ing so widely, especially when that right | had been given to lord Lake in his lifehon. gent. needed not to look beyond his time had been distributed among many own family to know what sort of sinecures other gallant officers, whose merits had and reversions the crown had to bestow as been unrewarded, the army would have the reward of eminent services. If ministers been much better contented. It was the had come down and told the house, that opinion of many persons that his rewards it was parliament alone which ought to far exceeded his services. As to the great assign the reward to eminent services, and victory that was spoken of at Delhi, he that therefore all those useless sinecures, must ask, who ever went to India that did reversions, and incumbrances should be not win battles? When the brilliant vicdone away, the question should be entire- tories of lord Lake were mentioned, he ly altered, and he should then have no might, if he pleased, mention also some objection to vote a liberal remuneration remarkable failures. He did not wish, for any eminent services performed to the however, to go into this discussion, becountry: the right hon. gent. best knew cause he rested his argument not upon the what kind of services it was, which was circumstances of this peculiar case, but rewarded by such sinecures as his family upon the general constitutional ground. and many others possessed. Their emi-He would not be prevailed upon by any nent services might be well known by the servants of the crown, but the people of the country knew nothing about them. Whenever the slightest service was rendered which could bear the light, or which could be stated to parliament, there was immediately an application for a reward, which was not to come from what was in the patronage of the crown, but from an additional burden imposed on the people. An hon. gen. (Mr. Bankes) had thought it necessary to disclaim his political opinions, and all participation in them. This disclaiming of the hon. gent. should not, however, make him hesitate to state those opinions to the house, whenever he was convinced that he was prompted by no indirect view, that he was labouring from no party motives, or any wish to bring in one set of ministers or turn out another; but exercising that duty of a member of parliament which he conceived himself most peculiarly called upon to discharge. -Standing, as he did, on a great constitutional ground, he did not feel that he was called upon to enter into a discussion on the personal merit of lord Lake. Discussions of this sort were always most disagreeable; and there could be nothing more painful to a gentleman than to be obliged to say any thing which would appear to derogate from the merit of a gal- Mr. Biddulph stated his sentiments shortlant officer who was no more, and wholy against the motion, as he thought there appears to have been beloved, and perhaps very deservedly, by his brother of ficers. He should, however, say, that the services of lord Lake were not of the most distinguished rank; they were nothing like the services of lord Nelson. He did not know that the country owed any particular gratitude to him; and he thought, that if one tenth part of the rewards which

false colouring of the services of this man, or of that man, to depart from the general ground of objection which he had considered it his duty to make. He should, therefore, persevere in taking the sense of the house; he should use this common expression, although in fact the sense of the house' was known as well before a division as after it. Another right hon. gent. (Mr. Tierney) had appeared very anxious to guard himself from any suspicion that, by his vote to-night, he was departing from those political opinions which he professed himself to have been so constantly attached to. The right hon. gent. might make himself quite easy upon that head. He might be sure that he would not be suspected of acting from any other sort of principles than those which had hitherto guided his political conduct. After the explanation which had been made of the sentiments he had before delivered by an hon. gent. he did not feel it necessary for him to make any further explanations; but as he conceived that the present motion went to lay an additional and unnecessary incumbrance on the burthened and exhausted people of this country, he must persevere in his intention of resisting it to the utmost, and dividing the house upon it.

was sufficient ability in the crown to grant the necessary reward.-The gallery was then cleared for a division. While strangers were excluded, the house divided twice. The first was upon the grant of the pension generally: Ayes 210; Nocs 26.

-The second division was upon the pension being granted from the date of the battle at Delhi; Ayes 202; Noes 15.

two things first, that the distress actually exists, and, secondly, that you are afraid of its being known. By the very attempt to conceal you reveal the fact. Therefore, sir, I trust that these petitions will multiply, and that they will adhere to the same temperate, firm, and respectful language which has hitherto been used. If I were to devise a form in which petitioners should address this house, most meritorious for feel

the body before whom they appear, I should with. perfect satisfaction exemplify my ideas in the words of the Bolton petition. [Here the hon. gent. read the said Petition, which will be found at Feb. 22.] Sir, it is necessary, however, for me to observe, that these petitions have had no influence upon my conduct on this day; I have not corresponded, or had any communication with any of the petitioners. I have neither impelled them, nor am I impelled by them. I act upon a deliberate view of the circumstances of the country. I certainly take upon myself a great weight of responsibility, both as to the act itself, and as to the time of perform

