The'principle of this
proceeding
is large enough for
my purpose.
my purpose.
Edmund Burke
The gentleman who is not so fortunate as I have been in this contest enjoys, in this respect, a consolation full of honor both to himself
and to his friends. They have certainly left nothing
undone for his service.
As for the trifling petulance which the rage of
party stirs up in little minds, though it should show
itself even in this court, it has not made the slightest
impression on me. The highest flight of such clamorous birds is winged in an inferior region of the air. We hear them, and we look upon them, just as you,
Gentlemen, when you enjoy the serene air on your
lofty rocks, look down upon the gulls that skim the
mud of your river, when it is exhausted of its tide.
I am sorry I cannot conclude without saying a
word on a topic touched upon by my worthy colleague. I wish that topic had been passed by at a
time when I have so little leisure to discuss it. But
? ? ? ? SPEECH AT THE CONCLUSION OF THE POLL. 95 since he has thought proper to throw it out, I owe you a clear explanation of my poor sentiments on that subject.
He tells you that "the topic of instructions has
occasioned much altercation and uneasiness in this
city "; and he expresses himself (if I understand him
rightly) in favor of the coercive authority of such instructions.
Certainly, Gentlemen, it ought to be the happiness
and glory of a representative to live in the strictest
union,;the closest correspondence, and the most unreserved co'mmunication with his constituents. Their
wishes ought to have great weight with him; their
opinions- high respect; their business unremitted attention. It is his duty to sacrifice his repose, his
pleasure, his satisfactions, to theirs, -- and above all,
ever, and in all cases, to prefer their. interest to his
own.
But his unbiased opinion, his mature judgment,
his enlightened conscience, he ought not to sacrifice
to you, to any man, or to ally set of men living.
These he does not derive from your pleasure, --no,
nor from the law and the Constitution. They are a
trust from Providence, for the abuse of which he is
deeply answerable. Your. representative owes you,
not his industry only, but his judgment; and he betrays, instead of serving you, if he sacrifices it to your
opinion.
My worthy colleague says, his will ought to be subservient to yours. If that be all, the thing is innocent. If government were a matter of will upon any side, yours, Without question, ought to be superior.
But government and legislation are matters of reason
and judgment,:and not of inclination; and what sort
? ? ? ? 96 SPEECH AT' THE CONCLUSION OF THE POLL.
of reason is that in which the determination precedes
the discussion,:in which one set of men deliberate
and another decide, and where those who form the
conclusion are perhaps three hundred miles distant
from those who hear the arguments?
To deliver an opinion is the right of all men; that
of constituents is a weighty and respectable opinion,
which a representative ought always to rejoice to
hear, and which he ought always most seriously to
consider. But authoritative instructions, mandates
issued, which the member is bound blindly and implicitly to obey, to vote, and to argue for, though
contrary to the clearest conviction of his judgment
-and conscience, -these are things utterly unknown
to the laws of this land, and which arise from a fundamental mistake of the whole order and tenor of our
Constitution.
Parliament is not a congress of ambassadors from
different and hostile interests, which interests each
must maintain, as an agent and advocate, against other agents and advocates; but Parliament is a deliberative assembly of one nation, with one interest, that of the whole -where not local purposes, not local prejudices, ought to guide, but the general good, resulting
from the general reason of the whole. You choose
a member, indeed; but when you have chosen him,
he is not member of Bristol, but he is a member of
_Parliament. If the local constituent should have
an interest or should form an hasty opinion evidently
opposite to the real good of the rest of the community, the member for that place ought to be as far as
any other from any endeavor to give it effect. I beg
pardon for saying so much on this subject; I have
been unwillingly drawn into it; but I shall ever use
? ? ? ? SPEECH AT THE:CONCLUSION OF THE POLL. 97
a respectful frankness of communication with you.
Your faithful friend, your devoted servant, I shall be
to the end of my life: a flatterer you do not wish for.
On this point of instructions, however, I think it
scarcely possible we ever caii have any sort of difference. Perhaps I may give you too much, rather
than too little trouble.
From the first hour I was encouraged to court your
favor, to this happy day of obtaining it, I have never
promised you anything but humble and persevering
endeavors to do my duty. The weight of that duty,
I confess, makes me tremble; and whoever well considers what it is, of all things in the world, will fly
from what has the least likeness to a positive and precipitate engagement. To be a good member of Parliament is, let me tell you, no easy task, - especially at this time, when there is so strong a disposition to
run into the perilous extremes of servile compliance
or wild popularity. To unite circumspection with
vigor is absolutely necessary, but it is extremely
difficult. We are now members for a rich commercial city; this city, however, is but a part of a rich
commercial nation, the interests of which are various,
multiform, and intricate. We are members for that
great nation, which, however, is itself but part of a
great empire, extended by our virtue and our fortune
to the farthest limits of the East and of the West.
All these wide-spread interests must be considered,must be compared, - must be reconciled, if possible.
We are members for a free country; and surely we
all know that the machine of a free constitution is no
simple thing, but as intricate and as delicate as it is
valuable. We are members in a great and ancient
monarchy; and we must preserve religiously the true,
VOL. II. 7
? ? ? ? 98 SPEECH AT THE CONCLUSION OF THE POLL.
legal rights of the sovereign, which form the keystone that binds together the noble and well-constructed arch of our empire and our Constitution. A constitution made up of balanced powers must ever
be a critical thing. As such I mean to touch that
part of it which comes within. my reach. I know my
inability, and I wish for support from every quarter.
In particular I shall aim at the friendship, and shall
cultivate the best correspondence, of the worthy colleague you have given me.
I trouble you no farther than once more to thank
you all: you, Gentlemen, for your favors; the candidates, for their temperate and polite behavior; and
the sheriffs, for a conduct which may give a model
for all who are in public stations.
? ? ? ? SPEECH
ON
MOVING HIS RESOLUTIONS FOR CONCILIATION WITH THE COLONIES. MARCH 22, I775.
? ? ? ? SPEECH. . HOPE, Sir, that, notwithstanding the austerity of the Chair, your good-nature will incline you to
some degree of indulgence towards human frailty.
You will not think it unnatural, that those who have
an object depending, which strongly engages their
hopes and fears, should be somewhat inclined to superstition. As I came into the House, full of anxiety
about the event of my motion, I found,to my infinite
surprise, that the grand. penal bill by which we had
passed sentence on the trade and sustenance of America is to be returned to us from the other House. *. I
do confess, I could not help looking on this event as
a fortunate omen. I look upon it as a sort of Providential favor, by which we are put once more in possession of our deliberative capacity, upon a business so very questionable in its nature, so very uncertain
in its issue. By the return of this bill, which seemed
to have taken its flight forever, we are at this very. instant nearly as free to choose a plan for our, American government as we were on the first day-of the * The act to'restrain the trade and commerce of the provinces of
Massachusetts Bay and New Hampshire, and colonies of Connecticut and Rhode Island and Providence Plantation,-in North America;
to Great- Britain, Ireland, and the -British Islands in the West Indies; and to. prohibit such provinces and colonies from carrying on
any fishery on the banks of Newfoundland. and other places therein
mentioned, under certain conditions and limitations.
? ? ? ? 102 SPEECH ON CONCILIATION WITH AMERICA.
session. If, Sir, we incline to the side of conciliation,
we are not at all embarrassed (unless we please to
make ourselves so) by any incongruous mixture of
coercion and restraint. We are therefore called up.
on, as it were by a superior warning voice, again to
attend to America, -to attend to the whole of it together, - and to review the subject with an unusual degree of care and calmness.
Surely it is an awful subject,- or there is none so
on this side of the grave. When I first had the
honor of a seat in this House, the affairs of that
continent pressed themselves upon us as the most
important and most delicate object of Parliamentary
attention. My little share in this great deliberation oppressed me. I found myself a partaker in
a very high trust; and having no sort of reason to
rely on the strength of my natural abilities for the
proper execution of that trust, I was obliged to take
more than common pains to instruct myself in everything which relates to our colonies. I was not
less under the necessity of forming some fixed ideas
concerning the general policy of the British empire.
