SPIRITED ADDRESS OF THE SPEAKER TO THE KING.
In presenting this extraordinary grant to his majesty for the royal assent, Sir Fletcher Norton remarked:—“In a time of public distress, full of difficulty and danger, their constituents labouring under difficulties almost too heavy to be borne, your faithful commons, postponing all other business, have not only granted to your majesty a large present supply, but also a very great additional revenue—great beyond example—great beyond your majesty’s highest expense; but all this, sire, they have done in a well-grounded confidence that you apply wisely what they have granted liberally; and feeling that, under the direction of your majesty’s wisdom, the affluence and grandeur of the sovereign will reflect dignity and honour on his people.” It is said by some that this freedom of speech was unwelcome to the royal ears, and it is certain that his courtiers were highly indignant; and yet Lord North allowed the usual vote to pass, returning the thanks of the house to the speaker, and requesting him to allow his speech to be printed. Notwithstanding, his spirited conduct did not pass by unnoticed. In the course of a debate on an address to his majesty moved by Sir James Lowther, praying for an increase of income to the king’s two brothers, which was negatived, the recent conduct of the speaker was violently arraigned by Mr. Rigby, In reply, Sir Fletcher Norton appealed to the vote of thanks which he had received, as a proof that the sentiments he had expressed were the sentiments of the house. The court party, however, retorted, and Lord North, uneasy at the altercation, wished that the subject might be dropped. But the opposition now stepped in to keep up the ball. Charles Fox declared, that a serious and direct charge having been made, the question was now at issue—either the speaker had misrepresented the house, or he had not, and the question must be decided by the house. Fox accordingly moved:—“That the speaker of this house, in his speech to his majesty at the bar of the house of peers, on Wednesday last, and which was desired by this house, nem. con., to be printed, did express, with just and proper energy, the zeal of this house for the support of the honour and dignity of the crown, in circumstances of great public charge.” The speaker now declared, “that he would sit no longer in that chair than while he was supported in the free exercise of his duty: he had discharged what he conceived that duty required of him, intending only to express the sense of the house; and from the vote of approbation with which he had been honoured, he had reason to believe that he was not chargeable with any misrepresentation.” Lord North, perplexed at the dilemma to which the heat of the courtiers had brought him, besought the speaker to rest quiet, and the mover and supporters of the question to let it drop; asserting, that no censure had been intended, and that though the speaker might have made some mistake, it could only be attributed to the hurry of an extempore address, and not to his judgment. The withdrawal of the motion was refused, and then, still hoping to evade a division, ministers moved an adjournment.
Opposition, however, maintained, that if the motion were not carried, the speaker could not safely remain in the chair for another moment; that he would, on all future occasions, be liable to disgrace whenever he fulfilled his duty; that the dignity of the house would be at an end if the chair should be degraded; and that the step which the court-faction had taken was an attempt to render the representatives of the people despicable in the eyes of their constituents. Ministers and the court faction were compelled to bow before the storm. The motion for an adjournment was withdrawn. Mr. Rigby made some concession, by declaring that he meant no reflection on the character of the speaker, and that he merely meant to express his own private opinion, according to the privilege possessed by every member; and then Fox’s motion was put and carried unanimously.
LORD CHATHAM’S MOTION FOR CONCESSIONS TO AMERICA.
Towards the close of the session there was a grand debate in the house of lords on the affairs of America. After a long absence, the Earl of Chatham moved for an address, advising his majesty to take speedy measures for terminating the war with America, by the removal of their grievances. The lords were summoned for the purpose of deliberating on this motion, and it was introduced on the 30th of May. Chatham commenced his speech by declaring the mother country unequal to the contest. He remarked:—“My lords, this is a flying moment; perhaps but six weeks are left to arrest the dangers that surround us. The gathering storm may break; it has already opened, and in part burst. It is difficult, after all that has passed, to shake hands with the defiers of the king—defiers of the parliament—defiers of the people. I am a defier of nobody; but if an end is not put to this war, there is an end to this country! I do not trust my judgment in my present state of health; this is the judgment of my better days—the result of forty years’ attention to America. The Americans are rebels; but for what? Surely not for defending their unquestionable rights. But their excesses have been great! I do not mean to pronounce their panegyric, but must observe, in extenuation, the erroneous and infatuated counsels which have prevailed here. The door to mercy and justice has been shut against them; but they may still be taken up upon the grounds of their former submissions and petitions. I state to you the importance of America: it is a double market—a market of consumption, and a market of supply. This double market for millions, with all its naval stores, you are giving to your hereditary rival. America has carried you through four wars; and will now carry you to your death, if you do not take things in time. In the sportsman’s phrase, when you have found yourselves at fault, you must try back. You have ransacked every corner of Lower Saxony; but 40,000 German boors never can conquer ten times the number of British freemen. You may ravage—you cannot conquer; it is impossible: you cannot conquer the Americans. You talk of your numerous friends to annihilate the congress, and of your powerful forces to disperse their army: I might as well talk of driving them before me with my crutch! But what would you conquer—the map of America? I am ready to meet any general officer on the subject, What will you do out of the protection of your fleet? In the winter, if together, they are starved—if dispersed, they are taken off in detail. I am experienced in spring hopes and vernal promises: I know what ministers throw out; but at last will come your equinoctial disappointment. You have got nothing in America but stations. You have been three years teaching them the art of war—they are apt scholars; and I will venture to tell your lordships that the American gentry will make officers enough fit to command the troops of all the European powers.
