the Stamp Act. In his speeches on American affairs he always sought to secure for America a treatment based upon justice and a spirit of conciliation. He understood the principles of government so well and stated them so clearly that his speeches are read with profit today. This selection is taken from his speech On Conciliation with America. Discussion. 1. Since 1776 England's policy toward her colonies such as Canada and Australia has followed the principles laid down by Burke; read lines that express some of these principles. 2. Find lines that express Canada's and Australia's attitude toward England today. 3. What, according to Burke, form the great securities for England's commerce? 4. What does Burke say it is that raises revenue and armies for a government? 5. He defines a government of the people as "the sense of the deep stake they have in such a glorious institution"; how does Lincoln define it in his Gettysburg speech? 6. Class reading: "England to America," Montague (in Current Opinion, March, 1920); "To America," Austin; "America to Great Britain," Allston (in The Home Book of Verse). 7. Find in the Glossary the meaning of: allegiance; cohesion; dissolution; sovereign; sanctuary; common; contexture; pervades; invigorates; vivifies; stake; rabble; conciliation. 8. Pronounce: affidavits; sufferances; minutest. SPEECH AGAINST WAR WITH THE COLONIES WILLIAM PITT, EARL OF CHATHAM My Lords, you cannot conquer America. What is your present situation there? We do not know the worst; but we know that in three campaigns we have done nothing and suffered much. Besides the sufferings, perhaps total loss, of the Northern 5 force, the best appointed army that ever took the field, commanded by Sir William Howe, has returned from the American lines. He was obliged to relinquish his attempt, and with great delay and danger to adopt a new and distant plan of operations. We shall soon know, and in any event have reason to lament, 10 what may have happened since. As to conquest, therefore, my Lords, I repeat, it is impossible. You may swell every expense and every effort still more extravagantly; pile and accumulate every assistance you can buy or borrow; traffic and barter with every German prince that sells 15 and sends his subjects to the shambles of a foreign prince; your efforts are forever vain and impotent-doubly so from this mercenary aid on which you rely; for it irritates, to an incurable resentment, the minds of your enemies. If I were an American, as I am an Englishman, while a foreign troop was landed in my country, I would never lay down my arms, never! never! never! My Lords, no man wishes for the due dependence of America on this country more than I do. To preserve it, and not confirm that state of independence into which your measures hitherto have driven them, is the object which we ought to unite in 10 attaining. The Americans, contending for their rights against arbitrary exactions, I love and admire. It is the struggle of free and virtuous patriots. But contending for independency and total disconnection from England, as an Englishman, I cannot wish them success. America derived assistance and protection 15 from us; and we reaped from her the most important advantages. She was, indeed, the fountain of our wealth, the nerve of our strength, the nursery and basis of our naval power. It is our duty, therefore, my lords, if we wish to save our country, most seriously to endeavor the recovery of these most beneficial 20 subjects; and in this perilous crisis, perhaps the present moment may be the only one in which we can hope for success. Let us wisely take advantage of every possible moment of reconciliation. Besides, the natural disposition of America herself still leans toward England; to the old habits of connection and mutual 25 interest that united both countries. America is not in that state of desperate and contemptible rebellion which this country has been deluded to believe. It is not a wild and lawless banditti, who, having nothing to lose, might hope to snatch something from public convulsions. Many of 30 their leaders and great men have a great stake in this great contest. The gentleman who conducts their armies, I am told, has an estate of four or five thousand pounds a year; and when I consider these things, I cannot but lament the inconsiderate violence of our penal acts, our declaration of treason and rebellion, 35 with all the fatal effects of attainder and confiscation. You cannot conciliate America by your present measures. You cannot subdue her by your present or by any measures. What, then, can you do? You cannot conquer; you cannot gain. My Lords, the time demands the language of truth. In a just and necessary war, to maintain the rights and honor of my country, I would strip the shirt from my back to support it. 5 But in such a war as this, unjust in its principle, impracticable in its means, and ruinous in its consequences, I would not contribute a single effort nor a single shilling. I do not call for vengeance on the heads of those who have been guilty; I only recommend to them to make their retreat. Let them walk off; 10 and let them make haste, or they may be assured that speedy punishment will overtake them. My Lords, I have submitted to you, with the freedom and truth which I think my duty, my sentiments on your present awful situation. I have laid before you the ruin of your power, 15 the complication of calamities, that overwhelm your sinking country. Your dearest interests, your own liberties, the Constitution itself, totters to the foundation. All this disgraceful danger, this multitude of misery, is the monstrous offspring of this unnatural war. We have been deceived and deluded too 20 long. Let us now stop short. This is the crisis. Is it possible, can it be believed, that ministers are yet blind to this impending destruction? I did hope, that instead of this false and empty vanity, this over-weening pride, ministers would have humbled themselves in their errors, would have confessed 25 and retracted them, and by an active, though a late, repentance, have endeavored to redeem them. But, my Lords, since they had neither sagacity to foresee, nor justice nor humanity to shun these oppressive calamities-since not even severe experience can make them feel, nor the imminent ruin of their country 30 awaken them from their stupefaction, the guardian care of Parliament must interpose. I shall therefore, my Lords, propose to you an amendment to recommend an immediate cessation of hostilities, and the commencement of a treaty to restore peace and liberty to America, strength and happiness to England, 85 security and permanent prosperity to both countries. -Abridged. NOTES AND QUESTIONS Biography. William Pitt (1708-1778) was called "The Great Commoner" because of his constant effort to make the British Parliament more completely representative of English public opinion. "When the resolution [The Stamp Act] was taken to tax America, I was ill and in bed," he said, "but if I could have endured to be carried in my bed, so great was the agitation of my mind for the consequences, I would have solicited some kind friend to have laid me down on this floor, to have borne my testimony against it." He openly rejoiced when he learned that the Americans had called a Congress to provide for action against the tax; and he continued his fight against it until the Act was finally repealed. Years afterwards, when the Revolution was on, Pitt still worked for conciliation. This selection is taken from his "Address to the Throne" delivered in November, 1777, the last speech but one before his death. Discussion. 1. When Pitt says, "You cannot conquer America,” he is judging Americans by himself; what is his assertion? 2. To whom does he refer when he speaks of "hirelings?" 3. Find in the Glossary the meaning of appointed; distant; shambles; mercenary; deluded; attainder; impending; over-weening; cessation. 4. Pronounce: impotent; banditti; penal; impracticable; crisis; imminent. 10 15 20 What though on hamely fare we dine, Gie fools their silks, and knaves their wine, For a' that, and a' that, Their tinsel show, and a' that; The honest man, though e'er sae poor, Ye see yon birkie ca'd "a lord," Wha struts, and stares, and a' that; For a' that, and a' that, His ribband, star, and a' that; He looks and laughs at a' that.. A prince can make a belted knight, Their dignities, and a' that; The pith o' sense, and pride o' worth, |