184 [ABs.«2!ffjB.i,y 



particularly of ttke relative pcwoj" and hnport^nce of thi? com- 

 mercial emporium. 



On the 21st day of'Octoberj 1775. stventy-seren year^ ago this 

 day, during the second session of the fourteenth Parliament of 

 Great Britain, a debate arose in the House of Lords on the sub- 

 ject of the measures proposed in the King's speech, relating to the 

 American colonies. The Journal of the House of Lords informs 

 ns, in lofty and royal phrase, that " His Majesty being seated on 

 the throne, adorned with his crown and regal ornaments, and 

 attended by his officers of state, (the Lords being in their robes,) 

 commanded the Usher of the Black Rod to let the Commons 

 know it was His Majesty's pleasure they attend him immediately 

 in this House ; who being come with their Speaker, His Majesty 

 was pleased to say, that the present situation of Atiurica had de- 

 termined him to call tlum thus early together.-' In the debate 

 which followed, scarcely a doubt was suggested by a single noble 

 Lord, that the rebellious colonies would bo speedily reductni 

 to unconditional 8ubmis>ion ; but an apology was made for the 

 course pursued by the Province of New- York, to which I desire 

 to c-all your attention, as?, a striking illustration of the vast and 

 almost inconceivable change which has since taken place, in the 

 relative irar>ortauce of the State and city in which we aie now 

 assembled, A distinjijuished member of the House of Lords, 

 Earl Gower, rose and said, ^' that the Administration had t»een 

 deceived and misled, and that o<jrisequently the measures taken 

 were by no means proportioned to the natiire and extent of tho 

 service ; that the accounts receive<l from the southern colonies 

 had led to this mistake, and that several other events had hap- 

 pened which it was Impossible to foresee or prevent. Jn particu- 

 lar," he said, " the Province of .^ew- York had been overatced, and 

 compelled by a party of insurgents from Conructicut i/Uo rmasureif- 

 they would never otherwise have adopted.''' 



Such, gentlemen, was the relative position of New-York and 

 Connecticut seventy-seven years ago, in the opinion of a well- 

 informed British statesman. The change which has sinc« taken 

 place fills the mind with astonishment. What was then a pro- 

 viuci^J town, has become a great commercial emporium. Her 



