lord north—he forms a ministry—chatham declaims against secret influence—grenville's election committee—lord north's conciliatory measures—determination of the bostonians—the boston massacre—trial of the soldiers—apparent success of north's measures—affair of the falkland islands—promptitude of the ministry—the quarrel composed—trials of woodfall and almon—the right of parliamentary reporting—strengthening of the ministry—quarrels in the city—the royal marriage act—fate of the queen of denmark—anarchical condition of poland—interference of russia—deposition of poniatowski—frederick's scheme of partition—it is ratified—inquiry into indian affairs—lord north's tea bill—lord dartmouth and hutchinson—the hutchinson letters—dishonourable conduct of franklin—establishment of corresponding committees—burning of the gaspee—destruction of the tea—franklin avows the publication of the letters—wedderburn's speech—the boston port bill—the massachusetts government bill—the coils of coercion—virginia joins massachusetts—gage dissolves the boston assembly—he fortifies boston neck—the general congress—a declaration of rights—the assembly at concord—they enrol militia—seizure of ammunition and arms—meeting of parliament—chatham's conciliatory speech—his bill for the pacification of the colonies—its fate—lord north's proposal—burke's resolutions—prorogation of parliament—beginning of the war.
in this utter desertion, the king prevailed on lord north, who was already chancellor of the exchequer, to accept grafton's post of first lord of the treasury, with the premiership. lord north, eldest son of the earl of guildford, was a man of a remarkably mild and pleasant temper, of sound sense, and highly honourable character. he was ungainly in his person and plain of countenance, but he was well versed in the business of parliament, and particularly dexterous in tagging to motions of the opposition some paragraph or other which neutralised the whole, or turned it even against them. he was exceedingly near-sighted, so much so, that he once carried off the wig of the old secretary of the navy, who sat near him in the house. for the rest, he was of so somnolent a nature that he was frequently seen nodding in the house when opposition members were pouring out all the vials of their wrath on his head. he thought himself a whig, but if we are to class him by his principles and his acts of administration, we must pronounce him a tory.
the ministry, as reconstructed, consisted of lord north, first lord of the treasury; the great seal was in commission; granby's places, the ordnance and commander of the forces, were still unsupplied; so was the duke of manchester's old post of lord of the bed-chamber. the earl of halifax became lord privy seal; the earl of pembroke became a lord of the bed-chamber; the earl of waldegrave, master of the horse to the queen; sir gilbert elliot, treasurer of the navy; charles james fox became a junior lord of the admiralty; admiral holborne another; mr. welbore ellis became one of the vice-treasurers of ireland; and thurlow was appointed solicitor-general, in place of dunning.
lord north soon found himself briskly assailed in both lords and commons. in the former, chatham was not so happy in amalgamating the parties of rockingham and grenville as he hoped; but he had staunch friends and oppositionists in lords camden, shelburne, and stanhope, and in the commons he was as warmly supported by barré, beckford, calcraft, and dunning. on the 2nd of march a motion was also made in the lords for an address to the king, praying him to increase the number of seamen in the navy; and it was made to introduce strong censures on the dismissal of able officers for their votes in parliament. on this occasion chatham loudly reiterated the old charge of the royal councils being influenced by favourites. "a long train of these practices," he said, "has convinced me that there is something behind the throne greater than the throne itself." he referred to mazarin, of france; and as bute was just at this period gone to turin, he added, "mazarin abroad is mazarin still!" it is not to be supposed that bute had any secret influence whatever at this period; but the people still believed that he had, and that two men especially were his agents with the king—bradshaw, commonly called "the cream-coloured parasite," and dyson, both placemen and members of the commons. probably, chatham had a secondary object—to punish these men, who with rigby, the parasite of the duke of bedford, were continually running about endeavouring to depreciate the efforts of the more competent, to whom they were pigmies, saying, "only another mad motion by the mad earl of chatham." grafton, though now out of office, repelled the insinuation of secret influence with indignation. this charge of chatham's was followed up, four days after, by a most outspoken[200] remonstrance from the corporation of london. it was carried up to st. james's on the 14th of march by beckford, the lord mayor, and two hundred and twenty common councilmen and other officers. beckford read the address, which charged secret counsellors, and a corrupt majority of the house of commons, with depriving the people of their rights. it declared that the house of commons did not represent the people, and called upon the king to dissolve it. his majesty received the address with manifest signs of displeasure, and the courtiers, who stood round, with actual murmurs and gesticulations of anger.
at this crisis george grenville brought in and carried through a measure, which showed how useful he might have been, had he never been raised out of his proper element to rule and alienate colonies. he was now fast sinking into the grave, though but fifty-eight years of age. this measure was a bill to transfer the trial of controverted elections from the whole house of commons to a select committee of it. ever since the famous aylesbury case, the whole house had taken the charge of examining all petitions against the return of candidates and deciding them. this was a great obstruction of business; and grenville now proposed to leave the inquiry and decision to the select committee, which was to be composed of fifteen members of the house, thirteen of whom were to be chosen by the contesting claimants for the seat, out of a list of forty-five, elected by ballot from the whole house. the other two were to be named, one each, by the contesting candidates. the committee was empowered to examine papers, call and swear witnesses, and, in fact, to exercise all the authority previously wielded by the whole house. it was opposed by welbore ellis, rigby, dyson, and charles james fox, not yet broken from his office shell into a full-fledged patriot. it was, however, carried, and being supported in the lords by lord mansfield, who on this occasion manifested an unusual disregard of his party principles, it was passed there too.
whilst chatham was heading the opposition in a determined onslaught on the government, the latter were also compelled to face the awkward american question. great hopes had been entertained that the people of boston would be much calmer after the departure of governor bernard. hutchinson, the deputy-governor, was not only an american, but a man of a mild temper. but the temper of the bostonians was now so much excited, that the leaders of the non-importation act were more vehement than ever. the english merchants presented a petition to parliament showing that, in consequence of the import duties and the combinations of the colonists to resist them, the exports from england to these colonies had fallen off in 1769 by the amount of seven hundred and forty thousand pounds; that the revenue received from duties paid in america had fallen off from one hundred and ten thousand pounds per annum to thirty thousand pounds.
it was in these grave circumstances that lord north, on the 5th of march, 1770, brought forward his bill, based on the terms of lord hillsborough's letter to the american governors, to repeal all the import duties except that on tea. this was one of those half-and-half measures which never succeed; it abandoned the bulk of the duties, but retained the really obnoxious thing—the principle. grenville very truly told them that they should retain the whole, or repeal the whole. lord barrington and welbore ellis, in their dogged toryism, protested against repealing a single item of them; and the opposition, barré, conway, meredith, pownall, etc., as earnestly entreated them to remove the duties altogether, and with them all cause of irritation. the motion for leave to bring in the bill was carried by two hundred and four votes to one hundred and forty-two. during the debates it was shown that, during the financial year, the american tea duties had produced—not the calculated ten or twelve thousand, but less than three hundred pounds! for such a sum did our legislators risk a civil war. as a last effort on this question at this time, the opposition, on the 1st of may, called for the correspondence with america; and, on the 9th, burke moved nine resolutions on the general topic. they were not only negatived, but a similar motion, introduced into the peers by the duke of richmond, met the same fate.
