On all these grounds, he felt convinced that there never was an occasion on which it more clearly became the indispensable duty of parliament to concur with his Majesty in the declaration of the necessity and justice of the war in which we were engaged, and to assure him of their firm and effectual support. But in giving these assurances, he trusted that other gentlemen felt impressed with the same sense which he did, of the awful importance of the engagement into which they were preparing to enter, and that they considered those assurances, not as formal words of ceremony or custom, but as a solemn and deliberate pledge on behalf of themselves and the nation whom they represented-knowing and feeling to their full extent the real difficulties and dangers of their situation, and of the arduous struggle which it compelled them to endure, and being prepared to meet those difficulties and dangers with every exertion and every sacrifice, which the unex ampled circumstances of the times rendered' indispensable for the public safety. For his own part, although he considered the war as a war of necessity, and one which we could not decline without surrendering both our security and our honour, he should enter upon it with little hope of ultimate success, if these sentiments were not deeply impressed on the minds of parliament and the people. The scale of our exertions could not be measured by those of former times, or confined within the limits even of the great, and till then, unexampled efforts of the last war. He was convinced that some system, far more vigorous and effectual than any even then adopted, would be found necessary, both in our finance, and in the preparation for national defence. On the provisions to be made for these two primary and paramount objects, it would principally depend whether we could effectually disconcert the favourite projects, and disappoint the main hopes of the enemy. It was evident that if they indulged themselves in any expectation of success in the present contest, it was built chiefly on the supposition that they could either break the spirit and shake the determination of the country, by harrassing us with the perpetual apprehension of descent upon our coasts, or that they could im 'pair our resources, and undermine our credit, by the effects of

To defeat the first of these

an expensive and protracted contest. purposes, it was not, in his judgment, sufficient to make those naval and military preparations, which would prevent any invasion that might be attempted from being ultimately successful (an event which he trusted he was justified, in common with others, in considering as utterly impossible,) but to make such vigorous and extensive arrangements for national defence, as might diffuse a sense of the most complete security against even the temporary impression to be produced by such an attempt, and might enable every individual to lay down his head to rest, in the persuasion and confidence that nothing was omitted which could enable us at once to meet and repel the danger, at any moment, and in any quarter, in which it might threaten us.

In order to disappoint the second object-that of wearing out our resources, he trusted the house would from the beginning form its system of finance, not with a view only to the expense which might be necessary in the first year of the contest, but that they would look at once to the possibility of its being protracted to as long a period as that which lately was terminated—that they would consider fully what, on the probable scale of the war, would be the whole extent of the burthens necessary to be imposed on that supposition. He was persuaded, that it could only be by providing, in the outset, means adequate to the whole extent of these purposes, that we could in fact prevent the ultimate amount of our expenses from being unnecessarily, and perhaps intolerably augmented, or that we could ensure the best chance, either of bringing the contest to a speedy conclusion, by convincing the enemy of our sufficiency to maintain it, or could meet its continued exigencies, if necessary, without the annual recurrence of growing and accumulated embarrassments. He trusted, therefore, that his Majesty's ministers would, on their part, feel the necessity of bringing both these points under consideration with all practicable promptitude and dispatch, and that, if possible, not even a fortnight might be suffered to elapse, without enabling parliament to adopt such measures as would convince both France and the world, that we had from that hour provided the means of sup

porting the force, and defraying the expenditure which might be necessary for maintaining our internal security, and for the vigorous and effectual prosecution of the war, to any period to which it could reasonably be supposed to extend. He repeated, that he was aware that these measures could not be effected without material and extensive personal sacrifices, and without great additional burthens, which must to a degree affect the ease, con. venience, and even comfort, of many classes of society-that he lamented these consequences as much as any man, and if he saw any prospect that, by present concession, we could obtain a real and desirable interval of peace, security, and repose, he should be as anxious as any man to avoid the necessity of such arduous and painful exertions; but that, under the present circumstances, a weak and timid policy could perhaps scarcely even postpone the moment when they would become indispensable for our existence, and would infallibly expose us to the certainty, at no distant period,of a similar struggle, with those means given out of our hands which we now possessed, and with the chance diminished of finally conducting it to a successful issue-that we had not an option at this moment, between the blessings of peace and the dangers of war-that from the fatality of the times, and the gene. ral state of the world, we must consider our lot as cast, by the decrees of Providence, in a time of peril and trouble-that he trusted the temper and courage of the nation would conform itself to the dutics of that situation-that we should be prepared, collectively and individually, to meet it with that resignation and fortitude, and, at the same time, with that active zeal and exertion, which, in proportion to the magnitude of the crisis, might be expected from a brave and free people; and that we should reflect, even in the hour of trial, what abundant reason we have to be grateful to Providence, for the distinction we enjoy over most of the countries of Europe, and for all the advantages and blessings which national wisdom and virtue have hitherto protected, and which it now depends on perseverance in the same just and honourable sentiments, still to guard and to preserve.

