&s&;!> •v ■/' m \ \\ A- . LIBRARY THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA SANTA BARBARA PRESENTED BY MRS. DONALD KELLOGG /i : £npraved by W-BeU. from a ftii/ttifu} by Hoprwr Jt.-l . ftib/i.thr.t -V Landman i'v YfaternArifr Huh: .ffrif iijhs SPEECHES IN PARLIAMENT, OF THE RIGHT HONOURABLE WILLIAM WINDHAM; // TO WHICH IS PREFIXED, SOME ACCOUNT OF HIS LIFE, By THOMAS AMYOT, Esq. « ut civem, ut senatorem — ut virum denique cum prudentid, el dtligentid, turn omni virtute excellentem, probo; oratknes autem ejus valde kudo.'* Cicero. IN THREE VOLUMES. VOL. I. LONDON: PRINTED FOR LONGMAN, HURST, REES, ORME, AND BROWN, PATERNOSTER-ROW ; AND JAMES RIDGWAY, PICCADILLY. 1812. Strahan and Preston, Printers-Street, London. A 50fe> n TO EARL FITZWILLIAM. My Lord, ±N availing myself of your Lordship's most obliging permission to inscribe to you the following Work, I am performing an act the propriety of which will not fail to be con- curred in by all Mr. Windham's friends. The grounds of that concurrence need not be sought for in your exalted rank or more distinguished character ; — they are to be found in the uninterrupted private friendship and political agreement which sub- sisted between your Lordship and the illus- trious person of whom these memorials are collected — in the striking proofs which oc- curred of your kindness and regard for him A 1 IV DEDICATION. — and in the watchful and affectionate soli- citude which your Lordship shewed, and which I, among many others, had the melan- choly gratification of witnessing, during that illness which deprived his King and Country of a faithful servant and most zealous cham- pion. Two years have this day elapsed since the extinction of those talents and virtues, those graces of mind and of heart, which I am persuaded are still fresh and vivid in your Lordship's recollection. That this humble attempt to convey to others that impression of which your Lordship can require no re- newal, may be honoured with your indulgent approbation, is the anxious wish of, My Lord, Your Lordship's most respectful, and obedient Servant, THOMAS AMYOT. Downing - Street^ June 4, 1812. ADVERTISEMENT. AT may be proper to apprize the Reader, that three of the speeches in the ensuing collection, viz. those on the Peace of Amiens*, Mr. Curwen's Reform Billt, and the Bill for preventing Cruelty to Animals J, were corrected by Mr. Windham, and published separately in the form of Pamphlets under his inspection. The five speeches also, on the subject of the Defence of the Country, which immediately follow the speech on the Peace of Amiens §, were revised by Mr. Wind- ham, and published together at Norwich in 1804. Of the other speeches, those which originally appeared in Cobbett's Parliamentary Debates, from the com- mencement of that useful compilation in 1803 till within a few months of Mr. Windham's death, were chiefly seen and corrected by him previous to their publication. But with respect to the speeches prior to 1803, it is much to be lamented, that, owing to causes which are pointed out in the ensuing biographical preface, the reports of them which have been preserved are very imperfect and unsatisfactory ; — so much so, ♦Vol.ILp.i. f Vol. HI. p. 236. $ Vol.111, p. 303. " I will not fail to bear in mind your wishes on the different objects to which they point, should any op- portunity offer of promoting them. Let me beg you to believe me, dear Sir, in the meantime, with sincere concern for the loss which you and Mrs. have sustained, " Your very obedient, " and faithful Servant, « W. Windham." 44 SOME ACCOUNT OF In the following year (1797) Mr. Windham had to deplore the loss of his illustrious friend Mr. Burke, whose memory he ever regarded with the warmest affection, as well as the profoundest veneration. He considered the extinction of such eloquence and wis- dom as a heavy misfortune to the country, in the diffi- culties with which it was then struggling. In a letter to Captain Lukin, dated 16 November 1797, he says, " I do not reckon, it amongst the least calamities of the times, certainly not among those that affect me least, that the world has now lost Mr. Burke. Oh ! how much may we rue that his counsels were not followed ! Oh ! how exactly do we see verified all that he has predicted." On the 10th of July 1798, Mr. Windham married Cecilia, one of the daughters of the late Admiral Arthur Forrest, an officer wfeo attained the highest reputation in his profession, ar. J whose gallant exploit in the year 1758, when with three English ships he attacked and beat off seven French ones, will be ever distinguished in our naval annals. The truly amiable and excellent qualities of Mrs. Windham, and the interchange of affectionate attentions which marked this union from the commencement to the close of it, are topicks upon which it would be grateful but needless to dilate. Of Mr. Windham's political and parliamentary course, during the remainder of the period in which he continued in office with Mr. Pitt, it seems unneces- sary to speak much in detail ; nor indeed could it be done without entering into a historical relation of the MR. WINDHAM S LIFE. 45 events of the war, which would be quite inconsistent with the limited nature of the present narrative. It may be sufficient to observe generally, that he strenu- ously resisted every proposal which was made for seek- ing a peace with the French republick, as well as every measure which, under the specious name of Reform, tended, as he thought, to the subversion of the consti- tution. The union with Ireland at length indirectly occasioned the dissolution of the cabinet. Mr. Wind- ham's own statement on this subject is so explicit and decisive that it may be proper to quote it here, though it will necessarily find a place in another part of the present work *. " When the proposition/' said he, " for the union was first brought forward, I had strong objections to the measure, and I was only re- conciled to it upon the idea that all disabilities attach- ing on the Catholics of Ireland were to be removed, and that the whole population would be united in interests and affections. Believing this to be the case, and finding that impediments were started to this measure much stronger than I was prepared to appre- hend, I relinquished the administration, because I thought the measure indispensable to the safety of this empire." His resignation, which took place in February 1801, accompanied five of his col- leagues ; viz. Mr. Pitt, the Lord Chancellor (Lough- borough), Lord Gremrille, Lord Spencer, and Mr. Dundas. In the new administration, Mr. Adding- n See speech 00 the Irish Catholic Petition, Vol. II. p. 277. 12 46 SOME ACCOUNT OF ton was placed at the head of the treasury, bearing of course the acknowledged character of prime minister. Mr. Windham had been in office nearly seven years, and during that time had effected many regulations by which the army was materially benefited. By one of these, the wives and families of soldiers serving abroad were enabled to obtain information of their relatives with much greater facility and regularity than before ; and the fee which had been customary on such enquiries was abolished. The pay of subalterns, non-commissioned officers and privates, as well as the pensions to officers' widows, were increased by him ; and that admirable institution, the Royal Military Asy- lum, owed its establishment to his humane suggestions and active exertions. In the cabinet it appears that he had differed from Mr. Pitt and the majority of his colleagues, both with respect to the object and to the conduct of the war. He always broadly avowed the opinions which have been before referred to, and which were also maintained by Mr. Burke ; namely, that the legitimate object of the war was the restoration of the House of Bourbon, and that this object could only be accomplished by giving liberal encouragement to the exertions of the Royalists in France. That he was wrong with respect to the efficacy of those means, can hardly be inferred from any actual experience of facts ; for the attempts which were made to succour the Royalists owed their failure to other causes than a want of energy in the persons intended to be benefited by them. Perhaps, when we look to the contest which, with our assistance, 10 i\ir. windham's life. 47 the people of Spain are now so gloriously maintaining, we may be inclined 'to think that Mr. Windham's propo- sition was not so extravagant as it was supposed to be j and that, with similar aid, the inhabitants of the pro- vinces of France might have emancipated themselves and their country from the tyranny of the Jacobins of Paris. He certainly thought the war had been con- ducted on our part with too little attention to the pur- poses for which it had been originally undertaken ; — that it had become a war of shifts and expedients ; a contest for petty and remote objects, rather than for near and vital ones. These opinions he repeatedly expressed to some of his colleagues in long and detailed letters, which were in fact state-papers of a most valuable kind. But his differences with the cabinet, important as they were, did not induce him to relinquish office. His choice lay between those who wished to carry on the war, though in a way which he did not think the most desirable, and those who would not carry it on at all. It was clearly his duty, consistently with his opinions, to support the war itself at all events, however conducted ; and to continue to use such influence as his official situation might afford him, towards recommending that system of con- duct which he thought to be the true one. The emoluments of his office were, as we have al- ready seen, of a very trifling amount, totally inadequate indeed to the rank and station of a cabinet minister ; nor was his retirement accompanied by pension or ad- vantage of any kind. He returned, however, to pri- .vate life, with the gratifying reward of his Sovereign's 48 SOME ACCOUNT OF marked approbation. His Majesty took an early occa- sion of commanding Mr. Windham's attendance at Weymouth, and honoured him, during his stay, with distinguishing proofs of kindness and esteem. During the prorogation of Parliament in 1801, the new ministers settled preliminaries of peace with France and her allies. This measure Mr. Windham regarded, not less in the terms than in the principle, as highly dangerous to the interests of the country. On the first discussion of this subject, which was upon an Address of Thanks to His Majesty, he was unable to deliver his sentiments; but on the following day, (Nov. 4th.) when the report of the Address was brought up, he pronounced the celebrated speech * which he afterwards published in the form of a Pam- phlet, subjoining to it an Appendix, which is valuable for the information ir contains, as wall as for the vi- gour with which it is composed. The definitive treaty, which was ratified a few months afterwards, he considered to be even more censurable than the preliminaries had been; and in conformity with this opinion, he moved an Address to His Majesty on the 13th of May 1802, deploring the sacrifices which had been submitted to by the treaty, and expressing apprehensions for the safety of the em- ' pire, in the immense accession of territory, influence, and power which had been confirmed to France. He prefaced this Address with an eloquent and powerful speech, but after a debate which occupied two evenings * See Vol.11, p. 1. mr. windham's life. 49 the motion was negatived by 278 votes against 22 including tellers. Lord Grenville moved a similar ad- dress in the House of Lords, which was rejected by 122 against 16^ So popular was the Peace of Amiens, that only 16 peers and 22 commoners could be found to disapprove of it ! Mr. Pitt and Mr. Fox, though on different grounds, were found amongst its supporters. In June 1802, the ministers took advantage of a favourable moment for dissolving the Parliament, which had now completed its sixtfi year. The Peace of Amiens had " bought them golden opinions/' which were to be " worn in their newest gloss j" and the returns from the popular elections, with some few exceptions, served to shew that the people approved of the peace and the peace-makers. Mr. Windham, on the other hand, fell a victim to the intrepidity he had shewn in opposing this darling measure. After having represented Norwich for eighteen years, he lost his seat to Mr. William Smith, one of its present members, who had been invited thither to oppose him. In his defeat, however, he had 1356 votes, falling short of his adversary's number only by eighty-three. In the farewell address which he wrote upon this oc- casion (and which was published in the joint names of himself and his colleague, the late Mr. Frere), he ex- pressed his feelings in very strong and emphatic terms. The contest he described to be one of great political importance ; and so the public seemed to consider it, for the loss of this election afforded matter of triumph even to the newspapers of Paris, which, for some time past, had been remarkable for their VOL. I. E 50 SOME ACCOUNT OF coarse and violent attacks on Mr. Windham's antigal- lican opinions. A subscription was immediately set on foot at Nor- wich for the purpose of bringing him forward as a candidate for the county of Norfolk ; and so powerful were the exertions of his friends, that Mr. Wodehouse, who had just before offered himself as a candidate on the same interest, was induced to withdraw himself from the field. Mr. Windham, however, withstood the solicitations of his friends, strongly as they were pressed upon him, and declined a contest which he foresaw would be wasteful and hazardous. He took his seat for the borough of St. Mawes, which the kindness of the Grenville family had secured for him as a retreat, in the event of a repulse at Nor- wich. His friends at the latter place, though his political connexion with them no longer existed, were unwilling to extinguish all recollection of it. They celebrated his birth-day by annual meetings, which were fully attended ; and they gave themselves the additional satisfaction of placing in their public hall, by means of a subscription, a well-executed portrait of him by the late Mr. Hoppner, from which has been taken the whole length mezzotinto print by Reynolds, now become familiar to the public eye. During the first session of the new parliament, the bad faith of the French government, which had been the subject of his predictions, was revealed to the country by the ministers, to whom in fact it had be- come apparent very soon after the ratification of the Definitive Treaty. War appeared inevitable j and MR. WINDHAM S LIFE. 5 1 though Mr. Fox and some of his friends at first recom- mended that means for preventing it should be sought for through the mediation of Russia, yet, after the first shock had ceased to be felt, all ranks and descrip- tions of persons throughout the country prepared to engage in the new contest with alacrity and vigour. By a man influenced more by individual, and less by public feeling, than Mr. Windham was, this fulfil- ment of his predictions might have been considered as affording a proud triumph of opinion ; but such a sentiment, if momentarily excited in him. was effec- tually damped by others of a graver kind. Though he had blamed the peace, he lamented but did not oppose the sudden renewal of hostilities. He regarded it as an evil, but in the choice which was then held out to us, as a less evil than the continuance of the peace would have been. The following extract from a letter which he addressed to the writer of this nar- rative, before the actual declaration of war had been made, and before the country had shewn the dispo- sition which was afterwards so strongly manifested, may serve concisely to describe the impression which, the anticipation of war had made upon him : — (C Pall Mall, May ij, 1803. A great ferment is, I conclude, excited by the sort of assurance which we seem to have now, that war must take place. I say sort of assurance, for I can hardly yet persuade myself that something of a hope in the minds of the ministers is not still in re- serve. This, at least, one may venture to say, that E 2 52 SOME ACCOUNT OF unless the country be made fully sensible of its danger, and bestir itself in a way far different from what it does at present, the war can lead to nothing but dis- grace and ruin, producing consequences nearly as fatal as even peace itself would have done. Nothing can be a greater mistake than to suppose that those who de- plored the Peace of Amiens must therefore rejoice in the recommencement of war. One of the reasons for deploring the peace was, the foreseeing that war, when- ever it should take place again, must recommence in circumstances of immense disadvantage. Still greater must those disadvantages be, if the country return to war, with no adequate feeling of its situation, and, in consequence, with no disposition to make those efforts, and to submit to those privations which can alone give it a chance of success. This only I feel cer- tain of, that we must soon have perished in peace ; and this effect at least may result from war begun even as this seems likely to be, that it may stop the pro- gress of the ruin which was before coming fast upon us. Whatever the feeling and temper of the nation may be, our means of resistance are certainly greater than they were likely to be at a later period ; including always in the estimate of the decrease of our means, the rapidly increasing power of France. When peo- ple compare the circumstances in which war is to be begun, with those in which it might have been con- tinued a year and a half ago, they will begin perhaps to suspect that those who advised them to continue war then, were not altogether in the wrong. They certainly cannot complain that the experiment of the MR. windham's life. D'J peace has failed in consequence of any interruption from those who originally declared against it. They have the full' blessings of their own counsels." Deeply impressed with these sentiments, he opposed with considerable warmth the measure which Mr. Fox recommended, of seeking an adjustment of differences through the mediation of Russia ; and he urged, on the contrary, the immediate adoption of the most vigorous means for the defence of the country. Of this description, however, he did not consider the measure proposed by the ministers for raising, by a scheme of ballot and substitution, what was called an Army of Reserve ; nor was he disposed to approve of the indiscriminate employment of a large and expen- sive establishment of volunteers. . His speeches on these subjects not only contain some of the most amusing specimens of his eloquence, but may be re- garded, perhaps, as valuable essays on military topics, from which those who remain unconvinced by his arguments, may glean much useful information, con- veyed to them in a pleasing and popular form *. To the volunteers he was falsely represented as an enemy. He admired and uniformly extolled the spirit which they manifested in the moment of danger ; as well as their total disregard of personal inconvenience and privations. But while he admitted their useful- ness if employed as light independent bodies, trained * See Vol. II. e 3 54 SOME ACCOUNT OF as marksmen, and not clogged with the discipline of regulars, he lamented to see them formed into bat- talions, and attempted to be forced by a kind of hot- bed into troops of the line. To hang on the rear of an invading enemy, to cut off his supplies, to annoy him from concealed points by keeping up an irregular fire, were services which he conceived volunteers might easily learn and skilfully execute ; but the steady and exact discipline which is required from troops destined to face an enemy in the field of battle, he thought their previous habits, unsuitable avocations, and scanty means of receiving instruction, would to- tally forbid them from attaining. The history of the glorious struggle which has since been maintained in Spain will furnish a strong confirmation of the accu- racy of this distinction ; for it will be recollected that the hasty levies of the patriots have been almost uni- formly repulsed and scattered, when they have ven- tured directly to oppose the enemy in the field ; while, on the other hand, their activity as irregular troops has principally enabled them to protract for four years a contest against armies formidable in numbers as well as in discipline and experience. There were other objections which Mr. Windham conceived against the volunteers, constituted as Government allowed them to be. The expence which he considered to be unne- cessarily incurred in dress and in pay, as well as under many other heads, he did not fail to protest against ; and his complaints were still heavier with respect to the distribution of rank which was lavishly bestowed mr. windham's life. 55 amongst the officers of the volunteer establishment, and which he conceived must prove not only offensive to the regular officers, but, in case of actual service, even dangerous to the country. The exemptions too, which were granted to volunteers, he regarded as highly mischievous, from their tendency to lock up men from better descriptions of service. None df these objections, however, applied to the volunteers themselves ; but were directed merely against their constitution, for which they were not to be blamed. It may be safely affirmed that he was entirely friendly to the volunteers as men, and disposed to turn their services to the best account of which he conceived them capable. It was not in the House of Commons alone that he recommended activity and vigour. He gave his full attention, during the autumn of this year (1803), to the defence of the county of Norfolk, where (besides raising a company of volunteers at Felbrigg, of which he was first the captain, and afterwards the colonel, on its being joined by Government in a battalion with other corps), he personally surveyed a great part of the coast, attended the meetings of Deputy-Lieu- tenants, and strongly urged the necessity of vsome local measures of defence, which, however, were not adopted. At one of these meetings, he proposed a set of resolutions containing some accurate and detailed information relative to the state of the Norfolk coast ; these resolutions were not passed, but the author of this sketch has in his possession a copy of them, e 4 $6 SOME ACCOUNT OF which, for obvious reasons, it would be improper to publish *. He returned to his parliamentary duty in November 1803, at the opening of the session, in the course of which a change took place in the state of parties for which the publick seemed scarcely prepared. In order the better to understand the causes which led to this change, it will be necessary to look back to the period which immediately followed the dissolution of Mr. Pitt's cabinet in 1801. — The members of that cabinet who resigned their seats will be observed almost im- mediately to have discovered differences of opinion amongst themselves, and the Peace of Amiens served to complete their disunion. Mr. Pitt and many of his friends approved of the Peace, or at least of the principles on which it was formed ; and gave their general, though not unqualified, support to Mr. Ad- dington's administration; while, on the other hand, Lord Grenville, Lord Spencer, and Mr. Windham warmly opposed the ministers on the subject of the Peace as well as occasionally on other measures. From this opposition had sprung a party at first more formidable in talents than in numbers, consisting of the three ex- ministers last named, of the immediate connexions of the Grenville family, and of the surviving personal friends of Mr. Burke ; — the latter class including the highly respectable names of Lords Fitzwilliam and Minto, Mr. William Elliot, and Dr. Lawrence. From * Mr. Windham took occasion to refer to these resolutions in his fir6t speech in the ensuing session, on the 23d Nov. 1S03. MR. WINDHAM S LIFE. 57 this small hostile band, the ministers appeared for a time to receive but little annoyance, backed as they generally were by the powerful aid of Mr. Pitt and his friends; and having also, by a course of con- ciliatory measures, drawn over to their support some of the partizans of Mr. Fox. Among the latter, Mr. Sheridan became the open defender of the ministers, while Mr. Tierney gave them the full weight of his talents, by accepting an office at their hands. The opposition, too, of Mr. Fox and his remaining friends became only occasional, and was by no means con- ducted with the warmth which had characterised it in the time of Mr. Pitt's administration. The Peace of Amiens, as has been already seen, had even met with Mr. Fox's approbation. But on the renewal of the war, an opinion of the insufficiency of the ministers to con- duct it seemed at once to prevail amongst all the other parties of the house ; and all of them, though at first without any actual concert or arrangement, fell into an undisciplined yet effective opposition. The great questions on which they had so long differed were now at rest ; — the French revolution had totally changed its course ; — the war of 1793 was at an end ; — the Peace of Amiens could not be recalled or amended. But a new question had arisen of vital importance to the country, namely, the conduct of the new war ; and on this point, if the parties in opposition did not fully agree amongst themselves, they at least much more widely differed from the ministers than they did from each other. The party of which Lord Gren- ville was considered as the leader in one house and 5 8 SOME ACCOUNT OF Mr. Windham in the other, had in the- meantime received a considerable increase of strength, both with respect to actual numbers, and to the confidence which, owing to the fulfillment of their predictions, the country had now begun to repose in them. It was in this state of things that the writer of this pre- face received from Mr. Windham a letter, from which the following is an extract : — " Pall Mall, January i, 1804. " Upon the subject of coalitions, on which so much appears now, in the way of discussion, and on which you say there is so much anxiety in various quarters, I will write more another time ; unless indeed, as I expect, I shall have an opportunity soon of talking with you, having settled at present, in consequence of these increasing reports of immediate invasion, to come in the course of the week into Norfolk. Writing or speaking, however, I can tell you nothing in respect to fact, as I know no more of any form of coalition, actually begun or projected, than is known to all the world. All that I can do is, to point out the odd in- consistency of persons, who, while they are declaiming continually against party, and exhorting people to forget their former differences, and to unite for the general interest, are ready to fall with all possible violence upon those who take the first step in obedi- ence to that call. This inconsistency indeed is so obvious that it hardly seems to require being pointed out. Do they mean only to say, that you ought to unite with those with whom you are already united ? mr. windham's life. 59 This would seem to be an exhortation not very neces- sary. And if you are to go bevond that, is the union to be with those with whom, disagreeing formerly, you now agree, or are vou to take for your associates those with whom you agreed formerly, but now disagree ? The nature of the thing seems to admit no other choice." In a few days after the date of this letter, the author of this narrative received another from him, containing more detailed observations on the same subject : — " Pall Mall, January 5, 1 804. " With respect to coalitions, I am sorry that opi- nions take the turn which you describe ; for though nothing has been either said or done on that subject, that I know of, between any of the parties, such is evidently the point to which they seem in a cer- tain degree to tend, and to which it is most devoutly to be wished that they should tend. What upon earth is it that people would have, or are wishing for ? Is it desirable that such a man as Mr. Fox, powerful as he will be, in spite of all that can be done to prevent it, should for ever adhere to a system of politicks in which those who are supposed to mean the good of the country cannot join him ? If he does not adhere to such a system, that is, if he has either been taught by experience that his system is wrong, or rather, putting all change on his part out of the question (which is the truer way), if on the questions of the present moment, he thinks as one would wish him, \ 00 SOME ACCOUNT OP is one not to co-operate with him, is one not to con- cert, to communicate with him, for giving effect to the opinions thus held in common ? Upon what principle of common sense, or of common honesty, is this to be refused ? Or how is the state ever to be served, or publick business ever to be carried on, if this is not the case ? Men who have once differed upon any great question, must continue to differ for ever j till, in the course of not many years, no two men of any consideration will be found whom it will be possible to put together ; and then that will happen which does happen, that a party will be formed out of all the underlings of all parties, whose oppositions have been just as great, and whose coalitions therefore must be just as monstrous, according to the phrase used, but of whom nobody complains, because neither their junctions nor oppositions have been matters that peo- ple have much troubled themselves about. But the way in which I wish people to satisfy themselves upon this subject is, by endeavouring to state their objec- tions. They will find, I think, a confirmation of the opinion which they wish to confute, in the impossi- bility which they will be under of shewing it to be wrong. At least, it is fair to ask that the accusation should be distinctly stated, before an attempt is made at defence. If Mr. Pitt, Mr. Fox, Lord Grenville, myself, &c. should agree upon any question or measure, what is there immoral or wrong in our communicating, and concerting together, upon the best means of carrying it into effect ? I might add, though it is not necessary, what is there that should make such an 12 mr. windham's life. 6i agreement, upon many points, either impossible or very unlikely ? The agreement I am speaking of ; — the concert in consequence may from a thousand causes be sufficiently unlikely, and those causes, perhaps, far less creditable to the parties than their union would be." As the session proceeded, the three parties which had thus accidentally fallen into the same ranks, found opportunities of cementing their strength, and of carrying on conjoint operations, very formidable in their nature to those whom they assailed. A motion made by Mr. Pitt, on the 15th of March 1804, for an enquiry into the state of the navy, had the effect of uniting in its support his own friends with those of the Grenvilles, Mr. Windham, and Mr. Fox ; — and though it was negatived by a majority of 7 1 , an opi- nion began rather generally to prevail that Mr. Ad* dington's administration was not long-lived. In its stead, the country seemed to expect that a ministry would be formed on a broad basis, uniting all the parties then in opposition, and having in its cabinet the two great rival leaders who had for twenty years divided the suffrages of the nation. From such an union, strengthened by such powerful auxiliaries as Lord Grenville, Lord Spencer, and Mr. Windham, the highest advantages were confidently looked for. In a letter which I received from Mr. Windham, dated the 29th of March, after adverting to recent divisions in the house, and to the opinions which were enter- tained of a change of ministers, he added the follow- • ing passage : " What the ministry may be that will 62 SOME ACCOUNT OF come in the place of the present one, it is difficult to say. I shall clearly not be a friend to any that does not fairly try to be a comprehensive one." It appears, therefore, that the decision upon which he afterwards acted, had thus early been resolved upon. On the i ith of April, upon the third reading of the Irish Militia Bill, another trial of strength took place, in which the numbers of the allied oppositionists ap- proached very near to those of the ministers ; being 107 against 128. An allusion to this division, and to its probable consequences, is contained in a letter ad- dressed to this writer by Mr. Windham, from which is taken the following short extract : — " Pall Mall, April 19, 1804. " The late division has, I suppose, set the politicians of Norfolk speculating, as well as the politicians here. The opinions of the learned seems to be (I am not one of the learned) that the fate of the ministry is pretty much decided ; not of course by the mere effect ef that division, but by the causes that led to it. I sup- pose the fact may be, that, bating the respite which they get by the present state of the King's health, they can hardly hope to stand long. Then will come the question of what is to succeed them ; and to this, I am far from professing to be able to give an answer. I think I have a guess, and that guess is not favourable to any arrangement of which I am likely to make part." mr. windham's life. 63 The ministers, however, fell only by repeated attacks. On the 23d of April, Mr. Fox moved for a com- mittee to consider of measures for the defence of the country. This motion received the support of Mr. Pitt and Mr. Windham, and of their respective friends, amounting in all to 204 against 256. A division, two days afterwards, on the Irish Militia Bill, proved still less favourable to the ministers, who could count only 240 votes against 203. By these latter divisions, the fate of Mr. Addington's administration was decided. Mr. Pitt, in submitting a list of names to the royal consideration, not only in- cluded that of Mr. Fox, but is said to have earnestly and warmly recommended his admission into the new cabinet. But the attempt proved unsuccessful, and Lord Grenville, Lord Spencer, and Mr. Windham de- clined in consequence, to take their seats in a cabinet which was not to be formed on the extensive plan of including the heads of all the parties who had been acting together in opposition. Mr. Pitt, however, accepted the premiership, taking with him Lord Mel- ville, and others of his immediate political friends, to whom were joined Lord Hawkesbury, Lord Castle- reagh, the Duke of Portland, Lord Eldon, and some other members of the preceding cabinet. Mr. Windham was now. once more the ally of Mr. Fox, and the adversary of Mr. Pitt ; — a situation which unjustly exposed him to a charge of incon- sistency. Though little inclined to admit that any deliberate act of Mr. Windham's life could require apology, the writer of this narrative may, perhaps, be 10 64 SOME ACCOUNT OF allowed to offer some considerations which here na- turally suggest themselves, and which, if they are too obvious wholly to have escaped notice, have not before been presented collectively. Mr. Fox, it will be remembered, besides having been his personal friend and school-fellow, was, from the commencement of his public life to an advanced period of it, his political leader. Mr. Fox, too, was one, who, whatever failings might be imputed to him, had always been described by his sharpest adversaries as " a man made to be loved * ;" and who, whatever might be thought of his opinions, certainly could never be charged with having dissembled them. With him, Mr. Windham had deplored the war with our colonies ; ■ — with him he had arraigned the principles which placed and maintained Mr. Pitt in office ; — and with him, in short, he had generally concurred up to the period of the French Revolution. Out of that event, questions had arisen of such paramount importance, that men who could not view them in the same light, could no longer hold political communion. They were questions at once so novel, that those who before agreed upon every thing might easily differ upon them, and yet so pervading, that those who unhappily dif- fered upon them, could no longer agree upon any thing. Hence, as has been shewn in the course of this narrative, arose the separation of Mr» Windham from Mr. Fox. But there was nothing necessarily eternal in that separation ; — nothing that should pro- * Mr. Burke. mr. windham's life. 6$ long it beyond the existence of the events which had caused it. On the other hand, his connection with Mr. Pitt sprang from necessity, not from choice. To that eminent statesman he had for many years politi- cally opposed himself ; but in the new circumstances of the times, he thought, or rather yielded to the judgment of others who thought, that to enrol him- self as a member of Mr. Pitt's cabinet was the only way to render his services useful to the country. This again was not an act to be for ever binding. The French Revolution had caused it ; — the anti-revolu- tionary war had prolonged it ; — and with the expira- tion of that war, it seemed naturally to terminate. Fully as Mr. Windham approved, and to the latest period of his life continued to approve, the war itself, as well as the general tendency of the measures which Mr. Pitt pursued for checking the progress of revo- lutionary principles, yet the Peace of Amiens served to shew that on many points relating to the object and conduct of the war, their views had been totally different. At the commencement of the present war, the questions, which for ten years divided the country, had ceased to exist. The French Revolution, in the progress of time, had totaHy changed its shape. The republic, pretending to have liberty and equality for its basis, was transformed into a military despotism, which acknowledged no law but the sword. France no longer sought to seduce other nations by offers of i fraternization : conquest, not aHiance, was now her ambition ; and to gratify it, fire and sword were to be VOL. I. F 66 SOME ACCOUNT OF l carried into every capital of Europe. In this country, there was no time to waste in canvassing former ques- tions, or fighting over past battles. It was too late to enquire how, and at what stage of it, the danger might have been averted ; — it had already reached the door, and must be manfully met. On this most pressing of all subjects — the means of defending our- selves — Mr. Windham and Mr. Fox certainly thought precisely alike, while Mr. Pitt differed from them in some important particulars. They were all of them ready indeed, in this hour of alarm, to try the effect of their consolidated efforts ; but the union of two of them being unhappily frustrated, Mr. Windham was left to choose his course. Was he to join Mr. Pitt with whom he differed, or Mr. Fox with whom he agreed? Had both Mr. Fox and himself become members of the new cabinet, their opinions on the question of defence might have been adopted j but without Mr. Fox's co-operation, Mr. Windham could hardly have hoped that his advice would prevail, against numbers, and the weight of Mr. Pitt's authority. He had not, indeed, so much at heart the adoption of any favourite measure, as the prevention of plans and systems which he foresaw would impoverish our means of resistance, and which he might better oppose openly in parliament, than he could have done almost singly in the cabinet. This consideration alone might furnish a sufficient motive for the decision he adhered to, but there were other points of agreement between Mr. Fox and himself, which must have had their influence ; particularly the opinion they entertained in common, mr. windham's life. 6j concerning the relief sought for by the Catholics of Ireland. In such a situation, to use Mr. Windham's words before quoted, " Is the union to be with those with whom, disagreeing formerly, you now agree? Or with those with whom you agreed formerly, but now disagree ?" It was in fact a question, not of men, but of measures, as the former one had been in 1794. Those who, looking at either of those periods, can consider the questions to have been merely of Fox against Pitt, or of Whig against Tory, would seem to have no very enlarged notion of the difficul- ties and dangers which surrounded the country. But still, it will be said, there were other points, of no light consideration, upon which the agreement of Mr. Fox and Mr. Windham would have been in- consistent and unnatural. This is perfectly true ; but they were questions which did not then press for decision ; and whenever they might be brought for- ward, no such agreement upon them was necessary. It should always be recollected, that, though Mr. Windham usually acted with a party, because he thought that his public services were thus rendered more effective, yet he was never what is commonly called a " thorough party-man j" — he never scrupled to leave those with whom he generally sided, when his judgment was at issue with theirs. On the question, for instance, of a Reform of Parliament, it will be remembered that he opposed Mr. Fox at a time when he was considered as a member of that stateman's party. There was nothing in their re-union that should pre- vent such a difference from recurring, whenever the f 2 68 SOME ACCOUNT OF occasion might again arise ; and, in fact, their subse- quent course proved that neither of them considered himself to have formed a compact of so monstrous a nature, as to preclude the free exercise of his judg- ment on any subject that might be presented to him. It may be further observed, that whatever praise or blame might attach to the act, Mr. Windham was only entitled to share it with many others. Lord Fitzwilliam, Lord Spencer, and all those distinguished persons who, in company with Mr. Burke, had se- ceded from the Foxites in 1793 (the Duke of Port- land alone excepted), were, in every respect as re- sponsible for this new coalition as Mr. Windham him- self was. And not these alone ; — for Lord Grenville — the near relative of Mr. Pitt — who for almost twenty years had supported and shared in his admini- stration — who had in consequence been uniformly opposed to Mr. Fox — and who had no knowledge of him but as an adversary ; — even Lord Grenville con- sidered the circumstances of the times to be such as to require him to relinquish old connexions, and to form new ones, with the sacrifice of power, of office, and still more, of the confidence perhaps of many, if not most of those with whom he had so long acted. In fact, a new order of things had arisen, and men were no longer to be spell-bound by former alliances, but were called upon to pursue that course alone which, in the circumstances of the moment, seemed best calculated to avert the impending daager. But if the question were to be decided by authority — if a name alone were wanted to sanction the act — mr. windham's life. 69 it would be sufficient to observe to those who are most forward in blaming Mr. Windham, that the coalition they condemn was one in which Mr. Pitt himself was ready to join him. Without feeling the ties of former friendship, without even concurring with him on the questions of the day, Mr. Pitt had joined in opposition, and was ready to meet in office his great political rival, who for twenty years had been the soul of a party that had arraigned him and all his measures ! No blame is imputed to Mr. Pitt for this seeming inconsistency. On the contrary, it is justly regarded as a splendid instance of magnanimity ; and it is only to be regretted that circumstances prevented these two illustrious men from holding out to minor politicians an example highly worthy of their imitation. But this inference at least may be safely drawn — that, on comparing the motives to such an union with Mr. Fox, if Mr. Pitt could be justified for assenting to it, Mr. Windham would have been deeply culpable in rejecting it. The reader, it is hoped, will pardon this long pause in the narrative. The writer will be satisfied if the worst that shall be said of it, be, that it was un- necessary. In June 1804, soon after the change of administra- tion, Mr. Pitt brought forward his Additional Force Bill, more generally known afterwards by the name of the " Parish Bill," the recruiting under its provisions being intended to be effected by parish officers. Mr. Windham opposed it in two able speeches, reports of which will be found in the ensuing collection. The bill, however, passed both houses. F 3 •JO SOME ACCOUNT OF In the course of the ensuing session, (21st of Feb- ruary 1805,) he called the attention of the house in a long and luminous speech, to the state of the defence of the country ; but on this question the minister was again triumphant. He also took occasion, on the 14th of May following, to pronounce his opinion in favour of the claims of the Catholics of Ireland. This was a topic which he had much at heart. In a letter to his friend, Sir John Cox Hippesley, which has been preserved by that gentleman in a late valuable publication, he has expressed his sentiments on this subject with so much force and perspicuity, that, ex- tensively as it has already been circulated, the reader probably will not be sorry to find it transplanted into the present work. It is with great pleasure, therefore, that the author avails himself of Sir John Hippesley's obliging permission for republishing the letter alluded to, in the Appendix to this narrative *. The value of Mr. Windham's authority on this question has been highly appreciated by the present truly amiable and enlightened Bishop of Norwich, who, in his speech in the House of Lords, on the 1 8th cf June 1 8 1 1 , in favour of the Catholic claims, after observing that the question is not to be considered as a point of the- ology, which is to be settled by divines or by theorists in their studies, but as a great question of state, to be determined by enlightened practical statesmen, adds that " the judgment of four such men as Mr. Burke, Mr. Pitt, Mr. Fox, and Mr. Windham, carries far * See Appendix (D). mr. windham's life. 71 more weight with it upon a question like this, than the judgment of both the universities, and indeed all the divines that ever sat in convocation under the dome of St. Paul's, or in the Jerusalem chamber, from the reformation to the present hour." The remainder of the session of 1805 was chiefly occupied by the proceedings against Lord Melville, in which Mr. Windham took but little part. He con- curred indeed in the several votes for enquiry, but declined taking a personal share in it, considering him- self disqualified for such a duty by " the official con- nexion which he had had with Lord Melville, the social intercourse thence arising, and the impression made on his mind by the many amiable and esti- mable qualities which the Noble Lord was known to possess." Towards the close of the session, he took occasion to call the attention of Government to the case of the gallant Captain Wright, of the royal navy, the friend of Sir Sydney Smith. This meritorious officer was unjustly suffering a severe imprisonment at Paris, con- trary to the rules of war, as observed amongst civi- lized nations. Some months after this appeal in his favour, he was deprived of his miserable existence. The manner of his death was never correctly ascer- tained ; but from the testimony of a gentleman who was a prisoner with him in the Temple, it appears that he had more than once declared, that, whatever cala- mities he might be doomed to suffer, he would never so far forget his firmness as a man, and his duty as a christian, as to seek relief in an act of suicide. He f 4 "J 2 SOME ACCOUNT OF therefore formally cautioned his friends not to credit the reports which he foretold would be given out by the Government of France, in the event of his death. It is certain that he was living a fortnight after his de- cease had been announced in the newspapers. His existence latterly was only known to his fellow-pri- soners by his playing on a flute, which had long been the amusement of his solitary hours. The expectation of a vacant seat for the University of Oxford, occasioned, in the summer of 1805, an active canvas for Mr. Windham, on the part of his friends, who were naturally desirous that one of the most honourable distinctions which the University could bestow, should be conferred on so celebrated a member of it. The prospect of such a seat was, on every account, highly desirable to Mr. Windham, but the vacancy did not then take place ; and when it afterwards occurred, he had engaged himself in a contest for Norfolk. It was about this time that a report was circulated in Norfolk, that, in a letter to Mr. Coke, his early and much-valued friend, with whom he was once more on terms of political agree- ment, he had renounced some of the opinions which had been entertained by him during the period of his acting with Mr. Pitt. This rumour was mentioned to Mr. Windham by the writer of this narrative, who, in reply, received a letter which may deserve publica- tion, on account of the clear and decisive manner in which the opinions in question are recognized and asserted : — MR. WINDHAM'S LIFE. 73 • cc Pall Mall, October 7, 1805. I have requested Mr. Lukia, who leaves town for Norwich to night (and was very near having his offer accepted, of staying till to-morrow and taking me with him) to set you and my friends right on the subject of the reports which you mention, by an assurance that there is not a word of truth in them. It is neither true that any thing to the effect stated was said by me to Mr. Coke, nor that any such alteration of opinions on my part has ever taken place. What are these opinions which they suppose me to have changed ? That the French revolution was not a sys- tem of liberty, nor much conducive to the happiness of mankind ? I should have thought that all the world was now pretty much of that way of thinking. That if not opposed and destroyed, it threatened to over-run the earth ? All that we are now suffering, and fearing to suffer, may be pretty good evidence that this opinion was not very erroneous. Is it that I was wrong in thinking that peace would not save us, and in condemning, in consequence, the favourite and dear Peace of Amiens ? Whatever may be thought of the renewal of the war, which I perhaps did not think the most judiciously managed, yet nobody surely will say, that our condition was likely to be very good, or the progress of French dominion soon to have stopped, had that peace continued. The same may be remark- ed of the former war. Who shall pretend to say, that the progress of the French Revolution would have been less rapid, or less dangerous, had Great Britain 74 SOME ACCOUNT OF never joined in opposing it, or had no opposition been made to it at all ? Such an opinion certainly derives no countenance from the facts, which prove incon- testably that the French Revolution did not need to be provoked to become mischievous ; that the aggressions were not the consequence of the resistance, but the resistance of the aggressions. If the conduct of the former war is that which I am supposed now to con- demn, the fact may be perfectly true, but it is no proof of change of opinion ; as I cannot condemn it now more than I did during the whole time it was carrying on, or than it was at all times condemned by Mr. Burke. It would be very odd if I were to take to changing my opinions now, when those who formerly opposed them, might be supposed to be most convinced of their truth. " With respect to the letter alluded to, it was writ- ten to Mr. Coke, in consequence of hearing of the uncommonly kind exertions which he was making to serve me in my views on Oxford, and was answered by him in a letter of equal kindness. It is very pos- sible that I might have said (for I have no recollection of the particulars) that I lamented the differences which had separated me from those for whom I had so much personal regard, or something to that effect; which some blundering friend (for I am sure Mr. Coke never conceived such an idea) may have construed into a renunciation of my former opinions. But even this must have happened amongst reporters at second hand ; for no one, however confused or inaccurate, could have made such a mistake, if he had read the letter. mr. windham's life. 75 At least, it is very odd if I should have written in a way to convey an opinion, so little in my thoughts at the time, and so totally contrary to the fact. " Yours, with great truth, « W. Windham.