Lord Hawkesbury repeated and applauded the arguments of Mr.

Pitt.

Mr. Curwen thought that the prefent motion was fo far from being mifchievous, that even the difcuffion it had occafioned, would do good, in afmuch as it would fhew the Irish nation, that there was a part, at leaft, of the British parliament, who were mindful of their interefts.

Lord Wycombe thought that the difturbances, which had taken place in Ireland, manifeftly proved a difaffection to the British government. Conciliation, infteadofrigour, fhould have been tried: for it was time enough to employ force when mildnefs failed. He could have wifhed that the Irish parliament had been left, for the fettlement of affairs, to themfelves. But that, he well knew that, being for the most part, at the beck of the English cabinet, they had loft the confidence of the nation.

He really dreaded that, if the British parliament did not interfere, we might lofe Ireland altogether: a lofs that would be more fevere to us than the lofs of America.

Mr. Benjamin Hobhoufe, made the following fhrewd remark; that the chancellor of the exchequer feemed to have prefumed in the whole train of his reafoning, that it was the object of the prefent motion to requeft the king's interference, exclufively of his Irifh parliament. No, fir. It only prays his majefty, in connexion with the Irish legiflature, to adopt meafures of a lenient nature, with a view to appeafe the unhappy fpirit of difcontent which prevailed throughout the country.

Mr. Fox made fome obfervations in reply to the principal arguments that had been advanced against his motion: on which the houfe di vided. Ayes, $4; Noes, 220,

CHAP.

'N the midft of fo many difficulties and dangers as affailed Great Britain at the fame time in the ftormy year, 1797, it was not poflible that government, to whom, in every country, the people are apt to impute more than a juft fhare of either the good or the evil that befals them, could efcape public and fevere animadverfion. Petitions were prefented for the removal of his majefty's minifters, from almof every county, city, and town of note in England and Ireland. The general diflatisfaction at the conduct of minifters, which, from the number and tenor of thofe petitions, appeared to prevail throughout the nation, encouraged the oppofition party, in parliament, to bring for ward motions for a change in the administration. On the 27th of March, the earl of Suffolk declared, in the houfe of peers, that he confidered it as his duty to himfelf, his family, his king, and his country, to

move,

"That a humble addrefs might be addreffed to his majefty, humbly requefting him to difmifs from his councils, his minifter, the Arft lord of the treafury, whofe per

-

nicious meafures had deprived him of the confidence of the country."

Lord Grenville opposed this motion, and warmly defended his relation and friend, who, he contended, had neither loft the confidence of the moft refpectable part of the public, nor deferved to do fo. That the allies had not been fo fuccefsful as they expected, he was ready to admit; and also that fuch accidents had happened as were incidental to all wars: but he hoped all parties would acknowledge that the exertious of this country had been unparalleled in the page of hiftory, and had been attended with unparalleled fuccefs. Our naval victories had been more brilliant than ever before diftinguifhed any age; and it appeared peculiarly hard, that all the honour, praife, and glory, fhould be reaped by individuals, whilft the cenfure, and all the refponfibility were thrown on minif

ters.

The duke of Norfolk, in answer to lord Grenville, who had infinuated that the charges brought against Mr. Pitt, were not fubftantiated on facts, faid that proofs of his mifma

nagement,

nagement and misconduct were every where. They prefented themfelves to every eye, and made an impreffion on every heart. They compofed a living epitaph on the infatuation of minifters, and, in the language applied to the memory of fr Chriftopher Wren, pointing to the cathedral of St. Paul's, he might exclaim

Si monumentum quæris circumfpice. The motion was farther fupported by the carl of Derby, the earl of Moira, the earl of Carlifle, and the duke of Bedford: but oppofed briefly, and on the ufual grounds of defence, by lord Romney, the marquis of Townshend, the earl of Warwick, and again by lord Grenville. The moft remarkable circumftance that occurred in the courfe of this fhort difcuffion on the conduct of minifters, and the state of the nation, was, a very generous plan for carrying on the war, fuggefted by lord Romney. This was to fet on foot a fubfcription for a voluntary gift, as far as the generofity and circumflances of individuals would allow. He would himself fubfcribe five thonfand pounds, and thought that there would be eafily found a hundred thousand who would fubfcribe, each their one hundred, befides others who would fubfcribe fmall fums. Such a measure, if carried into execution, would counteract any impreflion which might be made on the French government to our difadvantage by the defponding ideas of fome as to our ftate, or by the language of others as to the conduct of our minifters.

Lord Moira applauded the plan of lord Romney, and did not doubt but it might produce a confiderable fum of money: but it was a queftion how far the houfe of commons might

approve of money being raised to carry on the war, through any other channel than their own.

The marquis of Lanfdowne faid, on this fubject, that any one who perufed the army extraordinaries would find millions fquandered in the moft improvident manner, and asked, what the noble lord's fubfcription of 50001. would do to stop fuch food-gates? As to the motion for difmifling the minifter, he did not much approve of it. The change he defired was not a change of men, but in the fyftem of govern ment, which ought to be conducied on the old conftitutional principles of the country.

