! make some explanations on what was certainly a very delicate sub. ject. The right hon. gentleman had, however, now to answer, not to that other individual, but to the country, why he suffered the noble lord to remain in office, when he was convinced that he was not fit for the situation in which he was placed? He did hope, that this would, on a future day, be made the subject of substantial inquiry, and that the right hon. gentleman would be constrained to tell to the house, and the public, the reasons for his conduct. He would wish to know, why, in the season of unexampled calamity, the meeting of parliament was so long delayed? His majesty had been advised to say, "that he would not institute any inquiry into the conduct of his military and naval commanders, but that he referred it to the widom of parliament to take it into their serious consideration." Now, * although in common circumstances parliament had frequently not met sooner, yet, in the present extraordinary circumstances of the country, and when such a serious 'subject was to be submitted to the wisdom of parliament, it appeared to him that they ought to have met sooner. The king's speech perfectly accorded with his answer to the corporation of London-an answer which declared the expedition had only succeeded in part. In what part? was the natural ques tion of every man in the country. Now, however, the mystery was solved; the part in which it succeeded was, in the blowing up of a basin!! This, say ministers, was one of the objects, and the king is satisfied with its accomplishment. So little satisfied was he, however, that this very ground he should conceive sufficient as a foundation 1810. for a criminating resolution. Ministers, it seemed, were not aware even of the fatality of climate; but this was one of the casualties of war, and therefore, in their opinion, ought to be cheerfully encountered. Certainly, if the object was worthy of the hazard; but here the object was contemptible, the means mighty, and the conse quences ruinous! Even inactivity was preferable to such perilous and causeless exertion. The noble lord, however, reduced to his last shift, declared the object of the expedi tion to be a coup-de-main.--What did he mean by a coup-de-main? Did he suppose that Antwerp and Lillo, and the fortified forts, and the well-secured fleet, were all to be taken by his miraculous coupde-main? The idea was surely too preposterous, even to enter into the calculations of his lordship. To show indeed the perfect folly of such a supposition, the resistance of Flushing, the continuance of which was sufficient to frustrate all the ulterior objects of the expedition, was, in the opinion of Bonaparte, so ill protracted, that he condemned the officer who conducted it to death!-He next turned to the affairs of Spain. Even with all his respect for lord Wellington, he could not approve of the battle of Talavera-it had no one good end, and only tended to establish what was never questioned, the valour of our soldiers. Our victories, indeed, were this night the particular themes of congratulation; and Maida, Corunna, Vimiera, and Talavera, were held PP as monuments of our eternal glory; he be held them only as so many gladia torial exhibitions. None of thein were happy in their consequences, Maida left the inhabitants at the mercy of a cruel enciny. At Co B 70. runna we lost general Moore, to prove the valour of our soldiers. What! was our population so redundant, that we could spare men to prove what no one doubted? Was the valour of Britain so questionable, that a bloody experiment was necessary to prove it? Had we so many skilful generals, that they were become superfluous? Alas! how shall we dry up the tears of the orphan, or reimburse the beggared citizen? The battle of Vimiera, followed by the disgraceful convention of Cintra, had better never have taken place; and Talavera was, at best, but an exhibition of victorious rashness. He wished particularly to know, why lord Wellesley delayed so long in the country, after his appointment to the Spanish embassy. On this subject he should hereafter demand an explanation from the right hon. gentleman. To Spain, however, at last, the marquis went, and there what were his services? Why, he went through the mummery of dancing on the French flag! He did more, he visited the junta, went through all the routine of etiquette, and religiously toasted the pope-It was surprising, indeed, to see him so soon returning after his flirtation with "the whore of Babylon" at Cadiz. On his return, of course, when the places were going about, he came in for his share, and made one of the administration ; an administration, the members of which could not have been distinguished, had it not been for the motions that day for the issuing of writs. It was made up, indeed, by a kind of political ballot;-one gentleman (Mr. Dundas) had gone the entire circumnagation of offices, from the board of control to the Irish secretaryship! The right hon. gentleman had, however, at length compiled an administration; and indeed he had fully shown, that, supported by the favour of the court, he felt little fear in stemming the authority of the people. But how did the right hon. gentleman proceed to form even this administration? 