Mr. Sayre sued lord Rochford, in the court of Common Pleas, about this
time twelvemonth, for illegal imprisonment; the jury granted him a
thousand pounds damages, subject to the opinion of the court upon a
point of law. Thus ended an affair, which in the commencement occasioned
a great bustle among the people.
An unaccountable indifference possessed the nation, through the last
summer. When at length the American cruisers, not only scoured the
Atlantic, but spreading over the European seas, brought alarm and
hostility to our doors—when the destruction which befel the homeward
bound richly laden West-India fleets, poured equal ruin upon the
planters in the islands, and the merchants at home—even in that state of
public loss and private distress, an unusual phlegm prevailed, and the
same tranquil countenance was preserved, by those who had not yet
partaken of the calamity.
Administration had acquired such an appearance of stability, as seemed
to render them, for some considerable time to come, superior to the
frowns of fortune. Supported by an irresistible majority in parliament,
they were already armed with every power which they were capable of
desiring for the establishment of their American system. But the conduct
of the French and Spaniards gave them just cause of alarm.——The French
and Spanish ministry not only connived at the encouragement given to the
American privateers, but filled the ports of both kingdoms with such
indications as denoted that objects of far higher and more dangerous
importance were in contemplation. The naval preparations carried on by
the house of Bourbon, became at length so formidable, that sixteen
British ships of the line were suddenly put into commission; [Oct. 25.]
and the unusual methods taken for manning them by a very hot unexpected
press, and the opening houses of rendezvous for such seamen, as would
enter voluntarily upon the proffered bounty. Some days after a
proclamation was issued for a general fast through England and Wales, to
be observed the 13th of December following.
The news of gen. Howe’s success on Long-Island, gave the highest
satisfaction to administration, and the strongest hopes of the most
decisive good consequences, The messenger of the operations had been but
two days in London, before a title and badge of honor was bestowed upon
the general.
On the last of October, the session of parliament was opened. The royal
speech seemed to breathe indignation and resentment against the people
of America; and the receipt of assurences of amity from the several
courts of Europe was still acknowledged. When the address of the house
of commons in answer to it was produced, an amendment was moved for by
lord John Cavendish, and supported by a speech perhaps the most
remarkable of any that had been delivered since the commencement of the
troubles, for the freedom and pointedness with which it was expressed.
It entered into a comprehensive view of the conduct of the British
ministry respecting America; and approached them with the pursuits of
schemes formed for the reduction and chastisement of a party, supposed
to consist of some inconsiderate and factious men, but which had in the
issue, driven thirteen large colonies into an open and armed resistance.
Every act of parliament, it said, proposed as a mean of procuring peace
and submission, had proved, on the contrary, a new cause of opposition
and hostility. The nation was now almost inextricably involved in a
bloody and expensive civil war, which threatened to exhaust the strength
of the British dominions, and to lay them open to the most deplorable
calamities. No hearing had been given to the reiterated petitions of the
colonies, nor any ground laid for a reconciliation, the commissioners
nominated for the purpose of restoring peace, not being furnished with
sufficient powers to bring about so desirable an end. It observed, that
it must have been expected, that the American seamen and fishermen,
being indiscriminately prohibited from the peaceable exercise of their
occupations and declared open enemies, would betake themselves to
plunder, and wreak their vengeance on the commerce of Great-Britain.
