[42] In the Lords, Feb. 16th, 1778, the Marquis of Rockingham said:He was determined to serve his country, by making peace at any rate.In the Lords, March 23d, 1778, the Duke of Richmond brought forward a motion for the withdrawal of the forces from America. In the Commons, Nov. 27th, 1780, on a motion to thank General Clinton and others, for their military services in America, Mr. Wilkes said:I think it my duty to oppose this motion, because in my idea every part of it conveys an approbation of the American war; a war unfounded in principle, and fatal in its consequences to this country. * * Sir, I will not thank for victories which only tend to protract a destructive war. * * As I reprobate the want of principle in the origin of the American war, I the more lament all the spirited exertions of valor and the wisdom of conduct, which, in a good cause, I warmly applaud. Thinking as I do, I see more matter of grief than of triumph, of bewailing than thanksgiving, in this civil contest, and the deluge of blood which has overflowed America. * * I deeply lament that the lustre of such splendid victories is obscured and darkened by the want of a good cause, without which no war, in the eye of truth and reason, before God or man, can be justified.Mr. Fox said:He allowed the merits of the officers now in question, but he made a distinction between thanks and praise. He might admire their valor, but he could not separate the intention from the action; they were united in his mind; there they formed one whole, and he would not attempt to divide them.Mr. Sheridan said:There were in that House different descriptions of men who could not assent to a vote of thanks that seemed to imply a recognition or approbation of the American war.Such is the doctrine of morals, sanctioned by high English examples. Such should be the doctrine of an American statesman. If we apply this to the existing exigency; nay, more, if we undertake to try the candidates on the present occasion by this standard, we shall find, that, as Dr. Howe is unquestionably right, so Mr. Winthrop is too certainly wrong. In thus exalting our own candidate, I would not unduly disparage another. It is for the sake of the cause in which we are engaged,—by the side of which all individuals dwindle into insignificance,—that we now oppose Mr. Winthrop. We desire to bear our testimony earnestly, heartily, sincerely, against Slavery, and the longer
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