I endeavoured to distinguish the real ties by which America might be supposed to hold to this country, in order to obviate objections arising from a … - William Petty, 2nd Earl of Shelburne
" "I endeavoured to distinguish the real ties by which America might be supposed to hold to this country, in order to obviate objections arising from a thousand false lights thrown out on the subject; acknowledging the power of parliament to be supreme, but referring the expediency of the act to be considered in a commercial view, regard being to be had to the abilities of the Americans to pay this tax, and likewise to the consequences likely to proceed, in any event, from the late violences. The prejudice against the Americans on the whole seemed very great.
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About William Petty, 2nd Earl of Shelburne
William Petty Fitzmaurice, 1st Marquess of Lansdowne KG PC (2 May 1737 – 7 May 1805; known as the Earl of Shelburne between 1761 and 1784, by which title he is generally known to history), was an Anglo-Irish Whig statesman who was the first home secretary in 1782 and then prime minister from 1782 to 1783 during the final months of the American War of Independence, in which he negotiated the Treaty of Paris with the United States. He succeeded in securing peaceful United Kingdom–United States relations and this feat remains his most notable legacy.
Also Known As
Alternative Names:
William Petty, Marquis of Lansdowne
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William FitzMaurice-Petty
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William Petty Fitzmaurice, 1st Marquess of Lansdowne
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The Earl of Sherburne
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William Petty, Earl of Shelburne
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Additional quotes by William Petty, 2nd Earl of Shelburne
He was of opinion that some precaution was necessary, and these admissions, he trusted, would at least be sufficient to exempt him from the charge of Jacobinism.—But the present bills appeared to him greatly to overshoot the mark. The circumstances did not warrant such an inroad on the constitution.
Great moments have always produced great men, and great actions. The time of conflict is the time in which nature seems to delight in her grandest productions. From the Grecian republics, down even to our modern history, the most resplendent powers of man have been shown in the times of the greatest danger. The present, therefore, is a school for Frenchmen; every youth devotes himself to the cause of liberty, and thus actively engaged on the grand scene, all the powers of his soul take a warlike direction; it becomes a fashion, and the whole of the rising generation are educated in the military art; not, my lords, as our youth are educated to the military art, as one only of the professions in which they may rise to eminence or distinction, but the enthusiasm of war enters into the heart only from the enthusiasm of liberty; and the whole country is taught to feel that their only occupation, their only passion, ought to be arms, because their only good, their only blessing, is independence.
'Tis you, Sir, alone, in everybody's opinion, can put an end to this anarchy, if any thing can. I am satisfied your own judgment will best point out the time when you can do it with most effect. You will excuse me, I am sure, when I hazard my thoughts to you, as it depends greatly upon you, whether they become opinions; but, by all I find from some authentic letters from America, nothing can be more serious than its present state, and though it is my private opinion, it would be well for this country to be back where it was a year ago, I even despair of a repeal effecting that; if it is not accompanied with some circumstances of a firm conduct, and some system immediately following such a concession.
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