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CHAPTER XLIV.

Lord Chatham's Speech on the Address, and his amendment—on the employment of the Indians in North America-on the Returns of the Armyon the Capture of General Burgoyne's ArmyHis motion on the employment of the Indians-His Speech against the motion to adjourn.

PARLIAMENT met on the 18th day of November 1777. The war with America becoming every day more critical, Lord Chatham, though he had scarcely strength to move, foreseeing the fatal consequences of it, was exceedingly ardent in his wish to arrest the evil, in every stage of its progress. He therefore attended on the first day of the Session. Lord Percy having moved the Address, Lord Chatham rose in a little time after.

I rise, my Lords,' he said *, 'to declare my sentiments on this most solemn and serious subject. It has imposed a load upon my mind, which, I fear, nothing can remove; but

* This speech was taken by the same gentleman who took that of the 20th of January 1775, and has been equally esteemed for its accuracy.

which impels me to endeavour its alleviation, by a free and unreserved communication of my senti

ments.

In the first part of the Address, I have the honour of heartily concurring with the noble Earl who moved it. No man feels sincerer joy than I do; none can offer more genuine congratulation on every accession of strength to the Protestant succession: I therefore join in every congratulation on the birth of another princess, and the happy recovery of her Majesty. But I must stop here; my courtly complaisance will carry me further:

I will not join in congratulation on misfortune and disgrace: I cannot concur in a blind and servile address, which approves, and endeavours to sanctify, the monstrous measures which have heaped disgrace and misfortune upon us-which have brought ruin to our doors. This, my Lords, is a^* perilous and tremendous moment! It is not a time for adulation. The smoothness of flattery cannot now avail-cannot save us in this rugged and awful crisis. It is now necessary to instruct the Throne in the language of truth. We must dispel the delusion and the darkness which envelope it; and display, in its full danger and true colours, the ruin that is brought to our doors.

This, my Lords, is our duty; it is the proper

function of this noble assembly, sitting, as we do, upon our honours in this house, the hereditary council of the crown: And who is the ministerwhere is the minister, that has dared to suggest to the Throne the contrary, unconstitutional language this day delivered from it?-The accustomed language from the Throne has been application to Parliament for advice, and a reliance on its constitutional advice and assistance: as it is the right of Parliament to give, so it is the duty of the crown to ask it. But on this day, and in this extreme momentous exigency, no reliance is reposed on our constitutional counsels! no advice is asked from the sober and enlightened care of Parliament ! But the Crown, from itself, and by itself, declares an unalterable determination to pursue measures -and what measures, my Lords?—The measures that have produced the imminent perils that threaten us; the measures that have brought ruin to our doors.

• Can the minister of the day now presume to expect a continuance of support, in this ruinous infatuation? Can Parliament be so dead to its dignity and its duty, as to be thus deluded into the loss of the one, and the violation of the other?To give an unlimited credit and support for the steady perseverance in measures; that is the word and the conduct-proposed for our parliamentary

advice, but dictated and forced upon us-in measures, I say, my Lords, which have reduced this late flourishing empire to ruin and contempt!"But yesterday, and England might have stood against the world; now none so poor to do her reverence." I use the words of a poet; but though it be poetry, it is no fiction. It is a shameful truth, that not only the power and strength of this country are wasting away and expiring; but her well-earned glories, her true honour, and substantial dignity, are sacrificed. France, my Lords, has insulted you; she has encouraged and sustained America ; and whether America be wrong or right, the dignity of this country ought to spurn at the officious insult of French interference. The ministers and ambassadors of those who are called rebels and enemies, are in Paris; in Paris they transact the reciprocal interests of America and France. Can there be a more mortifying insult? Can even our ministers sustain a more humiliating disgrace? Do they dare to resent it? Do they presume even to hint a vindication of their honour, and the dignity of the state, by requiring the dismission of the plenipotentiaries of America? Such is the degradation to which they have reduced the glories of England! The people whom they affect to call contemptible rebels, but whose growing power has at last obtained the name of enemies; the people with whom they have engaged this country

in war, and against whom they now command our ́ implicit support in every measure of desperate hostility: this people, despised as rebels, or acknowledged as enemies, are abetted against you, supplied with every military store, their interests consulted, and their ambassadors entertained, by your inveterate enemy! and our ministers dare not interpose with dignity or effect. Is this the honour of a great kingdom? Is this the indignant spirit of England, who, " but yesterday,” gave law to the House of Bourbon? My Lords, the dignity of nations demands a decisive conduct in a situation like this. Even when the greatest prince that perhaps this country ever saw filled our throne, the requisition of a Spanish general, on a similar subject, was attended to, and complied with; for, on the spirited remonstrance of the duke of Alva, Elizabeth found herself obliged to deny the Flemish exiles all countenance, support, or even entrance into her dominions; and the Count le Marque, with his few desperate followers, was expelled the kingdom. Happening to arrive at the Brille, and finding it weak in defence, they made themselves masters of the place: and this was the foundation of the United Provinces.

My Lords, this ruinous and ignominious situation, where we cannot act with success, nor suffer with honour, calls upon us to remonstrate

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