MR. BURKE'S BILL FOR COMPOSING THE. PRESENT TROUBLES IN AMERICA.

November 16.

THIS HIS day Mr. Burke presented a petition from the gentlemen, clergy, clothiers, manufacturers, and others, inhabitants of the several towns of Westbury, Warminster, and Trowbridge, and the neighbourhood thereof, in the county of Wilts, whose names are thereunder written, setting forth, "That the petitioners are greatly alarmed and surprised, at finding certain persons, styling themselves the gentlemen, clergy, clothiers, and other tradesmen, of the towns and neigbourhood of Bradford, Trowbridge, and Melksham, in the county of Wilts, approach the throne of our most gracious sovereign, and, under the pretence of testifying their loyalty and affection to his majesty, boldly assert, in regard to the American prohibition of all commerce with his majesty's European dominions, that they the petitioners find no melancholy effects arising therefrom, or any unusual failure of demand for their manufactures, or of employment for their poor; and at this important and alarming crisis, when so much depends on the deliberations and resolutions of parliament, not less than the lives, liberties, and properties of thousands of their fellow-subjects, the petitioners, apprehending that the like misrepresentations may be conveyed to the House, should hold themselves unjust to their own dearest interests, and that of their posterity, if they did not publicly express their entire disapprobation of that malignant and uncandid spirit which can carry falsehood to the throne; for the petitioners assure the House, that the trade of that part of the kingdom has most sensibly declined ever since the commencement of the present unfortunate and unnatural contest with America: and that employment for the poor has proportionably decreased in like manner, insomuch that it appears, by authentic and undeniable evidence, that the poor rates o the said towns have, during the last ten years, grown to an enormous degree, and are now become an almost insupportable burthen to the inhabitants thereof; and that the petitioners do not presume to arraign the wisdom or justice of parliament, in

rised to say that they possessed more than 500,000l. of English property. He wished the prayer of that petition to be considered as the exordium of what he had to say to the House. He complained of the difficulties which in civil wars lay upon moderate men, who advised lenient measures; that their moderation was attributed to a want of zeal, and their fears for the public safety, to a want of spirit; that on this particular occasion, whatever they said to incline the House to lenity was construed into a countenance of rebellion; and so many arts, and so many menaces had been used, that if they had not been opposed with a good share of firmness by the friends to the peace of their country, all freedom of debate, and indeed all public deliberation, would have been put an end to.

He said, that for his part he was no way intimidated, by all these machinations, from doing his duty; and that nothing that could be threatened by those whose measures had brought this country into so deplorable a situation should hinder him from using his best endeavours to deliver it from its distresses.

The first step for this purpose, was to get out of general discourses, and vague sentiments, which he said had been one of the main causes of our present troubles; and to appreciate the value of the several plans that were or might be proposed, by an exact detail of particulars.

He stated, that there were three plans afloat. First, simple war, in order to a perfect conquest. Second, a mixture of war and treaty. And thirdly, peace grounded on concession.

As to the first plan, that of mere war, he observed, that it was proposed in two ways; the one direct by conquest, the other indirect by distress. In either of these ways he thought it his duty before he voted for a war, to know distinctly that the means of carrying it on were adequate to the end. It did not satisfy his conscience to say, that the resources of this nation were great; he must see them. That before he could trust to those resources, on the cre

dit of what had been formerly done, he must find the situation of the country to be what it formerly was.

. He then examined what the ministers had laid before the House as the means of carrying on the ensuing campaign. That as to the forces which they had made the 'House expect from his majesty's allies, all discourse of them had, for some time, entirely subsided: he could, therefore, take credit for nothing more on that account than a handful of Hanoverians, which only answered the purpose of an imperfect security to some of our foreign garrisons. That our national forces to be employed in America, by the account on the table, amounted to no more than 26,000 men. In this, credit was taken for the army now in America at full numbers. He could not allow that estimate; as, supposing the reduction of the troops in future to be estimated by the past, they must be reduced to little or nothing, by the beginning of next campaign. That the troops here are only upon paper, and the difficulty of recruiting was acknowledged. On the whole, he saw reason to apprehend that we should not be very materially stronger at the beginning of the next year than we were at the beginning of the last. He said, the probable number of troops, whether national or foreign, weighed very little in his judgment; as he thought the circumstances of the country were such as would disable them from effecting any thing like a conquest of it.

That as to the predatory, or war by distress, (on the nature of which he greatly enlarged,) he observed, that it might irritate a people in the highest degree; but such a war had never yet induced any one people to receive the government of another. That it was a kind of war adapted to distress an independent people, and not to coerce disobedient subjects.

But his great objection to it was, that it did not lead to a speedy decision. The longer our distractions continued, the greater chance there was for the interference of the Bourbon powers, which in a long protracted war, he considered not only as probable but in a manner certain.

That he was very sure this country was utterly incapable of carrying on a war with America and these powers acting in conjunction. He entered into a long and particular enumeration of all the dangers and difficulties which must attend such a war.

He stated the condition of France at the beginning of this century, and even within a few years; and compared it with her present situation. He observed, that from being the first, she was, with regard to effective military power, only the fifth state in Europe. That she was fallen below her former rank, solely from the advantages we had obtained over her; and that if she could humble us, she would certainly recover her situation. There was now an opportunity for her making herself, with very little hazard or difficulty, the first maritime power in the world; and to invest herself with every branch of trade, necessary to secure her in that pre-eminence. He admitted, that at present there were circumstances (which he mentioned) that might prevent her from availing herself of this opportunity. But, he said, we must be mad to trust such an interest as ours to such a chance; and that they who presumptuously trust to the extraordinary providence of God, by acting without prudence or foresight, deserve to be abandoned by his ordinary protection.

He then observed that, as he saw no probability of success in the detail of any .of the arrangements that were proposed, neither did he see any thing of authority to induce him to believe that they would succeed; not one military or naval officer having given an opinion in its favour; and many of the greatest in both services having given their opinion directly against it.

That as no man of military experience had vouched for the sufficiency of the force, so no man in the commissariat would answer for its subsistence from the moment it left the sea-coast; that, therefore, its subsistence and its operation were become incompatible.

To the objection, that at this rate the Americans might