*" Another letter, which I received from him in the course of the same month, refers to the explanation given by the preceding one : — " October 24, 1805. " Mr. Lukin, if you saw him, will have told you how very near I was accompanying him and the Dean of Wells to the sessions, and I may further add, that even after they were gone, so intent was I on making a visit to Norfolk, that I did not give up the intention, but would, if possible, have followed them. I was prevented by a very disagreeable, but very urgent and insurmountable reason. " The letter which I sent you at that time, however hastily written (and perhaps not the less so on that account) will have satisfied you that I have not left my friends in the lurch, by renouncing opinions which I had long maintained with them. I have no wish * Unnecessary as it may seem to say any thing further on so absurd a report as that which occasioned the above letter, the Editor cannot help adding, that he has been favoured with Mr. Coke's authority for stating that no renunciation of former opi- nions, cither written or verbal, was ever made to him by Mr. Windham. 76 SOME ACCOUNT OF to dwell upon former differences, with respect to those with whom I am now acting ; but our present agree- ment, and still less the good- will that I may feel to- wards many of them, implies no abatement of opinion on the points on which we were formerly opposed to each other ; at least on our side, though if may rea- sonably be hoped, without the hope of being invi- diously urged, that the same is not the case on theirs. " The present state of things, and a more formida- ble one cannot well be conceived, bears good testimony to the truth of all the opinions for which we have formerly contended. Had Louis the Eighteenth been lodged in one of the King's palaces, and received with all the honours due to his rank and situation, and had a system of policy corresponding with that measure been adopted by this country, the King's daughter might not have been at this time under the humiliating necessity of doing the honours of her house and table to Buonaparte." In the succeeding month, Mr. Windham shared deeply in the feelings of the country on the loss of Lord Nelson, whom he valued as a personal friend, and highly admired as the greatest ornament of his profession. He paid the last honours in person to the remains of this distinguished hero, and when the county of Norfolk proposed to erect a monument to the memory of their illustrious countryman, he sub- scribed a sum towards the execution of it. The scheme, however, was suffered to drop, from the mr. windiiam's life. 77 difficulty which was found in forming a decision upon the various plans which were offered, and upon the place where the monument should be erected. A simple pillar at Burnham (Lord Nelson's native place) was the plan which Mr. Windham thought the most desirable. Lord Nelson's death was speedily followed by Mr. Pitt's ; — an event which is believed to have been hastened by the calamitous issue of the grand conti- nental confederacy against France. At the opening of the session, on the 21st of January 1806, Mr. Pitt was living, but in a state that afforded no hope of recovery. Mr. Windham's speech on this occasion, and that on the vote for the public funeral of this eminent states- man, having been the subject of much misrepresen- tation, it is thought right to re-publish them in the ensuing collection ; as well as the speech which he afterwards delivered in favour of the payment of Mr. Pitt's debts *. Ana to shew how desirous he was that the opinions he had expressed with regard to Mr. Pitt should not be misunderstood, it may be equally proper to lay before the reader the following extract of a letter which I received from him : — " t Pall Mall, January 22, 1806. " As one of the happy consequences of our blessed system of printing debates, I am described to-day, in one of the newspapers which I have seen, as having talked a language directly the reverse of that which I * See Vol. II. pages 316, 319, and 329. 78 SOME ACCOUNT OF did talk, and which was alone conformable to the sen- timents existing in my mind. In none of the papers, as I am told, am I made to express myself in terms so strong as those which I actually used. The history is, that having been forced, by the occupation of our bench by Mr. Bankes, to sit more under the gallery than is desirable, and having spoken moreover in a lower tone than usual, owing perhaps to a little emo- tion, the reporters in the gallery could only hear what I said very imperfectly, and supplied what was want- ing very much according to their own fancy. You may be fully assured that what I said was of a sort perfectly to satisfy every friend of Mr. Pitt ; and this I am very anxious should be understood ; as nothing- could have been so base and ungenerous, and so per- fectly adverse to the purpose of my speaking at all, as the saying any thing ungracious of him in the circum- stances in which he was supposed to be, and unhappily was. I am sorry to say that all hope of recovery is entirely out of the question, if he should be alive even at this instant. As I expressed myself yesterday, the extinction of such great talents and powers is a very awful and affecting event, even in the minds of those whose lot it may have been to be most con- stantly opposed to them." On Mr. Pitt's death, a change of administration was naturally looked for. The views which, in Mr.Wind- ham's mind, rendered such a measure desirable, will appear from a letter which he addressed to me the day after the date of the preceding one : — 10 :>ra. vvindham's life. 79 " Pall Mall, January 23, i8o5. " Nothing is yet known, or was not half an hour ago, of the course that things are likely to take with respect to the formation of a ministry. I should be much less solicitous on the point than I am, if on this another point did not depend ; namely, the having an army. An army is, at this moment, the first concern of the country ; not necessary merely for the purpose of war, but equally so for the purpose of peace. That is the best ministry which will best succeed in putting the country in a good state of defence ; and if I did not conceive that our ideas upon that subject were better than those likely otherwise to be adopted, and that our measures, whatever they may be, would be better respecting Ireland, I should be quite as well satisfied to remain in our present situation as to change it." The change which was expected took place in the beginning of the ensuing month, Lord Grenville be- ing commanded by His Majesty to form a new. admini- stration. He was himself placed at the head of the treasury, as prime minister. Earl Spencer, Mr. Fox, and Mr. Windham, received respectively the seals of the home, the foreign, and the war and colonial de- partments *. Earl Fitzwilliam presided at the council, * Sir Ge:>rge Shee was appointed Mr. Windham's under-s^cre- tary of state, acting for the colonial department. The snperin- tendance of the war department was undertaken for several months 80 SOME ACCOUNT OF Lord Howick (now Earl Grey) at the admiralty ; Lord Henry Petty became chancellor of the exchequer ; and the remaining seats in the cabinet were filled by Lords Erskine, Sidmouth, Moira, and Ellenborough. The earliest and chief object of Mr. Windham's attention, on his attaining office, was to arrange and bring forward measures for increasing the military means of the country. The number of plans which were suggested for his consideration, by writers from all quarters and of all descriptions, would scarcely be credited by the reader. Though I believe he did not borrow an idea from any of them, he did not hastily reject them, but gave them generally a fair and pa- tient hearing. His measures having been finally set- tled in the cabinet, he stated the purport of them to the House of Commons, on the 3d of April 1806, in a speech which Mr. Fox pronounced to be one of the most eloquent ever delivered in parliament, and which, though it occupied very near four hours in the de- livery, seemed not to be thought too long by any of his auditors *. The nature and object of these mea- sures are so fully explained in the speech itself, that it would be superfluous to detail them here at any length. It may be sufficient to observe, that to better the con- by the late lamented General Robert Craufurd, without emolu- ment. On his departure for South America, Sir James Cockburn was appointed war under-secretary. The Author of this sketch was most kindly invited by Mr. Windham to become his private •ecretary, which appointment he held during the time that his patron remained in office. * See Vol. II. page 332. II .\rn. windham's life. Si dition of the soldier was his great and leading princi- ple for increasing the regular force of the country. To hold out periods for the termination of the soldier's services, and to recompense those services by addi- tional rewards, were the means by which he sought to accomplish this improvement ; — and the immediate effect which he expected to produce, was, the render- ing of the army more inviting as a profession, from its being more advantageous in a prudential view, and consequently more respectable, on account of the better description of persons who might thus be in- duced to engage in it. The soldier, in short, was to serve an apprenticeship to arms, as to a trade, and then either to follow it up, or to relinquish it, at his option -, but was to be entitled to additional benefits, if he should be disposed to continue his services. These were the main objects of his measures, which included, however, many subordinate regulations. The Additional Force Act was to be repealed, in order to remove the impediments which its high bounties op- posed to the ordinary recruiting service. By with- holding some allowances from the volunteers, he pro- posed to save a considerable expence to the country, without rendering that establishment less efficient. And lastly, by a general Training Act he expected to em- ploy a great proportion of the population of the coun- try in a manner which he conceived to be more advantageous, as well as much less expensive, than that in which most of the volunteers were employed under the subsisting regulations. vol. I. G 5: SOME ACCOUNT 0} These measures, under the form of various. bills, passed through both Houses of Parliament, with con- siderable majorities. It should not be forgotten that a liberal and immediate addition to the pensions of non- commissioned officers and privates, in certain cases, was carefully provided for. Nor was it towards these alone that he directed the bounty of Government to flow. The pay of officers of infantry and militia su- balterns, and the pensions of officers' widows received an increase from his hands, though not to the amount to which he was desirous of carrying it, had the resources of the country been thought capable of bearing such an additional burthen of expenditure. In the summer of 1806, Mr. Fox, whose health had been declining from the time of his accepting office, found a grave near that of his illustrious rival. His loss was deeply lamented by Mr. Windham, whose personal regard for him had perhaps never wholly ceased, but had certainly been fully restored upon their recent political reconciliation. This event, be- sides the regret which it produced, happened to be the occasion of some embarrassment to him. In con- sequence of an arrangement which was proposed in the cabinet respecting the appointment to certain offices (but not affecting his own, which was to remain as before), the acceptance of a peerage was very strongly pressed upon him by his colleagues, and very reso- lutely refused by him. Convenient as the measure might have been to him, with a view to avoid the expence of future elections, (particularly of 3 contest in Norfolk, where a canvass had actually been begun 12 Mn. -windham's life. 83 for him,) he would not for an instant suffer considera- tions of this kind to influence his decision. He felt that his usefulness to the country depended not a little on his station in the House of Commons ; and he would have chearfully relinquished his office, rather than wear the honours which were to be thrust upon him. In consequence of his refusal, another arrange- ment was fixed upon : Lord Howick succeeded Mr. Fox as foreign secretary, and Mr. Thomas Grenville took his seat at the admiralty. In October 1806, the parliament was dissolved, and Mr. Windham became a candidate for the represen- tation of Norfolk, joining his own interest with the very powerful one which his friend Mr. Coke has so long possessed, and continues to possess, in that county. The Honourable Mr. Wodehouse, the heir of an ancient and highly-respectable family in Norfolk, was their opponent, and had, in fact, begun an active canvass long before Mr. Windham was named as a candidate. After six days polling, Mr. Windham had the satisfaction of being returned by the votes of 3,722 freeholders, having a majority of 365 over Mr. Wode- house. But the prize that was thus fought for and gained, was snatched away early in the ensuing par- liament by a proceeding which had not at all been in the contemplation of the successful candidates, and which owed its origin to an election incident, deserving, perhaps, to be mentioned, as well on account of its singularity, as of its consequences. During the election, two ladies, possessing some property and influence in the county, made their daily G 1 84 SOME ACCOUNT OF appearance at the place of the poll, and occasionally joined in processions of voters, in a barouche, which was highly decorated, as well as their persons, and those of their servants, with -the ribbons of Mr.Wode- house's party. At a late period of the poll, some partizans of Mr. Windham and Mr. Coke (with more humour than discretion, as was proved by the event,) contrived a burlesque imitation of exhibition, by per- suading two females to stand forth as the representa- tives of the ladies above noticed, dressed with similar ornaments, and attended by servants who in livery and appearance were the very counterparts of those that had accompanied the other barouche. The pro- ject being made known to Mr. Windham and Mr. Coke, they joined in discountenancing it ; and having done so, they had no suspicion that the pantomime would be suffered to appear. But the managers, having already provided their actors, dresses, and ma- chinery, were by no means willing to lay the piece aside, licensed or unlicensed ; so without further com- munication, they brought it forth on the Castle Hill at Norwich, in the middle of the day, and within the view of some thousands of spectators. Nothing could have been better executed ; the corps du ballet per- formed their parts to admiration ; but unluckily, while one half of the lookers-on seemed lost in their enjoy- ment of the joke, the other half snatched a favourable opportunity for revenge. A strong detachment of the hostile party seized the carriage, hurried it tri- umphantly down into the Market-place, and there sacri- ficed it piecemeal to their fury. The poor performers, ii mr. windham's life. 85 male and female, escaped from their dangerous posts . as well as they were able, but certainly not shot-free. So well was the imitation executed, that the real foot- man, like the real Sosia in the play, is said to have received a severe beating from the populace, who mis- took him for his counterfeit. The consequences of the joke, however, did not end here ; for Mr. Wind- ham and Mr. Coke, innocent of it as they really were, became victims to it. A young gentleman of landed property, the son of one of the ladies who had thus been subjected to mockery, undertook, with feelings which it would be difficult not to excuse, to revenge the insult which had been offered to his mother and her friend ; — and with this view, he addressed to the House of Commons, in the names of himself and some of his tenants, a petition against the return of Mr. Coke and Mr. Windham. This petition was grounded chiefly upon alledged offences against the Treating Acts ; — there was also indeed a charge of undue influence, which, however, was hardly at- tempted to be proved. It was certainly true, and was abundantly proved before the Committee, who tried the merits of the case, that a very great expence had been incurred by all parties, and that voters had been entertained, contrary to the letter of the acts, as well on the side of the successful candidates, as on that of Mr. Wodehouse, who of course took no part in the petition. The Committee accordingly declared the election to be void, and Mr. Windham and Mr. Coke became ineligible for Norfolk upon that vacancy. Their friends, however, returned at the new election 9 (i 3 56 S0ME ACCOUNT 01 without opposition, Sir Jacob Astley, their former re- presentative, and Mr. Edward Coke, the brother of Mr. Windham's colleague. Mr. Windham having been previously returned not only for Norfolk, but for the borough of New Rowney, now took his seat for the latter place ; and Mr. Coke was unanimously chosen for Derby, upon his brother's vacancy. The pecuniary burthen on this occasion, which was by no means in- considerable, did not fall with proportionate weight on Mr. Windham, who had originally been invited by Mr. Coke and his friends to join in the contest, upon the terms of being responsible for a stipulated sum. To the honour of both, it should be related, that when the expences were found to exceed their calcu- lated amount, Mr. Windham pressed and Mr. Coke refused a further contribution in aid of them. Some apology may be due to the reader for thus detailing anecdotes of merely local importance, but their connection with Mr. Windham's life seemed to require that they should not be passed over without notice *. * The reader, especially if lie should happen to be a Norfolk man, will pardon me, while I am on election topics, for noticing an accomplishment of a seemingly ludicrous nature, which was much admired in Mr. Windham. The custom of chairing a mem- ber at the Norfolk and Norwich elections is not coniined merely to carrying him in a chair, as at most other places, but he has the additional pleasure (if he thinks it so) of being tossed up, as it is there called ; — that is, upon a halt made at every thirty or forty yards of his progress, he is thrown up in his chair (which is sup. ported by poles) completely out of the hands of his chairmen, and mr. windham's life. 87 Previous to the meeting of Parliament, an expedi- tion for South America, the plan of which had been arranged by Mr. Windham, embarked under the com- mand of Brigadier-General Robert Craufurd. The object of it was, to establish, by conciliatory means if possible, a permanent footing on the western coast of that continent, so as to enable us to turn to greater advantage the possession we had recently obtained of the important post of EUienos Ayres. The troops, consisting of about 5,000 men, proceeded on their voyage with uncommonly favourable prospects, the greatest attention to their health and comfort having been successfully betowed on them by their command- ing officer. But the unexpected loss of Buenos Ayres diverted the armament from its course ; for, by subsequent orders, General Craufurd was directed to join the troops sent out under the command of Gene- ral Whitelccke, which were destined to attempt the recovery of our lost ground j an attempt, which con- trary to all calculation that could be previously made, proved unsuccessful. From General Craufurd's exten- sive professional information, Mr. Windham had de- rived great aid in carrying into execution the measures caught again, three times successively at each halting. This is a custom which a timid or unpractised person generally thinks " more honoured in the breach than the observance," but Mr-. Windham was remarkable for going through this ceremony with such perfect ease and agility, that the exhibition was rendered really graceful, and elegant. He was of course the favourite of the chairmen, who were not a little proud of the opportunities he afforded them of exhibiting their skill. G 4 88 SOME ACCOUNT OF for beneiiting the army *. On his departure Mr. Wind- ham called in the assistance of his friend Sir James Cockburn, to whom he always professed himself much indebted for forwarding objects over which he continued to take a watchful interest. Soon after the meeting of the new parliament, Mr. Windham found a welcome opportunity of giv- ing full expression to those chivalrous feelings with * In this accomplished officer the nation has recently sustained a heavy loss. It may be needless to relate, what must long be in the recollection of every Englishman, that Major-General Robert Craufurd received a mortal wound, while leading on the light division, at the storming of Ciudad Rodrigo ; and that, by Lord Wellington's directions, he was buried in the breach which he had so gallantly stormed. Presumptuous as it may seem, to add any thing to the praises which his commanding officer and his country have bestowed on his memory, the Author of this narrative is un- willingly to omit an opportunity of bearing his personal testimony to the many excellent qualities of this valuable man. He was en- thusiastically attached to his profession, to which his life was- literally devoted. He had fathomed the depths of military science, and during many years experience in distant parts of the globe, he had ably applied in practice the principles which he had gleaned from study. In fact, few men of his years had seen so much of actual service, and none was more deeply versed in every branch of that profession to the summit of which he would undoubtedly have risen, had his life been spared. As a writer he was remarkably perspicuous and intelligent ; and during the short period of his holding a seat in parliament, he was a frequent and powerful speaker on military subjects. He particularly distinguished him- self on one occasion by the clear, able, and comprehensive manner in which he treated of the defence of the country. His glorious but premature death took place on the 24th of January l8l%j io the forty-eighth year of his age. mr. windham's life. 89 which the successful exertions of British valour never failed to inspire him. In his official capacity, he had to call the attention of the House of Commons to the victory which had been gallantly atchieved on the Plains of Maida, by a small body of troops under the command of Sir John Stuart. As the task was grateful to him, he executed it in a manner which made the most lively impression on his auditors. The event of the Battle of Maida, so glorious in itself, he pro- nounced to be a sure earnest of future triumphs ; and his predictions have been happily verified. The rapid and splendid succession of our victories in Spain and Portugal has now incontestably established the posi- tion which Mr. Windham always maintained, that " British disciplined troops possess a decided superio- rity over those of the enemy V It was during Mr. Windham's absence in Norfolk, that Lord Howick called the attention of the House of Commons to a clause which was intended by the mi- nisters to be introduced into the Mutiny Bill, for enabling Roman Catholicks to hold a certain military rank, and permitting to all persons in the army pro- fessing that religion the uncontrouled exercise of it. It was afterwards thought expedient that the intended provisions should be made the subject of a separate bill, and be extended to the navy. The misunder- standing which this measure occasioned between His Majesty and his ministers, and the consequent dis- * A report of this animated speech will be found aC#he com- mencement of the third volume. 9© SOME ACCOUNT OF missal of the latter from their posts, are subjects that need not be minutely treated of. It will be sufficient to relate, that on the 25th of March 1807, when called upon with the other ministers to deliver up his appoint- ments, Mr. Windham received a flattering assurance of the sense which His 1 Majesty graciously entertained of the motives that had guided him in executing the duties of his office. In the very short period of a year and six weeks, Mr. Windham had done much for the benefit of the army. He had abolished service for life, and substi- tuted service for periods ; — he had increased the pay of the subaltern, as well as the ultimate rewards of the private soldier ; — and (though circumstances had delayed the 'execution of it) he had passed a measure for arming and training a great part of the population of the country. Little, indeed, had been done in the way of offensive operations ; nor, in the then circum- stances of the war, was he at all desirous that his administration should be distinguished by services of that nature. He always professed to dislike a war upon sugar islands. But, had a glorious occasion presented itself, like that which has since arisen in Spain, there can be no doubt that he would have displayed in the conduct of a foreign war, as much ardour and energy as he had shewn in establishing measures for internal defence, and for laying the foundation of an efficient army. The Duke of Portland was placed at the head of the new administration. Lord Castlereagh, whom Mr. Windham had succeeded in the war and colonial de- mr. windham's lite. 91 partment, again received the seals of that office ; and Lord .Hawkesbury, Mr. Canning, and Mr. Perceval occupied the other prominent situations in the new cabinet. In two successive divisions, the ministers succeeded in negativing the motions which had been brought forward for censuring the means of their attaining office. Their success, however, was not so decided, as to render the continuance of the parlia- ment adviseable. It was, therefore, dissolved on the 28th April 1807, in its first session, and within five months after it had assembled. The seat for Norfolk, which Mr. Windham had two months before been deprived of by the decision of a Committee, was occupied, as has been related, by Sir Jacob Astley, who, after much entreaty, had been persuaded to accept it when Mr. Windham became disqualified ; and who could not a second time be ex- pected to retire in Mr. Windham's favour. The kind- ness, however, of Lord Fitzwilliam, always ready to be exerted towards him whenever an occasion called for it, supplied the loss of other opportunities, and Mr. Windham was returned to his sixth parliament as member for the Borough of Higham Ferrers. In the first debate of the new parliament he made a vigorous stand against the clamour of " no popery," which he complained had been raised against him and his late colleagues *. Soon afterwards he gave his decided opposition to Lord Castlereagh's bill lor allowing a proportion of the militia to transfer their * See Vol. III. p. 21, 9 2 SOME ACCOUNT OF services into the line, by enlisting at their option either for periods or for life *. This he considered as a fatal interruption of his measures which parliament had sanctioned in the preceding year. At the conclusion of the session he brought forward, in the shape of propositions, a summary view of the advantages which had already been derived from the system of recruiting for periods t. The expedition which was sent against Copenhagen, in the summer of 1807, received his decided disappro- bation. The following is a letter which he addressed to his nephew Captain Lukin, who was employed in the naval part of that service : — " Pall Mall, " Dear William, September 5/A, 1807. " I have a choice opportunity of writing to you in the return of Mr. Hoppner, from whom I received the latest, and at the same time, the earliest intelli- gence of you. — Your letter up to the 1 6th did not reach me till after he had called, and given me an account of you as late as the 23d. I feel very doubt- ful and very anxious as to the result of your opera- tions, though Hoppner seems to think that the whole will be settled by the time that he returns. If it should, the cause must be, either the want of provi- sions and water, or that the inhabitants cannot submit to the injury to be done to the town ; for the works seem to be such as must, for a considerable time, * See Vol. III. p. 30. t See Vol. III. p. 68. mr. windham's life. 93 enable a force, however weak, to hold out against a strong one. But success itself will bring with it no satisfaction. I cannot feel that the accomplishment of all we look for is an equivalent, either for the risk that will have been run, or for the certain discredit that we shall have incurred, and ill-will that we shall have excited. Buonaparte's designs upon England will not turn upon his having or not the Danish fleet. Our proceedings in the case of Portugal (though such as I never ceased to regret from the moment almost of my having consented to them) were not within a thousand degrees so exceptionable as these ; and they ended accordingly in a way which produced neither reproach nor ill-will. Had the worst happened, our conduct could not well have been charged as having any thing in it unjustifiable or irregular. " Let me recollect, upon this occasion, to obviate an impression which you may have received from cir- cumstances which I heard only by a fortunate acci- dent, in respect to a point where I should be sorry to have my opinion mistaken. told me of his having met you at sea, and having shewn you the machine with which he was provided for blowing up ships. I was sorry to find that from his account of the orders under which he acted, you might have been led into the belief that it was by my directions that the machine in question was put on board his vessel. Quite the contrary ; — it was in direct opposition to my opinion. I deprecate such a mode of warfare, as bad in itself, and one by which we should have much more to lose than to gain. 94 SOME ACCOUNT OF " Farewell. You will let us hear from you at your leisure. When the fleet returns, we will endeavour to join you off Cromer, or at Yarmouth. " Yours affectionately, " W. Windham." The latter part of the autumn, and beginning of the winter of 1807, he passed in Norfolk, in quiet retirement. Being now disengaged from the bustle of office, which he often described as " a perpetual con- tested election," he once more sought leisure to en- courage pursuits in which he had always felt more real enjoyment than he had found as a labourer in the ungrateful soil of politics, A short extract of a letter which I received from him during this recess, may serve to shew how little relish he had for those em- ployments which public men are supposed to regard as their earthly Paradise. It should be observed, that a report appears to have reached him, respecting the probability of a change in the administration : — - " Felbrigg, December 12, 1807. " Mr. — — *s news, which has inclosed to me, I can lay but little stress upon ; though he may have grounds for believing it, as such things do some- times transpire in ways that he may have had access to. Perhaps I am the more hard of belief, from having so little anxiety that the thing should be true, This residence at Felbrigg, though I have not, from circumstances, made it so comfortable as it ought to have been, has still increased my indisposition to pub- MR. windham's life. 95 lie exertion ; and I shrink from the prospect of return- ing to parliamentary duty, much more to that of office. I am at times inclined to wish that I had ac- cepted an offer, which you know was pressed upon me, and by means of which I might have better in- dulged the inclination I now feel for retirement, with- out wholly losing my hold on public life *. " As to the lead of a party in the House of Com- mons, it is a situation which I have no reason to think would ever be offered to me, but which infallibly I would never accept. I took an early opportunity of preventing any difficulty upon that subject, by putting myself out of the question. " You give me a delicate hint in some of your letters, about the task which I was to perform here t. I am sorry to say that I have as yet done nothing, but I hope soon to get into better ways." In a subsequent letter to me, his dislike of London and of public business was repeated even in stronger terms : — " Felbrigg, January 6, 1808. " The time for returning to town comes now dreadfully near, and finds me, as I am sorry to say is too apt to be the case, very much unprepared for it. * The offer of a peerage noticed at page 82- of this nar- rative. f The task alluded to wa6 the revision of some of his military ipseches* with a view to their publication. 96 SOME ACCOUNT OP " Unhouselled, unannointed, &c." I have been sink- ing fast in idleness, and have been worse, in fact, from not having been quite well ; — not so much un- well indeed, as annoyed by a course of medicine." The idleness, however, of which he here com- plains, is only to be understood as an absence from political employment ; for a mind like his, which, besides being rich in its hoards of science and litera- ture, could lay up stores of -wisdom from the com- monest events of ordinary life, could never, by any figure of speech, be pronounced idle, unless through the modesty of its owner. In the session of 1808, he took occasion to express the strongest disapprobation of the motives which had occasioned the Expedition against Copenhagen. He also opposed the Local Militia Act ; and took an ac- tive part in rejecting the Bill for providing for the Maintenance of Curates ; which he considered as introducing a dangerous interference with the property of the church *. On a subsequent day, he had an opportunity of resisting what he deemed to be an attack on the accustomed comforts and conveniences of the London public. It had been understood that, for the accommodation of a few individuals, some fur- ther encroachments were intended to be made on Hyde Park t, the " lungs of the metropolis" as it had been emphatically called by the late Lord Chatham. The matter was first noticed in the House of Commons * See Vol. III. p. 9.6. f Vol. III. p. 109. mr. windham's life. 97 by Mr. Windham, and on the next day he supported, in a short but characteristic speech, a motion which was made on the subject by Mr. Creevey. The scheme meeting with this opposition, was not pro- ceeded upon *. Early in the summer of 1808, the eyes of all Eu- rope were directed towards Spain, where a gallant spirit broke forth, such as few persons perhaps be- sides Mr. Windham had harboured a hope of. His anticipation of it will be found in a speech occasioned by the capture of Monte- Video, and delivered on the 1 6th of April 1807, more than a twelvemonth before the commencement of the resistance which he con- templated. From the first notice of this resistance to the latest period of his life, he was a zealous Spaniard. He not only took the most lively interest in the pro- ceedings of the patriots, but even promised himself an opportunity of becoming a personal witness of them, by undertaking a voyage to the scene of action. With a view to give facility to this purpose, he actually be- gan and made some progress in the study of the Spanish language. It happened, however, that a rheumatic complaint, for which, after other means had failed, he sought relief from the Bath waters, delayed his project, till the retreat of Sir John Moore, and the disasters with which Spain then seemed nearly overwhelmed, rendered the execution of it no longer desirable or expedient. The intended trip is alluded * See Vol. III. p. 145. VOL. I. H 98 SOME ACCOUNT OF to in a letter which I received from him before his departure for Bath, and in which his description of his disorder may be thought not uninteresting by those who felt a personal regard for him, espe- cially as it has been thought to have had a share in producing the fatal complaint which occasioned his dissolution : — " Pall Mall, October 21, 1808. " I am still here, and still confined to my house, though likely I hope soon to be released. There is nothing indeed that either now or for some time past should prevent my going out, but the fear of dis- turbing a course of recovery that seems to be going on well s and of which one of the means might be, the avoiding motion and exposure to cold. I have dislodged the complaint from my back, and have no remains but in the leg and thigh on one side ; these, however, though inconsiderable, make me walk worse than before, while the medicines I am taking, and the confinement I am enduring, render me, for the time, less well -in general health. The fineness of the day has tempted me for the first time to take a turn upon the leads at the back of the house ; but I do not find that I make much hand (I should rather perhaps say much/00/) in walking, while the air has not done me half so much good as I should have found in Hudson's garden. o " You will come up with a grand stock of health after these long holidays. I must have recourse to iur. windham's life. 99 some expedient of the same sort, as soon as I am at liberty ; but whether in Spain, in Norfolk, or else- where, I do not as yet know. " Yours, with great truth, " W.W." In another letter to me, of the 30th of October, he describes himself to be recovering, but adds, " I have still a remnant of rheumatism near my hip, lying like snow under the hedges, and which, like that, may continue to lie a long while after the general frost has broken up." — He at length sought relief at Bath, where he tried the waters, under the care of Dr. Fal- coner, who pronounced the complaint to be Iscbias. He remained at Bath till the intelligence arrived of the later operations of Sir John Moore's army. It should here be noticed, that, with respect to the assistance which this country was called upon to afford to the Spaniards, his opinion from the first was, that it should be extensive. If any force were to 'be sent into the interior of Spain, he thought it should be a formidable one, but he doubted whether the operations of large coasting armaments would not prove much more effectual. The sending of a force, in the first instance, to Portugal, he regarded as a measure by no means necessary or desirable, but it having been re- sorted to, and the expulsion of the French from that country having been effected (though in a manner and upon terms which he considered to be highly un- satisfactory), he then thought that our further exer- tions should be directed to the coasts of Catalonia and H 2 IOO SOME ACCOUNT OF Biscay; where the armies of the French, though their progress into the Peninsula might not be com- pletely arrested, would at least be so harassed and diminished, that their subsequent operations might be rendered abortive. To use his own words, " it was the neck of the bottle which we ought to stop up." This opinion is referred to in the following extract from a letter which he addressed to me while he was at Bath : — " Bath, January 2, 1809. 1,6 Moore's purpose of advancing I have heard with great pleasure from Lord Liverpool, who is in the adjoining room. I have lately received some very interesting accounts, both from Spain, and from those who have been there ; and the result of them is to teach me great distrust of what we may hear unfa- vourable to the Spaniards. We are a sad people either to judge of, or to communicate with foreigners ; and unless our army can strike some great stroke, which they will hardly do without some great risk, their pre- sence will have done more harm than good. The best of the intelligence is the advance of Moore, after he had heard of the success of the French at Madrid. This success at Madrid, with the character which the inhabitants seem to have manifested, may possibly be to Buonaparte the very reverse of an advantage. It is a point too, on which, from pride and passion, he may be supposed to have committed an error. " The part in which the greatest error seems chargeable upon our counsels is the eastern coast of 9 Mn. windham's life. ioi Spain. I have seen officers who were with our squa- dron in that quarter, and witnessed the conduct of the Spaniards at Gerona. Nothing could exceed the ardour which was shewn by the people, nor the means of resistance which the country afforded. It never can have been right, that no assistance was furnished on that side from Sicily, which it might have been worth while even to abandon, for the sake of what might have been done by that army in Catalonia. You were telling me, when I was in London, of what my opi- nion had been, respecting operations from hence on the northern coast, and which 1 had almost forgotten ; but I found a confirmation of the fact of my having entertained that opinion, in a letter which I had begun, but left unfinished, to Lord Mulgrave." Another letter, addressed to his nephew Mr. R. Lukin, may be inserted on account of its reference to this still interesting subject : — " Bath, January 22, 1809. " Dear Robert, ct I thank you for your letter and for your en- quiries. I am capable enough of going to London, and to the house, or any where else, but I am un- willing to carry away with me a complaint, when I am on the only spot where an easy cure may be hoped for. I begin, however, to be a little impatient. The Clangor Tubarum in the House of Commons, as heard through the reports of the newspapers, makes me rather restless and agitated, and uneasy at not being H 3 102 SOME ACCOUNT OF in the battle. I am not prepared to go the length of saying that there has been no case in which troops in the interior might be employed with advantage, though I have always seen great inconvenience likely to attend the measure, and have inclined rather to the course of keeping up a continual alarm upon the coast, and assisting the efforts of the inhabitants by occasional and desultory descents. ***** " Yours, &c. " W: W." The retreat of Sir John Moore, with all the respect which he entertained for the memory of that brave and unfortunate man, he never fully approved of ; neither the measure itself, nor the mode in which it was conducted ; but he gave ample credit to the gallantry which was manifested in the Battle of Corunna. Two other letters which he addressed to me while he was at Bath will serve to shew how deeply he was in- terested in the passing events of the war : — it Bath, January 23, 1809. I shall look with anxiety for the chance of a letter from you to-morrow, though with little hope that it will bring any mitigation of the dreadful news which we have received here to day, and which to you perhaps is even yet only on its way. Moore killed, Baird with his arm and part of his shoulder carried away, ninety officers killed and wounded, and. a loss of men proportionate to a loss of that amount in officers ! Such are the particulars which our in- mr. windhaim's life. 103 telligenee contains, and which stands upon authority that leaves but little room to hope that the statement may be much exaggerated. The news is not indeed the worst that could have been received, or that might even have been apprehended ; but it is fatal under every view in which it can be considered ; particularly if it is to have that further disastrous effect which is ascribed to it, of being the last exhibition which we are to make of ourselves in the Peninsula. Though 1 felt always most strongly the dangers to which we exposed ourselves by sending an army into the inte- rior ; and though it would seem at first view, that we have tried that measure in a way the most excep- tionable, yet I cannot concur in the censure of it which has been so broadly laid down, and from which I am happy in having some time ago expressed my dissent. * * * * " I am, I think, a little better, and am anxious not to be longer absent, though I do not know what it may be in my power to do." " Bath, January 26, 1809. " I have received your letter to day, and but for the interruption of the post should have had it yester- day. General Hope's letter is felt, I conclude, by everybody to be a very excellent one. I had before been satisfied by the account of officers who had been at Corunna at the time, that the victory was one which Buonaparte could not conceal, and would esta- blish a new proof of the superiority of our troops in any contest in which their qualities could be fairly 11 4 104 SOME ACCOUNT OF tried. This is a great consolation in the rnidst of all that we have to lament, both in the result of our operations, and in the way of individual loss. " I know not what to say about my return. My complaint is very little, but I cannot say that it shews much disposition to go away. I shall take a new opinion to-morrow." The last extract on this subject intended to be laid before the reader is from a letter which he addressed to his nephew Mr. R. Lukin, and in which he more immediately refers to the conduct of our retreat : — " Bath, January 27, 1809. " What you say of the late operations I think very- likely to be well-grounded. I have found by officers whom I have seen here, that there is a good deal of disposition to blame the manner in which the army has been conducted. Some caution must be used in listening to such opinions, on account of the ill- humour that is apt to be excited among persons unsuc- cessful, and who have been subjected to considerable privations ; and further, possibly, because a part of those privations may have been the consequence of great, though necessary, strictness in that respect, on the part of the Commander in Chief. After all allowances, however, I can very well conceive that the game might have been played better. Great glory has, at least, been acquired by us, which Buonaparte will not be able altogether to conceal, and which seems MR. WINDHAM S LIFE. 1©5 to have left upon the army a delightful impression of their own superiority." He returned to town about three weeks after the commencement of the session of 1809. Mr. Wardle had previously preferred his charges in the House of Commons, against the Duke of York, as Commander in Chief, and the evidence in -support of them had been proceeded upon. This investigation, which occupied much of the time and attention of the House, having at length been brought to a close, Mr. Wind- ham, on the i^th of March, pronounced his judg- ment on the question, in a speech which certainly deserves the praise of great moderation, as well as of extraordinary acuteness. He lamented that the charges had been brought forward, and strongly reprobated the manner in which they had been attempted to be supported ; but though he acquitted the Duke of York of any participation or connivance in the dis- graceful transactions which had been laid open, and was therefore ready to negative the address which Mr. Wardle had proposed, yet he thought that the suspicions which were felt, and would continue to be felt, by the country, were such as to render it desira- ble that His Royal Highness should withdraw from office. He, therefore, could not concur in an amend- ment which was moved by Mr. Perceval, but found himself obliged very reluctantly to adopt a middle course, by voting for an address which had been sug- gested by Mr. Bankes. This speech, as it did not exactly fall in with the opinions of either party, has 106 SOME ACCOUNT OF not hitherto perhaps received all the commendation it deserves. The distinctions laid down in it, on the degree of credibility due to certain descriptions of evidence, will be acknowledged, perhaps, on exami- nation, to be not less profound than ingenious. It might be difficult to find in any professional treatise on the doctrine of evidence, such an union of logical accuracy with minute knowledge of mankind, as was on this occasion applied to the subject by Mr. Windham. In the course of this session, the bill proposed by Mr. Curwen, for preventing the sale of seats in par- liament, afforded him an opportunity of discussing at considerable length the general question of Reform, against which his protest had been frequently and forcibly given. This speech, for close observation of human nature, and for vigour of imagination, is not to be excelled by any in the present collection. As it in- cluded a full statement of his opinions on this important subject, he was willing that it should be published in the form of a pamphlet, and he added to it, on that occasion, a note in which he strongly animadverted on some transactions, recently laid open, between the persons who had been principally concerned in the proceedings against the Duke of York. Lord Erskine's Bill for preventing Cruelty to Animals he opposed with equal wit and argument. But though he thought the subject to be wholly unfit for legislation, no person could be more ready at all times than himself, to resent those acts of cruelty with which our public roads and streets are occasionally disgraced. Indeed, when any incident, of whatever mr. windham's life. 107 nature, seemed to call for the interference of a by-stander, he was always prompt to step forward to the relief of the injured party, and by a certain alert- ness and energy he generally effected the purpose of his interposition *. The summer of 1809 was remarkable for the com- plete triumph of France over Austria, and for the failure of our expedition to the Scheldt. To shew that both these calamitous events were calculated upon by Mr. Windham, and that his opinion of the object * Among the events of this year which were the most painful to Mr. Windham, was the loss of his highly-esteemed friend Dr. Laurence. That very able and excellent man will long be re- membered with affection and respect by all who knew him. The vigour of his mind he displayed in the various characters of a wit and a scholar, a civilian and a politician. In the last of these characters, he would perhaps have ranked among the first men of his age, if as a speaker he had not been thought dictatorial and prolix, two qualities which, in the opinion of the majority of the House of Commons, were not to be balanced by knowledge or penetration, however copious or profound. Like his friend and patron Mr. Burke, as Goldsmith whimsically described him, ** Too deep for his hearers, he went on refining, " And thought of convincing, while they thought of dining." The harshness with which many members, against their better judgment, were too frequently disposed to treat him, often drew faith from Mr. Windham, who had eminently the ear of the House, a chivalrous defence of his less fortunate friend. In the latter days of Mr. Burke himself, Mr. Windham had been fre- quently obliged to act the same friendly part on behalf of that illustrious man. I08 SOME ACCOUNT OF of the latter of them was not at all influenced bv its result, it might be sufficient to quote a letter to me written at Beaconsfield, on the 21st July 1809, in which he said, " I tremble for the event of the next Austrian Battle, and am not without my tremors for the fate of the expedition, which, whether successful or not, I am satisfied is a most foolish enterprize." In a subsequent letter, he remarks, in reference to the expedition, that " the grand fault was that which was quite independent of the event ; — the sending of the force any where but to Spain." His opinion, however, concerning this question, as well as that of the Aus- trian campaign, will be collected more in detail from the following letter, addressed to his nephew Captain Lukin, some days before the actual sailing of the expedition : — " Beaconsfield, " Dear William, July 23, 1809. " I hold to my purpose of going to the assizes, and shall accordingly set off for town to-morrow. " Terrible news this from Germany ! — though the learned in London, I understand, (at least those about the offices) do not consider the battle as one of those decisive ones that leave nothing afterwards to be hoped. There is nothing to me in the event that at all comes unexpectedly, however it may be to be lament- ed. The most discouraging consideration is the dread- ful inferiority of talent that appears always to be on the side of the Austrians. Why is Buonaparte to be able to pass the Danube, before the Archduke is mr. windham's life. 109 apprized of what he is about ? I cannot think that this would have happened the other way. " Our expedition I conceive to be a most injudici- ous one, whatever be the event of it. My opinion is, that the whole should have been sent to Spain ; so as not to leave Buonaparte, when he has settled the Austrian business, to begin, as he did last year, on the banks of the Ebro ; but to have driven the whole of the French force out of the Peninsula. With a view even to a respite from invasion, the total clearance from Spain would have been of more importance than the destruction of all the vessels and arsenals in the Scheldt, should we even accomplish that purpose. If I could have been tempted by any other object, it would have been (with a view to remote and contingent consequences) to undertake the capture of Belleisle, the troops being afterwards to proceed to Spain. " My cold is better, but one of the poor men who were hurt at the fire is dead, and another of them is, I fear, in a bad way. They went into the house not only after I had left it, but after I was gone home *. " Yours affectionately, " W. Windham/' The following extract from a letter to his friend, Mr. A. Hudson of Norwich, is submitted to the reader, * The allusion here is to the fire at Mr. North's house in Con- duit-Street, which, as it was connected with the calamitous event that occasioned Mr. Windham's death, will be noticed more parti- cularly hereafter. 