oved that
the bill should be at once rejected with the contempt it deserved. He
could not, he said, believe it was the production of a British peer. It
appeared to him the work of an American, and seeing Franklin leaning on
the bar of the house, he pointed him out as its author, and as one of
the bitterest and most mischievous enemies this country had ever known.
To make any concession at this moment, he said, would be an abandonment
of the whole cause of government, since the one grand aim of the
Americans was absolute independence. At this very time, he asserted
they were courting the trade of other nations, and he stated that he
had letters in his pocket to prove that ships were being-laden at some
European ports with East India produce and European commodities for
America. Lord Sandwich was supported by Earls Gower and Hillsborough,
and the Duke of Grafton, the latter of whom denounced the way in
which the bill had been hurried into the house, as irregular and
unparliamentary. The bill was supported by the Duke of Richmond, the
Earl of Shelburne, and Lord Camden, who analysed the laws proposed to
be repealed with great severity, and pointed out the evils of foreign
interference, and the danger of famine at home, from the discontinuance
of supplies from America. Another party in the house, consisting of the
Duke of Manchester, Earl Temple, and Lord Lyttleton, were for taking a
more moderate course, that is, not to reject the bill thus summarily, on
consideration of the exalted character of its proposer. An angry debate
followed, in the course of which one noble lord mentioned with applause
the candid proposal of a member of the administration for the bill to
lie on the table. But this had the contrary effect to that which the
noble lord intended. Lord Dartmouth instantly rose and said that he had
altered his opinion, and that he could not accept praise offered to him
for candour of which he was now ashamed. The Earl of Chatham rose to
defend both himself and his bill from the numerous attacks which had
been made in the course of the debate. He commenced by avowing that the
bill was the offspring of his own creation, though he had sought the
advice of Franklin. He then attacked his quondam colleague in office,
the Duke of Grafton, with severity, and inveighed against the whole
administration in the most bitter terms. He remarked:--"The noble duke
is extremely angry with me that I did not previously consult him on the
b