into the mouth of the fovereign? They must then have known the hoftile difpofitions of Pruffia: from the notes of count Bernstorff and count Haugwitz, it was long before notorious that the king of Pruffia was a party to the northern confederacy. But Pruffia, like Ruffia, was a powerful ftate, and capable of doing us much mischief: it would not have been quite convenient to go to war with him, who was the real fovereign of Hamburg; and, therefore, to him alfo minifters had meanly truckled. Upon their own principles they ought to have declared war against him long ago. But Denmark and Sweden, particularly the former, were the objects of their refentment. To thefe powers their language was bold and menacing, because they confidered them as weak and defenceless. He was far from defponding; ftill he gloried in his country, and thought of its refources with pride and exultation. If they were properly applied, we had nothing to fear; but he doubted the fafety of confiding longer in a government which had brought us into this fituation. His lordthip then alluded to the fcarcity; cenfured the meafares which had been taken to alleviate it, and maintained that they had rendered the fufferings of the people more fevere. Parliament ought never to have interfered the committees had trufted to ignorant felf-fufficient men, who had completely milled them. He next adverted to the catholic queftion, and feemed to think it had been prematurely agitated, He condemned the Irish government in the fevereft terms; and maintained, that from their measures had fprung all the fedition and treafon which had appeared in that country. He touched upon the change in the cabinet; difapproved the conduct of the ex-minifters, whatever might be the causes or nature of that change: it was most probably nothing but a juggle; and, if it were not, they had criminally relinquished their pofts in a time of danger. His lordship concluded with an energetic addrefs to the bifhops and nobles. He called upon the right reverend bench to fupport him, when, year after year, they faw the human race wafted by the ravages of war, and no profpect held out of a termination of thofe horrors: he entreated them to take pity upon their brethren, and to fhew themselves animated by the benevolent fpirit of the religion they profeffed. He appealed to those who had taken their feats in the house from the fifter kingdom: thofe who in a peculiar manner had witneffed the effects of a blind confidence, let them be the foremost on this occafion to vote for inquiry. But his great reliance was upon the ancient nobles of England, whofe anceltors had for ages fupported the caufe of liberty in t..e fenate, and bled for it in the field. He would not doubt their contending for the rights of parliament, and evincing a jealousy of the executive government. They knew that, though minifters must be trufted, they were called to give an account of their. truft, and to be punished if they had abused it. He implored them to agree to this motion, as they valued their property, their happinefs, and their glory. The duke of Montrofe faid, that he did not queftion the right of any lord to move an inquiry, fuch as the prefent; but that right was reftrained in its nature by difere tion, and the utility of its object: before the house fubjected itself to the the inconvenience of an inquiry, it ought first to afcertain the neceffity of the measure, and to eftimate the magnitude of the undertaking it would require the attendance of many officers to go into an investigation which embraced fuch a variety of topics, and employ minifters in idle fpeculations, when the most important national affairs fo peculiarly demanded their labours. But there was another objection-an objection of the greateft weight-it would alarm the country. Failures in the conduct of the war were no reafon for an inquiry to that extent: the Ferrol expedition might require it, but not the ftate of the nation. There might be reafon to agitate the question for Ireland; but a fpecific motion would be the proper mode to anfwer any good purpose. The fubject of the neutral powers had been difcuffed on a former day; and fo ably difcuffed by lord Elgin, that he fhould not touch upon that point any further than to remark that the difference feemed to be forgotten when we complained that minifters went to war with Denmark, and did not attack Ruffia: we could not come at Ruffia for the ice, but Denmark we could reach. It might be more founding and magnanimous to fay, "We will not take you, Danes, for you are weak, till we have attacked Ruffia, whom it is difficult to attempt." Minifters, in his humble opinion, had taken a wifer method they had feized upon thofe of our enemies whom it was in their power to feize, and maintained the country in its rights as long as it could be maintained. The fcarcity of provifions, and their high price, were mentioned alfo as objects of inquiry: his lordflip had not spoken very cour : teously of the committee employe on this occafion, for which he thanked him, in the name of them all; perhaps lord Darnley could have given much information had he been a member of it: the committee, however, were diligent, had dedicated a great part of their time, and he hoped their labours would not be ufelefs, though they were not fo fortunate as to hit upon plans which might rival the celebrity of thofe his lordship might have laid down. The fa ftem of alliance, and the fyftem of the war, were recommended to confideration : he would merely fuggeft the difficulty of the proceeding