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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/5655-h.zip b/5655-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..fab6f9a --- /dev/null +++ b/5655-h.zip diff --git a/5655-h/5655-h.htm b/5655-h/5655-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..4376e63 --- /dev/null +++ b/5655-h/5655-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,4573 @@ +<?xml version="1.0" encoding="us-ascii"?> + +<!DOCTYPE html + PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd" > + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" lang="en"> + <head> + <title> + Burke's Speech, by Edmond Burke + </title> + <style type="text/css" xml:space="preserve"> + + body { margin:5%; background:#faebd0; text-align:justify} + P { text-indent: 1em; margin-top: .25em; margin-bottom: .25em; } + H1,H2,H3,H4,H5,H6 { text-align: center; margin-left: 15%; margin-right: 15%; } + hr { width: 50%; text-align: center;} + .foot { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; text-indent: -3em; font-size: 90%; } + blockquote {font-size: 97%; font-style: italic; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;} + .mynote {background-color: #DDE; color: #000; padding: .5em; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 95%;} + .toc { margin-left: 10%; margin-bottom: .75em;} + .toc2 { margin-left: 20%;} + div.fig { display:block; margin:0 auto; text-align:center; } + div.middle { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; } + .figleft {float: left; margin-left: 0%; margin-right: 1%;} + .figright {float: right; margin-right: 0%; margin-left: 1%;} + .pagenum {display:inline; font-size: 70%; font-style:normal; + margin: 0; padding: 0; position: absolute; right: 1%; + text-align: right;} + .side { float: right; font-size: 75%; width: 25%; padding-left: 0.8em; + border-left: dashed thin; margin-left: 0.8em; text-align: left; + text-indent: 0; font-weight: bold; font-style: italic; + font-weight: bold; color: black; background: #eeeeee; border: solid 1px;} + pre { font-style: italic; font-size: 90%; margin-left: 10%;} + +</style> + </head> + <body> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Burke's Speech on Conciliation with America, by +Edmund Burke + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Burke's Speech on Conciliation with America + +Author: Edmund Burke + +Commentator: Sidney Carleton Newsom + +Editor: Sidney Carleton Newsom + + +Release Date: May, 2004 [EBook #5655] +This file was first posted on August 5, 2002 +Last Updated: June 20, 2013 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BURKE'S SPEECH *** + + + + +Text file produced by Charles Franks and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team + +HTML file produced by David Widger + + + +</pre> + + <div style="height: 8em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h1> + BURKE'S SPEECH + </h1> + <h4> + ON + </h4> + <h1> + CONCILIATION WITH AMERICA + </h1> + <p> + <br /> + </p> + <h2> + By Edmond Burke + </h2> + <p> + <br /> + </p> + <h4> + Edited With Introduction And Notes By Sidney Carleton Newsom <br /> <br /> + Teacher Of English, Manual Training High School Indianapolis, Indiana + </h4> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2H_PREF" id="link2H_PREF"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + PREFACE + </h2> + <p> + The introduction to this edition of Burke's speech on Conciliation with + America is intended to supply the needs of those students who do not have + access to a well-stocked library, or who, for any reason, are unable to do + the collateral reading necessary for a complete understanding of the text. + </p> + <p> + The sources from which information has been drawn in preparing this + edition are mentioned under "Bibliography." The editor wishes to + acknowledge indebtedness to many of the excellent older editions of the + speech, and also to Mr. A. P. Winston, of the Manual Training High School, + for valuable suggestions. + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <p> + <b>CONTENTS</b> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_PREF"> PREFACE </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_INTR"> INTRODUCTION </a> + </p> + <p> + <br /> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0003"> <b>EDMUND BURKE</b> </a> + </p> + <p class="toc2"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0004"> BURKE AS A STATESMAN </a> + </p> + <p class="toc2"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0005"> A GROUP OF WRITERS COMING IMMEDIATELY BEFORE + BURKE </a> + </p> + <p class="toc2"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0006"> A GROUP OF WRITERS CONTEMPORARY WITH BURKE </a> + </p> + <p class="toc2"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0007"> BURKE IN LITERATURE </a> + </p> + <p class="toc2"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0008"> A GROUP OF WRITERS COMING IMMEDIATELY AFTER + BURKE </a> + </p> + <p class="toc2"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0009"> TOPICS FOR SPECIAL REPORTS </a> + </p> + <p class="toc2"> + <a href="#link2H_BIBL"> BIBLIOGRAPHY </a> + </p> + <p> + <br /> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0011"> <b>EDMUND BURKE</b> </a> + </p> + <p> + <br /> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_FOOT"> FOOTNOTES </a> + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2H_INTR" id="link2H_INTR"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + INTRODUCTION + </h2> + <h3> + POLITICAL SITUATION + </h3> + <p> + In 1651 originated the policy which caused the American Revolution. That + policy was one of taxation, indirect, it is true, but none the less + taxation. The first Navigation Act required that colonial exports should + be shipped to England in American or English vessels. This was followed by + a long series of acts, regulating and restricting the American trade. + Colonists were not allowed to exchange certain articles without paying + duties thereon, and custom houses were established and officers appointed. + Opposition to these proceedings was ineffectual; and in 1696, in order to + expedite the business of taxation, and to establish a better method of + ruling the colonies, a board was appointed, called the Lords Commissioners + for Trade and Plantations. The royal governors found in this board ready + sympathizers, and were not slow to report their grievances, and to insist + upon more stringent regulations for enforcing obedience. Some of the + retaliative measures employed were the suspension of the writ of habeas + corpus, the abridgment of the freedom of the press and the prohibition of + elections. But the colonists generally succeeded in having their own way + in the end, and were not wholly without encouragement and sympathy in the + English Parliament. It may be that the war with France, which ended with + the fall of Quebec, had much to do with this rather generous treatment. + The Americans, too, were favored by the Whigs, who had been in power for + more than seventy years. The policy of this great party was not opposed to + the sentiments and ideas of political freedom that had grown up in the + colonies; and, although more than half of the Navigation Acts were passed + by Whig governments, the leaders had known how to wink at the violation of + nearly all of them. + </p> + <p> + Immediately after the close of the French war, and after George III. had + ascended the throne of England, it was decided to enforce the Navigation + Acts rigidly. There was to be no more smuggling, and, to prevent this, + Writs of Assistance were issued. Armed with such authority, a servant of + the king might enter the home of any citizen, and make a thorough search + for smuggled goods. It is needless to say the measure was resisted + vigorously, and its reception by the colonists, and its effect upon them, + has been called the opening scene of the American Revolution. As a matter + of fact, this sudden change in the attitude of England toward the + colonies, marks the beginning of the policy of George III. which, had it + been successful, would have made him the ruler of an absolute instead of a + limited monarchy. He hated the Tories only less than the Whigs, and when + he bestowed a favor upon either, it was for the purpose of weakening the + other. The first task he set himself was that of crushing the Whigs. Since + the Revolution of 1688, they had dictated the policy of the English + government, and through wise leaders had become supreme in authority. They + were particularly obnoxious to him because of their republican spirit, and + he regarded their ascendency as a constant menace to his kingly power. + Fortune seemed to favor him in the dissensions which arose. There grew up + two factions in the Whig party. There were old Whigs and new Whigs. George + played one against the other, advanced his favorites when opportunity + offered, and in the end succeeded in forming a ministry composed of his + friends and obedient to his will. + </p> + <p> + With the ministry safely in hand, he turned his attention to the House of + Commons. The old Whigs had set an example, which George was shrewd enough + to follow. Walpole and Newcastle had succeeded in giving England one of + the most peaceful and prosperous governments within in the previous + history of the nation, but their methods were corrupt. With much of the + judgment, penetration and wise forbearance which marks a statesman, + Walpole's distinctive qualities of mind eminently fitted him for political + intrigue; Newcastle was still worse, and has the distinction of being the + premier under whose administration the revolt against official corruption + first received the support of the public. + </p> + <p> + For near a hundred years, the territorial distribution of seats in the + House had remained the same, while the centres of population had shifted + along with those of trade and new industries. Great towns were without + representation, while boroughs, such as Old Sarum, without a single voter, + still claimed, and had, a seat in Parliament. Such districts, or "rotten + boroughs," were owned and controlled by many of the great landowners. Both + Walpole and Newcastle resorted to the outright purchase of these seats, + and when the time came George did not shrink from doing the same thing. He + went even further. All preferments of whatsoever sort were bestowed upon + those who would do his bidding, and the business of bribery assumed such + proportions that an office was opened at the Treasury for this purpose, + from which twenty-five thousand pounds are said to have passed in a single + day. Parliament had been for a long time only partially representative of + the people; it now ceased to be so almost completely. + </p> + <p> + With, the support which such methods secured, along with encouragement + from his ministers, the king was prepared to put in operation his policy + for regulating the affairs of America. Writs of Assistance (1761) were + followed by the passage of the Stamp Act (1765). The ostensible object of + both these measures was to help pay the debt incurred by the French war, + but the real purpose lay deeper, and was nothing more or less than the + ultimate extension of parliamentary rule, in great things as well as + small, to America. At this crisis, so momentous for the colonists, the + Rockingham ministry was formed, and Burke, together with Pitt, supported a + motion for the unconditional repeal of the Stamp Act. After much + wrangling, the motion was carried, and the first blunder of the mother + country seemed to have been smoothed over. + </p> + <p> + Only a few months elapsed, however, when the question of taxing the + colonies was revived. Pitt lay ill, and could take no part in the proposed + measure. Through the influence of other members of his party,—notably + Townshend,—a series of acts were passed, imposing duties on several + exports to America. This was followed by a suspension of the New York + Assembly, because it had disregarded instructions in the matter of + supplies for the troops. The colonists were furious. Matters went from bad + to worse. To withdraw as far as possible without yielding the principle at + stake, the duties on all the exports mentioned in the bill were removed, + except that on tea. But it was precisely the principle for which the + colonists were contending. They were not in the humor for compromise, when + they believed their freedom was endangered, and the strength and + determination of their resistance found a climax in the Boston Tea Party. + </p> + <p> + In the meantime, Lord North, who was absolutely obedient to the king, had + become prime minister. Five bills were prepared, the tenor of which, it + was thought, would overawe the colonists. Of these, the Boston Port Bill + and the Regulating Act are perhaps the most famous, though the ultimate + tendency of all was blindly coercive. + </p> + <p> + While the king and his friends were busy with these, the opposition + proposed an unconditional repeal of the Tea Act. The bill was introduced + only to be overwhelmingly defeated by the same Parliament that passed the + five measures of Lord North. + </p> + <p> + In America, the effect of these proceedings was such as might have been + expected by thinking men. The colonies were as a unit in their support of + Massachusetts. The Regulating Act was set at defiance, public officers in + the king's service were forced to resign, town meetings were held, and + preparations for war were begun in dead earnest. To avert this, some of + England's greatest statesmen—Pitt among the number—asked for a + reconsideration. On February the first, 1775, a bill was introduced, which + would have gone far toward bringing peace. One month later, Burke + delivered his speech on Conciliation with the Colonies. + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0003" id="link2H_4_0003"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + EDMUND BURKE + </h2> + <p> + There is nothing unusual in Burke's early life. He was born in Dublin, + Ireland, in 1729. His father was a successful lawyer and a Protestant, his + mother, a Catholic. At the age of twelve, he became a pupil of Abraham + Shackleton, a Quaker, who had been teaching some fifteen years at + Ballitore, a small town thirty miles from Dublin. In after years Burke was + always pleased to speak of his old friend in the kindest way: "If I am + anything," he declares, "it is the education I had there that has made me + so." And again at Shackleton's death, when Burke was near the zenith of + his fame and popularity, he writes: "I had a true honor and affection for + that excellent man. I feel something like a satisfaction in the midst of + my concern, that I was fortunate enough to have him under my roof before + his departure." It can hardly be doubted that the old Quaker schoolmaster + succeeded with his pupil who was already so favorably inclined, and it is + more than probable that the daily example of one who lived out his + precepts was strong in its influence upon a young and generous mind. + </p> + <p> + Burke attended school at Ballitore two years; then, at the age of + fourteen, he became a student at Trinity College, Dublin, and remained + there five years. At college he was unsystematic and careless of routine. + He seems to have done pretty much as he pleased, and, however methodical + he became in after life, his study during these five years was rambling + and spasmodic. The only definite knowledge we have of this period is given + by Burke himself in letters to his former friend Richard Shackleton, son + of his old schoolmaster. What he did was done with a zest that at times + became a feverish impatience: "First I was greatly taken with natural + philosophy, which, while I should have given my mind to logic, employed me + incessantly. This I call my FUROR MATHEMATICUS." Following in succession + come his FUROR LOGICUS, FUROR HISTORICUS, and FUROR PEOTICUS, each of + which absorbed him for the time being. It would be wrong, however, to + think of Burke as a trifler even in his youth. He read in the library + three hours every day and we may be sure he read as intelligently as + eagerly. It is more than probable that like a few other great minds he did + not need a rigid system to guide him. If he chose his subjects of study at + pleasure, there is every reason to believe he mastered them. + </p> + <p> + Of intimate friends at the University we hear nothing. Goldsmith came one + year later, but there is no evidence that they knew each other. It is + probable that Burke, always reserved, had little in common with his young + associates. His own musings, with occasional attempts at writing poetry, + long walks through the country, and frequent letters to and from Richard + Shackleton, employed him when not at his books. + </p> + <p> + Two years after taking his degree, Burke went to London and established + himself at the Middle Temple for the usual routine course in law. Another + long period passes of which there is next to nothing known. His father, an + irascible, hot-tempered man, had wished him to begin the practice of law, + but Burke seems to have continued in a rather irregular way pretty much as + when an undergraduate at Dublin. His inclinations were not toward the law, + but literature. His father, angered at such a turn of affairs, promptly + reduced his allowance and left him to follow his natural bent in perfect + freedom. In 1756, six years after his arrival in London, and almost + immediately following the rupture with his father, he married a Miss + Nugent. At about the same time he published his first two books, + [Footnote: A Vindication of Natural Society and Philosophical Inquiry into + the Origin of our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful] and began in earnest + the life of an author. + </p> + <p> + He attracted the attention of literary men. Dr. Johnson had just completed + his famous dictionary, and was the centre of a group of writers who + accepted him at his own valuation. Burke did not want for company, and + wrote copiously.[Footnote: Hints for an Essay on the Drama. Abridgement of + the History of England] He became associated with Dodsley, a bookseller, + who began publishing the Annual Register in 1759, and was paid a hundred + pounds a year for writing upon current events. He spent two years + (1761-63) in Ireland in the employment of William Hamilton, but at the end + of that time returned, chagrined and disgusted with his would-be patron, + who utterly failed to recognize Burke's worth, and persisted in the most + unreasonable demands upon his time and energy. + </p> + <p> + For once Burke's independence served him well. In 1765 Lord Rockingham + became prime minister, and Burke, widely known as the chief writer for the + Annual Register, was free to accept the position of private secretary, + which Lord Rockingham was glad to offer him. His services here were + invaluable. The new relations thus established did not end with the + performance of the immediate duties of his office, but a warm friendship + grew up between the two, which lasted till the death of Lord Rockingham. + While yet private secretary, Burke was elected to Parliament from the + borough of Wendover. It was through the influence of his friend, or + perhaps relative, William Burke, that his election was secured. + </p> + <p> + Only a few days after taking his seat in the House of Commons, Burke made + his first speech, January 27, 1766. He followed this in a very short time + with another upon the same subject—the Taxation of the American + Colonies. Notwithstanding the great honor and distinction which these + first speeches brought Burke, his party was dismissed at the close of the + session and the Chatham ministry formed. He remained with his friends, and + employed himself in refuting [Footnote: Observations on the Present State + of the Nation] the charges of the former minister, George Grenville, who + wrote a pamphlet accusing his successors of gross neglect of public + duties. + </p> + <p> + At this point in his life comes the much-discussed matter of Beaconsfield. + How Burke became rich enough to purchase such expensive property is a + question that has never been answered by his friends or enemies. There are + mysterious hints of successful speculation in East India stock, of money + borrowed, and Burke himself, in a letter to Shackleton, speaks of aid from + his friends and "all [the money] he could collect of his own." However + much we may regret the air of mystery surrounding the matter, and the + opportunity given those ever ready to smirch a great man's character, it + is not probable that any one ever really doubted Burke's integrity in this + or any other transaction. Perhaps the true explanation of his seemingly + reckless extravagance (if any explanation is needed) is that the + conventional standards of his time forced it upon him; and it may be that + Burke himself sympathized to some extent with these standards, and felt a + certain satisfaction in maintaining a proper attitude before the public. + </p> + <p> + The celebrated case of Wilkes offered an opportunity for discussing the + narrow and corrupt policy pursued by George III. and his followers. + Wilkes, outlawed for libel and protected in the meantime through legal + technicalities, was returned to Parliament by Middlesex. The House + expelled him. He was repeatedly elected and as many times expelled, and + finally the returns were altered, the House voting its approval by a large + majority. In 1770 Burke published his pamphlet [Footnote: Present + Discontents] in which he discussed the situation. For the first time he + showed the full sweep and breadth of his understanding. His tract was in + the interest of his party, but it was written in a spirit far removed from + narrow partisanship. He pointed out with absolute clearness the cause of + dissatisfaction and unrest among the people and charged George III. and + his councillors with gross indifference to the welfare of the nation and + corresponding devotion to selfish interests. He contended that Parliament + was usurping privileges when it presumed to expel any one, that the people + had a right to send whomsoever they pleased to Parliament, and finally + that "in all disputes between them and their rulers, the presumption was + at least upon a par in favor of the people." From this time until the + American Revolution, Burke used every opportunity to denounce the policy + which the king was pursuing at home and abroad. He doubtless knew + beforehand that what he might say would pass unnoticed, but he never + faltered in a steadfast adherence to his ideas of government, founded, as + he believed, upon the soundest principles. Bristol elected him as its + representative in Parliament. It was a great honor and Burke felt its + significance, yet he did not flinch when the time came for him to take a + stand. He voted for the removal of some of the restrictions upon Irish + trade. His constituents, representing one of the most prosperous + mercantile districts, angered and disappointed at what they held to be a + betrayal of trust, refused to reelect him. + </p> + <p> + Lord North's ministry came to an end in 1782, immediately after the battle + of Yorktown, and Lord Rockingham was chosen prime minister. Burke's past + services warranted him in expecting an important place in the cabinet, but + he was ignored. Various things have been suggested as reasons for this: he + was poor; some of his relations and intimate associates were + objectionable; there were dark hints of speculations; he was an Irishman. + It is possible that any one of these facts, or all of them, furnished a + good excuse for not giving him an important position in the new + government. But it seems more probable that Burke's abilities were not + appreciated so justly as they have been since. The men with whom he + associated saw some of his greatness but not all of it. He was assigned + the office of Paymaster of Forces, a place of secondary importance. + </p> + <p> + Lord Rockingham died in three months and the party went to pieces. Burke + refused to work under Shelburne, and, with Fox, joined Lord North in + forming the coalition which overthrew the Whig party. Burke has been + severely censured for the part he took in this. Perhaps there is little + excuse for his desertion, and it is certainly true that his course raises + the question of his sincere devotion to principles. His personal dislike + of Shelburne was so intense that he may have yielded to his feelings. He + felt hurt, too, we may be sure, at the disposition made of him by his + friends. In replying to a letter asking him for a place in the new + government, he writes that his correspondent has been misinformed. "I make + no part of the ministerial arrangement," he writes, and adds, "Something + in the official line may be thought fit for my measure." + </p> + <p> + As a supporter of the coalition, Burke was one of the framers of the India + Bill. This was directed against the wholesale robbery and corruption which + the East India Company had been guilty of in its government of the + country. Both Fox and Burke defended the measure with all the force and + power which a thorough mastery of facts, a keen sense of the injustice + done an unhappy people, and a splendid rhetoric can give. But it was + doomed from the first. The people at large were indifferent, many had + profitable business relations with the company, and the king used his + personal influence against it. The bill failed to pass, the coalition was + dismissed, and the party, which had in Burke its greatest representative, + was utterly ruined. + </p> + <p> + The failure of the India Bill marked a victory for the king, and it also + prepared the way for one of the most famous transactions of Burke's life. + Macaulay has told how impressive and magnificent was the scene at the + trial of Warren Hastings. There were political reasons for the + impeachment, but the chief motive that stirred Burke was far removed from + this. He saw and understood the real state of affairs in India. The + mismanagement, the brutal methods, and the crimes committed there in the + name of the English government, moved him profoundly, and when he rose + before the magnificent audience at Westminster, for opening the cause, he + forced his hearers, by his own mighty passion, to see with his own eyes, + and to feel his own righteous anger. "When he came to his two narratives," + says Miss Burney, "when he related the particulars of those dreadful + murders, he interested, he engaged, he at last overpowered me; I felt my + cause lost. I could hardly keep my seat. My eyes dreaded a single glance + toward a man so accused as Mr. Hastings; I wanted to sink on the floor, + that they might be saved so painful a sight. I had no hope he could clear + himself; not another wish in his favor remained." The trial lasted for six + years and ended with the acquittal of Hastings. The result was not a + surprise, and least of all to Burke. The fate of the India Bill had taught + him how completely indifferent the popular mind was to issues touching + deep moral questions. Though a seeming failure, he regarded the + impeachment as the greatest work of his life. It did much to arouse and + stimulate the national sense of justice. It made clear the cruel methods + sometimes pursued under the guise of civilization and progress. The moral + victory is claimed for Burke, and without a doubt the claim is valid. + </p> + <p> + The second of the great social and political problems, which employed + English statesmen in the last half of the eighteenth century, was settled + in the impeachment of Warren Hastings. The affairs of America and India + were now overshadowed by the French Revolution, and Burke, with the + far-sighted vision of a veteran statesman, watched the progress of events + and their influence upon the established order. In 1773 he had visited + France, and had returned displeased. It is remarkable with what accuracy + he pointed out the ultimate tendency of much that he saw. A close observer + of current phases of society, and on the alert to explain them in the + light of broad and fundamental principles of human progress, he had every + opportunity for studying social life at the French capital. Unlike the + younger men of his times, he was doubtful, and held his judgment in + suspense. The enthusiasm of even Fox seemed premature, and he held himself + aloof from the popular demonstrations of admiration and approval that were + everywhere going on. The fact is, Burke was growing old, and with his + years he was becoming more conservative. He dreaded change, and was + suspicious of the wisdom of those who set about such widespread + innovations, and made such brilliant promises for the future. But the time + rapidly approached for him to declare himself, and in 1790 his Reflections + on the Revolution in France was issued. His friends had long waited its + appearance, and were not wholly surprised at the position taken. What did + surprise them was the eagerness with which the people seized upon the + book, and its effect upon them. The Tories, with the king, applauded long + and loud; the Whigs were disappointed, for Burke condemned the Revolution + unreservedly, and with a bitterness out of all proportion to the cause of + his anxiety and fear. As the Revolution progressed, he grew fiercer in his + denunciation. He broke with his lifelong associates, and declared that no + one who sympathized with the work of the Assembly could be his friend. His + other writings on the Revolution [Footnote: Letter to a Member of the + National Assembly and Letters on a Regicide Peace.] were in a still more + violent strain, and it is hard to think of them as coming from the author + of the Speech on Conciliation. + </p> + <p> + Three years before his death, at the conclusion of the trial of Warren + Hastings, Burke's last term in Parliament expired. He did not wish office + again and withdrew to his estate. Through the influence of friends, and + because of his eminent services, it was proposed to make him peer, with + the title of Lord Beacons field. But the death of his son prevented, and a + pension of twenty-five hundred pounds a year was given instead. It was a + signal for his enemies, and during his last days he was busy with his + reply. The "Letter to a Noble Lord," though written little more than a + year before his death, is considered one of the most perfect of his + papers. Saddened by the loss of his son, and broken in spirits, there is + yet left him enough old-time energy and fire to answer his detractors. But + his wonderful career was near its close. His last months were spent in + writing about the French Revolution, and the third letter on a Regicide + Peace—a fragment—was doubtless composed just before his death. + On the 9th of July, 1797, he passed away. His friends claimed for him a + place in Westminster, but his last wish was respected, and he was buried + at Beaconsfield. + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0004" id="link2H_4_0004"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + BURKE AS A STATESMAN + </h2> + <p> + There is hardly a political tract or pamphlet of Burke's in which he does + not state, in terms more or less clear, the fundamental principle in his + theory of government. "Circumstances," he says in one place, "give, in + reality, to every political principle, its distinguishing color and + discriminating effect. The circumstances are what renders every civil and + political scheme beneficial or obnoxious to mankind." At another time he + exclaims: "This is the true touchstone of all theories which regard man + and the affairs of men; does it suit his nature in general, does it suit + his nature as modified by his habits?" And again he extends his system to + affairs outside the realm of politics. "All government," he declares, + "indeed, every human benefit and enjoyment, every virtue and every prudent + act, is founded on compromise and barter." + </p> + <p> + It is clear that Burke thought the State existed for the people, and not + the people for the State. The doctrine is old to us, but it was not so in + Burke's time, and it required courage to expound it. The great parties had + forgotten the reason for their existence, and one of them had become + hardened and blinded by that corruption which seems to follow long tenure + of office. The affairs of India, Ireland, and America gave excellent + opportunity for an exhibition of English statesmanship, but in each case + the policy pursued was dictated, not by a clear perception of what was + needed in these countries, but by narrow selfishness, not unmixed with + dogmatism of the most challenging sort. The situation in India, as regards + climate, character, and institutions, counted for little in the minds of + those who were growing rich as agents of the East India Company. Much the + same may be said of America and Ireland. The sense of Parliament, + influenced by the king, was to use these parts of the British Empire in + raising a revenue, and in strengthening party organization at home. In + opposing this policy, Burke lost his seat as representative for Bristol, + then the second city of England; spent fourteen of the best years of his + life in conducting the impeachment of Warren Hastings, Governor-General of + India; and, greatest of all, delivered his famous speeches on Taxation and + Conciliation, in behalf of the American colonists. + </p> + <p> + Notwithstanding the distinctly modern tone of Burke's ideas, it would be + wrong to think of him as a thoroughgoing reformer. He has been called the + Great Conservative, and the title is appropriate. He would have shrunk + from a purely republican form of government, such as our own, and it is, + perhaps, a fact that he was suspicious of a government by the people. The + trouble, as he saw it, lay with the representatives of the people. Upon + them, as guardians of a trust, rested the responsibility of protecting + those whom they were chosen to serve. While he bitterly opposed any + measures involving radical change in the Constitution, he was no less + ardent in denouncing political corruptions of all kinds whatsoever. In his + Economical Reform he sought to curtail the enormous extravagance of the + royal household, and to withdraw the means of wholesale bribery, which + offices at the disposal of the king created. He did not believe that a + more effective means than this lay in the proposed plan for a + redistribution of seats in the House of Commons. In one place, he declared + it might be well to lessen the number of voters, in order to add to their + weight and independence; at another, he asks that the people be stimulated + to a more careful scrutiny of the conduct of their representatives; and on + every occasion he demands that the legislators give their support to those + measures only which have for their object the good of the whole people. + </p> + <p> + It is obvious, however, that Burke's policy had grievous faults. His + reverence for the past, and his respect for existing institutions as the + heritage of the past, made him timid and overcautious in dealing with + abuses. Although he stood with Pitt in defending the American colonies, he + had no confidence in the thoroughgoing reforms which the great Commoner + proposed. When the Stamp Act was repealed, Pitt would have gone even + further. He would have acknowledged the absolute injustice of taxation + without representation. Burke held tenaciously to the opposing theory, and + warmly supported the Declaratory Act, which "asserted the supreme + authority of Parliament over the colonies, in all cases whatsoever." His + support of the bill for the repeal of the Stamp Act, as well as his plea + for reconciliation, ten years later, were not prompted by a firm belief in + the injustice of England's course. He expressly states, in both cases that + to enforce measures so repugnant to the Americans, would be detrimental to + the home government. It would result in confusion and disorder, and would + bring, perhaps, in the end, open rebellion. All of his speeches on + American affairs show his willingness to "barter and compromise" in order + to avoid this, but nowhere is there a hint of fundamental error in the + Constitution. This was sacred to him, and he resented to the last any + proposition looking to an organic change in its structure. "The lines of + morality," he declared, "are not like ideal lines of mathematics. They are + broad and deep, as well as long. They admit of exceptions; they demand + modifications. These exceptions and modifications are made, not by the + process of logic, but the rules of prudence. Prudence is not only first in + rank of all the virtues, political and moral, but she is the director, the + regulator, the standard of them all." + </p> + <p> + The chief characteristics, then, of Burke's political philosophy are + opposed to much that is fundamental in modern systems. His doctrine is + better than that of George III, because it is more generous, and affords + opportunity for superficial readjustment and adaptation. It is this last, + or rather the proof it gives of his insight, that has secured Burke so + high a place among English statesmen. + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0005" id="link2H_4_0005"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + A GROUP OF WRITERS COMING IMMEDIATELY BEFORE BURKE + </h2> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + Addison. . . . 1672-1719 + Steele . . . . 1672-1729 + Defoe. . . . . 1661-1731 + Swift. . . . . 1667-1745 + Pope . . . . . 1688-1744 + Richardson . . 1689-1761 +</pre> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0006" id="link2H_4_0006"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + A GROUP OF WRITERS CONTEMPORARY WITH BURKE + </h2> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + Johnson . . . . 1709-1784 + Goldsmith . . . 1728-1774 + Fielding. . . . 1707-1754 + Sterne. . . . . 1713-1768 + Smollett. . . . 1721-1771 + Gray. . . . . . 1716-1771 + Boswell . . . . 1740-1795 +</pre> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0007" id="link2H_4_0007"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + BURKE IN LITERATURE + </h2> + <p> + It has become almost trite to speak of the breadth of Burke's sympathies. + We should examine the statement, however, and understand its significance + and see its justice. While he must always be regarded first as a statesman + of one of the highest types, he had other interests than those directly + suggested by his office, and in one of these, at least, he affords an + interesting and profitable study. + </p> + <p> + To the student of literature Burke's name must always suggest that of + Johnson and Goldsmith. It was eight years after Burke's first appearance + as an author, that the famous Literary Club was formed. At first it was + the intention to limit the club to a membership of nine, and for a time + this was adhered to. The original members were Johnson, Burke, Goldsmith, + Reynolds, and Hawkins. Garrick, Pox, and Boswell came in later. Macaulay + declares that the influence of the club was so great that its verdict made + and unmade reputations; but the thing most interesting to us does not lie + in the consideration of such literary dictatorship. To Boswell we owe a + biography of Johnson which has immortalized its subject, and shed lustre + upon all associated with him. The literary history of the last third of + the eighteenth century, with Johnson as a central figure, is told nowhere + else with such accuracy, or with better effect. + </p> + <p> + Although a Tory, Johnson was a great one, and his lasting friendship for + Burke is an enduring evidence of his generosity and great-mindedness. For + twenty years, and longer, they were eminent men in opposing parties, yet + their mutual respect and admiration continued to the last. To Burke, + Johnson was a writer of "eminent literary merit" and entitled to a pension + "solely on that account." To Johnson, Burke was the greatest man of his + age, wrong politically, to be sure, yet the only one "whose common + conversation corresponded to the general fame which he had in the world"—the + only one "who was ready, whatever subject was chosen, to meet you on your + own ground." Here and there in the Life are allusions to Burke, and + admirable estimates of his many-sided character. + </p> + <p> + Coming directly to an estimate of Burke from the purely literary point of + view, it must be borne in mind that the greater part of his writings was + prepared for an audience. Like Macaulay, his prevailing style suggests the + speaker, and his methods throughout are suited to declamation and oratory. + He lacks the ease and delicacy that we are accustomed to look for in the + best prose writers, and occasionally one feels the justice of Johnson's + stricture, that "he sometimes talked partly from ostentation", or of + Hazlitt's criticism that he seemed to be "perpetually calling the speaker + out to dance a minuet with him before he begins." + </p> + <p> + There may be passages here and there that warrant such censure. Burke is + certainly ornate, and at times he is extremely self-conscious, but the + dominant quality of his style, and the one which forever contradicts the + idea of mere showiness, is passion. In his method of approaching a + subject, he may be, and perhaps is, rather tedious, but when once he has + come to the matter really in hand, he is no longer the rhetorician, + dealing in fine phrases, but the great seer, clothing his thoughts in + words suitable and becoming. The most magnificent passages in his writings—the + Conciliation is rich in them—owe their charm and effectiveness to + this emotional capacity. They were evidently written in moments of + absolute abandonment to feeling—in moments when he was absorbed in + the contemplation of some great truth, made luminous by his own unrivalled + powers. + </p> + <p> + Closely allied to this intensity of passion, is a splendid imaginative + quality. Few writers of English prose have such command of figurative + expression. It must be said, however, that Burke was not entirely free + from the faults which generally accompany an excessive use of figures. + Like other great masters of a decorative style, he frequently becomes + pompous and grandiloquent. His thought, too, is obscured, where we would + expect great clearness of statement, accompanied by a dignified + simplicity; and occasionally we feel that he forgets his subject in an + anxious effort to make an impression. Though there are passages in his + writings that justify such observations, they are few in number, when + compared with those which are really masterpieces of their kind. + </p> + <p> + Some great crisis, or threatening state of affairs, seems to furnish the + necessary condition for the exercise of a great mind, and Burke is never + so effective as when thoroughly aroused. His imagination needed the + chastening which only a great moment or critical situation could give. Two + of his greatest speeches—Conciliation, and Impeachment of Warren + Hastings—were delivered under the restraining effect of such + circumstances, and in each the figurative expression is subdued and not + less beautiful in itself than, appropriate for the occasion. + </p> + <p> + Finally, it must be observed that no other writer of English prose has a + better command of words. His ideas, as multifarious as they are, always + find fitting expression. He does not grope for a term; it stands ready for + his thought, and one feels that he had opportunity for choice. It is the + exuberance of his fancy, already mentioned, coupled with this richness of + vocabulary, that helped to make Burke a tiresome speaker. His mind was too + comprehensive to allow any phase of his subject to pass without + illumination. He followed where his subject led him, without any great + attention to the patience of his audience. But he receives full credit + when his speeches are read. It is then that his mastery of the subject and + the splendid qualities of his style are apparent, and appreciated at their + worth. + </p> + <p> + In conclusion, it is worth while observing that in the study of a great + character, joined with an attempt to estimate it by conventional + standards, something must always be left unsaid. Much may be learned of + Burke by knowing his record as a partisan, more by a minute inspection of + his style as a writer, but beyond all this is the moral tone or attitude + of the man himself. To a student of Burke this is the greatest thing about + him. It colored every line he wrote, and to it, more than anything else, + is due the immense force of the man as a speaker and writer. It was this, + more than Burke's great abilities, that justifies Dr. Johnson's famous + eulogy: "He is not only the first man in the House of Commons, he is the + first man everywhere." + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0008" id="link2H_4_0008"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + A GROUP OF WRITERS COMING IMMEDIATELY AFTER BURKE + </h2> + <h3> + Wordsworth . . . . 1770-1850 + </h3> + <p> + Coleridge . . . . . 1772-1834 + </p> + <p> + Byron . . . . . . . 1788-1824 + </p> + <p> + Shelley . . . . . . 1792-1822 + </p> + <p> + Keats . . . . . . . 1795-1821 + </p> + <p> + Scott . . . . . . . 1771-1832 + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0009" id="link2H_4_0009"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + TOPICS FOR SPECIAL REPORTS + </h2> + <p> + 1. "Like Goldsmith, though in a different sphere, Burke belongs both to + the old order and the new." Discuss that statement. + </p> + <p> + 2. Burke and the Literary Club. (Boswell's Life of Johnson.) + </p> + <p> + 3. Lives of Burke and Goldsmith. Contrast. + </p> + <p> + 4. An interpretation of ten apothegms selected from the Speech on + Conciliation. + </p> + <p> + 5. A study of figures in the Speech on Conciliation. + </p> + <p> + 6. A definition of the terms: "colloquialism" and "idiom" Instances of + their use in the Speech on Conciliation. + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2H_BIBL" id="link2H_BIBL"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + BIBLIOGRAPHY + </h2> + <h3> + 1. Burke's Life. John Morley. English Men of Letters Series. + </h3> + <p> + 2. Burke. John Morley. An Historical Study. + </p> + <p> + 3. Burke. John Morley. Encyclopaedia Britannica. + </p> + <p> + 4. History of the English People. Green. Vol. IV., pp 193-271. + </p> + <p> + 5 History of Civilization in England. Buckle. Vol I, pp. 326-338 + </p> + <p> + 6. The American Revolution. Fiske. Vol. I, Chaps. I., II. + </p> + <p> + 7. Life of Johnson. Boswell. (Use the Index) + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0011" id="link2H_4_0011"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + EDMUND BURKE + </h2> + <p> + ON MOVING HIS RESOLUTIONS FOR CONCILIATION WITH THE COLONIES. HOUSE OF + COMMONS, MARCH 22, 1775 + </p> + <p> + I hope, Sir, that notwithstanding the austerity of the Chair, your good + nature will incline you to some degree of indulgence towards human + frailty. You will not think it unnatural that those who have an object + depending, which strongly engages their hopes and fears, should be + somewhat inclined to superstition. As I came into the House full of + anxiety about the event of my motion, I found, to my infinite surprise, + that the grand penal bill, <a href="#linknote-1" name="linknoteref-1" + id="linknoteref-1"><small>1</small></a> by which we had passed sentence on + the trade and sustenance of America, is to be returned to us from the + other House. I do confess I could not help looking on this event as a + fortunate omen. I look upon it as a sort of providential favor, by which + we are put once more in possession of our deliberative capacity upon a + business so very questionable in its nature, so very uncertain in its + issue. By the return of this bill, which seemed to have taken its flight + forever, we are at this very instant nearly as free to choose a plan for + our American Government as we were on the first day of the session. If, + Sir, we incline to the side of conciliation, we are not at all embarrassed + (unless we please to make ourselves so) by any incongruous mixture of + coercion and restraint. We are therefore called upon, as it were by a + superior warning voice, again to attend to America; to attend to the whole + of it together; and to review the subject with an unusual degree of care + and calmness. + </p> + <p> + Surely it is an awful subject, or there is none so on this side of the + grave. When I first had the honor <a href="#linknote-2" + name="linknoteref-2" id="linknoteref-2"><small>2</small></a> of a seat in + this House, the affairs of that continent pressed themselves upon us as + the most important and most delicate object of Parliamentary attention. My + little share in this great deliberation oppressed me. I found myself a + partaker in a very high trust; and, having no sort of reason to rely on + the strength of my natural abilities for the proper execution of that + trust, I was obliged to take more than common pains to instruct myself in + everything which relates to our Colonies. I was not less under the + necessity of forming some fixed ideas concerning the general policy of the + British Empire. Something of this sort seemed to be indispensable, in + order, amidst so vast a fluctuation of passions and opinions, to concentre + my thoughts, to ballast my conduct, to preserve me from being blown about + by every wind of fashionable doctrine. I really did not think it safe or + manly to have fresh principles to seek upon every fresh mail which should + arrive from America. + </p> + <p> + At that period I had the fortune to find myself in perfect concurrence + with a large majority in this House. Bowing under that high authority, and + penetrated with the sharpness and strength of that early impression, I + have continued ever since, without the least deviation, in my original + sentiments. <a href="#linknote-3" name="linknoteref-3" id="linknoteref-3"><small>3</small></a> + Whether this be owing to an obstinate perseverance in error, or to a + religious adherence to what appears to me truth, and reason, it is in your + equity to judge. + </p> + <p> + Sir, Parliament having an enlarged view of objects, made, during this + interval, more frequent changes in their sentiments and their conduct than + could be justified in a particular person upon the contracted scale of + private information. But though I do not hazard anything approaching to a + censure on the motives of former Parliaments to all those alterations, one + fact is undoubted—that under them the state of America has been kept + in continual agitation. <a href="#linknote-4" name="linknoteref-4" + id="linknoteref-4"><small>4</small></a> Everything administered as remedy + to the public complaint, if it did not produce, was at least followed by, + an heightening of the distemper; until, by a variety of experiments, that + important country has been brought into her present situation—a + situation which I will not miscall, which I dare not name, which I + scarcely know how to comprehend in the terms of any description. + </p> + <p> + In this posture, Sir, things stood at the beginning of the session. About + that time, a worthy member <a href="#linknote-5" name="linknoteref-5" + id="linknoteref-5"><small>5</small></a> of great Parliamentary experience, + who, in the year 1766, filled the chair of the American committee with + much ability, took me aside; and, lamenting the present aspect of our + politics, told me things were come to such a pass that our former <a + href="#linknote-6" name="linknoteref-6" id="linknoteref-6"><small>6</small></a> + methods of proceeding in the House would be no longer tolerated: that the + public tribunal (never too indulgent to a long and unsuccessful + opposition) would now scrutinize our conduct with unusual severity: that + the very vicissitudes and shiftings of Ministerial measures, instead of + convicting their authors of inconstancy and want of system, would be taken + as an occasion of charging us with a predetermined discontent, which + nothing could satisfy; whilst we accused every measure of vigor as cruel, + and every proposal of lenity as weak and irresolute. The public, he said, + would not have patience to see us play the game out with our adversaries; + we must produce our hand. It would be expected that those who for many + years had been active in such affairs should show that they had formed + some clear and decided idea of the principles of Colony government; and + were capable of drawing out something like a platform of the ground which + might be laid for future and permanent tranquillity. + </p> + <p> + I felt the truth of what my honorable friend represented; but I felt my + situation too. His application might have been made with far greater + propriety to many other gentlemen. No man was indeed ever better disposed, + or worse qualified, for such an undertaking than myself. Though I gave so + far in to his opinion that I immediately threw my thoughts into a sort of + Parliamentary form, I was by no means equally ready to produce them. It + generally argues some degree of natural impotence of mind, or some want of + knowledge of the world, to hazard plans of government except from a seat + of authority. Propositions are made, not only ineffectually, but somewhat + disreputably, when the minds of men are not properly disposed for their + reception; and, for my part, I am not ambitious of ridicule—not + absolutely a candidate for disgrace. + </p> + <p> + Besides, Sir, to speak the plain truth, I have in general no very exalted + opinion of the virtue of paper government; <a href="#linknote-7" + name="linknoteref-7" id="linknoteref-7"><small>7</small></a> nor of any + politics in which the plan is to be wholly separated from the execution. + But when I saw that anger and violence prevailed every day more and more, + and that things were hastening towards an incurable alienation of our + Colonies, I confess my caution gave way. I felt this as one of those few + moments in which decorum yields to a higher duty. Public calamity is a + mighty leveller; and there are occasions when any, even the slightest, + chance of doing good must be laid hold on, even by the most inconsiderable + person. + </p> + <p> + To restore order and repose to an empire so great and so distracted as + ours, is, merely in the attempt, an undertaking that would ennoble the + flights of the highest genius, and obtain pardon for the efforts of the + meanest understanding. Struggling a good while with these thoughts, by + degrees I felt myself more firm. I derived, at length, some confidence + from what in other circumstances usually produces timidity. I grew less + anxious, even from the idea of my own insignificance. For, judging of what + you are by what you ought to be, I persuaded myself that you would not + reject a reasonable proposition because it had nothing but its reason to + recommend it. On the other hand, being totally destitute of all shadow of + influence, natural or adventitious, I was very sure that, if my + proposition were futile or dangerous—if it were weakly conceived, or + improperly timed—there was nothing exterior to it of power to awe, + dazzle, or delude you. You will see it just as it is; and you will treat + it just as it deserves. + </p> + <p> + The proposition is peace. Not peace through the medium of war; not peace + to be hunted through the labyrinth of intricate and endless negotiations; + not peace to arise out of universal discord fomented, from principle, in + all parts of the Empire, not peace to depend on the juridical + determination of perplexing questions, or the precise marking the shadowy + boundaries of a complex government. It is simple peace; sought in its + natural course, and in its ordinary haunts. It is peace sought in the + spirit of peace, and laid in principles purely pacific. I propose, by + removing the ground of the difference, and by restoring the former + unsuspecting confidence of the Colonies in the Mother Country, to give + permanent satisfaction to your people; and (far from a scheme of ruling by + discord) to reconcile them to each other in the same act and by the bond + of the very same interest which reconciles them to British government. + </p> + <p> + My idea is nothing more. Refined policy <a href="#linknote-8" + name="linknoteref-8" id="linknoteref-8"><small>8</small></a> ever has + been, the parent of confusion; and ever will be so, as long as the world + endures. Plain good intention, which is as easily discovered at the first + view as fraud is surely detected at last, is, let me say, of no mean force + in the government of mankind. Genuine simplicity of heart is an healing + and cementing principle. My plan, therefore, being formed upon the most + simple grounds imaginable, may disappoint some people when they hear it. + It has nothing to recommend it to the pruriency of curious ears. There is + nothing at all new and captivating in it. It has nothing of the splendor + of the project <a href="#linknote-9" name="linknoteref-9" + id="linknoteref-9"><small>9</small></a> which has been lately laid upon + your table by the noble lord in the blue ribbon. <a href="#linknote-10" + name="linknoteref-10" id="linknoteref-10"><small>10</small></a> It does + not propose to fill your lobby with squabbling Colony agents, <a + href="#linknote-11" name="linknoteref-11" id="linknoteref-11"><small>11</small></a> + who will require the interposition of your mace, at every instant, to keep + the peace amongst them. It does not institute a magnificent auction of + finance, where captivated provinces come to general ransom by bidding + against each other, until you knock down the hammer, and determine a + proportion of payments beyond all the powers of algebra to equalize and + settle. + </p> + <p> + The plan which I shall presume to suggest derives, however, one great + advantage from the proposition and registry of that noble lord's project. + The idea of conciliation is admissible. First, the House, in accepting the + resolution moved by the noble lord, has admitted, notwithstanding the + menacing front of our address, <a href="#linknote-12" name="linknoteref-12" + id="linknoteref-12"><small>12</small></a> notwithstanding our heavy bills + of pains and penalties—that we do not think ourselves precluded from + all ideas of free grace and bounty. + </p> + <p> + The House has gone farther; it has declared conciliation admissible, + previous to any submission on the part of America. It has even shot a good + deal beyond that mark, and has admitted that the complaints of our former + mode of exerting the right of taxation were not wholly unfounded. That + right thus exerted is allowed to have something reprehensible in it, + something unwise, or something grievous; since, in the midst of our heat + and resentment, we, of ourselves, have proposed a capital alteration; and + in order to get rid of what seemed so very exceptionable, have instituted + a mode that is altogether new; one that is, indeed, wholly alien from all + the ancient methods and forms of Parliament. + </p> + <p> + The principle of this proceeding is large enough for my purpose. The means + proposed by the noble lord for carrying his ideas into execution, I think, + indeed, are very indifferently suited to the end; and this I shall + endeavor to show you before I sit down. But, for the present, I take my + ground on the admitted principle. I mean to give peace. Peace implies + reconciliation; and where there has been a material dispute, + reconciliation does in a manner always imply concession on the one part or + on the other. In this state of things, I make no difficulty in affirming + that the proposal ought to originate from us. Great and acknowledged force + is not impaired, either in effect or in opinion, by an unwillingness to + exert itself. The superior power may offer peace with honor and with + safety. Such an offer from such a power will be attributed to magnanimity. + But the concessions of the weak are the concessions of fear. When such a + one is disarmed, he is wholly at the mercy of his superior; and he loses + forever that time and those chances, <a href="#linknote-13" + name="linknoteref-13" id="linknoteref-13"><small>13</small></a> which, as + they happen to all men, are the strength and resources of all inferior + power. + </p> + <p> + The capital leading questions on which you must this day decide are these + two: First, whether you ought to concede; and secondly, what your + concession ought to be. On the first of these questions we have gained, as + I have just taken the liberty of observing to you, some ground. But I am + sensible that a good deal more is still to be done. Indeed, Sir, to enable + us to determine both on the one and the other of these great questions + with a firm and precise judgment, I think it may be necessary to consider + distinctly the true nature and the peculiar circumstances of the object + which we have before us; because after all our struggle, whether we will + or not, we must govern America according to that nature and to those + circumstances, <a href="#linknote-14" name="linknoteref-14" + id="linknoteref-14"><small>14</small></a> and not according to our own + imaginations, nor according to abstract ideas of right—by no means + according to mere general theories of government, the resort to which + appears to me, in our present situation, no better than arrant trifling. I + shall therefore endeavor, with your leave, to lay before you some of the + most material of these circumstances in as full and as clear a manner as I + am able to state them. + </p> + <p> + The first thing that we have to consider with regard to the nature of the + object is—the number of people in the Colonies. I have taken for + some years a good deal of pains on that point. I can by no calculation + justify myself in placing the number below two millions of inhabitants of + our own European blood and color, besides at least five hundred thousand + others, who form no inconsiderable part of the strength and opulence of + the whole. This, Sir, is, I believe, about the true number. There is no + occasion to exaggerate where plain truth is of so much weight and + importance. But whether I put the present numbers too high or too low is a + matter of little moment. Such is the strength with which population shoots + in that part of the world, that, state the numbers as high as we will, + whilst the dispute continues, the exaggeration ends. Whilst we are + discussing any given magnitude, they are grown to it. Whilst we spend our + time in deliberating on the mode of governing two millions, we shall find + we have millions more to manage. Your children do not grow faster from + infancy to manhood than they spread from families to communities, and from + villages to nations. + </p> + <p> + I put this consideration of the present and the growing numbers in the + front of our deliberation, because, Sir, this consideration will make it + evident to a blunter discernment than yours, that no partial, narrow, + contracted, pinched, occasional system will be at all suitable to such an + object. It will show you that it is not to be considered as one of those + minima which are out of the eye and consideration of the law; not a paltry + excrescence of the state; not a mean dependent, who may be neglected with + little damage and provoked with little danger. It will prove that some + degree of care and caution is required in the handling such an object; it + will show that you ought not, in reason, to trifle with so large a mass of + the interests and feelings of the human race. You could at no time do so + without guilt; and be assured you will not be able to do it long with + impunity. + </p> + <p> + But the population of this country, the great and growing population, + though a very important consideration, will lose much of its weight if not + combined with other circumstances. The commerce of your Colonies is out of + all proportion beyond the numbers of the people. This ground of their + commerce indeed has been trod some days ago, and with great ability, by a + distinguished person at your bar. This gentleman, after thirty-five years—it + is so long since he first appeared at the same place to plead for the + commerce of Great Britain—has come again before you to plead the + same cause, without any other effect of time, than that to the fire of + imagination and extent of erudition which even then marked him as one of + the first literary characters of his age, he has added a consummate + knowledge in the commercial interest of his country, formed by a long + course of enlightened and discriminating experience. + </p> + <p> + Sir, I should be inexcusable in coming after such a person with any + detail, if a great part of the members who now fill the House had not the + misfortune to be absent when he appeared at your bar. Besides, Sir, I + propose to take the matter at periods of time somewhat different from his. + There is, if I mistake not, a point of view from whence, if you will look + at the subject, it is impossible that it should not make an impression + upon you. + </p> + <p> + I have in my hand two accounts; one a comparative state of the export + trade of England to its Colonies, as it stood in the year 1704, and as it + stood in the year 1772; the other a state of the export trade of this + country to its Colonies alone, as it stood in 1772, compared with the + whole trade of England to all parts of the world (the Colonies included) + in the year 1704. They are from good vouchers; the latter period from the + accounts on your table, the earlier from an original manuscript of + Davenant, who first established the Inspector-General's office, which has + been ever since his time so abundant a source of Parliamentary + information. + </p> + <p> + The export trade to the Colonies consists of three great branches: the + African—which, terminating almost wholly in the Colonies, must be + put to the account of their commerce,—the West Indian, and the North + American. All these are so interwoven that the attempt to separate them + would tear to pieces the contexture of the whole; and, if not entirely + destroy, would very much depreciate the value of all the parts. I + therefore consider these three denominations to be, what in effect they + are, one trade. <a href="#linknote-15" name="linknoteref-15" + id="linknoteref-15"><small>15</small></a> + </p> + <p> + The trade to the Colonies, taken on the export side, at the beginning of + this century, that is, in the year 1704, stood thus:— + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + Exports to North America and the West Indies. L483,265 + To Africa. .................................. 86,665 + ———— + L569,930 +</pre> + <p> + In the year 1772, which I take as a middle year between the highest and + lowest of those lately laid on your table, the account was as follows:— + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + To North America and the West Indies ...... L4,791,734 + To Africa. ................................ 866,398 + To which, if you add the export trade from + Scotland, which had in 1704 no existence .. 364,000 + ————— + L6,022,132 +</pre> + <p> + From five hundred and odd thousand, it has grown to six millions. It has + increased no less than twelve-fold. This is the state of the Colony trade + as compared with itself at these two periods within this century;—and + this is matter for meditation. But this is not all. Examine my second + account. See how the export trade to the Colonies alone in 1772 stood in + the other point of view; that is, as compared to the whole trade of + England in 1704:— + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + The whole export trade of England, including + that to the Colonies, in 1704. ................ L6,509,000 + Export to the Colonies alone, in 1772 ......... 