'Why, the very first application he made was to a dear friend of his, and a noble lord, with whose principles he had been at war all his political life. This tender was rejected by them in a manner worthy of their dignity; and the rebuff which they gave the right hon. gentleman would have daunted any man of less temerity than himself. There was not a man in the country, from the Orkneys to the Land's End, who did not pronounce him and his administration weak, incapable, and inefficient. Even with the addition of the two colleagues, who had deserted them, they were feeble, but they then stood on a principle, or rather in opposition to a principle-but now “ rejected by all who were worthy, the weak, and old, and infirm, were collected from the hedges and high roads, and consorted with for want of better. The motley combination was duly appreciated by the people-no one respected themthey might now exclaim, "The church is in danger," but every one would know they meant "My place is in danger." Threats have been held out by the runners of the government, that, as on a former occasion, a dissolution of parliament would be now resorted to. He believed in his soul government dared not realize the threat; but if they did, it would only leave them ten times as bad as they were before. Pompous language as to the flourishing state of our revenue was however held out. But was it sound at bottom? Was there a legitimate trade? Was it not a system of placing placing (by the requisition of li censes) the merchants under the control of government? Was it not rather the chicane of smugglers and pirates, than the fair, liberal commerce of merchants?— But our "Treasury was full." Aye, by the rigorous severity with which the taxes were collected. Under the system pursued, the collection of the property-tax would soon be in the hands of government collec tors. Indeed, the liberty of the subject was directly struck at by the method by which the taxes were collected. He gave it as his sincere advice, Let an economical reform be instituted before the "last ounce" was exacted, and the country reduced to despair. Let a government be removed to which the people have refused their confidence. Let our relative situation with the enemy be well considered. Let the policy of succouring Spain be also weighed under the existing circumstances; Austria gone the French force concentrated, and that country their only object. The marquis of Wellesley he considered completely insignificant.-Who was he? The governor of India, the man who had scarcely escaped the censure of that house for his cruel tyranny!-the man who had assailed the press, the sacred palla dium of the people! the friend of despotism-the foe of liberty. Good God! could this man say to Bonaparte, in the noble indignation of insulted virtue, "I have not done as you have." Alas! if such a man had strength, he would indeed be a fearful acquisition to such a government; but he was known, and therefore weak and harmless. Peace should be the cry of the nation. Peace-particularly because the thraldom of millions of our felLow-subjects was the tenure by which this incapable junta held their offices. "It has been said by our enemy (said Mr. W.), that the genius of France guided our ar mies. Alas! it now presides in our cabinet for surely, whether we consider their ignorance, their imbecility, their bigotry, or the fate with which Providence visits all their measures, our enemy, had he the nomination, could not select men more suitable to his ends, or more pernicious to our interests." The chancellor of the exchequer rose and said, that the right hon. member had accused him of remaining obstinately silent all night to all the charges urged against his administration; and that, speaking to him, an indictment of several counts was now, preferred against him, on behalf of that house and of the country and it was now his duty to plead, by either acknowledging the jus tice of the charges, or putting him self upon his trial. He had been charged with a culpable silence, as to certain differences between a noble, and another right hon. friend of his. With regard to this charge, he wished to say as little as possi ble now, or at any other time; but he should state this much, that with regard to the transactions to which the hon. gentleman had al luded, he could assure him and the house, that he was entirely ignorant of them until the close of the last session of parliament; and when he did know them, he did not conceive, whatever might be the motives which induced his right hon. friend to wish for the removal of the noble lord, that he (the chancellor of the exchequer) should be a party in them; more especially as an expedition of great importance was at that time in great for wardness, with which the noble lord B 2 (Castle. (Castlereagh) was intimately connected. With respect to himself, the situation was by no means an object of his own desire; and had his wishes been realized, another person would now have filled the office of first lord of the treasury. After the death of the duke of Portland, his majesty had commanded himself and a noble friend of his, to apply to the two noble lords alluded to (lords Grenville and Grey) for their co-operation, in order to form an extended administration. It was in consequence of this command he had made the application. The situation of the country was obviously such as required as strong an administration as could be formed; and he did think there were circumstances at the time the application was made, which rendered it not improbable that that application would not have been unsuccessful. But if he was to be accused of arrogance, and of wishing to reign without a rival, it was strange that he should have made the application to the two noble lords, and more espe. cially when he informed the house that the first proposition which he should have made to them, if they had given him an opportunity of stating it, would have been that they should determine who should be the first lord of the treasury. With respect to himself, he again repeated, that it was a situa tion which he did not desire. The right hon. gentleman then, at considerable length, went over the other topics in discussion, and defended the conduct of ministers with respect to the expeditions. Mr. Tierney replied, and the house then divided: For the amendment 167. 