in his Councils. In a cafe of fuch high and weighty importance, Sir, it becomes necellary to take a more extenfive view of the queftion, than merely to confine our thoughts to the propofitions themselves, and to look forward to their probable effects on the public fafety and conveniency. In this ftatement of the cafe, Sir, Gentlemen will fee that it will admit of various gradations, and of many different bearings. I beg leave to put it to the Houfe, Sir, that there may be points within the conduct of Minifters with which the majority of the Houfe may feel themfelves diffatisfied; yet it behoves the House feriously and deliberately to confider, whether, at a crifis like the prefent, it would not be moft for the public fervice to provide ample fources for our finan ces; for our national armaments, and for the various branches of our unavoidable expenditure, than to enter upon a question, the effects of which may be attended with confequences which none can forefee. To difplace an adminiftration at fuch a moment, is not the work of a day, or of an hour; and it is highly important for the Houfe to reflect on the interval that it may produce, with an Executive Government interrupted and deprived of its efficient means of conducting its moft effential concerns. Nothing, Sir, in my mind can juftify a measure of fuch a magnitude at fuch a moment, and in fuch a fituation as the country is at prefent placed in, but abfolute neceflity; and even in that cafe, unlefs that neceflity be as ftrong and paramount as the hon. Gentleman who introduced the motion thinks it, I would ftrenuously advife the Houfe to paufe before it fuffers itfelf to entertain a meafure, the refult of which must be to diveft his Majesty of his whole Adminiftration; for certainly the next ftep to adopting the propofitious muft be, to addrefs his Ma jefty to difmifs his Minifters. But, Sir, I fay, this is a queftion that does not reft with the Houfe, but with the Crown, to decide and I leave it to the Houfe, whether it would not, in the cafe of his Majefty, place him in fuch a predicament, as that he fhould be induced to fuppofe the Houfe wished to deprive him for a moment of the inherent right he poffeffes of chufing and appointing his confidential advifers; and I ask thofe Gentlemen, whofe fituations and talents may render them the most likely to fucceed the prefent Minifters, fuppofing his Majefty fhould be induced to part with them, whether they could accept appointments under fuch circumftances, without having their feelings wounded in a manner that could not fail to be irkfome and difagreeable to them

"

Sir, there are many confiderations which weigh deeply on my mind on the prefent occafion-confiderations for the pub. lic fafety—confiderations for the general and multiplied interefts, which, at fuch a momentous crifis as the prefent, demand to be looked to with the moft fcrupulous attention, and the moft fcrutinizing eye. I do feel, Sir, that the fitua tion of the right hon. Gentleman who spoke laft is a very Irkfome one, but I muft facrifice thofe feelings to a fenfe of public duty. If there be any who entertain the fame feelings as myfelf, who do not ge the whole length of the charges, but who think there are circumftances which extenuate the blame they would otherwife attach to the conduct of Minifters, fuch muft be guided by their judgment and their confciences, and cannot vote that in all its parts their conduct has been culpable. And if there are thofe who think the conduct of Minifters has been the reverfe of what I have juft ftated, fuch wiff unquestionably vote for the refolutions propofed. For my own part, Sir, I will not at prefent enter into any particulars, because I fincerely deprecate all fuch difcuffions. If a certain portion of good is not to be obtained by any meafure which is comparable to the mifchief it may occafion, we fhould not lofe a moment to enter upon the question, and to decide it at once. But, Sir, I cannot help thinking that if we were inftantly to enter upon a plan of enabling his Majefty to carry into immediate effect thofe active and vigorous meafures which may be neceffary for the general welfare and fecurity of the country-if we were to grant him a bill of fupply for completing the ranks of our armies and other necellary eftablishments--which may give the most effective energy to the operations it may be ufeful for us to carry on by fea and on land-thefe are objects by which we fhall fooner convince his Majefty of our love and regard for his perfon, and our attachment to, and anxiety for, the honour and dignity of his Crown, and the general welfare and profperity of the nation, than by defiring him to difmils bis Minifters, and thewing a want of confidence in the fe to whom he has entruffed the rule and guidance of his Executive Government. Thefe are the fentiments which I feel, and therefore, without entering further into the motives for doing fo, I fhall conclude by moving that the other orders of the day be now read."

Lord Hawkesbury role, evidently under confiderable agitation. He faid, that never before had he rifen in Parlia

ment. with fuch feelings as thofe that now, oppreffed him. With every with to do juftice to the feelings of his right hon. Friend, in making the motion with which he had concluded his fpeech, he and his colleagues should be thrinking from their duty to themselves, if they could accept the compromife offered, between a direct cenfure and a total acquittal. A charge of crimination, founded upon papers laid on the table, had been brought forward. He alked, if there was an instance in which propofitions founded on fuch documents, and involving the conduct of Minifters, had not been met either with a direct negative or affirmative? A motion of inquiry might be got rid of by a previous question; but when a direct charge was made, grounded on facts, rifing out of public documents, a previous queftion was not the fit way of difpofing of the fubject. No man was more ready than he was to acknowledge the prerogative of the Crown to chule its Minifters: but, on the other hand, Minifters were refponfible to Parliament for the exercise of their functions, and when Parliament faw fufficient grounds of cenfure, they ought to ftate it; and then Miniers, no longer able usefully to ferve the public, ought to retire. Independent of private confiderations, he must contend that the credit of the Govern ment ought to be maintained, particularly at fuch a crifis as the prefent. But he had no difficulty in faying, that thofe who wished to destroy the Administration ought to vote for the refolutions, becaufe that was their obvions tendency, while the vote which his right hon. Friend. had propofed, would have the effect to difcredit Government, to leave them difcredited, in poffeffion of functions which they could not exercife with honour to themselves nor advantage to the pubJic. His right hon. Friend (Mr Pitt) had declined going into details. He wished, however, that he had afforded fome details, that he had pointed out thofe parts of the conduct of Minifters which he could not approve, that they might have an opportuni y of meeting any charge, or explaining what was deemed exceptionable. It was poffible that in a long, an arduous course of conduct, fome points might be liable to objection. In a country like this, however, he always confidered it to be the fair principle, both of fupport and of oppofition to Miniflers, that thofe who agreed or disagreed with them fhould do so on a general fyftem. I was not to be expected that all fhould approve every particular point. They were to overlook minor differences for the fake of giving effect to the general fcheme of measures and conduct

which they approved. Thefe, he had always understood, were the general principles, and he regretted that Mr. Pitt had not made up his mind to act upon hem. He asked whe ther, after furveying the conduct of Minifters during a period of unexampled difficulty, he was not now prepared to fay yes, or no, directly, to a motion of cenfure On the Ruffian armament, he well remembered that his right hon Friend and himself had not thought it sufficient to get rid of a mo tion of censure by a previous question, but in circumftances when the Government in one point had given up, yet the charges were met boldly, and directly negatived. He wished that, on the prefent occafion, Minifters might either be acquitted or condemned. He was fure, from what he knew of his right hon. Friend, that his motives in bringing forward a previous question were pure and upright, but Minifters could not acquiefce in the disoredit of a fufpended cen- fure. If it were the defire of Minifters to retain their places at all hazards, they might accept the compromife which had been offered, but he could fay tor himself and his colleagues, that they had no defire to remain in office longer than they could be useful to their country. If he felt himself reduced to that fituation in which he could not ferve it with advan tage, he would carry the feals to the feer of his gracious-Sovereign, and intreat him to appoint a fucceffor more worthy, It was that they might not remain in office difcredited, and ufelefs, that he muft oppofe the previous question; for he could not think of remaining an hour in office after having forfeited the confidence of the Houfe and the 'good opinion of the country. He must therefore give a dire nega tive to the previous question, as well as to the refòlutions

moved.

Mr. Canning faid, I rife, Sir, under the impreffion of feelings fcarcely lefs painful than thofe which have been (fo much to his own credit) manifefted by my noble Friend who has juft fat down, to flate, in as few words as poffible, the reasons which govern the vote that I am about to give upon the question before you. In giving this vote. whether I look at my noble, Friend, the Secretary of State, or at my right hon. Friend (Mr. Pitt) who has moved the order of the day, I feel a degree of pain and reluctance, which nothing less than a confcientious fenfe of duty could enable me to fubdue. By this over-ruling fenfe of duty,I find my felf compelled to differ, for the firft time in my life, from my right hon. Friend. For the full time in my life, I can

not

not reconcile it to myfelf to concur in the vote which he has recommended, to purfue the courfe in which he leads the way. But let it not therefore be imagined (God forbid !), that in following a different courfe for myfelf, 1 prefume to infinuate the fmalleft blame, to hint a doubt of the propriety of that which, with his view of the fubject, he has chofen for himself, and for those who may come, like him, with unpledged opinions to this difcuffion. Far from itabadmit, and conclude, on the contrary, that whoever in this Houfe has either not completely made up his mind to the extent of that charge against Minifters, a heavy charge undoubtedly, which is contained in the refolutions upon the table, or whoever, agreeing even in opinion as to the juftice of that charge up to its full extent, is perfuaded (like my right hon. Friend) that greater mifchief may be - to be apprehended from pufhing fuch an opinion to a pardiamentary declaration, than from fuffering it to pass by undecided, and to be (if poffible) buried in oblivion; whatever Gentleman there may be, who joins with my right hon. Friend, entertaining thefe opinions, that man is bound, as I think, to adopt the line of conduct which he has fuggefted, and to avail himfelf of the opportunity which is afforded to him of efcaping from a decifion which he could not negative with truth, and which he thinks cannot be affirmed without public mifchief. For myfelf, Sir, I have no fuch refuge open to me. I entertain a deep and full conviction of the truth of all and every one of the charges which thefe refolutions contain: and, unreftrained by the reafons of delicacy, which may naturally and laudably operate on the thind of my right hon. Friend, I have no hefi tation in avowing, that I think the continuance of a blundering and incapable Adminiftration, at a crifis like the prefent, a greater and more certain mifchief to the country than any that can arife from a public declaration by Parliament of its opinion of their incapacity and misconduct. I therefore am perfectly prepared for a decifive vote upon this question. And I am the more defirous of coming to that vote, becaufe, after the manly and impreffive appeal of my noble Friend, I fcel, even if I had not felt it before, that I am not one of those who can, honourably to myfelf, or jully with refpect to Minifters, concur in refufing to come to a decifive vote upon the prefent occafion. I have not difguifed my opinion, I have expreffed my ftrong and growing fufpicions of the mifconduct of Adminiftration on many occafions which have arifen

in