218 APPENDIX TO BRITISH COUNTEE CASE. 



Debate in the Commons on Lord John Cavendish's Resolutions of 

 Censure on the terms of the Peace. Feb. SI. 



Lord John Cavendish, [moved a series of resolutions, of which the 

 fourth and fifth were as follows: ] 



4. The concessions made to the adversaries of Great Britain, by the said 

 provisional treaty and preliminary articles, are greater than they were entitled 

 to, either from the actual situation of their respective possessions, or from 

 their comparative strengtji. 



5. That this House do feel the regard due from this nation to every descrip- 

 tion of men, who, with the risk of their lives, and the sacrifice of their property, 

 have distinguished their loyalty, and been conspicuous for their fidelity during 

 a long and calamitous war, and to assure His Majesty, that they shall take 

 every proper method to relieve them which the state of the circumstances of 

 this country will permit 



******* 



[Sir W. Dolben renewed his point as to the King's power to make 

 the treaty.] 



**** 



The Attorney-General .... 



For the present, it was enough for him to say, that the Act of last 

 session clearly gave His Majesty a right to recognise the independence 

 of America ; and it was obvious, that the Americans, standing in the 

 predicament of persons declared to be rebels at the time of passing 

 the Act, it was necessary to word it in the general and cautious man- 

 ner, in which it stood upon the statute book. 



******* 



131 Sir Adam Ferguson declared himself ready to subscribe to 

 the opinion, that the Act of last session gave the Crown the 

 power in question, but he nevertheless thought His Majesty had ex- 

 ceeded the Act, and had gone farther than he had any legal or con- 

 stitutional authority to go. What he meant was the cession to the 

 United States of America, of a great part of the province of Quebec, 

 and of Nova Scotia. 



******* 



Mr. Chancellor Pitt .... 



We have acknowledged American independence that, Sir, was a* 

 needless form: the incapacity of the noble Lord who conducted our 

 affairs; the events of war, and even a vote of this House, had already 

 granted what it was impossible to withhold. 



******* 



[The report of the debate ends in this way : ] 



The question being put, " That the concessions made to the adver- 

 saries of Great Britain, by the said provisional treaty and preliminary 

 articles, are greater than they were entitled to, either from the actual 

 situation of their respective possessions, or from their comparative 

 strength:" the House divided at half past three o'clock, when the 

 numbers were, 



Tellers. 



_ a /Lord Maitland 

 Yeas \Mr. Byng 



.... /Lord Mahon ---------------------------------------------------- \ 1Q _ 



Noes \Mr. Macdonald __________________________________________________ /" 



Majority for censuring the terms of the peace, -------------------- 17. 



Lord John Cavendish then withdrew the motion relative to the 

 loyalists, and the House adjourned. 



