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with carcafes of the dead? Had we fupported morality by this war? What examples could we produce? the king of Pruffia? the dungeons of Olmutz? or could it be difcovered in the conduct of those petty tyrants who buzzed about us when they had hoped for fuccefs, and disappeared when our cafe became defperate?

His grace then went over the negotiations, much condemning minifters in making Belgium a fine qua non, when the bank was me. naced, and the public credit in imminent danger. He next called the attention of the houfe to the ftate of our finances; the annual amount of the new taxes was feven millions aud a half, but he believed that a very confiderable additional fum would be requifite to cover the whole expence which had been incurred. Should the war continue three months longer, or for the whole of the year, three millions more must be raised to defray the intereft of the debt which it had created. No one year had the people yet borne the burden of more than three millions, fo that the dreadful weight of feven and a half annual tax never yet experienced, must be added to the preffure under which they already groaned! It was a principle of the British conftitution that the country fhould be apprifed as early as poffible of the burdens which they were to fup port; and it had been the boast of the prefent minifter that he had obferved it-furely without foun, dation. Our difficulties, our dan. gers, and our expences, had been concealed till they could not be hid any longer, and our ftate was deplorable. There were feveral points on which his grace faid he was obliged to curtail his obfervations, efpecially upon the correspondence

between the chancellor and the bank. From the beginning of the year 1795, the bank-directors were frequent and earnest in their remonftrances to him; they reminded him of the advinces which they had made to govern nent, and his promifes of payment they fiated the amount of thei dvances on the treasury bills to be between two and a half and hree millions. These representat ons were uniformly answered with promises that the fubject of complaint fhould be remedied, and the a Ivançes repaid: but they never were performed, and new applications for fresh advances were made. O the 6th of Auguft the chancellor applied for an advance of two milions and a half on the consolidated fand, pretended the utmost concern for the bank, and expreffed his surprise that the directors could once imagine that its intereft was a lefs objec with him than with them. The event proved his fincerity. The directors again acceded to his demand, on the exprefs condition, however, that 1,000,000l. fhould be paid on account of their advance on the treafury bills in the month of October, a proportion in April, and that the amount of them fhould never exceed 500,000l. a regulation to be adopted in November.

All these conditions were neg, lected, the remonstrances despised, and the amount continued to ad vance. They continued to warn him of the fatal confequences of the drain of cath to the emperor, and the ruin which muft enfue from fuch a fyftem, But he was indifferent to warnings and folicitations, procured advances upon renewed promifes which he continued to break, and on conditions which he never performed; and, if the whole correfpondeuce between the chan

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cellor and the bank, to the very moment when he was compelled to ftop payment, did not excite the indignation of the house, his grace faid he defpaired of adding any thing to its influence. The bank of England was reduced to the fituation of stopping payment, and public credit expofed to utter ruin, to fupply an expenditure which parliament had not fanétioned, to fupport the mifchievous fchemes and wafteful prodigality of minifters. Had the real object of the war been fairly avowed, or the expence flated, peace would long before now have been concluded. The laws which had paffed on pretence of preferving tranquillity was another proof of the pernicious fyftem on which minifters had acted. But for the most striking illuftration of their wretched policy we needed but to look at Ireland. Earl Fitzwilliam had been fent out as lord lieutenant, as was understood, upon the wife and falutary plan of making thofe conceffions which would fatisfy the expectations of the people: he was deceived by ministers, and facrificed to their injudicious measures. He went out to carry into execution a fy ftem dear to the wishes of Irifhmen. Lord Camden went out to direct a plan far different, and avowedly hoftile to that on which the people of Ireland had fixed their hearts. What had been the confequence? Every attempt to coerce had spread more widely the fpirit of difcontent; blind perfeverance in coercion had heightened difcontent into difaffection, and endangered the connection of the two countries. At home alfo, we had much to regret under the conduct of minifters. The first appearances of dangerous events he did not mean to attribute to them; but he must al

