he observed, that the best thing he could do was to sit down.

Sir F. Burdett said, that having a different view of the present question from any of the gentlemen who had this night delivered their opinions, and not having previously attended any of the debates connected with the cause of the Spanish people, nor expressed what were his notions on that subject, he could not allow the question to go to a vote without shortly delivering his sentiments on the occasion. On addresses proposed to be voted to his majesty, he understood it to be as a matter of right in any member to enter into a discussion of the general interests of the country. It might be disagreeable to the ears of Englishmen to hear the perilous situation of their country described, to have enumerated a train of occurrences more calamitous and improvident, probably, than had ever disgraced any nation on the face of the globe; but still, had he not been instructed by the superior judgment of the Speaker, he should have been of opinion that the honourable member who spoke last, had he not waved the right, was entitled to have proceeded, and might fairly have introduced any parallel instances of atrocity, when told, on the other side, that the act of the emperor of the French, by which this country was precluded from listening to his overtures for peace, was an instance of the most unparalleled atrocity which had ever disgraced any country. He felt no pleasure in recalling to the recollection of the house the calamities and burdens under which the people of this country groaned. He did not wish them to look back to what was past, but with the recollection of past occurrences in their minds to look forward to what yet remained, and to consider well that a continuance in similar courses might ultimately prove fatal to this land. Whatever were the merits of Buonaparté, which unquestionably would not be fairly discussed in that house, it would, at least, be allowed, that he knew the best means of accomplishing the objects he had in view. Having, then, received from him a taunt as to an unprotected part of our dominions, let us take the hint, and by an act of our own render a repetition of the taunt unnecessary. It had been said, that beat a fool in a mortar with a pestle, he would never quit his folly; we had been beat in a mortar for many years, but what had we got but disgrace? If we were to assist the Spaniards, it was the

duty of ministers to see that there was a rational hope of attaining our end. In his opinion there was not any such rational expectation.-The absurdity of acting on the divine right of kings had been the misfortune of this reign. In support of it we had made an unavailing waste of blood and treasure, but we had never yet embarked in any legitimate object. We were now smarting under the effects of war with America, and the burdens with which we were loaded by the corrupt ministers of those days. It suited the right hon. gent. (Mr. Canning) to-night to say, that the internal government of a country should not be interfered with.. How did this doctrine accord with the idea of the contest in which, for the last 15 years, we had been engaged with the French, simply because they chose to alter their internal form of government? Instead of a monument to the memory of the minister who involved us in such a war, he deserved to have lost his head on the scaffold. In addition to the other losses our armies in Spain had sustained, he thought the life of the allant officer who commanded the expedition to have been too dearly sold for Ferdinand VII. If he was rightly informed, there were bulletins in town, in which, notwithstanding the acrimony of the French ruler, he does ample justice to the bravery of our army and its gallant commander. He could not believe that men who, like our present ministers, could see no merit in an enemy, were fit to rule over a generous people. He begged, however, to disclaim the idea of being the advocate of Buonaparté.-As to the general state of the war in Spain, unless ministers proceeded on the fact of the known enthusiasm of the country; if they presumed to take that information on light grounds, they had been guilty of a crime of the deepest magnitude, being a course calculated above all others to produce the greatest calamities. In addition to accurate information on this subject, they should have been able to see that there would be 300,000 men in arms; that all the passes were secured; and that they would be able to fight with every advantage, not subject to the want of food, and that they would only have to fall, if they did fall, in the field of glory. If these things could not be ensured, then their duty was not to have landed a single man, but to have supplied the Spaniards with arms and other necessaries, which might have produced a prolongation of the war. These were the only "two

rational plans of proceeding; instead of which ministers had contented themselves with sending only such a body of men as was sufficient to prevent disgrace to our arms, which the valour of our army could itself effect, but not enough to save the nation from an aching heart. They presumed, too, to trust the British character and honour on the rotten plank of the Spanish government, not excepting even the Inquisition. They had no right to do so; there was no necessity for doing it. With respect to sending money to the Spaniards, it would have well become ministers, before they called for a supply from the exhausted pockets of the people, to have restored the millions of which Spain had been some years ago unjustly pillaged by the government of this country, and which had gone to his majesty under the name of Droits of the Admiralty. This would only have been a restitution of their own property, and while it aided the Spaniards, would have cleared the character of this country, and confirmed our former assertion, that we had seized on their money principally to prevent its going into the hands of Buonaparté. He confessed he should prefer to the amendment now proposed, an address to his majesty, requesting that he would order an inquiry into the grievances of which the public had to complain, and that, as an earnest of the reformation of abuses, he would dismiss his present ministers from his presence and councils. The house was called on for an Address of Thanks. He, for one, had no thanks to bestow; kings were too much exposed to have adulation poured into their ear. It was the cause of the overthrow of too many of the thrones of Europe. We had not heard that any of the kings who had of late years fallen under the dominion of Buonaparté, were in want of courtiers.

