green; and thus, while the people at large are told that the very pillars of the conftitution are in danger, they fee nothing but a miferable scene of intrigue for the proftitution of honours, and the corrupt fquandering of national wealth. Even the Right Honourable Gentleman himself, who made so loud a boaft, in the commencement of his political career, of his own difinterefted purity, who lamented that he had fallen upon times too good, and who wifhed that they were even more corrupt, to difplay with greater effect the contraft of his magnanimity, takes to himself, in addition to all the profits of actual office, a finecure which he fwells into an enormous penfion.

Sir, though these things have hitherto paffed without obfervation in this Houfe, they must not, fhall not, continue fo to be overlooked. If the reprefentatives of the people do not fhew to the country a fpirit of vigorous correction in regard to the ufe of public money, if they do not take care, that not a fingle guinea fhall be spent otherwife than in the public fervice, they will foon be taught not to look to this country, nor to Parliament for relief. But in all this scene of jobbing and of plotting, what pride ought we not to feel, Sir, we who have fuffered fo much from the reproach of a coalition? When the hour of pinching came, Minifters were forced to look to those men for aid, for joining with whom we had fuffered fo many accufations. To be fure, it was not a very creditable thing to the talents, nor could it be very pleasant to the feelings, of the gentlemen on the other fide, that Government were forced to make this fort of application. But that was for them to think of. When the King of Pruffia was to be foothed and conciliated, his zeal to be animated, and his flagging spirit to be revived, they could only find a proper agent from among their number, (Lord Yarmouth.) Nor could they even find proper couriers to carry home the difpatches on this important embally out of their ranks, (Lord George Conway, &c.) When they wanted a perfon to preferve peace and cordiality between the allies, they made the fame application to Lord Malmsbury. Did they want a perfon to preach to the people of Toulon the bleffings of an undefined monarchy, they applied to the fame quarter, (Sir Gilbert Elliot.) Did they want a perfon to conduct the affairs of a neighbouring kingdom, they could find no man converfant with the forms of Parliament, and properly verfed in the conduct of public affairs, but in their number, (Mr. Silvefter Douglas.) Did they want to appoint an attorney-general to the Prince of Wales, a Welch judge, or a standing counfel to the India Board; fo defolate and barren of all talents, learning and experience, was their own fide of the Houfe, that they were obliged again to look to the other fide of the Houfe, and to heap all the three offices on one man, (Mr. Anstruther.) I do not mean, Sir, to impute to

gentlemen

gentlemen improper motives, but it is a little fingular that, juft at the time when they thought their country in danger, they fhould not have given their fupport to the Government without the creation of fo many new places of enormous emolument to themfolves. His Majefty laments the burthens that are to be laid on his people, and yet Minifters are thus lavish in courting, nay purchafing, deferters by the moft fhameful proftitution of the national treafure. I take it for granted, that they have been forced thus to look to the other fide, because the nurfery for ftatefimen formed by the Secretary of State oppofite to them, has not yet reared a fufficient number of plants for the neceflary confumption. I dare fay, that though our Chiron is flow in his march, he will improve as he goes on; and perhaps this year we fhall be called upon for an additional fum of money to turn the nursery into a hot-bed. It is faid, that if we were defirous of making peace, we have not the means-With whom thall we treat? I answer, with the men that have the power of the French government in their hands. I never will difdain to treat with thofe on whom I make war and furely no wife nation ought to perfevere in the idle difdain of a negociation with those that are a match for them in war. A Right Honourable Gentleman opposite faid, that what made him first think of a negotiation with America was his looking at General Washington's army; he had looked at it on the right, on the left, on the centre, and, according to his curious phrafe, he could not accommodate himself any where. The fame was furely true of France; we had tried it on all fides; on the South at Toulon, on the Weft by the Rhine, on the North by Flanders, and on the Eaft by our fpying-glaffes at St. Maloes, and we could no where be accommodated. But I fee, notwithstanding our fatal experiment, we are doomed to go on: the fatal determination is taken, and there is no rational hope that the good fenfe and spirit of this houfe will reverse the decree.

