practice, and admitted by the law of nations; and if this country did not maintain her own honour, she would deservedly fall into disgrace in the eyes of all the world, the attention of which was fixed on the deliberations of the imperial parlia ment. After discussing this point much at length, he came to the amendment, expressing great dissatisfaction at the idea of an inquiry, which would not only be useless, but detrimental. Any one would suppose (continued his lordship) that the war had been attended with nothing but misfortune and dishonour; the naval victories, unparalleled for brilliancy of exploit and heroic action, seemed quite forgotten. Great blame had been cast on the expedition to Holland; but though it had not been completely successful, was it little to obtain the whole of the Dutch fleet, and cripple the marine of the most potent maritime power at war against us? If we took a view of the comparative situation of this kingdom, and those states which had been compelled to submit to the French republic, we should find cause of exultation: was it no privilege that their lordships were enabled to assemble quietly in that house? the country was still able to meet, alone and un-allied, their combined enemies, without the slight ast reason to despair? Confidence might surely well be placed on the force of our fleets, and the gallantry of our seamen. Respecting Cadiz and Ferrol, in carrying on such a contest as the present, expeditions might be justifiably prepared to attack the ports where the ships of Spain were fitting out to co-operate with the French fleets, and act jointly against our own squadrons; 1801. that and though the plan might not have succeeded to the full extent of our wishes, ministers did not deserve censure for so laudable an undertaking. Lord Grenville con cluded with saying, it would be a bad return to his majesty, for his gracious speech, to annex amendment to the address, implying the conditions on which alone they would support it. an The earl of Carnarvon rose again to observe, he never had asserted that any thing possessed by right, which in its own nature was alienable and transferable, might not be granted by treaty to whom and in such manner as the possessor chose; but he had affirmed, and would maintain, that a right arising from a state of war was in its nature unalienable, and resembled not a right of transferable possession; nor could it be relinquished or disposed of by treaty, for the sole benefit of one neutral nation, to the prejudice of another neutral state; it was duc to neither, or to both; and we had consequently a right to search all neutral vessels, or none. Lord Moira began an able speech with exonerating ministers for not allowing him to land his troops in the expedition he was called to command in the year 1794; the reason was, it had been found that the royalists had retired from the coasts of France to the interior of the country, and therefore could not have co-operated with the British forces, had they landed. Having exculpated administration where he knew them not to be censurable, he could go no further, but should vote for the amendment. The people of England wished to see that they were in earnest. Justice was due to the extraordinary merits of our fleets, officers and sailors; gallantry and enterprise B enterprise were not more the characteristic of our naval officers than of our military, to which he belonged they were as ready to risk their lives in the service of their country as any description of men; but they had been placed in an invidious situation by the conduct of ministers, who were highly culpable for not having properly applied the large military force that was on foot. This alone was a necessary subject for inquiry, besides other important events in the whole management of the war. He did not, any more than the noble earl, distinctly collect from the speech from the throne what was the cause of the approaching hostilities with Russia and the northern powers; surely this was a subject of too great concern to be left to vague rumour, or oblique hints. The necessity of inquiry was apparent respecting all the past, on a variety of grounds: how came it, that the war against France commenced with this country in a confederacy with all the powers combined on our side, and that we now were in the strange situation of having that very confederacy combined with France against us? But the noble secretary had considered it a glorious privilege that we were able to assemble quietly in that house! Heavens! was it a glorious event that we were not crushed entirely? not totally annihilated?