It was

fit that the king of England should occasionally hear the truth from his commons, and no better opportunity than the present could possibly present itself. The secretary of state had objected to the idea of this being a sinking country. He (Mr. Canning) might be rising, but the country was sinking. He (sir Francis Burdett) was of that opinion, and there was too much ground to believe it would sink still lower, if a Reform did not speedily take place.

Mr. Beresford denied that his majesty had drawn the sword to support the tyranny of the Inquisition, or any other ty

ranny; but on the contrary declared, that it had been drawn for the purpose of defeating the most atrocious of all possible tyrannies. He did not believe that there was a man in the house who would vote with the hon. gent. on the grounds stated by the hon. baronet who had just spoken. With respect to the negociation, had not government acted as they did, they would have been considered as abandoning the cause of Spain. For his part, he was satisfied that the only danger to which England could be exposed would be peace with France.

Lord Porchester, while he agreed with his hon. friend (Mr. Whitbread) in many observations, deprecated the idea of this being a sinking country, or that there was any necessity of shewing an anxiety to enter into negociation for peace.

Lord H. Petty was satisfied that no peace was to have been expected from the Overtures at Erfurth, but on the abandonment of Spain; and that it was by arms, and not by negociation, that the fate of Spain was to be decided. Our character with Spain was still to be gained, and if we wished to inspire her with a belief that we meant to make an exertion in her favour, our conduct should have been in unison with our declaration, and not calculated to raise any doubt in the minds of the Spanish people as to our sincerity, or that we meant to bring the cause of Spain into our market. With regard to the observations so eloquently urged by the hon. baronet (sir F. Burdett), as to the propriety of taking part in the cause of Spain, whether that was right or wrong, we had already made our election; our part was chosen, and an abandonment of it would have been alike detrimental to our honour and our interest. His lordship deprecated the tone of insult in which the answer of the right hon. secretary was conceived; but at the same time he did not see any mode by which the intentions of the French emperor could have been altered. If the last words of the Address were meant to convey that we hoped the contest was to be persevered in, though in a manner very different from that in which it had been hitherto conducted, he agreed in it. If the object, on the other hand, was to imply an approbation of what was already done, he must protest against any such meaning being put upon it. He did not think this a sinking country, but he was satisfied that nothing had been omitted by ministers to render it so.

Mr. Secretary Canning animadverted upon the inconsistent grounds upon which the gentlemen who opposed his motion justified their opposition, and upon the equally inconsistent grounds of sense of those who agreed with him. But with regard to the noble lord who had just sat down, he could not help expressing his astonishment and regret to hear the unqualified manner in which that noble lord had thought proper to approve of the opinions delivered by the hon. baronet behind him (sir F. Burdett.) To the talents of that hon. bart. and to his sincerity also, no man was more willing to do justice than he was; but, without meaning any thing personally disrespectful to that hon. baronet, he must observe, that he was grieved to hear the noble lord, who was naturally to be ranked among the great men of this country-who was to be looked to as one of its probable'governors declare such an entire concurrence in those sentiments of the hon. bart. which appeared so dangerous in their nature and character. If the evils which the hon. baronet deplored were so grievous, why did he not bring them forward in some distinct and tangible form, and not fasten a general declamation upon a question of this nature? Why not propose some practical remedy for the grievances he complained of such a remedy as any minister could apply-and not continue to repeat his doctrine, that the whole frame of the government was not worth preserving (a loud cry of No, no!--Misrepresentation !' from the Opposition Benches.) The right hon. gentleman vindicated the Replies given to the Notes of both the Russian and French ministers, and contended that there was no just ground for the desponding language which was used with regard to Spain. On the contrary, the hope he entertained and acted upon at the outset, he still continued to cherish that if Spain were true to itself it could not fail to triumph.

Lord H. Petty thought it a very singular proof of unqualified approbation, with regard to the sentiments of the hon. baronet behind him, that he was about to vote against him. At the same time he could not hesitate to repeat, that in the principal part of the sentiments which the house had this night heard from the hon. baronet, and, which were delivered with an eloquence such as could not be soon forgot ten, he cordially concurred; and he would add, that there was no man in whose sentiments he would be more happy to feel it

consistent with his opinion to concur, than those of the hon. baronet.

Sir F. Burdett deprecated the promulgation of an opinion under the sanction of the right hon. secretary's authority, that he had uttered any sentiments injurious to the interests of the country. He appealed to the house whether such an imputation was applicable? Whether the course he pursued this night, as he had uniformly done, in reprobating the abuses that prevailed in the administration of government, could be fairly deemed inconsistent with the profound veneration which he felt for the genuine constitution of this country?

Mr. Sec. Canning said, that his allusion to the hon. baronet's speech referred to the phrase of absurdly contending for loyalty."

"

Sir F. Burdett explained his meaning, that the argument respecting loyalty in Spain was pushed to an extremity inconsistent with the freedom of any nation, and particularly with the constitution of this land.

