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MY LORD, IF I addrefs the following (hfects to yOur Lordfliip in pteference to any othet per* fon of eminent rank, or diftitiguiihed talents, it is affuredly neither from any motives of imtcreft, or any propenfity to flattery. You have been feledted from among the croud of nobility who furround the throne, to con- duft the affairs of a mighty empire, which, though it has fuftaincd the rudeft Ihocks, and fuffered numerous dilapidations, is ftill (ublime and magnificent in ruin. You have undertaken this arduous employment at a moment big with internal difcord, and cJt- ternal calamity, beyond the example of fox;- B mer i: 2 I tner times. It required a giant mind, and talents the mod rare and uncommon to guide the vefTel of State through the ftorm nf po- litical elements, and to fave the fhattercd wreck which had furvived the tcmpefl. The experience of modern ages prefents no example of a country oppreffed beneath To fuperior a combination of enemies, as the Britifh < empire had fuflained for many years. The league of Cambray in the fix- teenth century, or the great alliance formed in the beginning of the prefent century, for reducing the exhorbitant power of Louis the XlVih, prefent only a feeble image of the more univerfal and incredible eflforts made to fliake the foundations of the Englifh gran- deur, and which have been attended with too much fuccefs. The convullions which overturned the Republic of Venice, and fhook the *!irone and monarchy of France, were in a great degree confined to Europe, and to the continent of the Old World; but we were dellined to fee America and Afia unite their forces, and extend the horrors of Wiir over the moll remote extremities of the planet, through every latitude, embrac- ing both hemifphfercs, and involving the world u id le 4 [ 3 ] in one vaO; conflagration. — As if unufual fatalities had combined for our deftrudion, the torch of war was lighted almoft in the fame precife moment of time, in the two moft important and mod widely feparated parts of the Britilh dominions. While re- bellion erefted her flandard on the walls of Boflon, and difplayed the fignal of revolt to the Americans, a fpirit of wanton enter- prize, and infatiate ambition, diftated to the government of Bombay, to mix in the in- trigues of the Mahratta Court, and to com- mence hoftilities againd; an empire, whofc refources, pecuniary and military, they were fo far from knowing, that they had even a very imperfeft acquaintance with its geo- graphical extent and limits, France, ever wakeful to the true interefts of her fubjcds, flung with the humiliation of a war in which her ''.ommerce and her glory had been equally obicured — waiting the hour of political vengeance, and fufpending the blow ihe meditated — France at length openly declared her purpofe, and united her formidable force to that of Afi^ and A- merica. B 2 As I* [ 4 ] As if the conteft was not yet fufficiently unequal, Spain joined her unweiidy (IrengtH to that of the elder branch of the Houfe of Bourbon, and co-operating with her in naval exertion, covered the ocean with a navy hitherto unfeen in the prefent century. The armada of Philip feemcd to revive anew, while the fleet of England, accuftomcd to ranquifh, JUd even at the entrance of her own harbours. — But the climax of war was not yet compleated. The imbecility and in- fanity of our Councils in the Eaft, invited new cnemiesj and Teemed to provoke defl:ru6lion. While a lethargy appeared to pervade the government of Madras, from which no ex- hortations could roufe, or information awake them, Hyder Ally, a name not confined in its renown to the eaflern world, and who might have rivalled Tamerlane or Zinges in his conquefts, had he been equally favoured by circumiiances, — Hyder, after long prepa- rations, which afforded time for every fpecies pf defence on our part, at length broke in upon the unprepared and defencelefs Carnatic, cut in pieces the detached corps before they could unite to oppofe his progrefs, and carried ferror and victory wherever he appeared.—- To I of [ 5 ] To com^^ieat this unexampled alTemblage of enemies, Holland laft appeared i and reluc- tantly awaking from a repofc of near half a century, buckled on her rufty armour, and unfheathed her fword, to give another ftab to a country, which feemed already fainting beneath fuch an unequal druggie. I 'I I: f ■V I Some tranficnt gleams of glory (hot, in- deed, athwart this troubled fky, but difap- peared almoft inftantaneoufly, and left the political hemifphere dark as before. The gallant and fpirited defence of Harrington at St. Lucia, the trophies gained by Goddard over the armies of the Mahrattas, the repulfe of D'Eftaing before Savannah, and the for- tunate heroifm of Rodney ofF the coafl of Spain, only illuminated the gloom which ;hey could not difperfe. Ifland after iOand fell in the Wcfl- Indies. Incapacity and negligence feemed to combine for cur deftrudion. The difgraceful day of Saratoga was only forgotten and obliterated hy the more humiliating cataftrophe on the Sanks of the York River, Indecifive li I, *.'