become the subjects of future in quiry.

It was on this ground that lord Grenville asked their lordship's support to the address. As to the question whether his majesty had been well or ill advised in dissolving the last parliament, sacred as he held every prerogative of the crown, he considered his majesty's servants as answerable for the advice which they give his majesty for the exercise, or abstaining from the exercise, of every one of them. In no case did he conceive the exercise of this undoubted prerogative to have been more wise, more salutary, or more attentive, on the part of his majesty, to the feelings of his people than the dissolution which had lately taken place. When a negotiation, by which his majesty's endeavours to restore the blessings of peace, not merely to the people of Great Britain, but to the nations of Europe, had failed of success, it was surely a wise measure in his majesty, to appeal to the sense of his people, to refer to them the conduct of his servants, and there. by to call upon them to pronounce, in the eyes of the world, their sense as to the farther prosecution of the contest. From the exercise of the royal prerogative in calling a new parliament on the late occasion, the empire had gained this great and important advantage, that the degree of unanimity which had been manifested by the people from one end of the united kingdoms of Great Britain and Ireland to the other, on the subject of the war, on the necessity of vigorous exertions, and the determination to persevere in the struggle, had given strength, confidence, and spirit to the government, and exhibited to the world a

noble example of the vigour of a people who understand the blessings of independence, and who are resol ved to maintain it.

With regard to what had fallen from lord Hawkesbury respecting Prussia, lord Grenville assured him, that he was very much misinformed, if he supposed that previously to the mission of lord Morpeth, there existed any means of communica tion between that and this country. From the moment of his majesty's declaration against Prussia until lord Morpeth proceeded to the continent, there did not remain for his majesty's government any means of communicating, or of acting in concert with Prussia. At the same time, had there been any disposition in the court of Berlin to communicate with this country, means were not want. ing for that purpose, on their part. The Prussian minister having been encouraged to stay until the end of Au gust, was recalled by his court, pur. posely that there might not be, further communicathrough him, any tion. The plain fact was, that Prussia had gone on from year to year, from month to month, and at last from week to week, under the same illu. sion as to her safety from France, and still pursuing the same selfish policy, until she found that she was placed in a situation of the most imminent danger. Then she dis played as much precipitancy as she had before evinced of indifference to the fall of Europe, and acted with that want of caution and foresight that had brought on all her disasters.

If lord Grenville stated all this re specting Prussia, it was not for the purpose of reproaching that power, nor for drawing a parallel between her conduct and that of other countries. But, as observations had been D 2 made

made on this subject for the purpose of withdrawing the confidence of the people of this country from his majesty's ministers, it became a duty he owed to his own character, and that of those with whom he acted, to throw off all disguise, and to avoid those imputations which concealment only could sanction. At the first moment when there ap peared any serious disposition in Prussia to co-operate with Russia against the cominon enemy, his majesty's ministers thought it their duty to shew that this country would not be wanting in fidelity to its ally, or in any efforts that might advantageous ly be made for the safety of Europe, It had been asked, why lord Morpeth was not sent on his mission until October; or, if it was right not to send him until that time, why did he not remain? Why did he return in November? Why he was not sent until October, he had already suf. ficiently explained. And as to the reason of his return, he asked why he ought to have remained? The king of Prussia did not remain; his army did not remain. Was it thought that lord Morpeth ought, merely for the glory of the affair, to have remained on the field of bat. tle ?The fact, however, was, that not only before the battle of Jena, but even after it, lord Morpeth found it impossible to get any satisfactory answer from the king of Prussia, or his ministers, on the subject of his mission,

Lord Hawkesbury begged leave to observe, that not a word had fallen from him in the least disrespectful to lord Morpeth, of whose merits he entertained the highest opinion,