110 SOME ACCOUNT OF not so much for its reference to the Scheldt expe- dition as for the manner in which it treats of another popular topick, rendered indeed a political one by the turn which is given to it : — " Felbrigg, August 17, 1809. " You have rejoiced no doubt in the new proof, contained in the last Gazette, that the supposed supe- riority of the French arms, so arrogantly assumed and so meanly acquiesced in for some years past, vanishes before British troops. Though the late vic- tory should produce nothing more (as I fear it will not) than a confirmation of this proof, I don't know that it is too dearly purchased. Had our expedition gone to Spain, are there not grounds for believing that we might have driven the French out of the Peninsula ? Such an achievement would have been a great thing, even though it should have been found impossible, after their complete success elsewhere, to prevent them from returning. I hope our troops at Flushing will either succeed or withdraw, before Buonaparte comes to efface the impression of what has hitherto been done, by some signal victory over them. " A smart contest this between Maddox and Rich- man ! Why are we to boast so much of the native valour of our troops, as shewn at Talavera, at Vi- meira, and at Maida, yet to discourage all the practices and habits which tend to keep alive the same senti- ments and feelings ? The sentiments that filled the minds of the three thousand spectators who attended 10 mr. windham's life. i i i the two pugilists, were just the same in kind as those which inspired the higher combatants on the occasions before enumerated. It is the circumstances only in which they are displayed, that make the difference. " He that the world subdued, had been " But the best wrestler on the green." There is no sense in the answer always made to this, " Are no men brave but boxers ?" Bravery is found in all habits, classes, circumstances, and conditions. But have habits and institutions of one sort no ten- dency to form it, more than of another ? Longevity is found in persons of habits the most opposite ; But are not certain habits more favourable to it than others ? The courage does not arise from mere box- ing, from the mere beating or being beat ; — but from the sentiments excited by the contemplation and cultivation of such practices. Will it make no dif- ference in the mass of a people, whether their amuse- ments are all of a pacific, pleasurable, and effeminate nature, or whether they are of a sort that calls forth a continued admiration of prowess and hardihood ? But when I get on these topicks, I never know how to stop ; so I will send my best respects to Mrs. H. ' and have done. " Yours, my dear Sir, " with great truth, " W. Windham." The failure of the Walcheren Expedition was fol- lowed by proceedings in the cabinet which led to the T12 SOME ACCOUNT OF resignation of Lord Castlereagh and Mr. Canning. A formal offer was now made by Mr. Perceval, on the part of the ministers, to Lords Grenville and Grey, to receive them, with their friends, as members of the administration. The proposal, however, was rejected, and the answer, as well as the note in which the offer was conveyed, were afterwards made public. In Mr. Windham, who had retired for the summer to Fel- brigg, these proceedings did not fail to produce a strong degree of interest ; but the result which he hoped for was exactly the reverse of that which might have been expected to be foremost in his wishes. The following extracts from letters which I received from him about this time, will serve to shew that nothing was further from his disposition than that avarice of office which to public men is now indiscriminately imputed : — " Felbrigg, September 16, 1809. " I have received from several quarters information of the probability of a change in the ministry, which is far from presenting to me a prospect that 1 can con- template with any feelings of pleasure. I have not virtue enough to wish the ministers out, at the risk of being one of those who may be called upon to succeed them. While the change was said to be only partial, 1 felt sufficiently at my ease ; but in the way in which my informants suppose it is to take place, an offer to me, of some sort or another, I take it for granted, must be made. It is one of the things that one neither knows how to accept or decline. If I Mft wjndiiam's LIFE, i l ; could always be as well as I am here, — if Downing Street were in Felbrigg Park, or a dozen miles from London, — I should think much less about it ; but the being called upon to read and to write, to consider and to decide, when one is exhausted and worn down with one's duty in parliament, has something in it that hardly any advantages or gratifications can repay 5 and I am afraid my inabilities in point of health or strength are not got the better of, even in the two years that have elapsed since I was last in office. My hope must be, that the intelligence is unfounded, and that the question will not arise ; though i have my misgivings ; and partly from the progress which I understand is making in the Catholic question, and the alarms which I have heard the ministers have con- ceived on that account. If it should be found that the measure must be submitted to, it will not be unna- tural that an entire new ministry should be called in, composed of men decidedly friendly to it. * * * * * " A slight hurt which I got here in riding retards my return to town. I am, in the meantime, living a most wholesome life, and in many respects a very pleasant and useful one ; — pleasant, as I can recur to pursuits long laid aside, but very ill calculated to pre- pare me for a return to public life ; — and useful, as I am getting things into order, both within doors and without.'' Felbrigg, September 20, 1809- I say nothing all this while of the intelligence of the day. I lie trembling in my hole, waiting what vol. 1. 1 114 SOME ACCOUNT OF shall befall me. The habits of life here are not a good preparation for a return to office, though the health is ; — but even that has a little failed in the present instance ; for, though I am considerably above my rate of London health, I am, from accident, not quite up to that which residence here ought to have given me." " Felbrigg, October 2, 1809. " 1 have had letters, with copies of the corres- pondence, both from Lord Grey and Lord Grenville. I should think that the ministers will contrive to go on, and I cannot but hope it ; for, in the other event, I am sure I don't know what is to be done. I was enumerating, in my answer to Lord Grey, all that I thought could be looked to in that case, and the amount was very limited, and frightfully difficult. * * * " I feel but little stomach to return to office, unless I can have carte blanche as to my military plans ; and even then the whole is so be-devilled, that there is no restoring things to their original state." The administration did go on, as Mr. Windham expected and hoped. Mr. Perceval became First Lord of the Treasury upon the death of the Duke of Port- land ; the Marquis Wellesley succeeded Mr. Canning in the foreign department ; and the Earl of Liverpool accepted the seals of the war and colonial office, which had been resigned by Lord Castlereagh. During one of his frequent visits to Mrs. Burke at Beaconsfield, Mr. Windham wrote a letter to me, mr. windham's life. 115 which may be inserted, for the sake of a whimsical but forcible and characteristic comment on an event seemingly in itself of very slight importance. " Beacoiisfteld, December 18, 1809. " I have been here for some days, and have^just been joined by Mrs. Windham, who left London to- day. We are on our way to Bristol, and must lose no time, as Mr. , who is here, insists on my being in London during the second week of next month. I shall come very reluctantly, having during this recess indulged myself so much in other pursuits, and contracted, by one means or another, so strong a dislike to the politics of the times, that I am by no means in a frame of mind favourable for the com- mencement of a parliamentary session. The air of the country, however, will do something, if not to dis- pose me more to business, at least to render me more capable of- it. One of the events that tend to create a great impatience of all public concerns, is this dis- graceful and mischievous triumph of the O. P.'s, and the humiliating submission of the managers. Their conduct is quite unaccountable, unless they have secret information that the juries at the sessions would follow the example of Mr. Clifford's jury ; and even then the sacrifice of Brandon is something so scanda- lous, that no consideration of interest can excuse it. I am the more alive, I suppose, to this defeat of the managers, because I see it as a rehearsal of what is meant for higher performers j the managers being the government j the new prices, the taxes ; Brandon, 1 2 r 1 6 SOME ACCOUNT OP myself perhaps ; and the O. P.'s exactly the same description of persons as at. present. There is one difference I hope ; — that I shall never come on like poor Brandon with an apology. In all other respects, it seems to me to present but too sure a presage of the fate of the country, contemptible as the thing is in itself." " Believe me yours, " very faithfully, " W. Windham." This was one of the last letters which I received from him. He returned to town soon after Christmas, and at the commencement of the session of 1 8 1 o was at his post. He took an early occasion to express in very strong terms his disapprobation of the object and conduct of the expedition to the Scheldt. The vote for an enquiry upon the subject of that armament, ought, he contended, to be " carried by acclama- tion ;" the British army he described as having been * marched to its grave ; — to be extinguished amidst the pestilential air of Walcheren ; — to go out like a candle in a vault." But the Battle of Talavera, on the other hand, called from him a warm panegyric, both on the skill of Lord Wellington, and the gallantry of the troops. In this speech, which did honour to his feelings as an Englishman, he dated the military renown of our later days from our achievements in Egypt ; — the Battle of Maida confirmed it ; — and those of Vimeira, Corunna, and Talavera, he declared he would not exchange for a u whole archipelago of mr. windham's life. i 1 7 sugar- islands." This decided preference of national glory to mere acquisition of wealth or territory, may be considered as the key-stone which supported the whole fabric of his political opinions. The part which he took on a subsequent question exposed him to much temporary unpopularity. In the prosecution of the enquiry which the House of Commons instituted on the subject of the Scheldt Expedition, Mr. Yorke thought it necessary to move daily the standing order for excluding strangers. This measure was reprobated by Mr. Sheridan, who pro- posed that the standing order should be referred to a committee of privileges. Mr. Windham, who had always professed to dislike the custom of reporting debates in the newspapers, not only warmly opposed Mr. Sheridan's motion, but used some expressions by which the reporters in the gallery considered them- selves to be personally calumniated. Their resentment, as might be expected, broke forth in daily attacks on him in the public prints; and they soon came to a formal agreement that his speeches should no longer be reported. For these marks of vengeance, Mr. Windham had fully prepared himself, and he imputed no blame to those who inflicted them *. To the * Among many letters which Mr. Windham received from those who considered themselves aggrieved by this attack, there was one which he spoke of with approbation. As it was couched in terms of temperate and respectful expostulation, he answered it in a conciliatory manner ; regretting that observations of a gene- ral nature should have wounded the frelings of a person whose education and respectable character appeared justly to exempt him from any application of them. 1 3 I 1 8 SOME ACCOUNT OP honour of the conductors of the daily press, it should be remembered that a few months afterwards, they buried their resentments in the grave of their illustrious adver- sary, and joined with the public voice in lamenting the loss of his talents and virtues. By the temporary exclusion of Mr. Windham's speeches from the newspapers, some valuable ones have been wholly lost, while of others there have been preserved only a few slight and unsatisfactory frag- ments. Only one, and that a very short one, remains entire, namely, his eulogium on the character and conduct of the Roman Catholics of England. From that body (whose claims, it will be remembered, re- ceived his warm support in 1790) he now presented two petitions, praying, in loyal and respectful Ian-- guage, for the removal of the pains and disabilities to which they were liable by law, on account of their religious principles. Mr. Windham's speech on this occasion was preserved by Mr. Butler of Lincoln's Inn, in a late valuable publication *, and has been obligingly communicated by him to the author of this narrative. Another speech, which he made in support of Lord Porchester's motion, censuring the expedition against the Scheldt, is represented by those who heard it, to have been one of the most eloquent ever delivered in parliament. It arrested and fully recompensed the attention of the house for nearly two hours. He was * U Historical Account of the Laws against the Roman Catholics of England." 8vo. 1809. MR. WINIIHAM'S LIFE. 119 urged by some of his friends to prepare it for publi- cation in the form of a pamphlet, but his answer was, that as the subject was temporary, so was the speech, and he felt no anxiety to preserve it. A short and imperfect report of it was given some time afterwards in one of the newspapers *, and will be found in the ensuing collection. On the result of the enquiry, the ministers were successful by a majority of forty votes. In the proceedings of the House of Commons against Sir Francis Burdett, for a breach of their pri- vileges, Mr. Windham stood forward in maintaining what he conceived to be the rights of Parliament, and concurred in the vote which was finally agreed upon, for committing Sir Francis a prisoner to the Tower. His speech on this occasion is said to have been a highly animated one, but no part of it has been pre- served. The practice of mutilating the printed reports of parliamentary proceedings continued but for little more than two months ; after which Mr. Windham's speeches were again suffered to appear, as well as Mr. Tierney's, which had shared in the proscription made by the reporters. On the ist of May 1810, we find Mr. Windham opposing the second reading of a bill which had been brought in by Sir Samuel Romilly, as part of his plan for reducing the number of capital punishments. This Mr. Windham considered as a measure of dangerous innovation, and in resisting it, he took occasion to avow his belief that the mischievous * The British Press. 1 4 120 SOME ACCOUNT OF effects of the French Revolution had not yet ceased. That Revolution, he said, had still an existence, — " it was above us, and beneath us ; — it was without us and within us ; — it was every where round about us.*' The bill was lost by a majority of two. He spoke for the last time in the House of Com- mons, on the nth of May 1810. The question be- fore the house was, the course which it would be ex- pedient to take in relation to the actions which had been brought against the Speaker and the Serjeant at Arms by Sir Francis Burdett. Mr. Windham, as it will be readily conceived, asserted the dignity of Par- liament, and the sacredness of its privileges. A painful narrative remains to be related. The calamitous event which caused Mr. Windham's last illness took place a few months previous to the period down to which the circumstances of his political life have just been carried. It was about midnight on the 8th of July 1809, that in walking home from an evening party, he observed a house in Conduit-Street to be on fire. He hastened to the spot, to render his assistance, and found that the house in flames was so near to that of his friend, the Honourable Frederick North, as to threaten its destruction. Knowing that Mr. North (who was then on a voyage in the Medi- terranean) possessed a most valuable library, Mr. Windham determined, with the assistance of some persons belonging to a volunteer corps, whom he Selected from the crowd, to make an effort for the preservation of it. After four hours' labour, four-fifths of the books were saved. He did not quit the house j\ik. windham's life. 121 till the flames, which finally consumed rt, had spread so extensively as to render his further exertions highly dangerous. During the time that he was em- ployed in this arduous undertaking, it happened most unfortunately, that, by a fall, he received a blow on the hip, but not of so painful a nature as to occasion any relaxation of his efforts. The next day the author of this narrative called on him, and found him com- plaining, not of the hurt he had received, but of a cold which was the consequence of his exposure to the weather, the night having been very rainy. He seemed to enjoy the whimsical association in the news- papers of " Mr. Windham and the volunteers," but lamented that two of the persons who had assisted him had received considerable injury *. To those unfor- tunate persons (one of whom afterwards died) he shewed the most kind and unremitting attentions. His cold continued to be very troublesome to him for some time, but from the blow on his hip, he, for many months, appeared to suffer no inconvenience whatever, though it occassioned a tumour which, in the follow- ing Spring, had increased to a considerable size. In May 1810, Mr. Windham found it necessary to give his serious attention to the tumour which had been thus collected. Mr. Cline (whom he had con- sulted upon it two months before) gave it as his opinion that, in order to prevent dangerous consequences, an immediate operation was necessary ; — and his advice — T •*_, . --. ; _ . . * See in a preceding page, the concluding paragraph of his lftter to Captain Lukin, of the 23d July 1809. 122 SOME ACCOUNT OF was confirmed by that of four out of six eminent sur- geons whom Mr. Windham separately consulted. The two who thought that an operation was not required were, Mr. Wilson, the anatomical lecturer, and Mr. Phillips, of Pall-Mali. Dr. Blane (Mr. Windham's own physician) and Dr. Bail lie coincided in opinion with the majority of the surgeons, so that, in fact, seven out of nine professional men recommended the operation. It is not at all surprizing, therefore, that Mr. Windham, whose courage was on all occassions remarkable, should have determined on submitting at once to the dangers of the knife, rather than linger on in doubt and apprehension. Before his decision was acted upon, he took pains to inform himself concerning some cases of persons who had died under operations or from the effects of them ; and he requested this writer to make a particular enquiry respecting an instance supposed to be of the latter kind, which had recently occurred in Norfolk. He communicated his intention to very few persons, besides the professional men whom he had consulted ; and the deepest anxiety with which he seemed to be impressed, was that of sparing Mrs. Windham the terrors which a knowledge of the event could not fail to excite in a mind of extraordinary sensibility and tenderness. He conveyed her to Beaconsfield, on a visit to her friend Mrs. Burke, with whom he left her, on a plea of business, and arrived in town on Friday the 1 1 th of May. On the following Sunday, he at- tended at the Charter-house, and received the sacra- ment, which was administered to him privately by the mr. windham's life. 123 Reverend Dr. Fisher, the master of that institution, with whoia he had been intimately acquainted from his youth. The remaining days before the operation was to take place he employed in arranging papers, in making a codicil to his will, and in writing many letters, some of which were addressed to his nearest relatives, to be opened in case the event should prove fatal to him. The following letter has been obligingly com- municated to the author by Colonel Harvey, of Catton, in Norfolk, to whom Mr. Windham addressed it the day before he underwent the operation. It contains an allusion, as the reader will perceive, to the question of parliamentary reform, which was intended to be brought forward in the House of Commons in the course of a few days. " Pall Mall, " Dear Sir, " May 16, 18 10. " I would very gladly attend the business which you mention, and with every disposition to find the merits such as you describe, but I am afraid I must to-morrow go through an operation which will disable me from attendance in the house till long after the business in question will be decided, as well as others which, without disparagement to yours, I should have been still more anxious to attend to. If our reformers carry their madness and folly now or in any subsequent year, there is an end, be assured, of the stability of this constitution, and we shall fall from confusion to confusion till we are either sunk into complete revo- 11 124 S0ME ACCOUNT OF lutionary anarchy, or are settled under Buonaparte, We shall probably enjoy the blessings of both ; — and after the taste of the former, namely of republican and revolutionary anarchy, or government as they will call it, there are many who will think even a govern- ment like Buonaparte's a blessing. " These are my first sentiments ; — I may also say my last and dying sentiments, for though the opera- tion itself which I am about to submit to, is not a dangerous one, there cannot be so great pain as must 1 fear be gone through, without some danger. It is, as far as I should collect, something of the same sort as that which poor John Gurney underwent and fell a victim to. " I had thought at one time to defer it till I might have entered my last protest against such madness, and have tried what I could do to satisfy men's minds that it was madness. But I found so long a delay could not be incurred ; so I must only hope the best for the country and for myself. " Yours, dear Sir, " with great truth, &c. &c. " W. Windham V' * To the above proof of the consistency of Mr. Windham's opinions, at the end of thirty years after they had been formed, on a leading political question, the author expected to be able to add a letter on the subject of the Catholic claims. The letter • alluded to was addressed to Edward Jerningham Efq. who acted as Secretary to the English Catholic Committee, and it was finished by Mr. Windham just before the commencement of the operation, I 2 MR. windham's life. ^25 On Thursday, the 17th of May 18 10, the operation was performed by Mr. Lynn, in the presence of Dr. Blane, Mr. Home, and Mr. Pilliner, Mr. Windham's apothecary. The tumour was skilfully extracted, but having been very deeply seated, and attached to the ligaments of the hip joint, the operation was necessa- rily painful. Mr. Windham, however, bore the pain with the greatest resolution ; and during a pause, oc- casioned by a consultation upon the necessity of making a further incision, he even joked with his perilous situation. The tumour proved to be schirrous, of the shape of a turkey's egg, but even larger. The suc- cessful performance of the operation was immediately announced to Mr. Windham's intimate friends by Mr. Edmund Byng (Mrs. Windham's nephew), of whose friendly offices he had taken the precaution to avail himself. Mrs. Windham, according to an ar- rangement which he had previously made, returned to town the next morning, and was informed of what had taken place. For a few days, appearances were not -unfavourable, though the wound did not heal with what is called the first intention^ and though Mr. Windham suffered greatly from restlessness- and an irritable state of the nerves. But the hopes even of his most sanguine friends, soon began to give way. A symptomatic fever came on, and upon the ninth day he was pronounced to be in great Unluckily it has been mislaid or removed, and all search for it on the part of those who obligingly offered it for insertion in this work has been unavailing. 120^ SOME ACCOUNT OV danger. On the following day the symptoms were judged to be less unfavourable, but others of an alarming kind soon succceeded, and the medical at- tendants (to whom were now added Dr. Baillie and Sir Henry Halford) no longer entertained hopes of his recovery. From this time, the fever abated, the pulse became firmer and better, and the patient even began to take and enjoy nourishment ; yet in spite of these otherwise flattering circumstances, the state of the wound, which had never suppurated, and the total inability of nature to make any effort towards relieving it, were symptoms that excited no feelings but those of despair. Mr. Windham himself considered his case to be hopeless very soon after the performance of the operation, and when, at a later period, the attend- ing surgeon, availing himself of some favourable cir- cumstances, endeavoured to impress him with a less gloomy opinion, he said, " Mr. Lynn, you fight the battle well, but all won't do." He perfectly well knew the feebleness of his own constitution. Though he had possessed great muscular strength, and had lived a life of temperance and activity, he had never overcome the internal debility left by the fever which had attacked him at the age of twenty-eight. The complaint too, affecting his hip, which he had la- boured under in the Autumn of 1 808, has been sup- posed to be materially connected with that from which he was now suffering. So slight a contusion as that which he had received, could not have caused such disastrous effects, had it not met with a frame and constitution previously disposed to produce them. MR. WliTOHAM's LIFE. 127 While he lay in this hopeless condition, nothing could exceed the concern which was expressed by almost all classes of the inhabitants of London ; nor was this sentiment narrowed by party feelings, for every man who spoke of him seemed to be his friend. From the commencement of his illness, the number of anxious enquirers who had thronged the door to obtain a sight of the daily reports of the physicians, would almost be thought incredible. The watchful solicitude of his professional attendants ought not to pass unnoticed ; and in mentioning the unceasing anxiety of personal friends, it would be unpardonable to omit the names of Lord Fitzwilliam and Mr. Elliot*. The latter was the kind and soothing companion of «the sick chamber. It is gratifying to add, that, among those who shared in these feelings, was His Majesty, who took every opportunity of making enquiries of the physicians concerning the progress of Mr. Wind- ham's illness, pronouncing him (as he had done on a former occasion) to be a " real patriot and a truly honest man." On the 26th of May, notwithstanding his debility, Mr. Windham was able to maintain a long conference with his nephew, Mr. Robert Lukin, during which he expressed himself on many topics with his usual feli- city and spirit. Upon this occasion he pointed out to Mr. Lukin his mathematical manuscripts, explained generally the nature and object of them, and ex- * The Right Honourable William Elliot, M. P. for Peter, borough. % 128 SOME ACCOUNT OF pressed his wish that they might be carefully examined, with a view to ascertain whether some parts of them might not be found worth preserving. On Sunday, the 3d of June, his dissolution ap- peared to be fast approaching. It was on the evening of that day that the physicians and surgeons assem- bled in his chamber for the last time. Soon after they had left it, I had an afflicting opportunity of wit- nessing his dying condition, in which, however, none of the terrors and few even of the milder signs of death were visible. Though his articulation was a little im- perfect, his voice was not deficient in strength ; and though his countenance was slightly altered, it re- tained much of its peculiar animation. He was evi- dently free from pain, and cheered by feelings of* tranquil resignation. During about twenty minutes, he spoke many times, not without vivacity, and when I was about to leave the chamber, he pressed my hand with a degree of firmness which seemed at variance with the intimation Which he too plainly meant to con- vey to me — that I should see him no more. It was about half past ten o'clock when I left him, and after that time he is represented as having spoken but little. Being placed by Mr. Lynn, in a favourable situation for sleep, he said, " I thank you, this is the last trou- ble I shall give you." It is added, that he then fell into a doze, or stupor, and expired without pain or emotion the next morning (Monday, June the 4th) at about twenty-five minutes past eleven *. t - ■ ' .... ., .1 * It has been mentioned, as an extraordinary fact, that he had predicted he should die on the King's birth-day. The truth is, mr. windham's life. 129 Some apology, perhaps, is necessary for the minute- ness with which the above circumstances have been detailed. It may be confidently hoped, however, that those who knew and loved Mr. Windham's character, will not think it uninteresting in the hours of sickness and of death. That he died as every good man and sincere christian might wish to die, is a fact that may furnish grateful and useful reflections to all. He had just completed the sixtieth year of his age. By his will, which was made some years before his death, and by two codicils which he had recently added to it, he gave to Mrs. Windham, for her life, his whole real estate, including a venerable mansion, with an extensive and finely-situated park at Felbrigg, besides a considerable property in that neighbourhood, and at Sudbury, on the borders of Suffolk and Essex. At Mrs. Windham's decease, he directed that his pro- perty, charged with some temporary provisions in favour of other relations, should devolve on Captain William Lukin, of the royal navy, the eldest son of the Dean of Wells, Mr. Windham's half brother. On his accession to the estates, Captain Lukin is to assume the name and arms of Windham ; and in failure of his male issue, there is a remainder in tail in favour of that on the Friday before his death, he enquired the day of the month, and being told it was the first of June, he said, " Then I shall die on the fourth." It was quite natural that he should be struck with the near approach of so remarkable a day, and the event proved that he measured his remaining strength with great accuracy. VOL. I. K I30 SOME ACCOUNT OF Mr. Windham's early and very intimate friend, G. J. Cholmondeley Esq., with further remainders to the Earl of Egremont and other distant relations. The executors named in the will were, the Honourable H. Legge and William Palmer Esq. The loss which the country had sustained in Mr. Windham, was impressively noticed in both houses of parliament. On the 6th of June, in the House of Lords, Earl Grey pronounced an eulogium on his deceased friend's character, in a manner which re- flected the greatest honour on his feelings. And on the following day, Lord Milton (for whom Mr. Wind- ham had a high regard) distinguished himself in the other house, by an eloquent and affectionate delinea- tion of those public and private virtues which Mr. Windham so eminently possessed, and to which also Mr. Canning bore a generous and powerful testi- mony *. His funeral was directed by his will to be private, and without ostentation. Accordingly, his remains were attended into Norfolk by no other friends than Mr. Robert Lukin, his nephew, (Captain Lukin being at sea,) Mr. Edmund Byng, nephew to Mrs. Windham, and Mr. Budd, who was Mr. Windham's solicitor and land agent. They were joined at Norwich by Mr. Hudson and Captain Browne. At that city, where * A report of these Speeches will be found in the Appendix (E). Mr. Yorke, Mr. Barham, Mr. C. W. Wynne, and other members, availed themselves of other opportunities to express their full concurrence with the general feeling. mr. windham's life. *3* the corpse rested for one night, a general feeling of regret was strongly excited, and the procession was accompanied through the streets the next morning by a very numerous train of spectators. On its way to Felbrigg, it was joined by the tenantry (not one of whom was absent) and by other, respectable persons in the neighbourhood, on horseback, amounting in all to about ninety. The attendance of these persons, though it did not strictly accord with the directions of the will, could not have been refused without great unkindness. The corpse was at length deposited in the family vault at Felbrigg church, the funeral service being performed by the Reverend George Way. The park was thronged with spectators, anxious to pay the last tribute of respect to the memory of one who, though distinguished in the great world by his talents and accomplishments, was better known to his neigh- bours in the endearing character of a kind landlord and a'good man. OF the Character of Mr. Windham some few me- morials will perhaps be looked for, in addition to those which may have been incidentally preserved in the preceding narrative. To describe him truly as he was, is a task however which it is more pleasing to undertake, than easy to atchieve. In his person he was tall and well proportioned. Having in his youth been eminently skilful in manly exercises, he had thence acquired in his deportment a happy union of strength and ease, of agility and grace- K 2 132 SOME ACCOUNT OF fulness, which never forsook him. The form of his features was singularly interesting ; and the pene- trating vivacity of his eye gave a faithful indication of the corresponding qualities of his mind *. His address and conversation were fascinating to all classes of persons ; — as well to the grave as to the gay — to the uninformed as to the learned — to the softer as to the sterner sex. His manners delighted all circles, from the royal drawing-room to the village- green ; though in all circles they were still the same. As the polish of his address was not artificial, it was alike pleasing to all. No man had ever less pride, in its offensive sense. He would repel flippancy and * There are three large prints of Mr. Windham before the pub- lic, all of them in mezzotinto. One of them is a head engraved by J. Jones, from a picture painted many years ago by Sir Joshua Reynolds, for Mr. G. Cholmondeley ; another, also a head, was engraved by Say, from a painting by Hoppner, in the posses- sion of Lord Mulgrave ; and the third is a whole length by Rey- nolds, from the portrait mentioned in a preceding page to have been painted by Hoppner, for a public hall at Norwich. None of these prints are without merit, but the second (which has been reduced for this work) is thought to convey the most accurate likeness. There is also a fine picture by Mr. Lawrence, from which a very good engraving by Reynolds has been executed, but not yet published. After Mr. Windham's death, Mr. Nollekens had permission to take a mask from his countenance ; it was un- foilunately made too late to answer the desired purpose, but Mr. Nollekens has finished a spirited bust, chiefly taken from one which he executed many years ago, yet so well corrected from memory as to give a faithful representation of Mr. Windham, as he appeared just before the fatal operation. mr. windham's life. *33 arrogance, and would very keenly point his reprobation of what seemed mean or dishonourable ; but he never measured his courtesy by the various degrees of rank, of talents, or of wealth, possessed by those to whom he addressed himself. Of his acquirements it is needless to speak much at length. That he was " a scholar, and a ripe and good one," there are abundant testimonies to prove ; nor did his classical attainments, great as they were universally allowed to be, exceed his skill in the vari- ous branches of mathematical science. That skill the public, it is hoped, will be enabled to appreciate at some future time, by the publication of the manu- script treatises which are in the hands of his executors. His reading latterly was miscellaneous and desultory ; but what he hastily acquired, he accurately retained, and aptly applied in illustration of his opinions and arguments. His taste, in general, in the fine arts, was eminently pure, delicate, and discriminating. For music indeed he had no relish beyond a simple ballad. I once heard him remark, that the four greatest men whom he had known, derived no pleasure from music. Mr. Burke, Dr. Johnson, Mr. Fox, and Mr. Pitt, were the persons whom he thus distinguished. Upon what is generally called style in writing, he set but little value. His own practice was, to take plain words, in preference to learned ones ; to disre- gard the construction of sentences ; and to adopt po- pular idioms whenever they would aptly express his meaning. In his language he was as truly British as K 3 I34 S0:VIE ACCOUNT OF in his politics. His disgust was strongly excited by modern innovations of French words and phrases ; and he disliked them even as terms of art, where English ones could be found to supply their places. For the word sortie, for instance, he would uniformly substitute " sally." But nothing so highly offended him, as any careless or irreverent use of the name of the Creator. I remember that on reading a letter ad- dressed to him, in which the words, " My God 1" had been made use of on a light occasion, he hastily snatched a pen, and before he would finish the letter, blotted out the misplaced exclamation. Of Mr. Windham's character as an orator, the reader of this work is furnished with such ample means of judging for himself, that it is wholly unnecessary here to enter into any investigation of it. Something, however, may be said concerning the effect of his eloquence in the House of Commons, and in this re- spect a very high authority on such a subject * has pronounced that, " if it was not the most commanding that that house had ever heard, it was the most iri- sinuaimg." His manly figure, and his fluent and graceful delivery, were important points in his favour ; but on the other hand, the want of a full and sonorous voice rendered him sometimes difficult to be understood in many parts of the house, particularly in the gallery. This physical defect, added to a pa- renthetical mode of speaking, and the occasional sub- tilty of his logical distinctions, may account for the * Mr. Canning. See his speech in Appendix (E). mr. windham's life. 135 very imperfect manner in which his speeches were too commonly reported in the newspapers. The reporters often caught little more from him than those playful allusions and whimsical quotations which diverted the house, but which he really used merely by way of illustration. These, however, were strung together in the newspapers, unaccompanied with the arguments which they were intended to illustrate ; — so that a speech thus reported would frequently appear more like a leaf torn out of a jest book, than a logical and profound political discourse, as it probably was when it was delivered. Nothing was more foreign from Mr. Windham's habits, than to jest for the sake of jesting ; — his wit was always subservient to his argu- ment. The reason which has rendered it unnecessary to give an elaborate description of Mr. Windham's elo- quence, will equally serve to relieve me from a much weightier task — that of examining his political opinions. I will venture, however, to suggest, that the ruling passion — the clue which, " once found, unravels all the rest," — will be met with in the pre- ference which he gave to the honour and military re- nown of his country, above every other state of things in which a nation is said to be great and prosperous. To apply this principle to the whole course of his public opinions would involve a discussion much too ample for the limits of this work ; — but I cannot avoid remarking, that his notions respecting the com-, mon people directly flowed from it. No man could really love the people more than Mr. Windham loved K 4 136 SOME ACCOUNT OF them ; — he did not, it is true, wish them to become statesmen or philosophers ; — he desired to see them honest, active, chearful and contented — sensible of the blessings they enjoyed, and capable of defending them. Feeling that a bold peasantry, their country's pride, When once destroyed, can never be supplied, he deprecated all attempts which were made to deprive them of their accustomed sports and exercises. From the practice of those exercises, resulted, in his opinion, not only much of the personal bravery of Englishmen, but also that hatred of bloodshed and assassination, and that humane forbearance in victory, by which the British character is happily distinguished from that of many other nations. Nothing roused his indignation more than the vexatious spirit of interference with the holiday-enjoyments of the poor, which he thought some of our magistrates had lately shewn a strong desire to exercise. The suppression of a village-hop, or horse-race, or even a boxing-match or bull-bait, while the magistrate was quietly enjoying his own ball or hunting party, he thought an act of the most scandalous injustice and oppression. In short, he loved the British peasant, and wished to see him vigorous on the green, and independent in his cottage — respected for his loyalty, and formidable by his prowess, Mr. Windham's political opinions have been often charged with inconsistency. It is not surprising that such a charge should proceed from persons who only look to the distinctions of Whig and Tory, or to those air. windham's life. 137 other distinctions which, for nearly thirty years, have been sufficiently known and defined under the names of Pittite and Foxite. That he sometimes agreed with Mr. Fox, and sometimes with Mr. Pitt, is with such persons a decisive proof of inconsistency ! Those who will go deeper, making measures, not men, their rule for deciding the question, will perhaps find that, during a long political life, hardly any public man has less differed from himself than Mr. Windham has done. From the outset of his career to the close of it, he was the uniform enemy of Parliamentary Reform. In his zeal for the improvement of the army, his attach- ment to the crown and aristocracy, and his protection of the real comforts of the common people, he will be found to have been equally consistent. That in the course of twenty or thirty years, he found reason to change some few of his opinions, may be very true ; but who has not done this, even on subjects of the highest importance ? It must be admitted that he altered his mind on the question of the Slave Trade, which he at first thought should be abolished instanta- neously, though he afterwards wished the abolition to be subsequent to an attempt for ameliorating the con- dition of slavery. But instances like this will weigh but little against a mass of facts in the opposite scale. In speaking of Mr. Windham's public measures, it must not be forgotten that it was on those for the im- provement of the army that he relied for his reputa- tion as a minister. He publicly declared that, " like the eminent Italian musician, who had a piece of music inscribed on his tomb, or the Dutch mathema- 138 SOME ACCOUNT OF tician who had a calculation for his epitaph, he should desire no other monument as a statesman than that system." The quality, perhaps, by which Mr. Windham was more remarkably distinguished from most other public men, was his intrepidity. His political, like his per- sonal courage, was unbounded ; and he seemed to seek, rather than to shun, opportunities of displaying it. Had he condescended to court popularity, there can be no doubt that he would have attained his ob- ject j and it might have enabled him to become the leader of a party in the state. That was a situation, however, for which he had neither ambition, nor the necessary arts. He disliked both the management and the sacrifices which, in such an employment, are indispensably requisite. His habits of business were by no means regular, yet he could never justly be said to be idle. He would have been able to transact more business, had he been less scrupulous. It was his custom to begin a transaction with more care and nicety than could afterwards be found practicable in the conclusion of it. Notwithstanding his keenness as a debater, no man ever mixed less of private enmity with his public dif- ferences. He generally spoke of his adversaries with liberality, and often with kindness. There was no system of opinions which he so strongly condemned as he did Sir Francis Burdett's ; yet I remember that he once softened the asperity of some remarks which were made by another person on that Baronet's con- MR. WrNDHAM's LIFE. I 39 duct ; adding good humou redly, " I suspect, after all, I have a sneaking kindness for Sir Francis." It now remains to speak of his domestic virtues, in doing which it will be difficult to use any other lan- guage than that of unqualified eulogium. His tender- ness as a husband and relative, his kindness as a friend and patron, his condescending attention to inferiors, his warm sympathy with the unfortunate, are so many themes of praise, wine- it would be more agreeable than necessary to dwell upon # . The sense which he entertained of the importance of religion, and which he strongly marked by one of the concluding acts of his life, will serve to complete the character of a man who had scarcely an enemy, except on political grounds, and had more personal friends warmly attach- ed to him, than almest any man of the age. His talents, accomplishments, and virtues, have been happily summed up, by describing him as the true model of an English gentleman ; and it has been well observed, that if the country had been required to produce, in a trial of strength with another nation, some individual who was at once eminent for learning, taste, eloquence, wit, courage, and personal accom- plishments, the choice must have fallen on Mr. Wind- ham. He was the admirable Crichton of his age and country. * As testimonials of the kindness of his nature, two letters of a private sort, one occasioned by the death of a niece, and the other by that of a friend, will be given in the Appendix (F). 140 SOME ACCOUNT, &C. All this, it may be said, is the language of pane- gyric. The writer is aware that it is so, but he can- not feel that it is not also the language of truth. If gratitude for bounties received shall appear to have blinded his judgment, the error he trusts will be for- given. Yet he will not readily consent to believe that he has been erring, in bestowing praise where those whose authority is every where respected, have thought it was justly due. It would be highly culpable in him to be less forward than others, in yielding his humble and grateful tribute to the memory of one whom he has every motive to revere, and of whom he feels it might be said, as of the Roman General, 'twere a concealment Worse than a theft, no less than a traducement To hide your doings ; and to silence that Which to the spire and top of praises vouch'd Would seem but modest. [ Hi ] APPENDIX. (A.) Page 7. Mr. Windham 1 s first public Speech. (Copied from the Norfolk Chronicle.) ON Wednesday, January 28, 17*8, there was a respect- able meeting of Gentlemen at the Maid's Head, Nor- wich, and the Swan, but not so numerous at either as was expected. As the latter was called with a professed intention to be directed in its measures by the conduct and resolutions that should be pursued at the former, the Gentlemen at the Swan immediately determined to go down to the Maid's Head, where, after Sir John Wodehouse was requested to take the Chair, the business was opened by Lord Townshend, Master of the Ordnance, who set forth, that from the in- disposition of the Lord Lieutenant of the county*, and the absence of another Noble Peer, higher in rank than himself, who now filled the most eminent station in another kingdomf, it became incumbent upon him to request a meeting for the purpose of consulting upon the means of affording such assistance as should best enable Government, at this critical juncture^ to exert itself for the support of the constitutional authority of the British empire •, that the unhappy war in * Earl of Orford. f Earl of Buckinghamshire.