After a variety of other observations, it concluded with declaring—“We
should look with the utmost shame and horror, upon any events that would
tend to break the spirit of any part of the British nation, and to bow
them to an abject, unconditional submission to any power whatsoever, to
annihilate their liberties, and to subdue them to servile principles and
passive habits, by the force of foreign mercenary arms; because amidst
the excesses and abuses which have happened, we must respect the spirit
and principles operating in these commotions. Our wish is to regulate,
not to destroy them; for though differing in some circumstances, those
very principles evidently bear so exact an analogy with those which
support the most valuable part of our own constitution, that it is
impossible, with any appearance of justice, to think of wholly
extirpating them by the sword, in any part of the British dominions,
without admitting consequences, and establishing precedents the most
dangerous to the liberties of this kingdom.” Debates pro and con
succeeded. It was the same in the house of lords, where the royal speech
underwent a no less severe scrutiny. Since the declaration of
independence, the debates in parliament are less interesting to the
Americans than formerly, brevity in the account of them will therefore
be most acceptable. The opposition said—“What can ministers mean by
assurances of friendly and pacific sentiments from abroad? Poor
politicians must they be, who depend upon such assurances, in the best
of times, from those quarters whence they now come. Old grudges are not
so easily forgotten; and this nation has every thing to apprehend from
those to whom it has done so much mischief in the last war. Resentment
and ambition will go on hand in hand upon this occasion, and will not
lose so fair an opportunity of revenge, as that which is opened by this
fatal quarrel between Great-Britain and her colonies. The preparations,
of those powers who speak so friendly a language are no secret; their
partiality to the Americans shows their intentions to this country;
their encouragement to the privateers, which are capturing the British
merchantmen, is a sufficient carnest of the designs that are uppermost
in their councils, and is but a prelude to what we are to expect, as
soon as circumstances have brought their plans to maturity. A war with
the whole house of Bourbon, and perhaps with other powers, will be the
inevitable consequence of continuing hostilities in America; but such a
war at present, will no longer resemble those who have formerly waged
with the princes of that family. Powerful as they were at that time,
they will still be much more formidable now that the strength of America
will be thrown into their scale. It is a sorrowful, but a true
reflection, that one half of the British nation is become an instrument
in the hands of our natural enemies, with which most effectually to
distress the other. Impelled with these cogent reasons, it is the duty
of every man who feels them, to oppose an address approving of measures
which must, if persisted in, terminate in calamities that will give such
deadly wounds to Britain, as may prove incurable, and bring her to such
a state of debility as will, from one of the first powers in the world,
reduce her to hold but a secondary rank among the European nations.”
Administration urged in favor of the address—“Nothing is recommended by
it that tends to oppose the Americans; no more is required of them than
a return to the same obedience which every other subject is bound to
pay. Is it consistent with the wisdom of the nation, to throw away the
fruits of the infinite cares and expences it has bestowed upon the
colonies, while any hope remains of reclaiming them from their
defection? To give them up, will be to resign the wealth, the strength
and the importance of Great-Britain; these are evidently at stake in the
present contest; should the issue of it be contrary to what is hoped by
all well-wishers to their country, its fall and degradation will be the
necessary consequence. The season for arguing is over. The Americans
have bid us defiance, and are become our enemies; the sword is therefore
to decide; it is now to be seen whether we can reduce them to obedience
by superior force. It is time to assert our national dignity and
supremacy; we are in full strength and vigor; the resources of the
country are far from being exhausted. They cannot be employed upon a
more critical and necessary occasion than the present. The successes of
the last campaign in America, afford a well grounded prospect of
settling affairs to our satisfaction. A spirited prosecution of the
business in hand will speedily conclude it. Much is threatened from
abroad, and great terrors are held out, and we are told that occasion
will be taken from these unhappy broils, to do Great-Britain irreparable
damage. But the prudence of government has fully obviated these
objections. A sufficient force is preparing to face all dangers at home;
and the prosperity of our arms abroad has, it is well known, cast a damp
on all the partisans of the Americans throughout Europe. However well
they may wish them, the most inveterate of our foes will not venture to
engage in so distant a quarrel, until they see better signs of its
terminating to the advantage of our opponents. We are now in the career
of victory; and it will betray weakness to be driven out of it by mere
apprehensions. The people at large are now greatly alienated from the
Americans; however they might once have been inclined to favor them,
they are full of resentment at their late conduct. The declaration of
independence has entirely altered their opinion of the colonists.”
The conclusion of the debates was the carrying of the address in the
house of lords by 91 votes to 26; and in the house of commons by 232 to
83. The declaration of independence lost the Americans many advocates;
but the great bulk of those who had hitherto espoused their cause,
dreaded the success of ministerial measures against them, from an
apprehension of the danger which would result from it to the liberties
of this country. They were therefore, before and after the opening of
the session, indefatigable in representing the necessity of putting an
end to a dispute, which they considered as ruinous, in every shape,
whether the British arms did or did not prevail.