fo ftrenuously enforced. Their lordships could not fummon general Bellegarde to their bar : he fhould be glad himself to ask the generals of the allies a few queftions to fatisfy his curiofity, but the house must be contented without poffeffing that power; nor were their lordships made acquainted with thofe better schemes which refided in the mind of the noble lord. The money expended was to be another object of inquiry; and he ever would maintain, that it had been wifely expended in drawing the enemy from an attention to their marine and colonial interefis, to oppofe the allies which we had fubfidifed. It was a policy adopted by all former miniiters, even by perfons who decried the practice when they came into office. The danger of invafion would have been great, had there been no allies to divert the immenfe force of the enemy. With the refources of that prodigious state, and 300,000 men in arms, and no enemy on the continent, what might not France have attempted and it was too well known how much it could accom plish. There was reafon rather to lament our too great economy both of blood and treasure. His grace maintained that the last campaign was a plan of the greatest wifdom and policy: the object of England was to divert the attention of the enemy; in that the fuccefs had been complete; nor did the troops remain in the manner ftated at Ferrol. They were difembarked at the various garrifons by which they were relieved. He would add no more than his decided negative to fuch a perplexing motion. Lord Holland rofe-not, he faid, with an intention to follow the noble duke through his vein of pleafantry, left he should mistake it for argument: indeed he feared common minds now might mistake what had been meant as joke, as what was intended in earnest. merce, though weakest in refource. Doctrines had been held in that houfe by a noble lord, fortunately no longer in office, the tendency of which was to fhow to Europe that, during every war between England and France, there could be no neutral nation at all. Was it juff, was it wife, to hold forth fuch doctrines? Let the policy of maintaining what is confi dered as our naval rights be what it may, there was ample ground for inquiry, were it only to afcertain, at this critical moment, by what means we had been drawn into the present hoftile difcuffion. The right of the house to inquire, is acknowledged; but it would be unwife to inquire in a time of danger: it was neceffary to defend the country, but improper to take counfel on the occafion, or devife measures by which impending evils might be averted: interference was only needed when no difficulties embarraffed, and no emergencies arofe. The noble duke feemed to infinuate that lord Darnley had fallen into a contradiction, and blamed minifters for going to war with fome nations and not for going to war with all; but his lordship had complained, not that minifters did not go to war with other nations, but that they directed all their vengeance against the weak. It was indeed matter of reproach, that, while all Europe was against us, on the pretence that our policy was fo narrow, and confined the commerce of other nations, we should have juftified thefe accufations, and fallen upon thofe only who had moft com 1801. The duke had indulged himfelf in a ftrain of mirth, on the idea of bringing the Auftrian, generals to the bar of the houfe, to give an account of their defeats: this raillery, however, did not difprove the fact, that we had inftigated the emperor to maintain a hopelefs conteft; that our fubfidies had been large in their amount, unfuccefsful in their application, and had ever been attended with calamity. The various expeditions which minifters had undertaken, we were ftrangely told, had been advantageous to the country: one advantage was very clear; it was this, the confiitutional defence of England was broken down to form armies for thefe enterprises. Ferrol was adduced as a fingular inflance of the benefits of our diverfion : we went there, we were told, to make a defcent, and found an army ready to receive us. This afforded a curious illustration of the wifdom with which the expedition was planned;-but it had a further deftination was this Egypt? and had our troops been kept on hipboard for almoft fixteen months, and carried round fo many parts of Europe, in order to be prepared for F it ? an it? The change in his majefty's councils he fhould have confidered as fortunate, if the caufe alleged for it did not allay the fatisfaction. If a minifter, who had conducted a country to its ruin and difgrace, chofe to retire on the pretence of a popular queftion which for a moment he had taken up, ought this pretence to fhield him from inquiry and cenfure? It was neceffary to inquire, to cenfure, and to punish the authors of pa calamities, that we might prove our confidence was at end; fo that in future fuch a fyftem of vigour might be expect ed as a past wafteful fuperintendence was calculated to produce. Refpecting Ireland, he had no hefitation to fay, there ought to be a total removal of those disabilities under which the catholics now laboured: but he could not give credit to those men who were formerly inimical to their claims (for he did not choose to use the term emancipation); men who oppofed all conceffion, brought on thofe misfortunes and proceedings which had defolated Ireland, and now affected to befriend milder and more popular measures. It was not that they had been convinced by truth and juftice; it was the battle of Marengo, it was the battle of