!. I I I 6 ] Indecifive naval aftions, which added courage to the marine of France, while they deprefFed and enervated the fpirit which had once animated o>ir own, followed each other in difaflrous fucceflion. i^merica advancing gradually from political diftrefs to emanci- pation and freedom, treated with contempt and infult every advance towards peace, un- Icfs her independence was acknowledged by England as a Preliminary Article. Spain, little accuPiomed to vanquifh in former wars, faw with pride and aflonifh- ment, Minorca, Weft-Florida, and the Ba- hamas captured by her arms. Gibraltar was clofely in veiled. Jamaica menaced. ' In India, Bengal drained of her revenues, opprefled by accumulating demands on every Land, exhauded by her very vitlories, and lurrounded by hoftile armies, was yet compelled to aflift the fmking Carnatic. The fublime and fuperior talents of Mr. Haftings were alone equal to fuftain the tottering fabric of the Eafl Indian greatnefs,' which, in feeble hands, muft have crumbled into duft. Coote repulfed, though he could not (decl ■hey had Ithcr :ing inci- |mpt un- by ;:T I '1i [ 7 ] not vanquiih Hyder ; and gave the Carnattf a momentary refpite from the Aliatic Conqueror. This, my Lord, was the diflrefsful ftatc of the empire at the commencement of the year 1782. Convulfed in every quarter, ftic feemed to approach the hour of pohtical difFolution; and even in her ftruggles, to announce her near advance to their termina- tion. Such was the gloomy pi6lure ihe prc- fented to Europe and the world, at the moment when Lord North, by an aCl of fuicide, rather than by a violent death — by his own want of energy and exertion, rather than by the efforts of his enemies, terminat- ed an adminiftration, unequalled by its misfortunes in the annals of fhis counLryl But that tide of adverfc fortune, which for fo many jears had run with an impetuolity not to be refilled, fufpended its courfc at this critical juncture, and returning in a contrary direction with equal violence, and rapidity, bore up the drooping genius of England on its current. Rodney, a name facrcd to glory, and always found in the paths I t 8 ] paths of danger and of fame, arrefted with d ftrong hand the progrefs of the arms of France. After many difappointmcnts and delays, the navies of the two countries met upon the 1 2th of April No Hiftory of the antient or modern world prcfents an inftance of a more glorious and brilliant vi£lory. The fleet of France fled under Ihelter of the night, leaving the Admiral and the Admi- laFs ftiip in the vigor's hands. The laurels of England, fo long withered and faded, bloomed a new. The proud battles of La Hogue and Quiberon were out-done ; and the names of Riiffell and of Hawke, no longer flood unrivalled in the naval hiftory of their country. Terror and difmay purfued the flying remains of the vanquifhed enemy, and accompanied them over every quarter of the world. But it was not only in the Weft-Indies that England rofe triumphant and vigorou*. Succefles more than negative, and equally brilliant, attended her exertions in other parts of her dominions. Spain, after having ex- haufted her monarchy, and drained her arfe- nals and treafury to re- annex Gibraltar to the I d with rms of ^s and s met of the iftance The jf the Admi- aurels faded, of La ; and ", no iflory irfued lemy larter idi'es rou«. lally )arCs ex- irfe- • to the if I 'lis, M t 9 ] the Crovsrn, from which it had been torn, was repulfcd with an equal lofs of honour and of men from before the walls; while the Princes of the Blood of France, who had tome to be fpeftators of its fall, returned in- glorious and difappointed home. — Even in India — though fuccefs had not attended the efforts made by the Governor-General to procure a peace with the Mahrattas— though Hyder flill ravaged and defolated the Car- natic — though the treafuries of Bengal and Madras were cxhaufted by fuch ruinous and unremitting eflForts though France made exertions, naval and military, the mod defperate, and even above her (Irength— - yet no effectual breach was made in the bul- warks of the empire. Madras remained free from attack or infult. The fleet of England fuf^ained, under many difadvantages, and with inferior numbers, every attempt to bteak or vanquilh them. — The unarmed an4 defencelefs pofTeflions of Holland fell, one after another, into the EngliQi hands; and France, after a campaign, in which (he had promifed herfclf the m^ ft decifive advantages, found her expeftations vain, and all her ichcmes abortive. C Sucir, 'J- I ¥ 13 I fl [ 10 3 Such, my L6rd, was the animating and cxhilerating profpe6l which the Empire exhi- bited } Tuch was the fitiiation of her enemies at the clofe of 1782 ; — a year which had commenced under the mofl; fatal aul'pices, but which faw at its termination, all the for- mer glories of England beam anew ! This, my Lord, was the precife rera you chofe to humble your country at the feet of France and Spaii,!. At the moment when every breaft beat high with pride and hope — when the navy of England, reviving from its temporary obfcurity, panted to prove agaiii its late aflerted fuperioiity — when America, .having emancipated herfcif beyond difpute^ had no longer any nwtive for continuing the war — when Spain was incapable of raifing further fupplies from her exhaufted provinces —when Holland was torn by intcftine divi- •fions, menaced by foreign powers, and inca- pable of any external exertion — when France felt the whole burden of the war failing upon lier already bleeding finances was this, my Lord, the moment, which a wife, a patriot, or a vigorous Miniller, would have chofen to f'upplicate for peace, and to accept from the »• -• ' condefcenfion. '% M nd hi- res ad es, ror- ■I [ If ] ttmdcfcenfion, or infolenC magnsknifnity of the Court of Verfailles, fuch terms as the iTioft pufillanimous Minifter ought to have ■difclained ? The indecent and ruinous hafle with which the treaty was precipitated from a terror of Parliament, did not efcapc the penetrating eye of the Cabinet of France, nor was it unimproved. You was deceived, my Lord, with regard to the flate of iheir aflfairs in India — You either -did not know, or did not take advantage of the diftreffes they laboured under at liome, from the diffi- culty, not to fay the impoffibiUty, of their raihng the requifite fuppLes for tliie approach- ing campaign-'— You did not profit of the rifing ftorms upon the continent^ though France faw, and dreaded their confequences. — " Peace was your dear delight, not Fleury's more j" — and, fike that feeble and fuperan- nuated ftatefman, you lacrificed, to obtain it, every objet"l of pride, or of greatnefs, which vou dared to concede' — — Turn magnum exitium (quod tit prius omen in ipfum Convertmit) Priami Imperio, Phrygibufque futurum f ^■tos neque Tydeides, mc La^-i/fctut AcbillH^ Non anni domutre deciniy non tnilli Curing, C 2 Layiiig; ■-' ~ K(> ll W > < »-TW » i' " J lit It >' '^ 10 It? [ 12 1 Laying aiide all pretence to declamation^ or attempt to impofe on the judgment through the medium of the paflions, I (hall as coolly and as candidly as I am able, venture to ex- amine the great outlines of this fatal Treaty, in which the honour and the interefts of the nation have been fo wantonly betrayed. In- capacity, ignominy, or ruin, appear in all its features, and mark it, both to the prefent age and to didant pofterity, as a compleat dere-^ li6lion of every right of the Crown, and every poffeflion of the fubjeft. ' Even the Treaty of Utrecht, under the circumftances which marked and accelerated its conclufion, was not equally ruinpus, or equally dif- graceful. The Independence of America, however humiliating in its nature, however pernicious and big with ruin in its confequences to this country, yet did not neceflarily bury the faith and honour of England in the fame grave with her commerce and her grandeur. The bitter draught might flill have been qualified ; an(}8fomething might yet have been faved, even in the moft wanton extravagance of concef- fion. But, it was referved for you, my Lord, I gh ily ;x- ty, If he n- S its ; i nd -f he ,1 :es 1 m, if- '1 .* I [ n ] Lord, to render the Englifh faith as much an objeft of fcorn and opprobrium, as her power and glory are of pity and contempt. The " Punka Fides" fliall be no more a prover- bial, or an exclufive expreflion of national perfidy. You have found out a more indif- putable claim to that epithet, without recur- ring to Roman or Carthaginian flory. Your allufions, my Lord, are nearer home, and fcorn all foreign aflillance. The dereWdlion of the unhappy Loyalifts, is an a6i of fo attrocious a nature, and of fo flagitious and deep a dye, as to fupercede all yieceflity for calling on Englilhmen to feel and to deteft it. We wanted only this public teflimony of our bafenefs and treachery, to compleat the ignominious monument of fal- len grcatnefs, which we hold out to Europe, and the aftonilhed world. Even Lord Ox- ford and Lord Bolingbroke would not thus liave abandoned their miferable fellow-titi- zens, who had bled and perilhed in their caufe ! 7 hey, my Lord, only facrificed the Catalam : alhes indeed, and brave ones ! but not Denizens and Englilhmen, defcen3e(l ^rpm one common origin, and proteQed by the i*i. ifiil* ': I ■' i ■■ ill! [ H ] the fame Houfhold Gods. The a6l is newr, I believe in the hiHory of the Old World, and only fit to mix with the enormities of Pizarro and Cortez in the New. But be- ware, my Lord, the vengeance which awaits ftich a condu6l ! Impunity does not always accompany crimes. Though Oxford, after being impeached by the Commons, efcapcd capital punifhment, merely by a difpute rela- tive to the forms of proceeding between the two Houfes of Parliament — Though Bo- lingbrokc eluded by flight the punifhment which otherwife would have fallen on the author of the peace of Utrecht, the year 1783 m;:y, perhaps, bear no fimilarity to the year 1715 ; and little as the genius of the age in which you live is difpofed to exertions of energy and fevcrity, yet tlicre arc a6lionf which awaken even the mofl; torpid and le- thargic States, and point their reluCtant ven- geance againfl tlie autliors of their calamities. I wi(b, that in extenuation of this violation of faith contained in the " Provifional Ar- ticles" with America, I could trace any {ha- llow of policy, of fore fight, or of wifdom, in the other great features of the treaty. But, 1 can ^■•1 d '■•f t '5 ] I H m I can no more admire the ftatefman than I can acquit the man. Is it by the ability lliewn in drawing the limits between the dominions of the United States and thofe of the EngUQi Crown, that you mean, my Lord, to obli- terate and compenfate for the facrifice you have made of the honour of your Sovereign and your country ? Did you, at lead, confult the commercial inteiefls of England in the line of fcparation between Canada and the Ame- rican Provinces ? Or, did you fondly hope, under a long lift of barbarous names, of Ikikes, and rivers unknown to us, to conceal the vices and deficiencies of the imaginary barrier alligned ? If you flatti^red yourfelf with fuch expeQations, you mud have fup- polbd the people of England as fallen in know- ledge of their interefts, as you have humbled