confidered with relation to the expectations formed of the advantages to be gained by fuch remittances, contrafted with the difference which might thereby be produced in the exchange between this and other countries; and the effect fuch remittances might have on the internal fituation of the country and the Credit of its National Bank. On our part, it was contended, that the remittances propofed, and afterwards agreed to by Parliament, were agreeable to true policy even in point of economy, that the fums were fmall in proportion to the beneficial effects to be expected by the diverfion which the Emperor would make to the force of the Enemy, and which would lead to a conclufion of the contest on the most favourable terms. Such was the courfe of our arguments on the broad and general bafis of the contest.

"On the narrower view of the queftion, we contended, that with reference to our credit at home, to the circulation of specic, to the period at which the Bank would be enabled to refume its payments and operations in the ufual manner, to every thing connected with our commercial credit at home, independent of our foreign trade and commerce, and the courfe of exchange, the advantages which we might gain by the diverfion which the Emperor made to the force of the Enemy, was an advantage of a much higher value than that which could poffibly be expected by our having withheld our foreign remittances. Feeling that in the course of commerce the means of carrying it on, on your part, were improved in a manner that was effential to your intereft by making thefe foreign remittances---Parliament confidered that the real balance was in your favour, in confequence of these remittances, and therefore they agreed to make them. The Houfe is in poffeffion of the Report of the Secret Committee, whose labours were taken up in inquiring into the causes of the difcontinuance of the payment in fpecie by the Bank, by which it appears to be their opinion that the causes were numerous; and it is evident to every one who will take the trou ble of examining the fubject, that the cause which led to the actual neceffity, which the Committee agree in reporting existed, of deferring payment in cafh, arofe from no foreign remittance whatever; more remote caufes have contributed to that effect; they are many, each having its fhare in diminishing the cafh in the Bank, and bringing it to the fituation which compelled it to take the steps that were taken. It would be difficult, if not impoffible, to give to each of thofe remote caufes its due fhare in producing the fufpenfion of payment in cash at the Bank. The queftion upon that fubject is not to be determined eafily. It not only requires that we fhould know how much fpecie or bullion was drained out of the country by the extraordinay expences of

the

the war, but also to the various commercial tranfactions in which this country has been concerned with foreign parts: that, again, will involve the complicated and intricate questions of the caufe of the balance of trade, courfe of exchange, and a vast number of other topics, each in its turns having its fhare more or lefs in the draining of fpecie. But in viewing them all, I think it hardly poffible for any one to entertain an opinion that the remittances to the Emperor were the immediate, or much less the excufive cause of the stoppage of payment by the Bank in cafh: to what degree these remittances were any caufe of that preffure is a point on which opinions are very various.

"But it is a great confolation to us to reflect, that great as has been the drain upon us, that even while that drain contied, whatever was the temporary effect of it, fuch was the effect of our flourishing commerce that even in the course of the last year the course of exchange became more favourable to this country than it was at the beginning of it. It alfo appears that circumftances of a temporary nature have had great effect in diminishing our Specie. The late fcarcity, which was fo feverely felt in this country, had a much more confiderable effect in draining our fpecie than any Loan that was fent to the Emperor. Seeing that, notwithstanding all thefe caufes, many of which have now ceased, and of their return there is no reasonable apprehenfion, the course of exchange has become more favourable even during the continuance of the preffure, there is great reafon to be fatisfied that our commerce is ftill flourishing. Perceiving that the drain on account of the fcarcity of corn was one great cause of the fcarcity of fpecie, and perceiving that we are not likely to feel a fimilar evil, I fee no reason why a moderate remittance to the Emperor ought to alarm us, efpecially when we fee that it is poffible that fuch a remittance may, instead of aggravating the weight upon us, tend to relieve us from it. Feeling it to be the general opinion of the House, and believing it to be the general opinion of the country, that it is defirable we should have the vigorous co-operation of the Emperor in this conteft, and knowing we cannot expect that co-operation unless we afford pecuniary aid to his Imperial Majefty, a principle fo often confirmed by this Houfe that I can hardly fuffer myfelf to hefitate as to what will be the decifion of the Committee tonight, I fhall therefore move a Refolution to enable his Majefty to make advances from time to time to the Emperor, to the amount of three millions and an half, to be repaid by his ImpeFial Majefty. But I fhall firft obferve that the fum of 200,000l. already voted is included in this fum, as alfo the fum of 1,600,000l. already advanced to his Imperial Majefty, fo that the fum now propofed to be advanced is about 1,880,000l. 7 T 2

"He

"He then moved the first Refolution, to enable his Majefty to make advances to the above amount, and to guarantee the Loan to the Emperor &c.