Hohenlinden, which had produced the change: the rights of the catholics had been decided by the army of Bonaparte; and because the late minifters had judged it politic to refign their offices on pretence of attachment to a popular queftion, ought the criminal to escape? Muft the difgraces of a bad and long adminiftration immediately be forgotten? The entrance of the new minifters, occafioned by their being hoftile to the Irish catholics, was of itself a circumftance fufficient raife to doubts that they could not carry on the affairs of the nation with fuccefs. If, however, they were willing to fhow themselves feriously difpofed to treat for peace, willing to repair those breaches which their predeceffors had made in the conftitution, they would foften much of that oppofition which he was determined to fupport: the beft pledge they could afford of their fincerity would be to vote for the inquiry. catholics were The earl of Westmoreland faid, catholic emancipation had long been the watch-word of rebellion in Ireland; it feemed not to be confidered that the now admitted to a participation of all the privileges of the conftitution; that they were only excluded from holding about thirty places of public truft, and from fitting in parliament. Their lordships ought well to weigh how much they would have to do if they proceeded to take off these inconfiderable difabilities. Were they aware that it would then be neceffary to meddle with the toleration act, the bill of rights, the act of fettlement, and probably the union of Scotland? Much had been faid of the failure of our expeditions, and the bad fuccefs of the war. Any one ignorant of the real ftate of our affairs would imagine that our nation was reduced to the loweft ebb; that our armies were defeated, our colonies taken, our commerce destroyed, and our fleets fhut up in their own harbours: but the fact was the reverfe of all this; our commerce was increased, our colonies extended, and our navies triumphant on Those who were fo the ocean. fevere on the expeditions of this country never imputed any mifmanagement to the French government, though no less than four of their attempts upon Ireland had failed; failed: nobody blamed the enemy for the many fatal irruptions into Germany and Italy, and their difaftrous retreats. Even Bonaparte paffed without cenfure, though he had deferted the army in Egyptan army which had been reduced to a difgraceful capitulation, which had not been carried into effect, not, as alleged, through the bad faith of England, but that of France. His lordship contended that our rights, in regard to neutrals, were not only important, but juftified by the practice of Europe for centuries: from El Confolato del Mare, to the Northern Confederacy it had never been queftioned. France had gone fo far as to confifcate veffels, on board of which was not merely British property, but Britifh or colonial produce. The Swedes had captured neutral veffels having enemies' property, and confifcated it, as going to an enemy's port as an inftrument of war. The Danes had likewise departed from the principles of armed neutrality; and by a particular treaty with Ruffia they were wholly given up. The queftion of fhips under convoy was a new one; and, fo far from preffing the Danes to hoftility upon it, it was referved for amicable difcuffion. He thought minifters juftifiable in rejecting the overtures of Bonaparte, from the novelty of the government and the revolutionary principle of its characer. If the prefent motion paffed, it would lead Europe to think lefs highly of the firmness of parliament, and to fuppofe the country was disheartened." The earl of Carlifle fupported the late adminiftration, from a conviction, he faid, that the meafures they purfued were the best that could be devised to fave the honour of the nation, and promote the welfare of the people. If the prefent inquiry was to be on points already difcuffed, he should have voted against it; but there was a mystery in our fituation which ought to be cleared up; we had feen a strong adminiftration broken down, but not the reafon : our difficulties were increafing every day; new minifters were untried; nor was an emergency a fit period to make an experiment. The earl of Fife thought the only way to judge of the conduct of minifters was by comparing it with reference to the humble line of life in which he moved. "If men," continued his lordship, "who had the management of my affairs, had run me in debt, loaded my tenants with heavy burdens which they could never pay, involved me in contefts at law with every neighbour and, in this fituation, the perfon who directed the reft comes to tell me that he will leave my fervice, but first means to ftart a queftion which will raife difputes amongst my tenants; that he had however left feveral of his fellow fervants who would fupport his meafures, and to whom he would ftill give his advice-in fuch a dilemma I fhould directly fend, and defire them to hold no communication with that gentleman, whom I fhould order never to approach my houfe. Whatever is wife and prudent in private life. must be fo in public. Far advanced in life, I can have no object in troubling your lordships but a fenfe of duty; never fhall my voice be heard in a fcramble for place and power. From my local fituation I have more opportunity of witneffing the unfortunate ftate of many individuals than most people, I shall give but one inftance; Some time before I left the country, a poor man brought a paper to me, left him by the furveyor of taxes: he has F2 about |