On a divifion of the house, there appeared for lord Suffolk's motion, 16; agam it, 96.

A motion, for the difmiffal, not particularly of the first lord of the treafury, but of his majesty's minif ters in general, was made in the houfe of commons, on the 19th of May, by alderman Combe, who ftated it to be the general opinion of the people of this country, as well as that of his conftituents, that the calamities which prefied fo hard upon the people were, in a great meafure, if not wholly, owing to the minifters having plunged us into the prefent war. This, he would not deny, at the commencement, appeared to be popular: but it had long ceafed to be fo; to which nothing had contributed fo much as the incapacity of those who carried it on. The public, however, had never been informed of the real or even oftenfible ground on which it had been undertaken: nor had they been able to obtain any fixed or fettled principle by which their governors had been guided. Some times we were said to fight for one

purpose,

purpole, fometimes for another; and fill we were in the dark, though left alone in the conteft. He was perfectly of opinion with his conftituents, that it required men of greater minds, and more upright intentions, to bring about peace, in our prefent circumftances fo effentially neceffary. He therefore moved, "That an addrefs be prefented to his majefty, befeeching him to difmifs from his councils his prefent minifters, as the most likely means of obtaining a permanent and fpeedy peace."

This motion was feconded by fir William Milner, and fupported by Mr. Curwen, Mr. Taylor, Mr. Hobhouse and Mr. Sturt. On the other hand, it was oppofed by Mr. Hawkins Browne, the aldermen Anderfon, Curtis, and Luthington, Mr. Bootle, Mr. Brandling, fir Gilbert Heathcote, Mr. Adams, Mr. Jeffereys, Mr. Pierrepoint, and Mr. Burdon. On a fubjcct fo often difcuffed, as the merit or demerit of the minifter, and particularly the policy or impolicy of the war, in its origin and conduct, there could not well be very much length of debate, at this period, at once new and important. It was not improper for the different speakers to call to mind, in the difcuffion of a great question, arguments that had been urged again

and again, even to tritenefs. But it might appear tedious, and would be improper to give fo many editions of the fame topics and arguments in a written volume. In all quettions of importance, whether relaing to the state of the bank, the state of Ireland, the origin and conduc of the war, or negociations for peace, the general plan or fyftem of minif terial management, was conftantly introduced. We fhall therefore con tent ourselves, as in fome former inftances, with a very general outline of what patied in the houfe of commons on the prefent occafion. Mr. Hawkins Browne took a full, as well as methodical and clear view of the conduct of adminiftration for the last twelve years, and, on a review of the whole, declared his approbation of their meafures. To the prefent adminiftration he afcribed our enjoyment of the three greatest bleffings that could be poffeffed: liberty, internal tranquillity, and general profperty. Juries had been invefied with the right, which had been difputed, of judging of all the circumftances of the cafe, in point of law, as well as fact. It was under the aufpices of the prefent adminiftration, and againft every high and powerful authority, that the continuance of an impeachment* had been carried. It was under

the

name

the fame adminiftration, that the bill, fo obnoxious to the people of Canada, had been repealed, and a fyftem of freedom eftablished in its ftead. Even the abuses of liberty had been touched with a lenien hand; and the bill for preventing and punishing fedition had been limited to the term of two years; nor had they prevented meetings for any purpofe within the number of fifty. Mr. Browne then proceeded to notice the fecond point; tranquillity, This, he faid, had always been fo clear, from the excellent mea'ures adopted by minifters, that any illuftration of it would be unneceffary. Mr.Browne, on the third point, the general prolperity of the country, divided this head into two periods: the firft from 1784 to 1792; the fecond, from 1792, to the profem moment. In the first period, by means of his great financial abilities, he raifed the funds from 61 to 98. In the fame proportion with the funds, the trade, commerce, manufactures, agriculture, induftry, and ingenuity of the country, kept equal pace in their increate of general profperity, and the country had arrived at the moft unexampled height of happi

nefs. The other period, to which he had now to allude, he was forry to y, was a very painful reverse. Thoic political evils, however, by which it had been occafioned, were entirely owing to the French revolution. The country owed every thing to the miniftry for entering into the prefent war: for, by that, he believed, and by that alone, they had kept the fcene of action entirely from this country.

Mr. alderman Curtis fhrewdly remarked, that the inftructions given to his worthy friend, and colleague, by his conftituents, were to move for an addrefs to his majefty to difmifs, from his councils, his prefent weak and wicked minifters for ever. Now, faid the alderman, his worthy friend had left the words ucak and wicked out of his motion, (even though he profelled himself bound to aft according to the inftructions of his conftituents) which plainly fhewed that he did not think they were fo.

Mr. alderman Anderfon believed, "there were a great many men, without doors, who were very bad indeed, and who wanted to introduce anarchy and confufion." For