to lay before us the articles of the different treaties which his majesty has concluded, and to assure his majesty that we have considered them with the most serious attention. To express the great satisfaction and gratitude with which we perceive that his majesty, in the exercise of the powers which were intrusted to him, has concluded provisional articles with the states of North America, on such principles as must, we trust, lay the foundation of perfect reconciliation and friendship with that country. That, impressed with these sentiments, we cannot forbear particularly to lay before his majesty our earnest wish and just expectation that the several states of North America will, in the amplest and most satisfactory manner, carry into execution those measures which the congress is so solemnly bound by the treaty to recommend, in favour of such persons as have suffered for the part they have taken in the war, a circumstance to which we anxiously look as tending to cement that good-will and affection which we trust will uniformly mark the future intercourse between us. And to assure his majesty, that we are sensible of his wise and paternal care for the welfare and happiness of his subjects, in relieving them from a long and burthensome war, and restoring the blessings and advantages of peace, by the preliminary articles agreed upon with the courts of France and Spain. To assure his majesty, that we indulge the most sanguine hopes, that his subjects of Great Britain and Ireland will successfully apply their attention to cultivate and improve by every possible means their domestic resources. That with these views we shall apply ourselves to a revision of our commercial laws on the most liberal principles, and in a manner adapted to the present situation of affairs, for the purpose of extending our trade and navigation on the surest grounds, and diligently providing for the maintenance of our naval power, which can alone insure the prosperity of these kingdoms."-An amendment was moved by Lord John Cavendish, by leaving out from the words " and to assure his majesty, that," in the first paragraph, to the end of the question, in order to insert these words, "his faithful Commons will proceeed to consider the same with that serious and full attention which a subject of such importance to the present and future interests of his majesty's dominions deserves that in the mean time, they entertain the fullest confidence in his majesty's paternal care, that he will concert with his parliament such measures as may be expedient for entending the commerce of his majesty's subjects. That whatever may be the sentiments of his faithful Commons on the result of their investigation of the terms of pacification, they beg leave to assure his majesty of their firm and unalterable resolution to adhere inviolably to the several articles for which the public faith is pledged, and to maintain the blessings of peace, so ne cessary to his majesty's subjects, and the general happiness of mankind," instead thereof. A second amendment was afterwards moved by Lord North, by inserting after the words " commerce of his majesty's subjects," these words, "and his majesty's faithful Commons feel that it would be superfluous to express to his majesty the regards due from this nation to every description of men, who, with the risk of their lives, and the sacrifice of their properties, have distinguished their loyalty and fidelity during a long and calamitous war." The original address was supported by Mr. Secretary Townshend, Mr. Chancellor Pitt, Mr. Dundas, the Solicitor General, and by Mr. Powys, Mr. Bankes, and some other country gentlemen; the amendments by Lord North, Mr. Fox, Mr. Burke, Governor Johnstone, Lord Mulgrave, Sir Henry Fletcher, Mr. Sheridan, Mr. Adam, and also by several of the country gentlemen. Mr. BURKE was very pleasant in his remarks on the modesty of the Address. At the beginning of the session ministers had been very verbose, because when men design to perform little, they promise a great deal. Now that ministers had given away to the enemies of this country immense possessions, few words were judged to be the wisest: but, perhaps, the country would deem the verbose Address less exceptionable, than that which was defended on the ground of its modesty; at least, he was sure the country would feel less the consequence of the one than of the other. But the right honourable secretary had adopted a style of reasoning fit for the defence of such conduct: "true," said he, "the peace is a bad one, but could you have made a better? Much has been given to the enemy, but, thank God, that much is a heap of rubbish." France, said Mr. Burke, has obtained Tobago and St. Lucia in the West Indies, a dangerous extent of fishery, all the forts and islands in Africa, and a district in the East Indies, which cannot fail to render her a formidable enemy, whenever war shall again break out. To Spain we had ceded East Florida, and guarantied West Florida and Minorca. To America we had given an unlimited extent of territory, part of the province of Canada, a right of fishery, and other extraordinary cessions; and yet the right honourable secretary told the House, that what we had conceded was of little worth to us, and, in effect, a heap of rubbish. The right honourable secretary forgot that this depreciation of what we had ceded to France, to Spain, and to America, but ill agreed with his chief argument in defence of the peace; namely, that being triumphant at the end of the last war, we insisted on terms humiliating to the house of Bourbon, and that now the house of Bourbon, having the turn of the scale in the fortune of war, had a right to dictate terms of peace to us; and it was natural to expect, that she should insist on having those humiliating terms reversed. Was France, then, so moderate in the hour of her triumph, that she was contented with a mere nominal cession? Did a heap of rubbish gratify her ambition? Modest house of Bourbon! Humble in prosperity, self-denying, when she could best feed her vanity and her interest! Having pushed this point with considerable force of ridicule, Mr. Burke went into a cursory review of the several treaties, and particularly laid his stress on the cessions to France in the East Indies. He painted the articles that related to that subject as disadvantageous in the ex treme, and took notice of Mr. Thomas Pitt's remark, that we had nothing to fear in that quarter, while we had a great general and a great statesman at the head of affairs there. With regard to the general, no man had a higher opinion of his bravery and wisdom than he had; so much had been done for his country by his judgment and his valour, that every thing was to be expected at his hands that military skill could achieve: but he must differ with regard to the gentleman described as a great statesman. Perhaps that great statesman (Mr. Hastings) would be proved to be a great delinquent, and that his projects of extending the territorial acquisitions of the country had nearly ruined, not only our commercial interests in India, but our very existence in that quarter of the globe. Having argued this strongly, he came to a consideration of the treaty with the United States; a treaty which in its preamble declared reciprocal advantage and mutual convenience to be its basis, but which was full of the most important concessions on our part, without the smallest balance or equipoise to support that reciprocity it so much boasted. Had he been worthy to advise ministers in making that treaty, he would have advised them not to mention such a word as reciprocity. If the terms, from the necessity of our situation, were obliged to be such as were replete with disgraceful concession, to talk of reciprocity was adding insult to injury. In like manner, if what this country owed the loyalists could not be obtained, he would not have said one syllable about those most unhappy Better to have left the whole to future negociation, and to have been totally silent upon the subject in the treaty, than to have consented to set our hands to a gross libel on the national character, and in one flagitious article plunge the dagger into the hearts of the loyalists, and manifest our own impotency, ingratitude, and disgrace. Mr. Burke said, there were some of the loyalists whose conduct he never had approved, because he had been persuaded it led to mischief and ruin: but he had no right to say, that even such of them as he had described might not men. 16 |