arife from fuch difcuffions at prefent; they would give at least an appearance of divifion in the country, at a time when the most general and decided unanimity was effentially neceffary.

The Earl of Scarborough faid, that he had given his fup port to the late Administration, on the ground that it had faved this country, nay, the world, from annihilation.

Lord De Dunflanville, in a fhort fpeech, ftated, that as Piedmont was in a state of military arrondiffement, before the First Conful annexed Piedmont to the French territory, it made no great difference; as to the French troops invading Switzerland, Minifters had remonftrated with the French Government upon it, and done their duty to prevent the occurrence, by an offer of pecuniary affiftance. Upon the French troops not evacuating Batavia, they had fent the order to retain the Cape. With regard to the declaration of the noble Earl who moved the refolutions, that the people were in high fpirits, and better reconciled to the war than at the former period of it; the reason was, an invasion was threatened, and the people joined heart and hand to repel it, and he doubted not they would do fo again, and cruth the man who dared to attempt an invafion. His Lordthip faid he fhould vote against the propofitions.

Lord Clifton (Earl Darnley) faid, he did not rife to take up the time of the Houfe, after having fo lately occupied fo much of it. He rofe briefly to ftate, that he wished the refolutions had not been purfued, after the fenfe of the Houfe had been taken upon the firft, and the whole tendency of them fo fully debated laft Thurfday. With regard to the firft, he did not object to it, but he could not vote for the other two; nor did he at all approve any thing that bore the appearance of a factious oppofition to Minifters; up to the making of the peace, he thought they acted perfectly right, and had his cordial fupport. Some parts of their conduct he did not quite approve, but he would always difcriminate. and not oppofe all their meafures because he difliked one of

them.

Lord Carysfort rofe next, and faid, he wished to call back. the attention of the Houfe to what was the real object in difcuffion. To do this, his Lordfhip weat regularly through the feveral charges which he had to urge against Ministers, for not making the neceffary reprefentations and remonftrances to the French Government on the various grounds of grievance ftated in his Majefty's declaration, commentK 2 ing

ing upon each as he proceeded. His Lordship followed the order in which they stood enumerated in the three refolutions which had been read, and the fift of which had been moved by his noble Friend, the noble Earl near him; as the laft of thefe refolutions turned upon the ceffion of the Cape of Good Hope, in confequence of the order of the 17th of November, after they had fent out an order to res tain it, dated the 16th of October. He argued at fome length on the inconfiftency of fuch conduct, and laid particular ftrefs on the criminality of it. He concluded with declaring, that he fhould vote for the refolutions, the object of which was to pass a cenfure on his Majefty's Minifters.

Lord Ilobart rofe to repel the arguments which the noble Lord who had juft fat down had urged against Minifters, on the ground of the charge of a confiderable reduction of the military force. He said, that in fact no reduction had been made by Minifters, except of the cavalry, refpecting the propriety of keeping up which, even in time of war, very great doubts had been, and were ftill entertained. The only force that was obliged to be difbanded, was the militia, and that must always neceffarily be the cafe when peace was made. The fentible regiments alfo were difbanded on the fame account, as well as thofe corps which had been raised to ferve only to the end of the war, under the authority of various acts of Parliament. With regard to the thipping, a larger number were kept in commiffion than had been done during any former peace. His Lordflip produced an account of fhips of the line, floops, &c. in commiffion in the years 1764, 1784, and in the prefent year 1803, from which it appeared, that thofe in conimiffion in the year 1781 exceeeded the number of those in commiffion in the year 1764 very confiderably; but that thofe in commiffion in 1803 exceeded the number of thofe in commiffion in 1784, fo much more confiderably fo as almost to double that number.

Having thus clearly fhewn that Minifters had not difarmed the country in the manner, and to the extent, with which they had been charged by the noble Lord oppofite to him, his Lordhip proceeded to take notice of what had been faid about the inconfiftency of their conduct, in refpect to the orders fent out by them, October the 16th, to retain the Cape of Good Hope, and that another order to make the ceflion of it to the Dutch was fent out on the 17th of November. His Lordthis remarked, that it was neceffary to advert to the circumftances under which thefe orders had been fent out by his Majelly's Ministers. They had been

