the conftitution, for him to pretend to be deterred and delayed by forms, must be held by every man to be one of the most contemptible excufes ever offered. The Houfe will recollect when he deemed it neceffary to abridge the liberties of the people, that then he could ufe the utmoft difpatch. With what celerity was the fufpenfion of the Habeas Corpus Act paffed !--When he conjured up plots, and frightened the nation, then he could find no time for delay; but now when a mutiny was broke out---when the very existence of the country is threatened---when the most calamitous events have happened---then the Right Honourable Gentleman has recourfe to all the routine of office, and all the delays which forms can interpofe.

"I have already stated that the Seamen, in all their reprefentations to the Admiralty, made a pofitive ftipulation that the compact fhould be ratified by Parliament. I fay, therefore, that the delay of the ratification is a prefumptive proof that to that delay are the effects that have happened to be attributed. I know there are fome who impute thefe effects to the mifreprefentation and mifconception of particular fpeeches. If that be the cafe, it was eafy for the Right Honourable Gentleman to have prevented all mifreprefentation, by doing his duty in the firft inftance. In confirmation of the opinion which I have ftated, I beg Gentlemen to advert to the intelligence received this day; and happy I am in ftating it to the House, that in confequence of the refolution of the Commons having reached fome hips, (other fhips it could not reach on account of the badness of the weather) the crews have returned to their duty. If the House wanted any proof of the delay having produced thofe events, that proof would be afforded by the manner in which the refolution has been received. I will not detain the Houfe any longer; perhaps I might be led into a longer detail of the original caufes, than I with to be at prefent. My firm opinion is, that they must at fome future time be most seriously inveftigated; I confine myself at prefent to the criminality of the Minifter, in not ufing more dispatch; I trust that fome more efficient Member will bring the whole of the subject before the Houfe, and if it fhall be found that it is imputable to any of his Majesty's Minifters, I hope they will meet with that condign punishment which they will fo richly deferve. Perhaps I may be taxed with having delivered my fentiments too warmly. Sir, I may have been betrayed into greater warmth than I could wish, in bringing forward fo fevere an accusation; but we cannot reprefs thote feelings of indignation at the conduct of men who, by their neglect of their duty, their profufion, their errors, their incapacity, and their contempt of the Conftitution, have brought the country to the fituation in

which, unfortunately, it is at the present moment. tion is-

My Mo

"That the Right Honourable William Pitt, in having fo "long delayed prefenting to this Houfe the Eftimates of the fum "neceffary for defraying the expence of the increased Pay of the "Seamen and Marines of his Majefty's Fleet, and for the pro

pofed iffue for the full allowance of Provifions, has been guilty "of a grofs Neglect of his Duty, and deferves the Cenfure of "this House."

The Chancellor of the Exchequer.-"Sir, it is impoffible for me to give my vote upon the prefent queftion, but I nevertheless feel it my duty to fet the Honourable Gentleman right with regard to his motion, and to take notice how it ftands in point of form. I do not defire that any degree of blame fhould be transferred from me to any of his Majefty's Minifters, but when the Honourable Gentleman ftates that I have been guilty in not presenting an estimate fooner to the Houfe, I feel it incumbent on me to ftate, that it was no part of my duty to prefent it; that I neither did prefent it at all, nor was it any part of my official duty, either to prefent or prepare it. In fact, Sir, the Honourable Gentleman could hardly find any part of the pecuniary expenditure of the country in which I have individually so small a separate share, and therefore I fhould think he muit have incautiously worded his Motion. However, Sir, as to the fubftance of the charge conveyed by the Motion, if he means to impute guilt to me for not having ufed more fpeed in bringing it forward, though the eftimate depended on the Order of Council, and the Board of Admiralty; yet, as a queftion regarding the fafety of the country and its finances, I beg leave to lay no claim for an excufe on the ground of the fubject not falling precifely within my official duty. Yet as far as refpects the regularity of the mode adopted by the Honourable Gentleman, I have thought proper to fay this much; as to the remaining part of the fubject, I fhall not think it neceffary to go much at length, as I conceive that the fair statement is fhortly this; whether the Executive Government were in poffeffion of grounds fufficient to enable them to infer that the delay which took place would be accompanied with danger to the country. The facts were thefe: on the 24th, not on the 23d of April, as was stated by the Honourable Gentleman, we heard that the feamen on board the fleet had returned to their duty. On the 26th, after the intervention of a day, a memorial was prefented to the Privy Council, containing the conceffions which were propofed to be granted to the feamen. A Committee was appointed to inquire into the subject of the memorial, and their report was delivered at the next ordinary Council, which was held on the 3d of

May,

May, when thefe conceffions were confirmed by his Majefty. Notice was given on Wednesday laft, that the estimate would be laid before the Houfe on Thursday, but the House not meeting on that day, they were prefented on Friday, and ordered to be taken into confideration on the Monday following. Neither at the time that the conceffions were granted by the Lords of the Admiralty, at the time that the memorial was delivered to the Privy Council, at the time that the report was made, at the time that the conceffions were confirmed by his Majefty, at the time that the estimates were prefented, and at the time that they were taken into confideration, there was unquestionable evidence that the Executive Government meant to complete their engagement. He never had heard the fincerity of Minifters. called in queftion, and indeed there could be no ground for fuch a fufpicion, for when the estimates were prefented, the mutiny which had latterly taken place had not then begun.