at the very time that these measures were occupying the british parliament, the bostonians were driving affairs to a crisis. in nearly all the seaports committees were in active operation for examining all cargoes of ships, and reporting the result. these committees also kept a keen observation on each other, and visited publicly any that appeared lukewarm. boston, as usual, distinguished itself most prominently in this business. regular meetings were held in faneuil hall, and votes passed denouncing all who dared to import the prohibited goods. lieutenant-governor hutchinson exerted himself to form an[201] association amongst the traders in opposition to these anti-importers, but he tried in vain. they insisted that the merchants who had imported goods in their shops and warehouses should be compelled to ship them back to those who had sent them. one merchant, more stubborn than the rest, was immediately waited on by a deputation, headed by an axeman and a carpenter, as if prepared to behead and bury him; and he was told that a thousand men awaited his decision, and they could not be answerable for his safety if he refused to comply.
affray at boston between the soldiers and rope-makers. (see p. 201.)
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the animosity against the soldiers at boston was actively kept up. the sentinel could not stand at his post without insult. every day menaced a conflict. a fictitious account of an affray between the soldiers and the people of new york was circulated at boston, in which the soldiers were represented as beaten. this gave impetus to the aggressive temper of the bostonians. on the 2nd of march, a soldier, insulted by the men at gray's rope-walk, resented it; they came to blows, and the soldier was overpowered. he fetched up some of his comrades, who, in their turn, beat and chased the rope-makers through the town. the passions of the mob were inflamed, and they began to arm themselves for an attack on the soldiery. in a few days the crowd assembled and assaulted a party of them in dock square. the officer prudently withdrew them to the barracks. as the evening advanced, the mob increased. they cried, "turn out, and do for the soldiers!" they attacked and insulted a sentinel at the custom house. a party of soldiers was sent by captain preston to the officers on duty to protect the man. the mob pelted them with pieces of wood, lumps of ice, etc., and denounced them as "cowards," "red-lobster rascals," and the like. the soldiers stood to defend the custom house till they were fiercely attacked, and at length they fired in self-defence, killed three persons, and wounded several others—one mortally.
to prevent further carnage, a committee of the townsmen waited on the governor and council, and prevailed on them to remove the soldiers from the town to castle william. the successful rioters carried the bodies of the killed in procession, denounced the soldiers as murderers, and spread the[202] most exaggerated accounts of the affray through the newspapers, under the name of "the massacre." captain preston and his men were arrested and put upon their trials before a jury of the irate townsmen. nobody, for a time, would act as counsel for the defence; but at length john adams, a young lawyer, undertook the office, and made the case so plain, that not only captain preston, but all the soldiers were acquitted, except two, who had fired without orders, and these were convicted only of manslaughter.
the arrival of the news of lord north's repeal of all the duties, except tea, produced little effect on the minds of the people of boston. they declared that the unconstitutional principle was the real offence, and that it was still retained. the people of new york, however, had long inclined to gentler measures. they agreed to import all other articles except tea. pennsylvania and other colonies followed their example; and they declared that they who wanted tea must smuggle it. the more fiery patriots declared against this lukewarmness; but the desire for the english goods was so great that, during the years 1770 and 1771, the importations were larger than they had ever been. nevertheless, though the colonies appeared returning to order and obedience, the efforts of the republican party never relaxed, and, especially in massachusetts, there was a tone of sullen discontent. "liberty poles" were still erected; exciting harangues were delivered on the anniversary of "the massacre," and the assembly continued to manifest a stubborn resistance to the will of the lieutenant-governor.
during the recess of parliament, a dispute occurred with spain regarding the falkland islands, which led to the very verge of war. in 1764 the french, under bougainville, made a settlement on falkland sound; but spain putting in a claim that these isles were part of her south american territory, choiseul, the french minister, abandoned the settlement, and the spaniards changed its name from port louis to port soledad. the very next year, 1765, commodore byron was sent to form a settlement on another of the islands, which he named port egmont, in honour of lord egmont, first lord of the admiralty. such were the distant islets to which, in 1769, spain began to assert her claim. the governor of port soledad sent repeated messages to captain hunt, of the tamar, stationed at port egmont, requiring the abandonment of the place. when the notices were succeeded by threats, captain hunt sailed home to lay the matter before his government. he landed at portsmouth in june, 1770, and made known the spanish interference to the cabinet. meanwhile, the spaniards, taking advantage of hunt's absence, had, about the time that he arrived in england, dispatched to the falklands buccarelli, the governor of buenos ayres, with five frigates and one thousand six hundred men. having entered the port on pretence of wanting water, and finding the tamar absent, and only two armed sloops there, and a mere handful of soldiers, buccarelli landed his force, and, after the firing of a few shots for form's sake, the english surrendered, and were permitted to depart with all the honours of war.
the excitement, both at court and in the country, was far beyond the then apparent value of the islands; but there had been an insult to the british flag, and both government and opposition demanded expiation. lord north displayed a bold and determined tone on the occasion. orders were sent over to the british ambassador, at madrid, to demand an immediate disavowal of buccarelli's act, and instant measures were taken for war, in case of refusal. ships were refitted, their commanders named, stores were put on board, and orders for pressing men, according to the custom of the time, were issued. but in london these preparations met with resistance from the opposition spirit of the corporation. things, however, seemed tending strongly towards war. our chargé d'affaires at madrid, in absence of the ambassador, was mr. harris, the son of the author of "hermes." he was but a youth of four-and-twenty, but already displayed much of the talent which raised him to the title of malmesbury. he wrote home that the king of spain and some of his ministers were averse from the idea of war, and unprepared for it; but that others were influenced by choiseul, the french premier, and demanded a vigorous attack on england.
but the king of france did not share in the feeling of choiseul. he wrote to the king of spain about this time, "my minister wishes for war, but i do not!" in fact, changes had taken place in the court of france which were about to precipitate choiseul from his long-enjoyed favour. madame de pompadour was dead, and the king had become deeply enamoured of madame du barry. choiseul was impolitic enough to despise her influence, and treated her with undisguised hauteur. he soon felt the consequence in an order from the king to resign his office and retire[203] to his estate at chanteloupe, in touraine. the shock to the insolent minister, who had so long ruled absolutely in the french court, was the more unlooked for, because he thought himself now all the more safe from having secured the marriage of the king's heir, his eldest grandson, with the austrian archduchess, marie antoinette. choiseul was succeeded by the triumvirate d'aiguillon, as foreign minister; terray, as minister of finance; and maupeou, as minister of jurisprudence; but all subject to the supreme influence of madame du barry. louis xv. thenceforth became a cipher.
