or illegal
imprisonment.

MEETING OF PARLIAMENT.

Parliament met this year on the 26th of October. The speech from the
throne, on this occasion, was unusually long and energetic, and, as
might be expected, its chief topic was the revolt of the colonies. His
majesty remarked:--"Those who have too long successfully laboured to
inflame my people in America by gross misrepresentation, and to infuse
into their minds a system of opinions repugnant to the true constitution
of the colonies, and to their subordinate relation to Great Britain,
now openly avow their revolt, hostility, and rebellion. They have raised
troops, and are collecting a naval force; they have seized the public
revenue, and assumed to themselves legislative, executive, and judicial
powers, which they already exercise in a most arbitrary manner, over the
persons and properties of their fellow-subjects; and although many of
these unhappy people may still retain their loyalty, and may be too wise
not to see the fatal consequences of this usurpation, and may wish to
resist it; yet the torrent of violence has been strong enough to compel
their acquiescence, till a sufficient force shall appear to support
them. The authors and promoters of this desperate conspiracy have, in
the conduct of it, derived great advantage from the difference of our
intention and theirs. They only meant to amuse, by vague expressions
of attachment to the parent state, and the strongest protestations of
loyalty to me, whilst they were preparing for a general revolt. On
our part, though it was declared in your last session that a rebellion
existed within the province of Massachusets Bay, yet even that province
we wished to reclaim, rather than subdue. The resolutions of parliament
breathed a spirit of moderation and forbearance; conciliatory
propositions accompanied the measures to enforce authority; and the
coercive acts were adapted to cases of criminal combination among
subjects not then in arms. I have acted with the same temper--anxious
to prevent, if it had been possible, the effusion of the blood of my
subjects, and the calamities which are inseparable from a state of
war; still hoping that my people in America would have discerned the
traitorous views of their leaders, and have been convinced, that to be a
subject of Great Britain, with all its consequences, is to be the freest
member of any civil society in the known world. The rebellious war now
levied is become more gen