a brief
extract from it:

"For God's sake then, my lords, let the way be instantly opened for
reconciliation; I say instantly, or it will be too late forever. The
Americans tell you--and remember it is the language of the whole
continent--they tell you they will _never submit_ to be taxed without
their own consent. They insist on a repeal of your laws. They do not ask
it as a favor: they claim it as a _right_; they _demand it_. And I tell
you the acts must be repealed; they _will_ be repealed: you cannot
enforce them. But bare repeal will not satisfy this enlightened and
spirited people. What! satisfy them by repealing a bit of paper? by
repealing a piece of parchment? No! you must declare you have _no right
to tax_ them; then they may trust you, then they will confide in you.
There are, my lords, three millions of Whigs in America. Three millions
of Whigs, with arms in their hands, are a _formidable body_! There are,
I trust, double that number of Whigs in England; and I hope the Whigs in
both countries will join and make a common cause. They are united by the
strongest ties of sentiment and interest, and will therefore, I hope,
fly to support their brethren. In this most alarming and distracted
state of our affairs, though borne down by a cruel disease, I have
crawled to this house, my lords, to give you my best advice, which is,
to beseech his Majesty that orders may instantly be despatched to
General Gage to remove the troops from Boston; their presence is a
source of perpetual irritation and suspicion to those people. How can
they trust you with the bayonet at their breasts? They have all the
reason in the world to believe that you mean their death or slavery. Let
us then set to this business in earnest. There is no time to be lost:
every moment is big with danger. Nay, while I am now speaking, the
decisive blow may be struck, and millions involved in the dreadful
consequences! The very first drop of blood that is drawn will make a
wound perhaps never to be healed--a wound of such rancorous malignity,
as will, in all probability, mortify the whole body, and hasten, both on
England and America, that dissolution to which all nations are
destined....

"My lord, if the ministers thus persevere in misadvising the king, he
will be undone. He may, indeed, still wear his crown, but the American
jewel out of it, it will not be worth the wearing."

Although Chatham was supported by Lord Camden, Lord Shelburne, and the
M