the spirit of choiseul having departed from the french administration, and the king having so unequivocally expressed his intention not to go to war, the spanish court hastened to lower its tone and offer conciliatory terms. in december they had proposed, through prince de masserano, to disavow the expedition of buccarelli, if the english court would disown the menaces of captain hunt. this was promptly refused, and orders were sent to mr. harris to quit the capital of spain. he set out in january, 1771, but was speedily recalled; the expedition of buccarelli was disavowed; the settlement of port egmont was conceded, whilst the main question as to the right of either party to the falklands at large was left to future discussion. so little value, however, did britain attach to the falkland isles, that it abandoned them voluntarily two years afterwards. for many years they were forsaken by both nations; but in 1826 the republic of buenos ayres adopted them as a penal colony, and in 1833 the british finally took possession of them.
whilst these events had been progressing, the ministry had entered into a combat with the great unknown political essayist, junius. junius had advanced from sir william draper to the duke of grafton, and from the duke of grafton to the king in his sweeping philippics. for these daring censures, woodfall, the printer of the public advertiser, was tried, and also almon, the publisher of the london museum, a monthly periodical, for reprinting the libel there. almon was convicted of publishing, and sentenced to pay a fine of ten marks, and give security for his good behaviour for two years, himself in four hundred pounds, and two sureties in two hundred pounds each. he moved in vain for a new trial. woodfall was convicted of "printing and publishing only;" but he obtained an order for a new trial, on the ground of the phrase "only" being ambiguous. but the circumstance which excited the attention and turned the resentment of both liberal statesmen and the people was, that lord mansfield on these trials had instructed the juries to confine themselves to the facts alone, and to leave the question of legality to the judges. this was properly declared a dangerous infringement of the rights of juries, and calculated to make their verdicts merely the servile echoes of the dicta of the judges. lord chatham, on the 28th of november, denounced in the peers this dictation of the judge to the juries. serjeant glynn, at the same time, moved in the commons for an inquiry into the administration of justice in westminster hall, where such unconstitutional instructions could be given. this occasioned a warm debate, in which burke, dunning, and others, ably defended the public rights. the motion was negatived.
the year 1771 opened in circumstances which greatly diminished the interest in parliamentary proceedings. as all reporting was excluded from the house of lords, the chief speakers there felt that they were no longer addressing the nation, but merely a little knot of persons in a corner, and consequently the stimulus of both fame and real usefulness was at an end. in the commons, the desire of the ministry to reduce that popular arena to the same condition of insignificance produced a contest with the city as foolish and mischievous in its degree as the contests then going on with wilkes and america. george onslow, nephew of the late speaker, and member for guildford, moved that several printers, who had dared to report the debates of the house of commons, should be summoned to the bar to answer for their conduct. accordingly, these mediums of communication between the people and their representatives were summoned and reprimanded on their knees. one of their number, named miller, however, declared that he was a liveryman of london, and that any attempt to arrest him would be a breach of the privileges of the city. the serjeant-at-arms dispatched a messenger to apprehend this sturdy citizen, and bring him before the house; but, instead of succeeding, the parliamentary messenger was taken by a city constable, and carried before brass crosby, the lord mayor. with the lord mayor sat alderman wilkes and alderman oliver. it was delightful work to wilkes thus to set at defiance the house of commons, which had made such fierce war on him. the lord mayor, accordingly, was fully confirmed in his view that the messenger of the commons had committed a[204] flagrant violation of the city charter, in endeavouring to lay hands on one of its liverymen within its own precincts, and they held the messenger accordingly to bail. the house of commons was fired with indignation at this contemptuous disregard of their dignity. they passed a resolution, by a large majority, ordering the lord mayor and the two aldermen to appear at their bar. wilkes bluntly refused to attend the house in any shape but as a recognised member of it. crosby pleaded a severe fit of the gout; and oliver, though he appeared in his place, refused to make any submission whatever, but told them he defied them. the house, in its blind anger, resolved that oliver should be committed to the tower, and crosby to the custody of the serjeant-at-arms. but crosby declared that he would not accept this indulgence at the hands of the house, but would share the incarceration of his honourable friend; and he was accordingly sent also to the tower. the people out of doors were in the highest state of fury. they greeted the city members on their way to and from the house, but they hooted and pelted the ministerial supporters. charles james fox, still a government man, as all his family had been, was very roughly handled; lord north's carriage was dashed in, and himself wounded; and had he not been rescued by a popular member, sir william meredith, he would probably have lost his life. the commons had engaged in a strife with the city, in which they were signally beaten, and no further notice being taken of the printers, from this time forward the practice of reporting the debates of parliament became recognised as an established privilege of the people, though formally at the option of the house; and so far now from members or ministers fearing any evil from it, the most conservative of them would be deeply mortified by the omission of their speeches in the reports. the termination of the session also opened the doors of the tower, and liberated the lord mayor and alderman oliver. they were attended from the tower to the mansion house by the corporation in their robes, where a banquet celebrated their restoration to freedom, and the populace displayed their sympathy by bonfires and illuminations.
spade guinea of george iii.
five-shilling piece of george iii.
twopenny piece of george iii.
during the recess considerable changes took place in the cabinet. lord halifax died on the 8th of june; the earl of suffolk succeeded him as secretary of state, and the remainder of the grenville party thereupon supported the ministry. suffolk introduced his friend, lord hyde, afterwards earl of clarendon, to the post of chancellor of the duchy of lancaster, with an augmented salary. the administration of lord north was considerably strengthened, too, by the abilities of thurlow, as attorney-general, and of wedderburn, as solicitor-general. but the addition to the cabinet of lord north which occasioned the greatest surprise, was that of the duke of grafton. he received the privy seal.
during the recess a violent quarrel had been going on in the city, which showed the[205] disorganisation of the opposition. wilkes had offered himself as sheriff; but alderman oliver, who had lately been in prison for his bold conduct in the affair of miller, the printer, had refused to support the claim of wilkes. in fact, not only he, but the lord mayor, alderman townshend, and sawbridge, were beginning to see through wilkes. oliver went further—he refused to serve as the other sheriff with wilkes. government availed itself of these divisions to defeat the election of wilkes. alderman bull became the second candidate with wilkes, and government induced their party in the city to nominate aldermen plumbe and kirkman in opposition to them. wilkes would probably have been defeated, especially as oliver finally came forward, supported by all the eloquence and exertions of john horne. but, fortunately for wilkes and his fellow-candidate, bull, a letter sent by the government agent to a mr. smith in the city was misdelivered to another mr. smith, a supporter of wilkes and bull, announcing the exertions that government would make in support of their men, plumbe and kirkman. this letter was immediately published, and, alarming all the enemies of government, made them rally round wilkes and bull, who were accordingly elected.
press-gang at work.
