of 631 prisoners in four years only 18 had died. Mr. Lulman spoke to the same fact. Mt. For then rose, and said, that as the gentlemen had at least confirmed one part of the allegations contained in the petition of the American prisoners, viz. that they were not treated so well, nor allowed the same quantity of provisions that the French, Spanish, and Dutch prisoners were, he would submit to the House the propriety and policy of this conduct: whether it was fit, prudent, or wise, that we should make a distinction in favour of the old inveterate enemies of this country, to the prejudice of those who were, and whom he hoped would one day be again, our fellow subjects. If any preference were to be shewn, he conceived it ought❘ to be made in favour of America; but at least there ought to be no distinction made to their disadvantage. He would therefore move for an Address to his MaJesty to put them on the same footing, unless some gentleman in office would give the House an assurance that without any farther proceeding it should be done. Admiral Keppel supported the justice And the generosity of the idea of treating them at least with equal kindness; and recommended to the House to adopt the wise policy of conciliating the minds of the Americans by offices of tenderness and predilection, by which they might be prompted to treat the subjects of this country in their hands with equal attenLion; and by this interchange of kindness the old friendship and connection might be renewed. He mentioned a circumstance which came within his own know. ledge. When he was at Plymouth, in the command of the fleet, he received a letter from a person in that jail, stating that he was called upon by a large body of the American prisoners, to apply to him to solicit his interference in their favour, that they might be permitted to serve his Majesty on board his royal navy against the French, the ancient enemies of Great Britain. They were eager to do this, from the regard which they had for Britain; though as Americans they had taken up arms for the preservation of their domestic freedom, yet they were anxious to exert themselves against the common enemy; and if they were granted this request, hey would then cheerfully submit to be ried for their offence in taking up arms in he original cause of America against the nother country. The person who wrote [VOL. XXII.] this letter, said that he was not an American, but an Englishman, taken on board an American privateer; that he had fought under the admiral in the reduction of the Havannah, and was anxious again to share in the dangers and the triumphs of his country. This offer he considered so honourable to themselves, as well as advantageous to the country, that he transmitted the letter to the Admiralty, with an earnest recommendation to accept the proposal, and give him liberty to take advantage of the offer. About 200 excellent seamen would have been procured by this means for his Majesty's service; but the Admiralty, for what reason he was never able to learn, had thought proper to refuse the request. They had, however, since adopted it. Mr. Penton thought the provision made for the American prisoners fully sufficient: it was declared to be so by the witnesses at the bar, and the best proof of it was the remarkable health in which they had continued during the time of their confinement. Mr. Gascoyne said, that the American prisoners were not only put on a better footing than the rebels were in 1745, but had absolutely more provision than our own soldiers when on board the transports. He thought it would be wrong to put them on the same footing as the French and other prisoners of war; they were not prisoners of war, but were entertained better than any other prisoners under the same predicament. It was natural for prisoners to complain; and nobody could blame them; but it was wrong in gentlemen to bring every complaint from prisoners before parliament till the nature of it had been considered. He never knew a judge enter a town on the circuit, but there was always a complaint preferred to him by the prisoners against the jailor: and he could say, that he seldom, if ever, found the charge to be true. As to promising that the Americans should receive a larger allowance than their present, he would do no such thing; he thought it already sufficient, and considerably greater than one half of England enjoyed. A motion for an address he thought premature; for it ought to be preceded by a resolution, stating some grievance that had been proved to the House. Mr. Fox admitted the propriety of the last observation, and moved, "That it is the opinion of this House, that the Ame rican prisoners ought to be put upon the [2 R] same footing, with respect to the allowance of bread, as the prisoners of France, Spain, and Holland." He condemned the inhumanity of treating Americans worse than other prisoners. He insisted, that if a pound and a half were necessary to a Frenchman, one pound was insufficient for an American: and on the other hand, if one pound was sufficient for the American, the odd half pound was unnecessary to the Frenchman. that had pervaded our whole system of politics with respect to America, and con tended, that it would be as pernicious to our cause as it was inhuman in its nature. With respect to that declaratory motion the noble lord intended to make, parlia ment might make resolutions, but people, would look to facts, and no declarations could convince contrary to plain evidence. Mr. Dundas argued strenuously on the opposite side, condemning in pointed terms the calumniative spirit which had propagated these libels on the national munificence, and enforcing the propriety of defeating them, not by a general de claration, but by holding forth to the world specifically what the allowance com plained of actually is. Lord North said, the present allowance to the Americans was