- 142 SOME ACCOUNT OF [APPEND. which we werS engaged with America was unavoidably at- tended with large expence, had been followed with a des- truction of men and a waste of force, which was much to be lamented ; and that our natural enemies, it was to be apprehended, would avail themselves of our situation, and therefore it was become necessary to be provided with a force that would enable us to resist any attack that might be made upon us at home : he then submitted to the company, whether opening a subscription for the purpose of raising levies to fill up those corps which had been considerably reduced, and might be expected to return from America, would not, as it appeared to him, be the least exceptionable and most beneficial mode. His Lordship was seconded by the Honourable Henry Hobart, brother to the Earl of Buck- inghamshire. Upon which Mr. WINDHAM, of Felbrigg, addressed himself to the Chair, premising, that from the personal affection, and hereditary attachment which he bore to the Noble Lord, it gave him concern to differ from him totally, respecting the conduct we should observe on the present momentous and alarming situation of public affairs. He begged leave to take a retrospect of the measures that had led to it ; he should not however enter into the wide and beaten field of disputation, concerning the right of the British parliament to tax the Americans, but should confine himself principally to the means that had been used, and the arguments advanced to establish and enforce it. At the commencement of the dispute we were told by administration that the resistance to the aft for laying a duty there, was only from the licentiousness of a mob, such as we had frequently known in this country, and might as readily be quelled ; that all persons of property acquiesced in our authority, and a military force should no sooner appear, than they would gladly embrace our protection from a lawless and tumultuous rabble : that should the resistance be general, as was pre- 10 append.] mr. windham's life. 143 tended, ten, or perhaps two, regiments would bring them to subjection without effusion of blood. One Gentleman as- serted that he would undertake to march through the country with 5,000 men unmolested ; another, more strongly to ex- press our own importance and their insignificance, said that a grenadier's cap would awe them into obedience. Compare these wild and fallacious declamations, with many other contemptuous and unmerited reproaches cast upon this much injured people; a people, whose affection from their first establishment had been uniformly, and with filial warmth, devoted to your interest, whose spirit had been ever associated, whose courage had been exerted and distinguished, and whose blood had been shed and mingled with your own, in support of the common cause of the Empire ; from a mo- nopoly of whose trade you had derived solid, extensive, in- creasing benefits, and but for despotic and vindictive measures which have been adopted, as permanent as they were beneficial ; yet these people, although provoked by reiterated acts of oppression, petitioned and remonstrated in the most respectful and dutiful manner, without exciting any disposition here to preserve their freedom and tranquillity ; on the contrary, with inveterate and deliberate malignity on the part of administration, they were pursued, and that spiric of resistance to arbitrary rule was roused in America, which had often been exerted in this country, and to which Great Britain is indebted for its freedom and its fame : since they were driven to take up arms, let us, I say, compare the promises, the assurances of ministers from one year to ano- ther with events. When the principal, the whole force of this country that could posssibly be spared ,had been exerted, 50,000 land forces, 20,000 seamen, more than 100 vessels of different force had been employed in the third campaign, and what has been done, what have we reaped but disap- pointment, shame and dishonour, such as never before stained 144 SOME ACCOUNT Of [APPEND, the British name and the British arms ? One army of 10,000 disciplined men, under the command of officers of experience, with a well served force of artillery, was in the course of a few weeks absolutely annihilated, and by whom ? By the peasantry of the country, hastily assembled, who destroyed an army on which the 'principal expectation and dependance was placed in the middle of last summer, and which we thought had nothing to do but to drive the rabble before it. I mean not to cast reflections on the conduct of our officers, or the bravery of the private men ; after en- during unparal'eled hardships and fatigues, they have every where effected all that was in the power of men. Let us next examine what has been accomplished by General Howe; early or rather late in the season, he went out to seek, and he found General Washington, but in such a situation that he deemed it not prudent to attack him ■> he returned and was obliged to proceed with his troops upon a tedious and perilous voyage ; he arrived at the place of destination, and landed without resistance ; he marched forward, attacked, and was attacked ; he conquered, and after much loss has got possession of an open town, from whence he made another forward movement with intention again to bring the enemy to action, has again returned without effecting his purpose, and has since been obliged, at an enormous ex- pence, to erect redoubts for the security of his own troops against the attempts of the enemy. Such disgraceful and repeated disappointments will not convince us of the im- practicability of conquering the Americans : if you could not subjugate them when in a raw undisciplined state, is it not the extreme of folly and madness to expect it now they have a regular established force ? I will not contend whether they are as good soldiers as European troops ; they are dis- ciplined, they are assisted by foreign officers, they have ar- jillery, and are yet furnished with every means of continuing append.] mr,. windham's life. 145 the war. After such delusions, after a waste of the most libera] and unrestrained grants from parliament, what are we now called together for ? Why ! ministry has the effrontery to apply for voluntary contributions, unconstitutional bene- volences, and urge their request with an open avowal that this country is in danger of a hostile attack from its natural enemies, who have hitherto availed themselves of these ad- vantages which we have thrown into their hands by our own folly, oppression and cruelty. This, indeed, was obvious, was predicted, was warned against at the beginning of the dispute, but was ridiculed as an idea which only the gloomy brain of patriotism could conceive or cherish. But, Sir, if such really is our condition, why is our security to be rested upon troops raised in the Highlands of Scotland, who are to act in conjunction with those of the very loyal towns of Manchester and Liverpool. For what purpose was the militia established *. to what end was an act passed, impowering His Majesty to call it out upon the present emergency ? Why is the service of that constitutional body of forces, the natural security of this country, not called for at this time ? As a Briton, as an inhabitant of Norfolk, and as bearing a commission in that corps, I feel this indignity ; every member of it in the king- dom must feel, and ought to resent it. I would wish to discountenance this and every like attempt of the kind, as having a tendency to protract, instead of bringing to a speedy issue this unnatural, fruitless, and ruinous war, which is now acknowledged by the authors of it to have reduced us to a state of insecurity, to the verge of a precipice. It is not, Sir, that any sum of money which shall be raised here will avail, or even be auxiliary to the purpose avowed, it is not intended, nor expected it should, by the proposers ; respecting America it will be innocent, it will be as the small dust of the balance ; but the countenance, the weight, the autho- rity of the county of Norfolk is wanted to give a sanction vol. 1. L I46 SOME ACCOUNT OF [APPEND. to measures which we ought to reprobate, and to support men in places who have given the most glaring proofs of in- capacity and temerity, and afforded the strongest presump- tion of being inimical to the constitution of the kingdom, and whose removal will be a considerable step to bring about what every one seems desirous of, and what I am sure we are all interested in, peace and reconciliation with America. I do therefore give my protest against the scheme that has been proposed, as I trust will most Gentlemen of property, judgment and independency. Mr. Coke, member for the county, declared his concur- rence in those sentiments. — Lord Townshend replied, in vindication of the part he had taken ; and with an avowal of that sincerity in his conduct which we may presume is uni- versally allowed him, he said, that he was no minister nor acquainted with the secrets of the cabinet, he was only a titular counsellor, but that could he conceive there was a single member of it, who possessed the malignity of heart which had been imputed to them, no man would more rea- dily concur to reprobate and procure his dismission ; that he had the honour to have taken an active part in reviving that respectable and constitutional body the militia, and would, upon any requisite occasion, relinquish every other engage- ment, to act as an officer in that corps, but that the calling the men from their families, from their looms and other oc- cupations, might at this time be attended with consequences injurious to the manufactures and agriculture of the king- dom. He concluded with a handsome and liberal eulogium on the abilities and comprehensive knowledge, the elegant and nervous elocution which the Honourable Gentleman (Mr. Windham) had displayed upon this occasion, and candidly assured him he was convinced that he spoke from principle and conviction ; His Lordship presaged, that the county of Norfolk would derive advantage and himself append.] mr. windham's life. 147 honour from the maturity of judgment and integrity of heart which the Honourable Gentleman had given this signal and early proof of. — Mr. De Grey, a Groom of the Bed- chamber, and son to the Lord Chief Justice, replied to that part of Mr. Windham's speech which asserted, that any mode of furnishing the Crown with money not under the controul of parliament was illegal, and contended that neither the letter nor spirit of the 13th of Charles the Second would be violated by the subscription proposed. He was supported by Mr. Charles Townshend, one of the Joint Vice-Treasurers of Ireland, who expressed a concern that national prejudices should yet be cherished, and that whilst it was acknowledged that the Highlanders were en- gaged in rebellion against the present establishment, it ought also to be remembered that they were employed and dis- tinguished themselves with honour againts the common enemies of this country in the late war. After these alter- cations, the Gentlemen who did not approve of a subscrip- tion withdrew, and those who remained entered their names with the several sums affixed ; the dissentients then returned to the Swan, where a protest was agreed to and subscribed, and some other resolutions formed of which an account will be given in a future paper. k - 148 -• SOME ACCOUNT OF [APPEND. (B.) Page 27. To those of the citizens of Norwich, who are most likely to be affected by an increase in the price of provisions , and to whom a hand-billy containing what is called " Mr. Windham's Speech, &c." may be supposed to be addressed. My Good Friends, Though it is with great reluctance that I offer any re- marks on the paper above alluded to, or confess so far the author's powers of mischief, yet the wish of standing well in your opinion, and of vindicating myself against charges, which, if true, I should think very important, induces me to trouble you with a few words. On the author himself I have nothing to observe j about him there can be no difference of opinion. Whatever weight any of you may be inclined to give to the contents of the paper, no one can mistake the purpose or character of the writer, or hesitate to pronounce, that as the means he uses are the most base, the motives by which he is actuated are the most mean and malignant. The plain object of the paper is to excite against me your resentments, as one who would have increased the present price of provisions by sending out of the kingdom that grain which was wanted for our own necessities*. My Friends, whatever judgment you may form of my con- duct, you shall, at least, not have to complain, that I do not deal openly by you. So far from wishing, as the author of the paper would insinuate, to conceal the part I have taken, I am ready not only to avow my conduct in the fullest ex- * Wheat was 32s. to 33s. 6d. Rye 13s. to 14s. Barley us. to 12s. per comb. Best flour 49s. per sack. append.] mr. windham's life. 149 tent, but to assure you, at this instant, and upon mature re- flection, there is no part which I do not perfectly approve. What I have either thought, felt, or acted upon the occasion, is this. — I wished, in common, I conceive, with every one else, that the state of provisions in this country might have been such as to allow of our affording some relief to the distresses of our neighbours. I thought (and have not yet changed my opinion) that the state of our provisions was such -, and that we might have given the relief asked, with- out the effect being felt in this country at all. But, at any rate, I thought we should enquire, whether it was so or not; that we may not be deterred by imaginary dangers ; and, if we could do nothing else, might at least show to the French, that we had the wish to assist them. For this reason I proposed, that a committee should be appointed to inquire, what change might have taken place since the sitting of the former committee. — Now, my Friends, what do you see in all this that should be deserving of blame ? Are any of you so selfish, narrow-minded, or vindictive, so unlike English- men, not to say Christians, as to maintain, that, because the French and we are rival, and often hostile nations, that you would not furnish them in their distress with a morsel of bread, even though you should have enough remaining for yourselves ? Will you go so far as to say, that you would not assist them unless that were the case: in other words, that if any inconveniences, however small, was to arise from it to yourselves, you would leave them to perish in their dis- tress ? If such only is your charity, it cannot be said to be entitled to any high commendations. But supposing you did restrain your bounty within limits so. unworthy, would you have been prepared to say, and that too without inquiry, that such a pittance as they asked, namely, less than one day's consumption of this country, could not have been granted without increasing the price of grain to our own poor ? I L 3 I $6 SOME ACCOUNT OP [APPEND. certainly was not prepared to say so, nor have I yet adopted that opinion ; on the contrary, I am quite persuaded, had our ministers* done their duty, and been willing to risk, as all men meaning to do their duty must do, the raising a popular clamour against themselves, for the sake of a great national object, that the quantity asked by the French might have been furnished without any sensible effect in this country whatever. And I think it for ever to be regretted, and may be hereafter felt severely to our cost, that an op- portunity has been missed of doing such an act of grace to a great and generous nation, at a moment when they were manifesting the most marked good will to us, and when their minds were in a state to receive the deepest impressions either ©f -kindness or enmity. But these will be said perhaps to be distant considerations : let us look to some that are more more immediate. You are informed, no doubt, that all France is at this moment in arms j that men's minds are in the most dreadful and alarming ferment ; that there is a suspension of all regular Government ; and that instances are daily occurring of persons of the first condition sacrificed to the popular fury. In the midst of this, the English, many thousands of whom are distributed over that kingdom, travelled about with perfect safety ; being received even with particular marks of cordiality, as persons presumed to be well affected to that cause of liberty for which the French are now con- tending. Will any one pretend to sav, that it refusal, at such a moment, to assist with the least supply, that part of their distress which arose from want of provisions, might not so have inflamed their minds against this country, as to have endangered the life of every Englishman at that time in * Mr. Pitt's first administration. append.] mr. Windham's life. 151 France ? Will you yourselves pretend to say, had the cir- cumstances been reversed — had this country been in arms, and in want of provisions, and a small relief, solicited from our neighbours, been refused, for reasons which we had thought frivolous, that Frenchmen travelling through the country would have nothing to apprehend from the effects of popular violence ? That they felt deeply the ungracious- ness of our conduct, is well known to all who were then in France. There was a moment, when, from the concurrence of this with other causes, our Ambassador at Paris thought himself in great danger; and had a regard to his safety induced him to withdraw, a massacre of all the English at Paris might very possibly have been the consequence. But a slight and recent fact will shew our conduct has operated more effectually than any general reasoning : — a servant of a friend of mine, who arrived no longer ago than yesterday, was stopped on his way by some dragoons, and held a long while in parley with a pistol cocked at his breast, on no other ground than * his being one of that nation who had refused them a morsel of bread at the moment of their extreme need.' They were at last only pacified by being assured that the refusal was the act of individuals, and not approved by the nation at large. You may judge from hence, whether this pitiful con- duct of ours might or might not have produced consequences the most tragical. If such consequences were not produced, let us not argue, that, our fears having been found unne- cessary, part of the motive to compliance which I have stated is in consequence done away : but rather say, that the nation that has borne with such moderation what they deemed ill-usage, was, for that very reason, better entitled to be treated well. I- 4 152 SOME ACCOUNT OF [APPEND. These, my Friends, were the principal considerations which induced me to make that motion : and which, I fear, will forbid me to repent of it, even if I should have the mis- fortune, which I should think a very great one, to have in- curred your ill-will by it. The fairness of my motives you will not call in question. I am no corn-faclor who am to profit by raising the price of grain ; my tenants will not pay me a farthing more, whatever quantity had been sent to the French ; I cannot be suspected of a wish to benefit foreigners at the expence of my own countrymen, perhaps of my own constituents, beyond what charity requires from man to man. — I should say, that I could have no private in- terest in the question, if I did not recollect a pretty strong one, and of which I was fully aware at the time : — an interest not to do what I thought right, from a view of the very event that has now happened, and the possibility that some wretch might be found base enough to make the attempt which we have now seen: but the attempt will, I trust, prove abortive. As you cannot but be satisfied of the integrity of my motives, so I trust to your good sense and generous feelings to enter fully into the force of my reasons. — I will never believe, till I hear it from yourselves, that more can be meant, by any impatience you may feel, than that the interests of our own people were entitled first to be considered ; and that in any question between us and them, a small inconvenience on our part might be allowed to outweigh a large one on theirs. But I will never suspect you of an opinion so base, as that an Englisman is not to give relief to a Frenchman ; or, that when we have con- quered them in the field, we should not be equally ready to dispute the prize with them in the nobler contest of gene- rosity. — I say this, supposing all interest of our own out of the question, but I am persuaded that interest and policy demanded this compliance at our hands, as much as honour append.] mr. windham's life. 153 and humanity. — I am persuaded too, that if ministry had not shrunk from their duty, but had conducted the measure as it was in their power to conduct it, the relief required might have been given, and all the good resulting from it been obtained, without any sacrifice on the part of this country at all. I will not detain you longer, however, in the discussion of this subject. I am desirous to transmit to you immediately such an explanation of my conduct as may prevent miscon- struction and defeat the malice of those who would rob me of your good opinion ; a possession which I shall be ever ambitious to retain, and which I will never, by intentional misconduct, deserve to forfeit. Being, Gentlemen, with the greatest truth and attachment, Your very obliged and faithful humble servant, London, August 5, 1789. W. Windham. [The above letter appeared in the Norfolk Chronicle of August 8, 1789.] (C.) Page 31. Mr. Windham's Speech, July 2, 1792, At a County Meeting at Norwich, to address His Majesty on the subject of a Proclamation against Seditious Meetings. (From the Norfolk Chronicle;) HE began with apologizing for his troubling the meeting on this occasion, the object of which he conceived would only have required his hearty assent — but when he found Gentlemen wander from the subject, and the purpose of that 154 SOME ACCOUNT OF [APPEND. meeting, and instead of merely voting an Address of Thanks to His Majesty for the Proclamation, enter into those endless discussions, which the mention of a Parliamentary Reform must bring forward, he thought it proper to make a few observations : First, with respect to the Proclamation ; he wished to know if there was any thing new in this 5 had not Proclamations been issued upon less interesting occasions — he would ask what was there in the Proclamation that warranted this unexpected opposition to the Address ? — Did the Proclamation enact any new laws ? — Did it sus- pend any old ones ? — It went no further than to caution people from receiving, with eagerness and confidence, opi- nions which tended to destroy all subordination, and in the end to the subversion of the constitution, and for which an Address of Thanks is to be voted for His Majesty's care and regard to the happiness and safety of his subjeets. — Mr. Windham then reverted to the subject of Reform, which, though he confessed was of too great a magnitude for a proper discussion in that place, yet there were certain points, relating personally to himself, which induced him, in some measure, to go into it. It had been pretty generally repre- sented, that he had, in another place, said he Would oppose a Parliamentary Reform, in whatever shape it might be brought forward ; so far from it, he was a friend to universal Reform. — If Gentlemen, from a constant application of the word, had lost its original and true meaning, he must inform them, that Reform meant to make better, and would that be the case, if all those levelling principles were adopted here, which have been received in a neighbouring kingdom ? — Publications of a most inflammatory nature were circulated with the greatest industry among the lower ranks of people — clubs were formed, at which ideas of a most dangerous tendency were instilled into their minds, and delusive pros- pects were held out, which a Parliamentary Reform it was .append.] mr. windham's life. 155 told them would realize ; but above all, correspondences were carried on between the clubs in this kingdom and those in France, the latter of which, the real friends to, and those who had been the first in bringing the Revolution in that country about, utterly detested. — That it was not a mere assertion, or his own opinion entirely; he would beg leave to mention a man, whose name was not unknown to those asso- ciations — a man who might be supposed to have some knowledge in this business, and one who had had no incon- siderable share in bringing that Revolution to its present state. The man he alluded to* was M. la Fayette, who, in a letter to the National Assembly, had reprobated, in the strongest terms, the conduct of the members of the Jacobin Club ; men, he writes, who far from having any share in that Government, were working even against the Constitu- tion, as by law established ; a faction, M. Fayette insists, that ought, for the safety of the country, to be immediately extirpated ; yet these are the men whom our Reformists are known to correspond with, and to whom emissaries are con- tinually sent. What ! are we to stand with our arms folded, or are we not acting more like real friends of our country, to oppose at the onset, these dangerous proceedings ? But a few years ago, the question put by electors to a candidate for a seat in Parliament, was, are you firmly attached to the principles of our glorious Constitution, as by law established ? These very men now will not allow that we have any Con- stitution at all. He would inform those, who upon all occa- sions are referring us to the Revolution in France, as a precedent for us to follow, that the Constitution of this country was looked up to by the authors of that Revolution with the highest respect and admiration ; and that our superior happiness, prosperity, and consequence among nations to which we were very much inferior in natural advantages, were to be attributed solely to that admirable 12 156 SOME ACCOUNT OF [APPEND. form of government, which had not been made in an instant, but for which we are indebted to the united wisdom of our ancestors. Mr. Windham stated, that if men, as he might be, were willing to suffer some little inconveniences for the cause of liberty, yet that country (France) not only suffered inconvenience, but great misery from one end of the king- dom to the other. They who think otherwise, are com- pletely ignorant of the whole matter. Mr. Windham then remarked on the presumptuous folly of those men, who, from their avocations in life, had not opportunities of deep research, and who of course must have but a very superficial knowledge of what such changes might produce, coming forward with confidence and boldness in matters which those who might be supposed more ac* quainted with them, from their continual application and attention to them, never entered upon or attempted to undertake without the utmost fear and trembling. [Here Mr. Windham, to evince the force of his own reasoning, quoted from an author, of whom he supposed it would be no small recommendation to these gentlemen to find he was an opponent of Mr. Burke.] He compared our Con- stitution to a comfortable house, which had descended from father to son for ages, and which had always been found perfectly convenient to the families that had inhabited it ; it came to pass, however, that when the present owner had one day been describing with pleasure and satisfaction, the enjoyment of his situation to some of his neighbours, they told him, with the utmost seriousness, that there were many evident defects in it, and advised him to make some altera- tions — the good man was thunderstruck at their assertions, and more so upon asking them what good was to be obtained by the change •, they freely confessed they could not imme- diately point that out, only it certainly should be altered, and with his leave they would undertake to do it. The append.] mr. windham's life. 157 owner upon this began to make enquiries about the profes- sional skill of these men ; for, says he, I am perfectly happy in my present state, and even should they make improve- ments (which I by no means see likely), myself and family must be put to the greatest inconveniences while those are making, and heaven knows, if they may not bring my now comfortable dwelling about my ears. He also made another allusion in his speech respecting the lengths men would go, so far as words were concerned ; he compared those men, who would leave nothing unattempted that their pens and tongues could effect, while it did not encroach on their per- sonal interests, to a man at a horse-race, who being rather short-sighted, and somewhat interested in the determination of the match, insisted, with the utmost vehemence and ob- stinacy, that his favourite horse came in first. They have at those places, says Mr.Windham, a very summary method of settling these matters, which is no more than proposing a bet •, this was immediately done, and five guineas to one was offered ; the effect this had was wonderful, for this man who had a prospect of winning the sum, and who before would have risqued his eternal salvation on his opinion, would not now hazard a single guinea. Mr. Windham trusted, that as he gave Gentlemen credit for the disinterestedness of their sentiments, they would in return do him the justice to be- lieve he acted upon the same principle. — If men really pre- ferred a republican government, and were honest in their sentiments, he by no means blamed them. He could live in perfect charity with such men, and grant them toleration in all its latitude, and that was more, he feared, than some of his late friends were now ready to grant him. — That interest was not the object that induced him to take the side of the question he had done, he begged leave, in a few words, to make apparent ; that he was acting diametrically opposite to his own interest, many of those Gentlemen (to whom he I58 SOME ACCOfJNT OF [APPEND. must confess himself under obligations, and to differ from whom gave him infinite concern,) had very pointedly ex- plained to him ; but that concern was greatly alleviated, when the difference that subsisted between them, would, upon investigation, be found very minute indeed, for though they did not agree on subordinate points, their general prin- ciples were still the same. He did not see how Gentlemen could argue that a Parliamentary Reform would injure his interest in Norwich, if the right of election was more popu- lar, unless they thought that the contest would be more expensive. He said he was returned for no borough, and had no borough to dispose of; therefore, on those grounds, he did not oppose reform. Mr. Windham concluded his speech, with the utmost animation, in nearly the following words : — That the honour and satisfaction in being chosen a representative of Norwich, was indeed most intimately connected with his happiness ; but he should think himself unworthy that situation, in which their kindness had placed him, should he act contrary to the dictates of his own con- science, which had led him to give his opinion sincerely and openly upon this important subject. (D.) Page 7©. Extract of a Letter from the Right Honourable W. Windham, to Sir J. C. Hippisley, Bart, previous to the debate on the Catholic ^uestion t 1808. " THE short argument is, that in this, as in other cases, you must chuse between opposite dangers ; and that the danger to be apprehended from leaving the Catholics of Ire- land in their present state, is greater than any that can be append.] mr. windham's life. 159 supposed to arise, in whatever length of time, out of the increase of their present privileges. If the Church be neces- sary to the State (as it is), the State must be acknowledged to be equally necessary to the Church ; and what is to be- come of the Church of England, should England itself be lost ? or how shall England be maintained, if the French should set a permanent footing in Ireland ? The condition of Ireland is, for the greater part of its population, that of a sort of semi-barbarism ; which not only keeps that country in a depressed state, deprived, for the greater part, of those advantages, which nature seems to have intended for it ; but renders it, in the present circumstances of the world, a source of continued and imminent danger to us. This de- pressed and disordered state seems to have been altogether produced, by the system of laws and government adopted originally, perhaps necessarily, but since continued unneces- sarily. With respect to the Catholics; without converting them, the only operation of these laws has been to brutalize and barbarize them, rendering them at the same time our enemies. Of these laws, the greater part have, during the present reign, been repealed ; and, upon the same principle, as also with a view to convey to the Catholics the real and prac- tical benefit of what has already been done for them, it would be right, in my opinion, to repeal the remainder. The danger of such repeal, even at any period the most distant, I cannot persuade myself to be any at all. If the Church of England is ever to be overturned, or undermined, it will not be by the Catholics, but by sects of a far different descrip- tion, or by persons of no religion whatever." l6fc SOME ACCOUNT OF £ APPEND. ( E Page 130. IN the House of Lords, on the 6th of June 18 10, in a debate on the Question for referring to a Committee of the whole house the Petitions of the Roman Catholics of Ire- land, Earl Grey, in maintaining the necessity of extending relief to the Catholics, drew a picture of the perils with which the Empire was surrounded by the progress of the enemy in every quarter. Such dangers, he observed, threatened from without. Was there nothing to appal from a view of our internal situation ? When every thing that was visible was of an alarming nature, it was no inconsider- able aggravation of the evil to see the great men which had been snatched from their country by the hand of death, at the moment when her perils stood most in need of their com- manding talents. Within the last four years they had lost two great statesmen, Mr. Fox and Mr. Pitt, to whom, above all others, he could safely affirm, the different political de- scriptions in the country looked up for that wisdom in coun- cil and energy in execution, so necessary in any pressing emergency of public affairs. To these was now added the third loss, the subject of their present lamentations. It was unnecessary to say that he alluded to the late Mr. Windham. It was his misfortune at different times to differ from that distinguished and regretted character, yet in the heat of political disagreement^ he never ceased to admire his many and splendid virtues. — He was a man of a great, original, and commanding genius — with a mind cultivated with the richest stores of intellectual wealth, and a fancy winged to the highest flights of a most captivating imagery •, of sound and spotless integrity (hear ! hear !), with a warm spirit, but a generous heart (hear I hear !), and of a courage and deter- II append.] mr. windham's life. 161 mination so characteristic, as to hold him forward as the strong example of what the old English heart could effect or endure. He was such a man, that his adversary, if there was any man worthy to be his adversary, must respect him. He had, indeed, his faults, but they served like the skilful disposition of shade in works of art, to make the impression of his virtues more striking, and gave additional grandeur to die great outline of his character. IN the House of Commons, on the 7th of June 18 10, Lord Milton rose, and in 'a tone which the strength of his feelings frequently rendered inaudible, spoke to the fol- lowing effect : — In moving, Sir, for a new writ for Higham Ferrers, I feel it to be my duty to speak of that illustrious man whose death has occasioned the present motion. It would have been better if the performance of that duty had devolved upon some more competent person ; at the same time, I must say, that connected, as I had the honour to be» with that illustrious man, my heart would have upbraided me if I had seen any person whatever more eager to do that justice than myself. I decline to take that course, for which are some examples, with regard to other distinguished indi- viduals, in consequence of the last strict injunctions of my deceased friend ; and in the observations which I mean to submit to you, I do not wish to allude to any particular part of his public conduct, lest such allusion should tend to create the slightest difference of opinion among those who aTe willing to do honour to his memory. When I speak of his great talents and unsullied integrity, I feel confident that no difference can arise, either among those who agreed or those who disagreed with him. All persons admit the splen- dour of his genius, the extent of his ability, the value and VOL. 1. M 1 62 SOME ACCOUNT OF [APPEND. the variety of his mental acquirements; all who have had any opportunity of witnessing the display of his vigorous, his instructive, his rich and polished eloquence, will, I am persuaded, concur with me in the opinion, that his death has caused a great, and perhap?, an irreparable vacancy in this house. But in addition to all the qualities of genius, information and integrity, which confessedly belonged to my lamented friend, there was one character which attached to him in a most eminent degree — (Here the Noble Lord was quite oppressed by his emotion, and there was a loud and general cry of hear, hear, hear !) — I believe, resumed the Noble Lord, that it will ever remain in the memory of this house, that among the most interesting peculiarities which distinguished my friend, was an undaunted intrepidity under all circumstances, such indeed as rarely falls to the lot of man, and a manly promptitude to speak his mind upon all occasions. He was the man of whom more than another it might well be said — Non civium ardor prava jubentium, Non vultus instantis tyranni Mente quatit solida. He was the man who was never to be moved from his pur- pose, or relaxed in his exertion by any considerations, either of fear or of favour — no, never was he to be warped from the honest dictates of his own mind. This quality, always so valuable, and which, on all occasions, conferred such pe- culiar importance upon his sentiments, renders his loss at present an aggravated national calamity. For never, per- haps, was it more necessary that public men should not shrink from their duties, but act firmly and consistently with the dictates of an honest and unbiassed opinion. While I dilate upon the merits of my deceased friend, it is my wish 10 append.] mr. windham's life. 163 to abstain from any thing like exaggeration. It was very rarely his lot to obtain what is usually termed popularity. But, if it be true, as it has often been remarked, that rarely high character and popularity are to be found joined toge- ther, his fate furnished an impressive illustration of that remark. There may be persons ready to follow the inclina- tion of what is called popularity respecting my friend. But although he may not have the favour of such persons, sure I am, that in no part of his conduct did he ever want the sanction of an approving conscience — that in no instance whatever was he without that highest of human gratifications. No, his honourable mind was ever conscious that if it did not enjoy, at least it deserved the good opinion of the coun- try. — That he actually had the good opinion of all those who are capable of truly appreciating character, I have not the slightest doubt. Among all those who attach any value to real public virtue and talent, I am firmly persuaded that no man ever stood higher. If he had faults and indiscre- tions, which of us are without them ? but his faults and indiscretions were not of any ordinary cast, for they sprung from no ordinary source. They were not the effect of any deficiency of understanding or lowness of view — no, but of that high-minded generosity which was his peculiar cha- racteristic. His disinterestedness was wholly unquestionable. Never did he appear to regard in the slightest degree in what manner his public conduct might affect himself — how it might impair his character or his circumstances. Influenced alone by what he conceived to be right, he steadily pursued it without any dread of consequences. Whether his ideas of right or wrong were generally correct, or whether results generally justified those ideas, certain I am that I anticipate the concurrence of those who closely observed him, that the feelings and the motives I have described, were the uniform guides of his conduct. — At an early period of his life, he M 2 164 SOME ACCOUNT OF [APPEND. had attached himself to another great man (Mr. Burke), whose loss the country has already deplored. He imbibed from that great character those opinions which he invariably pursued j and though, at one time, it might be said, that he became exceedingly alarmed at what some might regard as improvements, but what others might consider as inno- vations, it proceeded from a reverential awe for the true principles of the constitution. — The Noble Lord then ex- pressed that it had been his wish to avoid any thing which could tend to excite controversy and to confine himself to those points, upon which controversy was impossible. If was his wish to say something on those parts of his character which others might not have had opportunities of observing, but he felt himself unequal to the task. Perhaps it was un- necessary that he should do so. The house knew his public character ; and certain he was, that among his friends and foes there was but one opinion — that in his death they had sustained a loss which perhaps the youngest among them might not live to see repaired. Having thus unburdened his own mind on the occasion, he believed he had no more to say. Had he not so expressed himself, his conduct might have been justly considered more extraordinary. He la- mented what he had said had been so inelegantly spoken, but he was not able sufficiently to master his feelings to ex- press himself as he could wish. He concluded by moving, " That the Speaker do issue his writ for a burgess to serve in parliament for the borough of Higham Ferrers, in the room of the Right Honourable William Windham, de- ceased." Mr. Canning, though he had been long in the habit of opposing the public conduct of the illustrious character now no more, rose to bear his testimony to those talents and virtues which had distinguished Mr. Windham's 6plendid 9 append.] jmr. windham's life. 165 career. He felt equally with the Noble Lord, the impossi- bility of doing justice to talents so exalted, to virtues so rare. Among all the storms and all the contests which had raged in his time, whatever might have been the frenzy of the moment, he above all had avoided the appearance and the reality of soliciting popular approbation But if his conduct had not made him the object of transient popularity, it had secured him what was of greater value, lasting and unperishable admiration. At no time could so great a cha- racter pay the last debt of nature, without leaving a chasm much to be deplored, and difficult to fill up ; but never was there a period at which his loss could be more sensibly felt than at the present. Throughout his life, from a sincere sense of public duty, he had exposed himself to every threat- ening evil, in what he conceived to be the cause of his country. — He had left them a proof that conduct so up- right, if not calculated to gain the applause of a party, was certain of conciliating universal esteem. It had often been his (Mr. Canning's) fate, during the time he had been his contemporary, to oppose his public conduct. This he had frequently done, thinking he (Mr. Windham) carried the best principles to an excess, but never once had he suspected his motives to be dishonourable. — There was a selfishness of which it was difficult for a public man to divest himself — the selfish pleasure of pleasing those with whom they were in the habit of acting •, but superior still, even of this most amiable of all selfish feelings had Mr. Windham been acquitted, both by his political friends and opponents. When he recollected the accomplishments by which that great cha- racter had been graced — when he considered the extent of his knowledge, and the force of his eloquence, which, if not the most commanding they had ever heard, was the most insinuating — which, if it did not convince, delighted all who heard it, made them feel with the man while speak- m 3 1 66 SOME ACCOUNT OF . [APPEND. ing, and enter into his heart, he could not but feel some- what reconciled to that which had been called " a blot in our constitution." He alluded to the boroughs, of which so many complaints had been made. He did not say, that if none such already existed in the constitution, he would create them, but among the necessary imperfections of our system, he thought it must be admitted that they had turned to a good account. — The Noble Lord had concluded his speech by moving that a new writ be issued for the borough of Higham Ferrers — that was one of those boroughs held up as defects in the parliamentary representation of that house. He begged the house would recollect that when, from a loss of popularity, that Right Honourable Gentleman was deprived of a seat for his native county, that house had been indebted for the services and the splendid talents of Mr. Windham to the borough of Higham Ferrers. (F.) Page 139. The following letter, referred to in the foregoing narra- tive, was addressed by Mr. Windham to his nephew Captain Lukin, on the death of Mrs. Foy, the niece of the former and sister of the latter. " Pall Mall, May 31, 1800. «* SAD, sad news, my dear William, I have to send you, not of a public, but of a private nature, and such as will try your spirits, and afflict your kind heart, more than any thing that has yet befallen you. Your poor sister Mary — never will you see her more ! — never more will she welcome append.] mr. windham's life. i6y your return, rejoice in your success, and gladden the hearts of us all by her gay and amiable manners, and by her kind and virtuous affections ! After a long and bad labour, which ended in the death of the child, and after fostering our hopes for some days by an appearance of doing well, she failed all at once, and has left us nothing but to lament the breach thus made in the happiness of the family, to follow her with our regrets, and to console ourselves with the reflection, that she has escaped at least from all the ills of life, and partakes of all the hopes which Revelation holds out to those who do not renounce them by the wickedness of their lives, and by the abdication of all desire and endeavour to recommend them- selves to the Divine mercy. heard of that the credibility of the witnesses became a question, till they came to give their evidence ? till it was seen what stress was to be laid on their testimony ? This new way of taking character by anticipation is a doctrine so strange and so contrary to all practice, that I confess it astonishes me to hear it advanced ; and against all this we have the assertion of the gentlemen themselves. " I assure you," say they, " these witnesses are not deserving of credibility — trust us, the accused persons ; we assure you of our innocence — and here let there be an end." Sir, they must surely entertain a higher opinion of the credulity of this house, than even their recent experience can justify, if they think that its confiding talent will be carried to this length. But if it is, then the majority will, upon reflection, see the true picture of their own conduct — they will see whether the imputations that have been thrown upon them, of giving confidence for reasons which they have never been so good as to explain, are not fairly to be ascribed to them. They will do more — this administration, which it has been their fashion to ABUSES AT WESTMINSTER ELECTION. 211 paint, without, however, having any proofs to exhibit — certainly without any instances of purity which they please to advance, — as a perfect paragon of purity and virtue, will now stand unmasked and exposed in its natural and true colours. The gay embroidered suit of pretence, in which they have decked them- selves, and under which they have strutted in magni- ficent disguise, is torn off, and we behold them in the tattered rags of their genuine deformity. They stand like the uncased Frenchman, which the licenti- ousness of our stage is too apt to exhibit in ridicule — in ruffles without a shirt — in tinsel and lace on the outside — in dirt and dowlas within — they stand before their confiding majority, convicted of shrinking from trial ; and when a man does not dare to stand trial, the world have a right to believe him guilty. Let me add, Sir, one word more on this serious sub- ject. We have before us two pregnant instances of the use which is made of these summary and shameful pro- ceedings, which are introduced into practice for the sake of our darling revenue — that revenue for which every thing is to be sacrificed — the citizen to he oppressed and ruined — the constitution to be violated. We see that these summary modes of conviction may be dexter- ously perverted into instruments of favour or of fear, as it may be the political and corrupt motive of office, for the moment, to gratify or to intimidate. You see the fact in glaring truth before you — It remains for you to shew to your constituents, suffering under these abominable laws, whether you will not at least provide P 2 212 MARCH 13, 1792. against the profligate perversion of them to other ends than revenue. The house divided) For the motion - - 84 Against it - - -221 Majority - 137 against the enquiry. C 2I 3 3 REVOLUTIONARY PRINCIPLES. December 13, 1792. JOL IS Majesty's Speech from the Throne, on opening the session, having been read by the Speaker, the Lord Mayor moved an Address, which contained the following passages : " It has been^ impossible for us not to perceive, from our own ** observation in different parts of the country, the increased " activity with which seditious practices have of lite been openly " renewed; and we learn, with concern, that not only a spirit ** of tumult and disorder (the natural consequences of such prac- H tices) has shewn itself in acts of riot and insurrection, which u required the interposition of a military force in support of the M civil magistrate, but that the industry employed to excite dis- W content has appeared to proceed from a design to attempt, in " concert with persons in foreign countries, the destruction of our " happy constitution, and the subversion of all order and govern- " ment. tl We entertain a just sense of the temper and prudence which " have induced Tour Majesty to observe a strict neutrality with " respect to the war on the continent, and uniformly to abstain " from any interference in the internal affairs of France; but, at li the same time, we cannot but participate in the just uneasiness tf with which Tour Majesty must observe any indications of an " intention to excite disturbances in other countries, to disregard * l the rights of neutral nations, and to pursue views of conquest p 3 214 DECEMBER 1 3, 1 79 2. " and aggrandizement, and particularly to adopt measures •« towards Tour Majesty's allies the States General, inconsistent " with the laws of nations, and the positive stipulations of exist- u ing treaties. " The circumstances, which Tour Majesty has been pleased to " communicate to tis, appear to have rendered it highly important, t( for the safety and interest of this country, that Tour Majesty (t should have recourse to those measures of prevention, and " internal defence, ivith which Tour Majesty is entrusted by " law. " We sincerely hope that these exertions, and the steps which (i Tour Majesty has taken for augmenting your naval and mili- " tary force, will have the happy tendency both to maintain * l internal tranquillity, and to render a firm and temperate con*> i( duct effectual for preserving the blessings of peace. " Tour Majesty may, at the same time, rely on our -zealous if concurrence in such measures as may prove to be necessary for (f the security of these kingdoms, and for the faithful performance " of our engagements" Mr. Fox moved an Amendment, " To express to His Majesty SJ our most zealous attachment to the excellent constitution of this " free country,- our sense of the invaluable blessings which we " derive from it, and our unshaken determination to maintain and u preserve it; to assure His Majesty that, uniting with all His 11 Majesty' 's faithful subjects in these sentiments of loyalty to the 4 21 6 DECEMBER I 3, 1792. night. —They differed either upon principle, or on the application of principle, on all the points of this subject. The foundation however of their difference lay in the state of this country at the present moment. " Was the country at this moment in a state of dan- ger, aye or no ?" He was told, he said, that there was no real cause for alarm among the people ; that the only alarm that was felt had been created by Government. Government must certainly have had strange and wonderful powers indeed to produce the alarm every day expressed in differents parts. No, there were serious and well-founded alarms from the conduct, not of the officers of Government, but from those who had sworn an enmity to all Government. — Did not the whole country feel it ? Was not every town, village, and hamlet filled with apprehension. Could a man enter into his own house, or could he walk in a field, without observing, that it occupied the whole of the attention of all ranks and descriptions of people ? This was what his Right Honourable Friend had been pleased to make a matter of argument, but what was really mere matter of observation ; a man should not reason on the probability or improbability of these events, but should observe upon the fact, and attend to the relation of others. If a man confined himself in one room of his own house he would know no more of what was going on in the next, than he would know what was going on in another country ; but if he chose to be vigilant he might knew a good deal more. So in the present case, if a man would not believe any thing but what he saw, nor see any REVOLUTIONARY PRINCIPLES. 217 thing but what he liked, it was not very probable that he would discover much of the alarm in question. But if he was at the pains to observe, the alarm was visible enough. Had he observed it ? Yes. He had seen the intention of the enemies of the present consti- tution expressed in various shapes. He had seen it in the confidence of their agents ; in the boldness of those who wished the subversion of the constitution. He appealed to the house, whether they did not know and feel that there was a general alarm all over the country. The next point to be considered, in the order which his Right Honourable Friend had taken, was how far it might be fit to check the cause of this mischief by law^ the question of the policy of doing which he had determined in the negative. It was true that the measures now pursued over the country, were such as ha4 never been employed before ; but it must be observed, in answer to this, that there never had been such an occasion before. Speculative opinions had been published from time to time in this country, and they might have been continued to be published, but the manner of publishing, as well as the works published of late, were entirely new. He believed the society for Constitutional Information began the system now pursued ; it was soon transplanted into another country, in the fertile soil of which it had thriven so well as to overthrow all order, and establish confusion. Having had this glorious effect by trans- plantation, it was now brought to this country, for the purpose of producing the same effect. The machine was so well constructed, there were such 2l8 DECEMBER 13, J 792. skill, contrivance, and management in the engineers, that unless parliament were on their guard, and the sensible and honest part of the community, active in counteracting their designs, the whole form of our Government might be easily subverted. He spoke not from distrust merely, or rumour, but he knew, and it was notorious that there had been, and was now, a constant communication between persons in Paris, and persons in London, the object of which was the de- struction of our present form of Government. This sort of counter alliance of the Englishman in Paris, and the Frenchman in London, had been regularly formed, and the effect of it was felt already in an alarming degree, for in every town, in every village, nay almost in every house, these worthy gentlemen had their agents, who regularly disseminated certain pamphlets ; these agents were vigilant and industrious, delivered these pamphlets gratis, a proof there must be somewhere a society to defray the expence, for these agents could not afford to be thus generous to the public without assistance ; they could not pay for them out of their own pockets. No, the whole was a well-arranged methodized plan, for gradually under- mining the principles of the British constitution. This was not all, they proceeded with the solemnity of an oath, which was, that they were to be ready — Here the confusion arising from the loud cries of " Prove ! prove !" and " Hear ! hear !" interrupted him for a few seconds — when, Mr. BURKE {called to order). He observed, that a gentleman was asserting a fact which he was satisfied 12 REVOLUTIONARY PRINCIPLES. 