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on the 21st of january, 1772, the king opened parliament, and the two divisions of the opposition under the leadership of rockingham and chatham were found to be divided and dispirited. the chief proceeding of this session was one of a very remarkable character. the boasted morals of george iii. and of his queen had not defended his family from gross crimes and corruptions. very notorious was the life of his brother, the duke of cumberland. amongst his licentious intrigues was one with henrietta vernon, lady grosvenor, a young and beautiful woman, whom he seduced, following her into cheshire, when her husband took her from town, and meeting her in various disguises. in 1770 lord grosvenor brought an action against him and obtained a verdict of ten thousand pounds. with a rapidity of fickleness almost unexampled, he was immediately afterwards paying suit to mrs. horton. cumberland went over to calais with mrs. horton, and there married her according to the[206] rites of the church of england (october 2, 1771). the duke of gloucester also now confessed to a secret marriage (september 6, 1766) with the countess dowager waldegrave. a bill was brought into parliament in 1772, since well known as the royal marriage act, by which every prince or princess, descendant of george ii., except only the issue of princes married abroad, was prohibited from marrying until the age of twenty-five without the king's consent. after that age they might apply to the privy council, and if within a year of such announcement both houses of parliament should not express disapprobation of the intended marriage, it might then be lawfully solemnised. the bill did not pass without violent opposition.
but these were by no means the total of the royal troubles at this period. the youngest and most beloved of george iii.'s sisters, caroline matilda, had been married to christian vii. of denmark. this young man was little better than an idiot, and the poor princess was married to him at the age of sixteen. the marriage of this young couple, and their ascent to the throne, were nearly simultaneous; and, contrary to the usual custom of a monarch, it was deemed advisable that he should travel. in his tour he fell in with the celebrated struensee, a young physician of altona. christian vii., like all weak monarchs, must have favourites. struensee speedily became the perfect master of christian's mind and actions, and on their return to copenhagen he was raised to the rank of count, and soon after was made prime minister. his enemies were of course numerous, and scandal soon connected his name with that of the queen. all this especially favoured the plans of the base queen dowager, who, in league with the hostile nobles, feigned a plot against the king; obtained from him, in his bed at midnight, an order for the arrest of the queen, struensee, and others. the queen was seized half dressed. struensee was executed with especial barbarities; but the king of england interfered to save his sister, and to procure the succession to her son. the unhappy young queen, however, was separated for ever from her two children, and conveyed to zell, in hanover—the same castle or prison where the unhappy wife of george i. had pined away her life. there she died after a few years, protesting her innocence, though struensee had confessed his guilt.
from the affairs of the royal family, we turn to a more important subject, the partition of poland. poland, lying contiguous to russia, had for ages been in a condition calculated to attract the cupidity of ambitious neighbours. its nobles usurped all authority. they kept the whole mass of the people in hopeless serfdom; they usurped the whole of the land; they elected their own king, and were too fond of power themselves to leave him more than a puppet in their hands. to make the condition of the country worse, it was violently divided on the subject of religion. one part of the nobles consisted of roman catholics, another of what were called dissidents, made up of members of the greek church, and protestants, lutherans, calvinists, and arians. although by what was called the pacta conventa the dissidents had been admitted to an equality of rights, this was totally disregarded by the overbearing roman catholics; and in 1736 the pacta conventa was formally abolished. every dissident was, by this measure, for ever excluded from government, and from all interest in it.
thus the whole country was torn by religious animosity; the nobles were insolent to the crown, and the people were nothing. such was the divided condition of poland which led to its dismemberment. all nobility of mind was destroyed; pride and oppression were the inseparable consequences of such a system. there was no middle class, no popular class; it was a country of lords and slaves—of one class domineering over the other. the greek catholics were the dissidents, and the dissidents sought aid from russia—which was also greek in religion—and, to insure this aid, condescended to the lowest arts of solicitation, to the practice of fawning, stooping, and cringing to the great barbarous power of russia on one side, and to the equally barbarous power of turkey on the other. the nobles could bring large bodies of cavalry into the field, as many, at times, as a hundred thousand; but as they had no free people, and dreaded to arm their slaves, they had little or no infantry, except such as they hired, and even this was in no condition to withstand the heavy masses of russian infantry, much less such armies as prussia or austria might be tempted to bring against them.
from the moment that russia was called in, under the pretext of maintaining order, she became, or aimed to become, the dominant power there. she pressed on the whole line of the polish frontier with her armies, inundated the kingdom with her troops, and levied contributions for their support as if she had been in a conquered country. from that hour, too, the kings were elected rather by foreign armies than by the poles themselves.[207] stanislaus poniatowski, the present king, was the nominee of catherine of russia, whose lover he had been till superseded by orloff. she had placed him on the throne by force of arms, and he was incapable of doing anything except through her power.
some faint endeavours were made to shake off the yoke. encouraged by france, they summoned the turks to their aid and cut to pieces several detachments of the russians. they proclaimed poniatowski deposed, and called on the people to aid them to drive out the invaders. but the people, long used to oppression from their own lords, did not answer to the call. in france, choiseul had been hurled from power, and france left the poles to their fate. it was now that frederick of prussia proposed to austria to combine with russia and share poland between them. at this robber proposition, so in character with frederick, who had all his life been creating a kingdom by plundering his neighbours, maria theresa at first exclaimed in horror. but she was now old and failing, and she gave way, declaring that, long after she was dead and gone, people would see what would happen from their having broken through everything which had, till then, been deemed just and holy. frederick of prussia took the surest way to compel the austrians to come in for a share of the spoils of poland. he marched a body of soldiers out of silesia—the territory which he had rent from austria—into posen, and austria, not to be behind, had marched another army into the carpathian mountains.
in vain did poniatowski remonstrate; he had no means of resistance. the turks could no longer defend themselves from russian invasion, much less assist poland. they applied to frederick to intercede with catherine for peace for them. nothing could so entirely suit frederick's plans. he sent prince henry of prussia to negotiate with catherine, who took the opportunity to represent to her the advantages to the three great powers, russia, prussia, and austria, strengthening themselves by appropriating portions of poland. the russians, relieved from contention with the poles, now pushed on their victories against the turks; drove them over the danube, and seized some of their most fertile provinces. to complete their ruin, they, aided by england, attacked and destroyed their fleet in the mediterranean.
