THE Parliamentary Register; O R, HISTORY OF THE PROCEEDINGS AND DEBATES OF THE HOUSE OF LORDS DURING THE FIRST SESSION; AND OF THE HOUSE OF COMMONS DURING THE SECOND SESSION OF THE FOURTEENTH PARLIAMENT of GREAT BRITAIN. CONTAINING AN ACCOUNT OF The most interesting SPEECHES, MOTIONS, BILLS, PROTESTS, IN SEVENTEEN VOLUMES. VOL. II. LONDON: Reprinted for JOHN STOCKDALE, Piccadilly; 1802. By T. Gillet, Salisbury Square. THIS THIS session was opened by the King, with a speech from the throne. The speech being already printed in the debates of the House of Commons of this session, it is unnecessary to repeat it. November 30, 1774, The Earl of Hillsborough moved, That an humble address be presented to his Majesty, to return his Majesty the thanks of this House for his most gracious speech from the throne. To declare our abhorrence and detestation of the daring spirit of resistance and disobedience to the laws, which so strongly prevails in the province of Massachuset's Bay, and of the unwarrantable attempts in that and other provinces of America, to obstruct, by unlawful combinations, the trade of this kingdom. To return his Majesty our humble thanks for having been pleased to communicate to us, that he has taken such measures, and given such orders as his Majesty hath judged most proper and effectual for the protection and security of the commerce of his Majesty's subjects, and for carrying into execution the laws, which were passed in the last session of the late parliament, relative to the province of the Massachuset's Bay. To express our entire satisfaction in his Majesty's firm and steadfast resolution to continue to support the supreme authority of the legislature over all the dominions of his crown, and to give his Majesty the strongest assurances that we will VOL. II. B chearfully chearfully co-operate in all such measures, as shall be necessary to maintain the dignity, safety, and welfare of the British. empire. That as this nation cannot be unconcerned in the common interest of Europe, we have the greatest satisfaction in being acquainted with the conclusion of the peace between Russia and the Porte; that we confide in his Majesty's endeavours to prevent, as far as possible, the breaking out of fresh disturbances; and from the assurances given to his Majesty by other powers, we have the pleasing expectation that nothing is likely to intervene that may interrupt the present happy tranquillity in Europe. That it is no less our duty than our inclination to proceed with temper and unanimity in our deliberations and resolutions, and to inculcate, by our example, a due reverence for the laws, and a just sense of the excellency of our constitu tion; and impressed with the deepest gratitude for the many blessings we have enjoyed during the course of his Majesty's reign, to testify with unaffected zeal at this conjuncture our inviolable fidelity to his Majesty, and our serious attention to the public welfare. This motion was seconded by the Earl of Buckinghamshire. The Duke of Richmond moved, "That an amendment be made to the said motion, by inserting after the word throne, at the end of the first paragraph, these words: To desire his Majesty would be graciously pleased to give direction for an early communication of the accounts which have been received concerning the state of the colonies, that we may not proceed to the consideration of this most critical and important matter, but upon the fullest information; and when we are thus informed, we shall, without delay, apply ourselves with the most earnest and serious zeal, to such measures as shall tend to secure the honour of his Majesty's crown, the true dignity of the mother country, and the harmony and happiness of all his Majesty's dominions. Which being objected to, after some debate, the question was put, Whether these words shall be inserted in the said motion? It was resolved in the negative. Contents 13 Non-Contents 63. Dissentient, Because we cannot agree to commit ourselves with the careless facility of a common address of compliment, in expressions, which may lead to measures in the event fatal to the lives, properties, and liberties of a very great part of our fellow subjects. We We conceive that an address upon such objects as are be fore us, and at such a time as this, must necessarily have a confiderable influence upon our future proceedings; and must impress the public with an idea of the general spirit of the measures which we mean to support. Whatever methods we shall think it adviseable to pursue, either in support of the mere authority of parliament, which seems to be the sole consideration with some, or for reconciling that authority with the peace and satisfaction of the whole empire, which has ever been our constant and invariable object, it will certainly add to the weight and efficacy of our proceedings, if they appear the result of full information, mature deliberation, and temperate enquiry. No materials for such an enquiry have been laid before us; nor have any such been so much as promised in the speech from the throne, or even in any verbal assurance from minis ters. In this situation we are called upon to make an address, arbitrarily imposing qualities and descriptions upon acts done in the colonies, of the true nature and just extent of which we are as yet in a great measure unapprized; a procedure which appears to us by no means consonant to that purity which we ought ever to preserve in our judicial, and to that caution which ought to guide us in our deliberative capacity. 2. Because this address does, in effect, imply an approbation of the system adopted with regard to the colonies in the last parliament. This unfortunate system, conceived with so little prudence, and pursued with so little temper, consistency, or foresight, we were in hopes, would be at length abandoned, from an experience of the mischiefs which it has produced, in proportion to the time in which it was continued, and the diligence with which it has been pursued; a system which has created the utmost confufion in the colonies, without any rational hope of advantage to the revenue, and with certain detriment to the commerce of the mother country. And it affords us a melancholy prospect of the disposition of Lords in the present parliament, when we see the House, un der the pressure of so severe and uniform an experience, again ready, without any enquiry, to countenance, if not to adopt, the spirit of the former fatal proceedings. But whatever may be the mischievous defigns, or the in considerate temerity, which leads others to this desperate course, we wish to be known as persons who have ever `disapproved of measures so pernicious in their past effects, and their future tendency, and who are not in haste, without B 2 enquiry |