100,000 men. Hesse, and might therefore be eventually involved in a war in consequence of it. Should that happen, instead of receiving the aid of 12,000 troops from the Landgrave, we should perhaps have to assist that prince with an army of The right honourable gentleman could not deny this, because it was the casus fæderis, and in the treaty. It required, therefore, more consideration to form a judgment upon the balance of advantage and disadvantage likely to result from the treaty, than might have been at first imagined. He took it for granted that ministers had taken, and were yet taking the necessary measures to guard against the Landgrave's being involved in a war, or to provide for his support in case of an attack, on account of his having made the present treaty. France was just now in an humiliated state, and had felt it prudent to withhold her arms and her resolutions; she could not, however, but be mortified at what had passed in Holland, and though from a variety of circumstances she chose to let her anger sleep, it ought to be remembered, that it was only asleep, but not extinct. France, it was well known, was a powerful nation, and could easily recruit her strength; an opportunity might offer to entice and encourage her to attack the Landgrave. If, therefore, the system of continental connections (of which he took the treaty to be a small part only) was not formed with a provision for that event, the system was an inadequate and a bad system, and of consequence the treaty a disadvantageous treaty. Looking at the treaty as a measure single and insulated, he declared that it was the last measure which he would give his consent to; but as a part of a system, it might be a wise measure, and as such he should vote for it. He took it for granted that Prussia was with us in the treaty, and that the Prussian monarch and not the Landgrave was the principal in it. He spoke of the advantages to be derived from an alliance between Great Britain, Prussia, Hesse, and Holland, in case of a war, and observed, that though it was material for us to take Holland out of the hands of France, in one point of view only could she be regarded as a very useful ally to Great Britain in case of a war with France, and this was in giving us the advantage of her ports in the East Indies. In respect to aids of men and money from Holland we could not build much upon them. There were, however, other powers in Europe to be looked to for alliance; and in particular the emperor, who had abundant resources. Russia likewise was a most desirable ally, but both Russia and the emperor might now be thought to have their hands full. That circumstance, however, would continue for a time only, and both would probably be shortly disengaged. Russia had of late years grown to a state of considerable power and influence in the affairs of Europe, and had even been found to have her weight in the scale at a time when she stood single in a war with the Turks. With Russia and Prussia and Holland for our allies, he declared that he should little care for the rest of the world. In treating of the recent transactions in Holland, Mr. Burke took occasion to mention the king's Speech, and said, it was usual to hold it out as a morsel of finished eloquence, and as a proof of the minister's powers of composition. The late Speech was certainly an extraordinary performance; but if any man was to make it, and the facts it contained, the grounds of historical narrative, he would certainly risk a good deal of ridicule. Instead of grave history, it partook more of the nature of an epic poem, rather resembling an agreeable allegory, or a romance in the style of ancient chivalry. It reminded him pretty strongly of Palmeran of England, Don Bellianis of Greece, and other books of that romantic nature, which he formerly had lost much of his time in reading. He was glad to find, however, that the gallantry of those kings and princes who had so eminently distinguished themselves when chivalry prevailed, was revived. Let any gentleman examine the vein in which the Speech proceeded, and he would instantly perceive the strong resemblance it bore to the subjects of ancient romance. A chivalrous king, assembles his knights, and determines to do her justice. He sets out, instantly, with his knights, in quest of adventures, and carries all before him, atchieving wonders in the cause of the injured princess. This reminded him of the ancient story of a princess named Latona, who, having been insulted by a nation, like the Dutch, appealed to Jupiter for satisfaction, when the god, in revenge for her wrongs, turned the nation that had affronted her, into a nation of frogs, and left them to live amongst dykes and waters. Mr. Burke remarked, that although the King of Prussia had, professedly, set out merely to obtain adequate satisfaction for the injury done his sister, his army by accident took Utrecht, possessed themselves of Amsterdam, restored the Stadtholder and the former government, and all this at a stroke, and by the bye-which put him in mind of a verse in Cowley's sprightly ballad of the Chronicle, which he had often read with pleasure: But when Isabella came, She beat out Susan, by the bye. Mr. Burke enforced his former observations, that what had happened in Holland could not but remain lodged in the bosom of France, to be opportunely used, as a justification of some future quarrel and resentment on her part; and that we ought, therefore, to expect such an event, and by wise alliances to strengthen ourselves, and put it at a greater distance, as well as prepare against its arrival, let that happen when it might. He reminded the House of the objections and jealousies which this country had formerly made and manifested against the employment of foreign troops at home, and particularly in the year 1755, when the Hessians were last employed in England. At that period the popular alarm had increased to such a height, that their dread of the danger which threatened at the time, was much less than their dread of the means resorted to for its prevention. Indeed, the great argument used in favour of the militia at its first institution by Lord Townshend, Lord Chatham, and other patriots, who were now sleeping in their graves, with their heads resting on their laurels, was, that the creating such an internal force for the immediate defence of the kingdom, would in future prevent the necessity of recurring to the unpopular expedient of employing foreign troops within the realm. Mr. Burke begged, in the mention of these facts, to be considered rather as the narrator of jealousies and sentiments which had prevailed, than as the foreteller of their revival in consequence of the present treaty with the Landgrave of Hesse. He trusted there would be no occasion to call them again into existence, and was willing to believe that ministers had providently guarded against the possibility of there being justifiable reasons for their future entertainment. The motion was agreed to nem. con. IMPEACHMENT OF MR. HASTINGS. December 5. IN N consequence of the order of the House of Lords with which Mr. Hastings was served towards the close of the last session, to put in his answers to the charges exhibited against him by the Commons on the first Tuesday after the next meeting of parliament, on the prescribed day he appeared at the Of these the Lords sent a copy bar, and presented answers. to the House of Commons on the 5th of December. The answers being read short, pro forma, Mr. Burke moved, "that mittee;" which having been agreed to, and Mr. Burke being named by Mr. Pitt as the first member, Mr. Burke then named Philip Francis, Esq. and, upon the question being put, the House divided, Ayes 23: Noes 97. Upon this, Mr. BURKE rose and declared, that of such material assistance had the House deprived him, by rejecting Mr. Francis, that he scarcely knew how to proceed, and felt the cause to be in some degree damned by the recent act of the House. He reminded gentlemen of the seriousness and solemnity of the whole proceeding, a proceeding which, after deep and frequent deliberation, had been brought, step by step, to its present advanced stage, and ought to be continued during the remaining part of its progress with equal steadiness and uniformity. He admonished the House, that their conduct in this very important and grave transaction was a matter most highly interesting to the national character, and that, consequently, they were amenable for every one of their proceedings respecting it, at the high and awful tribunal of the public and the world at large. He pressed them to consider the dangerous effect of their appearing in the smallest degree to prevaricate or waver in the course of the prosecution, and urged the manifest injury and injustice of changing their committee, and rejecting any one of the members of the former committee without a reason previously assigned. A bad motive in their conduct, in their rejection, he said, he neither supposed to exist, nor would he charge the House with having harboured, or being influenced by it in their late vote; but the only presumable reasons for rejecting any one member of the former committee could be no other than two- either a general disqualification on general grounds, or a personal disqualification from inability or unfitness to assist in conducting the prosecution. Both these questions had been already decided, and the House would have acted wickedly and weakly in suffering his honourable friend, Mr. Francis, to take so great a part in the proceeding hitherto, and to have adopted his ideas, |