Something of this sort seemed to be indispensable,
in order, amidst so vast a fluctuation of passions and
opinions, to concentre my thoughts, to ballast my
conduct, to preserve me from being blown about
by every wind of fashionable doctrine. I really did
not think it safe or manly to have fresh principles
to seek upon every fresh mail which should arrive
from America.
At that period I had the fortune to find myself
in perfect concurrence with a large majority in this
House. . Bowing under that high authority, and penetrated with the sharpness and strength of that early
? ? ? ? SPEECH ON CONCILIATION WITH AMERICA. 1. 03 impression, I have continued ever since, without the least deviation, in my original sentiments. Whether this be owing to an obstinate perseverance in error, or to a religious adherence to what appears to me truth and reason, it is in your equity to judge.
Sir, Parliament, having an enlarged view of objects,
made, during this interval, more frequent changes in
their sentiments and their conduct than could be
justified in a particular person upon the contracted
scale of private information. But though I do not
hazard anything approaching to a censure on the motives of former Parliaments to all those alterations, one fact is undoubted, -that under them the state
of America has been kept in continual agitation.
Everything administered as remedy to the public
complaint, if it did not produce, was at least followed
by, an heightening of the distemper, until, by a
variety of' experiments, that important country has
been brought into her present situation, - a situation which I will not miscall, which I dare not name, which I scarcely know how to comprehend in the
terms of any description.
In this posture, Sir, things stood at the beginning
of the session. About that time, a worthy member,*
of great Parliamentary experience, who in the year
1766 filled the chair of the American Committee
with much ability, took me aside, and, lamenting the
present aspect of our politics, told me, things were
come to such a pass that our former methods of proceeding in the House would be no longer tolerated, -that the public tribunal (never too indulgent to a
long and'unsuccessful opposition) would now scrutinize our conduct with unusual severity, that the *Mr. Rose Fuller.
? ? ? ? 104 SPEECH. ON CONCILIATION WITH AMERICA.
very vicissitudes and shiftings of ministerial measures, instead of convicting their authors of inconstancy and want of system, would be taken as an occasion of charging us with a predetermined discontent which notlhing could satisfy, whilst we accused
every measure of vigor as cruel and every proposal
of lenity as weak and irresolute. The public, he
said, would not have patience to see us play the game
out with our adversaries; Iwe must produce our hand:
itv would be expected that those who for many years
had been active in such affairs should show that they
had formed some clear and decided idea of the principles of colony government, and were capable of
drawing out something like a platform of the ground
which might be laid for future and permanent tranquillity.
I felt the truth of what my honorable friend represented; but I'felt my situation, too. His application might have been made with far greater propriety
to many other gentlemen. No man was, indeed, ever
better disposed, or worse qualified, for such an undertaking, than myself. Though I gave so far into his
opinion, that I immediately threw my thoughts into a
sort of Parliamentary form, I was by no means equally
ready to produce them. It generally argues some
degree of natural impotence of mind, or some want
of knowledge of the world, to hazard plans of government, except from a seat of authority. Propositions are made, not only ineffectually, but somewhat disreputably, when the minds of men are not properly disposed for their reception; and for my part, I
am not ambitious of ridicule, not absolutely a candidate for disgrace.
Besides, Sir, to speak the plain truth, I have in gen
? ? ? ? SPEECH' ON: CONCILIATION WITH. AMERICAS, 105
eral' no very. exalted opinion of the virtue of p. gpr gVrm~ent,. nrr of ap politics iln which lthe plan is to. be wholly separated fromii-te executionW h-But when *I saw tat angerg and violenice~prevalecl6d every day more and more, and that things -were hastening towards an incurable alienation of. our colonies, I confess my caution'gave way. I felt this as one of
those few moments in which decorum yields to an higher duty. I Public. calamity is a mighty leveller; and there are occasions when any, even the slightest, chance of doing good must be laid hold on, even by the: most inconsiderable person.
To restore order and repose to an empire so great
and so distracted as ours is, merely in the att. empt,
an undertaking that would ennoble the flights of the
highest genius, and obtain pardon for the efforts of
the meanest understanding. Struggling a good while
with these thoughts, by degrees I felt myself more
firm. I derived, at length, some confidence from
what in other circumstances usually produces timidity. I grew less anxious, even from the idea of my own insignificance. For, judging of what you are
by what you ought to be, I persuaded myself that you would not reject a reasonable proposition because it had nothing but its reason to recommend it. On the other hand, being totally destitute of all shadow of -influence, natural or adventitious, I was very sure, that, if my proposition were futile or dangerous, if
it were weakly cfoceived or improperly timed, there was nothing exterior to it of power to awe, dazzle, or delude you. You will see it just as it is, and you will treat it just as it deserves.
The proposition is peqce. Not peace through the medium of war; not peace to be hunted through the
? ? ? ? 106 SPEECH ON CONCILIATION WITH AMERICA.
labyrinth of intricate and endless negotiations; not
peace to arise out of universal discord, fomented from
principle, in all parts of the empire; not peace to
depend on the juridical determination of perplexing
questions, or the precise marking the shadowy boundaries of a complex government. It is simple peace, sought in its natural course and in its ordinary haunts.
It is peace sought in the spirit of peace, and laid in
principles purely pacific. I propose, by removing the
ground of the difference, and by restoring the former
unsuspecting confidence of the colonies in the mother
country, to give permanent satisfaction to your people, - and (far from a scheme of ruling by discord) to reconcile them to each other in the same act and by
the bond of the very same interest which reconciles
them to British government.
My idea is nothing more. Refined policy ever has
been the parent of confusion, - and ever will be so,
as long as the world endures. I Plain good intention,
which is as easily discovered at the first view as fraud
is surely detected at last, is, let me say, of no mean
force in the government of mankind. I Genuine simplicity of heart is an healing and ceinenting principle. My plan, therefore, being formed upon the most simple grounds imaginable, may disappoint some people, when they hear it. It has nothing to recommend it
to the pruriency of curious ears. There is nothing
at all new and captivating in it. It has nothing of
the splendor of the project which has been lately laid
upon your table by the noble lord in the blue. riband. * It does not propose to fill your lobby with * "That when the governor, council, and assembly, or general
court, of any of his Majesty's provinces or colonies in America shall
propose to make provision, according to the condition, circumstances, and
? ? ? ? SPEECH' ON CONCILIATION WITH AMERICA. 107
squabbling colony agents, who will require the, interposition of your mace at every instant to keep the
peace amongst them. It does not institute a magnificent auction of finance, where captivated provinces come to general ransom by bidding against each
other, until you knock down the hammer, and determine a proportion of payments beyond all the powers
of algebra to equalize and settle.
The plan which I shall presume to suggest derives,
however, 6ne great advantage from the proposition
and registry of that noble lords project. The idea
of conciliation is admissible. First, the House, in accepting the resolution moved by the noble lord, has
admitted, notwithstanding the menacing front of our
address, notwithstanding our heavy bill of pains and
penalties, that we do not think ourselves precluded
from all ideas of free grace and bounty.
The House has gone farther: it has declared conciliation admissible previous to any submission on the
part of America. It has even shot a good deal beyond that mark, and has admitted that the comsituation of such province or colony, for contributing their proportzon to. the common defence, (such proportion to be raised under the authority
of the general court or general assembly of such province or colony,
and disposable by Parliament,) and shall engage to make provision
also for the support of the civil government and the administration
of justice in such province or colony, it will be proper, if such proposal
shall be approved by his Majesty and the two Houses of Parliament, and
for so long as such provision shall be made accordingly, to forbear,
in respect of such province or colony, to levy any duty, tax, or assessment, or to impose any farther duty, tax, or assessment, except only
such duties, as it may be expedient to continue to levy or to impose
for thi regulation of commerce: the net produce of the duties last
mentioned to be carried to the account of such province or colony
respectively. " -Resolution moved by Lord North in the Committee,
and agreed to by the House, 27th February, 1775.