them in pride and in grandeur. But, k fcarcely requires a common geographical chart, to expofe to univerfal contempt the fallacious boundaries prefcribed to Canada. Would any Minifter, who only kmu the in- tereils of his country, adopt, as a line of partition between two great independent States, the limits laid down by the Quebec Bill, in f imply marking the termination of two Pr«- Provinces h f'rdvinces dependent on, and fubjcft to thfe fame Crown ? — Notwithftanding ihe pompous cnwrneration of impofing names, the moll compleat dereli6lion of Canada and Nova Scotia could not have more fundamentally facrificed the benefits to be derived from thofe Colonies, than the prefent Articles of Parti- tion have done. How are we to communi- cate with the Great Lakes of America and the MifliflTippi ? Have we poffefllion of the car- rying places ? No. Have we pofieflion of the pallages by which thefe I,akes comnjuni- cate with each other ? No. Have we poffef* fion of Fort Niagara, or Fort Ofwego ? No. — How then are we to tranfport any article of commerce into the interior provinces, ex- cept by the allowance and permiflTion of the Americans, who may, and who will impofe a limit to our connexion with the Indians, and the countries on the Ohio and Miffiffippi ? They are mailers of all the acceffes to the Lakes, and of confequence hold us in th« compleateft vaffallage. 'i ■ ( 5 However perfonally and peculiarly un- pVafing to your Lord{l)ip it may be, and however devoid of entertainment it may prove even to tht mpous moft Nova lentAUy thofe Parti- muni- nd the e ear- on of nsuni- pofTef* ? No. artide >, ex- •f the npofe iians, ippi? 3 the I th« nn- and rove :ven ^a^ I -i>s B [ 17 ] to the tliblic, yet fo fatal are the concefiohs made by the Limits agreed on between us arid America, that I owe it to my country and myfelf, on this moft important point, to go into a detail with geographical precifion, and to convince every impartial perfon, that lio poITible fituation or circumftances could juftify a Minifter in thus abandoning the interefts of the Empire. Here, at leaft, I renounce all declamation, and ftand on fafts. By the line of partition pafling up the River St. Croix, the vaft traft of country extending from that river to the Kennebec, is given up to Ame- tica. It is true, indeed, that this country Was included in the original charter of the Province of ]VIaflachuret*s Bay ; but the Ge- neral Court could not grant any part of it without the confent and permiflion of the Crown of England ; and no grants wtre ever attempted beyond the River Penobfcot. By the paflage of the line from the head of the River St. Croix, along the ridge of the high- lands at the back of Maffachufet's Bay to the fource of the Conne6licut River ; and palling thence through the 45th degree of northern latitude into the River St. Laurence, the whole of the countries furrounding Lake D Georg* i'i'.il fli'S mt iii t t^ I George and Lake Champlain, With both thofe Lakes, and the two forts of Crown Point and Ticonderago, are ceded to America. The Hue entering the St. Latirence below the fort of La Galette, and paffing through the middle of the River, refigns compleatly the command of that Rapid to the Americans : and the line continuing its courfe through the middle of the Lake Ontario, and the Streight of Niagata, abandons the whole of the Mo- hawk Country, Ofwego, and the Fort of Nia* gara, which commands the carrying place, to . America. The line proceeding through Lake Erie, and from thence through the middle of the Streight at Detroit into the Lake Huron ; and thence through Lake Superior, and the middle of Long Lake, to the north-weftern point of the Lake of the Woods, cuts off all commu- nication with the Miffifippi, with the Ohio and Illinois countries, and all the Indian na- tions, except what the generofity of Congrcfs fhall be pleafed to allow, the acceffes being in their hands. The Lake Michigan is totally given up. Super-add-cd to thi?, the :fi W^ - mSHB^ailtittVl •» IW»"' both M I '9 J the Americans, by commanding the carry- ing-places at Niagara, Detroit, and at Miffilimachinac, preclude all communication between Upper and Lower Canada, even fhould we allov/ the paffage acrofs the St. Lawrence, at La Galette. To complete the fetters in which this ruinous treaty binds us, the communication from Montreal, by the Outawa River with Lake Superior, is like- wife in the hands of the Americans, as they tave the command of the ftreight between it aad the Lake Huron : the neceffary and inevitable confequence of which is, that even the trade from Canada with the Indians to t^ie Weft and North of the Lakes, is totally in their power ; and as to the whole country on the £afi fide, it is entirely and exclufivdy their own. Yet, as if all thefe ample and de(lru£live Gonceflions were not yet fufficient, you have ventured, my Lord, to extend the preroga- tive of the Crown, in order to capacitate your Sovereign to relign a valt traft of the Pro- vince of Canada, over which you could ac- quire or confer no right of alienation. In vir- tue o£ what parliamentary fanQion or permifr D 2 fion. I'«l i >.,• ..i' [ 20 ] fion, do you find yourfelf authorized to cede for ever to Ainerica that prodigious extenf; cf territory, (Iretching to the fouthward of the line drawn from the North-weft point pf the l^ake of the Woods, due W«ft to the Mifliflippi, arid which, by a public and folemn compact, made in 1774, was declar- ed a part of Canada ?