6,024,000 + + ————— + Difference, L485,000 +</pre> + <p> + The trade with America alone is now within less than L500,000 of being + equal to what this great commercial nation, England, carried on at the + beginning of this century with the whole world! If I had taken the largest + year of those on your table, it would rather have exceeded. But, it will + be said, is not this American trade an unnatural protuberance, that has + drawn the juices from the rest of the body? The reverse. It is the very + food that has nourished every other part into its present magnitude. Our + general trade has been greatly augmented, and augmented more or less in + almost every part to which it ever extended; but with this material + difference, that of the six millions which in the beginning of the century + constituted the whole mass of our export commerce, the Colony trade was + but one-twelfth part, it is now (as a part of sixteen millions) + considerably more than a third of the whole. This is the relative + proportion of the importance of the Colonies at these two periods, and all + reasoning concerning our mode of treating them must have this proportion + as its basis, or it is a reasoning weak, rotten, and sophistical. + </p> + <p> + Mr. Speaker, I cannot prevail on myself to hurry over this great + consideration. IT IS GOOD FOR US TO BE HERE. <a href="#linknote-16" + name="linknoteref-16" id="linknoteref-16"><small>16</small></a> We stand + where we have an immense view of what is, and what is past. Clouds, + indeed, and darkness, rest upon the future. Let us, however, before we + descend from this noble eminence, reflect that this growth of our national + prosperity has happened within the short period of the life of man. It has + happened within sixty-eight years. There are those alive whose memory + might touch the two extremities. For instance, my Lord Bathurst might + remember all the stages of the progress. He was in 1704 of an age at least + to be made to comprehend such things. He was then old enough acta parentum + jam legere, et quae sit potuit cognoscere virtus. <a href="#linknote-17" + name="linknoteref-17" id="linknoteref-17"><small>17</small></a> Suppose, + Sir, that the angel of this auspicious youth, foreseeing the many virtues + which made him one of the most amiable, as he is one of the most + fortunate, men of his age, had opened to him in vision that when in the + fourth generation the third Prince of the House of Brunswick had sat + twelve years on the throne of that nation which, by the happy issue of + moderate and healing counsels, was to be made Great Britain, he should see + his son, Lord Chancellor of England, turn back the current of hereditary + dignity to its fountain, and raise him to a higher rank of peerage, whilst + he enriched the family with a new one—if, amidst these bright and + happy scenes of domestic honor and prosperity, that angel should have + drawn up the curtain, and unfolded the rising glories of his country, and, + whilst he was gazing with admiration on the then commercial grandeur of + England, the genius should point out to him a little speck, scarcely + visible in the mass of the national interest, a small seminal principle, + rather than a formed body, and should tell him: "Young man, there is + America—which at this day serves for little more than to amuse you + with stories of savage men, and uncouth manners; yet shall, before you + taste of death, <a href="#linknote-18" name="linknoteref-18" + id="linknoteref-18"><small>18</small></a> show itself equal to the whole + of that commerce which now attracts the envy of the world. Whatever + England has been growing to by a progressive increase of improvement, + brought in by varieties of people, by succession of civilizing conquests + and civilizing settlements in a series of seventeen hundred years, you + shall see as much added to her by America in the course of a single life!" + If this state of his country had been foretold to him, would it not + require all the sanguine credulity of youth, and all the fervid glow of + enthusiasm, to make him believe it? Fortunate man, he has lived to see it! + Fortunate, indeed, if he lives to see nothing that shall vary the + prospect, and cloud the setting of his day! + </p> + <p> + Excuse me, Sir, if turning from such thoughts I resume this comparative + view once more. You have seen it on a large scale; look at it on a small + one. I will point out to your attention a particular instance of it in the + single province of Pennsylvania. In the year 1704 that province called for + L11,459 in value of your commodities, native and foreign. This was the + whole. What did it demand in 1772? Why, nearly fifty times as much; for in + that year the export to Pennsylvania was L507,909, nearly equal to the + export to all the Colonies together in the first period. + </p> + <p> + I choose, Sir, to enter into these minute and particular details, because + generalities, which in all other cases are apt to heighten and raise the + subject, have here a tendency to sink it. When we speak of the commerce + with our Colonies, fiction lags after truth, invention is unfruitful, and + imagination cold and barren. + </p> + <p> + So far, Sir, as to the importance of the object, in view of its commerce, + as concerned in the exports from England. If I were to detail the imports, + I could show how many enjoyments they procure which deceive the burthen of + life; how many materials which invigorate the springs of national + industry, and extend and animate every part of our foreign and domestic + commerce. This would be a curious subject indeed; but I must prescribe + bounds to myself in a matter so vast and various. + </p> + <p> + I pass, therefore, to the Colonies in another point of view, their + agriculture. This they have prosecuted with such a spirit, that, besides + feeding plentifully their own growing multitude, their annual export of + grain, comprehending rice, has some years ago exceeded a million in value. + Of their last harvest I am persuaded they will export much more. At the + beginning of the century some of these Colonies imported corn from the + Mother Country. For some time past the Old World has been fed from the + New. The scarcity which you have felt would have been a desolating famine, + if this child of your old age, with a true filial piety, with a Roman + charity, <a href="#linknote-19" name="linknoteref-19" id="linknoteref-19"><small>19</small></a> + had not put the full breast of its youthful exuberance to the mouth of its + exhausted parent. + </p> + <p> + As to the wealth which the Colonies have drawn from the sea by their + fisheries, you had all that matter fully opened at your bar. You surely + thought those acquisitions of value, for they seemed even to excite your + envy; and yet the spirit by which that enterprising employment has been + exercised ought rather, in my opinion, to have raised your esteem and + admiration. And pray, Sir, what in the world is equal to it? Pass by the + other parts, and look at the manner in which the people of New England + have of late carried on the whale fishery. Whilst we follow them among the + tumbling mountains of ice, and behold them penetrating into the deepest + frozen recesses of Hudson's Bay and Davis's Straits, whilst we are looking + for them beneath the arctic circle, we hear that they have pierced into + the opposite region of polar cold, that they are at the antipodes, and + engaged under the frozen Serpent of the south. Falkland Island, which + seemed too remote and romantic an object for the grasp of national + ambition, is but a stage and resting-place in the progress of their + victorious industry. Nor is the equinoctial heat more discouraging to them + than the accumulated winter of both the poles. We know that whilst some of + them draw the line and strike the harpoon on the coast of Africa, others + run the longitude and pursue their gigantic game along the coast of + Brazil. No sea but what is vexed by their fisheries; no climate that is + not witness to their toils. Neither the perseverance of Holland, nor the + activity of France, nor the dexterous and firm sagacity of English + enterprise ever carried this most perilous mode of hardy industry to the + extent to which it has been pushed by this recent people; a people who are + still, as it were, but in the gristle, and not yet hardened into the bone + of manhood. When I contemplate these things; when I know that the Colonies + in general owe little or nothing to any care of ours, and that they are + not squeezed into this happy form by the constraints of watchful and + suspicious government, but that, through a wise and salutary neglect, a + generous nature has been suffered to take her own way to perfection; when + I reflect upon these effects, when I see how profitable they have been to + us, I feel all the pride of power sink, and all presumption in the wisdom + of human contrivances melt and die away within me. My rigor relents. I + pardon something to the spirit of liberty. + </p> + <p> + I am sensible, Sir, that all which I have asserted in my detail is + admitted in the gross; but that quite a different conclusion is drawn from + it. America, gentlemen say, is a noble object. It is an object well worth + fighting for. Certainly it is, if fighting a people be the best way of + gaining them. Gentlemen in this respect will be led to their choice of + means by their complexions <a href="#linknote-20" name="linknoteref-20" + id="linknoteref-20"><small>20</small></a> and their habits. Those who + understand the military art will of course have some predilection for it. + Those who wield the thunder of the state <a href="#linknote-21" + name="linknoteref-21" id="linknoteref-21"><small>21</small></a> may have + more confidence in the efficacy of arms. But I confess, possibly for want + of this knowledge, my opinion is much more in favor of prudent management + than of force; considering force not as an odious, but a feeble instrument + for preserving a people so numerous, so active, so growing, so spirited as + this, in a profitable and subordinate connection with us. + </p> + <p> + First, Sir, permit me to observe that the use of force alone is but + temporary. It may subdue for a moment, but it does not remove the + necessity of subduing again; and a nation is not governed <a + href="#linknote-22" name="linknoteref-22" id="linknoteref-22"><small>22</small></a> + which is perpetually to be conquered. + </p> + <p> + My next objection is its uncertainty. Terror is not always the effect of + force, and an armament is not a victory. If you do not succeed, you are + without resource; for, conciliation failing, force remains; but, force + failing, no further hope of reconciliation is left. Power and authority + are sometimes bought by kindness; but they can never be begged as alms by + an impoverished and defeated violence. + </p> + <p> + A further objection to force is, that you impair the object by your very + endeavors to preserve it. The thing you fought for is not the thing which + you recover; but depreciated, sunk, wasted, and consumed in the contest. + Nothing less will content me than WHOLE AMERICA. I do not choose to + consume its strength along with our own, because in all parts it is the + British strength that I consume. I do not choose to be caught by a foreign + enemy at the end of this exhausting conflict; and still less in the midst + of it. I may escape; but I can make no insurance against such an event. + Let me add, that I do not choose wholly to break the American spirit; + because it is the spirit that has made the country. + </p> + <p> + Lastly, we have no sort of experience in favor of force as an instrument + in the rule of our Colonies. Their growth and their utility has been owing + to methods altogether different. Our ancient indulgence <a + href="#linknote-23" name="linknoteref-23" id="linknoteref-23"><small>23</small></a> + has been said to be pursued to a fault. It may be so. But we know if + feeling is evidence, that our fault was more tolerable than our attempt to + mend it; and our sin far more salutary than our penitence. + </p> + <p> + These, Sir, are my reasons for not entertaining that high opinion of + untried force by which many gentlemen, for whose sentiments in other + particulars I have great respect, seem to be so greatly captivated. But + there is still behind a third consideration concerning this object which + serves to determine my opinion on the sort of policy which ought to be + pursued in the management of America, even more than its population and + its commerce—I mean its temper and character. + </p> + <p> + In this character of the Americans, a love of freedom is the predominating + feature which marks and distinguishes the whole; and as an ardent is + always a jealous affection, your Colonies become suspicious, restive, and + untractable whenever they see the least attempt to wrest from them by + force, or shuffle from them by chicane, what they think the only advantage + worth living for. This fierce spirit of liberty is stronger in the English + Colonies probably than in any other people of the earth, and this from a + great variety of powerful causes; which, to understand the true temper of + their minds and the direction which this spirit takes, it will not be + amiss to lay open somewhat more largely. + </p> + <p> + First, the people of the Colonies are descendants of Englishmen. England, + Sir, is a nation which still, I hope, respects, and formerly adored, her + freedom. The Colonists emigrated from you when this part of your character + was most predominant; and they took this bias and direction the moment + they parted from your hands. They are therefore not only devoted to + liberty, but to liberty according to English ideas, and on English + principles. Abstract liberty, like other mere abstractions, is not to be + found. Liberty inheres in some sensible object; and every nation has + formed to itself some favorite point, which by way of eminence becomes the + criterion of their happiness. It happened, you know, Sir, that the great + contests <a href="#linknote-24" name="linknoteref-24" id="linknoteref-24"><small>24</small></a> + for freedom in this country were from the earliest times chiefly upon the + question of taxing. Most of the contests in the ancient commonwealths + turned primarily on the right of election of magistrates; or on the + balance among the several orders of the state. The question of money was + not with them so immediate. But in England it was otherwise. On this point + of taxes the ablest pens, and most eloquent tongues, have been exercised; + the greatest spirits have acted and suffered. In order to give the fullest + satisfaction concerning the importance of this point, it was not only + necessary for those who in argument defended the excellence of the English + Constitution to insist on this privilege of granting money as a dry point + of fact, and to prove that the right had been acknowledged in ancient + parchments and blind usages to reside in a certain body called a House of + Commons. They went much farther; they attempted to prove, and they + succeeded, that in theory it ought to be so, from the particular nature of + a House of Commons as an immediate representative of the people, whether + the old records had delivered this oracle or not. They took infinite pains + to inculcate, as a fundamental principle, that in all monarchies the + people must in effect themselves, mediately or immediately, possess the + power of granting their own money, or no shadow of liberty can subsist. + The Colonies draw from you, as with their life-blood, these ideas and + principles. Their love of liberty, as with you, fixed and attached on this + specific point of taxing. Liberty might be safe, or might be endangered, + in twenty other particulars, without their being much pleased or alarmed. + Here they felt its pulse; and as they found that beat, they thought + themselves sick or sound. I do not say whether they were right or wrong in + applying your general arguments to their own case. It is not easy, indeed, + to make a monopoly of theorems and corollaries. The fact is, that they did + thus apply those general arguments; and your mode of governing them, + whether through lenity or indolence, through wisdom or mistake, confirmed + them in the imagination that they, as well as you, had an interest in + these common principles. + </p> + <p> + They were further confirmed in this pleasing error by the form of their + provincial legislative assemblies. Their governments are popular in an + high degree; some are merely popular; in all, the popular representative + is the most weighty; and this share of the people in their ordinary + government never fails to inspire them with lofty sentiments, and with a + strong aversion from whatever tends to deprive them of their chief + importance. + </p> + <p> + If anything were wanting to this necessary operation of the form of + government, religion would have given it a complete effect. Religion, + always a principle of energy, in this new people is no way worn out or + impaired; and their mode of professing it is also one main cause of this + free spirit. The people are Protestants; and of that kind which is the + most adverse to all implicit submission of mind and opinion. This is a + persuasion not only favorable to liberty, but built upon it. I do not + think, Sir, that the reason of this averseness in the dissenting churches + from all that looks like absolute government is so much to be sought in + their religious tenets, as in their history. Every one knows that the + Roman Catholic religion is at least co-eval with most of the governments + where it prevails; that it has generally gone hand in hand with them, and + received great favor and every kind of support from authority. The Church + of England too was formed from her cradle under the nursing care of + regular government. But the dissenting interests have sprung up in direct + opposition to all the ordinary powers of the world, and could justify that + opposition only on a strong claim to natural liberty. Their very existence + depended on the powerful and unremitted assertion of that claim. All + Protestantism, even the most cold and passive, is a sort of dissent. But + the religion most prevalent in our Northern Colonies is a refinement on + the principle of resistance; it is the dissidence of dissent, and the + protestantism of the Protestant religion. This religion, under a variety + of denominations agreeing in nothing but in the communion of the spirit of + liberty, is predominant in most of the Northern Provinces, where the + Church of England, notwithstanding its legal rights, is in reality no more + than a sort of private sect, not composing most probably the tenth of the + people. The Colonists left England when this spirit was high, and in the + emigrants was the highest of all; and even that stream of foreigners which + has been constantly flowing into these Colonies has, for the greatest + part, been composed of dissenters from the establishments of their several + countries, who have brought with them a temper and character far from + alien to that of the people with whom they mixed. + </p> + <p> + Sir, I can perceive by their manner that some gentlemen object to the + latitude of this description, because in the Southern Colonies the Church + of England forms a large body, and has a regular establishment. It is + certainly true. There is, however, a circumstance attending these Colonies + which, in my opinion, fully counterbalances this difference, and makes the + spirit of liberty still more high and haughty than in those to the + northward. It is that in Virginia and the Carolinas they have a vast + multitude of slaves. Where this is the case in any part of the world, + those who are free are by far the most proud and jealous of their freedom. + Freedom is to them <a href="#linknote-25" name="linknoteref-25" + id="linknoteref-25"><small>25</small></a> not only an enjoyment, but a + kind of rank and privilege. Not seeing there, that freedom, as in + countries where it is a common blessing and as broad and general as the + air, may be united with much abject toil, with great misery, with all the + exterior of servitude; liberty looks, amongst them, like something that is + more noble and liberal. I do not mean, Sir, to commend the superior + morality of this sentiment, which has at least as much pride as virtue in + it; but I cannot alter the nature of man. The fact is so; and these people + of the Southern Colonies are much more strongly, and with an higher and + more stubborn spirit, attached to liberty than those to the northward. + Such were all the ancient commonwealths; such were our Gothic ancestors; + such in our days were the Poles; and such will be all masters of slaves, + who are not slaves themselves. In such a people the haughtiness of + domination combines with the spirit of freedom, fortifies it, and renders + it invincible. + </p> + <p> + Permit me, Sir, to add another circumstance in our Colonies which + contributes no mean part towards the growth and effect of this untractable + spirit. I mean their education. In no country perhaps in the world is the + law so general a study. The profession itself is numerous and powerful; + and in most provinces it takes the lead. The greater number of the + deputies sent to the Congress were lawyers. But all who read, and most do + read, endeavor to obtain some smattering in that science. I have been told + by an eminent bookseller, that in no branch of his business, after tracts + of popular devotion, were so many books as those on the law exported to + the Plantations. The Colonists have now fallen into the way of printing + them for their own use. I hear that they have sold nearly as many of + Blackstone's Commentaries in America as in England. General Gage marks out + this disposition very particularly in a letter on your table. He states + that all the people in his government are lawyers, or smatterers in law; + and that in Boston they have been enabled, by successful chicane, wholly + to evade many parts of one of your capital penal constitutions. The + smartness of debate will say that this knowledge ought to teach them more + clearly the rights of legislature, their obligations to obedience, and the + penalties of rebellion. All this is mighty well. But my honorable and + learned friend on the floor, who condescends to mark what I say for + animadversion, will disdain that ground. He has heard, as well as I, that + when great honors and great emoluments do not win over this knowledge to + the service of the state, it is a formidable adversary to government. If + the spirit be not tamed and broken by these happy methods, it is stubborn + and litigious. Abeunt studia in mores. <a href="#linknote-26" + name="linknoteref-26" id="linknoteref-26"><small>26</small></a> This study + readers men acute, inquisitive, dexterous, prompt in attack, ready in + defence, full of resources. In other countries, the people, more simple, + and of a less mercurial cast, judge of an ill principle in government only + by an actual grievance; here they anticipate the evil, and judge of the + pressure of the grievance by the badness of the principle. They augur + misgovernment at a distance, and snuff the approach of tyranny in every + tainted breeze. + </p> + <p> + The last cause of this disobedient spirit in the Colonies is hardly less + powerful than the rest, as it is not merely moral, but laid deep in the + natural constitution of things. Three thousand miles of ocean lie between + you and them. No contrivance can prevent the effect of this distance in + weakening government. Seas roll, and months pass, between the order and + the execution, and the want of a speedy explanation of a single point is + enough to defeat a whole system. You have, indeed, winged ministers of + vengeance, <a href="#linknote-27" name="linknoteref-27" id="linknoteref-27"><small>27</small></a> + who carry your bolts in their pounces to the remotest verge of the sea. + But there a power steps in that limits the arrogance of raging passions + and furious elements, and says, SO FAR SHALL THOU GO, AND NO FARTHER. Who + are you, that you should fret and rage, and bite the chains of nature? + Nothing worse happens to you than does to all nations who have extensive + empire; and it happens in all the forms into which empire can be thrown. + In large bodies the circulation <a href="#linknote-28" + name="linknoteref-28" id="linknoteref-28"><small>28</small></a> of power + must be less vigorous at the extremities. Nature has said it. The Turk + cannot govern Egypt and Arabia and Kurdistan as he governs Thrace; nor has + he the same dominion in Crimea and Algiers which he has at Brusa and + Smyrna. Despotism itself is obliged to truck and huckster. The Sultan gets + such obedience as he can. He governs with a loose rein, that he may govern + at all; and the whole of the force and vigor of his authority in his + centre is derived from a prudent relaxation in all his borders. Spain, in + her provinces, is, perhaps, not so well obeyed as you are in yours. She + complies, too; she submits; she watches times. This is the immutable + condition, the eternal law of extensive and detached empire. + </p> + <p> + Then, Sir, from these six capital sources—of descent, of form of + government, of religion in the Northern Provinces, of manners in the + Southern, of education, of the remoteness of situation from the first + mover of government—from all these causes a fierce spirit of liberty + has grown up. It has grown with the growth of the people in your Colonies, + and increased with the increase of their wealth; a spirit that unhappily + meeting with an exercise of power in England which, however lawful, is not + reconcilable to any ideas of liberty, much less with theirs, has kindled + this flame that is ready to consume us. + </p> + <p> + I do not mean to commend either the spirit in this excess, or the moral + causes which produce it. Perhaps a more smooth and accommodating spirit of + freedom in them would be more acceptable to us. Perhaps ideas of liberty + might be desired more reconcilable with an arbitrary and boundless + authority. Perhaps we might wish the Colonists to be persuaded that their + liberty is more secure when held in trust for them by us, as their + guardians during a perpetual minority, than with any part of it in their + own hands. The question is, not whether their spirit deserves praise or + blame, but—what, in the name of God, shall we do with it? You have + before you the object, such as it is, with all its glories, with all its + imperfections <a href="#linknote-29" name="linknoteref-29" + id="linknoteref-29"><small>29</small></a> on its head. You see the + magnitude, the importance, the temper, the habits, the disorders. By all + these considerations we are strongly urged to determine something + concerning it. We are called upon to fix some rule and line for our future + conduct which may give a little stability to our politics, and prevent the + return of such unhappy deliberations as the present. Every such return + will bring the matter before us in a still more untractable form. For, + what astonishing and incredible things have we not seen already! What + monsters have not been generated from this unnatural contention! Whilst + every principle of authority and resistance has been pushed, upon both + sides, as far as it would go, there is nothing so solid and certain, + either in reasoning or in practice, that has not been shaken. Until very + lately all authority in America seemed to be nothing but an emanation from + yours. Even, the popular part of the Colony Constitution derived all its + activity and its first vital movement from the pleasure of the Crown. We + thought, Sir, that the utmost which the discontented Colonies could do was + to disturb authority; we never dreamt they could of themselves supply it—knowing + in general what an operose business it is to establish a government + absolutely new. But having, for our purposes in this contention, resolved + that none but an obedient Assembly should sit, the humors of the people + there, finding all passage through the legal channel stopped, with great + violence broke out another way. Some provinces have tried their + experiment, as we have tried ours; and theirs has succeeded. They have + formed a government sufficient for its purposes, without the bustle of a + revolution or the formality of an election. Evident necessity and tacit + consent have done the business in an instant. So well they have done it, + that Lord Dunmore—the account is among the fragments on your table—tells + you that the new institution is infinitely better obeyed than the ancient + government ever was in its most fortunate periods. Obedience is what makes + government, and not the names by which it is called; not the name of + Governor, as formerly, or Committee, as at present. This new government + has originated directly from the people, and was not transmitted through + any of the ordinary artificial media of a positive constitution. It was + not a manufacture ready formed, and transmitted to them in that condition + from England. The evil arising from hence is this; that the Colonists + having once found the possibility of enjoying the advantages of order in + the midst of a struggle for liberty, such struggles will not henceforward + seem so terrible to the settled and sober part of mankind as they had + appeared before the trial. Pursuing the same plan <a href="#linknote-30" + name="linknoteref-30" id="linknoteref-30"><small>30</small></a> of + punishing by the denial of the exercise of government to still greater + lengths, we wholly abrogated the ancient government of Massachusetts. We + were confident that the first feeling if not the very prospect, of anarchy + would instantly enforce a complete submission. The experiment was tried. A + new, strange, unexpected face of things appeared. Anarchy is found + tolerable. A vast province has now subsisted, and subsisted in a + considerable degree of health and vigor for near a twelvemonth, without + Governor, without public Council, without judges, without executive + magistrates. How long it will continue in this state, or what may arise + out of this unheard-of situation, how can the wisest of us conjecture? Our + late experience has taught us that many of those fundamental principles, + formerly believed infallible, are either not of the importance they were + imagined to be, or that we have not at all adverted to some other far more + important and far more powerful principles, which entirely overrule those + we had considered as omnipotent. I am much against any further experiments + which tend to put to the proof any more of these allowed opinions which + contribute so much to the public tranquillity. In effect we suffer as much + at home by this loosening of all ties, and this concussion of all + established opinions as we do abroad; for in order to prove that the + Americans have no right to their liberties, we are every day endeavoring + to subvert the maxims which preserve the whole spirit of our own. To prove + that the Americans ought not to be free, we are obliged to depreciate the + value of freedom itself; and we never seem to gain a paltry advantage over + them in debate without attacking some of those principles, or deriding + some of those feelings, for which our ancestors have shed their blood. + </p> + <p> + But, Sir, in wishing to put an end to pernicious experiments, I do not + mean to preclude the fullest inquiry. Far from it. Far from deciding on a + sudden or partial view, <a href="#linknote-31" name="linknoteref-31" + id="linknoteref-31"><small>31</small></a> I would patiently go round and + round the subject, and survey it minutely in every possible aspect. Sir, + if I were capable of engaging you to an equal attention, I would state + that, as far as I am capable of discerning, there are but three ways <a + href="#linknote-32" name="linknoteref-32" id="linknoteref-32"><small>32</small></a> + of proceeding relative to this stubborn spirit which prevails in your + Colonies, and disturbs your government. These are—to change that + spirit, as inconvenient, by removing the causes; to prosecute it as + criminal; or to comply with it as necessary. I would not be guilty of an + imperfect enumeration; I can think of but these three. Another has indeed + been started,—that of giving up the Colonies; but it met so slight a + reception that I do not think myself obliged to dwell a great while upon + it. It is nothing but a little sally of anger, like the forwardness of + peevish children who, when they cannot get all they would have, are + resolved to take nothing. + </p> + <p> + The first of these plans—to change the spirit, as inconvenient, by + removing the causes—I think is the most like a systematic + proceeding. It is radical in its principle; but it is attended with great + difficulties, some of them little short, as I conceive, of + impossibilities. This will appear by examining into the plans which have + been proposed. + </p> + <p> + As the growing population in the Colonies is evidently one cause of their + resistance, it was last session mentioned in both Houses, by men of + weight, and received not without applause, that in order to check this + evil it would be proper for the Crown to make no further grants of land. + But to this scheme there are two objections. The first, that there is + already so much unsettled land in private hands as to afford room for an + immense future population, although the Crown not only withheld its + grants, but annihilated its soil. If this be the case, then the only + effect of this avarice of desolation, this hoarding of a royal wilderness, + would be to raise the value of the possessions in the hands of the great + private monopolists without any adequate cheek to the growing and alarming + mischief of population. + </p> + <p> + But if you stopped your grants, what would be the consequence? The people + would occupy without grants. They have already so occupied in many places. + You cannot station garrisons in every part of these deserts. If you drive + the people from one place, they will carry on their annual tillage, and + remove with their flocks and herds to another. Many of the people in the + back settlements are already little attached to particular situations. + Already they have topped the Appalachian Mountains. From thence they + behold before them an immense plain, one vast, rich, level meadow; a + square of five hundred miles. Over this they would wander without a + possibility of restraint; they would change their manners with the habits + of their life; would soon forget a government by which they were disowned; + would become hordes of English Tartars; and, pouring down upon your + unfortified frontiers a fierce and irresistible cavalry, become masters of + your governors and your counsellors, your collectors and comptrollers, and + of all the slaves that adhered to them. Such would, and in no long time + must be, the effect of attempting to forbid as a crime and to suppress as + an evil the command and blessing of providence, INCREASE AND MULTIPLY. + Such would be the happy result of the endeavor to keep as a lair of wild + beasts that earth which God, by an express charter, has given to the + children of men. Far different, and surely much wiser, has been our policy + hitherto. Hitherto we have invited our people, by every kind of bounty, to + fixed establishments. We have invited the husbandman to look to authority + for his title. We have taught him piously to believe in the mysterious + virtue of wax and parchment. We have thrown each tract of land, as it was + peopled, into districts, that the ruling power should never be wholly out + of sight. We have settled all we could; and we have carefully attended + every settlement with government. + </p> + <p> + Adhering, Sir, as I do, to this policy, as well as for the reasons I have + just given, I think this new project of hedging-in population to be + neither prudent nor practicable. + </p> + <p> + To impoverish the Colonies in general, and in particular to arrest the + noble course of their marine enterprises, would be a more easy task. I + freely confess it. We have shown a disposition to a system of this kind, a + disposition even to continue the restraint after the offence, looking on + ourselves as rivals to our Colonies, and persuaded that of course we must + gain all that they shall lose. Much mischief we may certainly do. The + power inadequate to all other things is often more than sufficient for + this. I do not look on the direct and immediate power of the Colonies to + resist our violence as very formidable. In this, however, I may be + mistaken. But when I consider that we have Colonies for no purpose but to + be serviceable to us, it seems to my poor understanding a little + preposterous to make them unserviceable in order to keep them obedient. It + is, in truth, nothing more than the old and, as I thought, exploded + problem of tyranny, which proposes to beggar its subjects into submission. + But remember, when you have completed your system of impoverishment, that + nature still proceeds in her ordinary course; that discontent will + increase with misery; and that there are critical moments in the fortune + of all states when they who are too weak to contribute to your prosperity + may be strong enough to complete your ruin. Spoliatis arma supersunt. <a + href="#linknote-34" name="linknoteref-34" id="linknoteref-34"><small>34</small></a> + </p> + <p> + The temper and character which prevail in our Colonies are, I am afraid, + unalterable by any human art. We cannot, I fear, falsify the pedigree of + this fierce people, and persuade them that they are not sprung from a + nation in whose veins the blood of freedom circulates. The language in + which they would hear you tell them this tale would detect the imposition; + your speech would betray you. <a href="#linknote-35" name="linknoteref-35" + id="linknoteref-35"><small>35</small></a> An Englishman is the unfittest + person on earth to argue another Englishman into slavery. + </p> + <p> + I think it is nearly as little in our power to change their republican + religion as their free descent; or to substitute the Roman Catholic as a + penalty, or the Church of England as an improvement. The mode of + inquisition and dragooning is going out of fashion in the Old World, and I + should not confide much to their efficacy in the New. The education of the + Americans is also on the same unalterable bottom with their religion. You + cannot persuade them to burn their books of curious science; to banish + their lawyers from their courts of laws; or to quench the lights of their + assemblies by refusing to choose those persons who are best read in their + privileges. It would be no less impracticable to think of wholly + annihilating the popular assemblies in which these lawyers sit. The army, + by which we must govern in their place, would be far more chargeable to + us, not quite so effectual, and perhaps in the end full as difficult to be + kept in obedience. With regard to the high aristocratic spirit of Virginia + and the Southern Colonies, it has been proposed, I know, to reduce it by + declaring a general enfranchisement of their slaves. This object has had + its advocates and panegyrists; yet I never could argue myself into any + opinion of it. Slaves are often much attached to their masters. A general + wild offer of liberty would not always be accepted. History furnishes few + instances of it. It is sometimes as hard to persuade slaves <a + href="#linknote-36" name="linknoteref-36" id="linknoteref-36"><small>36</small></a> + to be free, as it is to compel freemen to be slaves; and in this + auspicious scheme we should have both these pleasing tasks on our hands at + once. But when we talk of enfranchisement, do we not perceive that the + American master may enfranchise too, and arm servile hands in defence of + freedom?—a measure to which other people have had recourse more than + once, and not without success, in a desperate situation of their affairs. + </p> + <p> + Slaves as these unfortunate black people are, and dull as all men are from + slavery, must they not a little suspect the offer of freedom from that + very nation which has sold them to their present masters?—from that + nation, one of whose causes of quarrel <a href="#linknote-37" + name="linknoteref-37" id="linknoteref-37"><small>37</small></a> with those + masters is their refusal to deal any more in that inhuman traffic? An + offer of freedom from England would come rather oddly, shipped to them in + an African vessel which is refused an entry into the ports of Virginia or + Carolina with a cargo of three hundred Angola negroes. It would be curious + to see the Guinea captain attempting at the same instant to publish his + proclamation of liberty, and to advertise his sale of slaves. + </p> + <p> + But let us suppose all these moral difficulties got over. The ocean + remains. You cannot pump this dry; and as long as it continues in its + present bed, so long all the causes which weaken authority by distance + will continue. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "Ye gods, annihilate but space and time, + And make two lovers happy!" +</pre> + <p> + was a pious and passionate prayer; but just as reasonable as many of the + serious wishes of grave and solemn politicians. + </p> + <p> + If then, Sir, it seems almost desperate to think of any alterative course + for changing the moral causes, and not quite easy to remove the natural, + which produce prejudices irreconcilable to the late exercise of our + authority—but that the spirit infallibly will continue, and, + continuing, will produce such effects as now embarrass us—the second + mode under consideration is to prosecute that spirit in its overt acts as + criminal. + </p> + <p> + At this proposition I must pause a moment. The thing seems a great deal + too big for my ideas of jurisprudence. It should seem to my way of + conceiving such matters that there is a very wide difference, in reason + and policy, between the mode of proceeding on the irregular conduct of + scattered individuals, or even of bands of men who disturb order within + the state, and the civil dissensions which may, from time to time, on + great questions, agitate the several communities which compose a great + empire. It looks to me to be narrow and pedantic to apply the ordinary + ideas of criminal justice to this great public contest. I do not know the + method of drawing up an indictment against a whole people. I cannot insult + and ridicule the feelings of millions of my fellow-creatures as Sir Edward + Coke insulted one excellent individual (Sir Walter Raleigh) at the bar. I + hope I am not ripe to pass sentence on the gravest public bodies, + intrusted with magistracies of great authority and dignity, and charged + with the safety of their fellow-citizens, upon the very same title that I + am. I really think that, for wise men, this is not judicious; for sober + men, not decent; for minds tinctured with humanity, not mild and merciful. + </p> + <p> + Perhaps, Sir, I am mistaken in my idea of an empire, as distinguished from + a single state or kingdom. But my idea of it is this; that an empire is + the aggregate of many states under one common head, whether this head be a + monarch or a presiding republic. It does, in such constitutions, + frequently happen—and nothing but the dismal, cold, dead uniformity + of servitude can prevent its happening—that the subordinate parts + have many local privileges and immunities. Between these privileges and + the supreme common authority the line may be extremely nice. Of course + disputes, often, too, very bitter disputes, and much ill blood, will + arise. But though every privilege is an exemption, in the case, from the + ordinary exercise of the supreme authority, it is no denial of it. The + claim of a privilege seems rather, ex vi termini, <a href="#linknote-38" + name="linknoteref-38" id="linknoteref-38"><small>38</small></a> to imply a + superior power; for to talk of the privileges of a state or of a person + who has no superior is hardly any better than speaking nonsense. Now, in + such unfortunate quarrels among the component parts of a great political + union of communities, I can scarcely conceive anything more completely + imprudent than for the head of the empire to insist that, if any privilege + is pleaded against his will or his acts, his whole authority is denied; + instantly to proclaim rebellion, to beat to arms, and to put the offending + provinces under the ban. Will not this, Sir, very soon teach the provinces + to make no distinctions on their part? Will it not teach them that the + government, against which a claim of liberty is tantamount to high + treason, is a government to which submission is equivalent to slavery? It + may not always be quite convenient to impress dependent communities with + such an idea. + </p> + <p> + We are, indeed, in all disputes with the Colonies, by the necessity of + things, the judge. It is true, Sir. But I confess that the character of + judge in my own cause is a thing that frightens me. Instead of filling me + with pride, I am exceedingly humbled by it. I cannot proceed with a stern, + assured, judicial confidence, until I find myself in something more like a + judicial character. I must have these hesitations as long as I am + compelled to recollect that, in my little reading upon such contests as + these, the sense of mankind has at least as often decided against the + superior as the subordinate power. Sir, let me add, too, that the opinion + of my having some abstract right <a href="#linknote-39" + name="linknoteref-39" id="linknoteref-39"><small>39</small></a> in my + favor would not put me much at my ease in passing sentence, unless I could + be sure that there were no rights which, in their exercise under certain + circumstances, were not the most odious of all wrongs and the most + vexatious of all injustice. Sir, these considerations have great weight + with me when I find things so circumstanced, that I see the same party at + once a civil litigant against me in point of right and a culprit before + me, while I sit as a criminal judge on acts of his whose moral quality is + to be decided upon the merits of that very litigation. Men are every now + and then put, by the complexity of human affairs, into strange situations; + but justice is the same, let the judge be in what situation he will. + </p> + <p> + There is, Sir, also a circumstance which convinces me that this mode of + criminal proceeding is not, at least in the present stage of our contest, + altogether expedient; which is nothing less than the conduct of those very + persons who have seemed to adopt that mode by lately declaring a rebellion + in Massachusetts Bay, as they had formerly addressed to have traitors + brought hither, under an Act of Henry the Eighth, <a href="#linknote-40" + name="linknoteref-40" id="linknoteref-40"><small>40</small></a> for trial. + For though rebellion is declared, it is not proceeded against as such, nor + have any steps been taken towards the apprehension or conviction of any + individual offender, either on our late or our former Address; but modes + of public coercion have been adopted, and such as have much more + resemblance to a sort of qualified hostility towards an independent power + than the punishment of rebellious subjects. All this seems rather + inconsistent; but it shows how difficult it is to apply these juridical + ideas to our present case. + </p> + <p> + In this situation, let us seriously and coolly ponder. What is it we have + got by all our menaces, which have been many and ferocious? What advantage + have we derived from the penal laws we have passed, and which, for the + time, have been severe and numerous? What advances have we made towards + our object by the sending of a force which, by land and sea, is no + contemptible strength? Has the disorder abated? Nothing less. When I see + things in this situation after such confident hopes, bold promises, and + active exertions, I cannot, for my life, avoid a suspicion that the plan + itself is not correctly right. <a href="#linknote-41" name="linknoteref-41" + id="linknoteref-41"><small>41</small></a> + </p> + <p> + If, then, the removal of the causes of this spirit of American liberty be + for the greater part, or rather entirely, impracticable; if the ideas of + criminal process be inapplicable—or, if applicable, are in the + highest degree inexpedient; what way yet remains? No way is open but the + third and last,—to comply with the American spirit as necessary; or, + if you please, to submit to it as a necessary evil. + </p> + <p> + If we adopt this mode,—if we mean to conciliate and concede,—let + us see of what nature the concession ought to be. To ascertain the nature + of our concession, we must look at their complaint. The Colonies complain + that they have not the characteristic mark and seal of British freedom. + They complain that they are taxed in a Parliament in which they are not + represented. If you mean to satisfy them at all, you must satisfy them + with regard to this complaint. If you mean to please any people you must + give them the boon which they ask; not what you may think better for them, + but of a kind totally different. Such an act may be a wise regulation, but + it is no concession; whereas our present theme is the mode of giving + satisfaction. + </p> + <p> + Sir, I think you must perceive that I am resolved this day to have nothing + at all to do with the question of the right of taxation. Some gentlemen + start—but it is true; I put it totally out of the question. It is + less than nothing in my consideration. I do not indeed wonder, nor will + you, Sir, that gentlemen of profound learning are fond of displaying it on + this profound subject. But my consideration is narrow, confined, and + wholly limited to the policy of the question. I do not examine whether the + giving away a man's money be a power excepted and reserved out of the + general trust of government, and how far all mankind, in all forms of + polity, are entitled to an exercise of that right by the charter of + nature; or whether, on the contrary, a right of taxation is necessarily + involved in the general principle of legislation, and inseparable from the + ordinary supreme power. These are deep questions, where great names + militate against each other, where reason is perplexed, and an appeal to + authorities only thickens the confusion; for high and reverend authorities + lift up their heads on both sides, and there is no sure footing in the + middle. This point is the great + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "Serbonian bog, + Betwixt Damiata and Mount Casius old, + Where armies whole have sunk." + <a href="#linknote-42" name="linknoteref-42" id="linknoteref-42">42</a> +</pre> + <p> + I do not intend to be overwhelmed in that bog, though in such respectable + company. The question <a href="#linknote-43" name="linknoteref-43" + id="linknoteref-43"><small>43</small></a> with me is, not whether you have + a right to render your people miserable, but whether it is not your + interest to make them happy. It is not what a lawyer tells me I MAY do, + but what humanity, reason, and justice tell me I OUGHT to do. Is a politic + act the worse for being a generous one? Is no concession proper but that + which is made from your want of right to keep what you grant? Or does it + lessen the grace or dignity of relaxing in the exercise of an odious claim + because you have your evidence-room full of titles, and your magazines + stuffed with arms to enforce them? What signify all those titles, and all + those arms? Of what avail are they, when the reason of the thing tells me + that the assertion of my title is the loss of my suit, and that I could do + nothing but wound myself by the use of my own weapons? + </p> + <p> + Such is steadfastly my opinion of the absolute necessity of keeping up the + concord of this Empire by an unity of spirit, though in a diversity of + operations, that, if I were sure the Colonists had, at their leaving this + country, sealed a regular compact of servitude; that they had solemnly + abjured all the rights of citizens; that they had made a vow to renounce + all ideas of liberty for them and their posterity to all generations; yet + I should hold myself obliged to conform to the temper I found universally + prevalent in my own day, and to govern two million of men, impatient of + servitude, on the principles of freedom. I am not determining a point of + law, I am restoring tranquillity; and the general character and situation + of a people must determine what sort of government is fitted for them. + That point nothing else can or ought to determine. + </p> + <p> + My idea, therefore, without considering whether we yield as matter of + right, or grant as matter of favor, is to admit the people of our Colonies + into an interest in the Constitution; and, by recording that admission in + the journals of Parliament, to give them as strong an assurance as the + nature of the thing will admit, that we mean forever to adhere to that + solemn declaration of systematic indulgence. + </p> + <p> + Some years ago the repeal of a revenue Act, upon its understood principle, + might have served to show that we intended an unconditional abatement of + the exercise of a taxing power. Such a measure was then sufficient to + remove all suspicion, and to give perfect content. But unfortunate events + since that time may make something further necessary; and not more + necessary for the satisfaction of the Colonies than for the dignity and + consistency of our own future proceedings. + </p> + <p> + I have taken a very incorrect measure of the disposition of the House if + this proposal in itself would be received with dislike. I think, Sir, we + have few American financiers. But our misfortune is, we are too acute, we + are too exquisite <a href="#linknote-44" name="linknoteref-44" + id="linknoteref-44"><small>44</small></a> in our conjectures of the + future, for men oppressed with such great and present evils. The more + moderate among the opposers of Parliamentary concession freely confess + that they hope no good from taxation, but they apprehend the Colonists + have further views; and if this point were conceded, they would instantly + attack the trade laws. <a href="#linknote-45" name="linknoteref-45" + id="linknoteref-45"><small>45</small></a> These gentlemen are convinced + that this was the intention from the beginning, and the quarrel of the + Americans with taxation was no more than a cloak and cover to this design. + Such has been the language even of a gentleman of real moderation, and of + a natural temper well adjusted to fair and equal government. I am, + however, Sir, not a little surprised at this kind of discourse, whenever I + hear it; and I am the more surprised on account of the arguments which I + constantly find in company with it, and which are often urged from the + same mouths and on the same day. + </p> + <p> + For instance, when we allege that it is against reason to tax a people + under so many restraints in trade as the Americans, the noble lord in the + blue ribbon shall tell you that the restraints on trade are futile and + useless—of no advantage to us, and of no burthen to those on whom + they are imposed; that the trade to America is not secured by the Acts of + Navigation, but by the natural and irresistible advantage of a commercial + preference. + </p> + <p> + Such is the merit of the trade laws in this posture of the debate. But + when strong internal circumstances are urged against the taxes; when the + scheme is dissected; when experience and the nature of things are brought + to prove, and do prove, the utter impossibility of obtaining an effective + revenue from the Colonies; when these things are pressed, or rather press + themselves, so as to drive the advocates of Colony taxes to a clear + admission of the futility of the scheme; then, Sir, the sleeping trade + laws revive from their trance, and this useless taxation is to be kept + sacred, not for its own sake, but as a counterguard and security of the + laws of trade. + </p> + <p> + Then, Sir, you keep up revenue laws which are mischievous, in order to + preserve trade laws that are useless. Such is the wisdom of our plan in + both its members. They are separately given up as of no value, and yet one + is always to be defended for the sake of the other; but I cannot agree + with the noble lord, nor with the pamphlet from whence he seems to have + borrowed these ideas concerning the inutility of the trade laws. For, + without idolizing them, I am sure they are still, in many ways, of great + use to us; and in former times they have been of the greatest. They do + confine, and they do greatly narrow, the market for the Americans; but my + perfect conviction of this does not help me in the least to discern how + the revenue laws form any security whatsoever to the commercial + regulations, or that these commercial regulations are the true ground of + the quarrel, or that the giving way, in any one instance of authority, is + to lose all that may remain unconceded. + </p> + <p> + One fact is clear and indisputable. The public and avowed origin of this + quarrel was on taxation. This quarrel has indeed brought on new disputes + on new questions; but certainly the least bitter, and the fewest of all, + on the trade laws. To judge which of the two be the real radical cause of + quarrel, we have to see whether the commercial dispute did, in order of + time, precede the dispute on taxation? There is not a shadow of evidence + for it. Next, to enable us to judge whether at this moment a dislike to + the trade laws be the real cause of quarrel, it is absolutely necessary to + put the taxes out of the question by a repeal. See how the Americans act + in this position, and then you will be able to discern correctly what is + the true object of the controversy, or whether any controversy at all will + remain. Unless you consent to remove this cause of difference, it is + impossible, with decency, to assert that the dispute is not upon what it + is avowed to be. And I would, Sir, recommend to your serious consideration + whether it be prudent to form a rule for punishing people, not on their + own acts, but on your conjectures? Surely it is preposterous at the very + best. It is not justifying your anger by their misconduct, but it is + converting your ill-will into their delinquency. + </p> + <p> + But the Colonies will go further. Alas! alas! when will this speculation + against fact and reason end? What will quiet these panic fears which we + entertain of the hostile effect of a conciliatory conduct? Is it true that + no case can exist in which it is proper for the sovereign to accede to the + desires of his discontented subjects? Is there anything peculiar in this + case to make a rule for itself? Is all authority of course lost when it is + not pushed to the extreme? Is it a certain maxim that the fewer causes of + dissatisfaction are left by government, the more the subject will be + inclined to resist and rebel? + </p> + <p> + All these objections being in fact no more than suspicions, conjectures, + divinations, formed in defiance of fact and experience, they did not, Sir, + discourage me from entertaining the idea of a conciliatory concession + founded on the principles which I have just stated. + </p> + <p> + In forming a plan for this purpose, I endeavored to put myself in that + frame of mind which was the most natural and the most reasonable, and + which was certainly the most probable means of securing me from all error. + I set out with a perfect distrust of my own abilities, a total + renunciation of every speculation of my own, and with a profound reverence + for the wisdom of our ancestors who have left us the inheritance of so + happy a constitution and so flourishing an empire, and, what is a thousand + times more valuable, the treasury of the maxims and principles which + formed the one and obtained the other. + </p> + <p> + During the reigns of the kings of Spain of the Austrian family, whenever + they were at a loss in the Spanish councils, it was common for their + statesmen to say that they ought to consult the genius of Philip the + Second. The genius of Philip the Second might mislead them, and the issue + of their affairs showed that they had not chosen the most perfect + standard; but, Sir, I am sure that I shall not be misled when, in a case + of constitutional difficulty, I consult the genius of the English + Constitution. Consulting at that oracle—it was with all due humility + and piety—I found four capital examples in a similar case before me; + those of Ireland, Wales, Chester, and Durham. + </p> + <p> + Ireland, before the English conquest, <a href="#linknote-46" + name="linknoteref-46" id="linknoteref-46"><small>46</small></a> though + never governed by a despotic power, had no Parliament. How far the English + Parliament itself was at that time modelled according to the present form + is disputed among antiquaries; but we have all the reason in the world to + be assured that a form of Parliament such as England then enjoyed she + instantly communicated to Ireland, and we are equally sure that almost + every successive improvement in constitutional liberty, as fast as it was + made here, was transmitted thither. The feudal baronage and the feudal + knighthood, the roots of our primitive Constitution, were early + transplanted into that soil, and grew and flourished there. Magna Charta, + if it did not give us originally the House of Commons, gave us at least a + House of Commons of weight and consequence. But your ancestors did not + churlishly sit down alone to the feast of Magna Charta. Ireland was made + immediately a partaker. This benefit of English laws and liberties, I + confess, was not at first extended to all Ireland. Mark the consequence. + English authority and English liberties had exactly the same boundaries. + Your standard could never be advanced an inch before your privileges. Sir + John Davis shows beyond a doubt that the refusal of a general + communication of these rights was the true cause why Ireland was five + hundred years in subduing; and after the vain projects of a military + government, attempted in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, it was soon + discovered that nothing could make that country English, in civility and + allegiance, but your laws and your forms of legislature. It was not + English arms, but the English Constitution, that conquered Ireland. From + that time Ireland has ever had a general Parliament, as she had before a + partial Parliament. You changed the people; you altered the religion; but + you never touched the form or the vital substance of free government in + that kingdom. You deposed kings; <a href="#linknote-47" + name="linknoteref-47" id="linknoteref-47"><small>47</small></a> you + restored them; you altered the succession to theirs, as well as to your + own Crown; but you never altered their Constitution, the principle of + which was respected by usurpation, restored with the restoration of + monarchy, and established, I trust, forever, by the glorious Revolution. + This has made Ireland the great and flourishing kingdom that it is, and, + from a disgrace and a burthen intolerable to this nation, has rendered her + a principal part of our strength and ornament. This country cannot be said + to have ever formally taxed her. The irregular things done in the + confusion of mighty troubles and on the hinge of great revolutions, even + if all were done that is said to have been done, form no example. If they + have any effect in argument, they make an exception to prove the rule. + None of your own liberties could stand a moment, if the casual deviations + from them at such times were suffered to be used as proofs of their + nullity. By the lucrative amount of such casual breaches in the + Constitution, judge what the stated and fixed rule of supply has been in + that kingdom. Your Irish pensioners would starve, if they had no other + fund to live on than taxes granted by English authority. Turn your eyes to + those popular grants from whence all your great supplies are come, and + learn to respect that only source of public wealth in the British Empire. + </p> + <p> + My next example is Wales. This country was said to be reduced by Henry the + Third. It was said more truly to be so by Edward the First. But though + then conquered, it was not looked upon as any part of the realm of + England. Its old Constitution, whatever that might have been, was + destroyed, and no good one was substituted in its place. The care of that + tract was put into the hands of Lords Marchers <a href="#linknote-48" + name="linknoteref-48" id="linknoteref-48"><small>48</small></a>—a + form of government of a very singular kind; a strange heterogeneous + monster, something between hostility and government; perhaps it has a sort + of resemblance, according to the modes of those terms, to that of + Commander-in-chief at present, to whom all civil power is granted as + secondary. The manners of the Welsh nation followed the genius of the + government. The people were ferocious, restive, savage, and uncultivated; + sometimes composed, never pacified. Wales, within itself, was in perpetual + disorder, and it kept the frontier of England in perpetual alarm. Benefits + from it to the state there were none. Wales was only known to England by + incursion and invasion. + </p> + <p> + Sir, during that state of things, Parliament was not idle. They attempted + to subdue the fierce spirit of the Welsh by all sorts of rigorous laws. + They prohibited by statute the sending all sorts of arms into Wales, as + you prohibit by proclamation (with something more of doubt on the + legality) the sending arms to America. They disarmed the Welsh by statute, + as you attempted (but still with more question on the legality) to disarm + New England by an instruction. They made an Act to drag offenders from + Wales into England for trial, as you have done (but with more hardship) + with regard to America. By another Act, where one of the parties was an + Englishman, they ordained that his trial should be always by English. They + made Acts to restrain trade, as you do; and they prevented the Welsh from + the use of fairs and markets, as you do the Americans from fisheries and + foreign ports. In short, when the Statute Book was not quite so much + swelled as it is now, you find no less than fifteen acts of penal + regulation on the subject of Wales. + </p> + <p> + Here we rub our hands.—A fine body of precedents for the authority + of Parliament and the use of it!—I admit it fully; and pray add + likewise to these precedents that all the while Wales rid this Kingdom + like an incubus, that it was an unprofitable and oppressive burthen, and + that an Englishman travelling in that country could not go six yards from + the high road without being murdered. + </p> + <p> + The march of the human mind is slow. Sir, it was not until after two + hundred years discovered that, by an eternal law, providence had decreed + vexation to violence, and poverty to rapine. Your ancestors did however at + length open their eyes to the ill-husbandry of injustice. They found that + the tyranny of a free people could of all tyrannies the least be endured, + and that laws made against a whole nation were not the most effectual + methods of securing its obedience. Accordingly, in the twenty-seventh year + of Henry the Eighth the course was entirely altered. With a preamble + stating the entire and perfect rights of the Crown of England, it gave to + the Welsh all the rights and privileges of English subjects. A political + order was established; the military power gave way to the civil; the + Marches were turned into Counties. But that a nation should have a right + to English liberties, and yet no share at all in the fundamental security + of these liberties—the grant of their own property—seemed a + thing so incongruous that, eight years after, that is, in the thirty-fifth + of that reign, a complete and not ill-proportioned representation by + counties and boroughs was bestowed upon Wales by Act of Parliament. From + that moment, as by a charm, the tumults subsided; obedience was restored; + peace, order, and civilization followed in the train of liberty. When the + day-star of the English Constitution had arisen in their hearts, all was + harmony within and without— + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "—simul alba nautis + Stella refulsit, + Defluit saxis agitatus humor; + Concidunt venti, fugiuntque nubes, + Et minax (quod sic voluere) ponto + Unda recumbit." + <a href="#linknote-49" name="linknoteref-49" id="linknoteref-49">49</a> +</pre> + <p> + The very same year the County Palatine of Chester received the same relief + from its oppressions and the same remedy to its disorders. Before this + time Chester was little less distempered than Wales. The inhabitants, + without rights themselves, were the fittest to destroy the rights of + others; and from thence Richard the Second drew the standing army of + archers with which for a time he oppressed England. The people of Chester + applied to Parliament in a petition penned as I shall read to you: + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "To the King, our Sovereign Lord, in most hunible wise + shewen unto your excellent Majesty the inhabitants of + your Grace's County Palatine of Chester: (1) That where + the said County Palatine of Chester is and hath been always + hitherto exempt, excluded, and separated out and + from your High Court of Parliament, to have any Knights + and Burgesses within the said Court; by reason whereof + the said inhabitants have hitherto sustained manifold + disherisons, losses, and damages, as well in their lands, + goods, and bodies, as in the good, civil, and politic governance + and maintenance of the commonwealth of their said + county; (2) And forasmuch as the said inhabitants have + always hitherto been bound by the Acts and Statutes + made and ordained by your said Highness and your most + noble progenitors, by authority of the said Court, as far + forth as other counties, cities, and boroughs have been, + that have had their Knights and Burgesses within your + said Court of Parliament, and yet have had neither Knight + ne Burgess there for the said County Palatine, the said + inhabitants, for lack thereof, have been oftentime touched + and grieved with Acts and Statutes made within the said + Court, as well derogatory unto the most ancient jurisdictions, + liberties, and privileges of your said County Palatine, + as prejudicial unto the commonwealth, quietness, + rest, and peace of your Grace's most bounden subjects + inhabiting within the same." +</pre> + <p> + What did Parliament with this audacious address?—Reject it as a + libel? Treat it as an affront to Government? Spurn it as a derogation from + the rights of legislature? Did they toss it over the table? Did they burn + it by the hands of the common hangman?—They took the petition of + grievance, all rugged as it was, without softening or temperament, + unpurged of the original bitterness and indignation of complaint—they + made it the very preamble to their Act of redress, and consecrated its + principle to all ages in the sanctuary of legislation. + </p> + <p> + Here is my third example. It was attended with the success of the two + former. Chester, civilized as well as Wales, has demonstrated that + freedom, and not servitude, is the cure of anarchy; as religion, and not + atheism, is the true remedy for superstition. Sir, this pattern of Chester + was followed in the reign of Charles the Second with regard to the County + Palatine of Durham, which is my fourth example. This county had long lain + out of the pale of free legislation. So scrupulously was the example of + Chester followed that the style of the preamble is nearly the same with + that of the Chester Act, and, without affecting the abstract extent of the + authority of Parliament, it recognizes the equity of not suffering any + considerable district in which the British subjects may act as a body, to + be taxed without their own voice in the grant. + </p> + <p> + Now if the doctrines of policy contained in these preambles, and the force + of these examples in the Acts of Parliaments, avail anything, what can be + said against applying them with regard to America? Are not the people of + America as much Englishmen as the Welsh? The preamble of the Act of Henry + the Eighth says the Welsh speak a language no way resembling that of his + Majesty's English subjects. Are the Americans not as numerous? If we may + trust the learned and accurate Judge Barrington's account of North Wales, + and take that as a standard to measure the rest, there is no comparison. + The people cannot amount to above 200,000; not a tenth part of the number + in the Colonies. Is America in rebellion? Wales was hardly ever free from + it. Have you attempted to govern America by penal statutes? You made + fifteen for Wales. But your legislative authority is perfect with regard + to America. Was it less perfect in Wales, Chester, and Durham? But America + is virtually represented. What! does the electric force of virtual + representation more easily pass over the Atlantic than pervade Wales,—which + lies in your neighborhood—or than Chester and Durham, surrounded by + abundance of representation that is actual and palpable? But, Sir, your + ancestors thought this sort of virtual representation, however ample, to + be totally insufficient for the freedom of the inhabitants of territories + that are so near, and comparatively so inconsiderable. How then can I + think it sufficient for those which are infinitely greater, and infinitely + more remote? + </p> + <p> + You will now, Sir, perhaps imagine that I am on the point of proposing to + you a scheme for a representation of the Colonies in Parliament. Perhaps I + might be inclined to entertain some such thought; but a great flood stops + me in my course. Opposuit natura. <a href="#linknote-50" + name="linknoteref-50" id="linknoteref-50"><small>50</small></a>—I + cannot remove the eternal barriers of the creation. The thing, in that + mode, I do not know to be possible. As I meddle with no theory,<a + href="#linknote-51" name="linknoteref-51" id="linknoteref-51"><small>51</small></a> + I do not absolutely assert the impracticability of such a representation; + but I do not see my way to it, and those who have been more confident have + not been more successful. However, the arm of public benevolence is not + shortened, and there are often several means to the same end. What nature + has disjoined in one way, wisdom may unite in another. When we cannot give + the benefit as we would wish, let us not refuse it altogether. If we + cannot give the principal, let us find a substitute. But how? Where? What + substitute? + </p> + <p> + Fortunately I am not obliged, for the ways and means of this substitute, + to tax my own unproductive invention. I am not even obliged to go to the + rich treasury of the fertile framers of imaginary commonwealths—not + to the Republic of Plato, not to the Utopia of More, <a href="#linknote-52" + name="linknoteref-52" id="linknoteref-52"><small>52</small></a> not to the + Oceana of Harrington. It is before me—it is at my feet, + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "And the rude swain Treads daily on it with his clouted shoon." + <a href="#linknote-53" name="linknoteref-53" id="linknoteref-53">53</a> +</pre> + <p> + I only wish you to recognize, for the theory, the ancient constitutional + policy of this kingdom with regard to representation, as that policy has + been declared in Acts of Parliament; and as to the practice, to return to + that mode which a uniform experience has marked out to you as best, and in + which you walked with security, advantage, and honor, until the year 1763. + <a href="#linknote-54" name="linknoteref-54" id="linknoteref-54"><small>54</small></a> + </p> + <p> + My Resolutions therefore mean to establish the equity and justice of a + taxation of America by GRANT, and not by IMPOSITION; to mark the LEGAL + COMPETENCY <a href="#linknote-55" name="linknoteref-55" id="linknoteref-55"><small>55</small></a> + of the Colony Assemblies for the support of their government in peace, and + for public aids in time of war; to acknowledge that this legal competency + has had a DUTIFUL AND BENEFICIAL EXERCISE; and that experience has shown + the BENEFIT OF THEIR GRANTS and the FUTILITY OF PARLIAMENTARY TAXATION as + a method of supply. + </p> + <p> + These solid truths compose six fundamental propositions. There are three + more Resolutions corollary to these. If you admit the first set, you can + hardly reject the others. But if you admit the first, I shall be far from + solicitous whether you accept or refuse the last. I think these six + massive pillars will be of strength sufficient to support the temple of + British concord. I have no more doubt than I entertain of my existence + that, if you admitted these, you would command an immediate peace, and, + with but tolerable future management, a lasting obedience in America. I am + not arrogant in this confident assurance. The propositions are all mere + matters of fact, and if they are such facts as draw irresistible + conclusions even in the stating, this is the power of truth, and not any + management of mine. + </p> + <p> + Sir, I shall open the whole plan to you, together with such observations + on the motions as may tend to illustrate them where they may want + explanation. The first is a Resolution— + </p> + <p> + "That the Colonies and Plantations of Great Britain in North America, + consisting of fourteen separate Governments, and containing two millions + and upwards of free inhabitants, have not had the liberty and privilege of + electing and sending any Knights and Burgesses, or others, to represent + them in the High Court of Parliament." + </p> + <p> + This is a plain matter of fact, necessary to be laid down, and, excepting + the description, it is laid down in the language of the Constitution; it + is taken nearly verbatim from Acts of Parliament. + </p> + <p> + The second is like unto the first— + </p> + <p> + "That the said Colonies and Plantations have been liable to, and bounden + by, several subsidies, payments, rates, and taxes given and granted by + Parliament, though the said Colonies and Plantations have not their + Knights and Burgesses in the said High Court of Parliament, of their own + election, to represent the condition of their country; by lack whereof + they have been oftentimes touched and grieved by subsidies given, granted, + and assented to, in the said Court, in a manner prejudicial to the + commonwealth, quietness, rest, and peace of the subjects inhabiting within + the same." + </p> + <p> + Is this description too hot, or too cold; too strong, or too weak? Does it + arrogate too much to the supreme legislature? Does it lean too much to the + claims of the people? If it runs into any of these errors, the fault is + not mine. It is the language of your own ancient Acts of Parliament. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "Non meus hic sermo, sed quae praecepit Ofellus, + Rusticus, abnormis sapiens." + <a href="#linknote-56" name="linknoteref-56" id="linknoteref-56">56</a> +</pre> + <p> + It is the genuine produce of the ancient, rustic, manly, homebred sense of + this country.—I did not dare to rub off a particle of the venerable + rust that rather adorns and preserves, than destroys, the metal. It would + be a profanation to touch with a tool the stones which construct the + sacred altar of peace. I would not violate with modern polish the + ingenuous and noble roughness of these truly Constitutional materials. + Above all things, I was resolved not to be guilty of tampering, the odious + vice of restless and unstable minds. I put my foot in the tracks of our + forefathers, where I can neither wander nor stumble. Determining to fix + articles of peace, I was resolved not to be wise beyond what was written; + I was resolved to use nothing else than the form of sound words, to let + others abound in their own sense, and carefully to abstain from all + expressions of my own. What the law has said, I say. In all things else I + am silent. I have no organ but for her words. This, if it be not + ingenious, I am sure is safe. <a href="#linknote-57" name="linknoteref-57" + id="linknoteref-57"><small>57</small></a> + </p> + <p> + There are indeed words expressive of grievance in this second Resolution, + which those who are resolved always to be in the right will deny to + contain matter of fact, as applied to the present case, although + Parliament thought them true with regard to the counties of Chester and + Durham. They will deny that the Americans were ever "touched and grieved" + with the taxes. If they consider nothing in taxes but their weight as + pecuniary impositions, there might be some pretence for this denial; but + men may be sorely touched and deeply grieved in their privileges, as well + as in their purses. Men may lose little in property by the act which takes + away all their freedom. When a man is robbed of a trifle on the highway, + it is not the twopence lost that constitutes the capital outrage. This is + not confined to privileges. Even ancient indulgences, withdrawn without + offence on the part of those who enjoyed such favors, operate as + grievances. But were the Americans then not touched and grieved by the + taxes, in some measure, merely as taxes? If so, why were they almost all + either wholly repealed, or exceedingly reduced? Were they not touched and + grieved even by the regulating duties of the sixth of George the Second? + Else, why were the duties first reduced to one third in 1764, and + afterwards to a third of that third in the year 1766? Were they not + touched and grieved by the Stamp Act? I shall say they were, until that + tax is revived. Were they not touched and grieved by the duties of 1767, + which were likewise repealed, and which Lord Hillsborough tells you, for + the Ministry, were laid contrary to the true principle of commerce? Is not + the assurance given by that noble person to the Colonies of a resolution + to lay no more taxes on them an admission that taxes would touch and + grieve them? Is not the Resolution of the noble lord in the blue ribbon, + now standing on your Journals, the strongest of all proofs that + Parliamentary subsidies really touched and grieved them? Else why all + these changes, modifications, repeals, assurances, and resolutions? + </p> + <p> + The next proposition is— + </p> + <p> + "That, from the distance of the said Colonies, and from other + circumstances, no method hath hitherto been devised for procuring a + representation in Parliament for the said Colonies." + </p> + <p> + This is an assertion of a fact, I go no further on the paper, though, in + my private judgment, a useful representation is impossible—I am sure + it is not desired by them, nor ought it perhaps by us—but I abstain + from opinions. + </p> + <p> + The fourth Resolution is— + </p> + <p> + "That each of the said Colonies hath within itself a body, chosen in part, + or in the whole, by the freemen, free-holders, or other free inhabitants + thereof, commonly called the General Assembly, or General Court, with + powers legally to raise, levy, and assess, according to the several usage + of such Colonies duties and taxes towards defraying all sorts of public + services." + </p> + <p> + This competence in the Colony Assemblies is certain. It is proved by the + whole tenor of their Acts of Supply in all the Assemblies, in which the + constant style of granting is, "an aid to his Majesty", and Acts granting + to the Crown have regularly for near a century passed the public offices + without dispute. Those who have been pleased paradoxically to deny this + right, holding that none but the British Parliament can grant to the + Crown, are wished to look to what is done, not only in the Colonies, but + in Ireland, in one uniform unbroken tenor every session. Sir, I am + surprised that this doctrine should come from some of the law servants of + the Crown. I say that if the Crown could be responsible, his Majesty—but + certainly the Ministers,—and even these law officers themselves + through whose hands the Acts passed, biennially in Ireland, or annually in + the Colonies—are in an habitual course of committing impeachable + offences. What habitual offenders have been all Presidents of the Council, + all Secretaries of State, all First Lords of Trade, all Attorneys and all + Solicitors General! However, they are safe, as no one impeaches them; and + there is no ground of charge against them except in their own unfounded + theories. + </p> + <p> + The fifth Resolution is also a resolution of fact— + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "That the said General Assemblies, General Courts, or other + bodies legally qualified as aforesaid, have at sundry times + freely granted several large subsidies and public aids for + his Majesty's service, according to their abilities, when + required thereto by letter from one of his Majesty's + principal Secretaries of State; and that their right to grant the + same, and their cheerfulness and sufficiency in the said + grants, have been at sundry times acknowledged by Parliament." +</pre> + <p> + To say nothing of their great expenses in the Indian wars, and not to take + their exertion in foreign ones so high as the supplies in the year 1695—not + to go back to their public contributions in the year 1710—I shall + begin to travel only where the journals give me light, resolving to deal + in nothing but fact, authenticated by Parliamentary record, and to build + myself wholly on that solid basis. + </p> + <p> + On the 4th of April, 1748, a Committee of this House came to the following + resolution: + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "Resolved: That it is the opinion of this Committee that it is + just and reasonable that the several Provinces and Colonies + of Massachusetts Bay, New Hampshire, Connecticut, and + Rhode Island, be reimbursed the expenses they have been + at in taking and securing to the Crown of Great Britain, + the Island of Cape Breton and its dependencies." +</pre> + <p> + The expenses were immense for such Colonies. They were above L200,000 + sterling; money first raised and advanced on their public credit. + </p> + <p> + On the 28th of January, 1756, a message from the King came to us, to this + effect: + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "His Majesty, being sensible of the zeal and vigor with which + his faithful subjects of certain Colonies in North America + have exerted themselves in defence of his Majesty's just + rights and possessions, recommends it to this House to + take the same into their consideration, and to enable his + Majesty to give them such assistance as may be a proper + reward and encouragement." +</pre> + <p> + On the 3d of February, 1756, the House came to a suitable Resolution, + expressed in words nearly the same as those of the message, but with the + further addition, that the money then voted was as an encouragement to the + Colonies to exert themselves with vigor. It will not be necessary to go + through all the testimonies which your own records have given to the truth + of my Resolutions. I will only refer you to the places in the Journals: + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + Vol. xxvii.