the treaty between russia, prussia, and austria for the first division of poland was signed at st. petersburg on the 5th of august, 1772. the three robber powers now promised to rest satisfied with their booty; to respect the rights and remaining territories of poland—words hollow and worthless as they who used them. the invaders divided at this time about one-third of poland between them. prussia appropriated the whole of pomerania, part of great poland, the bishopric of warmia, and the palatinates of marienburg and culm; with complete command of the lower part of the vistula. the whole of this territory did not exceed eight hundred square miles, but it was a territory of vast importance to prussia, as it united pomerania with the rest of that kingdom. russia and austria acquired immensely more in extent. russia took nearly the whole of lithuania, with the vast country between the rivers dwina and dniester. austria secured the country along the left bank of the vistula from wieliczka to the confluence of the vistula and the viroz. but russia had galicia, the palatinate of belz, and a part of volhynia. unsupported by france, england had no course but to acquiesce in the arrangement.
the year 1773 opened with an inquiry in parliament into the abuses of the administration of affairs in india. there were great complaints of the wholesale rapacity and oppression perpetrated on the natives by the company's servants. before the close of the preceding year, a secret committee had been appointed to inquire into these abuses, and to take the matter out of the hands of government, the company proposed to appoint a number of supervisors to go out to india and settle the causes of complaint. the secret committee proposed a bill to prevent this, as a scheme for merely evading a thorough inquiry and continuing the atrocities. burke, who was a holder of india stock, defended the company, and declared that such a bill would annihilate the company, and make the house of commons the company itself and the speaker its chairman. he reminded them that the company paid to government four hundred thousand pounds a year, and that government had connived at the maladministration which had been carried on. this certainly was, so far from a reason against the bill, a reason why they should connive no longer; and the bill was carried by a large majority.
the company was then compelled to reduce its dividends to six per cent. and apply to parliament for a loan of a million and a half to meet its pecuniary difficulties. this, ministers and parliament complied with, and proceeding to relieve the company of its embarrassments, lord north[208] proposed and carried a measure, by which the company, which had no less than seventeen million pounds of tea in its warehouses, should, without limit of time, be authorised to export its teas to the british colonies of america duty free. this was thought a great and conciliatory boon to the americans, but it proved otherwise. the import duty of threepence in the pound was still stubbornly retained, and the americans, looking at the principle of taxation, and not at a mere temptation of a cheapened article, saw through the snare, and indignantly rejected it. the principal tea merchants declared that this would be the case, and that the whole government scheme was wild and visionary.
though there had appeared a lull in american affairs for some time, any one who was observant might have seen that all the old enmities were still working in the colonial mind, and that it would require little irritation to call them forth in even an aggravated form. lord hillsborough was no longer governor, but william legge, lord dartmouth. he was a man of high reputation for uprightness and candour; richardson said that he would be the perfect ideal of his sir charles grandison, if he were not a methodist; and the poet cowper, not objecting to his methodism, described him as "one who wears a coronet and prays." but lord dartmouth, with all his superiority of temper and his piety, could not prevent the then stone-blind cabinet and infatuated king from accomplishing the independence of america.
another favourable circumstance would have been found in the fact that in hutchinson, massachusetts had a native governor, a man of courteous manners and moderate counsels. but even out of hutchinson's position arose offence. his brothers-in-law, andrew and peter oliver, were appointed lieutenant-governor and chief justice of the province. lord north thought that the payment of these officers should be in the hands of government, to render them independent of the colonists; but this the colonists resented as an attempt to destroy the charter and establish arbitrary power. the massachusetts house of assembly declared on this occasion, in their address to the crown:—"we know of no commissioners of his majesty's customs, nor of any revenue that his majesty has a right to establish in north america." they denounced the declaratory act passed at the suggestion of chatham, and the attempt to make the governors and judges independent of the people, and the arbitrary instruments of the crown. in virginia the same spirit was conspicuous.
during the years 1767, 1768, and 1769, mr. thomas whately—at one time private secretary to grenville, and several years under-secretary of state to lord suffolk, but during these years out of office, and simply member of parliament—had maintained a private correspondence with governor hutchinson and his brother-in-law, andrew oliver, the lieutenant-governor. in these letters hutchinson and oliver had freely expressed to their old friend their views of the state of affairs in the colony; and, of course, said many things never intended to come to the public eye, or to operate officially. on the death of whately, in 1772, some villain purloined these letters and conveyed them to franklin, who was acting as agent for massachusetts. who this dishonest firebrand was, was never discovered. franklin pledged himself to secrecy, both as to the letters and as to the name of the person who so basely obtained them. the name of this person he faithfully kept; but the contents of the letters were too well calculated to create irreconcilable rancour in the minds of the americans, for him to resist the pleasure of communicating them to the massachusetts assembly. he accordingly forwarded them to mr. curling, the speaker of the assembly.
the whole mode of coming into possession of these papers has something in it revolting to all honourable minds. franklin, aware of this, insisted that they should not be printed nor made public, but only circulated amongst a select few. but the same motives which had induced franklin to break his pledged secrecy, operated on the assembly. they determined to make them public, and therefore pretended that other copies of them had reached them from england, and that they were thus absolved from all conditions of secrecy. this was totally false. the story was invented for the occasion, and the letters, without the name of whately, to whom they had been addressed, were published by the assembly. it was left to be inferred by the public, that they had been sent officially to england by the governor and lieutenant-governor, and the assembly voted the writing of them ample evidence of a fixed design on the part of the british government to destroy the constitution and establish arbitrary power. a petition was dispatched to be presented by franklin to the king, calling for the removal of hutchinson and oliver from their posts. when these letters were read under these false impressions, sentiments were found in them which assumed a wholly exaggerated character, and the flame produced was, as franklin and the assembly intended, of the most furious kind.
[209]
boston "boys" disguised as indians throwing the tea chests into the harbour. (see p. 210.)
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[210]
when these letters were published in america, their real character was concealed, and every means taken to represent them as official despatches to the officers of government in england. the public rage was uncontrollable. a committee was formed to wait on governor hutchinson, and demand whether he owned the handwriting. hutchinson freely owned to that, but contended very justly that the letters were of a thoroughly private character, and to an unofficial person. notwithstanding, the house of assembly drew up a strong remonstrance to the british government, charging the governor and lieutenant-governor with giving false and malicious information respecting the colony, and demanding their dismissal. this remonstrance, accompanied by copies of the letters themselves, was immediately dispatched over the colonies, and everywhere produced, as was intended, the most violent inflammation of the public mind against us. the bostonians had for some time established what was called a corresponding committee, whose business it was to prepare and circulate through the whole of the colonies papers calculated to keep alive the indignation against the british government. this committee quickly was responded to by other committees in different places, and soon this plan became an organisation extending to every part of the colonies, even the most remote, by which intelligence and arguments were circulated through all america with wonderful celerity.