— If thefe are not crime9 of State meriting impeachment, there cai^ exift none. You doubtlefs rely either on the lenity of the age, or on the fupinefs and lethargy of Parliament. Beware, my Lord, left you be deceived in both ! . The continuation of thefe extraordinary U» ^its, down the Channel of the Miffillippi, as well as along the rivers Catahouche, Flint, and St. Mary, to the Atlantic Ocean, are only, and can only be ufeful to this country, upon the fuppofition, (which formed the genius and principle of thefe boundaries at the time they were laid down and figned at Paris, on the 30th of November laft ) namely, that the Floridas, or at leaft Eaji Florida, would have remained to the Crown of Eng- land i otherwife, to what purpofe thus accu^ ratelv 1 ■^ M .4 v.' V.t 11 [ 21 ] iatcly trace a frontier, to which we now can have neither acccfs nor outlet, fince the Floridas are ceded to Spain ? And is it thus you trifle with the patience, and irtfult the feehn(]^s of a great and an informed people ? But the illiifion is too grofs, and too eafy of dete6lion, to afford a refuge, however mo- mentary, to its author : even the Mofcovites, before the acceflion of I'cter, would have difcovered fo palpable a deceit, and have re- lented the infult on their pnderHandings, 'm Every ftep I tread, every advance I make in this pernicious treaty, only opens a new and melancholy profpeft of departed great- nefs. Ignominy and ruin keep equal pace. All the facred barriers which the providentj forelight of our anceflors had drawn, to pro-* tedt the commerce, and rear the future navy of their country, have you, my Lord, fubvcrt>r ed. The filhery on the Banks of Newfound- land, which has always been juftly regarded as the niofl indifpenfible nurfery for our fea- men, and the monopoly of which we have jealoudy preferved, through fo many wars and revolutions, is laid open, almofl: without ^ny reftriftion, to France and to America ! A new ^/ "m I Z2 ] A new and more extended length of coaft, a-s well as greater privJlegei, are granted tq France. -\t ,11 . Ml ii. i m iH 'I , The iflands of St. Pierre andMiquelon, in the Gulph of St. Laurence, are not only re- ftored to the French, but they are given up, without the fmalleft referve or (lipulation. The peace of 1 763 might have afforded you, my Lord, the moft accurate information re- ipe6ling the danger and importance of thofe iflands, fituated fo near to Newfoundland. "When -hey were ceded by us, it was undet the exprefs and por:tive limitation, that Jiey were only ** to ferve as a fhelter to the *^ French fifhermen; and his Moft Chriftian ** Majefly engaged not to fortify the faid iflands; not to ere6t any buildings upon them, except merely for the convenience " of the fifljery, and to keep upon them * ' only a guard of Ji/ty men for the police." • What mufl now be the neceffary and in- evitable confequence ? France will fortify and garrifon both thofe iflands. She will, on a rupture betwen the two Crowns, inftantly expel us from Placentia and St. John's, and become mirirefs of Newfoundland and tb^ whole. «( €t 4 f"-^:. m .'W«i in rc- up, on, ^ou, re- lofs nd. der •a i ;'w 1 1 [ ^3 ] vhole fiftiery. It requires, my Lord, a real depth of commercial and political informa- tion, only to conceive and comprehend th« extent of the evils you have brought upon your country, and the ft ill more alarming calamities which you have prepared for it in fucceeding times. America, though reftraincd as to the righfc . of drying or curing her fifh upon the ifland, has, however, obtained from your liberal con- ceffion, ftill further permiffions and privileges, more dark and undefined indeed, but, for that very reafon, more fatal to England. She has the liberty of drying fifh on the unfetiled bays, harbours, and creeks of Nova Scotia, Magdalen Iflands, and Labrador, fo long *' as the fame iliall remain unfettled.*' If there be an article in the whole treaty more pregnant with evil than another, and more calculated to produce remote and future dif- fentions between us and America, it is this. The Americans, my Lord, you ihould have known, are not eafily induced or compelled to quit any fhorc on which they fettle : and, after a prefcription of twenty years, v/ho is to force them to abandon a coaft, where they have it <« C( :.;i'i:i I'' I [ 24 1 have been accullomed to refide, and to carry on any article of traffic ? Is it the ereftion of three or four miferable cottages on any J)articular part of the fliore of Nova Scotia, or Labr:idor, that conftitates its being *' fettled ?" I confefs I am more alarmed at the darknefs and ambiguity of this ckufe, than at any of thbfe where the deftru6live tendency is more defined, and the ruin more clearly afcertained* I am ferry to find no other trace of liberality in your Lordfhip's condud, except where it is exerted at the expence of the difmembered empire. To Spain you have been liberal even to prodigality. Did )on. hope, my Lord, to gain the Mod Catholic King by this unexampled profufion ? Did you intend to detach the younger branch of the Houfe of Bourbon from the elder, by fo partial and diflinguifhing a predile6lion ? Or was it from any profound political aim in- fcrutable to common minds, that you thus wantonly added the ceffion of Eaft Flori4a to the acquifition of Weft Florida, already made by the arms of Spain? Was it not enough to abandon the unhappy Loyalifts, to deliver M I \ III [ 25 1 tSelivei* Canada and Nova