tinued calamities of war, the prolonged distresses of Europe, and the accumulated distresses of France itself, were, by the government of this country, justified to the world. His majesty, who had entered into this negotiation with good faith, had now only to lament its abrupt termination; and to declare, in the face of all Europe, that whenever his enemies should be disposed to enter on the work of general pacification, nothing should be wanting on his part to contribute to the accomplishment of that great object, which was only retarded by the exorbitant pretensions of his enemies."

Lord Grenville said, he lamented, as much as any man in the country could do, the sudden failure of this negotiation: it was unnecessary for him to state at length the repeated endeavours of the French directory to defeat it in its beginning, and to break it off after an intercourse had been opened.

It had been agreed, that compensation should be made to France, by proportionable restitutions, for the cessions, which she in her turn should be called upon to make to his majesty's allies. After this, his majesty's minister at Paris delivered to the French minister a memorial containing proposals: there was a note accompanying the memorial, stating, that he would enter with the utmost readiness, with M. Delacroix, into every explanation which the negotiation would allow; or, should they be rejected in toto, into any counter. project, which the directory itself might be pleased to bring forth. In answer to this communication, it was peremptorily required of him, before any answer had been given by the directory to his propositions, that he should within twenty-four hours deliver in the ultimatum of his

court.

No such instance was to be found in the whole history of treaties, nor could such a demand have been made, but for the purpose of shutting the doors against all negotiation.

Why did not the directory state their objections to his majesty's minister? Why did they not tell him on what terms they would have been ready to make peace? Not a word was said in return: and the British minister was ordered to leave the territories of the republic in twice the space of four-and-twenty hours. The directory now said, as they had formerly done, that they could not treat on the principle of mutual restitution, because it was contrary to their constitution. This could never be admitted by our country, or any other independent nation: it was in fact, to admit, that the French republic possessed the only supreme power in Europe; and that all other countries might be parcelled out by then at pleasure, into what they were pleased to call republics, but which had not the least resemblance to that form of government. According to this principle, his majesty and his allies were bound to restore to France the greatest part of their conquests, whilst the French republic was to retain all that she had made.

His lordship said, that every candid man must see where the fault lay his majesty and his ministers had entered into the negotiation with good faith, and it was retarded only by the exorbitant demands of France. He concluded with moving an address to his majesty, with assurances, that he might place the fullest reliance on the firmness of his parliament; the valour of his forces; the resources of his kingdoms, for vigorous support in a contest which it did not depend upon his majesty to terminate, and which involved in

it the security and interests of this country, and of Europe.

The lord chancellor having read the motion, was about to put the question upon it, when the earl of Guildford said, that the present was, in his opinion, the most unfortunate day this country had ever experienced; that day only excepted which had plunged us into the calamities of the present war. He could not have believed it possible, that the ministers could have so far disgraced themselves, as to have laid on the table such papers as were only a mass of absurdities and nonsense. He did not believe, that what had been advanced by the noble secretary was supported by facts. If the sta. tus ante bellum had been the principle agreed upon, he would admit that the French had departed from it; but that was by no means the

case.

The principle that was to form the basis of negotiation, was that of proportional restitution, and no one could say what we had offered to France was an equivalent for what we asked of her to restore to our allies. It was notorious, from the papers produced, that his majesty's servants had not been sincere in the business their first proposal was such, that they could not reasonably hope it would be agreed to: the restoration of the Austrian Netherlands was a sine qua non on the part of his majesty; and the British minister was to insist on the restoration of every town in those provinces. His lordship admitted the importance of the Netherlands; but could never consent that this exhaust ed country should go on with the war till they should be re-conquered from France, because he did not think such an event probable.

He requested the house to consider the unprecedented expense of

another campaign, when they could not borrow money at 12 per cent. He could by no means agree to the address, and proposed an amendment, stating the misconduct of his majesty's ministers, through the whole of the war, charging them with insincerity in every part of the negotiation, and moving, that a committee might be appointed to inquire into the calamitous state of the country.