sufficient; and was convinced, that every gentleman in the House knew, that the bulk of the people of England, particularly the labouring men, were not able to lay out, individually, so much money in the article of provisions as was allowed for the support Mr. For declared, that his opinion of of each American prisoner. The Ame- the American cause had all along been, that ricans ought to be treated with humanity; it was the cause of freedom, the cause of the and it was proved at the bar that they constitution, the cause of Whiggism, and he were so; and when it was considered that had in its origin sincerely wished it success they had far a greater allowance than the If he had been an American, he believed rebels in 1745; that they had a greater he knew himself well enough to think the allowance even than our own troops serving he should not have been inactive; but be oh board transports, he could not see that ing an Englishman, he had considered they had the least cause to complain. He his duty, as it was his inclination, to con thought, therefore, that it would not be fine his efforts to an ardent opposition sufficient to reject the motion; but that those sanguinary measures that had in other resolutions should be proposed, stat volved us in this war, and which being ing the facts as they had been proved at hostile to freedom, he had considered the bar, that the world might be able to contrary to the true interests of his com judge of the truth or falsehood of the try. He said, that when the noble lord charge. A precedent of allowance in attributed the good health of the prisoners former wars, made the government incline to the allowance from government, he ha to give the French, Spanish, and Dutch omitted the liberal subscriptions that had prisoners this greater allowance; but it been raised for their comfort and support was surely a bad argument to say that the and which had this effect, that they com Americans had too little, because the vinced America that England was not yet French had more than enough. This was without numbers who had hearts to com exactly the state of the case. He did not miserate the distresses of prisoners, while believe that the British prisoners in Ame-administration had nothing in view but to rica had the same, or so good, an al- satiate their revenge. lowance. Mr. Burke began with observing, that the choice of precedents in this case was a little unfortunate; for there being a good and a bad one, the bad one was chosen, though the good was the most recent; instead of feeding men by the precedent immediately before our eyes, we starved them by resorting to that of the year 1745. He denied that the British prisoners were worse treated in America than the Americans in this country; asserting, on the 'contrary, that they were quartered in the villages, and supplied with all that the markets could produce. He ascribed the ill usage of these poor men to the rancour Mr. Dundas said he resented the charges of malice, resentment, and revenge brought by the hon. member against administration; they were as false as unmerited, and whenever the hon. gentleman should raise up the rod of correction, he would retort it back, and treat the hon. member according to the example he set. He was not surprised that the hon. gentleman rejoiced at the successes of our enemies; successes to which he had not a little contributed by his lan guage and conduct in that House. Sir P. J. Clerke called to order, as the learned gentleman had spoken once be fore; this brought on a debate relative to order, which lasted half an hour. When | and want of an agent, their condition of it was over, Lord Fielding said, he need not treat with much ceremony the motion of a gentleman who treated several acts of the legislature so disrespectfully: by those the Americans were pronounced rebels; yet the hon. gentleman had in fact wished them success. The rebellion of 1745 had | heen mentioned; he was convinced that if the hon. gentleman had lived at that time, and had spoken of the victories of the rebels at Falkirk and Preston-Pans, in the manner he had spoken of the American victories, twenty members would have started up at once to have him committed to the Tower. The Solicitor General arraigned the conduct of Mr. Fox in severe terms. He asked him if he intended to confine himelf to bare wishes for the success of the Americans? Did he intend to draw the word, put on the American uniform, and nlist under Washington, to fight the batles of America, and point his sword gainst the breast of his countrymen ? Mr. Fox gave no reply. The House divided: Yeas 28; Noes 75. Mr. Fox rose again, in order to move is address, as he at first proposed. He ntroduced it by some animadversions on he language of the Lord Advocate in the ormer debate. He said he gloried in aving always adhered to Whig principles, nd, as a consequence of that way of hinking, to the claims of America: he fid not deny that he wished America to fe successful : but how, in any other man ver, he promoted them, the learned lord erhaps could tell; he could not: this he would say, however, no man had more trenuously endeavoured to prevent those victories than he had, by endeavouring to prevent the quarrel which necessarily gave rise to them. He concluded with moving, | "That an humble Address be presented to his Majesty, informing his Majesty of a Petition which has been presented to this House, signed by upwards of 200 Americans, in behalf of themselves and others now confined in the Mill Prison at Plymouth; in which is set forth, that an allowance of clothing, which they have heretofore been supplied with from government, hath for some time past been discontinued, and that they have but twothirds of the allowance of bread which is given to the prisoners of France, Spain, and Holland, from which circumstances, and from the nature of their commitment, | prisoners is