had, if they were in the hands of men who could call them forth; that the spirit of this country was still capable of producing great efforts; that in the course of the last summer the conduct of the militia officers deserved all the praise that his Majesty's speech bestowed upon them; that the nation would not be in danger, when men of the greatest rank and fortune all united in its defence. But that under ministers who had not been able to carry on a war with success, against America alone, we could never hope for their succeeding against that country united with France, and probably in a short time to be united with Spain. That no person could be more zealous for the dependence of America upon this country; but now every point seemed to be yielded, if the Congress had accepted of taxation, trade, and alteration of government. That we now fought only for the patronage of America, and he was not of opinion that addition of influence to the ministers of the crown was a fit object for us to pursue; and he seemed to doubt whether the dependence of America, with the patronage of it, or the independence of America, was most to be dreaded. But he thought a dependent connection was still to be procured; such as would render the interest of both countries mutual. This he thought was not to be done by pursuing the war in America, but by making the most vigorous exertions against France, and leaving America at rest. That if the mind of America had no object upon which to exert itself, it would soon become tired of the tyranny of the Congress. And if we should be successful against the French at sea, and in their dependencies, it was more than probable that the Americans would chase away M. Gerard with as much hatred as they had received him with cordiality. He said he did not think the argument of the honourable governor (Johnstone) was conclusive, nor so logically accurate as his arguments in general were. The hon. governor seemed to think it necessary to carry on the war in America, yet he was of opinion that beating D'Estaing would have given success to the commission. If the beating 13 ships of the line of France, armed at all points to attack us, could be attended with that effect, why should we pursue a double war against France and America? Would it not be better to pursue the war against France with vigour by the additional force we might bring against her, the American war being suspended, and then to force France to relinquish the treaty with America? In which case America must again come into the dependence of Great Britain. That the state of our home defence did not seem to admit of sending the troops wanted to carry on an offensive war in America. That it was very true the southern part of the island was well defended; but it did not appear to him that the northern parts of England, and all Scotland, were in a respectable state of defence. That, after the capital and the dock-yards, perhaps the most necessary part to be defended was the coal-pits of Newcastle. That with respect to Scotland, in autumn last 400 mutineers had for some days been masters of the lives and fortunes of some thousands of his Majesty's subjects, before the commanding officer could quell the mutiny. That if, instead of soldiers whose mutiny had proceeded from misunderstanding, an equal number of the enemy had landed on the coast, they must have committed considerable damage before their ravages could have been stopped. He said he had voted for the amendment the night before, not that he would not cheerfully agree to an address expressive of the strongest attachment to his Majesty, but that agreeing implicitly to the address was tacitly approving of the conduct of ministers; and pledging ourselves to carry on an offensive war in America, which did not seem the most probable and easy method of disuniting France and America, and bringing the latter back to dependence. That the amendment did not extend to an examination of the whole period of years from the accession of his present Majesty to the present time; but meant to state as a fact, that, at the former period, this nation stood in a great and respectable situation; that at present its situation was quite the reverse, and it was meant to inquire into the cause of that difference. That the enquiry laid in a very small compass, and might tend to shew how much the present ministers were to blame, and lay a foundation for their removal. It had been asked, where other ministers could be found? He said he was far from paying any adulation to any particular set of men; that he found, upon his side of the House, great public ability and private virtue; yet he would not with any certainty conclude from that, that they would make able ministers: for cruel experience had taught us, that the same man can please a public assembly by an harangue, and ruin the nation by his misconduct: but he thought the conduct of the present ministers had been so wavering, so ineffectual, and so irresolute, that it would be better to cast lots for ministers, than to retain them in office. island in such a state of defence as to enable him to resist any sudden attack till succours could arrive from England; but they had no official accounts of any number of troops collected at Hispaniola, nor any ship of war on that station. Mr. Fox, after complimenting the hon. gentleman for the very candid answer he had given, observed, that the private letters had not been absolutely contradicted: therefore, he should take it for granted they were true, as