Scotia fettered Into the hands of Congrefs, to lay open ihe fiftieries to France and to America? Or was the work ft ill incomplete, while a fingle province remained to England? e of ^cepi ' the bare }on lolic Did I of fo Or ^ in- m r i^^ h Perhaps I fhall be told, that " the Floridas •' were onerous to this country; that they *' were infertile waftes, unwholfome, un- " fettled, and productive of Icarce any re- ** venue to the Crown." Even was I to allow thefe arguments, and grant thefe afler- tions in their full force, which I am far, how- ever, from doing, I reply, that their local (itua- tion rendered them invaluable to us. They command in a great meafure the communi- cation with the River Miffiffippi, and the in- terior parts of Carolina and Georgia. They furnifh fome very eflential articles, particularly naval ftores ; and lumber for the Weft-India iflands. They will be felt in a future war, as a fevere curb on the trade with Jamaica. In any cafe, the prefervation of one or both might have done honour to )'our humanity ; and they would at leaft have formed fome afylum, however defert or inhofpitable, for E th« v: 4\^ ^1 tTie miferable Loyalifts, from the perfeavtlot^ of their conquerors. ■ # But it is not in America that we are to* look fot- the traces either of your beneficence, or your wifdom. It is to the "Weft Indies we are to turn our eyes, if we deCre to fee the miracles of the Earl of Shelburne's hand. There, unlike to every other part of the treaty, Britain appears to receive, and France to concede. An oftentatious re- cital of captured iflands reftored — an enume- ration which is fo minute as to ftoop even to rocks in its detail, impofes on the ear, and dazzles the judgment. Nor am I unwilling to allow, that the iflands^ reftored by France are of very cflential confequence to the com- merce and welfare of the State. Grenada is, perhaps, worth near a million fterling an- nually to this country. Dominique, con- tains the moft important and valuable har- bour in the Weft Indies. The Court of Verfailles may, indeed, confiftent with the moft cautious policy, and the moft difcern- ing fagacity, reftorc to England all the iflands Ihe had taken, fmce fhe well knows that we tcan in future only hold them by the moft frail* -M m iUofi :M 1 1 <5i1 and precarious tenure-«- namely, the per» snidion of America, and the generofity of France. But, in return, have we not re- llorcd to her an illand, which, in a military point of view, is above all price, and beyond all calculation ? Is there a man, however uninformed, who does not know that St» Lucia is the key to the whole chain of the Carribbee Iflands ? Its natural ftrength, its windward polition, its artificial force, nay, the very circumftances of its capture, have rendered it as dear to the pride as to the po- licy of the Englifh nation. The Unwhole- fome nature of the climate, which after its firft conqueft was found to be highly perni- cious to the troops, is not to be adduced as a reafon or a juftification for refloring it to France. That circumftance no lonsjer ex- ids. The late hurricane in the Weft Indies, while it fpread defolation round, operated as a moft falubrious reftorative to the Ifland of St. Lucia, by clearing the woods; and fuper- added to this, the exertions and labours of the experienced officer who has commanded there for thefe laft two years, have fo amc- liorated the air of the Morne FortUnee and \ts vicinity, as to render it one of tho moft ^2, hejthy [ 28 ] healthy ftatlons for troops in that quar* tcr of the world. France, my Lord, will know its value better ; nor fhall we find it fuch an eafy capture, whenever another rup- ture takes place between the two Crowns. While Ihe poCTefTcs St. Lucia, there is not an ifland free from infult, or exempt from the danger of continual attack. Not con- tent, my Lord, with difarming your own country, you prepare France for future wars, and arm her with the mod fatal -weapons. As if St. Lucia was not a fufficient con-i ccflion, Tobago is added likewife. However inconliderable it may be, as compared with niofl of the other iflands in the chain^ it is not an obje61: of political contempt or difre- gard. The cotton of Tobago is of a qua- lity far fuperior to any produced in the Wefl Indies ; and it's lofs will be feverely felt by that branch of our manufadurers. It is not in MancheQer that you will be peculiarly popular, my Lord ; nor is there any danger, that when you (hall be no longer in his Ma- jefty's Councils, the inhabitants of that great ?nd opulent city will take off :he horfes from [ 29 1 from your carriage, and dra^v you in tri- umph through the ftreets. It might have been hoped, that in return for fo many conceffions in Europe and in America, Spain would in amicable revenge have enlarged and extended the territory and the privileges, allowed to the logwood cutters in the Bay of Honduras. It is a mofl inva- luable article of commerce, of which Spain has been always jealous in the extreme, and the conditions annexed to which fhe has con- tinually, even in time of profound peace, infringed and invaded. Of confequence, every minute particular fhould have been accurately and pointedly defined, nor any poflible fub- terfuge or evafion left unexplored and guarded againft. But, perhaps your Lord- ftiip preferred more conciliating modes of binding the Spanifh Court and Monarch, as preferable to the fetters of a treaty. Obliga- dons, you conlidered, fliould be reciprocal ; and your own profufion might authorize you to expedl equal generofity from the Councils of Madrid. It is for thefe reafons, and on thefe principles undoubtedly, that t{ie boundarks of the diftri6l for cutting log- wood [ 30 ] vt'ood arc not defined, but left to future nejror? dation to fix and afcertain. — You have even gone fiirther ; and tacitly, if not avowedly, declared the fovereignty of the Crown of Spain over that coafl, which the treaties of Utrecht, of the Pardo, of Seville, and of Fontainblcau, had wifely pafled over in filence; but which can never henceforward be impu^ripd, or called in quellion. — From this humiliating and calamitous profpe^l of the weftcrn world, I am now to carry my attention to the Eall-Indies. There, the fame fpirit of conceflion and furrender pervades every article of the treaty. How- ever France might have triumphed beyond the Atlantic ; whatever fuccefs might have attended her councils and her arms on the Continent of America — However xiumerous her lift of captured iflands, and emancipated provinces, might be in the weflern hemifphere, no laurels had graced her in India, or trophies jnarked her progrefs. Notwithftanding the coloffal fabric of the Mahratta empire, and her unremitting efforts to break in upon Beun gal Notwithflanding the impetuous rage oi Hyder, and the delolatiori of the Carnatic — . — Notwithn \ [ 31 1 \ • Notwitliftanding the reiterated attempts of the fleet of France, iii aid of her Afiatic allies — only ruin and misfortunes had at- tended her affairs. No trace of the French poflfeffions or acquifitions remained to them on either coafl: of the peninfula. Pondi- cherry, Carical, Chandenagore» Mahc, every fa6lory and fettlement had fucceflively fallen. — • You mud have known, my Lord, that her fleet under SufFrein could not remain upon the coafl: of Coromandel after the commence- ment of 06lober, when the Monfoon begins ; and that the a-rrival of the powerful naval and military reinforcement under Sir Richard Bickerton, which might be expefted with great probabrlrty in the courfe of September, muft put the fafety and protedlion of India out of all queflion or fufpicion. You knew likewifc that the Msrhrattas were treating for peace with the Governor-General; and that Hyder, exhaufted by his very con- quefts, and receiving no fuch eflential aflift- ance from France, as could enable him to approach or invefl. Madras, muft be equally difpofed to put an honourable termination to the war. I do not mention Holland— Sh« [ ^ ^ d" \ She only prefented obje£ls of plunder, and could hardly be regarded as an enemy. — And were tbefe circum (lances fuch, as to induce a wife Minifter to reQore to France, not only all that we had captured, but even to bind his Sovereign and his country '* to procure** a confiderable diftrifl: of territory, " to ferve as a dependancy" round Pondicherry, and round Carical ?— -Our allies, the Nabob of Arcot, and the King of Tanjore, will doubt- lefs retain a deep and grateful fenfe of the friendfliip and prote6lion extended by your Lordlhip to them, in thefe liberal couceffions from the bolbm of the Carnatic and Tanjore. Perhaps, however, thefe diftri£ls may not be " procured" with that yielding facility you feem inclined to fuppofe ; and v^e have yet to hope, that whatever inclination to concede may be found in the Cabinet of England, the Durbars may be more inflexible on thefe articles, and refufc to yield obedience to the mandate. The Preliminaries with Holland are not yet figned ; but if we may judge from the fpirit of conceflion which charafterizes the treaties alveady concluded, your Lordfhip will : ) [ 33 I v/ili not be lefs yielding to the Dutch, iV i you have been to the other belligerent poweri. Perhaps you may even carry your generofity ib far, as to bind this country to " procure" a diflrid of territory round Negapatam, fimilar to thofe promifed to France round their two principal fettlements. That you may con- ceive it wife or equitable, to re ft ore to Holland all her eftablilhments in the kingdom of Bengal, as well as on the coafts of Coroman- del and Malabar, I can fuppofe but, I truft, my Lord, that you will not dare to fport fo far with the great interefts of the Englifli people, or tempt their refentment and indignation fo far, as ever to reftore to the Dutch the Harbour of Trincomale. Report, however, which unqueftionably wrongs you, has ventured to attribute to you intentions of this nature ; — nay, it has gone further, and infinuated, that a late refignation at the head of the Board of Admiralty, which this king- dom much regrets, originated, at leafl: par- tially, from a prefcience and a difapprcval of your Lordihip's refolutions on this important point. |: Trincomale [ 34 1 Trincomalc is the moft invaluablu ponefficn' to the Crown of England, which fhe can re- tain in the Eaft-Indies. Its central pofition near the fouthcrn extremity of the peninfula, prote6\ing both coafts, overhanging Ncga- patam and Pondicheny, while it {ccurcs Madras, and all our eftablifhments in the B»y of Bengal ; — the excellence and fecuvify of the Bay, in which the whole navy of Eng- land may ride fccure during all the fury of the Monfoon, at a time when the French muft be under a necefhty of returning to the iflands of Mauritius Even all the adventitious circum (lances attending it-^-— the uncommon faiubrity of the air, the im- menfe quantities of excellent fifh taken in the harbour, the prodigious plenty