[Nov. 6.] A motion was made in the house of commons by lord John
Cavendish, for a revisal of all those acts by which the colonies thought
themselves aggrieved. It was grounded on a paragraph in the declaration
of the commissioners, given at New-York, the 19th of September, in which
mention is made of “the king’s being most graciously pleased to concur
in the revisal of all acts by which his subjects in the colonies may
think themselves aggrieved.” The motion was opposed with great warmth;
and in the sequel of the debate, it was asserted by ministry, that until
congress had rescinded the declaration of independence, no treaty could
be entered into with America. Such an assertion was severely censured by
opposition, as being no less than a denunciation of war, and all its
calamities, unless the Americans implicitly admitted the principal point
in litigation, without any preliminary stipulation. The motion was
rejected by a majority of 109 to 47. This rejection exasperated the
minority so violently, that a part of them avowedly withdrew whenever
any questions relating to America were proposed, and from this period
left the house to the full and undisturbed possession of the majority.
They justified this secession, by alledging that an attendance on these
matters was nugatory; the weight of numbers was irresistible, and
baffled all arguments. It was a degrading office alway to contend with a
certainty of being defeated. There was a time when reasoning was
listened to, and had its due influence; but as experience had shown,
that time was no more, it was wiser to acquiesce in silence than to
undergo the fatigue of a fruitless opposition. The season was not yet
come for the nation to be undeceived. It was the interest of so many to
continue the deception, that it would last till an accumulation of
calamities had oppressed the public so as to be felt by all degrees.
Such amazing numbers were benefitted by the measures of ministry, that
till defeats, disappointments and losses of every kind, had disabled
them from pursuing their schemes any longer, they were sure of a ready
support from those whom they employed in their execution. For these
reasons they judged it necessary to refuse their presence to
transactions which they disapproved, and could not hinder; but whenever
they perceived that adversity had, as usual, opened the eyes of men,
they would then come forth anew, and endeavor, if possible, to remedy
the evils which it was not at present in their power to prevent.
The strength of ministry was now so decisive, that whatever was
proposed, was immediately approved and carried, without any opposition
or debate.
A bill was brought in for granting letters of marque and reprisals
against the Americans. This was followed by another to empower the crown
to secure such persons as were accused or suspected of high treason
(committed either in America or at sea) or of piracy. By the provisions
of this bill, they were liable to be detained in custody without bail or
trial, while the law continued in force; it was reserved solely to the
privy council to admit them to either. His majesty was also empowered by
warrant, to appoint one or more places of confinement within the realm,
for the custody of such prisoners.
This bill spread a general alarm through the metropolis; and a petition
was presented by the city against it, condemning the measures proposed
in it, as violent and unconstitutional, subversive of the sacred and
fundamental rights of the people, subjecting them to the most cruel
oppression and bondage, and introductive of every species of mischief
and confusion. The petition was ordered to lie upon the table; but
probably made way for the introduction of a provisional clause, enacting
“that no offences shall be construed to be piracy within the meaning of
the act, except acts of felony committed on the ships and goods of his
majesty’s subjects, by persons on the high seas.”
The bill however, did not pass without opposition and severe
animadversion. It was said, that it armed ministers with an
unconstitutional and dangerous power. A mere pretended suspicion or
foolish credulity in a mercenary tool of a ministerial magistrate, might
render the inhabitants of above half the empire liable to imprisonment
without bail or mainprise. It did not require an oath, nor that the
parties should be heard in their own justification, nor confronted with
the witnesses, nor that two witnesses should be deemed necessary for the
colourable ground of a commitment. The few who opposed it, contended
that no lawful or obvious reason subsisted for investing the crown with
so unusual a power. Such an extraordinary measure could only be
tolerated in cases of great domestic danger, when the realm or
constitution were immediately threatened; but neither of these could be
pleaded in the present instance. After a long debate, the bill passed by
a majority of 195 to 43. The oppostion would have been stronger, but the
seceding party would not afford their assistance.
