from this country. After ftating its probable inefficacy, his lordship alked, whether a worn-out ifland or two, if taken, were worth the price of fuch an armament? The plan of the French, in fending out fhip by fhip, was what our minifters fhould have followed. If the difcuffions in the French convention were to be depended upon, the French would not give up the Netherlands for Weft-India fettle ments, as they were powerful enough not only to retain their own iflands, but to invade ours. The language of the fpeech, though râther more pacific than that of the preceding year, meant, he faid, nothing more than a difplay of the dexterity of minifters in proceeding with the war another year. The laft year every thing was to be achieved by a decifive and vigorous effort; now the new order of things in France was to be relied upon. With respect to the affignats, it was plain the noble fecretary inclined to the old exploded idea that money was the finew of war, an idea contradicted by the beft writers, ancient and modern, Livy told us of three things which conftituted the finews of war,-good foldiers, good commanders, and good fortune; all of which the French poffefled in an eminent degree. His lordship repeated his former argument, that nothing in point of refources was beyond the reach of a revolutionary government, whereas regular governments had their limitations in this point; and he trufted that what had happened to the old government of France would ferve as a warning to minifters, of the fatal confequences of improvidently exhaufting the revenues of this country. He earneftly recommended immediate negotiation: and, after an exhortation to peace, as the only effectual remedy which could be applied to the grievances under which the country groaned, his lordfhip declared that he fhould fupport the amendment. The address was fupported by the earls of Darnley and Mansfield, and the amendment by the duke of Grafton. The earl of Lauderdale made a fpirited attack upon the pledges, the promifes, and the profpects, held out by minifters the former year. The mighty things to be accomplished for us by the emperor in return for his loan, were forgotten; what Spain was to do; what Sardinia; what the German powers; all was forgotten; together with the panegyrics upon the king of Pruffia and the conftancy and vigour of all our allies. But the fecretary of state could, he faid, remember exactly how many evils had been predicted; and, becaufe they had not been fulfilled, our fituation was improved. The fources of the fatisfaction that was expreffed, he could not difcover. Difafter and defeat attended us abroad, and the lamentable scarcity of provifions at home was most properly recommended by his majefty to the confideration of the house. Our naval fuperiority, fo much boasted of, fell far fhort of the statement made by his majefty when he came to the throne: and whatever was our fuperiority, the little protection given to our trade did not prove that it had been directed with fufficient fkill and vigour to make it ufeful. His lordhip proceeded to state the conduct of the allies, and the expedition to Quiberon, as very little fatisfactory, and particularly cenfured the choice of M. De Pui Taye as commanding officer. He had, he faid, no fort of confidence in the equivocal promife the maritime commerce was in our promife which the prefent fpeech gave to the country; it was lefs favourable than the hopes held out in the fpeech at the clofe of the laft feffion, where there was an unconditional pledge that minifters would treat in cafe of a change of tituation, which was faid to be probable; but now the pledge was clogged with a condition, that the French must not only have a fit government, but must be the firft to offer negotiation. The arguments drawn from the depreciation of the affignats, he thought nugatory. The cafe of America, and the laft campaign of the French, were in proof of this. Minifters pretended regard to the new French conftitution; but they ought not to be fanguine in the hopes they derived from it. Their boafted conftitution of Corfica, which had combined fuch various talents in its firft concoction, having been formed by the pope and a cardinal, and put into execution by a prefbyterian governor and an epifcopal fecretary, was an improvement on the British model; yet by the late proclamation, no part of the French republic was in more confufion than Corfica. Could we prevail upon the people of France to accept of our minifters as their new directors, he fhould have fome confidence in one further struggle. Earl Spencer objected frongly to the amendment, as entirely relinquishing that indemnity for the war, for which minifters had always contended, and which the people would confequently expect from them. With refpect to the lofs of a part of our convoys, it would be wonderful, in a war like the prefent, if this was not the cafe; and the greateft caufe of furprize was, that fo few had been captured, confidering that nearly the whole of Of The lord chancellor fupported the addrefs, and the duke of Nor folk the amendment. The duke of Bedford declined the privilege of replying