ringing in of the present bill. I would ask the noble lord, does he
consult me? or do I desire to be previously told of any motion he thinks
fit to propose to this house? His grace seems to be much offended at the
manner this bill has been hurried. I am certain he could not be serious,
if he gave himself a minute to consider how the case really stands. Here
we are told that America is in a state of rebellion, and we are now
got to the 1st of February, and no one step is taken to crush this
rebellion: yet such being the case I am charged with hurrying matters;
but whether my conduct may be more justly charged with hurrying this
business into, or his grace with hurrying it out of the house, I believe
requires no great depth of penetration to discover. As to the other
general objections, I presume it will be recollected that the last day
I submitted the proposition about withdrawing the troops, I then
gave notice that I would present in a few days a plan of general
reconciliation. Eleven days have since elapsed and nothing has been
offered by the king's servants. Under such circumstances of emergency
on one side, when, perhaps, a single day may determine the fate of this
great empire, and such a shameful negligence, total inaction, and want
of ability on the other, what was to be done? No other alternative, in
my opinion, remained, but either to abandon the interests of my country,
and relinquish my duty, or to propose some plan, when ministers by their
inaction and silence owned themselves incapable of proposing any. But
even now let them speak out and tell me that they have a plan to lay
before us, and I will give them an example of candour they are by no
means deserving, by instantly withdrawing the present bill. The indecent
attempt to stifle this measure in embryo may promise consequences the
very reverse of what I am certain will be the case. The friends of the
present motion may flatter themselves that the contents of the bill will
sink into silence and be forgotten; but I believe they will find the
contrary. This bill, though rejected here, will make its way to the
public, to the nation, to the remotest wilds of America: it will in
such a course undergo a deal of cool observation and investigation, and
whatever its merits or demerits may be, it will rise or fall by them
alone; it will, I trust, remain a monument of my poor endeavours
to serve my country, and however faulty or defective, will at least
manifest how zea