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us at least have the benefits of it, and let us go to negociation with moderation and forbearance. Of the terms of peace purposely avoid saying any thing. I know the resources of the country to be still great, and sure I am, that if the people are convinced that the ambition of France renders it necessary to employ force and to continue the war, those resources will be afforded with the utmost readiness. What are likely to be the terms of peace, I will not even conjecture. What hitherto has been done can only be considered as an overture towards that desirable object; but I have no difficulty in saying, that we ought to negociate in the spirit of great moderation. By the spirit of great moderation, I do not mean that we ought to accept degrading terms, but I will not hesitate to say, that I should be inclined to find less fault with terms that may be faulty on the side of moderation, than faulty from a contrary principle.

With regard to the Austrian victories which make a topic of animated exultation in his majesty's specch, it may certainly be right to rejoice in the gallantry they have displayed, and the laurels they have recently acquired. No man admires their great military exertions more than I do; but let it be recollected, that we are called upon to rejoice on their having recovered only a part of what was lost in this campaign, and that it is not because they have reaped successes, calculated to obtain what ministers themselves originally stated the object of the war to be, but because they have saved the house of Austria from the utter destruction with which it was threatened; while we rejoice, I presume we can hardly flatter ourselves that the Austrians are likely to recover all that they have lost in the present campaign, much less what they have lost in all the campaigns that are past; and even this, Sir, must furnish a new subject for reflection, which the achievements of our navy still farther serve to corroborate: the achievements of that navy have been brilliant and glorious; at no former period have they displayed greater gallantry, and never perhaps equal skill. No eulogiums can be too high for their merits. Yet after all this, the character of the peace which we are desirous to obtain, and the utmost we can expect, is, that it shall be solid and of permanent duration: this, I believe, is as high a character as the peace is likely to deserve. Then what must be the sort of conflict in which we are engaged, in which, after a four years' successful exertion of all the skill and all the valour of our navy, in which they have invariably conquered, and carried the flag of England triumphant to every quarter of the world-all our efforts cannot produce to us a peace either brilliant or glorious, but we must content ourselves with

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hoping for a peace that may be solid and permanent? Must we not own that there is something in the cause in which we are engaged radically defective, that palsies our efforts, and disappoints our strength? that there is something which demands from the common sense and from the prudence of Englishmen, a strict and a rigorous investigation, that we may discover what this something is, not merely to retrieve the present calamity, but to guard our offspring against the error in future? A day will come for such a question; and I give my assent to the present address, without moving any amendment upon the points of which I do not cordially approve, because when the day of such a discussion does come, I shall have an opportunity to state the sentiments that I think it important for the House to entertain upon those points. With this reserve for a future day of discussion, I shall not oppose the present address.

The address was carried nem. con.

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HE House having resolved itself into a committee of the whole House, to consider of the paragraph of his majesty's speech to both Houses on the 6th instant, which relates to the enemy's having manifested an intention of attempting a descent on these kingdoms, Mr. Pitt opened his plan for repelling the designed, as well as future attempts. For this purpose, he formed a plan for levying 15,000 men from the different parishes for the sea service, and another for recruiting the regular regiments. In the projected levies for the land service, he considered two objects; first, the means of calling together a land force sufficient of itself to repel an invasion, even independently of our naval armaments; and, secondly, to adopt such measures in the levies as should not materially interfere with the agriculture, commerce, and general industry of this kingdom. The primary object was to raise, and gradually train, such a force as might in a short time be fit for service. For this purpose he proposed a supplementary levy of militia, to be grafted on the old establisment, of the number of 60,000 men; not to be immediately called out, but to be enrolled, officered, and completely trained, so as to be fit for service at a moment of danger. He also proposed to provide a considerable force of irregular cavalry, to be levied in the following manner: every person who kept ten horses, should be obliged to provide one horse, and one horseman, to serve in a corps of militia; and

those who kept more than ten, should provide in the same proportion; and that those that kept fewer than ten, were to form themselves into classes, in which it should be decided by ballot, who, at the common expence, should provide the horse and the horseman: these troops were to be furnished with uniform and accoutrements, arranged into corps, and put under proper officers. The whole number of cavalry proposed to be raised by this mode was 20,000: the other supplemental troops amounted to 75,000 men.Mr. Sheridan said, he did not mean to oppose the resolutions; he wished only to have some farther explanation, and to be informed, whether the real object of all our military preparations was not the extension of our colonial possessions in the West Indies? — After Mr. Dundas had spoken in defence of Mr. Pitt's proposition,