2I£ could be proved, and a convenient season would soon arise for that purpose, that was, when there should be an inquiry into this business : but there could be no good reason why any gentleman delivering his senti- ments should give up the sources of his information in this stage of the business. There might be good reason why they should not now be exposed. Mr. WINDHAM then proceeded : he had heard long ago of the truth of what he had just been stating from very unquestionable authority — indeed he had been informed of it by an Honourable Member of that house, but it was not a fact of any great consequence. The system he had alluded to, had been carried on all over the country, more or less in the northern part of this kingdom ; great pains had been taken with the poorer part of the community, to wean their affec- tions from Government — and it was very strongly sus- pected, that the whole plan was supported by a purse which was believed to be made up in France ; this he did not know, but he believed it to be the case. In answer to this, it might be answered that the French were not likely to contribute much money, having little or none to spare upon this or any other such occa- sion, to which the reply was obvious. Those who are in a state of desperation, have always the most money to squander upon acts of profligacy and dis- honour ; besides, poor and wretched as they were, yet such sums however large to individuals could not be of any great consequence to a nation. The manner in which this business was conducted, was very artful. On putting these works of sedition into the hands of 220 DECEMBER 13, 1792. the labourer, they always told him they were intended for his instruction. They represented their societies as places for the instruction of the lower class. The proper meaning of fair instruction was by education to teach a man a mode of reasoning. But this instruc- tion was nothing more than a general conveyance of particular opinions. Again, they said that their object was the propagating truth, and the improvement of -the condition of man ; how well these points have been gained we had recent instances. It was an attempt to reverse the order of society altogether. From the pulpit we had been accustomed to hear laid down, as the foundation of all happiness, obedience to the laws. From the Jacobin Club nothing was inculcated but disobedience to the law ; and the doctrine that those who make laws in this country have no competent authority to make laws. These sentiments, if gene- rally received, would very speedily overturn all order and government. The art with which these senti- ments were introduced among the lower classes of society was consummate ; they pretended that they taught nothing but philosophical truths ; but instead of arguing philosophically in their books they made round assertions, and they acted wisely for their pur- pose by so doing ; for the persons to whom they addressed themselves, were incapable of pursuing a subject logically from premises to a conclusion, nor would this mode of reasoning suit their cause. Not even these assertions were made, until they had pre- pared the mind to receive them ; they gained the affections first by flattering the passions, and then they REVOLUTIONARY PRINCIPLES. 221 proceeded to instruct, as they termed it. Whether the law, even in the freest country in the world, ought to permit every man to preach what doctrines he thought fit, and gain over as many proselytes as he could, was a question that had often been suggested, and which he should determine in the negative ; for these truths, as they were termed, would dwindle into nothing, if the sentiment built upon them could be seen, and the consequences of them anticipated ; but these poor peasants had not the power of deducing consequences, and therefore they listened to assertion. — Nor could he see the harm there was of preventing all endeavours to explain to a poor, illiterate fellow, whose extent of powers was but barely adequate to the task of procuring food for his own subsistence, points which had divided the opinions of the ablest writers. He saw no great loss to society from putting an end to public-house political clubs, and ale-house debates on politics ; in short, he saw no reason why they should not be altogether sup- pressed. Next came the question, where will you draw the line, whom will you take up, and whom will you suffer to pass by ; or, shall no man give his opi- nion upon the constitution? He said, he could not distinguish in this case by any previous principle, which must depend, as all acts in the law did, upon the discretion of a competent tribunal, a jury. This point he illustrated by several observations upon the various denominations of homicide and libels. But would he call that treason in duodecimo, which was innocent in quarto ? that was what he did mean, be- ii Q22 DECEMBER 13, I Jg2. cause much of the guilt in these cases depended upori the quoan'vno; and he who printed seditious sentiments would take care, if he intended mischief, that they should be within the reach of the lowest order. Many of these persons, it seems, had been calumniated by imputing to them motives which they did not avow, and intentions which they denied ; this observation was specious, but not solid, for it was well known they did intend what they did not profess, and this was demonstrable by their actions ; some indeed, when questioned, confessed a direct intention of subverting our Government. If they were asked if they were friends to our Government, they answered, yes. But they wanted no King, they wanted no Lords — All they wanted was a perfect representation of the people. Such a constitution would no more be the consitution of England than the constitution of Venice ; in short, their view was to destroy all hereditary right, and perhaps afterwards to attempt an equalization of pro- perty ; for one of their books stated, that a country could not be said to be truly free, where there was so much inequality among its members. Some Gentle- men affected to treat these things with contempt, but they ought not, in his mind, to be so regarded. It was true, the high ranks of life were not contami- nated by these infamous principles ; but if they were to cast their eyes downward, they would see there lurking underneath a sort of subterranean heat, that might burst forth with prodigious violence, if not im- mediately extinguished. REVOLUTIONARY PRINCIPLES. 223 With regard to the combined armies that marched towards the capital of France, he believed their motives were good, and therefore he wished them success ; and so he should, had their motives been ever so bad : that which they opposed, was worse than any consequence that could have resulted from their success. He had been told, indeed, that no country ought to intermeddle with the internal affairs of another ; this might be right in a limited sense, but it could not be so to the length insisted upon by some modern politicians ; he could conceive many instances in which it ought to be departed from. Two nations might quarrel — one might be clearly in the right, and the other clearly in the wrong ; the con- tinuance of their contest might affect the interest of a third nation. Such a nation had. a right to interfere. But did France pursue only her own internal regula- tion ? Did she keep good faith in her decree, " That she abandoned for ever all ideas of foreign conquest ?** She professed, indeed, good will to all mankind, but before a Frenchman could be faithful, his nature must be changed. — It was their object to lower this coun- try, and in that they would persist until they should accomplish their wishes, if possible. — What was to be said for them in the war against the King of Sardinia ? Still worse was their conduct at Geneva ; but, above all, who would applaud their decree, " to give; liberty to mankind ?" Was it not avowing an intention to disturb every power in Europe ? They talked, indeed, of giving to every place where their arms were victorious, a choice of the form of Govern- 224 DECEMBER 1 3, 1 792. ment ; but did they wait for the sense of the majority ? Not they indeed. When two or three were gathered together, &c. that was enough for them. What were their intentions with respect to this country ? Refer to the correspondence of the Jacobin club of Manchester and the Jacobin club of Paris, did any man believe that they would hesitate to bring an army into the heart of this country, if they thought themselves safe in so doing ? but they did not so much depend upon themselves as they did upon their bullies in other countries. Thus, from all circumstances, minute in themselves, but of the most serious importance when combined, it would appear that the alarm was not fictitious, but real. Ministers therefore, in point of principle, had acted rightly in calling out the militia. They might be a little irregular in point of form, but as they had observed the spirit of the constitution, they had his cordial support. Mr. Secretary Dundas, Mr. Burke, and Mr.Anstruther supported the Address : Mr. Grey, Mr. Sheridan, and Mr. Erskine spoke in favour of the Amendment. The house divided, For the Address - - - 290 Against it - - - ' S° Majority - - 240 C 22 5 3 MOTION FOR EMBASSY TO FRANCE. December 15, 1792. 1VJ.R. FOX moved, " That an humble Address be presented to " His Majesty, That His Majesty ivill be graciously pleased to " give direction, that a minister may be sent to Paris, to treat " ivith those persons ivho exercise provisionally the functions of " Executive Government in France, touching such points as may a be in discussion, between His Majesty and his allies , and the " French nation." Mr. WINDHAM acknowledged, that when any measure proceeded from Mr. Fox, it was not without the greatest anxiety that he refused his assent to it. What the judgment of his Right Honourable Friend was, every one knew ; how pure his motives, how eminent his integrity, it would be as impertinent in him to maintain, as it would be in any one to waste the time of the-house in discussing positions that were ac- knowledged by all mankind. However wide, therefore, the difference that subsisted between his Right Honour- able Friend and him, he was persuaded that it was only that species of difference which exists between two persons, beholding the same object from two dis- tinct points of view. He was persuaded that it was VOL. I. Q 226 DECEMBER 1 5, I792. not a difference that extended to principle. Having paid this just tribute to Mr. Fox, he hoped that he should not appear to have been bribed to it, by the partial compliments he had received from his Right Honourable Friend ; he hoped that it would be seen to , be the genuine result of conviction j the unbiassed testi- mony of experience. He agreed with Mr. Fox in his statement, that this was merely a measure of expediency that did not im- plicate the conduct or the government of France. He acceded not only to this position, but to his Right Honourable Friend's assertion, that necessity often dictated to one country a recognition of the power of another. Having made a concession to this extent, he contended that those who argued against a recogni- tion of the Republic of France, were fortified not only by experience, but by higher principles, by the interests of nations, and by the dictates of humanity. Thus " thrice armed," very powerful arguments indeed ought to be used, more powerful than any that had been used, to induce the house to assent to the motion of his Right Honourable Friend ; for by recognizing the Republic of France, what consequences would Great Britain produce j\ The complete alienation of those powers with whom she was at present allied 5 not only the alienation of allies, but by giving the whole weight of her character to France, she would place all the rest of Europe in a situation deplorable indeed ; she would arm every subject, of every king- dom, against the powers that governed those king- doms ', she would produce consequences as fatal to the MOTION FOR EMBASSY TO FRANCE. 2 27 future interests of the world, and as much to be lamented, as the retreat of the combined armies from France, which he looked upon to be the most fatal event that had ever happened. If he were to be asked, whether he would submit to an evil, or wait for a necessity, he was not quite sure that he would not wait for compulsion, and take that for his justification. That Great Britain should be the first country to be less shocked with massacre and murder; — that she should be the first country to evince a want of feeling ; — filled him with anguish, and with horror ! That she should be the first to preclude herself from forming a part of the confederation, was disgrace- ful indeed ! If submission to France must be the con- sequence, necessity should first justify that submission. Well did the house know, that no inquiry could be made into the origin of governments ; the greater the space of time, therefore, that elapsed from that origin, the smaller was the crime incurred. Evils, by mere time, become less ; by time the Government of France might become less shocking, and less wicked. After all, he confessed he had not heard what advantages were to result from a recognition of the Republic of France. All that he had heard was, that the effect of negociation might dispose France to such measures as would prevent the necessity of war ; but, good God ! what method could be more dishonourable than this I what proposition could confer more shame upon the country ! With respect to the temper and feelings of the peo- ple, he acknowledged that they ought, on all occa- Q 2 228 DECEMBER I 3, 1 792. sions, to be consulted. This was proper, because the public judgment was the great rule of right and wrong. Every free Government would, act on this position ; but if by the feelings of the people it was meant, that the necessity of a war, or the necessity of peace, should be determined by the first impression of the public, no impression would be found to be more false. It was contrary to the scheme of the constitu- tion, which had placed the determination of this neces- sity, not in the public at large, but in a source the farthest removed from the people — in the crown ; for war generally depended on a series of facts that could not be publicly known. War could never be adopted but on remote principles. Were the people, therefore, he would ask, possessed of such capabi- lities, as were absolutely necessary for the discussion of such questions ? Clearly not. This remark he had judged it necessary to make, because a position had been much circulated, that in transactions of this nature the Government of the country was not to be considered. These sentiments, inadequate as they were to the magnitude of the question, the suggestion of which perhaps he lamented, determined him to give his vote against the proposition for sending an Ambassador to the French Republic. The question ivas negatived without a division. [ 22 9 3 WAR WITH FRANCE. February i, 1793. JL HE SPEAKER having read a message from His Majesty , Mr. Pitt moved, u That an humble Address be presented to His u Majesty, to return His Majesty the thanks of this House for " his most gracious message, and for the communication of the " papers, which by His Majesty s command, have been laid be- " fore us. mourier : and the minds of men might be as much perplexed by questions from a subtle inquirer on the one subject as on the other. Might not a man from a combination of various disconnected circumstances, receive a convincing impression of a general fact, and yet not be able to state any particular proofs of such fact ? Would Gentlemen be convinced by nothing less than ocular or tangible evidence of every subject of inquiry ? Such reasoners no statement would satisfy ; and if he should say, that there was a discontented spirit at Norwich, they might ask what judgment he could thence form concerning other parts of the king- 12 236 MARCH 4, 1793. dom ? But it happened, that his conviction arose not from knowledge of so partial a nature. He had seen symptoms of a discontented spirit, not at Norwich only, but at various other places, and when people of all de- scriptions, from all parts of the kingdom, seemed to concur in feeling the same species of alarm, however false particular rumours might be, such terror could not be totally unfounded ; there could not exist so much smoke without fire ! One of tfie charges, Mr. Windham observed, that had been brought forward against Government on the present occasion was, that they had for a long time meant to carry on a war against France, and therefore had created the present alarm : but to that charge, no other answer appeared necessary than a reference to dates. The alarm had existed in November last, and Government did not take their first measures till December. That alarm had called forth the different loyal associations which had been so much misrepresented, but which had merited the highest praise ; and none more so than that which had been so calumniated, of the Crown and Anchor ; an association, that had actually been the means of saving this country. When the Honourable Gentleman wondered that he who had been in the habits of acting with opposition should at present act with administration, he hoped that the circumstance of his having long represented the state of the country to administration, and now supported them in their mea- sures, taken for its safety, would be considered as an evidence of his sincerity on the subject. The Honour- able Gentleman had declared that the more uniform SEDITIOUS PRACTICES. 237 and universal that fear might have been, the more doubt ought there to be of the existence of real danger : but this was a new theory ; and to his mind it appear- ed more an universality of fear, than any principle of panic which that Honourable Gentleman could have discovered. There was not a writer on .the subject, who had not boasted that this was a new aera in the history of mankind ; an aera when light was more than usually diffused, and when public opinion was be- ginning to be heard, and could not be resisted. Other men might form a far different judgment ; they might declare that the engine of these irresistible efforts was not that of public opinion, but that it was the engine of the press, set to work by every possible art, and addressed to the passions of men, who were incapable of being actuated by an appeal to their reason. When these means had already overturned the Government of a neighbouring country from its base, ought we not to guard from such fatal effects ? It had been said by the agents of Mr. Paine, that the principles which would produce the same event in this country were operating with the silence and rapidity of thought. He firmly believed it : the fact was, some time since, to be ascertained from the general opinions of the people ; from the fears of those who dreaded the event ; from the sanguine expectations of those who wished it. It had been the ruin of the Government of France, that they did not adopt and cany into practice timely measures of prevention ; and should we not take warning from the lamentable example of that unhappy country ? Who were the governors of France 238 MARCH 4, I793. * at this moment ? People raised from the lowest to the highest situations, who domineered over the fairest cities : and a change in the political system of this country would throw power into the hands of cha- racters similar to those in France who have followed the series of reformers, too many to be enumerated. Was the probability of such an event no just subject of alarm and danger ? The massacres of the 2d of Sep- tember were said to have been produced by a mere handful of men. If that were true, if so small a number could accomplish so extensive a mischief in Paris, guarded by armed troops, could such a city as London escape the blow ? Mr. Windham then stated a report which he had heard, of clubs having been formed, to which those who were admitted received money for their attendance, and were told that their services would be wanted on some future occasion. Such a report might possibly be untrue, but he had certainly heard it, and he had it from people not con- nected with each other. When it was asserted that such clubs met only for the purpose of parlia- mentary reform, and conducted themselves in an or- derly manner, he thought that the ground for alarm was greater ; just as he should have more reason to fear an hostile army on being told that it was well disciplined. It was curious that Gentlemen should re- quire proofs of such a fact as that of the opinion en- tertained throughout the kingdom. The unanimous consent of the House of Commons, on meeting after rhe recess, was pretty good evidence of such a fact. As to his having canvassed for Government, he denied SEDITIOUS PRACTICES. 239 the assertion ; and he thought when misrepresentations were so much condemned, that misrepresentations of such a nature ought to have been avoided. He had before said, and again asserted, that there might exist critical circumstances of the country, in which to support administration was the first duty of men of every party. Such was the case at present, and it be- hoved Gentlemen to be upon their guard ; the fire was suppressed for a time, but not extinguished. The measures of Government had already produced good effects. They had checked the operations of those who wished to overturn the constitution; they had stopped others from going over to their party ; but he feared they had not made one proselyte. These men had now found it to their advantage to pretend that no danger had happened ; like house-breakers who rested on their arms, and affected ignorance, when on the eve of detection by the family whom their efforts had awakened ; but who resolved, as soon as suspicion should be laid asleep, to renew their atrocities. Mr. Windham spoke of the obstinate incredulity of the Honourable Gentleman in persisting to think that the alarm throughout the country was created by adminis- tration as a pretext for their subsequent conduct ; and asserted that the evidence of danger was indubitable, and was such as the majority of the house had sanc- tioned by its assent. He therefore totally disapproved the present motion. In reply to certain observations made by Mr. Fox on some part cf the above speech, 240 MARCH 4, 1793. Mr. WINDHAM, in explanation, said, he had stated that insurrections, however they might justify the conduct of ministers, were not the ground of his opinions, or of his conduct, but the general state of the country. With respect to the conduct of a Gentle- man not a member of the house (Mr. Reeves), he had praised only in general terms, his giving birth to the associations which had done so much good. With the mode of receiving anonymous information, he was not acquainted, he had not commended it, and he was not prepared to condemn it. He begged to be understood as giving no opinion upon it ; if in any proceeding which he had thought it is duty to adopt, there was an air of hostility to his Right Honourable Friend, there was no man that lamented it more sincerely than himself. ■ Mr. Burke opposed the motion, which was negatived without a division. [ 2 4 i ] LIST OF ADMINISTRATION As it stood in 1794 ; on the accession to it of that part of the opposition which ivas called the Portland Party. Right Hon. William Pitt - First Lord of the Treasury and Chancellor of the Exchequer. Duke of Portland - - - Secretary of State, Home De- partment. Lord Grenville ... - Ditto, Foreign Department. Right Hon. Henry Dundas - Ditto, War and Colonial De- partment. Lord Loughborough - - Lord Chancellor. Earl Fitzwilliam - - - - Lord President (succeeded by Earl Mansfield). Earl Spencer Lord Privy Seal (succeeded by the Earl of Westmoreland). Earl of Chatham - - - First Lord of the Admiralty (succeeded by Earl Spencer). Duke of Richmond - - - Master of the Ordnance (suc- ceeded by Marq.Cornwallis). . Right Hon. W. Windham - Secretary at War. Lord Hawkesbury - - - Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster. Right Hon. Thomas Steele ) n _, Right Hon. Dudley Ryder \ Piasters-General. Earl of Chesterfield - - 5 „ _, Earl of Leicester - - - postmasters-General. Right Hon. H. Dundas - Treasury of the Navy- Sir John Scott - - - - Attorney-General. Sir John Mitford - - - Solicitor-General. George Rose, Esq. - - ? o • , ™ Charles Long, Esq. - - $ Secretaries to the Treasury. Earl of Westmoreland - - Lord Lieutenant of Ireland^ succeeded by Earl Fitz- william, who was succeeded by Earl Camden. VOL. I. It C 242 ] CALL FOR PEACE. December 30, 1794. JOLIS Majesty's Speech on opening the session having been read by the Speaker, an Address approving of the vigorous prosecution of the tuar was moved by Sir Edward Knatchbull, and seconded by Mr. Canning. Mr. Wilberforce moved an Amendment, " To assure the house " that they are ready to grant the most liberal supplies, for the (t purpose of enabling His Majesty to act with vigour and effect ** in supporting the dignity of his Crown, the internal security of " his dominions, and the good faith towards His Majesty's allies, " for which this country has been so eminently distinguished : and " that, notwithstanding the disappointments and reverses of the (i last campaign, they are firmly convinced that from the wire- " mitting exertions of His Majesty, and the spirit and zeal " which have been so generally manifested throughout the kingdom, " by a people sensible of the advantages they enjoy under His Ma- 11 jestfs Government, they may promise themselves {by the bles- il sing of Providence) complete security from the attempts of foreign (f or domestic enemies. " That at the same time they beg leave most humbly to repre- tf sent to His Majesty, that upon full consideration of all the (< events and circumstances of the present war, and of some trans- f< actions which have lately passed in France, and also of the u negotiation entered into by the States-General, they think it ft adviseable and expedient to endeavour to restore the blessings of 9 a " c tALL FOR PEACE. * 243 «* peace to His Majesty 7 s subjects > and to his allies , upon just and i( reasonable terms. " But that if, contrary to the ardent wishes of his faithful " Commons, such endeavours on the part of His Majesty should <« be rendered ineffectual by the violence and ambition of the enemy , they are persuaded that the burdens and evils of a just and ne- essary war, will be borne with cheerfulness by a loyal, affec- " tionate, and united people" Mr. WINDHAM (the Secretary at War) said, he had heard with surprise and grief, the arguments in support of the amendment. ' What was their obvious tendency ? Submission, humiliation, degradation be- fore an inveterate and insolent enemy. It was absurd to say, that a display of our force would cure the evil ; for the very act of offering to treat, or suing for peace, would be a confession of weakness that could not be done away. Did the French convention act thus, when the confederacy against them appeared the most powerful, and they were pressed by the arms of the allies in every quarter ? — No : they remitted nothing of their lofty language ; they never once talked of peace. It was proposed to consent to nothing less than a safe and . honourable peace, while it was acknowledged in the same breath, that no peace, con- cluded under the present circumstances, could be safe j while it was alledged, as an argument, that we might make it safe, by keeping ourselves on our guard, and prepared for war. The war, it was true, had been unsuccessful ; but it had been so, only as compared with the wishes, the hopes, and the force of the con- R 2 244 DECEMBER 30, 1 794. federacy. It had been unsuccessful from conduct, on the part of some of the allies, of which, for the honour of nations, he hoped the instances would be few. It was not unsuccessful, compared with foreign wars in which this country had been engaged. Look at the history of our wars with Louis XIV. which continued, with little interruption, for twenty years after the revo- lution. In those wars we and our allies had been much more unsuccessful than in the present war, and yet, by spirit and perseverance, we triumphed in the end. All, therefore, that could with truth be said was, that the war hitherto had had only a negative success. If the enemy had over-run part of the territories of our allies, we had in our hands very valuable posses- sions of theirs, which rendered the war, however unsuccessful as to the main object of it, not unsuccess- ful with regard to us individually. The circumstance from which the greatest danger appeared, and of which he had seen an alarming symptom in the speeches of Gentlemen who spoke for the amendment, was, that the country was not true to itself: it had not put hand and heart to the war, as on former occasions, when the stake was not so great, and the crisis far less formidable. This was owing to several causes. The French revolution, in its earlier stages, was looked upon with a favourable eye by the people of this country. We all regarded it as the virtuous effort of a great nation, to correct the abuses of its Govern- ment j as the friends of liberty, we looked upon it with an indulgent eye j and although we saw things CALL FOR TEACE. 245 which we could not approve, we were willing to hope that the evil would be transitory, and the good per- manent. Yet even at that time, there were not want- ing men of great and comprehensive minds to warn us of the consequences that must necessarily result from the principles on which the French revolution was proceeding. A Right Honourable Gentleman, (Mr. Burke) who he regretted was no longer a mem- ber of that house, in a book which he would advise all who heard him once more to read, had predicted the evils that must necessarily ensue from their doc- trines of liberty, equality, and the rights of men. It was his fate not to be believed at the time, and after- wards to be found completely right. Then came the opinions of those who, having favoured the French revolution at its commencement, could not so soon as others detach their affections from a system that had led to massacre and ruin. The imaginations of the people at large continued to be amused, as he and those with whom he had now the happiness to act con- tended, by a numerous and active party infected to the bone with French principles, and intent on the sub- version of the British constitution. Societies formed by this party had propagated doctrines the most hostile to the interests of the country. But it was said, the members of these societies had been acquitted by the verdict of a jury ; and gentlemen talked of their inno- cence in a tone of exultation. He wished them joy of the innocence of an acquitted felon. [He was called to order by a member under the gallery (Mil. MAURICE ROBINSON), who said he R 3 246 DECEMBER 30, 1794- could not hear without indignation the term felon applied to a man who had been acquitted, and the ver- dict of an English jury arraigned and degraded.] Mr. Windham explained that he did not mean to arraign here the verdict of a jury ; he meant only to say that the acquittal of the persons who had been brought to trial for treason, although proof that there was no legal evidence of their guilt in the opinion of the juries, by no means proved that they were free from moral guilt. The evidence in his mind esta- blished the direct contrary. The minds of the people, as he had before observed, were agitated by a party here, countenanced and supported by men of great consideration, who, in support of their own views, were willing to receive the aid of men whose views they knew to be very different, and so made a common cause with them. The French revo- lution in a very early stage proclaimed universal peace ; and all who applauded this visionary doctrine, continued to applaud those by whom it was promul- gated, even after it was seen that their practice led only to war and devastation. These were some of the circumstances which had rendered the prosecution of the war on our part less vigorous than it ought to have been. He maintained that our interference in the internal affairs of France, when that interference became necessary for our own safety, was wise and just. It was the distrust of this which had unnerved our exertions, and prevented us from interfering so soon as we ought to have done. The advantages of war or peace were not to be estimated by the territory CALL FOR PEACE. *47 or the trade we might gain or lose. No nation should say — Let us be disgraced provided we grow rich ; if it did, what security was there for the continuance of its riches ? When he received advice, he must con- sider both the advice itself, and those from whom it came. Approving or disapproving of the French revolution must in future decide and distinguish the political characters of men. They were extremes irre- concilable, and what was fit for the one could never be good for the other. When, therefore, any man offered him advice, he would first ask to which of the two descriptions he belonged ; and if he found him to differ in this essential point from himself, he would say, " This may be good advice for you, but cannot be good advice for me." The people of this country, he trusted, would in future think this distinction a* strongly marked as he did. He could not see upon what principle, or with what propriety, those, who ori- ginally considered the war as just and necessary, could now change their opinion. The Honourable Gentle- man who moved the amendment, had, as far as his single vote went, contributed to embark his country in the war ; and having done so, was it fair, on dis- asters, perhaps merely casual and temporary, to abandon it ? The confederacy against the common enemy, was not to be considered as dissolved because one or two of its members had withdrawn. Even if it were dissolved, how long was it since we entertained the idea that Great Britain alone was not able to cope with France ? With respect to the number of the well- disposed inhabitants of France, there was no reason ta r 4 248 DECEMBER 30, 1794. believe that our chance of co-operation within the kingdom was less than it had been at any former period. He was astonished at hearing any man talk of the stability of the French Government, which exhibit- ed nothing but a succession of changes, and these changes generally effected by violence. Peace was not more likely to be obtained for our asking for it. If it were, what would then be the situation of this coun- try ? A situation so awful, that he durst hardly con- template it. The intercourse between the two countries must be opened ; the French would pour in their emissaries, and ail the English infected with French principles, whom we had now the means of excluding, would return to disseminate their abominable tenets among our people. "With what views would they come ? With the views very forcibly expressed in a song performed with great applause in one of those innocent societies, as they were now called, a stanza of which he recollected. They come, they come, the myriads come, From Gallia to invade us ; Raise, raise the pike, beat, beat the drum, They come, like friends, to aid us. A Jacobinical club would be erected at every one's door ; an inquisition immediately instituted respecting his right to his property ; and a convention might be even established in the neighbourhood of that house. In this situation of danger, then, shall we send a submissive commission to them ? If the aggres- sion of the Spaniards at Nootka Sound, a place CALL FOR PEACE. 249 scarcely marked in our maps, called forth the threa- tening vengeance of this country j if our own territories are not dismembered, our resources almost untouched, should we give up a war, in comparison of which all former ones are as children's play, and all peace must be ruin? The moment that peace was con- cluded, they would go among our poor, among our labourers, among our manufacturers, and teach them the doctrine of liberty and equality. They would point out the gilded palaces of the rich, and tell them that they ought to be plundered and demolished for the benefit of the poor. True it was that the poor man had as great an interest in the security of pro- perty as the rich ; but could this argument be made so clear to the poor man as to persuade him to respect the property of his wealthy neighbour while he had no property of his own, or as it might be, for such was the necessary order of society, the means of obtaining any when he stood most in need of it ? Such a peace would be worse than any probable event of war. But of the future events of war we had no reason to despond. Exertions greater than the country could make at any former period, were now so slightly borne as hardly to be felt. — Who could say that he had felt them ; except those whose expences were so near the whole extent of their means, that the least accident, either in peace or war, must reduce them to distress ? Had the poor felt them, unless in a few particular and local instances ? Had those who were constantly telling the poor of the miseries of war, been obliged to curtail a single luxury ? What member of 250 DECEMBER 30, 1 794. that house had deprived himself of any of his wonted gratifications ? [Here Mr. Sheridan reminded him that the members were not the poor.] He acknowledged that the members were opulent and the representatives of opulence ; but he held it as a maxim, that if the rich felt no suffering, the poor also were not likely to feel any. The cause for which they were fighting, it had been said, would animate the French and render them invincible. Where had this invincible courage appeared ? In what instance, in what quarter had the courage of our soldiers and seamen been inferior to theirs ? Sorry he should be if we could not do for the best of all causes, what the French could do in sup- port of every thing the most flagitious. The French emigrants in our service in every instance had displayed a valour and perseverance not surely to be exceeded by their infatuated countrymen against whom they were reduced to the necessity of taking up arms. He dwelt at some length on the unimpaired resources of this country compared with the unnatural and conse- quently unsound resources of France, from which he inferred, that whatever present appearances might indicate, we must be ultimately successful. It was not the character of the English easily to despond. Perse- verance and invincibility were their characteristics. They had met France single-handed in her proudest day ; what then can hinder us, unimpaired, to go on with the war with a nation whose capital is with accelerating rapidity wasting away, and itself upon the brink of poverty ? With such a pandemonium, is it possible for us for a moment to think of treating ? They were CALL FOR PEACE. 25 1 bleeding to death, our wound as yet was but skin-deep. He exhorted the house to imitate the perseverance of the French, who endured every hardship, and in all their domestic contests, to do them justice, never forgot the common cause of their country. He con- cluded with recommending the advice given by King William to his parliament after an unsuccessful cam- paign j that by persevering they might hope with con- fidence to preserve their religion, liberties and constitu- tion, if they were not wanting to themselves, and dis- played the patient spirit of Englishmen. Alr.Bankes, Sir Richard Hi//, Mr. Fox, and Mr. Sheridan,, supported the Ame?idment. Mr. Pitt and Mr. Dundas spoke in favour of the original Address. The house divided ', For the Amendment - "75 Against it - 246 \ Majority in favour of the original Address 1 7 1 [ *5* ] HABEAS CORPUS SUSPENSION ACT. January 5, 1795. Mr. SHERIDAN moved for leave « to bring in a Bill, U st repeal an Act passed in the last session of Parliament, em- f* powering His Majesty to secure and detain such persons as if shall be suspected of conspiring against his Person and Govern- " mentV Mr. WINDHAM (Secretary at War) said, that there were so many of his Honourable Friends more capable than he could presume to be, of answering the various topicks which had been brought into argu- ment by the Honourable Gentleman who had just sat down, that he should not have troubled the house with any observations at that early period of the debate, were it not that personal allusion had been frequently made to himself in the course of that Gentleman's elaborate declamation. — The first topic which he would notice, was the Honourable Gentleman's remark upon some words which fell from him respecting a Right Honourable Gentleman on the other side of the house (Mr. Fox), whom, whether he called so or not, he certainly would consider as a friend. This was a HABEAS CORPUS SUSPENSION ACT. 253 subject which he had long remarked some Honourable Gentlemen had a great propensity to bring into dis- cussion ; he had before been obliged to make animad- versions upon it, as it was, to say no worse of it, extremely officious ; and, however the Honourable Gentlemen might flatter themselves that it conduced to their views, he would hazard an assertion, that such intermeddling did not give satisfaction to either party. As the matter, however, had been brought on the tapis, he would fully explain that which he had already, as he thought, explained' before. What he had said on a former day, and what he would then repeat was, that for mutual accommodation he would, though he retained the sentiment, discontinue the usual form of address, and had given for his reason, that, standing with each other on a different footing from what they had formerly done, he might, by per- sisting in it, force his Right Honourable Friend into restraint or embarrassment. This he avowed to be the real meaning of his expressions, and this he fancied must still be in the recollection of every one present 5 he put it to the Honourable Gentleman himself to de- clare whether it was not the handsomest mode of deporting himself; had he done otherwise, those who had thought proper to bring the subject under notice might say that he acted with the insidious intention of promoting that restraint and embarrass- ment which, in truth, he wished to avoid. If this was an error, he confessed it to be an error of delibera- tion, and one in which he certainly meant to persist. 11 2^4 JANUARY 5, 1795. The Honourable Gentleman had endeavoured to persuade the house, that the conduct of the persons who promoted the war was criminal ; and that he (Mr. Windham) was more criminal than any of its abettors. He was desirous to avow, that, on the footing on which the Honourable Gentleman had stated it, he was indeed criminal. If it were criminal to have seen, at a very early period, (but not so early as he could wish he had,) that the conduct of the French was likely to involve Great Britain in warfare and confusion, and to be convinced that, in her own defence, as well as from principles of justice and policy, she should have de- clared war before she did, then certainly he was most highly so. But that, he hoped, was the very utmost extent of his criminality ; and of his firmness and reso- lution, to which the Honourable Gentleman had alluded, he would answer for it, that he never would be found to shrink from any charges that might be brought against him, nor be deterred by the empty menace of any set of men, from the constant and zealous discharge of the trust reposed in him, and from the most unremitting vigilance against every thing that had the face of hostility to his country or himself, particularly the politics of the Honourable Gentleman. The Honourable Gentleman had said, that, in dis- cussing the subject in agitation, he would deal with him with the utmost frankness. He wished, for* the Honourable Gentleman's own sake, as well as that of the house, the subject, and himself, that he had coupled another thing along with it, and used him HABEAS CORPUS SUSPENSION ACT. 255 with fairness as well as with frankness. He had however done quite the reverse, and given the most unfair and unaccountable construction to all that he had said. Had there been any thing in his mode of expressing himself at all ambiguous, candour would have taken it rather upon the favourable side; whereas the Honourable Gentleman had made use of a supposed ambiguity to pervert his meaning, and substituted his own suppositions in the place of facts. He declared, and called for the house to bear witness for him, that he had not, in using the words acquitted felon, at all alluded to the persons lately acquitted: on this point, it was to be lamented by the Honourable Gentleman's admirers and advocates, that all his tragic declamations, all his deep-toned, fine-spun periods, fell at once to ruin, the foundation itself being thus withdrawn from under them. For himself, he declared what he had said was this — When the Honourable Gentleman had endeavoured, with so little judgment and so little effect, to demonstrate that the acquittal of those men (whether they are called felons or culprits, for he was almost afraid to call them by any name, lest he should be misinterpreted) had entirely proved the non-existence of a conspiracy to overthrow the Government, as well as their own individual innocence, he had said, that they were proved innocent to no greater an extent than number- less other persons who were discharged from the Old Bailey ; not from their innocence being established in a moral point of view, but from want of legal proof of their guilt. This exultation of the Honourable 2$6 JANUARY 5, 1795. Gentleman and the persons acquitted, they shared with many culprits who, though absolutely guilty, are discharged from failure of prosecution, from a flaw in the indictment, or from any other of those various legal points, under cover of which the guilty sometimes skulk away from the arm of justice, and strut about afterwards, talking of remedy by actions at law, and pluming themselves upon their accidental escape, as if their integrity and uprightness had been positively proved and established in the opinion of their country. Here, he said, he would rest the point for the pre- sent, and hoped that the Honourable Gentleman would not oblige him to revive it again, nor do as he had often done before, that is to say, make a watch- word of it, and by the most unfair and insidious means propagate and pass it current throughout the world, as if it had never been contradicted, the most unjust and unmanly way of sapping fair fame and reputation that any one could devise. The Honourable Gen- tleman had said much of spies and informers. It was a melancholy consideration to reflect, that such men were often necessary, and he feared they would be more wanting than ever in the situation in which the politics of the Honourable Gentleman and his friends were likely to plunge the country. The Honourable Gentleman who, in all things, was more than com- monly shrewd and acute, had the most extraordinary faculties he ever knew any one to possess for the pur- pose of raising groundless charges, and the most extraordinary industry and art in giving them circula- tion : one, he said, he would particularly mention,—- HABEAS CORPUS SUSPENSION ACT. 257 one originating in falsehood, and afterwards circulated with a wicked industry, which spoke too plainly to be misunderstood, what their drift was who managed it. The expression was the well-known hackneyed " Perish Commerce" It was necessary, he thought, to refer to the many revivals of it, which the malig- nity and wicked designs of some men had occasioned — after being made a handle of in various quarters, all of which he suffered to pass in contemptuous silence ; he again found it revived in a letter published a few days ago by a person of too great rank to be overlooked (Lord Lauderdale). Two years ago, Mr. Windham observed, this falsehood was first circulated, and what would tend to develope the intentions of the calumniators, it was most carefully disseminated where it was supposed to be most likely to do him injury : it was in short printed, and stuck up in the workshops of Norwich, to alienate the affections of the people from him, and persuade them that he was their worst enemy ; again it was brought up in the house against him by those who well knew in their hearts that the expression was not his. But he was silent, and that silence was taken for an admission of the fact. — " Now, Sir," said he, " what will you think, if you shall see that this has been brought up again in this volume which I hold in my hand, stamp- ed with the authority of a Noble Peer ? (Vide Letters to the Peers of Scotland, by the Earl of Lauderdale, page 18.) Did not the Noble Writer know, that the charge was publicly and unjustly attributed to me? and did he not intend, by the way he puts it here, vol. 1. s 25 8 JANUARY 5, I795* that it should be applied to me, and considered as my words — if not, what did he mean ?" Major MAITLAND rose and said, he should not have troubled the house, and most particularly to in- terrupt the Right Honourable Gentleman, did he not believe he could save some time to the house by ex- plaining the case ; the Noble Earl, a relation of his, had asked him, if it was that Right Honourable Gentle- man who had made use of that expression which was reported to have come from authority j he informed his noble relation it was not, and the expression had never been applied to that Right Honourable Gentle- man. The Colonel said, he trusted that the character of that Noble Earl for candour, sincerity, and honour, was such as not to entitle any man in that house, or this country, to suspect him of doing any thing that was illiberal. Mr. Windham continued — I am rather surprised at the explanation, as it confirms the full extent of my charge, which is, that the noble author of the work knew that the sentiment had been falsely imputed to me, and yet sent it forth to the world under the authority of his name uncontradicted. In the same w r ork there is another passage to the same effect, which, noticing the Rockingham party, says, that the Duke of Portland, Earl Fitzwilliam, Mr. Burke, Mr. Windham, and some others, attended meetings for a Parliamentary Reform ; which, as far as relates to myself, 1 deny, and believe unfounded as to the rest. I challenge any one to assert that I ever, either in or out of parliament, contended for that object, which HABEAS CORPUS SUSPENSION ACT. £59 I cannot but regard as a degeneration instead of a Reform of Parliament. In this house I have uniformly opposed it ; and before I had the honour of a seat here, I refused to stand for the city of Westminster, though I might have been returned, because I knew the inhabitants at that time were attached to schemes of Reform. These facts being notorious, I am at a loss to perceive the candour and fairness of the Noble Lord in circulating reports which he must know to be unfounded. This system of misrepresentation is in my mind much more- injurious j than that so much complained of about spies and informers. There is no