they came from respectable inhabitants of the place; and this was a fresh instance of the shameful Mr. G. Grenville begged to be understood that when he opposed the Address, it was merely forasmuch as it related to America; for he was ready to sacrifice both his life and fortune in the defence of his country against France. He still was of opinion that America might be regained; and though it might be presump-neglect of the Admiralty, and of the folly tion in so young a man as he was, to point out the means, yet there were persons who, he was sure, could effectually put an end to the contest with the Americans: this much, however, he would venture to say, that a removal of the present ministry should be an indispensable preliminary to any overtures for a reconciliation. Mr. Bayley called upon administration to declare whether they had or had not received intelligence from Jamaica, to the same purport as the information contained in private letters from his friends, which he had received by the last packet, and was to the following purport: that a large body of troops were assembled at Hispaniola, and transports ready to embark them; that they only waited for a French fleet to convoy them; that the Minerva and Active, two of his Majesty's frigates, had been taken by a French man of war and carried into Hispaniola; and that the governor of Jamaica had been obliged to proclaim martial law, and to put the island in the best posture of defence he was able; but without hopes of being able to hold out against the sudden attack of a strong fleet and a large regular force, having only 600 regulars and the mixed militia, composed of mulattoes, negroes, &c. That both the governor and the admiral on the station had complained, in private letters, of the neglect of government in not sending reinforcements, or even condescending to let them know if they were to maintain a state of peace or war with France. This was another instance of the want of capacity in ministers, and a reason for voting for the amendment. Mr. De Grey said, the office had no such intelligences as the hon. gentleman had mentioned; but they had letters from the governor of Jamaica, of a very contrary nature, declaring that he had put the + of sending such a naval force to North He repeating his assertion, that a false ac count had been given to the House, last year, of the state of the navy. Lord North said, the charge of soliciting honours or emoluments was not true; they were the spontaneous, voluntary gifts of his royal master, after ten years of services. He had not bettered his fortune since he came into office; and the duty he owed a large family made it incumbent on him, not to refuse a moderate provision for them. But as to the last place he had obtained, it was not of such consequence as the gentleman imagined; for it was owing to his own moderation that the King had not given him all the salary annexed to it in the late possessor's time. He then requested gentlemen not to raise scruples where there could be none: neither the Speech nor the Address mentioned the American war; they only requested and promised general support. His lordship concluded with professing a readiness to resign his office, whenever it should appear that his country would be benefited by his resignation. General Burgoyne begged to be indulged with saying a few words in reply to an insinuation thrown out the night before by the noble lord at the head of the American department, namely, "that he had no great reason to complain of the conduct of government towards him, as he was still permitted to be absent from his duty, though he had received orders to repair to his post, &c. No answer had been returned, his lordship understood, to this order, but a general acknowledgment of its being received." This was what was stated by the noble lord the preceding evening, as an instance of the great indulgence that had been shewn him; but to place the whole of this transaction in a proper light, the general proceeded to relate every particular that had happened since his arrival in England. On his coming home, he waited on the noble lord, and had no reason to complain of his reception at his first interview; eager to throw himself at his Majesty's feet, he pressed for that honour; but found to his astonishment, that the doors of St. James's were shut against him; he was made to believe that there was nothing particular in this, that it was unusual for a person, circumstanced as he was, to be admitted to the royal presence, till after a court of enquiry had been previously held. Thus, while he daily expected that some step would be taken to bring things to an issue, he was informed, that being a prisoner under the convention of Saratoga, he was amenable to no tribunal here, nor could be introduced to his sovereign till every impediment was removed. From this, and some other circumstances of like tendency; he had every reason to believe, that the noble lord had previously determined to exclude him from the royal presence. A very striking event served to confirm his opinion: towards the conclusion of the last session of parliament, on the question for prorogation being debated, his conscience compelled him to take a decisive part against the ministry; in two days after the session broke up, he received a letter from the Secretary at War, the purport of which was, "that the King finding his presence material to the troops detained prisoners in New England under the convention of Saratoga, his Majesty was pleased to order