The question being put on the motion for an address, it was car ried. nem. diss, and a committee was

appointed to prepare and bring in the same; which was accordingly done. On the same day an address, in consequence of the speech from the throne, was moved for in the house of commons by the honourable William Lamb, son of lord viscount Melbourne, who after prefatory observations on the awfulness of the present period, the importance of the present meeting of parliament, and the qualities which ought, and, be trusted, would distinguish its deliberations, remarked that in his majesty's most gracious speech, which had just been read from the chair, their attention was principally drawn to two topics. The first was, the fruitless negotiation with France. Nothing could be farther from his intention than to revive political differences, now almost lost in the disasters in which we were so nearly interested. But he thought, that without any hazard of such a revival, he might say, whether the pacific system so strongly recommended during the last war was practicable or not, that when the advo cates for that system came into power, it was at a time when their hopes of carrying it into effect, must have been considerably diminished. Although at an earlier period France might have been successfully resisted by the pursuance of pacific system, yet the case became far different when so many rivals lay at her mercy; when their re Sources were exhausted; when their territories were dismembered ; when their armies were overcome; and when their spirits were abash ed and dismayed before the overwhelming superiority of France. Under there inauspicious circum. stances, so little calculated to pro duce a pacific disposition on the

part

part of France, or to produce a corresponding inclination on the part of other powers, the negotiation was begun. It was begun because ministers advised his majesty to take advantage of the opening presented by the enemy, in order to put a stop, if possible, to those encroachments which a state of hostility had only increased, and to collect what might be called the relics of the continent, and, by peace, give to various powers an opportunity of recruiting their strength, with a view to future exertions for self-liberation from the oppression under which they groaned

But it was discovered that, if any peace consistent with the honour of this country could be made, France would soon find it her interest to break it, or at least to indulge in farther aggrandizements, wich must eventually lead to its rupture. His majesty's ministers, therefore, ha. ving in the first place so far relied on the good sense of the people of this country, that they would not allow themselves to be buoyed up by false hopes, made an attempt at pacification: but finding that those terms on which alone a peace ought to be concluded, could not be obtained, they preferred war, with all its ca. lamities and burthens, to a peace which, by the abandonment of our allies, must eventually prove more destructive to the country than suc. cessive years of active warfare,

This account of the origin, pro. gress, and issue of the negotiation, appears to be candid, clear, and satisfactory. It is in substance, what was said again and again, when it became a subject of discussion in parliament. The failure of the negotiation had, it was too well known, produced a series of most

disastrous events, succeeding each other with unexampled rapidity. Still it might be reasonably permit ted us to hope, that although Russia might not be able to re-conquer kingdoms and re-establish thrones, she might yet have the power of prescribing a boundary to that inordinate ambition which had swal lowed up every government within its reach.

The other point in his majesty's speech to which Mr. Lamb had alluded as pressing itself on the atten tion of the house, was the burthens demanded by the present posture of affairs, and the internal state of the country, which enabled it to bear them. On these topics Mr. Lamb expatiated in the usual manner, and concluded with moving, "That an humble address be presented to his majesty," &c. &c.

The motion for an address was seconded by Mr. John Smith, who following the course of his majesty's speech, illustrated and enforced the different points it contained, as is usual on such occasions. Speaking of Prussia, he observed, that "to fill up the cup of her misery, in the answer of the French government to the manifesto of the king of Prussia, who to a generous foe would now be an object of compassion, that unhappy monarch is cruelly and insolently taunted with the degrading submissions and temporizing policy which his unfeeling tyrants had so long exacted from him." Of Buonaparte's blockade of the British isles he observed, "that the arrogance of this threat of blockade could be equalled only by its absurdity. The consequence of the declaration only had been well described by a person whom it might be hardly

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decorous to name in that house,the vassal king of Holland. This vassal king, in his address to his unfortunate subjects, himself told them, that the prohibition of the trade of neutrals would give a death-blow to the alrea dy expiring commerce of Holland.” Mr. Canning, after a full declaration of the state of his mind, his feelings on the present occasion, the candour, the principles, and the ends that directed his public conduct, professed, according to his manner, with amplification, his confidence "that there existed in this country resources amply sufficient to meet and brave all the difficult struggles, and to avert all the impending dangers with which we could possibly be threatened; a perfect and sincere confidence; a con fidence founded not on rashness, but on the most mature reflec. tion; a confidence founded on the experience of the past, on the review of the present, and on the anticipation of the future. He trusted that all that might be necessary for him to say in the course of the observations which he should take the liberty of submitting to the house, might be considered with a reference to this declaration. But, with whatever confidence he felt himself justified in looking to the state of our re sources, he also felt how incum beat it was on him and on the house, to look seriously to the situation of the country,-to examine, to deliberate, andto determine, whether all that had passed in the conduct of the state had been without error, or whether some reflections on what had been done, might not have a favourable influence on what was still to do. Assuredly it was in the power of any man, who had turned his attention more parti cularly to public affairs, excn of