-and was this all the mighty result of "brilliant exploits" and "unparalleled valour?" Had the enemy made their threatened invasion, he, for his own part, did not believe there existed a lord in that house who would have been dismayed, nor a soldier out of it who would not have concurred in chastising the invaders for their temerity. The earl of Musgrave defended ministers from the charge of not affording the military proper opportunities of distinguishing themselves, and directing well the large forces on foot: he asked lord Rawdon if the success in the West-Indies had escaped his notice, and whether the glorious achievements in the east, the capture of Seringapatam, and the destruction of our most invidious and powerful enemy in that quarter of the globe, had dropped from his memory? concluding with supporting the address as it was originally moved. The earl of Fife declared it his opinion that ministers had abused the confidence they had received; the continent of Europe had been nearly ruined by their advice, and they would infallibly destroy the British empire, if they persevered in their system. He deplored the scarcity to which we were reduced, and thought it less to be ascribed to the dispensations of Providence than to the consequence of the war. He spoke upon this subject, to discharge his conscience, and thus openly avow his sentiments of the men whom he had, in common with other peers, so long and so improvidently supported. Lord Eldon, after prefacing his speech with some observations on the awful and momentous situation of the country, took a review of the question now agitated by the northern powers against us, and proved from the law of nations that the right of searching neutral vessels originated in the rights of nature; it was, in fact, interwoven with self-defence; for, if a power professing to be neutral conveyed the means of annoyance to an open enemy, that neutral nation, by furnishing the means of our destruction, became our active enemy. He He expatiated largely on the importance of asserting this right as the foundation of our naval glory, Our commerce, and our wealth. Two great evils presented themselves to our choice; for he must admit that a new war, circumstanced as we were, was a very great evil; but it was always best to choose the least, and war, with all its inconveniences and horrors, was surely preferable to the voluntary sacrifice of that, without which, the glory, the independence, and even the existence of the nation must be extinct. Lord Holland imputed these untoward events to the mismanagement of ministers; it was not to be expected they could have foreseen all beforehand, but they ought to have been able to have provided an adequate force against some of the various disasters which had happened. His lordship dis cussed the conduct of administration towards their allies, and affirmed it had necessarily led to their defection one after another, and was the sole cause of the alarming combination against us, which placed the country in so dangerous a situation. He voted for the amendment. The house divided; for the original address 73-non tive body, and lead every indivi dual to consider himself not only as guardian of the rights of a particular district, but of the rights, the privileges, and the blessings of the whole empire. Nor did he apprehend that on the northern confederacy there could exist much diversity of opinion; and therefore there could be little difficulty in pledging the house to support his majesty in the measures judged fittest to repress so danger ous a combination." The conduct of cur allies had not only been contrary to the faith of express treaties, but hostile to whatever gave importance to England in the scale of European nations. In the present temper of the French rulers there was small reason to hope for any pacific overtures; but whilst we recollected that we had to oppose France, aggrandised and powerful as she now was, we had the satisfaction to reflect on our means to maintain the contest. Notwithstanding all our previous exertions, our resources still were ample; and from the contem plation of our energies, embodied by our late happy union of the em pire, we might look forward to the issue with confidence. Mr. Cornwallis seconded the address, and in a comprehensive speech adverted to the topics comprised in it; he compared the sentiments which queen Anne had expressed, on the completion of the Scotch union, with the higher degree of satisfaction his present majesty must feel on the union with Ireland, from the manner in which this great event had been received, and the superior advantages to be expected from it. From the co-operation of those members who had now for the first time taken their seats, he anticipated the ablest assistance, and the firmest support: they had, in a separate parliament, given specimens of brilliant powers of eloquence, and of extensive knowledge of commerce; and it might reasonably be pronounced, that on subjects of difficulty their aid would be of the highest utility. From his imperfect idea of the general relations of European states, he was unwilling to dwell long on other particulars in the speech, but briefly stated the necessity of maintaining our naval superiority against every confederacy originating in hatred or jealousy. Mr. Grey expressed feelings of much anxiety on hearing what were the measures to be proposed to avert or meet the dangers with which the country was threatened: these feelings, he said, were not feelings of unmanly dismay and despondency; he was open to topics of consolation and arguments of hope; but nothing which he had heard had tended to remove his apprehensions; he could not pass from fear to confidence on the grounds now laid before the house; he could not banish uneasiness, when there was no change of that ruinous system of politics which had reduced us to our present state of distress; still less could he discover any cheering