Part 4

There is indeed one North Briton of whom I entertain a better hope.—He seems to have caught that itch for liberty, which, to our great wonder, broke out in the Highlands last summer. He, Sir, even in the character of his M[ajest]y’s Commissi[o]ner, solicited the intimacy of _General Washington_. But indeed, Sir, if ever a Scotchman can be suspected of loving liberty, it is not when he has recently become a convert to Administration: _Washington_ therefore sent his Excellency, the worthy Commissioner, a flat refusal.—Mr. _Laurens_ too refused his Excellency the hearing he so generously solicited by imploring Congress, “_not to follow the example of Br[i]t[ai]n in the hour of her insolence_;” the _hearing_ was however refused, nay even the “_sight of the country_,” and “_the sight of its worthy patriots_” was peremptorily refused. The Americans, Sir, think that a Scotchman has neither eyes nor ears for liberty, or, at least, they distrusted the capacity of his Excellency’s organs for such an object.—I have a letter, Sir, in my pocket from my honest friend Ethan Allen; I would read it, but I am sure you won’t let me: He knows I am fond of scripture quotations, and tells me Congress would have given your Scotch commissioner this _hearing_, but they knew “he was like unto the deaf adder, who regardeth not the voice of the charmer.”

Let me then trouble his Excellency with one question; who was it suggested this secret correspondence with the enemy? was it not the Scottish secretary of this wise commission, Dr. Adam Ferguson? It must have been one of Sir John Dalrymple’s associates in literature. The Scotch, if they can get no Englishman to act, as they pretend to say the great Sidney did, will make even their own countrymen treacherous in one age, to furnish some literary assassin of the next with the foul vouchers of treachery and baseness. At all events, Sir, I shall heartily give my vote for the amendment, as the only means to convict the M[i]n[i]stry of what I know they are guilty, weakness, incapacity, ignorance, obstinacy, baseness, and treachery.

[Sidenote: Governor J[o]hns[o]n.]

_Governor J[o]hns[o]n_[7] now rose, and said every thing that a Gentleman in his melancholly situation could be supposed to urge. Spoke much of the want of candour in putting a false construction on his actions, which he could assure the House, upon his honour, were all dictated by the best intentions; that he should not undertake to enter into a full defence of his conduct at present, as it was a very delicate business, and turned upon a very nice chain of circumstances. One part of the charges against him he would slightly touch upon, his letters, and what he supposed was meant to be hinted at, his attempts of bribery. That the artful policy of France had made it necessary for him to parry her attacks by similar weapons; that he believed it was felt and would be admitted by all parts of that House, that there is no greater spring of public actions, in all political assemblies, than _self-interest_. That he felt himself justified in his own mind for every step he had taken, for he would venture to affirm, that in every negociation true wisdom and sound policy justified the moral fitness of secret articles, and the honourable expediency of powerful temptations. As to the failure of success, on the part of the commissioners, various causes had concurred to occasion it. They were sent to treat of peace with a retreating army. Philadelphia, the chief residence of the moderate men, and most friendly to their negociation, was evacuated by the army, on the Commissioners arrival. A little after they had got to New-York, Mons. D’Estaign was upon the coast. These circumstances gave spirits to a declining cause; and America, _in this hour of her insolence_, refused to treat, unless her independence was specifically acknowledged.

What followed afterwards is a very serious business, indeed; but I trust I shall be pardoned by a noble Lord opposite to me, high in character, and in the esteem of his country, if I freely say, as my opinion, that Monsieur D’Estaign’s fleet ought to have been attacked by the Br[i]t[i]sh at Rhode-Island, as soon as the French came out of the harbour to fight them. And I will further say, considering the spirit, the gallantry, and the heroism of the British Seamen, the inequality of the force of the fleets was not sufficient to justify the not attacking the French fleet, without waiting a length of time to gain the weather guage, and trusting so long as the Engl[i]sh fleet did there to an unruly element. Sir, in the actions in the West-Indies, between the English and French fleets, last war, where the former were greatly inferior both in number and weight of metal, the French were beat off and obliged to fly for it. So, in the case of the Monmouth, the Dorsetshire, and several other instances, inferiority in the outset of the contest proved victorious in the end. I will not, however, dwell upon matters which merely depend upon opinion, and upon which the best officer in the world may be mistaken. But, Sir, after the tempest at Rhode-Island, when the Noble Lord returned to New-York to refit, was not time lost? the very time that might have been employed in separating D’Estaign from Boston harbour? I might say, Sir, in the defeat of D’Estaign; for, after the arrival of some of B[y]r[o]n’s squadron, the Noble Lord was superior to him.⸺It is a very unpleasant task to speak out, but I cannot avoid giving my opinion as a seaman, and as one upon the spot, acquainted with the delays in this business.