? ? ? ? 108 SPEECH ON, CONCILIATION WITH AMERICA.
plaints of our:former mode of exerting the right of
{taxatia n were not wholly'unfounded. That right
thus exerted is allowed to have had something reprehensible' in' it, -something unwise, or something
grievous; since, in'the midst of our heat and resentment,`'we, of. ourselves, have proposed a capital alteration, and, in order to get rid of what seemed so very exceptionable, have instituted a mode that is altogetlier new,- one that is, indeed, wholly alien from
all the ancient methods and forms of Parliament.
The'principle of this proceeding is large enough for
my purpose. The means proposed by the noble lord
for carrying his ideas into execution, I think, indeed,
are very indifferently suited to the end; and this I
shall endeavor to show you before I sit down. But,
for the present, I take my ground on the admitted
principle. I mean to give peace. Peace implies reconciliation; and where there has been a material dispute, reconciliation does in a manner always imply concession on the one part or on the other. In this
state of things I make no difficulty in affirming that
the proposal ought to originate from us. Great and
acknowledged force is not impaired, either in effect or
in opinion, by an unwillingness to exert itself. The
superior power may offer peace with honor and with
safety. Such an offer from such a power will be attributed to magnanimity. But the concessions of the weak are the' concessions of fear. When such a one
is disarmed, he is wholly;at the mercy of his superior; and he loses forever that time and those chances. which, as they happen to all men, are the strength and resources of all inferior power.
The capital leading questions on which you must this day decide are these two: First, whether you
? ? ? ? SPEECH ON CONCILIATION WITH AMERICA. 109
ought to concede; and secondly, what your concession ought to be. On the first of these questions we
have gained (as I have just taken the liberty of observing to you) some ground. But I am sensible that
a good deal more is still to be done. Indeed, Sir, to
enable us to determine both on the one and the other
of these great questions with a firm and precise judgment, I think it may be necessary to consider distinctly the true nature and the peculiar circumstances of the object which we have before us: because, after
all our struggle, whether we will -or not, we must govern America according to that nature and to those
circumstances, and not according to our own imaginations, not according to abstract ideas of right, by
no means according to mere general theories of government, the resort to which appears to me, in our
present situation, no better than arrant trifling. I
shall therefore endeavor, with your leave, to lay before you some of the' most material of these circumstances in as full and as clear a manner as I am able to state them.
The first thing that we have to consider with regard to the nature of the object is the number of
people in the colonies. I have taken for some years
agood deal of pains on that point. I can by no calculation justify myself in placing the number below
two millions of inhabitants of our own European blood
and color, -besides at least 500,000 others, who form
no inconsiderable part of the strength and opulence
of the whole. This, Sir, is, I believe, about the true
number. There is no occasion to exaggerate, where
plain truth is of so much weight and importance.
But whether I put the present numbers too high or
too low is a matter of little'moment. Such is the
? ? ? ? 110 SPEECH ON CONCILIATION WITH AMERICA.
strength with which population shoots in that part of
the world, that, state the numbers as high as we will,
whilst the dispute continues, the exaggeration ends.
Whilst we are discussing any given magnitude, they
are grown to it. Whilst we spend our time in deliberating on the mode of governing two millions, we
shall find we have millions more to manage. Your
children do not grow faster from infancy to manhood than they spread from families to communities,
and from villages to nations. -
I put this consideration of the present and the
growing numbers in the front of our deliberation,
because, Sir, this consideration will make it evident
to a blunter discernment than yours, that no partial,
narrow, contracted, pinched, occasional system will
be at all suitable to such an object. It will show
you that it is not to be considered as one of those
minima which are out of the eye and consideration
of the law, - not a paltry excrescence of the state,not a mean dependant, who may be neglected with little. damage and provoked with little danger. It will prove that some degree of care and caution is required in the handling such an object; it will show
that you ought not,. in reason, to trifle with so large
a mass of the interests and feelings of the human
race. You could at no time do so without guilt;
and be assured you will not be able to do it long with
impunity.
But the population of this country, the great and
growing population, though a very important consideration, will lose much of its weight, if not combined
with other circumstances. The commerce of your
colonies is out of all proportion beyond the numbers
of the people. This ground of their commerce, in
? ? ? ? SPEECH ON CONCILIATION WITH AMERICA. 111
deed, has been trod some days ago, and with great
ability, by a distinguished person, at your bar.
This. gentleman, after thirty-five years, - it is so long
since he first appeared at the same place to plead for
the commerce of Great Britain, -has come again before you to plead the same cause, without any other
effect of time than that to the fire of imagination
and extent of erudition, which even then marked
him as one of the first literary characters of his
age, he has added a consummate knowledge in the
commercial interest of his country, formed by a
long course of enlightened and discriminating experience.
Sir, I should be inexcusable in coming after such a
person with any detail, if a great part of the members who now fill the House had not the misfortune
to be absent when he appeared at your bar. Besides,
Sir, I propose to take the matter at'periods. of timesomewhat different from his. There is, if I mistake
not, a point of view from whence, if you will look at
this subject, it is impossible that it should not make
an impression upon you.
I have in my hand two accounts: one a comparative state of the export trade of England to its colo-:ties, as it stood in the year 1704, and as it stood in the year 1772; the other a state of the export
trade of this country to its colonies alone, as it stood'in 1772, compared with the whole trade of England
to all parts of the world (the colonies included) in
the year 1704. They are from good vouchers: the
latter period from the accounts on your table; the
earlier from an original manuscript of Davenant,
who first established the Inspector-General's office,
* Mr. Glover.
? ? ? ? 112. SPEECH ON-:CONCILIATION WITH AMERICA.
which has been ever since his time so abundant a
source of Parliamentary information.
The export trade. to the colonies consists of three
great branches: the African, which,- terminating
almost wholly in the colonies, must be put to the account of their commerce; the West Indian; and the North American. All these are so interwoven, that
the attempt to separate them would tear to pieces
the contexture of the whole, and, if not entirely destroy, would very much depreciate, the value of all the parts. I therefore consider these three denominations to be, what in effect they are, one trade. The trade to the colonies, taken on the export side,
at the beginning of this century, that is, in the year
1704, stood thus: -
Exports to North America and the West
Indies. . . . . . . . . . . 483,265
To Africa. . . . 86,665
~ 569,930
In the year 1772, which I take as a middle year
between the highest and lowest of those lately laid on
your table, the account was as follows: --
To North America and the West Indies ~ 4,791,734
To Africa. 866,398
To which if you add the export trade
from Scotland, which had in 1704 no
existence. 364,000
~ 6,024,171
From five hundred and odd thousand, it has grown
to six millions. It has increased no less than twelvefold. This is the state of the colony trade, as com
? ? ? ? SPEECH ON CONCILIATION WITH AMERICA. 113 pared with itself at these two periods, within this century; - and this is matter for meditation. But
this is not all. Examine my second account. See
how the export trade to the colonies alone in 1772 stood in the other point of view, that is, as compared to the whole trade of England in 1704.
The whole export trade of England, including that to the colonies, in 1704 ~ 6,509,000 Export to the colonies alone, in 1772. 6,024,000
Difference ~ 485,000
The trade with America ~aeiqs now within less
than 500,0001. of being eqtfil to what this great commercial nation, England, carried on at the beginning of this century with the whole world! If I had taken
the largest year of those on your table, it would rather
have exceeded. But, it will be said, is not this American trade an unnatural protuberance, that has drawn the juices from the rest of the body? The reverse.