lude to the disturbances of the navy, in order to perform his duty to his country. Silence would add to the mifchief. When the mutiny first broke out, the failors made demands, many of which were rea fonable in every body's opinion; fome of them were not fo. It was certain that the admiralty inade offers to certain requests which were rejected, and afterwards raised their offers, and the agreement was made. What had been granted, was only thought to be juft; and minifters, in offering less than they afterwards granted, proved that they could not judge, or did not act with uprightnefs: these were examples of incapacity which they had manifefted. He had already ftated the evils which their measures had produced; and he now asked, if the English were determined to devote their country to destruction? [Here there was a great cry of "Hear! hear!"] His grace proceeded: "I come with as great an intereft as any man in the house in the fafety of the country. Will you leave its affairs to men who have already involved you in complicated calamities? I entreat your lordships to reflect upon our state as a nation; that you would devife fome means of avoiding the complete ruin with which we are threatened and I therefore move that an humble ad drefs be prefented to his majesty, earnestly foliciting him, by dif miffing his prefent fervants, to give to the people of Ireland the ftrongeft proof of his difapprobation of that fyftem of treachery by which their difcontents have been foftered, and of his majesty's intention of fecuring the connection between the kingdoms, by extending to men of all defcriptions in that oppreffed country the bleffings of the conftitution under which they were born;

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and, finally, to difmifs thofe minifters from his prefence, for ever, whofe measures had impaired the liberties, and whofe extravagance had injured the property of his fubjects: to restore the fpirit of the British conftitution, and to adopt fuch a fyftem of retrenchment as was alone confiftent with the profperity of his exhausted people."

Earl Strange (duke of Athol) agreed, that the prefent crifis call ed for exertion; but the measure moved by the noble duke was not calculated to meet the exigency of the times. Into the conduct of the chancellor refpecting the bank he did not mean to inquire-but he was convinced that a fatisfactory explanation could be given of every part of it. In reply to the question, "What had we gained by the conteft?" we had gained, he faid, the privilege of fitting and debating in that houfe; and if we had not entered into the war with France, neither he nor the noble duke would have been peers of the realm. Of the fedition and treason acts, though he acknowledged them to be infringements to a certain degree upon the conftitution, he approved, as measures dictated by urgent neceffity. He oppofed the addrefs, as tending to detract from the energy of government-to unhinge the adminiftration-and even to unhinge the country.

The duke of Grafton rofe; and, after taking a review of our wealth, our manufactures, our military force, our naval power, and the profperity of England till the year 1792, be reviewed with much apparent concern the picture of our prefent ftate. Great Britain (faid his grace) is at this moment ftript of, or deferted by, every ally on the continent which could bring any effen

tial aid. The bank of England, owing to the most fatal neglect of the lords of the treafury concerning the circulating fpecie of the kingdom, when many fchemes might have been propofed, probably to prevent, certainly to leffen, the evils which had happened - the bank had received a wound which could not be remedied; our credit, a blot that could not be expunged; his grace faid he meant the effect of the order of the council. His next fubject of regret was St. Domingo; which without many conflicts, without a battle fought, befides the millions lavished there, proved to be a grave for the greater part of the troops fent thither; the numbers of officers and men who had fallen victims to the climate, exceeded what would be credited, and their relatives had to thank the wild project of an incompetent minifter, who might callously affert, "fuch was the chance of war!" He did not dare acquaint their lordfhips to what a fmall remnant the regular infantry of England was reduced.

He knew what it was, and mentioned it as a warning to the lord in office that he, with his colleagues, might not be weakening this defence ftill farther, by employing them on more fatal projects when it ought to be the prin ciple of all meafures to give fecurity at home. The navy afforded a fresh proof of the want of fagacity in administration. Who but themfelves, did not fee the neceffity of affifting the feamen, when, at the moment of the high price of provifions, confiderable indulgencies had been granted to the foldiers? As to Ireland, that kingdom was to be confidered in fo critical a ftate, that, untefs there was a temperate reform in parliament, and a full emancipation of the catholics, with a total change of

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the men who now conducted the affairs in that country, we foon fhould fee it added to the lift of republics which our fatal meafures had been the cause of erecting all over Europe: but with this confequence-if a revolution took place in Ireland, it inevitably would produce a revolution in Great Britain. To prevent thefe evils, there was but one effective remedy, which he earueftly recommended to the confideration of their lordships-a parJiamentary reform; without which our conftitution would flip from under us. There were not wanting people who might fay, thefe difafters had befallen us by chance; but (continued his grace) let us not condemn chance for our fituation or our fufferings, but the minifters who were now before us, and had brought us hither. Their lord fhips had to this day given them their fupport; but let them give it no longer wifdom was never more confpicuous or amiable, than in the acknowledgment of error-but all affiftance beftowed on the fame minifters from this moment ought to be bestowed openly, and in the eyes of the public, that it might involve the perfon with the minifter in the guilt of every future fatal project. For himself, he protefted, that, fo far from abetting the pernicious councils which had brought on the downfall of the empire, he bad endeavoured by conftitutional means to avert them. If this motion was to be received with the fame cold indifference which had had been fhewn in common times, and if the fame confidence was continued to the minifters, he fhould not think it neceffary to trouble the house with his remarks again. But before he retired to fortify his own mind against the approaching calamities, and prepare

his family for what they would probably have to undergo, it was a duty incumbent upon him to lay before his fovereign the reafons for his conduct, flattering himself that he fhould be allowed that gracious hearing which his majefty had fo often given to one from whofe lips he never heard but the dictates of the heart, as fincerely as they were now delivered to their lordships.

Lord Romney faid, he differed from the noble duke in every fentiment, except the fincerity which he profeffed. He afferted that the war was neceffary, and had not been difaftrous. One paffage in the propofed motion might produce, he thought, the most pernicious confequences: fpeaking of the people of Ireland, he mentioned their being "an oppreffed people." What would they fay, if this addrefs was voted, and the fentiments of that houfe made known as fuch upon the subject?

He contended that our ally, the emperor, was faithful and magnanimous-that the mutiny on board the fleet was owing to French intrigues-and that, if the failors would be true to their country, we might defy the combined attack of every nation upon earth.

The earl of Guildford attributed the aggregate fum of our calamities to the mif-conduct of ministers, nor could there be any hope of peace without their difmiffal. To all the other effects which the propofed meafure would produce, would be added a correction of the extravagance in blood and treasure for which the present administration had been diftinguished. He befeeched their lordships to weigh well the fide on which they gave their approbation this evening. It was an important crifis, big with the fate of empires.

The earl of Suffolk fupported

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the motion as a step towards the falvation of the country. It was as idle as falfe, to affirm that England did not at this time fuffer from the most alarming diforders which only could be remedied by chang. ing men and measures. If thofe in power yet denied the existence of fuch circumstances in England, let them turn their eyes to Ireland, where would be found a great deal to fear and to lament. He produced a letter from a private friend of his own, in which it was stated, that Ireland was nearly in an infurrection: but the earl of Weftmoreland calling him to order, and cenfuring the impropriety of giving the opinion of any private individual upon that fubject, the earl of Suffolk declined proceeding with the letter.

The marquis of Landfdowne expreffed furprife, that minifters would not give the public any fatisfaction upon fubjects fo interesting to the country; and that they carried their fecrecy fo far, as to put a negative upon information offered from another quarter. The prefent calamities, he faid, might all be traced to their mysterious conduct, and it had uniformly proved mifchievous to the community. As he wifhed rather to hear than to fpeak, he had come down on that day, prepoffeffed with an idea that fome notice would be given by the minifters, that a negotiation had commenced between this country and France. Had this been announced, he fhould have been filent; though he confeffed he had no ground for the fuppofi. tion but public report. He was utterly at a lofs to divine what could retard fuch overtures: we had no longer the opening of the Scheldt to refift; the fate of the Low Countries was decided: de

ferted by our allies, we only had to confider our own intereft; and the caufe therefore, to him, was inex plicable. He trusted they had not the madness to make Austria renew the conteft. He remembered its having been stated, that it was impoffible for the king of Sardinia to defert us. It had been faid, that the minifters of his Pruffian majefty were the best in Europe! When he himself had mentioned the fending a fubfidy to the king of Pruffia, minifters had exclaimed, "Do you call it a fubfidy? it is a cheap œconomical contract." The marquis obferved, we had had plenty of fuch contracts; whether the Pruffian was an economical one or not, he could not pretend to fay; perhaps it was cheaper than those entered into in St. Domingo. He expected to have heard that the bank of Vienna, upon the return of peace, would have refumed its pay ments, and that not only the interest of the money we had lent to the emperor would have been punctually paid, but that the capital would have been gradually liquidated. Not one word had the noble fecretary uttered upon this point: he even fimiled at having cheated the country out of fix millions of money-and it deferved to be fo cheated, whilft it fubmitted to be taxed in light and in air, without one remonstrance! As to profpects of peace, he confeffed he had the fin of believing that the French government were always inclined to pacification, and he recommended it to the ministers to make a declaration that they were willing to ne gotiate; which, if it ferved no other purpose, would at least solve a problem which had never yet been folved what had been the real object of the war. He adverted with much feverity on their filence

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