Upon the whole, Sir, my opinion, in a very few words is this: The violent and impolitic measures of the M[i]n[i]stry of this country first lost America⸺the Br[i]t[i]sh army might have regained it⸺and our fleet has lost more than one opportunity of crushing that of France, upon which American resistance chiefly depended for protection and support.

[Sidenote: Lord H[o]we.]

_Lord H[o]we_ and _Mr. R[i]gby_ now rose; but the house appearing inclined to give the former an immediate opportunity to reply, Mr. R[i]gby sat down, and Lord H[o]we, in very modest yet pointed terms, remarked on the unfairness which, he must say, the Honourable Gentleman who spoke last, had discovered both in the design and manner of his speech. That, first, to avoid entering into the motives and principles of his own conduct, as being more proper objects for a particular committee of enquiry, and then to launch out into vague and desultory accusations of any other person, was inconsistent, and, he was sorry to add, illiberal. That whatever prejudices those reflections were intended to create against his conduct, he would not then interrupt the business of the day, and the more general subjects of the present debate, but trust to the candour of the house for suspending their opinion, until the whole of his conduct might be minutely investigated by a committee appointed for that purpose; which committee, he himself should be the first man in that house to solicit, nay demand.

[Sidenote: Mr. R[i]gby.]

_Mr. R[i]gby._⸺I should not, Sir, have troubled the house on this first day, but that I felt it the indispensable duty of private friendship, to express my feelings on the happy return of our worthy Commissioner, who has given you, Sir, so full and satisfactory an account both of his principles and conduct.⸺I shall not trouble you long, Sir; I rise only for that purpose.⸺I am sure there is no Gentleman in this house, who more heartily congratulates the worthy Commissioner on his unembarrassed countenance and his good looks. He certainly has passed the summer very profitably—the voyage seems to have improved his stock of spirits—I think, I never saw him appear to more advantage—I own, however, I sincerely regret the unpoliteness of his American friends. After such condescending invitations of himself, it was not very civil of those Gentlemen to send excuses—If he had been admitted to their society, I have no manner of doubt of the wonderful effects his eloquence would have wrought. Even if they had allowed him a sight of the country, a man of his taste would have brought us home some curious American memoirs: but, alas! he was not only disappointed in that wish, but in one of a still gentler kind. I mean, Sir, a _Flirtation Treaty_, which he _attempted_, to negotiate with a celebrated female politician, the _Messalina of Congress_. I say attempted, Sir; for unfortunately even there too his Excellency met with as cold a reception. Unfortunately! for, had the Lady indulged him with a _hearing_, or even a _sight_, what surer line to lay the foundation of a more lasting connection? But, in short, Sir, whether from fate or insufficiency, the affair dropt, and the _Flirtation Treaty_ fell to the ground⸺ ⸺Sir, I trouble the house very seldom, and with as few words as possible⸺my opinion continues to be what it invariably has been, with respect to America—this country may be deprived of its interests, its dignity, and its honour; but, as I never can give my assent to a voluntary surrender of them, I most heartily agree in the support which the address proposes to afford to his M[ajest]y.

[Sidenote: Mr. T. T[o]wns[e]nd.]