It is the very food that has nourished every other part
into its present magnitude. Our general trade has
been greatly augmented, and augmented more or
less in almost every part to which it ever extended,
but with this material difference: that of the six millions which in the beginning of the century constituted the whole mass of our export commerce the colony trade was but one twelfth part; it is now (as
a part of sixteen millions) considerably more than a
third of the whole. This is the relative proportion
of the importance of the colonies at these two periods: and all reasoning concerning our mode of treating them must have this proportion as its basis, or it is a reasoning weak, rotten, and sophistical.
Mr. Speaker, I cannot prevail on myself to hurry
VOL. II. 8
? ? ? ? 114 SPEECH ON CONCILIATION WITH AMERICA.
over this great consideration. It is good for us to be
here. We stand where we have an immense view of
what is, and what is past. Clouds indeed, and darkness, rest upon the future. 'Let us, however, before
we -descend from this noble eminence, reflect that this
growth of our national prosperity has happened within the short period-of the life of man. It has happened within sixty-eight years. There are those alive whose memory might touch the two extremities. For
instance, my Lord Bathurst might remember all the
stages of the progress. He was in 1704 of an age at
least to be made to comprehend such things. He was
then old enough acta parentum jam leyere, et quce sit
poterit cognoscere virtus. Suppose, Sir, that the angel
of this auspicious youth, foreseeing the many virtues
which made him one of the most amiable, as he is one
of'the most fortunate men of his age, had opened to
him in vision, that, when, in the fourth generation,
the third prince of the House of Brunswick had sat
twelve years on the throne of that nation which (by
the happy issue of moderate and healing councils)
was. to be made Great Britain, he should see his son,
Lord Chancellor of England, turn back the current
of hereditary dignity to its fountain, and raise him
to an higher rank of peerage, whilst he enriched the
family with a new one, if, amidst these bright and
happy scenes of domestic honor and prosperity, that
angel should have drawn up the curtain, and unfolded the rising glories of his country, and whilst he
was gazing with admiration on the then. commercial
grandeur of England, the genius should point out
to him a little speck, scarce visible in the mass of the
national interest, a small seminal principle rather
than a formed body, and should tell him,-" Young
? ? ? ? SPEECH ON CONCILIATION WITH AMERICA. 115,nanl, there is Amlerica, - which at this day serves for little more than to amuse you with stories of savage
men and uncouth manners, yet shall, before you
taste of death, show itself equal to the whole of that
commerce which now attracts the envy of the world.
Whatever England has been growing to by a progressive increase of improvement, brought in by varieties of people, by succession of civilizing conquests and
civilizing settlements in a series of'seventeen hundred
years, you shall see as much added to her by America
in the course of a single life! "'If this state of his
country had been foretold to'him, would it not require all the sanguine credulity of youth, and all the fervid glow of enthusiasm, to make him believe it?
Fortunate man, he has lived to see it! Fortunate indeed, if he lives to see nothing that shall vary the prospect, and cloud the setting of his day!
Excuse me, Sir, if, turning from such thoughts, I
resume this comparative view once more. You have
seen it on a large scale; look at it on a small one.
I will point out to your attention a particular instance of it in the single province of Pennsylvania.
In the year 1704, that province called for 11,4591. in
value of your commodities, native and foreign. This
was the whole. What did it demand in 1772? Why,
nearly fifty times as much'; for in that year the export to Pennsylvania was 507,9091. , nearly equal to
the export to all the colonies together in the first
period.
I choose, Sir, to enter into these minute and particular details; because generalities, which in all
other cases are apt to heighten and raise the subject,
have here a tendency to sink it. When we speak of
the -commerce with our colonies,:fiction lags after
? ? ? ? 116 SPEECH ON CONCILIATION WITH AMERICA-.
truth, invention is unfruitful, and imagination cold
and barren.
So far, Sir, as to the importance of the object in the
view of its commerce, as concerned in the exports
from England. If I were to detail the imports, I
could show: how,many enjoyments they procure
which deceive the burden of life, how many materials which invigorate the springs of national industry and extend and animate every part of our foreign and domestic commerce. This would be a curious
subject indeed, - but I must prescribe bounds to myself in a matter so vast and various.
I pass,therefore, to the colonies in another point ofview,-their agriculture. This they have prosecuted with such a spirit, that, besides feeding plentifully
their own growing multitude, their annual export of
grain, comprehending rice, has some years ago exceeded a million in value. Of their last harvest, I am persuaded, they will export much more. At the
beginning of the century some of these colonies imported corn from the mother country. For some time past the Old World has been fed from the New.
The scarcity which you have felt would have been
a desolating famine, if this child of your old age, with
a true filial piety, with a Roman charity, had not
put the full breast of its youthful exuberance to the
mouth of its exhausted parent.
As to the wealth which the colonies have drawn
from the sea by their fisheries, you had all that matter fully opened at your bar. You surely thought those acquisitions of value, for they seemed even to
excite your envy; and yet the spirit by which that
enterprising employment has been exercised ought
rather, in my opinion, to have raised your esteem and
? ? ? ? SPE. CH ON CONCILIATION WITH AMERICA. 117
admiration. And pray, Sir, what in the world is equal
to it? Pass by the other parts, and look at the malner in which the people of New England have'of late
carried on the whale-fishery. Whilst we follow them
among the tumbling mountains of ice, and behold
thlem penetrating into the deepest frozen recesses of
Hudson's Bay and Davis's Straits, whilst we are looking for them beneath the arctic circle, we hear that
they have pierced into the opposite region of polar
cold,:that they are at the -antipodes, and engaged
under the frozen serpent of the South. Falkland
Island, which seemed too remote and romantic an
~object for the grasp of national ambition, is but a
stage and resting-place in the progress'of their victorious industry. Nor is the equinoctial heat more discouraging to them than the accumulated winter of both the poles. We know, that, whilst some of them
draw the line and strike the harpoon on the coast of
Africa, others run the longitude, and pursue their
gigantic game along the coast of Brazil. No sea butr
what is vexed by their fisheries. No climate that is
not witness to their toils. Neither the perseverance
of Holland, nor the activity of France, nor the dexterous and firm sagacity of English enterprise, ever
carried this most perilous mode of hardy industry to
the extent to which it has been pushed by this recent
people, --a people who are still, as it were, but in the
gristle, and not yet hardened into the bone of manhood. When I contemplate these things, -when I
know that the colonies in general owe little or nothing to any care of ours, and that they are not squeezed
into this happy form by the constraints of watchful
and suspicious government, but that, through a wise
and salutary neglect, a generous nature has been suf
? ? ? ? 118 SPEECH ON CONCILIATION WITH AMERPCA.
fered to take her own way to perfection, - when I reflect upon these effects, when I see how profitable they have been to us, I feel all the pride of power
sink, and all presumption in the wisdom of human
contrivances melt and die away within me, --my
rigor relents, -- I pardon something to the spirit of
liberty.
I am sensible, Sir, that all which I have asserted
in my detail is admitted in the gross, but that quite
a different conclusion is drawn from it. America,
gentlemen say, is a noble object, - it is an object well
worth fighting for. Certainly it is, if fighting a people be the best way of gaining them. Gentlemen in this respect will be led to their choice of means by
their complexions and their habits. Those who understand the military art will of course have some predilection for it. Those who wield the thunder of
thle state may have more confidence in the efficacy of
arms. But I confess, possibly for want of this knowledge, my opinion is much more in favor of prudent management than of force; --considering force not as
an odious, but a feeble instrument, for preserving a
people so numerous, so active, so growing, so spirited
as this, in a profitable and subordinate connection
with us.
First, Sir, permit me to observe, that the use of
force alone is but temporary. It may subdue for a
moment; but it does not remove the necessity of subduing again: and a nation is not governed which is perpetually to be conquered.
