186 



"■ most oppressive, and worse than any of those they had hitherto 

 «' denied. He was quite satisfied, that the bill was meant for no- 

 *' thing else but to exasperate the colonies into open and direct 

 " rebellion." 



Mr. Burke, pursuing the same idea, and enlarging upon it, applied 

 to the ministry, who brought forward the bill, the passage from 

 Macbeth : 



" I am in blood 

 *' Slept in so far, that should I wade no more, 

 *' Returning were as tedious as go o'er." 



He said " that the scheme was new, and unheard of in any civil- 

 *' ized nation ; to preserve your authority by destroying yourdomi- 

 "nions. It was rather the idea of hostility between independent 

 " states, where one not being able to conquer another, thinks to re- 

 " duce its strength gradually, by destroying its trade and cutting off 

 " its resources." 



On the passage of the bill through the house of lords, there 

 was a protest against it, signed by sixteen peers, among whom are 

 the names of Rockingham, Camden, and Fitzwiiham. Among the 

 reasons of this protest are the following : 



''Because the people of New England, beside? the natural claim 

 " of mankmd to the gifts of Providence on their own coast, are 

 " specially entitled to the fishery by their charters, which have 

 " never been declared forfeited" — 



*' Because we conceive that the attempt which has been made to 

 *' bribe the nation into an acquiescence in this arbitrary act by 

 '' holding out to them (by evidence at the bar,) the spoils of 'the 

 *' rsew England fishery, worth upwards of three hundred thousand 

 " pounds sterhng a year, to be a scheme full of weakness and in- 

 " decency ; of indecency, because it may be suspected that thede- 

 " sire of the confiscation has created the guilt ; weak, because it 

 " supposes that whatever is taken from the colonies is of course to 

 "' be transferred to ourselves. We may trample on the rules of 

 *' justice, but we cannot alter the nature of things. We cannot 

 " convey to Great Britain the advantages of situation which New 

 " England possesses fir the fishery." 



But reason and eloquence were vain : the bill, styled by Mr 

 Burke " the grand penal bill, which passed sentence on the trade 

 "and sustenance of America," was sanctioned by the then usual 

 majorities of both houses of parliament ; and it is thus specially 

 mentioned among the charges against George the third, in the De- 

 claration of Independence : " He has combined with others to sub- 

 ** ject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknow- 

 ^'^ edged by our laws ; giving his assent to their acts oi pretended 



legislation for cutting off our trade with all parts of the 



*' world.^^ ^ -^ 



Had Mr. Russell been a member of the Congress of 1776 with 

 what admiration would that illustrious body have listened to his doc^ 



