A member named Baker, proposed that the king should be entreated to remove from his counsels those persons in whom his people could no longer repose any sort of confidence. This amendment was supported with great spirit. It was then that governor Pownall, a man of weight, and particularly conversant in American affairs, rose and spoke in much the following terms;

'I do not deem it consistent with the business of this solemn day, which is about to decide upon the immediate reestablishment, or irreparable ruin of our country, to go into the inquiry whether the present ministers are longer to be trusted with the conduct of the battered ship of the state, in the midst of tempests, or whether we are to commit the helm to other hands. Considerations of far higher importance, if I am not mistaken, demand all your attention. For whatever these ministers may be, against whom I hear such bitter murmurs, if we have the wisdom to take this day a suitable resolution, I have not the least doubt that even they will be capable of executing it with success. If, on the contrary, persisting in the measures which have brought us into this critical position, we add a new blunder to all our past errors, neither these nor any other ministers can save us from perdition.

Besides, those who are desirous of investigating the causes of our disasters, and who impute them to the present servants of the crown, will have an early opportunity for sifting that subject to their wish, in the regular examination of their conduct, which is to occupy this House in a few days. But what is the business before us, and what is the subject of our immediate deliberations? Faithless and haughty France rises against us; she threatens us with war, if we presume to resent, nay, if we do not accept the insulting conditions she dictates. Where is the citizen who loves his country, where is the Briton who is not fired with indignation, who is not impatient to avenge the outrages of this implacable rival? I also have British blood in my veins; I feel it in the transports which animate me, I approve high and magnanimous resolutions. But what I condemn, and so long as I have life will always condemn, is the impolicy of hurrying to encounter two wars instead of one, and of choosing rather to add a new enemy to the old, than to be reconciled with the latter, in order to operate in concert against the former. To vanquish France and America together, is an enterprise to be reckoned among impossible events; to triumph over the first after having disarmed the second, is not only possible, but easy. But in order to attain this object, it is necessary to acknowledge, what we can no longer prevent, I mean American independence. And what are the obstacles which oppose so salutary a resolution? or by what reasons can it be combated? Perhaps the desire of glory, or the honor of the crown? But honor resides in victory; shame in defeat; and in affairs of state, the useful is always honorable.

'We should consider also, that in acknowledging the independence of the United States, we acknowledge not only what is, but also what we have already recognised, if not in form, at least in fact. In those very acts of conciliation which we have so lately passed, we acknowledge, if we would speak ingenuously, that we have renounced all sort of supremacy. If our intention is to maintain it, we have already gone too far; but if our desire of peace be sincere, we have not gone far enough; and every step we shall take to put the Americans back from independency, will convince them the more of the necessity of going forward. Inveterate inclinations are not so easily changed, and resolutions taken after long and mature deliberations, are not so lightly diverted.

'If we look well into the great acts of their proceedings, we shall soon be satisfied that they were not suddenly taken up as an ebullition of enthusiasm, or in the bitterness of passion or revenge, but rather as coming on of course, by a train of events, linked together by a system of policy. Their march was slow, but in measured steps; feeling their ground before they set their foot on it; yet when once set, there fixed forever. They made their declaration of rights in 1774, itself but little compatible with British supremacy. They afterwards confirmed it by a manifesto, in which they proclaimed their reasons for taking up arms; and finally they declared their independence, which is but the pinnacle and accomplishment of that work which they had long since commenced, which they were assisted in perfecting by the very nature of things, and which they have so valiantly defended in three successive campaigns.

'If these people, when they viewed their cause abandoned, as to all assistance which they looked to in Europe; when sinking, as to all appearance of what the utmost exertions of their own resources had done; when clouded with despair; would not give up the ground of independence, on which they were determined to stand; what hopes can there be, and from what quarter, that they will now, when every event of fate and fortune is reversed to us, and turned in their favor; when they feel their own power able to resist, to counteract, and in one deplorable instance, superior to, and victorious over ours; when they see their cause taken up in Europe; when they find the nations amongst which they have taken their equal station, acknowledging their independency, and concluding treaties with them as such; when France has actually and avowedly done it; when it is known that Spain must follow, and that Holland will; what hopes can there be, and from what quarter, that they will, all at once, pull down their own new governments, to receive our provincial ones? That they will dissolve their confederation? That they will disavow all their reasons for taking up arms; and give up all those rights which they have declared, claimed and insisted upon, in order to receive such others at our hands, as supremacy on one hand will, and dependency

on the other can admit them to? And how can we hope to conquer, when surrounded by his allies, the enemy, who single has repulsed your attacks? France abounds in hardy and gallant warriors, she will inundate with them the plains of America; and then, whether we shall be able, I say not to conquer, but to resist, let each be his own judge.

'We are in sight of the coasts of France, we see them lined with formidable maritime preparations, and though we may not fear, we ought at least to guard against, an attack upon this very territory, where we are meditating the destruction of America, who combats us, and of France who seconds her. It follows that those soldiers who might have been sent to America, must remain in Great Britain to defend our hallowed laws, our sacred altars, our country itself against the fury of the French. Already the numerous fleet of Brest is perfectly prepared to put to sea; already the coasts of Normandy, swarm with troops that seem to menace a descent upon our natal land. And what are we doing in the meantime? We are here deliberating whether it is better to have divers enemies, than one only; whether it is more expedient to encounter at once America and Europe in league for our destruction, than to make head against Europe with the arms of America to back us! But am I alone in maintaining that the safety of England is attached to the measure I propose? All prudent men profess the same opinion; the unanimous voice of the people repeats it; the pompous but vain declamations of the ministers they have learned to interpret as the denunciations of irreparable calamities to the country. Of this the too certain proof is found, in the fall of the public funds; which took place the moment there was any mention of this new ministerial frenzy, of this obstinacy more Scotch than English. Tell us then, ministers, sometimes so weakly credulous, at all times so obstinate in your resolutions, if you have easily effected the late loan, and what is the rate of interest you have paid? But you are silent. Will not this then suffice to convince you of the perversity of your measures?