The question was then put upon the Address moved by Mr. Secretary Canning, and carried without a division.

[DISTILLATION OF SPIRITS FROM CORN.] The Chancellor of the Exchequer, after observing that the Act prohibiting Distillation from Grain would expire within six weeks from the commencement of the present session, expressed a hope that there would be no objection to his moving, even at that late hour, for leave to bring in a Bill to continue the said Act, as frequent opportunities would occur in its progress for fully discussing its merits. He thought it necessary, however, in the first instance, to state that there was a material difference between the Bill he proposed to introduce, and the Act of the last session. The distillation from sugar had gone on in this country under the provisions of the last Act, and the spirit it produced was found to be quite satisfactory; but in Ireland there had been no distillation whatever from sugar; on the contrary, the distillation from grain had been illicitly carried on, and the consumption of that article, which it was the object of the Act to prevent, had exceeded the ordinary amount of former years: from this experience, combined with the circumstance of an abundant harvest of potatoes in Ireland, it was deemed advisable to alter the Act with respect to that country, by removing the prohibition, accompanied however with this provision, that in the event of an enhanced price of grain in

G. Britain, that prohibition should be renewed at the discretion of his Majesty. At present he should only move for leave to bring in a Bill for continuing the act of last session until 40 days after the commencement of the next sessions, leaving it at the discretion of the Crown to suspend the Act at any time, if circumstances should appear to render it expedient.

The House then resolved into a Committee upon the Act of last Session. To a question from Mr. Barham, the Chancellor replied, that it was his intention to bring in two Bills with regard to the objects described in his speech.

On the house resuming, leave was given to bring in a Bill to prohibit the Distillation of Spirits from Corn or Grain in Great Britain, and to suspend the importation of British or Irish made Spirits into Great Britain, or Ireland respectively, for a time to be limited.

HOUSE OF COMMONS.

Wednesday, February 1. [PAPERS RELATING TO AMERICA.] Mr. Secretary Canning presented to the house, pursuant to their Address to his Majesty, the following

PAPERS,

RELATING TO THE CORRESPONDENCE WITH AMERICA, ON CERTAIN ORDERS IN COUNCIL. No. I.-Letter from Mr. Secretary Canning to Mr. Pinkney;' dated Feb. 22, 1808.

I have already had the honour of assuring you in conversation, of the disposition which is felt by the British government to give due weight to the observations which you have made to me, respecting the unfavourable impressions likely, in your opinion, to be excited in the United States, by the duty proposed to be levied upon cotton destined for the use of the enemy, but brought into the ports of this country conformably to the tenor of the Orders of Council of the 11th Nov. last. -You are already apprized, that the principle upon which the whole of this measure has been framed, is that of refusing to the enemy those advantages of commerce which he has forbidden to this country. The simple method of enforcing this system of retaliation would have been, to follow the example of the enemy, by prohibiting altogether all commercial intercourse between him and other states. It was from consideration of indulgence to neutral trade, that the more mitigated VOL. XII,

measure of permitting intercourse under the restraints and regulations of a duty in transitu was adopted; and being adopted with this view, it was not immediately felt by the British government, that there might be à distinction taken by neutral states, with respect to articles the produce of their own soil; and that, while the commutation of prohibition into duty was acknowledged as an indulgence when applied to articles of foreign commerce, of which they were only the carriers, it might be considered as an invidious imposition when applied to their own productions. The moment that this distinction had been explained to the British government, they have been desirous of manifesting every attention to it; and if you, sir, had been possessed of the necessary authority from your government, there would have been no difficulty in entering into a specific agreement with you upon the subject. In order, however, to obviate this objection in a great degree, I have the honour to inform you, that it is intended to be proposed to parliament, that all cotton brought into this country, in conformity to the Orders of Council, should be absolutely prohibited from being exported to the territories of the enemy. But as you are not prepared to take upon yourself to say, that in no case the option would be acceptable, an option will still be left to the neutral owner, either to acquiesce in the total prohibition, or to re-export the article on the payment of such a duty as parliament may judge it expedient to impose. I flatter myself, sir, that this alteration in the legislative regulations, by which the Orders of Council are intended to be carried into execution, will be considered by you as a satisfactory evidence of the disposition of his majesty's government to consult the feelings, as well as the interests, of the United States, in any manner which may not impair the effect of that measure of commercial restriction, to which the necessity of repelling the injustice of his enemies has obliged his majesty reluctantly to have recourse. I have the honour to be, &c. (Signed) GEORGE CANNING. No. II.-Note from Mr. Pinkney to Mr. Secretary Cunning; dated Feb. 23, 1808.

Mr. Pinkney presents his compliments to his excellency Mr. Canning, and has the honour to acknowledge the receipt of his Note of yesterday, relative to an alteration on the subject of cotton in the legislative regulations, by which the late Orders R