Votes. furnished the ministerial benches with plausible reasous, at least, for carrying him through by their He sometimes refreshed himself with a uap during these attacks; and on one occasion, when the orator, who had been threatening him with the block for his crimes, poured out an invective against him for being able to slumber over the ruin of his country, Lord North rose and complained of it as cruel that he should be denied a privilege always granted to criminals, that of a good night's rest before going to execution. After his union with Mr. Fox, when Mr. Marta, wh> harped continually on the subject, said "he wished he could see a starling perched on the right elbow of the speaker's chair, to repeat incessantly to the Treasury Bench 'disgraceful, shameless COALITION,'" Lord North suggested it would be a saving of expense to have the honorable gentleman himself perform the service, as deputy to the starling. In one instance, when the worst possible spirit prevailed in the House, arising out of an attack made by Colonel Fullerton on Lord Shelburne, and Mr. Adam on Mr. Fox (leading to a duel in the latter case), Lord North attempted to allay the feeling, and check SPEECH OF MR. BURKE ON MOVING HIS RESOLUTIONS FOR CONCILIATION WITH AMERICA, DELIVERED IN THE HOUSE OF COMMONS, MARCH 22, 1775. INTRODUCTION. THIS speech was occasioned by one of those sudden changes of policy which occurred so often in Lord North's treatment of the colonies. In the midst of violent measures, and at the moment when bills were before Parliament for extinguishing the entire trade of America, he came forward, to the astonishment of his nearest friends, with a plan for conciliation! It was in substance this, that, whenever a colony, in addition to providing for its own government, should raise a fair proportion for the common defense, and place this sum at the disposal of Parliament, that colony should be exempted from all farther taxation, except such duties as might be nec essary for the regulation of commerce. This was obviously an insidious scheme for sowing dissension among the Americans. Lord North's design was to open the way for treating separately with the differ ent provinces. He could thus favor the loyal and burden the disaffected. He could array them against each other by creating hostile interests; and thus taking them in detail, he could reduce them all to complete subjection. There was cunning in the scheme, but it proceeded on a false estimate of American character. It sprung from a total ignorance of the spirit which actuated the colonies in resisting the mother country; and exemplified in a striking manner the truth of the remarks made by Mr. Burke in the preceding speech, on "the mischief of not having large and liberal ideas in the management of great affairs." While Mr. Burke saw through this scheme, he thought it presented a favorable opportunity for bringing forward a plan of conciliation suited to the exigencies of the case; a plan which, if not adopted, might at least put the ministry wholly in the wrong. The idea of conciliating, and even of conceding, before America Lad submitted, was certainly admissible, for the minister himself had founded his scheme upon it Mi Barke, therefore, proposed "to admit the Americans to an equal interest in the British Constitution, at place them at once on the footing of other Englishmen." In urging this measure, he discusses two Lestions: 1st. "Ought we to concede?" and if so, 2dly. "What should the concessior. be?" coun. In considering the first question, he enters minutely, and with surprising accuracy of detail, into the condition of the colonies, (1.) their population, (2.) commerce, (3.) agriculture, and (4.) fisheries. He shows that force is an improper and inadequate instrument for holding such a people in subjection to the mother cou try; especially considering their spirit of liberty, which he traces to (1.) their descent, (2.) their forms of government, (3) the religious principles of the North, (4) the social institutions of the South, (5.) the pecu. liarities of their education, and (6.) their remoteness from Great Britain. He concludes this head by show ing that it is vain to think either (1.) of extinguishing this spirit by removing the causes mentioned above 'since this is plainly impossible), or (2.) of putting it down by proceeding against it as criminal. Ha com.es, therefore, to the conclusion that it must be propitiated; or, in other words, that Englan 1 must con rede. He now considers, 2dly. "What should the concession be?" He remarks that it must obviously relate to taxation, since this was the origin of the contest; and ther appeals to the case of Ireland, which was early allowed a Parliament of its own, and of Wales, Chester, and Durham, which were admitted to a representation in the Parliament of England. After obviating ob jections, and exposing the evils of Lord North's scheme, he comes to the conclusion that the Americans ought (as in the cases adduced) to be admitted to the peculiar privilege of Englishmen, that of "giving and granting," through their own Legislatures, whatever they contributed in aid of the Crown and act be subjected to the imposition of taxes by a Parliament in which they were not represented. He there. fore offers six main resolutions asserting these principles, and three subordinate ones for rescinding the penal statutes against America, thus carrying the plan of conciliation into full effect. After the sketch here given, it is hardly necessary to say that this speech is distinguished for the felic itous selection of its topics; the lucid order in which they are arranged; their close connection; the ease with which one thought grows out of another in a regular and progressive series; and the tendency of the whole to a single point, with all the force and completeness of a moral demonstration. The argument throughout is founded on facts; and