He said, it would involve a large province in a thousand difficulties, and in the worst of despotism, and put the whole people under arbitrary power; that it was a most cruel, oppressive, and odious measure, tearing up justice and every good principle by the roots; that by abolishing the trial by Jury, together with the Habeas Corpus, he supposed the framers of the bill thought that mode of proceeding most satisfactory; whilst every true Englishman was ready to lay down his life sooner than lose those two bulwarks of his personal security and property. The merely supposing that the Canadians would not be able to feel the good effects of law and freedom, because they had been used to arbitrary power, was an idea as ridiculous as false. He said, the bill established a despotic government in that country, to which the royal proclamation of 1763 promised the protection of the English laws. Here the noble Lord read part of the proclamation; and then entered into the power vested in the Governor and Council; the whole mode of which, he said, was tyrannical and despotic. He was particularly severe on the bad consequences that would attend the great extension of that province. The whole of the bill appeared to him to be destructive of that liberty, which ought to be the ground-work of every constitution. Ten thousand objections, he was confident, might be made to the bill; but the extinction of the mode of trial

above mentioned was a very alarming circumstance, and he would pronounce him him a bold man who pro

posed such a plan.

• When his Lordship came to the religious part of the bill, he directed his discourse to the Bench of Bishops, telling them, that as by the bill the Catholic religion was made the established religion of that vast continent, it was impossible they could be silent on the occasion. He called the bill a child of inordinate power, and desired and asked if any of that Reverend Bench would hold it out for baptism. He touched again on the unlimited power of the Governor in appointing all the members, and who might consist of Roman Catholics only.

He also took notice of an amendment which had been made in the House of Commons, which was a new clause, repealing so much of the Act of Reformation of the 1st of Elizabeth as relates to the Oath of Supremacy, and substituting a common oath of allegiance in its place. This act of Elizabeth, he said, had always been looked upon as one that the legislature had no more right to repeal, than the Great Charter, or the Bill of Rights'But in this he was greatly mistaken; for though several of the Reverend Bench were present, not one of them made the smallest objection to the clause-they all divided with the Ministry.

The Duke of Gloucester divided with Lord Chatham against the Bill, but they were in a minority.

The session ended on the twenty-second day of June, and on the last day of September the Parliament was suddenly dissolved*.

CHAPTER XLII.

Lord Chatham's motion to withdraw the Troops from Boston-His Bill for quieting the troubles in America-His Bill rejected-Receives the Thanks of the City of London for his Bill.

ON the 29th day of November, 1774, the new Parliament met. On the 20th day of January, 1775, Lord Dartmouth, then Secretary of State, &c. produced the official American papers.

The Earl of Chatham, after strongly condemning the dilatoriness of Administration, &c. proceeded as follows:

*During the summer, Lord Mansfield went to Paris. At this time the Court of Great Britain may be said to have had three ambassadors at the Court of France-Lord Stormont, the official; Mr. Forth, the confidential; and Lord Mansfield, the efficient.

*But as I have not the honour of access to his Majesty, I will endeavour to transmit to him, through the Constitutional channel of this House, my ideas of America, to rescue him from the misadvice of his present Ministers. I congratulate your Lordships, that the business is at last entered upon by the noble Lord's + laying the papers before you. As I suppose your Lordships too well apprized of their contents, I hope I am not premature, in submitting to you my present motion:

"That an humble address be presented to his Majesty, humbly to desire and beseech his Majesty, that in order to open the way towards a happy settlement of the dangerous troubles in America, by beginning to allay ferments and soften animosities there; and above all, for preventing in the mean time any sudden and fatal catastrophe at Boston, now suffering under the daily irritation of an army before our eyes, posted in their town; it may graciously please his Majesty that immediate orders be dispatched to General Gage, for removing his Majesty's forces from the town of Boston, as

*This speech, and that of the 18th of November, 1777, were taken by the same gentleman; and it has been affirmed by several persons who heard the noble Lord on both days, that they contain very strong and peculiar marks of accuracy.

† Lord Dartmouth.

soon as the rigour of the season, and other circumstances indispensable to the safety and accommodation of the said troops, may render the same practicable."

'I wish, my Lords, not to lose a day in this urgent, pressing crisis; an hour now lost in allaying ferments in America, may produce years of calamity: for my own part, I will not desert, for a moment, the conduct of this weighty business, from the first to the last; unless nailed to my bed by the extremity of sickness, I will give it unremitted attention; I will knock at the door of this sleeping and confounded Ministry, and will rouse them to a sense of their important-danger.

When I state the importance of the Colonies to this country, and the magnitude of danger hanging over this country, from the present plan of mis-administration practised against them, I desire not to be understood to argue for a reciprocity of indulgence between England and America. I contend not for indulgence, but justice to America; and I shall ever contend, that the Americans justly owe obedience to us in a limited degreethey owe obedience to our ordinances of trade and navigation; but let the line be skilfully drawn between the objects of those ordinances, and their