It is now given out for the usual purposes, by the usual emissaries,
that Lord Rockingham did not consent to the repeal of this act until he
was bullied into it by Lord Chatham; and the reporters have gone so
far as publicly to assert, in a hundred companies, that the honourable
gentleman under the gallery, who proposed the repeal in the American
committee, had another set of resolutions in his pocket directly the
reverse of those he moved. These artifices of a desperate cause are
at this time spread abroad, with incredible care, in every part of the
town, from the highest to the lowest companies; as if the industry of
the circulation were to make amends for the absurdity of the report.
Sir, whether the noble lord is of a complexion to be bullied by Lord
Chatham, or by any man, I must submit to those who know him. I confess,
when I look back to that time, I consider him as placed in one of the
most trying situations in which, perhaps, any man ever stood. In the
House of Peers there were very few of the ministry, out of the noble
lord's own particular connection (except Lord Egmont, who acted, as far
as I could discern, an honourable and manly part), that did not look to
some other future arrangement, which warped his politics. There were
in both houses new and menacing appearances, that might very naturally
drive any other, than a most resolute minister, from his measure or
from his station. The household troops openly revolted. The allies
of ministry (those, I mean, who supported some of their measures, but
refused responsibility for any) endeavoured to undermine their credit,
and to take ground that must be fatal to the success of the very cause
which they would be thought to countenance. The question of the repeal
was brought on by ministry in the committee of this house, in the very
instant when it was known that more than one court negotiation was
carrying on with the heads of the opposition. Everything, upon every
side, was full of traps and mines. Earth below shook; heaven above
menaced; all the elements of ministerial safety were dissolved. It was
in the midst of this chaos of plots and counterplots; it was in the
midst of this complicated warfare against public opposition and private
treachery, that the firmness of that noble person was put to the proof.
He never stirred from his ground: no, not an inch. He remained fixed and
determined, in principle, in measure, and in conduct. He practised no
managements. He secured no retreat. He sought no apology.
I will likewise do justice, I ought to do it, to the honourable
gentlemen who led us in this house. Far from the duplicity wickedly
charged on him, he acted his part with alacrity and resolution. We
all felt inspired by the example he gave us, down even to myself, the
weakest in that phalanx. I declare for one, I knew well enough (it could
not be concealed from anybody) the true state of things; but, in my
life, I never came with so much spirits into this house. It was a time
for a MAN to act in. We had powerful enemies, but we had faithful and
determined friends; and a glorious cause. We had a great battle to
fight, but we had the means of fighting; not as now, when our arms are
tied behind us. We did fight that day, and conquer.
I remember, Sir, with a melancholy pleasure, the situation of the
honourable gentleman (General Conway.) who made the motion for the
repeal; in that crisis when the whole trading interest of this empire,
crammed into your lobbies, with a trembling and anxious expectation,
waited, almost to a winter's return of light, their fate from your
resolutions. When, at length, you had determined in their favour, and
your doors, thrown open, showed them the figure of their deliverer in
the well-earned triumph of his important victory, from the whole of
that grave multitude there arose an involuntary burst of gratitude and
transport. They jumped upon him like children on a long-absent father.
They clung about him as captives about their redeemer. All England, all
America joined to his applause. Nor did he seem insensible to the best
of all earthly rewards, the love and admiration of his fellow-citizens.
HOPE ELEVATED, AND JOY BRIGHTENED HIS CREST. I stood near him; and his
face, to use the expression of the scripture of the first martyr, "his
face was as if it had been the face of an angel." I do not know how
others feel; but if I had stood in that situation, I never would have
exchanged it for all that kings in their profusion could bestow. I did
hope that that day's danger and honour would have been a bond to hold us
all together for ever. But, alas! that, with other pleasing visions, is
long since vanished.
Sir, this act of supreme magnanimity has been represented, as if it had
been a measure of an administration, that having no scheme of their
own, took a middle line, pilfered a bit from one side and a bit from the
other. Sir, they took NO middle lines. They differed fundamentally from
the schemes of both parties; but they preserved the objects of both.
They preserved the authority of Great Britain. They made the Declaratory
Act; they repealed the Stamp Act. They did both FULLY; because the
Declaratory Act was without QUALIFICATION; and the repeal of the Stamp
Act TOTAL. This they did in the situation I have described.