—16th and 19th May, 1757. + Vol. xxviii.—June 1st, 1758; April 26th and 30th, 1759; + March 26th and 31st, and April 28th, 1760; + Jan. 9th and 20th, 1761. + Vol. xxix.—Jan. 22d and 26th, 1762; March 14th and 17th, + 1763. +</pre> + <p> + Sir, here is the repeated acknowledgment of Parliament that the Colonies + not only gave, but gave to satiety. This nation has formally acknowledged + two things: first, that the Colonies had gone beyond their abilities, + Parliament having thought it necessary to reimburse them; secondly, that + they had acted legally and laudably in their grants of money, and their + maintenance of troops, since the compensation is expressly given as reward + and encouragement. Reward is not bestowed for acts that are unlawful; and + encouragement is not held out to things that deserve reprehension. My + Resolution therefore does nothing more than collect into one proposition + what is scattered through your Journals. I give you nothing but your own; + and you cannot refuse in the gross what you have so often acknowledged in + detail. The admission of this, which will be so honorable to them and to + you, will, indeed, be mortal to all the miserable stories by which the + passions of the misguided people <a href="#linknote-58" + name="linknoteref-58" id="linknoteref-58"><small>58</small></a> have been + engaged in an unhappy system. The people heard, indeed, from the beginning + of these disputes, one thing continually dinned in their ears, that reason + and justice demanded that the Americans, who paid no taxes, should be + compelled to contribute. How did that fact of their paying nothing stand + when the taxing system began? When Mr. Grenville began to form his system + of American revenue, he stated in this House that the Colonies were then + in debt two millions six hundred thousand pounds sterling money, and was + of opinion they would discharge that debt in four years. On this state, + those untaxed people were actually subject to the payment of taxes to the + amount of six hundred and fifty thousand a year. In fact, however, Mr. + Grenville was mistaken. The funds given for sinking the debt did not prove + quite so ample as both the Colonies and he expected. The calculation was + too sanguine; the reduction was not completed till some years after, and + at different times in different Colonies. However, the taxes after the war + continued too great to bear any addition, with prudence or propriety; and + when the burthens imposed in consequence of former requisitions were + discharged, our tone became too high to resort again to requisition. No + Colony, since that time, ever has had any requisition whatsoever made to + it. + </p> + <p> + We see the sense of the Crown, and the sense of Parliament, on the + productive nature of a REVENUE BY GRANT. Now search the same Journals for + the produce of the REVENUE BY IMPOSITION. Where is it? Let us know the + volume and the page. What is the gross, what is the net produce? To what + service is it applied? How have you appropriated its surplus? What! Can + none of the many skilful index-makers that we are now employing find any + trace of it?—Well, let them and that rest together. But are the + Journals, which say nothing of the revenue, as silent on the discontent? + Oh no! a child may find it. It is the melancholy burthen and blot of every + page. + </p> + <p> + I think, then, I am, from those Journals, justified in the sixth and last + Resolution, which is—- + </p> + <p> + "That it hath been found by experience that the manner of granting the + said supplies and aids, by the said General Assemblies, hath been more + agreeable to the said Colonies, and more beneficial and conducive to the + public service, than the mode of giving and granting aids in Parliament, + to be raised and paid in the said Colonies." + </p> + <p> + This makes the whole of the fundamental part of the plan. The conclusion + is irresistible. You cannot say that you were driven by any necessity to + an exercise of the utmost rights of legislature. You cannot assert that + you took on yourselves the task of imposing Colony taxes from the want of + another legal body that is competent to the purpose of supplying the + exigencies of the state without wounding the prejudices of the people. + Neither is it true that the body so qualified, and having that competence, + had neglected the duty. + </p> + <p> + The question now, on all this accumulated matter, is: whether you will + choose to abide by a profitable experience, or a mischievous theory; + whether you choose to build on imagination, or fact; whether you prefer + enjoyment, or hope; satisfaction in your subjects, or discontent? + </p> + <p> + If these propositions are accepted, everything which has been made to + enforce a contrary system must, I take it for granted, fall along with it. + On that ground, I have drawn the following Resolution, which, when it + comes to be moved, will naturally be divided in a proper manner: + </p> + <p> + "That it may be proper to repeal an Act <a href="#linknote-59" + name="linknoteref-59" id="linknoteref-59"><small>59</small></a> made in + the seventh year of the reign of his present Majesty, entitled, An Act for + granting certain duties in the British Colonies and Plantations in + America; for allowing a drawback of the duties of customs upon the + exportation from this Kingdom of coffee and cocoa-nuts of the produce of + the said Colonies or Plantations; for discontinuing the drawbacks payable + on china earthenware exported to America; and for more effectually + preventing the clandestine running of goods in the said Colonies and + Plantations. And that it may be proper to repeal an Act <a + href="#linknote-60" name="linknoteref-60" id="linknoteref-60"><small>60</small></a> + made in the fourteenth year of the reign of his present Majesty, entitled, + An Act to discontinue, in such manner and for such time as are therein + mentioned, the landing and discharging, lading or shipping of goods, + wares, and merchandise at the town and within the harbor of Boston, in the + Province of Massachusetts Bay, in North America. And that it may be proper + to repeal an Act made in the fourteenth year of the reign of his present + Majesty, entitled, An Act for the impartial administration of justice <a + href="#linknote-61" name="linknoteref-61" id="linknoteref-61"><small>61</small></a> + in the cases of persons questioned for any acts done by them in the + execution of the law, or for the suppression of riots and tumults, in the + Province of Massachusetts Bay, in New England. And that it may be proper + to repeal an Act made in the fourteenth year of the reign of his present + Majesty, entitled, An Act for the better regulating <a href="#linknote-62" + name="linknoteref-62" id="linknoteref-62"><small>62</small></a> of the + Government of the Province of the Massachusetts Bay, in New England. And + also that it may be proper to explain and amend an Act made in the + thirty-fifth year of the reign of King Henry the Eighth, entitled, An Act + for the Trial of Treasons <a href="#linknote-63" name="linknoteref-63" + id="linknoteref-63"><small>63</small></a> committed out of the King's + Dominions." + </p> + <p> + I wish, Sir, to repeal the Boston Port Bill, because—independently + of the dangerous precedent of suspending the rights of the subject during + the King's pleasure—it was passed, as I apprehend, with less + regularity and on more partial principles than it ought. The corporation + of Boston was not heard before it was condemned. Other towns, full as + guilty as she was, have not had their ports blocked up. Even the + Restraining Bill of the present session does not go to the length of the + Boston Port Act. The same ideas of prudence which induced you not to + extend equal punishment to equal guilt, even when you were punishing, + induced me, who mean not to chastise, but to reconcile, to be satisfied + with the punishment already partially inflicted. + </p> + <p> + Ideas of prudence and accommodation to circumstances prevent you from + taking away the charters of Connecticut and Rhode Island, as you have + taken away that of Massachusetts Bay, though the Crown has far less power + in the two former provinces than it enjoyed in the latter, and though the + abuses have been full as great, and as flagrant, in the exempted as in the + punished. The same reasons of prudence and accommodation have weight with + me in restoring the charter of Massachusetts Bay. Besides, Sir, the Act + which changes the charter of Massachusetts is in many particulars so + exceptionable that if I did not wish absolutely to repeal, I would by all + means desire to alter it, as several of its provisions tend to the + subversion of all public and private justice. Such, among others, is the + power in the Governor to change the sheriff at his pleasure, and to make a + new returning officer for every special cause. It is shameful to behold + such a regulation standing among English laws. + </p> + <p> + The Act for bringing persons accused of committing murder, under the + orders of Government to England for trial, is but temporary. That Act has + calculated the probable duration of our quarrel with the Colonies, and is + accommodated to that supposed duration. I would hasten the happy moment of + reconciliation, and therefore must, on my principle, get rid of that most + justly obnoxious Act. + </p> + <p> + The Act of Henry the Eighth, for the Trial of Treasons, I do not mean to + take away, but to confine it to its proper bounds and original intention; + to make it expressly for trial of treasons—and the greatest treasons + may be committed—in places where the jurisdiction of the Crown does + not extend. + </p> + <p> + Having guarded the privileges of local legislature, I would next secure to + the Colonies a fair and unbiassed judicature, for which purpose, Sir, I + propose the following Resolution: + </p> + <p> + "That, from the time when the General Assembly or General Court of any + Colony or Plantation in North America shall have appointed by Act of + Assembly, duly confirmed, a settled salary to the offices of the Chief + Justice and other Judges of the Superior Court, it may be proper that the + said Chief Justice and other Judges of the Superior Courts of such Colony + shall hold his and their office and offices during their good behavior, + and shall not be removed therefrom but when the said removal shall be + adjudged by his Majesty in Council, upon a hearing on complaint from the + General Assembly, or on a complaint from the Governor, or Council, or the + House of Representatives severally, or of the Colony in which the said + Chief Justice and other Judges have exercised the said offices." + </p> + <p> + The next Resolution relates to the Courts of Admiralty. It is this. + </p> + <p> + "That it may be proper to regulate the Courts of Admiralty or Vice + Admiralty authorized by the fifteenth Chapter of the Fourth of George the + Third, in such a manner as to make the same more commodious to those who + sue, or are sued, in the said Courts, and to provide for the more decent + maintenance of the Judges in the same." + </p> + <p> + These courts I do not wish to take away, they are in themselves proper + establishments. This court is one of the capital securities of the Act of + Navigation. The extent of its jurisdiction, indeed, has been increased, + but this is altogether as proper, and is indeed on many accounts more + eligible, where new powers were wanted, than a court absolutely new. But + courts incommodiously situated, in effect, deny justice, and a court + partaking in the fruits of its own condemnation is a robber. The Congress + complain, and complain justly, of this grievance. + </p> + <p> + These are the three consequential propositions I have thought of two or + three more, but they come rather too near detail, and to the province of + executive government, which I wish Parliament always to superintend, never + to assume. If the first six are granted, congruity will carry the latter + three. If not, the things that remain unrepealed will be, I hope, rather + unseemly incumbrances on the building, than very materially detrimental to + its strength and stability. + </p> + <p> + Here, Sir, I should close, but I plainly perceive some objections remain + which I ought, if possible, to remove. The first will be that, in + resorting to the doctrine of our ancestors, as contained in the preamble + to the Chester Act, I prove too much, that the grievance from a want of + representation, stated in that preamble, goes to the whole of legislation + as well as to taxation, and that the Colonies, grounding themselves upon + that doctrine, will apply it to all parts of legislative authority. + </p> + <p> + To this objection, with all possible deference and humility, and wishing + as little as any man living to impair the smallest particle of our supreme + authority, I answer, that the words are the words of Parliament, and not + mine, and that all false and inconclusive inferences drawn from them are + not mine, for I heartily disclaim any such inference. I have chosen the + words of an Act of Parliament which Mr. Grenville, surely a tolerably + zealous and very judicious advocate for the sovereignty of Parliament, + formerly moved to have read at your table in confirmation of his tenets. + It is true that Lord Chatham considered these preambles as declaring + strongly in favor of his opinions. He was a no less powerful advocate for + the privileges of the Americans. Ought I not from hence to presume that + these preambles are as favorable as possible to both, when properly + understood; favorable both to the rights of Parliament, and to the + privilege of the dependencies of this Crown? But, Sir, the object of + grievance in my Resolution I have not taken from the Chester, but from the + Durham Act, which confines the hardship of want of representation to the + case of subsidies, and which therefore falls in exactly with the case of + the Colonies. But whether the unrepresented counties were de jure or de + facto <a href="#linknote-64" name="linknoteref-64" id="linknoteref-64"><small>64</small></a> + bound, the preambles do not accurately distinguish, nor indeed was it + necessary; for, whether de jure or de facto, the Legislature thought the + exercise of the power of taxing as of right, or as of fact without right, + equally a grievance, and equally oppressive. + </p> + <p> + I do not know that the Colonies have, in any general way, or in any cool + hour, gone much beyond the demand of humanity in relation to taxes. It is + not fair to judge of the temper or dispositions of any man, or any set of + men, when they are composed and at rest, from their conduct or their + expressions in a state of disturbance and irritation. It is besides a very + great mistake to imagine that mankind follow up practically any + speculative principle, either of government or of freedom, as far as it + will go in argument and logical illation. We Englishmen stop very short of + the principles upon which we support any given part of our Constitution, + or even the whole of it together. I could easily, if I had not already + tired you, give you very striking and convincing instances of it. This is + nothing but what is natural and proper. All government, indeed every human + benefit and enjoyment, every virtue, and every prudent act, is founded on + compromise and barter. We balance inconveniences; we give and take; we + remit some rights, that we may enjoy others; and we choose rather to be + happy citizens than subtle disputants. As we must give away some natural + liberty to enjoy civil advantages, so we must sacrifice some civil + liberties for the advantages to be derived from the communion and + fellowship of a great empire. But, in all fair dealings, the thing bought + must bear some proportion to the purchase paid. None will barter away the + immediate jewel of his soul. <a href="#linknote-65" name="linknoteref-65" + id="linknoteref-65"><small>65</small></a> Though a great house is apt to + make slaves haughty, yet it is purchasing a part of the artificial + importance of a great empire too dear to pay for it all essential rights + and all the intrinsic dignity of human nature. None of us who would not + risk his life rather than fall under a government purely arbitrary. But + although there are some amongst us who think our Constitution wants many + improvements to make it a complete system of liberty, perhaps none who are + of that opinion would think it right to aim at such improvement by + disturbing his country, and risking everything that is dear to him. In + every arduous enterprise we consider what we are to lose, as well as what + we are to gain; and the more and better stake of liberty every people + possess, the less they will hazard in a vain attempt to make it more. + These are the cords of man. Man acts from adequate motives relative to his + interest, and not on metaphysical speculations. Aristotle, the great + master of reasoning, cautions us, and with great weight and propriety, + against this species of delusive geometrical accuracy in moral arguments + as the most fallacious of all sophistry. + </p> + <p> + The Americans will have no interest contrary to the grandeur and glory of + England, when they are not oppressed by the weight of it; and they will + rather be inclined to respect the acts of a superintending legislature + when they see them the acts of that power which is itself the security, + not the rival, of their secondary importance. In this assurance my mind + most perfectly acquiesces, and I confess I feel not the least alarm from + the discontents which are to arise from putting people at their ease, nor + do I apprehend the destruction of this Empire from giving, by an act of + free grace and indulgence, to two millions of my fellow-citizens some + share of those rights upon which. I have always been taught to value + myself. + </p> + <p> + It is said, indeed, that this power of granting, vested in American + Assemblies, would dissolve the unity of the Empire, which was preserved + entire, although Wales, and Chester, and Durham were added to it. Truly, + Mr. Speaker, I do not know what this unity means, nor has it ever been + heard of, that I know, in the constitutional policy of this country. The + very idea of subordination of parts excludes this notion of simple and + undivided unity. England is the head; but she is not the head and the + members too. Ireland has ever had from the beginning a separate, but not + an independent, legislature, which, far from distracting, promoted the + union of the whole. Everything was sweetly and harmoniously disposed + through both islands for the conservation of English dominion, and the + communication of English liberties. I do not see that the same principles + might not be carried into twenty islands and with the same good effect. + This is my model with regard to America, as far as the internal + circumstances of the two countries are the same. I know no other unity of + this Empire than I can draw from its example during these periods, when it + seemed to my poor understanding more united than it is now, or than it is + likely to be by the present methods. + </p> + <p> + But since I speak of these methods, I recollect, Mr. Speaker, almost too + late, that I promised, before I finished, to say something of the + proposition of the noble lord on the floor, which has been so lately + received and stands on your Journals. I must be deeply concerned whenever + it is my misfortune to continue a difference with the majority of this + House; but as the reasons for that difference are my apology for thus + troubling you, suffer me to state them in a very few words. I shall + compress them into as small a body as I possibly can, having already + debated that matter at large when the question was before the Committee. + </p> + <p> + First, then, I cannot admit that proposition of a ransom <a + href="#linknote-66" name="linknoteref-66" id="linknoteref-66"><small>66</small></a> + by auction; because it is a mere project. It is a thing new, unheard of; + supported by no experience; justified by no analogy; without example of + our ancestors, or root in the Constitution. It is neither regular + Parliamentary taxation, nor Colony grant. Experimentum in corpore vili <a + href="#linknote-67" name="linknoteref-67" id="linknoteref-67"><small>67</small></a> + is a good rule, which will ever make me adverse to any trial of + experiments on what is certainly the most valuable of all subjects, the + peace of this Empire. + </p> + <p> + Secondly, it is an experiment which must be fatal in the end to our + Constitution. For what is it but a scheme for taxing the Colonies in the + ante-chamber of the noble lord and his successors? To settle the quotas + and proportions in this House is clearly impossible. You, Sir, may flatter + yourself you shall sit a state auctioneer, with your hammer in your hand, + and knock down to each Colony as it bids. But to settle, on the plan laid + down by the noble lord, the true proportional payment for four or five and + twenty governments according to the absolute and the relative wealth of + each, and according to the British proportion of wealth and burthen, is a + wild and chimerical notion. This new taxation must therefore come in by + the back door of the Constitution. Each quota must be brought to this + House ready formed; you can neither add nor alter. You must register it. + You can do nothing further, for on what grounds can you deliberate either + before or after the proposition? You cannot hear the counsel for all these + provinces, quarrelling each on its own quantity of payment, and its + proportion to others If you should attempt it, the Committee of Provincial + Ways and Means, or by whatever other name it will delight to be called, + must swallow up all the time of Parliament. + </p> + <p> + Thirdly, it does not give satisfaction to the complaint of the Colonies. + They complain that they are taxed without their consent, you answer, that + you will fix the sum at which they shall be taxed. That is, you give them + the very grievance for the remedy. You tell them, indeed, that you will + leave the mode to themselves. I really beg pardon—it gives me pain + to mention it—but you must be sensible that you will not perform + this part of the compact. For, suppose the Colonies were to lay the + duties, which furnished their contingent, upon the importation of your + manufactures, you know you would never suffer such a tax to be laid. You + know, too, that you would not suffer many other modes of taxation, so + that, when you come to explain yourself, it will be found that you will + neither leave to themselves the quantum nor the mode, nor indeed anything. + The whole is delusion from one end to the other. + </p> + <p> + Fourthly, this method of ransom by auction, unless it be universally + accepted, will plunge you into great and inextricable difficulties. In + what year of our Lord are the proportions of payments to be settled? To + say nothing of the impossibility that Colony agents should have general + powers of taxing the Colonies at their discretion, consider, I implore + you, that the communication by special messages and orders between these + agents and their constituents, on each variation of the case, when the + parties come to contend together and to dispute on their relative + proportions, will be a matter of delay, perplexity, and confusion that + never can have an end. + </p> + <p> + If all the Colonies do not appear at the outcry, what is the condition of + those assemblies who offer, by themselves or their agents, to tax + themselves up to your ideas of their proportion? The refractory Colonies + who refuse all composition will remain taxed only to your old impositions, + which, however grievous in principle, are trifling as to production. The + obedient Colonies in this scheme are heavily taxed, the refractory remain + unburdened. What will you do? Will you lay new and heavier taxes by + Parliament on the disobedient? Pray consider in what way you can do it. + You are perfectly convinced that, in the way of taxing, you can do nothing + but at the ports. Now suppose it is Virginia that refuses to appear at + your auction, while Maryland and North Carolina bid handsomely for their + ransom, and are taxed to your quota, how will you put these Colonies on a + par? Will you tax the tobacco of Virginia? If you do, you give its + death-wound to your English revenue at home, and to one of the very + greatest articles of your own foreign trade. If you tax the import of that + rebellious Colony, what do you tax but your own manufactures, or the goods + of some other obedient and already well-taxed Colony? Who has said one + word on this labyrinth of detail, which bewilders you more and more as you + enter into it? Who has presented, who can present you with a clue to lead + you out of it? I think, Sir, it is impossible that you should not + recollect that the Colony bounds are so implicated in one another,—you + know it by your other experiments in the bill for prohibiting the New + England fishery,—that you can lay no possible restraints on almost + any of them which may not be presently eluded, if you do not confound the + innocent with the guilty, and burthen those whom, upon every principle, + you ought to exonerate. He must be grossly ignorant of America who thinks + that, without falling into this confusion of all rules of equity and + policy, you can restrain any single Colony, especially Virginia and + Maryland, the central and most important of them all. + </p> + <p> + Let it also be considered that, either in the present confusion you settle + a permanent contingent, which will and must be trifling, and then you have + no effectual revenue; or you change the quota at every exigency, and then + on every new repartition you will have a new quarrel. + </p> + <p> + Reflect, besides, that when you have fixed a quota for every Colony, you + have not provided for prompt and punctual payment. Suppose one, two, five, + ten years' arrears. You cannot issue a Treasury Extent against the failing + Colony. You must make new Boston Port Bills, new restraining laws, new + acts for dragging men to England for trial. You must send out new fleets, + new armies. All is to begin again. From this day forward the Empire is + never to know an hour's tranquillity. An intestine fire will be kept alive + in the bowels of the Colonies, which one time or other must consume this + whole Empire. I allow indeed that the empire of Germany raises her revenue + and her troops by quotas and contingents; but the revenue of the empire, + and the army of the empire, is the worst revenue and the worst army in the + world. + </p> + <p> + Instead of a standing revenue, you will therefore have a perpetual + quarrel. Indeed, the noble lord who proposed this project of a ransom by + auction seems himself to be of that opinion. His project was rather + designed for breaking the union of the Colonies than for establishing a + revenue. He confessed he apprehended that his proposal would not be to + their taste. I say this scheme of disunion seems to be at the bottom of + the project; for I will not suspect that the noble lord meant nothing but + merely to delude the nation by an airy phantom which he never intended to + realize. But whatever his views may be, as I propose the peace and union + of the Colonies as the very foundation of my plan, it cannot accord with + one whose foundation is perpetual discord. + </p> + <p> + Compare the two. This I offer to give you is plain and simple. The other + full of perplexed and intricate mazes. This is mild; that harsh. This is + found by experience effectual for its purposes; the other is a new + project. This is universal; the other calculated for certain Colonies + only. This is immediate in its conciliatory operation; the other remote, + contingent, full of hazard. Mine is what becomes the dignity of a ruling + people—gratuitous, unconditional, and not held out as a matter of + bargain and sale. I have done my duty in proposing it to you. I have + indeed tired you by a long discourse; but this is the misfortune of those + to whose influence nothing will be conceded, and who must win every inch + of their ground by argument. You have heard me with goodness. May you + decide with wisdom! For my part, I feel my mind greatly disburthened by + what I have done to-day. I have been the less fearful of trying your + patience, because on this subject I mean to spare it altogether in future. + I have this comfort, that in every stage of the American affairs I have + steadily opposed the measures that have produced the confusion, and may + bring on the destruction, of this Empire. I now go so far as to risk a + proposal of my own. If I cannot give peace to my country, I give it to my + conscience. + </p> + <p> + But what, says the financier, is peace to us without money? Your plan + gives us no revenue. No! But it does; for it secures to the subject the + power or refusal, the first of all revenues. Experience is a cheat, and + fact a liar, if this power in the subject of proportioning his grant, or + of not granting at all, has not been found the richest mine of revenue + ever discovered by the skill or by the fortune of man. It does not indeed + vote you L152,750 11s. 23/4d, nor any other paltry limited sum; but it + gives the strong box itself, the fund, the bank—from whence only + revenues can arise amongst a people sensible of freedom. Posita luditur + arca. <a href="#linknote-68" name="linknoteref-68" id="linknoteref-68"><small>68</small></a> + Cannot you, in England—cannot you, at this time of day—cannot + you, a House of Commons, trust to the principle which has raised so mighty + a revenue, and accumulated a debt of near 140,000,000 in this country? Is + this principle to be true in England, and false everywhere else? Is it not + true in Ireland? Has it not hitherto been true in the Colonies? Why should + you presume that, in any country, a body duly constituted for any function + will neglect to perform its duty and abdicate its trust? Such a + presumption <a href="#linknote-69" name="linknoteref-69" + id="linknoteref-69"><small>69</small></a> would go against all governments + in all modes. But, in truth, this dread of penury of supply from a free + assembly has no foundation in nature; for first, observe that, besides the + desire which all men have naturally of supporting the honor of their own + government, that sense of dignity and that security to property which ever + attends freedom has a tendency to increase the stock of the free + community. Most may be taken where most is accumulated. And what is the + soil or climate where experience has not uniformly proved that the + voluntary flow of heaped-up plenty, bursting from the weight of its own + rich luxuriance, has ever run with a more copious stream of revenue than + could be squeezed from the dry husks of oppressed indigence by the + straining of all the politic machinery in the world? <a href="#linknote-70" + name="linknoteref-70" id="linknoteref-70"><small>70</small></a> + </p> + <p> + Next, we know that parties must ever exist in a free country. We know, + too, that the emulations of such parties—their contradictions, their + reciprocal necessities, their hopes, and their fears—must send them + all in their turns to him that holds the balance of the State. The parties + are the gamesters; but Government keeps the table, and is sure to be the + winner in the end. When this game is played, I really think it is more to + be feared that the people will be exhausted, than that Government will not + be supplied; whereas, whatever is got by acts of absolute power ill + obeyed, because odious, or by contracts ill kept, because constrained, + will be narrow, feeble, uncertain, and precarious. + </p> + <p> + "Ease would retract Vows made in pain, as violent and void." + </p> + <p> + I, for one, protest against compounding our demands. I declare against + compounding, for a poor limited sum, the immense, ever-growing, eternal + debt which is due to generous government from protected freedom. And so + may I speed in the great object I propose to you, as I think it would not + only be an act of injustice, but would be the worst economy in the world, + to compel the Colonies to a sum certain, either in the way of ransom or in + the way of compulsory compact. + </p> + <p> + But to clear up my ideas on this subject: a revenue from America + transmitted hither—do not delude yourselves—you never can + receive it; no, not a shilling. We have experience that from remote + countries it is not to be expected. If, when you attempted to extract + revenue from Bengal, you were obliged to return in loan what you had taken + in imposition, what can you expect from North America? For certainly, if + ever there was a country qualified to produce wealth, it is India; or an + institution fit for the transmission, it is the East India Company. + America has none of these aptitudes. If America gives you taxable objects + on which you lay your duties here, and gives you, at the same time, a + surplus by a foreign sale of her commodities to pay the duties on these + objects which you tax at home, she has performed her part to the British + revenue. But with regard to her own internal establishments, she may, I + doubt not she will, contribute in moderation. I say in moderation, for she + ought not to be permitted to exhaust herself. She ought to be reserved to + a war, the weight of which, with the enemies <a href="#linknote-71" + name="linknoteref-71" id="linknoteref-71"><small>71</small></a> that we + are most likely to have, must be considerable in her quarter of the globe. + There she may serve you, and serve you essentially. + </p> + <p> + For that service—for all service, whether of revenue, trade, or + empire—my trust is in her interest in the British Constitution. My + hold of the Colonies is in the close affection which grows from common + names, from kindred blood, from similar privileges, and equal protection. + These are ties which, though light as air, <a href="#linknote-72" + name="linknoteref-72" id="linknoteref-72"><small>72</small></a> are as + strong as links of iron. Let the Colonists always keep the idea of their + civil rights associated with your government,—they will cling and + grapple to you, <a href="#linknote-73" name="linknoteref-73" + id="linknoteref-73"><small>73</small></a> and no force under heaven will + be of power to tear them from their allegiance. But let it be once + understood that your government may be one thing, and their privileges + another, that these two things may exist without any mutual relation, the + cement is gone <a href="#linknote-74" name="linknoteref-74" + id="linknoteref-74"><small>74</small></a>—the cohesion is loosened—and + everything hastens to decay and dissolution. As long as you have the + wisdom to keep the sovereign authority of this country as the sanctuary of + liberty, the sacred temple consecrated to our common faith, wherever the + chosen race and sons of England worship freedom, they will turn their + faces towards you. The more they multiply, the more friends you will have; + the more ardently they love liberty, the more perfect will be their + obedience. Slavery they can have anywhere—it is a weed that grows in + every soil. They may have it from Spain; they may have it from Prussia. + But, until you become lost to all feeling of your true interest and your + natural dignity, freedom they can have from none but you. This is the + commodity of price of which you have the monopoly. This is the true Act of + Navigation which binds to you the commerce of the Colonies, and through + them secures to you the wealth of the world. Deny them this participation + of freedom, and you break that sole bond which originally made, and must + still preserve, the unity of the Empire. Do not entertain so weak an + imagination as that your registers and your bonds, your affidavits and + your sufferances, your cockets and your clearances, are what form the + great securities of your commerce. Do not dream that your letters of + office, and your instructions, and your suspending clauses, are the things + that hold together the great contexture of the mysterious whole. These + things do not make your government. Dead instruments, passive tools as + they are, it is the spirit of the English communion that gives all their + life and efficacy to them. It is the spirit of the English Constitution + which, infused through the mighty mass, pervades, feeds, unites, + invigorates, vivifies every part of the Empire, even down to the minutest + member. + </p> + <p> + Is it not the same virtue which does everything for us here in England? Do + you imagine, then, that it is the Land Tax Act which raises your revenue? + that it is the annual vote in the Committee of Supply which gives you your + army? or that it is the Mutiny Bill which inspires it with bravery and + discipline? No! surely no! It is the love of the people; it is their + attachment to their government, from the sense of the deep stake they have + in such a glorious institution, which gives you your army and your navy, + and infuses into both that liberal obedience without which your army would + be a base rabble, and your navy nothing but rotten timber. + </p> + <p> + All this, I know well enough, will sound wild and chimerical to the + profane herd <a href="#linknote-75" name="linknoteref-75" + id="linknoteref-75"><small>75</small></a> of those vulgar and mechanical + politicians who have no place among us; a sort of people who think that + nothing exists but what is gross and material, and who, therefore, far + from being qualified to be directors of the great movement of empire, are + not fit to turn a wheel in the machine. But to men truly initiated and + rightly taught, these ruling and master principles which, in the opinion + of such men as I have mentioned, have no substantial existence, are in + truth everything, and all in all. Magnanimity <a href="#linknote-76" + name="linknoteref-76" id="linknoteref-76"><small>76</small></a> in + politics is not seldom the truest wisdom; and a great empire and little + minds go ill together. If we are conscious of our station, and glow with + zeal to fill our places as becomes our situation and ourselves, we ought + to auspicate <a href="#linknote-77" name="linknoteref-77" + id="linknoteref-77"><small>77</small></a> all our public proceedings on + America with the old warning of the church, Sursum corda! <a + href="#linknote-78" name="linknoteref-78" id="linknoteref-78"><small>78</small></a> + We ought to elevate our minds to the greatness of that trust to which the + order of providence has called us. By adverting to the dignity of this + high calling our ancestors have turned a savage wilderness into a glorious + empire, and have made the most extensive and the only honorable conquests—not + by destroying, but by promoting the wealth, the number, the happiness, of + the human race. Let us get an American revenue as we have got an American + empire. English privileges have made it all that it is; English privileges + alone will make it all it can be. + </p> + <p> + In full confidence of this unalterable truth, I now, quod felix faustumque + sit, <a href="#linknote-79" name="linknoteref-79" id="linknoteref-79"><small>79</small></a> + lay the first stone of the Temple of Peace; and I move you— + </p> + <p> + "That the Colonies and Plantations of Great Britain in North America, + consisting of fourteen separate governments, and containing two millions + and upwards of free inhabitants, have not had the liberty and privilege of + electing and sending any Knights and Burgesses, or others, to represent + them in the High Court of Parliament." + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2H_FOOT" id="link2H_FOOT"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + FOOTNOTES + </h2> + <p> + <br /><a name="linknote-1" id="linknote-1"> </a> + </p> + <p class="foot"> + 1 (<a href="#linknoteref-1">return</a>)<br /> [ grand penal bill. This bill + originated with Lord North. It restricted the trade of the New England + colonies to England and her dependencies. It also placed serious + limitations upon the Newfoundland fisheries. The House of Lords was + dissatisfied with the measure because it did not include all the + colonies.] + </p> + <p> + <br /><a name="linknote-2" id="linknote-2"> </a> + </p> + <p class="foot"> + 2 (<a href="#linknoteref-2">return</a>)<br /> [ When I first had the honor. + Burke was first elected to Parliament Dec. 26, 1765. He was at the time + secretary to Lord Rockingham, Prime Minister. Previous to this he had made + himself thoroughly familiar with England's policy in dealing with her + dependencies—notably Ireland.] + </p> + <p> + <br /><a name="linknote-3" id="linknote-3"> </a> + </p> + <p class="foot"> + 3 (<a href="#linknoteref-3">return</a>)<br /> [ my original sentiments. + After many demonstrations both in America and England the Stamp Act became + a law in 1765: One of the first tasks the Rockingham ministry set itself + was to bring about a repeal of this act. Burke made his first speech in + support of his party. He argued that the abstract and theoretical rights + claimed by England in matters of government should be set aside when they + were unfavorable to the happiness and prosperity of her colonies and + herself. His speech was complimented by Pitt, and Dr. Johnson wrote that + no new member had ever before attracted such attention.] + </p> + <p> + <br /><a name="linknote-4" id="linknote-4"> </a> + </p> + <p class="foot"> + 4 (<a href="#linknoteref-4">return</a>)<br /> [ America has been kept in + agitation. For a period of nearly one hundred years the affairs of the + colonies had been intrusted to a standing committee appointed by + Parliament. This committee was called "The Lords of Trade." From its + members came many if not the majority of the propositions for the + regulation of the American trade. To them the colonial governors, who were + appointed by the king, gave full accounts of the proceedings of the + colonial legislatures. These reports, often colored by personal prejudice, + did not always represent the colonists in the best light. It was mainly + through the influence of one of the former Lords of Trade, Charles + Townshend, who afterwards became the leading voice in the Pitt ministry, + that the Stamp Act was passed.] + </p> + <p> + <br /><a name="linknote-5" id="linknote-5"> </a> + </p> + <p class="foot"> + 5 (<a href="#linknoteref-5">return</a>)<br /> [ a worthy member. Mr. Rose + Fuller.] + </p> + <p> + <br /><a name="linknote-6" id="linknote-6"> </a> + </p> + <p class="foot"> + 6 (<a href="#linknoteref-6">return</a>)<br /> [ former methods. Condense + the thought in this paragraph. Are such "methods" practised nowadays?] + </p> + <p> + <br /><a name="linknote-7" id="linknote-7"> </a> + </p> + <p class="foot"> + 7 (<a href="#linknoteref-7">return</a>)<br /> [ paper government. Burke + possibly had in mind the constitution prepared for the Carolinas by John + Locke and Earl of Shaftesbury. The scheme was utterly impracticable and + gave cause for endless dissatisfaction.] + </p> + <p> + <br /><a name="linknote-8" id="linknote-8"> </a> + </p> + <p class="foot"> + 8 (<a href="#linknoteref-8">return</a>)<br /> [ Refined policy. After a + careful reading of the paragraph determine what Burke means by "refined + policy."] + </p> + <p> + <br /><a name="linknote-9" id="linknote-9"> </a> + </p> + <p class="foot"> + 9 (<a href="#linknoteref-9">return</a>)<br /> [ the project. The bill + referred to had been passed by the House on Feb. 27: It provided that + those colonies which voluntarily voted contributions for the common + defence and support of the English government, and in addition made + provision for the administration of their own civil affairs, should be + exempt from taxation, except such as was necessary for the regulation of + trade. It has been declared by some that the measure was meant in good + faith and that its recognition and acceptance by the colonies would have + brought good results. Burke, along with others of the opposition, argued + that the intention of the bill was to cause dissension and division among + the colonies. Compare 7, 11-12: State your opinion and give reasons.] + </p> + <p> + <br /><a name="linknote-10" id="linknote-10"> </a> + </p> + <p class="foot"> + 10 (<a href="#linknoteref-10">return</a>)<br /> [ the noble lord in the + blue ribbon Lord North (1732-1792) He entered Parliament at the age of + twenty-two, served as Lord of the Treasury, 1759; was removed by + Rockingham, 1765; was again appointed by Pitt to the office of Joint + Paymaster of the Forces, became Prime Minister, 1770, and resigned, 1781 + Lord North is described both by his contemporaries and later histonaus as + an easy-going, indolent man, short-sighted and rather stupid, though + obstinate and courageous. He was the willing servant of George III, and + believed in the principle of authority as opposed to that of conciliation. + The blue ribbon was the badge of the Order of the Garter instituted by + Edward III Lord North was made a Knight of the Garter, 1772: Burke often + mentions the "blue ribbon" in speaking of the Prime Minister. Why?] + </p> + <p> + <br /><a name="linknote-11" id="linknote-11"> </a> + </p> + <p class="foot"> + 11 (<a href="#linknoteref-11">return</a>)<br /> [ Colony agents. It was + customary for colonies to select some one to represent them in important + matters of legislation. Burke himself served as the agent of New York. Do + you think this tact accounts in any way for his attitude in this speech?] + </p> + <p> + <br /><a name="linknote-12" id="linknote-12"> </a> + </p> + <p class="foot"> + 12 (<a href="#linknoteref-12">return</a>)<br /> [ our address Parliament + had prepared an address to the king some months previous, in which + Massachusetts was declared to be in a state of rebellion. The immediate + cause of this address was the Boston Tea Party. The lives and fortunes of + his Majesty's subjects were represented as being in danger, and he was + asked to deal vigorously not only with Massachusetts but with her + sympathizers.] + </p> + <p> + <br /><a name="linknote-13" id="linknote-13"> </a> + </p> + <p class="foot"> + 13 (<a href="#linknoteref-13">return</a>)<br /> [ those chances. Suggested + perhaps by lines in Julius Caesar, IV., iii., 216-219:— + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "There is a tide in the affairs of men, + Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune; + Omitted, all the voyage of their life + Is bound in shallows and in miseries."] +</pre> + <p> + <br /><a name="linknote-14" id="linknote-14"> </a> + </p> + <p class="foot"> + 14 (<a href="#linknoteref-14">return</a>)<br /> [ according to that nature + and to those circumstances. Compare with 8: Point out the connection + between the thought here expressed and Burke's idea of "expediency."] + </p> + <p> + <br /><a name="linknote-15" id="linknote-15"> </a> + </p> + <p class="foot"> + 15 (<a href="#linknoteref-15">return</a>)<br /> [ great consideration. This + paragraph has been censured for its too florid style. It may be rather + gorgeous and rhetorical when considered as part of an argument, yet it is + very characteristic of Burke as a writer. In no other passage of the + speech is there such vivid clear-cut imagery. Note the picturesque quality + of the lines and detect if you can any confusion in figures.] + </p> + <p> + <br /><a name="linknote-16" id="linknote-16"> </a> + </p> + <p class="foot"> + 16 (<a href="#linknoteref-16">return</a>)<br /> [ It is good for us to be + here. Burke's favorite books were Shakespeare, Milton, and the Bible. + Trace the above sentence to one of these.] + </p> + <p> + <br /><a name="linknote-17" id="linknote-17"> </a> + </p> + <p class="foot"> + 17 (<a href="#linknoteref-17">return</a>)<br /> [ + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "Facta parentun + Jam legere et quae sit poteris cognoscere virtus." + —VIRGIL'S Eclogues, IV., 26, 27. +</pre> + <p class="foot"> + Notice the alteration. Already old enough to study the deeds of his father + and to know what virtue is.] + </p> + <p> + <br /><a name="linknote-18" id="linknote-18"> </a> + </p> + <p class="foot"> + 18 (<a href="#linknoteref-18">return</a>)<br /> [ before you taste of + death. Compare 16:] + </p> + <p> + <br /><a name="linknote-19" id="linknote-19"> </a> + </p> + <p class="foot"> + 19 (<a href="#linknoteref-19">return</a>)<br /> [ Roman charity. This + suggests the more famous "Ancient Roman honor" (Merchant of Venice, III., + 11, 291). The incident referred to by Burke is told by several writers. A + father condemned to death by starvation is visited in prison by his + daughter, who secretly nourishes him with milk from her breasts.] + </p> + <p> + <br /><a name="linknote-20" id="linknote-20"> </a> + </p> + <p class="foot"> + 20 (<a href="#linknoteref-20">return</a>)<br /> [ complexions. "Mislike me + not for my COMPLEXION."—M. V. Is the word used in the same sense by + Burke?] + </p> + <p> + <br /><a name="linknote-21" id="linknote-21"> </a> + </p> + <p class="foot"> + 21 (<a href="#linknoteref-21">return</a>)<br /> [ the thunder of the state. + What is the classical allusion?] + </p> + <p> + <br /><a name="linknote-22" id="linknote-22"> </a> + </p> + <p class="foot"> + 22 (<a href="#linknoteref-22">return</a>)<br /> [ a nation is not governed. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "Who overcomes By force hath overcome but half his foe" + —Paradise Lost, 1, 648, 649:] +</pre> + <p> + <br /><a name="linknote-23" id="linknote-23"> </a> + </p> + <p class="foot"> + 23 (<a href="#linknoteref-23">return</a>)<br /> [ Our ancient indulgence. + "The wise and salutary neglect," which Burke has just mentioned, was the + result of (a) the struggle of Charles I. with Parliament, (b) the + confusion and readjustment at the Restoration, (c) the Revolution of 1688, + (d) the attitude of France in favoring the cause of the Stuarts, (e) the + ascendency of the Whigs. England had her hands full in attending to + affairs at home. As a result of this the colonies were practically their + own masters in matters of government. Also the political party known as + the Whigs had its origin shortly before William and Mary ascended the + throne. This party favored the colonies and respected their ideas of + liberty and government.] + </p> + <p> + <br /><a name="linknote-24" id="linknote-24"> </a> + </p> + <p class="foot"> + 24 (<a href="#linknoteref-24">return</a>)<br /> [ great contests. One + instance of this is Magna Charta. Suggest others.] + </p> + <p> + <br /><a name="linknote-25" id="linknote-25"> </a> + </p> + <p class="foot"> + 25 (<a href="#linknoteref-25">return</a>)<br /> [ Freedom is to them Such + keen analysis and subtle reasoning is characteristic of Burke It is this + tendency that justifies some of his admirers in calling him "Philosopher + Statesman". Consider his thought attentively and determine whether or not + his argument is entirely sound. Is he correct in speaking of our Gothic + ancestors?] + </p> + <p> + <br /><a name="linknote-26" id="linknote-26"> </a> + </p> + <p class="foot"> + 26 (<a href="#linknoteref-26">return</a>)<br /> [ Abeunt studia in mores. + Studies become a part of character.] + </p> + <p> + <br /><a name="linknote-27" id="linknote-27"> </a> + </p> + <p class="foot"> + 27 (<a href="#linknoteref-27">return</a>)<br /> [ winged ministers of + vengeance. A figure suggested perhaps by Horace, Odes, Bk. IV., 4: + "Ministrum fulmims alitem"—the thunder's winged messenger.] + </p> + <p> + <br /><a name="linknote-28" id="linknote-28"> </a> + </p> + <p class="foot"> + 28 (<a href="#linknoteref-28">return</a>)<br /> [ the circulation. The + Conciliation, as all of Burke's writings, is rich in such figurative + expressions. In every instance the student should discover the source of + the figure and determine definitely whether or not his author is accurate + and suggestive.] + </p> + <p> + <br /><a name="linknote-29" id="linknote-29"> </a> + </p> + <p class="foot"> + 29 (<a href="#linknoteref-29">return</a>)<br /> [ its imperfections. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "But sent to my account + With all my imperfections upon my head." + —Hamlet, I, v, 78, 79:] +</pre> + <p> + <br /><a name="linknote-30" id="linknote-30"> </a> + </p> + <p class="foot"> + 30 (<a href="#linknoteref-30">return</a>)<br /> [ same plan. The act + referred to, known as the Regulating Act, became a law May 10, 1774: It + provided (a) that the council, or the higher branch of the legislature, + should be appointed by the Crown (the popular assemblies had previously + selected the members of the council); (b) that officers of the common + courts should be chosen by the royal governors, and (c) that public + meetings (except for elections) should not be held without the sanction of + the king. These measures were practically ignored. By means of circular + letters the colonies were fully instructed through their representatives. + As a direct result of the Regulating Act, along with other high-handed + proceedings of the same sort, delegates were secretly appointed for the + Continental Congress on Sept. 1 at Philadelphia. The delegates from + Massachusetts were Samuel Adams, John Adams, Robert Paine, and Thomas + Cushing.] + </p> + <p> + <br /><a name="linknote-31" id="linknote-31"> </a> + </p> + <p class="foot"> + 31 (<a href="#linknoteref-31">return</a>)<br /> [ their liberties. Compare + 24] + </p> + <p> + <br /><a name="linknote-32" id="linknote-32"> </a> + </p> + <p class="foot"> + 32 (<a href="#linknoteref-32">return</a>)<br /> [ sudden or partial view. + Goodrich, in his Select British Eloquence, speaking of Burke's + comprehensiveness in discussing his subject, compares him to one standing + upon an eminence, taking a large and rounded view of it on every side. The + justice of this observation is seen in such instances as the above. It is + this breadth and clearness of vision more than anything else that + distinguishes Burke so sharply from his contemporaries.] + </p> + <p> + <br /><a name="linknote-34" id="linknote-34"> </a> + </p> + <p class="foot"> + 34 (<a href="#linknoteref-34">return</a>)<br /> [ Spoliatis arma supersunt. + Though plundered their arms still remain.] + </p> + <p> + <br /><a name="linknote-35" id="linknote-35"> </a> + </p> + <p class="foot"> + 35 (<a href="#linknoteref-35">return</a>)<br /> [ your speech would betray + you. "Thy speech bewrayeth thee"—Matt. xxvi 73: There is much + justice in the observation that Burke is often verbose, yet such + paragraphs as this prove how well he knew to condense and prune his + expression. It is an excellent plan to select from day to day passages of + this sort and commit them to memory for recitation when the speech has + been finished.] + </p> + <p> + <br /><a name="linknote-36" id="linknote-36"> </a> + </p> + <p class="foot"> + 36 (<a href="#linknoteref-36">return</a>)<br /> [ to persuade slaves. Does + this suggest one of Byron's poems?] + </p> + <p> + <br /><a name="linknote-37" id="linknote-37"> </a> + </p> + <p class="foot"> + 37 (<a href="#linknoteref-37">return</a>)<br /> [ causes of quarrel. The + Assembly of Virginia in 1770 attempted to restrict the slave trade. Other + colonies made the same effort, but Parliament vetoed these measures, + accompanying its action with the blunt statement that the slave trade was + profitable to England. Observe how effectively Burke uses his wide + knowledge of history.] + </p> + <p> + <br /><a name="linknote-38" id="linknote-38"> </a> + </p> + <p class="foot"> + 38 (<a href="#linknoteref-38">return</a>)<br /> [ ex vi termini. From the + force of the word.] + </p> + <p> + <br /><a name="linknote-39" id="linknote-39"> </a> + </p> + <p class="foot"> + 39 (<a href="#linknoteref-39">return</a>)<br /> [ abstract right. Compare + with 14; also 8: Point out connection in thought.] + </p> + <p> + <br /><a name="linknote-40" id="linknote-40"> </a> + </p> + <p class="foot"> + 40 (<a href="#linknoteref-40">return</a>)<br /> [ Act of Henry the Eighth. + Burke alludes to this in his letter to the sheriffs of Bristol in the + following terms: "To try a man under this Act is to condemn him unheard. A + person is brought hither in the dungeon of a ship hold; thence he is + vomited into a dungeon on land, loaded with irons, unfurnished with money, + unsupported by friends, three thousand miles from all means of calling + upon or confronting evidence, where no one local circumstance that tends + to detect perjury can possibly be judged of;—such a person may be + executed according to form, but he can never be tried according to + justice."] + </p> + <p> + <br /><a name="linknote-41" id="linknote-41"> </a> + </p> + <p class="foot"> + 41 (<a href="#linknoteref-41">return</a>)<br /> [ correctly right. + Explain.] + </p> + <p> + <br /><a name="linknote-42" id="linknote-42"> </a> + </p> + <p class="foot"> + 42 (<a href="#linknoteref-42">return</a>)<br /> [ Paradise Lost, II., + 392-394:] + </p> + <p> + <br /><a name="linknote-43" id="linknote-43"> </a> + </p> + <p class="foot"> + 43 (<a href="#linknoteref-43">return</a>)<br /> [ This passage should be + carefully studied. Burke's theory of government is given in the + Conciliation by just such lines as these. Refer to other instances of + principles which he considers fundamental in matters of government.] + </p> + <p> + <br /><a name="linknote-44" id="linknote-44"> </a> + </p> + <p class="foot"> + 44 (<a href="#linknoteref-44">return</a>)<br /> [ exquisite. Exact + meaning?] + </p> + <p> + <br /><a name="linknote-45" id="linknote-45"> </a> + </p> + <p class="foot"> + 45 (<a href="#linknoteref-45">return</a>)<br /> [ trade laws. What would + have been the nature of a change beneficial to the colonies?] + </p> + <p> + <br /><a name="linknote-46" id="linknote-46"> </a> + </p> + <p class="foot"> + 46 (<a href="#linknoteref-46">return</a>)<br /> [ English conquest. At + Henry II.'s accession, 1154, Ireland had fallen from the civilization + which had once flourished upon her soil and which had been introduced by + her missionaries into England during the seventh century. Henry II. + obtained the sanction of the Pope, invaded the island, and partially + subdued the inhabitants. For an interesting account of England's relations + to Ireland the student should consult Green's Short History of the English + People.] + </p> + <p> + <br /><a name="linknote-47" id="linknote-47"> </a> + </p> + <p class="foot"> + 47 (<a href="#linknoteref-47">return</a>)<br /> [ You deposed kings. What + English kings have been deposed?] + </p> + <p> + <br /><a name="linknote-48" id="linknote-48"> </a> + </p> + <p class="foot"> + 48 (<a href="#linknoteref-48">return</a>)<br /> [ Lords Marchers. March, + boundary. These lords were given permission by the English kings to take + from the Welsh as much land as they could. They built their castles on the + boundary line between the two countries, and when they were not + quarrelling among themselves waged a guerilla warfare against the Welsh. + The Lords Marchers, because of special privileges and the peculiar + circumstances of their life, were virtually kings—petty kings, of + course.] + </p> + <p> + <br /><a name="linknote-49" id="linknote-49"> </a> + </p> + <p class="foot"> + 49 (<a href="#linknoteref-49">return</a>)<br /> [ "When the clear star has + shone upon the sailors, the troubled water flows down from the rocks, the + winds fall, the clouds fade away, and, since they (Castor and Pollux) have + so willed it, the threatening waves settle on the deep."—HORACE, + Odes, I., 12, 27-32:] + </p> + <p> + <br /><a name="linknote-50" id="linknote-50"> </a> + </p> + <p class="foot"> + 50 (<a href="#linknoteref-50">return</a>)<br /> [ Opposuit natura. Nature + opposed.] + </p> + <p> + <br /><a name="linknote-51" id="linknote-51"> </a> + </p> + <p class="foot"> + 51 (<a href="#linknoteref-51">return</a>)<br /> [ no theory. Select other + instances of Burke's impatience with fine-spun theories in statescraft] + </p> + <p> + <br /><a name="linknote-52" id="linknote-52"> </a> + </p> + <p class="foot"> + 52 (<a href="#linknoteref-52">return</a>)<br /> [ Republic of Plato Utopia + of More Ideal states Consult the Century Dictionary] + </p> + <p> + <br /><a name="linknote-53" id="linknote-53"> </a> + </p> + <p class="foot"> + 53 (<a href="#linknoteref-53">return</a>)<br /> [ + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "And the DULL swain + Treads daily on it with his clouted shoon" + —MILTON'S Comus, 6, 34, 35:] +</pre> + <p> + <br /><a name="linknote-54" id="linknote-54"> </a> + </p> + <p class="foot"> + 54 (<a href="#linknoteref-54">return</a>)<br /> [ the year 1763 The date + marks the beginning of the active struggle between England and the + American colonies. The Stamp Act was the first definite step taken by the + English Parliament in the attempt to tax the colonies without their + consent.] + </p> + <p> + <br /><a name="linknote-55" id="linknote-55"> </a> + </p> + <p class="foot"> + 55 (<a href="#linknoteref-55">return</a>)<br /> [ legal competency. This + had been practically recognized by Parliament prior to the passage of the + Stamp Act. In Massachusetts the Colonial Assembly had made grants from + year to year to the governor, both for his salary and the incidental + expenses of his office. Notwithstanding the fact that he was appointed (in + most cases) by the Crown, and invariably had the ear of the Lords of + Trade, the colonies generally had things their own way and enjoyed a + political freedom greater, perhaps, than did the people of England.] + </p> + <p> + <br /><a name="linknote-56" id="linknote-56"> </a> + </p> + <p class="foot"> + 56 (<a href="#linknoteref-56">return</a>)<br /> [ This is not my doctrine, + but that of Ofellus; a rustic, yet unusually wise] + </p> + <p> + <br /><a name="linknote-57" id="linknote-57"> </a> + </p> + <p class="foot"> + 57 (<a href="#linknoteref-57">return</a>)<br /> [ Compare in point of style + with 43, 22-25; 44, 1-6 In what way do such passages differ from Burke's + prevailng style? What is the central thought in each paragraph?] + </p> + <p> + <br /><a name="linknote-58" id="linknote-58"> </a> + </p> + <p class="foot"> + 58 (<a href="#linknoteref-58">return</a>)<br /> [ misguided people. There + is little doubt that the colonists m many instances were misrepresented by + the Lords of Trade and by the royal governors. See an interesting account + of this in Fiske's American Revolution.] + </p> + <p> + <br /><a name="linknote-59" id="linknote-59"> </a> + </p> + <p class="foot"> + 59 (<a href="#linknoteref-59">return</a>)<br /> [ an Act. Passed in 1767. + It provided for a duty on imports, including tea, glass, and paper.] + </p> + <p> + <br /><a name="linknote-60" id="linknote-60"> </a> + </p> + <p class="foot"> + 60 (<a href="#linknoteref-60">return</a>)<br /> [ An Act. Boston Post + Bill.] + </p> + <p> + <br /><a name="linknote-61" id="linknote-61"> </a> + </p> + <p class="foot"> + 61 (<a href="#linknoteref-61">return</a>)<br /> [ impartial administration + of justice. This provided that if any person in Massachusetts were charged + with murder, or any other capital offence, he should be tried either in + some other colony or in Great Britain] + </p> + <p> + <br /><a name="linknote-62" id="linknote-62"> </a> + </p> + <p class="foot"> + 62 (<a href="#linknoteref-62">return</a>)<br /> [ An Act for the better + regulating See 87, 23: ] + </p> + <p> + <br /><a name="linknote-63" id="linknote-63"> </a> + </p> + <p class="foot"> + 63 (<a href="#linknoteref-63">return</a>)<br /> [ Trial of Treasons See 50, + 20:] + </p> + <p> + <br /><a name="linknote-64" id="linknote-64"> </a> + </p> + <p class="foot"> + 64 (<a href="#linknoteref-64">return</a>)<br /> [ de jure. According to + law. de facto. According to fact.] + </p> + <p> + <br /><a name="linknote-65" id="linknote-65"> </a> + </p> + <p class="foot"> + 65 (<a href="#linknoteref-65">return</a>)<br /> [ jewel of his soul. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "Good name in man and woman, dear my lord, + Is the immediate jewel of their souls" + —Othello, III, iii, 155,156:] +</pre> + <p> + <br /><a name="linknote-66" id="linknote-66"> </a> + </p> + <p class="foot"> + 66 (<a href="#linknoteref-66">return</a>)<br /> [ proposition of a ransom. + See 8, 13:] + </p> + <p> + <br /><a name="linknote-67" id="linknote-67"> </a> + </p> + <p class="foot"> + 67 (<a href="#linknoteref-67">return</a>)<br /> [ An experiment upon + something of no value.] + </p> + <p> + <br /><a name="linknote-68" id="linknote-68"> </a> + </p> + <p class="foot"> + 68 (<a href="#linknoteref-68">return</a>)<br /> [ They stake their fortune + and play.] + </p> + <p> + <br /><a name="linknote-69" id="linknote-69"> </a> + </p> + <p class="foot"> + 69 (<a href="#linknoteref-69">return</a>)<br /> [ Such a presumption Is + Burke right in this? Select instances which seem to warrant rest such a + presumption. Discuss the political parties of Burke's own day from this + point of view.] + </p> + <p> + <br /><a name="linknote-70" id="linknote-70"> </a> + </p> + <p class="foot"> + 70 (<a href="#linknoteref-70">return</a>)<br /> [ What can you say about + the style of this passage? Note the figure, sentence structure, and + diction. Does it seem artificial and overwrought? Compare it with 43, + 22-25; 44: 1-6; also with 90, 23-25, 91, 1-25, 92, 1-23:] + </p> + <p> + <br /><a name="linknote-71" id="linknote-71"> </a> + </p> + <p class="foot"> + 71 (<a href="#linknoteref-71">return</a>)<br /> [ enemies. France and + Spain.] + </p> + <p> + <br /><a name="linknote-72" id="linknote-72"> </a> + </p> + <p class="foot"> + 72 (<a href="#linknoteref-72">return</a>)<br /> [ light as air. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "Trifles light as air + Are to the jealous confirmations strong + As proofs of holy writ" + —Othello, III, iii, 322-324] +</pre> + <p> + <br /><a name="linknote-73" id="linknote-73"> </a> + </p> + <p class="foot"> + 73 (<a href="#linknoteref-73">return</a>)<br /> [ + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + grapple to you. + "The friends thou hast and their adoption tried + Grapple them to thy soul with hooks of steel" + —Hamlet, I., iii, 62,63:] +</pre> + <p> + <br /><a name="linknote-74" id="linknote-74"> </a> + </p> + <p class="foot"> + 74 (<a href="#linknoteref-74">return</a>)<br /> [ the cement is gone. + Figure.] + </p> + <p> + <br /><a name="linknote-75" id="linknote-75"> </a> + </p> + <p class="foot"> + 75 (<a href="#linknoteref-75">return</a>)<br /> [ profane herd. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "Odi profanum volgus et arceo" + I hate the vulgar herd and keep it from me + —Horace, Odes, III, 1, 1] +</pre> + <p> + <br /><a name="linknote-76" id="linknote-76"> </a> + </p> + <p class="foot"> + 76 (<a href="#linknoteref-76">return</a>)<br /> [ Magnanimity. Etymology?] + </p> + <p> + <br /><a name="linknote-77" id="linknote-77"> </a> + </p> + <p class="foot"> + 77 (<a href="#linknoteref-77">return</a>)<br /> [ auspicate Etymology and + derivation?] + </p> + <p> + <br /><a name="linknote-78" id="linknote-78"> </a> + </p> + <p class="foot"> + 78 (<a href="#linknoteref-78">return</a>)<br /> [ Sursum corda. Lift up + your hearts.] + </p> + <p> + <br /><a name="linknote-79" id="linknote-79"> </a> + </p> + <p class="foot"> + 79 (<a href="#linknoteref-79">return</a>)<br /> [ quod felix faustumque + sit. May it be happy.] + </p> + <div style="height: 6em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Burke's Speech on Conciliation with +America, by Edmund Burke + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BURKE'S SPEECH *** + +***** This file should be named 5655-h.htm or 5655-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/5/6/5/5655/ + +Text file produced by Charles Franks and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team + +HTML file produced by David Widger + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Burke's Speech on Conciliation with America + +Author: Edmund Burke + +Commentator: Sidney Carleton Newsom + +Editor: Sidney Carleton Newsom + + +Release Date: May, 2004 [EBook #5655] +This file was first posted on August 5, 2002 +Last Updated: June 20, 2013 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BURKE'S SPEECH *** + + + + +Produced by Charles Franks and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team + + + + + + + +BURKE'S SPEECH + +ON + +CONCILIATION WITH AMERICA + +By Edmond Burke + + +Edited With Introduction And Notes By Sidney Carleton Newsom + +Teacher Of English, Manual Training High School Indianapolis, Indiana + + + + + +PREFACE + +The introduction to this edition of Burke's speech on Conciliation with +America is intended to supply the needs of those students who do not +have access to a well-stocked library, or who, for any reason, +are unable to do the collateral reading necessary for a complete +understanding of the text. + +The sources from which information has been drawn in preparing this +edition are mentioned under "Bibliography." The editor wishes to +acknowledge indebtedness to many of the excellent older editions of +the speech, and also to Mr. A. P. Winston, of the Manual Training High +School, for valuable suggestions. + + + + +CONTENTS + + POLITICAL SITUATION + + EDMUND BURKE + + BURKE AS A STATESMAN + + BURKE IN LITERATURE + + TOPICS FOR SPECIAL REPORTS + + BIBLIOGRAPHY + + SPEECH ON CONCILIATION WITH AMERICA + + NOTES + + INDEX + + + + +INTRODUCTION + +POLITICAL SITUATION + +In 1651 originated the policy which caused the American Revolution. +That policy was one of taxation, indirect, it is true, but none the less +taxation. The first Navigation Act required that colonial exports should +be shipped to England in American or English vessels. This was followed +by a long series of acts, regulating and restricting the American trade. +Colonists were not allowed to exchange certain articles without +paying duties thereon, and custom houses were established and officers +appointed. Opposition to these proceedings was ineffectual; and in 1696, +in order to expedite the business of taxation, and to establish a better +method of ruling the colonies, a board was appointed, called the Lords +Commissioners for Trade and Plantations. The royal governors found +in this board ready sympathizers, and were not slow to report their +grievances, and to insist upon more stringent regulations for enforcing +obedience. Some of the retaliative measures employed were the suspension +of the writ of habeas corpus, the abridgment of the freedom of the press +and the prohibition of elections. But the colonists generally succeeded +in having their own way in the end, and were not wholly without +encouragement and sympathy in the English Parliament. It may be that +the war with France, which ended with the fall of Quebec, had much to do +with this rather generous treatment. The Americans, too, were favored by +the Whigs, who had been in power for more than seventy years. The policy +of this great party was not opposed to the sentiments and ideas of +political freedom that had grown up in the colonies; and, although more +than half of the Navigation Acts were passed by Whig governments, the +leaders had known how to wink at the violation of nearly all of them. + +Immediately after the close of the French war, and after George III. had +ascended the throne of England, it was decided to enforce the Navigation +Acts rigidly. There was to be no more smuggling, and, to prevent this, +Writs of Assistance were issued. Armed with such authority, a servant of +the king might enter the home of any citizen, and make a thorough search +for smuggled goods. It is needless to say the measure was resisted +vigorously, and its reception by the colonists, and its effect upon +them, has been called the opening scene of the American Revolution. As a +matter of fact, this sudden change in the attitude of England toward the +colonies, marks the beginning of the policy of George III. which, had it +been successful, would have made him the ruler of an absolute instead +of a limited monarchy. He hated the Tories only less than the Whigs, +and when he bestowed a favor upon either, it was for the purpose of +weakening the other. The first task he set himself was that of crushing +the Whigs. Since the Revolution of 1688, they had dictated the policy of +the English government, and through wise leaders had become supreme +in authority. They were particularly obnoxious to him because of their +republican spirit, and he regarded their ascendency as a constant menace +to his kingly power. Fortune seemed to favor him in the dissensions +which arose. There grew up two factions in the Whig party. There were +old Whigs and new Whigs. George played one against the other, advanced +his favorites when opportunity offered, and in the end succeeded in +forming a ministry composed of his friends and obedient to his will. + +With the ministry safely in hand, he turned his attention to the House +of Commons. The old Whigs had set an example, which George was shrewd +enough to follow. Walpole and Newcastle had succeeded in giving England +one of the most peaceful and prosperous governments within in the +previous history of the nation, but their methods were corrupt. With +much of the judgment, penetration and wise forbearance which marks a +statesman, Walpole's distinctive qualities of mind eminently fitted +him for political intrigue; Newcastle was still worse, and has the +distinction of being the premier under whose administration the revolt +against official corruption first received the support of the public. + +For near a hundred years, the territorial distribution of seats in the +House had remained the same, while the centres of population had shifted +along with those of trade and new industries. Great towns were without +representation, while boroughs, such as Old Sarum, without a single +voter, still claimed, and had, a seat in Parliament. Such districts, +or "rotten boroughs," were owned and controlled by many of the great +landowners. Both Walpole and Newcastle resorted to the outright purchase +of these seats, and when the time came George did not shrink from doing +the same thing. He went even further. All preferments of whatsoever sort +were bestowed upon those who would do his bidding, and the business +of bribery assumed such proportions that an office was opened at the +Treasury for this purpose, from which twenty-five thousand pounds are +said to have passed in a single day. Parliament had been for a long +time only partially representative of the people; it now ceased to be so +almost completely. + +With, the support which such methods secured, along with encouragement +from his ministers, the king was prepared to put in operation his policy +for regulating the affairs of America. Writs of Assistance (1761) were +followed by the passage of the Stamp Act (1765). The ostensible object +of both these measures was to help pay the debt incurred by the French +war, but the real purpose lay deeper, and was nothing more or less than +the ultimate extension of parliamentary rule, in great things as well as +small, to America. At this crisis, so momentous for the colonists, the +Rockingham ministry was formed, and Burke, together with Pitt, supported +a motion for the unconditional repeal of the Stamp Act. After much +wrangling, the motion was carried, and the first blunder of the mother +country seemed to have been smoothed over. + +Only a few months elapsed, however, when the question of taxing the +colonies was revived. Pitt lay ill, and could take no part in the +proposed measure. Through the influence of other members of his +party,--notably Townshend,--a series of acts were passed, imposing +duties on several exports to America. This was followed by a suspension +of the New York Assembly, because it had disregarded instructions in the +matter of supplies for the troops. The colonists were furious. Matters +went from bad to worse. To withdraw as far as possible without yielding +the principle at stake, the duties on all the exports mentioned in +the bill were removed, except that on tea. But it was precisely the +principle for which the colonists were contending. They were not in the +humor for compromise, when they believed their freedom was endangered, +and the strength and determination of their resistance found a climax in +the Boston Tea Party. + +In the meantime, Lord North, who was absolutely obedient to the king, +had become prime minister. Five bills were prepared, the tenor of which, +it was thought, would overawe the colonists. Of these, the Boston Port +Bill and the Regulating Act are perhaps the most famous, though the +ultimate tendency of all was blindly coercive. + +While the king and his friends were busy with these, the opposition +proposed an unconditional repeal of the Tea Act. The bill was introduced +only to be overwhelmingly defeated by the same Parliament that passed +the five measures of Lord North. + +In America, the effect of these proceedings was such as might have been +expected by thinking men. The colonies were as a unit in their support +of Massachusetts. The Regulating Act was set at defiance, public +officers in the king's service were forced to resign, town meetings +were held, and preparations for war were begun in dead earnest. To avert +this, some of England's greatest statesmen--Pitt among the number--asked +for a reconsideration. On February the first, 1775, a bill was +introduced, which would have gone far toward bringing peace. One month +later, Burke delivered his speech on Conciliation with the Colonies. + + + + +EDMUND BURKE + +There is nothing unusual in Burke's early life. He was born in Dublin, +Ireland, in 1729. His father was a successful lawyer and a Protestant, +his mother, a Catholic. At the age of twelve, he became a pupil of +Abraham Shackleton, a Quaker, who had been teaching some fifteen years +at Ballitore, a small town thirty miles from Dublin. In after years +Burke was always pleased to speak of his old friend in the kindest way: +"If I am anything," he declares, "it is the education I had there that +has made me so." And again at Shackleton's death, when Burke was near +the zenith of his fame and popularity, he writes: "I had a true +honor and affection for that excellent man. I feel something like a +satisfaction in the midst of my concern, that I was fortunate enough to +have him under my roof before his departure." It can hardly be doubted +that the old Quaker schoolmaster succeeded with his pupil who was +already so favorably inclined, and it is more than probable that the +daily example of one who lived out his precepts was strong in its +influence upon a young and generous mind. + +Burke attended school at Ballitore two years; then, at the age of +fourteen, he became a student at Trinity College, Dublin, and remained +there five years. At college he was unsystematic and careless of +routine. He seems to have done pretty much as he pleased, and, however +methodical he became in after life, his study during these five years +was rambling and spasmodic. The only definite knowledge we have of this +period is given by Burke himself in letters to his former friend Richard +Shackleton, son of his old schoolmaster. What he did was done with a +zest that at times became a feverish impatience: "First I was greatly +taken with natural philosophy, which, while I should have given my mind +to logic, employed me incessantly. This I call my FUROR MATHEMATICUS." +Following in succession come his FUROR LOGICUS, FUROR HISTORICUS, and +FUROR PEOTICUS, each of which absorbed him for the time being. It would +be wrong, however, to think of Burke as a trifler even in his youth. He +read in the library three hours every day and we may be sure he read as +intelligently as eagerly. It is more than probable that like a few other +great minds he did not need a rigid system to guide him. If he chose +his subjects of study at pleasure, there is every reason to believe he +mastered them. + +Of intimate friends at the University we hear nothing. Goldsmith came +one year later, but there is no evidence that they knew each other. It +is probable that Burke, always reserved, had little in common with his +young associates. His own musings, with occasional attempts at writing +poetry, long walks through the country, and frequent letters to and from +Richard Shackleton, employed him when not at his books. + +Two years after taking his degree, Burke went to London and established +himself at the Middle Temple for the usual routine course in law. +Another long period passes of which there is next to nothing known. +His father, an irascible, hot-tempered man, had wished him to begin the +practice of law, but Burke seems to have continued in a rather irregular +way pretty much as when an undergraduate at Dublin. His inclinations +were not toward the law, but literature. His father, angered at such a +turn of affairs, promptly reduced his allowance and left him to follow +his natural bent in perfect freedom. In 1756, six years after his +arrival in London, and almost immediately following the rupture with his +father, he married a Miss Nugent. At about the same time he published +his first two books, [Footnote: A Vindication of Natural Society and +Philosophical Inquiry into the Origin of our Ideas of the Sublime and +Beautiful] and began in earnest the life of an author. + +He attracted the attention of literary men. Dr. Johnson had just +completed his famous dictionary, and was the centre of a group of +writers who accepted him at his own valuation. Burke did not want for +company, and wrote copiously.