146 



ests of the mother countiy — the manning of her navy, the increase of 

 her seamen, and the employment of her own people — came in compe- 

 tition with the pretended hardships and severities of the bill, he 

 thought it should not only meet with approbation, but be made per- 

 petual, in order to secure for her so important a branch of commerce; 

 and that the colonies were at present spared by the lenity and mildness 

 ef the government, when fire and sword might be used throughout the 

 whole continent of America. Lord Camden rose, he said, with reluc- 

 tance. He was wearied with the fruitless efforts he had made in oppo- 

 sition to the measures brought forward to overawe and subdue the 

 colonies. The bill then before them was one of war; it drew the 

 s^vord, and, as a necessary consequence, would involve the empire in 

 a civil and unnatural contest. Lord Sandwich declared that the colo- 

 nists were raw, undisciplined, cowardly men; and he wished that, in- 

 stead of forty or fifty thousand of these hrave fellows, they would pro- 

 duce in the held at least two hundred thousand — the more the better ; 

 the easier the conquest : if they did not run away, they would starve 

 fiemselves into compliance with the measures of the a^dministration. 

 The Earl of Shelburne coincided with the views expressed by Lord 

 Camden ; and he charged upon the ministers the most unscrupulous 

 fraud upon Parliament and the country in suppressing whole letters, 

 and in giving only mutilated extracts from others, relating to affairs in 

 America. The Earl of Suffolk, though he disapproved of the msinua- 

 tions against the courage of the Americans made by Lord Sandwich, 

 and though he believed that there were as brave men among them as 

 could be found anywhere, considered that the bill was intended to co- 

 erce the people of New England to submit merely to the just and legal 

 power of" the mother countr}^ and that the faith of Parliament would 

 be pledged to them to restore the fishery as soon as it should appear 

 that they had returned to their former obedience. The Earl of Radnor 

 said that he was going out of the House, not intending to vote on either 

 Side, when he heaixl the last noble earl pledge the faith of Parlia- 

 meiit that so valuable a branch of British commerce was intended to 

 be given up to the New Englanders as a sacrifice for their returning to 

 their daty; the language was improper, and the policy exceptionable 

 in every respect, and he had returned to give his voice against the bill. 

 The Earl of Suffolk explained, but did not satisfy Lord Radnor, who 

 repeated his determination to vote in opposition. The Duke of Grafton 

 had not the least difficulty as to the vote he should give. The bill, in 

 his opinion, was founded on the principle of retaliation and punishment 

 for an outrage as daring as it was unprovoked, still further heightened 

 and aggravated by a resistance to all lawful authority, and almost a 

 positive avowal of" a total independence of the mother countr3^ The 

 Earl of Abington entertained sentiments precisely opposite. Reason, 

 justice, conscience, principle, and instinct, all prompted him to pro- 

 nounce the bill a most diabolic one. How the Right Reverend Bench 

 reconciled it to their consciences, he was unable to conceive: for his 

 part, he put his trust in the Almighty ; and though he knew all he could 

 say would avail nothing against a ministerial majority, yet he cautioned 

 the lords to beware of injustice, since the judicial visitations of Provi- 

 dence generally fell heavy on the heads of those who planned iniquity. 