Mr. _T. T[o]wns[e]nd_ rose, and with great vehemence arraigned the levity of the Right Honourable Gentleman who spoke before him; he thought it highly indecent, at this important crisis, when the very existence of this country is at stake, that any Gentleman should endeavour to raise a laugh, and turn the momentous deliberations of that day into ridicule. Under such circumstances, in his opinion, jocularity was flagitious, and wit became blasphemy. He had, himself, sat in three P[a]rl[ia]m[e]nts, and he appealed to the candour of that house, whether in that length of time he had once raised a laugh, or on any occasion intentionally distorted the muscles of any Honourable Member? “No Sir, the true design of our meeting here, is for far other purposes than those of calling forth the risibility of Honourable Gentlemen: a risibility at any time highly improper for this house, but particularly so at this tremendous, this disgraceful moment.—It is with the highest astonishment that I now see Gentlemen shifting their places, as if already tired of public business, or afraid to look into the deplorable and calamitous situation of this country: nay, so great is their inattention to their duty in P[a]rl[ia]m[e]nt, that, upon my rising, I find the house almost cleared—where are the Members?—I am afraid—at dinner! Is this a time for revelling in taverns, when the dignity of the Imperial Crown of this country is violated, and much harm done to our merchants?—Is this a time for revelling, when the glory of Britannia, Sir, I say, is sullied, and when, Sir, the French are riding on your narrow seas.”⸺He then entered into a copious detail of the blunders of Administration, with respect to Falkland’s Islands, the Middlesex Election, Corsica, and the massacre in St. George’s Fields, Gibraltar, and Mr. Horne’s imprisonment; together with cursory observations on the illegality of impressing, the bad policy of Lotteries, the fatal example of the Justitia, and the tremendous perils to this devoted country from the frequent exhibition of the Beggar’s Opera.⸺At length, returning a little closer to the question, he again animadverted on the surprising inattention of the House: “Yet Sir, (he exclaimed) before I sit down let me ask Ministers a few questions—I do not expect any answer from them, yet I will ask them⸺Is Dominica the only one of our West India Islands now in the possession of France? Are we to go on for ever with the American war?—Who are our allies?—Is Omiah to pay us another visit?—Where is Sir Harry Cl[i]nt[o]n?⸺How is the Czarina affected?—What will D’Estaign do after Christmas?⸺Where will the Brest fleet be next summer?⸺If Ministers will not, and I know they dare not, answer these questions, then Sir, how, in God’s name, can they refuse the papers called for by the noble Lord’s Amendment? From those papers, I pledge myself to the house, the whole of these nefarious proceedings will be brought to light—discouraged, as I well might be, from again pledging my person, (having been the constant and unredeemed pledge of this House, for one thing or another, for these one and twenty years last past,) I repeat it, Sir, I will pledge the reversion of myself, that these papers will furnish us with all necessary and constitutional information.—And, for these reasons, Sir, the Amendment meets with my most hearty concurrence.”

[Sidenote: Mr. V[y]n[e]r.]

Mr. _V[y]n[e]r_ professed himself to be one of the independant Country Gentlemen, and took occasion to inform the house, that five Indiamen arrived in the River Thames about six weeks ago.—He said he embraced this earliest opportunity to repeat his offer of fifteen shillings in the pound, if Ministers would but seriously go on with the war, which, for his part, he now considered in a new point of view—for, as a great statesman had once boasted to have conquered, in his time, America in Germany, so he would hope and believe, that we, in our days, might conquer France in America.—And here, from regretting the loss of that great statesman, he fell into a train of melancholy thoughts, which led him insensibly to a pathetic eulogy on the memory of his dear departed friend, the well-known Mr. _Van_.—“A long course of congenial studies (he exclaimed, with torrents of tears and frequent sobs) had entwined our hearts in political sympathy—we had but one idea between us!—Yes, Sir, I repeat it, but one—Well therefore may I say with the Poet,

In infancy our hopes and fears Were to each other known, And friendship in our riper years, Had twined our hearts in one.”

Here he broke off, oppressed with a flood of tears, while a confused noise of _encore_ and _order_ resounded from several parts of the house. At length, when the uproar began to subside, and Gentlemen became collected enough to proceed on business,

[Sidenote: Hon. T. L[u]ttr[e]l.]

_Hon. T. L[uttre]l_ rose, and with great solemnity, addressed himself to the chair in the following words:⸺Notwithstanding the general silence, which, I find, it is the fashion for Ministers of this day not only to hold themselves, but likewise to encourage in others, on the important subject of maritime affairs, I cannot, Sir, acquiesce in so culpable a silence, nor content myself with sitting still, until the close of the debate, to be numbered with the tacit votes in its disfavour. Sir, the Navy, I have ever considered not only as the true and constitutional safe-guard of this insular territory, but as the very spirit and soul of all traffic, the quintessence of merchandize, and indeed, I may say, the palladium of commerce. With this view, Sir, my studies have ever tended to the investigation of the origin of that stupendous piece of mechanism, a ship.⸺Noah, Sir, was, in my opinion, the first circumnavigator—(I beg to be understood, I mean no reflection on the memory of Sir Francis Drake)—he was therefore, Sir, justly entitled to the highest situation in the naval department of that early period—take him for all in all, we shall not look upon his like again—though, in truth, there are traits in his character not totally dissimilar to some leading features of the noble Earl who is now at the head of that department—But it is not for me to draw the parallel.

Sir, The Phœnicians

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It was a custom also among the Chaldeans and the Nazareens

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Recollect, Sir, when news was brought to the Persians

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So the Macedonians

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In like manner the Lacedemonians, and the Athenians

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Thus too the Carthagenians

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Here let me call your attention to the Romans and Syracusians

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Need I remind you of the northern hive, or trouble you with the Goths and Vandals?