[Footnote: Hints for an Essay on the +Drama. Abridgement of the History of England] He became associated with +Dodsley, a bookseller, who began publishing the Annual Register in 1759, +and was paid a hundred pounds a year for writing upon current events. +He spent two years (1761-63) in Ireland in the employment of William +Hamilton, but at the end of that time returned, chagrined and disgusted +with his would-be patron, who utterly failed to recognize Burke's worth, +and persisted in the most unreasonable demands upon his time and energy. + +For once Burke's independence served him well. In 1765 Lord Rockingham +became prime minister, and Burke, widely known as the chief writer +for the Annual Register, was free to accept the position of private +secretary, which Lord Rockingham was glad to offer him. His services +here were invaluable. The new relations thus established did not end +with the performance of the immediate duties of his office, but a warm +friendship grew up between the two, which lasted till the death of Lord +Rockingham. While yet private secretary, Burke was elected to Parliament +from the borough of Wendover. It was through the influence of his +friend, or perhaps relative, William Burke, that his election was +secured. + +Only a few days after taking his seat in the House of Commons, Burke +made his first speech, January 27, 1766. He followed this in a very +short time with another upon the same subject--the Taxation of the +American Colonies. Notwithstanding the great honor and distinction which +these first speeches brought Burke, his party was dismissed at the close +of the session and the Chatham ministry formed. He remained with his +friends, and employed himself in refuting [Footnote: Observations on the +Present State of the Nation] the charges of the former minister, George +Grenville, who wrote a pamphlet accusing his successors of gross neglect +of public duties. + +At this point in his life comes the much-discussed matter of +Beaconsfield. How Burke became rich enough to purchase such expensive +property is a question that has never been answered by his friends or +enemies. There are mysterious hints of successful speculation in East +India stock, of money borrowed, and Burke himself, in a letter to +Shackleton, speaks of aid from his friends and "all [the money] he +could collect of his own." However much we may regret the air of mystery +surrounding the matter, and the opportunity given those ever ready to +smirch a great man's character, it is not probable that any one ever +really doubted Burke's integrity in this or any other transaction. +Perhaps the true explanation of his seemingly reckless extravagance (if +any explanation is needed) is that the conventional standards of his +time forced it upon him; and it may be that Burke himself sympathized +to some extent with these standards, and felt a certain satisfaction in +maintaining a proper attitude before the public. + +The celebrated case of Wilkes offered an opportunity for discussing +the narrow and corrupt policy pursued by George III. and his followers. +Wilkes, outlawed for libel and protected in the meantime through legal +technicalities, was returned to Parliament by Middlesex. The House +expelled him. He was repeatedly elected and as many times expelled, and +finally the returns were altered, the House voting its approval by a +large majority. In 1770 Burke published his pamphlet [Footnote: Present +Discontents] in which he discussed the situation. For the first time he +showed the full sweep and breadth of his understanding. His tract was +in the interest of his party, but it was written in a spirit far removed +from narrow partisanship. He pointed out with absolute clearness the +cause of dissatisfaction and unrest among the people and charged George +III. and his councillors with gross indifference to the welfare of the +nation and corresponding devotion to selfish interests. He contended +that Parliament was usurping privileges when it presumed to expel any +one, that the people had a right to send whomsoever they pleased to +Parliament, and finally that "in all disputes between them and their +rulers, the presumption was at least upon a par in favor of the +people." From this time until the American Revolution, Burke used every +opportunity to denounce the policy which the king was pursuing at home +and abroad. He doubtless knew beforehand that what he might say would +pass unnoticed, but he never faltered in a steadfast adherence to +his ideas of government, founded, as he believed, upon the soundest +principles. Bristol elected him as its representative in Parliament. It +was a great honor and Burke felt its significance, yet he did not flinch +when the time came for him to take a stand. He voted for the removal +of some of the restrictions upon Irish trade. His constituents, +representing one of the most prosperous mercantile districts, angered +and disappointed at what they held to be a betrayal of trust, refused to +reelect him. + +Lord North's ministry came to an end in 1782, immediately after the +battle of Yorktown, and Lord Rockingham was chosen prime minister. +Burke's past services warranted him in expecting an important place in +the cabinet, but he was ignored. Various things have been suggested +as reasons for this: he was poor; some of his relations and intimate +associates were objectionable; there were dark hints of speculations; he +was an Irishman. It is possible that any one of these facts, or all of +them, furnished a good excuse for not giving him an important position +in the new government. But it seems more probable that Burke's abilities +were not appreciated so justly as they have been since. The men with +whom he associated saw some of his greatness but not all of it. He +was assigned the office of Paymaster of Forces, a place of secondary +importance. + +Lord Rockingham died in three months and the party went to pieces. Burke +refused to work under Shelburne, and, with Fox, joined Lord North in +forming the coalition which overthrew the Whig party. Burke has been +severely censured for the part he took in this. Perhaps there is little +excuse for his desertion, and it is certainly true that his course +raises the question of his sincere devotion to principles. His personal +dislike of Shelburne was so intense that he may have yielded to his +feelings. He felt hurt, too, we may be sure, at the disposition made of +him by his friends. In replying to a letter asking him for a place +in the new government, he writes that his correspondent has been +misinformed. "I make no part of the ministerial arrangement," he writes, +and adds, "Something in the official line may be thought fit for my +measure." + +As a supporter of the coalition, Burke was one of the framers of +the India Bill. This was directed against the wholesale robbery and +corruption which the East India Company had been guilty of in its +government of the country. Both Fox and Burke defended the measure with +all the force and power which a thorough mastery of facts, a keen sense +of the injustice done an unhappy people, and a splendid rhetoric +can give. But it was doomed from the first. The people at large were +indifferent, many had profitable business relations with the company, +and the king used his personal influence against it. The bill failed to +pass, the coalition was dismissed, and the party, which had in Burke its +greatest representative, was utterly ruined. + +The failure of the India Bill marked a victory for the king, and it +also prepared the way for one of the most famous transactions of Burke's +life. Macaulay has told how impressive and magnificent was the scene +at the trial of Warren Hastings. There were political reasons for the +impeachment, but the chief motive that stirred Burke was far removed +from this. He saw and understood the real state of affairs in India. The +mismanagement, the brutal methods, and the crimes committed there in the +name of the English government, moved him profoundly, and when he rose +before the magnificent audience at Westminster, for opening the cause, +he forced his hearers, by his own mighty passion, to see with his own +eyes, and to feel his own righteous anger. "When he came to his two +narratives," says Miss Burney, "when he related the particulars of those +dreadful murders, he interested, he engaged, he at last overpowered me; +I felt my cause lost. I could hardly keep my seat. My eyes dreaded a +single glance toward a man so accused as Mr. Hastings; I wanted to sink +on the floor, that they might be saved so painful a sight. I had no hope +he could clear himself; not another wish in his favor remained." The +trial lasted for six years and ended with the acquittal of Hastings. The +result was not a surprise, and least of all to Burke. The fate of the +India Bill had taught him how completely indifferent the popular mind +was to issues touching deep moral questions. Though a seeming failure, +he regarded the impeachment as the greatest work of his life. It did +much to arouse and stimulate the national sense of justice. It +made clear the cruel methods sometimes pursued under the guise of +civilization and progress. The moral victory is claimed for Burke, and +without a doubt the claim is valid. + +The second of the great social and political problems, which employed +English statesmen in the last half of the eighteenth century, was +settled in the impeachment of Warren Hastings. The affairs of America +and India were now overshadowed by the French Revolution, and Burke, +with the far-sighted vision of a veteran statesman, watched the progress +of events and their influence upon the established order. In 1773 he had +visited France, and had returned displeased. It is remarkable with what +accuracy he pointed out the ultimate tendency of much that he saw. A +close observer of current phases of society, and on the alert to explain +them in the light of broad and fundamental principles of human progress, +he had every opportunity for studying social life at the French capital. +Unlike the younger men of his times, he was doubtful, and held his +judgment in suspense. The enthusiasm of even Fox seemed premature, and +he held himself aloof from the popular demonstrations of admiration and +approval that were everywhere going on. The fact is, Burke was growing +old, and with his years he was becoming more conservative. He dreaded +change, and was suspicious of the wisdom of those who set about such +widespread innovations, and made such brilliant promises for the future. +But the time rapidly approached for him to declare himself, and in 1790 +his Reflections on the Revolution in France was issued. His friends +had long waited its appearance, and were not wholly surprised at the +position taken. What did surprise them was the eagerness with which the +people seized upon the book, and its effect upon them. The Tories, with +the king, applauded long and loud; the Whigs were disappointed, for +Burke condemned the Revolution unreservedly, and with a bitterness +out of all proportion to the cause of his anxiety and fear. As the +Revolution progressed, he grew fiercer in his denunciation. He broke +with his lifelong associates, and declared that no one who sympathized +with the work of the Assembly could be his friend. His other writings +on the Revolution [Footnote: Letter to a Member of the National Assembly +and Letters on a Regicide Peace.] were in a still more violent strain, +and it is hard to think of them as coming from the author of the Speech +on Conciliation. + +Three years before his death, at the conclusion of the trial of Warren +Hastings, Burke's last term in Parliament expired. He did not wish +office again and withdrew to his estate. Through the influence of +friends, and because of his eminent services, it was proposed to make +him peer, with the title of Lord Beacons field. But the death of his son +prevented, and a pension of twenty-five hundred pounds a year was given +instead. It was a signal for his enemies, and during his last days he +was busy with his reply. The "Letter to a Noble Lord," though written +little more than a year before his death, is considered one of the most +perfect of his papers. Saddened by the loss of his son, and broken in +spirits, there is yet left him enough old-time energy and fire to answer +his detractors. But his wonderful career was near its close. His last +months were spent in writing about the French Revolution, and the third +letter on a Regicide Peace--a fragment--was doubtless composed just +before his death. On the 9th of July, 1797, he passed away. His friends +claimed for him a place in Westminster, but his last wish was respected, +and he was buried at Beaconsfield. + + + + +BURKE AS A STATESMAN + +There is hardly a political tract or pamphlet of Burke's in which he +does not state, in terms more or less clear, the fundamental principle +in his theory of government. "Circumstances," he says in one place, +"give, in reality, to every political principle, its distinguishing +color and discriminating effect. The circumstances are what renders +every civil and political scheme beneficial or obnoxious to mankind." At +another time he exclaims: "This is the true touchstone of all theories +which regard man and the affairs of men; does it suit his nature in +general, does it suit his nature as modified by his habits?" And again +he extends his system to affairs outside the realm of politics. "All +government," he declares, "indeed, every human benefit and enjoyment, +every virtue and every prudent act, is founded on compromise and +barter." + +It is clear that Burke thought the State existed for the people, and not +the people for the State. The doctrine is old to us, but it was not +so in Burke's time, and it required courage to expound it. The great +parties had forgotten the reason for their existence, and one of them +had become hardened and blinded by that corruption which seems to follow +long tenure of office. The affairs of India, Ireland, and America gave +excellent opportunity for an exhibition of English statesmanship, but in +each case the policy pursued was dictated, not by a clear perception +of what was needed in these countries, but by narrow selfishness, not +unmixed with dogmatism of the most challenging sort. The situation in +India, as regards climate, character, and institutions, counted for +little in the minds of those who were growing rich as agents of the East +India Company. Much the same may be said of America and Ireland. The +sense of Parliament, influenced by the king, was to use these parts +of the British Empire in raising a revenue, and in strengthening party +organization at home. In opposing this policy, Burke lost his seat +as representative for Bristol, then the second city of England; spent +fourteen of the best years of his life in conducting the impeachment +of Warren Hastings, Governor-General of India; and, greatest of all, +delivered his famous speeches on Taxation and Conciliation, in behalf of +the American colonists. + +Notwithstanding the distinctly modern tone of Burke's ideas, it would +be wrong to think of him as a thoroughgoing reformer. He has been called +the Great Conservative, and the title is appropriate. He would have +shrunk from a purely republican form of government, such as our own, +and it is, perhaps, a fact that he was suspicious of a government by the +people. The trouble, as he saw it, lay with the representatives of the +people. Upon them, as guardians of a trust, rested the responsibility +of protecting those whom they were chosen to serve. While he bitterly +opposed any measures involving radical change in the Constitution, he +was no less ardent in denouncing political corruptions of all kinds +whatsoever. In his Economical Reform he sought to curtail the enormous +extravagance of the royal household, and to withdraw the means of +wholesale bribery, which offices at the disposal of the king created. +He did not believe that a more effective means than this lay in the +proposed plan for a redistribution of seats in the House of Commons. In +one place, he declared it might be well to lessen the number of voters, +in order to add to their weight and independence; at another, he asks +that the people be stimulated to a more careful scrutiny of the conduct +of their representatives; and on every occasion he demands that the +legislators give their support to those measures only which have for +their object the good of the whole people. + +It is obvious, however, that Burke's policy had grievous faults. His +reverence for the past, and his respect for existing institutions as the +heritage of the past, made him timid and overcautious in dealing with +abuses. Although he stood with Pitt in defending the American colonies, +he had no confidence in the thoroughgoing reforms which the great +Commoner proposed. When the Stamp Act was repealed, Pitt would have +gone even further. He would have acknowledged the absolute injustice of +taxation without representation. Burke held tenaciously to the opposing +theory, and warmly supported the Declaratory Act, which "asserted +the supreme authority of Parliament over the colonies, in all cases +whatsoever." His support of the bill for the repeal of the Stamp Act, as +well as his plea for reconciliation, ten years later, were not prompted +by a firm belief in the injustice of England's course. He expressly +states, in both cases that to enforce measures so repugnant to the +Americans, would be detrimental to the home government. It would result +in confusion and disorder, and would bring, perhaps, in the end, open +rebellion. All of his speeches on American affairs show his willingness +to "barter and compromise" in order to avoid this, but nowhere is there +a hint of fundamental error in the Constitution. This was sacred to him, +and he resented to the last any proposition looking to an organic change +in its structure. "The lines of morality," he declared, "are not like +ideal lines of mathematics. They are broad and deep, as well as long. +They admit of exceptions; they demand modifications. These exceptions +and modifications are made, not by the process of logic, but the rules +of prudence. Prudence is not only first in rank of all the virtues, +political and moral, but she is the director, the regulator, the +standard of them all." + +The chief characteristics, then, of Burke's political philosophy are +opposed to much that is fundamental in modern systems. His doctrine is +better than that of George III, because it is more generous, and affords +opportunity for superficial readjustment and adaptation. It is this +last, or rather the proof it gives of his insight, that has secured +Burke so high a place among English statesmen. + + + + +A GROUP OF WRITERS COMING IMMEDIATELY BEFORE BURKE + + Addison. . . . 1672-1719 + Steele . . . . 1672-1729 + Defoe. . . . . 1661-1731 + Swift. . . . . 1667-1745 + Pope . . . . . 1688-1744 + Richardson . . 1689-1761 + + + + +A GROUP OF WRITERS CONTEMPORARY WITH BURKE + + Johnson . . . . 1709-1784 + Goldsmith . . . 1728-1774 + Fielding. . . . 1707-1754 + Sterne. . . . . 1713-1768 + Smollett. . . . 1721-1771 + Gray. . . . . . 1716-1771 + Boswell . . . . 1740-1795 + + + + +BURKE IN LITERATURE + +It has become almost trite to speak of the breadth of Burke's +sympathies. We should examine the statement, however, and understand its +significance and see its justice. While he must always be regarded first +as a statesman of one of the highest types, he had other interests than +those directly suggested by his office, and in one of these, at least, +he affords an interesting and profitable study. + +To the student of literature Burke's name must always suggest that of +Johnson and Goldsmith. It was eight years after Burke's first appearance +as an author, that the famous Literary Club was formed. At first it was +the intention to limit the club to a membership of nine, and for a +time this was adhered to. The original members were Johnson, Burke, +Goldsmith, Reynolds, and Hawkins. Garrick, Pox, and Boswell came in +later. Macaulay declares that the influence of the club was so great +that its verdict made and unmade reputations; but the thing most +interesting to us does not lie in the consideration of such literary +dictatorship. To Boswell we owe a biography of Johnson which has +immortalized its subject, and shed lustre upon all associated with him. +The literary history of the last third of the eighteenth century, with +Johnson as a central figure, is told nowhere else with such accuracy, or +with better effect. + +Although a Tory, Johnson was a great one, and his lasting friendship for +Burke is an enduring evidence of his generosity and great-mindedness. +For twenty years, and longer, they were eminent men in opposing parties, +yet their mutual respect and admiration continued to the last. To Burke, +Johnson was a writer of "eminent literary merit" and entitled to a +pension "solely on that account." To Johnson, Burke was the greatest +man of his age, wrong politically, to be sure, yet the only one "whose +common conversation corresponded to the general fame which he had in +the world"--the only one "who was ready, whatever subject was chosen, to +meet you on your own ground." Here and there in the Life are allusions +to Burke, and admirable estimates of his many-sided character. + +Coming directly to an estimate of Burke from the purely literary point +of view, it must be borne in mind that the greater part of his writings +was prepared for an audience. Like Macaulay, his prevailing style +suggests the speaker, and his methods throughout are suited to +declamation and oratory. He lacks the ease and delicacy that we are +accustomed to look for in the best prose writers, and occasionally one +feels the justice of Johnson's stricture, that "he sometimes talked +partly from ostentation", or of Hazlitt's criticism that he seemed to be +"perpetually calling the speaker out to dance a minuet with him before +he begins." + +There may be passages here and there that warrant such censure. Burke is +certainly ornate, and at times he is extremely self-conscious, but the +dominant quality of his style, and the one which forever contradicts +the idea of mere showiness, is passion. In his method of approaching a +subject, he may be, and perhaps is, rather tedious, but when once he +has come to the matter really in hand, he is no longer the rhetorician, +dealing in fine phrases, but the great seer, clothing his thoughts +in words suitable and becoming. The most magnificent passages in +his writings--the Conciliation is rich in them--owe their charm and +effectiveness to this emotional capacity. They were evidently written +in moments of absolute abandonment to feeling--in moments when he was +absorbed in the contemplation of some great truth, made luminous by his +own unrivalled powers. + +Closely allied to this intensity of passion, is a splendid imaginative +quality. Few writers of English prose have such command of figurative +expression. It must be said, however, that Burke was not entirely free +from the faults which generally accompany an excessive use of figures. +Like other great masters of a decorative style, he frequently becomes +pompous and grandiloquent. His thought, too, is obscured, where we +would expect great clearness of statement, accompanied by a dignified +simplicity; and occasionally we feel that he forgets his subject in an +anxious effort to make an impression. Though there are passages in his +writings that justify such observations, they are few in number, when +compared with those which are really masterpieces of their kind. + +Some great crisis, or threatening state of affairs, seems to furnish the +necessary condition for the exercise of a great mind, and Burke is never +so effective as when thoroughly aroused. His imagination needed the +chastening which only a great moment or critical situation could give. +Two of his greatest speeches--Conciliation, and Impeachment of +Warren Hastings--were delivered under the restraining effect of such +circumstances, and in each the figurative expression is subdued and not +less beautiful in itself than, appropriate for the occasion. + +Finally, it must be observed that no other writer of English prose has a +better command of words. His ideas, as multifarious as they are, always +find fitting expression. He does not grope for a term; it stands ready +for his thought, and one feels that he had opportunity for choice. It +is the exuberance of his fancy, already mentioned, coupled with this +richness of vocabulary, that helped to make Burke a tiresome speaker. +His mind was too comprehensive to allow any phase of his subject to pass +without illumination. He followed where his subject led him, without any +great attention to the patience of his audience. But he receives full +credit when his speeches are read. It is then that his mastery of +the subject and the splendid qualities of his style are apparent, and +appreciated at their worth. + +In conclusion, it is worth while observing that in the study of a +great character, joined with an attempt to estimate it by conventional +standards, something must always be left unsaid. Much may be learned of +Burke by knowing his record as a partisan, more by a minute inspection +of his style as a writer, but beyond all this is the moral tone or +attitude of the man himself. To a student of Burke this is the greatest +thing about him. It colored every line he wrote, and to it, more than +anything else, is due the immense force of the man as a speaker and +writer. It was this, more than Burke's great abilities, that justifies +Dr. Johnson's famous eulogy: "He is not only the first man in the House +of Commons, he is the first man everywhere." + + + + +A GROUP OF WRITERS COMING IMMEDIATELY AFTER BURKE + +Wordsworth . . . . 1770-1850 + +Coleridge . . . . . 1772-1834 + +Byron . . . . . . . 1788-1824 + +Shelley . . . . . . 1792-1822 + +Keats . . . . . . . 1795-1821 + +Scott . . . . . . . 1771-1832 + + + + +TOPICS FOR SPECIAL REPORTS + +1. "Like Goldsmith, though in a different sphere, Burke belongs both to +the old order and the new." Discuss that statement. + +2. Burke and the Literary Club. (Boswell's Life of Johnson.) + +3. Lives of Burke and Goldsmith. Contrast. + +4. An interpretation of ten apothegms selected from the Speech on +Conciliation. + +5. A study of figures in the Speech on Conciliation. + +6. A definition of the terms: "colloquialism" and "idiom" Instances of +their use in the Speech on Conciliation. + + + + +BIBLIOGRAPHY + +1. Burke's Life. John Morley. English Men of Letters Series. + +2. Burke. John Morley. An Historical Study. + +3. Burke. John Morley. Encyclopaedia Britannica. + +4. History of the English People. Green. Vol. IV., pp 193-271. + +5 History of Civilization in England. Buckle. Vol I, pp. 326-338 + +6. The American Revolution. Fiske. Vol. I, Chaps. I., II. + +7. Life of Johnson. Boswell. (Use the Index) + + + + +EDMUND BURKE + +ON MOVING HIS RESOLUTIONS FOR CONCILIATION WITH THE COLONIES. HOUSE OF +COMMONS, MARCH 22, 1775 + + +I hope, Sir, that notwithstanding the austerity of the Chair, your +good nature will incline you to some degree of indulgence towards human +frailty. You will not think it unnatural that those who have an object +depending, which strongly engages their hopes and fears, should be +somewhat inclined to superstition. As I came into the House full of +anxiety about the event of my motion, I found, to my infinite surprise, +that the grand penal bill, [Footnote: 1] by which we had passed sentence +on the trade and sustenance of America, is to be returned to us from the +other House. I do confess I could not help looking on this event as a +fortunate omen. I look upon it as a sort of providential favor, by which +we are put once more in possession of our deliberative capacity upon a +business so very questionable in its nature, so very uncertain in its +issue. By the return of this bill, which seemed to have taken its flight +forever, we are at this very instant nearly as free to choose a plan for +our American Government as we were on the first day of the session. +If, Sir, we incline to the side of conciliation, we are not at all +embarrassed (unless we please to make ourselves so) by any incongruous +mixture of coercion and restraint. We are therefore called upon, as it +were by a superior warning voice, again to attend to America; to attend +to the whole of it together; and to review the subject with an unusual +degree of care and calmness. + +Surely it is an awful subject, or there is none so on this side of the +grave. When I first had the honor [Footnote: 2] of a seat in this House, +the affairs of that continent pressed themselves upon us as the most +important and most delicate object of Parliamentary attention. My little +share in this great deliberation oppressed me. I found myself a partaker +in a very high trust; and, having no sort of reason to rely on the +strength of my natural abilities for the proper execution of that trust, +I was obliged to take more than common pains to instruct myself in +everything which relates to our Colonies. I was not less under the +necessity of forming some fixed ideas concerning the general policy of +the British Empire. Something of this sort seemed to be indispensable, +in order, amidst so vast a fluctuation of passions and opinions, to +concentre my thoughts, to ballast my conduct, to preserve me from being +blown about by every wind of fashionable doctrine. I really did not +think it safe or manly to have fresh principles to seek upon every fresh +mail which should arrive from America. + +At that period I had the fortune to find myself in perfect concurrence +with a large majority in this House. Bowing under that high authority, +and penetrated with the sharpness and strength of that early impression, +I have continued ever since, without the least deviation, in my +original sentiments. [Footnote: 3] Whether this be owing to an obstinate +perseverance in error, or to a religious adherence to what appears to me +truth, and reason, it is in your equity to judge. + +Sir, Parliament having an enlarged view of objects, made, during this +interval, more frequent changes in their sentiments and their conduct +than could be justified in a particular person upon the contracted scale +of private information. But though I do not hazard anything approaching +to a censure on the motives of former Parliaments to all those +alterations, one fact is undoubted--that under them the state of +America has been kept in continual agitation. [Footnote: 4] Everything +administered as remedy to the public complaint, if it did not produce, +was at least followed by, an heightening of the distemper; until, by a +variety of experiments, that important country has been brought into her +present situation--a situation which I will not miscall, which I dare +not name, which I scarcely know how to comprehend in the terms of any +description. + +In this posture, Sir, things stood at the beginning of the session. +About that time, a worthy member [Footnote: 5] of great Parliamentary +experience, who, in the year 1766, filled the chair of the American +committee with much ability, took me aside; and, lamenting the present +aspect of our politics, told me things were come to such a pass that +our former [Footnote: 6] methods of proceeding in the House would be +no longer tolerated: that the public tribunal (never too indulgent to a +long and unsuccessful opposition) would now scrutinize our conduct +with unusual severity: that the very vicissitudes and shiftings of +Ministerial measures, instead of convicting their authors of inconstancy +and want of system, would be taken as an occasion of charging us with a +predetermined discontent, which nothing could satisfy; whilst we accused +every measure of vigor as cruel, and every proposal of lenity as weak +and irresolute. The public, he said, would not have patience to see us +play the game out with our adversaries; we must produce our hand. It +would be expected that those who for many years had been active in such +affairs should show that they had formed some clear and decided idea +of the principles of Colony government; and were capable of drawing out +something like a platform of the ground which might be laid for future +and permanent tranquillity. + +I felt the truth of what my honorable friend represented; but I felt +my situation too. His application might have been made with far greater +propriety to many other gentlemen. No man was indeed ever better +disposed, or worse qualified, for such an undertaking than myself. +Though I gave so far in to his opinion that I immediately threw my +thoughts into a sort of Parliamentary form, I was by no means equally +ready to produce them. It generally argues some degree of natural +impotence of mind, or some want of knowledge of the world, to hazard +plans of government except from a seat of authority. Propositions are +made, not only ineffectually, but somewhat disreputably, when the minds +of men are not properly disposed for their reception; and, for my part, +I am not ambitious of ridicule--not absolutely a candidate for disgrace. + +Besides, Sir, to speak the plain truth, I have in general no very +exalted opinion of the virtue of paper government; [Footnote: 7] nor +of any politics in which the plan is to be wholly separated from the +execution. But when I saw that anger and violence prevailed every day +more and more, and that things were hastening towards an incurable +alienation of our Colonies, I confess my caution gave way. I felt this +as one of those few moments in which decorum yields to a higher duty. +Public calamity is a mighty leveller; and there are occasions when any, +even the slightest, chance of doing good must be laid hold on, even by +the most inconsiderable person. + +To restore order and repose to an empire so great and so distracted as +ours, is, merely in the attempt, an undertaking that would ennoble the +flights of the highest genius, and obtain pardon for the efforts of the +meanest understanding. Struggling a good while with these thoughts, by +degrees I felt myself more firm. I derived, at length, some confidence +from what in other circumstances usually produces timidity. I grew less +anxious, even from the idea of my own insignificance. For, judging of +what you are by what you ought to be, I persuaded myself that you would +not reject a reasonable proposition because it had nothing but its +reason to recommend it. On the other hand, being totally destitute of +all shadow of influence, natural or adventitious, I was very sure that, +if my proposition were futile or dangerous--if it were weakly conceived, +or improperly timed--there was nothing exterior to it of power to awe, +dazzle, or delude you. You will see it just as it is; and you will treat +it just as it deserves. + +The proposition is peace. Not peace through the medium of war; not +peace to be hunted through the labyrinth of intricate and endless +negotiations; not peace to arise out of universal discord fomented, +from principle, in all parts of the Empire, not peace to depend on the +juridical determination of perplexing questions, or the precise marking +the shadowy boundaries of a complex government. It is simple peace; +sought in its natural course, and in its ordinary haunts. It is peace +sought in the spirit of peace, and laid in principles purely pacific. I +propose, by removing the ground of the difference, and by restoring the +former unsuspecting confidence of the Colonies in the Mother Country, +to give permanent satisfaction to your people; and (far from a scheme of +ruling by discord) to reconcile them to each other in the same act and +by the bond of the very same interest which reconciles them to British +government. + +My idea is nothing more. Refined policy [Footnote: 8] ever has been, the +parent of confusion; and ever will be so, as long as the world endures. +Plain good intention, which is as easily discovered at the first view +as fraud is surely detected at last, is, let me say, of no mean force in +the government of mankind. Genuine simplicity of heart is an healing +and cementing principle. My plan, therefore, being formed upon the most +simple grounds imaginable, may disappoint some people when they hear it. +It has nothing to recommend it to the pruriency of curious ears. There +is nothing at all new and captivating in it. It has nothing of the +splendor of the project [Footnote: 9] which has been lately laid upon +your table by the noble lord in the blue ribbon. [Footnote: 10] It does +not propose to fill your lobby with squabbling Colony agents, [Footnote: +11] who will require the interposition of your mace, at every instant, +to keep the peace amongst them. It does not institute a magnificent +auction of finance, where captivated provinces come to general ransom +by bidding against each other, until you knock down the hammer, and +determine a proportion of payments beyond all the powers of algebra to +equalize and settle. + +The plan which I shall presume to suggest derives, however, one great +advantage from the proposition and registry of that noble lord's +project. The idea of conciliation is admissible. First, the House, +in accepting the resolution moved by the noble lord, has admitted, +notwithstanding the menacing front of our address, [Footnote: 12] +notwithstanding our heavy bills of pains and penalties--that we do not +think ourselves precluded from all ideas of free grace and bounty. + +The House has gone farther; it has declared conciliation admissible, +previous to any submission on the part of America. It has even shot a +good deal beyond that mark, and has admitted that the complaints of our +former mode of exerting the right of taxation were not wholly unfounded. +That right thus exerted is allowed to have something reprehensible in +it, something unwise, or something grievous; since, in the midst of +our heat and resentment, we, of ourselves, have proposed a +capital alteration; and in order to get rid of what seemed so very +exceptionable, have instituted a mode that is altogether new; one that +is, indeed, wholly alien from all the ancient methods and forms of +Parliament. + +The principle of this proceeding is large enough for my purpose. The +means proposed by the noble lord for carrying his ideas into execution, +I think, indeed, are very indifferently suited to the end; and this I +shall endeavor to show you before I sit down. But, for the present, I +take my ground on the admitted principle. I mean to give peace. Peace +implies reconciliation; and where there has been a material dispute, +reconciliation does in a manner always imply concession on the one +part or on the other. In this state of things, I make no difficulty +in affirming that the proposal ought to originate from us. Great and +acknowledged force is not impaired, either in effect or in opinion, by +an unwillingness to exert itself. The superior power may offer peace +with honor and with safety. Such an offer from such a power will be +attributed to magnanimity. But the concessions of the weak are the +concessions of fear. When such a one is disarmed, he is wholly at the +mercy of his superior; and he loses forever that time and those chances, +[Footnote: 13] which, as they happen to all men, are the strength and +resources of all inferior power. + +The capital leading questions on which you must this day decide are +these two: First, whether you ought to concede; and secondly, what your +concession ought to be. On the first of these questions we have gained, +as I have just taken the liberty of observing to you, some ground. But +I am sensible that a good deal more is still to be done. Indeed, Sir, +to enable us to determine both on the one and the other of these great +questions with a firm and precise judgment, I think it may be necessary +to consider distinctly the true nature and the peculiar circumstances +of the object which we have before us; because after all our struggle, +whether we will or not, we must govern America according to that nature +and to those circumstances, [Footnote: 14] and not according to our +own imaginations, nor according to abstract ideas of right--by no means +according to mere general theories of government, the resort to which +appears to me, in our present situation, no better than arrant trifling. +I shall therefore endeavor, with your leave, to lay before you some +of the most material of these circumstances in as full and as clear a +manner as I am able to state them. + +The first thing that we have to consider with regard to the nature of +the object is--the number of people in the Colonies. I have taken for +some years a good deal of pains on that point. I can by no calculation +justify myself in placing the number below two millions of inhabitants +of our own European blood and color, besides at least five hundred +thousand others, who form no inconsiderable part of the strength and +opulence of the whole. This, Sir, is, I believe, about the true number. +There is no occasion to exaggerate where plain truth is of so much +weight and importance. But whether I put the present numbers too high +or too low is a matter of little moment. Such is the strength with which +population shoots in that part of the world, that, state the numbers as +high as we will, whilst the dispute continues, the exaggeration ends. +Whilst we are discussing any given magnitude, they are grown to it. +Whilst we spend our time in deliberating on the mode of governing two +millions, we shall find we have millions more to manage. Your children +do not grow faster from infancy to manhood than they spread from +families to communities, and from villages to nations. + +I put this consideration of the present and the growing numbers in the +front of our deliberation, because, Sir, this consideration will make +it evident to a blunter discernment than yours, that no partial, narrow, +contracted, pinched, occasional system will be at all suitable to such +an object. It will show you that it is not to be considered as one of +those minima which are out of the eye and consideration of the law; +not a paltry excrescence of the state; not a mean dependent, who may be +neglected with little damage and provoked with little danger. It will +prove that some degree of care and caution is required in the handling +such an object; it will show that you ought not, in reason, to trifle +with so large a mass of the interests and feelings of the human race. +You could at no time do so without guilt; and be assured you will not be +able to do it long with impunity. + +But the population of this country, the great and growing population, +though a very important consideration, will lose much of its weight if +not combined with other circumstances. The commerce of your Colonies is +out of all proportion beyond the numbers of the people. This ground +of their commerce indeed has been trod some days ago, and with great +ability, by a distinguished person at your bar. This gentleman, after +thirty-five years--it is so long since he first appeared at the same +place to plead for the commerce of Great Britain--has come again before +you to plead the same cause, without any other effect of time, than +that to the fire of imagination and extent of erudition which even then +marked him as one of the first literary characters of his age, he has +added a consummate knowledge in the commercial interest of his country, +formed by a long course of enlightened and discriminating experience. + +Sir, I should be inexcusable in coming after such a person with any +detail, if a great part of the members who now fill the House had not +the misfortune to be absent when he appeared at your bar. Besides, Sir, +I propose to take the matter at periods of time somewhat different from +his. There is, if I mistake not, a point of view from whence, if you +will look at the subject, it is impossible that it should not make an +impression upon you. + +I have in my hand two accounts; one a comparative state of the export +trade of England to its Colonies, as it stood in the year 1704, and as +it stood in the year 1772; the other a state of the export trade of this +country to its Colonies alone, as it stood in 1772, compared with the +whole trade of England to all parts of the world (the Colonies included) +in the year 1704. They are from good vouchers; the latter period from +the accounts on your table, the earlier from an original manuscript of +Davenant, who first established the Inspector-General's office, which +has been ever since his time so abundant a source of Parliamentary +information. + +The export trade to the Colonies consists of three great branches: the +African--which, terminating almost wholly in the Colonies, must be +put to the account of their commerce,--the West Indian, and the North +American. All these are so interwoven that the attempt to separate them +would tear to pieces the contexture of the whole; and, if not entirely +destroy, would very much depreciate the value of all the parts. I +therefore consider these three denominations to be, what in effect they +are, one trade. [Footnote: 15] + +The trade to the Colonies, taken on the export side, at the beginning of +this century, that is, in the year 1704, stood thus:-- + + Exports to North America and the West Indies. L483,265 + To Africa. .................................. 86,665 + -------- + L569,930 + +In the year 1772, which I take as a middle year between the highest and +lowest of those lately laid on your table, the account was as follows:-- + + To North America and the West Indies ...... L4,791,734 + To Africa. ................................ 866,398 + To which, if you add the export trade from + Scotland, which had in 1704 no existence .. 364,000 + ---------- + L6,022,132 + +From five hundred and odd thousand, it has grown to six millions. It +has increased no less than twelve-fold. This is the state of the +Colony trade as compared with itself at these two periods within this +century;--and this is matter for meditation. But this is not all. +Examine my second account. See how the export trade to the Colonies +alone in 1772 stood in the other point of view; that is, as compared to +the whole trade of England in 1704:-- + + The whole export trade of England, including + that to the Colonies, in 1704. ................ L6,509,000 + Export to the Colonies alone, in 1772 ......... 6,024,000 + + ---------- + Difference, L485,000 + +The trade with America alone is now within less than L500,000 of being +equal to what this great commercial nation, England, carried on at +the beginning of this century with the whole world! If I had taken the +largest year of those on your table, it would rather have exceeded. But, +it will be said, is not this American trade an unnatural protuberance, +that has drawn the juices from the rest of the body? The reverse. It +is the very food that has nourished every other part into its present +magnitude. Our general trade has been greatly augmented, and augmented +more or less in almost every part to which it ever extended; but +with this material difference, that of the six millions which in the +beginning of the century constituted the whole mass of our export +commerce, the Colony trade was but one-twelfth part, it is now (as a +part of sixteen millions) considerably more than a third of the whole. +This is the relative proportion of the importance of the Colonies at +these two periods, and all reasoning concerning our mode of treating +them must have this proportion as its basis, or it is a reasoning weak, +rotten, and sophistical. + +Mr. Speaker, I cannot prevail on myself to hurry over this great +consideration. [Footnote: 15] IT IS GOOD FOR US TO BE HERE. [Footnote: +16] We stand where we have an immense view of what is, and what is past. +Clouds, indeed, and darkness, rest upon the future. Let us, however, +before we descend from this noble eminence, reflect that this growth of +our national prosperity has happened within the short period of the life +of man. It has happened within sixty-eight years. There are those alive +whose memory might touch the two extremities. For instance, my Lord +Bathurst might remember all the stages of the progress. He was in 1704 +of an age at least to be made to comprehend such things. He was then old +enough acta parentum jam legere, et quae sit potuit cognoscere virtus. +[Footnote: 17] Suppose, Sir, that the angel of this auspicious youth, +foreseeing the many virtues which made him one of the most amiable, as +he is one of the most fortunate, men of his age, had opened to him in +vision that when in the fourth generation the third Prince of the House +of Brunswick had sat twelve years on the throne of that nation which, by +the happy issue of moderate and healing counsels, was to be made Great +Britain, he should see his son, Lord Chancellor of England, turn back +the current of hereditary dignity to its fountain, and raise him to +a higher rank of peerage, whilst he enriched the family with a new +one--if, amidst these bright and happy scenes of domestic honor and +prosperity, that angel should have drawn up the curtain, and unfolded +the rising glories of his country, and, whilst he was gazing with +admiration on the then commercial grandeur of England, the genius should +point out to him a little speck, scarcely visible in the mass of the +national interest, a small seminal principle, rather than a formed body, +and should tell him: "Young man, there is America--which at this day +serves for little more than to amuse you with stories of savage men, and +uncouth manners; yet shall, before you taste of death, [Footnote: 18] +show itself equal to the whole of that commerce which now attracts the +envy of the world. Whatever England has been growing to by a progressive +increase of improvement, brought in by varieties of people, by +succession of civilizing conquests and civilizing settlements in a +series of seventeen hundred years, you shall see as much added to her +by America in the course of a single life!" If this state of his +country had been foretold to him, would it not require all the sanguine +credulity of youth, and all the fervid glow of enthusiasm, to make him +believe it? Fortunate man, he has lived to see it! Fortunate, indeed, +if he lives to see nothing that shall vary the prospect, and cloud the +setting of his day! + +Excuse me, Sir, if turning from such thoughts I resume this comparative +view once more. You have seen it on a large scale; look at it on a small +one. I will point out to your attention a particular instance of it +in the single province of Pennsylvania. In the year 1704 that province +called for L11,459 in value of your commodities, native and foreign. +This was the whole. What did it demand in 1772? Why, nearly fifty times +as much; for in that year the export to Pennsylvania was L507,909, +nearly equal to the export to all the Colonies together in the first +period. + +I choose, Sir, to enter into these minute and particular details, +because generalities, which in all other cases are apt to heighten and +raise the subject, have here a tendency to sink it. When we speak of +the commerce with our Colonies, fiction lags after truth, invention is +unfruitful, and imagination cold and barren. + +So far, Sir, as to the importance of the object, in view of its +commerce, as concerned in the exports from England. If I were to detail +the imports, I could show how many enjoyments they procure which deceive +the burthen of life; how many materials which invigorate the springs of +national industry, and extend and animate every part of our foreign and +domestic commerce. This would be a curious subject indeed; but I must +prescribe bounds to myself in a matter so vast and various. + +I pass, therefore, to the Colonies in another point of view, their +agriculture. This they have prosecuted with such a spirit, that, besides +feeding plentifully their own growing multitude, their annual export +of grain, comprehending rice, has some years ago exceeded a million in +value. Of their last harvest I am persuaded they will export much more. +At the beginning of the century some of these Colonies imported corn +from the Mother Country. For some time past the Old World has been +fed from the New. The scarcity which you have felt would have been a +desolating famine, if this child of your old age, with a true filial +piety, with a Roman charity, [Footnote: 19] had not put the full breast +of its youthful exuberance to the mouth of its exhausted parent. + +As to the wealth which the Colonies have drawn from the sea by their +fisheries, you had all that matter fully opened at your bar. You surely +thought those acquisitions of value, for they seemed even to excite your +envy; and yet the spirit by which that enterprising employment has been +exercised ought rather, in my opinion, to have raised your esteem and +admiration. And pray, Sir, what in the world is equal to it? Pass by the +other parts, and look at the manner in which the people of New England +have of late carried on the whale fishery. Whilst we follow them among +the tumbling mountains of ice, and behold them penetrating into the +deepest frozen recesses of Hudson's Bay and Davis's Straits, whilst we +are looking for them beneath the arctic circle, we hear that they have +pierced into the opposite region of polar cold, that they are at the +antipodes, and engaged under the frozen Serpent of the south. Falkland +Island, which seemed too remote and romantic an object for the grasp of +national ambition, is but a stage and resting-place in the progress of +their victorious industry. Nor is the equinoctial heat more discouraging +to them than the accumulated winter of both the poles. We know that +whilst some of them draw the line and strike the harpoon on the coast +of Africa, others run the longitude and pursue their gigantic game along +the coast of Brazil. No sea but what is vexed by their fisheries; no +climate that is not witness to their toils. Neither the perseverance of +Holland, nor the activity of France, nor the dexterous and firm sagacity +of English enterprise ever carried this most perilous mode of hardy +industry to the extent to which it has been pushed by this recent +people; a people who are still, as it were, but in the gristle, and not +yet hardened into the bone of manhood. When I contemplate these things; +when I know that the Colonies in general owe little or nothing to any +care of ours, and that they are not squeezed into this happy form by the +constraints of watchful and suspicious government, but that, through a +wise and salutary neglect, a generous nature has been suffered to take +her own way to perfection; when I reflect upon these effects, when I see +how profitable they have been to us, I feel all the pride of power sink, +and all presumption in the wisdom of human contrivances melt and die +away within me. My rigor relents. I pardon something to the spirit of +liberty. + +I am sensible, Sir, that all which I have asserted in my detail is +admitted in the gross; but that quite a different conclusion is drawn +from it. America, gentlemen say, is a noble object. It is an object well +worth fighting for. Certainly it is, if fighting a people be the best +way of gaining them. Gentlemen in this respect will be led to their +choice of means by their complexions [Footnote: 20] and their habits. +Those who understand the military art will of course have some +predilection for it. Those who wield the thunder of the state [Footnote: +21] may have more confidence in the efficacy of arms. But I confess, +possibly for want of this knowledge, my opinion is much more in favor +of prudent management than of force; considering force not as an odious, +but a feeble instrument for preserving a people so numerous, so active, +so growing, so spirited as this, in a profitable and subordinate +connection with us. + +First, Sir, permit me to observe that the use of force alone is but +temporary. It may subdue for a moment, but it does not remove the +necessity of subduing again; and a nation is not governed [Footnote: 22] +which is perpetually to be conquered. + +My next objection is its uncertainty. Terror is not always the effect of +force, and an armament is not a victory. If you do not succeed, you are +without resource; for, conciliation failing, force remains; but, force +failing, no further hope of reconciliation is left. Power and authority +are sometimes bought by kindness; but they can never be begged as alms +by an impoverished and defeated violence. + +A further objection to force is, that you impair the object by your +very endeavors to preserve it. The thing you fought for is not the thing +which you recover; but depreciated, sunk, wasted, and consumed in the +contest. Nothing less will content me than WHOLE AMERICA. I do not +choose to consume its strength along with our own, because in all parts +it is the British strength that I consume. I do not choose to be caught +by a foreign enemy at the end of this exhausting conflict; and still +less in the midst of it. I may escape; but I can make no insurance +against such an event. Let me add, that I do not choose wholly to break +the American spirit; because it is the spirit that has made the country. + +Lastly, we have no sort of experience in favor of force as an instrument +in the rule of our Colonies. Their growth and their utility has been +owing to methods altogether different. Our ancient indulgence [Footnote: +23] has been said to be pursued to a fault. It may be so. But we know if +feeling is evidence, that our fault was more tolerable than our attempt +to mend it; and our sin far more salutary than our penitence. + +These, Sir, are my reasons for not entertaining that high opinion of +untried force by which many gentlemen, for whose sentiments in other +particulars I have great respect, seem to be so greatly captivated. But +there is still behind a third consideration concerning this object which +serves to determine my opinion on the sort of policy which ought to be +pursued in the management of America, even more than its population and +its commerce--I mean its temper and character. + +In this character of the Americans, a love of freedom is the +predominating feature which marks and distinguishes the whole; and as an +ardent is always a jealous affection, your Colonies become suspicious, +restive, and untractable whenever they see the least attempt to wrest +from them by force, or shuffle from them by chicane, what they think +the only advantage worth living for. This fierce spirit of liberty is +stronger in the English Colonies probably than in any other people of +the earth, and this from a great variety of powerful causes; which, to +understand the true temper of their minds and the direction which this +spirit takes, it will not be amiss to lay open somewhat more largely. + +First, the people of the Colonies are descendants of Englishmen. +England, Sir, is a nation which still, I hope, respects, and formerly +adored, her freedom. The Colonists emigrated from you when this part +of your character was most predominant; and they took this bias and +direction the moment they parted from your hands. They are therefore not +only devoted to liberty, but to liberty according to English ideas, and +on English principles. Abstract liberty, like other mere abstractions, +is not to be found. Liberty inheres in some sensible object; and +every nation has formed to itself some favorite point, which by way +of eminence becomes the criterion of their happiness. It happened, you +know, Sir, that the great contests [Footnote: 24] for freedom in this +country were from the earliest times chiefly upon the question of +taxing. Most of the contests in the ancient commonwealths turned +primarily on the right of election of magistrates; or on the balance +among the several orders of the state. The question of money was not +with them so immediate. But in England it was otherwise. On this +point of taxes the ablest pens, and most eloquent tongues, have been +exercised; the greatest spirits have acted and suffered. In order to +give the fullest satisfaction concerning the importance of this point, +it was not only necessary for those who in argument defended the +excellence of the English Constitution to insist on this privilege of +granting money as a dry point of fact, and to prove that the right had +been acknowledged in ancient parchments and blind usages to reside in +a certain body called a House of Commons. They went much farther; they +attempted to prove, and they succeeded, that in theory it ought to be +so, from the particular nature of a House of Commons as an immediate +representative of the people, whether the old records had delivered this +oracle or not. They took infinite pains to inculcate, as a fundamental +principle, that in all monarchies the people must in effect themselves, +mediately or immediately, possess the power of granting their own money, +or no shadow of liberty can subsist. The Colonies draw from you, as with +their life-blood, these ideas and principles. Their love of liberty, as +with you, fixed and attached on this specific point of taxing. Liberty +might be safe, or might be endangered, in twenty other particulars, +without their being much pleased or alarmed. Here they felt its pulse; +and as they found that beat, they thought themselves sick or sound. I +do not say whether they were right or wrong in applying your general +arguments to their own case. It is not easy, indeed, to make a monopoly +of theorems and corollaries. The fact is, that they did thus apply those +general arguments; and your mode of governing them, whether through +lenity or indolence, through wisdom or mistake, confirmed them in the +imagination that they, as well as you, had an interest in these common +principles. + +They were further confirmed in this pleasing error by the form of their +provincial legislative assemblies. Their governments are popular in an +high degree; some are merely popular; in all, the popular representative +is the most weighty; and this share of the people in their ordinary +government never fails to inspire them with lofty sentiments, and with +a strong aversion from whatever tends to deprive them of their chief +importance. + +If anything were wanting to this necessary operation of the form of +government, religion would have given it a complete effect. Religion, +always a principle of energy, in this new people is no way worn out or +impaired; and their mode of professing it is also one main cause of this +free spirit. The people are Protestants; and of that kind which is the +most adverse to all implicit submission of mind and opinion. This is a +persuasion not only favorable to liberty, but built upon it. I do +not think, Sir, that the reason of this averseness in the dissenting +churches from all that looks like absolute government is so much to be +sought in their religious tenets, as in their history. Every one knows +that the Roman Catholic religion is at least co-eval with most of the +governments where it prevails; that it has generally gone hand in hand +with them, and received great favor and every kind of support from +authority. The Church of England too was formed from her cradle under +the nursing care of regular government. But the dissenting interests +have sprung up in direct opposition to all the ordinary powers of the +world, and could justify that opposition only on a strong claim to +natural liberty. Their very existence depended on the powerful and +unremitted assertion of that claim. All Protestantism, even the most +cold and passive, is a sort of dissent. But the religion most prevalent +in our Northern Colonies is a refinement on the principle of resistance; +it is the dissidence of dissent, and the protestantism of the Protestant +religion. This religion, under a variety of denominations agreeing in +nothing but in the communion of the spirit of liberty, is predominant +in most of the Northern Provinces, where the Church of England, +notwithstanding its legal rights, is in reality no more than a sort of +private sect, not composing most probably the tenth of the people. The +Colonists left England when this spirit was high, and in the emigrants +was the highest of all; and even that stream of foreigners which has +been constantly flowing into these Colonies has, for the greatest part, +been composed of dissenters from the establishments of their several +countries, who have brought with them a temper and character far from +alien to that of the people with whom they mixed. + +Sir, I can perceive by their manner that some gentlemen object to the +latitude of this description, because in the Southern Colonies the +Church of England forms a large body, and has a regular establishment. +It is certainly true. There is, however, a circumstance attending these +Colonies which, in my opinion, fully counterbalances this difference, +and makes the spirit of liberty still more high and haughty than in +those to the northward. It is that in Virginia and the Carolinas they +have a vast multitude of slaves. Where this is the case in any part of +the world, those who are free are by far the most proud and jealous of +their freedom. Freedom is to them [Footnote: 25] not only an enjoyment, +but a kind of rank and privilege. Not seeing there, that freedom, as in +countries where it is a common blessing and as broad and general as the +air, may be united with much abject toil, with great misery, with all +the exterior of servitude; liberty looks, amongst them, like something +that is more noble and liberal. I do not mean, Sir, to commend the +superior morality of this sentiment, which has at least as much pride as +virtue in it; but I cannot alter the nature of man. The fact is so; and +these people of the Southern Colonies are much more strongly, and with +an higher and more stubborn spirit, attached to liberty than those to +the northward. Such were all the ancient commonwealths; such were our +Gothic ancestors; such in our days were the Poles; and such will be all +masters of slaves, who are not slaves themselves. In such a people the +haughtiness of domination combines with the spirit of freedom, fortifies +it, and renders it invincible. + +Permit me, Sir, to add another circumstance in our Colonies which +contributes no mean part towards the growth and effect of this +untractable spirit. I mean their education. In no country perhaps in the +world is the law so general a study. The profession itself is numerous +and powerful; and in most provinces it takes the lead. The greater +number of the deputies sent to the Congress were lawyers. But all who +read, and most do read, endeavor to obtain some smattering in that +science. I have been told by an eminent bookseller, that in no branch +of his business, after tracts of popular devotion, were so many books +as those on the law exported to the Plantations. The Colonists have now +fallen into the way of printing them for their own use. I hear that they +have sold nearly as many of Blackstone's Commentaries in America as in +England. General Gage marks out this disposition very particularly in +a letter on your table. He states that all the people in his government +are lawyers, or smatterers in law; and that in Boston they have been +enabled, by successful chicane, wholly to evade many parts of one of +your capital penal constitutions. The smartness of debate will say +that this knowledge ought to teach them more clearly the rights of +legislature, their obligations to obedience, and the penalties of +rebellion. All this is mighty well. But my honorable and learned friend +on the floor, who condescends to mark what I say for animadversion, will +disdain that ground. He has heard, as well as I, that when great honors +and great emoluments do not win over this knowledge to the service of +the state, it is a formidable adversary to government. If the spirit +be not tamed and broken by these happy methods, it is stubborn and +litigious. Abeunt studia in mores. [Footnote: 26] This study readers men +acute, inquisitive, dexterous, prompt in attack, ready in defence, full +of resources. In other countries, the people, more simple, and of a +less mercurial cast, judge of an ill principle in government only by +an actual grievance; here they anticipate the evil, and judge of the +pressure of the grievance by the badness of the principle. They augur +misgovernment at a distance, and snuff the approach of tyranny in every +tainted breeze. + +The last cause of this disobedient spirit in the Colonies is hardly less +powerful than the rest, as it is not merely moral, but laid deep in +the natural constitution of things. Three thousand miles of ocean lie +between you and them. No contrivance can prevent the effect of this +distance in weakening government. Seas roll, and months pass, between +the order and the execution, and the want of a speedy explanation of +a single point is enough to defeat a whole system. You have, indeed, +winged ministers of vengeance, [Footnote: 27] who carry your bolts in +their pounces to the remotest verge of the sea. But there a power steps +in that limits the arrogance of raging passions and furious elements, +and says, SO FAR SHALL THOU GO, AND NO FARTHER. Who are you, that you +should fret and rage, and bite the chains of nature? Nothing worse +happens to you than does to all nations who have extensive empire; and +it happens in all the forms into which empire can be thrown. In large +bodies the circulation [Footnote: 28] of power must be less vigorous at +the extremities. Nature has said it. The Turk cannot govern Egypt and +Arabia and Kurdistan as he governs Thrace; nor has he the same dominion +in Crimea and Algiers which he has at Brusa and Smyrna. Despotism itself +is obliged to truck and huckster. The Sultan gets such obedience as he +can. He governs with a loose rein, that he may govern at all; and the +whole of the force and vigor of his authority in his centre is derived +from a prudent relaxation in all his borders. Spain, in her provinces, +is, perhaps, not so well obeyed as you are in yours. She complies, too; +she submits; she watches times. This is the immutable condition, the +eternal law of extensive and detached empire. + +Then, Sir, from these six capital sources--of descent, of form of +government, of religion in the Northern Provinces, of manners in the +Southern, of education, of the remoteness of situation from the first +mover of government--from all these causes a fierce spirit of liberty +has grown up. It has grown with the growth of the people in your +Colonies, and increased with the increase of their wealth; a spirit that +unhappily meeting with an exercise of power in England which, however +lawful, is not reconcilable to any ideas of liberty, much less with +theirs, has kindled this flame that is ready to consume us. + +I do not mean to commend either the spirit in this excess, or the moral +causes which produce it. Perhaps a more smooth and accommodating spirit +of freedom in them would be more acceptable to us. Perhaps ideas +of liberty might be desired more reconcilable with an arbitrary and +boundless authority. Perhaps we might wish the Colonists to be persuaded +that their liberty is more secure when held in trust for them by us, as +their guardians during a perpetual minority, than with any part of it +in their own hands. The question is, not whether their spirit deserves +praise or blame, but--what, in the name of God, shall we do with it? You +have before you the object, such as it is, with all its glories, with +all its imperfections [Footnote: 29] on its head. You see the magnitude, +the importance, the temper, the