applied

applied to by deputies from Switzerland, for the affiftance of this country, when the First Conful menaced Switzerland, and threatened that he would pour in a confiderable number of French troops, in order to give it a free conftitution. In confequence of the application, Minifters caused a remonftrance on the fubject to be prefented to the French Government, and at the fame time fent Mr. Moore into Switzerland to fee in what fituation affairs were there; and to offer the Swifs pecuniary affistance, provided he should find them able and willing to fight for their liberty, and defend their conftitution. On his arrival, Mr. Moore found that the Diet, thinking themselves unable to refift the overwhelming power of France, had determined to yield, and the French troops were actually in poffeffion of Switzerland. To our remonstrance the First Conful gave no answer at all. Befides this act of aggreffion and violence, the First Conful had, in breach of the Treaty of Amiens, fent more French forces into the Batavian Provinces, which, by the treaty, he had engaged to evacuate, and withdraw the French troops altogether. Alarmed at this extraordinary couduct, his Majefty's Minifters thought it their duty to send out orders, not merely to the Cape of Good Hope, but to the Weft Indies, to their officers entrusted with the care of the different iflands; and which, (by the Treaty of Amiens, were to be ceded to the French and the Dutch), to retain them refpectively. Unfor tunately thofe orders arrived in the Weft Indies, and at Demerara, Surinam, &c. too late to answer the defired purpose, thofe islands having been already ceded. The holding the Cape of Good Hope then became a very different confideration from what it would have been, if they thould have had the good fortune to have been able to detain the whole of the ceffions which had been ftipulated for under the exprefs agreement that Batavia fhould be evacuated, and the French troops marched out of it. Upon confultation, therefore, it was deemed proper to comply with the Treaty of Amiens refpecting it, and hence it was that Minifters thought it their duty to fend out the order of the 17th of November.' 1802, to cede it to the Dutch. With regard to the value fet upon the Cape of Good Hope by a noble Viscount not then prefent, and by the noble Lords oppofite to him, he would again repeat what he faid the other night, that he did not hold it in equal estimation. If he was afked, whether he thought it of no value? Certainly he thould not go the length of anfwering in the affirmative. it had its value un doubtedly,

doubtedly, but not to the extent that other noble Lords attached to it. In the first place, it was not neceffary that ships coming from or failing to India fhould touch at it, and he had been informed from thofe beft acquainted upon the fubject, that no French cruizers could derive any advantage from it. The ufual and the best practice of our Indiamen was to keep at least the distance of thirty leagues from the Cape in their voyages to and from India. In the next place, it was to be confidered that Cape Town could hardly be decmed a port; during the favourable feafon of fix months in the year, hips might lay in Table Bay; but during the fevere and tempeftuous feason, fhips could only lay in Falle Bay, from whence, on account of the boisterous fea, the worst of any part of the ocean, a French man of war or cruizer could put to fea. to fea. But another confideration was the immenfe charge the Cape put us to, while it was in our own hands. It coft this country no less than one million and a half, whereas it would not coft us above four hundred thoufand pounds to send out convoys with the feveral fleets of Indiamen which failed from our ports at home to India, and from India home again. His Lordship faid, before he fat down, he must take that opportunity of anfwering a charge, which he understood had been urged against himfelf, in another place. It had been faid, that he refufed to fee the deputies from Switzerland at his office, and had affigned as a reafon for fo doing," left his doing fo thould give umbrage to the First Conful, and the French Republic.' He did affure the Houfe, that the report was wholly without foundation; the fact was, that he did receive the Swifs deputies twice; once at his office, and once at his own houfe; and he hoped the Houfe knew him better than to believe, that for a fingle moment he have could either degraded himfelf, or difgraced the honour of the country fo much, as to have affigned the dread of giving umbrage to the First Conful, or the French Republic, as a ground of any one part of his conduct as a British Minifter.

The Earl of Suffolk faid, he confidered our Eaft India poffeffions the fheet anchor of this country, and confequently that Malta was a military position which it was of the higheft importance to retain in our poffeffion.

Lord Grenville ftated, that the object of the refolutions was to infer, that it was the duty of his Majefty's Minifters to have remonftrated with the French Government for the aggreffions they had committed; and he contended, that in not

having done fo, their conduct had been highly criminal. He argued against that fyttem of acquiefcence in infult, which characterized the prefent Government. His Lordship was of opinion the resolution should have been taken separately. He recapitulated the charges which they contained, observing that it was the duty of his Majefty's Minifters to have followed up, by ftrong remonftrances and reprefentations, the acts of violence of the French Republic. The fecond charge in the refolutions was partly a proof of the former one, attended with an affertion, that if the aggreffions of France had been followed up with becoming fpirit, it would have been productive of a proper anfwer; or, at leaft, if that anfwer had been contemptuonfly refufed, the filence of the French Government might have been conftrued into a declaration of

It certainly would have been fo conftrued by any government than fuch a one as at prefent directed the affairs of this country. The noble Lord then proceeded to enumerate the aggreffions this country had endured on the part of France. They confifted, he faid, in prohibitions, to the prejudice of our commerce, between the figning of the Preliminaries and the Definitive Treaty of Peace. He could not discover that any remonstrances had been made on the subject of them, no notice had been taken of them in the Definitive Treaty. His Lordship alfe referred to the unjust seizures on the part of France, infifting that they had never been made the subject of the flighteft remonftrance. He next adverted to the arreft of Captain D'Auvergne in the streets of Paris; a more grofs affront was, he faid, never offered to any government, than that was; yet this flagrant detention of an officer wearing the King's uniform had never been refented, even by the flighteft remonstrance. He expreffed his entire disapprobation of the conduct adopted by Minifters during the negotiations; and intimated his intention to enter into an enquiry refpecting the reprefentations which he conceived they had been backward in affording. He spoke of the manner in which they had established the different articles, at the Treaty of Amiens, as unfound, and was ftrongly inclined to believe, that at the period on which the Treaty was figned, Minifters were perfuaded that the fubject of Malta would become a subject of future contention. It was a matter of much wonder, that, notwithstanding the various points which exifted at the making of the peace for further negotiation, as necessary to their final fettlement, that though they had been generally confidered as difficult, and even unlikely to be estab