Mr. Fox rose and spoke to the following effect:- In this stage of the business it does not appear to me to be the duty of any man to make an opposition to the measure now proposed. But even in this stage of it I have no difficulty in saying, that from the sense I have of the general plan, there are many parts of it, to the adoption of which no eloquence is likely to reconcile me. The right honourable secretary who spoke last had been pleased to say in answer to the observations of my honourable friend, that although the French in case of an invasion may land no cavalry, yet it is proper that we should be provided with cavalry to oppose them. My honourable friend's observation did not call for this sort of answer. The right honourable gentleman observes, that at all events this country ought to make great preparations at home, and that he is satisfied, that if we should be under the necessity of going on with the war, these preparations may be very beneficial to us in many respects. I object to the generality of this mode of speaking, because it conveys to us no specific information, and is likely, from being just in the abstract, to entrap some into an approbation of measures which may lead to consequences of which persons so approving are not aware. That if we are compelled to go on with war, great preparations will be necessary, is a truth which nobody disputes; but it is a truth which conveys to us no information. It is applicable to this war, was applicable to the last, and will be applicable to every war. The right honourable gentleman should have applied his reasoning a little more closely; he should have come to the proposition which is now before the House. The question is this: is the proposition before us fit to be adopted under our present circumstances? If it be, then I say, that, for any evidence that appears before us, it was fit in 1756, was fit in 1778, fit in 1794, and has always been fit in every period in which this country has been engaged in war. But, for the

whole necessity of the measure, we have only the authority of the king's ministers, on which I do not choose to rely. I should have been unwilling to rely, in the last war, on the authority of much better ministers than the present, and to make that authority a foundation for such propositions as the present. It is not by the authority of ministers, but by the striking exigency of a particular moment, that parliament are justified in adopting particular and extraordinary measures. I beg the committee will attend to this, and reflect on all that has been said upon it by the right honourable the chancellor of the exchequer; they will then see that he has dealt in nothing but generality; which, if considered as proof, proves a great deal too much for the purpose of the right honourable gentleman, for it proves that this species of defence is applicable to this country in every war, since he has not distinguished the exigency of the present moment, from that of any other in which this country has had the misfortune to be engaged in war. This is one in addition to the very many instances which his majesty's ministers have given of their great eloquence in urging general arguments without any specific applicability, in which they are eminently skilful, when it is their object to take money from the people, and to increase the power of the crown. The right honourable secretary has thought fit to pronounce a panegyric on the last parliament, and to recommend its conduct for the imitation of this. My opinion of the last parliament is, that it has done more mischief to the real welfare of this country than any other that ever sat since a parliament was ever known or recognized in England; at least, since parliaments had any credit for attending to the interests of the people. To hold it up, therefore, as an object of imitation, is enough to confound any man who feels for the principles of freedom; — a parliament which has done more to destroy every thing that is dear to us, than in better days would have entered into the mind of any Englishman to attempt, or even to conceive. Shew me a parliament, in consequence of whose proceedings the people have been drained so much, and from which they have had so little benefit! Shew me a parliament since the year 1688, the æra of our Revolution, that has diminished the rights, the best, the dearest rights of the people, so shamelessly, so wickedly, as the last parliament have done! Shew me a parliament since that period that has so uniformly, so studiously sacrificed the liberty of the subject to increase the influence of government, as the last parliament have done! To make it the subject of panegyric to state its proceedings to be such as to be worthy of imitation, is beyond endurance. Sir, I consider the last parliament as a curse to

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this country. The leading principle on which they acted was that which leads directly to complete despotism limited confidence in the ministers of the crown. a parliament since the Revolution, that has given such a confidence, and look at the effect of such practice. This is the only war that has ever been conducted on the part of this country, in which there never has been one inquiry on the part of parliament. You see to what state that has led already. Should this parliament be like the last (God in his mercy avert it!) this country will soon be in a condition, in which it will be of little importance, whether they have a parliament or not. But for the conduct of the last parliament we should not have heard of the measure which is now proposed to us.

I know I may be told that I often speak intemperately, and that I do so now, but I speak as I feel, and I think it is impossible for any man to feel more strongly than I do at the present situation of this country. Ministers tell us, that the measure which they now propose is necessary to our safety. If it be so, it is their own conduct and the conduct of a confiding parliament, which has brought us into that situation. And what is the measure which they now propose? Why, it is, in its nature, a requisition; an imitation of the system of the French, against which so many vehement declamations have been pronounced: against the principle, applying it to a settled state, justly; but as against the French, in their condition, in my opinion, improperly, or at least in too unqualified a manner. Ministers now tell us, however, that our situation is such as to call for this measure. Granting it to be so for the sake of the argument only, I would then ask, what has brought us into that situation? To this I answer, without the least difficulty, the confidence, the criminal confidence, of the last parliament. One inevitable effect of that confidence of parliament in the minister has been the want of the confidence of the people in the integrity of parliament. The right honourable secretary says, "it is good to be prepared." Certainly it is so; but when he comes to us, and makes this requisition, it is incumbent on him to shew us the reason why we should be thus prepared. He should lay before us the ground on which he calls for that requisition. How stood the case in former periods of this war? In 1794 there was as much reason for such a measure as there is now; there was then as much of a rumour of an invasion as there is now; and so the ministers told us at that time. The House, upon the faith of the ministers' assertions, agreed to measures of the most unconstitutional nature, to avert, as it was supposed, the impending danger. Such measures, although unconstitu

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