probability of its termination, when we were only assured of the pacific dispositions of ministers, and informed they would pursue the same plan which had involved us in these calamities: their professions had been reiterated in every emergency to reconcile the people to the prolongation of the war, and to obtain new means of support; and it was ow ing to the infatuated reliance upon them, that the nation had been so long and so calamitously involved in the contest. It would be well to avoid every topic of debate unconnected with the immediate subject; but, lest silence should be misconstrued into approbation, and as he had strenuously disapproved of a legislative union before it took place, it appeared a duty to deliver his sentiments respecting Ireland, now that measure was adopted. The evils to which this union was proposed as a cure were evils not resulting from Irish independence, but the fatal effects of a mischievous system, enforced by those who hated independence and proscribed it, because incompatible with their schemes of administration. Ireland, we were told, was now quiet; but might we be permitted to inquire if this tranquillity sprang from affection? Had it been followed by a relaxation of that severe policy to which the country had been so long the victim? Were those vexatious laws to be repealed, of which so many of the inhabitants still complain? Were the privileges of the constitution to extend to those who had hitherto been excluded the enjoyment of them? If indeed those jealous restrictions, to which the catholics were still subjected, were to be removed, it would be a pledge of real and permanent tranquillity: but this was not the case; the rebellion had been extinguished before the union. Ireland had been quiet for a year after it had been rejected; but this circumstance had not been considered as a proof the country was out of danger, or security restored. Why then should it be inferred that the union was the cause of the tran quillity, quillity, and so many benefits affirmed to be now realised? The experiment is but just begun; many difficulties to the completion of the measure were unmentioned, and must be provided for; practice would discover many more, and a considerable period must elapse before success could be fairly ascertained. The next point to be considered was, the melancholy prospect of a war against all Europe: Russia had been guilty of the grossest violence and injustice towards this country in the confiscation of the property of our merchants, and the treatment of our sailors; these injuries demanded reparation: never theless, though the emperor had been the aggressor, it did not follow that our ministers were free from blame; they might have given Paul ground of offence, though the offence could never justify his conduct. He accused them of violating a convention by which he was to receive the island of Malta, as the reward of his co-operation against France. Did such a convention exist? Mr. Grey confessed he was not inclined to believe that ministers would be guilty of breaking an express stipulation: yet such a charge furnished ground of inquiry-the affair ought to be investigated, in order to be cleared up-probably some treaties of mutual benefit might have been made, and what these were it was the duty of the house to examine, before it determined that the rupture with Paul was occasioned by no misconduct on our part. In the last session it had been affirmed that Malta had no connection with our stipulations in the emperor's proclamation the contrary had been asserted: if it had been possible, by the cession of Malta, or of any port in the Mediterranean, to have satisfied the ambition or secured the assistance of Russia, it would have been the best policy to have pursued this course, and to have brought a new power to oppose the aggrandisement of France. Such would Russia have been, and it would have been no less easy than advantageous to have gratified the wishes of Paul. The next consideration was, the nature of the dispute with England and the northern powers (Denmark and Sweden); and though Prussia was unmentioned, it was equally engaged in those measures supposed hostile to this country: these powers, together with Russia, had subscribed a convention, the professed object of which was to secure their commerce against the vexations to which it had been subject. Without giving any opinion respecting the confederacy, he felt it his duty to warn the house against precipitately pronouncing it so essentially hostile to England as to justify an open war: it had been said, that the claims now advanced had never been heard of till the American war: but this assertion was untrue; the king of Prussia, in the year 1740, disputed the pretensions of this country on the same ground as the arnied neutrality maintained, and contended as strenuously for the principle, that free vessels made free goods. In 1762, the Dutch resisted the claim of right to search ships under convoy, and resisted it at a period when, from our naval and military strength, it was little to be expected that any injury would be passed over with impunity. In the year 1780, the assertion of the rights of neutrals (frequently the subject of controversy in different wars) assumed a greater degree of |