“Before this act, every man putting his foot on English ground, every
stranger, even a negro slave, became as free as every other man who
breathed the same air with him. As things now stand, every man in the
West-Indies, every inhabitant or these unoffending provinces on the
American continent, every person coming from the East-Indies, every
gentleman who has travelled for his health or education, every mariner
who has navigated the seas, is, for no other offence, under a temporary
proscription.”[46]
The two bills received the royal assent on the third of March.
Toward the close of the last year, and in the beginning of the present,
much confusion, apprehension and suspicion, was excited by the machinery
of a wretched enthusiast and incendiary, since well known by the
appellation of _John the Painter_, but whose real name was James Aitkin,
born at Edinburgh, and bred a painter——a most profligate and abandoned
villain.
After having committed the most attrocious crimes, he shipped himself
off for America, where he continued about two years, and from whence he
returned in March 1775. The violence of the language and sentiments then
held in political matters, by the people among whom he lived, gave birth
to that enthusiastic madness which afterward became so dangerous.——Under
its baneful influence he returned to England with the most dreadful
antipathy to the government and nation; and adopted the design of
subverting, in his own single person, that power which he so much
abhorred, by setting fire to the dock-yards, and burning the principal
trading cities and towns, with their shipping, of whatsoever sort, so
far as it could possibly be done. He constructed fire-works, machines
and combustibles for the purpose, but was strangely unsuccessful in all
his attempts.——Owing to this failure in his machines, the nation was
providentially saved from receiving some dreadful or irretrievable
shock. He however succeeded in setting fire to the rope-house in the
yard at Portsmouth, the beginning of last December. The next month,
while party and political disunion prevailed among the inhabitants of
Bristol, he attempted, first to burn the shipping, and afterward the
city. He succeeded only so far as to set fire to some ware-houses near
the quay, six or seven of which were consumed. He was soon after his
departure from Bristol, taken up on some suspicious circumstances; and
being circumvented by one Baldwin, another painter, the whole scene of
iniquity was brought to light. Baldwin pretended to sympathize with him
under his misfortunes, and to hold principles similar to his own; and
often visited him, till he at length obtained his confidence, and drew
from him the history of his crimes. He told Baldwin that he had been in
France, and seen Mr. Silas Deane, who had given him some money, and
encouraged him to set fire to the dock-yards at Portsmouth, Plymouth,
&c. as the best means of distressing Great-Britain, and had promised to
reward him according to the service he should do to the American cause.
He said that Deane, as an earnest of what should follow, had given him a
recommendation to, and bills upon a merchant in London, to the amount of
£.300, which however, he had found it necessary to burn, to prevent a
discovery; and that in consequence of this encouragement he procured a
passport from the French king. He was condemned at Winchester assizes,
and executed at Portsmouth dock gate, the tenth of March, and then hung
in chains. While he lay at Winchester, after condemnation, and before
taken away to execution, he denied his having recommendations and bills,
and burning the same. It was while working at Titchfield, in Hampshire,
that he conceived the idea of setting fire to the dock-yards. He then
went, as he said, to France, and applied to Mr. Deane, who told him that
when the work was done he should be rewarded. He added, that on his
return, and after setting fire to the ropeyard at Portsmouth, he went to
London, and waited on Dr. Bancroft, to whom he had a verbal
recommendation from Mr. Deane, but that the doctor gave him no
countenance, and did not approve of his conduct.
When general Lee’s capture came to be known by the gazette of February
the 25th, the rejoicing in Great-Britain on the occasion, was great.
Personal animosities contributed not a little to the triumph and
exultation it produced. But the same gazette furnished more than a
counterpoise to the joy, in the accounts it contained of general
Washington’s successes at Trenton and Princeton.