The earl of Derby rose, and declared he had been an avowed enemy to the war since its commencement; we were under no necessity of engaging in it, and this opinion had indeed been strongly confirmed. Was the noble secretary acquainted with the state of the labouring poor in the various counties in England? With that of trade, commerce, and manufactures throughout the kingdom? In many of our manufacturing towns, the people had only half the wages which they formerly received. In Birmingham, there was no fewer than four thousand uninhabited houses, and one-fourth of the remainder were unable to pay the assessed taxes.

The nature of the loan by which the supplies of the present year were to be raised, ought to be well considered; we should then find we had no pressing temptation to go on with the war.

His lordship thought there was insincerity in the conduct of the ministers, and therefore seconded the amendment. Pondicherry in the East Indies, Martinico, St. Lucia, and Tobago in the West Indies, could never be considered as an equivalent for the Milanese and the Austrian Netherlands, which the French were required to give our allies!

The earl of Liverpool entered into a defence of the ministers: thought that we had offered an equivalent

to

to what we had required France to give up! and asked why the directory had not brought forward some counter project of their own when they were dissatisfied with our proposals ?

Lord Auckland expressed satisfaction, that the experiment had been made, though the result was such as he expected. He was so far from thinking the ministers to blame, that he thought the country was under very great obligations to them, for their able and upright conduct throughout the whole transaction. He was happy to believe we were able to go through another campaign, and that France was by no means in such a situation! The defenders of the republic were in the utmost distress; exposed to all the horrors of want and nakedness; their hospitals were destitute of every necessary; they were without fire, medicines, &c. &c.; the public creditors, administrators, &c. from one end of the country to the other, were in the depth of wretchedness; and the only thing organized in the republic was assassination.

Earl Fitzwilliam insisted, that the enemy had given no encouragement for opening the negotiation; assert ed, that there could be no safety in fraternizing with such a people, and intimated, that as he objected both to the original motion and the amend. ment, he should, after these were disposed of, propose an amendment of his own.

The earl of Kinnoul avowed his independency, and disclaimed all bias or prejudice on the question. He said, he considered the conduct of the enemy as insolent in the extreme, and such as ought to be resisted. The terms which France insisted on formerly were inadmissible, in answer to Mr. Wickham's note; but, notwithstanding this,

lord Malmesbury, without returning invective for invective, succeeded in establishing a principle for mutual compensation; yet almost as soon as this principle was admitted, it was rejected by what he might call the ultimatum of the enemy. No sooner was the relinquishing of the Netherlands introduced, than the government of France refused to enter into discussion, and broke off all further negotiation. Nothing therefore remained, in his lordship's opinion, but for this country to exert its vigour, and prosecute the

war.

The Duke of Bedford insisted, that the ministers had substituted assertions instead of arguments; and even these were contradictory. By one, the attempt at negotiation was mentioned in a manner suited to its importance; by another; treated as a

mere experiment, designed to amuse the people of this country. This minister lamented the unsuccessful issue of the measures taken towards obtaining peace; that, asserted that danger arose from the negotiation itself; whilst a third affirmed, that the republic was determined, at all events, to continue the war. The noble secretary had reflected on the directory for refusing to treat in a manner contrary to the constitution and treaties which they had formed, whilst he himself confidently asks, would we have this country violate its treaties ?

His Grace then animadverted on the conversation of lord Malmesbury and M. Delacroix, and inferred, that his lordship, by hinting at an equivalent for the Netherlands, had admitted the plea of the directory, and that in contradiction to the treaties subsisting between Britain and her allies. The French minister, by conversing about an equivalent, proved that he virtually ad

mitted some equivalent might be given.

Lord Malmesbury had requested a contre-projet, whilst he refused to enter upon any treaty, by which the French were to retain the possession of the Netherlands. From these circumstances, as well as that of his being left without a discretionary power in any matter of importance, his Grace inferred, that ministers were not sincere in the proposed negotiation for peace. They had acted on a principle of augmenting the power of great states, at the expense of those which were weaker. Such were their ideas of remunerative justice! By consenting to such a principle, Europe would sink into a miserable labyrinth of despotic arrogance ; "a principle on which," said his Grace," I shall make no comment; but leave it to your conscience to decide."

Lord Auckland denied having used the word "experiment" in the sense his Grace had thought fit to apply it.

Earl Spencer asserted, that the charge of insincerity in the conduct of ministers was unjust: they had persevered, he said, in their attempts to restore peace, notwithstanding the obstacles thrown by the enemy in their way.