calculating the evil which it may produce in times of trouble and commotion. It was thus, that early in the French Revolution, Foulon was massacred, because it was reported that he had said, " he would make the people eat grass." The influence and dangerous tendency of these party catch-words could not be stronger exemplified than in the hackneyed phrase of " Swinish Multitude j" the sense of which expression was completely distorted from that in which it was applied, in the beautiful passage where it was origi- nally made use of. Can any one doubt what was intended by this gross and unmanly perversion of its meaning, if, unfortunately for this country, the party that perverted it had obtained their ends, and fully seated themselves in power ? On one point of the Honourable Gentleman's main argument I cannot forbear some remarks. He says, that the persons tried are completely innocent, because they are ac- quitted. Does he mean then totally to disregard the 26p JANUARY 5, 1795. presumption of guilt which was cast on them by the finding of the Grand or Accusing Jury ? Setting this aside, is there any doubt but that the verdict of a jury pronounces only that the parties were not in a legal sense guilty ? But there is a vast medium between legal guilt and moral innocence ; and besides, there might be various stages even of legal guilt short of the specific charge brought against them. As a legislative body, however, we are not to seek the ver- dict of a jury to guide us, we must look to presump- tion and probability, and govern our conduct by their evidence. The Honourable Gentleman, in the same spirit of misrepresentation, has made me deny the distresses of the poor, and sympathised himself as usual in an extraordinary degree with the poor of Norwich ; whereas, I appeal to the recollection of the house, whether I did not bar and anticipate this mis- conception and application to the poor of that town. I said, that the distresses of the war were not great, and that those who most loudly complained of them had not felt their pressure at all, not so much as in the relinquishment of the most trifling luxury ; and between the rich and poor there is an indissoluble bond and mutual dependance. They are not separate interests, but one, neither of which can be affected without operating in the same proportion on the other. My assertions are thus answered. I said, that a cer- tain description of people had not felt the burden of which they had complained. He answers me, that others do. I said, that no burdens were at present felt. He answers me, that they will be felt. What HABEAS CORPUS SUSPENSION ACT. 26 1 course of candour and fair reasoning is a match for this shifting subtlety ; Is it, I ask, a culpable degree of aristocracy, to deny the competence of the lower orders of society in questions of peace and war ? The direct object of any war must be allowed trifling, com- pared to the expence of men and treasure, which the most successful termination could be estimated at. It is the remote and complicated objects of war that form the justification of the measure, and neither the ability nor information of the poor enable them to be fit judges of these subjects. It was the great art of people who pretended to think otherwise, to rouse the passions of the people, and not to inform or exercise their judgments, for which they had in fact the most sovereign contempt. In any war which those gentlemen might or ever had approved, would they consult those opinions which they now thought proper to exalt into consequence for purposes of their own ? They ask where is the conspiracy, and deny its existence, be- cause there is not legal and technical proof. They contend that there is no danger, because the danger happens not to fall within the precise line of former example. Whereas the danger now is entirely of the novel kind. A new order of things is looked for, and every previous right and established law is regarded as antiquated prejudice, and inimical to the interests of the people. But can Gentlemen, after expatiating on the precise limits of antient treason, turn short round and say,' that ther? is no danger, because it is not pre- cisely of that kind which ancient experience pointed out, and guarded against ? In those days, the life of 262 JANUARY 5, I795. the Monarch was in danger directly, and that offence was dreaded, and guarded against. Now we have to look to the base and insidious incitement of the lower orders, as the prevailing vice. Every bad and restless passion is called forth under pretence of right and reason. The natural and inevitable distress, which is inherent under all governments, is made the ground of accusation against that constitution which secures to us the least proportion of those evils which ever existed in one community. I mean not to impute any censure to the jurymen who acquitted the persons accused, as the charge was apparently remote from the death of His Majesty ; and plain and honest men are not always possessed of that strength and search of understanding which is necessary to detect cunning and concerted fraud. Many shades of distinction might reasonably be supposed to occur to them from the length and intricacy of the case, and wherever doubt occurs, a jury is universally inclined to acquit. It is curious, however, to remark, that when the report of the secret committee was brought forward, it was said, what is your proof, where is your evidence of the facts ? And from the silence on these heads it was inferred, that no proof existed. Now the facts, however, are established upon oath, yet fresh objec* tions are instantly stated. On my part, I cannot wish for a more complete refutation of all these patriotic doubts and surmises relative to the plots, than the bare and simple reading of the documents produced in evidence. In this much-vaunted respect for the verdici of a jury, I think that I perceive something of a con* HABEAS CORPUS SUSPENSION ACT. 263 fined view ; for this verdict seems only immaculate and conclusive when it acquits, and instantly when it convicts, its whole nature is changed ; eo instanti the jury become, as by the touch of a magic wand, trans- formed into a packed set of hirelings. Who can for- bear this observation, who sees the same man celebrate the jury who acquitted Hardy, Tooke, and Thelwall, who had before thought so little of the jury that had condemned Watt and Downie, though their verdict was backed by the confession of the convict, in a state when every man's word was taken, namely, on the point of death. In all the praises of verdicts, this ver- dict had, by some strange accident, been kept out of sight. We state that there have been plans and views, call them conspiracies, or by any other name, of the most mischievous nature, to stir up and incite the poor to dissatisfaction and tumult, and finally to insur- rection and plunder. But who shall want converts, who tell the poor that the rich are usurpers, and that they have a right to reprisals? Should this be said only to exist in theory, we recur to the practice of a great nation, who had more than realised the most terrible expectations of the most timid. These modern engineers knew better than to attack the life of a king directly, and therefore think to elude the provisions of the statutes of treason ; they, on the contrary, approach the walls of the town by regular siege, and the Honourable Gentleman contends that we are from the walls to see them, without molestation, complete their works and prepare their mines. To satisfy us of the great prudence and propriety of this conduct, s 4 264 JANUARY 5, I795. he adverts to a novel and extravagant philosophical doctrine of national character, which he thinks totally unconnected with soil and situation ; but did it never occur to him, that whatever influence government may have on character, character originally modifies government, and is therefore the prime cause of the ultimate effect. Among other paradoxes he seems to have found out, that nations have no character in common, and are not to take any example from each other. In speaking of the present corruption and depravity of France, he refers all to the effect of the old go- vernment ; whereas we find that these effects increase in the exact proportion as the new government recedes from the old, and becomes distinctly established. This paradox, however, is not new with the Honourable Gentleman, of attributing all the errors and excesses of the present state of France to the ancient Government, and he seems to adhere to it with all the phrenzy and fondness which men usually shew to their most extra- vagant opinions. If, indeed, this deplorable effect were owing to the old government of France, we should see its effect follow up closely the destruction of that system ; whereas nothing could be greater than the exit of that government which now lies buried under the ruins of all that was excellent in the country. The Honourable Gentleman has another solution also for this difficulty, namely, the war. The war, he says, has conduced to this state of savage desperation in which we find France. But why, it might be asked, have not other wars and similar difficulties HABEAS CORPUS SUSPENSION ACT. 265 produced the same effect in other nations ? Because they were not debased and corrupted by the govern- ments which directed them. This is, however, the poor and common resort of all empirics. If the case does not succeed, it is from this thing or that, and every thing but their own ignorance and want of skill. They were called in too late, the previous treatment was bad, and killed the patient before they came. Mean, paltry, and unworthy argument ! The Honourable Gentleman asks if the example of the people of France is more to be dreaded here than that of Kings in Europe, whom with him we might have been induced to call despots, if the liberty of France had not buried all former despotism in the excess of its cruelty and oppression. Triumphant as this argument may seem, nothing is more easily answered. If you reduce the people of this country to the miserable state of the people of France, they will act the same, from the operation of the paramount and leading features of our nature. So, if you reduce a King of England to the state of the monarchs of Europe, he will act the same. What we deplore and deprecate, is the attempt by sly and insidious means to seduce the people of this country from the noble and honest character they had for ages possessed. The main question between us now is, whether these associations honestly and really proposed, however erroneously, a parliamentary reform, as it is called, or, under that pretence, the utter subversion of the constitution ? Let any man look to the evidence on the late trials, and say honestly from his heart which was in view. S.65 JANUARY 5, I795* There was another object of the Honourable Gen- tleman's animadversion and censure, which however was so general and loose, that I find not so much difficulty in answering as in understanding it. Some charges can no more be replied to, than the scold- ing of a fishwoman in Billingsgate. Does the Honourable Gentleman mean to say that it is dis- honourable to accept of office ? — [No, from the other side.] No ! Then if he gives up that, he gives up all that he has advanced on that subject. The calumnies cast on such things are only to be resisted by the shield of character ; to that my Noble Friends and I resort. I am truly sorry the Honourable Gentleman is not ashamed of such low, mean traffic. I defy him to shew a single circumstance that can tend to cast the shadow of doubt on our con- duct. The malice of the design is so corrected by the impotency of the effort, that I will not sacrifice a word in answering it. The Honourable Gentleman has asked me why I did not continue, as at first, to give honourable support to ministers, without joining them ? Would not support, without responsibility annexed to it, be mean, be dishonest ? In fact, if I had not come into an ostensible office, where would the Honourable Gentleman have found that responsible character with which he threatens me in future. Of these personal allusions I can only recollect one more, namely, that if I took an ostensible office, I should have resigned the emolument of it. Does he mean this as a general prin* ciple ; and if not, why is the exception to be made ? As often as this notion has been agitated, it has as often HABEAS CORPUS SUSPENSION ACT. 267 been rejected by the best and wisest of men, and all attempts to reduce it to practice have been regarded as a mean and paltry lure to popularity. He is called upon, therefore, to explain himself more fully on this head, and should disdain to come forward with dark assertions, which he dare not openly avow. I think I have now noticed all the parts of the Honourable Gentleman's speech, which had a personal allusion, either to me or the eminent characters who came into office at the same time. The more general topics of his speech I shall leave to the refutation, as I promised in my outset, of those who are equally ready and more able than I am, Mr. Hardinge followed Mr. Windham, a fid declared that the Sentiment of " Perish Commerce, let the Constitution live" had proceeded from him, and not from Mr. Windham. Mr. Erskine, Mr, Fox, and Air. Sheridan supported the ^notion; Serjeant Adair opposed it. On a division, there appeared^ For the motion - - 41 Against it - •, 185 Majority - 144 [ 26S ] MOTION FOR PEACE. May 27, 1795. M.R. WILBERFORCE moved, « That it is the opinion of " this Houfe, that the prefent circumjlances of France ought " not to preclude the Government of this country from entertain- " ing propofals for a general pacification ; and that it is for the " interefl of Great Britain to make peace with France, pro- " vided it can be effetled on fair terms, and in an honourable u manner" The motion having been feconded, Mr. WINDHAM (Secretary at War) said, that the house had now heard the reasons urged by the Honour- able Mover and Seconder, in support of a motion so extraordinary, both in itself and in relation to the senti- ments and declarations which had formerly been adopt- ed by those Honourable Gentlemen, in conjunction with a great majority of that house. He agreed as to the propriety of bringing forward questions at different pe- riods of a war, whether, under any change of circum- stances that might have taken place, it was adviseable to proceed in the prosecution of the contest. The point then to be discussed was, whether any such change had taken place ? He affirmed that no such change had taken place, or at least none which ren- MOTION FOR PEACE. 269 dered peace in the present moment preferable to the prosecution of the war. He remarked that in every argument it was necessary to consider those with whom we were arguing. In the present instance, then, it was necessary for him to consider whether he was arguing with those who, in its commencement, had considered the present war as just and necessary, or, in other words, as just, because it was necessary, — who had reprobated the doctrines of the French, and wished the destruc- tion of the system which they were attempting to esta? blish ; or with those who had opposed the war from its outset, — who had approved the doctrines of the French, — who had held out the example of their revo- lution as most glorious, — who had wished success to their exertions, and had even openly professed that the establishment of the Republic was an event desirable to mankind. It was evident that the question, as taken in relation to those opposite opinions, must be argued upon grounds entirely different, and it was only to the latter description of persons that he meant to address* himself. In every question respecting peace two things were to be considered, which the Honourable Gentle- man had not kept sufficiently distinct in the course of his argument: first, what sort of peace was to be gained ; and, secondly, what were the means of gaining it ? The Honourable Mover seemed too much to con- sider peace as peace. He seemed to think that the mo- ment the treaty was signed we should be at liberty to disband our armies, that prosperity would of course re- turn, and that we should enterimmediately upon a career of tranquillity and affluence. On that subject, said Mr. &?6 MAY 27, i79$« Windham, I differ from him most widely ; he thinks peace, in the present moment, safe and honourable ; I think it neither safe nor honourable. But here I can- not help remarking, that the Honourable Gentleman is a sort of constitution-monger ; and that he declared* upon a former occasion, that he would give to France the same constitution as that of America. The Ho- nourable Gentleman would give them a constitution, as if it were a ready-made house, which could be trans- ported without inconvenience from one place to another, and as if every government did not grow out of the ha- bits, the prejudices, the sentiments, and the affections of the people. — [A loud cry of " Hear ! hear !" from the bench of Opposition.]]*— Ke would give them a con- stitution, as children, who had surrounded a twig with a quantity of dirt, would think that they had planted a tree. Some questions he wished to ask, as to the means of attaining peace. And first he would ask, was to express a desire of peace on the part of this 'country the best rfieans of attaining it ? How far ought the inclination for peace manifested by France to ope- rate as an inducement to this country to come forward, and manifest its dispositions for the same purpose ? How far would this inclination for peace in France be likely to grow and increase in consequence of our keep- ing aloof, and abstaining from any declaration that might indicate a reciprocity of sentiment ? Mr. Wind- ham afked what change had taken place in the state of France since the subject was last under consideration, which tended to render any negociation for peace more secure ? A great change had indeed taken place, but 1 MOTION FOU PEAfJfi. fr]t none which rendered any prospect of peace permanent j the government was not become more durable, nor was the character of the people changed : he did not at pre- sent see any reason why they might not return to the' spirit of domination, and the spirit of proselytism, which had formerly rendered them so dangerous. The pre- sent boasted system of moderation acquired all its praise only from being contrasted with the former in- famous proceedings of the Government. It is mode- rate, it is true ; but how is it moderate ? It is mode- rate only in comparison with the preceding plans of terror, murder, and proscription. Compared with other governments, the government of France is still distinguished for injustice, violence, and insult j or ad- mitting, for the sake of argument, that it were not so, is it possible to prophesy how long it may be before such a system may return ? But here let us examine, said he, in what manner this change was produced. They have been brought down to talk the language of moderation, and therefore their moderation is the result of necessity. They axe relaxed in their circumstances, their vigour is weak- ened, and their courage crippled. If they had the de- sire to revive their former atrocities, they have not now the power, and it is our duty to prevent them. Their fortune has reached its flood, and is now ebbing fast away. The symptoms of decay are manifest, and the pulse that raged so violently will soon no longer beat. He remarked, that though the Honourable Mover had demanded a precise answer, he had not encouraged it by bringing forward any thing precise in his own state- ment. He had given it as his opinion that the distress 2J2 MAY 27, 1795. in the interior of France was not great. He had thought that since the communication had begun to be open, there was such a body of evidence with respect to the existence of that distress, as could not well have been resisted, and that the confessions of the extreme hardships suffered from the depreciation of assignats, and the scarcity of provisions, were too frequent and no- torious to be in any degree invalidated. The Honourable Gentleman talked of recent reports as to disturbances in Paris, of the truth of which he seemed to intimate some doubt. They might not indeed be true to the extent to which they had been stated ; they had, how- ever, now been reported upon the authority of public papers, and the Right Honourable Gentleman who called their existence in question might as well dispute the accounts of the massacres at Paris, or the ravages of the guillotine. Was it to be treated as a matter of slight report that the mob had broke into the august body of the Convention, — that the members had been forced to fly, — that the head of one of their number had been cut off, — and that, with the head in their hand, the mob had addressed a speech to the President of the Convention ? Little hope could be entertained of the permanency and duration of that Government which had not efficient means of protection and defence against such violence and outrage j and as to the sup- position of these accounts being bare reports, the Ho- nourable Gentleman had forgotten that, while he treat- ed them so, he had himfelf brought forward uncertain reports of a treaty of peace between the French Repub- lic and Spain, as well as certain Princes of Germany. 2 MOTION FOR PEACE. *75 The Honourable Gentleman had also considered the events that had happened since the propriety of a nego- tiation was last discussed. Whether the conduct of the enemy was different now to what it was then, could not be easily decided ; he had stated, however, that there was an increase of power on their part, and a pro- portionate decrease on ours, or, what is nearly tanta- mount, that as our alliances were weakened, their al- liances grew stronger. One prominent object, the de- fection of our allies, was particularly expatiated on by the Honourable Gentleman. To such a declaration Mr. Windham opposed one broad leading considera- tion — the state of distress and state of opinions now prevalent in France. Nothing, he affirmed, but the conduct held out by the Honourable Gentleman, and such motions as that which he had now brought for- ward, could prevent a speedy termination of the contest in which we were now engaged. Here, he confessed, there was nothing but assertion against assertion, appeal against appeal. He then adverted to the reasoning em- ployed by the Honourable Gentleman, in order to in- duce the country to snatch at the first opportunity for peace. He had affirmed, that its extent of territory was too great to be protected ; that its burdens were too severe to be borne : he had insinuated that the country was come to that pitch of prosperity which it was well if it could keep, but in which every risk might be attended with fatal consequences. He would main- tain that such language was never heard before upon any similar business in that house; nor would the country have ever risen to such a pitch of honour, glory, vol. i. r 274 MAY 27, 1795. and universal reputation as it has done, if such had been the language of our predecessors. — The Honour- able Gentleman should have recollected, too, that this reasoning is not confined to the present war, but ex- tends to other wars in future. He has openly pro- claimed, that our burthens have increased to their utmost, that we have no means of defence, that our people are rebellious, and our armies ready to assist them. We have reached the climax of our grandeur, and may now supinely repose ourselves, nor even attempt to support it, for it must necessarily decline. In former times our arms protected our commerce, but now we are come to the full enjoyment of our industry, and we call upon our enemy not to disturb us ; leave us as we are, leave us well, or if you do not, we are not possessed of means to defend our- selves. This was one of the arguments which the Honourable Gentleman had pretended to touch on lightly. He would not speak out, he said, and there was no necessity to press him, for he was perfectly intelligible. But Mr. Windham said he could not help noticing the inconsistency which commonly pre- vailed in this mode of reasoning, where the arguments were shifted, as occasion prompted, to suit the pur- pose of the speaker. Sometimes they declaimed on the loyalty of His Majesty's subjects, and sometimes .they proclaimed them to be nearly infected with the contagion of the French Republicans. To what could such proceedings tend, but to lay the country prostrate at the feet of the enemy ? Read the various declara- tions of France against this country, and then judge MOTION FOR PEACE. 275 of their inclination to induce us to make peace. In a discourse lately delivered to the Convention, they state, " that they will make no concessions to Great Britain, nor will they offer any terms of accommoda- tion. They are not afraid of war, and are therefore determined to continue it until they have reduced the pride and power of this haughty country." Are we to sit down contented with such indignities, such in- sults, and such aggravation ? And here is another odd inconsistency in the arguments on the other side : When they vindicate this conduct, they assert, that the war produces these atrocities ; but when they argue for peace, then they say, " Leave them to themselves, and they will destroy one another." What then will be the situation of France when peace is made ? There will be an internal dissension in their government, which must ultimately produce a popular commotion ; the armies too will return, and assist to keep up the internal warfare. If we have sagacity enough to discover that such must be the consequences of their making peace, may they not have sufficient sagacity to perceive the same, and will they not in- stantly seek new wars to keep their armies employed, and prevent such calamities ? The fact is too noto- rious for comment. How could the Honourable Gen- tleman delude himself so ? Does he not know, that with such a government, so feeble, so precarious, so insecure, we can have no stability ? And does he not know that if the war should be renewed again, after an interval of peace of the shortest duration, that it requires a greater impulse, a greater energy through' t 2 Ij6 MAY 27, 1795. out the naticn, and is attended also with a greater ex- pence ? Fo : it is in moral as in mechanical powers, a strong force is necessary to put the machine in motion, which continues its velocity with little aid. There was one of the Honourable Gentleman's arguments, said Mr. Windham, which I had almost forgotten. He has taken care, however, to remind me, and I am glad of it. I suspect my observations will contain more than he expected. He has reminded me of La Vendee and the Chouans. Now let the Gentlemen opposite to me recollect the language they have used, compared with the event. (A cry of " hear ! hear !") Let them remember that they tenaciously insisted that France had but one sentiment. The Honourable Gen- tleman opposite will call to mind too what he formerly said. " Do you," said he, " do you count on Brittany and Normandy ?" Yes, the executive Government did count on them, and proposed to adopt such mea- sures as would better facilitate that event which was so universally desired. When dissensions were said to exist in the internal state of France, it was asked where? At Lyons, Marseilles, Toulon, and La Vendee j and well would it have been for this country if she had immediately taken the proper advantage of those dissensions, and converted them to her purposes. They were lost, however ; though it might be said they could not have been lost if they were not possest. Mr. Windham supposed the Gentlemen were laughing at their own declarations that no such dissensions ex- isted, when discontent, distrust, and animosity were carried to the greatest length. MOTION FOR PEACE. 277 He then reverted fo the Honourable Gentleman's statement of the condition of Marseilles, and observed that it was not because that under such a tyranny as that of France dissensions do not shew themselves, that we are to conclude that they do not exist. We might have had reasons to know their existence if we had acted with becoming caution, and instead of one La Vendee, we might have known that the whole of France was becoming one entire Vendee. He then referred to the subjugation of the Vendeans and the Chouans. At one time, it had been asked, have you any friends in France ? Has the new system any ene- mies ? Are not. all the people of that country united in the same sentiment ? The boast which was now made of the triumph over the insurgents now proved the reality of the danger which had once existed. But, though these people had submitted to hard necessity, it was not to be supposed that they had all at once changed their sentiments : and it proved also that there still existed a body of good sentiments in France. He addressed this not solely to the Gentlemen oppo- site, but to those Gentlemen who had confidence in the executive Government at this time : and now, when from the interior of France we had reports of popular commotions coming from all quarters, was it longer just or reasonable to doubt their authenticity ; and if this representation be right, was this the time for such conclusions as the Honourable Gentleman had drawn ? The first argument of the Honourable Gen- tleman was, that peace would establish the p( >wer of those, who now preside in France 5 and what sort of t 3 278 MAY 27, I795. an argument was this ? Would it establish the power ? Were there hopes it would? Was the Honourable Gentleman prepared to say, that the change of Government had so far changed the evil, as solely to have produced the alteration in his sentiments ? If it could, why could it not have done so before, in the administration of the bloody Robespierre? Accord- ing to their mode of reasoning, war could be reduced at any time to a scale of profit and calculation. Stating generally his opinions on the subject, he saw the mo- tives for continuing the war the same — the prospects better. Another objection, applying to the majority of the house, against the motion, was, that if it passed, the house would thereby take the management out of the hands of the Executive Government. This the house had certainly at times a right to do ; but then it was usual, when they assumed that right, to apply to His Majesty to displace the persons in whom the trust of the executive Government was lodged. Fortunately the motion was not yet .adopted. But nevertheless the charge of inconsistency and rashness, if not something worse, was attached to it ; for the Honourable Gentleman who brought it forward was the friend of the minister, and had pronounced in the course of that evening many eulogiums upon him. He relied, he said, on his talents, his integrity and judgment ; he praised his general capacity, and he esteemed him as the properest person to be at the head of affairs : but here comes the difficulty — How- ever great his general capacity, his judgment, his in- tegrity and talents, and however fit for administration, MOTION FOR PEACE. 279 he was not fit to conduct the business of the State, and therefore the Honourable Gentleman proposed to conduct it for him. He would not offer to displace his friend, but he would undertake to manage mea- sures for him. Did he think the minister would au- thorize him to perform his functions ? The Honour- able Gentleman would allovv for these interrogations by the part he had taken himself in the debate of that evening. He must know, that in all public affairs they were bound to follow their duty in preference to their friendships ; and for his own part, Mr. Windham said, he had •-sacrificed friendships that were dear to him, to his public duty, and he did it because he loved to follow right, though it be sometimes difficult to find where it lies. The Honourable Gentleman had done so too, though Mr. Windham disapproved of the mode in which he had done it. A Christian conscience was understood to be connected with hu- mility, but the Honourable Gentleman had been op- posing those of whose integrity and abilities he enter- tained no doubt, and with whom he was bound in the close ties of friendship. Now he wished to impress on the Honourable Gentleman's mind, that he was playing a deep game ; for if he was not the preserver, he was the undoer of his country : and if he did not obtain the posthumous fame he so virtuously desired, he would be transmitted to posterity with eternal exe- cration. He wished him to consider too, how far he conformed himself to the sentiments of those whose mode of thinking he had been accustomed to oppose ; or how far he adopted new opinions of his own. There T 4 28o MAY 27, 1795. are two things to confirm a man's judgment, the concurrence of his friends, and the dissent of his enemies. Now, the Honourable Gentleman had been playing at great odds, for he had not only the dissent of his friends, but the 1 approbation of his opponents. He had the odds against him also in another way. In every exclusive public concern, but more particularly in a war, and still more in a war like the present, there was a knowledge in the executive Government which could not be possessed by others. Of this he had just given an instance, though opposition would nei- ther give the executive Government credit for their good intentions nor their judgment. It was not grate- ful for him to examine opinions, though he did it to fulfil his public duty. If the Honourable Gentleman thought his measures fatal, he thought the Honourable Gentleman's no less so. Such opinions he conceived, if listened to, were highly dangerous, and if not lis- tened to, they were so in a smaller degree. Admit- ting that the Honourable Gentleman's were the best opinions, he asked him whether he expected them to be followed ? What then, it might be urged on the other hand, are you never to bring forward any mo- tion because there is a probability it will not be fol- lowed ? What then becomes of the freedom of debate ? Not so ; an attempt in itself to do good may be made, though others think it will not do so. But did the Honourable Gentleman think, that when persons like those in the Executive Government had formed their opinions coolly, and with due deliberation, that his arguments could change them ? Perhaps he 2 MOTION FOR PEACE. 28 J hoped for something intermediate ? With respect to other topics, Mr. Windham said, they were not of a sort to be adopted without abandoning all the former. He had heard the Honourable Gentleman talk of a general objection to the war, and of a general senti- ment entertained by the people that a peace would speedily be formed by the administration of the coun- try. If such a peace were formed, that is, by the administration of the country, they ought all to rejoice, but not otherwise, for it would then be obtained as it ought to be. On the other hand, what did the Honourable Gentleman propose ? A peace by himself in opposition to administration. The best argument in answer to such a proposition was a review of history. The Honourable Gentleman had taken occasion in the course of his speech to extol the blessings of peace, and to deprecate continental connexions. With re- spect to the blessings of peace, abstractly considered, there could be but one sentiment ; as to the utility of continental connexions, he referred him to the testi- mony of the history of the country for many centuries past. Were we to be supposed now to be arrived at that period in which we were to lose all regard for military character, and seek only to retain our former acquisitions ? Were we to renounce all views of ge- neral policy, and attend only to the claims of petty gain and mercantile advantage ? Were we to forfeit our reputation of national honour, and of a generous concern for the welfare of Europe ? It may be honour- able, in the opinions of some Gentlemen, to steal out of a war as others had done ; but it would be degrad- 282 MAY 27, 1795. ing to the British character, justly celebrated for its honour and integrity. Great Britain had no wish to imitate the Republic of Holland or the Duchy of Tus- cany, but left them to their virtue. How different, he observed, was the conduct the Honourable Gentle- man had recommended to that pursued by King Wil- liam, who judged the interests of this country to be so closely connected with all Europe, that he encouraged every alliance whereby she rose in the scale of Empire, and of this Mr. Addison was sensible when he wrote his fine eulogium : " His toils, for no ignoble ends design'd, ** Promote the common welfare of mankind ; " No wild ambition moves, but Europe's fears, " The cries of orphans, and the widow's tears J " Oppress* d Religion gives the first alarms, " And injur'd Justice sets him in her arms ; " His conquests freedom to the world afford, " And Nations bless the labours of his sword. 1 ' Whether the Honourable Gentleman had not brought forward his motion to interpose, because the French Government was faint and languid, and her movements wild and irregular, he could not determine, but he reminded him she might be dangerous even in her last convulsion. Mr. Windham then entered into a variety of argu- ments on what he conceived to be the fatal conse- quences of the present motion, as tending to influence the opinions of persons at home, and to strengthen and encourage the hands of the enemy. He said, that the cry of peace chiefly proceeded from the Jacobin MOTION FOR PEACE. 283 party in the country ; and that though every one who wished for peace was not a Jacobin, yet every Jacobin wished for peace. The same disposition for peace, he remarked, to be characteristic of the Jacobins, not only in this country, but over the whole of Europe. He concluded with stating, that as the Honourable Gentleman had declared, that in bringing forward his motion, he had been actuated by a sense of duty, he had no less felt the same motive for opposing it, and that he should therefore move the order of the day. Sir Benjamin Hammet seconded the motion for the order of the day ; Mr. Fox supported the original motion , and Mr. Pitt op- posed it. The house then divided on the motion for the order of the day : Ayes - - - 201 Noes 86 Majority - 1 T 5 Mr. Wilberforce' s motion was consequently last. r 284 ] TAX ON DOGS. April 25, 1796. J- HE order of the day being read for the commitment of the Dog Tax Bill, Mr. Dent (with ivhom the bill had originated) moved, " That the Speaker should leave the chair" Mr. Sheri- dan opposed the Bill. Mr. WINDHAM (Secretary at War) said he did not mean to object to the whole of the bill, but to part of it only. He thought a tax upon all sporting dogs fair, because they are a kind of luxury, and their owners can afford to pay. But he thought there was a passion, spleen, and enmity, against the canine race, in the formation of the bill, that amounted really to a principle of extirpation. From the tenor of it he should have been apt to imagine that Actason had revived, or that some fabulous divinities had de- scended to pronounce an eternal ban and curse on the whole race of dogs. They certainly at times were disagreeable, and he had felt that inconvenience ; but he should have been loath to have gone, in conse- quence, to avenge himself on the whole species. It was unworthy of this or any other country, to levy a TAX ON DOGS. 285 rate on any animal, because that animal was not em- ployed in tilling ground, or because the poor might feed on dog's provisions. It appeared as if there was not room enough on earth for men and dogs. The Honourable Gentleman had entered into several calcu- lations to shew the number of dogs and the quantity of provisions they consumed j but he seemed to forget that there was a great quantity of waste which they destroyed, which, if they were annihilated, would be- come a greater nuisance. He seemed to imagine, that all the refuse, now given to dogs, would go to human creatures. No such thing ; for they consume a great quantity of offal, which could not well be otherwise disposed of, and consequently his calculation of the quantity of provisions was exceedingly erroneous. He had also excited an alarm upon this head, by observing that population increases with provision. So it does, but not if there be a greater quantity of provisions than the consumers require. How much of the produce of the earth goes to other purposes than the food of man ? Does not the Honourable Gentleman himself give to his coach-horses and his saddle-horses, what would serve for human food ? But when you consider the sustenance of men, you are to consider their com- forts and enjoyments also ; or if you do not, we shall revert to rudeness and barbarism. Now, as to that part of the bill which related to the dogs of the poor, his objections were too numerous to be repeated. Some dogs are retained by the poor as implements of trade, and the Legislature ought not to tax the industry, but the expenditure, of the people. Some were retained 286 APRIL 25, I796. for their companionable qualities ; and when the fidelity and winning attachment of a dog was remembered, it was unkind to propose a plan which should tend to destroy him. Dogs kept for sporting, were peculiar to the rich, and though he did not mean to arraign sporting, he thought it not the highest sort of amuse- ment, inasmuch as it reduced the hunter to the con- dition of the animal he hunted. With the rich, it might be taxed ; but with the poor, the affection for a dog was so natural, that in poetry and painting it had been constantly recorded, and in any sort of domestic representation, we scarcely see a picture without a memorial of this attachment. If the rich man feels a partiality for a dog, what must a poor man do, who has so few amusements ? — A dog is the companion of his laborious hours ; and when he is bereft of his wife and children, fills up the dreary vacuity. It is a well- known fact, that Alexander Selkirk, upon whose nar- rative the story of Robinson Crusoe was founded, cul- tivated the society of every animal upon the island, except those which he was obliged to kill for food. This was his greatest satisfaction, and a dog affords a similar satisfaction to the poor. Would the house then sacrifice that honest, virtuous satisfaction ? An Honourable Gentleman behind him (Mr. Buxton) dis- approved of any difference between the poor and rich, because he wished for equality, forgetting that equal burdens are laid upon unequal means, and that they ought to be proportioned in the same manner as re- wards and punishments. — But although he wished the tax to be levied upon sporting dogs, he was a TAX ON DOGS. 287 friend to the game laws, and to aristocratical distinc- tions ; and he thought all the arguments that had been urged against the game laws were recommendations in their favour, provided they were not oppressive. He did not think that poor men kept dogs for the destruc- tion of game, and he lived in a game county where he was qualified to judge ; besides if a poacher wanted a dog for that purpose, he could afford to pay for it ; so that, extending the tax to the poor, would be no pro- tection to the game. As to the worrying of sheep, the dogs commonly kept by poor people were too small ; for the dogs that worry sheep are pointers, hounds, lurchers, guard-dogs, &c. and whenever they are once guilty of that vice, they will never leave it off till they are destroyed ; but, dead or alive, they hunt the animal, and have been known to tear the skins in tanners' yards. He was in perfect conformity with his Honourable Friend, when he did not wish to levy any assessment on the poor ; for if people, distressed as some were who kept dogs, would deprive themselves of part of their food to keep a dog, that was the best proof of the value of the animal, and he knew, if they were assessed, how likely they would be to be taken up by the parish officers. An Honourable Friend (Mr. Buxton) had said, that no person who receives relief from the parish ought to be allowed to keep a dog. He differed from him in opinion, because the whole class of labourers are liable to apply for re- lief, on account of the unequal balance of their earn- ings and expenditure j for every accident or calamity subjects them to the necessity of making such applica- 288 APRIL 25, 1796. tion. It would be cruel and impolitic to pass such a law ; it is a sort of law, from which every man would revolt. The dog is a companion to a solitary man, and to a man with a family a play-fellow for his children ; and these considerations induced him to wish that satisfaction to be preserved to the poor. He had been led on by the subject farther than he intended ; but he could not think of sacrificing any man's feelings to any consideration of interest which had been held out from the extension of the tax. Mr. Courtenay and Mr. Pitt opposed the Billy which wai thrown out without a division. r 289 ] CASE OF M. DE LA FAYETTE. December 16, 1796. General fitzpatrick moved, « r,w fl « a«^ M Address be presented to His Majesty, to represent to His Ma- il jesty, that it appears, to this House that the detention of General " La Fayette, Bureau de Pusy, and Latour Maubourg, in the lc prison of His Majesty s ally, the Emperor of Germany, is f a human crea- ture enduring the rigours of imprisonment, or being carried to the execution of that punishment which the laws award for the expiation of crime, abstractedly, must wring the heart of any man with sympathizing commiseration ; but men should not, in such cases, consider the suffering separate from the causes and circumstances which occasioned it; humanity would kindle compassion ; but reason must overrule that feeling in consideration of the cause. This was the reigning practical fallacy by which questions of a very simple nature were attempted to be confounded. In the number of those who had produced the French Revolution, and followed it up with those enormities which had surpassed all that poets had ever fancied, there were many who, viewing their sufferings in naked abstraction, would excite compassion. For instance, that gentleman named Collot d'Herbois — he was condemned to Guiana, to which place vast numbers of the most learned and venerable men existing, the clergy of France, had also been condemned, for no other reason but because they refused to abjure their religion, deny their God, CASE OF M. DE LA FAYETTE. 299 and act in contradiction to their consciences. The place was chosen as that in which human nature would be most exposed to suffer, and every thing was done to render the natural evils of the country more dread- ful and destructive. If we were to abstract the suffer- ings of the wretch from the crimes that led to it, we could not but wish him rescued from such misery. We should say, (perhaps as others may say in nearly similar cases,) " 'Tis true, Collot d'Herbois killed many thousand people ; 'tis true, that when the guil- lotines were insufficient, and the executioners were fatigued with putting them to death, he sent them, for more speedy dispatch, into a great square, where he fired upon them with cannon, and ordered in a party of cavalry to cut and trample to death the few who had escaped the guns ; but 'tis also true, that the thing is passed ; and that the men are in their graves, and cannot be brought to life again. Poor Collot ! he is not the better for being in Guiana — What is the use of it — Let us send for him, and bring him home — How can men of feeling think of prolonging the punishment of poor Collot d'Herbois !" This, Mr. Windham said, was a perfect illustration of that false humanity by which Gentlemen wished the house now to be guided ; but he would tell them, that true humanity taught a different lesson, and inter- dicted the practice of that spurious imposture under the name of it, which they advised. Mankind were not formed to pity at once the oppressed and the op- pressor ; the choice of the Honourable Gentleman 300 DECEMBER 1 6, 1 7 96. opposite, was to take up and espouse the cause of the oppressor ; but for his part, he would take up and espouse that of the oppressed. He could not separate the idea of M. La Fayette from the millions who were suffering by his crimes. Did Gentlemen doubt it ? Let them look into our streets, and see men equal to La Fayette in honour, in rank, in talents, in courage, in every valuable qua- lity which his warmest advocates could boast that he possessed, exiled from home, ruined by the Revolu- tion, of which he was the leader and instigator, and involved in misery, in wretchedness, and beggary, by his crimes. Did Gentlemen who urged this measure know, or rather, was it possible they should not know, that the opinion of all the best-informed men in France was, that M. La Fayette's conduct to the King was cruel, ferocious, and unmanly ? And was it not uni- versally known, from those who were in the confidence of the Queen of France, that that august and magna- nimous personage often declared, he was the only man she could never forgive ? She was often heard to say, she could forgive Barnave, nay, would interpose be- tween him and the stroke of the executioner •— but never could or would forgive La Fayette. Having discussed these points, Mr. Windham said, he would now apply himself to a part which would bring the house nearer to the consideration of the pro- priety of interference. Would the house, he asked, believe that the Em- peror was unmindful of his consanguinity with the CASE OF M» DE DA FAYETTE. 3OI royal sufferers under this man's plans ? Could they suppose that that Monarch, knowing all that had been just stated to be true, could fail of harbouring a just indignation against the author of his near relation's calamities and death ? And were we, without being apprized what his designs were, or what his actual treatment of La Fayette, to interpose with respect to his mode of treating the personal author of such crimes ? Surely not ; it would be not only impolitic and impertinent, as respecting ourselves, but extremely indecent and improper, as regarding His Imperial Majesty, to interpose in a case that lay so very near him. In answer to an Honourable Gentleman on the bench behind him (Mr.Wilberforce), who had coun- tenanced the motion by a speech and an amendment, and in whose opinion it was our duty to go about Eu- rope to dictate rules of policy, he would say, that his sentiments had overleaped the distinction made by the Honourable Gentleman opposite to him, for the same pitiable representation and relief which they confined to one, he would extend to all ; so that where was the work of the house in interference to stop ? While scenes of misery in gross and in detail sur- rounded us, and pressed upon our senses, whichsoever way we looked, how was it that Gentlemen were so cold and so callous, as never to be quickened into feeling but by the solitary case of Monsieur La Fayette? In the greater instances, when the worst horrors were going forward, when our ears were constantly assailed 302 DECEMBER 1 6, 1 796. with the cries of one half of France murdering the other, did the house forget that the very suspicion that those sufferings were the motives to our interference, was sufficient to render illegitimate all other causes of war ; that this so vitiated it in Gentlemen's estima- tion, that the whole formula of their objections, con- strued into plainer language, was, that the war was un- just and detestable, because excited by feelings for such misery and destruction ! If Gentlemen wished for proper objects for the exercise of their humane feelings, let them look to thirty thousand priests pining in the prisons of France. They, however, thought more of that one man in the prison of Olmutz. There was, indeed, he said, some- thing capricious and fanciful in their taste in objects of humanity. But of this it might be said, as of taste in other respects, to use an old Latin adage, De gustibus non disputandum. Gentlemen boasted pretty largely of humanity and feeling, at the expence of others. Nothing was more mean or dishonest, than to endeavour to catch repu- tation by a display of virtue at other persons' cost ; to be courageous on other men's valour ; to be generous on other men's money ; to be charitable and magnanimous at the expence of the feelings ^of others. Thus displayed, instead of virtues they were vices. Dean Swift says, " All men could bear the misfortunes of others with christian-like spirit." So these Gentlemen opposite were very liberal in forgiv- ing injuries done to Austria and the Queen of France. 10 CASE OF M. DE LA FAYETTE. 