such an humble individual as himself, to throw out suggestions to government without the slightest intention of thwarting it, or without the most remote tendency to hurt the feelings of any of the members of which it was composed." This and not a little more being premised concerning himself, Mr. Canning proceeded to a consideration of the address. Mr. Canning's speeches in parliament, notwithstanding somewhat of an air of self-importance, and excessive ver bosity, generally displayed accurate information, as well as good obser. vation and sense. Neither were they altogether destitute of wivacity, by which however, it was evident, sometimes, that he laboured te distinguish them. They were also, on all subjects, very long and very diffuse. So that, except in a very voluminous work, it would be impossible, consistently with any degree of symmetry among the parts, to give even a brief analysis of them. Of his present speech, it may be ob. served in general, that it was a kind of panegyric on the last administration and philippic against the present.

As the great model of his oratory was the late Mr. Pitt, he did not fail to imitate him in what were very prominent features in the public speaking of that minister,— amplification and sarcasm. Of the former, which he carried to a dis. gusting length, a sample has just been given. In his speech on the present occasion we have a specimen, and that not an unhappy one, of either his natural turn or acquired talent for the latter. A new parliament (he said) had been assembled, and they were now, for the first time, about to review the transactions of an administration, composed of men of great talents, who entered upon office not ten months ago, with this particular

particular and distinct declaration, that all those who preceded theth had been in the wrong; that they had clubbed the battalion ;" that every thing required correction and amendment; that nothing was in its place; that our resources were exhausted, our credit destroyed, our faith violated; that we were unable to maintain our own rank among the nations of Europe, and much less to assist others in regaining that which belonged to them. What followed? At the end of ten months, these very gentlemen say that the resources of the country remain unimpaired.-Those who but ten months ago, exclaimed that they were in a state of the utmost dilapidation, now tell us not that they have been retrieved, not that they have been re-established but that they remain unimpaired: that is, that they never have been impaired. It was certainly very satisfactory to every man, that there should be even this stale tribute paid to those who had been formerly loaded with censure. But surely it would be too much to ex. pect that any man who had ever, as he had done, regulated his conduct by, who had followed the footsteps, or who had considered the name of PITT, as connected with the glory and happiness of England, could pass this part of his majesty's speech unnoticed."

Among the various observations made by Mr. Canning on the conduct of the late ministry, was what follows. Prussia, unable to resist the power of France, encroached upon us. We had however the option to pass over the just cause of complaint, which we possessed in consequence, and leave untouched the only power in Europe, which appeared capable of being the germ of an alliance

hostile to the ambitious views of France. But the conduct of his majesty's ministers had been the reverse of this policy. By that conduct Prussia had been compelled to act without our advice and assis tance, and to plunge into a war of which, if our advice could not have prevented it, our assistance might at least have ameliorated the termination. The mere abstaining from interference in the quarrel between France and Prussia was a poor ground of congratulation, and he was astonished that such a topic of consolation could have entered the head of any minister. It ought to have been our care, that the difference between France and Prussia should not have been too suddenly blown into a flame, lest it should have been too suddenly extin guished. He by no means meant to imply doubt of the justness of his majesty's quarrel with Prussia: but, if France, by a nominal and illusory transfer of Hanoverto Prussia, could plant a cause of dissen sion between Prussia and Great Britain, was not this a contrivance of the enemy, which nothing but the simple policy adopted by our government, could be blind to? France found Great Britain and Prussia in amity, with a tendency to coalesce. What was her object? To divide them, and by a pretended transfer to Prussia of the hereditary dominions of the king of Great Britain, to create a war between the two countries.

There were so many topics, Mr. Canning said, on which an amendment to the address might be introduced, that he preferred the substitution of a new address altogether, leaving it to the option of the house which to adopt. He therefore pro-. posed by way of amendment, to D 4

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