habits, the disorders. By all these +considerations we are strongly urged to determine something concerning +it. We are called upon to fix some rule and line for our future conduct +which may give a little stability to our politics, and prevent the +return of such unhappy deliberations as the present. Every such return +will bring the matter before us in a still more untractable form. For, +what astonishing and incredible things have we not seen already! What +monsters have not been generated from this unnatural contention! Whilst +every principle of authority and resistance has been pushed, upon both +sides, as far as it would go, there is nothing so solid and certain, +either in reasoning or in practice, that has not been shaken. Until very +lately all authority in America seemed to be nothing but an emanation +from yours. Even, the popular part of the Colony Constitution derived +all its activity and its first vital movement from the pleasure of the +Crown. We thought, Sir, that the utmost which the discontented Colonies +could do was to disturb authority; we never dreamt they could of +themselves supply it--knowing in general what an operose business it is +to establish a government absolutely new. But having, for our purposes +in this contention, resolved that none but an obedient Assembly should +sit, the humors of the people there, finding all passage through the +legal channel stopped, with great violence broke out another way. Some +provinces have tried their experiment, as we have tried ours; and +theirs has succeeded. They have formed a government sufficient for its +purposes, without the bustle of a revolution or the formality of an +election. Evident necessity and tacit consent have done the business in +an instant. So well they have done it, that Lord Dunmore--the account is +among the fragments on your table--tells you that the new institution +is infinitely better obeyed than the ancient government ever was in its +most fortunate periods. Obedience is what makes government, and not the +names by which it is called; not the name of Governor, as formerly, or +Committee, as at present. This new government has originated directly +from the people, and was not transmitted through any of the ordinary +artificial media of a positive constitution. It was not a manufacture +ready formed, and transmitted to them in that condition from England. +The evil arising from hence is this; that the Colonists having once +found the possibility of enjoying the advantages of order in the midst +of a struggle for liberty, such struggles will not henceforward seem so +terrible to the settled and sober part of mankind as they had appeared +before the trial. Pursuing the same plan [Footnote: 30] of punishing by +the denial of the exercise of government to still greater lengths, +we wholly abrogated the ancient government of Massachusetts. We were +confident that the first feeling if not the very prospect, of anarchy +would instantly enforce a complete submission. The experiment was tried. +A new, strange, unexpected face of things appeared. Anarchy is found +tolerable. A vast province has now subsisted, and subsisted in a +considerable degree of health and vigor for near a twelvemonth, without +Governor, without public Council, without judges, without executive +magistrates. How long it will continue in this state, or what may arise +out of this unheard-of situation, how can the wisest of us conjecture? +Our late experience has taught us that many of those fundamental +principles, formerly believed infallible, are either not of the +importance they were imagined to be, or that we have not at all adverted +to some other far more important and far more powerful principles, +which entirely overrule those we had considered as omnipotent. I am much +against any further experiments which tend to put to the proof any +more of these allowed opinions which contribute so much to the public +tranquillity. In effect we suffer as much at home by this loosening +of all ties, and this concussion of all established opinions as we do +abroad; for in order to prove that the Americans have no right to their +liberties, we are every day endeavoring to subvert the maxims which +preserve the whole spirit of our own. To prove that the Americans +ought not to be free, we are obliged to depreciate the value of freedom +itself; and we never seem to gain a paltry advantage over them in debate +without attacking some of those principles, or deriding some of those +feelings, for which our ancestors have shed their blood. + +But, Sir, in wishing to put an end to pernicious experiments, I do not +mean to preclude the fullest inquiry. Far from it. Far from deciding on +a sudden or partial view, [Footnote: 31] I would patiently go round and +round the subject, and survey it minutely in every possible aspect. Sir, +if I were capable of engaging you to an equal attention, I would state +that, as far as I am capable of discerning, there are but three ways +[Footnote: 32] of proceeding relative to this stubborn spirit which +prevails in your Colonies, and disturbs your government. These are--to +change that spirit, as inconvenient, by removing the causes; to +prosecute it as criminal; or to comply with it as necessary. I would not +be guilty of an imperfect enumeration; I can think of but these three. +Another has indeed been started,--that of giving up the Colonies; but it +met so slight a reception that I do not think myself obliged to dwell a +great while upon it. It is nothing but a little sally of anger, like the +forwardness of peevish children who, when they cannot get all they would +have, are resolved to take nothing. + +The first of these plans--to change the spirit, as inconvenient, by +removing the causes--I think is the most like a systematic proceeding. +It is radical in its principle; but it is attended with great +difficulties, some of them little short, as I conceive, of +impossibilities. This will appear by examining into the plans which have +been proposed. + +As the growing population in the Colonies is evidently one cause of +their resistance, it was last session mentioned in both Houses, by men +of weight, and received not without applause, that in order to check +this evil it would be proper for the Crown to make no further grants of +land. But to this scheme there are two objections. The first, that there +is already so much unsettled land in private hands as to afford room for +an immense future population, although the Crown not only withheld its +grants, but annihilated its soil. If this be the case, then the +only effect of this avarice of desolation, this hoarding of a royal +wilderness, would be to raise the value of the possessions in the hands +of the great private monopolists without any adequate cheek to the +growing and alarming mischief of population. + +But if you stopped your grants, what would be the consequence? The +people would occupy without grants. They have already so occupied +in many places. You cannot station garrisons in every part of these +deserts. If you drive the people from one place, they will carry on +their annual tillage, and remove with their flocks and herds to another. +Many of the people in the back settlements are already little attached +to particular situations. Already they have topped the Appalachian +Mountains. From thence they behold before them an immense plain, one +vast, rich, level meadow; a square of five hundred miles. Over this they +would wander without a possibility of restraint; they would change their +manners with the habits of their life; would soon forget a government by +which they were disowned; would become hordes of English Tartars; and, +pouring down upon your unfortified frontiers a fierce and irresistible +cavalry, become masters of your governors and your counsellors, your +collectors and comptrollers, and of all the slaves that adhered to them. +Such would, and in no long time must be, the effect of attempting to +forbid as a crime and to suppress as an evil the command and blessing of +providence, INCREASE AND MULTIPLY. Such would be the happy result of the +endeavor to keep as a lair of wild beasts that earth which God, by an +express charter, has given to the children of men. Far different, +and surely much wiser, has been our policy hitherto. Hitherto we have +invited our people, by every kind of bounty, to fixed establishments. We +have invited the husbandman to look to authority for his title. We +have taught him piously to believe in the mysterious virtue of wax and +parchment. We have thrown each tract of land, as it was peopled, into +districts, that the ruling power should never be wholly out of sight. +We have settled all we could; and we have carefully attended every +settlement with government. + +Adhering, Sir, as I do, to this policy, as well as for the reasons I +have just given, I think this new project of hedging-in population to be +neither prudent nor practicable. + +To impoverish the Colonies in general, and in particular to arrest the +noble course of their marine enterprises, would be a more easy task. I +freely confess it. We have shown a disposition to a system of this kind, +a disposition even to continue the restraint after the offence, looking +on ourselves as rivals to our Colonies, and persuaded that of course we +must gain all that they shall lose. Much mischief we may certainly do. +The power inadequate to all other things is often more than sufficient +for this. I do not look on the direct and immediate power of the +Colonies to resist our violence as very formidable. In this, however, +I may be mistaken. But when I consider that we have Colonies for no +purpose but to be serviceable to us, it seems to my poor understanding +a little preposterous to make them unserviceable in order to keep them +obedient. It is, in truth, nothing more than the old and, as I thought, +exploded problem of tyranny, which proposes to beggar its subjects +into submission. But remember, when you have completed your system of +impoverishment, that nature still proceeds in her ordinary course; +that discontent will increase with misery; and that there are critical +moments in the fortune of all states when they who are too weak to +contribute to your prosperity may be strong enough to complete your +ruin. Spoliatis arma supersunt. [Footnote: 34] + +The temper and character which prevail in our Colonies are, I am afraid, +unalterable by any human art. We cannot, I fear, falsify the pedigree +of this fierce people, and persuade them that they are not sprung from +a nation in whose veins the blood of freedom circulates. The language +in which they would hear you tell them this tale would detect the +imposition; your speech would betray you. [Footnote: 35] An Englishman +is the unfittest person on earth to argue another Englishman into +slavery. + +I think it is nearly as little in our power to change their republican +religion as their free descent; or to substitute the Roman Catholic as +a penalty, or the Church of England as an improvement. The mode of +inquisition and dragooning is going out of fashion in the Old World, and +I should not confide much to their efficacy in the New. The education +of the Americans is also on the same unalterable bottom with their +religion. You cannot persuade them to burn their books of curious +science; to banish their lawyers from their courts of laws; or to quench +the lights of their assemblies by refusing to choose those persons who +are best read in their privileges. It would be no less impracticable +to think of wholly annihilating the popular assemblies in which these +lawyers sit. The army, by which we must govern in their place, would be +far more chargeable to us, not quite so effectual, and perhaps in the +end full as difficult to be kept in obedience. With regard to the high +aristocratic spirit of Virginia and the Southern Colonies, it has been +proposed, I know, to reduce it by declaring a general enfranchisement of +their slaves. This object has had its advocates and panegyrists; yet I +never could argue myself into any opinion of it. Slaves are often much +attached to their masters. A general wild offer of liberty would +not always be accepted. History furnishes few instances of it. It is +sometimes as hard to persuade slaves [Footnote: 36] to be free, as it is +to compel freemen to be slaves; and in this auspicious scheme we should +have both these pleasing tasks on our hands at once. But when we talk +of enfranchisement, do we not perceive that the American master may +enfranchise too, and arm servile hands in defence of freedom?--a measure +to which other people have had recourse more than once, and not without +success, in a desperate situation of their affairs. + +Slaves as these unfortunate black people are, and dull as all men are +from slavery, must they not a little suspect the offer of freedom from +that very nation which has sold them to their present masters?--from +that nation, one of whose causes of quarrel [Footnote: 37] with those +masters is their refusal to deal any more in that inhuman traffic? An +offer of freedom from England would come rather oddly, shipped to +them in an African vessel which is refused an entry into the ports of +Virginia or Carolina with a cargo of three hundred Angola negroes. +It would be curious to see the Guinea captain attempting at the same +instant to publish his proclamation of liberty, and to advertise his +sale of slaves. + +But let us suppose all these moral difficulties got over. The ocean +remains. You cannot pump this dry; and as long as it continues in its +present bed, so long all the causes which weaken authority by distance +will continue. + + "Ye gods, annihilate but space and time, + And make two lovers happy!" + +was a pious and passionate prayer; but just as reasonable as many of the +serious wishes of grave and solemn politicians. + +If then, Sir, it seems almost desperate to think of any alterative +course for changing the moral causes, and not quite easy to remove the +natural, which produce prejudices irreconcilable to the late exercise +of our authority--but that the spirit infallibly will continue, and, +continuing, will produce such effects as now embarrass us--the second +mode under consideration is to prosecute that spirit in its overt acts +as criminal. + +At this proposition I must pause a moment. The thing seems a great +deal too big for my ideas of jurisprudence. It should seem to my way of +conceiving such matters that there is a very wide difference, in reason +and policy, between the mode of proceeding on the irregular conduct of +scattered individuals, or even of bands of men who disturb order within +the state, and the civil dissensions which may, from time to time, on +great questions, agitate the several communities which compose a great +empire. It looks to me to be narrow and pedantic to apply the ordinary +ideas of criminal justice to this great public contest. I do not know +the method of drawing up an indictment against a whole people. I cannot +insult and ridicule the feelings of millions of my fellow-creatures as +Sir Edward Coke insulted one excellent individual (Sir Walter Raleigh) +at the bar. I hope I am not ripe to pass sentence on the gravest public +bodies, intrusted with magistracies of great authority and dignity, and +charged with the safety of their fellow-citizens, upon the very +same title that I am. I really think that, for wise men, this is not +judicious; for sober men, not decent; for minds tinctured with humanity, +not mild and merciful. + +Perhaps, Sir, I am mistaken in my idea of an empire, as distinguished +from a single state or kingdom. But my idea of it is this; that an +empire is the aggregate of many states under one common head, whether +this head be a monarch or a presiding republic. It does, in such +constitutions, frequently happen--and nothing but the dismal, cold, dead +uniformity of servitude can prevent its happening--that the subordinate +parts have many local privileges and immunities. Between these +privileges and the supreme common authority the line may be extremely +nice. Of course disputes, often, too, very bitter disputes, and much ill +blood, will arise. But though every privilege is an exemption, in the +case, from the ordinary exercise of the supreme authority, it is no +denial of it. The claim of a privilege seems rather, ex vi termini, +[Footnote: 38] to imply a superior power; for to talk of the privileges +of a state or of a person who has no superior is hardly any better than +speaking nonsense. Now, in such unfortunate quarrels among the component +parts of a great political union of communities, I can scarcely conceive +anything more completely imprudent than for the head of the empire to +insist that, if any privilege is pleaded against his will or his acts, +his whole authority is denied; instantly to proclaim rebellion, to beat +to arms, and to put the offending provinces under the ban. Will not +this, Sir, very soon teach the provinces to make no distinctions on +their part? Will it not teach them that the government, against which a +claim of liberty is tantamount to high treason, is a government to +which submission is equivalent to slavery? It may not always be quite +convenient to impress dependent communities with such an idea. + +We are, indeed, in all disputes with the Colonies, by the necessity of +things, the judge. It is true, Sir. But I confess that the character of +judge in my own cause is a thing that frightens me. Instead of filling +me with pride, I am exceedingly humbled by it. I cannot proceed with a +stern, assured, judicial confidence, until I find myself in something +more like a judicial character. I must have these hesitations as long +as I am compelled to recollect that, in my little reading upon such +contests as these, the sense of mankind has at least as often decided +against the superior as the subordinate power. Sir, let me add, too, +that the opinion of my having some abstract right [Footnote: 39] in my +favor would not put me much at my ease in passing sentence, unless I +could be sure that there were no rights which, in their exercise under +certain circumstances, were not the most odious of all wrongs and the +most vexatious of all injustice. Sir, these considerations have great +weight with me when I find things so circumstanced, that I see the +same party at once a civil litigant against me in point of right and a +culprit before me, while I sit as a criminal judge on acts of his whose +moral quality is to be decided upon the merits of that very litigation. +Men are every now and then put, by the complexity of human affairs, into +strange situations; but justice is the same, let the judge be in what +situation he will. + +There is, Sir, also a circumstance which convinces me that this mode +of criminal proceeding is not, at least in the present stage of our +contest, altogether expedient; which is nothing less than the conduct +of those very persons who have seemed to adopt that mode by lately +declaring a rebellion in Massachusetts Bay, as they had formerly +addressed to have traitors brought hither, under an Act of Henry the +Eighth, [Footnote: 40] for trial. For though rebellion is declared, it +is not proceeded against as such, nor have any steps been taken towards +the apprehension or conviction of any individual offender, either on +our late or our former Address; but modes of public coercion have been +adopted, and such as have much more resemblance to a sort of qualified +hostility towards an independent power than the punishment of rebellious +subjects. All this seems rather inconsistent; but it shows how difficult +it is to apply these juridical ideas to our present case. + +In this situation, let us seriously and coolly ponder. What is it we +have got by all our menaces, which have been many and ferocious? What +advantage have we derived from the penal laws we have passed, and which, +for the time, have been severe and numerous? What advances have we made +towards our object by the sending of a force which, by land and sea, is +no contemptible strength? Has the disorder abated? Nothing less. When I +see things in this situation after such confident hopes, bold promises, +and active exertions, I cannot, for my life, avoid a suspicion that the +plan itself is not correctly right. [Footnote: 41] + +If, then, the removal of the causes of this spirit of American liberty +be for the greater part, or rather entirely, impracticable; if the +ideas of criminal process be inapplicable--or, if applicable, are in the +highest degree inexpedient; what way yet remains? No way is open but the +third and last,--to comply with the American spirit as necessary; or, if +you please, to submit to it as a necessary evil. + +If we adopt this mode,--if we mean to conciliate and concede,--let us +see of what nature the concession ought to be. To ascertain the nature +of our concession, we must look at their complaint. The Colonies +complain that they have not the characteristic mark and seal of British +freedom. They complain that they are taxed in a Parliament in which +they are not represented. If you mean to satisfy them at all, you must +satisfy them with regard to this complaint. If you mean to please any +people you must give them the boon which they ask; not what you may +think better for them, but of a kind totally different. Such an act may +be a wise regulation, but it is no concession; whereas our present theme +is the mode of giving satisfaction. + +Sir, I think you must perceive that I am resolved this day to have +nothing at all to do with the question of the right of taxation. Some +gentlemen start--but it is true; I put it totally out of the question. +It is less than nothing in my consideration. I do not indeed wonder, +nor will you, Sir, that gentlemen of profound learning are fond of +displaying it on this profound subject. But my consideration is narrow, +confined, and wholly limited to the policy of the question. I do not +examine whether the giving away a man's money be a power excepted +and reserved out of the general trust of government, and how far all +mankind, in all forms of polity, are entitled to an exercise of that +right by the charter of nature; or whether, on the contrary, a right +of taxation is necessarily involved in the general principle of +legislation, and inseparable from the ordinary supreme power. These are +deep questions, where great names militate against each other, where +reason is perplexed, and an appeal to authorities only thickens the +confusion; for high and reverend authorities lift up their heads on both +sides, and there is no sure footing in the middle. This point is the +great + + "Serbonian bog, + Betwixt Damiata and Mount Casius old, + Where armies whole have sunk." + [Footnote: 42] + +I do not intend to be overwhelmed in that bog, though in such +respectable company. The question [Footnote: 43] with me is, not whether +you have a right to render your people miserable, but whether it is not +your interest to make them happy. It is not what a lawyer tells me I MAY +do, but what humanity, reason, and justice tell me I OUGHT to do. Is a +politic act the worse for being a generous one? Is no concession proper +but that which is made from your want of right to keep what you grant? +Or does it lessen the grace or dignity of relaxing in the exercise of +an odious claim because you have your evidence-room full of titles, and +your magazines stuffed with arms to enforce them? What signify all those +titles, and all those arms? Of what avail are they, when the reason +of the thing tells me that the assertion of my title is the loss of my +suit, and that I could do nothing but wound myself by the use of my own +weapons? + +Such is steadfastly my opinion of the absolute necessity of keeping up +the concord of this Empire by an unity of spirit, though in a diversity +of operations, that, if I were sure the Colonists had, at their leaving +this country, sealed a regular compact of servitude; that they had +solemnly abjured all the rights of citizens; that they had made a vow +to renounce all ideas of liberty for them and their posterity to all +generations; yet I should hold myself obliged to conform to the temper I +found universally prevalent in my own day, and to govern two million +of men, impatient of servitude, on the principles of freedom. I am not +determining a point of law, I am restoring tranquillity; and the +general character and situation of a people must determine what sort of +government is fitted for them. That point nothing else can or ought to +determine. + +My idea, therefore, without considering whether we yield as matter +of right, or grant as matter of favor, is to admit the people of our +Colonies into an interest in the Constitution; and, by recording that +admission in the journals of Parliament, to give them as strong an +assurance as the nature of the thing will admit, that we mean forever to +adhere to that solemn declaration of systematic indulgence. + +Some years ago the repeal of a revenue Act, upon its understood +principle, might have served to show that we intended an unconditional +abatement of the exercise of a taxing power. Such a measure was then +sufficient to remove all suspicion, and to give perfect content. But +unfortunate events since that time may make something further necessary; +and not more necessary for the satisfaction of the Colonies than for the +dignity and consistency of our own future proceedings. + +I have taken a very incorrect measure of the disposition of the House if +this proposal in itself would be received with dislike. I think, Sir, we +have few American financiers. But our misfortune is, we are too acute, +we are too exquisite [Footnote: 44] in our conjectures of the future, +for men oppressed with such great and present evils. The more moderate +among the opposers of Parliamentary concession freely confess that +they hope no good from taxation, but they apprehend the Colonists have +further views; and if this point were conceded, they would instantly +attack the trade laws. [Footnote: 45] These gentlemen are convinced +that this was the intention from the beginning, and the quarrel of +the Americans with taxation was no more than a cloak and cover to +this design. Such has been the language even of a gentleman of real +moderation, and of a natural temper well adjusted to fair and equal +government. I am, however, Sir, not a little surprised at this kind of +discourse, whenever I hear it; and I am the more surprised on account of +the arguments which I constantly find in company with it, and which are +often urged from the same mouths and on the same day. + +For instance, when we allege that it is against reason to tax a people +under so many restraints in trade as the Americans, the noble lord in +the blue ribbon shall tell you that the restraints on trade are futile +and useless--of no advantage to us, and of no burthen to those on whom +they are imposed; that the trade to America is not secured by the +Acts of Navigation, but by the natural and irresistible advantage of a +commercial preference. + +Such is the merit of the trade laws in this posture of the debate. But +when strong internal circumstances are urged against the taxes; when +the scheme is dissected; when experience and the nature of things are +brought to prove, and do prove, the utter impossibility of obtaining an +effective revenue from the Colonies; when these things are pressed, or +rather press themselves, so as to drive the advocates of Colony taxes to +a clear admission of the futility of the scheme; then, Sir, the sleeping +trade laws revive from their trance, and this useless taxation is to be +kept sacred, not for its own sake, but as a counterguard and security of +the laws of trade. + +Then, Sir, you keep up revenue laws which are mischievous, in order to +preserve trade laws that are useless. Such is the wisdom of our plan in +both its members. They are separately given up as of no value, and yet +one is always to be defended for the sake of the other; but I cannot +agree with the noble lord, nor with the pamphlet from whence he seems +to have borrowed these ideas concerning the inutility of the trade laws. +For, without idolizing them, I am sure they are still, in many ways, +of great use to us; and in former times they have been of the greatest. +They do confine, and they do greatly narrow, the market for the +Americans; but my perfect conviction of this does not help me in the +least to discern how the revenue laws form any security whatsoever to +the commercial regulations, or that these commercial regulations are the +true ground of the quarrel, or that the giving way, in any one instance +of authority, is to lose all that may remain unconceded. + +One fact is clear and indisputable. The public and avowed origin of this +quarrel was on taxation. This quarrel has indeed brought on new disputes +on new questions; but certainly the least bitter, and the fewest of all, +on the trade laws. To judge which of the two be the real radical cause +of quarrel, we have to see whether the commercial dispute did, in order +of time, precede the dispute on taxation? There is not a shadow of +evidence for it. Next, to enable us to judge whether at this moment a +dislike to the trade laws be the real cause of quarrel, it is absolutely +necessary to put the taxes out of the question by a repeal. See how the +Americans act in this position, and then you will be able to discern +correctly what is the true object of the controversy, or whether any +controversy at all will remain. Unless you consent to remove this +cause of difference, it is impossible, with decency, to assert that the +dispute is not upon what it is avowed to be. And I would, Sir, recommend +to your serious consideration whether it be prudent to form a rule for +punishing people, not on their own acts, but on your conjectures? Surely +it is preposterous at the very best. It is not justifying your anger +by their misconduct, but it is converting your ill-will into their +delinquency. + +But the Colonies will go further. Alas! alas! when will this speculation +against fact and reason end? What will quiet these panic fears which we +entertain of the hostile effect of a conciliatory conduct? Is it true +that no case can exist in which it is proper for the sovereign to accede +to the desires of his discontented subjects? Is there anything peculiar +in this case to make a rule for itself? Is all authority of course lost +when it is not pushed to the extreme? Is it a certain maxim that the +fewer causes of dissatisfaction are left by government, the more the +subject will be inclined to resist and rebel? + +All these objections being in fact no more than suspicions, conjectures, +divinations, formed in defiance of fact and experience, they did +not, Sir, discourage me from entertaining the idea of a conciliatory +concession founded on the principles which I have just stated. + +In forming a plan for this purpose, I endeavored to put myself in that +frame of mind which was the most natural and the most reasonable, and +which was certainly the most probable means of securing me from all +error. I set out with a perfect distrust of my own abilities, a total +renunciation of every speculation of my own, and with a profound +reverence for the wisdom of our ancestors who have left us the +inheritance of so happy a constitution and so flourishing an empire, +and, what is a thousand times more valuable, the treasury of the maxims +and principles which formed the one and obtained the other. + +During the reigns of the kings of Spain of the Austrian family, whenever +they were at a loss in the Spanish councils, it was common for their +statesmen to say that they ought to consult the genius of Philip the +Second. The genius of Philip the Second might mislead them, and the +issue of their affairs showed that they had not chosen the most perfect +standard; but, Sir, I am sure that I shall not be misled when, in a +case of constitutional difficulty, I consult the genius of the English +Constitution. Consulting at that oracle--it was with all due humility +and piety--I found four capital examples in a similar case before me; +those of Ireland, Wales, Chester, and Durham. + +Ireland, before the English conquest, [Footnote: 46] though never +governed by a despotic power, had no Parliament. How far the English +Parliament itself was at that time modelled according to the present +form is disputed among antiquaries; but we have all the reason in the +world to be assured that a form of Parliament such as England then +enjoyed she instantly communicated to Ireland, and we are equally sure +that almost every successive improvement in constitutional liberty, as +fast as it was made here, was transmitted thither. The feudal baronage +and the feudal knighthood, the roots of our primitive Constitution, were +early transplanted into that soil, and grew and flourished there. Magna +Charta, if it did not give us originally the House of Commons, gave +us at least a House of Commons of weight and consequence. But your +ancestors did not churlishly sit down alone to the feast of Magna +Charta. Ireland was made immediately a partaker. This benefit of English +laws and liberties, I confess, was not at first extended to all Ireland. +Mark the consequence. English authority and English liberties had +exactly the same boundaries. Your standard could never be advanced an +inch before your privileges. Sir John Davis shows beyond a doubt that +the refusal of a general communication of these rights was the true +cause why Ireland was five hundred years in subduing; and after the +vain projects of a military government, attempted in the reign of Queen +Elizabeth, it was soon discovered that nothing could make that country +English, in civility and allegiance, but your laws and your forms of +legislature. It was not English arms, but the English Constitution, +that conquered Ireland. From that time Ireland has ever had a general +Parliament, as she had before a partial Parliament. You changed the +people; you altered the religion; but you never touched the form or the +vital substance of free government in that kingdom. You deposed kings; +[Footnote: 47] you restored them; you altered the succession to theirs, +as well as to your own Crown; but you never altered their Constitution, +the principle of which was respected by usurpation, restored with the +restoration of monarchy, and established, I trust, forever, by the +glorious Revolution. This has made Ireland the great and flourishing +kingdom that it is, and, from a disgrace and a burthen intolerable +to this nation, has rendered her a principal part of our strength and +ornament. This country cannot be said to have ever formally taxed her. +The irregular things done in the confusion of mighty troubles and on the +hinge of great revolutions, even if all were done that is said to have +been done, form no example. If they have any effect in argument, they +make an exception to prove the rule. None of your own liberties could +stand a moment, if the casual deviations from them at such times were +suffered to be used as proofs of their nullity. By the lucrative amount +of such casual breaches in the Constitution, judge what the stated and +fixed rule of supply has been in that kingdom. Your Irish pensioners +would starve, if they had no other fund to live on than taxes granted +by English authority. Turn your eyes to those popular grants from whence +all your great supplies are come, and learn to respect that only source +of public wealth in the British Empire. + +My next example is Wales. This country was said to be reduced by Henry +the Third. It was said more truly to be so by Edward the First. But +though then conquered, it was not looked upon as any part of the realm +of England. Its old Constitution, whatever that might have been, was +destroyed, and no good one was substituted in its place. The care of +that tract was put into the hands of Lords Marchers [Footnote: 48]--a +form of government of a very singular kind; a strange heterogeneous +monster, something between hostility and government; perhaps it has a +sort of resemblance, according to the modes of those terms, to that of +Commander-in-chief at present, to whom all civil power is granted as +secondary. The manners of the Welsh nation followed the genius of +the government. The people were ferocious, restive, savage, and +uncultivated; sometimes composed, never pacified. Wales, within itself, +was in perpetual disorder, and it kept the frontier of England in +perpetual alarm. Benefits from it to the state there were none. Wales +was only known to England by incursion and invasion. + +Sir, during that state of things, Parliament was not idle. They +attempted to subdue the fierce spirit of the Welsh by all sorts of +rigorous laws. They prohibited by statute the sending all sorts of arms +into Wales, as you prohibit by proclamation (with something more of +doubt on the legality) the sending arms to America. They disarmed the +Welsh by statute, as you attempted (but still with more question on the +legality) to disarm New England by an instruction. They made an Act to +drag offenders from Wales into England for trial, as you have done (but +with more hardship) with regard to America. By another Act, where one +of the parties was an Englishman, they ordained that his trial should be +always by English. They made Acts to restrain trade, as you do; and they +prevented the Welsh from the use of fairs and markets, as you do the +Americans from fisheries and foreign ports. In short, when the Statute +Book was not quite so much swelled as it is now, you find no less than +fifteen acts of penal regulation on the subject of Wales. + +Here we rub our hands.--A fine body of precedents for the authority of +Parliament and the use of it!--I admit it fully; and pray add likewise +to these precedents that all the while Wales rid this Kingdom like an +incubus, that it was an unprofitable and oppressive burthen, and that +an Englishman travelling in that country could not go six yards from the +high road without being murdered. + +The march of the human mind is slow. Sir, it was not until after two +hundred years discovered that, by an eternal law, providence had decreed +vexation to violence, and poverty to rapine. Your ancestors did however +at length open their eyes to the ill-husbandry of injustice. They found +that the tyranny of a free people could of all tyrannies the least be +endured, and that laws made against a whole nation were not the most +effectual methods of securing its obedience. Accordingly, in the +twenty-seventh year of Henry the Eighth the course was entirely altered. +With a preamble stating the entire and perfect rights of the Crown of +England, it gave to the Welsh all the rights and privileges of English +subjects. A political order was established; the military power gave way +to the civil; the Marches were turned into Counties. But that a nation +should have a right to English liberties, and yet no share at all in +the fundamental security of these liberties--the grant of their own +property--seemed a thing so incongruous that, eight years after, +that is, in the thirty-fifth of that reign, a complete and not +ill-proportioned representation by counties and boroughs was bestowed +upon Wales by Act of Parliament. From that moment, as by a charm, the +tumults subsided; obedience was restored; peace, order, and civilization +followed in the train of liberty. When the day-star of the English +Constitution had arisen in their hearts, all was harmony within and +without-- + + "--simul alba nautis + Stella refulsit, + Defluit saxis agitatus humor; + Concidunt venti, fugiuntque nubes, + Et minax (quod sic voluere) ponto + Unda recumbit." + [Footnote: 49] + +The very same year the County Palatine of Chester received the same +relief from its oppressions and the same remedy to its disorders. +Before this time Chester was little less distempered than Wales. The +inhabitants, without rights themselves, were the fittest to destroy the +rights of others; and from thence Richard the Second drew the standing +army of archers with which for a time he oppressed England. The people +of Chester applied to Parliament in a petition penned as I shall read to +you: + + "To the King, our Sovereign Lord, in most hunible wise + shewen unto your excellent Majesty the inhabitants of + your Grace's County Palatine of Chester: (1) That where + the said County Palatine of Chester is and hath been always + hitherto exempt, excluded, and separated out and + from your High Court of Parliament, to have any Knights + and Burgesses within the said Court; by reason whereof + the said inhabitants have hitherto sustained manifold + disherisons, losses, and damages, as well in their lands, + goods, and bodies, as in the good, civil, and politic governance + and maintenance of the commonwealth of their said + county; (2) And forasmuch as the said inhabitants have + always hitherto been bound by the Acts and Statutes + made and ordained by your said Highness and your most + noble progenitors, by authority of the said Court, as far + forth as other counties, cities, and boroughs have been, + that have had their Knights and Burgesses within your + said Court of Parliament, and yet have had neither Knight + ne Burgess there for the said County Palatine, the said + inhabitants, for lack thereof, have been oftentime touched + and grieved with Acts and Statutes made within the said + Court, as well derogatory unto the most ancient jurisdictions, + liberties, and privileges of your said County Palatine, + as prejudicial unto the commonwealth, quietness, + rest, and peace of your Grace's most bounden subjects + inhabiting within the same." + +What did Parliament with this audacious address?--Reject it as a libel? +Treat it as an affront to Government? Spurn it as a derogation from the +rights of legislature? Did they toss it over the table? Did they burn +it by the hands of the common hangman?--They took the petition of +grievance, all rugged as it was, without softening or temperament, +unpurged of the original bitterness and indignation of complaint--they +made it the very preamble to their Act of redress, and consecrated its +principle to all ages in the sanctuary of legislation. + +Here is my third example. It was attended with the success of the two +former. Chester, civilized as well as Wales, has demonstrated that +freedom, and not servitude, is the cure of anarchy; as religion, and +not atheism, is the true remedy for superstition. Sir, this pattern of +Chester was followed in the reign of Charles the Second with regard to +the County Palatine of Durham, which is my fourth example. This county +had long lain out of the pale of free legislation. So scrupulously was +the example of Chester followed that the style of the preamble is +nearly the same with that of the Chester Act, and, without affecting the +abstract extent of the authority of Parliament, it recognizes the equity +of not suffering any considerable district in which the British subjects +may act as a body, to be taxed without their own voice in the grant. + +Now if the doctrines of policy contained in these preambles, and the +force of these examples in the Acts of Parliaments, avail anything, what +can be said against applying them with regard to America? Are not the +people of America as much Englishmen as the Welsh? The preamble of +the Act of Henry the Eighth says the Welsh speak a language no way +resembling that of his Majesty's English subjects. Are the Americans not +as numerous? If we may trust the learned and accurate Judge Barrington's +account of North Wales, and take that as a standard to measure the rest, +there is no comparison. The people cannot amount to above 200,000; not a +tenth part of the number in the Colonies. Is America in rebellion? Wales +was hardly ever free from it. Have you attempted to govern America +by penal statutes? You made fifteen for Wales. But your legislative +authority is perfect with regard to America. Was it less perfect in +Wales, Chester, and Durham? But America is virtually represented. What! +does the electric force of virtual representation more easily pass over +the Atlantic than pervade Wales,--which lies in your neighborhood--or +than Chester and Durham, surrounded by abundance of representation that +is actual and palpable? But, Sir, your ancestors thought this sort of +virtual representation, however ample, to be totally insufficient for +the freedom of the inhabitants of territories that are so near, and +comparatively so inconsiderable. How then can I think it sufficient for +those which are infinitely greater, and infinitely more remote? + +You will now, Sir, perhaps imagine that I am on the point of proposing +to you a scheme for a representation of the Colonies in Parliament. +Perhaps I might be inclined to entertain some such thought; but a great +flood stops me in my course. Opposuit natura. [Footnote: 50 ]--I cannot +remove the eternal barriers of the creation. The thing, in that mode, I +do not know to be possible. As I meddle with no theory,[Footnote: 51] I +do not absolutely assert the impracticability of such a representation; +but I do not see my way to it, and those who have been more confident +have not been more successful. However, the arm of public benevolence is +not shortened, and there are often several means to the same end. What +nature has disjoined in one way, wisdom may unite in another. When +we cannot give the benefit as we would wish, let us not refuse it +altogether. If we cannot give the principal, let us find a substitute. +But how? Where? What substitute? + +Fortunately I am not obliged, for the ways and means of this substitute, +to tax my own unproductive invention. I am not even obliged to go to the +rich treasury of the fertile framers of imaginary commonwealths--not +to the Republic of Plato, [Footnote: 52] not to the Utopia of More, +[Footnote: 52] not to the Oceana of Harrington. It is before me--it is +at my feet, + + "And the rude swain Treads daily on it with his clouted shoon." + [Footnote: 53] + +I only wish you to recognize, for the theory, the ancient constitutional +policy of this kingdom with regard to representation, as that policy has +been declared in Acts of Parliament; and as to the practice, to return +to that mode which a uniform experience has marked out to you as best, +and in which you walked with security, advantage, and honor, until the +year 1763. [Footnote: 54] + +My Resolutions therefore mean to establish the equity and justice of a +taxation of America by GRANT, and not by IMPOSITION; to mark the LEGAL +COMPETENCY [Footnote: 55] of the Colony Assemblies for the support +of their government in peace, and for public aids in time of war; to +acknowledge that this legal competency has had a DUTIFUL AND BENEFICIAL +EXERCISE; and that experience has shown the BENEFIT OF THEIR GRANTS and +the FUTILITY OF PARLIAMENTARY TAXATION as a method of supply. + +These solid truths compose six fundamental propositions. There are three +more Resolutions corollary to these. If you admit the first set, you +can hardly reject the others. But if you admit the first, I shall be far +from solicitous whether you accept or refuse the last. I think these six +massive pillars will be of strength sufficient to support the temple of +British concord. I have no more doubt than I entertain of my existence +that, if you admitted these, you would command an immediate peace, and, +with but tolerable future management, a lasting obedience in America. +I am not arrogant in this confident assurance. The propositions are all +mere matters of fact, and if they are such facts as draw irresistible +conclusions even in the stating, this is the power of truth, and not any +management of mine. + +Sir, I shall open the whole plan to you, together with such observations +on the motions as may tend to illustrate them where they may want +explanation. The first is a Resolution-- + +"That the Colonies and Plantations of Great Britain in North America, +consisting of fourteen separate Governments, and containing two millions +and upwards of free inhabitants, have not had the liberty and privilege +of electing and sending any Knights and Burgesses, or others, to +represent them in the High Court of Parliament." + +This is a plain matter of fact, necessary to be laid down, and, +excepting the description, it is laid down in the language of the +Constitution; it is taken nearly verbatim from Acts of Parliament. + +The second is like unto the first-- + +"That the said Colonies and Plantations have been liable to, and bounden +by, several subsidies, payments, rates, and taxes given and granted +by Parliament, though the said Colonies and Plantations have not their +Knights and Burgesses in the said High Court of Parliament, of their own +election, to represent the condition of their country; by lack whereof +they have been oftentimes touched and grieved by subsidies given, +granted, and assented to, in the said Court, in a manner prejudicial to +the commonwealth, quietness, rest, and peace of the subjects inhabiting +within the same." + +Is this description too hot, or too cold; too strong, or too weak? Does +it arrogate too much to the supreme legislature? Does it lean too much +to the claims of the people? If it runs into any of these errors, +the fault is not mine. It is the language of your own ancient Acts of +Parliament. + + "Non meus hic sermo, sed quae praecepit Ofellus, + Rusticus, abnormis sapiens." + [Footnote: 56] + +It is the genuine produce of the ancient, rustic, manly, homebred sense +of this country.--I did not dare to rub off a particle of the venerable +rust that rather adorns and preserves, than destroys, the metal. It +would be a profanation to touch with a tool the stones which construct +the sacred altar of peace. I would not violate with modern polish the +ingenuous and noble roughness of these truly Constitutional materials. +Above all things, I was resolved not to be guilty of tampering, the +odious vice of restless and unstable minds. I put my foot in the tracks +of our forefathers, where I can neither wander nor stumble. Determining +to fix articles of peace, I was resolved not to be wise beyond what +was written; I was resolved to use nothing else than the form of sound +words, to let others abound in their own sense, and carefully to abstain +from all expressions of my own. What the law has said, I say. In all +things else I am silent. I have no organ but for her words. This, if it +be not ingenious, I am sure is safe. [Footnote: 57] + +There are indeed words expressive of grievance in this second +Resolution, which those who are resolved always to be in the right will +deny to contain matter of fact, as applied to the present case, although +Parliament thought them true with regard to the counties of Chester +and Durham. They will deny that the Americans were ever "touched and +grieved" with the taxes. If they consider nothing in taxes but their +weight as pecuniary impositions, there might be some pretence for +this denial; but men may be sorely touched and deeply grieved in their +privileges, as well as in their purses. Men may lose little in property +by the act which takes away all their freedom. When a man is robbed of a +trifle on the highway, it is not the twopence lost that constitutes +the capital outrage. This is not confined to privileges. Even ancient +indulgences, withdrawn without offence on the part of those who enjoyed +such favors, operate as grievances. But were the Americans then not +touched and grieved by the taxes, in some measure, merely as taxes? +If so, why were they almost all either wholly repealed, or exceedingly +reduced? Were they not touched and grieved even by the regulating duties +of the sixth of George the Second? Else, why were the duties first +reduced to one third in 1764, and afterwards to a third of that third +in the year 1766? Were they not touched and grieved by the Stamp Act? +I shall say they were, until that tax is revived. Were they not touched +and grieved by the duties of 1767, which were likewise repealed, and +which Lord Hillsborough tells you, for the Ministry, were laid contrary +to the true principle of commerce? Is not the assurance given by that +noble person to the Colonies of a resolution to lay no more taxes on +them an admission that taxes would touch and grieve them? Is not the +Resolution of the noble lord in the blue ribbon, now standing on your +Journals, the strongest of all proofs that Parliamentary subsidies +really touched and grieved them? Else why all these changes, +modifications, repeals, assurances, and resolutions? + +The next proposition is-- + +"That, from the distance of the said Colonies, and from other +circumstances, no method hath hitherto been devised for procuring a +representation in Parliament for the said Colonies." + +This is an assertion of a fact, I go no further on the paper, though, in +my private judgment, a useful representation is impossible--I am sure it +is not desired by them, nor ought it perhaps by us--but I abstain from +opinions. + +The fourth Resolution is-- + +"That each of the said Colonies hath within itself a body, chosen in +part, or in the whole, by the freemen, free-holders, or other free +inhabitants thereof, commonly called the General Assembly, or General +Court, with powers legally to raise, levy, and assess, according to the +several usage of such Colonies duties and taxes towards defraying all +sorts of public services." + +This competence in the Colony Assemblies is certain. It is proved by the +whole tenor of their Acts of Supply in all the Assemblies, in which +the constant style of granting is, "an aid to his Majesty", and Acts +granting to the Crown have regularly for near a century passed +the public offices without dispute. Those who have been pleased +paradoxically to deny this right, holding that none but the British +Parliament can grant to the Crown, are wished to look to what is done, +not only in the Colonies, but in Ireland, in one uniform unbroken tenor +every session. Sir, I am surprised that this doctrine should come from +some of the law servants of the Crown. I say that if the Crown could be +responsible, his Majesty--but certainly the Ministers,--and even these +law officers themselves through whose hands the Acts passed, biennially +in Ireland, or annually in the Colonies--are in an habitual course of +committing impeachable offences. What habitual offenders have been all +Presidents of the Council, all Secretaries of State, all First Lords of +Trade, all Attorneys and all Solicitors General! However, they are safe, +as no one impeaches them; and there is no ground of charge against them +except in their own unfounded theories. + +The fifth Resolution is also a resolution of fact-- + + "That the said General Assemblies, General Courts, or other + bodies legally qualified as aforesaid, have at sundry times + freely granted several large subsidies and public aids for + his Majesty's service, according to their abilities, when + required thereto by letter from one of his Majesty's + principal Secretaries of State; and that their right to grant the + same, and their cheerfulness and sufficiency in the said + grants, have been at sundry times acknowledged by Parliament." + +To say nothing of their great expenses in the Indian wars, and not to +take their exertion in foreign ones so high as the supplies in the year +1695--not to go back to their public contributions in the year 1710--I +shall begin to travel only where the journals give me light, resolving +to deal in nothing but fact, authenticated by Parliamentary record, and +to build myself wholly on that solid basis. + +On the 4th of April, 1748, a Committee of this House came to the +following resolution: + + "Resolved: That it is the opinion of this Committee that it is + just and reasonable that the several Provinces and Colonies + of Massachusetts Bay, New Hampshire, Connecticut, and + Rhode Island, be reimbursed the expenses they have been + at in taking and securing to the Crown of Great Britain, + the Island of Cape Breton and its dependencies." + +The expenses were immense for such Colonies. They were above L200,000 +sterling; money first raised and advanced on their public credit. + +On the 28th of January, 1756, a message from the King came to us, to +this effect: + + "His Majesty, being sensible of the zeal and vigor with which + his faithful subjects of certain Colonies in North America + have exerted themselves in defence of his Majesty's just + rights and possessions, recommends it to this House to + take the same into their consideration, and to enable his + Majesty to give them such assistance as may be a proper + reward and encouragement." + +On the 3d of February, 1756, the House came to a suitable Resolution, +expressed in words nearly the same as those of the message, but with the +further addition, that the money then voted was as an encouragement to +the Colonies to exert themselves with vigor. It will not be necessary to +go through all the testimonies which your own records have given to +the truth of my Resolutions. I will only refer you to the places in the +Journals: + + Vol. xxvii.--16th and 19th May, 1757. + Vol. xxviii.--June 1st, 1758; April 26th and 30th, 1759; + March 26th and 31st, and April 28th, 1760; + Jan. 9th and 20th, 1761. + Vol. xxix.--Jan. 22d and 26th, 1762; March 14th and 17th, + 1763. + +Sir, here is the repeated acknowledgment of Parliament that the +Colonies not only gave, but gave to satiety. This nation has formally +acknowledged two things: first, that the Colonies had gone beyond their +abilities, Parliament having thought it necessary to reimburse them; +secondly, that they had acted legally and laudably in their grants +of money, and their maintenance of troops, since the compensation is +expressly given as reward and encouragement. Reward is not bestowed for +acts that are unlawful; and encouragement is not held out to things that +deserve reprehension. My Resolution therefore does nothing more than +collect into one proposition what is scattered through your Journals. I +give you nothing but your own; and you cannot refuse in the gross what +you have so often acknowledged in detail. The admission of this, which +will be so honorable to them and to you, will, indeed, be mortal to +all the miserable stories by which the passions of the misguided people +[Footnote: 58] have been engaged in an unhappy system. The people heard, +indeed, from the beginning of these disputes, one thing continually +dinned in their ears, that reason and justice demanded that the +Americans, who paid no taxes, should be compelled to contribute. How did +that fact of their paying nothing stand when the taxing system began? +When Mr. Grenville began to form his system of American revenue, he +stated in this House that the Colonies were then in debt two millions +six hundred thousand pounds sterling money, and was of opinion they +would discharge that debt in four years. On this state, those untaxed +people were actually subject to the payment of taxes to the amount of +six hundred and fifty thousand a year. In fact, however, Mr. Grenville +was mistaken. The funds given for sinking the debt did not prove quite +so ample as both the Colonies and he expected. The calculation was too +sanguine; the reduction was not completed till some years after, and at +different times in different Colonies. However, the taxes after the war +continued too great to bear any addition, with prudence or propriety; +and when the burthens imposed in consequence of former requisitions were +discharged, our tone became too high to resort again to requisition. No +Colony, since that time, ever has had any requisition whatsoever made to +it. + +We see the sense of the Crown, and the sense of Parliament, on the +productive nature of a REVENUE BY GRANT. Now search the same Journals +for the produce of the REVENUE BY IMPOSITION. Where is it? Let us know +the volume and the page. What is the gross, what is the net produce? To +what service is it applied? How have you appropriated its surplus? What! +Can none of the many skilful index-makers that we are now employing find +any trace of it?--Well, let them and that rest together. But are the +Journals, which say nothing of the revenue, as silent on the discontent? +Oh no! a child may find it. It is the melancholy burthen and blot of +every page. + +I think, then, I am, from those Journals, justified in the sixth and +last Resolution, which is--- + +"That it hath been found by experience that the manner of granting the +said supplies and aids, by the said General Assemblies, hath been more +agreeable to the said Colonies, and more beneficial and conducive to the +public service, than the mode of giving and granting aids in Parliament, +to be raised and paid in the said Colonies." + +This makes the whole of the fundamental part of the plan. The conclusion +is irresistible. You cannot say that you were driven by any necessity to +an exercise of the utmost rights of legislature. You cannot assert that +you took on yourselves the task of imposing Colony taxes from the want +of another legal body that is competent to the purpose of supplying the +exigencies of the state without wounding the prejudices of the +people. Neither is it true that the body so qualified, and having that +competence, had neglected the duty. + +The question now, on all this accumulated matter, is: whether you will +choose to abide by a profitable experience, or a mischievous theory; +whether you choose to build on imagination, or fact; whether you prefer +enjoyment, or hope; satisfaction in your subjects, or discontent? + +If these propositions are accepted, everything which has been made to +enforce a contrary system must, I take it for granted, fall along with +it. On that ground, I have drawn the following Resolution, which, when +it comes to be moved, will naturally be divided in a proper manner: + +"That it may be proper to repeal an Act [Footnote: 59] made in the +seventh year of the reign of his present Majesty, entitled, An Act +for granting certain duties in the British Colonies and Plantations +in America; for allowing a drawback of the duties of customs upon the +exportation from this Kingdom of coffee and cocoa-nuts of the produce +of the said Colonies or Plantations; for discontinuing the drawbacks +payable on china earthenware exported to America; and for more +effectually preventing the clandestine running of goods in the said +Colonies and Plantations. And that it may be proper to repeal an Act +[Footnote: 60] made in the fourteenth year of the reign of his present +Majesty, entitled, An Act to discontinue, in such manner and for such +time as are therein mentioned, the landing and discharging, lading or +shipping of goods, wares, and merchandise at the town and within +the harbor of Boston, in the Province of Massachusetts Bay, in North +America. And that it may be proper to repeal an Act made in the +fourteenth year of the reign of his present Majesty, entitled, An Act +for the impartial administration of justice [Footnote: 61] in the cases +of persons questioned for any acts done by them in the execution of the +law, or for the suppression of riots and tumults, in the Province of +Massachusetts Bay, in New England. And that it may be proper to repeal +an Act made in the fourteenth year of the reign of his present Majesty, +entitled, An Act for the better regulating [Footnote: 62] of the +Government of the Province of the Massachusetts Bay, in New England. +And also that it may be proper to explain and amend an Act made in the +thirty-fifth year of the reign of King Henry the Eighth, entitled, An +Act for the Trial of Treasons [Footnote: 63] committed out of the King's +Dominions." + +I wish, Sir, to repeal the Boston Port Bill, because--independently of +the dangerous precedent of suspending the rights of the subject during +the King's pleasure--it was passed, as I apprehend, with less regularity +and on more partial principles than it ought. The corporation of Boston +was not heard before it was condemned. Other towns, full as guilty as +she was, have not had their ports blocked up. Even the Restraining Bill +of the present session does not go to the length of the Boston Port +Act. The same ideas of prudence which induced you not to extend equal +punishment to equal guilt, even when you were punishing, induced me, +who mean not to chastise, but to reconcile, to be satisfied with the +punishment already partially inflicted. + +Ideas of prudence and accommodation to circumstances prevent you from +taking away the charters of Connecticut and Rhode Island, as you have +taken away that of Massachusetts Bay, though the Crown has far less +power in the two former provinces than it enjoyed in the latter, and +though the abuses have been full as great, and as flagrant, in +the exempted as in the punished. The same reasons of prudence +and accommodation have weight with me in restoring the charter of +Massachusetts Bay. Besides, Sir, the Act which changes the charter of +Massachusetts is in many particulars so exceptionable that if I did not +wish absolutely to repeal, I would by all means desire to alter it, +as several of its provisions tend to the subversion of all public and +private justice. Such, among others, is the power in the Governor to +change the sheriff at his pleasure, and to make a new returning officer +for every special cause. It is shameful to behold such a regulation +standing among English laws. + +The Act for bringing persons accused of committing murder, under the +orders of Government to England for trial, is but temporary. That Act +has calculated the probable duration of our quarrel with the Colonies, +and is accommodated to that supposed duration. I would hasten the happy +moment of reconciliation, and therefore must, on my principle, get rid +of that most justly obnoxious Act. + +The Act of Henry the Eighth, for the Trial of Treasons, I do not mean +to take away, but to confine it to its proper bounds and original +intention; to make it expressly for trial of treasons--and the greatest +treasons may be committed--in places where the jurisdiction of the Crown +does not extend. + +Having guarded the privileges of local legislature, I would next secure +to the Colonies a fair and unbiassed judicature, for which purpose, Sir, +I propose the following Resolution: + +"That, from the time when the General Assembly or General Court of any +Colony or Plantation in North America shall have appointed by Act of +Assembly, duly confirmed, a settled salary to the offices of the Chief +Justice and other Judges of the Superior Court, it may be proper that +the said Chief Justice and other Judges of the Superior Courts of such +Colony shall hold his and their office and offices during their good +behavior, and shall not be removed therefrom but when the said removal +shall be adjudged by his Majesty in Council, upon a hearing on complaint +from the General Assembly, or on a complaint from the Governor, or +Council, or the House of Representatives severally, or of the Colony in +which the said Chief Justice and other Judges have exercised the said +offices." + +The next Resolution relates to the Courts of Admiralty. It is this. + +"That it may be proper to regulate the Courts of Admiralty or Vice +Admiralty authorized by the fifteenth Chapter of the Fourth of George +the Third, in such a manner as to make the same more commodious to those +who sue, or are sued, in the said Courts, and to provide for the more +decent maintenance of the Judges in the same." + +These courts I do not wish to take away, they are in themselves proper +establishments. This court is one of the capital securities of the +Act of Navigation. The extent of its jurisdiction, indeed, has been +increased, but this is altogether as proper, and is indeed on many +accounts more eligible, where new powers were wanted, than a court +absolutely new. But courts incommodiously situated, in effect, deny +justice, and a court partaking in the fruits of its own condemnation is +a robber. The Congress complain, and complain justly, of this grievance. + +These are the three consequential propositions I have thought of two or +three more, but they come rather too near detail, and to the province +of executive government, which I wish Parliament always to superintend, +never to assume. If the first six are granted, congruity will carry the +latter three. If not, the things that remain unrepealed will be, I +hope, rather unseemly incumbrances on the building, than very materially +detrimental to its strength and stability. + +Here, Sir, I should close, but I plainly perceive some objections +remain which I ought, if possible, to remove. The first will be that, in +resorting to the doctrine of our ancestors, as contained in the preamble +to the Chester Act, I prove too much, that the grievance from a want +of representation, stated in that preamble, goes to the whole of +legislation as well as to taxation, and that the Colonies, grounding +themselves upon that doctrine, will apply it to all parts of legislative +authority. + +To this objection, with all possible deference and humility, and wishing +as little as any man living to impair the smallest particle of our +supreme authority, I answer, that the words are the words of Parliament, +and not mine, and that all false and inconclusive inferences drawn from +them are not mine, for I heartily disclaim any such inference. I have +chosen the words of an Act of Parliament which Mr. Grenville, surely +a tolerably zealous and very judicious advocate for the sovereignty of +Parliament, formerly moved to have read at your table in confirmation of +his tenets. It is true that Lord Chatham considered these preambles as +declaring strongly in favor of his opinions. He was a no less powerful +advocate for the privileges of the Americans. Ought I not from hence to +presume that these preambles are as favorable as possible to both, when +properly understood; favorable both to the rights of Parliament, and to +the privilege of the dependencies of this Crown? But, Sir, the object of +grievance in my Resolution I have not taken from the Chester, but from +the Durham Act, which confines the hardship of want of representation +to the case of subsidies, and which therefore falls in exactly with the +case of the Colonies. But whether the unrepresented counties were de +jure or de facto [Footnote: 64] bound, the preambles do not accurately +distinguish, nor indeed was it necessary; for, whether de jure or de +facto, the Legislature thought the exercise of the power of taxing as +of right, or as of fact without right, equally a grievance, and equally +oppressive. + +I do not know that the Colonies have, in any general way, or in any cool +hour, gone much beyond the demand of humanity in relation to taxes. It +is not fair to judge of the temper or dispositions of any man, or any +set of men, when they are composed and at rest, from their conduct +or their expressions in a state of disturbance and irritation. It +is besides a very great mistake to imagine that mankind follow up +practically any speculative principle, either of government or of +freedom, as far as it will go in argument and logical illation. We +Englishmen stop very short of the principles upon which we support any +given part of our Constitution, or even the whole of it together. I +could easily, if I had not already tired you, give you very striking +and convincing instances of it. This is nothing but what is natural and +proper. All government, indeed every human benefit and enjoyment, every +virtue, and every prudent act, is founded on compromise and barter. We +balance inconveniences; we give and take; we remit some rights, that we +may enjoy others; and we choose rather to be happy citizens than subtle +disputants. As we must give away some natural liberty to enjoy civil +advantages, so we must sacrifice some civil liberties for the advantages +to be derived from the communion and fellowship of a great empire. But, +in all fair dealings, the thing bought must bear some proportion to the +purchase paid. None will barter away the immediate jewel of his soul. +[Footnote: 65] Though a great house is apt to make slaves haughty, yet +it is purchasing a part of the artificial importance of a great empire +too dear to pay for it all essential rights and all the intrinsic +dignity of human nature. None of us who would not risk his life rather +than fall under a government purely arbitrary. But although there are +some amongst us who think our Constitution wants many improvements +to make it a complete system of liberty, perhaps none who are of that +opinion would think it right to aim at such improvement by disturbing +his country, and risking everything that is dear to him. In every +arduous enterprise we consider what we are to lose, as well as what +we are to gain; and the more and better stake of liberty every people +possess, the less they will hazard in a vain attempt to make it more. +These are the cords of man. Man acts from adequate motives relative to +his interest, and not on metaphysical speculations. Aristotle, the great +master of reasoning, cautions us, and with great weight and propriety, +against this species of delusive geometrical accuracy in moral arguments +as the most fallacious of all sophistry. + +The Americans will have no interest contrary to the grandeur and glory +of England, when they are not oppressed by the weight of it; and +they will rather be inclined to respect the acts of a superintending +legislature when they see them the acts of that power which is itself +the security, not the rival, of their secondary importance. In this +assurance my mind most perfectly acquiesces, and I confess I feel not +the least alarm from the discontents which are to arise from putting +people at their ease, nor do I apprehend the destruction of this Empire +from giving, by an act of free grace and indulgence, to two millions of +my fellow-citizens some share of those rights upon which. I have always +been taught to value myself. + +It is said, indeed, that this power of granting, vested in American +Assemblies, would dissolve the unity of the Empire, which was preserved +entire, although Wales, and Chester, and Durham were added to it. Truly, +Mr. Speaker, I do not know what this unity means, nor has it ever been +heard of, that I know, in the constitutional policy of this country. The +very idea of subordination of parts excludes this notion of simple and +undivided unity. England is the head; but she is not the head and the +members too. Ireland has ever had from the beginning a separate, but not +an independent, legislature, which, far from distracting, promoted the +union of the whole. Everything was sweetly and harmoniously disposed +through both islands for the conservation of English dominion, and +the communication of English liberties. I do not see that the same +principles might not be carried into twenty islands and with the same +good effect. This is my model with regard to America, as far as the +internal circumstances of the two countries are the same. I know no +other unity of this Empire than I can draw from its example during these +periods, when it seemed to my poor understanding more united than it is +now, or than it is likely to be by the present methods. + +But since I speak of these methods, I recollect, Mr. Speaker, almost +too late, that I promised, before I finished, to say something of the +proposition of the noble lord on the floor, which has been so lately +received and stands on your Journals. I must be deeply concerned +whenever it is my misfortune to continue a difference with the majority +of this House; but as the reasons for that difference are my apology for +thus troubling you, suffer me to state them in a very few words. I shall +compress them into as small a body as I possibly can, having already +debated that matter at large when the question was before the Committee. + +First, then, I cannot admit that proposition of a ransom [Footnote: 66] +by auction; because it is a mere project. It is a thing new, unheard of; +supported by no experience; justified by no analogy; without example +of our ancestors, or root in the Constitution. It is neither regular +Parliamentary taxation, nor Colony grant. Experimentum in corpore vili +[Footnote: 67] is a good rule, which will ever make me adverse to any +trial of experiments on what is certainly the most valuable of all +subjects, the peace of this Empire. + +Secondly, it is an experiment which must be fatal in the end to our +Constitution. For what is it but a scheme for taxing the Colonies in the +ante-chamber of the noble lord and his successors? To settle the quotas +and proportions in this House is clearly impossible. You, Sir, may +flatter yourself you shall sit a state auctioneer, with your hammer in +your hand, and knock down to each Colony as it bids. But to settle, on +the plan laid down by the noble lord, the true proportional payment for +four or five and twenty governments according to the absolute and the +relative wealth of each, and according to the British proportion of +wealth and burthen, is a wild and chimerical notion. This new taxation +must therefore come in by the back door of the Constitution. Each quota +must be brought to this House ready formed; you can neither add nor +alter. You must register