which the present ministers had sustained, by being deprived of the assistance of that great charac. ter to whom the system was chiefly indebted for existence, and who was therefore the most completely qualified to uphold and defend it. Still, however, he trusted there were individuals remaining capable of explaining the line of conduct which had been adopted, and in what way government had discharged the sacred trust that had been reposed in them. At present, for reasons which he enumerated, he would not fix a day for the discussion, but would content himself with merely moving that those papers do lie on the table. From their nature, it was impossible that they could pass by without discussion. The pecuniary and political stipulations which they contained must subject them to the cognisance of the house. As at that moment he might not be in a situation to exercise a discretionary power on the kind of information which it might be expedient to bring forward, he hoped that while he did not press forward any improper disclosures, those gentlemen who should succeed him in office would be disposed to deal as liberally in affording information, as the present administration had evinced their inclination to do.

Mr. Fox concurred with the noble lord in his opinion that the subject must certainly come before parliament. The noble lord appear ed to regret that this subject had not been agitated on the first day of the session. If he meant thereby to impute any blame to his noble friend, he should only say that the amendment, which it was criginally his noble friend's intention to bring before the house, was founded on this principle, That,

1800.

when such capital misfortunes hap pened to the country, it was the business of the house, on the mere statement of the fact, without any knowledge of the circumstances attending it, be ore they granted any further supplies, to be well assured that those supplies would be properly admini tered. His toble friend abandoned his intention from motives which it was unnecessary for him to repeat. Whenever the discussion was brought forward, he would listen with the utmost attention to every thing that could be stated on the subject. As to the noble lord's wish, that any administration which might succeed the present would not withhold any further information. that it might be expedient and at the same time proper to commu nicate, he could not really say or guess who were the individuals alluded to; but the expediency of granting such information must be regulated by the knowledge of the documents already in possession of the house, and by other circumstances which it was impossible then to specify.

Mr. Grey said, he had listened with considerable attention while the clerk had been reading the titles of these papers, but he had not heard him state any direct treaty between the king of Great Britain and the emperor of Austria. He wished to know from the noble lord whether or not this was an omission.

Lord Castlereagh said, that there were three treaties between Great Britain and Sweden, and one treaty between Great vitain and Russia, to which latter treaty Austria having acceded, it was thereby effec tually constituted a treaty between Great Britain and Austria. The

treaty with Russia consis ed of

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fifteen articles, one of which not having been ratified, the remaining fourteen only were binding of these, nine had been laid on the table, the other five were of a complexion which would render the exposure of them a dereliction of the trust reposed in the administration of this country. He further stated, that the whole combined force, covenanted to be brought into the field, amounted to four hundred and ninety-five thousand men, viz. one hundred and eighty thousand Russians, and three hundred and fifteen thousand Austrians, exclusive of twenty thousand militia in the Tyrol. In an official note received by his majesty's government from the Austrian ambassador at the court of London, in October, it was stated, that the Austrian force actually in the field was two hundred thousand men, and it was expected in the course of the month to carry it up to three hundred thousand.

Lord Castlereagh next called the attention of the house to the glori ous victories obtained by lord Nelson and sir Richard Strachan, of both of which he felt himself inadequate to speak in terms in any degree commensurate with their merits. He would preface his address to the house, on this occasion, by a short history of the naval campaign that preceded these brilliant actions. The operations commenced with the sailing of a French squadron from Rochfort to the West Indies, which was immediately followed by admiral Cochrane. This squadren only gave an opportunity to general Prevest of showing how an inferior British force could defend itself from hostile attacks. A squadron of eighteen sail of the line then sailed from Toulon, which was instantly pur

sued by the immortal Nelson; and although they were considerably superior in number and in strength, they quitted the West Indies without having attained any object of the least importance. And it was impossible for him to forget the gloomy apprehensions that were entertained at that time by some members of that house. There was no disaster which they did not predict as the probable consequence of what they were pleased to term the shameful neglect of his majes ty's ministers. But not only were these prophecies falsified by the event, bus, owing to the able arrangements made by the noble lord at the head of the admiralty, the country had been enabled to avert the apprehended danger, and heap destruction on the enemy.No sooner had advice been received from lord Nelson, that the French squadron had left the West Indies on their return to Europe, and that it was his intention to push for the Streights' mouth with the hope of intercepting them, than the admiralty ordered the Brest squadron to suspend the blockade of that port, and the Rochfort squadron to proceed off Cape Finisterre, to reinforce admiral Calder's division. Thus there were three squadrons, by the able management of the admiralty board, placed in situations where they were likely to meet the enemy. This event happened accordingly, and the result was the engagement with the squadron commanded by sir Robert Calder, which terminated in the capture of two sail of the line. Immediately afterwards the French fleet retired to Cadiz, to the amount of thirty-four sail of the line. Not many days clapsed before a British force was stationed in the bay of Cadiz, adequate to the blockade of

