it was customary for the king, on similar occasions, not to lead parliament, but to be guided by it. It was usual, I say, my lords, to ask the advice of this house, the hereditary great council of the nation, not to dictate to it. My lords, what does this speech say? It tells you of measures already agreed upon, and very cavalierly desires your concurrence. It, indeed, talks of wisdom and support; it counts on the certainty of events yet in the womb of time; but in point of plan and design, it is peremptory and dictatorial. Is this a proper language, fit to be endured? Is this high pretension to overrule the dispositions of Providence itself, and the will and judgment of parliament, justified by any former conduct or precedent? No, my lords, it is the language. of an ill-founded confidence: a confidence, my lords, I will be bold to say, supported hitherto only by a succession of disappointments, disgraces, and defeats. I am astonished how any minister dare advise his majesty to hold such a language to your lordships: I would be glad to see the minister that dare avow it in his place. What is the import of this extraordinary application? What, but an unlimited confidence in those who have hitherto misguided, deceived, and misled you? It is, I maintain, unlimited it desires you to grant not what you may be satisfied is necessary, but what his majesty's ministers may choose to think so; troops, fleets, treaties, and subsidies, not yet revealed. Should your lordships agree to the present address, you will stand pledged to all this; you cannot retreat; it binds you to the consequences, be they what they may. My lords, whoever gave this pernicious counsel to the king ought to be made answerable to this house, and to the nation at large, for the consequences: the precedent is dangerous and unconstitutional. Who, I say, has had the temerity to tell the king that his affairs are in a prosperous condition and who, of course, is the author of those assurances which are this day given you, in order to mislead you? My lords, what is the present state of this nation? It is big with difficulty and danger; it is full of the most destructive circumstances: I say, my lords, it is truly perilous. What are these little islands, Great Britain and Ireland? What is your defence? Nothing. What is the condition of your formidable and inveterate

enemies, the two leading branches of the house of Bourbon? They have a formidable navy: I say, my lords, their intentions are hostile: I know it: their coasts are lined with troops, from the furthermost part of the coast of Spain up to Dunkirk. What have you to oppose them? Not five thousand men in this island; nor more in Ireland; nor above twenty ships of the line manned and fit for service. My lords, without peace, without an immediate restoration of tranquillity, this nation is ruined. What has been the conduct of your ministers? How have they endeavored to conciliate the affection and obedience of their American brethren? They have gone to Germany; they have sought the alliance and assistance of every pitiful, beggarly, insignificant, paltry German prince, to cut the throats of their loyal, brave, and injured brethren in America; they have entered into mercenary treaties with those human butchers, for the purchase and sale of human blood. But, my lords, this is not all; they have entered into other treaties; they have let the savages of America loose upon their innocent, unoffending brethren,-loose upon the weak, the aged, and defenceless; on old men, women, and children; upon the very babes upon the breast, to be cut, mangled, sacrificed, broiled, roasted, nay, to be literally eat alive These, my lords, are the allies Great Britain now has carnage, desolation, and destruction, wherever her arms are carried, is her newly adopted mode of making war. *Our ministers have made alliances at the German shambles, and with the barbarians of America; with the merciless torturers of their species: where they will next apply, I cannot tell having already scoured all Germany and America, to seek the assistance of cannibals and butchers. The arms of this country are disgraced, even in victory as well as defeat. Is this consistent, my lords, with any part of our former conduct? Was it by means like these we arrived at that pinnacle of fame and grandeur, which, while it established our reputation in every quarter of the globe, gave the fullest testimony of our justice, mercy, and national integrity? Was it by the and at his heels,

Leash'd in like hounds, should Famine, Sword, and Fire,
Crouch for employment."-HENRY V.

tomahawk and scalping-knife that British valor and humanity be came in a manner proverbial, and the triumphs of war and the éclat of conquest became but matters of secondary praise, when compared to those of national humanity, and national honor? Was it by setting loose the savages of America, to imbrue their hands in the blood of our enemies, that the duties of the soldier, the citizen, and the man, came to be united? Is this honorable warfare, my lords? Does it correspond with the language of the poet?

"The pride, pomp, and circumstance of glorious war,

That makes ambition virtue."

LORD CHATHAM ON AN ADDRESS TO THE KING—1777.

THE present motion will open the way for treaty. It will be the harbinger of peace, and will convince, the Americans, that parliament is sincerely disposed to reconciliation. We have tried for unconditional submission-let us now try what can be gained by unconditional redress. The door of mercy has been hitherto shut against them you have ransacked every corner of Germany for boors and ruffians to invade and ravage their country; for to conquer it, my lords, is impossible—you CANNOT do it. I may as well pretend to drive them before me with this CRUTCH. I am experienced in spring hopes and vernal promises, but at last will come your equinoctial disappointment. But were it practicable by a long-continued course of success to conquer America, the holding it in subjection afterwards will be utterly impossible. No benefit can be derived from that country to this, but by the goodwill and pure affection of the inhabitants: this is not to be gained by force of arms;, their affection is only to be recovered by reconciliation and justice. If ministers are founded in saying, that no engagements are entered into by America with France, there is yet a moment left; the point of honor is still safe; a few weeks may decide our fate as a nation. Were America suffered to form a treaty with France, we should not only lose the immense ad

vantages resulting from the vast and increasing commerce of our colonies, but those advantages would be thrown into the hands of our hereditary enemy. America, my lords, is now contending with Great Britain under a masked battery of France, which will open as she perceives this country to be sufficiently weakened by the contest. France will not lose so fair an opportunity of separating forever America from this kingdom. This is the critical moment for such a treaty must and will take place, should pacification be delayed; and war between England and France is not the less probable because professions of amity continue to be made. It would be folly in France to declare it now, while America gives full employment to our arms, and is pouring into her lap her wealth and produce. While the trade of Great Britain languishes, while her taxes increase, and her revenues diminish, France is securing and drawing to herself that commerce which is the basis of your power. My motion was stated generally, that I might leave the question at large to the wisdom of your lordships. But, my lords, I will tell you fairly what I wish for-I wish for a repeal of every oppressive act passed since 1763; I would put America precisely on the footing she stood at that period. If it be asked, Why should we submit to concede? I well tell you, my lords: Because you have been the aggressors from the beginning: you ought, therefore, to make the first overture. I say again, my lords, you have been the aggressors, you have made descents upon their coasts, you have burned their towns, plundered their country, made war upon the inhabitants, confiscated their property, proscribed and imprisoned their persons:-you have injured, oppressed, and endeavored to enslave them. America is therefore entitled to redress. Let then reparation come from the hand that inflicted the injuries; let conciliation succeed to oppression; and I maintain, that parliament will again recover its authority; that his majesty will be once more enthroned in the hearts of his subjects; and that your lordships, as contributing to so great, benignant, and glorious an event, will receive the prayers and benedictions of every part of the British empire.

LORD CHATHAM ON HIS MOTION TO AMEND THE ADDRESS.

Ir has been usual on similar occasions of public difficulty and distress, for the crown to make application to this house, the great hereditary council of the nation, for advice and assistance. As it is the right of parliament to give, so it is the duty of the crown to ask it. But, on this day, and in this extreme momentous exigency, no reliance is reposed on your counsels-no advice is asked of parliament; but the crown from itself, and by itself, declares an unalterable determination to pursue its own preconcerted measures; and what measures, my lords? measures which have produced hitherto nothing but disappointments and defeats. I CANNOT, my lords, I WILL NOT join in congratulation on misfortune and disgrace. This, my lords, is a perilous and tremendous moment it is not a time for adulation: the smoothness of flattery cannot save us in this rugged and awful crisis. It is now necessary to instruct the throne, in the language of TRUTH. We must, if possible, dispel the delusion and darkness which envelop it; and display, in its full danger and genuine colors, the ruin which is brought to our doors. Can ministers still presume to expect support in their infatuation? Can parliament be so dead to its dignity and duty as to give their support to measures thus obtruded and forced upon them? Measures, my lords, which have reduced this late flourishing empire to scorn and contempt. But yesterday, "and England might have stood against the worldNow, none so poor to do her reverence." The people whom we at first despised as rebels, but whom we now acknowledge as enemies, are abetted against you, supplied with every military store, their interests consulted, and their ambassadors entertained by your inveterate enemy; and our ministers do not, and dare not, interpose with dignity or effect. The desperate state of our army abroad is in part known. No man more highly esteems and honors the English troops than I do: I know their virtue and their valor I know they can achieve anything except impossibil ities; and I know that the conquest of English America is an im possibility. You CANNOT, my lords, you CANNOT conquer Amer