believe, that large fums were unaccounted for. In giving the preference therefore to the amendments, he honoured truth above falfehood. It was that fort of preference which the house would and must approve. The oppofite conduct was not only abfurd, but extravagant and criminal. It called to his memory the cafe of a near relation of his who had been a public accountant; and who at one period held in his hands nearly four hundred thousand pounds of public money. As his confequence was an object of envy or of malice, his enemies found it convenient to attack him; and like the oppofition of the prefent hour, they adopted unfcrupuloufly the methods which feemed to be most fuited to the violence of their hatred and pre judices. It fuited not their pertinacity or clamour to declare that his father lord Holland had four hundred thousand pounds in his hands. They went to an extremity, that was most unjust and most inclement. The truth was too paltry a circumftance to bound their declamation, They accordingly ftigmatized lord Holland as the defaulter of unac counted millions! For a fimilar reafon, the prefent clamour stated fortyfour millions as unaccounted for, Faction, in its bitterness, was overtaken by Folly; and its affirmations were often fo palpably exaggerated, that they loft every poffible effect, and could only be recollected with fcorn. It was indeed his opinion, that it was wrong to have produced the book. The polite candour of the noble lord at the head of the Exchequer, and his with upon every occafion to gratify the curiofity and defire of the commons, were the reafons of its production. But while thefe reafons apologized fo well for his condefcenfion, he ought to have 3 confidered that his candour and palitenefs, and public fpirit, were not univerfal; and that the perform ance in question might have been made an engine for the lowest purpafes of anger, disappointment, and faction. Loud complaints were made that the ministry were averfe from inquiry, and that they were resolute enemies to every propofition of reform. But fuch complaints had nothing in them but noife. The gentleman who had offered the amend ments had not fpoken against inquiries and reforms. No friend to the miniftry had employed that language. To the main object of the addrefs, no oppofition had been made. No individual had objected to it. It was untouched and open. The amendments did not encroach upon it: they had not even the most diftant tendency to diminish it. With a view to a profpective inquiry, the book had its ufe; and let that inquiry proceed. Let proper regu-, lations for the paffing of public ac counts be fought for and established. It was the earnest and refolute purpofe of the miniftry to encourage every object that was falutary. It was their business to guard, and not to violate the conftitution. They would acknowledge no finifter motives. They would meet the addrefs in its great and main tendency; and the amendments propofed were even abfolutely necessary to reconcile its language to the in tegrity of truth. The two motions being refpectively put, were carried with eafe. The addrefs accordingly as amended was prefented to his majefty by fuch members of the house as were privy counfellors; and he commanded the earl Ludlow to inform his faithful commons that he would give the di rections While the preliminary Sept. 3. article with France and Spain were framed into definitive treaties, the provifional ones with America underwent a fimilar folemnity. At Paris the definitive treaty between Great Britain and the United States of America, was fubscribed by David Hartley, efq. plenipoten tiary for his Britannic majefty, and by John Adams, efq. Benjamin Franklin, efq. and John Jay, efq. plenipotentiaries for thofe ftates. rections which they had declared to blifhed. The definitive treaties bebe agreeable to them. tween France and Spain were conThe business of the fef- cluded at Versailles between the July 16. fion being now executed, duke of Manchester, on the part the prorogation of the parliament of his Britannic majefty; the count took place. His majefty being feat- de Vergennes, on the part of the ed on the throne, addreffed himself king of France; and the count to both houfes. He obferved that d'Aranda, on the part of the king the advanced feafon of the year re- of Spain. quired fome remiffion from their long and laborious attention to the affairs of the public. But that the exigencies of the state might oblige him to call them together again at an early period. To a temporary inconvenience he was fure they would fubmit not more from their uniform affection to him, than from their zeal for the national profperity. It would be proper to refume foon the confideration of the bufinefs of the Eaft Indies, and it would demand a very ferious and unremitting confideration. He had expected to have had the fatisfaction of announcing that the terms of pacification were defi nitively fettled. But the complicated state of that bufinefs had protracted the negociations. He had, however, every reafon to believe, that the feveral powers concerned were entirely difpofed to pacific mea fures. He thanked the commons for the fupplies they had fo liberally granted for the public fervice; for facilitating the arrangements with regard to the prince of Wales; and for enabling him to difcharge the debt which remained on his civil lift. And to the