The honourable member declared that notwithstanding the large amount of the debt, and the embarrassments occasioned in India, at different times, by the great demands for various services which were in progress, the company's credit had been improving from the moment of lord Wellesley's arrival in India to the moment of his departure. The general commerce of the country, he observed, is equally improved with the revenue. It appears by the public documents before the house of commons, that the commerce of India is able to supply the China market so effectually, as nearly to preclude the necessity of sending bullion to China; and that large sums in specie are now imported into India from that country. After the view which I have taken, added the honourable member, of the general situation of the affairs of the East India company, I hope that it will be found, that their debt, although large, and cer. tainly pressing in a very great degree upon their prosperity, and upon the attention of those who have the management of their affairs, is not of a magnitude to create any danger; that it appears there are means of reducing it at no very great distance of time, to a mode- rate amount; and that under the auspices of the noble lord (Morpeth), by a just system of econo my which he has recommended, and by reverting to the system and scale of establishments fixed in 1802-3, with such augmentations. as the change of affairs has rendered necessary, the revenues of that great empire will be found to afford ample means of restoring the finances. After a short conversation the debate was adjourned to a future day; when it was resumed, and the resolutions moved by lord Morpeth were carried. CHAPTE R. VIII. Funeral of Lord Nelson-Illness of Mr. Pitt-His Death-View of his Administration-Accession of Mr. Fox to Power-List of the New Administration-Peace of Presburg-Transfers of Sovereignty-Coronation of a Daughter of the King of England by Bonaparte-Advantage of the Treaty to France--Its Depression of Austria-Denunciation against Naples-Siege of Gaeta-Insurrection in Calabria-Military Tribunals there -Pullu Entry of Joseph Bonaparte into Naples as its SovereignContinuance of Atrocities in Calabria-Landing of the British Troops under Sir John Stuart - Victory of Maida - Withdrawing of the British Forces Surrender of Gaela-Termination of the Neapolitan War-Successes of the British Navy-Victory of Sir J. Duckworth-Engagement in the Bay of Campeachy-of the P que Frigate and two Corvettes-of the Constance and Salamander- Enterprise of Sir Sydney Smith-of Lord Cochrane - Capture of the Marengo and Belle Poule--of four Frigates off Rochefort-Expedition to the Cape - Taking of Buenos Ayres. HE "transcendent and heroic of glory concluding with the most whose life was a continued career having procured a vote of parlia men ment for bestowing public funeral honours on his remains, the procession for this purpose took place in the commencement of the present year. The spectacle was calculated at once to gratify the eye and to impress the heart. The hero was attended by heroes to his grave: accompanied by the seven sons of his sovereign, the chief nobility and gentry of the kingdom, detachments of various corps of volunteers, and immense multitudes of all classes of the community, testifying in the most striking manner gratitude for his services and regret for their loss. This grand consecration of valour and patriotism was worthy of the departed commander and of the commemorating nation. The expense which it occasioned was in fact an economical and effectual encouragement of high honour and the thirst of renown; and independently of the circumstance that such ceremonies on similar occasions appear requisite to satisfy the public sensibilities, and veil in some degree the infirmities of mortality, they may well be regarded as among the most efficient means of the defence and glory of empires. The funeral of lord Nelson was very speedily followed by the death of Mr. Pitt. The strains of panegyric and invective which were heard on this event, in every quarter, united at least in attesting that no common character had left the world. Impartial and authentic history will at length succeed to the strife of tongues. His accessibility and industry are universal ly admitted. His eye was ever vigilant for the public interest, and he was incessant in the labours and duties of his office. His personal administration was free from the least taint of corruption, and his poverty, which might be referred by many to a culpable remissness or profusion, will be regarded by others as an evidence of his being above seeking power as an instrument of pecuniary emolument. His talents as an orator were of the very first description, and rendered him in every debate the boast of his friends, the admiration of his opponents, and the delight of all who could dismiss from their minds political prejudices or attachments. His voice was commanding and agreeable, his utterance in the precise medium between slowness and rapidity: to these qualities were added a luminousness of method and an uninterrupted flow of the most correct and elegant diction. Whether in the opening speech, the comprehensive reply, or the casual explanation, there were in his address a pertinence, dignity, and