at large to the arguments which had been adduced. The declaration of his majesty had not, he faid, been fufficiently precife: but that of the fecretary of state, if he had taken down his words correctly, which he had foon after they were delivered, would fatisfy him. Thefe, his grace ftated, were, "that in cafe the constitution now offered to the people of France, and perhaps now adopted, fhould be found likely to establish itself in fuch a form as fhould fecure a government likely to preserve the relations of peace and amity, his objections to treating with them would be entirely removed." Lord Grenville profeffed he never would hold ambiguous language, or deny what he had faid in that houfe, and repeated his affertion (which in fubftance was the fame as the words taken down by the duke of Bedford), but thought, that making the words of an individual peer in the debate the ground either of making or withdrawing a motion was fo unfair and unparliamentary, that he could not agree to be placed in fuch a fituation. His grace, in reply, profeffed it to be no part of his intention to be unfair or unparliamentary; that, not wifhing to clog minifters, he was willing to withdraw his amendment, upon feeing any caufe, plain and intelligible, avowed by minifters, though it might not go fo far as he wished. He then withdrew the amendment, declaring, however, that he could not agree to that part of the addrefs which expreffed fatisfaction at the improved state of affairs; and the addrefs, after the customary forms, was prefented to his majefty. In the courfe of the debate on the addrefs in both houfes, many arguments arofe refpecting the fcarcity of corn, mentioned in the lat ter part of his majesty's speech, The principal part of thefe, however, were again adduced on the fubfequent bills which were introduced for the remedy or alleviation of this grievance. On the 30th of October, the thancellor of the exchequer moved in the commons for a committee for the extenfion, during another twelvemonth, of the bill of thẹ last fethion, allowing the importation of corn duty free. The con fideration of the prefent high price of corn was again brought before the houfe by the fame gentleman, Νον. 3. He would, he faid, in the first place, propofe fome alteration in the corn laws, and under this head meant to bring in a bill for amending the law relative to the affize of bread. In this part of his fpeech Mr. Pitt ftrongly recommended the ufe of feveral fubftitutes for wheaten flour. A confiderable faving of wheat might be made by the fubftitution of articles not applicable for food in the manufacture of ftarch. For this he proposed to bring in a bill, and also for preventing obftruction in the tranfit of grain, &c. from one county to another. Mr. Lechmere thought that the houfe could not prefcribe any actual remedy for this evil, without first investigating the causes; these he ftated to be the monopoly of farms, and the jobbing in corn. He wished granaries to be erected over the kingdom, where corn might be fold as at market, and where the poor would have the fame chance in buying for themselves, as the corndealers. The measures proposed by the minifter were approved by Mr. Fox, who feared, however, that we fhould not find an immediate remedy for the grievance complained of, by a regulation in the affize of bread. The palatable and wholefome bread" talked of, instead of that hitherto ufed, was, he said, to him as palatable, and might be as wholefome, as that made of the fineft wheat; but that was not sufficient for the poor, to whom it ought ought alfo to be nutritious. Another important point to be confidered, was the nature of the farcity. This cer ainly did not entirely arife from the fmallnefs of the produce. Thofe articles in which no defect of produce could be pleaded, as the product of dairies, barley, &c. were ftill extravagantly dear. He mentioned this, to prove that the caufe of the scarcity was a complicared one, and therefore the remedy to be applied ought to be ap. plied with extreme caution. He trongly recommended the continuance of the prohibition upon diftilleries. Many fpeculations had, he obferved, arifen upon the fact of the increafed price of all articles of provifion. Many thought the price of labour too low; he was himself of that opinion, and had long been fo. Such was, at prefent, the proportion between the price of labour and the price of provifions, that the poor were compelled, if they fubfifted, to fubfift on charity. He feared, however, that no legif. lative remedy could be applied to this evil. He did not believe it poffible to raife the price of labour equal to the prefent price of provifions, and that it was equally impoffible to reduce the price of corn to an equality with the prefent price of labour. Mr. Pitt fully agreed that the caufes of the fcarcity were va rious and complicated, and that the fubject required proportionate ferlous investigation. The fcarcity, he agreed, was not folely attributable to the deficiency of the crop. With respect to the interference of government in the importation of corn, which had been objected to in the course of the debate, no