that the spirit of the bostonians had ripened into actual rebellion was unequivocally shown in the course of the year 1773. the gaspee government schooner, commanded by lieutenant dudingston, had been singularly active in putting down smuggling about rhode island. the rhode island packet coming in one evening from newport to providence, instigated by the general anger against the gaspee—for the rhode islanders were great smugglers—refused to pay the usual compliment of lowering the flag to the schooner. dudingston fired a shot across her bows, and, on her paying no regard to that, gave chase. the packet, however, ran close in shore, and the gaspee following too eagerly, ran aground. it was on a sandy bottom, and the return of the tide would have lifted her off undamaged; but the smuggling population of providence put off to her in the night, whilst she lay in a position so as to be incapable of using her guns, surprised, boarded, and set fire to her, carrying the lieutenant and the crew triumphantly on shore. government offered a reward of five hundred pounds for the discovery of the perpetrators of this daring outrage; but though it was well known who the perpetrators were, no one would give any information. on the contrary, the most violent threats were uttered against any one who should do so.
when such acts as the burning of the gaspee had been done with impunity, and whilst the american mind was rankling with the franklin poison of the purloined letters, three vessels arrived at boston, laden with tea, under the conditions of lord north's bill. on the arrival of the ships the commotion was intense. the captains themselves would gladly have sailed away with their obnoxious cargoes in safety, but the governor very foolishly gave orders that they should not pass the ports without a permit from himself, and he sent admiral montague to guard the passages out of the harbour with two ships of war. as the evening grew dark, those who had quitted the meeting held on the 16th of december to demand that the ships should be sent home again, were met by mobs of men arrayed as wild indians, who hurried down to griffin's wharf, where the tea ships lay. rushing tumultuously on board, and hoisting out the tea chests, they emptied them into the sea amid much cheering and noise. having thus destroyed teas to the amount of eighteen thousand pounds, the triumphant mob retreated to their houses.
the news from boston could not have arrived at a moment when the public mind was more ill-disposed towards the americans. the affair of the abstraction of mr. whately's private letters from his house or office, and their publication, contrary to custom and to its own engagement, by the massachusetts assembly, had produced a deep conviction in all classes in england of the utter disregard of honour both in the american colonists and their agent, franklin. this disgraceful violation of the sacred security of private papers roused the indignation of mr. william whately, banker, in lombard street, and brother to the late mr. thomas whately. he conceived strong suspicions of john temple, afterwards sir john temple, lieutenant-governor of new hampshire, and, though one of the commissioners of customs at boston, really hostile to the commission, and a strong partisan of franklin. whately challenged temple, and was severely wounded in the rencontre. at this, franklin came forward with an avowal that neither the late mr. whately nor mr.[211] temple had anything to do with the carrying off of the letters; that he alone was responsible for this act.
owing to these circumstances, occasion was taken, on the presentation to the privy council of the petition of the people of boston for the removal of the governor and lieutenant-governor of massachusetts, to animadvert on franklin's conduct. this took place on the 29th of january, 1774, when dunning and lee were retained on the part of the petition, and wedderburn, the solicitor-general, appeared for the crown. there were no less than thirty-five privy councillors present, amongst them lord north, and lord gower at their head, as lord president. neither dunning nor lee spoke effectively, but as if they by no means relished the cause in which they were engaged; while wedderburn seemed animated by extraordinary life and bitterness. he was the friend of whately, who was now lying in a dangerous state from his wound. after speaking of the charter and the insubordinate temper of the people of massachusetts, he fell with withering sarcasm on franklin, who was present. hitherto, he said, private correspondence had been held sacred, even in times of the most rancorous party fury. but here was a gentleman who had a high rank amongst philosophers, and should be the last to sanction such infamous breaches of honour, openly avowing his concern in them. he asked where, henceforth, dr. franklin could show his face; and said that henceforth he must deem it a libel to be termed "a man of letters," he was "a man of three letters, f u r, a thief." wedderburn could compare him only to zanga, in dr. young's "revenge:"—
"know, then, 'twas i;
i forged the letter—i disposed the picture—
i hated—i despised—and i destroy!"
priestley, in a letter, describes the effect of wedderburn's address as received with what must seem mad merriment by the council. "mr. wedderburn had a complete triumph. at the sallies of his sarcastic wit, all the members of the council, the president himself, lord gower, not excepted, frequently laughed outright; and no person belonging to the council behaved himself with decent gravity, except lord north, who came in late."
the privy council decided that the petition from massachusetts was framed on false and exaggerated allegations, and was groundless, vexatious, and scandalous. two days afterwards, the king dismissed franklin from the office, which he had till now held, of deputy-postmaster of america.
on the 14th of march lord north moved to bring in a bill to take away from boston the customs, the courts of justice, and government offices, and give them to salem. this bill was carried through both houses with little opposition. bollan, the agent of the council of massachusetts, desired to be heard against the bill, but was refused. it received the royal assent on the 31st of march, and the trade of boston was supposed to be annihilated.
whilst this bill was passing the lords, on the 28th of march lord gower brought a fresh one into the commons, which had no less object than the repeal of the charter of massachusetts. it was entitled, "a bill for the better regulating government in the province of massachusetts bay." it went to remove the nomination of the members of the council, of the judges and magistrates, etc., from the popular constituencies to the crown. lord north observed that the charter of william iii. had conferred these privileges on massachusetts as exceptional to all other colonies, and that the consequence was that the governor had no power whatever. strong opposition was made to this proposed bill by dowdeswell, sir george savile, burke, barré, governor pownall, general conway, and charles fox, who was now in opposition. the bill passed the commons by a majority of two hundred and thirty-nine against sixty-four; and it passed the lords by a majority of ninety-two against twenty. but even now another bill passed the house of commons—a bill for removing to another colony for trial any inhabitant of massachusetts bay, who was indicted for any murder or other capital offence which the governor might deem to be perpetrated in the attempt to put down tumults and riots. this measure was still more vehemently opposed than the rest.
to commence a course of more rigour in massachusetts, governor hutchinson was recalled, and general gage, a man who had seen service, and had the reputation of firmness and promptitude, was appointed in his stead. but the mischief of the new acts became rapidly apparent. had the boston port bill alone been passed, perhaps not much harm might have been done. there were numbers of people throughout america who were of opinion that boston had gone too far in destroying the tea, and might have remained passive if the bostonians had been compelled to make compensation. but the fatal act was[212] that which abolished the massachusetts charter. that made the cause common; that excited one universal alarm. if the british government were thus permitted to strike out the colonial charters at pleasure, all security had perished. all the colonies determined to support their own cause in supporting that of massachusetts.