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So too, Sir, the Chinese

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At length, Mr. Sp[ea]k[e]r, the Danes, Dutch, Swedes, Venetians, Neapolitans, Spaniards, French, Portuguese, Muscovites, Turks, Saracens, and others, that I skip over to avoid tediousness

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And to bring it home to our feelings, the ancient Britons, hardy Welch, Milesians, wild Irish, Saxons, Picts, Normans, English, and _Regattaites_ rush upon our mind, and

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From this historical deduction, I cannot but think, Sir, navigation highly necessary, highly favourable to liberty.

If, Sir, I wanted any additional reason for opposing the address, it would best arise from the shameful neglect and inattention to those brave and humane French officers, (particularly the Captain of the Licorne,) lately on their parole at Alresford, half of whom, indeed, ministry have cruelly suffered to run away. Besides, Sir, let us advert to the wretched deficiency in our late naval equipments.⸺I have it, Sir, from undoubted authority, that the several ships crews laboured under a total deprivation of Tobacco. Tobacco! that staple commodity of our once flourishing subjects, now, alas, our avowed enemies, in Virginia, and the Southern colonies.—Sir, not only the quota of Gin was miserably retrenched, but adultery, so congenial to the _Noah_ of this day, pervaded every keg in the Royal Navy.—Sir, I myself know it for a fact, that the speaking trumpet of the Albion was sent out in so wretched a condition, that, in haling a fishing-boat, (I believe a cod-smack) off Scilly, the second mate cracked his pipe, and half the crew have been hoarse ever since—some of your ships, Sir, wanted their complement of Chaplains:—and in others, I will not say that I know there were not surgeons, but I will say, I do _not_ know that there were. Sir, more fatal consequences have arisen from a strange neglect of vegetables—Potatoes, radically rotten!—Carrots, diabolically dry!—Turnips, totally tough!—Parsnips, pitifully putrid!⸺Scurvy, Sir, Scurvy, like the angry Dæmon of Pestilence, has lighted up everlasting bon-fires in the blotched brows and cicatracious cheeks of your scarified seamen; so that every crew has flashed contagion, and reeked like a floating Pest-house, with the baneful exhalations of disease.—And now, Sir, that I’m on my legs, a word or two to trowzers—Such is the pitiful œconomy of Administration, such the paltry treachery of Contractors, that, what from an original coarseness of yarn, what, from the more pernicious and slovenly texture of the workmanship, not a trowzer but gaped with lacerations, whose expanded apertures discovered what⸺the P[a]rl[ia]m[e]nt[a]ry decorum of this house, forbids me to reveal. Spurred on by such powerful incentives, I take this earliest occasion to give notice to the house, that I shall move, on this day fortnight, for the house to resolve itself into a Committee, in order to take into consideration the several weighty grievances, the outline of which I have just now had the honour to give you a rude sketch.—When, I shall also move you, Sir, that the several Maltsters, Distillers of Gin, Venders of Tobacco, Traders in Trowzers, Retailers of Rum, Picklers of Pork, and Purveyors of Potatoes, together with their several servants, followers, apprentices and retainers, be ordered to attend this house _de die in diem_, to answer all such questions and matters touching the said enquiry, as shall be put to them by the Committee so to be appointed.—In the mean time, Sir, I shall give my hearty concurrence to the noble Lord’s Amendment, as promising to afford some degree of preliminary information, which may tend to illustrate the more important matter in the Enquiry which I have now proposed to set on foot.

[Sidenote: Mr. P[e]nt[o]n.]

Mr. _P[e]nt[o]n_, in reply, begged pardon for troubling the house, but hoped they would indulge him in a few words, as he felt himself particularly called on to answer some reflections which the Honourable Gentleman, who had spoke last, had thought proper to throw out against that board where he had the honour to sit.—He said, that, at the time of the fitting out of Mr. K[e]pp[e]l’s fleet, he had made it his business to be very much at Portsmouth, where, though it was a task exceedingly repugnant to his private feelings and taste, he had, however, considered it as an official service incumbent on one in his department, to personally experiment the several provisions and stores prepared for that equipment. That, impelled by such motives, he had, on several occasions, drank the small beer, not unfrequently tasted the gin, and sometimes smoak’d, nay chewed the tobacco; that, in his humble opinion, they were all super-excellent in their several kinds. And, as to the imputed delinquency relative to potatoes, he could assure the house, he had bought up several tuns of the same species, for the consumption of his own family—nay, he would go further, he would venture to acquaint that house, that with some of those very identical potatoes, he had lately had the happiness and honour to regale a certain Great Personage, then his guest; a personage indeed of too high a rank to have his name even alluded to, though on so weighty, and so important a business.

[Sidenote: Mr. B[urke].]