[Note 43], [p. 192].—Lord North’s plan of conciliation, already described in the introduction to this speech.
[Note 44], [p. 193].—The address to the King declaring that rebellion existed in Massachusetts, requesting the King to take energetic measures to suppress it, and pledging the coöperation of Parliament.
[Note 45], [p. 196].—The computation carefully made by Mr. Bancroft (“Hist.,” 8vo ed., vol. iv., p. 128) more than justifies Burke’s figures. Bancroft gives the following:
| White. | Black. | Total. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1750 | 1,040,000 | 220,000 | 1,260,000 |
| 1754 | 1,165,000 | 260,000 | 1,425,000 |
| 1760 | 1,385,000 | 310,000 | 1,695,000 |
| 1770 | 1,850,000 | 462,000 | 2,312,000 |
| 1780 | 2,383,000 | 562,000 | 2,945,000 |
| 1790 | 3,177,257 | 752,069 | 3,927,326 |
See Johnson’s “Taxation no Tyranny” (Works, x., 96) in which he savagely speaks of “3,000,000 Whigs, fierce for liberty, which multiply with the fecundity of their own rattlesnakes.” He thought the eggs should be destroyed.
[Note 46], [p. 197].—Reference to the legal maxim, “De minimis non jurat lex.”
[Note 47], [p. 198].—Mr. Glover who appeared at the bar to support a petition of the West Indian planters praying that peace might be concluded with the colonies.
[Note 48], [p. 199].—Davenant afterward published a somewhat important work entitled “Discourses on Revenue and Trade,” and it was probably the MS. of this to which Burke referred.
[Note 49], [p. 202].—Burke’s reasoning has been more than justified by subsequent history. Cobden: “Writings,” i., 98, more than fifty years after Burke spoke, declared: “The people of the United States constitute our largest and most valuable connection. The business we carry on with them is nearly twice as extensive as that with any other people.” The American official returns since 1850 show that more than one third of the imports came from England, and that more than one half of the exports go to England.
[Note 50], [p. 202].—A curious adaptation from Virgil. Ecl. iv., 26. If, while he was changing parentis to parentum he had omitted poterit, he would at least have left a good Latin sentence. But Burke quoted from memory and was often inexact, not only in the choice of words, but also in pronunciation. Harford relates that he was once indulging in some very severe animadversions on Lord North’s management of the public purse. While this philippic was going on, North appeared to be half-asleep, “heaving backward and forward like a great turtle.” Burke introduced the aphorism: magnum vectígal est parsimonia, putting a wrong accent on the second word and calling it véctigal. The scholarly ear of North was sufficiently attentive to catch the mistake, and he shouted out vectígal. “I thank the noble lord,” responded Burke, “for the correction, more particularly as it gives me the opportunity to repeat what he greatly needs to have reiterated upon him.” He then thundered out: “Magnum vectígal est parsimonia.”