96 Adjourned at five o'clock in the morning. When the address was brought up on the 25th, sir Francis Burdett rose, and said, that upon the first day of the session he had been very anxious to learn what effect the recent events had produced on the minds of the members of that house, and to hear the sentiments of the political men expressed upon them. He wished to know whether the interest of the public could be combined with the opinions and the feelings of many distinguished speakers in that assembly; and it was with the utmost mortification he perceived, that the unparalleled disasters which we have lately suffered in the waste of blood and treasure, had not made upon the members of that assembly the impressions which might naturally be expected. Ministers were still supported by the same kind of majori ties which they commanded in times of less disaster: they were still supported by the same men, and the same line of argument. Seeing this, he was the more thoroughly convinced of the necessity there was of taking into early consideration that great measure which he had recommended at the close of the late session. He was the more and more convinced of the absolute and urgent necessity of parliamentary reform, from the whole of his parliamentary experi ence since he had obtained a seat. in that room: but never had any circumstances occurred which gave more strength to these impressions than the circumstances under which parliament had lately met. He did not mean to compare the pretensions of one set of public men to those of another, but he never before witnessed, in any debate, the measures of any set of ministers so com. completely abandoned as they appeared to be in the last debate. The minister really seemed not to have a word to say in his defence. Under the circumstances of the present times, what name could be given to that degree of imbecility and folly which induced ministers to advise his majesty to treat with contempt and insult the petition and address of the most important city in his empire ?--a city, which from its antiquity, its wealth, and great importance in the state, had always been treated with distin. guished attention by all former sovereigns. This distinguished attention was due to the city of London, not less from its ancient privileges than from its real consequence in the state. He could not avoid noticing that even some slight had recently been shown to the gentlemen of that assembly. It had been customary formerly to have the king's speech read the night before at the Cock-pit, and afterwards it was usual to send copies of it to the different members, that they might have sufficient notice of what was to be the subject of discussion. This usage was now abandoned. We were told, that that most disastrous expedition to the Scheldt was intended as a coup-de-main; but it was managed in such a manner, that Bonaparte apprised his officer commanding in these parts, of our intended coup-de-main, no less than three months before the sailing of our expedition. There was an insinuation in the speech, that the expedition to Walcheren had in part succeeded; but it could hardly be expected that the public should consider it in any other light than as a most completely disastrous and disgraceful failure. The expedltion to Spain was as nearly destruc tive to our army as that of Hol land. A dispute with America, of a very serious nature, had been provoked by the imprudence of ministers; and yet, notwithstanding all these misfortunes, and the strange occurrences in India, ministers were supported with the same steadiness as if these measures had been prosperous. He could feel no asperity in considering this circumstance, as it only served to confirm that opinion with which his mind was intimately and strongly impressed, of the necessity of a total change of system, and, as the only means of obtaining such a change, a reform in the represen tation of the people. He thought those gentlemen wrong who stopped short to compare the merits of one set of ministers with another. It was the whole system which was wrong, and which ought to be al tered. 1 When it was considered for what a great length of time this country had been ruled by a benevolent sovereign, whose reign was constantly unfortunate-who was every successive year compelled to regret the necessity of imposing fresh burdens upon his people; some would attribute this Constanţ course of misfortunes to some malignant star which ruled at the pe. 'riod of his accession. It was not, however, necessary for the members of that assembly to look to any stars, but only to themselves. It was there, and on the floor of that room, that he saw the organized causes of all the calamities and evils which afflicted and oppressed this country-it was there he saw that tree, under whose shade no salutary plant could thrive. The fruits of that tree were bitterness and grief to the people of England. He had high authority for saying, B 3 that |