peculiarly hard to inform his Majesty, that this House hath examined the Commissioners for Sick and Wounded Seamen, to whom, under the Board of Admiralty, the management of the said prisoners is entrusted, touching the said complaint, and has found the same to be founded in truth, so far as relates to the allowance of bread: to beseech his Majesty, that he would be graciously pleased to give orders, that the said prisoners should no longer continue in a worse condition as to food than those of France, Spain, and Holland, and that they should receive such further comforts and indul gences as their respective cases may deserve, and his Majesty in his royal wisdom shall think fit, fully convinced that such acts of humanity must ever be pleasing to his Majesty's generous mind, and may be a powerful means of reconciling the hearts of the revolted colonies to his Majesty's government, " Mr, Jenkinson said, that after the reso, lution on which it was to have been founded had been negatived by the House, surely they could not agree to the present motion without making their proceedings ridiculous; he should therefore move the previous question. Mr. For answered, that he had no obe jection to make the former vote ridiculous, Lord North persuaded his hon. friend to withdraw his previous question, and to suffer the motion to meet its proper fate, a direct negative. The hon. gentleman had advanced, that he wanted to make the House ridiculous and inconsistent; it was therefore a question between him and the House, whether they would gratify him in becoming so, and their sense ought to be taken upon it. The hon. gentleman's explanation of his sentiments to wards America, he could not but admire ; the learned lord had ill-treated him, in saying he promoted the victories of Ame rica; he did not accuse the hon. member of any treasonable design against his country, he did not know of any; and he was very sure that no one would attempt to bring, as a charge against him, that he wished success to the British arms; that was a charge of which the hon. member had taken no small pains to convince the House he was completely innocent. The hon. gentleman had gloried in his Whig principles, and had frequently given such an exposition of them, that he must confess for himself, if such was Whiggism, he was a staunch Tory; for the hon. gent's principles went to no less than the establishing a power in every individual to renounce his allegiance at pleasure; a power absolutely incompatible with the existence of any society in the universe. Here his lordship entered into an examination of Whig principles, as applied to the American war; stating that it was reconcileable with the opinions of lord Somers, and every other great character of that party. As to the subscriptions for the Americans, they were too trifling to be supposed the cause of the good health that had been remarked among them; and he was confirmed in that opinion by a paper in his hand, from which it appeared, that during the present year one prisoner had died; in the last year two; and in the year before eight. Now it was remarkable that in the present and last year there had been no subscriptions; yet in both years there had died but three prisoners; whereas eight had died in 1779, the year in which subscriptions had been raised. The motion was negatived. Mr. Dundas then moved, "That it appears to this House, that the allowance of provisions given to the American prisoners, is to each person in every week seven quarts of beer, seven pounds of bread, four pounds and a half of meat, four ounces of butter, or six ounces of cheese, together with two pints of pease, or greens in lieu thereof; and that the said American prisoners have during their confinement been remarkably healthy." To this motion the Lord Advocate criginally added, that this provision was greater than that allowed to our own troops when at sea on board transports, but this on the suggestion of his friends he omitted. Mr. Fox said, it would be only deceiving the world to state the bare fact, without letting them know that a distinction was made between French prisoners, who were treated generously, and Americans, who were cruelly oppressed; and that the resolutions of this day would not only excite the indignation of all Europe against us, but bring down the horrors of retaliation on our subjects, prisoners in America. General Burgoyne said, that it was not a fair state of the case, that the Americans had more than our soldiers in transports: the truth was, that the soldiers had their pay going on, which enabled the officers to advance them money to get a thousand little necessaries. Lord North said, that the hon. general was a little mistaken. The allowance was a pound of bread and half a pound of beef a week less to the soldiers than to the American prisoners, and their pay was not as great while at sea as on shore. As to the indignation of Europe, and the terror of retaliation, he did not apprehend either: let the allowance speak for itself; it was sufficient; and Europe would think so with him. As to retaliation, he wished to provoke the Americans to such retaliation; our prisoners in America would have reason to rejoice at it, and reconciliation might grow from it, when the Americans should know that their fellow citizens, prisoners in England, had a more ample allowance than their own soldiers in Ame rica, who were fighting their battles. The situation of our countrymen, prisoners in America, was truly deplorable; and we had been told more than once, by the rebels in authority, that if we did not feed them they might starve: the hon. general could speak upon the subject; to his ho nour he appealed for a fair answer, whe ther our soldiers, prisoners in America, were treated in any degree like American prisoners in England? General Burgoyne replied, that while he lay at Cambridge he had many causes of complaint