303 The merit of this, however, was not very striking. He had no hesitation in saying, that he felt very little consideration for the beginners of revolutions. M. de la Fayette had been the first to attack the ancient monarchy of France ; and though he stepped short when he found that his own mischievous prin- ciples were turning against his views, though he had no objection to continuing the King upon his throne, provided that he might be Viceroy over him, yet he could not feel for a man who was the author of a conflict that led to such horrors. Well or ill inten- tioned, he had been the author of the attack on the ancient system, which led to all these massacres ; and he should ever hold out as objects of marked repro- bation, and of punishment, the beginners of revolu- tions. The mass who might follow them, the lower ranks of society, who, from various causes, might partake in the violence, were easy to be forgiven ; but men of rank, who, from motives of ambition, originated revolutions of established governments in any country, were justly to be regarded with horror, and true humanity must be eager for their punish- ment. Besides, how could the houF.e enter into all the views of the Emperor ? There might be political motives mixed with the measure, of which they could not judge. It was well known that there were per- sons, both in France and out of it, who were anxious to exalt M. de la Fayette as the grand champion of liberty, that they might be able to cabal with him, to raise a new standard, and to bring about new '•■> 04 DECEMBER 1 9, 1796* revolutions in France and elsewhere. How could Gentlemen tell, then, that the conduct of the Emperor might not be dictated by a wise and prudent policy, to keep this man fast, and prevent his committing new horrors ? It was curious too, that though there were two more persons in the same gaol with M. de la Fayette, he alone was mentioned with distinguished praise — he alone was the theme of condolence, by these persons who made the war the eternal burden of their song, but who never felt for the many thou- sands of unhappy victims which that war had made, and of which war the authors of the revolution must be considered as the true authors. He again repeated, that the most just vengeance was due chiefly to those, who abounding in all good things, and filled with spleen and impatience drawn from the excessive enjoyments of life, with no haste to privation of their own comforts, with not one bit of Nun's flesh about them, would, for their own vile purposes, sport with the happiness of mankind, and play the deep and damnable game of ambition. He should not be sorry — indeed he should rejoice, to see such men drink deep of the cup of calamity which they had prepared for the lips of others. On the whole, this was not a question of sentiment, but of prudence, policy, and general morality. If there were any grounds separate from those mentioned to sanction interference, he had no objection to interference being attempted j but he never would consent, nor would the house, he hoped, in the 12 CASE OF M. DE LA FAYETTE. 305 absence of other reasons, to do an act which would put a premium on revolution, give the sanction of ex- ample to treason, and reward to rebellion. The house divided on the Amendment, Ayes - - - S° Noes - 133 The original motion ivas then negatived. VOLs r. C 3°« 3 REDUCTION OF OFFICES. March 13, 1797. Mr. HARRISON moved, " That the extent of the supplies t( voted to Government since the commencement of the present i( war, having caused so heavy an increase of taxes, it is the <( duty of this House to inquire, whether some relief to the bur- " dens of the people, or provision for farther expence, may not be <* obtained by the reduction of useless places, sinecure offices, exor- 61 bitant fees, and other modes of retrenchment in the expenditure " of the public money." Lord William RiisselUseconded and Mr. Sheridan supported the motion. Mr. Pitt moved the previous question. Mr. WINDHAM (Secretary at War) condemned the gross error and monstrous principles in which the motion for retrenchment was founded, and rose to reply, not only to general observations, but to some which required an explanation concerning the office which he held. He considered the reply of his Right Honourable Friend (Mr. Pitt) to be so satisfactory and conclusive on the general statement, to all who heard him, that it seemed to require a confidence of a diffe- REDUCTION OF OFFICES. 307 rent sort to that which his Right Honourable Friend solicited, to embolden any one to contest about it longer. It had been said, that his Right Honourable Friend had now avowed and brought forward his sys- tem and opinions of corruption, when that system and those opinions had not only been recognized by general principles, by every well-regulated govern- ment, and by the ancient forms and customs of this country, but had been recognized by the conduct of parliament also. On that memorable occasion, in the year 1780, and afterwards in 1782, the principle was recognized by the most solemn and authoritative judgement of the house. The illustrious Gentleman (Mr. Burke), whose clear and comprehensive mind surveyed, dissected, arranged, examined, and new- modelled the system of the public expenditure, acted upon a large, liberal, sound, and statesman-like foun- dation. He did not shift and accommodate himself to that sort of doctrine which might attract the breath of a certain description of persons out of doors, by raising an idle and an empty clamour against sinecure places, but convinced that retributions should be pro- portionate to services, and that a youth of distress and labour deserved an age of affluence and ease, he pro- vided accordingly. Such were the opinions, and such was the system of those very persons with whom the Honourable Gentleman opposite had once associated, and with whom, without any disparagement to them, it might be their pride and boast to have acted. The Honourable Gentleman had laboured very hard to represent that the country called for very strong x 2 308 MARCH 13, I797. exertions ; and what was the judgement which he gave upon it ? Why, it went to fasten the necessity of abolishing every sinecure place ; or, in other words, of destroying public confidence; of depriving the useful and the brave of their remuneration ; and of preventing people in future from being so prompt and vigorous as they otherwise might be, on account of the insecurity or improbability of obtaining any recompence. Gentlemen ought to recollect where they were when they argued in that manner, and talk like statesmen in parliament, and not as if they were haranguing a club at a public-house. Let them learn to suit their opinions to their situation, and not to cut off all rewards, and thereby force the people who pursue the common traffic of life to find a market for their zeal in other places. To what dilemma did they wish to bring the country ? They would deprive the public of the assistance of all who are in office by robbing them of their pay, and for what ? That those who are out of office might leave them in the lurch, or be invited to receive it ! Such a jest might serve to set " some barren spectators laughing," but it was too contemptible for serious argument ; for what was the plain issue of it, but that persons, whose long and able services were entitled to remuneration and reward, were to be cut down and impoverished j all men were to rank on the same level ; there were to be no sources of emolument, no credit to the country, no chance in the common lottery of life, no change in the course and progress of events, but the same blank, the same uninteresting scene to prevail for ever. REDUCTION OF OFFICES. 309 Did they wish, then, that none were to serve the public but men of fortune ? Grant it. Have men of fortune always the abilities to serve the public, or even if they have, will they also have the inclination? Would the Honourable Gentleman who brought for- ward the motion, " I do not ask him at present," said Mr. Windham, " but would he choose from a strict sense of duty, a love of employment, or a love of power, to quit his native fields, to leave the ease and comforts of retirement, to abjure the luxuries of life, and forsake the smiles of his family, for the trouble, hazard, and fatigue of a public employment, without honour, without profit, and without praise." If there were any necessity to pursue the subject farther, would he wish to drive the talents of the country into the service of the public ? The experiment might be fatal. These being the principles and grounds of the opinion of a necessity of retrenchment in the public offices, as stated to the house by the Honourable Gentleman and his Honourable Friend, might the house rely upon their integrity that they would not push them farther ? Allow that they did not, it would be difficult, perhaps, to fix the precise boundary ; and then it might be necessary also to inquire what changes might ensue, and where the house should desist from pressing this regulation. But a new case occurs, which must be shewn. The Honourable Gentleman stated, that a great deal of patronage had been growing up since the last regulation. For the sake of argument, admit it, and admit too, that the x 3 3IO MARCH 13, 1797. house in conformity were inclined to renew the mea- sure. Well, what then ? Is it not necessary first to inquire, whether the establishments grow out of the necessity of public service, whether there be not a better regulation of business by the increase of expence, than could be balanced by the diminution ; or whether there might not be particular circumstances which required such an extension ? If any of these cases bear out the propriety of their continuance, what then is^the house to do? Why, then the house is to in- quire whether they be rightly arranged or not : if they are all right, useful, and expedient, it must be wise and prudent to preserve them as they are : if they are wrong, useless, or obstructive, then they ought to be abolished, or reformed. Then came before the house in its turn, the subject of the calamity of this country. He agreed with Gen- tlemen, that this country was in a state of calamity, although he differed from them about the cause, and as much about the remedy to be applied to that cala- mity. That calamity was not owing to the loss of our commerce, for it was flourishing in a high degree; nor was it to be ascribed to the diminution of our manufactures, the neglect of our agriculture, the decay of our trade, for there was no visible decline in any of these; on the contrary, the country was full of wealth. The calamity which we felt, was the calamity which all Europe felt ; it was a calamity which the pernicious doctrine which had been too prevalent in a neighbouring country had occasioned all over REDUCTION OF OFFICES. 3 1 I Europe, and which it was the duty of all Europe to repel, and to which the speeches of some Gentlemen, who favoured this and the like motions, too much contributed ; the effects of which at present were the enormous acquisitions and arrogant pretensions of our enemies, and which we were called ifpon to resist by a great general policy, not by the mean and miserable saving of the ends of candles and the parings of bits of cheese, such as this motion could only be competent to produce. If there was any waste in any public department, the house should meet it fairly, and come to some manly regulation upon the sub- ject ; but they should not practice so mean and so shabby a delusion upon the public, as to hold up the savings of a few sinecure places as a resource to lessen the public burdens ; for he verily believed, that the fee-simple of all such savings would not amount to a farthing a head to all the inhabitants of London. It was by holding up as a great resource for the public, this system of pitiful economy, that the discontented spirits of this country were emboldened ; while the good effects to be expected, were but ridiculous and idle dreams. If ministers had conducted the war im- properly, let the house say so, and impeach them at once ; but this was not the way to redress the griev- ances of the public, if they had any «to complain of; on the contrary, it led directly to the greatest mis- chief, for by attacking the property of a placeman, they attacked all species of property. Those who thought that a placeman ought to be stript, would soon be brought to think every man who had any x 4 312 MARCH 13, 1797. wealth ought to be strjpt also ; nay, he thought that, according to the mode of reasoning adopted against placemen, he should make a better figure in endeavour- ing to defend the emoluments of his place, than in the character of a country-gentleman, he could de- fend his right to his estate ; since for his emoluments in his place he might say he did something, whereas his estate descended to him without any merit of his own. Let men, with large masses of property, be cautious how they act in aiding such opinions, for there is a close connection in reason, and, depend upon it, a still closer one, in fact, between the clamour against public offices and the confiscation of private property. The principle had been recognized and acted upon in another country. What service does a man do for his estate ? Of the two species of pro- perty, the place is the most secure, because the " labourer is" supposed to be " worthy of his hire ;" and as the estate might originate in abuse of power, or servility to a Prince, an allegation might be made, that the possessor and his family had enjoyed the pro- fits of it long enough, and that it was now high time to revert to the other claimants. He supported the necessity of sinecures as a provision for old age, talents, and public services. He contended, that the doctrines, upon which the motion was supported, were only adapted to enflame the poor, and purchase " mouth-honour," and unworthy popularity. As to the general argument of corruption in this war, he could only say, that if it was carried on by corruption, it was the corruption of the greater part REDUCTIOX OF OFFICES. 313 of Europe against a single enemy ; and he could not conceive why so large a part of mankind should delight in corrupting themselves to the manifest pre- judice of their interests. Those who could lay that flattering unction to their souls for having opposed that principle, were such strange men, that he could not argue with them. He then justified the conduct of the department over which he presided, maintained that there was nothing there which required retrench- ment, and declared he believed that would turn out to be the case in every other branch of public expen- diture ; all which, however, would appear in the report of the committee in consequence of the instruc- tions which his Right Honourable Friend had given notice of his intention to move. He concluded by giving his cordial assent to the motion for the previous question. The motion was opposed by Serjeant Adair and Dr. Lawrence, and supported by Air. Fox and Mr.Tierney. The house divided, For Mr. Pitt's motion of the previous question 1 69 Against it Tl Majority - - 92 A Committee of Finance being appointed by ballot, Mr. Pitt moved, " That it be an instruction to the said Committee, that they " do examine and consider ivhat regulations and checks have been " applied in order to control the several branches of the public " expenditure, and how far the same have been effectual ,• and " also, what increase or diminution has taken place since the ** sear 1782, in the number, or in the amount, of the salaries 314 MARCH 13, 1797. " and emoluments of different public offices , #« Sir William Pulteney moved, " That the " house do now consider further the said Report " Mr. WINDHAM spoke to the following effect : Sir, I rise for the purpose of opposing the motion which has been made by the Honourable Baronet ; and had I been present when this bill was in its former stages, I should have even then decidedly opposed it ; for not- withstanding the gravity with which it was introduced, and the importance which seemed to be attached to it, I should certainly have thought it my duty to ask the house if they knew upon what it was that they were going to legislate. Let me now ask then what there is in Bull-Baiting which they have suddenly found to be so alarming. It is no new practice ; it has existed more than a thousand years, without having been sup- posed to be pregnant with any of those crying evils that are now ascribed to it. Is it pretended that it 2 33 2 april 1 8, 1800. " has increased, is increasing, and ought to be dimi- nished ?" I, for one, cannot think that it has increased, nor can I see any necessity whatever for the interfer- ence of the legislature in order to diminish it. In my whole life, indeed, I have never been present but at two Bull-Baitings, and they happened while I was a school-boy ; but I cannot say that I experienced any bad effects from the gratification of my curiosity. I did not find myself the worse for it, nor could I sus- pect that the other spectators were contaminated by the spectacle. , Sir, there are some persons to whom a legislative measure like this may appear serious and important ; but for my own part, I cannot but look upon it as pro- ceeding from a busy and anxious disposition to legislate on matters in which the laws are already sufficient to prevent abuse: — it at best only argues a pruritus leges ferendi, in the gratifying or opposing of which I can- not but think my time, and more especially that of the house, is most miserably employed. This house ought only to legislate when an act of legislature is gravely and generally called for ; and not merely to gratify petty, personal and local motives, such as are infinitely beneath the deliberate dignity of Parliament ; especially in times like the present, when questions of vital im- portance are hourly pressing on our attention. Really, Sir, in turning from the great interests of this country and of Europe, to discuss with equal solemnity such measures as that which is now before us, the house appears to me to resemble Mr. Smirk, the auctioneer in the play, who could hold forth just as eloquently 10 BULL-BAITING. 333 upon a ribbon as upon a Raphael. This petty, med- dling, legislative spirit, cannot be productive of good : it serves only to multiply the laws, which are already too numerous, and to furnish mankind with additional means of vexing and harassing one another. A great deal has lately been said respecting the state of the poor, and the hardships which they are suffer- ing. But if they are really in the condition which is described, why should we set about to deprive them of the few enjoyments which are left to them ? If we look back to the state of the common people in those countries with which our youthful studies make us ac- quainted, we find, that what with games, shews, festi- vals, and the institutions of their religion, their sources of amusement and relaxation were so numerous as to make them appear to have enjoyed a perpetual holiday. If we look to Catholic countries, it will also appear, partly, perhaps, from many festivals and ceremonies being adopted into their religion from the Pagan system, and afterwards so transformed as to incorporate with it, that they all enjoy many more amusements and a much longer time for relaxation than the poor in this country, who may say with justice, " Why interfere with the few sports that we have, while you leave to yourselves and the rich so great a variety ? You have your carriages, your town-houses, and your country- houses; your balls, your plays, your operas, your masquerades, your card-parties, your books, your dogs, and your horses to amuse you — On yourselves you lay no restraint — But from us you wish to take the little we have V* ^> 334 APRIL l8, l800. In the South of France and in Spain, at the end of the day's labour, and in the cool of the evening's shade, the poor dance in mirthful festivity on the green, to the sound of the guitar. But in this country no such source of amusement presents itself. If they dance, it must be often in a marsh, or in the rain, for the pleasure of catching cold. But there is a substi- tute in this country, well known by the name of a Hop, We all know the alarm which the very word inspires, and the sound of the fiddle calls forth the magistrate to dissolve the meeting. Men bred in ignorance of the world, and having no opportunity of mixing in its scenes or observing its manners, may be much worse employed than in learning something of its customs from theatrical representations ; but if a company of strolling players make their appearance in a village, they are hunted immediately from it as a nuisance, except, perhaps, there be a few people of greater wealth in the neighbourhood, whose wives and daughters patronize them. Then the labouring people must have recourse to the public-house, where, per- haps, thev get into conversation, and politics become the subject. That this is an employment sufficiently mischievous I am willing enough to admit. What are they to do then ? Go home and read their bibles ! This is, no doubt, very proper ; but it would be well if the rich set them a little better example in this way. Whatever may be the habits of the more luxurious climates of the continent, the amusements of our peo- ple were always composed of athletic, manly, and hardy exercises, affording trials of their courage, con- BULL-BAITING. 335 ducive to their health, and to them objects of ambition and of glory. In the exercise of those sports they may, indeed, sometimes hurt themselves, but could never hurt the nation. If a set of poor men, for vigorous recrea- tion, prefer a game of cudgels, instead of interrupting them, it should be more our business to let them have^7/r play; for victory is here to them an object of as much glory as greater men could aim at in a supe- rior sphere. These sports are, in my mind, as fair an object of emulation and of fame, as those in which the higher classes are so proud to indulge ; and here I am ready to agree with the poet, that, in other circum- stances, " He that the world subdued, had been 11 But the best wrestler on the green." Some little time since it was thought matter of re- proach for gentlemen to be present at any of these athletic trials ; and even boxing was cried down as an exercise of ferocity. It is time to resist these unneces- sary restraints ; for, if this bill should pass into a law, it would no doubt be followed by other regulations equally frivolous and vexatious. It is idle to declaim against savage manners or dispositions in this country. The character of the people is directly the reverse ; their sports are robust and hardy, but their tempers are not ferocious ; nay, it is a fact, that there is not a people in the whole world that feel a greater horror at bloodshed. Compare them with the people of France or Italy, where all is suavity, sprightliness, and gaiety, and let us rejoice in the difference between the huma- 336 APRIL l8, 180O. nity of their characters. I will not say, whether cer- tain principles, if suffered to operate, might not have produced sanguinary scenes here as well as in other places ; but I can safely assert, that cruelty, or the thirst of blood, is not in the nature nor in the habits of Englishmen. On this subject, I may be permitted to make an allusion to an affray which lately took place in the Isle of Wight, in which some foreigners were engaged. Unfortunately, murder was the consequence of that scuffle, which, amongst Englishmen, would have terminated in a black eye or a bloody nose So congenial is this principle of humanity to the hearts of our people, and so uniformly displayed in their actions, that it might imply the suspicion of effeminacy, if they had not so often given, on all occasions, such glorious testimonies of courage and prowess in another way. In war they are prodigal of their own blood ; but after the shock of battle, or the fury of an assault, their first sentiment is always shewn in mercy to the van- quished ; and it is not unfair to attribute to their manly amusements much of that valour which is so conspi- cuous in their martial achievements by sea and land.. Courage and humanity seem to grow out of their wholesome exercises. Sir, having premised thus much, I next come to consider this case of bull-baiting in particular. The sport here, it must be confessed, is at the expence of an animal which is not by any means a party to the amusement ; but it at the same time serves to cultivate the qualities of a certain species of dogs, which affords as much pleasure to their owners as greyhounds do to BULL-BAITIKG. 337 others ; and why should the butcher be deprived of his amusement any more than the gentleman ? That peculiar breed of dogs, though now decreasing, and nearly extinct, has always been held in high estimation in this island. Gratian, who wrote as early as the age of Augustus, mentioned and described this animal, which, indeed, has always been so much a favourite, that many of our ships are called after its name. It is no small recommendation to bull-dogs, that they are so much in repute with the populace. The advocates of this bill, Sir, proposed to abolish bull-baiting on the score of cruelty. It is strange enough that such an argument should be employed by a set of persons who have a most vexatious code of laws for the protection of their own amusements. I do not mean at present to condemn the game laws ; but when Gentlemen talk of cruelty, I must remind them, that it belongs as much to shooting, as to the sport of bull-baiting ; nay more so, as it frequently happens, that where one bird is shot, a great many others go off much wounded. When, therefore, I hear humane Gentlemen even make 'a boast of having wounded a number of birds in this way, it only affords me a further proof that savage sports do not make savage people. Has not the butcher as much right to demand the exercise of his sport, as the man of for- tune to demand that of hunting ? Is not the latter as painful to the horse, as the former to the bull ? And do not Gentlemen, for the empty fame of being in at the death, frequently goad and spur their horses to exertions greatly beyond their strength ? ( Might not VOL. I. 7- 33^ APRIL l8, 180O. the butcher say, " I have no coaches, horses, balls, masquerades, nor even books, which afford so much delight to those in higher stations, and who have more leisure time ; do not therefore deprive me of the amusement I feel in setting the propensities of one animal against those of another." The common people may ask with justice, why abolish bull-baiting and pro- tect hunting and shooting ? What appearance must we make, if we, who have every source of amuse-r ment open to us, and yet follow these cruel sports, become rigid censors of the sports of the poor, and abolish them on account of their cruelty, when they are not more cruel than our own ? It may be said, that in bull-baiting the labouring poor throw away their money, and lose their time, which they ought to devote to labour, and that thus they themselves may become chargeable to the rich. But surely, if there be any set of men who ought to be left at liberty to dispose of their money as they choose, it ought to be the industrious labourers ; and such men do not lose time by their amusements, but work harder and longer at other times, to make up for what time they may lose in relaxation, and to furnish them with additional money for the enjoy- ment of such recreations. I do not mean to speak against magistrates ; on the contrary I am convinced of the value and importance of the services they render to the community, and of the general activity and propriety with which they discharge their duty : but I do think that many of them appear to act upon an opinion, that it is their duty at all times to controul . the common people in their amusements, like some to BULL-BAITING. 339 whom the care of children is committed, who think it right to deny them every thing which they seem eager to have or enjoy. They appear to act on the opinion, that the common people have nothing to do with any amusement ; but ought only to eat, to lleep, and to work. Upon the whole, Sir, there does not appear to me to be any real evil in the practice of bull-baiting ; that it would be trifling to legislate upon such petty con- cerns, and that it is in the present case absurd, as the practice is already so much fallen into disuse, that it seems as if the bill has been brought in now lest it should be quite abolished before it could be passed. As to the cruelty of the practice, it is mere solemn mockery in Gentlemen to talk of it, while they them- selves indulge in sports equally cruel. In a bull-baiting a hedge may be broken down, or a field of grass trodden down ; but what is this compared to the in- jury done by a pack of hounds, followed by horses and their riders, sweeping over fields and hedges with- out distinction ? Accidents to the lookers-on do some- times happen at bull-baiting ; but I am sure that I have known more fatal accidents than ever happened from bull-baiting, arise 'in the county of Norfolk alone, (keeping out of the question those which have happened merely from the danger always attending the use of fire arms) by quarrels between the game-invaders and the game-preservers, some being killed on the spot, and others hanged afterwards for the murders. What then is the plea by which the bill is supported ? It cannot be from sensibility and hatred of cruelty in those very z 2 34o april 1 8, 1800. Gentlemen who in the game-season, as it has been justly said, become their own butchers and poulterers. Sir, I shall conclude by moving, " That the con- sideration of the report of the Committee on the Bill be delayed till this day six months." Mr. Canning also opposed the Bill ; Sir William Pulteney, Mr. Sheridan, and Sir Richard Hill y supported it. The house divided on Mr. Windham'' s Amendment, Ayes - - - 43 Noes 41 Majority against the Bill 2 It is thought proper to depart from the strict order of chronology, for the purpose of annexing to the preceding Speech, another which Mr. Windham de- livered on a renewed discussion of the same subject two years afterwards. May 24, 1802. IVjLR. DENT moved the order of the day, for the second read- ing of the Bill to prevent Bull- Baiting and Bull-Running. Sir Richard Hill having supported the measure, Mr. WINDHAM said, that the evil complained of by the supporters of this bill, was not such as impe- riously called for or justified the interference of the BULL- BAITING. 34 1 legislature. He deprecated the introduction of such a subject at a moment of such extreme anxiety, when the country was divided between hopes and fears, and there were so many things of importance to agitate men's bosoms. It was not an evil that had " grown with our growth, and strengthened with our strength ;* but, on the contrary, it had declined as they increased* In fact, it would be gone before the house would have time to legislate upon it. Curremus precipites Dum jacet in ripa calcemus Caesaris hostem. An allusion had been made to a petition from Norwich on the subject ; and an insinuation had been thrown out, that it was a practice generally prevalent in that neighbourhood. The fact, however, was, that on enquiry he himself had found that within the last twenty years only two instances were remembered of a bull-baiting in Norwich or its vicinity. Decreasing as the practice was all over the country, he could not but think that the discussion of such paltry local com- plaints was wholly unworthy of the legislature of a great nation. It was part of a system of introducing subjects of a similar kind into parliament, which he could not omit the opportunity of reprobating in the strongest terms. The subject was in all points of view degrading ; but it appeared more especially unworthy of being entertained by the imperial parliament, at a time when so many other subjects of great national importance were calling for the attention of the nouse. Such a sort of public interference with matters un- z 3 342 MAY 24, l802» worthy of the consideration of the legislature could be productive of no consequences but such as were mis- chievous. No law could be desirable which would be attended with no national advantage, and this advan- tage ought to be well weighed before a legislative enactment was required. A law in all cases necessarily involved a certain degree of restraint ; and it was also to be taken into the account that it could not be carried into effect without vesting in those who were to enforce its provisions a considerable degree of discretion. If such a law as that now called for were to be passed, it could not act by a silent operation. On the con. trary, it would be enforced by those who principally exerted themselves for the observance of the game- laws, and who, in enforcing its provisions, could not possibly escape a large share of public odium. Such was the subject now before the house, which contained nothing of public or general interest. To procure the discussion of such subjects, it was necessary to resort to canvass and intrigue. Members, whose attendance was induced by local considerations in most cases of this description, were present ; the discussion, if any took place, was managed by the friends of the mea- . sure ; and the decision of the house was perhaps ultimately a matter of mere chance. The present bill was precisely one of a similar description, and but from the circumstances of the subject having excited some attention in a former session, it might have been con- sidered by chance, and agreed to without discussion. On this general principle, then, he was inclined to oppose the discussion of the subject, as totally unworthy BULL-BAITING. 343 of the dignity of the house. But he had in the next place to object to the manner in which the subject of bull-baiting had been considered, not from a general view of the subject, but from a few insulated examples. The friends of the bill took a view of the practice complained of, merely as exhibited on a minute scale and from them consequences were drawn. They put the bull and the dog as exhibited in a few instances, into the eye of their microscope, and through this confined medium desired the house to contemplate the general practice. The cruelties of the practice were the only circumstances held up to observation, and every thing else was kept out of view. But if this mode of viewing the subject were to be adopted, he saw no reason why all other sports should not be con- templated in a similar manner. If the cruelty of Bull- baiting was thus to be held up to the attention of the house in such glaring colours, why was not hunting, shooting, fishing, and all other amusements of a simi- lar description, to be judged of by similar principles ? If the effects of the one were to be viewed through the medium of a microscope, why were not the con- sequences of the other to be scrutinized with equal severity ? By viewing objects in this way, not only would false conclusions be drawn, but the objects themselves would appear inverted, and in a way never intended by nature. Things would not only not ap- pear the same, but their whole, aspect would be re- versed. — ■ Nothing could be more pleasing to the eye than the sight of female beauty ; , but even if the fairest complexion were contemplated through a mi- ss 4 ~l 44 MAY 24, l802. croscope, deformities would appear, and hairs unob- servable to the naked eye would prevent themselves as the bristles on the back of a boar. Such attacks as the present on the amusements of the people struck him in no other light than as the first step to a reform of the manners of the lower orders. Those who, when young men, had formed projects for the reforma- tion of Parliament, finding themselves disappointed in those projects, now formed the design of reforming the manners of the people. In their desires to accom- plish this object, there were two great parties united, the Methodists and the Jacobins, though the objects they had in view by this change were essentially dif- ferent. By the former, every rural amusement was condemned with a rigour only to be equalled by the severity of the Puritanical decisions. They were de- scribed as a part of the lewd sports and anti-christian pastimes which, 'in times of Puritanism, had been to- tally proscribed. Every thing joyous was to be pro- hibited, to prepare the people for the reception of their fanatical doctrines. By the Jacobins, on the other hand, it was an object of important consideration to give to the disposition of the lower orders a character of greater seriousness and gravity, as the means of facilitating the reception of their tenets ; and to aid this design, it was necessary to discourage the practice of what was termed idle sports and useless amusements. This was a design which he should ever think it his duty strenuously to oppose. For, though he wished that the people might become more virtuous, more attentive to the duties of religion, better fathers, bet- BULL-BAITING. 345 ier husbands, better children, he could never agree that for this purpose their social habits should be changed ; that they should prove more austere, more unsociable, and more self-conceited than they now were. Whenever he saw any steps taken to produce this effect, he could not consider them in any other light than as so many steps of a departure from the old English character. The habits long established among the people were the best fitted to resist the schemes of innovation ; and it was among the labour- ing and illiterate part of the people that Jacobinical doctrines had made the smallest progress. In this respect, indeed, it was otherwise with Methodist doc- trines. They throve best on a stubborn soil ; but they had the effect of preparing it for the reception of the doctrines of Jacobinism. In this work the two parties mutually over-reached each other. The party of the Methodists invited the people to read, and in the first instance they might peruse a few Jacobinical productions, that they might read with greater advan- tage their fanatical productions at a future period. In the same way the Jacobins wished to divert the people from every social pursuit ; reading they strenuously recommended ; and, though a few Methodistical books were, in the first instance, not wholly proscribed, they were allowed only to fit the mind for the reception of their poisonous tenets. The effect of their exertions was the same, though thus differently pursued. It was equally directed to the destruction of the old English character, by the abolition of all rural sports. So much convinced was he that this was the object of such 346 MAY 24, 1802. a bill as the present, that he almost felt disposed to rest his opposition to it on this footing. Out of the whole number of the disaffected, he questioned if a single bull-baiter could be found, or if a single sportsman had distinguished himself in the Corresponding Society. The hunting for which they reserved themselves was of a noble kind ; they disdained the low pursuits of ordinary sportsmen ; the game "against which their efforts were directed were of no less a quality than Kings. When he spoke of this union of the Methodists and Jacobins, he did not mean to deny that, in their poli- tical principles, as well as their ultimate objects, they essentially differed. Religion was an ingredient in the character of the Methodists, which was directly hostile to the views of Jacobinism ; for in the composition of modern Jacobinism religion formed no part. But they were not, on serious consideration, so very far removed from each other as might at first sight appear. As a general assertion, it would be admitted that hot water was farther removed from congelation than what was cold ; but when the hot water was exposed to the air, it was more speedily frozen. In a similar manner, though in the abstract Methodism and Jacobinism seemed to be the farthest removed from each other, yet facts shewed that the tenets of the one prepared the mind for the adoption of the doctrines of the other. In confirmation of this mutual design of these parties, the Right Honourable Member took occasion to quote a passage from the Memoirs of a rural Poet of con- siderable celebrity, (Bloomfield, author of the Farmer's BULL-BAITING. 347 Boy, &c. by a Gentleman of respectable literary ta- lents, Mr. Capel Lofft,) in which it is mentioned, that the Poet was in the habit of spending his time in reading in his garret, or attending a debating society, which the editor recommends as a much more worthy mode of employing himself, than if he had been occupied with gambling, drinking," or fighting. Mr. Windham paid some very handsome compliments to the origi- nality of many of the thoughts of this poet, to his natural simplicity and unaffected elegance of language. He wished what he now said to be considered as an unexaggerated declaration of his opinion of the skill pf the author ; and he hoped it would be considered as nothing improper when he added, that he wished this opinion, thus publicly delivered, to be viewed as an advertisement of the merit of the poem. But with this high opinion of the merits of the poet, he had doubts how far it was proper to encourage ideas of literary profit or renown in those who had been bred to a useful trade. In particular instances it might not be prejudicial ; but to inculcate such notions as those contained in the passage of the Memoirs to which he had referred, could tend only to a mischievous pur- pose. He regretted the minuteness with which he was obliged to enter into the consideration of the subject, but threw the blame on those by whom such a subject was introduced — an examination of the bill was not less necessary than if it had referred to a subject of the highest national importance. To examine the cha- racter of a daub of Teniers was often a work of more 348 MAY 24, l802. difficulty than to describe the beauties of the Madona of Raphael. He next proceeded to read an extract from a ser- mon, which he declared he should in all probability never have read, but from the circumstance of its having been sent to him by the author, in which the cruelty of bull-baiting is described in very strong terms ; and the man who would encourage the prac- tice is represented as a person who would not hesitate to sheath a blade in the bowels of his fellow-creatures. That the practice of sports, even when they were of a cruel kind, tended to render mankind cruel, he de- nied, and he founded his assertion on the history of all ages and countries. The most elegant scholars, and the finest poets in ancient and modern times, from Xenophon to Virgil and Milton, were loud in the praises of many of those sports which, with equal justice, might be called cruel, as that which had been so loudly condemned. What was the inference he drew from all this, but that cruelty was not at all the object of those sports, though in certain instances it might be the result ? If he were asked, what was the object of bull-baiting, he should be better able to give an intelligible answer, than if he were asked a similar question with regard to hunting, or other amusements of that description. That a certain degree of gratification might be received from the spectacle of the combats of animals, the history of all ages sufficiently proved. Even the philosophy of the present age took part with a practice which had pre- vailed in this country for centuries. In the time of BULL-BAITING. 349 Queen Elizabeth, that which is now despised and re- probated as the amusement only of the lowest of the people, was an amusement courted by all ranks. Since that period bull-baiting had declined, and hunting had usurped its room. The one had become the favourite amusement of the great, and the other had sunk in dignity till it was in a great measure annihilated ; and yet it was at such a moment as this that the house was called upon to put it down by a legislative enact- ment. Was this, he asked, a time to abridge the amusements of the common people, when we were meditating the extension of the Game Laws to Ire- land? But the riots and confusion which the practice of Bull-baiting occasioned were urged as another reason for the necessity of the interference of the legislature. This was a favourite argument on a former occasion, when the subject was before the house, with an Honourable Friend of his (Mr. Wilberforce), Member for Yorkshire. In this instance the conduct of his Honourable Friend put him in mind of the story of the butcher, who ran about seeking his knife while it was in his teeth ; for he was searching every quarter in quest of objects of reform, while those in his own neighbourhood were totally overlooked! When he condemned the excesses to which bull-baiting gave rise, had he forgotten all the confusion and riot which horse-racing produced ? He himself did not object to the practice of horse-racing, since there were so many individuals to whom it was a source of pleasure. Bui he might be allowed to remind the house of the ob- 12 350 MAY 24, l802. servation of Dr. Johnson, who had expressed his sur- prize at the paucity of human pleasures, when horse- racing constituted one of their number. Perhaps the anxiety displayed by many persons in the pursuit of this pleasure, might be considered as approximating to the efforts of the degenerate Emperors of Rome, to gratify a palate which luxury had rendered insensible to the ordinary materials of food. To horse-racing he was himself personally no more an enemy than he was to boxing — though in making this observation he was far from meaning to disparage boxing so far, as to put them on an equal footing, or to insinuate that so poor, mean, and wretched an amusement as the one, was at all to vie in importance with the other, which was connected with ideas of personal merit, and individual dignity. But he was confident, that in point of effect on the morals of the people, the influence of horse-racing was infinitely more pernicious than any which bull-baiting could produce. What, he desired the house to consider, did a horse-race con- sist of? What was the description of persons whom it encouraged to assemble ? They consisted of all the riff-raff from every part of the country. There were to be seen collected all the black-legs of the metro- polis, the markers at billiard-tables, apprentices who had embezzled the property of their masters, and who are afterwards obliged to resort to knavery to cover their fraud, ginderbread venders, strolling gamblers, in a word, infamous characters of every denomination. Such was the description of individuals whom horse- racing assembled. Now what was the object which BULL-BAITING. 35 1 such an amusement had in view ? He confessed him- self unable to view it in any other light than as a spe- cies of gambling. It did not seem to him to give exercise for one generous feeling. His Honourable Friend had however taken a cumbrous leap over no less than nine racing-grounds in the county which he represented, and had never descended till he had alighted at a bull-bait. He had totally neglected the duty of destroying abuses at home, but had spent all his labour, and exerted all his zeal, in poaching in foreign manors. So much, he remarked, on the argument that bull-baiting was productive of riot and confusion. He next recurred to the inexpediency of abridging the amusements of the lower orders at the present moment. There was a very numerous class of plea- sures from which their circumstances in life excluded them. To the pleasures of intellect, that source of the purest delights of humanity, their situation denied them access. To the accommodations of social life, so far as a change of situation and place was con- cerned, they were strangers. The rich had their feasts, l heir assemblies, their parties of pleasure, their Pic Nics, every thing, in short, which could afford them gratification. From amusements of this kind the lower orders were excluded by their poverty. But there was another class of pleasures from which they were in a great measure excluded by the rigour of the law. The authority of the magistrate was often inter- posed to counteract even their harmless pleasures. To dance at ail out of season, was to draw on their 10 $$2 MAY 24, 1802. heads the rigour of unrelenting justice. The great might gratify themselves in a thousand different ways, and the magistrate did not conceive it within his sphere to interrupt their amusements. But it was known that an organ did not sound nlore harshly in the ears of a Puritan, than did the notes of a fiddle in those of a magistrate, when he himself was not to be of the party. He made an alluvsion to a beautiful passage of a celebrated writer (Sterne), in which he describes the condition of the lower orders at the close of the day, when labour was finished, when families met together to join in social pleasures, when the old en- couraged the sports of the young, and rejoiced in the amusements of their children. But what was all this when translated into plain English ? It conveyed to us merely the idea of a hop. In confirmation of his ideas about the restraints to which the amusements of the lower orders are subjected, he referred to certain transactions which took place in a square at the west end of the town (Berkeley-square) a few years ago. The whole neighbourhood had been alarmed ; the most serious apprehensions were ex- cited 5 the aid of the military was judged necessary ; and after all this idle pomp and authority, it was dis- covered that the formidable disturbers of the public peace were a few domestics dancing to the music of a blind sailor's fiddle. It was to be regretted that many Gentlemen should be anxious to deprive the lower orders of their amusements, from a seeming appre- hension, that if they were suffered to enjoy those re- creations they would not labour sufficiently, and might BULL-BAITING. 35 -■> become, from their improvidence, a burthen to the poor rates, to which the rich must contribute ; this was a most injudicious system of thinking, and he cautioned the rich against acting upon it. The effi- cient part of the community for labour ought to be encouraged in their exertions rather by furnishing them with occasional amusements, than by depriving them of one, as this bill proposed — a bill, the sup- porters of which would take them to the Tabernacle or to Jacobinism — for, if to poverty were to be added a privation of amusements, he knew nothing that could operate more strongly to goad the mind into desperation, and to prepare the poor for that dan- gerous enthusiasm which is analogous to Jacobinism. He objected to the way in which Gentlemen would wish the house to look at the consequences of bull- baiting, by citing particular accidents, and from them concluding that the practice was cruel, and that the bull in baiting was treated with cruelty ; he believed the bull felt a satisfaction in the contest, not less so than the hound did when he heard the sound of the horn which summoned him to the chace. True it was, that young bulls, or those which were never baited before, shewed reluctance to be tied to the stake; but those bulls, which according to the lan- guage of the sport were called game bulls, who were used to baiting, approached the stake and stood there while preparing for the contest with the utmost composure. If the bull felt no pleasure, and was cruelly dealt with, surely the dogs had also some claim to compassion j but the fact was, that both vol. 1. A A 354 may 24, 1802. seemed equally arduous in the conflict ; and the bull, like every other animal, while it had the better side, did not dislike his situation — it would be ridiculous to say he felt no pain — yet, when on such occasions he exhibited no sign of terror, it was a demonstrable proof that he felt some pleasure. With regard to the petition from Stamford against this bill, it was entitled to the most respectful atten- tion, for it came from a body of sober loyal men, who attended to their several vocations, and never meddled with politics, faithful to their landlord (the Marquis of Exeter), with whdm, however, they could not avoid being a little displeased for his endeavours to deprive them of their favourite sport by supporting this bill. Those petitioners state, that this amusement had been enjoyed by their town, for a period of five or six hundred years, and the antiquity of the thing was deserving of respect — for respect for antiquity was the best preservation of the Church and State — it was by connecting the past with the present, and the present with the future, that genuine patriotism was produced and preserved. He repeated that he was shocked and scandalized at the manner in which the advocates of this bill would persuade the house to act ; to prohibit an old amuse- ment because it was the amusement of the poor ; for the objection was not to the cruelty of the amusement ; if it were, the scope of the bill ought to be enlarged. Those Gentlemen seemed to be influenced by a species of philosophy dictated by their wives, one of whom might be supposed to address her husband thus : — BULL-BAITING. 