agents had, he afferted, been employed at home; and the only grounds for fuch a charge were the purchases made for the fupply of the ufual contracts. That agents had been employed to fupply our markets with foreign corn, he acknowledged; but he doubted whether this tended to check the fpeculations of individuals. After a converfation upon thefe fubjects, Mr. Ryder moved for leave to bring in a bill to alter the existing laws relative to the price of bread, to prohibit the manufacture of ftarch from wheat or other articles of provifion, and to lower the duties upon its importation; for continuing the prohibition of diftilling from articles of grain; and for removing all obftructions to the free paffage of grain within the kingdom, which were carried nem. con. Upon bringing up the report of the felect committee refpe&ting the high price of corn by Mr. Ryder, it appeared, from the fulleft information which the committee had been able to procure, that, except in the article of wheat, the crops had been abundant; fo that, by the proper mixture of different grains, a confiderable alleviation of the evils of the prefent fcarcity might be made; and this was the more neceffary, as, from different caufes, the price of grain in America, the Mediterranean, and the northern parts of Europe, was exorbitantly dear, and an adequate fupply could not be depended upon. After full confideration on the best means of obtaining a fupply, the comtnittee thought it beft to leave the trade perfectly open, and to grant a bounty upon the importation. This bounty was twenty fhillings upon every quarter, and fifteen thillings upon every barrel, imported from the Mediterranean, til 300,000 quarters fhould be imported. The bounty upon corn imported from America was fixed at fifteen fhillings the quarter, and ten fhillings 盛る the the barrel, till 500,000 quarters fhould be imported. A bounty of five fillings a quarter, and three fhillings a barrel, upon Indian corn or meal, till 500,000 quarters fhould be imported. Motions, founded upon thefe refolutions of the committee, were afterwards put by the chancellor of the exchequer, and carried. As a further remedy for the grievance fo univerfally fuffered, and fo afflictive to the poor, fir W. Young brought in a bill for enabling overfeers of parishes to extend relief to the poor at their own houses. On the 27th of November, Mr. Whitbread pointedly animadverted upon the peculiar hardfhips fuffered by labourers in the prefent feafon of fcarcity. Manufacturers, artifans, &c. frequently obliged their employers to make an advance of wages proportionate to the price of the neceffaries of life; but the maximum of wages to the hufbandman, by an exifting ftatute, was appointed to be regulated by the magiftrate, but not the minimum. This act was alfo fo defective, that it could not be enforced. On the 9th December, the fame gentleman brought in a bill to enable juftices, at the quarter feffions, to regulate the price of labour. The arguments for this meafure he urged with his ufual humanity. The bill was alfo fupported by Mr. Fox, Mr. Jekyll, Mr. Honywood, Mr. Lechmere, Mr. Noel Edwards, Mr. Martin, gen. Smith, and Mr. Huffey; and oppofed by Mr. Burdon, Mr. Buxton, Mr. Vanttart, and the chancellor of the exclequer who entered, in a very prolix, but unfatisfactory manner, into the expediency and policy of the measure. He thought it much better for the houfe to confider the operation of general principles; to reflect what remedy might be adopted, more comprehenfive in its object, lefs exceptionable in its example, and lefs dangerous in its application. They fhould look to the inftances where interference had fhackled induftry, and where the best intentions had often produced the moft pernicious effects. It was, he obferved, the moft abfurd bigotry, in afferting the general principle, to conclude the exception; but trade, industry, and barter, would always find their own level, and be impeded by regulations which violate their natural operation, and derange their proper effeet. Mr. Pitt then adduced the poor laws and the law of fettlement, as proofs of regulations, which, however wife in their original inftitution, had contributed to the evils they were defigned to remedy. Much of the evils complained of might, he thought, be remedied by an extenfion in the reformation of the poor laws, which had been lately begun. He wifhed for an opportunity of restoring the original purity of the poor laws, and of removing the corruptions by which they were obfcured. The great defect of the poor laws was, that they did not diftinguish between thofe, who, from misfortunes, were unable to fupport their families, and thofe whofe poverty was the confequence of diffipation; whereas, the aid beftowed fhould be an honourable distinction, a matter of right, which the perfon could claim when he was unable to provide for all his children. But whatever was done was infufficient, if, at the fame time, all applications for relief were not difcouraged if unnecellary. If the neceflities of thofe who required relief could be remedied by a fupply of labour, the most important advantages would be |