or colour of any writ, commission, or instruction of or from any person or persons, reputed, or taken to be, or claiming or exercising the power of commander in chief of the continental army in America, or of any provincial army, or commander of any army, or body of troops whatsoever, within any of his majesty's colonies in America, by sea or land, or of any magistrate or officer, within any of the said colonies, or by any pretence, warrant, or command whatsoever, from them, or any of them, or their, or any of their respective counsel or counsels, or any member of such counsel or counsels, or from any person or persons whatsoever, deriving, or pretending to derive authority from them, or any of them, be pardoned, released, indemnified, discharged, and put in utter oblivion. "And that all and every the person and persons, acting, advising, assisting, abetting, and counselling the same, they, their heirs, executors, and administrators, be, and are hereby pardoned, released, acquitted, indemnified, and discharged from the same; and of and from all pains of death, and other pains, judgments, indictments, informations, convictions, attainders, outlawries, penalties, escheats, and forfeitures, and every of them, and all grants thereupon made, and all estates derived under the same, be and are hereby declared and enacted to be from henceforth null and void; extinguishing all actions, suits, demands, and prosecutions, civil or criminal, public or private, except for the restoration of such estates as have been, or shall be, seized from the owners, during the troubles; and for restoring to the said owners the mean profits of the same. Provided, that arms not taken up by his majesty's authority, shall be laid down by our subjects in the said provinces, within The bill was ably supported, and the debate long and interesting; most of the leaders and able speakers in opposition having taken a part in it. They were also powerfully opposed; and the previous question, which was moved by Governor Pownall, was carried upon a division, at near four o'clock in the morning, by a majority of just two to one, the numbers being 105 for the motion, and 210 against it. rth and Lord George Germain, Lord John Cavendish, ugh astonished at the contents, and the extraordinary aner in which they were imparted to the public, congratued the House on the gleam of peace and conciliation. Parment, he said, had been treated with the most mortifying ntempt; commissioners were sent out with powers only to rant pardons, and receive submissions; yet, wonderful to late, parliament is informed, through the channel of a news...aper, that those commissioners are authorized to answer irectly for the sovereign, and obliquely for the concurrence of the other two branches of the legislature, in revising all acts, by which the Americans are aggrieved. Parliament were educed to cyphers in the whole conduct of the business; they were called on, by way of requisition, to sanction acts which would render them abhorred by their fellow-subjects in every part of the empire; but when an appearance of lenity is shewn, all the merit was attributed to the king and his ministers. Yet if the proposals were sincere, he would not found objections on mere punctilios; to give the negociation more weight and efficacy, parliament ought, as the first proof of a pacific disposition, to co-operate in so desirable a work. It would, besides, restore ministers to confidence; their professions were disbelieved in America; the motion, therefore, he was about to make, would be the means of removing the almost universal opinion that prevailed in America, that every ministerial promise was given with some insidious intention of treachery, deceit, imposition, or to divide them, in order the more easily to break their strength, and subdue them. To remove so strong an impediment to peace and conciliation; to shew we were in earnest, and wished sincerely for both; his lordship moved, "That this House will resolve itself into a committee, to consider of the revisal of all acts of parliament, by which his majesty's subjects in America think themselves aggrieved." Mr. BURKE seconded the motion. He begged to know from the noble lord (North) whether the instructions to the commissioners went the length of the offer of revisal held out in the declaration; for without intrenching on that part of the prerogative which promises a revision of such of the royal instructions as may be construed to lay an evident, that the latter part of the sentence on which the motion was framed, held out a promise of concurrence on the part of the crown, to revise all acts by which his majesty's subjects in America think themselves aggrieved. This he looked upon to be leading parliament, not following it; he should, however, suspend any decisive opinion on the passage, till the noble lord had explained it. The text was before us; he wished the noble lord would rise and give us the comment; for certainly, either the idea held out in the declaration, meant that Great Britain intended to revise and concede, or desired the people of America to lay down their arms, and submit to state their grievances, and we would remedy them, if we thought proper. Lord North said, he should not enter into a critical, literal, or philological interpretation of the passage in the declaration, which gave rise to the present motion. He would, however, assure the honourable gentleman, that administration never meant to relax in pursuing the claims of this country, so long as its legislative authority was disputed. In reply to what fell from the Solicitor-General, Mr. Wedderburn, Mr. BURKE rose again and said: The honourable and learned gentleman has called to his assistance the bayonets of 12,000 Hessians; and as he thinks it absurd to reason at present with the Americans, he tells us, that by the healing, soothing, merciful measure of foreign swords, at the breasts of those unhappy people, their understandings would be enlightened, and they would be enabled to comprehend the subtleties of his logic. It was well said, on another occasion, that your speech demands an army !- and I may say, that the learned gentleman's demands blood; reasoning he says is vain;-the sword must convince the Americans, and clear up their clouded apprehensions. The learned gentleman's abilities surely desert him, if he is obliged to call such a coarse argument as an army to his assistance; not that I mean any thing reflecting on his parts. I always esteem, and - sometimes dread his talents. But has he told you why commissioners were not sent sooner to America? Has he explained that essential point? Not a jot. Why, after the act passed for them, were they delayed full seven months, and not permitted to sail till May; and why was the commission appointing them delayed till the sixth of that month? Answer this. The blood and devastation that followed was owing to this delay; upon your conscience it ought to lay a heavy load. If the measure was right and necessary in order for conciliation, as the king declared in his speech at the opening of that session, why was it not executed at a time in which it could be effectual; instead of being purposely deferred to one when it could not possibly answer any end but that of adding hypocrisy to treachery, and insult and mockery to cruelty and oppression? By this delay you drove the Americans into the declaration of independency; not as a matter of choice, but necessity and now they have declared it, you bring it as an argument to prove, that there can be no other reasoning used with them but the sword. What is this but declaring, that you were originally determined not to prevent, but to punish rebellion; not to use conciliation, but an army; not to convince, but to destroy? Such were the effects of those seven months cruelly lost, to which every mischief that has happened since must be attributed. But still the honourable and learned gentleman persists, that nothing but the commissioners can give peace to America; it is beyond the power of this House. What was the result of the conference with the delegates from the Congress? Why, we are told, that they met in order to be convinced, that taxation is no grievance" no tyranny" used to be the phrase; but that is out of fashion now. Then, Sir, what an insult to all America was it to send as commissioners none but the commanders of the fleet and army to negociate peace! Did it not shew how much you were determined, that the only arguments you meant to use were your broad-swords and broad-sides? Let me assert, |