it. You can do nothing further, for on what +grounds can you deliberate either before or after the proposition? You +cannot hear the counsel for all these provinces, quarrelling each on +its own quantity of payment, and its proportion to others If you should +attempt it, the Committee of Provincial Ways and Means, or by whatever +other name it will delight to be called, must swallow up all the time of +Parliament. + +Thirdly, it does not give satisfaction to the complaint of the Colonies. +They complain that they are taxed without their consent, you answer, +that you will fix the sum at which they shall be taxed. That is, you +give them the very grievance for the remedy. You tell them, indeed, that +you will leave the mode to themselves. I really beg pardon--it gives me +pain to mention it--but you must be sensible that you will not perform +this part of the compact. For, suppose the Colonies were to lay the +duties, which furnished their contingent, upon the importation of your +manufactures, you know you would never suffer such a tax to be laid. You +know, too, that you would not suffer many other modes of taxation, so +that, when you come to explain yourself, it will be found that you +will neither leave to themselves the quantum nor the mode, nor indeed +anything. The whole is delusion from one end to the other. + +Fourthly, this method of ransom by auction, unless it be universally +accepted, will plunge you into great and inextricable difficulties. In +what year of our Lord are the proportions of payments to be settled? To +say nothing of the impossibility that Colony agents should have general +powers of taxing the Colonies at their discretion, consider, I implore +you, that the communication by special messages and orders between these +agents and their constituents, on each variation of the case, when +the parties come to contend together and to dispute on their relative +proportions, will be a matter of delay, perplexity, and confusion that +never can have an end. + +If all the Colonies do not appear at the outcry, what is the condition +of those assemblies who offer, by themselves or their agents, to tax +themselves up to your ideas of their proportion? The refractory +Colonies who refuse all composition will remain taxed only to your old +impositions, which, however grievous in principle, are trifling as to +production. The obedient Colonies in this scheme are heavily taxed, the +refractory remain unburdened. What will you do? Will you lay new and +heavier taxes by Parliament on the disobedient? Pray consider in what +way you can do it. You are perfectly convinced that, in the way of +taxing, you can do nothing but at the ports. Now suppose it is Virginia +that refuses to appear at your auction, while Maryland and North +Carolina bid handsomely for their ransom, and are taxed to your quota, +how will you put these Colonies on a par? Will you tax the tobacco of +Virginia? If you do, you give its death-wound to your English revenue +at home, and to one of the very greatest articles of your own foreign +trade. If you tax the import of that rebellious Colony, what do you +tax but your own manufactures, or the goods of some other obedient and +already well-taxed Colony? Who has said one word on this labyrinth of +detail, which bewilders you more and more as you enter into it? Who +has presented, who can present you with a clue to lead you out of it? +I think, Sir, it is impossible that you should not recollect that the +Colony bounds are so implicated in one another,--you know it by +your other experiments in the bill for prohibiting the New England +fishery,--that you can lay no possible restraints on almost any of them +which may not be presently eluded, if you do not confound the innocent +with the guilty, and burthen those whom, upon every principle, you ought +to exonerate. He must be grossly ignorant of America who thinks that, +without falling into this confusion of all rules of equity and policy, +you can restrain any single Colony, especially Virginia and Maryland, +the central and most important of them all. + +Let it also be considered that, either in the present confusion you +settle a permanent contingent, which will and must be trifling, and +then you have no effectual revenue; or you change the quota at every +exigency, and then on every new repartition you will have a new quarrel. + +Reflect, besides, that when you have fixed a quota for every Colony, +you have not provided for prompt and punctual payment. Suppose one, two, +five, ten years' arrears. You cannot issue a Treasury Extent against +the failing Colony. You must make new Boston Port Bills, new restraining +laws, new acts for dragging men to England for trial. You must send out +new fleets, new armies. All is to begin again. From this day forward the +Empire is never to know an hour's tranquillity. An intestine fire will +be kept alive in the bowels of the Colonies, which one time or other +must consume this whole Empire. I allow indeed that the empire of +Germany raises her revenue and her troops by quotas and contingents; +but the revenue of the empire, and the army of the empire, is the worst +revenue and the worst army in the world. + +Instead of a standing revenue, you will therefore have a perpetual +quarrel. Indeed, the noble lord who proposed this project of a ransom +by auction seems himself to be of that opinion. His project was rather +designed for breaking the union of the Colonies than for establishing a +revenue. He confessed he apprehended that his proposal would not be to +their taste. I say this scheme of disunion seems to be at the bottom of +the project; for I will not suspect that the noble lord meant nothing +but merely to delude the nation by an airy phantom which he never +intended to realize. But whatever his views may be, as I propose the +peace and union of the Colonies as the very foundation of my plan, it +cannot accord with one whose foundation is perpetual discord. + +Compare the two. This I offer to give you is plain and simple. The other +full of perplexed and intricate mazes. This is mild; that harsh. This +is found by experience effectual for its purposes; the other is a new +project. This is universal; the other calculated for certain Colonies +only. This is immediate in its conciliatory operation; the other remote, +contingent, full of hazard. Mine is what becomes the dignity of a ruling +people--gratuitous, unconditional, and not held out as a matter of +bargain and sale. I have done my duty in proposing it to you. I have +indeed tired you by a long discourse; but this is the misfortune of +those to whose influence nothing will be conceded, and who must win +every inch of their ground by argument. You have heard me with goodness. +May you decide with wisdom! For my part, I feel my mind greatly +disburthened by what I have done to-day. I have been the less fearful +of trying your patience, because on this subject I mean to spare it +altogether in future. I have this comfort, that in every stage of the +American affairs I have steadily opposed the measures that have produced +the confusion, and may bring on the destruction, of this Empire. I now +go so far as to risk a proposal of my own. If I cannot give peace to my +country, I give it to my conscience. + +But what, says the financier, is peace to us without money? Your plan +gives us no revenue. No! But it does; for it secures to the subject the +power or refusal, the first of all revenues. Experience is a cheat, and +fact a liar, if this power in the subject of proportioning his grant, or +of not granting at all, has not been found the richest mine of revenue +ever discovered by the skill or by the fortune of man. It does not +indeed vote you L152,750 11s. 23/4d, nor any other paltry limited sum; +but it gives the strong box itself, the fund, the bank--from whence only +revenues can arise amongst a people sensible of freedom. Posita luditur +arca. [Footnote: 68] Cannot you, in England--cannot you, at this time +of day--cannot you, a House of Commons, trust to the principle which has +raised so mighty a revenue, and accumulated a debt of near 140,000,000 +in this country? Is this principle to be true in England, and false +everywhere else? Is it not true in Ireland? Has it not hitherto been +true in the Colonies? Why should you presume that, in any country, a +body duly constituted for any function will neglect to perform its +duty and abdicate its trust? Such a presumption [Footnote: 69] would +go against all governments in all modes. But, in truth, this dread of +penury of supply from a free assembly has no foundation in nature; for +first, observe that, besides the desire which all men have naturally of +supporting the honor of their own government, that sense of dignity and +that security to property which ever attends freedom has a tendency to +increase the stock of the free community. Most may be taken where most +is accumulated. And what is the soil or climate where experience has not +uniformly proved that the voluntary flow of heaped-up plenty, bursting +from the weight of its own rich luxuriance, has ever run with a more +copious stream of revenue than could be squeezed from the dry husks of +oppressed indigence by the straining of all the politic machinery in the +world? [Footnote: 70] + +Next, we know that parties must ever exist in a free country. We know, +too, that the emulations of such parties--their contradictions, their +reciprocal necessities, their hopes, and their fears--must send them all +in their turns to him that holds the balance of the State. The parties +are the gamesters; but Government keeps the table, and is sure to be the +winner in the end. When this game is played, I really think it is more +to be feared that the people will be exhausted, than that Government +will not be supplied; whereas, whatever is got by acts of absolute +power ill obeyed, because odious, or by contracts ill kept, because +constrained, will be narrow, feeble, uncertain, and precarious. + +"Ease would retract Vows made in pain, as violent and void." + +I, for one, protest against compounding our demands. I declare against +compounding, for a poor limited sum, the immense, ever-growing, eternal +debt which is due to generous government from protected freedom. And so +may I speed in the great object I propose to you, as I think it would +not only be an act of injustice, but would be the worst economy in the +world, to compel the Colonies to a sum certain, either in the way of +ransom or in the way of compulsory compact. + +But to clear up my ideas on this subject: a revenue from America +transmitted hither--do not delude yourselves--you never can receive it; +no, not a shilling. We have experience that from remote countries it +is not to be expected. If, when you attempted to extract revenue +from Bengal, you were obliged to return in loan what you had taken in +imposition, what can you expect from North America? For certainly, if +ever there was a country qualified to produce wealth, it is India; or +an institution fit for the transmission, it is the East India Company. +America has none of these aptitudes. If America gives you taxable +objects on which you lay your duties here, and gives you, at the same +time, a surplus by a foreign sale of her commodities to pay the duties +on these objects which you tax at home, she has performed her part to +the British revenue. But with regard to her own internal establishments, +she may, I doubt not she will, contribute in moderation. I say in +moderation, for she ought not to be permitted to exhaust herself. She +ought to be reserved to a war, the weight of which, with the enemies +[Footnote: 71] that we are most likely to have, must be considerable +in her quarter of the globe. There she may serve you, and serve you +essentially. + +For that service--for all service, whether of revenue, trade, or +empire--my trust is in her interest in the British Constitution. My hold +of the Colonies is in the close affection which grows from common names, +from kindred blood, from similar privileges, and equal protection. These +are ties which, though light as air, [Footnote: 72] are as strong as +links of iron. Let the Colonists always keep the idea of their civil +rights associated with your government,--they will cling and grapple to +you, [Footnote: 73] and no force under heaven will be of power to tear +them from their allegiance. But let it be once understood that your +government may be one thing, and their privileges another, that these +two things may exist without any mutual relation, the cement is gone +[Footnote: 74]--the cohesion is loosened--and everything hastens to +decay and dissolution. As long as you have the wisdom to keep the +sovereign authority of this country as the sanctuary of liberty, the +sacred temple consecrated to our common faith, wherever the chosen race +and sons of England worship freedom, they will turn their faces towards +you. The more they multiply, the more friends you will have; the more +ardently they love liberty, the more perfect will be their obedience. +Slavery they can have anywhere--it is a weed that grows in every soil. +They may have it from Spain; they may have it from Prussia. But, until +you become lost to all feeling of your true interest and your natural +dignity, freedom they can have from none but you. This is the commodity +of price of which you have the monopoly. This is the true Act of +Navigation which binds to you the commerce of the Colonies, and +through them secures to you the wealth of the world. Deny them this +participation of freedom, and you break that sole bond which originally +made, and must still preserve, the unity of the Empire. Do not entertain +so weak an imagination as that your registers and your bonds, your +affidavits and your sufferances, your cockets and your clearances, are +what form the great securities of your commerce. Do not dream that your +letters of office, and your instructions, and your suspending clauses, +are the things that hold together the great contexture of the mysterious +whole. These things do not make your government. Dead instruments, +passive tools as they are, it is the spirit of the English communion +that gives all their life and efficacy to them. It is the spirit of the +English Constitution which, infused through the mighty mass, pervades, +feeds, unites, invigorates, vivifies every part of the Empire, even down +to the minutest member. + +Is it not the same virtue which does everything for us here in England? +Do you imagine, then, that it is the Land Tax Act which raises your +revenue? that it is the annual vote in the Committee of Supply which +gives you your army? or that it is the Mutiny Bill which inspires +it with bravery and discipline? No! surely no! It is the love of the +people; it is their attachment to their government, from the sense of +the deep stake they have in such a glorious institution, which gives you +your army and your navy, and infuses into both that liberal obedience +without which your army would be a base rabble, and your navy nothing +but rotten timber. + +All this, I know well enough, will sound wild and chimerical to the +profane herd [Footnote: 75] of those vulgar and mechanical politicians +who have no place among us; a sort of people who think that nothing +exists but what is gross and material, and who, therefore, far from +being qualified to be directors of the great movement of empire, are +not fit to turn a wheel in the machine. But to men truly initiated and +rightly taught, these ruling and master principles which, in the opinion +of such men as I have mentioned, have no substantial existence, are in +truth everything, and all in all. Magnanimity [Footnote: 76] in politics +is not seldom the truest wisdom; and a great empire and little minds go +ill together. If we are conscious of our station, and glow with zeal +to fill our places as becomes our situation and ourselves, we ought to +auspicate [Footnote: 77] all our public proceedings on America with +the old warning of the church, Sursum corda! [Footnote: 78] We ought to +elevate our minds to the greatness of that trust to which the order +of providence has called us. By adverting to the dignity of this high +calling our ancestors have turned a savage wilderness into a glorious +empire, and have made the most extensive and the only honorable +conquests--not by destroying, but by promoting the wealth, the number, +the happiness, of the human race. Let us get an American revenue as we +have got an American empire. English privileges have made it all that it +is; English privileges alone will make it all it can be. + +In full confidence of this unalterable truth, I now, quod felix +faustumque sit, [Footnote: 79] lay the first stone of the Temple of +Peace; and I move you-- + +"That the Colonies and Plantations of Great Britain in North America, +consisting of fourteen separate governments, and containing two millions +and upwards of free inhabitants, have not had the liberty and privilege +of electing and sending any Knights and Burgesses, or others, to +represent them in the High Court of Parliament." + + + + +FOOTNOTES + +[Footnote: 1. grand penal bill. This bill originated with Lord North. +It restricted the trade of the New England colonies to England and her +dependencies. It also placed serious limitations upon the Newfoundland +fisheries. The House of Lords was dissatisfied with the measure because +it did not include all the colonies.] + +[Footnote: 2. When I first had the honor. Burke was first elected +to Parliament Dec. 26, 1765. He was at the time secretary to Lord +Rockingham, Prime Minister. Previous to this he had made himself +thoroughly familiar with England's policy in dealing with her +dependencies--notably Ireland.] + +[Footnote: 3. my original sentiments. After many demonstrations both in +America and England the Stamp Act became a law in 1765. One of the first +tasks the Rockingham ministry set itself was to bring about a repeal of +this act. Burke made his first speech in support of his party. He argued +that the abstract and theoretical rights claimed by England in matters +of government should be set aside when they were unfavorable to the +happiness and prosperity of her colonies and herself. His speech was +complimented by Pitt, and Dr. Johnson wrote that no new member had ever +before attracted such attention.] + +[Footnote: 4. America has been kept in agitation. For a period of nearly +one hundred years the affairs of the colonies had been intrusted to a +standing committee appointed by Parliament. This committee was called +"The Lords of Trade." From its members came many if not the majority of +the propositions for the regulation of the American trade. To them the +colonial governors, who were appointed by the king, gave full accounts +of the proceedings of the colonial legislatures. These reports, often +colored by personal prejudice, did not always represent the colonists in +the best light. It was mainly through the influence of one of the former +Lords of Trade, Charles Townshend, who afterwards became the leading +voice in the Pitt ministry, that the Stamp Act was passed.] + +[Footnote: 5. a worthy member. Mr. Rose Fuller.] + +[Footnote: 6. former methods. Condense the thought in this paragraph. +Are such "methods" practised nowadays?] + +[Footnote: 7. paper government. Burke possibly had in mind the +constitution prepared for the Carolinas by John Locke and Earl of +Shaftesbury. The scheme was utterly impracticable and gave cause for +endless dissatisfaction.] + +[Footnote: 8. Refined policy. After a careful reading of the paragraph +determine what Burke means by "refined policy."] + +[Footnote: 9. the project. The bill referred to had been passed by the +House on Feb. 27. It provided that those colonies which voluntarily +voted contributions for the common defence and support of the English +government, and in addition made provision for the administration of +their own civil affairs, should be exempt from taxation, except such as +was necessary for the regulation of trade. It has been declared by some +that the measure was meant in good faith and that its recognition and +acceptance by the colonies would have brought good results. Burke, along +with others of the opposition, argued that the intention of the bill was +to cause dissension and division among the colonies. Compare 7, 11-12. +State your opinion and give reasons.] + +[Footnote: 10. the noble lord in the blue ribbon Lord North (1732-1792) +He entered Parliament at the age of twenty-two, served as Lord of the +Treasury, 1759; was removed by Rockingham, 1765; was again appointed +by Pitt to the office of Joint Paymaster of the Forces, became Prime +Minister, 1770, and resigned, 1781 Lord North is described both by +his contemporaries and later histonaus as an easy-going, indolent man, +short-sighted and rather stupid, though obstinate and courageous. He +was the willing servant of George III, and believed in the principle of +authority as opposed to that of conciliation. The blue ribbon was the +badge of the Order of the Garter instituted by Edward III Lord North +was made a Knight of the Garter, 1772. Burke often mentions the "blue +ribbon" in speaking of the Prime Minister. Why?] + +[Footnote: 11. Colony agents. It was customary for colonies to select +some one to represent them in important matters of legislation. Burke +himself served as the agent of New York. Do you think this tact accounts +in any way for his attitude in this speech?] + +[Footnote: 12. our address Parliament had prepared an address to the +king some months previous, in which Massachusetts was declared to be in +a state of rebellion. The immediate cause of this address was the +Boston Tea Party. The lives and fortunes of his Majesty's subjects were +represented as being in danger, and he was asked to deal vigorously not +only with Massachusetts but with her sympathizers.] + +[Footnote: 13. those chances. Suggested perhaps by lines in Julius +Caesar, IV., iii., 216-219:-- + + "There is a tide in the affairs of men, + Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune; + Omitted, all the voyage of their life + Is bound in shallows and in miseries."] + +[Footnote: 14. according to that nature and to those circumstances. +Compare with 8. Point out the connection between the thought here +expressed and Burke's idea of "expediency."] + +[Footnote: 15. great consideration. This paragraph has been censured +for its too florid style. It may be rather gorgeous and rhetorical when +considered as part of an argument, yet it is very characteristic of +Burke as a writer. In no other passage of the speech is there such vivid +clear-cut imagery. Note the picturesque quality of the lines and detect +if you can any confusion in figures.] + +[Footnote: 16. It is good for us to be here. Burke's favorite books were +Shakespeare, Milton, and the Bible. Trace the above sentence to one of +these.] + +[Footnote: 17. + + "Facta parentun + Jam legere et quae sit poteris cognoscere virtus." + --VIRGIL'S Eclogues, IV., 26, 27] + +Notice the alteration. Already old enough to study the deeds of his +father and to know what virtue is. + +[Footnote: 18. before you taste of death. Compare 16.] + +[Footnote: 19. Roman charity. This suggests the more famous "Ancient +Roman honor" (Merchant of Venice, III., 11, 291). The incident referred +to by Burke is told by several writers. A father condemned to death by +starvation is visited in prison by his daughter, who secretly nourishes +him with milk from her breasts.] + +[Footnote: 20. complexions. "Mislike me not for my COMPLEXION."--M. V. +Is the word used in the same sense by Burke?] + +[Footnote: 21. the thunder of the state. What is the classical +allusion?] + +[Footnote: 22. a nation is not governed. + + "Who overcomes By force hath overcome but half his foe" + --Paradise Lost, 1, 648, 649.] + +[Footnote: 23. Our ancient indulgence. "The wise and salutary neglect," +which Burke has just mentioned, was the result of (a) the struggle of +Charles I. with Parliament, (b) the confusion and readjustment at the +Restoration, (c) the Revolution of 1688, (d) the attitude of France +in favoring the cause of the Stuarts, (e) the ascendency of the Whigs. +England had her hands full in attending to affairs at home. As a result +of this the colonies were practically their own masters in matters of +government. Also the political party known as the Whigs had its origin +shortly before William and Mary ascended the throne. This party favored +the colonies and respected their ideas of liberty and government.] + +[Footnote: 24. great contests. One instance of this is Magna Charta. +Suggest others.] + +[Footnote: 25. Freedom is to them Such keen analysis and subtle +reasoning is characteristic of Burke It is this tendency that justifies +some of his admirers in calling him "Philosopher Statesman". Consider +his thought attentively and determine whether or not his argument is +entirely sound. Is he correct in speaking of our Gothic ancestors?] + +[Footnote: 26. Abeunt studia in mores. Studies become a part of +character.] + +[Footnote: 27. winged ministers of vengeance. A figure suggested perhaps +by Horace, Odes, Bk. IV., 4: "Ministrum fulmims alitem"--the thunder's +winged messenger.] + +[Footnote: 28. the circulation. The Conciliation, as all of Burke's +writings, is rich in such figurative expressions. In every instance +the student should discover the source of the figure and determine +definitely whether or not his author is accurate and suggestive.] + +[Footnote: 29. its imperfections. + + "But sent to my account + With all my imperfections upon my head." + --Hamlet, I, v, 78, 79.] + +[Footnote: 30. same plan. The act referred to, known as the Regulating +Act, became a law May 10, 1774. It provided (a) that the council, or the +higher branch of the legislature, should be appointed by the Crown (the +popular assemblies had previously selected the members of the council); +(b) that officers of the common courts should be chosen by the royal +governors, and (c) that public meetings (except for elections) should +not be held without the sanction of the king. These measures were +practically ignored. By means of circular letters the colonies were +fully instructed through their representatives. As a direct result of +the Regulating Act, along with other high-handed proceedings of the same +sort, delegates were secretly appointed for the Continental Congress on +Sept. 1 at Philadelphia. The delegates from Massachusetts were Samuel +Adams, John Adams, Robert Paine, and Thomas Cushing.] + +[Footnote: 31. their liberties. Compare 24] + +[Footnote: 32. sudden or partial view. Goodrich, in his Select British +Eloquence, speaking of Burke's comprehensiveness in discussing his +subject, compares him to one standing upon an eminence, taking a large +and rounded view of it on every side. The justice of this observation is +seen in such instances as the above. It is this breadth and clearness of +vision more than anything else that distinguishes Burke so sharply from +his contemporaries.] + +[Footnote: 33. three ways. How does the first differ from the third?] + +[Footnote: 34. Spoliatis arma supersunt. Though plundered their arms +still remain.] + +[Footnote: 35. your speech would betray you. "Thy speech bewrayeth +thee"--Matt. xxvi 73. There is much justice in the observation that +Burke is often verbose, yet such paragraphs as this prove how well he +knew to condense and prune his expression. It is an excellent plan to +select from day to day passages of this sort and commit them to memory +for recitation when the speech has been finished.] + +[Footnote: 36. to persuade slaves. Does this suggest one of Byron's +poems?] + +[Footnote: 37. causes of quarrel. The Assembly of Virginia in 1770 +attempted to restrict the slave trade. Other colonies made the same +effort, but Parliament vetoed these measures, accompanying its action +with the blunt statement that the slave trade was profitable to England. +Observe how effectively Burke uses his wide knowledge of history.] + +[Footnote: 38. ex vi termini. From the force of the word.] + +[Footnote: 39. abstract right. Compare with 14; also 8. Point out +connection in thought.] + +[Footnote: 40. Act of Henry the Eighth. Burke alludes to this in his +letter to the sheriffs of Bristol in the following terms: "To try a man +under this Act is to condemn him unheard. A person is brought hither in +the dungeon of a ship hold; thence he is vomited into a dungeon on land, +loaded with irons, unfurnished with money, unsupported by friends, three +thousand miles from all means of calling upon or confronting evidence, +where no one local circumstance that tends to detect perjury can +possibly be judged of;--such a person may be executed according to form, +but he can never be tried according to justice."] + +[Footnote: 41. correctly right. Explain.] + +[Footnote: 42. Paradise Lost, II., 392-394.] + +[Footnote: 43. This passage should be carefully studied. Burke's theory +of government is given in the Conciliation by just such lines as these. +Refer to other instances of principles which he considers fundamental in +matters of government.] + +[Footnote: 44. exquisite. Exact meaning?] + +[Footnote: 45. trade laws. What would have been the nature of a change +beneficial to the colonies?] + +[Footnote: 46. English conquest. At Henry II.'s accession, 1154, Ireland +had fallen from the civilization which had once flourished upon her soil +and which had been introduced by her missionaries into England during +the seventh century. Henry II. obtained the sanction of the Pope, +invaded the island, and partially subdued the inhabitants. For an +interesting account of England's relations to Ireland the student should +consult Green's Short History of the English People.] + +[Footnote: 47. You deposed kings. What English kings have been deposed?] + +[Footnote: 48. Lords Marchers. March, boundary. These lords were given +permission by the English kings to take from the Welsh as much land as +they could. They built their castles on the boundary line between the +two countries, and when they were not quarrelling among themselves waged +a guerilla warfare against the Welsh. The Lords Marchers, because of +special privileges and the peculiar circumstances of their life, were +virtually kings--petty kings, of course.] + +[Footnote: 49. "When the clear star has shone upon the sailors, the +troubled water flows down from the rocks, the winds fall, the clouds +fade away, and, since they (Castor and Pollux) have so willed it, the +threatening waves settle on the deep."--HORACE, Odes, I., 12, 27-32.] + +[Footnote: 50. Opposuit natura. Nature opposed.] + +[Footnote: 51. no theory. Select other instances of Burke's impatience +with fine-spun theories in statescraft] + +[Footnote: 52. Republic of Plato Utopia of More Ideal states Consult the Century Dictionary] + +[Footnote: 53. "And the DULL swain + Treads daily on it with his clouted shoon" + --MILTON'S Comus, 6, 34, 35.] + +[Footnote: 54. the year 1763 The date marks the beginning of the active +struggle between England and the American colonies. The Stamp Act was +the first definite step taken by the English Parliament in the attempt +to tax the colonies without their consent.] + +[Footnote: 55. legal competency. This had been practically recognized by +Parliament prior to the passage of the Stamp Act. In Massachusetts the +Colonial Assembly had made grants from year to year to the governor, +both for his salary and the incidental expenses of his office. +Notwithstanding the fact that he was appointed (in most cases) by the +Crown, and invariably had the ear of the Lords of Trade, the colonies +generally had things their own way and enjoyed a political freedom +greater, perhaps, than did the people of England.] + +[Footnote: 56. This is not my doctrine, but that of Ofellus; a rustic, +yet unusually wise] + +[Footnote: 57. Compare in point of style with 43, 22-25; 44, 1-6 In what +way do such passages differ from Burke's prevailng style? What is the +central thought in each paragraph?] + +[Footnote: 58. misguided people. There is little doubt that the +colonists m many instances were misrepresented by the Lords of Trade and +by the royal governors. See an interesting account of this in Fiske's +American Revolution.] + +[Footnote: 59. an Act. Passed in 1767. It provided for a duty on +imports, including tea, glass, and paper.] + +[Footnote: 60 An Act. Boston Post Bill.] + +[Footnote: 61. impartial administration of justice. This provided that +if any person in Massachusetts were charged with murder, or any other +capital offence, he should be tried either in some other colony or in +Great Britain] + +[Footnote: 62. An Act for the better regulating See 87, 23. ] + +[Footnote: 63. Trial of Treasons See 50, 20.] + +[Footnote: 64. de jure. According to law. de facto. According to fact.] + +[Footnote: 65. jewel of his soul. + + "Good name in man and woman, dear my lord, + Is the immediate jewel of their souls" + --Othello, III, iii, 155,156.] + +[Footnote: 66. proposition of a ransom. See 8, 13.] + +[Footnote: 67. An experiment upon something of no value.] + +[Footnote: 68. They stake their fortune and play.] + +[Footnote: 69. Such a presumption Is Burke right in this? Select +instances which seem to warrant rest such a presumption. Discuss the +political parties of Burke's own day from this point of view.] + +[Footnote: 70. What can you say about the style of this passage? Note +the figure, sentence structure, and diction. Does it seem artificial and +overwrought? Compare it with 43, 22-25; 44. 1-6; also with 90, 23-25, +91, 1-25, 92, 1-23.] + +[Footnote: 71. enemies. France and Spain.] + +[Footnote: 72. light as air. + + "Trifles light as air + Are to the jealous confirmations strong + As proofs of holy writ" + --Othello, III, iii, 322-324] + +[Footnote: 73. + + grapple to you. + "The friends thou hast and their adoption tried + Grapple them to thy soul with hooks of steel" + --Hamlet, I., iii, 62,63.] + +[Footnote: 74. the cement is gone. Figure?] + +[Footnote: 75. profane herd. + + "Odi profanum volgus et arceo" + I hate the vulgar herd and keep it from me + --Horace, Odes, III, 1, 1] + +[Footnote: 76. Magnanimity. Etymology?] + +[Footnote: 77. auspicate Etymology and derivation?] + +[Footnote: 78. Sursum corda. Lift up your hearts.] + +[Footnote: 79. quod felix faustumque sit. 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Do not change or edit the +header without written permission. + +Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the +eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file. Included is +important information about your specific rights and restrictions in +how the file may be used. You can also find out about how to make a +donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!***** + + +Title: Burke's Speech on Conciliation with America + +Author: Edmund Burke + +Release Date: May, 2004 [EBook #5655] +[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] +[This file was first posted on August 5, 2002] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, BURKE'S SPEECH ON CONCILIATION WITH AMERICA *** + + + + +This eBook was produced by Charles Franks and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team. + + + +BURKE'S SPEECH + +ON + +CONCILIATION WITH AMERICA + + +EDITED WITH INTRODUCTION AND NOTES + +BY + +SIDNEY CARLETON NEWSOM + +TEACHER OF ENGLISH, MANUAL TRAINING HIGH SCHOOL INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA + + + + + + +PREFACE + +The introduction to this edition of Burke's speech on Conciliation with America +is intended to supply the needs of those students who do not have access to a +well-stocked library, or who, for any reason, are unable to do the collateral +reading necessary for a complete understanding of the text. + +The sources from which information has been drawn in preparing this edition are +mentioned under "Bibliography." The editor wishes to acknowledge indebtedness to +many of the excellent older editions of the speech, and also to Mr. A. P. +Winston, of the Manual Training High School, for valuable suggestions. + + + + +CONTENTS + + POLITICAL SITUATION + + EDMUND BURKE + + BURKE AS A STATESMAN + + BURKE IN LITERATURE + + TOPICS FOR SPECIAL REPORTS + + BIBLIOGRAPHY + + SPEECH ON CONCILIATION WITH AMERICA + + NOTES + + INDEX + + + + +INTRODUCTION + +POLITICAL SITUATION + +In 1651 originated the policy which caused the American Revolution. That policy +was one of taxation, indirect, it is true, but none the less taxation. The first +Navigation Act required that colonial exports should be shipped to England in +American or English vessels. This was followed by a long series of acts, +regulating and restricting the American trade. Colonists were not allowed to +exchange certain articles without paying duties thereon, and custom houses were +established and officers appointed. Opposition to these proceedings was +ineffectual; and in 1696, in order to expedite the business of taxation, and to +establish a better method of ruling the colonies, a board was appointed, called +the Lords Commissioners for Trade and Plantations. The royal governors found in +this board ready sympathizers, and were not slow to report their grievances, and +to insist upon more stringent regulations for enforcing obedience. Some of the +retaliative measures employed were the suspension of the writ of habeas corpus, +the abridgment of the freedom of the press and the prohibition of elections. But +the colonists generally succeeded in having their own way in the end, and were +not wholly without encouragement and sympathy in the English Parliament. It may +be that the war with France, which ended with the fall of Quebec, had much to do +with this rather generous treatment. The Americans, too, were favored by the +Whigs, who had been in power for more than seventy years. The policy of this +great party was not opposed to the sentiments and ideas of political freedom +that had grown up in the colonies; and, although more than half of the +Navigation Acts were passed by Whig governments, the leaders had known how to +wink at the violation of nearly all of them. + +Immediately after the close of the French war, and after George III. had +ascended the throne of England, it was decided to enforce the Navigation Acts +rigidly. There was to be no more smuggling, and, to prevent this, Writs of +Assistance were issued. Armed with such authority, a servant of the king might +enter the home of any citizen, and make a thorough search for smuggled goods. It +is needless to say the measure was resisted vigorously, and its reception by the +colonists, and its effect upon them, has been called the opening scene of the +American Revolution. As a matter of fact, this sudden change in the attitude of +England toward the colonies, marks the beginning of the policy of George III. +which, had it been successful, would have made him the ruler of an absolute +instead of a limited monarchy. He hated the Tories only less than the Whigs, and +when he bestowed a favor upon either, it was for the purpose of weakening the +other. The first task he set himself was that of crushing the Whigs. Since the +Revolution of 1688, they had dictated the policy of the English government, and +through wise leaders had become supreme in authority. They were particularly +obnoxious to him because of their republican spirit, and he regarded their +ascendency as a constant menace to his kingly power. Fortune seemed to favor him +in the dissensions which arose. There grew up two factions in the Whig party. +There were old Whigs and new Whigs. George played one against the other, +advanced his favorites when opportunity offered, and in the end succeeded in +forming a ministry composed of his friends and obedient to his will. + +With the ministry safely in hand, he turned his attention to the House of +Commons. The old Whigs had set an example, which George was shrewd enough to +follow. Walpole and Newcastle had succeeded in giving England one of the most +peaceful and prosperous governments within in the previous history of the +nation, but their methods were corrupt. With much of the judgment, penetration +and wise forbearance which marks a statesman, Walpole's distinctive qualities of +mind eminently fitted him for political intrigue; Newcastle was still worse, and +has the distinction of being the premier under whose administration the revolt +against official corruption first received the support of the public. + +For near a hundred years, the territorial distribution of seats in the House had +remained the same, while the centres of population had shifted along with those +of trade and new industries. Great towns were without representation, while +boroughs, such as Old Sarum, without a single voter, still claimed, and had, a +seat in Parliament. Such districts, or "rotten boroughs," were owned and +controlled by many of the great landowners. Both Walpole and Newcastle resorted +to the outright purchase of these seats, and when the time came George did not +shrink from doing the same thing. He went even further. All preferments of +whatsoever sort were bestowed upon those who would do his bidding, and the +business of bribery assumed such proportions that an office was opened at the +Treasury for this purpose, from which twenty-five thousand pounds are said to +have passed in a single day. Parliament had been for a long time only partially +representative of the people; it now ceased to be so almost completely. + +With, the support which such methods secured, along with encouragement from his +ministers, the king was prepared to put in operation his policy for regulating +the affairs of America. Writs of Assistance (1761) were followed by the passage +of the Stamp Act (1765). The ostensible object of both these measures was to +help pay the debt incurred by the French war, but the real purpose lay deeper, +and was nothing more or less than the ultimate extension of parliamentary rule, +in great things as well as small, to America. At this crisis, so momentous for +the colonists, the Rockingham ministry was formed, and Burke, together with +Pitt, supported a motion for the unconditional repeal of the Stamp Act. After +much wrangling, the motion was carried, and the first blunder of the mother +country seemed to have been smoothed over. + +Only a few months elapsed, however, when the question of taxing the colonies was +revived. Pitt lay ill, and could take no part in the proposed measure. Through +the influence of other members of his party,--notably Townshend,--a series of +acts were passed, imposing duties on several exports to America. This was +followed by a suspension of the New York Assembly, because it had disregarded +instructions in the matter of supplies for the troops. The colonists were +furious. Matters went from bad to worse. To withdraw as far as possible without +yielding the principle at stake, the duties on all the exports mentioned in the +bill were removed, except that on tea. But it was precisely the principle for +which the colonists were contending. They were not in the humor for compromise, +when they believed their freedom was endangered, and the strength and +determination of their resistance found a climax in the Boston Tea Party. + +In the meantime, Lord North, who was absolutely obedient to the king, had become +prime minister. Five bills were prepared, the tenor of which, it was thought, +would overawe the colonists. Of these, the Boston Port Bill and the Regulating +Act are perhaps the most famous, though the ultimate tendency of all was blindly +coercive. + +While the king and his friends were busy with these, the opposition proposed an +unconditional repeal of the Tea Act. The bill was introduced only to be +overwhelmingly defeated by the same Parliament that passed the five measures of +Lord North. + +In America, the effect of these proceedings was such as might have been expected +by thinking men. The colonies were as a unit in their support of Massachusetts. +The Regulating Act was set at defiance, public officers in the king's service +were forced to resign, town meetings were held, and preparations for war were +begun in dead earnest. To avert this, some of England's greatest statesmen--Pitt +among the number--asked for a reconsideration. On February the first, 1775, a +bill was introduced, which would have gone far toward bringing peace. One month +later, Burke delivered his speech on Conciliation with the Colonies. + + + + +EDMUND BURKE + +There is nothing unusual in Burke's early life. He was born in Dublin, Ireland, +in 1729. His father was a successful lawyer and a Protestant, his mother, a +Catholic. At the age of twelve, he became a pupil of Abraham Shackleton, a +Quaker, who had been teaching some fifteen years at Ballitore, a small town +thirty miles from Dublin. In after years Burke was always pleased to speak of +his old friend in the kindest way: "If I am anything," he declares, "it is the +education I had there that has made me so." And again at Shackleton's death, +when Burke was near the zenith of his fame and popularity, he writes: "I had a +true honor and affection for that excellent man. I feel something like a +satisfaction in the midst of my concern, that I was fortunate enough to have him +under my roof before his departure." It can hardly be doubted that the old +Quaker schoolmaster succeeded with his pupil who was already so favorably +inclined, and it is more than probable that the daily example of one who lived +out his precepts was strong in its influence upon a young and generous mind. + +Burke attended school at Ballitore two years; then, at the age of fourteen, he +became a student at Trinity College, Dublin, and remained there five years. At +college he was unsystematic and careless of routine. He seems to have done +pretty much as he pleased, and, however methodical he became in after life, his +study during these five years was rambling and spasmodic. The only definite +knowledge we have of this period is given by Burke himself in letters to his +former friend Richard Shackleton, son of his old schoolmaster. What he did was +done with a zest that at times became a feverish impatience: "First I was +greatly taken with natural philosophy, which, while I should have given my mind +to logic, employed me incessantly. This I call my FUROR MATHEMATICUS." Following +in succession come his FUROR LOGICUS, FUROR HISTORICUS, and FUROR PEOTICUS, each +of which absorbed him for the time being. It would be wrong, however, to think +of Burke as a trifler even in his youth. He read in the library three hours +every day and we may be sure he read as intelligently as eagerly. It is more +than probable that like a few other great minds he did not need a rigid system +to guide him. If he chose his subjects of study at pleasure, there is every +reason to believe he mastered them. + +Of intimate friends at the University we hear nothing. Goldsmith came one year +later, but there is no evidence that they knew each other. It is probable that +Burke, always reserved, had little in common with his young associates. His own +musings, with occasional attempts at writing poetry, long walks through the +country, and frequent letters to and from Richard Shackleton, employed him when +not at his books. + +Two years after taking his degree, Burke went to London and established himself +at the Middle Temple for the usual routine course in law. Another long period +passes of which there is next to nothing known. His father, an irascible, hot- +tempered man, had wished him to begin the practice of law, but Burke seems to +have continued in a rather irregular way pretty much as when an undergraduate at +Dublin. His inclinations were not toward the law, but literature. His father, +angered at such a turn of affairs, promptly reduced his allowance and left him +to follow his natural bent in perfect freedom. In 1756, six years after his +arrival in London, and almost immediately following the rupture with his father, +he married a Miss Nugent. At about the same time he published his first two +books, [Footnote: A Vindication of Natural Society and Philosophical Inquiry +into the Origin of our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful] and began in earnest +the life of an author. + +He attracted the attention of literary men. Dr. Johnson had just completed his +famous dictionary, and was the centre of a group of writers who accepted him at +his own valuation. Burke did not want for company, and wrote +copiously.[Footnote: Hints for an Essay on the Drama. Abridgement of the History +of England] He became associated with Dodsley, a bookseller, who began +publishing the Annual Register in 1759, and was paid a hundred pounds a year for +writing upon current events. He spent two years (1761-63) in Ireland in the +employment of William Hamilton, but at the end of that time returned, chagrined +and disgusted with his would-be patron, who utterly failed to recognize Burke's +worth, and persisted in the most unreasonable demands upon his time and energy. + +For once Burke's independence served him well. In 1765 Lord Rockingham became +prime minister, and Burke, widely known as the chief writer for the Annual +Register, was free to accept the position of private secretary, which Lord +Rockingham was glad to offer him. His services here were invaluable. The new +relations thus established did not end with the performance of the immediate +duties of his office, but a warm friendship grew up between the two, which +lasted till the death of Lord Rockingham. While yet private secretary, Burke was +elected to Parliament from the borough of Wendover. It was through the influence +of his friend, or perhaps relative, William Burke, that his election was +secured. + +Only a few days after taking his seat in the House of Commons, Burke made his +first speech, January 27, 1766. He followed this in a very short time with +another upon the same subject--the Taxation of the American Colonies. +Notwithstanding the great honor and distinction which these first speeches +brought Burke, his party was dismissed at the close of the session and the +Chatham ministry formed. He remained with his friends, and employed himself in +refuting [Footnote: Observations on the Present State of the Nation] the charges +of the former minister, George Grenville, who wrote a pamphlet accusing his +successors of gross neglect of public duties. + +At this point in his life comes the much-discussed matter of Beaconsfield. How +Burke became rich enough to purchase such expensive property is a question that +has never been answered by his friends or enemies. There are mysterious hints of +successful speculation in East India stock, of money borrowed, and Burke +himself, in a letter to Shackleton, speaks of aid from his friends and "all [the +money] he could collect of his own." However much we may regret the air of +mystery surrounding the matter, and the opportunity given those ever ready to +smirch a great man's character, it is not probable that any one ever really +doubted Burke's integrity in this or any other transaction. Perhaps the true +explanation of his seemingly reckless extravagance (if any explanation is +needed) is that the conventional standards of his time forced it upon him; and +it may be that Burke himself sympathized to some extent with these standards, +and felt a certain satisfaction in maintaining a proper attitude before the +public. + +The celebrated case of Wilkes offered an opportunity for discussing the narrow +and corrupt policy pursued by George III. and his followers. Wilkes, outlawed +for libel and protected in the meantime through legal technicalities, was +returned to Parliament by Middlesex. The House expelled him. He was repeatedly +elected and as many times expelled, and finally the returns were altered, the +House voting its approval by a large majority. In 1770 Burke published his +pamphlet [Footnote: Present Discontents] in which he discussed the situation. +For the first time he showed the full sweep and breadth of his understanding. +His tract was in the interest of his party, but it was written in a spirit far +removed from narrow partisanship. He pointed out with absolute clearness the +cause of dissatisfaction and unrest among the people and charged George III. and +his councillors with gross indifference to the welfare of the nation and +corresponding devotion to selfish interests. He contended that Parliament was +usurping privileges when it presumed to expel any one, that the people had a +right to send whomsoever they pleased to Parliament, and finally that "in all +disputes between them and their rulers, the presumption was at least upon a par +in favor of the people." From this time until the American Revolution, Burke +used every opportunity to denounce the policy which the king was pursuing at +home and abroad. He doubtless knew beforehand that what he might say would pass +unnoticed, but he never faltered in a steadfast adherence to his ideas of +government, founded, as he believed, upon the soundest principles. Bristol +elected him as its representative in Parliament. It was a great honor and Burke +felt its significance, yet he did not flinch when the time came for him to take +a stand. He voted for the removal of some of the restrictions upon Irish trade. +His constituents, representing one of the most prosperous mercantile districts, +angered and disappointed at what they held to be a betrayal of trust, refused to +reelect him. + +Lord North's ministry came to an end in 1782, immediately after the battle of +Yorktown, and Lord Rockingham was chosen prime minister. Burke's past services +warranted him in expecting an important place in the cabinet, but he was +ignored. Various things have been suggested as reasons for this: he was poor; +some of his relations and intimate associates were objectionable; there were +dark hints of speculations; he was an Irishman. It is possible that any one of +these facts, or all of them, furnished a good excuse for not giving him an +important position in the new government. But it seems more probable that +Burke's abilities were not appreciated so justly as they have been since. The +men with whom he associated saw some of his greatness but not all of it. He was +assigned the office of Paymaster of Forces, a place of secondary importance. + +Lord Rockingham died in three months and the party went to pieces. Burke refused +to work under Shelburne, and, with Fox, joined Lord North in forming the +coalition which overthrew the Whig party. Burke has been severely censured for +the part he took in this. Perhaps there is little excuse for his desertion, and +it is certainly true that his course raises the question of his sincere devotion +to principles. His personal dislike of Shelburne was so intense that he may have +yielded to his feelings. He felt hurt, too, we may be sure, at the disposition +made of him by his friends. In replying to a letter asking him for a place in +the new government, he writes that his correspondent has been misinformed. "I +make no part of the ministerial arrangement," he writes, and adds, "Something in +the official line may be thought fit for my measure." + +As a supporter of the coalition, Burke was one of the framers of the India Bill. +This was directed against the wholesale robbery and corruption which the East +India Company had been guilty of in its government of the country. Both Fox and +Burke defended the measure with all the force and power which a thorough mastery +of facts, a keen sense of the injustice done an unhappy people, and a splendid +rhetoric can give. But it was doomed from the first. The people at large were +indifferent, many had profitable business relations with the company, and the +king used his personal influence against it. The bill failed to pass, the +coalition was dismissed, and the party, which had in Burke its greatest +representative, was utterly ruined. + +The failure of the India Bill marked a victory for the king, and it also +prepared the way for one of the most famous transactions of Burke's life. +Macaulay has told how impressive and magnificent was the scene at the trial of +Warren Hastings. There were political reasons for the impeachment, but the chief +motive that stirred Burke was far removed from this. He saw and understood the +real state of affairs in India. The mismanagement, the brutal methods, and the +crimes committed there in the name of the English government, moved him +profoundly, and when he rose before the magnificent audience at Westminster, for +opening the cause, he forced his hearers, by his own mighty passion, to see with +his own eyes, and to feel his own righteous anger. "When he came to his two +narratives," says Miss Burney, "when he related the particulars of those +dreadful murders, he interested, he engaged, he at last overpowered me; I felt +my cause lost. I could hardly keep my seat. My eyes dreaded a single glance +toward a man so accused as Mr. Hastings; I wanted to sink on the floor, that +they might be saved so painful a sight. I had no hope he could clear himself; +not another wish in his favor remained." The trial lasted for six years and +ended with the acquittal of Hastings. The result was not a surprise, and least +of all to Burke. The fate of the India Bill had taught him how completely +indifferent the popular mind was to issues touching deep moral questions. Though +a seeming failure, he regarded the impeachment as the greatest work of his life. +It did much to arouse and stimulate the national sense of justice. It made clear +the cruel methods sometimes pursued under the guise of civilization and +progress. The moral victory is claimed for Burke, and without a doubt the claim +is valid. + +The second of the great social and political problems, which employed English +statesmen in the last half of the eighteenth century, was settled in the +impeachment of Warren Hastings. The affairs of America and India were now +overshadowed by the French Revolution, and Burke, with the far-sighted vision of +a veteran statesman, watched the progress of events and their influence upon the +established order. In 1773 he had visited France, and had returned displeased. +It is remarkable with what accuracy he pointed out the ultimate tendency of much +that he saw. A close observer of current phases of society, and on the alert to +explain them in the light of broad and fundamental principles of human progress, +he had every opportunity for studying social life at the French capital. Unlike +the younger men of his times, he was doubtful, and held his judgment in +suspense. The enthusiasm of even Fox seemed premature, and he held himself aloof +from the popular demonstrations of admiration and approval that were everywhere +going on. The fact is, Burke was growing old, and with his years he was becoming +more conservative. He dreaded change, and was suspicious of the wisdom of those +who set about such widespread innovations, and made such brilliant promises for +the future. But the time rapidly approached for him to declare himself, and in +1790 his Reflections on the Revolution in France was issued. His friends had +long waited its appearance, and were not wholly surprised at the position taken. +What did surprise them was the eagerness with which the people seized upon the +book, and its effect upon them. The Tories, with the king, applauded long and +loud; the Whigs were disappointed, for Burke condemned the Revolution +unreservedly, and with a bitterness out of all proportion to the cause of his +anxiety and fear. As the Revolution progressed, he grew fiercer in his +denunciation. He broke with his lifelong associates, and declared that no one +who sympathized with the work of the Assembly could be his friend. His other +writings on the Revolution [Footnote: Letter to a Member of the National +Assembly and Letters on a Regicide Peace.] were in a still more violent strain, +and it is hard to think of them as coming from the author of the Speech on +Conciliation. + +Three years before his death, at the conclusion of the trial of Warren Hastings, +Burke's last term in Parliament expired. He did not wish office again and +withdrew to his estate. Through the influence of friends, and because of his +eminent services, it was proposed to make him peer, with the title of Lord +Beacons field. But the death of his son prevented, and a pension of twenty-five +hundred pounds a year was given instead. It was a signal for his enemies, and +during his last days he was busy with his reply. The "Letter to a Noble Lord," +though written little more than a year before his death, is considered one of +the most perfect of his papers. Saddened by the loss of his son, and broken in +spirits, there is yet left him enough old-time energy and fire to answer his +detractors. But his wonderful career was near its close. His last months were +spent in writing about the French Revolution, and the third letter on a Regicide +Peace--a fragment--was doubtless composed just before his death. On the 9th of +July, 1797, he passed away. His friends claimed for him a place in Westminster, +but his last wish was respected, and he was buried at Beaconsfield. + + + + +BURKE AS A STATESMAN + +There is hardly a political tract or pamphlet of Burke's in which he does not +state, in terms more or less clear, the fundamental principle in his theory of +government. "Circumstances," he says in one place, "give, in reality, to every +political principle, its distinguishing color and discriminating effect. The +circumstances are what renders every civil and political scheme beneficial or +obnoxious to mankind." At another time he exclaims: "This is the true touchstone +of all theories which regard man and the affairs of men; does it suit his nature +in general, does it suit his nature as modified by his habits?" And again he +extends his system to affairs outside the realm of politics. "All government," +he declares, "indeed, every human benefit and enjoyment, every virtue and every +prudent act, is founded on compromise and barter." + +It is clear that Burke thought the State existed for the people, and not the +people for the State. The doctrine is old to us, but it was not so in Burke's +time, and it required courage to expound it. The great parties had forgotten the +reason for their existence, and one of them had become hardened and blinded by +that corruption which seems to follow long tenure of office. The affairs of +India, Ireland, and America gave excellent opportunity for an exhibition of +English statesmanship, but in each case the policy pursued was dictated, not by +a clear perception of what was needed in these countries, but by narrow +selfishness, not unmixed with dogmatism of the most challenging sort. The +situation in India, as regards climate, character, and institutions, counted for +little in the minds of those who were growing rich as agents of the East India +Company. Much the same may be said of America and Ireland. The sense of +Parliament, influenced by the king, was to use these parts of the British Empire +in raising a revenue, and in strengthening party organization at home. In +opposing this policy, Burke lost his seat as representative for Bristol, then +the second city of England; spent fourteen of the best years of his life in +conducting the impeachment of Warren Hastings, Governor-General of India; and, +greatest of all, delivered his famous speeches on Taxation and Conciliation, in +behalf of the American colonists. + +Notwithstanding the distinctly modern tone of Burke's ideas, it would be wrong +to think of him as a thoroughgoing reformer. He has been called the Great +Conservative, and the title is appropriate. He would have shrunk from a purely +republican form of government, such as our own, and it is, perhaps, a fact that +he was suspicious of a government by the people. The trouble, as he saw it, lay +with the representatives of the people. Upon them, as guardians of a trust, +rested the responsibility of protecting those whom they were chosen to serve. +While he bitterly opposed any measures involving radical change in the +Constitution, he was no less ardent in denouncing political corruptions of all +kinds whatsoever. In his Economical Reform he sought to curtail the enormous +extravagance of the royal household, and to withdraw the means of wholesale +bribery, which offices at the disposal of the king created. He did not believe +that a more effective means than this lay in the proposed plan for a +redistribution of seats in the House of Commons. In one place, he declared it +might be well to lessen the number of voters, in order to add to their weight +and independence; at another, he asks that the people be stimulated to a more +careful scrutiny of the conduct of their representatives; and on every occasion +he demands that the legislators give their support to those measures only which +have for their object the good of the whole people. + +It is obvious, however, that Burke's policy had grievous faults. His reverence +for the past, and his respect for existing institutions as the heritage of the +past, made him timid and overcautious in dealing with abuses. Although he stood +with Pitt in defending the American colonies, he had no confidence in the +thoroughgoing reforms which the great Commoner proposed. When the Stamp Act was +repealed, Pitt would have gone even further. He would have acknowledged the +absolute injustice of taxation without representation. Burke held tenaciously to +the opposing theory, and warmly supported the Declaratory Act, which "asserted +the supreme authority of Parliament over the colonies, in all cases whatsoever." +His support of the bill for the repeal of the Stamp Act, as well as his plea for +reconciliation, ten years later, were not prompted by a firm belief in the +injustice of England's course. He expressly states, in both cases that to +enforce measures so repugnant to the Americans, would be detrimental to the home +government. It would result in confusion and disorder, and would bring, perhaps, +in the end, open rebellion. All of his speeches on American affairs show his +willingness to "barter and compromise" in order to avoid this, but nowhere is +there a hint of fundamental error in the Constitution. This was sacred to him, +and he resented to the last any proposition looking to an organic change in its +structure. "The lines of morality," he declared, "are not like ideal lines of +mathematics. They are broad and deep, as well as long. They admit of exceptions; +they demand modifications. These exceptions and modifications are made, not by +the process of logic, but the rules of prudence. Prudence is not only first in +rank of all the virtues, political and moral, but she is the director, the +regulator, the standard of them all." + +The chief characteristics, then, of Burke's political philosophy are opposed to +much that is fundamental in modern systems. His doctrine is better than that of +George III, because it is more generous, and affords opportunity for superficial +readjustment and adaptation. It is this last, or rather the proof it gives of +his insight, that has secured Burke so high a place among English statesmen. + + + + +A GROUP OF WRITERS COMING IMMEDIATELY BEFORE BURKE + +Addison. . . . 1672-1719 +Steele . . . . 1672-1729 +Defoe. . . . . 1661-1731 +Swift. . . . . 1667-1745 +Pope . . . . . 1688-1744 +Richardson . . 1689-1761 + + + + +A GROUP OF WRITERS CONTEMPORARY WITH BURKE + +Johnson . . . . 1709-1784 +Goldsmith . . . 1728-1774 +Fielding. . . . 1707-1754 +Sterne. . . . . 1713-1768 +Smollett. . . . 1721-1771 +Gray. . . . . . 1716-1771 +Boswell . . . . 1740-1795 + + + + +BURKE IN LITERATURE + +It has become almost trite to speak of the breadth of Burke's sympathies. We +should examine the statement, however, and understand its significance and see +its justice. While he must always be regarded first as a statesman of one of the +highest types, he had other interests than those directly suggested by his +office, and in one of these, at least, he affords an interesting and profitable +study. + +To the student of literature Burke's name must always suggest that of Johnson +and Goldsmith. It was eight years after Burke's first appearance as an author, +that the famous Literary Club was formed. At first it was the intention to limit +the club to a membership of nine, and for a time this was adhered to. The +original members were Johnson, Burke, Goldsmith, Reynolds, and Hawkins. Garrick, +Pox, and Boswell came in later. Macaulay declares that the influence of the club +was so great that its verdict made and unmade reputations; but the thing most +interesting to us does not lie in the consideration of such literary +dictatorship. To Boswell we owe a biography of Johnson which has immortalized +its subject, and shed lustre upon all associated with him. The literary history +of the last third of the eighteenth century, with Johnson as a central figure, +is told nowhere else with such accuracy, or with better effect. + +Although a Tory, Johnson was a great one, and his lasting friendship for Burke +is an enduring evidence of his generosity and great-mindedness. For twenty +years, and longer, they were eminent men in opposing parties, yet their mutual +respect and admiration continued to the last. To Burke, Johnson was a writer of +"eminent literary merit" and entitled to a pension "solely on that account." To +Johnson, Burke was the greatest man of his age, wrong politically, to be sure, +yet the only one "whose common conversation corresponded to the general fame +which he had in the world"--the only one "who was ready, whatever subject was +chosen, to meet you on your own ground." Here and there in the Life are +allusions to Burke, and admirable estimates of his many-sided character. + +Coming directly to an estimate of Burke from the purely literary point of view, +it must be borne in mind that the greater part of his writings was prepared for +an audience. Like Macaulay, his prevailing style suggests the speaker, and his +methods throughout are suited to declamation and oratory. He lacks the ease and +delicacy that we are accustomed to look for in the best prose writers, and +occasionally one feels the justice of Johnson's stricture, that "he sometimes +talked partly from ostentation", or of Hazlitt's criticism that he seemed to be +"perpetually calling the speaker out to dance a minuet with him before he +begins." + +There may be passages here and there that warrant such censure. Burke is +certainly ornate, and at times he is extremely self-conscious, but the dominant +quality of his style, and the one which forever contradicts the idea of mere +showiness, is passion. In his method of approaching a subject, he may be, and +perhaps is, rather tedious, but when once he has come to the matter really in +hand, he is no longer the rhetorician, dealing in fine phrases, but the great +seer, clothing his thoughts in words suitable and becoming. The most magnificent +passages in his writings--the Conciliation is rich in them--owe their charm and +effectiveness to this emotional capacity. They were evidently written in moments +of absolute abandonment to feeling--in moments when he was absorbed in the +contemplation of some great truth, made luminous by his own unrivalled powers. + +Closely allied to this intensity of passion, is a splendid imaginative quality. +Few writers of English prose have such command of figurative expression. It must +be said, however, that Burke was not entirely free from the faults which +generally accompany an excessive use of figures. Like other great masters of a +decorative style, he frequently becomes pompous and grandiloquent. His thought, +too, is obscured, where we would expect great clearness of statement, +accompanied by a dignified simplicity; and occasionally we feel that he forgets +his subject in an anxious effort to make an impression. Though there are +passages in his writings that justify such observations, they are few in number, +when compared with those which are really masterpieces of their kind. + +Some great crisis, or threatening state of affairs, seems to furnish the +necessary condition for the exercise of a great mind, and Burke is never so +effective as when thoroughly aroused. His imagination needed the chastening +which only a great moment or critical situation could give. Two of his greatest +speeches--Conciliation, and Impeachment of Warren Hastings--were delivered under +the restraining effect of such circumstances, and in each the figurative +expression is subdued and not less beautiful in itself than, appropriate for the +occasion. + +Finally, it must be observed that no other writer of English prose has a better +command of words. His ideas, as multifarious as they are, always find fitting +expression. He does not grope for a term; it stands ready for his thought, and +one feels that he had opportunity for choice. It is the exuberance of his fancy, +already mentioned, coupled with this richness of vocabulary, that helped to make +Burke a tiresome speaker. His mind was too comprehensive to allow any phase of +his subject to pass without illumination. He followed where his subject led him, +without any great attention to the patience of his audience. But he receives +full credit when his speeches are read. It is then that his mastery of the +subject and the splendid qualities of his style are apparent, and appreciated at +their worth. + +In conclusion, it is worth while observing that in the study of a great +character, joined with an attempt to estimate it by conventional standards, +something must always be left unsaid. Much may be learned of Burke by knowing +his record as a partisan, more by a minute inspection of his style as a writer, +but beyond all this is the moral tone or attitude of the man himself. To a +student of Burke this is the greatest thing about him. It colored every line he +wrote, and to it, more than anything else, is due the immense force of the man +as a speaker and writer. It was this, more than Burke's great abilities, that +justifies Dr. Johnson's famous eulogy: "He is not only the first man in the +House of Commons, he is the first man everywhere." + + + + +A GROUP OF WRITERS COMING IMMEDIATELY AFTER BURKE + +Wordsworth . . . . 1770-1850 + +Coleridge . . . . . 1772-1834 + +Byron . . . . . . . 1788-1824 + +Shelley . . . . . . 1792-1822 + +Keats . . . . . . . 1795-1821 + +Scott . . . . . . . 