Mr. Sheridan took a review of the proceedings of the campaign, to fhew that Government had not difplayed a fingle exertion becoming the dignity of the nation, or calculated either to maintain the fplendor of our name and arms, or to accomplish the object of the war; that our trade had every where been left to fortune; the American fhores completely expofed: and here he gave a touching picture of the fate of Captain Courtenay; and he fhewed that, even in the points of our attack, particularly at Toulon, Dunkirk, &c. &c. we had feen nothing but incapacity and blunder in the execution, as well as difafter in the event, These things must be the fubject of parliamentary investigation. It was not enough that our precipitate retreat from Dunkirk was hufhed up and compromifed between the Mafter-General of the Ordnance and the First Lord of the Admiralty, because one of

them

them was brother to the Minifter. And with refpect to the tranf actions at Toulon, without ftopping to enquire whether the deftruction of the fhips was confiftent with the laws of war, he would demand by whofe orders the Conftitution of 1789 was first offered to the people, and by whofe orders that offer was broken to them: and it must be a fubject of enquiry, how the Noble Lord Hood, who had fo freely taxed General O'Hara with not keeping his word, had himself broken his word to the nation, about the ftrength and refiftance of the place. The execution of the plan for the deftruction of the fhips, he would prove, was mifmanaged in all that depended on the part of Lord Hood; for at the Babel council of the uncombined armies, an offer was made to undertake the deftruction of thefe fhips, which appears to have been accepted; and yet fuch an inadequate force was given for the purpofe, as to oblige Sir Sidney Smith to leave 15 fhips of the line unconfumed. He reproached them alfo for the expedition of the Earl of Moira, which was talked of fo long as to deliver over all the unhappy Royalifts on the coaft to maffacre. The expedition of Sir Charles Grey had been equally ruined by protraction; and with refpect to the whole of our naval campaign, it was in vain to enter into the details; for no man could with truth affert, that we had any where prefented a formidable afpect to the enemy. Of the conduct of the channel fleet he would not fay one word; he was fure that the Noble Admiral had exerted his ut noft talents in the fervice, though they all knew the induftrious pains that had been taken to throw unmerited reproach upon him. That our trade had not been protected, the fact of the channel being now, or very lately, at the mercy of a few French frigates, was a most glaring proof. He said that he did not mean to propose any amendment; he should be inclined to fupport, however, any amendment that went to declare that this Houfe ought to treat for a peace, whenever an opportunity for that purpose presented itself.

Mr. Wyndham requefted the indulgence of the Houfe for a fhort time, upon a fubject of fuch great importance as the prefent. The Hon. Gentleman who had fpoke laft, had cenfured the Noble Lord who spoke before him, for not confining himfelf to the Queftion before the Houfe; but the Honourable Gentleman had not, in fome parts of his fpeech, confined himself to any question at all. Upon thofe fubjects on which the Honourable Gentleman had confined himfelf to the queftion, he could not poffibly agree with him. In the firft place, with refpect to the ftate of the war, the Hon. Gentleman had faid it was unfuccessful: he, on the contrary. thought it was a fuccefsful war; that is to fay, when he compared the fituation of the combined armies at the commencement of the war, and their fituation at the prefent moment, he should fay the war was a fuccefsful one. During the laft Seffion of Parliament,'