fluency, which rendered him always great and always impressive. The partisans of the late premier will naturally observe, that in the first period of Mr. Pitt's administration he was successfully employed in repairing the evils of the American war; in establishing and extending our commerce; in arranging our system of revenue laws; in reducing the political power of the East India company at home, and confirming its authority abroad; in maturing that plan for the liquidation of the public debt, which if adhered to must preclude the pos sibility of bankruptcy, and obtain the professed object of finally extinguishing its burden, gulation of the mails, trifling as the circumstance may seem, contributed most eminently to mer cantile and national convenience. The liberty of the subject received improvement from the law of libel, R 2 The re passed passed if not immediately under his auspices, with his most express and decided approbation; and the rights of the people were supported by him in the discussions on the regency. They will remark, that the latter period of his ministry was a period of extreme turbulence and difficulty: that, when the principles of anarchy were kindled on the continent of Europe, and threatened to involve in one scene of ruin the institutions of civilized society, he exerted his mighty energies to oppose their spread: that he cut off the communication between this country and France, from which many returned tainted by the fanaticism of liberty, and zealous to make proselytes of thousands who were here but too ready to be converted. They ask with a tone of triumph, Who quelled the hydra of faction? Who prevented the successful organization of treason? Who guarantied this happy nation from the Marats and the Robespierres, from the committees of public safety, the bloody palaces, the republican marriages, the indefatigable guillotines, and the areas of carnage, of revolutionary France? Who, but that illustrious and immortal man, whose measures of security were decried as so many steps to run; who withdrew indeed for a time a portion of our liberties to prevent the subversion of all, and who in the most critical navigation, steered the vessel of the state with a steadiness and skill equalled only by its unprecedented danger. They add that he enlightened the nation on the subject of their political rights and duties, and instead of depriving the English people of their liberties, at length put arms into their hands to effect the preservation of them. He it was who advanced the glory of our navy to a pre-eminence of splendour unapproached in the records of nations, and who in the midst of a harassing and destructive war checked the rebellion raging in our sister kingdom, and consolidated for ever the strength of Great Britain and Ireland, by that union which must be considered as a master-piece of policy. It would ill become us to pass the limits of sobriety, and adopt that style of eulogium which would exclude all spots and failures from the subject of it. Unrestrained panegyric is often more injurious than calumnious censure, and those who admit of no faults and those who will allow no palliation are equally and highly injudicious. The deficiency, not in success, which the best plans cannot command, but in the plans themselves which attended several of Mr. Pitt's military enterprises; the high tone in which he vindicated the landing of foreign troops without the consent of parlia ment; the Spanish and Russian armaments, which exposed the nation to great burdens for frivolous causes, and had nearly interrupted by the horrors of war his schemes for national prosperity, together with that profuse expenditure of public money which was too cer-. tainly characteristic of his government, may perhaps justly be imputed as blemishes to his administration. After these deductions, to which undoubtedly others might be added, enough will remain to do credit to his patriotism, integrity and talents, and particularly that striking fact which might redeem a thousand political errors. that amidst the convulsions of the continent and the threatened disorganization of civil society, the British nation has retained the constitution constitution which our ancestors purchased with their blood, and that we have escaped from the crisis, a free, a prosperous, and a happy people.. The associates of Mr. Pitt in of fice, although several of them men of talents and business, felt his death the signal of the termination of their political power, and the way was now open for Mr. Fox's return to office, after one of the longest intervals of active and determined opposition which the history of the country records. His union with the Grenville party, which had existed almost ever since their retirement from office, appeared intimate and cordial; and although it had obliged him somewhat to lower the tone of his parliamentary hostility, and, in defe rence to his new associates, to touch lightly on various plans and measures in the suggestion or support of which the Grenvilles had taken an important part with Mr. Pitt, it was to him an acquisition of strength and talents, and indeed was of eminent mutual policy and advantage. Lord Grenville was commissioned by the king to make the necessary arrangements for a new administration, an appointment