yet never was there a speech which had less the character of a mere "matter of fact" production than the one before us. The outline just given is filled up with thoughts fresh from a mind teeming with original and profound reflections on the science of government and the nature of man. There are more passages in this than in any other of Mr. Burke's speeches, which have been admired and quoted for the richness of their imagery, or the force and beauty of their descriptions. The language was evidently elaborated with great care; and Sir James Mackintosh nas pronounced it "the most faultless of Mr. Burke's productions." SPEECH, &c. I HOPE, sir, that, notwithstanding the austerity of the chair, your good nature will incline you to some degree of indulgence toward 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 ill, 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 voice," &c. bill, which seemed to have taken its flight fur ever, 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. that requires sy'a Surely it is an awful subject, or there is none so on this side of the grave. When The 1 ibject one I first had the honor of a seat in this tematic views. 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 every thing 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, amid so vast a fluctuation of passions and opinions, to concenter 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 manraised into publicly, to have fresh principles to seek upon every fresh mail which should arrive from America. There is too much that is fanciful in some parts of this exordium. A man who was wholly absorbed in his subject would not talk thus about himself, or about "the austerity of the chair," "indulgence toward human frailty," being "inclined to superstition," "a fortunate omen," "a superior warning It was this that made Mr. Hazlitt say, "Most of his speeches have a sort of parliamentary preamble to them: there is an air of affected modesty, and ostentatious trifling in them: he seems fond of coqueting with the House of Commons, and is perpetually calling the speaker out to dance a minuet with him before he begins." This is strongly stated, but it shows a fault in Mr. Burke, which was often spoken of by his contemporaries. Hazlitt at tributes it to his having been life: he was prouder of his new dignity than be came so great a man." Perhaps a truer solution is, that Mr. Burke's fancy too ften outran his judgment, which was certainly the occasion of most of his ercors in composition. 2 An act interdicting the trade and fisheries of all the New England colonies. self in perfect concurrence with a large majority At that period I had the fortune to find my in this House. Bowing under that high author This was in 1766, when the Stamp Act was re pealed by the Rockingham administration ity, and penetrated with the sharpness and strength of that early impression, I have continued ever since in my original sentiments without the least deviation. 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 abjects, made, during, this interval, more frequent changes in their sentiment and their conduct than could be justified in a particular person upon the contracted scale of private information. But though I do not hazard any thing 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. Every thing administered as remedy to the public complaint, if it did not produce, was at least followed by, a 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 terras of any description. Mr. Burke invi ward. In this posture, sir, things stood at the beginning of the session. About that time, ted to come for a worthy member [Mr. Rose Fuller] of great parliamentary experience, who, in the year 1766, filled the chair of the Amerjean 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 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; while 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. to do so. men. I felt the truth of what my honorable friend Reluctance represented, but I felt my situation too. His application might have been made with far greater propriety to many other gentleNo man was. indeed, ever better disposed or worse qualified for such an undertaking than myself. Though I gave so far into 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 'mpotence 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, 1 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, nor of any politics in which the plan is to be wholly separated from the execution. But when I saw that ange, and violence prevailed every day more and more, and that things were hastening toward 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 leveler, 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 cir cumstances usually produces timidity. I grew less anxious, even from the idea of my own insig nificance. For, judging of what you are by what you ought to be, I persuaded myself that you would not reject a reasonable proposition be cause it had nothing but its reason to recom. mend it. On the other hand, being totally destitute of all shadow of influence, natural or adven titious, 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 hunt- The thing ed through the labyrinth of intricate and proposed. 