that he should return to Boston, as soon as he had tried the Bath waters in the manner he had proposed." Surprized at receiving this order, not from the commander in chief, but from the office of the Secretary at War, he waited on lord Amherst, to know if it had origi ginated in the cabinet, and why it did not come to him, through, what he thought, the proper channel? His lordship's answer was, that it was delivered to him by his Majesty, or by his directions; that, as to its being a cabinet measure, he could not pretend to say; but as his command was confined to Great Britain, and the order related to a command in America, he thought it his duty to transmit it to the Secretary at War; that the affair was entirely out of his cognizance, further than to obey the King's orders. In answer to the above order, he wrote a long letter, part of which he read as his speech, complaining of the severity that had been exercised towards him, and of the hardship of such an order while his honour remained unvindicated. On the 27th of June, he received a second letter, informing him that his answer had been laid before the King, and that his Majesty continued to think his presence of importance to the troops; and repeating the former order, to return to them as soon as he could, without any material injury to his health. To this letter he had replied no farther than to acknowledge its receipt; and should it be now made peremptory, he knew how he ought and would act, be the consequences what they might. But he could not help thinking it somewhat great ground of accusation; among others, the supposed hard treatment of the hon. gentleman was much insisted on; the order for his repairing to rejoin the army at Boston was deemed a singular hardship; and, when combined with the various causes assigned for it, became an accusation of a very serious nature. It was said, that this order proceeded from ungenerous motives; from a settled design of putting it out of the power of the hon. gentleman to vindicate his injured reputation; as an act of ministerial vengeance, for having voted against their measures. To refute these confident assertions, and to shew that none of the members of administra. tion had a wish to prevent the hon. gentleman from vindicating himself, and that they were above taking offence at any vote he might give as a senator, he did, on the preceding evening, state the fact of the hon. gentleman's having received an order to repair to his proper station in America, to which no other answer had been received, but a bare acknowledgment that the order came to his hands; in proof, that the severity he complained of was not justly founded. If, by the paper which the hon. gentleman had just read, he had been mistaken, and ignorant of that circumstance, or forgetting to state it accu extraordinary, that the noble lord at the head of the American department should be ignorant of his answer, which contained his complaints, and should only be informed of that in which he barely acknowledged his receipt of the letter of the 27th of June. He was however glad, that the noble lord was ignorant of his first answer, and of the letter which produced it, as it would have betrayed a shameful spirit of revenge in him to be instrumental in removing a man out of the way who he knew taxed him with injustice, and between whom and his lordship there was a long account to be settled before the public. As the only grounds stated in the order for his return to America was, that his presence was necessary to the troops, prisoners there under the convention of Saratoga; he would ask ministry, whether they had taken any effectual step to release those brave men who so gallantly fought and bled in the service of their country? He had heard of none; they were suffered to undergo what was worse than death, and seemed to be totally forgotten and neglected. It had been insinuated, that by continuing in England he had shrunk from his duty. What circumstance of his public conduct was it that gave birth to such an idea? Was there one in his private life that did not mark the false-rately, he trusted to the hon. gentleman's hood and cruelty of it?-After insisting on several miscellaneous matters; the resignation of ease and domestic comforts; the separations that had gone to the very convulsions of his heart; the zeal with which he had served his country; the arduous commands which he had accepted under as positive directions as ever were framed by a cabinet; and much more, which he pathetically urged; he concluded with hoping, that the time was not far distant, when he might justify his conduct, not upon general assertions, but positive proofs, and convince his Majesty, the parliament, and the nation at large, how injuriously and cruelly he had been treated. Lord G. Germain expressed his concern at a charge of personal enmity, directing a spirit of persecution against the hon. gentleman, founded on no better grounds than a misunderstanding of what had fallen from him in the debate of the preceding day. He begged permission of the House to state the matter truly. Several gentlemen on the other side of the House had, in the course of their animadversions on the conduct of ministers, made the treatment of their officers and commanders a candour to give him credit, that he was actuated by no spirit of enmity, nor design to misrepresent, but simply related what he knew or recollected. The hon. gen tleman insisted, that, as the order did not proceed from the commander in chief, it must have