'I know there are some who are careful to give out that the acknowledgment of independence, besides being a measure little to our honor, would offer no certain advantage, since we have no assurance that it would satisfy the Americans. But how can we believe that the Americans will prefer the alliance of France to ours? Are not these the same French who formerly attempted to subjugate them? Are not these the same French whose wishes would have led them to extinguish the name and language of the English? How can it be supposed that the Americans have not yet reflected that England, their bulwark, once prostrated, they will be abandoned, without defence, to the power of France, who will dispose of them as she sees fit? How should they not perceive this artifice of the French,

not new, but now prepared and rendered more dangerous by our own imprudence, which consists in laboring to dissolve our union in order to crush us separately? The Americans will undoubtedly prefer the friendship and alliance of France to dependency; but believe me, when I assure you, that they will like infinitely better the alliance of Great Britain, conjointly with independence. Besides, it is a secret to nobody that the Americans are incensed against France for having in this very negotiation profited of their distress, to try to drive a hard and inequitable bargain with them; thus setting a price upon their independence. Let us avail ourselves, if we are wise, of the effects of French avarice, and we may thus make friends of those whom we can no longer have for subjects. Independent of the reasons I have urged, the interest of reciprocal commerce alone, if every other part of the ground be taken equal, would determine the Americans to prefer our friendship to that of France. But why should I multiply arguments to convince you of that, which I can in an instant demonstrate beyond all doubt? I have seen, and read with my own eyes, a letter written by Benjamin Franklin, a man, as you all know, of irrefragable authority with his countrymen. In this letter, transmitted to London since the conclusion of the treaty of alliance between France and America, he affirms that if Great Britain would renounce her supremacy, and treat with the Americans as an independent nation, peace might be reestablished immediately. These are not the news and silly reports with which our good ministers allow themselves to be amused by refugees. But if we may count upon the friendship and alliance of independent America, it is equally clear, that instead of being weakened by the separation, we should become but the more capable of attack, and the more vigorous for defence. For a part of these troops, which are now employed to no effect in our colonies, might then be taken with advantage to form such garrisons in Canada and Nova Scotia, as would put those provinces out of all insult and danger. The rest of the forces there might be employed to protect our islands, and to attack those of France, which, thus taken by surprise, would inevitably fall into our hands. As to the fleet, we could so dispose it as to cover and defend at once all our possessions and our commerce in the two hemispheres. Thus delivered from all disquietude on the part of America, we should be enabled to bend all our thoughts and all our forces against France; and make her pay the forfeit of her insolence and audacity.

On these considerations, I think that abandoning half measures, we should extend the powers of the commissioners to the enabling them to treat, consult, and finally to agree and acknowledge the Americans as independent; on condition, and in the moment, that they will, as such, form a federal treaty, offensive and defensive and commercial with us. If I am not greatly mistaken we should reap more advantage from this single resolution, than from several victories, in a war become hopeless.

'But if, on the contrary, we persist in our infatuation, we shall learn to our irreparable prejudice, how costly it is to trust more to appearances than reality, and how dangerous to listen to the pernicious counsels of fury and pride. Be assured, if the commissioners are not empowered to acknowledge independence, they had better never go; their going will be a mockery, and end in disgrace.' These considerations, weighty in themselves, and the emphatic manner of the orator, made a deep impression upon the minds of his auditors; it was perceived that several members of the ministerial party began to waver. But the minister of war, Jenkinson, a personage of no little authority, immediately answered by the following speech;

'Nations, no less than individuals, ought to pursue that which is just and honest; and if this be their duty, it is equally also their interest, since it generally conducts them to glory and to greatness. On the other hand, what can be more fatal to the felicity of states, than the uncertainty and instability of counsels?

'Resolutions always fluctuating, betray in those who govern, either weakness of mind, or timidity of spirit; and prevent them from ever attaining the end proposed. This axiom admitted, I hope to have little difficulty in persuading the House that in the present question, where we see prejudiced men hurried away by vain chimeras, it is as rigorously required by justice and our dignity as by the most essential interests of the state, that we should not depart from the counsels we pursue. However fortune may turn her wheel, the war we wage is just. Such the wisdom of parliament has decreed it; such the voice of the people has proclaimed it; such the very nature of things confirms it. Why it has not been more successful, I will not now take upon me to say. Whatever may have been the causes, the want of success, has at last brought upon us the insults and meditated attacks of the French. Is there any one here, who, in such a situation, would have Great Britain despond, would have her stoop to unworthy resolutions, and through fear of the French, acknowledge herself vanquished by her ancient subjects? But what do I say? There are men who would have us tremble for ourselves; and who imagine they already see the French banners floating at the gates of London. But disregarding the vain terrors of these, I know not whether to say ambitious or timorous men, I pledge myself to demonstrate, that the course we have hitherto pursued is not only that of justice and honor, but that it is capable of conducting us to the object of our desires.

'I shall begin with asking these bosom friends of rebels, if they are certain that it is all America, or only a seditious handful, whose craft and audacity have raised them to the head of affairs, who claim independency? For my own part, I confess that this independence appears to me rather a vision that floats in certain brains, inflamed