George Bancroft, History of the United States from the Discovery of the American Continent, Vol. 8

‘ [269] turn them into ready money by selling them.’ A

Chap. LVII.}

warning voice was raised by Hartley: ‘You now set the American congress the example of applying to foreign powers; when they intervene, the possibility of reconciliation is totally cut off.’ The third son of the earl of Bute spoke for sanguinary measures, and contrasted the unrivalled credit of England with the weak, uncurrent paper of America. ‘The measures of ministers,’ said James Luttrell, who had served in America, ‘are death-warrants to thousands of British subjects, not steps towards regaining the colonies.’ George Grenville, afterwards Marquis of Buckingham, proposed the alternative: ‘Shall we abandon America, or shall we recover our sovereignty over that country? We had better make one effort more.’ Lord George Germain defended the treaties on the ground of necessity; this Lord Barrington confirmed, for British recruits could not be procured on any terms, and the bargain was the best that could be made. All complaints were ineffectual; the ministers were sustained by their usual majority.

Five days later they were equally well supported in the house of lords; but not without a rebuke from the Duke of Cumberland, one of the king's brothers, who said: ‘I have constantly opposed these oppressive measures; I heartily concur in reprobating the conduct of the ministers; my lords, I lament to see Brunswickers, who once to their great honor were employed in the defence of the liberties of the subject, now sent to subjugate his constitutional liberties in another part of this vast empire.’

The whole number of men furnished in the war