DOCUMENTS BEARING ON TREATY OF 1783. 197 



number, at Niagara, at that very moment, living at the expense of 

 Great Britain. They cost the nation an amazing sum. In the name 

 of policy, why not stipulate for their return and peaceable possession 

 of their native lands ? Humajiity, interest, policy required it. There 

 was a stipulation of the kind in the 15th article of the treaty of 

 Utrecht ; and the same thing was done in the capitulation of Quebec. 

 By the treaty of Utrecht they were called the five nations under 

 the dominion of the British Crown; but we were peculiarly bound 

 to protect them, by the good faith and the obligation, of our own 

 treaties with them. In 1701, they made over their dwelling and hunt- 

 ing lands to England, on the solemn condition that they should be 

 protected for ever. In 1726, the treaty was renewed; the King ac- 

 cepted it in trust for ever, and pledged himself to defend it. Again, 

 in 1746, the compact was repeated at different Congresses; and in a 

 variety of meetings the most solemn assurances had been given to these 

 unhappy people from the Crown, that they should be for ever pro- 

 tected. Who would approve of the restitution of Albany? and who, 

 that had any feeling for men of honour, would approve of our giving 



up and abandoning Sir -William Johnson? Above 20,000/. 

 119 sterling of his estates were confiscated already; his voluntary 



zeal in our service, his conduct in heading the Indians, in order 

 to moderate their cruelty, was laudable in the extreme ; and the effects 

 that he had produced by his influence among them, were spoken of 

 in the highest terms of praise. How different was his reward now, 

 and in the l&st war! At that period the House of Commons voted 

 Sir William Johnson a reward in money, and they addressed the 

 King to confer on him a mark of honour which he now bears. 

 ******* 



He no% came to his last point, the loyalists. On this subject, the 

 noble Earl who moved the amendment, had spoken with so much feel- 

 ing, that he believed he had made a very strong impression on every 

 one who had heard him. He assured their Lordships, that the noble 

 Earl had most forcibly aroused his feelings, and he could neither 

 think nor speak of the dishonour of our treatment of those deserving 

 men with patience. Their claim upon us was self-evident ; they had 

 been invited to join us by our own acts; it was a parliamentary war, 

 and therefore it was the more incumbent on the legislature to protect 

 them. The Crown had no separate interest in the war ; the addresses 

 to the King from every part of the country, proved that the people 

 of England considered the war as necessary, since its object was the 

 preservation of our just dominion. Parliament should be consistent. 

 He begged their Lordships to look at the resolutions of Parliament 

 in 1766, and see by them, if, in order to be consistent, they ought not 

 to have observed a very different conduct in regard to the loyalists. 

 The noble Lord pointed out the fallacy of the fifth and sixth articles, 

 and*he asked if any one of their Lordships entertained just expecta- 

 tions, as the address stated, that these articles would be complied 

 with? The address stated, that Congress had undertaken to recom- 

 mend it to the provincial assemblies, and it was no such thing; Con- 

 gress has not yet ratified the treaty : perhaps they had said, that they 

 would ratify the treaty ; but it should have been stated on the face of 

 it, that the American commissioners had produced their full powers 

 as the European ministers had done. These full powers ought not 



92909 S. Doc. 870, 61-3, vol 7 18 