parliament in ge neral he recommended the care of promoting among his people the fpirit of order, regularity, and induftry, which is the fource of revenue and power to every nation. It was not long after the proroga tion of the parliament, when it was announced, that the terms of the peace were finally adjusted and cfta In the tranfactions with the Dutch difficulties had arisen, and it was only about this period that the preliminary articles of peace could be fettled between Great Britain and their high mightineffes, the States General of the United Provinces. Thefe articles, of which the plan has been afcribed to Mr. Fox, were fubfcribed at Paris, by the duke of Manchester, as plenipotentiary for the court of London, and by their excellencies L'Estevenon de Berkenrode, and Gerard Brantfen, ambaffadors extraordinary for the States General. They were of the following import. It was ftipulated that a fincere Sept. 2. and conftant friendship fhould be established between his Britannic majesty and the States General; that hoftilities fhould ceafe upon each fide; and that there fhould be a generał obli• vion of all things committed fince the commencement of the war, With regard to the honour and falute falute by fea given by the veffels of the republic to thofe of Great Britain, it was ordained that they should continue refpectively according to the method in practice before the commencement of hoftilities. All the prifoners and hostages on each fide, were to be restored without ranfom; each power defraying the expence incurred for their fubfiftence. Security for payment of the debts contracted by prifoners was reciprocally to be given; and all veffels, whether of war or of commerce, taken after the period of the ceffation of hoftilities, were to be restored, with their crews and cargoes. The States General yielded and guaranteed to his Britannic majefty, the town of Negapatnam with its dependencies; but the king of Great Britain, confidering the high importance and value which the States General attached to the poffeffion of that town, agreed to treat with them for its reftitution in the event of being prefented with an equivalent. The King of Great Britain became engaged to restore to the United Provinces, Trincomalè, with all the other towns, forts, har bours, and establishments, which had been conquered, and taken in any part of the world during the courfe of the war. The States General bound themselves not to moleft the navigation of the fubjects of Great Britain in the Eastern Seas. As differences existed between the English African company, and the Dutch East India company, on the fubject of navigation on the coaft of Africa, and concerning Cape Apollonia, it was determined that com In miffioners fhould be appointed on each fide to adjust difficulties, and to deftroy all caufes of difpute. All mutual conquests in any part of the world, not comprehended in these articles, were to be restored without difficulty or compenfation. As it was abfolutely neceffary to have a fixed epoch for reftitutions and evacuations, it was refolved, that his Britannic Majesty should order that Trincomalè, as well as the other towns and territories in his poffeffion, with exception of what is given up to him by the prefent articles, fhould be evacuated at the fame time that the restitutions and evacuations fhall take place between Great Britain and France *. the fame manner the States General were to restore to Great Britain the towns and territories of which they had taken poffeflion from the Engli in the Eaft Indies; and neceffary inftructions, of confequence, were to be fent by each of the contracting parties, with reciprocal paffports for the fhips which were to carry them. Of thefe articles, the ratification was foon after executed. A period was thus put to a moft calamitous war. The proclamation oa. 6. of the peace with France and Spain took place; and though its terins were to many a subject of regret, yet the most flattering prefages were conceived from its continuance. The national spirit, which had funk under misfortunes, reviv ed; and it is to be hoped that the abilities of the government will now be exerted in the happieft efforts to recover the profperity and greatness of the Empire.. * See the Account of the Preliminary Articles with France and Spain, chap. 11. CHAP. CHAP. XXI. Affair of the Crimea. Alliance of the Courts of Petersburgh and Vienna. A Compromife effected by the Mediation of France. Refignation of the Khan. Preparations for war. Meafures of the Emperor and the King of Pruffa. Diffenfions in Holland. TH HE enterprifing character of the emprefs of Ruffia, and the fteps fhe is continually taking for the melioration of her domini ons and the extenfion of her commerce, are well understood. We ourselves have been the witneffes of this unquestionable truth, and have felt in our turn, that the prepoffeffions of amity and alliance have little weight in her deliberations, when opposed to the aggrandifement of her crown, and the interest of her kingdoms. It is not therefore to be wondered at, if the year, whofe events we are relating, fhould have added one fresh example to the many inftances in which he has proved herself a fpirited princefs and a confummate politician. One of the principal advantages that accrued to her from the peace the concluded in the year 1774 with the Ottoman Porte, confifted in its declaring