the virginians were the first to move to lead the agitation. patrick henry and thomas jefferson took the initiative in a measure which would have better suited the character of the religious new englanders. a fast was ordered on account of the boston port act. the next day, however, being the 25th of may, lord dunmore, the governor of the province, dissolved the assembly. the members, nothing daunted, retired to the "raleigh" tavern, and passed a series of resolutions. the chief of these were to purchase nothing of the east india company, except saltpetre and spices, until their injuries were redressed; to request the members of all corresponding committees to take measures for the appointment of members to a general congress; to summon the new members of the assembly (the writs for which were already in course of issue) to meet at williamsburg to elect delegates from that colony to the congress.
in the meantime, general gage landed at boston on the 13th of may. the port bill had preceded him a few days, and the tone of the other colonies rendered the bostonians firmer in their temper than ever. on the 25th of may general gage announced to the assembly at boston the unpleasant fact, that he was bound to remove, on the 1st of june, the assembly, the courts of justice, and all the public offices, to salem, in conformity with the late act. as they petitioned him to set apart a day for fasting, he declined that, and, to prevent further trouble, adjourned them to the 7th of june, to meet at salem.
on the 1st of june according to the arrangements of general gage, as the clock struck twelve, all the public offices were closed, and the whole official business was transferred to salem. but the wide discontent of the people met him there as much as at boston. when the assembly met, which was in the following week, such was its spirit that general gage felt that he must dissolve it. general gage, seeing the lowering aspect of affairs, took the precaution to throw more troops into the neighbourhood, so that he had some six regiments, with a train of artillery, when he encamped on the common near boston. active emissaries were immediately sent amongst these troops, who, by presents of ardent spirits and fine promises, seduced a considerable number from their duty. to prevent this, he stationed a strong guard at boston neck, a narrow isthmus connecting the town with the common and open country. on this a vehement cry was raised, that he was going to cut off all communication with the country, blockade the town, and reduce it to submission by famine. the inhabitants of the county of worcester sent a deputation to inquire gage's intentions, and they did not omit to hint that, if necessary, they would drive in the guard with arms; for, in fact, besides the arms which most americans then had, others had been supplied to such as were too poor to purchase them. gordon, their historian, tells us that the people were preparing to defend their rights by the sword; that they were supplying themselves from boston with guns, knapsacks, etc. according to the militia law, most men were well furnished with muskets and powder, and were now busily employed in exercising themselves; thus all was bustle, casting of balls, and making ready for a struggle. gage, seeing all this, removed the gunpowder and the military stores from charlestown, cambridge, and other localities, to his own quarters. this, again, excited a deep rage in the people, who threatened to attack his troops. to prevent this, he went on briskly with his defences on the neck; but what he did by day the mob endeavoured to undo by night. they set fire to his supplies of straw; they sank the boats that were bringing bricks, and overturned his waggons conveying timber. nothing but the greatest patience and forbearance prevented an instant collision.
the general congress met at philadelphia on the 4th of september, when all the delegates, except those of north carolina, who did not arrive till the 14th, were found to represent twelve states, namely, the four new england states, virginia, pennsylvania, maryland, new york, new jersey, delaware, and the two carolinas. it was settled, however, that, whatever the number of delegates, each colony should have one vote. the next day they assembled in carpenters' hall for business, and elected peyton randolph, late speaker of the virginian house of burgesses, president. it was soon found that so much diversity of opinion prevailed, it was deemed prudent, in order to preserve the air of unanimity, to deliberate with closed doors. it was clear that massachusetts and virginia were ready for war; but it became equally clear that other states yet[213] clung with all the attachment of blood and old connection to the fatherland. strong and long-continued, according to mr. joseph galloway, one of their own members, were the debates; and though they finally, and, from their system of secrecy, with an air of unanimity, drew up strong resolutions, they were more moderately expressed than the instructions of many of the delegates. they agreed to a declaration of rights, in which they asserted that they had neither lost the rights of nature, nor the privileges of englishmen, by emigration; consequently, that the late acts of parliament had been gross violations of those rights, especially as affecting massachusetts. they therefore passed resolutions to suspend all imports, or use of imported goods, until harmony was restored between great britain and her colonies. an association was formed to carry these resolutions out, to which every member subscribed. having adjourned till the 10th of may of the next year, the congress dissolved itself on the 26th of october, and the delegates then hastened home to keep alive the flame of their revived zeal in every quarter of the continent.
benjamin franklin.
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but, whilst congress was sitting, the spirit of revolution was every day growing more rife in massachusetts. governor gage had issued writs for a new assembly, which was to meet at salem on the 5th of october; but so many of the newly appointed members refused to act, that he issued a proclamation to countermand the writs. the patriots, however, set the proclamation at defiance; and confident, from the resignation of the timid loyalists, that they were in a majority, met at salem, and formed themselves into a provincial congress, to be joined by such other persons as[214] should be chosen for the consideration of public affairs. they then adjourned to concord, a town about twenty miles from boston, and elected john hancock, the owner of the liberty sloop, as president. they then adjourned to cambridge, and constituted concord the dep?t of arms and ammunition for twelve thousand militia. they enrolled the militia under the name of "minute men," or men who were to turn out, at a minute's notice, with musket or rifle. they appointed committees and sub-committees for different purposes, and, in fact, put the province into a perfect attitude of war.
news arrived that the king, by proclamation, had prohibited the export of arms and military stores to america. this news was received with a burst of rage. the people of rhode island, who had burnt the king's schooner, the gaspee, seized forty pieces of cannon on the batteries defending the harbour, and carried them into the country. the people of new hampshire surprised a small fort called william and mary, garrisoned only by one officer and five men, and carried off the ordnance, arms, ammunition and military stores. everywhere orders were issued for the purchase of arms and ammunition; for training the militia; for erecting powder mills, and manufactories of arms and shot, as well as for making saltpetre. so far as it depended on the people of massachusetts, it was already rebellion. still, however, the other colonies, except, perhaps, virginia, were far from this bellicose temper. the colonies, in general, thought the measures of the late congress too strong; and the state of new york, in spite of the impetuosity of such men as jay, carried a vote rejecting the resolutions of the congress.
the parliament of england had now nearly run its septennial course, and was accordingly dissolved on the 30th of september. such was the feeling of resentment in great britain against the proceedings of the americans, that the parliament that was now elected gave the ministers an increased majority.
it met on the 29th of november. the king, in his speech, alluded to the determined resistance to the imperial authority of the american colonists, and pre-eminently of those of massachusetts bay. he called upon parliament to support him in his endeavours to restore order. there was strong opposition to the addresses in both houses, demands being made for a full production of all papers and correspondence on this great subject, but the battle did not begin until january, 1775, when chatham moved the repeal of the legislation of the previous year, and the withdrawal of the troops from boston.
