t defiance, bullied, and dictated to, by her undutiful
and ungrateful children; her disobedient and rebellious subjects. The
amendment was negatived by a majority of ninety-one against twenty-six.
Fourteen peers had it entered on the journals, at full length, as a
protest signed by themselves.

On the 16th of November, Lord John Cavendish produced a copy of the
proclamation issued by Lord Howe and his brother, as commissioners,
and proposed that, in conformity to its tenor, the house should resolve
itself into a committee for revising the acts by which the colonists
felt themselves aggrieved. This proposition was seconded by Burke, and
many of the opposition harangued in its favour. Ministers, however,
opposed such a step, on the ground that this inquiry into grievances had
been proffered only to those who should return to their duty, and hence
a disavowal of independence, and an acknowledgment of British supremacy
were requisite, before any measures of reconciliation could be adopted
by Great Britain. On a division the motion was lost by a majority of one
hundred and nine against forty-seven.

After the rejection of the proposition of Lord John Cavendish, many
members of opposition, especially those of the Rockingham party, seceded
from the business of parliament, alleging that it was useless to discuss
or oppose ministerial measures. This conduct, however, was blamed by the
majority of the opposition, who contended that no member of parliament
could, consistently with his duty, desert the interests of his country,
merely because he felt that his party would be outvoted. It was agreed
that no one could infer from thence that his attendance would be
useless, and that a respectable minority, though not able to carry
measures of its own, might, nevertheless, modify injurious laws and
counsels, by exposing their pernicious tendency. Some who held these
opinions made efforts to bring the great orator, Chatham, to the charge
again; but his gout prevented him from coming to the house, and little
could be elicited from him beyond a declaration that his sentiments with
regard to America were the same which he had always professed, and
which stood fully explained in his Provisional Act. At the same time he
expressed his fears that, in a few years, France would set her foot on
English ground. Thus, cleared of its members, the house of commons voted
the army and navy estimates without any display of violent opposition.
The number