petitions of the people? What produced those petitions, but the ruinous consequences of that war, which was at its cominencement, and during a great part of its progress, a popular war? It was Lot till the stagnation of commerce, which at length took place as one of its deplorable effects, that the people were roused to a sense of their situation; when roused, their efforts produced the peace of 1783, which no one will now say was not a blessing to the coun-ing, for manly fortitude, and for respect to try. But the petitions in those instances were excited and supported by sir George Saville, and other men of high character and eminence in their day: these now before you are the unsolicited expressions of the feelings of the people. Observe their character, their toue, and their temper. They relate the distresses of the petitioners without exaggeration, they propose, most respectfully, their wish that an attempt may be made to put an end to the war, by the continuance of which they declare that their ruin will be produced; but at the same time they manfully assert, that if the demands of the enemy should be found unreasonable, or inconsistent with the honour of the country, they will perish rathering it; but as I can have no hesitation as than submit. Their foderation calls for our applause, their sufferings must excite our attention, and in their final resolution we must be all prepared to join.-Many gentlemen have delivered their sentiments in this house upon the propriety and policy of these petitions. I am afraid the majority of opinious is against them; and certainly whatever influence has been exerted, has been adverse to their adoption. But such attempts have been, and must be in their nature vain. I also think them unconstitutional and impoltic.-I am glad to see the petitions upon the table of the house. First, because I know that when people feel acutely, they will express their feelings, and that if driven from what is their ordinary course, they must resort to a channel which would be neither so desirable nor so constitutional. Secondly, because I believe that the present ministers are extremely unwilling to negociate, and I am desirous in the actual circumstances of the country, that they should be forced to make an experiment, which (I repeat) has never yet been tried. It is absurd to suppose that the petitions can give encouragentent to the enemy. He must be acquainted with the state of the country, and if he were not, the very attempt to put down petitions, would prove to him

to the expediency of submitting my proposition to parliament, so it appears to me, that this, of all others, is the moment in which the step ought to be taken. I have waited for some time after the production of the papers, which by the King's command were laid upon the table of the house, for the purpose of obtaining further information, some of which has been afforded by ministers, but no rational hope can now be entertained that they will concede fürther on this point. And if any one could have flattered himself, that from France would have come any additional overtures, I think that expectation must now be at an end. The period of the year is advancing, in which the armies will begin to march. We are in a most critical situation with regard to America, and every thing seems to portend, that if the present moment be lost, none other so favourable can occur. The circumstances in which we stand are rendered more alarming, from the spirit and conduct of administration. Putting aside, for the present, all consideration of the means by which they obtained their power, I look only to their character, while in power; and if I contemplate the repulsive arrogance of their communications, their destructive activity of enterprize, their perplexed and crude

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efforts at commercial regulation, mixed never can be executed, but will only remain with the symptoms of narrow-minded and a monument of their political weakness. ́ cruel policy, which I see in this house, if For the situation of Denmark, Russia and the fate of the country be really doomed, America towards us the ministers are resit appears to me that they are expressly ponsible.-Sir, the war has been described designated for its consummation. What by them, in the same speech from the has happened upon the continent within throne, as a war purely defensive. There the period of their official life? After the can exist no reason, therefore, against its dissipation of the delusion so widely dif- termination, arising o of any expectations fused, respecting the eventual success of of positive advantage which can be formed the allies in the last campaign, and of the from its continuance, it must be a question error under which we laboured, as to the purely of terms. Our means of defence, triumph of the Russians in the battle of in the strict sense of the term, are great, Eylau; after the Prussian monarch had although not perhaps, adequate to the twice refused the overtures of France to greatness of our external possessions. Our conclude peace, and rejected the armistice means of defence, by the way of offence which was signed in his name, some affairs of upon the enemy, are little or none. For, I lesser importance were succeeded by the would ask, where is it possible to make any battle of Heilsbron, which was immediately impression upon France? Where can followed up by the fatal battle of Fried- come in contact with her? By what means land, in which the remnant of the Prussian or in what direction can you use your monarchy was consumed, the remaining armies for the purpose of making her deforces of the Russian empire completely sirous of peace? For my own part I see defeated and put to flight, and the assertion no possibility of making any effective attack which I made in this house, in the latter upon the French empire, for I put entirely end of the last session of parliament, was out of my cousideration the preposterous verified, the Emperor of Russia was pros- contest of commercial privation, which the trate a at the feet of France. I will not ministers have undertaken, and which it is now enter into any detail of the complaints too probable that parliament is about to which have been brought by Russia against sanction. What hope can there be that a this country, for neglecting to assist her in great commercial nation like this should the moment of her need. I will not be able to carry on such a warfare with a enquire whether the predecessors of the country, which, from nature and situation, present administration were or were not to is almost, if not altogether, independent of blame, whether they did or did not deceive commerce? The suspension of our comthe Emperor of Russia. I will grant it merce cannot be borne beyond a certain either way, for the purpose of avoiding period: the annihilation of the commerce controversy upon that point to-night; and of France would be comparatively unimin the view of my argument, it is unimportant to her, and would leave her with portant which of these statements be true; her physical strength unimpaired. If then but this is certain, that for the events, which the war be purely defensive, and if the, I have just mentioned, the present ministers termination of it depends only upon the are not responsible. No, their responsibi- terms to be obtained from the enemy, it lity arises from far different causes. Den- becomes us, in the first place, to consider mark in the course of the last summer has whether opportunities of entering into nègobeen attacked, insulted and calumniated: tiation for the purpose of ascertaining what but she has been left with her strength terms might have been obtained, have not. unimpaired, and from a neutral forced been lost; and I think I shall be able to into the situation of an enemy--Russia, shew to the house, that there have been from an ally, is now in arms against you. moments in the course of the last few America is on the eve of war, and the months, which, if wisely improved, might opportunity of obtaining a decision in our at least have been used for the purpose of favor, when decision had become necessary, putting the sincerity of the enemy to the absolutely and entirely lost. In the place test, and even if he had been found insinof that political wisdom which is expert at cere, it would have been of the utmost imseizing those moments which folly over-portance in my opinion, to have placed his looks and indiscretion neglects, the whole insincerity beyond all question or contromind of the administration is employed inversy.--I do not imagine that the house absurd custom-house regulations, which will suppose itself to be precluded, from the