“What you have sent there are too many to make peace—too few to make war. If you conquer them, what then? You cannot make them respect you; you cannot make them wear your cloth; you will plant an invincible hatred in their breasts against you. Coming from the stock they do, they can never respect you. If ministers are founded in saying there is no sort of treaty with France, there is still a moment left; the point of honour is still safe. France must be as self-destroying as England to make a treaty, while you are giving her America at the expense of twelve millions a year: the intercourse has produced everything to France; and England, Old England, must pay for all. I have, at different times, made different propositions, adapted to the circumstances in which they were offered. The plan contained in the former bill is now impracticable: the present will tell you where you are, and what you have now to depend upon. It may produce a respectable division in America, and unanimity at home: it will give America an option; she has yet had no option. You have said, ‘Lay down your arms,’ and she has given you the Spartan answer, ‘Come, take.’” Lord Chatham here read his motion, which he afterwards said, if earned, would prove the herald of peace, and would open the way for treaty. In conclusion, he again urged the necessity of making peace with America before France should espouse the quarrel on behalf of the Americans. He observed, that the French court was too wise to lose the opportunity of separating America from Great Britain; that whenever that court, with that of Spain likewise, should enter into a treaty with America, we must declare war against them; and that he should be among the first to advise such a declaration, even though we had only five ships of the line in our ports. The Earl of Chatham was answered by Lords Gower, Mansfield, Lyttleton, and Weymouth, and by the Archbishop of York, who all maintained that the original aim of America was independence, and that concessions on our part now would be useless, ridiculous, degrading, and an acknowledgment of weakness, that would draw down upon England the contempt of her friends and the attacks of her foes. The motion was supported by the Dukes of Grafton and Manchester, Lords Camden and Shelburne, and the Bishop of Peterborough, who reiterated the arguments of the noble mover in its favour. In the course of the debates Lord Weymouth had expressed some doubt as to Chatham’s real meaning, and later in the evening he thus explained it:—“I will tell your lordships very fairly what I wish for: I wish for a repeal of every oppressive act which your lordships have passed since 1673. I would put our American brethren on the same footing they stood at that period; and I should expect that, being left at liberty to tax themselves, they would in return contribute to our common burdens, according to their means and abilities. I will move your lordships for a bill of repeal, as the only means left to arrest that approaching destruction which threatens to overwhelm us. I shall no doubt hear it objected, Why should we submit or concede? Has America done anything on her part to induce us to agree to so large a ground of concession? But I will tell you, my lords, why I think you should concede—you have been the aggressors from the beginning; you have burned their towns, plundered their country, confiscated their property, and imprisoned their persons!” A murmur was heard through the house, that the Earl of Chatham was doing his best to encourage the Americans, and to discourage the people of England; and it must be confessed that the whole tenor of his speech was likely to produce such an untoward effect. Moreover, the sentiments which his speech contained were otherwise not founded in wisdom. Thus the belief which he expressed, that the Americans would, if left to tax themselves in their assemblies, contribute to our common burdens, according to their means and abilities was a fallacy which had been disproved by matters of fact; for, when in a previous year, and in the course of the quarrel, this had been proposed to them, not one assembly would contribute a single shilling. All advances toward concession, indeed, were met by a louder appeal to arms; and there was at this time no alteration in their sentiments which could justify a hope that, even if a repeal of all the taxes were guaranteed to them, they would now lay down their arms, or cease the long and loud cry for independence. It was certainly now too late to offer any concession, and so the majority of the peers seems to have considered; for, on a division, the bill was lost by a majority of ninety-nine against twenty-eight.
GEORGE III. 1777-1778