The name of Lee reminds me of Mr. Arthur Lee. The latter received timely
notice of the acts of congress, so as to withdraw and get to Paris a few
days after Dr. Franklin’s arrival. While in England he was particularly
commissioned by a certain body, and that under every sacred promise of
secrecy, to make discoveries and transmit them to America; he was also
personally consulted by Monsieur _Caron de Beaumarchais_, upon a project
which the latter had formed, of establishing a commercial house,
sufficiently powerful and spirited to hazard the risks of the sea and
enemy in carrying stores and merchandise for the American troops. A
correspondence was afterward opened between them; and on the 21st of
June, 1776, Mr. Lee, under the name of Mary Johnson, wrote in cyphers to
Mr. Beaumarchais, that the army of Great-Britain in America, would
consist of forty thousand men, and their fleet of a hundred ships, and
but two only of seventy-four guns. He advised the dispatching secretly
ten large ships of war to the Cape or Martinico; and their joining the
American fleet, scouring the American coast, and destroyiag the whole
British fleet, dispersed as it would be, upon which success the land
army could be easily defeated. “By this stroke,” says he “the English
fleet will be mortally wounded. Do you fear that this will kindle a war
between the two nations? But how will England be able to support a war
without fleets, without colonies, without seamen, without resources? On
the contrary, if you suffer America to fall again under the dominion of
England, the latter will be forever invincible.” If this proposal was
communicated to the French minister, it was adjudged too venturous to be
prosecuted. Though France must, for her own interest, wish to have the
American states perpetually separated from Great-Britain, yet the court
will be cautious of risking a war with this country till the prospects
of success are extremely encouraging. This accounts for the French
king’s issuing out, about the month of February, a proclamation,
prohibiting the sale of English prizes taken by American privateers, in
any of the ports of France; but as the purchase of them is not
prohibited, and the sale of them only in the ports, the Americans will
find no difficulty in disposing of them to Frenchmen. The police of
France is so well constructed, that they can easily convey to the
extremities of the kingdom, the views and sentiments of the court, and
secure a ready compliance with them. It is only for the minister to give
the farmers-general his instructions, and for them, through their lines
of connection with every province, city, town and village, to distribute
their directions; on which the inhabitants of the most distant parts
will think, speak and act mechanically, in unison with their betters at
Versailles.
On the 20th of February, the British ambassador at the Hague, presented
a memorial to their high mightinesses, containing various complaints;
and closing with an express demand of a formal disavowal of the salute
by Fort George at St. Eustatia, to the American flag, and of the
dismission and immediate recal of the governor; followed by a further
declaration, that till that satisfaction was given, they were not to
expect that his majesty would suffer himself to be amused by mere
assurances, or would delay one instant to take such measures as he
should think due to the interests and dignity of his crown. Their high
mightinesses disdaining the spirit and manner of the complaint, passed
by the ambassador (Sir Joseph Yorke) and slso the secretary of state,
and commanded their minister at London, the count de Walderen, to
address himself directly to the king, and to deliver their answer into
his own hands; which was done March the 26th. They complained of the
reproaches contained in the ambassador’s memorial, and the menacing tone
which reigns in it, strained beyond what ought to take place between two
sovereign and independent powers. They did not disguise the poignant
sensation with which it had impressed them. They afterward mentioned
their having ordered the governor home to give the necessary information
of what had passed, and their resolution to disavow every act or mark of
honor that actually tended in the least degree to recognise the
independence of the North-American colonies. On the 10th of April, lord
Suffolk, by letter, assured the court, that his majesty accepted with
satisfaction, the memorial he had addressed to him; but that his majesty
could not perceive in Sir Joseph Yorke’s memorial, any thing contrary to
what ought to take place between sovereigns and independent powers in
the weighty circumstances in question.
In February and April, Messrs. Franklin and Deane sent to lord Stormont,
two letters on the subject of an exchange of British seamen, prisoners
in the hands of the captain of an American frigate, for an equal number
of American seamen, prisoners in England; and of the cruel treatment the
American prisoners meet with in Europe, in being ether compelled by
chains, stripes and famine, to fight against their friends and
relations, or sent to Africa and Asia, remote from all probability of
exchange. They had for answer—“The king’s ambassador receives no
applications from rebels, unless they come to implore his majesty’s
mercy.” They pronounced it an _indecent_ paper, and returned it for his
lordship’s more mature consideration. The news of gen. Clinton’s being
created a Knight of the Bath, will be no otherwise important to the
Americans, than as a direction how to address him in future.