on the 22d of June; the battle of Friedland having been fought upon the 14th. Here I think it necessary to express my opinion on the subject of the peace of Tilsit. Ministers have described it in their declaration, as a peace injurious to the interest of the Russian empire; as having been concluded in a moment of despondency and alarm; as disgraceful to the emperor, and as detrimental to the interests of his empire. I am totally of a different opinion. In one word, I conceive it to have been the salvation of the emperor, and of his empire. Ministers must know that after the battle of Friedland, there was nothing like a Russian army in existence; that the corps of troops which remained were flying in every direction, without order, and without a possibility of their being rallied; and that their numbers were so reduced, that they would have been unable, if they could have been again brought together, to have afforded any resistance whatever to the enemy. The peace of Tilsit was not only justifiable, but indispensibly necessary to the emperor of Russia. I cannot help adding, that to me it appears to have been a mark of the most consummate political wisdom in the French emperor to make that peace : that he stopped, at the very moment when he ought to have stopped; aud that what has been considered as a military blunder, (the not pursuing and exterminating, as he certainly could have done, upon all military calcula tion, the remainder of the Russian force,) was not only an act of forbearance on his

consideration of the papers now upon the table, by any part of their address to the King at the beginning of the session: because the papers were not then before us, and certainly they must have been put there with a view to their examination, and for the formation of an opinion upon them, or the placing them upon the table of this house, would be mere mockery and insult. From an examination of those papers I think I shall be able to prove, that it was owing to mismanagement, and not to the impossibility of the thing, that negociation did not commence after the peace of Tilsit; that it was owing to petulance, and if possible, still more flagrant mismanagement, that the offer made by Austria to mediate between this country and France, in the months of Nov. and Jan. last, was not turned to such an account as might have opened the door to negociation.-Sir, I beg the house to do me the justice to discriminate, and to do the petitioners also the justice to discriminate, between negociation and peace. They do not desire you, and I am not endeavouring to persuade you, to force ministers into the making of à busty and dishonourable peace; no disaster to this country could be so great as dishonour; and we had rather perish than incur it all I wish is to undeceive you upon the examples of failure in the late and former attempts to negociate, and by shewing you, that in no one instance has negociation with France been so conducted as to bring the matter to this decisive point, that peace cannot now be obtained, apply-part, but an act of great prudence and saing the word now to the period in which gacity.-But, Sir, to return to the corressuch negociation was going on, or might pondence. On the 28th of June, lord have been entered into, and thence to prove, Granville Leveson wrote another letter to that it would be expedient to enter into gen. Budberg, in which he expresses his negociation, and that such negociation might alarm at the silence of gen. Budberg upon be commenced with the hope of a favour the subject of negociation in concert, and able issue, Sir, soon after the battle of declares the readiness of the court of LonFriedland, and before the peace of Tilsit don to enter into such negociation, ending had been concluded, lord G. L, Gower ar- the sentence with this expression, “since it rived at Memel, as ambassador extraordi- had made war (meaning England), for the nary from the court of London to that of sole purpose of obtaining a secure and perS', Petersburgh, and he appears immediately manent peace." [p. 110.]--Sir, that expres to have addressed a letter to Gen. Budberg,sion from the pen of the noble lord whom I minister for foreign affairs of the emperor Alexander, requiring some information as to the transactions then going forward; for the first letter we have is an answer from gen, Budberg to lord Granville Leveson, [p. 110] informing him that the report he had heard of the conclusion of the armistice was true: and that it had received its ratification, In fact the armistice was ratified

am glad to see present at our deliberations, is most remarkable; for I think that noble lord might have said, and could not but say consistently with his former declarations, which are also upon the table of this house, that England would never make peace until she had completely destroyed the power of Buonaparte. Sir, I beg to read to you an article of the treaty of confederation be