Mr. Fox Aattered myself that after the Report of the Committee had been put into the hands of every Member of this Houfe, they would have feen the confequence of fending more Money abroad in too alarming a point of view to hear with patience the propofal which is now made to the Committee; for, however, the Right Honourable Gentleman may exult in the flourishing state of our commerce, however he may endeavour to diminish the effect of fending Money to the Emperor, by comparing it with other caufes which have produced the prefent fcarcity of cafh, and however he may deny what never was afferted---that it was the exclufive cause of the scarcity---it is impoffible for any man who has examined the matter to have any doubt that the fending of money to the Emperor, has been one great cause of the prefent fcarcity of cafh. I fay, a great and principal caufe; but the Right Honourable Gentleman confiders the importation of Corn as one of the greateft caufes of the drain of fpecie in this country: I admit it to be fo; 1 hope a fimilar evil will not recur; but it is impoffible to be fure of that, fince it must depend upon events that are yet to come; but the great evil with us now, is our own internal fituation. Do you not feel the weight of the misfortunes of the prefent year? No, you cannot yet feel them all, for they have not yet pressed upon you so much as they will when you endeavour to raise the money which has been voted: Remember that you have no reafon to think you can conjecture when your preffure will terminate. The propofition which is now to come immediately before us, ftates the neceffity of a large Loan, which this country is to guarantee for Ireland; a circumftance which ought to alarm every Member of this Houfe, for without entering upon the propriety of that meafure now, you should think of the effect which that must have upon this country. You will find that fum of a million and a half very confiderable at this mcment. You should think which is moft neceffary for you, afiiftance to Ireland, or affiftance to the Emperor? In this view of things, I own, I was never more surprised in my life than I was at the propofition which is now before you; think only of the time in which it comes; the Minifter refers to a triumphant argument, that the determination of Parliament has already fanétioned the principle of fending money abroad. That fort of triumph which follows from the reflection, that a majority of Parliament have confided in his opinion, and brought this country to its prefent calamity, certainly belongs to that Right Honourable Gentleman; but I afk the Committee, in

what

what ftate it is that we now come to the queftion which is before us? In a ftate in which we do not know that the Emperor has not concluded a peace. We do know that an armistice for fix days has been agreed upon between the Emperor and the forces of the French Republic. I have read the accounts of this armiftice: the Emperor, in alluding to his hopes of peace, Lays, That he trufts the Enemy will at length confent to accept equitable conditions,' and fo on, and then makes ufe of general expreffions about his not derogating from the dignity of his Imperial Majefty, and the honour of the nation he has the happiness to govern; and that he confides in the affiftance and fupport of his faithful fubjects.' I looked with care and caution over the whole of the Vienna Court Gazette, and I could not fee the name of Great Britain, nor could I find that one word was uttered about any Ally of his Imperial Majefty. Why? Because the Emperor (whether fincere or not, I am not now difcuffing) knows that the only object he has in view is to fatisfy his own people, and that he looks to them as the only perfons whom he is to fatisfy. He knew they would not be fatisfied if the war was to be carried on with a view to the intereft of any other country, or with any other view than that of the intereft of the Houfe of Auftria. From this follows an armistice of fix days; whence I conclude that the Emperor may agree upon peace without confulting our intereft. I fhould have thought that the Minifter would not have been fo very impatient as not to wait the event of this armiftice, before he called upon this Houfe to vote this money to the Emperor. There is additional information arrived in town this day from the part of the world to which I have been alluding; I do not affect to detail it, but the fubftance of it is, That the armistice is to be prolonged for three days;' what is to be gathered from that event? Why, that they are in hopes of a negotiation, in which there is no probability of our intereft being included, fince we are not fo much as mentioned. In God's name, then, what occafion was there for fuch hurry, when even three days more would determine whether the Emperor had made peace or not? Why was the Houfe of Commons to be called upon to take a step of this kind, without knowing whether our Ally, we pretended to fecure, had or had not been compelled to make a feparate peace. I think I fee what is moft probable in that particular. I do not think it my duty to enter into any difcuffion upon that matter now; but I do think it my duty to call upon this Houfe to wait until we fhall learn the event of the armiftice that has been agreed on. If we wait, and find that peace has not been the confequence of the negotiation between the Emperor and the French Republic, we may then hear the . grounds

grounds upon which the negotiation was broken off, and not thus vote away the public money in the dark: But let me put another cafe; fuppofe the war fhould continue, will it not be a neceffary thing for us to know the points on which the proposed negotiation was broken off, and whether the war was continued for points which might be confidered material to the interests of Great Britain, before we vote our money to the Emperor? For any thing which we can know to the contrary, these two millions, which we are now called upon to vote to the Emperor, may be for the attainment of objects which may appear to us to be detrimental to the general interefts of Europe.

"With regard to Belgium, that is a part for which I prefume the Emperor in the prefent pofture of affairs, will not very obftinately negotiate, or for the attainment of which he will not rifk the fafety of his capital and his whole people. But let us suppose (for affairs are now in such a state that a man may almost fuppofe any thing) that the Emperor and the French fhould agree that certain provinces in the Palatinate, or Bavaria, or any provinces in Italy, fhould be held by any of the branches of the Houfe of Auftria, and that we fhould be of opinion that fuch a plan would be highly injurious to the balance of power in Europe, and fhould even be determined to oppose it as we had oppofed in former wars; what, in fuch a cafe, would you think of voting away millions of your money to facilitate the accomplishment of that which you would give as many millions more to oppofe? All this you may be doing for any thing you know to the contrary, and which you may avoid by only waiting a few days. You are going to give your money to a power which, indeed, you call your Ally, but which you do not know whether he is your Ally or not, or whether he may not at this very moment be the Ally of your Enemy. It may be faid, that when we vote this money to his Majefty, it will be in the power of the Executive Government to defer the fending it away in cafe there fhould be any reafon for it. Το which I answer, that this House ought not to vote away the money of the people in that manner, the more especially when there can be nothing loft by taking time to wait for an event that may render the vote now propofed unneceffary, and even ridiculous.

"With respect to the bufinefs of Ireland, I certainly fhall not oppofe the Loan proposed; not that I do not think it extremely important; not that I do not think that a million and a half even to the fifter Kingdom is a great deal for Great Britain to grant in her prefent embarraflment. There is however nothing that we do not owe to Ireland; and therefore I cannot object to any aid that is proposed to it: but here I cannot help

obferving