My next objection is its uncertainty,' Terror is not
always the effect of force, and an armament is not a
victory. If you do not succeed, you are without resource: for, conciliation failing, force remains; but,
? ? ? ? SPEECIH ON CONCILIATION WITH AMERICA.
and to his friends. They have certainly left nothing
undone for his service.
As for the trifling petulance which the rage of
party stirs up in little minds, though it should show
itself even in this court, it has not made the slightest
impression on me. The highest flight of such clamorous birds is winged in an inferior region of the air. We hear them, and we look upon them, just as you,
Gentlemen, when you enjoy the serene air on your
lofty rocks, look down upon the gulls that skim the
mud of your river, when it is exhausted of its tide.
I am sorry I cannot conclude without saying a
word on a topic touched upon by my worthy colleague. I wish that topic had been passed by at a
time when I have so little leisure to discuss it. But
? ? ? ? SPEECH AT THE CONCLUSION OF THE POLL. 95 since he has thought proper to throw it out, I owe you a clear explanation of my poor sentiments on that subject.
He tells you that "the topic of instructions has
occasioned much altercation and uneasiness in this
city "; and he expresses himself (if I understand him
rightly) in favor of the coercive authority of such instructions.
Certainly, Gentlemen, it ought to be the happiness
and glory of a representative to live in the strictest
union,;the closest correspondence, and the most unreserved co'mmunication with his constituents. Their
wishes ought to have great weight with him; their
opinions- high respect; their business unremitted attention. It is his duty to sacrifice his repose, his
pleasure, his satisfactions, to theirs, -- and above all,
ever, and in all cases, to prefer their. interest to his
own.
But his unbiased opinion, his mature judgment,
his enlightened conscience, he ought not to sacrifice
to you, to any man, or to ally set of men living.
These he does not derive from your pleasure, --no,
nor from the law and the Constitution. They are a
trust from Providence, for the abuse of which he is
deeply answerable. Your. representative owes you,
not his industry only, but his judgment; and he betrays, instead of serving you, if he sacrifices it to your
opinion.
My worthy colleague says, his will ought to be subservient to yours. If that be all, the thing is innocent. If government were a matter of will upon any side, yours, Without question, ought to be superior.
But government and legislation are matters of reason
and judgment,:and not of inclination; and what sort
? ? ? ? 96 SPEECH AT' THE CONCLUSION OF THE POLL.
of reason is that in which the determination precedes
the discussion,:in which one set of men deliberate
and another decide, and where those who form the
conclusion are perhaps three hundred miles distant
from those who hear the arguments?
To deliver an opinion is the right of all men; that
of constituents is a weighty and respectable opinion,
which a representative ought always to rejoice to
hear, and which he ought always most seriously to
consider. But authoritative instructions, mandates
issued, which the member is bound blindly and implicitly to obey, to vote, and to argue for, though
contrary to the clearest conviction of his judgment
-and conscience, -these are things utterly unknown
to the laws of this land, and which arise from a fundamental mistake of the whole order and tenor of our
Constitution.
Parliament is not a congress of ambassadors from
different and hostile interests, which interests each
must maintain, as an agent and advocate, against other agents and advocates; but Parliament is a deliberative assembly of one nation, with one interest, that of the whole -where not local purposes, not local prejudices, ought to guide, but the general good, resulting
from the general reason of the whole. You choose
a member, indeed; but when you have chosen him,
he is not member of Bristol, but he is a member of
_Parliament. If the local constituent should have
an interest or should form an hasty opinion evidently
opposite to the real good of the rest of the community, the member for that place ought to be as far as
any other from any endeavor to give it effect. I beg
pardon for saying so much on this subject; I have
been unwillingly drawn into it; but I shall ever use
? ? ? ? SPEECH AT THE:CONCLUSION OF THE POLL. 97
a respectful frankness of communication with you.
Your faithful friend, your devoted servant, I shall be
to the end of my life: a flatterer you do not wish for.
On this point of instructions, however, I think it
scarcely possible we ever caii have any sort of difference. Perhaps I may give you too much, rather
than too little trouble.
From the first hour I was encouraged to court your
favor, to this happy day of obtaining it, I have never
promised you anything but humble and persevering
endeavors to do my duty. The weight of that duty,
I confess, makes me tremble; and whoever well considers what it is, of all things in the world, will fly
from what has the least likeness to a positive and precipitate engagement. To be a good member of Parliament is, let me tell you, no easy task, - especially at this time, when there is so strong a disposition to
run into the perilous extremes of servile compliance
or wild popularity. To unite circumspection with
vigor is absolutely necessary, but it is extremely
difficult. We are now members for a rich commercial city; this city, however, is but a part of a rich
commercial nation, the interests of which are various,
multiform, and intricate. We are members for that
great nation, which, however, is itself but part of a
great empire, extended by our virtue and our fortune
to the farthest limits of the East and of the West.
All these wide-spread interests must be considered,must be compared, - must be reconciled, if possible.
We are members for a free country; and surely we
all know that the machine of a free constitution is no
simple thing, but as intricate and as delicate as it is
valuable. We are members in a great and ancient
monarchy; and we must preserve religiously the true,
VOL. II. 7
? ? ? ? 98 SPEECH AT THE CONCLUSION OF THE POLL.
legal rights of the sovereign, which form the keystone that binds together the noble and well-constructed arch of our empire and our Constitution. A constitution made up of balanced powers must ever
be a critical thing. As such I mean to touch that
part of it which comes within. my reach. I know my
inability, and I wish for support from every quarter.
In particular I shall aim at the friendship, and shall
cultivate the best correspondence, of the worthy colleague you have given me.
I trouble you no farther than once more to thank
you all: you, Gentlemen, for your favors; the candidates, for their temperate and polite behavior; and
the sheriffs, for a conduct which may give a model
for all who are in public stations.
? ? ? ? SPEECH
ON
MOVING HIS RESOLUTIONS FOR CONCILIATION WITH THE COLONIES. MARCH 22, I775.
? ? ? ? SPEECH. . HOPE, Sir, that, notwithstanding the austerity of the Chair, your good-nature will incline you to
some degree of indulgence towards human frailty.
You will not think it unnatural, that those who have
an object depending, which strongly engages their
hopes and fears, should be somewhat inclined to superstition. As I came into the House, full of anxiety
about the event of my motion, I found,to my infinite
surprise, that the grand. penal bill by which we had
passed sentence on the trade and sustenance of America is to be returned to us from the other House. *. I
do confess, I could not help looking on this event as
a fortunate omen. I look upon it as a sort of Providential favor, by which we are put once more in possession of our deliberative capacity, upon a business so very questionable in its nature, so very uncertain
in its issue. By the return of this bill, which seemed
to have taken its flight forever, we are at this very. instant nearly as free to choose a plan for our, American government as we were on the first day-of the * The act to'restrain the trade and commerce of the provinces of
Massachusetts Bay and New Hampshire, and colonies of Connecticut and Rhode Island and Providence Plantation,-in North America;
to Great- Britain, Ireland, and the -British Islands in the West Indies; and to. prohibit such provinces and colonies from carrying on
any fishery on the banks of Newfoundland. and other places therein
mentioned, under certain conditions and limitations.
? ? ? ? 102 SPEECH ON CONCILIATION WITH AMERICA.
session. If, Sir, we incline to the side of conciliation,
we are not at all embarrassed (unless we please to
make ourselves so) by any incongruous mixture of
coercion and restraint. We are therefore called up.
on, as it were by a superior warning voice, again to
attend to America, -to attend to the whole of it together, - and to review the subject with an unusual degree of care and calmness.