1771-1832 + + + + +TOPICS FOR SPECIAL REPORTS + +1. "Like Goldsmith, though in a different sphere, Burke belongs both to the old +order and the new." Discuss that statement. + +2. Burke and the Literary Club. (Boswell's Life of Johnson.) + +3. Lives of Burke and Goldsmith. Contrast. + +4. An interpretation of ten apothegms selected from the Speech on Conciliation. + +5. A study of figures in the Speech on Conciliation. + +6. A definition of the terms: "colloquialism" and "idiom" Instances of their use +in the Speech on Conciliation. + + + + +BIBLIOGRAPHY + +1. Burke's Life. John Morley. English Men of Letters Series. + +2. Burke. John Morley. An Historical Study. + +3. Burke. John Morley. Encyclopaedia Britannica. + +4. History of the English People. Green. Vol. IV., pp 193-271. + +5 History of Civilization in England. Buckle. Vol I, pp. 326-338 + +6. The American Revolution. Fiske. Vol. I, Chaps. I., II. + +7. Life of Johnson. Boswell. (Use the Index) + + + + +EDMUND BURKE + +ON MOVING HIS RESOLUTIONS FOR CONCILIATION WITH THE COLONIES. HOUSE OF COMMONS, +MARCH 22, 1775 + + +I hope, Sir, that notwithstanding the austerity of the Chair, your good nature +will incline you to some degree of indulgence towards human frailty. You will +not think it unnatural that those who have an object depending, which strongly +engages their hopes and fears, should be somewhat inclined to superstition. As I +came into the House full of anxiety about the event of my motion, I found, to my +infinite surprise, that the grand penal bill, [Footnote: 1] by which we had +passed sentence on the trade and sustenance of America, is to be returned to us +from the other House. I do confess I could not help looking on this event as a +fortunate omen. I look upon it as a sort of providential favor, by which we are +put once more in possession of our deliberative capacity upon a business so very +questionable in its nature, so very uncertain in its issue. By the return of +this bill, which seemed to have taken its flight forever, we are at this very +instant nearly as free to choose a plan for our American Government as we were +on the first day of the session. If, Sir, we incline to the side of +conciliation, we are not at all embarrassed (unless we please to make ourselves +so) by any incongruous mixture of coercion and restraint. We are therefore +called upon, as it were by a superior warning voice, again to attend to America; +to attend to the whole of it together; and to review the subject with an unusual +degree of care and calmness. + +Surely it is an awful subject, or there is none so on this side of the grave. +When I first had the honor [Footnote: 2] of a seat in this House, the affairs of +that continent pressed themselves upon us as the most important and most +delicate object of Parliamentary attention. My little share in this great +deliberation oppressed me. I found myself a partaker in a very high trust; and, +having no sort of reason to rely on the strength of my natural abilities for the +proper execution of that trust, I was obliged to take more than common pains to +instruct myself in everything which relates to our Colonies. I was not less +under the necessity of forming some fixed ideas concerning the general policy of +the British Empire. Something of this sort seemed to be indispensable, in order, +amidst so vast a fluctuation of passions and opinions, to concentre my thoughts, +to ballast my conduct, to preserve me from being blown about by every wind of +fashionable doctrine. I really did not think it safe or manly to have fresh +principles to seek upon every fresh mail which should arrive from America. + +At that period I had the fortune to find myself in perfect concurrence with a +large majority in this House. Bowing under that high authority, and penetrated +with the sharpness and strength of that early impression, I have continued ever +since, without the least deviation, in my original sentiments. [Footnote: 3] +Whether this be owing to an obstinate perseverance in error, or to a religious +adherence to what appears to me truth, and reason, it is in your equity to +judge. + +Sir, Parliament having an enlarged view of objects, made, during this interval, +more frequent changes in their sentiments and their conduct than could be +justified in a particular person upon the contracted scale of private +information. But though I do not hazard anything approaching to a censure on the +motives of former Parliaments to all those alterations, one fact is undoubted-- +that under them the state of America has been kept in continual agitation. +[Footnote: 4] Everything administered as remedy to the public complaint, if it +did not produce, was at least followed by, an heightening of the distemper; +until, by a variety of experiments, that important country has been brought into +her present situation--a situation which I will not miscall, which I dare not +name, which I scarcely know how to comprehend in the terms of any description. + +In this posture, Sir, things stood at the beginning of the session. About that +time, a worthy member [Footnote: 5] of great Parliamentary experience, who, in +the year 1766, filled the chair of the American committee with much ability, +took me aside; and, lamenting the present aspect of our politics, told me things +were come to such a pass that our former [Footnote: 6] methods of proceeding in +the House would be no longer tolerated: that the public tribunal (never too +indulgent to a long and unsuccessful opposition) would now scrutinize our +conduct with unusual severity: that the very vicissitudes and shiftings of +Ministerial measures, instead of convicting their authors of inconstancy and +want of system, would be taken as an occasion of charging us with a +predetermined discontent, which nothing could satisfy; whilst we accused every +measure of vigor as cruel, and every proposal of lenity as weak and irresolute. +The public, he said, would not have patience to see us play the game out with +our adversaries; we must produce our hand. It would be expected that those who +for many years had been active in such affairs should show that they had formed +some clear and decided idea of the principles of Colony government; and were +capable of drawing out something like a platform of the ground which might be +laid for future and permanent tranquillity. + +I felt the truth of what my honorable friend represented; but I felt my +situation too. His application might have been made with far greater propriety +to many other gentlemen. No man was indeed ever better disposed, or worse +qualified, for such an undertaking than myself. Though I gave so far in to his +opinion that I immediately threw my thoughts into a sort of Parliamentary form, +I was by no means equally ready to produce them. It generally argues some degree +of natural impotence of mind, or some want of knowledge of the world, to hazard +plans of government except from a seat of authority. Propositions are made, not +only ineffectually, but somewhat disreputably, when the minds of men are not +properly disposed for their reception; and, for my part, I am not ambitious of +ridicule--not absolutely a candidate for disgrace + +Besides, Sir, to speak the plain truth, I have in general no very exalted +opinion of the virtue of paper government; [Footnote: 7] nor of any politics in +which the plan is to be wholly separated from the execution. But when I saw that +anger and violence prevailed every day more and more, and that things were +hastening towards an incurable alienation of our Colonies, I confess my caution +gave way. I felt this as one of those few moments in which decorum yields to a +higher duty. Public calamity is a mighty leveller; and there are occasions when +any, even the slightest, chance of doing good must be laid hold on, even by the +most inconsiderable person. + +To restore order and repose to an empire so great and so distracted as ours, is, +merely in the attempt, an undertaking that would ennoble the flights of the +highest genius, and obtain pardon for the efforts of the meanest understanding. +Struggling a good while with these thoughts, by degrees I felt myself more firm. +I derived, at length, some confidence from what in other circumstances usually +produces timidity. I grew less anxious, even from the idea of my own +insignificance. For, judging of what you are by what you ought to be, I +persuaded myself that you would not reject a reasonable proposition because it +had nothing but its reason to recommend it. On the other hand, being totally +destitute of all shadow of influence, natural or adventitious, I was very sure +that, if my proposition were futile or dangerous--if it were weakly conceived, +or improperly timed--there was nothing exterior to it of power to awe, dazzle, +or delude you. You will see it just as it is; and you will treat it just as it +deserves. + +The proposition is peace. Not peace through the medium of war; not peace to be +hunted through the labyrinth of intricate and endless negotiations; not peace to +arise out of universal discord fomented, from principle, in all parts of the +Empire, not peace to depend on the juridical determination of perplexing +questions, or the precise marking the shadowy boundaries of a complex +government. It is simple peace; sought in its natural course, and in its +ordinary haunts. It is peace sought in the spirit of peace, and laid in +principles purely pacific. I propose, by removing the ground of the difference, +and by restoring the former unsuspecting confidence of the Colonies in the +Mother Country, to give permanent satisfaction to your people; and (far from a +scheme of ruling by discord) to reconcile them to each other in the same act and +by the bond of the very same interest which reconciles them to British +government. + +My idea is nothing more. Refined policy [Footnote: 8] ever has been, the parent +of confusion; and ever will be so, as long as the world endures. Plain good +intention, which is as easily discovered at the first view as fraud is surely +detected at last, is, let me say, of no mean force in the government of mankind. +Genuine simplicity of heart is an healing and cementing principle. My plan, +therefore, being formed upon the most simple grounds imaginable, may disappoint +some people when they hear it. It has nothing to recommend it to the pruriency +of curious ears. There is nothing at all new and captivating in it. It has +nothing of the splendor of the project [Footnote: 9] which has been lately laid +upon your table by the noble lord in the blue ribbon. [Footnote: 10] It does not +propose to fill your lobby with squabbling Colony agents, [Footnote: 11] who +will require the interposition of your mace, at every instant, to keep the peace +amongst them. It does not institute a magnificent auction of finance, where +captivated provinces come to general ransom by bidding against each other, until +you knock down the hammer, and determine a proportion of payments beyond all the +powers of algebra to equalize and settle. + +The plan which I shall presume to suggest derives, however, one great advantage +from the proposition and registry of that noble lord's project. The idea of +conciliation is admissible. First, the House, in accepting the resolution moved +by the noble lord, has admitted, notwithstanding the menacing front of our +address, [Footnote: 12] notwithstanding our heavy bills of pains and penalties-- +that we do not think ourselves precluded from all ideas of free grace and +bounty. + +The House has gone farther; it has declared conciliation admissible, previous to +any submission on the part of America. It has even shot a good deal beyond that +mark, and has admitted that the complaints of our former mode of exerting the +right of taxation were not wholly unfounded. That right thus exerted is allowed +to have something reprehensible in it, something unwise, or something grievous; +since, in the midst of our heat and resentment, we, of ourselves, have proposed +a capital alteration; and in order to get rid of what seemed so very +exceptionable, have instituted a mode that is altogether new; one that is, +indeed, wholly alien from all the ancient methods and forms of Parliament. + +The principle of this proceeding is large enough for my purpose. The means +proposed by the noble lord for carrying his ideas into execution, I think, +indeed, are very indifferently suited to the end; and this I shall endeavor to +show you before I sit down. But, for the present, I take my ground on the +admitted principle. I mean to give peace. Peace implies reconciliation; and +where there has been a material dispute, reconciliation does in a manner always +imply concession on the one part or on the other. In this state of things, I +make no difficulty in affirming that the proposal ought to originate from us. +Great and acknowledged force is not impaired, either in effect or in opinion, by +an unwillingness to exert itself. The superior power may offer peace with honor +and with safety. Such an offer from such a power will be attributed to +magnanimity. But the concessions of the weak are the concessions of fear. When +such a one is disarmed, he is wholly at the mercy of his superior; and he loses +forever that time and those chances, [Footnote: 13] which, as they happen to all +men, are the strength and resources of all inferior power. + +The capital leading questions on which you must this day decide are these two: +First, whether you ought to concede; and secondly, what your concession ought to +be. On the first of these questions we have gained, as I have just taken the +liberty of observing to you, some ground. But I am sensible that a good deal +more is still to be done. Indeed, Sir, to enable us to determine both on the one +and the other of these great questions with a firm and precise judgment, I think +it may be necessary to consider distinctly the true nature and the peculiar +circumstances of the object which we have before us; because after all our +struggle, whether we will or not, we must govern America according to that +nature and to those circumstances, [Footnote: 14] and not according to our own +imaginations, nor according to abstract ideas of right--by no means according to +mere general theories of government, the resort to which appears to me, in our +present situation, no better than arrant trifling. I shall therefore endeavor, +with your leave, to lay before you some of the most material of these +circumstances in as full and as clear a manner as I am able to state them. + +The first thing that we have to consider with regard to the nature of the object +is--the number of people in the Colonies. I have taken for some years a good +deal of pains on that point. I can by no calculation justify myself in placing +the number below two millions of inhabitants of our own European blood and +color, besides at least five hundred thousand others, who form no inconsiderable +part of the strength and opulence of the whole. This, Sir, is, I believe, about +the true number. There is no occasion to exaggerate where plain truth is of so +much weight and importance. But whether I put the present numbers too high or +too low is a matter of little moment. Such is the strength with which population +shoots in that part of the world, that, state the numbers as high as we will, +whilst the dispute continues, the exaggeration ends. Whilst we are discussing +any given magnitude, they are grown to it. Whilst we spend our time in +deliberating on the mode of governing two millions, we shall find we have +millions more to manage. Your children do not grow faster from infancy to +manhood than they spread from families to communities, and from villages to +nations. + +I put this consideration of the present and the growing numbers in the front of +our deliberation, because, Sir, this consideration will make it evident to a +blunter discernment than yours, that no partial, narrow, contracted, pinched, +occasional system will be at all suitable to such an object. It will show you +that it is not to be considered as one of those minima which are out of the eye +and consideration of the law; not a paltry excrescence of the state; not a mean +dependent, who may be neglected with little damage and provoked with little +danger. It will prove that some degree of care and caution is required in the +handling such an object; it will show that you ought not, in reason, to trifle +with so large a mass of the interests and feelings of the human race. You could +at no time do so without guilt; and be assured you will not be able to do it +long with impunity. + +But the population of this country, the great and growing population, though a +very important consideration, will lose much of its weight if not combined with +other circumstances. The commerce of your Colonies is out of all proportion +beyond the numbers of the people. This ground of their commerce indeed has been +trod some days ago, and with great ability, by a distinguished person at your +bar. This gentleman, after thirty-five years--it is so long since he first +appeared at the same place to plead for the commerce of Great Britain--has come +again before you to plead the same cause, without any other effect of time, than +that to the fire of imagination and extent of erudition which even then marked +him as one of the first literary characters of his age, he has added a +consummate knowledge in the commercial interest of his country, formed by a long +course of enlightened and discriminating experience. + +Sir, I should be inexcusable in coming after such a person with any detail, if a +great part of the members who now fill the House had not the misfortune to be +absent when he appeared at your bar. Besides, Sir, I propose to take the matter +at periods of time somewhat different from his. There is, if I mistake not, a +point of view from whence, if you will look at the subject, it is impossible +that it should not make an impression upon you. + +I have in my hand two accounts; one a comparative state of the export trade of +England to its Colonies, as it stood in the year 1704, and as it stood in the +year 1772; the other a state of the export trade of this country to its Colonies +alone, as it stood in 1772, compared with the whole trade of England to all +parts of the world (the Colonies included) in the year 1704. They are from good +vouchers; the latter period from the accounts on your table, the earlier from an +original manuscript of Davenant, who first established the Inspector-General's +office, which has been ever since his time so abundant a source of Parliamentary +information. + +The export trade to the Colonies consists of three great branches: the African-- +which, terminating almost wholly in the Colonies, must be put to the account of +their commerce,--the West Indian, and the North American. All these are so +interwoven that the attempt to separate them would tear to pieces the contexture +of the whole; and, if not entirely destroy, would very much depreciate the value +of all the parts. I therefore consider these three denominations to be, what in +effect they are, one trade. [Footnote: 15] + +The trade to the Colonies, taken on the export side, at the beginning of this +century, that is, in the year 1704, stood thus:-- + + Exports to North America and the West Indies. L483,265 + To Africa. .................................. 86,665 + -------- + L569,930 + +In the year 1772, which I take as a middle year between the highest and lowest +of those lately laid on your table, the account was as follows:-- + + To North America and the West Indies ...... L4,791,734 + To Africa. ................................ 866,398 + To which, if you add the export trade from + Scotland, which had in 1704 no existence .. 364,000 + ---------- + L6,022,132 + +From five hundred and odd thousand, it has grown to six millions. It has +increased no less than twelve-fold. This is the state of the Colony trade as +compared with itself at these two periods within this century;--and this is +matter for meditation. But this is not all. Examine my second account. See how +the export trade to the Colonies alone in 1772 stood in the other point of view; +that is, as compared to the whole trade of England in 1704:-- + + The whole export trade of England, including + that to the Colonies, in 1704. ................ L6,509,000 + Export to the Colonies alone, in 1772 ......... 6,024,000 + ---------- + Difference, L485,000 + +The trade with America alone is now within less than L500,000 of being equal to +what this great commercial nation, England, carried on at the beginning of this +century with the whole world! If I had taken the largest year of those on your +table, it would rather have exceeded. But, it will be said, is not this American +trade an unnatural protuberance, that has drawn the juices from the rest of the +body? The reverse. It is the very food that has nourished every other part into +its present magnitude. Our general trade has been greatly augmented, and +augmented more or less in almost every part to which it ever extended; but with +this material difference, that of the six millions which in the beginning of the +century constituted the whole mass of our export commerce, the Colony trade was +but one-twelfth part, it is now (as a part of sixteen millions) considerably +more than a third of the whole. This is the relative proportion of the +importance of the Colonies at these two periods, and all reasoning concerning +our mode of treating them must have this proportion as its basis, or it is a +reasoning weak, rotten, and sophistical. + +Mr. Speaker, I cannot prevail on myself to hurry over this great consideration. +[Footnote: 15] IT IS GOOD FOR US TO BE HERE. [Footnote: 16] We stand where we +have an immense view of what is, and what is past. Clouds, indeed, and darkness, +rest upon the future. Let us, however, before we descend from this noble +eminence, reflect that this growth of our national prosperity has happened +within the short period of the life of man. It has happened within sixty-eight +years. There are those alive whose memory might touch the two extremities. For +instance, my Lord Bathurst might remember all the stages of the progress. He was +in 1704 of an age at least to be made to comprehend such things. He was then old +enough acta parentum jam legere, et quae sit potuit cognoscere virtus. +[Footnote: 17] Suppose, Sir, that the angel of this auspicious youth, foreseeing +the many virtues which made him one of the most amiable, as he is one of the +most fortunate, men of his age, had opened to him in vision that when in the +fourth generation the third Prince of the House of Brunswick had sat twelve +years on the throne of that nation which, by the happy issue of moderate and +healing counsels, was to be made Great Britain, he should see his son, Lord +Chancellor of England, turn back the current of hereditary dignity to its +fountain, and raise him to a higher rank of peerage, whilst he enriched the +family with a new one--if, amidst these bright and happy scenes of domestic +honor and prosperity, that angel should have drawn up the curtain, and unfolded +the rising glories of his country, and, whilst he was gazing with admiration on +the then commercial grandeur of England, the genius should point out to him a +little speck, scarcely visible in the mass of the national interest, a small +seminal principle, rather than a formed body, and should tell him: "Young man, +there is America--which at this day serves for little more than to amuse you +with stories of savage men, and uncouth manners; yet shall, before you taste of +death, [Footnote: 18] show itself equal to the whole of that commerce which now +attracts the envy of the world. Whatever England has been growing to by a +progressive increase of improvement, brought in by varieties of people, by +succession of civilizing conquests and civilizing settlements in a series of +seventeen hundred years, you shall see as much added to her by America in the +course of a single life!" If this state of his country had been foretold to him, +would it not require all the sanguine credulity of youth, and all the fervid +glow of enthusiasm, to make him believe it? Fortunate man, he has lived to see +it! Fortunate, indeed, if he lives to see nothing that shall vary the prospect, +and cloud the setting of his day! + +Excuse me, Sir, if turning from such thoughts I resume this comparative view +once more. You have seen it on a large scale; look at it on a small one. I will +point out to your attention a particular instance of it in the single province +of Pennsylvania. In the year 1704 that province called for L11,459 in value of +your commodities, native and foreign. This was the whole. What did it demand in +1772? Why, nearly fifty times as much; for in that year the export to +Pennsylvania was L507,909, nearly equal to the export to all the Colonies +together in the first period. + +I choose, Sir, to enter into these minute and particular details, because +generalities, which in all other cases are apt to heighten and raise the +subject, have here a tendency to sink it. When we speak of the commerce with our +Colonies, fiction lags after truth, invention is unfruitful, and imagination +cold and barren. + +So far, Sir, as to the importance of the object, in view of its commerce, as +concerned in the exports from England. If I were to detail the imports, I could +show how many enjoyments they procure which deceive the burthen of life; how +many materials which invigorate the springs of national industry, and extend and +animate every part of our foreign and domestic commerce. This would be a curious +subject indeed; but I must prescribe bounds to myself in a matter so vast and +various. + +I pass, therefore, to the Colonies in another point of view, their agriculture. +This they have prosecuted with such a spirit, that, besides feeding plentifully +their own growing multitude, their annual export of grain, comprehending rice, +has some years ago exceeded a million in value. Of their last harvest I am +persuaded they will export much more. At the beginning of the century some of +these Colonies imported corn from the Mother Country. For some time past the Old +World has been fed from the New. The scarcity which you have felt would have +been a desolating famine, if this child of your old age, with a true filial +piety, with a Roman charity, [Footnote: 19] had not put the full breast of its +youthful exuberance to the mouth of its exhausted parent. + +As to the wealth which the Colonies have drawn from the sea by their fisheries, +you had all that matter fully opened at your bar. You surely thought those +acquisitions of value, for they seemed even to excite your envy; and yet the +spirit by which that enterprising employment has been exercised ought rather, in +my opinion, to have raised your esteem and admiration. And pray, Sir, what in +the world is equal to it? Pass by the other parts, and look at the manner in +which the people of New England have of late carried on the whale fishery. +Whilst we follow them among the tumbling mountains of ice, and behold them +penetrating into the deepest frozen recesses of Hudson's Bay and Davis's +Straits, whilst we are looking for them beneath the arctic circle, we hear that +they have pierced into the opposite region of polar cold, that they are at the +antipodes, and engaged under the frozen Serpent of the south. Falkland Island, +which seemed too remote and romantic an object for the grasp of national +ambition, is but a stage and resting-place in the progress of their victorious +industry. Nor is the equinoctial heat more discouraging to them than the +accumulated winter of both the poles. We know that whilst some of them draw the +line and strike the harpoon on the coast of Africa, others run the longitude and +pursue their gigantic game along the coast of Brazil. No sea but what is vexed +by their fisheries; no climate that is not witness to their toils. Neither the +perseverance of Holland, nor the activity of France, nor the dexterous and firm +sagacity of English enterprise ever carried this most perilous mode of hardy +industry to the extent to which it has been pushed by this recent people; a +people who are still, as it were, but in the gristle, and not yet hardened into +the bone of manhood. When I contemplate these things; when I know that the +Colonies in general owe little or nothing to any care of ours, and that they are +not squeezed into this happy form by the constraints of watchful and suspicious +government, but that, through a wise and salutary neglect, a generous nature has +been suffered to take her own way to perfection; when I reflect upon these +effects, when I see how profitable they have been to us, I feel all the pride of +power sink, and all presumption in the wisdom of human contrivances melt and die +away within me. My rigor relents. I pardon something to the spirit of liberty. + +I am sensible, Sir, that all which I have asserted in my detail is admitted in +the gross; but that quite a different conclusion is drawn from it. America, +gentlemen say, is a noble object. It is an object well worth fighting for. +Certainly it is, if fighting a people be the best way of gaining them. Gentlemen +in this respect will be led to their choice of means by their complexions +[Footnote: 20] and their habits. Those who understand the military art will of +course have some predilection for it. Those who wield the thunder of the state +[Footnote: 21] may have more confidence in the efficacy of arms. But I confess, +possibly for want of this knowledge, my opinion is much more in favor of prudent +management than of force; considering force not as an odious, but a feeble +instrument for preserving a people so numerous, so active, so growing, so +spirited as this, in a profitable and subordinate connection with us. + +First, Sir, permit me to observe that the use of force alone is but temporary. +It may subdue for a moment, but it does not remove the necessity of subduing +again; and a nation is not governed [Footnote: 22] which is perpetually to be +conquered. + +My next objection is its uncertainty. Terror is not always the effect of force, +and an armament is not a victory. If you do not succeed, you are without +resource; for, conciliation failing, force remains; but, force failing, no +further hope of reconciliation is left. Power and authority are sometimes bought +by kindness; but they can never be begged as alms by an impoverished and +defeated violence. + +A further objection to force is, that you impair the object by your very +endeavors to preserve it. The thing you fought for is not the thing which you +recover; but depreciated, sunk, wasted, and consumed in the contest. Nothing +less will content me than WHOLE AMERICA. I do not choose to consume its strength +along with our own, because in all parts it is the British strength that I +consume. I do not choose to be caught by a foreign enemy at the end of this +exhausting conflict; and still less in the midst of it. I may escape; but I can +make no insurance against such an event. Let me add, that I do not choose wholly +to break the American spirit; because it is the spirit that has made the +country. + +Lastly, we have no sort of experience in favor of force as an instrument in the +rule of our Colonies. Their growth and their utility has been owing to methods +altogether different. Our ancient indulgence [Footnote: 23] has been said to be +pursued to a fault. It may be so. But we know if feeling is evidence, that our +fault was more tolerable than our attempt to mend it; and our sin far more +salutary than our penitence. + +These, Sir, are my reasons for not entertaining that high opinion of untried +force by which many gentlemen, for whose sentiments in other particulars I have +great respect, seem to be so greatly captivated. But there is still behind a +third consideration concerning this object which serves to determine my opinion +on the sort of policy which ought to be pursued in the management of America, +even more than its population and its commerce--I mean its temper and character. + +In this character of the Americans, a love of freedom is the predominating +feature which marks and distinguishes the whole; and as an ardent is always a +jealous affection, your Colonies become suspicious, restive, and untractable +whenever they see the least attempt to wrest from them by force, or shuffle from +them by chicane, what they think the only advantage worth living for. This +fierce spirit of liberty is stronger in the English Colonies probably than in +any other people of the earth, and this from a great variety of powerful causes; +which, to understand the true temper of their minds and the direction which this +spirit takes, it will not be amiss to lay open somewhat more largely. + +First, the people of the Colonies are descendants of Englishmen. England, Sir, +is a nation which still, I hope, respects, and formerly adored, her freedom. The +Colonists emigrated from you when this part of your character was most +predominant; and they took this bias and direction the moment they parted from +your hands. They are therefore not only devoted to liberty, but to liberty +according to English ideas, and on English principles. Abstract liberty, like +other mere abstractions, is not to be found. Liberty inheres in some sensible +object; and every nation has formed to itself some favorite point, which by way +of eminence becomes the criterion of their happiness. It happened, you know, +Sir, that the great contests [Footnote: 24] for freedom in this country were +from the earliest times chiefly upon the question of taxing. Most of the +contests in the ancient commonwealths turned primarily on the right of election +of magistrates; or on the balance among the several orders of the state. The +question of money was not with them so immediate. But in England it was +otherwise. On this point of taxes the ablest pens, and most eloquent tongues, +have been exercised; the greatest spirits have acted and suffered. In order to +give the fullest satisfaction concerning the importance of this point, it was +not only necessary for those who in argument defended the excellence of the +English Constitution to insist on this privilege of granting money as a dry +point of fact, and to prove that the right had been acknowledged in ancient +parchments and blind usages to reside in a certain body called a House of +Commons. They went much farther; they attempted to prove, and they succeeded, +that in theory it ought to be so, from the particular nature of a House of +Commons as an immediate representative of the people, whether the old records +had delivered this oracle or not. They took infinite pains to inculcate, as a +fundamental principle, that in all monarchies the people must in effect +themselves, mediately or immediately, possess the power of granting their own +money, or no shadow of liberty can subsist. The Colonies draw from you, as with +their life-blood, these ideas and principles. Their love of liberty, as with +you, fixed and attached on this specific point of taxing. Liberty might be safe, +or might be endangered, in twenty other particulars, without their being much +pleased or alarmed. Here they felt its pulse; and as they found that beat, they +thought themselves sick or sound. I do not say whether they were right or wrong +in applying your general arguments to their own case. It is not easy, indeed, to +make a monopoly of theorems and corollaries. The fact is, that they did thus +apply those general arguments; and your mode of governing them, whether through +lenity or indolence, through wisdom or mistake, confirmed them in the +imagination that they, as well as you, had an interest in these common +principles. + +They were further confirmed in this pleasing error by the form of their +provincial legislative assemblies. Their governments are popular in an high +degree; some are merely popular; in all, the popular representative is the most +weighty; and this share of the people in their ordinary government never fails +to inspire them with lofty sentiments, and with a strong aversion from whatever +tends to deprive them of their chief importance. + +If anything were wanting to this necessary operation of the form of government, +religion would have given it a complete effect. Religion, always a principle of +energy, in this new people is no way worn out or impaired; and their mode of +professing it is also one main cause of this free spirit. The people are +Protestants; and of that kind which is the most adverse to all implicit +submission of mind and opinion. This is a persuasion not only favorable to +liberty, but built upon it. I do not think, Sir, that the reason of this +averseness in the dissenting churches from all that looks like absolute +government is so much to be sought in their religious tenets, as in their +history. Every one knows that the Roman Catholic religion is at least co-eval +with most of the governments where it prevails; that it has generally gone hand +in hand with them, and received great favor and every kind of support from +authority. The Church of England too was formed from her cradle under the +nursing care of regular government. But the dissenting interests have sprung up +in direct opposition to all the ordinary powers of the world, and could justify +that opposition only on a strong claim to natural liberty. Their very existence +depended on the powerful and unremitted assertion of that claim. All +Protestantism, even the most cold and passive, is a sort of dissent. But the +religion most prevalent in our Northern Colonies is a refinement on the +principle of resistance; it is the dissidence of dissent, and the protestantism +of the Protestant religion. This religion, under a variety of denominations +agreeing in nothing but in the communion of the spirit of liberty, is +predominant in most of the Northern Provinces, where the Church of England, +notwithstanding its legal rights, is in reality no more than a sort of private +sect, not composing most probably the tenth of the people. The Colonists left +England when this spirit was high, and in the emigrants was the highest of all; +and even that stream of foreigners which has been constantly flowing into these +Colonies has, for the greatest part, been composed of dissenters from the +establishments of their several countries, who have brought with them a temper +and character far from alien to that of the people with whom they mixed. + +Sir, I can perceive by their manner that some gentlemen object to the latitude +of this description, because in the Southern Colonies the Church of England +forms a large body, and has a regular establishment. It is certainly true. There +is, however, a circumstance attending these Colonies which, in my opinion, fully +counterbalances this difference, and makes the spirit of liberty still more high +and haughty than in those to the northward. It is that in Virginia and the +Carolinas they have a vast multitude of slaves. Where this is the case in any +part of the world, those who are free are by far the most proud and jealous of +their freedom. Freedom is to them [Footnote: 25] not only an enjoyment, but a +kind of rank and privilege. Not seeing there, that freedom, as in countries +where it is a common blessing and as broad and general as the air, may be united +with much abject toil, with great misery, with all the exterior of servitude; +liberty looks, amongst them, like something that is more noble and liberal. I do +not mean, Sir, to commend the superior morality of this sentiment, which has at +least as much pride as virtue in it; but I cannot alter the nature of man. The +fact is so; and these people of the Southern Colonies are much more strongly, +and with an higher and more stubborn spirit, attached to liberty than those to +the northward. Such were all the ancient commonwealths; such were our Gothic +ancestors; such in our days were the Poles; and such will be all masters of +slaves, who are not slaves themselves. In such a people the haughtiness of +domination combines with the spirit of freedom, fortifies it, and renders it +invincible. + +Permit me, Sir, to add another circumstance in our Colonies which contributes no +mean part towards the growth and effect of this untractable spirit. I mean their +education. In no country perhaps in the world is the law so general a study. The +profession itself is numerous and powerful; and in most provinces it takes the +lead. The greater number of the deputies sent to the Congress were lawyers. But +all who read, and most do read, endeavor to obtain some smattering in that +science. I have been told by an eminent bookseller, that in no branch of his +business, after tracts of popular devotion, were so many books as those on the +law exported to the Plantations. The Colonists have now fallen into the way of +printing them for their own use. I hear that they have sold nearly as many of +Blackstone's Commentaries in America as in England. General Gage marks out this +disposition very particularly in a letter on your table. He states that all the +people in his government are lawyers, or smatterers in law; and that in Boston +they have been enabled, by successful chicane, wholly to evade many parts of one +of your capital penal constitutions. The smartness of debate will say that this +knowledge ought to teach them more clearly the rights of legislature, their +obligations to obedience, and the penalties of rebellion. All this is mighty +well. But my honorable and learned friend on the floor, who condescends to mark +what I say for animadversion, will disdain that ground. He has heard, as well as +I, that when great honors and great emoluments do not win over this knowledge to +the service of the state, it is a formidable adversary to government. If the +spirit be not tamed and broken by these happy methods, it is stubborn and +litigious. Abeunt studia in mores. [Footnote: 26] This study readers men acute, +inquisitive, dexterous, prompt in attack, ready in defence, full of resources. +In other countries, the people, more simple, and of a less mercurial cast, judge +of an ill principle in government only by an actual grievance; here they +anticipate the evil, and judge of the pressure of the grievance by the badness +of the principle. They augur misgovernment at a distance, and snuff the approach +of tyranny in every tainted breeze. + +The last cause of this disobedient spirit in the Colonies is hardly less +powerful than the rest, as it is not merely moral, but laid deep in the natural +constitution of things. Three thousand miles of ocean lie between you and them. +No contrivance can prevent the effect of this distance in weakening government. +Seas roll, and months pass, between the order and the execution, and the want of +a speedy explanation of a single point is enough to defeat a whole system. You +have, indeed, winged ministers of vengeance, [Footnote: 27] who carry your bolts +in their pounces to the remotest verge of the sea. But there a power steps in +that limits the arrogance of raging passions and furious elements, and says, SO +FAR SHALL THOU GO, AND NO FARTHER. Who are you, that you should fret and rage, +and bite the chains of nature? Nothing worse happens to you than does to all +nations who have extensive empire; and it happens in all the forms into which +empire can be thrown. In large bodies the circulation [Footnote: 28] of power +must be less vigorous at the extremities. Nature has said it. The Turk cannot +govern Egypt and Arabia and Kurdistan as he governs Thrace; nor has he the same +dominion in Crimea and Algiers which he has at Brusa and Smyrna. Despotism +itself is obliged to truck and huckster. The Sultan gets such obedience as he +can. He governs with a loose rein, that he may govern at all; and the whole of +the force and vigor of his authority in his centre is derived from a prudent +relaxation in all his borders. Spain, in her provinces, is, perhaps, not so well +obeyed as you are in yours. She complies, too; she submits; she watches times. +This is the immutable condition, the eternal law of extensive and detached +empire. + +Then, Sir, from these six capital sources--of descent, of form of government, of +religion in the Northern Provinces, of manners in the Southern, of education, of +the remoteness of situation from the first mover of government--from all these +causes a fierce spirit of liberty has grown up. It has grown with the growth of +the people in your Colonies, and increased with the increase of their wealth; a +spirit that unhappily meeting with an exercise of power in England which, +however lawful, is not reconcilable to any ideas of liberty, much less with +theirs, has kindled this flame that is ready to consume us. + +I do not mean to commend either the spirit in this excess, or the moral causes +which produce it. Perhaps a more smooth and accommodating spirit of freedom in +them would be more acceptable to us. Perhaps ideas of liberty might be desired +more reconcilable with an arbitrary and boundless authority. Perhaps we might +wish the Colonists to be persuaded that their liberty is more secure when held +in trust for them by us, as their guardians during a perpetual minority, than +with any part of it in their own hands. The question is, not whether their +spirit deserves praise or blame, but--what, in the name of God, shall we do with +it? You have before you the object, such as it is, with all its glories, with +all its imperfections [Footnote: 29] on its head. You see the magnitude, the +importance, the temper, the habits, the disorders. By all these considerations +we are strongly urged to determine something concerning it. We are called upon +to fix some rule and line for our future conduct which may give a little +stability to our politics, and prevent the return of such unhappy deliberations +as the present. Every such return will bring the matter before us in a still +more untractable form. For, what astonishing and incredible things have we not +seen already! What monsters have not been generated from this unnatural +contention! Whilst every principle of authority and resistance has been pushed, +upon both sides, as far as it would go, there is nothing so solid and certain, +either in reasoning or in practice, that has not been shaken. Until very lately +all authority in America seemed to be nothing but an emanation from yours. Even, +the popular part of the Colony Constitution derived all its activity and its +first vital movement from the pleasure of the Crown. We thought, Sir, that the +utmost which the discontented Colonies could do was to disturb authority; we +never dreamt they could of themselves supply it--knowing in general what an +operose business it is to establish a government absolutely new. But having, for +our purposes in this contention, resolved that none but an obedient Assembly +should sit, the humors of the people there, finding all passage through the +legal channel stopped, with great violence broke out another way. Some provinces +have tried their experiment, as we have tried ours; and theirs has succeeded. +They have formed a government sufficient for its purposes, without the bustle of +a revolution or the formality of an election. Evident necessity and tacit +consent have done the business in an instant. So well they have done it, that +Lord Dunmore--the account is among the fragments on your table--tells you that +the new institution is infinitely better obeyed than the ancient government ever +was in its most fortunate periods. Obedience is what makes government, and not +the names by which it is called; not the name of Governor, as formerly, or +Committee, as at present. This new government has originated directly from the +people, and was not transmitted through any of the ordinary artificial media of +a positive constitution. It was not a manufacture ready formed, and transmitted +to them in that condition from England. The evil arising from hence is this; +that the Colonists having once found the possibility of enjoying the advantages +of order in the midst of a struggle for liberty, such struggles will not +henceforward seem so terrible to the settled and sober part of mankind as they +had appeared before the trial. Pursuing the same plan [Footnote: 30] of +punishing by the denial of the exercise of government to still greater lengths, +we wholly abrogated the ancient government of Massachusetts. We were confident +that the first feeling if not the very prospect, of anarchy would instantly +enforce a complete submission. The experiment was tried. A new, strange, +unexpected face of things appeared. Anarchy is found tolerable. A vast province +has now subsisted, and subsisted in a considerable degree of health and vigor +for near a twelvemonth, without Governor, without public Council, without +judges, without executive magistrates. How long it will continue in this state, +or what may arise out of this unheard-of situation, how can the wisest of us +conjecture? Our late experience has taught us that many of those fundamental +principles, formerly believed infallible, are either not of the importance they +were imagined to be, or that we have not at all adverted to some other far more +important and far more powerful principles, which entirely overrule those we had +considered as omnipotent. I am much against any further experiments which tend +to put to the proof any more of these allowed opinions which contribute so much +to the public tranquillity. In effect we suffer as much at home by this +loosening of all ties, and this concussion of all established opinions as we do +abroad; for in order to prove that the Americans have no right to their +liberties, we are every day endeavoring to subvert the maxims which preserve the +whole spirit of our own. To prove that the Americans ought not to be free, we +are obliged to depreciate the value of freedom itself; and we never seem to gain +a paltry advantage over them in debate without attacking some of those +principles, or deriding some of those feelings, for which our ancestors have +shed their blood. + +But, Sir, in wishing to put an end to pernicious experiments, I do not mean to +preclude the fullest inquiry. Far from it. Far from deciding on a sudden or +partial view, [Footnote: 31] I would patiently go round and round the subject, +and survey it minutely in every possible aspect. Sir, if I were capable of +engaging you to an equal attention, I would state that, as far as I am capable +of discerning, there are but three ways [Footnote: 32] of proceeding relative to +this stubborn spirit which prevails in your Colonies, and disturbs your +government. These are--to change that spirit, as inconvenient, by removing the +causes; to prosecute it as criminal; or to comply with it as necessary. I would +not be guilty of an imperfect enumeration; I can think of but these three. +Another has indeed been started,--that of giving up the Colonies; but it met so +slight a reception that I do not think myself obliged to dwell a great while +upon it. It is nothing but a little sally of anger, like the forwardness of +peevish children who, when they cannot get all they would have, are resolved to +take nothing. + +The first of these plans--to change the spirit, as inconvenient, by removing the +causes--I think is the most like a systematic proceeding. It is radical in its +principle; but it is attended with great difficulties, some of them little +short, as I conceive, of impossibilities. This will appear by examining into the +plans which have been proposed. + +As the growing population in the Colonies is evidently one cause of their +resistance, it was last session mentioned in both Houses, by men of weight, and +received not without applause, that in order to check this evil it would be +proper for the Crown to make no further grants of land. But to this scheme there +are two objections. The first, that there is already so much unsettled land in +private hands as to afford room for an immense future population, although the +Crown not only withheld its grants, but annihilated its soil. If this be the +case, then the only effect of this avarice of desolation, this hoarding of a +royal wilderness, would be to raise the value of the possessions in the hands of +the great private monopolists without any adequate cheek to the growing and +alarming mischief of population. + +But if you stopped your grants, what would be the consequence? The people would +occupy without grants. They have already so occupied in many places. You cannot +station garrisons in every part of these deserts. If you drive the people from +one place, they will carry on their annual tillage, and remove with their flocks +and herds to another. Many of the people in the back settlements are already +little attached to particular situations. Already they have topped the +Appalachian Mountains. From thence they behold before them an immense plain, one +vast, rich, level meadow; a square of five hundred miles. Over this they would +wander without a possibility of restraint; they would change their manners with +the habits of their life; would soon forget a government by which they were +disowned; would become hordes of English Tartars; and, pouring down upon your +unfortified frontiers a fierce and irresistible cavalry, become masters of your +governors and your counsellors, your collectors and comptrollers, and of all the +slaves that adhered to them. Such would, and in no long time must be, the effect +of attempting to forbid as a crime and to suppress as an evil the command and +blessing of providence, INCREASE AND MULTIPLY. Such would be the happy result of +the endeavor to keep as a lair of wild beasts that earth which God, by an +express charter, has given to the children of men. Far different, and surely +much wiser, has been our policy hitherto. Hitherto we have invited our people, +by every kind of bounty, to fixed establishments. We have invited the husbandman +to look to authority for his title. We have taught him piously to believe in the +mysterious virtue of wax and parchment. We have thrown each tract of land, as it +was peopled, into districts, that the ruling power should never be wholly out of +sight. We have settled all we could; and we have carefully attended every +settlement with government. + +Adhering, Sir, as I do, to this policy, as well as for the reasons I have just +given, I think this new project of hedging-in population to be neither prudent +nor practicable. + +To impoverish the Colonies in general, and in particular to arrest the noble +course of their marine enterprises, would be a more easy task. I freely confess +it. We have shown a disposition to a system of this kind, a disposition even to +continue the restraint after the offence, looking on ourselves as rivals to our +Colonies, and persuaded that of course we must gain all that they shall lose. +Much mischief we may certainly do. The power inadequate to all other things is +often more than sufficient for this. I do not look on the direct and immediate +power of the Colonies to resist our violence as very formidable. In this, +however, I may be mistaken. But when I consider that we have Colonies for no +purpose but to be serviceable to us, it seems to my poor understanding a little +preposterous to make them unserviceable in order to keep them obedient. It is, +in truth, nothing more than the old and, as I thought, exploded problem of +tyranny, which proposes to beggar its subjects into submission. But remember, +when you have completed your system of impoverishment, that nature still +proceeds in her ordinary course; that discontent will increase with misery; and +that there are critical moments in the fortune of all states when they who are +too weak to contribute to your prosperity may be strong enough to complete your +ruin. Spoliatis arma supersunt. [Footnote: 34] + +The temper and character which prevail in our Colonies are, I am afraid, +unalterable by any human art. We cannot, I fear, falsify the pedigree of this +fierce people, and persuade them that they are not sprung from a nation in whose +veins the blood of freedom circulates. The language in which they would hear you +tell them this tale would detect the imposition; your speech would betray you. +[Footnote: 35] An Englishman is the unfittest person on earth to argue another +Englishman into slavery. + +I think it is nearly as little in our power to change their republican religion +as their free descent; or to substitute the Roman Catholic as a penalty, or the +Church of England as an improvement. The mode of inquisition and dragooning is +going out of fashion in the Old World, and I should not confide much to their +efficacy in the New. The education of the Americans is also on the same +unalterable bottom with their religion. You cannot persuade them to burn their +books of curious science; to banish their lawyers from their courts of laws; or +to quench the lights of their assemblies by refusing to choose those persons who +are best read in their privileges. It would be no less impracticable to think of +wholly annihilating the popular assemblies in which these lawyers sit. The army, +by which we must govern in their place, would be far more chargeable to us, not +quite so effectual, and perhaps in the end full as difficult to be kept in +obedience. With regard to the high aristocratic spirit of Virginia and the +Southern Colonies, it has been proposed, I know, to reduce it by declaring a +general enfranchisement of their slaves. This object has had its advocates and +panegyrists; yet I never could argue myself into any opinion of it. Slaves are +often much attached to their masters. A general wild offer of liberty would not +always be accepted. History furnishes few instances of it. It is sometimes as +hard to persuade slaves [Footnote: 36] to be free, as it is to compel freemen to +be slaves; and in this auspicious scheme we should have both these pleasing +tasks on our hands at once. But when we talk of enfranchisement, do we not +perceive that the American master may enfranchise too, and arm servile hands in +defence of freedom?--a measure to which other people have had recourse more than +once, and not without success, in a desperate situation of their affairs. + +Slaves as these unfortunate black people are, and dull as all men are from +slavery, must they not a little suspect the offer of freedom from that very +nation which has sold them to their present masters?--from that nation, one of +whose causes of quarrel [Footnote: 37] with those masters is their refusal to +deal any more in that inhuman traffic? An offer of freedom from England would +come rather oddly, shipped to them in an African vessel which is refused an +entry into the ports of Virginia or Carolina with a cargo of three hundred +Angola negroes. It would be curious to see the Guinea captain attempting at the +same instant to publish his proclamation of liberty, and to advertise his sale +of slaves. + +But let us suppose all these moral difficulties got over. The ocean remains. You +cannot pump this dry; and as long as it continues in its present bed, so long +all the causes which weaken authority by distance will continue. + + "Ye gods, annihilate but space and time, + And make two lovers happy!" + +was a pious and passionate prayer; but just as reasonable as many of the serious +wishes of grave and solemn politicians. + +If then, Sir, it seems almost desperate to think of any alterative course for +changing the moral causes, and not quite easy to remove the natural, which +produce prejudices irreconcilable to the late exercise of our authority--but +that the spirit infallibly will continue, and, continuing, will produce such +effects as now embarrass us--the second mode under consideration is to prosecute +that spirit in its overt acts as criminal. + +At this proposition I must pause a moment. The thing seems a great deal too big +for my ideas of jurisprudence. It should seem to my way of conceiving such +matters that there is a very wide difference, in reason and policy, between the +mode of proceeding on the irregular conduct of scattered individuals, or even of +bands of men who disturb order within the state, and the civil dissensions which +may, from time to time, on great questions, agitate the several communities +which compose a great empire. It looks to me to be narrow and pedantic to apply +the ordinary ideas of criminal justice to this great public contest. I do not +know the method of drawing up an indictment against a whole people. I cannot +insult and ridicule the feelings of millions of my fellow-creatures as Sir +Edward Coke insulted one excellent individual (Sir Walter Raleigh) at the bar. I +hope I am not ripe to pass sentence on the gravest public bodies, intrusted with +magistracies of great authority and dignity, and charged with the safety of +their fellow-citizens, upon the very same title that I am. I really think that, +for wise men, this is not judicious; for sober men, not decent; for minds +tinctured with humanity, not mild and merciful. + +Perhaps, Sir, I am mistaken in my idea of an empire, as distinguished from a +single state or kingdom. But my idea of it is this; that an empire is the +aggregate of many states under one common head, whether this head be a monarch +or a presiding republic. It does, in such constitutions, frequently happen--and +nothing but the dismal, cold, dead uniformity of servitude can prevent its +happening--that the subordinate parts have many local privileges and immunities. +Between these privileges and the supreme common authority the line may be +extremely nice. Of course disputes, often, too, very bitter disputes, and much +ill blood, will arise. But though every privilege is an exemption, in the case, +from the ordinary exercise of the supreme authority, it is no denial of it. The +claim of a privilege seems rather, ex vi termini, [Footnote: 38] to imply a +superior power; for to talk of the privileges of a state or of a person who has +no superior is hardly any better than speaking nonsense. Now, in such +unfortunate quarrels among the component parts of a great political union of +communities, I can scarcely conceive anything more completely imprudent than for +the head of the empire to insist that, if any privilege is pleaded against his +will or his acts, his whole authority is denied; instantly to proclaim +rebellion, to beat to arms, and to put the offending provinces under the ban. +Will not this, Sir, very soon teach the provinces to make no distinctions on +their part? Will it not teach them that the government, against which a claim of +liberty is tantamount to high treason, is a government to which submission is +equivalent to slavery? It may not always be quite convenient to impress +dependent communities with such an idea. + +We are, indeed, in all disputes with the Colonies, by the necessity of things, +the judge. It is true, Sir. But I confess that the character of judge in my own +cause is a thing that frightens me. Instead of filling me with pride, I am +exceedingly humbled by it. I cannot proceed with a stern, assured, judicial +confidence, until I find myself in something more like a judicial character. I +must have these hesitations as long as I am compelled to recollect that, in my +little reading upon such contests as these, the sense of mankind has at least as +often decided against the superior as the subordinate power. Sir, let me add, +too, that the opinion of my having some abstract right [Footnote: 39] in my +favor would not put me much at my ease in passing sentence, unless I could be +sure that there were no rights which, in their exercise under certain +circumstances, were not the most odious of all wrongs and the most vexatious of +all injustice. Sir, these considerations have great weight with me when I find +things so circumstanced, that I see the same party at once a civil litigant +against me in point of right and a culprit before me, while I sit as a criminal +judge on acts of his whose moral quality is to be decided upon the merits of +that very litigation. Men are every now and then put, by the complexity of human +affairs, into strange situations; but justice is the same, let the judge be in +what situation he will. + +There is, Sir, also a circumstance which convinces me that this mode of criminal +proceeding is not, at least in the present stage of our contest, altogether +expedient; which is nothing less than the conduct of those very persons who have +seemed to adopt that mode by lately declaring a rebellion in Massachusetts Bay, +as they had formerly addressed to have traitors brought hither, under an Act of +Henry the Eighth, [Footnote: 40] for trial. For though rebellion is declared, it +is not proceeded against as such, nor have any steps been taken towards the +apprehension or conviction of any individual offender, either on our late or our +former Address; but modes of public coercion have been adopted, and such as have +much more resemblance to a sort of qualified hostility towards an independent +power than the punishment of rebellious subjects. All this seems rather +inconsistent; but it shows how difficult it is to apply these juridical ideas to +our present case. + +In this situation, let us seriously and coolly ponder. What is it we have got by +all our menaces, which have been many and ferocious? What advantage have we +derived from the penal laws we have passed, and which, for the time, have been +severe and numerous? What advances have we made towards our object by the +sending of a force which, by land and sea, is no contemptible strength? Has the +disorder abated? Nothing less. When I see things in this situation after such +confident hopes, bold promises, and active exertions, I cannot, for my life, +avoid a suspicion that the plan itself is not correctly right. [Footnote: 41] + +If, then, the removal of the causes of this spirit of American liberty be for +the greater part, or rather entirely, impracticable; if the ideas of criminal +process be inapplicable--or, if applicable, are in the highest degree +inexpedient; what way yet remains? No way is open but the third and last,--to +comply with the American spirit as necessary; or, if you please, to submit to it +as a necessary evil. + +If we adopt this mode,--if we mean to conciliate and concede,--let us see of +what nature the concession ought to be. To ascertain the nature of our +concession, we must look at their complaint. The Colonies complain that they +have not the characteristic mark and seal of British freedom. They complain that +they are taxed in a Parliament in which they are not represented. If you mean to +satisfy them at all, you must satisfy them with regard to this complaint. If you +mean to please any people you must give them the boon which they ask; not what +you may think better for them, but of a kind totally different. Such an act may +be a wise regulation, but it is no concession; whereas our present theme is the +mode of giving satisfaction. + +Sir, I think you must perceive that I am resolved this day to have nothing at +all to do with the question of the right of taxation. Some gentlemen start--but +it is true; I put it totally out of the question. It is less than nothing in my +consideration. I do not indeed wonder, nor will you, Sir, that gentlemen of +profound learning are fond of displaying it on this profound subject. But my +consideration is narrow, confined, and wholly limited to the policy of the +question. I do not examine whether the giving away a man's money be a power +excepted and reserved out of the general trust of government, and how far all +mankind, in all forms of polity, are entitled to an exercise of that right by +the charter of nature; or whether, on the contrary, a right of taxation is +necessarily involved in the general principle of legislation, and inseparable +from the ordinary supreme power. These are deep questions, where great names +militate against each other, where reason is perplexed, and an appeal to +authorities only thickens the confusion; for high and reverend authorities lift +up their heads on both sides, and there is no sure footing in the middle. This +point is the great + + "Serbonian bog, + Betwixt Damiata and Mount Casius old, + Where armies whole have sunk." + [Footnote: 42] + +I do not intend to be overwhelmed in that bog, though in such respectable +company. The question [Footnote: 43] with me is, not whether you have a right to +render your people miserable, but whether it is not your interest to make them +happy. It is not what a lawyer tells me I MAY do, but what humanity, reason, and +justice tell me I OUGHT to do. Is a politic act the worse for being a generous +one? Is no concession proper but that which is made from your want of right to +keep what you grant? Or does it lessen the grace or dignity of relaxing in the +exercise of an odious claim because you have your evidence-room full of titles, +and your magazines stuffed with arms to enforce them? What signify all those +titles, and all those arms? Of what avail are they, when the reason of the thing +tells me that the assertion of my title is the loss of my suit, and that I could +do nothing but wound myself by the use of my own weapons? + +Such is steadfastly my opinion of the absolute necessity of keeping up the +concord of this Empire by an unity of spirit, though in a diversity of +operations, that, if I were sure the Colonists had, at their leaving this +country, sealed a regular compact of servitude; that they had solemnly abjured +all the rights of citizens; that they had made a vow to renounce all ideas of +liberty for them and their posterity to all generations; yet I should hold +myself obliged to conform to the temper I found universally prevalent in my own +day, and to govern two million of men, impatient of servitude, on the principles +of freedom. I am not determining a point of law, I am restoring tranquillity; +and the general character and situation of a people must determine what sort of +government is fitted for them. That point nothing else can or ought to +determine. + +My idea, therefore, without considering whether we yield as matter of right, or +grant as matter of favor, is to admit the people of our Colonies into an +interest in the Constitution; and, by recording that admission in the journals +of Parliament, to give them as strong an assurance as the nature of the thing +will admit, that we mean forever to adhere to that solemn declaration of +systematic indulgence. + +Some years ago the repeal of a revenue Act, upon its understood principle, might +have served to show that we intended an unconditional abatement of the exercise +of a taxing power. Such a measure was then sufficient to remove all suspicion, +and to give perfect content. But unfortunate events since that time may make +something further necessary; and not more necessary for the satisfaction of the +Colonies than for the dignity and consistency of our own future proceedings. + +I have taken a very incorrect measure of the disposition of the House if this +proposal in itself would be received with dislike. I think, Sir, we have few +American financiers. But our misfortune is, we are too acute, we are too +exquisite [Footnote: 44] in our conjectures of the future, for men oppressed +with such great and present evils. The more moderate among the opposers of +Parliamentary concession freely confess that they hope no good from taxation, +but they apprehend the Colonists have further views; and if this point were +conceded, they would instantly attack the trade laws. [Footnote: 45] These +gentlemen are convinced that this was the intention from the beginning, and the +quarrel of the Americans with taxation was no more than a cloak and cover to +this design. Such has been the language even of a gentleman of real moderation, +and of a natural temper well adjusted to fair and equal government. I am, +however, Sir, not a little surprised at this kind of discourse, whenever I hear +it; and I am the more surprised on account of the arguments which I constantly +find in company with it, and which are often urged from the same mouths and on +the same day. + +For instance, when we allege that it is against reason to tax a people under so +many restraints in trade as the Americans, the noble lord in the blue ribbon +shall tell you that the restraints on trade are futile and useless--of no +advantage to us, and of no burthen to those on whom they are imposed; that the +trade to America is not secured by the Acts of Navigation, but by the natural +and irresistible advantage of a commercial preference. + +Such is the merit of the trade laws in this posture of the debate. But when +strong internal circumstances are urged against the taxes; when the scheme is +dissected; when experience and the nature of things are brought to prove, and do +prove, the utter impossibility of obtaining an effective revenue from the +Colonies; when these things are pressed, or rather press themselves, so as to +drive the advocates of Colony taxes to a clear admission of the futility of the +scheme; then, Sir, the sleeping trade laws revive from their trance, and this +useless taxation is to be kept sacred, not for its own sake, but as a +counterguard and security of the laws of trade. + +Then, Sir, you keep up revenue laws which are mischievous, in order to preserve +trade laws that are useless. Such is the wisdom of our plan in both its members. +They are separately given up as of no value, and yet one is always to be +defended for the sake of the other; but I cannot agree with the noble lord, nor +with the pamphlet from whence he seems to have borrowed these ideas concerning +the inutility of the trade laws. For, without idolizing them, I am sure they are +still, in many ways, of great use to us; and in former times they have been of +the greatest. They do confine, and they do greatly narrow, the market for the +Americans; but my perfect conviction of this does not help me in the least to +discern how the revenue laws form any security whatsoever to the commercial +regulations, or that these commercial regulations are the true ground of the +quarrel, or that the giving way, in any one instance of authority, is to lose +all that may remain unconceded. + +One fact is clear and indisputable. The public and avowed origin of this quarrel +was on taxation. This quarrel has indeed brought on new disputes on new +questions; but certainly the least bitter, and the fewest of all, on the trade +laws. To judge which of the two be the real radical cause of quarrel, we have to +see whether the commercial dispute did, in order of time, precede the dispute on +taxation? There is not a shadow of evidence for it. Next, to enable us to judge +whether at this moment a dislike to the trade laws be the real cause of quarrel, +it is absolutely necessary to put the taxes out of the question by a repeal. See +how the Americans act in this position, and then you will be able to discern +correctly what is the true object of the controversy, or whether any controversy +at all will remain. Unless you consent to remove this cause of difference, it is +impossible, with decency, to assert that the dispute is not upon what it is +avowed to be. And I would, Sir, recommend to your serious consideration whether +it be prudent to form a rule for punishing people, not on their own acts, but on +your conjectures? Surely it is preposterous at the very best. It is not +justifying your anger by their misconduct, but it is converting your ill-will +into their delinquency. + +But the Colonies will go further. Alas! alas! when will this speculation against +fact and reason end? What will quiet these panic fears which we entertain of the +hostile effect of a conciliatory conduct? Is it true that no case can exist in +which it is proper for the sovereign to accede to the desires of his +discontented subjects? Is there anything peculiar in this case to make a rule +for itself? Is all authority of course lost when it is not pushed to the +extreme? Is it a certain maxim that the fewer causes of dissatisfaction are left +by government, the more the subject will be inclined to resist and rebel? + +All these objections being in fact no more than suspicions, conjectures, +divinations, formed in defiance of fact and experience, they did not, Sir, +discourage me from entertaining the idea of a conciliatory concession founded on +the principles which I have just stated. + +In forming a plan for this purpose, I endeavored to put myself in that frame of +mind which was the most natural and the most reasonable, and which was certainly +the most probable means of securing me from all error. I set out with a perfect +distrust of my own abilities, a total renunciation of every speculation of my +own, and with a profound reverence for the wisdom of our ancestors who have left +us the inheritance of so happy a constitution and so flourishing an empire, and, +what is a thousand times more valuable, the treasury of the maxims and +principles which formed the one and obtained the other. + +During the reigns of the kings of Spain of the Austrian family, whenever they +were at a loss in the Spanish councils, it was common for their statesmen to say +that they ought to consult the genius of Philip the Second. The genius of Philip +the Second might mislead them, and the issue of their affairs showed that they +had not chosen the most perfect standard; but, Sir, I am sure that I shall not +be misled when, in a case of constitutional difficulty, I consult the genius of +the English Constitution. Consulting at that oracle--it was with all due +humility and piety--I found four capital examples in a similar case before me; +those of Ireland, Wales, Chester, and Durham. + +Ireland, before the English conquest, [Footnote: 46] though never governed by a +despotic power, had no Parliament. How far the English Parliament itself was at +that time modelled according to the present form is disputed among antiquaries; +but we have all the reason in the world to be assured that a form of Parliament +such as England then enjoyed she instantly communicated to Ireland, and we are +equally sure that almost every successive improvement in constitutional liberty, +as fast as it was made here, was transmitted thither. The feudal baronage and +the feudal knighthood, the roots of our primitive Constitution, were early +transplanted into that soil, and grew and flourished there. Magna Charta, if it +did not give us originally the House of Commons, gave us at least a House of +Commons of weight and consequence. But your ancestors did not churlishly sit +down alone to the feast of Magna Charta. Ireland was made immediately a +partaker. This benefit of English laws and liberties, I confess, was not at +first extended to all Ireland. Mark the consequence. English authority and +English liberties had exactly the same boundaries. Your standard could never be +advanced an inch before your privileges. Sir John Davis shows beyond a doubt +that the refusal of a general communication of these rights was the true cause +why Ireland was five hundred years in subduing; and after the vain projects of a +military government, attempted in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, it was soon +discovered that nothing could make that country English, in civility and +allegiance, but your laws and your forms of legislature. It was not English +arms, but the English Constitution, that conquered Ireland. From that time +Ireland has ever had a general Parliament, as she had before a partial +Parliament. You changed the people; you altered the religion; but you never +touched the form or the vital substance of free government in that kingdom. You +deposed kings; [Footnote: 47] you restored them; you altered the succession to +theirs, as well as to your own Crown; but you never altered their Constitution, +the principle of which was respected by usurpation, restored with the +restoration of monarchy, and established, I trust, forever, by the glorious +Revolution. This has made Ireland the great and flourishing kingdom that it is, +and, from a disgrace and a burthen intolerable to this nation, has rendered her +a principal part of our strength and ornament. This country cannot be said to +have ever formally taxed her. The irregular things done in the confusion of +mighty troubles and on the hinge of great revolutions, even if all were done +that is said to have been done, form no example. If they have any effect in +argument, they make an exception to prove the rule. None of your own liberties +could stand a moment, if the casual deviations from them at such times were +suffered to be used as proofs of their nullity. By the lucrative amount of such +casual breaches in the Constitution, judge what the stated and fixed rule of +supply has been in that kingdom. Your Irish pensioners would starve, if they had +no other fund to live on than taxes granted by English authority. Turn your eyes +to those popular grants from whence all your great supplies are come, and learn +to respect that only source of public wealth in the British Empire. + +My next example is Wales. This country was said to be reduced by Henry the +Third. It was said more truly to be so by Edward the First. But though then +conquered, it was not looked upon as any part of the realm of England. Its old +Constitution, whatever that might have been, was destroyed, and no good one was +substituted in its place. The care of that tract was put into the hands of Lords +Marchers [Footnote: 48]--a form of government of a very singular kind; a strange +heterogeneous monster, something between hostility and government; perhaps it +has a sort of resemblance, according to the modes of those terms, to that of +Commander-in-chief at present, to whom all civil power is granted as secondary. +The manners of the Welsh nation followed the genius of the government. The +people were ferocious, restive, savage, and uncultivated; sometimes composed, +never pacified. Wales, within itself, was in perpetual disorder, and it kept the +frontier of England in perpetual alarm. Benefits from it to the state there were +none. Wales was only known to England by incursion and invasion. + +Sir, during that state of things, Parliament was not idle. They attempted to +subdue the fierce spirit of the Welsh by all sorts of rigorous laws. They +prohibited by statute the sending all sorts of arms into Wales, as you prohibit +by proclamation (with something more of doubt on the legality) the sending arms +to America. They disarmed the Welsh by statute, as you attempted (but still with +more question on the legality) to disarm New England by an instruction. They +made an Act to drag offenders from Wales into England for trial, as you have +done (but with more hardship) with regard to America. By another Act, where one +of the parties was an Englishman, they ordained that his trial should be always +by English. They made Acts to restrain trade, as you do; and they prevented the +Welsh from the use of fairs and markets, as you do the Americans from fisheries +and foreign ports. In short, when the Statute Book was not quite so much swelled +as it is now, you find no less than fifteen acts of penal regulation on the +subject of Wales. + +Here we rub our hands.