chatham, on rising, severely blamed ministers for the course which they had pursued, and which had driven the colonies to the verge of rebellion. "resistance to your acts," he said, "was necessary as it was just; and your vain declarations of the omnipotence of parliament, and your imperious doctrines of the necessity of submission, will be found equally incompetent to convince or to enslave your fellow-subjects in america, who feel that tyranny, whether attempted by an individual part of the legislature, or the bodies who compose it, is equally intolerable to british subjects." he eulogised the conduct of the congress, and remarked that it was obvious that all attempts to impose servitude on such men, to establish despotism over such a mighty continental nation, must be vain, must be fatal. "we shall be forced," he said, "ultimately, to retract; let us retract while we can—not when we must. i say we must necessarily undo these violently 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 finally repealed. avoid, then, this humiliating, this disgraceful necessity." he declared that the cause of america and england was one; that it was the glorious spirit of whiggism which animated the colonists. "it is liberty to liberty engaged. in this great cause they are immovably allied; it is the alliance of god and nature—immutable, eternal—fixed as the firmament of heaven. you cannot force them, united as they are, to your unworthy terms of submission. it is impossible." lords shelburne, camden, and rockingham, and the duke of richmond, zealously supported the views of chatham, but the ministerial party opposed the motion as obstinately as ever; and it was rejected by sixty-eight votes against eighteen.
chatham, undeterred by the fate of his motion, determined to make one more effort, and bring in a bill for the pacification of the colonies, and he called upon franklin to assist in framing it. on the following tuesday, franklin hurried down to hayes with the draft of the bill left with him, and with his full approbation of it, having, he says, only added one word, that of "constitutions" after "charters." the next day (wednesday), the 1st of february, chatham appeared in the house of lords with his bill. he declared that it was a[215] bill not merely of concession, but of assertion, and he called on the lords to entertain it cordially, to correct its crudenesses, and pass it for the peace of the whole empire. the bill first explicitly asserted our supreme power over the colonies; it declared that all that related to the disposing of the army belonged to the prerogative of the crown, but that no armed force could be lawfully employed against the rights and liberties of the inhabitants; that no tax, or tollage, or other charge for the revenue, should be levied without the consent of the provincial assemblies. the acts of parliament relating to america passed since 1764 were wholly repealed; the judges were made permanent during their good behaviour, and the charters and constitutions of the several provinces were not to be infringed or set aside, unless upon some valid ground of forfeiture. all these concessions were, of course, made conditional on the recognition by the colonies of the supreme authority of parliament.
had this bill been frankly accepted by ministers, it would have gone far to heal the rupture between the mother country and her colonies. the earl of dartmouth, the secretary of state for the colonies, proposed that the bill should lie on the table for deliberation. the duke of grafton complained of the manner in which the bill had been hurried into the house, and, as chatham in his reply observed, showed every disposition to hurry it as quickly out again. the friends of the duke of bedford, who had joined the administration, exhibited the most rancorous disposition towards america. the chief of these, lord sandwich, declared that he never could believe this bill was the work of any british peer, but rather of an american, and he looked full at dr. franklin, who was leaning on the bar. he declared the americans to be in actual rebellion; that they were not troubling themselves about mere words and nice distinctions; that they were aiming at independence, and nothing else. the bedford party carried the day, and the bill was rejected by sixty-one votes against thirty-two.
lord north, however, was still sufficiently impressed by the solemn warnings of chatham and others to attempt a conciliatory measure of his own. accordingly, on the 20th of february, only ten days after his bill restrictive of the american trade, and whilst it was progressing, he moved in a committee of the whole house, "that if the legislature of any of the american provinces should propose to make some provision for the common defence, and also for the civil government of that province, and if such proposal shall be approved of by the king and parliament, it would be proper to forbear, whilst such provision lasted, from levying or proposing any tax, duty, or assessment within the said province."
this proposal, which, at an earlier stage of the dispute, might have been listened to, was one at this stage which was sure to be rejected, and was only one of those miserable half measures which commonplace minds so frequently put forth only to demonstrate their inability to grasp the amplitude of the occasion. it was supposed that the measure had been intended to be larger, but that the bedford party had fallen on it in council, and reduced it to these pitiable dimensions. yet when it was introduced into the commons by lord north, the bedford party looked at each other in consternation, and soon the tempest broke loose on the treasury benches.
the storm was appeased only by lord north's condescending to explain his measure in such a manner as deprived it of every particle of generous feeling, and reduced it to the lowest machiavellian level. he said the real object of the resolution was to divide the americans, to satisfy the moderate part of them, and oppose them to the immoderate, to separate the wheat from the chaff; that he never expected his proposal to be generally acceptable. on this, colonel barré and burke assaulted him fiercely. barré branded the whole scheme as founded on that low, shameful, abominable maxim, "divide et impera." burke declared that the proposition was at variance with every former principle of parliament, directly so with the restrictive measures now in progress; that it was mean without being conciliatory. but the resolution passed by two hundred and seventy-four votes against eighteen.
again, on the 22nd of march, burke made another earnest effort to induce the infatuated ministers and their adherents in parliament to listen to reason. in one of the finest speeches that he ever made, he introduced a series of thirteen resolutions, which went to abolish the obnoxious acts of parliament, and admit the principle of the colonial assemblies exercising the power of taxation. in the course of his speech he drew a striking picture of the rapid growth and the inevitable future importance of these colonies. he reminded the house that the people of new england and other colonies had quitted great britain because they would not submit to arbitrary measures; that in america they had cultivated this extreme independence of character, both in their religion and their daily life; that almost[216] every man there studied law, and that nearly as many copies of blackstone's "commentaries" had been sold there as in england; that they were the protestants of protestants, the dissenters of dissenters; that the church of england there was a mere sect; that the foreigners who had settled there, disgusted with tyranny at home, had adopted the extremest principles of liberty flourishing there; that all men there were accustomed to discuss the principles of law and government, and that almost every man sent to the congress was a lawyer; that the very existence of slavery in the southern states made white inhabitants hate slavery the more in their own persons. "you cannot," he said, "content such men at such a distance—nature fights against you. who are you that you should fret, rage, and bite the chains of nature? nothing worse happens to you than does to all nations who have extensive empires. in all such extended empires authority grows feeble at the extremities. the turk and the spaniard find it so, and are compelled to comply with this condition of nature, and derive vigour in the centre from the relaxation of authority on the borders." his resolutions were negatived by large majorities.
in the meantime, petitions, memorials, and remonstrances were presented from new york and other places, and from the british inhabitants of canada, but all were rejected. on the 26th of may george iii. prorogued parliament, and expressed his perfect satisfaction in its proceedings; so utterly unconscious was this king that he was alienating a great empire, and which, indeed, was already virtually gone from him; for during the very time that parliament had been protesting against even the contemptible crumbs of concession offered by ministers, war had broken out, blood had flowed, and the americans had triumphed!