Surely it is an awful subject,- or there is none so
on this side of the grave. When I first had the
honor of a seat in this House, the affairs of that
continent pressed themselves upon us as the most
important and most delicate object of Parliamentary
attention. My little share in this great deliberation oppressed me. I found myself a partaker in
a very high trust; and having no sort of reason to
rely on the strength of my natural abilities for the
proper execution of that trust, I was obliged to take
more than common pains to instruct myself in everything which relates to our colonies. I was not
less under the necessity of forming some fixed ideas
concerning the general policy of the British empire.
Something of this sort seemed to be indispensable,
in order, amidst so vast a fluctuation of passions and
opinions, to concentre my thoughts, to ballast my
conduct, to preserve me from being blown about
by every wind of fashionable doctrine. I really did
not think it safe or manly to have fresh principles
to seek upon every fresh mail which should arrive
from America.
At that period I had the fortune to find myself
in perfect concurrence with a large majority in this
House. . Bowing under that high authority, and penetrated with the sharpness and strength of that early
? ? ? ? SPEECH ON CONCILIATION WITH AMERICA. 1. 03 impression, I have continued ever since, without the least deviation, in my original sentiments. Whether this be owing to an obstinate perseverance in error, or to a religious adherence to what appears to me truth and reason, it is in your equity to judge.
Sir, Parliament, having an enlarged view of objects,
made, during this interval, more frequent changes in
their sentiments and their conduct than could be
justified in a particular person upon the contracted
scale of private information. But though I do not
hazard anything approaching to a censure on the motives of former Parliaments to all those alterations, one fact is undoubted, -that under them the state
of America has been kept in continual agitation.
Everything administered as remedy to the public
complaint, if it did not produce, was at least followed
by, an heightening of the distemper, until, by a
variety of' experiments, that important country has
been brought into her present situation, - a situation which I will not miscall, which I dare not name, which I scarcely know how to comprehend in the
terms of any description.
In this posture, Sir, things stood at the beginning
of the session. About that time, a worthy member,*
of great Parliamentary experience, who in the year
1766 filled the chair of the American Committee
with much ability, took me aside, and, lamenting the
present aspect of our politics, told me, things were
come to such a pass that our former methods of proceeding in the House would be no longer tolerated, -that the public tribunal (never too indulgent to a
long and'unsuccessful opposition) would now scrutinize our conduct with unusual severity, that the *Mr. Rose Fuller.
? ? ? ? 104 SPEECH. ON CONCILIATION WITH AMERICA.
very vicissitudes and shiftings of ministerial measures, instead of convicting their authors of inconstancy and want of system, would be taken as an occasion of charging us with a predetermined discontent which notlhing could satisfy, whilst we accused
every measure of vigor as cruel and every proposal
of lenity as weak and irresolute. The public, he
said, would not have patience to see us play the game
out with our adversaries; Iwe must produce our hand:
itv would be expected that those who for many years
had been active in such affairs should show that they
had formed some clear and decided idea of the principles of colony government, and were capable of
drawing out something like a platform of the ground
which might be laid for future and permanent tranquillity.
I felt the truth of what my honorable friend represented; but I'felt my situation, too. His application might have been made with far greater propriety
to many other gentlemen. No man was, indeed, ever
better disposed, or worse qualified, for such an undertaking, than myself. Though I gave so far into his
opinion, that I immediately threw my thoughts into a
sort of Parliamentary form, I was by no means equally
ready to produce them. It generally argues some
degree of natural impotence of mind, or some want
of knowledge of the world, to hazard plans of government, except from a seat of authority. Propositions are made, not only ineffectually, but somewhat disreputably, when the minds of men are not properly disposed for their reception; and for my part, I
am not ambitious of ridicule, not absolutely a candidate for disgrace.
Besides, Sir, to speak the plain truth, I have in gen
? ? ? ? SPEECH' ON: CONCILIATION WITH. AMERICAS, 105
eral' no very. exalted opinion of the virtue of p. gpr gVrm~ent,. nrr of ap politics iln which lthe plan is to. be wholly separated fromii-te executionW h-But when *I saw tat angerg and violenice~prevalecl6d every day more and more, and that things -were hastening towards an incurable alienation of. our colonies, I confess my caution'gave way. I felt this as one of
those few moments in which decorum yields to an higher duty. I Public. calamity is a mighty leveller; and there are occasions when any, even the slightest, chance of doing good must be laid hold on, even by the: most inconsiderable person.
To restore order and repose to an empire so great
and so distracted as ours is, merely in the att. empt,
an undertaking that would ennoble the flights of the
highest genius, and obtain pardon for the efforts of
the meanest understanding. Struggling a good while
with these thoughts, by degrees I felt myself more
firm. I derived, at length, some confidence from
what in other circumstances usually produces timidity. I grew less anxious, even from the idea of my own insignificance. For, judging of what you are
by what you ought to be, I persuaded myself that you would not reject a reasonable proposition because it had nothing but its reason to recommend it. On the other hand, being totally destitute of all shadow of -influence, natural or adventitious, I was very sure, that, if my proposition were futile or dangerous, if
it were weakly cfoceived or improperly timed, there was nothing exterior to it of power to awe, dazzle, or delude you. You will see it just as it is, and you will treat it just as it deserves.
The proposition is peqce. Not peace through the medium of war; not peace to be hunted through the
? ? ? ? 106 SPEECH ON CONCILIATION WITH AMERICA.
labyrinth of intricate and endless negotiations; not
peace to arise out of universal discord, fomented from
principle, in all parts of the empire; not peace to
depend on the juridical determination of perplexing
questions, or the precise marking the shadowy boundaries of a complex government. It is simple peace, sought in its natural course and in its ordinary haunts.
It is peace sought in the spirit of peace, and laid in
principles purely pacific. I propose, by removing the
ground of the difference, and by restoring the former
unsuspecting confidence of the colonies in the mother
country, to give permanent satisfaction to your people, - and (far from a scheme of ruling by discord) to reconcile them to each other in the same act and by
the bond of the very same interest which reconciles
them to British government.
My idea is nothing more. Refined policy ever has
been the parent of confusion, - and ever will be so,
as long as the world endures. I Plain good intention,
which is as easily discovered at the first view as fraud
is surely detected at last, is, let me say, of no mean
force in the government of mankind. I Genuine simplicity of heart is an healing and ceinenting principle. My plan, therefore, being formed upon the most simple grounds imaginable, may disappoint some people, when they hear it. It has nothing to recommend it
to the pruriency of curious ears. There is nothing
at all new and captivating in it. It has nothing of
the splendor of the project which has been lately laid
upon your table by the noble lord in the blue. riband. * It does not propose to fill your lobby with * "That when the governor, council, and assembly, or general
court, of any of his Majesty's provinces or colonies in America shall
propose to make provision, according to the condition, circumstances, and
? ? ? ? SPEECH' ON CONCILIATION WITH AMERICA. 107
squabbling colony agents, who will require the, interposition of your mace at every instant to keep the
peace amongst them. It does not institute a magnificent auction of finance, where captivated provinces come to general ransom by bidding against each
other, until you knock down the hammer, and determine a proportion of payments beyond all the powers
of algebra to equalize and settle.
The plan which I shall presume to suggest derives,
however, 6ne great advantage from the proposition
and registry of that noble lords project. The idea
of conciliation is admissible. First, the House, in accepting the resolution moved by the noble lord, has
admitted, notwithstanding the menacing front of our
address, notwithstanding our heavy bill of pains and
penalties, that we do not think ourselves precluded
from all ideas of free grace and bounty.
The House has gone farther: it has declared conciliation admissible previous to any submission on the
part of America. It has even shot a good deal beyond that mark, and has admitted that the comsituation of such province or colony, for contributing their proportzon to. the common defence, (such proportion to be raised under the authority
of the general court or general assembly of such province or colony,
and disposable by Parliament,) and shall engage to make provision
also for the support of the civil government and the administration
of justice in such province or colony, it will be proper, if such proposal
shall be approved by his Majesty and the two Houses of Parliament, and
for so long as such provision shall be made accordingly, to forbear,
in respect of such province or colony, to levy any duty, tax, or assessment, or to impose any farther duty, tax, or assessment, except only
such duties, as it may be expedient to continue to levy or to impose
for thi regulation of commerce: the net produce of the duties last
mentioned to be carried to the account of such province or colony
respectively. " -Resolution moved by Lord North in the Committee,
and agreed to by the House, 27th February, 1775.
