regard to foreign and domestic policy. When this day shall come, and I shall move the house upon this great and constitutional subject, I should not like to be told that I have precluded myself from the discussion of these topics, and shut myself up from inquiring not merely into the causes, but the conduct of the war, as well as into the nature of our domestic misfortunes, by the assent which I had given to the address of this day. For this reason, sir, I have thought it necessary to say so much, and with this reserve for a future day of discussion, I do not oppose the address to his majesty upon his speech from the throne.

By this speech of Mr. Fox, which appeared to have made some impression on the house, the chancellor of the exchequer,

Mr. Pitt, was called up to reply: but he confined his remarks chiefly to the only great and substantial question, on which the address expressed an opinion, and on which, it was matter of pride and satisfaction, that, at so critical a moment, there should be no difference of opinion in that house. The steps, indeed, which his najesty had taken for negociation, were in themselves so unexceptionable, and so well calculated for the end in view, that they must command assent and applause from every man, who retained the smallest regard for the interests and honour of his country. What had hitherto been done amounted only, as had been fairly stated by the hon. gentleman, to an overture for peace. This, however, held out a chance of peace, if the enemy were disposed to accede t it on just and honourable terms; if not, we should unmask them in the eyes of Europe; expose the

injustice of their policy, with their insatiable thirst for aggrandisement; and, if no other advantage were gained, at least be able to put to the proof the sincerity of the pledge which had that day been given, that if the enemy were not disposed to accede to peace, on just and reasonable terms, the war would be supported by the unanimous voice, and the collected force of the nation. If this unanimity were not founded merely on the pleasing sound of peace, but were the result of national reflection, founded on a careful consideration of the situation of the country, and prepared to meet every conjuncture, it could not be too highly prized. We ought not to lose sight of those means of exertion, which we yet possessed. We ought to compare our condition with that of the ene my; and the amount of our acquisitions, with the losses of our allies: and ought to estimate the extent of those sacrifices, which, under all these circumstances, it might be fitting for us to make, for the restoration of peace. The hon. gen. tleman had reprobated the two preventive laws that had been passed in the last parliament, and had refused to subscribe to any construction of that part of the speech, should include these, amongst the means which had secured tranquil lity. He, on the contrary, was of opinion, that exclusively of the influence of these laws, the peace of the country could not have been maintained: nor could he suffer reproach to fall on the last parliament, who displayed their wisdom and energy in providing a remedy suited to the alarming crisis. If there should be any ambiguity in the d dress respecting them, it was, be [[3]

cause

cause they were "so consistent with the spirit of the constitution, so blended with our system of jurisprudence, so congenial to the practice of former times, and so conformidable to the letter of former acts, that it was impossible to make any discrimination. They had been passed in a moment of turbulence and alarm, and had been found admirably calculated to meet the emergency of the time. With regard to the assertion, that endea vours for procuring peace had been made only of late; an endeavour depended on a variety of circumstances, such as the relative state of parties, the number of allies with whom we might be engaged to act, the attention we paid to their interests, and the concert we wished to preserve with them: and this truth, he said, was abundantly sufficient to humble the triumph of the honourable gentleman, who had asserted, that we were at last come to the period which he had at first pointed out, and were only now adopting those measures, which, had we listened to him, might have been adopted long ago. Might not a period of four years have produced many events to justify a material change of policy, and to render measures wise and expedient now, which would not have been so, at another time? As to the question of our resources, they furnished a subject of well grounded confidence. They had nothing in them hollow or delusive; they were the result of an accumulated capital, increasing wealth, high and established credit; the fruits of fair exertion, laudable ingenuity, and successful industry. They had been produced under a system of order and justice, whilst we had been contending

against a country in every respect the reverse of the picture: whilst the violence of France had been over-running so great a portion of Europe, and carrying desolation in its progress, we had been enabled, by our naval exertions, to counterbalance their successes, by acquisitions in different parts of the globe, and to preface the way for the restoration of peace to our allies, on terms, which even their strength might have been insufficient to procure.

If, indeed, we cast our eyes over the geographical situation of the seat of the war, we should certainly be forced to admit, that the emperor had not regained, by his victories, all that he had lost; but did we count for nothing the destruction of those armies, by whom all previous successes of the enemy had been atchieved? Did we count for nothing the glorious testimony which had been exhibited to mankind, that disciplined valour finally must triumph over those principles which the war was undertaken to oppose, and which owed all their extraor dinary successes, to the violence in which they originated, and the excesses with which they were accompanied ? A memorable warning had been afforded, by those foreign powers, who, in opposition to their true interests, had courted the alliance of that enemy, and expected to find security in disgraceful tranquillity: recent events had served also to exculpate those who had been calumniated, as desirous to embrace their principles and receive their laws; and in Germany they had left behind them nothing but the memory of wrongs, and the feelings of resentment. Germany had furnished a striking instance of fortitude and perseverance. He

trusted,

Mr. Fox said a few words in explanation, in which he complained that Mr. Pitt had misrepresented his argument, respecting the time for negociation. He did not argue, that, because it was right to nego ciate now, it was right to negociate at any former period, but, (and he had not altered his opinion from any thing he had heard) that if it were prudent and wise to send an ambassador to Paris now, when the French had carried their arms into the heart of Germany, it would not have been dastardly and pusil lanimous to have adopted that measure, when they had not one foot of that territory. He said, that he still retained his opinion re specting the new laws; and when he voted for the address, he did not include them in his construction of that part of it, in which, mention is made of the wisdom and energy of the laws, against the two odious and degrading acts, he considered himself bound, by every tie of interest and duty, as an Eng lishman, and as a representative of the people, on every occasion, badly to remonstrate: they had a direct tendency to change the genius of the nation, as well as the spirit and even form of government. If there was cause to be uneasy about the threatened evil, we had reason

to tremble at the operation of the remedy. In all innovations, the remote and unforeseen consequences are, usually, of more importance than the immediate effects. Could those consequences be foreseen, they would, in many cases, be immediately resisted. By the time they are perceived, custom and habit have rendered them less odious and intolerable. Authority rises into absolute dominion by slow degrees: by encroachments, each of which, singly considered, seemed to be of little importance: the vanity of resistance at last breaks the spirit of the people, and disposes them to uareserved submission: the political importance of the people being wholly gone, they are degraded more and more, and subjected to greater and greater oppression and insult. But, when the tendency and bent of national opinions and manners is once formed, it is easy for government to give it impetus and direction. Tyranny of government is not to be exercised without degradation of the people. These two principles mutually promote the growth and strength of each other: just as in certain diseases, the derangement of the body produces debility of mind, and the debility, thus induced, increases the bodily disorder from whence it sprung.

The question, on the address, being pat, was carried unanimously.

On the eighteenth of October, the house of commons resolved itself into a committee, to take into their consideration, that clause of his majesty's speech, which alluded to the intentada manifested by the enemy to attempt a descent of these kingdoms; the clause being read, the chancellor of the exchequer, after some prefatory matter, which it [14]

could