From the commencement of his acting with ministers, his lordship declared, that he had acted upon one uniform principle. He considered that the objects for which the war had been begun and carried on, were to secure the important interests of this country; to restore, and to secure tranquillity throughout Europe. He denied that lord Malmesbury had proposed any ultimatum: the directory, he said, had; and what was their proposal? "You shall accept the basis of our newformed constitution, which ingrafts

a conquered country into an integral part of our territories." The only question to be considered was now, whether by relinquishing the war, we would give up every thing valuable to the interest of this country, every principle of good faith with its allies, and all which had hitherto been esteemed the public law of Europe.

The lord chancellor objected to the assumption of the amendment, that the negotiation was not broken off by the directory. He expressed his surprize; he doubted whether any similar instance could be produced of a negotiation with an enemy being broken off, no matter how, and that circumstance being communicated from the throne to the parliament; that the two houses of parliament, instead of supporting the king, when he threw himself upon them for support, had put a negative on such an application. The inference to be drawn was, that this country must submit to whatever terms the enemy chose to impose; to humble the nation before the directory; and to invite them to put their feet upon their necks.

He affirmed, that the memorial presented to the directory was not of a sophistical nature; that nothing could be more ingenuous than the declaration of what England was willing to surrender, and what she would demand in behalf of her allies. But whatever might be the value of the compensations proposed, they had never been brought under discussion. The proposals on our part had been generous and liberal, and the government of France had barred the door of negotiation against us. His lordship proceeded to remark, that a noble earl had spoken of the increasing number of bankruptcies; he took upon himself to contradict the statement: until

the beginning of December, this year, the number was 724, and there might be 40 or 50 more since; in all, not more than 800: whereas, the average number of the last twelve years was about 1040. His lordship observed, the wealth of this country was also increasing. The surplus of monies brought into chancery amounted to 960,000l. of which, he computed about a clear surplus of 800,000l. saved during the current year. At no period were the manufactories more flourishing, nor was there any year in which the quantity of English goods exported was greater than in the present. Subscriptions to the loan of eighteen millions were sent up to a large amount, from various country towns, even after the loan was filled up. His lordship wished that statement contrasted with that of France, as given by the directory themselves, and concluded, by insisting, that at no period of English history, when negotiations were broken off, did those who then opposed the ministry ever think of bringing forward a motion like "that thing" which he then held in his band.

The earl of Abingdon condemned ministers for not having sooner consulted the assembly of the nation; avowed his own predilection for monarchy; and declared himself an antigallican; but thought the answer of the directory manly, and voted for the amendment.-A division took place-Majority against the amendment, 78.

The duke of Bedford then rose, and declared his conviction, that this country could neither enjoy peace nor prosperity without a change of men and measures. His intention. was to make a motion to this effect; but previous to it, he should move for an inquiry into the state of the nation, on Monday fortnight, and

moved, that the lords be summoned for that day.

Lord Grenville did not object to the inquiry, but to the time proposed. The motion was put, and negatived.

On Dec. the 30th, Mr. Chancellor Pitt moved the taking into consideration his majesty's message in the house of commons: it being read, he addressed the house, he said, with the deepest regret, on viewing the sudden stop which had been put to the negotiation. He had fondly hoped, we should have been relieved from the contest into which we had been forced against our will; a contest produced by the repeated aggressions of an imperious enemy; a contest undertaken from motives of inevitable necessity; undertaken to preserve our constitution, to defend the general security of Europe, and from a sacred regard to that good faith which we had pledged to our allies; from these causes we were forced into a state of warfare; and whilst they continued to operate, we were also determined

to persevere. Whilst he expressed much disappointment and regret at the failure of the negotiation, he acknowledged it was regret without despondency, and disappointment without despair.

We had not (he said) ourselves to blame for the misfortune; it arose from the exorbitant pretensions of our enemies. Nothing had been wanting on the part of this country to restore peace, on the grounds on which alone it was desirable; for when we wished for peace, it was for a secure and permanent peace. We had proved to all Europe, to what party ambitious and unmeasurable pretensions ought to be ascribed; and we might expect, from such conduct, to see England united and France divided. It would not be

necessary