for means of perfecting the plan; and, if regulations and checks could be found to remedy the abuses which had been committed, it was surely wise and proper that they should be made to apply to a more general and extensive scheme than that which had been already tried. It no longer rested upon theory, or upon reasoning; it was recommended by the surest test of experience; and if, by the efficacy of this plan, they had been able to disappoint the hopes of the enemy; to rise above all the attempts which had been made to disturb our domestic tranquillity; to remove the apprehensions of the despondent, and to shew them that all their fears of our inability to continue the contest were vain; to assert the high and proud distinction which we took in the maintainance of genuine government and social order; if they had been able thereby to animate the public spirit of Europe, to revive its dismayed energy, and to give a turn to the political aspect of the world, favourable to the cause of humanity, ought not the House to persevere in a cause which had been so fruitful of good? If they had proved that, at the end of the sixth year of war, unsubdued by all the exertions and sacrifices which had been made, our commerce was flourishing beyond the example of any year, even of peace; if our

revenues were undiminished; if new means of vigour were daily presenting themselves to their grasp; if their efforts had been crowned with perfect success; if the public sentiment were firm and united in the justice and necessity of the cause in which they were embarked; if every motive to exertion continued the same, and every effort which had been made in the cause was a source only of exultation and pride to the heart; if, by the efficacy of these efforts, there was a prospect of accomplishing the great object of all their sacrifices, and all their labours; if despondency were dissipated at home, and confidence created abroad, should not they persevere in a course so fairly calculated to bring them to a happy issue?

Mr. Pitt called upon the House to do justice to themselves. It was not merely owing to the dazzling events of the campaign that the country was indebted for the proud station in which she now stood. Great and glorious as those achievements had been, which could not fail to be a source of exultation to every British bosom, he should not detract from the high renown of all those persons to whose skill, vigour, and resolution, the country was indebted for the exploits which had astonished and aroused Europe, when he said that it was not altogether owing to them, that she now felt

herself in a situation so proud and consoling. The grand and important changes which had been effected in Europe were not merely to be ascribed to the promptitude, vigilance, ability, and vigour of the naval department, whose merits no man could feel, or could estimate, more highly than he did; nor to the heroism, zeal, patriotism, and devotion of our transcendent commanders;-and he spoke particularly of that great commander (Nelson) whose services filled every bosom with rapturous emotion, and who would never cease to derive from the gratitude of his countrymen the tribute of his worth;-nor was it to the unparalleled perseverance, valour, and wonders performed by our gallant fleets, which had raised the British name to a distinction unknown even to her former annals, that they were to impute all the advantages of their present posture.- No, they must also do justice to the wisdom, energy, and determination, of the Parliament who had furnished the means, and the power, by which all the rest was sustained, and accomplished. Through them all the departments of Government had the means of employing the force, whose achievements had been so brilliant ; through the wisdom of Parliament, the resources of the country had been called forth, and its spirit embodied, in a manner unexampled in VOL. VI.

E

its history. By their firmness, magnanimity, and devotion to the cause, not merely of our own individual safety, but to the cause of mankind in general, we had been enabled to stand forth the saviours of the earth.-No difficulties had stood in our way; no sacrifices had been thought too great for us to make; a common feeling of danger had produced a common spirit of exertion, and the people had cheerfully come forward with a surrender of a part of their property as a salvage, not merely for recovering themselves, but for the general recovery of mankind.-We had presented a phenomenon in the character of nations.

It had often been thought, Mr. Pitt observed, and had been the theme on which historians had expatiated, that as nations became mercantile, they lost in martial spirit what they gained in commercial avidity; that it was of the essence of trade to be sordid, and that high notions of honour were incompatible with the prosecution of traffic. Without entering into any examination of the reasons on which this hypothesis was founded, he contented himself with the remark, that its injustice had been proved in England; for, in the memorable æra of the last year, Great Britain had exhibited the glorious example of a nation shewing the most universal spirit of military heroism, at a time when she had acquired the most flourish

ing degree of national commerce. In no time of the proudest antiquity could the people of this country display a more dignified character of martial spirit, than they had displayed during that year, when they had risen to the greatest point of commercial advantage. “And,” said Mr. Pitt," they are not insensible of the benefits, as well as of the glory, they have acquired; they know and feel that the most manly course has also been the most prudent, and they are sensible that, by braving the torrent with which they were threatened, instead of striking balances on their fate, and looking to the average of profit and loss, on standing out, or on yielding, to the tempest, they have given to themselves not merely security, but lustre and fame. If they had, on the contrary, submitted to purchase a suspension of danger, and a mere pause of war, they feel that they could only have purchased the means of future, and more deplorable, mischief, marked with the stamp of impoverishment and degradation; they feel, therefore, that, in pursuing the path which duty and honour prescribed, they have also trod the path of prudence and economy. They have secured to themselves permanent peace, and future repose, and have given an animating example to the world of the advantages of vigour, constancy, and union."