--A fine body of precedents for the authority of +Parliament and the use of it!--I admit it fully; and pray add likewise to these +precedents that all the while Wales rid this Kingdom like an incubus, that it +was an unprofitable and oppressive burthen, and that an Englishman travelling in +that country could not go six yards from the high road without being murdered. + +The march of the human mind is slow. Sir, it was not until after two hundred +years discovered that, by an eternal law, providence had decreed vexation to +violence, and poverty to rapine. Your ancestors did however at length open their +eyes to the ill-husbandry of injustice. They found that the tyranny of a free +people could of all tyrannies the least be endured, and that laws made against a +whole nation were not the most effectual methods of securing its obedience. +Accordingly, in the twenty-seventh year of Henry the Eighth the course was +entirely altered. With a preamble stating the entire and perfect rights of the +Crown of England, it gave to the Welsh all the rights and privileges of English +subjects. A political order was established; the military power gave way to the +civil; the Marches were turned into Counties. But that a nation should have a +right to English liberties, and yet no share at all in the fundamental security +of these liberties--the grant of their own property--seemed a thing so +incongruous that, eight years after, that is, in the thirty-fifth of that reign, +a complete and not ill-proportioned representation by counties and boroughs was +bestowed upon Wales by Act of Parliament. From that moment, as by a charm, the +tumults subsided; obedience was restored; peace, order, and civilization +followed in the train of liberty. When the day-star of the English Constitution +had arisen in their hearts, all was harmony within and without-- + + "--simul alba nautis + Stella refulsit, + Defluit saxis agitatus humor; + Concidunt venti, fugiuntque nubes, + Et minax (quod sic voluere) ponto + Unda recumbit." + [Footnote: 49] + +The very same year the County Palatine of Chester received the same relief from +its oppressions and the same remedy to its disorders. Before this time Chester +was little less distempered than Wales. The inhabitants, without rights +themselves, were the fittest to destroy the rights of others; and from thence +Richard the Second drew the standing army of archers with which for a time he +oppressed England. The people of Chester applied to Parliament in a petition +penned as I shall read to you: + + "To the King, our Sovereign Lord, in most hunible wise + shewen unto your excellent Majesty the inhabitants of + your Grace's County Palatine of Chester: (1) That where + the said County Palatine of Chester is and hath been always + hitherto exempt, excluded, and separated out and + from your High Court of Parliament, to have any Knights + and Burgesses within the said Court; by reason whereof + the said inhabitants have hitherto sustained manifold + disherisons, losses, and damages, as well in their lands, + goods, and bodies, as in the good, civil, and politic governance + and maintenance of the commonwealth of their said + county; (2) And forasmuch as the said inhabitants have + always hitherto been bound by the Acts and Statutes + made and ordained by your said Highness and your most + noble progenitors, by authority of the said Court, as far + forth as other counties, cities, and boroughs have been, + that have had their Knights and Burgesses within your + said Court of Parliament, and yet have had neither Knight + ne Burgess there for the said County Palatine, the said + inhabitants, for lack thereof, have been oftentime touched + and grieved with Acts and Statutes made within the said + Court, as well derogatory unto the most ancient jurisdictions, + liberties, and privileges of your said County Palatine, + as prejudicial unto the commonwealth, quietness, + rest, and peace of your Grace's most bounden subjects + inhabiting within the same." + +What did Parliament with this audacious address?--Reject it as a libel? Treat it +as an affront to Government? Spurn it as a derogation from the rights of +legislature? Did they toss it over the table? Did they burn it by the hands of +the common hangman?--They took the petition of grievance, all rugged as it was, +without softening or temperament, unpurged of the original bitterness and +indignation of complaint--they made it the very preamble to their Act of +redress, and consecrated its principle to all ages in the sanctuary of +legislation. + +Here is my third example. It was attended with the success of the two former. +Chester, civilized as well as Wales, has demonstrated that freedom, and not +servitude, is the cure of anarchy; as religion, and not atheism, is the true +remedy for superstition. Sir, this pattern of Chester was followed in the reign +of Charles the Second with regard to the County Palatine of Durham, which is my +fourth example. This county had long lain out of the pale of free legislation. +So scrupulously was the example of Chester followed that the style of the +preamble is nearly the same with that of the Chester Act, and, without affecting +the abstract extent of the authority of Parliament, it recognizes the equity of +not suffering any considerable district in which the British subjects may act as +a body, to be taxed without their own voice in the grant. + +Now if the doctrines of policy contained in these preambles, and the force of +these examples in the Acts of Parliaments, avail anything, what can be said +against applying them with regard to America? Are not the people of America as +much Englishmen as the Welsh? The preamble of the Act of Henry the Eighth says +the Welsh speak a language no way resembling that of his Majesty's English +subjects. Are the Americans not as numerous? If we may trust the learned and +accurate Judge Barrington's account of North Wales, and take that as a standard +to measure the rest, there is no comparison. The people cannot amount to above +200,000; not a tenth part of the number in the Colonies. Is America in +rebellion? Wales was hardly ever free from it. Have you at tempted to govern +America by penal statutes? You made fifteen for Wales. But your legislative +authority is perfect with regard to America. Was it less perfect in Wales, +Chester, and Durham? But America is virtually represented. What! does the +electric force of virtual representation more easily pass over the Atlantic than +pervade Wales,--which lies in your neighborhood--or than Chester and Durham, +surrounded by abundance of representation that is actual and palpable? But, Sir, +your ancestors thought this sort of virtual representation, however ample, to be +totally insufficient for the freedom of the inhabitants of territories that are +so near, and comparatively so inconsiderable. How then can I think it sufficient +for those which are infinitely greater, and infinitely more remote? + +You will now, Sir, perhaps imagine that I am on the point of proposing to you a +scheme for a representation of the Colonies in Parliament. Perhaps I might be +inclined to entertain some such thought; but a great flood stops me in my +course. Opposuit natura. [Footnote: 50 ]--I cannot remove the eternal barriers +of the creation. The thing, in that mode, I do not know to be possible. As I +meddle with no theory,[Footnote: 51] I do not absolutely assert the +impracticability of such a representation; but I do not see my way to it, and +those who have been more confident have not been more successful. However, the +arm of public benevolence is not shortened, and there are often several means to +the same end. What nature has disjoined in one way, wisdom may unite in another. +When we cannot give the benefit as we would wish, let us not refuse it +altogether. If we cannot give the principal, let us find a substitute. But how? +Where? What substitute? + +Fortunately I am not obliged, for the ways and means of this substitute, to tax +my own unproductive invention. I am not even obliged to go to the rich treasury +of the fertile framers of imaginary commonwealths--not to the Republic of Plato, +[Footnote: 52] not to the Utopia of More, [Footnote: 52] not to the Oceana of +Harrington. It is before me--it is at my feet, + + "And the rude swain Treads daily on it with his clouted shoon." + [Footnote: 53] + +I only wish you to recognize, for the theory, the ancient constitutional policy +of this kingdom with regard to representation, as that policy has been declared +in Acts of Parliament; and as to the practice, to return to that mode which a +uniform experience has marked out to you as best, and in which you walked with +security, advantage, and honor, until the year 1763. [Footnote: 54] + +My Resolutions therefore mean to establish the equity and justice of a taxation +of America by GRANT, and not by IMPOSITION; to mark the LEGAL COMPETENCY +[Footnote: 55] of the Colony Assemblies for the support of their government in +peace, and for public aids in time of war; to acknowledge that this legal +competency has had a DUTIFUL AND BENEFICIAL EXERCISE; and that experience has +shown the BENEFIT OF THEIR GRANTS and the FUTILITY OF PARLIAMENTARY TAXATION as +a method of supply. + +These solid truths compose six fundamental propositions. There are three more +Resolutions corollary to these. If you admit the first set, you can hardly +reject the others. But if you admit the first, I shall be far from solicitous +whether you accept or refuse the last. I think these six massive pillars will be +of strength sufficient to support the temple of British concord. I have no more +doubt than I entertain of my existence that, if you admitted these, you would +command an immediate peace, and, with but tolerable future management, a lasting +obedience in America. I am not arrogant in this confident assurance. The +propositions are all mere matters of fact, and if they are such facts as draw +irresistible conclusions even in the stating, this is the power of truth, and +not any management of mine. + +Sir, I shall open the whole plan to you, together with such observations on the +motions as may tend to illustrate them where they may want explanation. The +first is a Resolution-- + +"That the Colonies and Plantations of Great Britain in North America, consisting +of fourteen separate Governments, and containing two millions and upwards of +free inhabitants, have not had the liberty and privilege of electing and sending +any Knights and Burgesses, or others, to represent them in the High Court of +Parliament." + +This is a plain matter of fact, necessary to be laid down, and, excepting the +description, it is laid down in the language of the Constitution; it is taken +nearly verbatim from Acts of Parliament. + +The second is like unto the first-- + +"That the said Colonies and Plantations have been liable to, and bounden by, +several subsidies, payments, rates, and taxes given and granted by Parliament, +though the said Colonies and Plantations have not their Knights and Burgesses in +the said High Court of Parliament, of their own election, to represent the +condition of their country; by lack whereof they have been oftentimes touched +and grieved by subsidies given, granted, and assented to, in the said Court, in +a manner prejudicial to the commonwealth, quietness, rest, and peace of the +subjects inhabiting within the same." + +Is this description too hot, or too cold; too strong, or too weak? Does it +arrogate too much to the supreme legislature? Does it lean too much to the +claims of the people? If it runs into any of these errors, the fault is not +mine. It is the language of your own ancient Acts of Parliament. + + "Non meus hic sermo, sed quae praecepit Ofellus, + Rusticus, abnormis sapiens." + [Footnote: 56] + +It is the genuine produce of the ancient, rustic, manly, homebred sense of this +country.--I did not dare to rub off a particle of the venerable rust that rather +adorns and preserves, than destroys, the metal. It would be a profanation to +touch with a tool the stones which construct the sacred altar of peace. I would +not violate with modern polish the ingenuous and noble roughness of these truly +Constitutional materials. Above all things, I was resolved not to be guilty of +tampering, the odious vice of restless and unstable minds. I put my foot in the +tracks of our forefathers, where I can neither wander nor stumble. Determining +to fix articles of peace, I was resolved not to be wise beyond what was written; +I was resolved to use nothing else than the form of sound words, to let others +abound in their own sense, and carefully to abstain from all expressions of my +own. What the law has said, I say. In all things else I am silent. I have no +organ but for her words. This, if it be not ingenious, I am sure is safe. +[Footnote: 57] + +There are indeed words expressive of grievance in this second Resolution, which +those who are resolved always to be in the right will deny to contain matter of +fact, as applied to the present case, although Parliament thought them true with +regard to the counties of Chester and Durham. They will deny that the Americans +were ever "touched and grieved" with the taxes. If they consider nothing in +taxes but their weight as pecuniary impositions, there might be some pretence +for this denial; but men may be sorely touched and deeply grieved in their +privileges, as well as in their purses. Men may lose little in property by the +act which takes away all their freedom. When a man is robbed of a trifle on the +highway, it is not the twopence lost that constitutes the capital outrage. This +is not confined to privileges. Even ancient indulgences, withdrawn without +offence on the part of those who enjoyed such favors, operate as grievances. But +were the Americans then not touched and grieved by the taxes, in some measure, +merely as taxes? If so, why were they almost all either wholly repealed, or +exceedingly reduced? Were they not touched and grieved even by the regulating +duties of the sixth of George the Second? Else, why were the duties first +reduced to one third in 1764, and afterwards to a third of that third in the +year 1766? Were they not touched and grieved by the Stamp Act? I shall say they +were, until that tax is revived. Were they not touched and grieved by the duties +of 1767, which were likewise repealed, and which Lord Hillsborough tells you, +for the Ministry, were laid contrary to the true principle of commerce? Is not +the assurance given by that noble person to the Colonies of a resolution to lay +no more taxes on them an admission that taxes would touch and grieve them? Is +not the Resolution of the noble lord in the blue ribbon, now standing on your +Journals, the strongest of all proofs that Parliamentary subsidies really +touched and grieved them? Else why all these changes, modifications, repeals, +assurances, and resolutions? + +The next proposition is-- + +"That, from the distance of the said Colonies, and from other circumstances, no +method hath hitherto been devised for procuring a representation in Parliament +for the said Colonies" + +This is an assertion of a fact, I go no further on the paper, though, in my +private judgment, a useful representation is impossible--I am sure it is not +desired by them, nor ought it perhaps by us--but I abstain from opinions + +The fourth Resolution is-- + +"That each of the said Colonies hath within itself a body, chosen in part, or in +the whole, by the freemen, free-holders, or other free inhabitants thereof, +commonly called the General Assembly, or General Court, with powers legally to +raise, levy, and assess, according to the several usage of such Colonies duties +and taxes towards defraying all sorts of public services" + +This competence in the Colony Assemblies is certain. It is proved by the whole +tenor of their Acts of Supply in all the Assemblies, in which the constant style +of granting is, "an aid to his Majesty", and Acts granting to the Crown have +regularly for near a century passed the public offices without dispute. Those +who have been pleased paradoxically to deny this right, holding that none but +the British Parliament can grant to the Crown, are wished to look to what is +done, not only in the Colonies, but in Ireland, in one uniform unbroken tenor +every session. Sir, I am surprised that this doctrine should come from some of +the law servants of the Crown. I say that if the Crown could be responsible, his +Majesty--but certainly the Ministers,--and even these law officers themselves +through whose hands the Acts passed, biennially in Ireland, or annually in the +Colonies--are in an habitual course of committing impeachable offences. What +habitual offenders have been all Presidents of the Council, all Secretaries of +State, all First Lords of Trade, all Attorneys and all Solicitors General! +However, they are safe, as no one impeaches them; and there is no ground of +charge against them except in their own unfounded theories. + +The fifth Resolution is also a resolution of fact-- + + "That the said General Assemblies, General Courts, or other + bodies legally qualified as aforesaid, have at sundry times + freely granted several large subsidies and public aids for + his Majesty's service, according to their abilities, when + required thereto by letter from one of his Majesty's + principal Secretaries of State; and that their right to grant the + same, and their cheerfulness and sufficiency in the said + grants, have been at sundry times acknowledged by Parliament." + +To say nothing of their great expenses in the Indian wars, and not to take their +exertion in foreign ones so high as the supplies in the year 1695--not to go +back to their public contributions in the year 1710--I shall begin to travel +only where the journals give me light, resolving to deal in nothing but fact, +authenticated by Parliamentary record, and to build myself wholly on that solid +basis. + +On the 4th of April, 1748, a Committee of this House came to the following +resolution: + + "Resolved: That it is the opinion of this Committee that it is + just and reasonable that the several Provinces and Colonies + of Massachusetts Bay, New Hampshire, Connecticut, and + Rhode Island, be reimbursed the expenses they have been + at in taking and securing to the Crown of Great Britain, + the Island of Cape Breton and its dependencies." + +The expenses were immense for such Colonies. They were above L200,000 sterling; +money first raised and advanced on their public credit. + +On the 28th of January, 1756, a message from the King came to us, to this +effect: + + "His Majesty, being sensible of the zeal and vigor with which + his faithful subjects of certain Colonies in North America + have exerted themselves in defence of his Majesty's just + rights and possessions, recommends it to this House to + take the same into their consideration, and to enable his + Majesty to give them such assistance as may be a proper + reward and encouragement." + +On the 3d of February, 1756, the House came to a suitable Resolution, expressed +in words nearly the same as those of the message, but with the further addition, +that the money then voted was as an encouragement to the Colonies to exert +themselves with vigor. It will not be necessary to go through all the +testimonies which your own records have given to the truth of my Resolutions. I +will only refer you to the places in the Journals: + + Vol. xxvii.--16th and 19th May, 1757. + Vol. xxviii.--June 1st, 1758; April 26th and 30th, 1759; + March 26th and 31st, and April 28th, 1760; + Jan. 9th and 20th, 1761. + Vol. xxix.--Jan. 22d and 26th, 1762; March 14th and 17th, + 1763. + +Sir, here is the repeated acknowledgment of Parliament that the Colonies not +only gave, but gave to satiety. This nation has formally acknowledged two +things: first, that the Colonies had gone beyond their abilities, Parliament +having thought it necessary to reimburse them; secondly, that they had acted +legally and laudably in their grants of money, and their maintenance of troops, +since the compensation is expressly given as reward and encouragement. Reward is +not bestowed for acts that are unlawful; and encouragement is not held out to +things that deserve reprehension. My Resolution therefore does nothing more than +collect into one proposition what is scattered through your Journals. I give you +nothing but your own; and you cannot refuse in the gross what you have so often +acknowledged in detail. The admission of this, which will be so honorable to +them and to you, will, indeed, be mortal to all the miserable stories by which +the passions of the misguided people [Footnote: 58] have been engaged in an +unhappy system. The people heard, indeed, from the beginning of these disputes, +one thing continually dinned in their ears, that reason and justice demanded +that the Americans, who paid no taxes, should be compelled to contribute. How +did that fact of their paying nothing stand when the taxing system began? When +Mr. Grenville began to form his system of American revenue, he stated in this +House that the Colonies were then in debt two millions six hundred thousand +pounds sterling money, and was of opinion they would discharge that debt in four +years. On this state, those untaxed people were actually subject to the payment +of taxes to the amount of six hundred and fifty thousand a year. In fact, +however, Mr. Grenville was mistaken. The funds given for sinking the debt did +not prove quite so ample as both the Colonies and he expected. The calculation +was too sanguine; the reduction was not completed till some years after, and at +different times in different Colonies. However, the taxes after the war +continued too great to bear any addition, with prudence or propriety; and when +the burthens imposed in consequence of former requisitions were discharged, our +tone became too high to resort again to requisition. No Colony, since that time, +ever has had any requisition whatsoever made to it. + +We see the sense of the Crown, and the sense of Parliament, on the productive +nature of a REVENUE BY GRANT. Now search the same Journals for the produce of +the REVENUE BY IMPOSITION. Where is it? Let us know the volume and the page. +What is the gross, what is the net produce? To what service is it applied? How +have you appropriated its surplus? What! Can none of the many skilful index- +makers that we are now employing find any trace of it?--Well, let them and that +rest together. But are the Journals, which say nothing of the revenue, as silent +on the discontent? Oh no! a child may find it. It is the melancholy burthen and +blot of every page. + +I think, then, I am, from those Journals, justified in the sixth and last +Resolution, which is--- + +"That it hath been found by experience that the manner of granting the said +supplies and aids, by the said General Assemblies, hath been more agreeable to +the said Colonies, and more beneficial and conducive to the public service, than +the mode of giving and granting aids in Parliament, to be raised and paid in the +said Colonies." + +This makes the whole of the fundamental part of the plan. The conclusion is +irresistible. You cannot say that you were driven by any necessity to an +exercise of the utmost rights of legislature. You cannot assert that you took on +yourselves the task of imposing Colony taxes from the want of another legal body +that is competent to the purpose of supplying the exigencies of the state +without wounding the prejudices of the people. Neither is it true that the body +so qualified, and having that competence, had neglected the duty. + +The question now, on all this accumulated matter, is: whether you will choose to +abide by a profitable experience, or a mischievous theory; whether you choose to +build on imagination, or fact; whether you prefer enjoyment, or hope; +satisfaction in your subjects, or discontent? + +If these propositions are accepted, everything which has been made to enforce a +contrary system must, I take it for granted, fall along with it. On that ground, +I have drawn the following Resolution, which, when it comes to be moved, will +naturally be divided in a proper manner: + +"That it may be proper to repeal an Act [Footnote: 59] made in the seventh year +of the reign of his present Majesty, entitled, An Act for granting certain +duties in the British Colonies and Plantations in America; for allowing a +drawback of the duties of customs upon the exportation from this Kingdom of +coffee and cocoa-nuts of the produce of the said Colonies or Plantations; for +discontinuing the drawbacks payable on china earthenware exported to America; +and for more effectually preventing the clandestine running of goods in the said +Colonies and Plantations. And that it may be proper to repeal an Act [Footnote: +60] made in the fourteenth year of the reign of his present Majesty, entitled, +An Act to discontinue, in such manner and for such time as are therein +mentioned, the landing and discharging, lading or shipping of goods, wares, and +merchandise at the town and within the harbor of Boston, in the Province of +Massachusetts Bay, in North America. And that it may be proper to repeal an Act +made in the fourteenth year of the reign of his present Majesty, entitled, An +Act for the impartial administration of justice [Footnote: 61] in the cases of +persons questioned for any acts done by them in the execution of the law, or for +the suppression of riots and tumults, in the Province of Massachusetts Bay, in +New England. And that it may be proper to repeal an Act made in the fourteenth +year of the reign of his present Majesty, entitled, An Act for the better +regulating [Footnote: 62] of the Government of the Province of the Massachusetts +Bay, in New England. And also that it may be proper to explain and amend an Act +made in the thirty-fifth year of the reign of King Henry the Eighth, entitled, +An Act for the Trial of Treasons [Footnote: 63] committed out of the King's +Dominions." + +I wish, Sir, to repeal the Boston Port Bill, because--independently of the +dangerous precedent of suspending the rights of the subject during the King's +pleasure--it was passed, as I apprehend, with less regularity and on more +partial principles than it ought. The corporation of Boston was not heard before +it was condemned. Other towns, full as guilty as she was, have not had their +ports blocked up. Even the Restraining Bill of the present session does not go +to the length of the Boston Port Act. The same ideas of prudence which induced +you not to extend equal punishment to equal guilt, even when you were punishing, +induced me, who mean not to chastise, but to reconcile, to be satisfied with the +punishment already partially inflicted. + +Ideas of prudence and accommodation to circumstances prevent you from taking +away the charters of Connecticut and Rhode Island, as you have taken away that +of Massachusetts Bay, though the Crown has far less power in the two former +provinces than it enjoyed in the latter, and though the abuses have been full as +great, and as flagrant, in the exempted as in the punished. The same reasons of +prudence and accommodation have weight with me in restoring the charter of +Massachusetts Bay. Besides, Sir, the Act which changes the charter of +Massachusetts is in many particulars so exceptionable that if I did not wish +absolutely to repeal, I would by all means desire to alter it, as several of its +provisions tend to the subversion of all public and private justice. Such, among +others, is the power in the Governor to change the sheriff at his pleasure, and +to make a new returning officer for every special cause. It is shameful to +behold such a regulation standing among English laws. + +The Act for bringing persons accused of committing murder, under the orders of +Government to England for trial, is but temporary. That Act has calculated the +probable duration of our quarrel with the Colonies, and is accommodated to that +supposed duration. I would hasten the happy moment of reconciliation, and +therefore must, on my principle, get rid of that most justly obnoxious Act. + +The Act of Henry the Eighth, for the Trial of Treasons, I do not mean to take +away, but to confine it to its proper bounds and original intention; to make it +expressly for trial of treasons--and the greatest treasons may be committed--in +places where the jurisdiction of the Crown does not extend. + +Having guarded the privileges of local legislature, I would next secure to the +Colonies a fair and unbiassed judicature, for which purpose, Sir, I propose the +following Resolution: + +"That, from the time when the General Assembly or General Court of any Colony or +Plantation in North America shall have appointed by Act of Assembly, duly +confirmed, a settled salary to the offices of the Chief Justice and other Judges +of the Superior Court, it may be proper that the said Chief Justice and other +Judges of the Superior Courts of such Colony shall hold his and their office and +offices during their good behavior, and shall not be removed therefrom but when +the said removal shall be adjudged by his Majesty in Council, upon a hearing on +complaint from the General Assembly, or on a complaint from the Governor, or +Council, or the House of Representatives severally, or of the Colony in which +the said Chief Justice and other Judges have exercised the said offices" + +The next Resolution relates to the Courts of Admiralty. It is this. + +"That it may be proper to regulate the Courts of Admiralty or Vice Admiralty +authorized by the fifteenth Chapter of the Fourth of George the Third, in such a +manner as to make the same more commodious to those who sue, or are sued, in the +said Courts, and to provide for the more decent maintenance of the Judges in the +same." + +These courts I do not wish to take away, they are in themselves proper +establishments. This court is one of the capital securities of the Act of +Navigation. The extent of its jurisdiction, indeed, has been increased, but this +is altogether as proper, and is indeed on many accounts more eligible, where new +powers were wanted, than a court absolutely new. But courts incommodiously +situated, in effect, deny justice, and a court partaking in the fruits of its +own condemnation is a robber. The Congress complain, and complain justly, of +this grievance. + +These are the three consequential propositions I have thought of two or three +more, but they come rather too near detail, and to the province of executive +government, which I wish Parliament always to superintend, never to assume. If +the first six are granted, congruity will carry the latter three. If not, the +things that remain unrepealed will be, I hope, rather unseemly incumbrances on +the building, than very materially detrimental to its strength and stability. + +Here, Sir, I should close, but I plainly perceive some objections remain which I +ought, if possible, to remove. The first will be that, in resorting to the +doctrine of our ancestors, as contained in the preamble to the Chester Act, I +prove too much, that the grievance from a want of representation, stated in that +preamble, goes to the whole of legislation as well as to taxation, and that the +Colonies, grounding themselves upon that doctrine, will apply it to all parts of +legislative authority. + +To this objection, with all possible deference and humility, and wishing as +little as any man living to impair the smallest particle of our supreme +authority, I answer, that the words are the words of Parliament, and not mine, +and that all false and inconclusive inferences drawn from them are not mine, for +I heartily disclaim any such inference. I have chosen the words of an Act of +Parliament which Mr. Grenville, surely a tolerably zealous and very judicious +advocate for the sovereignty of Parliament, formerly moved to have read at your +table in confirmation of his tenets. It is true that Lord Chatham considered +these preambles as declaring strongly in favor of his opinions. He was a no less +powerful advocate for the privileges of the Americans. Ought I not from hence to +presume that these preambles are as favorable as possible to both, when properly +understood; favorable both to the rights of Parliament, and to the privilege of +the dependencies of this Crown? But, Sir, the object of grievance in my +Resolution I have not taken from the Chester, but from the Durham Act, which +confines the hardship of want of representation to the case of subsidies, and +which therefore falls in exactly with the case of the Colonies. But whether the +unrepresented counties were de jure or de facto [Footnote: 64] bound, the +preambles do not accurately distinguish, nor indeed was it necessary; for, +whether de jure or de facto, the Legislature thought the exercise of the power +of taxing as of right, or as of fact without right, equally a grievance, and +equally oppressive. + +I do not know that the Colonies have, in any general way, or in any cool hour, +gone much beyond the demand of humanity in relation to taxes. It is not fair to +judge of the temper or dispositions of any man, or any set of men, when they are +composed and at rest, from their conduct or their expressions in a state of +disturbance and irritation. It is besides a very great mistake to imagine that +mankind follow up practically any speculative principle, either of government or +of freedom, as far as it will go in argument and logical illation. We Englishmen +stop very short of the principles upon which we support any given part of our +Constitution, or even the whole of it together. I could easily, if I had not +already tired you, give you very striking and convincing instances of it. This +is nothing but what is natural and proper. All government, indeed every human +benefit and enjoyment, every virtue, and every prudent act, is founded on +compromise and barter. We balance inconveniences; we give and take; we remit +some rights, that we may enjoy others; and we choose rather to be happy citizens +than subtle disputants. As we must give away some natural liberty to enjoy civil +advantages, so we must sacrifice some civil liberties for the advantages to be +derived from the communion and fellowship of a great empire. But, in all fair +dealings, the thing bought must bear some proportion to the purchase paid. None +will barter away the immediate jewel of his soul. [Footnote: 65] Though a great +house is apt to make slaves haughty, yet it is purchasing a part of the +artificial importance of a great empire too dear to pay for it all essential +rights and all the intrinsic dignity of human nature. None of us who would not +risk his life rather than fall under a government purely arbitrary. But although +there are some amongst us who think our Constitution wants many improvements to +make it a complete system of liberty, perhaps none who are of that opinion would +think it right to aim at such improvement by disturbing his country, and risking +everything that is dear to him. In every arduous enterprise we consider what we +are to lose, as well as what we are to gain; and the more and better stake of +liberty every people possess, the less they will hazard in a vain attempt to +make it more. These are the cords of man. Man acts from adequate motives +relative to his interest, and not on metaphysical speculations. Aristotle, the +great master of reasoning, cautions us, and with great weight and propriety, +against this species of delusive geometrical accuracy in moral arguments as the +most fallacious of all sophistry. + +The Americans will have no interest contrary to the grandeur and glory of +England, when they are not oppressed by the weight of it; and they will rather +be inclined to respect the acts of a superintending legislature when they see +them the acts of that power which is itself the security, not the rival, of +their secondary importance. In this assurance my mind most perfectly acquiesces, +and I confess I feel not the least alarm from the discontents which are to arise +from putting people at their ease, nor do I apprehend the destruction of this +Empire from giving, by an act of free grace and indulgence, to two millions of +my fellow-citizens some share of those rights upon which. I have always been +taught to value myself. + +It is said, indeed, that this power of granting, vested in American Assemblies, +would dissolve the unity of the Empire, which was preserved entire, although +Wales, and Chester, and Durham were added to it. Truly, Mr. Speaker, I do not +know what this unity means, nor has it ever been heard of, that I know, in the +constitutional policy of this country. The very idea of subordination of parts +excludes this notion of simple and undivided unity. England is the head; but she +is not the head and the members too. Ireland has ever had from the beginning a +separate, but not an independent, legislature, which, far from distracting, +promoted the union of the whole. Everything was sweetly and harmoniously +disposed through both islands for the conservation of English dominion, and the +communication of English liberties. I do not see that the same principles might +not be carried into twenty islands and with the same good effect. This is my +model with regard to America, as far as the internal circumstances of the two +countries are the same. I know no other unity of this Empire than I can draw +from its example during these periods, when it seemed to my poor understanding +more united than it is now, or than it is likely to be by the present methods. + +But since I speak of these methods, I recollect, Mr. Speaker, almost too late, +that I promised, before I finished, to say something of the proposition of the +noble lord on the floor, which has been so lately received and stands on your +Journals. I must be deeply concerned whenever it is my misfortune to continue a +difference with the majority of this House; but as the reasons for that +difference are my apology for thus troubling you, suffer me to state them in a +very few words. I shall compress them into as small a body as I possibly can, +having already debated that matter at large when the question was before the +Committee. + +First, then, I cannot admit that proposition of a ransom [Footnote: 66] by +auction; because it is a mere project. It is a thing new, unheard of; supported +by no experience; justified by no analogy; without example of our ancestors, or +root in the Constitution. It is neither regular Parliamentary taxation, nor +Colony grant. Experimentum in corpore vili [Footnote: 67] is a good rule, which +will ever make me adverse to any trial of experiments on what is certainly the +most valuable of all subjects, the peace of this Empire. + +Secondly, it is an experiment which must be fatal in the end to our +Constitution. For what is it but a scheme for taxing the Colonies in the ante- +chamber of the noble lord and his successors? To settle the quotas and +proportions in this House is clearly impossible. You, Sir, may flatter yourself +you shall sit a state auctioneer, with your hammer in your hand, and knock down +to each Colony as it bids. But to settle, on the plan laid down by the noble +lord, the true proportional payment for four or five and twenty governments +according to the absolute and the relative wealth of each, and according to the +British proportion of wealth and burthen, is a wild and chimerical notion. This +new taxation must therefore come in by the back door of the Constitution. Each +quota must be brought to this House ready formed; you can neither add nor alter. +You must register it. You can do nothing further, for on what grounds can you +deliberate either before or after the proposition? You cannot hear the counsel +for all these provinces, quarrelling each on its own quantity of payment, and +its proportion to others If you should attempt it, the Committee of Provincial +Ways and Means, or by whatever other name it will delight to be called, must +swallow up all the time of Parliament. + +Thirdly, it does not give satisfaction to the complaint of the Colonies. They +complain that they are taxed without their consent, you answer, that you will +fix the sum at which they shall be taxed. That is, you give them the very +grievance for the remedy. You tell them, indeed, that you will leave the mode to +themselves. I really beg pardon--it gives me pain to mention it--but you must be +sensible that you will not perform this part of the compact. For, suppose the +Colonies were to lay the duties, which furnished their contingent, upon the +importation of your manufactures, you know you would never suffer such a tax to +be laid. You know, too, that you would not suffer many other modes of taxation, +so that, when you come to explain yourself, it will be found that you will +neither leave to themselves the quantum nor the mode, nor indeed anything. The +whole is delusion from one end to the other. + +Fourthly, this method of ransom by auction, unless it be universally accepted, +will plunge you into great and inextricable difficulties. In what year of our +Lord are the proportions of payments to be settled? To say nothing of the +impossibility that Colony agents should have general powers of taxing the +Colonies at their discretion, consider, I implore you, that the communication by +special messages and orders between these agents and their constituents, on each +variation of the case, when the parties come to contend together and to dispute +on their relative proportions, will be a matter of delay, perplexity, and +confusion that never can have an end. + +If all the Colonies do not appear at the outcry, what is the condition of those +assemblies who offer, by themselves or their agents, to tax themselves up to +your ideas of their proportion? The refractory Colonies who refuse all +composition will remain taxed only to your old impositions, which, however +grievous in principle, are trifling as to production. The obedient Colonies in +this scheme are heavily taxed, the refractory remain unburdened. What will you +do? Will you lay new and heavier taxes by Parliament on the disobedient? Pray +consider in what way you can do it. You are perfectly convinced that, in the way +of taxing, you can do nothing but at the ports. Now suppose it is Virginia that +refuses to appear at your auction, while Maryland and North Carolina bid +handsomely for their ransom, and are taxed to your quota, how will you put these +Colonies on a par? Will you tax the tobacco of Virginia? If you do, you give its +death-wound to your English revenue at home, and to one of the very greatest +articles of your own foreign trade. If you tax the import of that rebellious +Colony, what do you tax but your own manufactures, or the goods of some other +obedient and already well-taxed Colony? Who has said one word on this labyrinth +of detail, which bewilders you more and more as you enter into it? Who has +presented, who can present you with a clue to lead you out of it? I think, Sir, +it is impossible that you should not recollect that the Colony bounds are so +implicated in one another,--you know it by your other experiments in the bill +for prohibiting the New England fishery,--that you can lay no possible +restraints on almost any of them which may not be presently eluded, if you do +not confound the innocent with the guilty, and burthen those whom, upon every +principle, you ought to exonerate. He must be grossly ignorant of America who +thinks that, without falling into this confusion of all rules of equity and +policy, you can restrain any single Colony, especially Virginia and Maryland, +the central and most important of them all. + +Let it also be considered that, either in the present confusion you settle a +permanent contingent, which will and must be trifling, and then you have no +effectual revenue; or you change the quota at every exigency, and then on every +new repartition you will have a new quarrel. + +Reflect, besides, that when you have fixed a quota for every Colony, you have +not provided for prompt and punctual payment. Suppose one, two, five, ten years' +arrears. You cannot issue a Treasury Extent against the failing Colony. You must +make new Boston Port Bills, new restraining laws, new acts for dragging men to +England for trial. You must send out new fleets, new armies. All is to begin +again. From this day forward the Empire is never to know an hour's tranquillity. +An intestine fire will be kept alive in the bowels of the Colonies, which one +time or other must consume this whole Empire. I allow indeed that the empire of +Germany raises her revenue and her troops by quotas and contingents; but the +revenue of the empire, and the army of the empire, is the worst revenue and the +worst army in the world. + +Instead of a standing revenue, you will therefore have a perpetual quarrel. +Indeed, the noble lord who proposed this project of a ransom by auction seems +himself to be of that opinion. His project was rather designed for breaking the +union of the Colonies than for establishing a revenue. He confessed he +apprehended that his proposal would not be to their taste. I say this scheme of +disunion seems to be at the bottom of the project; for I will not suspect that +the noble lord meant nothing but merely to delude the nation by an airy phantom +which he never intended to realize. But whatever his views may be, as I propose +the peace and union of the Colonies as the very foundation of my plan, it cannot +accord with one whose foundation is perpetual discord. + +Compare the two. This I offer to give you is plain and simple. The other full of +perplexed and intricate mazes. This is mild; that harsh. This is found by +experience effectual for its purposes; the other is a new project. This is +universal; the other calculated for certain Colonies only. This is immediate in +its conciliatory operation; the other remote, contingent, full of hazard. Mine +is what becomes the dignity of a ruling people--gratuitous, unconditional, and +not held out as a matter of bargain and sale. I have done my duty in proposing +it to you. I have indeed tired you by a long discourse; but this is the +misfortune of those to whose influence nothing will be conceded, and who must +win every inch of their ground by argument. You have heard me with goodness. May +you decide with wisdom! For my part, I feel my mind greatly disburthened by what +I have done to-day. I have been the less fearful of trying your patience, +because on this subject I mean to spare it altogether in future. I have this +comfort, that in every stage of the American affairs I have steadily opposed the +measures that have produced the confusion, and may bring on the destruction, of +this Empire. I now go so far as to risk a proposal of my own. If I cannot give +peace to my country, I give it to my conscience. + +But what, says the financier, is peace to us without money? Your plan gives us +no revenue. No! But it does; for it secures to the subject the power or refusal, +the first of all revenues. Experience is a cheat, and fact a liar, if this power +in the subject of proportioning his grant, or of not granting at all, has not +been found the richest mine of revenue ever discovered by the skill or by the +fortune of man. It does not indeed vote you L152,750 11s. 23/4d, nor any other +paltry limited sum; but it gives the strong box itself, the fund, the bank--from +whence only revenues can arise amongst a people sensible of freedom. Posita +luditur arca. [Footnote: 68] Cannot you, in England--cannot you, at this time of +day--cannot you, a House of Commons, trust to the principle which has raised so +mighty a revenue, and accumulated a debt of near 140,000,000 in this country? Is +this principle to be true in England, and false everywhere else? Is it not true +in Ireland? Has it not hitherto been true in the Colonies? Why should you +presume that, in any country, a body duly constituted for any function will +neglect to perform its duty and abdicate its trust? Such a presumption +[Footnote: 69] would go against all governments in all modes. But, in truth, +this dread of penury of supply from a free assembly has no foundation in nature; +for first, observe that, besides the desire which all men have naturally of +supporting the honor of their own government, that sense of dignity and that +security to property which ever attends freedom has a tendency to increase the +stock of the free community. Most may be taken where most is accumulated. And +what is the soil or climate where experience has not uniformly proved that the +voluntary flow of heaped-up plenty, bursting from the weight of its own rich +luxuriance, has ever run with a more copious stream of revenue than could be +squeezed from the dry husks of oppressed indigence by the straining of all the +politic machinery in the world? [Footnote: 70] + +Next, we know that parties must ever exist in a free country. We know, too, that +the emulations of such parties--their contradictions, their reciprocal +necessities, their hopes, and their fears--must send them all in their turns to +him that holds the balance of the State. The parties are the gamesters; but +Government keeps the table, and is sure to be the winner in the end. When this +game is played, I really think it is more to be feared that the people will be +exhausted, than that Government will not be supplied; whereas, whatever is got +by acts of absolute power ill obeyed, because odious, or by contracts ill kept, +because constrained, will be narrow, feeble, uncertain, and precarious. + +"Ease would retract Vows made in pain, as violent and void." + +I, for one, protest against compounding our demands. I declare against +compounding, for a poor limited sum, the immense, ever-growing, eternal debt +which is due to generous government from protected freedom. And so may I speed +in the great object I propose to you, as I think it would not only be an act of +injustice, but would be the worst economy in the world, to compel the Colonies +to a sum certain, either in the way of ransom or in the way of compulsory +compact. + +But to clear up my ideas on this subject: a revenue from America transmitted +hither--do not delude yourselves--you never can receive it; no, not a shilling. +We have experience that from remote countries it is not to be expected. If, when +you attempted to extract revenue from Bengal, you were obliged to return in loan +what you had taken in imposition, what can you expect from North America? For +certainly, if ever there was a country qualified to produce wealth, it is India; +or an institution fit for the transmission, it is the East India Company. +America has none of these aptitudes. If America gives you taxable objects on +which you lay your duties here, and gives you, at the same time, a surplus by a +foreign sale of her commodities to pay the duties on these objects which you tax +at home, she has performed her part to the British revenue. But with regard to +her own internal establishments, she may, I doubt not she will, contribute in +moderation. I say in moderation, for she ought not to be permitted to exhaust +herself. She ought to be reserved to a war, the weight of which, with the +enemies [Footnote: 71] that we are most likely to have, must be considerable in +her quarter of the globe. There she may serve you, and serve you essentially. + +For that service--for all service, whether of revenue, trade, or empire--my +trust is in her interest in the British Constitution. My hold of the Colonies is +in the close affection which grows from common names, from kindred blood, from +similar privileges, and equal protection. These are ties which, though light as +air, [Footnote: 72] are as strong as links of iron. Let the Colonists always +keep the idea of their civil rights associated with your government,--they will +cling and grapple to you, [Footnote: 73] and no force under heaven will be of +power to tear them from their allegiance. But let it be once understood that +your government may be one thing, and their privileges another, that these two +things may exist without any mutual relation, the cement is gone [Footnote: 74]- +-the cohesion is loosened--and everything hastens to decay and dissolution. As +long as you have the wisdom to keep the sovereign authority of this country as +the sanctuary of liberty, the sacred temple consecrated to our common faith, +wherever the chosen race and sons of England worship freedom, they will turn +their faces towards you. The more they multiply, the more friends you will have; +the more ardently they love liberty, the more perfect will be their obedience. +Slavery they can have anywhere--it is a weed that grows in every soil. They may +have it from Spain; they may have it from Prussia. But, until you become lost to +all feeling of your true interest and your natural dignity, freedom they can +have from none but you. This is the commodity of price of which you have the +monopoly. This is the true Act of Navigation which binds to you the commerce of +the Colonies, and through them secures to you the wealth of the world. Deny them +this participation of freedom, and you break that sole bond which originally +made, and must still preserve, the unity of the Empire. Do not entertain so weak +an imagination as that your registers and your bonds, your affidavits and your +sufferances, your cockets and your clearances, are what form the great +securities of your commerce. Do not dream that your letters of office, and your +instructions, and your suspending clauses, are the things that hold together the +great contexture of the mysterious whole. These things do not make your +government. Dead instruments, passive tools as they are, it is the spirit of the +English communion that gives all their life and efficacy to them. It is the +spirit of the English Constitution which, infused through the mighty mass, +pervades, feeds, unites, invigorates, vivifies every part of the Empire, even +down to the minutest member. + +Is it not the same virtue which does everything for us here in England? Do you +imagine, then, that it is the Land Tax Act which raises your revenue? that it is +the annual vote in the Committee of Supply which gives you your army? or that it +is the Mutiny Bill which inspires it with bravery and discipline? No! surely no! +It is the love of the people; it is their attachment to their government, from +the sense of the deep stake they have in such a glorious institution, which +gives you your army and your navy, and infuses into both that liberal obedience +without which your army would be a base rabble, and your navy nothing but rotten +timber. + +All this, I know well enough, will sound wild and chimerical to the profane herd +[Footnote: 75] of those vulgar and mechanical politicians who have no place +among us; a sort of people who think that nothing exists but what is gross and +material, and who, therefore, far from being qualified to be directors of the +great movement of empire, are not fit to turn a wheel in the machine. But to men +truly initiated and rightly taught, these ruling and master principles which, in +the opinion of such men as I have mentioned, have no substantial existence, are +in truth everything, and all in all. Magnanimity [Footnote: 76] in politics is +not seldom the truest wisdom; and a great empire and little minds go ill +together. If we are conscious of our station, and glow with zeal to fill our +places as becomes our situation and ourselves, we ought to auspicate [Footnote: +77] all our public proceedings on America with the old warning of the church, +Sursum corda! [Footnote: 78] We ought to elevate our minds to the greatness of +that trust to which the order of providence has called us. By adverting to the +dignity of this high calling our ancestors have turned a savage wilderness into +a glorious empire, and have made the most extensive and the only honorable +conquests--not by destroying, but by promoting the wealth, the number, the +happiness, of the human race. Let us get an American revenue as we have got an +American empire. English privileges have made it all that it is; English +privileges alone will make it all it can be. + +In full confidence of this unalterable truth, I now, quod felix faustumque sit, +[Footnote: 79] lay the first stone of the Temple of Peace; and I move you-- + +"That the Colonies and Plantations of Great Britain in North America, consisting +of fourteen separate governments, and containing two millions and upwards of +free inhabitants, have not had the liberty and privilege of electing and sending +any Knights and Burgesses, or others, to represent them in the High Court of +Parliament." + + + + +FOOTNOTES + +[Footnote: 1. grand penal bill. This bill originated with Lord North. It +restricted the trade of the New England colonies to England and her +dependencies. It also placed serious limitations upon the Newfoundland +fisheries. The House of Lords was dissatisfied with the measure because it did +not include all the colonies.] + +[Footnote: 2. When I first had the honor. Burke was first elected to Parliament +Dec. 26, 1765. He was at the time secretary to Lord Rockingham, Prime Minister. +Previous to this he had made himself thoroughly familiar with England's policy +in dealing with her dependencies--notably Ireland.] + +[Footnote: 3. my original sentiments. After many demonstrations both in America +and England the Stamp Act became a law in 1765. One of the first tasks the +Rockingham ministry set itself was to bring about a repeal of this act. Burke +made his first speech in support of his party. He argued that the abstract and +theoretical rights claimed by England in matters of government should be set +aside when they were unfavorable to the happiness and prosperity of her colonies +and herself. His speech was complimented by Pitt, and Dr. Johnson wrote that no +new member had ever before attracted such attention.] + +[Footnote: 4. America has been kept in agitation. For a period of nearly one +hundred years the affairs of the colonies had been intrusted to a standing +committee appointed by Parliament. This committee was called "The Lords of +Trade." From its members came many if not the majority of the propositions for +the regulation of the American trade. To them the colonial governors, who were +appointed by the king, gave full accounts of the proceedings of the colonial +legislatures. These reports, often colored by personal prejudice, did not always +represent the colonists in the best light. It was mainly through the influence +of one of the former Lords of Trade, Charles Townshend, who afterwards became +the leading voice in the Pitt ministry, that the Stamp Act was passed.] + +[Footnote: 5. a worthy member. Mr. Rose Fuller.] + +[Footnote: 6. former methods. Condense the thought in this paragraph. Are such +"methods" practised nowadays?] + +[Footnote: 7. paper government. Burke possibly had in mind the constitution +prepared for the Carolinas by John Locke and Earl of Shaftesbury. The scheme was +utterly impracticable and gave cause for endless dissatisfaction.] + +[Footnote: 8. Refined policy. After a careful reading of the paragraph determine +what Burke means by "refined policy."] + +[Footnote: 9. the project. The bill referred to had been passed by the House on +Feb. 27. It provided that those colonies which voluntarily voted contributions +for the common defence and support of the English government, and in addition +made provision for the administration of their own civil affairs, should be +exempt from taxation, except such as was necessary for the regulation of trade. +It has been declared by some that the measure was meant m good faith and that +its recognition and acceptance by the colonies would have brought good results. +Burke, along with others of the opposition, argued that the intention of the +bill was to cause dissension and division among the colonies. Compare 7, 11-12. +State your opinion and give reasons.] + +[Footnote: 10. the noble lord in the blue ribbon Lord North (1732-1792) He +entered Parliament at the age of twenty-two, served as Lord of the Treasury, +1759; was removed by Rockingham, 1765; was again appointed by Pitt to the office +of Joint Paymaster of the Forces, became Prime Minister, 1770, and resigned, +1781 Lord North is described both by his contemporaries and later histonaus as +an easy-going, indolent man, short-sighted and rather stupid, though obstinate +and courageous. He was the willing servant of George III, and believed in the +principle of authority as opposed to that of conciliation. The blue ribbon was +the badge of the Order of the Garter instituted by Edward III Lord North was +made a Knight of the Garter, 1772. Burke often mentions the "blue ribbon" in +speaking of the Prime Minister. Why?] + +[Footnote: 11. Colony agents. It was customary for colonies to select some one +to represent them in important matters of legislation. Burke himself served as +the agent of New York. Do you think this tact accounts in any way for his +attitude in this speech?] + +[Footnote: 12. our address Parliament had prepared an address to the king some +months previous, in which Massachusetts was declared to be in a state of +rebellion. The immediate cause of this address was the Boston Tea Party. The +lives and fortunes of his Majesty's subjects were represented as being in +danger, and he was asked to deal vigorously not only with Massachusetts but with +her sympathizers.] + +[Footnote: 13. those chances. Suggested perhaps by lines in Julius Caesar, IV., +iii., 216-219:-- + + "There is a tide in the affairs of men, + Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune; + Omitted, all the voyage of their life + Is bound in shallows and in miseries."] + +[Footnote: 14. according to that nature and to those circumstances. Compare with +8. Point out the connection between the thought here expressed and Burke's idea +of "expediency."] + +[Footnote: 15. great consideration. This paragraph has been censured for its too +florid style. It may be rather gorgeous and rhetorical when considered as part +of an argument, yet it is very characteristic of Burke as a writer. In no other +passage of the speech is there such vivid clear-cut imagery. Note the +picturesque quality of the lines and detect if you can any confusion in +figures.] + +[Footnote: 16. It is good for us to be here. Burke's favorite books were +Shakespeare, Milton, and the Bible. Trace the above sentence to one of these.] + +[Footnote: 17. + "Facta parentun + Jam legere et quae sit poteris cognoscere virtus." + --VIRGIL'S Eclogues, IV., 26, 27] + +Notice the alteration. Already old enough to study the deeds of his father and +to know what virtue is. + +[Footnote: 18. before you taste of death. Compare 16.] + +[Footnote: 19. Roman charity. This suggests the more famous "Ancient Roman +honor" (Merchant of Venice, III., 11, 291). The incident referred to by Burke is +told by several writers. A father condemned to death by starvation is visited in +prison by his daughter, who secretly nourishes him with milk from her breasts.] + +[Footnote: 20. complexions. "Mislike me not for my COMPLEXION."--M. V. Is the +word used in the same sense by Burke?] + +[Footnote: 21. the thunder of the state. What is the classical allusion?] + +[Footnote: 22. a nation is not governed. + + "Who overcomes By force hath overcome but half his foe" + --Paradise Lost, 1, 648, 649.] + +[Footnote: 23. Our ancient indulgence. "The wise and salutary neglect," which +Burke has just mentioned, was the result of (a) the struggle of Charles I. with +Parliament, (b) the confusion and readjustment at the Restoration, (c) the +Revolution of 1688, (d) the attitude of France in favoring the cause of the +Stuarts, (e) the ascendency of the Whigs. England had her hands full in +attending to affairs at home. As a result of this the colonies were practically +their own masters in matters of government. Also the political party known as +the Whigs had its origin shortly before William and Mary ascended the throne. +This party favored the colonies and respected their ideas of liberty and +government.] + +[Footnote: 24. great contests. One instance of this is Magna Charta. Suggest +others.] + +[Footnote: 25. Freedom is to them Such keen analysis and subtle reasoning is +characteristic of Burke It is this tendency that justifies some of his admirers +in calling him "Philosopher Statesman". Consider his thought attentively and +determine whether or not his argument is entirely sound. Is he correct in +speaking of our Gothic ancestors?] + +[Footnote: 26. Abeunt studia in mores. Studies become a part of character.] + +[Footnote: 27. winged ministers of vengeance. A figure suggested perhaps by +Horace, Odes, Bk. IV., 4: "Ministrum fulmims alitem"--the thunder's winged +messenger.] + +[Footnote: 28. the circulation. The Conciliation, as all of Burke's writings, is +rich in such figurative expressions. In every instance the student should +discover the source of the figure and determine definitely whether or not his +author is accurate and suggestive.] + +[Footnote: 29. its imperfections. + + "But sent to my account + With all my imperfections upon my head." + --Hamlet, I, v, 78, 79.] + +[Footnote: 30. same plan. The act referred to, known as the Regulating Act, +became a law May 10, 1774. It provided (a) that the council, or the higher +branch of the legislature, should be appointed by the Crown (the popular +assemblies had previously selected the members of the council); (b) that +officers of the common courts should be chosen by the royal governors, and (c) +that public meetings (except for elections) should not be held without the +sanction of the king. These measures were practically ignored. By means of +circular letters the colonies were fully instructed through their +representatives. As a direct result of the Regulating Act, along with other +high-handed proceedings of the same sort, delegates were secretly appointed for +the Continental Congress on Sept. 1 at Philadelphia. The delegates from +Massachusetts were Samuel Adams, John Adams, Robert Paine, and Thomas Cushing.] + +[Footnote: 31. their liberties. Compare 24] + +[Footnote: 32. sudden or partial view. Goodrich, in his Select British +Eloquence, speaking of Burke's comprehensiveness in discussing his subject, +compares him to one standing upon an eminence, taking a large and rounded view +of it on every side. The justice of this observation is seen in such instances +as the above. It is this breadth and clearness of vision more than anything else +that distinguishes Burke so sharply from his contemporaries.] + +[Footnote: 33. three ways. How does the first differ from the third?] + +[Footnote: 34. Spoliatis arma supersunt. Though plundered their arms still +remain.] + +[Footnote: 35. your speech would betray you. "Thy speech bewrayeth thee"--Matt. +xxvi 73. There is much justice in the observation that Burke is often verbose, +yet such paragraphs as this prove how well he knew to condense and prune his +expression. It is an excellent plan to select from day to day passages of this +sort and commit them to memory for recitation when the speech has been +finished.] + +[Footnote: 36. to persuade slaves. Does this suggest one of Byron's poems?] + +[Footnote: 37. causes of quarrel. The Assembly of Virginia in 1770 attempted to +restrict the slave trade. Other colonies made the same effort, but Parliament +vetoed these measures, accompanying its action with the blunt statement that the +slave trade was profitable to England. Observe how effectively Burke uses his +wide knowledge of history.] + +[Footnote: 38. ex vi termini. From the force of the word.] + +[Footnote: 39. abstract right. Compare with 14; also 8. Point out connection in +thought.] + +[Footnote: 40. Act of Henry the Eighth. Burke alludes to this in his letter to +the sheriffs of Bristol in the following terms: "To try a man under this Act is +to condemn him unheard. A person is brought hither in the dungeon of a ship +hold; thence he is vomited into a dungeon on land, loaded with irons, +unfurnished with money, unsupported by friends, three thousand miles from all +means of calling upon or confronting evidence, where no one local circumstance +that tends to detect perjury can possibly be judged of;--such a person may be +executed according to form, but he can never be tried according to justice."] + +[Footnote: 41. correctly right. Explain.] + +[Footnote: 42. Paradise Lost, II., 392-394.] + +[Footnote: 43. This passage should be carefully studied. Burke's theory of +government is given in the Conciliation by just such lines as these. Refer to +other instances of principles which he considers fundamental in matters of +government.] + +[Footnote: 44. exquisite. Exact meaning?] + +[Footnote: 45. trade laws. What would have been the nature of a change +beneficial to the colonies?] + +[Footnote: 46. English conquest. At Henry II.'s accession, 1154, Ireland had +fallen from the civilization which had once flourished upon her soil and which +had been introduced by her missionaries into England during the seventh century. +Henry II. obtained the sanction of the Pope, invaded the island, and partially +subdued the inhabitants. For an interesting account of England's relations to +Ireland the student should consult Green's Short History of the English People.] + +[Footnote: 47. You deposed kings. What English kings have been deposed?] + +[Footnote: 48. Lords Marchers. March, boundary. These lords were given +permission by the English kings to take from the Welsh as much land as they +could. They built their castles on the boundary line between the two countries, +and when they were not quarrelling among themselves waged a guerilla warfare +against the Welsh. The Lords Marchers, because of special privileges and the +peculiar circumstances of their life, were virtually kings--petty kings, of +course.] + +[Footnote: 49. "When the clear star has shone upon the sailors, the troubled +water flows down from the rocks, the winds fall, the clouds fade away, and, +since they (Castor and Pollux) have so willed it, the threatening waves settle +on the deep."--HORACE, Odes, I., 12, 27-32.] + +[Footnote: 50. Opposuit natura. Nature opposed.] + +[Footnote: 51. no theory. Select other instances of Burke's impatience with +fine-spun theories in statescraft] + +[Footnote: 52. Republic of Plato Utopia of More Ideal states + Consult the Century Dictionary] + +[Footnote: 53. + "And the DULL swain + Treads daily on it with his clouted shoon" + --MILTON'S Comus, 6, 34, 35.] + +[Footnote: 54. the year 1763 The date marks the beginning of the active struggle +between England and the American colonies. The Stamp Act was the first definite +step taken by the English Parliament in the attempt to tax the colonies without +their consent.] + +[Footnote: 55. legal competency. This had been practically recognized by +Parliament prior to the passage of the Stamp Act. In Massachusetts the Colonial +Assembly had made grants from year to year to the governor, both for his salary +and the incidental expenses of his office. Notwithstanding the fact that he was +appointed (in most cases) by the Crown, and invariably had the ear of the Lords +of Trade, the colonies generally had things their own way and enjoyed a +political freedom greater, perhaps, than did the people of England.] + +[Footnote: 56. This is not my doctrine, but that of Ofellus; a rustic, yet +unusually wise] + +[Footnote: 57. Compare in point of style with 43, 22-25; 44, 1-6 In what way do +such passages differ from Burke's prevailng style? What is the central thought +in each paragraph?] + +[Footnote: 58. misguided people. There is little doubt that the colonists m many +instances were misrepresented by the Lords of Trade and by the royal governors. +See an interesting account of this in Fiske's American Revolution.] + +[Footnote: 59. an Act. Passed in 1767. It provided for a duty on imports, +including tea, glass, and paper.] + +[Footnote: 60 An Act. Boston Post Bill.] + +[Footnote: 61. impartial administration of justice. This provided that if any +person in Massachusetts were charged with murder, or any other capital offence, +he should be tried either in some other colony or in Great Britain] + +[Footnote: 62. An Act for the better regulating See 87, 23. ] + +[Footnote: 63. Trial of Treasons See 50, 20.] + +[Footnote: 64. de jure. According to law. de facto. According to fact.] + +[Footnote: 65. jewel of his soul. + + "Good name in man and woman, dear my lord, + Is the immediate jewel of their souls" + --Othello, III, iii, 155,156.] + +[Footnote: 66. proposition of a ransom. See 8, 13.] + +[Footnote: 67. An experiment upon something of no value.] + +[Footnote: 68. They stake their fortune and play.] + +[Footnote: 69. Such a presumption Is Burke right in this? Select instances which +seem to warrant rest such a presumption. Discuss the political parties of +Burke's own day from this point of view.] + +[Footnote: 70. What can you say about the style of this passage? Note the +figure, sentence structure, and diction. Does it seem artificial and +overwrought? Compare it with 43, 22-25; 44. 1-6; also with 90, 23-25, 91, 1-25, +92, 1-23.] + +[Footnote: 71. enemies. France and Spain.] + +[Footnote: 72. light as air. + + "Trifles light as air + Are to the jealous confirmations strong + As proofs of holy writ" + --Othello, III, iii, 322-324] + +[Footnote: 73. grapple to you. + "The friends thou hast and their adoption tried + Grapple them to thy soul with hooks of steel" + --Hamlet, I., iii, 62,63.] + +[Footnote: 74. the cement is gone. Figure?] + +[Footnote: 75. profane herd. + + "Odi profanum volgus et arceo" + I hate the vulgar herd and keep it from me + --Horace, Odes, III, 1, 1] + +[Footnote: 76. Magnanimity. Etymology?] + +[Footnote: 77. auspicate Etymology and derivation?] + +[Footnote: 78. Sursum corda. Lift up your hearts.] + +[Footnote: 79. quod felix faustumque sit. May it be happy and fortunate.] + + + + + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, BURKE'S SPEECH ON CONCILIATION WITH AMERICA *** + +This file should be named burke10.txt or burke10.zip +Corrected EDITIONS of our eBooks get a new NUMBER, burke11.txt +VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, burke10a.txt + +Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US +unless a copyright notice is included. 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