independent the khan of the Crimean Tartars, who had hitherto been always fubordinate to the court of Conftantinople. As at the fame time the czarina placed upon the Tartar throne a prince, who was understood to be in her interefts, it was commonly fuppofed that this nominal independency was little less than a fubjection to the crown of Petersburgh. It was not long however after this peace, which was to give tranquillity to fo extenfive dominions, before a rebellion broke out in the Crimea, which the czarina afcribed to the machinations of the Turks. The khan was expelled, and a new fovereign placed upon the throne, with the approbation, as it should feem, of the majority of his countrymen. This irregularity however was fpeedily rectified by the exprefs intervention of the Ruffian arms; and the Turks, difgufted with their late mifcartiages, and confcious, it may be, of inteftine imbecility, confented by an explanatory convention to reftore every thing to its former condition. In the year 1782, this very scene was acted once again. The new khan, it was faid, under the protec tion of Ruffia, had ufurped upon the privileges of his fubjects, and attempted to render himself more defpotic than any of his predeceffors. Exafperated by a feries of vexations, his tribe combined in the project of a general rebellion, and the confequence was his being depofed from the fovereignty. Thefe disturbances, as well as the former, were faid to be fomented by emiffa ries from the Porte; and, if the evidence of her imperial majefty is to be admitted in this cafe, a detachment of Turkifh troops actually took up their quarters in Taman, an ifland in the ftraits of Kaffa, and even beheaded an officer, fent by the khan to enquire into the motives of their arrival in his territories. The difficulties under which we labour, in profeffing to record the events of each year a few months after its expiration, are obvious. We are not indeed vain enough under thefe these circumstances to rank ourselves in the clafs of regular hiftorians; and we afpire to no more than to fa tisfy one of the most natural of all paffions, a curiofity after recent events, in a manner, more connect ed, more amufing, and fomewhat lefs liable to the groffeft deceptions, than can be expected from the news of the day. In the prefent cafe, the conduct we are taught to afcribe to the Turks fhould feem very inconfiftent with that wifdom by which their councils are faid to have been guided in recent inftances. One of the first objects of policy to a good adminiftration is to decide between the fyftem of war and the fyftem of peace. If the Porte were inclined to retrieve their reputation by the way of arms, undoubtedly the diffatisfaction of the Crim Tartars with the changes in their fituation afforded them a very advantageous open ing; but then the underhand affiftance administered to their late fubjects ought to be fupported with a clear and dignified line of conduct. If they wished, as is more probable, by a continuance of tranquillity to recover from their loffes, they fhould furely have avoided giving the finalleft umbrage to their powerful neighbours. On the other hand, the allgrafping ambition of the court of Petersburgh is well known, and it is not expected that they would in all cafes be careful to cover their ufurpations with the femblance of juftice. The internal evidence would lead to decide without hesitation that the Ruffians were the aggreffors; but it must be acknowledged the contrary idea is fupported with fo much precifion of circumstance, that it is impoffible for us at this distance to refute it. In this fituation, the czarina, having first restored her tributary khan, catered into an alliance with the em peror against the Turks, the object of which was magnified by fome politicians into a defign of expelling them from all their dominions in Europe. They certainly intended to render Walachia and Moldavia independent on the fide of Hungary, and to obtain for the Ruffians the undisturbed navigation of the Euxine, together perhaps with that of the Danube for the Auftrians, and from thence through the Hellefpont into the Mediterranean. If they had attained these objects with facility, it is probable they would not eafily have been perfuaded to stop in their career, and the prefent league was compared to that for the partition of Poland, which had in the fame manner been formed, when Europe in general was exhaufted by a long and ruinous war. In the mean time the warlike preparations of the Ruffians, the Turks, the emperor of Germany, and even the king of Pruffia, were carried on with much diligence on all fides. The first regular proceeding which the allied powers made in concert, was in the delivery of two memorials, in the clofe of the year 1782, to the Ottoman Porte, infifting that that court must not henceforth interfere with the affairs of the Crimea, nor encroach upon the prerogatives of the princes of Moldavia and Walachia, nor oppofe the free naviga tion of the Euxine. The style of thefe memorials was doubtlefs fomewhat peremptory, and could not eafily be digefted by the Turkish hauteur. At this time the Ottoman court was divided into two factions, one whofe views were directed towards peace, at the head of which was the grand vizier; the other defirous of war, under the controul of the capitan pacha. This laft feems for fome time to have been predomi |