moft

moft gloomy pictures had been drawn, and prophecies anounced, of the misfortunes that were to enfue, which the progrefs of the campaign had falfified. He had no difficulty in admitting, that, for the last few months, the war had taken an unfavourable turn; but he contended, the way to cftimate the fucceffes of the war was from the opinion entertained at the commencement of it; because, during the continuation of the war, temporary circumftances might raife or deprefs the hopes of the people. But it was not upon any idea formed during the elevation of the public mind upon our fucceffes laft Summer, that he estimated the fuccefs of the war: he took into his confideration the probable hopes which we had a right to form at the cominencement, and according as the war exceeded or fell short of thofe ideas, he thought it a fuccefsful or an unfuccefsful war. When we engaged in this war, Holland was menaced by Dumcurier; Auftrian Flanders was in the hands of the French; a gleam of fuccefs had encouraged them to affume the most infolent language; decrees, menacing the fubverfion of every government in Europe, were paffed; and their conduct was as arbitrary as their decrees were infolent. In the courfe of one campaign, the enemy had been driven out of Flanders, a barrier had been formed, their trade had been annihilated, their naval force effectually crippled at Toulon, and yet, it was faid, we had fuffered moft in the war.

There were fome people last year who entertained the most fanguine expectations that the war would be terminated in one campaign. Whatever our hopes might be of the speedy conclufion of the war, they should have been confidered rather as our wishes than well-founded hopes; because we have to contend with an enemy, who, instead of having recourfe to the ufual means of carrying on a war, had taken measures which the most defpotic monarch could never have thought of: they had feized not only upon all the property of the country, but they compelled the inhabitants, without diftinction, to ferve in their armies. Such meafures muft for a moment command fuccefs; but the exertions of this country were not to be depreffed by fuch paroxyfms of fury, which, though violent, could not be lafting.

The Hon. Gentieman had contended, that the enormities which had taken place in France were the confequences of the general attack of the combined powers; and added, that when they were baited, it was not furprizing they should tear themselves. He was furprized to hear fuch language from Gentlemen who last year told the Houfe, that the inevitable confequence of a war with France, would be to confolidate and unite the difcordant parties in the com mon caufe. But now Gentlemen have found it convenient to change their language, and to attribute their exceffes to the war. But war was not neceflary to produce murder among two rival factions like the Jacobins and the Girondifts. As far as his obferva-,

tions went, it was but a very fmall portion indeed of thofe accufed, who were charged with any thing relating to the war. People were often charged with having written againit the Revolution. They had been often charged alio for having the image of the late King in their poffeffion, and had been executed for it.

Neither would he allow it to be true, that the interference of England had produced union and energy in France. If we might not in any inftance interfere in the affairs of France, what became of the balance of power which had been fo often mentioned by modern politicians, and upon which fo much stress had been laid? The idea of the balance of power refted on the principle that each country had an intereft in what was doing in the reft. It was the duty of other governments to interfere; for France was making war againft all governments, all religion, and all principle. To war had all the crimes committed by the French been attributed; but crimes could exift, and factions could exterminate each other, without the aid of war. Since the Revolution, France had become the enemy of every government; for the moniter was born with teeth. Flanders had groaned under the yoke of the French during their fhort refidence in those fruitful provinces, which had not only been pillaged, but obliged to conform to the revolutionary mandates of the invaders, though no people were more religiously devoted to their ancient forms, and the government of their progenitors, than the inhabitants of the Netherlands. How was it poffible to preferve peace with the French, who find grounds of quarrel with every nation that dares to fufpect the purity of their intentions? What nation had ever profefied more peaceful prin ciples of conduct; and what principles had ever been more productive of war? Why was the injuftice of our interference with the internal government of France fo much infifted on? Let any man examine the conduct of thefe reformers, and deny, if he dare, the effervefcence with which they interfere in the government of other nations. The government of France, if we believed the framers of it, was infinitely fuperior to every thing that ever the world faw; and when other nations had the courage to fufpect that, the French made it matter of offence, and faid, by their actions, that the moment you fufpect us we will not wait, but will immediately commence hoftilities against you. So that this new Government of France, which pretended to have for its object univerfal peace, had been the aggreffor, he believed, in every inftance. If the language of all their writings and publications were attended to, no man could entertain a doubt on it for a mo

ment.

Mr. Wyndham then difcourfed on the inability of civilians to give theoretic rules fufficient for the regulation of nations in all cafes, especially one fo unforeseen as the prefent; and then cited