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The History of England in Three Volumes, Vol.III. / From the Accession of George III. to the Twenty-Third Year of the Reign of Queen Victoria cover

The History of England in Three Volumes, Vol.III. / From the Accession of George III. to the Twenty-Third Year of the Reign of Queen Victoria

Chapter 339: RE-ESTABLISHMENT OF COMMERCIAL INTERCOURSE WITH AMERICA, ETC.
By Edward Farr
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About This Book

The volume traces British political, parliamentary, and military developments from the accession of George III through the early nineteenth century, chronicling changes of ministry and cabinet, debates over colonial taxation and the American conflict, parliamentary controversies involving figures such as Wilkes and Warren Hastings, questions of Catholic relief and slave-trade abolition, and responses to the French Revolution and Napoleonic wars, including major naval and continental campaigns, the union with Ireland, and domestic legislation on finance, civil liberties, and parliamentary reform.

RE-ESTABLISHMENT OF COMMERCIAL INTERCOURSE WITH AMERICA, ETC.

After a long debate on the subject of parliamentary reform, which subject was brought into the house by Mr. Pitt, and was attended with no beneficial results, some important debates took place on the modes or arranging our commercial intercourse with the United States. A bill was passed in order to its promotion, repealing the restraining act; and other obstacles were removed by a temporary bill, vesting the power of making future regulations in the crown. Another subject which claimed the attention of the house, was the case of the American loyalists. Few believed that congress or the provincial assemblies would pay any attention to the recommendations of England, or that these loyalists would be allowed to recover their confiscated property. The care of providing for them, therefore, devolved on parliament. An act was passed appointing commissioners to inquire into their losses and services; and it was agreed in a committee of supply, that all American officers who had borne arms for the king should be allowed half-pay. As foreseen, congress, although they fulfilled the terms of the provisional articles on behalf of the loyalists to the very letter, paid no attention to the cold and formal recommendation of restoring their property; and subsequently a host of them soon found themselves compelled to quit their native country for ever. So numerous were the claims made upon the parliament, that in the whole they received more than twelve millions of money. This was noble generosity on the part of Great Britain, for at this time she had no money to spare. One of the first measures, indeed, or the new ministry, was to obtain a loan of twelve millions, and to put a stamp-duty on receipts, in order to meet, the expenses of the state—expenses which had chiefly been incurred by the recent war. During this war, in truth, England had increased her national debt by more then £130,000,000 sterling.