originated in the cabinet; if it did originate there, he professed himself totally ignorant of it, and if severe, he must stand acquitted of advising it; but the hon. gentleman himself, in relating the conversation he had with the noble lord at the head of the army, shewed, that it was. not an order originating in the cabinet, but was delivered into his lordship's hands by the King himself, who, in order to the carrying of the convention of Saratoga into effectual execution, might perhaps think it proper, for obvious reasons, that the commander of that ill-fated army should be the sharer of all the consequences of that unsuccessful expedition. Mr. Fox said, he would never sit silent in that House, and hear such unparliamentary language pass unnoticed. The King could do no act proper for the discussion of that House. The constitution knows no such individual power, and he hoped never would. He would not, he said, suffer even an idea to go forth, that the King transacted any thing relative to government without advice; and those only were amenable to that House, who dared to advise his Majesty improperly. Lord G. Germain stood corrected as to the point of order. He presumed his Majesty was advised; but he had no hand in advising. With respect to the release of the unhappy men under the convention of Saratoga, he begged leave to set the hon. gentleman right: by his Majesty's directions, he had himself written a letter to sir H. Clinton, authorizing him to ratify that convention in all its parts; and as to the narrative given by the hon. gentleman, of his conduct and treatment since his arrival in this country, he believed in point of fact it was tolerably correct, but in point of fair construction and conclusion it called for explanation. On his arrival, the hon. gentleman had given sufficient testimony how cordially he was received; but by a most uncommon mode of interpretation, he pretended to charge him with insincerity, from subsequent circumstances that happened; the first of which was, his not being admitted to the royal presence: this no more originated with him, than the order already so often mentioned. His lordship begged to call the attention of the House particularly to one circumstance; the hon. gentleman had stated, that when he was told the King would not see him till an enquiry into his conduct had been made, he had pressed for an enquiry, which was absolutely refused. Now the truth was, that it was the hon. gentleman himself that first shrunk from an enquiry; for at a subsequent conversation upon the subject, being informed that nothing but a court-martial stood between him and the King, his answer was, that no such court could be held till the convention of Saratoga was fully ratified. Much had been said of a parliamentary enquiry; but to what purpose? The same objection must continue against trying, enquiring, or determining, on the conduct of a person who was not amenable to the justice of the nation, so long as he remained a prisoner under a convention authorized by the rules and usages of war. It would, therefore, be an insult upon the dignity of that House to set on foot an enquiry, which when finished, must vanish in unsubstantial air. He declared, that his mind was totally free from malice, envy, or ill-will; that he never had nor meant to insinuate the least censure on the hon. gentleman's conduct as a professional man. The hon. gentleman had said, that his instructions were positive and direct, He should not now go into the consideration, how far they were or were not. He wished as earnestly as the hon. gentleman for an enquiry at a proper season, and was ready to abide the issue. The Report was then agreed to. The Commons Address of Thanks.] The Address of the Commons was as follows: "Most gracious Sovereign, "We, your Majesty's most dutiful and loyal subjects, the Commons of Great Britain, in parliament assembled, beg leave to return your Majesty the thanks of this House, for your most gracious Speech from the throne. "We acknowledge, with the utmost gratitude, your Majesty's paternal regard for the happiness of your people, in your earnest and uniform endeavours to preserve the public tranquillity, and the good faith and uprightness of your Majesty's conduct to all foreign powers: and we assure your Majesty, that we have seen with concern and indignation, that tranquillity disturbed by the court of France, without the least pretence of provocation, or colour of complaint; and we have, with the warmest emotions of resentment, marked the progress of their malignant designs against this country; first by a clandestine aid and supply of arms to your Majesty's revolted subjects in North America; afterwards, in violation of the faith of treaties, and contrary to the rights and common interest of every sovereign state in Europe possessed of colonies and dependencies, by entering into and avowing formal engagements with the leaders of the rebellion; and, at length, by committing open hostilities and depredations, and by actually invading part of your Majesty's dominions in America and the West Indies. "We cannot but feel concern and regret, that the measures taken by your Majesty, for disappointing these hostile and malignant designs, have not been at tended with all the success which the justice of the cause, and the vigour of the exertions, seemed to promise; yet we have at the same time seen, with great satisfaction, the extensive commerce of your Majesty's subjects protected in most of its branches, and large reprisals made |