there, he asked, a man who believed that if a negotiation had been entered into upon the opening of the Scheldt, matters might not have been arranged? the Dutch did not, however, at the time, think the Scheldt worth difputing about, and, in fact, fo little cared for the affiftance we forced upon them, that Holland was not conquered by the arms of France, but by the Dutch them felves. It was a reason given against recognifing the French republic, that it would offend our allies; would, Mr. Fox afked, our ally of Pruffia after swallowing fo much of the treasure of this country, have deferted us one day fooner? Had we recognised it, we might equally at this time have availed ourfelves of the affiftance of Auftria. monarch very ette, the friend of the for whom minifters profeffed to have taken up arms, and the inhofpitality practifed to M. Lameth: the behaviour of the allies to Dumouriez was, he ftated, equally impolitic. It had, he obferved, been ftated that the fole object of Great Britain was to procure a juft and honourable peace, and that this was the object of the confideration of the allies. Why was not that object attempted before the defertion of Pruffia and Spain? Their feceffion might eafily have been foreseen, and ought to have been provided against. Mr. Fox entered with his ufual ability into the power of the French to preferve peace, but ridiculed the plea of not feeking it till the establishment of a regular government, when they had fettled themselves in a permanent government, afcertained the extent and boundaries of their conquefts, and given to the territory of other nations the very inherent quality of their own department. He very ably argued against what had fo frequently been advanced refpecting the decayed refources of France. Whatever had been faid, at this time they appeared irrefiftible. Mr. Fox cenfured the delay which had arifen between the fpeech from the throne and any attempt at negotiation. The time for it was, he obferved, favourable, as it was in the interval of a campaign. The delay did not however feem to have arifen from a wish to confult with the allies, fince it did not appear that they either fanctioned or difapproved the negotiation. He could not, he faid, on the whole face of the tranfaction, putting himself in the place of the French, have thought minifters fincere. The pretence fet up by the French, that they cannot give up any territories which have been con Mr. Fox next proceeded to a comprehenfive statement of the different tranfactions of the war. Soon after our taking the field, the French were driven from Auftria, and Holland was fafe, and M. Maret was fent to this country with propofals for peace. These were, however, refufed, becaufe minifters had deferted the fyftem of neutrality, and no longer confining their views to the fafety of their allies, but infatuated with fuccefs, began to feek indemnity. Mr. Fox pointedly cenfured the want of a determined object, which had appeared on our fide in the war; and the contradictory circumftances which this had occafioned. The emperor was taking towns in Alface in the name of the king of Hungary, while we were taking Valenciennes for the emperor, proclaiming the conftitution of 1791 at Toulon, in the name of Louis XVII. and taking poffeffion of Martinique, and fummon, ing Dunkirk for the king of Great Britain. Mr. Fox ftated the horrid treatment received by M. La Fay K3 folidated folidated with the republic, was, he With respect to the origin of the thought, unjust; but it was a cir- war, Mr. Pitt infifted upon the cumftance that doubled his indig- aggreffion lying on the fide of the nation against minifters who had French, and that this was the genebrought us into this lamentable fitu- ral opinion of all candid and imparation. A complete change of his tial men. Instead of the retrospects majesty's councils was, he thought, which had been entered into, it neceffary, and to bring the coun- would have been more becoming in fellors to fee the errors of their paft a friend to his country to have conduct. Should the prefent mi- pointed out the line of conduct nifters prove an exception to the which it would be right to purfue; rule that no minifter who commen- not that he wifhed, Mr. Pitt faid, ced and carried on a war ever to evade a retrospect, but because made an advantageous peace, they he felt it of more importance to call fhould fhew a conviction of their the attention of the house to the past errors, and renounce the prin- actual state of things which appearciples on which they have acted, be- ed to have been entirely overlook. fore they can hope to put an end ed. The conclufion to which the with honour and fafety to a war fo fpeech juft delivered went, was to conducted. We had, he said, com-record a confeffion and retractation pletely failed in all the objects for which it was undertaken. Holland was loft, the king of France exiled, and the power and aggrandifement of the republic greater than ever. Of our allies, the king of Pruffia has been injured the leaft; 'Spain had been forced to make peace; and Sardinia, the very pattern of fidelity, proves alfo to be an example of misfortune. Ruffia had indeed fuffered nothing: her object was to plunder Poland, in which fhe had been collaterally fupported by England. This, he obferved, was a mortal blow to another profeffed object in the war, the prefervation of the balance of power. If the country was now to be faved, it was, he faid, neceffary to retrace our fteps: all other remedies were mere palliatives, and he therefore recommended a complete change of fyftem. It was obferved by the chancellor of the exchequer, that, whatever was our prefent fituation, "it was certainly wifer not to fix our attention on the past," but to look to what cau and still remains to be done. of our paft errors, that we are embarked in a conteft in which we wantonly and unjustly engaged, though the defence was in fact fuch as our deareft interefts called for, and fuch as a regard to justice and to every moral principle legitimated and fanctified. Would the house then refcind all the refolutions it had come to fince the commencement of the war? Every proper measure for the attainment of peace muft, he stated, have been put in practice by him, not only from motives of public duty, but of the perfonal eafe, and to effect the favourite object he had in view, that of redeeming the public debt, and the 4 per cents. With refpect to our having with-held from propofing a mediation, the attempt would have been hazardous, and would only have expofed us to difficulties and difputes, if we were determined, as we ought to be, to enforce that mediation on the parties who refufed to admit it. What, he asked, was the great ufe intended to be made of peace if so procured? Was it fit that we fhould fhould go to war to prevent the partition of Poland, which, how ever wrong, certainly had no effect in deftroying the balance of Europe The attempt to prevent the partition of Turkey, which at that time was fo much inveighed againft, was, he faid, to prevent the partition of Poland. Reverting to the provocations from France, Mr. Pitt noticed the offenfive decree of the 19th of November, and the welcome reception met with in France by feditious perfons from this country. The whole conduct of the French towards the people of Holland was, he contended, in direct oppofition to their former declarations. The allowed continuance of M. Chauvelin here as long as the king had a fhadow of power, and the communication afterwards between the British minifter at the Hague and general Dumouriez, afforded many opportunities for conciliation, which were neglected by them, and fucceeded by an open declaration of war. With refpect to what had been urged of our averfenefs to treat for peace under both profperous and adverfe circumftances, he would ask whether it was reafonable, when a juft hope was entertained of increafing our advantages, to risk the opportunity which thofe advantages would procure of making better terms; or was it reafonable, when we experienced great and deplorable misfortunes, to entertain a juft apprehenfion of obtaining a permanent and honourable peace, on fair conditions? He allowed we had met with serious and bitter misfortunes in the war, but we had, he contended, gained confiderably by a continuance in the conteft, by the exhauftion of the trade and the finances of the enemy, by the capture of her foreign poffeffions, and the deftruction of her navy. With refpect to the ob jet of the war, he denied that a reftoration of the abufes of the old government in France formed any part of the plan of minifters, though they certainly wifhed to have one to treat with, in which there fhould be no jacobin principles. It would certainly, he ftated, have been very imprudent in minifters to have fued for peace after the campaign of 1794, the unfortunate event of which turned againft us upon as narrow a point as, he believed, ever occurred. Inftead of minifters giving way to alarm at this period, they had fent out expeditions to capture the Dutch fettlements, which we might either restore to the ftadtholder if he was reftored, or retain for ourselves. Had terms been then offered, would they have been better than at prefent? It would certainly have been advantageous to have prevailed upon Spain and Pruffia to continue the war till the enemy was brought to terms: but before any blame could attach to minifters upon this ground, it would be neceffary to fhew, that, prior to their defection, terms were propofed to us which we rejected. The cabinet of Great Britain had certainly no fhare in the treatment of M. La Fayette, nor were ministers warranted in interfering with our allies on the fubject. Without entering into an extended detail of the comparative fituation of the English and French finances, Mr. Pitt ftated that the derangement of the French armies at the latter end of the last campaign, the exhausted state of their magazines and ftores, and their ul timate retreat before the allied powers, furnished a convincing proof that the rapid decline of their fi nances began to affect in the greateft degree their military operations. With refpect to the argument K 4 drawn drawn from the diftance of time between his majesty's fpeech and the fubfequent declaration to parliament, relative to a want of fincerity in the meffage delivered to the French minifter at Bafle, neither the message nor declaration profeffed any intention in the British government to be the first in making pacific proposals. Neither could any argument of this nature be drawn from our not having acted in concert with the allies refpecting the propofals for negotiation. A ready intercourfe could not at that time be held with them: but this itep was not taken without previous communication. As to no acknowledgment being made of the republic, that was a circumftance which the, French did not think neceffary, fince the directory had anfwered the note without adverting to it, They muft, indeed, have been aware that the propofal to treat implied a recognition. Denmark had not recognized it till the prefent year. To have propofed terms to the enemy before the affurance of their willingness to treat, would, he thought, have been abfurd. As to not having empowered the minifter at Bafle to negotiate, was it ever known that the perfon employed to found the difpofition of a belligerent party was confidered as a proper minifter for difcuffing all the relative interefts, and concluding a treaty? Mr. Pitt ftrongly infifted upon feveral other topics, to prove the fincerity of minifters in the negotiation. So far from the enemy rifing in their demands on account of their belief of the infincerity of minifters, Mr. Pitt obferved, that if they really believed this, their policy would have lain in making juft and moderate demands, which, if rejected, would prove that want of candour, and that appetite for war, which had been attributed to minifters. With refpect to the abrupt clofe of the negotiation, and the open communication of the refult, the terms proposed by the enemy cut short all further treaty, and the communication of the refult would have at least the important confequence of dividing the opinions of France, and uniting thofe of England. Mr. Fox, in reply, afked whether the infamous partition of Poland was, in any refpect, to be compared with the circumftances of Turkey, at the moment fpoken of: the Turks, after unprovoked aggreffion, were humbled by the power of the emprefs; and he had, he faid, then reprobated the idea of the arrogant interference of this country, to prevent her from obtaining a just indemnification. The principle advanced, that, no matter for the injuftice, fince the balance of power remains the fame, was, he faid, terrible. The effect of the motion. was not, he contended, humiliating for the country, but for minifters. He thought, that if the minifter would reafon from effect to cause, he would find that the French fi nances were not deranged to the degree fuppofed, or that they were now re-established. The defence which had been set up of the fincerity of minifters, was, he contended, the best defence of the conduct of the French. Was it ta be expected that any regard would be paid to a man who had no authority from the allies with whom we were connected, no authority to make specific propofals? or would the correfpondence with Mr. Wickham, which was of a private nature, or any private communication, have been publifhed, had the defire of pacification been fincere? He ftill confidered the recognition of the the French republic as of the laft importance, and much more neceffary as a preliminary of peace than the conditional recognition of America during the last war. Since the French had bestowed upon the various republics of Genoa, Venice, &c. their titles of magnific, doge, &c. &c. they had been on better terms with thofe ftates. They had therefore felt from his conduct, that the mis nifter had no ferious inclination for peace. On a divifion for the mo-. tion, the ayes were 42, noes 216, CHAP. VII. The Finances. Mr. Grey's Motion on that Subject. Mr. Pitt's fecond Budget Debates on the new Tax Bills. Difcuffion on the Finances in the Houfe of Peers, by Lords Moira, Grenville, &c. The Earl of Lauderdale's Speech and Motion on the fame Subject. Difcuffion. on the Game Laws. Slave Trade. Bill for rendering permanent the Westminster Police Efiablishment. Bill introduced for the Relief of the Quakers. Curates' Act. Bill for Relief of infolvent Debtors thrown out. Colonel Cawthorne expelled the Houfe. Diffolution of the Parliament. Its Character. N the courfe of the feffion, the Itate of the national finances was very amply difcuffed; and feveral alarming facts were brought before the eye of the public. Melancholy experience has fince given a fanc tion to fome obfervations which were at first esteemed as the unfubftantial vifions of fpeculative men; there is, however, much reafon to fear that the fubject has not even yet been fufficiently inveftigated, and that from this fmall but black and portentous cloud in the political atmosphere, a ftorm will rife, which eventually may overwhelm in ruins the conftitution and the empire of Britain. As early as the 19th of February, Mr. Grey moved in the houfe of commons for papers relative to the finances; and, on the 10th of March, brought forward a motion on the fubject. He obferved that it was of the utmost importance to the houfe to know the real fituation of the country; whether we continued to profecute the prefent ruinous war, or looked forwards to that most defirable event, a fpeedy peace: was that event even arrived, the most rigid œconomy was neceffary to us. In order to fecure the permanency of peace, a very large naval force would be neceffary, not only as France would probably attend with great diligence to the improvement of her marine, but as Ruffia, ever active, ambitious, and increasing, had inceffant views of aggrandifement. On taking the eftimate of the three preceding years of the war, we had added 77 millions to the capital of our funded debt; to provide for the intereft of which, taxes, in addition to thofe already laid on, must be impofed to the amount of 2,000,000l. This debt, compared with the fervice performed while it was accumulating, was fo enormous as to demand the fcrupulous investigation of the house. The prefent war, either in extent or importance, was far from equal to that under king William.-Our religion and conftitution were then at flake; our all was then equally in peril; and our exertions to preferve it equally varied and extenfive. "Let us," he faid, " compare the |