of fowl and animal food with which the furrounding woods abound — All thefe local qualities con- fpire to render the pofTefTion of Trincomale an objeft of the highefl; national importance. But thefe advantages, numerous and eflential 2S they muft be confeffed, are eclipfed in the lecent and ineftimable benefit, derived from its being in our polleffion during the prefent war. I will venture to affert, that had Tr?n- comale been in the hands of France, or even «i, / t 35 ] of Holland, we fhoulcl long fince have ccafcdi to retain a finglc fettlcmcnt or pofleflion oa the Coall of Coromandel. <* SufFrein would have remained in that har- bour during the monfoon, when Sir Edward Hughes mull have been under a necefTity of retiring to Bombay. What the deftrudlive confequences of fuch a neceffity muft have been, it would be nugatory Co attempt to prove. Madras muft have fallen irrecover- ably ; the iK)ithern Circars would have fol- lowed ; and all the EngJilh dominions, from the Weftern extremity of Bengal to Cape Comorin, muft have been for ever loft to the Crown and the Company. I would not wil- lingly, my Lord, add fuppofititious charges to tiiofe, for which I know you to be already an- fwerable to your country ; and I Ihall there- fore fufpend my opinion on this feature of the Treaty, till we arc mad^ acquainted with it*^ f nal adjuftment. At the termination of the late glorious war, it was regarded as one of the very eifential advantages fecured to England by the treaty pi Fontainbleau, that the gum trade would F 2 b« f 3*^ ] ht in a great fneafurc exclufively in out ponTcifion. Senegal was retained upon that principle, as commanding tlie navigation and commerce of the river and coaft from whence thofe articles vrcre principally procured, ]Vir. Pitt, whom your Lordlhip affe£ls lo admire and imitate, eflecmed the acquiStion of that branch of trade as a moft folid and permanent benefit to this country ; but this, like fo many other commercial fources of wealth, you have thought proper to facrifice; and in return for Goree and Senegal yielded to France, we are to efteem ourfelves for- tunate, that the Moft Chriflian King guaran- ties to us " the pofTeffion of Foit James, *' and of tie River Gambia." .a\ .« yv- '^^■ If there was one article of this degrading treaty which I fhould incline to approve an«Jl applaud, it would be the ceffion of Minorca j and h?d any equivalent been made by Spain for her keeping pofTeffion of that ifland and both the Fioridas, I would have been among the firil to juftify your policy in this inftance. But Spain in the prefent treaty only receives^ without conceding any thing in return; for it would be to infiilt u^, my Lord, to talk of the ■'14. I 37 ] die Bahama I Hands as any comparative o!>- je6l of reftitution. Minorca, I have long regarded, rather as a burden on this country, than as any effential advantage to it. We have Utile trade in the iMediterrancan, and Icfs in the Levant : the Turkey Company has long been fuftained by an elymofy- nary gift of Parliament, annually confer- red. Even was the commerce up the Straits in a more flourifhing condition than it is, Minorca is little calculated to give it efFeaual proteaion ;— but Minorca, like Gibraltar, has a relative and faditious value ; nor mua it be eRimated by the benefits refuking to Eng- land from it's poirefifion, but by the imagi- nary price which the pride of Spain may an- nex to it. 1 hefe, however, are feelings and niotives which you, my Lord, might be too magnanimous to profit of, and too generous to infill on with the Court of Madrid. Dunkirk compleats the Ua of our di^ graces, and of the trmmphs of Vcrlaillcs. That thorn in the commerce of tlic Chainie!, that infultirg Port which leoks mro the Thames, and carries depredation to our very doors, is a^ain reinQated in all its capacity [ 33 ] oF offence. Every flipulation, which the honour or pohcy of England had compelled France to yield, from the peace of Utrecht lo the prefcnt moment, is compleatly and totally done away — every article *' abro- " gated and ruppreffed." Even the Miniftry of Charles the Second, corrupt and profli- o;ate as they were, would have blufhed a^ the ignominy in which they involved their Koval Mafter bv confenting to fuch an ar- tide ; and have refufed to (lain his honour, though they might betray his intercft. Thefe are the wonders of the Earl of SheK burne, and fuch the bleiTings he has entailed upon his country ! The Empire, difmembercd, and bleeding at every vein, prefents a monu- ment of pity to foreign nations, and the empty rccolleclion of glories for ever fet. The treaty of peace only leaves us impotent and debilitated, from the unfuccefsful flrug- gles we have made for fo many years. It is, mdced, as far as relates to the two Crowns of France and Spain, but top clearly defined, and accurately correal. It is only with America, that every poflTible ambiguity, and every impolitic fource of future difputes are fcattered .4S- \ [ 39 ] fcattercd wiih a lavifli hand. And do yoU prefume to hope, my Lord, that a proud and generous nation will tamely bend beneath the yoke of ignominy, which you have im- pofed upon them ? Is it from a pcrufal of the hiflory of your own country, and pecu- liarly of the year 1713, that you venture to draw this inference ? Inadequate as the . Treaty of Utrecht was to the juft expeQa- *• tions of the people of England, it was at lead only negatiiely bad, your's is fo, in the moft i}j}irm