"There have, Sir, been other circumftances stated as having contributed to those disturbances which have given so much caufe for regret, I mean thofe mifreprefentations which have taken place with refpect to difcuffions upon the fubject in a place which I need not mention. Sir, to those who argue on the delicacy of this fubject, and the danger of mifreprefentation, it may be a fair mode of argument to adopt a reply, and to observe, that if the difcuffion had not been forced forward, there would not have been fuch grounds for mifreprefentation as thofe which had been affumed: for in fact there was no juft ground for it at all; neither for the wicked mifreprefentation of the fpeeches and conduct of his Majefty's Minifters, nor for the equally grofs mifrepresentation of thofe of the Gentlemen who oppofed his Majelty's Government, and whose speeches had a thare in laying the foundation of that fufpicion and doubt in the feamen which occafioned their late tumultuous conduct: for at the very hour when the act which made the fuppofed ground of thofe mifreprefentations took place, had the affent been given to the Act of the Council; and on the next day the estimate was given, before the mifreprefentation could poffibly have taken effect. A mifreprefentation fo foul, fo grofs, fo falfe, and fo daring, was never before put in practice for the purpose of delufion; a mifreprefentation, not that the measure was not propofed, not that it was not paffed, but that it had been actually propofed and had been actually rejected. Thefe are the real circumstances of the cafe as they stand founded in fact, and from thefe the House will be able, with very little confideration, to determine, whether in the first place the late mifchiefs have been occafioned by the delay which has interpofed fince the acquiefcence of the Lords of the Admiralty with the demands of the feamen; and

in the next, whether, if it were fo, his Majefty's Ministers must neceffarily have foreseen that that caufe would produce that effect, and were therefore culpable in not having accelerated it with a speed beyond the difpatch which the ufual forms of proceeding allowed.

"Sir, as to the queftion of the fincerity of his Majefty's Minifters, I cannot imagine that there is any Gentleman in the House who can entertain a doubt of it. Can it be poffible to fuppofe, that if Ministers had felt in their own minds, that such circumftances as those we have lately had to contemplate, and which God avert in future, they could poffibly have fuffered even the delay which had taken place. Sir, their intereft and duty are too nearly allied to admit of fuch a fuppofition, and I think it unneceffary to take up the time of the Houfe in faying any thing farther to that point. I will only now obferve, that at this prefent moment, I do entertain greater hopes than I have for fome time paft, that there is a difpofition among the feamen to return to their duty. From the fhortness of the time, and the state of the weather, that has intervened fince the accounts were received of the fatisfaction of the feamen in the measures of Government, I cannot fay that I am poffeffed of authentic information, to enable me to ftate with precifion to the House what will be the conduct of the feamen; but I have fufficient information to authorize me in faying, there is more than a dawn of hope that every thing will be brought to a happy conclufion; and I trust, with that fair profpect in view, I may be allowed to call to the confideration of the House the propriety of not hazarding the deftruction of our hopes of a fortunate termination of thefe calamities, the remembrance of which there is fo much reason to deplore, by the introduction of fubjects of difcuffion no lefs liable to mifconftruction and mifreprefentation than thofe which have already been attended with fuch fatal effects; with this obfervation, Sir, I fhall conclude."

Mr. Whitbread propofed to amend his Motion by the introduction of the words "his Majefty's Minifters," inftead of the words, "the Right Honourable William Pitt."

The Chancellor of the Exchequer being defired by the Speaker to withdraw, agreeably to the forms of the Houfe,

The question was put upon the Motion as it originally stood, which was negatived.

Mr. Fox propofed, as another Amendment to the Motion, that instead of the words "in prefenting," be fubftituted “in prefenting, or caufing to be prefented."

The Motion, thus amended, being put,

Mr. Rofe (Junior) faid, that in the few obfervations he had to offer to the Houfe on the Motion proposed by the Honour

No. 35.

rable Gentleman, he was free to declare, that he was biaffed by no view whatever to fcreen a man, or any fet of men, from that juft cenfure, which, upon mature investigation, they might be found to deserve. He could not, however, too earneftly deprecate all hafty and intemperate difcuffion; and it appeared evident to him, that if the Motion was deferred to fome future opportunity, it might then be brought forward before the Houfe with more weight and importance, as it would, by that delay, be freed from the paffion and warmth which, in the prefent fituation of affairs, might be introduced during the confideration of it. A decifion arifing from temperance and coolness would, in his opinion, produce the greatest benefit ; - while a contrary conduct might lead the country to entertain an idea, that Gentlemen only wished for objects of mutual crimination and reproach. If, therefore, the Honourable Gentleman agreed to defer his Motion for ten days or a fortnight, it would unquestionably come before the House in a more conciliating and fatisfactory manner. For he might in that cafe fay, "I have forborne difcuffion at the moment of hafte and temperance, and now I invoke the Houfe to decide on the criminality of the Minifter, in a cool and difpaffionate manner." Could Gentlemen for a moment fuppofe that the exasperation which would naturally arife from the premature difcuffion of the queftion, would enable them to obtain a greater vigour in the purfuit of their object? He should also beg to obferve, that if he were even perfuaded of the criminality itated in the Motion, he could not, though on that ground, imprefs too forcibly on the Honourable Gentleman the neceflity of poftponing the confideration of the fubject. He thought it not inapplicable to remind the Houfe of the conduct of the Romans after the battle of Cannæ, who, inftead of expreffing their despair at fo melancholy a reverse of fourtune, unanimously concurred in thanking their Conful, Terentius Varro, for not defpairing of the fafety of the Republic. The conduc of the Carthaginians would have been very different, and, inftead of giving vigour to the public fpirit, they would have punished their unfortunate general in the fevereft manner, and have exclaimed,

"Nihil non fupplicii recufandum foret."

He concluded by expreffing his hope, that fome Gentlemen of fuperior talents and eloquence would rife and imprefs on the mind of the Honourable Gentlman the neceffity of poftponing his Motion.

Mr. Martin declared his conviction, that in what he was about to offer to the Houfe, he should not be fufpected of any

partiality