the enemy's fleet; and towards the conclusion of the month of Sep tember, lord Nelson, having as sumed the command, detached a division of this fleet to the Mediterranean. It is indisputa bly clear that nothing but the knowledge of this reduction of lord Nelson's force, and the supposition that it amounted only to twentyone instead of twenty-seven sail, would have induced the combined fleets to come out and offer battle. Their object was to form a junction with the division in Carthagena, and then to have appeared in the Mediterranean with a fleet approaching to fifty sail, which, in the existing circumstances of Europe, they imagined would have excited a sensation exceedingly favourable to their views of ambition and aggrandizement. When he centemplated the glorious engagement which had been the result of this attempt on the part of the French, he felt it difficult to select any feature on which to dwell with peculiar praise. In every view of the subject which even professional men could possibly take, they scarcely could suppose it in the power of one fleet to capture from another not stationary, but under sail, the great number of nineteen ships. It was a new species of success in our naval annals, and went practically far beyond what theorists had conceived it possible to accomplish even in their speculations. The wonders attending this most brilliant action were not confined to the day of combat. He should feel that he had fulfilled but half his duty to the brave men who had shared in the engagement, if he did not assign to them the praise which was their due, for the firmness and perseverance with which, after having contended with the enemy, they

proceeded successfully to struggle with the elements. Then was it, too, that the generous spirit of self-devotion to the benefit of their fellowcreatures, those exalted principles which it had been the glory of ancient France to cultivate, and which it has been the endeavour of modern France to extinguishthose feelings which it became every man to exercise, were proudly manifested. Nor was it possible to overlook the great achievements of the division under sir Richard Strachan, in which that gallant admiral took from the enemy every thing that had been presented to him. It was not the least extraordinary circumstance attending these brilliant transactions, that after such a combat with the enemy, and such a contest wish the elements, we had the heartfelt satisfaction to see every ship that had been engaged brought safely back to the British port, and the enemy were thus precluded from those self-congratulations in which they doubtless would have indulged, had a single British vessel fallen a victim to their arms, or even to the fury of the tempests. Every one must feel that the security of the empire, so far as it depends on our naval strength, was placed on a firmer basis than ever. He could not refrain from mentioning that the victory off Trafalgar had happened on a day in which the head of the French empire had been declaring the designs which he meditated against this country; and on that very day he received, in the chas tisement of his fleets, a lesson which it was to be hoped he would never forget, and which would teach him what he had to expect from the gallantry and determined bravery of Britons. It was impos. sible that these exploits should be

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performed, and that the country should be satisfied with a silent admiration. He pretended not to do justice to the misfortune in the loss of the noble hero who commanded in chief in his character there was every thing to praise his whole life had been a life of heroism. There was something apparently intuitive in his nature, which prompted him to the execution of great schemes which appeared to be out of the resources of his profession. In considering the whole of the victories which had shed a lustre on his name, it would be found that each was marked with traits peculiar and distinguishing. If the house reverted to the battle of Aboukir, they must recollect his daring and successful passing between the

French line and the shore. His conduct at Copenhagen evinced equal originality; and indeed his whole life was a series of brilliant achievements, which proved the magnitude and the variety of the resources of his capacious mind. In considering the loss, we must also consider every thing that can afford consolation. It too frequently happened that great souls were enshrined in feeble frames. He contended with the various maladies by which he was a sailed with so little success, that the day might possibly have arrived when he might have been placed in opposition to the enemy with diminished powers. It was therefore some degree of consolation, that the history of his life had been wound up in honour, that his fame was out of the reach of misfortunes. The individual was past gratitude, but the name remained; and he was con'vinced that the country was desirous that some signal mark of public acknowledgment should be bestowed on it. He did not know

whether those with whom he acted! would have the power of conferring this acknowledgment, but he was sure, from whomsoever it might be received, it would be accompanied with that liberality which is charac teristic of British gratitude. It was proposed to make a provision for his widow, correspondent to the rank which she held in society. The sum in contemplation was an annuity for her ladyship's life of two thousand pounds. This was of course unconnected with the subject of royal intimation, which recommended the affixing some splendid appendages to the present earl. It certainly was not necessary to make for that nobleman such a provision as should remove him from his present sphere of life. It had been thought expedient that this provision should be made, not as a grant to the family, but as national property intrusted to their possession; that it should be invested in land, and that an edifice conformable to their public rank should be built for the family.With a view to these objects, it was in contemplation to appropriate the sum of two hundred thousand pounds, to be invested in the hands of public trustees, to be applied in the manner which seemed best calculated to obtain the end proposed. It had occurred to government that this would be consistent with the rank which it was desirable that the family of lord Nelson should bear in the country, without going into too exaggerated a scale. Thus the life and achievements of lord Nelson would continue to animate the British navy to the end of time. He trusted that he should not be supposed insensible to the gallant officers under lord Nelson, and of the merits of lord Collingwood, lord Northesk, and sir Richard Strachan: