in the prefent fyftem; it must be changed. He was not one of thofe who wished to alter the conftitu. tion, but to reform it; to reitore the voice of the people to that rank which it was entitled to hold in it; to make the opinion of the minifter nothing; to fee that of the prople al. He was told, that they withed for a removal of the prefent minifter: fo did he; the country could not be faved without it; the people muft chufe; it was time for them to ftand forward, and by conftitutional means renovate the conftitution, which alone could refcue themselves and their pofterity from inevitable ruin. Here he reflected upon the period of the American war; but the contemplation was painful. Men ufed then to fay, "It is all owing to the unreafonableness of the enemy that we do not obtain peace."-Infatuated men! They were afterwards moft fatally convinced of the folly of their arguments, and obliged to accept of terms far more against them than they might have obtained, had negotiations been offered long before they were. But what were the caJamities then to what we have now to ftruggle with? What the profpect of extricating ourselves then to the prefent? To America we had little to give but independence, and the trouble of conciliating loft affection; to France, Spain, &c. mutual reftitution. Now, we have no profpect but the continuance of the wer; and the confequences were too deadful to anticipate farther than he had done. One part, indeed, of the minifter's political conduct be could not forbear to mention; his entrance into parliament: it was towards the clofe of the American war. The right honourable gentleman began his career by op pofing it meft vehemently; and af

ter the majority which had carried it on was put an end to, he complimented the Rockingham adminiftration, and faid, "You have deftroyed the majority, but cannot be fure of having completed your purpofe if you do not strike at the root of the evil. There must be a radical reform, otherwife minifters may, on future occafions, arife, who will again plunge the country into more bloody and expenfive wars than ever this." The forebodings had been very fully and fatally accomplished. He himself had lived to become that very minifter, whofe anticipated mifconduct he had fo feelingly de-" plored; and no fooner became poffelfed of miniflerial influence than he ufed it more liberally than his predeceffors had ever done, not only to prevent reform, but to ftab the conftitution in every vein, and to plunge us into armaments and wars more prodigal of blood and treafure than ever had been known in history.

Mr. Fox concluded with moving, as an amendment, that this houfe had learnt, with inexpreflible concern, that the negotiation for the refloration of peace had been unhappily fruftrated. In fo awful and important a crifis, the commons felt it their duty to fpeak to his majefty with that freedom and earneĤneis which became men anxious to preferve the honour of the crown and to fecure the interefts of the prople;

they fincerely deplored that they were under the necedity of declaring they had reafon to think the minifters were not fincere in their endeavours to reftore the blethings of peace to this diftrefled country; for, on the one hand, they infifted on the refloration of the Netherlands, whilft the directory, with equal pertinacity, claimed that part of their conquefts as a condition

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Mr. fecretary Dundas faid, that this fpeech was the mott mifchievous which he ever heard come from an envenomed oppofition. There was fcarcely one topic contained in it which was not calculated to give encouragement to our enemies. In the good times of our forefathers, it never occurred to the most inflamed patriot to avail himself of his fituation, as a member of parliament, to plead the 'caufe of the enemy in the manner the French republic had been applauded that night. The right honourable gentleman's prefent amendment was a very fair one: he called upon the houfe to make a declaration, that they believed minifters to have been infincere. For his own part, he was ready to make his appeal to the houfe; and upon that iffe, he would call upon the members, as honeft men, to give their opinion, whether they thought minifters had omitted any measures that might have procured peace for the country. He agreed that the expences of this war were very great, but our fuccefs! was equal to it; and there was not a foreign poffeflion belonging to the enemy that we had not taken, except one ifland; and all thefe were offered to be furrendered as a compenfation for what was to be reftored to our allies. The emperor's and our fituation were thrown into one common stock: we were willing to relinquish our acquifitions, to procure him the restitution of the territ vries he had loft. With refpect to Holland and his declaration concerning the Cape of Good Hope, when he urged the retaining of it, he was confulting the deareft interefts of the country, without injuring thote of any other power; and if Ceylon fhould be wrefted from our hands, he should regret it as the greatest calamity: but it never was his defign to take

from which they could not départ; that the houfe lamented the rathnels and injustice of the minifters, whole mifconduct had produced this embarraffing fituation, by adviting his majefty to refufe all negotiation for the adjustment of the then fubfifting differences; although, at that time, the Netherlands, fo far from being confidered as an object of conteft, were folemnly renounced, and the peace of Europe offered into his majesty's hands, upon the bafis of that renunciation and the independence of Holland, whilft the preferved her neutrality towards France; that this houfe had farther to regret, that foon after the commencement of the war, when Holland had been rescued from invafion and the greater part of the Netherlands recovered for the emperor, when the princes of Europe continued firm in their alliances to Great Britain, the minifters did not avail themselves of this pofition for the negotiation of an honourable peace; but, on the contrary, refufed to fet it on foot, upon the arrogant and infulting pretence, that the French republic was not capable of maintaining the relations of peace and amity amongst nations; and on this unfounded affumption had adviled his majefty to continue the war, when the difficulties of peace had been fo much encreafed by the defection of most of the confederate powers, and by the conquefts and confequent pretenfions of the republic; that this house, having fubmitted thefe reflections, felt themfelves in duty bound, for the information of his majefty, and the fatisfaction of an exhaufted people, to proceed with diligence to investigate the caules which had produced their calamities, and to offer fuch advice as the alarming crifis of the nation now required.

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from Holland its trade to the Cape, from the actual poffeffion of which the could derive no benefit; for the Dutch Eaft India company was too weak to keep it at that great expence which was neceffary.

With refpect to the Auftrian Netherlands, which had engaged the attention of this country nearly three hundred years, the importance of the fubject was recorded in the journals of the houfe. He would appeal to the old French monarchy for the truth of the affertion, that one acre of land in the Auftrian Netherlands was worth a whole province in France. He wifhed to imprefs this upon the houfe before they adopted the propofitions of the right honourable gentleman, that they might fee how neceflary it was for his majesty to demand as a condition, that they should be evacuated by France. He wished alfo to afk Mr. Fox what other conclufion was France to draw from his propofition, but that the republic had the greatest right to retain the Netherlands with obftinacy? Facts would beft fhow which party had been wanting in a real defire to promote peace. Did the French in any period come forward to negotiate, and were refufed by us? No; the contrary was the truth. We had regularly used every means, from the note of Mr. Wickham, at Bafle, to the late miffion of lord Malmesbury, to bring about fo defirable an event; but without fuccefs. There was a pertinacity about the French government which precluded, except in appearance only, all overtures for peace, which it is conceived they did not with, by the obftacles they put in the way of its completion.

Mr. Dundas then requested, that gentlemen would not fuffer their opinions to be led away from the real queftion by the fophiftry of Mr

Fox, which did not merely tend to lead from the queftion, but in its eventual application to ftrengthen the hands of our enemies, by giving delufive ftatements of our real fituation; and concluded by folemnly calling upon the houfe, if they conceived the administration had acted with the duplicity with which they were charged, to país a vote of cenfure upon them, and inflict a heavy punishment; but let it be unmixed with any other matter.

Mr. Grey replied to feveral points mentioned by Mr. Dundas; and after paying fome high compliments to Mr. Fox, as to his difinterestednefs in his political character, hoped he fhould one day fee him poffeffing that fituation which the prefent holder had manifefted his inability to maintain. He thought it probable that the people of England would one day declare, whether thofe who regularly had fupported every adminiftration, the profecution of every war, and the accumulation of every tax, were its beft friends, or thofe who oppofed thofe measures, though unfortunately in a minority. He infifted that the fundamental evil from which all our misfortunes flowed, was, that peace never had been the real object of thofe who carried on the war. They went upon a fyftem of extermination; and by thefe means our enemies were fo irritated, that there was danger we fhould never come to an amicable conclufion.

Mr. Grey remarked, that the right honorable gentleman had made an erroneous ftatement, when he inform ed the houfe that the British had conquered every foreign poffeffion belonging to the French but one; he muft have forgotten the itle of Bourbon, Cayenne, and several others of confequence, ftill in their poffeffion. He proceeded to take a review of

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Lord Malmesbury's letter to lord Grenville; and contended that M. Delacroix's propofition of offering an equivalent to the emperor for the Netherlands, in the fecularization of the three ecclefiaftical electorates, and feveral bishoprics in Germany, and Italy, might be confidered as a watre-projet, and ought to have been attended to. However we might with the Netherlands fhould remain in the poffeffion of the emperor, the most fanguine expectations of minifters could not lead them to hope they could be regain ed by force.

He confidered the propofition of retaining the most important poffeffions of our former ally, Holland, as a moft profligate trait in the late negotiation. The offer of reftoring Martinique and Pondicherry only (for St. Lucia and Tobago were to be kept as an equivalent for our fuppofed claims on St. Domingo) for all the conquefts made by France on the emperor was a moft extravagant propofition. He called upon the houfe to reflect on the state of the country, the burden of taxes which muft be imposed on the people, the torrents of blood that would flow, and the millions of lives that must be loft, if the war were profecuted. The house divided: for the amendment 37-against it 212.

Not disheartened by this defeat, but, on the contrary, encouraged by the general clamour for peace which prevailed through every part of the kingdom, the minority ftill perfifted in their endeavours for the restoration of that invaluable bleffing, On the 23d of March, the earl of Ox ford called the attention of the upper houfe to a motion of which he had given notice fome time before: "Peace (faid his lordfhip) is fo imperioutly demanded by the circumftances of the country, that every

independent lord must be defirous of contributing to its attainment: the voice of the country demands it; and attainable it is, if fought for with a fincere intention." To prove that the government of France was no lefs difpofed to enter into an amicable negotiation, his lordship proceeded to read a few extracts from the papers which had been fubmitted to the houfe at the conclufion of the late negotiation. In note 2 to Mr. Wickham, was this pairage; "The directory ardently defires to procure for the republic a juft, bonourable, and folid peace. The ftep taken by Mr. Wickham would have afforded the directory a real fatisfaction, if the declaration which that minifter makes, of his not having any order, any powers to negotiate did not give room to doubt the fin cerity of the pacific intentions of his court." Again, in No. 7, which contained an extract from the regifter of decrees of the executive directory, were thefe words: "The executive directory, upon confideration of the note addreffed to the minifter for foreign affairs, by lord Grenville, dated Weftminster, Sept. 24, 1796-wishing to give a proof of their defire to make peace with Eng gland, decrees, "That the minifter is charged to deliver paffports to the envoy of England, who thall be furnifhed with powers, not only for preparing and negotiating the peace between the French republic and that power, but for concluding it between them." And again: "The directory fees with pain, that, at the moment when it had hoped for the speedy return of peace, the propofal of lord Malmetbury offers but dilatory or diftant means of bringing the negotiation to a conclufion. Nevertheless, the directory, animated with an ardent defire of putting a top to the war, declares, that as foon

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