? ? ? ? 108 SPEECH ON, CONCILIATION WITH AMERICA.
plaints of our:former mode of exerting the right of
{taxatia n were not wholly'unfounded. That right
thus exerted is allowed to have had something reprehensible' in' it, -something unwise, or something
grievous; since, in'the midst of our heat and resentment,`'we, of. ourselves, have proposed a capital alteration, and, in order to get rid of what seemed so very exceptionable, have instituted a mode that is altogetlier new,- one that is, indeed, wholly alien from
all the ancient methods and forms of Parliament.
The'principle of this proceeding is large enough for
my purpose. The means proposed by the noble lord
for carrying his ideas into execution, I think, indeed,
are very indifferently suited to the end; and this I
shall endeavor to show you before I sit down. But,
for the present, I take my ground on the admitted
principle. I mean to give peace. Peace implies reconciliation; and where there has been a material dispute, reconciliation does in a manner always imply concession on the one part or on the other. In this
state of things I make no difficulty in affirming that
the proposal ought to originate from us. Great and
acknowledged force is not impaired, either in effect or
in opinion, by an unwillingness to exert itself. The
superior power may offer peace with honor and with
safety. Such an offer from such a power will be attributed to magnanimity. But the concessions of the weak are the' concessions of fear. When such a one
is disarmed, he is wholly;at the mercy of his superior; and he loses forever that time and those chances. which, as they happen to all men, are the strength and resources of all inferior power.
The capital leading questions on which you must this day decide are these two: First, whether you
? ? ? ? SPEECH ON CONCILIATION WITH AMERICA. 109
ought to concede; and secondly, what your concession ought to be. On the first of these questions we
have gained (as I have just taken the liberty of observing to you) some ground. But I am sensible that
a good deal more is still to be done. Indeed, Sir, to
enable us to determine both on the one and the other
of these great questions with a firm and precise judgment, I think it may be necessary to consider distinctly the true nature and the peculiar circumstances of the object which we have before us: because, after
all our struggle, whether we will -or not, we must govern America according to that nature and to those
circumstances, and not according to our own imaginations, not according to abstract ideas of right, by
no means according to mere general theories of government, the resort to which appears to me, in our
present situation, no better than arrant trifling. I
shall therefore endeavor, with your leave, to lay before you some of the' most material of these circumstances in as full and as clear a manner as I am able to state them.
The first thing that we have to consider with regard to the nature of the object is the number of
people in the colonies. I have taken for some years
agood deal of pains on that point. I can by no calculation justify myself in placing the number below
two millions of inhabitants of our own European blood
and color, -besides at least 500,000 others, who form
no inconsiderable part of the strength and opulence
of the whole. This, Sir, is, I believe, about the true
number. There is no occasion to exaggerate, where
plain truth is of so much weight and importance.
But whether I put the present numbers too high or
too low is a matter of little'moment. Such is the
? ? ? ? 110 SPEECH ON CONCILIATION WITH AMERICA.
strength with which population shoots in that part of
the world, that, state the numbers as high as we will,
whilst the dispute continues, the exaggeration ends.
Whilst we are discussing any given magnitude, they
are grown to it. Whilst we spend our time in deliberating on the mode of governing two millions, we
shall find we have millions more to manage. Your
children do not grow faster from infancy to manhood than they spread from families to communities,
and from villages to nations. -
I put this consideration of the present and the
growing numbers in the front of our deliberation,
because, Sir, this consideration will make it evident
to a blunter discernment than yours, that no partial,
narrow, contracted, pinched, occasional system will
be at all suitable to such an object. It will show
you that it is not to be considered as one of those
minima which are out of the eye and consideration
of the law, - not a paltry excrescence of the state,not a mean dependant, who may be neglected with little. damage and provoked with little danger. It will prove that some degree of care and caution is required in the handling such an object; it will show
that you ought not,. in reason, to trifle with so large
a mass of the interests and feelings of the human
race. You could at no time do so without guilt;
and be assured you will not be able to do it long with
impunity.
But the population of this country, the great and
growing population, though a very important consideration, will lose much of its weight, if not combined
with other circumstances. The commerce of your
colonies is out of all proportion beyond the numbers
of the people. This ground of their commerce, in
? ? ? ? SPEECH ON CONCILIATION WITH AMERICA. 111
deed, has been trod some days ago, and with great
ability, by a distinguished person, at your bar.
This. gentleman, after thirty-five years, - it is so long
since he first appeared at the same place to plead for
the commerce of Great Britain, -has come again before you to plead the same cause, without any other
effect of time than that to the fire of imagination
and extent of erudition, which even then marked
him as one of the first literary characters of his
age, he has added a consummate knowledge in the
commercial interest of his country, formed by a
long course of enlightened and discriminating experience.
Sir, I should be inexcusable in coming after such a
person with any detail, if a great part of the members who now fill the House had not the misfortune
to be absent when he appeared at your bar. Besides,
Sir, I propose to take the matter at'periods. of timesomewhat different from his. There is, if I mistake
not, a point of view from whence, if you will look at
this subject, it is impossible that it should not make
an impression upon you.
I have in my hand two accounts: one a comparative state of the export trade of England to its colo-:ties, as it stood in the year 1704, and as it stood in the year 1772; the other a state of the export
trade of this country to its colonies alone, as it stood'in 1772, compared with the whole trade of England
to all parts of the world (the colonies included) in
the year 1704. They are from good vouchers: the
latter period from the accounts on your table; the
earlier from an original manuscript of Davenant,
who first established the Inspector-General's office,
* Mr. Glover.
? ? ? ? 112. SPEECH ON-:CONCILIATION WITH AMERICA.
which has been ever since his time so abundant a
source of Parliamentary information.
The export trade. to the colonies consists of three
great branches: the African, which,- terminating
almost wholly in the colonies, must be put to the account of their commerce; the West Indian; and the North American. All these are so interwoven, that
the attempt to separate them would tear to pieces
the contexture of the whole, and, if not entirely destroy, would very much depreciate, the value of all the parts. I therefore consider these three denominations to be, what in effect they are, one trade. The trade to the colonies, taken on the export side,
at the beginning of this century, that is, in the year
1704, stood thus: -
Exports to North America and the West
Indies. . . . . . . . . . . 483,265
To Africa. . . . 86,665
~ 569,930
In the year 1772, which I take as a middle year
between the highest and lowest of those lately laid on
your table, the account was as follows: --
To North America and the West Indies ~ 4,791,734
To Africa. 866,398
To which if you add the export trade
from Scotland, which had in 1704 no
existence. 364,000
~ 6,024,171
From five hundred and odd thousand, it has grown
to six millions. It has increased no less than twelvefold. This is the state of the colony trade, as com
? ? ? ? SPEECH ON CONCILIATION WITH AMERICA. 113 pared with itself at these two periods, within this century; - and this is matter for meditation. But
this is not all. Examine my second account. See
how the export trade to the colonies alone in 1772 stood in the other point of view, that is, as compared to the whole trade of England in 1704.
The whole export trade of England, including that to the colonies, in 1704 ~ 6,509,000 Export to the colonies alone, in 1772. 6,024,000
Difference ~ 485,000
The trade with America ~aeiqs now within less
than 500,0001. of being eqtfil to what this great commercial nation, England, carried on at the beginning of this century with the whole world! If I had taken
the largest year of those on your table, it would rather
have exceeded. But, it will be said, is not this American trade an unnatural protuberance, that has drawn the juices from the rest of the body? The reverse.
It is the very food that has nourished every other part
into its present magnitude. Our general trade has
been greatly augmented, and augmented more or
less in almost every part to which it ever extended,
but with this material difference: that of the six millions which in the beginning of the century constituted the whole mass of our export commerce the colony trade was but one twelfth part; it is now (as
a part of sixteen millions) considerably more than a
third of the whole. This is the relative proportion
of the importance of the colonies at these two periods: and all reasoning concerning our mode of treating them must have this proportion as its basis, or it is a reasoning weak, rotten, and sophistical.
Mr. Speaker, I cannot prevail on myself to hurry
VOL. II. 8
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over this great consideration. It is good for us to be
here. We stand where we have an immense view of
what is, and what is past. Clouds indeed, and darkness, rest upon the future. 'Let us, however, before
we -descend from this noble eminence, reflect that this
growth of our national prosperity has happened within the short period-of the life of man. It has happened within sixty-eight years. There are those alive whose memory might touch the two extremities. For
instance, my Lord Bathurst might remember all the
stages of the progress. He was in 1704 of an age at
least to be made to comprehend such things. He was
then old enough acta parentum jam leyere, et quce sit
poterit cognoscere virtus. Suppose, Sir, that the angel
of this auspicious youth, foreseeing the many virtues
which made him one of the most amiable, as he is one
of'the most fortunate men of his age, had opened to
him in vision, that, when, in the fourth generation,
the third prince of the House of Brunswick had sat
twelve years on the throne of that nation which (by
the happy issue of moderate and healing councils)
was. to be made Great Britain, he should see his son,
Lord Chancellor of England, turn back the current
of hereditary dignity to its fountain, and raise him
to an higher rank of peerage, whilst he enriched the
family with a new one, if, amidst these bright and
happy scenes of domestic honor and prosperity, that
angel should have drawn up the curtain, and unfolded the rising glories of his country, and whilst he
was gazing with admiration on the then. commercial
grandeur of England, the genius should point out
to him a little speck, scarce visible in the mass of the
national interest, a small seminal principle rather
than a formed body, and should tell him,-" Young
? ? ? ? SPEECH ON CONCILIATION WITH AMERICA. 115,nanl, there is Amlerica, - which at this day serves for little more than to amuse you with stories of savage
men and uncouth manners, yet shall, before you
taste of death, show itself equal to the whole of that
commerce which now attracts the envy of the world.
Whatever England has been growing to by a progressive increase of improvement, brought in by varieties of people, by succession of civilizing conquests and
civilizing settlements in a series of'seventeen hundred
years, you shall see as much added to her by America
in the course of a single life! "'If this state of his
country had been foretold to'him, would it not require all the sanguine credulity of youth, and all the fervid glow of enthusiasm, to make him believe it?
Fortunate man, he has lived to see it! Fortunate indeed, if he lives to see nothing that shall vary the prospect, and cloud the setting of his day!
Excuse me, Sir, if, turning from such thoughts, I
resume this comparative view once more. You have
seen it on a large scale; look at it on a small one.
I will point out to your attention a particular instance of it in the single province of Pennsylvania.
In the year 1704, that province called for 11,4591. in
value of your commodities, native and foreign. This
was the whole. What did it demand in 1772? Why,
nearly fifty times as much'; for in that year the export to Pennsylvania was 507,9091. , nearly equal to
the export to all the colonies together in the first
period.
I choose, Sir, to enter into these minute and particular details; because generalities, which in all
other cases are apt to heighten and raise the subject,
have here a tendency to sink it. When we speak of
the -commerce with our colonies,:fiction lags after
? ? ? ? 116 SPEECH ON CONCILIATION WITH AMERICA-.
truth, invention is unfruitful, and imagination cold
and barren.
So far, Sir, as to the importance of the object in the
view of its commerce, as concerned in the exports
from England. If I were to detail the imports, I
could show: how,many enjoyments they procure
which deceive the burden of life, how many materials which invigorate the springs of national industry and extend and animate every part of our foreign and domestic commerce. This would be a curious
subject indeed, - but I must prescribe bounds to myself in a matter so vast and various.
I pass,therefore, to the colonies in another point ofview,-their agriculture. This they have prosecuted with such a spirit, that, besides feeding plentifully
their own growing multitude, their annual export of
grain, comprehending rice, has some years ago exceeded a million in value. Of their last harvest, I am persuaded, they will export much more. At the
beginning of the century some of these colonies imported corn from the mother country. For some time past the Old World has been fed from the New.
The scarcity which you have felt would have been
a desolating famine, if this child of your old age, with
a true filial piety, with a Roman charity, had not
put the full breast of its youthful exuberance to the
mouth of its exhausted parent.
As to the wealth which the colonies have drawn
from the sea by their fisheries, you had all that matter fully opened at your bar. You surely thought those acquisitions of value, for they seemed even to
excite your envy; and yet the spirit by which that
enterprising employment has been exercised ought
rather, in my opinion, to have raised your esteem and
? ? ? ? SPE. CH ON CONCILIATION WITH AMERICA. 117
admiration. And pray, Sir, what in the world is equal
to it? Pass by the other parts, and look at the malner in which the people of New England have'of late
carried on the whale-fishery. Whilst we follow them
among the tumbling mountains of ice, and behold
thlem penetrating into the deepest frozen recesses of
Hudson's Bay and Davis's Straits, whilst we are looking for them beneath the arctic circle, we hear that
they have pierced into the opposite region of polar
cold,:that they are at the -antipodes, and engaged
under the frozen serpent of the South. Falkland
Island, which seemed too remote and romantic an
~object for the grasp of national ambition, is but a
stage and resting-place in the progress'of their victorious industry. Nor is the equinoctial heat more discouraging to them than the accumulated winter of both the poles. We know, that, whilst some of them
draw the line and strike the harpoon on the coast of
Africa, others run the longitude, and pursue their
gigantic game along the coast of Brazil. No sea butr
what is vexed by their fisheries. No climate that is
not witness to their toils. Neither the perseverance
of Holland, nor the activity of France, nor the dexterous and firm sagacity of English enterprise, ever
carried this most perilous mode of hardy industry to
the extent to which it has been pushed by this recent
people, --a people who are still, as it were, but in the
gristle, and not yet hardened into the bone of manhood. When I contemplate these things, -when I
know that the colonies in general owe little or nothing to any care of ours, and that they are not squeezed
into this happy form by the constraints of watchful
and suspicious government, but that, through a wise
and salutary neglect, a generous nature has been suf
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fered to take her own way to perfection, - when I reflect upon these effects, when I see how profitable they have been to us, I feel all the pride of power
sink, and all presumption in the wisdom of human
contrivances melt and die away within me, --my
rigor relents, -- I pardon something to the spirit of
liberty.
I am sensible, Sir, that all which I have asserted
in my detail is admitted in the gross, but that quite
a different conclusion is drawn from it. America,
gentlemen say, is a noble object, - it is an object well
worth fighting for. Certainly it is, if fighting a people be the best way of gaining them. Gentlemen in this respect will be led to their choice of means by
their complexions and their habits. Those who understand the military art will of course have some predilection for it. Those who wield the thunder of
thle state may have more confidence in the efficacy of
arms. But I confess, possibly for want of this knowledge, my opinion is much more in favor of prudent management than of force; --considering force not as
an odious, but a feeble instrument, for preserving a
people so numerous, so active, so growing, so spirited
as this, in a profitable and subordinate connection
with us.
First, Sir, permit me to observe, that the use of
force alone is but temporary. It may subdue for a
moment; but it does not remove the necessity of subduing again: and a nation is not governed which is perpetually to be conquered.
My next objection is its uncertainty,' Terror is not
always the effect of force, and an armament is not a
victory. If you do not succeed, you are without resource: for, conciliation failing, force remains; but,
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