respecting the treatment his troops had experienced; but still it was not on the score of provisions. * Lord George Germain replied, that many complaints had been made from the hon. general's army while he was with it, but still more after he left it, on the score of provisions; and there was not a post that arrived from America which did not bring him letters filled with complaints of the barbarity experienced by our prisoners at the hands of the Americans. The motion was agreed to. Mr. Fox then moved, as a fit proposition to follow that of the learned lord, "That it appears to this House that the said allowance is less by one half pound of bread per man per diem than is allowed to French, Spanish, and Dutch prisoners." Lord North moved the previous question, and the motion was got rid of by this means. Mr. Dundas then moved another resolution: "That it appears to this House that the clothing furnished to the American prisoners bas been fully sufficient, and has been sent to them as often as the same has appeared to be wanting; and that the said clothing is furnished at the public expence, and has never been discontinued." This motion was also agreed to. (Mr. Fox) who was the author of the Bill; but he could not carry his respect so far as to let a Bill of such importance pass at so late a period of the session, without doing every thing in his power to prevent it. Debate in the Lords on the Bill to amend the Marriage Act.] July 5. The Earl of Abingdon moved, that Mr. Fox's Bill to amend the Act of the 26th Geo. 2, intituled," An Act for the better preventing of clandestine marriages; and for removing doubts with respect to certain marriages therein mentioned," be read a second time on Thursday next, and that the Lords be summoned. The Lord Chancellor said, that the motion was, in his mind, extremely improper, for it would be premature to bring on the consideration of so important a Bill at present, when several lords, not expecting it, were of course unprepared to speak upon it: as for his own part, if all their lordships had already weighed the matter as much in their minds as he happened to have done in his, he would not feel the least difficulty in moving to put off the second reading of the Bill for three months: but as it was possible that their lordships might not have as yet turned their thoughts to it, he would not deprive them by a hasty motion, of an opportunity of speaking to the merits of the Bill. For his part, he did not intend to enter into the merits; it was sufficient for him that so very important a question ought not to be agitated in the middle of July. Many of their lordships might recollect the abuses that existed before the Marriage Act was introduced: they were so striking, that the House of Peers had directed the Judges to bring in a Bill to remedy them; the Bill was brought in, but as it happened not to prove unexceptionable to the House, it did not pass. In the next session, another Bill to correct the same abuses was brought in, and underwent the most solemn discussion in both Houses, before it passed into a law: that law had now existed 28 years; and the nation was familiarized to its forms: their lordships would therefore be backward to make any alterations in it, until it should have been proved that such alterations were necessary. He by no means contended that the law was proper in every respect, or that some provisions in the Bill to amend it might not be very desirable; but his great objection to the Bill was, that there was not, at present, time to enter into as ample a discussion of the subject as it required; and therefore he was ready to confess, that on that ground he would oppose the Bill on Thursday next. He entertained a great deal of respect for the hon. gentleman + The Earl of Abingdon replied, that it was his opinion that the Bill ought to pass this session, and he trusted that he should be able to lay such facts before their lordships as would afford the most irresistible arguments in favour of the Bill. But as he knew he was not equal to a contest with the learned lord who spoke last, he would commit his thoughts to paper, and read them to the House on Thursday. The motion was then put and carried. July 12. Previous to the order of the day for the second reading of the Bill, The Earl of Abingdon addressed the House as follows;-My lords, although I rise to give my countenance and support to this Bill, it is not because it is such a Bill as either meets my approbation or obtains my wishes; and, my lords, for this reason: that when any measure is in itself wrong, no modification of that measure can make it right: it is the removal of the measure itself only that can cure the evil. Upon this principle then, my lords, and inasmuch as this Bill is intended to make that which is very bad a little better; so upon this principle, this Bill cannot meet either my approbation or wishes. Instead of a modification of the Marriage Act, if it had been a Bill of repeal in toto, in that case my approbation and wishes, like the measure itself, had been complete; but as this is not the case, we must take the good and leave the bad; we must look to the light, and shut our eyes against the dark parts of this Bill; and if a man and a woman, though called upon by nature, that is, if habiles ad matrimonium, cannot propagate their species (because forbidden by a positive law) at 14 or 12 years of age, it is better that they should do so at 18 and 16, than be prevented from coming together till they are 21. It is in this light I look upon the Bill; and it is upon this ground, my lords, that I support it. But now, my lords, having said this, I know I am cailing down the aristocratic indignation of some in this House upon me: but this, my lords, is by no means any matter of dismay to me. As a rule of legislation it is laid down," that there are two interests; the interest of the |