An amendment to the address was then moved by Mr. Grey, to leave out all the words after the first paragraph, and to insert the following,

"To assure his Majesty of our firm determination to co-operate with his Majesty in calling forth the resources of the united kingdom, for the vigorous prosecution of the war in which we are involved; and to express to his Majesty the satisfaction with which his faithful Commons have received his Majesty's gracious declaration, that he is willing to afford, as far as may be consistent with his own honour, and the interests of his people, every facility to any just arrangement by which the blessings of peace may be restored to his loyal subjects."

The debate was afterwards adjourned to the succeeding day, when upon a division, the amendment was negatived,

COLONEL PATTEN, having previously given notice of a motion of censure against his Majesty's ministers, this day submitted to the House the following resolutions ;

1. "That it appears to this House, from the declaration issued by his Majesty on the 18th day of May last, and laid before this House by his Majesty's command, that the conduct of the French republic, during the whole period which has elapsed since the conclusion of the definitive treaty of peace, is considered by his Majesty's ministers as having been altogether inconsistent with every principle of good faith, moderation, and justice; as having exhibited one continued series of aggression, violence, and insult, and as necessarily creating a thorough conviction of a system deliberately adopted by France for the purpose of degrading, vilifying, and insulting his Majesty and his govern

ment.

2. "That his Majesty's ministers having throughout the whole period, from the conclusion of the definitive treaty of peace, to the issuing of his Majesty's declaration of the 18th day of May last, neither communicated to parliament any knowledge of the sense which they now appear to have entertained respecting the conduct and system of France, nor any regular information of the particulars on which the same was founded, or of the steps taken by his Majesty's government thereupon, have thereby witheld from this House the necessary materials for a due and full discharge of its constitutional

functions; and that, by encouraging throughout the country an unfounded security and confidence in the permanence of peace, they have embarrassed and perplexed our commerce, have deceived the expectations, and unnecessarily harrassed the spirit of the people, and have materially increased and aggravated the difficulties of our actual situation.

3. "That it was the duty of his Majesty's ministers to make timely and adequate representations against such acts as have, in their judgment, consti tuted a series of aggression, violence, and insult, on the part of France. That, by dignified and temperate remonstrances, followed up with consistency, and sustained with firmness, either the course and progress of such acts would have been arrested, without the necessity of recurring to arms, or the determination of the French government to persist therein, would have been distinctly ascer tained, before his Majesty had, by the reduction of his forces, and the surren der of his conquests, put out of his hands the most effectual means of obtaining redress and reparation. That this essential duty appears to have been, in a very great degree, neglected by his Majesty's ministers; and that such their neglect and omission have been highly injurious to the public inter

ests.

4. "That it appears to this House, that on the 17th of October last, counter orders were dispatched by his Majesty's government, revoking the orders before given for the surrender of the Cape of Good Hope, and of the other con quests then held by his Majesty; and that the final order, by virtue of which his Majesty's forces actually evacuated the Cape, was sent on the 16th of November. That on the said 16th of November, the hostile spirit of France had (in the judgment of his Majesty's ministers, as now avowed by them) already been manifested, for more than six months, by one continued series of aggres sion, violence, and insult, for which neither reparation nor redress had, down to that moment, been obtained. That the offensive principle had already been distinctly advanced, of excluding his Majesty from all concern in the affairs of the Continent; that the Spanish and other priories had already been withdrawn from the Order of Malta; Piedmont, Parma, Placentia, and Elba, had been annexed to France; Switzerland had been attacked and subjugated, and the remonstrance of his Majesty's government upon that subject had been treated with indignity and contempt; the territory of the Batavian republic was at that very moment still occupied by the armies of the Chief Consul of France, and its internal administration still controlled by his interference: and the French government was then actually engaged in the pursuit of those plans and measures for the subversion of the Turkish empire, to which his Majesty's declaration refers, as a violation of the treaty of peace. That in directing, under such circumstances, the final surrender of the Cape, without having previously explained or arranged the numerous points of difference and complaint which then actually subsisted between the two governments, his Majesty's