A fresh effort was made in the house of lords, to bring about a
reconciliation between Great-Britain and her colonies, as they are here
still called. The earl of Chatham had been prevented of late, by his
advanced age and infirm state of health, from taking an active part in
the disputes of the house. But viewing with concern the dangers which
menaced the kingdom, he determined again to come forth from his retreat,
and endeavor to influence the contending parties to listen to terms of
accommodation. On the 30th of May he entered the house, wrapped in
flannel, and bearing a crutch in each hand. His lordship, sitting in his
place and with his head covered, delivered a speech, herein he explained
the grounds of the motion he was about to make. He recapitulated and
reprobated the measures which had been taken with the Americans, from
the voting away of their property without their consent, to the
attempting of their conquest by the aid of German mercenaries. He
endeavored to show the absurdity of relying longer on the force of arms,
and very pathetically pressed the necessity of a speedy conciliation.
After speaking for fifty minutes, he moved for an address to the throne,
“most humbly to advise his majesty to take the most speedy and effectual
measures, for putting a stop to hostilities, upon the only just and
solid foundation, namely, the removal of accumulated grievances; and to
assure his majesty, that the house will enter upon this great and
necessary work with cheerfulness and dispatch, in order to open to his
majesty the only means of regaining the affection of the British
colonies, and of securing to Great-Britain the commercial advantages of
those invaluable possessions; fully persuaded that to heal and redress
will be more prevalent over the hearts of generous and free born
subjects, than the rigors of chastisement and the horrors of civil war,
which have hitherto served only to sharpen resentments and consolidate
union, and if continued, must end finally in dissolving all ties between
Great-Britain and the colonies.”
This brought on an interesting and animating debate, which terminated in
the question’s being put, when lord Chatham’s motion was rejected by a
majority of 99 to 28. The ministry had obtained all they wanted from
parliament; were confident in their own conceit and in the success of
their measures; and would attend to no remonstrances of reason.
The general assembly of the church of Scotland, in an address to his
majesty, among many expressions of loyalty, declared that, sensible of
their own felicity, they observed with concern, the first appearance of
a turbulent and ungovernable spirit among the people of North-America;
that they had with astonishment contemplated its alarming progress, and
beheld fellow-subjects, who enjoyed in common with them, the blessings
of his majesty’s mild administration, take up arms in opposition to
lawful authority, disclaim the supremacy of the British legislature,
reject with disdain the means of reconciliation, and labour to erect
their unlawful confederacy into separate states. They then, with
reverence and gratitude to Divine Providence, offer their
congratulations for the success which has attended the fleets and
armies, that have been employed to oppose the violence of rebellious,
subjects, and to reclaim them to a sense of their duty: and conclude
with acknowledging it their immediate duty, in the present situation of
public affairs, to increase their diligence, not only in confirming the
people under their care in sentiments of loyalty, but by inciting them
to such reformation in their hearts and lives, as will avert from their
country those judgments which their iniquities justly deserve.
[June 6.] His majesty went to the house of peers, and after giving his
royal assent to a number of bills, closed the session with a speech
which finished with saying, “My lords and gentlemen, I trust in Divine
Providence, that by a well-concerted and vigorous exertion of the great
force you have put into my hands, the opperations of this campaign, by
sea and land, will be blessed with such success as may most effectually
tend to the suppression of the rebellion in America, and to the
re-establishment of that constitutional obedience which all the subjects
of a free state owe to the authority of the law.”
In the beginning of May, a captain Cunningham, in a privateer fitted out
from Dunkirk, took and carried into that port the British packet going
to Holland. Not understanding thoroughly the business on which he was
sent, and being hurried, he was not careful to secure insantly, upon the
capture of the vessel, the packet intrusted with the king’s messenger,
which he therefore missed of; but the mail was taken and forwarded to
the American commissioners at Paris. Adieu.