Lord North, in introducing this measure vindicated his own ministerial conduct. The dispute about taxation, he said, was not commenced by him, but by his predecessors in office; and, he asserted, that as he found the country and parliament determined not to surrender the right, he had embraced their cause. He added, that if the colonies, by appealing to arms, chose to make war the medium, he must pursue that medium, although he would constantly keep peace in view as the true point to be obtained. The minds of the opposition were inflamed by the bill and these declarations of the warlike minister. Fox especially declaimed against the bill, asserting that it tended to destroy all trade with America, and that it would cut off all hopes of future accommodation. In the course of his speech he accused the ministers of wishing to ruin our manufacturers in order that they might enlist in the army; and he concluded by moving as an amendment, that the whole body and title of the bill should be omitted, excepting only the portion which repealed the Boston Port Bill, and the restraining acts. The debate now grew hotter than before. It was argued that such a proposition would be a formal abdication of our government of the colonies, and might, with such omissions, be termed a bill for effectually carrying into execution the decrees of congress, by completing the union of Americans between themselves, and exciting them to make foreign alliances. The question being put, therefore, the amendment was rejected by one hundred and ninety-two to sixty-four. In the course of this debate, Lord Howe, who was soon to sail with the fleet for America, remarked feelingly that no struggle was so painful as that between his duty as an officer and as a man: if left to his own choice, he said, he would decline serving, but if commanded, he would perform his duty. To this General Conway replied, that a war with our fellow-subjects in America differed widely from, a war with a foreign nation; and that before an officer drew his sword against his fellow-subjects, he should first be convinced that the cause was just. Thurlow combated this notion with indignation, asserting that if such a doctrine was established, it must tend to a dissolution of government. In the course of the progress of this bill petitions from the West India merchants were presented, and council heard against it. It was also opposed in all its stages, and several amendments were moved in committee, but it finally passed as it was originally framed, by a majority of one hundred and twelve against sixteen only.
The debate on this bill in the house of lords was equally warm as that in the commons. In the face of all matter of fact, the opposition contended that the Americans were not in a state of rebellion: they had, it was conceded, taken up arms, but they were driven to it by violence, injustice, and oppression. Lord Lyttleton and Denbigh denounced these sentiments as an immoderate licence of language, and the latter peer asserted broadly, that those who defended rebellion were little better than rebels themselves, there being no wide difference between traitors and those who openly or covertly aided them! During the progress of the bill several amendments were proposed, but always ineffectually; and a petition was presented by the merchants of Bristol, praying that its operation might be suspended: the bill, however, was read a third time on the 21st of December, and was passed without a division. On the third reading it was defended, together with the whole conduct of government towards the Americans, by Lord Mansfield. Previous to this, intelligence had been received of the march of the two American armies to our Canadian frontiers, so that his lordship could now make a bolder stand against the arguments of the opposition. He remarked:—“We are now in such a situation, that we must either fight or be pursued;” and he illustrated his position by an anecdote related of a Swedish general, under Gustavus Adolphus, who, pointing to an advancing enemy, observed to his troops:—“My lads, you see those men; if you don’t kill them they will kill you.” His lordship then continued:—“If we do not get the better of America, America will get the better of us. They have begun to raise a navy; trade, if left free to them, will beget opulence, and enable them to hire ships from foreign powers. It is said, the present war is only defensive on the part of America. Is the attack on Canada a defensive war? Is their prohibiting all trade and commerce with every part of the British dominions, and starving our sugar-islands, acting on the defensive? No; though these people never offended us, we will distress them, say they, because that will be distressing Great Britain. Are we, in the midst of all outrages of hostility, of seizing our ships, entering our provinces at the head of numerous armies, and seizing our forts, to stand idle, because we are told this is an unjust war, and wait till the Americans have brought their arms to our very doors? The justice of the cause must give way to our present situation; and the consequences which must ensue, should we now recede, would, nay must, be infinitely worse than any we have to dread, by pursuing the present plan, or agreeing at once to a final separation.” This speech of Lord Mansfield obtained a ready response in the house by the almost universal approval of the peers assembled.
CHAPTER VII.
GEORGE III. 1776-1777
Affairs of Ireland..... Debates on America, &c...... Prorogation of Parliament..... Sentiments of Foreign Powers, &c...... Evacuation of Boston by the British..... Mission of Indian Chiefs..... Affairs of Canada..... Unsuccessful Attack on Sullivan’s Island..... Affairs in Virginia..... Declaration of Independence by Congress..... Expedition against New York..... Defeat of the Americans on Long Island..... Conference on Staten Island..... Capture of New York..... Capture of Fort Washington..... Capture of Fort Lee, and Retreat of Washington..... Expedition against Rhode Island..... Successes of General Carleton..... Measures of Congress..... Defection of the Colonists, &c...... Meeting of Parliament..... Debates on America..... Attempt to fire His Majesty’s Dock-yard at Portsmouth.