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 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 per manent 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 ever has been the parent of confusion, and ever wili 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 a 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 rec. ommend it to the pruriency of curious ears. There is nothing at all new and captivating in t. It has nothing of the splendor of the project which has been lately laid upon your table by the noble Lord in the blue ribbon' [Lord North]. It does not propose to fill your lobby with squabbling colony agents, who will require the interposition of your mace at every instant to keep the peace among 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. North's proj ect. The plan which I shall presume to suggest The plan jus derives, however, one great advantage tified by Lord 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," notwithstanding our heavy bill 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 exert ing the right of taxation were not wholly un founded. That right, thus exerted, is allowed to have had something reprehensible in it, some thing unwise, or something grievous; since, in the midst of our heat and resentment, we, of our selves, have proposed a capital alteration, and in order to get rid of what seemed so very ex ceptionable, have instituted a mode that is alto gether 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 pres ent, 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 attrib uted 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 which, as they happen to all men, arc 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. I. 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, That when the governor, council, or Assembly, or General Court of any of his Majesty's provinces or colonies in America, shall propose to make provision, according to the condition, circumstances, and situation of such province or colony, for contributing their proportion to the common defense (such proportion to be raised under the authority of the General Court or General Assembly of such province or colony, and disposable by Parliament), and shall engage to make provision also for the support of the civil government and the administration of justice in such province or colony, it will be proper, if such proposal shall be approved by his Majesty and the two houses of Parlia- The true nature and the peculiar circum ment, and for so long as such provision shall be made stances of the object which we have accordingly, to forbear, in respect of such province before us; because, after all our strug. consideration or colony, to levy any duty, tax, or assessment, or to gle, whether we will or not, we must cumstances of impose any farther duty, tax, or assessment, except such duties as it may be expedient to continue to govern America according to that nalevy or impose for the regulation of commerce: the ture and to those circumstances, and not accordnet produce of the duties last mentioned to be caring to our imaginations; not according to abstract ried to the account of such province or colony respectively.-Resolution moved by Lord North in the committee, and agreed to by the House, 27th February, 1775. The ministry had previously procured the passing of an address to the King, declaring that a rebellion existed in Massachusetts; requesting his Majesty to take effectual means for its suppression; and pledging the zealous co-operation of Parliament in whatever measures he might adopt for that purpose. First genera! America 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. (1.) The first thing that we have to conside with regard to the nature of the oljeet, is the Population. with great ability, by a distinguished person [Mr. Gower] at your bar. This gentleman, after thir. ty-five years-it is so long since he 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 con mercial interest of his country, formed by a lorg course of enlightened and discriminating experience. 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 Sir, I should be inexcusable in coming after that part of the world, that, state the numbers such a person with any detail, if a great part of as high as we will, while the dispute continues, the members who now fill the House had not the exaggeration ends. While we are discuss- the misfortune to be absent when he appeared ing any given magnitude, they are grown to it. at your bar. Besides, sir, I propose to take the While we spend our time in deliberating on the matter at periods of time somewhat different mode of governing two millions, we shall find from his. There is, if I mistake not, a point of we have two millions more to manage. Your view, from whence, if you will look at this subchildren do not grow faster from infancy to man-ject, it is impossible that it should not make an hood, than they spread from families to commu- impression upon you. nities, 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 You could at no time do so without guilt; and, be assured, you will not be able to do it long with impunity. race. (2.) But the population of this country, the great and growing population, though Commerce. 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 I have in my hand two accounts: one a com. parative state of the export trade of England tc 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. 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.... To Africa..... £483 86,663 £569,930 This is in Mr. Burke's best style. The compar ison beautifully illustrates the idea, and justifies his assertion, that while "the dispute continues, the exaggeration ends." It is curious to observe, as one of the artifices of language, how Johnson treats the same idea in his Taxation no Tyranny, where he In the year 1772, which I take as a middle contrives to cover it with contempt in the minds of year between the highest and lowest of those latethe Tories, for whom he wrote, by a dexterous usely laid on your table, the account was as follows. of sneers and appropriate imagery. "We are told that the continent of North America contains three millions, not merely of men, but of Whigs-of Whigs fierce for liberty and disdainful of dominion; that they multiply with the fecundity of their rattésukes, so that every quarter of a century they double their numbers!" His conclusion is, that hey mast be crushed in the egg. To North America and the West To Africa.. To which, if you add the export £4,791,734 866,398 364,000 £6 022,398 |