which gave general satisfaction. His high honour, his family connections, and his distinguished talents well qualified him to execute the trust reposed in him. Those who had viewed with some degree of apprehension the popular politics of Mr. Fox, were particularly pleased at the idea that any unfavourable tendency which might arise from them in the new character, which it was not doubted he would now fill, would meet with a counteraction in the circumspect policy of his colleagues in office. The completion of the new arrangements was a work of great difficulty. Difficulties however and, if such there were, dissensions having at length vanished, the names of the new ministers were announced in the Gazette. The cabinet ministers, eleven in number, consisted of lords Erskine, Grenville, Spencer, Fitzwilliam, Moira, Sidmouth and Eilenborough, lord Henry Petty, Mr. Fox, Mr. Windham and Mr. Grey. Lord Grenville succeeded Mr. Pitt as first lord of the treasury; and lord Henry Petty as chancellor of the exchequer. Earl Fitzwilliam was made president of the council in the room of lord Camden, and viscount Sidmouth lord privy seal, in the room of the earl of Westmoreland. Mr. Fox be came secretary of the foreign office, which had been held by lord Mulgrave; general Fitzpatrick followed Mr. William Dundas as secretary of war; and Mr. Windham lord Castlereagh, in the department of war and colonies; while in the home department lord Hawkesbury was succeeded by earl Spencer. Mr. Erskine, now made a baron by the title of lord Erskine, was presented with the great seal of England, which had been held by lord Eldon. Mr. Grey was appointed first lord of the admiralty, over which lord Barham had last presided. The mastership of the ordnance, last in the possession of the earl of Chatham, was conferred on lord Moira. Mr. Sheridan succeeded Mr. Canning as treasurer of the navy; and the duke of Bedford lord Hardwicke, in the government of Ireland. Earl St. Vincent, with powers of a very superior and comprehensive description, was appointed to the command R 3 command of the channel fleet. Lords Minto and Auckland presided respectively over the boards of control and trade. This list presented an assemblage of whatever is held by men in extraordinary regard. To rank and immense property were added an uncommon share of wit, taste, learning, and genius; a knowledge of the human mind, sought not merely in the recesses of the closet but in the varied scenes of European society. The eloquence of several of them was cf a very brilliant and powerful order, and was inferior only to Mr. Pitt's. Their acquaint ance with business was the result of long experience in the duties of office, or of unceasing vigilance and keen inquiry into the measures of the executive power for a series of twenty years. They possessed an attachment to popular rights mingled in the mass by a due veneration for ancient institu. tions, associating a wish to preserve, with the spirit of improvements. Sentiments of high honour were blended with those of conciliation and humanity: and in a period of such exigence the public were somewhat consoled for the loss they had so recently experienced, and looked with confidence to the new administration for the settlement of peace with honour, or the continuance of hostilities with glory. From the papers laid before parliament relating to the coalition it appears that, whatever might be the merits or demerits of the general plan of the allies, those who were intrusted with the execution of it seem justly chargeable with something little less than absolute infatuation. Those who had ratfered themselves with the hope of seeing an effectual stop put to the usurpation of France were com pletely disappointed. In the note of sir A. Paget on the causes of the inauspicious commencement of the campaign, which indeed was decisive, and speedily so, of its final event, he lays extreme stress on the Austrian general taking the field in Germany, which was ascertained rather than Italy to be intended being made by the French emperor the most important scene of military operation over which he designed to preside in person, with too small a force, and pressing into Swabia instead of remaining in Bavaria. Indeed, the circumstance of commencing operations before the arrival of the first divi. sion of Russians, as no important ob. ject was to be secured by it, seemed to evince a disposition or rather determination to engage single-handed, with the imminent danger of defeat, rather than wait for that reinforcement, which, as it was destined, so it might be supposed able, to ensure victory. Though the Austrian general was conscious of extreme inferiority to the enemy, he pushed forward as far as the Iller, and remained in that situation in the midst of extreme peril, which could be avoided only by retreat; while the archduke Charles, to oppose Massena who had only about seventy thousand men, was at the head of one hundred and ten thousand, yet availed not himself of this advantage; to these circumstances is ascribed by sir Arthur the unpropitious or rather fatal opening of military operations. And surely such an application of means to ends, such injudicious and miserable combina. tions, might well excite the satitical remarks of their successful enemy, |