355 " My dear, do you know, that after you went out with your dogs this morning, I walked into the village, and was shocked to see a set of wretches at a bull- baiting, tormenting the poor animal. I wish, dear, you would speak to our Member, and request him to bring a bill into Parliament to prevent that horrid practice." — (A laugh). Independent of the injustice of encroaching upon the few small amusements of the poor, he would beg the house to consider the consequence of rendering them discontented or dispirited, by leaving nothing for them but the wide waste of labour. The reason why our labourers were capable of more work than slaves, was obvious ; because they felt that they worked for themselves ; and, according as their profit, or their prospect of pleasure, which was the same thing, was increased, just so did their labour generally increase also. Such a bill as this, to abridge men's pleasures, and to hold out a kind of direct hint to them that they never could labour enough, was suffi- cient to Jacobinise a whole country, in proof of the assertion that bull-baiting did not operate to brutalize men's minds, he had only to turn the attention of the house to Lancashire and Staffordshire, where that practice principally prevailed. Those counties were known to produce the best soldiers in the army, and the militia of Staffordshire were known to have been selected, from their good behaviour, to do duty about the Royal Person ; a pretty good proof that bull- baiting did not produce such effects on the morals of the people as the Puritans affected to deplore, but a a 2 $$6 MAY 24, l802. rather such as the Jacobins in France and England very sincerely lamented. It was mockery in men to talk of the sufferings of animals from the sports of the lower orders, while they themselves were doing some- thing worse. To the difference between the jolly bull- baiting peasant and his demure gloomy censors, he would apply the words of the poet — " Tom struts a soldier, open, bold and brave ; M Will sneaks a scrivener, an exceeding knave." The Right Honourable Gentleman concluded with stating, that if the bill before the house should be adopted, he should, for the sake of consistency and the character of parliament, conceive it his duty to move for leave to bring in a bill to prohibit hunting, shooting, fishing, and all the sports of the field prac- tised by the higher orders. The Bill was supported by Mr. Courtenay, Mr. Wilberforce, Mr. W. Smithy and Mr. Sheridan, and opposed by Colonel Grosve- nor, General Gascoyne, and Mr. Frankland. The question being put, <( That the Bill be now read a second time/' General Gascoyne rose, and moved as an Amendment, " That it be read a second time this day three months." On which Amendment the house divided : Ayes 64 Noes - - - - 51 Majority against the Bill 13 The Bill was consequently lost. C 357 ] MONASTIC INSTITUTION BILL, June 23, 1800. Ji HE order of the day being read on a Bill for placing under tertain regulations the Monastic Institutions in this kingdom, Mr. WINDHAM spoke to the following effect : Sin, Did any necessity exist for a restraining measure of this kind, I know none more unexceptionable than the present one proposed. But with all the inquiries I have been able to make, and with all the sagacity I have been able to exercise, though I have even strained my eyes to find out a plausible or sufficient cause for the present proceeding, I have been wholly disap- pointed in my object. Instead of the Roman Catholic religion springing up again into importance, its friends have to fear a change of quite a different kind. I my- self have upon some occasions been considered as a pretty good alarmist, though on the present one my feelings, I confess, are rather obtuse. Whether or no my fears for the common safety of Europe may absorb all other considerations of danger, or that I see things in a juster point of light than those who sup- A A 3 358 JUNE 23, 180®. port the Bill, I will not pretend to say. — What, however, can be more absurd, than to suppose that in the present order of things, in this sera of the world, at the latter end of the eighteenth century, (or if you please at the beginning of the nineteenth), in the tenth year of the French revolution, in the general renunciation of every popish tenet through- out Europe, when the fate even of that quarter of the globe is trembling in the balance, and the period is arrived which much either establish or over- turn for ever the power of France, any just apprehen- sion can be entertained of the spread and dominion of popery ? Some Gentlemen there are, of heated imagi- nations, who attribute all the calamities which have lately arisen to the effects and operation of popery. Popery, they say, produced the D'Alemberts, the Diderots, and the Voltaires, who in their turn con- tributed to its downfall ; and even our countrymen Hume and Gibbon were made infidels by the horrors of popery. The opinions of such persons, then, it seems, have produced these calamities ; and in the time of these calamities, the re-production of those opinions which originally gave birth to them is become matter of serious dread and expectation. Those who reason in this way make use of an admirable anliperistasis. Qualities are said sometimes to produce their opposites ; thus heat produces cold. On this principle, indeed, the effects of infidelity, with all its concurrent circumstances, may be to produce religion. But, on taking a survey of Europe, I cannot see any imminent danger of this sort. MONASTIC INSTITUTION BILL. 359 But what is the danger spoken of? Why, there are three or four thousand emigrant priests in the country. I admit, this argument, taken by itself, is a good one ; but Gentlemen ought to look further. In the time of Agricola, the northern inhabitants of this island were held in disregard, and did not much invite the Roman arms. From this they supposed they were braver than their southern neighbours, who were con- quered by the Romans. — To apply this to the present occasion, I would say, we see four or five thousand popish priests in this country. These are the wreck of three hundred thousand who once flourished in France, but were suppressed. A few stragglers only have come to us, who happily survived the destruction of the Gallic church. This general overthrow and abasement have weakened more the Catholic faith than any endeavours of the remaining few who adhere to it can effect towards its restoration. They have no idea of the kind. They esteem themselves weak and fallen. The supporters of the present bill only swell them into importance, and suppose them capable of performing a task their more numerous brethren were unequal to. Those who have fled to us for protection are but miserable remains as to their means and power* though not as to the virtues they have uniformly dis- played. What danger then can be suspected from them ? Where the means are so disproportionate, why should we fear the end ? I must consider, there- fore, this bill as wholly useless. Where no danger exists, no precaution is necessary — where no disease, no remedy. When I think of the readiness with which a a 4 ^60 JUNE 23, 180O. J persons are apt to call for the interference of the house, I consider it as one of the evils of the times. The courts below keep up their price — there we find no frivolous applications ; the experiment is too costly — parliament only is cheap. The legislature is as accessible as the parish pump : it may be worked by the first man who chooses to put his hand to it. This alone is a sufficient reason why the vote of the house should put a stop to the further progress of the bill. If, however, we are to go on with it, let us consider what other objections there may be. The form of an argument has been adduced in its support, " If form indeed it had, which form had none " Distinguishable in member, joint or limb,'* that these miserable remains of the church of France will revive the monkish superstitions. — But how can this be the case ; or, if it was, what mischiefs could ensue ? What is there so abhorrent in a convent ; or, what danger is to be apprehended from one sect more than another ? I do not mean to go into the question of monastic institutions, or to undertake their defence ; but I will say, that nothing can be more weak, in- decent, or offensive, than the arguments generally adduced against them. Why any person who volun- tarily consigns himself to mortifying penalties and solitude should be condemned and restrained in the free exercise of his wishes, I know not : piety, to be sure, may not require the many privations he lays himself under ; but let him either be an ascetic or a maniac, it is no concern of mine. The effect of his 12 MONASTIC INSTITUTION BILL. %6l conduct is confined to himself, and is the concern of no other person. In no one instance has the hostility of protestant divines been more displayed than against the ascetics of the church of Rome. Man, by his nature, perhaps, is more apt to find fault with and condemn those excessive virtues which put him to the blush, than the blackest and most extravagant vices. Every man is the rule of his own conduct. One dis- position may require more mortification than another, and the stronger should possess charity for the weaker brother. Some may be driven " To leave a world where strong temptations lie, " And when they cannot conquer learn to fly.'' I should be glad to know why a society of ancient maids, who may unite together, and agree not to go beyond their garden walls, are less respectable or less virtuous than the same number of ladies dispersed abroad, who collect parties at whist, or at any other amusement. It is a matter worthy of consideration what researches have been carried on in monasteries, what inventions thence take their origin, and what voyages missionaries from that school have performed. This circumstance makes us respect the inhabitants of cloisters and their institutions. The hope of a convent has been the support of many. It is a last retreat, where they shun the cares and misfortunes of life. In this country, however, such an institution is graced with no venera- tion ; its devotees are not marked with any peculiar degree of sanctity. One great cause, therefore, of 3^2 TUNE 23, 1800. forsaking the world by seclusion in these places, is wanting in this country. When the church of Rome was in the plenitude of its power, the proselytes to its tenets were numerous, and its doctrines thus brought into exercise might be attended with some danger in this country. Now, however, when the predominance of another persuasion exists, and in the degraded state of the Catholic church besides, a papist is no more an object of fear or suspicion than any other sectary. Toleration demands that a state should be indifferent to all religious opinions which do not affect its own internal tranquillity or safety. A state, I own, has a right to patronise what establishment it pleases, but not to suppress the freedom of opinion or -dissent. Some opinions, it is true, are dangerous, and these a state should not be indifferent to. Such were the opinions of the United Irishmen. But if a set of nuns choose to make vows of celibacy, it is voluntary on their part, and no restraint should be imposed upon them. If, therefore, without any danger from popery, you attempt to lay its professors under needless re- strictions, you legislate on very delicate grounds. It is right to save one man from the act of another, but not to save him from the act of himself. According to the best information I have received, I do not believe that the interior of a convent is that scene of vice or woe which it has most commonly been repre- sented to be ; and if persons choose to spend their lives within such walls, the legislature have no right to rescue them from their own determinations. MONASTIC INSTITUTION BILL. 36 n By this bill persons are to be prevented from mak- ing vows ; but there is no instance, I believe, of a woman in an English convent who has not passed her noviciate in another country. But, to go back to the subject of converts, I say that the law should not interfere to prevent converts to popery, any more than to any other sects and persuasions. If, indeed, conversion to popery were an evil, law is not its pro- per remedy. The divines of the established church should feed their flocks with spiritual food, and thus enable them to withstand the poison of delusion. Instead of this, they are too fond of raising the cry, " the church is in danger !" If proselytism exists, it is a disgrace only to that clergyman in whose parish it takes place. What, if they do their duty, can members of the church of England fear ? They meet their antagonists on more than equal terms. Should any one indeed attempt to preach up the rights of man, or teach insubordination to lawful authority ; to silence such would then be a work of necessity : but popery has nothing in it of this dangerous tendency, and may be met fairly in the field of argument. But if a line of conduct be adopted similar to that which induces persons to apply to the legislature to protect them- selves by penalties and statutes, where they are entirely careless about themselves, and would rather defend their property by acts of parliament than by a quickset hedge ; what can persons thus acting expect, but that advantage should be taken of their supineness ? Success, and the protection of the laws, belong rightly to a different class, Vigilantibus non dormientibus, 9 364 JUNE 23, 1800. Penal laws can never defend the country against popery. I cannot help making the remark here, that opinion may be too much under the protection of law. A little opposition is no bad thing, it makes persons attentive to their duty, and may be as useful in the church as in the senate. In the physical and moral body, opposition tends to keep up the proper tone of health. Did the earth spontaneously produce every thing for the use of man, the short-sighted philosopher might say it was well ; but nature has wisely ordained it otherwise. Every thing valuable is to be acquired and preserved by labour. In this point of view I should deprecate the bill Gentlemen wish to bring in, as it tends to narrow the field of intellectual exercise and fair discussion. Another objection against the bill is, that it raises prejudices in the minds of the illiberal, against a num- ber of unoffending persons, who have fled to our shores from the tempest which threatened their destruc- tion. — When this shall subside, they will be very ready to seek their own country again, and carry all their offensive customs and sentiments along with them. But why should we send them back lame and crippled ? While they remain here, it is not generous to mark them out as objects of public scorn and suspicion. An Honourable Gentleman opposite (Mr. T. Jones) has called this a nun-baiting bill. I, however, am their defender; and the bull himself turned into a baiter, is running furiously among the nuns. As to danger to the state, every person must scout the idea. If conversion be the evil complained MONASTIC INSTITUTION BILL. $65 of, why is that greater in this case than in that of the sectaries ? I have heard it as an argument for the bill, that if it will do no great good, it will do no hurt : but this I deny, so long as unjust prejudice is liable to spring from it. I therefore vote against the Speaker's leaving the chair. Sir Henry Mildmay (with whom the Bill had originated), Mr, T. Jones , Mr. Dudley Ryder, Mr.Erskine, and Mr. Perceval, supported the Bill ; Mr.Hobhouse, Sir William Scott, Mr. Sheri- dan, and Dr. Lawrence opposed it. On a division, the numbers were, For the Speaker's leaving the Chair - 52 Against it - 24 Majority - 28 The Bill, with some modifications, passed the House of Com* motif) but was rejected by the House of Lords. C 366 ] CONTINUANCE OF THE WAR. July 9, 1800. IfjLR. WESTERN, after noticing the rejection of the Over- tures of Peace ivhich ivere made by the enemy in the preceding January, moved, et That this house do now resolve itself into a " Committee of the whole house, to take into consideration the state (t of the nation." Mr. Wilberforce opposed, and Mr. W. Smith supported the motion. Mr. WINDHAM observed, that however improper he might consider this motion at the present time, or in the present circumstances, a time might come, and circumstances might exist, when such a discussion would become necessary ; and were he then to enter into that discussion, he would turn his attention to one side of the question which Gentlemen seemed entirely to have forgotten. There were dangers in peace as well as in war ; and though the country could never be in both at the same time, but must be either in a state of war or a state of peace, in discussing the ques- tion of peace or war, it was necessary to consider and estimate the dangers of both. This country was now in a state of war ; consequently, at present we only CONTINUANCE OF THE WAR. 367 felt the calamities of war, and the dangers of peace were overlooked and forgotten. But there must be dangers in peace, or else war would never be neces- sary, and no nation could ever be justified in running into it. - Therefore, in discussing the question of peace or war, whether it was, that the nation being at peace, it was proposed to enter into war, or that, the nation being engaged in war, it was proposed to make peace, it was necessary that the dangers of peace in the one case should be enforced, for this could be the sole justification of going to war — and in the other, duly considered, that the country might not be involved in greater danger than that in which it was placed in the state of war. For his own part, however sanguine his hopes, and however earnest his wishes had been at times during this war for peace, and he confessed that he wished as earnestly for peace as any man, yet he had never considered it as remark- ably desirable, without the restoration of such a government in France as he had often expressed his wish to see established in that country ; because, with- out this, he feared that any peace would be insecure and dangerous. The only ground that had been stated against this, was general declamation on the superior advantages of peace ; that it was the least of two evils and on the principle of Pax potior bello. Were he then to discuss the question, his attention would be directed as well to the dangers of peace as the evils of war, that the statement might be fair, and full grounds given upon which to decide. But he would not at present go into this point. The question of peace or 368 JULY 9, 1800* war was properly the business and the function of the Executive Government ; at the same time, the right of the house to examine into the conduct of the Exe* cutive Government, to superintend its measures, and to give its advice, no person would or could dispute. But there was a fair question for discussion in the house, before it consented so to interfere ; whether or not its interference was expedient, proper and justifiable ? If the existence of an important crisis alone were a sufficient reason for this interference, and for adopting measures of the kind now proposed, the house might be in a perpetual committee'; not a battle fought, nor a treaty concluded, nor the desertion of an ally, but might be made the ground of a motion for the house resolving into a committee on the state of the nation. It might be continually giving its advice to the Executive, and, in short, the Govern- ment would be in a constant commission. To justify such a motion, such a crisis must not only exist, but some probable ground must be given for inferring that the Government would not act wisely ; and this could only be done by proving that there had been a delinquency in its previous conduct. But even this would not be sufficient to authorize such an inter- ference as that now proposed, because, as the removal of ministers would follow its adoption, it must be proved, that the delinquency was so great as to require their removal, and that the crisis is so urgent as to require the interference of the house to effect this removal more speedily than the change could be effected in the usual way. CONTINUANCE 'OF THE WAR. 369 ■ The Honourable Gentleman had stated some grounds, on which he argued that confidence ought to be with drawn from ministers. First, That they had judged ill of persons, both allies and enemies. Secondly, That they had predicted falsely of events. Thirdly, That they had failed in taking advantage of important conjunctures, and of making the most of the means in their power. These points he would review, and lightly touch upon. Upon their judging ill of persons, he instanced first the King of Prussia ; but he must premise, that except frequent instances were given, nothing ought to be deduced from a single disappoint- ment. It was said that we subsidized him, and that he deserted us. True, we did subsidize him ; but did we not receive at the time full compensation for that subsidy ? We had subsidized Austria too. But had it not happened, that with the allies which we had had, and the subsidies we had given to them, though some of them, as in the nature of all human things might be expected, had proved more faithful than others ; though some of them had from time to time deserted us, and others wavered, we had been enabled to weather every storm that had threatened our existence ? Gentlemen talked loudly and insisted largely on their subsidies. They were continually talk- ing of their money given. He thought that they might find some other more worthy subjects to dwell upon, in the exertions and in the spirit of the country, than its money. But had they not had their money's worth of assistance ? Had not what money' we had advanced to Austria been fully repaid by Austria ? VOL. I. B B 370 july 9, 1800. Gentlemen argued that many plans had failed, that success had not been proportionate to what was pre- dicted : but success was never absolutely promised, and it never could be ; for failure was incidental to all human projects and designs : if the success of our allies had not been so great as it might possibly have been, no argument of any weight could be deduced from this ; and it ought to be recollected that the assistance of these very allies, Austria and Prussia, had saved us from great evils and dangers. The Emperor of Russia was adduced as another instance of the incapacity of ministers to judge of characters, and a circumstance was stated relative to Malta, as if his being thwarted in obtaining possession of that island was the cause of his defection. He would not say, that the Honourable Gentleman had not as good infor- mation as any person could have, except those who, from their official capacities, must have the means of acquiring the best intelligence : but he certainly was most completely mistaken in this point ; and this cir- cumstance shewed how little even the best informed people might be acquainted with the private trans- actions and connections of the Executive Government, and also how cautious the house ought to be, of listening to or depending upon such statements ; for if they did, it proved that very frequently they must fall into complete error. The next instance given was that of Bavaria. Had the Honourable Gentleman read the last dispatches from Germany ? if he had, . had he not perceived that the Bavarian troops might have been the means of gaining a battle. And the importance CONTINUANCE OF THE WAR. 37 1 1 of such a service as this, the importance of gaining a battle, was evinced by every part of the argument of the other side, which all rested, and was professed to rest, upon the adverse event of a battle in Italy. With respect to Russia, however, he must still ob- serve, that surely we had received the full compen- sation of any subsidy we might have given to her. Only look at the last campaign ; it presented to our view Italy delivered and rescued from the power and possession of the enemy, principally by the arms and exertions of Russia. (A cry of " hear ! hear !" from the opposition bench). " Gentlemen call out, hear ! yes, hear : What is it that makes us so much lament the loss of the co-operation of Russia, but the recollection of the mighty and important services which she per- formed when she did co-operate with us ? The Honourable Gentleman says, that ministers have not judged better of their enemies than their allies ; and here he comes to the theme of so many praises, the object of so much admiration, the subject of such warm and animated panegyrics, the First Consul ! and with regard to him, he asks, if every person must not be convinced that ministers sincerely repent and wish to retract, and would gladly efface from their own memories, and those of every other person, the abuse and invectives which they formerly lavished upon him ? But I know of no invective of which 1 should repent. I say no other language was ever used but the serious and dignified language which honest and honourable men would use in speaking of his con duct ? And how have subsequent events contradicted B B 2 372 july 9, 1800. this language ? It is said, that he was loaded with hard names. I always have understood, by hard names, some vague and indefinite terms common to all languages, which express only something inde- finite and vague in the mind of the person who applies them ; but have never heard any such names given to this First Consul. It is also said, that we have loaded him with abuse. If by this is meant the low language sometimes used by the vulgar, I have heard no such language used in speaking of the First Consul. But if, when it is said that invectives have been pro- nounced against him, if Gentlemen mean those epithets applied to his conduct, and those terms which are necessary to express the fact, then I allow that such language has been used, and I neither repent nor will retract it. If I did, I should fall into the same error with the man who, having lost a pair of silk stockings, and wishing to advertise them, thought that he would be likely to recover them at less expence by advertising them as worsted. I despise, and cannot describe such things in the silken language, when the plain worsted only can truly represent them. I repro- bate such fastidious, womanish, affected delicacy, as if a man " could not mention hell to ears polite." — Am I speaking of a man who has desolated Europe ? — who has ' excited the indignation of every virtuous mind by his crimes — who has pillaged and plundered Italy, and must I affect not to speak of his crimes, his outrageous violence, of his oppression, his pil- lage, and his robbery ? Would Gentlemen have me to be afraid of distinguishing the conduct of Buona- CONTINUANCE OF THE WAR. ^Jl parte by the terms in which alone it can be described ; like Scrub in the Comedy, who, thinking there are thieves in the house, begins by calling them thieves ; but afterwards, under the impression of terror, cor- rects himself, by calling them the honest gentle- men who are robbing the house. I mast allow that this man has great talent, of some kind or other ; he has proved this, to our misfortune. I say of some sort or another, because his military talents cannot be denied. But, at the same time it must be remembered, that military successes must be judged with some reserve, as they frequently are as much attributable to fortune as to talents. Besides, I must declare it to be my opinion, that the campaign of Suwarrow in Italy may well be compared to any of the campaigns, even this so celebrated one, of the First Consul. I must however allow that there is enough formidable in this man to give alarm to Europe. The moderation and magnanimity of his measures since he cam^ into power has been much insisted upon. The rr ives of his conduct were in his own mind, and I f innot deny that he knows the way to his own f.nds. This it is that renders him so formidable. But Gentlemen who are so indignant at the invectives pronounced on their favourite, the First Consul, and the enemy of this country, it will be recollected are not themselves so very mealy mouthed when they choose to censure the closest allies of this country. When they speak of Prussia, of Austria, and of Russia, they themselves do not spare abuse, nor do they shew much tender- bb 3 374 j uly 9, 1800. ness when they speak of Gentlemen who stand in the situation in which I stand." Among other arguments, Gentlemen, he said, had con- tended, that it was impossible that the present ministers could make a peace with the French Republic ; undoubt- edly, in other words, that they could not enter into a sys- tem of fraternization with the present rulers of that coun- try ; and it was inferred from thence, that the peace must be disadvantageous, because administration would not look to it as an object which was desirable for the country, but as the lesser of two evils. The ex- tent to which Gentlemen pushed their arguments upon this subject appeared to him rather extraordinary ; did they think, that in negociating for a peace all ideas. of precaution were to be laid aside, and that Govern- ment were to confine their views merely to a termina- tion of the war, without any consideration of the permanency of the peace, or the security which it pro- cured ? Did they consider a treaty of peace with France as a treaty of marriage, in which one party could not doubt the sincere affection or the honourable intention of the other — in which the parties were to be indissolubly united with an identity of interest, and an unity of object — in which England was not only to give its hand but its heart ? But if, for the reasons which had been urged, the present ministers were not capable of making a peace, surely it became a matter of serious consideration, whether it would be more advantageous for the country that those persons should negociate, who would at once, without precaution or security, jump into the arms of France, who would CONTINUANCE OF THE WAR. 375 consider it as criminal to haggle about terms with the dear French Republic ? In the course of their arguments, Gentlemen had had recourse to one con- sideration which they very seldom omitted, viz. the sense of the people ; and they had referred to the funds as a criterion of public opinion. The Honour- able Gentleman who used that argument had made an admission, for which he thanked him ; for he con- fessed that the funds would rise upon the prospect of a peace, even though that peace might be founded on terms disadvantageous to the country. If that was true, then they could not be considered as affording good grounds by which to judge of the real interests of the country. If, indeed, the Honourable Gentle- man's arguments on this part of the subject were well founded, then there would be reason to despond — - then there would be some reason for the calumny which the enemy had insolently thrown out against this country, viz. that we were a nation of shop- keepers, and that we would at any time sell our most valuable interests for a profit of 2 per cent. It was not by acting upon such narrow principles as these that the French had risen to their present power, and had become an object of so much terror to the Gen- tlemen on the other side of the house. Those Gentle- men weighed the conduct of the two countries by very unequal measures. They contended for the greatness of Buonaparte and of the French nation ; but if they were great, it was not by the adoption of such con- duct as that which was now recommended, that they became so. If they were in that situation which had b b 4 37^ JULY 9, 1800. been represented, it was because they were not driven into despondency by every reverse of fortune, nor gave up great designs because, in some instances, their efforts were unsuccessful. Gentlemen had talked of the commerce of the country ; but did they suppose that the commerce was created by the present military and naval exertions of the country, or that it could exist without them ? Most undoubtedlv, if our com- merce was not protected by our power, it would become an easy prey to our rivals. The Honourable Gentleman in the course of his speech had, rather unfortunately for his argument, asked how did King William preserve the confederacy of which he was the head ? He would tell the Honour- able Gentleman how he preserved that confederacy together : it was by adhering strictly to his engage- ments ; it was, by not suffering himself to be driven from his purposes by the mere rumour of a defeat. But now Gentlemen were at once for going into a committee, without knowing the circumstances of that defeat about which they were so much alarmed, and without knowing any thing about the disposition or the resources of that ally which we were going to abandon. Gentlemen had always spoken of our allies as if they had been of no assistance to this country ; but there was no man who considered the subject fairly, who would not admit that the advantages we had received from our allies were great, even though in every instance they might not fully answer our ex- pectations. There was, however, upon this as well as upon many other parts of this subject, something CONTINUANCE OF THE WAR. 377 very singular in the mode of reasoning adopted by the Gentlemen on the other side of the house ; for, in the first place, they had endeavoured to demonstrate the absurdity of attempting to keep any great confede- racy together, and immediately after they considered the defection of some of our allies as a matter of charge against His Majesty's ministers. Another accu- sation which had been made was, that ministers had been mistaken in their predictions ; now, in the first place, he did not recollect that any predictions had been made. His Majesty's ministers had stated, that which was obvious to all the world, viz. that they were going to enter into a most arduous and doubtful conflict ; but that they were about to enter into it with every advantage, from the number and discipline of the troops of our allies, and the skill of the generals by whom they were commanded. Now, in such a contest one party must fail ; just as when two men rode upon a horse, one must ride behind ; but no predictions were made, though great expectations might have been formed, from the advantages we pos- sessed. Gentlemen, however, judging by the event, now contended that the Austrians must have been defeated ; but he did not recollect, that before the event they hazarded any prediction of that kind : they had, indeed, declared generally against the war, and now laid hold of these reverses, which they had not foreseen, to prove the wisdom of their observations. His Majesty's ministers knew as well as the Gentlemen on the other side of the -house, that such a contest could not be conducted without danger ; but the ques- 2 378 JULY 9, 1800. tion was, whether they had not taken every means which human prudence could suggest to prevent it ? Allusions had been made upon this occasion, as well as upon many others, to the negociations at Paris and at Lisle. His opinion respecting them was but of little consequence, it could have but little weight in the councils of the country ; but surely those very negociations were a proof that ministers were willing to enter into a negociation whenever they saw there was the least probability of effecting an honourable peace for this country ; and they shewed that ministers did not think that any such opportunity now presented itself, or they would not have neglected it. He would, however, state, with respect to those negociations, that if ever, during the progress of the present war, this country was really in danger, it was at the period when they were carrying on ; it was, that the enemy would have acceded to the terms which we then pro- posed. He was firmly of opinion, that if we had made peace at that time, with the general despondency which then prevailed, but which subsequent events had fortunately dissipated, they would not now be sitting to discuss the state of the nation. Gentlemen recom- mended ministers to enter into a negociation for peace, with a confession that they were unable to carry on the war ; but surely every rational man must admit, that a peace concluded under such circumstances must destroy the interests and dignity of the country. The present war had upon this and upon former occasions been compared with the American war : but he did not see how two wars could be well com- CONTINUANCE OF THE WAR. tfg pared together, or how Gentlemen could argue from the past events of one, to the probable events of another. The Honourable Gentleman had stated, that the present war, like that with America, was founded in delusion, had been conducted without ability, and would end in defeat. There was, however, one point in which the two wars were similar ; and that was, that they both were civil wars, in which men for the first time learnt to wish well to the enemies of their coun- try. He was ready to confess, that he was a well- wisher to the Americans (there was a cry of " hear ! hear !" on the opposition side) ; he begged to observe to those Gentlemen, that if he wished success to the Americans, they had been our fellow-subjects; they were, he might almost say, our countrymen : their object was not the complete destruction of this country. He confessed, that during the American war he thought the success of the Americans essential to the interests of this country ; and he begged leave to ask the Gentlemen on the other side, if they now enter- tained the same sentiments with respect to the French ? Upon the whole, the question for the consideration of the house was, whether there had been laid before them sufficient grounds to induce them to go into the Committee now proposed, and to interfere with the Executive Government ; they would have to consider whether, after the event of the negociations at Paris and at Lisle, they ought not to be very cautious how they entered into negociations with such an enemy. It appeared to him, that no sufficient ground had been 380 JULY 9, 1800. laid down for the interference proposed, and therefore he should give the motion his most decided negative. After Sir Francis Burdett, Mr. Hobhouse, Mr. Sheridan, and Mr. Tierney had spoken in favour of the motion, and Mr. Hiley Addington, the Solicitor-General ', and some other Members against it j the house divided, when there appeared, For the motion - - 27 Against it - - - 143 Majority - 116 C 38' ] NEGOCIATION FOR PEACE. December 1, 1800. Mr. SHERIDAN moved, « That an humble Address be " presented to His Majesty, humbly to assure him that -we have " taken into our most serious consideration the papers relative to " the Negociatiotis for Peace with France, and that the result of " our reflections on this important subject, founded as well on due ** examination of the documents noiu referred to us, as on expe~ i( rience of the past conduct of most of His Majesty's allies, is " an humble, but earnest desire, that His Majesty ivill omit no proper opportunity which may arise, consistently with the good faith ever preserved on the part of His Majesty, of entering into a separate negotiation with the Government of France for a speedy and honourable peace ; and farther to implore His u Majesty, not to sanction any new engagements which shall ** preclude such a mode of negotiation" The motion having been seconded, Mr. WINDHAM, Secretary at War, spoke to the following effect ; Sir, I cannot say that the Honourable Gentleman has brought forward much new matter upon the present occasion, and therefore the necessity of answering every thing he has advanced is the less : indeed the u 3$2 bECEMBER I, l8oo. Honourable Gentleman himself did not feel that a great deal was necessary by way of reply to him, from the manner in which he put many points. Perhaps little more is requisite than merely to re-state what I have already stated on various occasions. The Honourable Gentleman, in setting out, was quite as magnanimous as any of the illustrious cha- racters on whom he has been descanting ; as he maintains that, although you are now in a situation of great public danger, and contending with a powerful enemy, requiring the greatest exertion on your part to preserve you from destruction, yet you are to detach yourselves from all assistance, and that whatever other power may be exposed to danger also, as well as your- selves, they shall detach themselves likewise ; and that your exertions, however great it is necessary they should be, should be made by each party separately^ and not jointly. — This is a proposition sufficiently ex- tensive, and I should think difficult to be maintained ; not agreeable to the present practice of mankind in general, not very consonant to the present state and condition of things, nor, according to my view of policy, well adapted for the alliances which this country ever did form, or is likely to form, with other powers, or even with such alliances as the Honourable Gentle- man himself has stated, allowing merely for the sake of argument, but without prejudice to the facts, that he has stated them and their bearing correctly. The Honourable Gentleman however did not confine him- self to that course, but followed a practice which is well known to him and other Gentlemen on that side io NEGOCIATION FOR PEACE. 383 of the house, whose conduct in debate, in the whole course of this war, is too striking to be forgotten. They not only dwell on the manner in which they sometimes alledge an ally has been faithless to us, but they argue, that whatever has happened of defection in any of the confederate powers, arises out of the very nature of the alliance itself, in the course of the pre- sent contest ; so that the case is argued by them, in the outset of the business, as if the best way for us, who are confederates, would be to keep aloof from one another, and try, separately, our power. Why really, Sir, there is attached to this assertion a degree of extravagance, and even ridicule, that prevents one making many observations on it, since it is difficult, if not impossible, for any observation to answer it better than the statement answers itself. It is a contradiction to all the experience of ages, of fathers putting arms into the hands of their sons to assist them to repel the force of a common enemy, and a thousand instances in the most ancient history, as well as modern practice. If the Honourable Gentleman was not one of those who never sacrifice a friend to a joke, I should have thought he had borrowed this mode of arguing from a friend of his, who is not here at present, and who deals a good deal in what is called irony. This mode of arguing in favour of the separate exertions of con- federates, reminds me of " Dr. Swift's Advice to Ser- vants $" a celebrated production, where absurd advice is given, and supported by absurd arguments or rea- sons -, he advises the house-maid to put a pail of dirty water on the foot of the stairs, and says to the maid, 384 DECEMBER I, 180O. QECEMBER I, l8oO. country if no such war had been entered into." I take this mode of stating the point, under a supposed ad- mission that this war could have been avoided on our part. In that conceded condition of the subject, I contend that there is no man in this country can say what would at this hour have been its condition if this war had never been entered into. We are all, I be- lieve, ready to admit that our condition is now, upon the whole, infinitely better than it would have been if the war had net been entered into. Not that you are now better off than you were at the beginning ; that was not undertaken ; that would be an absurdity on the face of things. What would you say, for instance, of the glorious defence of Acre ? Is that fortress better nOw than it was before that brilliant conduct of Sir Sidney Smith ? Certainly not, Sir ! and yet I should be content with half the glory of that action as the reward of my military life, were I in that branch of the public service. I mention this to shew that we are not to compare what our situation was before a war, with the situation in which we stand, at the conclusion of a war ; the true comparison is, between our situa- tion at the end of a war, and that which would have been our situation if no such war had been entered into. All this I have hitherto gratuitously taken, under a supposition that the war, on our part, might have been avoided — a concession which I only made for the sake of the argument, for a moment, and which I must now recall, as the argument is disposed of — because most unquestionably the war was compulsory on our NEGOCIATION FOR PEACE. 397 part, by the direct and immediate obligation of good faith pressing upon us, leaving no choice on our part, without a surrender of our honour. Far be it from me to say, that I think administration wants any thing to be said in its justification upon the commencement of this war ; if there be any justification wanting, I think it ought to be applied for on the other side. We are by this war still kept, in the estimation of some at least, an independent country. Here we are, I say, whether merry or not, I do not know — but here we are, supposed by some to be a nation blessed with happiness, with commercial prosperity, an abundance of wealth until the present hour unknown to any part of this world, with a free constitution, entire, untainted with Republican law or Jacobinical morality. Here we are, and this is our condition ; and this I say we owe to the present war : but if the counsel of the Honourable Gentleman, and those with whom he has uniformly acted, had been followed by this house, this country would now be in the same situation, or some such situation, as that of Tuscany, or Switzerland, or Spain or Holland. America has indeed, by its happy distance from the scene of action, kept out of the sphere of the degrading modern politics of a great part of the old continent. That which comes last, though not least, and upon which the whole of this motion is founded, and which is its avowed object to attain,, is, peace — peace, such as the Honourable Gentleman describes. ■ Now, when a Gentleman tells me, that I consider peace made with a Jacobinical republic, as no- 39§ DECEMBER I, 180O. thing better than a thing to be made choice of as the lesser of two evils, I did not expect that I should be told, we can, upon my principles, never have a peace, because this is equivalent to saying, I shall make choice of the greater evil of the two. To correct that mistake, I will say, that when I see the continuance of the war a greater evil than making a peace with a Jacobin republic, I will vote for such a peace, however depressed my spirits may be, or however melancholy it should appear ; I would make use of it as the lesser evil of the two. That things will always continue as they are now, I do not pretend to say ; for they vary according to circum- . stances : but I tell the Honourable Gentleman freely, I think that the danger of a Jacobin peace may have some abatement ; for, the contradiction, the explosion, and execration of the modern doctrine of the rights of man, in my opinion, has abated the danger which would attend" the making of peace with a Jacobin re- public ; not that it is free from danger, for danger there always will be in such a peace ; but the danger would now be less than it would have been at one time. But because the danger of war may possibly be greater than the danger of such a peace, therefore would I embrace peace as the lesser evil of the two ; though, considering that sort of peace of which the Honourable Gentleman is the advocate, I must confess that I can hardly foresee the extremity of danger into which this country can be brought by war, which would make one consider a greater evil than such a peace. Gentle- men talk of the spirit of peace, by which they explain themselves to mean that we are to lay aside all jealousy XEGOCIATION FOR PEACE. 399 of the principles of a Jacobin republic* and that we are to cherish such principles, and with pure love take the fraternal embrace and kiss. I say, God avert such a peace from this country ! — We have for centuries been in the habit of making peace with the ancient monarchy of France, without entering- into the spirit of its monarchy. Do they mean to say, that I can enter into the spirit of perfidy of Buonaparte, or of his plunder or rapacity ? Or am I to suppose that*, after a peace is made with him, a miracle will be wrought in his favour, and that the whole of his character will change — so that he may be considered the friend, who has hitherto been the implacable foe, of this country, and who has given up other points of great importance, in his opinion, in order that he might the better carry into effect his hatred against England ? — The Honourable Gentleman talks of one particular person (Mr. Fox), on whose principles alone peace can be obtained : I have great respect for the talents of that person ; but his opinions and sentiments upon this war I neither can admire, nor even think on them without repugnance — they are indeed adapted to the peace of which the Honourable Gentleman has spoken to-night. Let the house consider how they listen to propositions for peace, do away alliances on the con- tinent, and put an end to means for carrying on the war, for the sake of making way for the counsels of those who want to make a peace of pure love with a Jacobin republic, instead of preserving the spirit which this country ought to cherish of jealousy against such pernicious principles. 406 DECEMBER I, l8oO. Mr. Grey hiving spoken in favour of the motion, and Mr. Dundas in opposition to it, the house divided, and the numbers tvere, For the motion - - - 35 Against it - - - - 156 • Majority - 121 •:- C 401 ] LIST OF ADMINISTRATION As it stood in 1801, after the resignation of Mr. Pitt , Lord Grenvi/Ie> Mr. Dimdas> Mr. Windham, and other mem- bers of the preceding Administration. Cabinet Ministers : Right Honourable Henry -7 First Lord of the Treasury and Addington - - - -J Chancellor of the Exchequer. Lord Pelham ----- Secretary of State, Home De- partment (succeeded by Mr.Yorke). Lord Hawkesbury - - - Ditto, Foreign Dep-irtment. Lord Hobart ----- Ditto, War and Colonial De- partment. Earl St. Vincent - - - - First Lord of the Admiralty. Duke of Portland - - - Lord President of the Council. Earl of Westmorland * - Lord Privy Seal. Lord Eldon ----- Lord Chancellor. Earl of Chatham - - - MasterGeneraloftheOrdnance. Not of the Cabinet : Right Hon. Charles Yorke - Secretary at War (succeeded by Mr. Bragge). Right Hon. Charles Bragge - Treasurer of the Navy (suc- ceeded by Mr. Tierney). Right Hon. Thomas Steele 7 T • t r> .. r.u-c T A C\ \ ' \ Joint-raymastersor the Forces. t ° i ol i c r Joint- Postmasters ^General. Lord Charles bpencer - - J J r ' T XT J\ . ° k ~> Secretaries of the Treasury. Mr. Vansittart - - -/ ' Sir Edward Law - - - - Attorney-General (succeeded by Mr. Perceval). Hon. Spencer Perceval - - Solicitor-General (succeeded by Sir T. Sutton). Ireland : Earl of Hardwicke - - - Lord Lieutenant. Lord Redesdale - - - - Lord Chancellor. VOL. I. D D C 402 ] CAMPAIGN IN EGYPT. June 2, 1801. Mr. T. JONES moved, «' That an humble Address be pre- " setited to His Majesty, that he ivill be graciously pleased to (i communicate to his faithful Commons, by whose advice " In- " structions dated l$th December 1 799, were given to the Com- " mander in Chief of His Majesty's feet in the Mediterranean, t( enjoining him not to consent, on any account, to the return of " the French army to France, or to their capitulation in any other " manner than jointly to the Allied Powers, whose forces were t( employed against them ; or upon any other terms than that of " giving up their arms, and surrendering as prisoners of war " to the Allied Powers so employed ; and on no account to consent t( to the return of the French army in Egypt to France, or to their " capitulations, excepting on conditions above specif ed " whereby u his faithful Commons hmnbly conceive that the grand object of ,f peace has been postponed, and the seat of this calamitous, un- u fortunate, and expensive war, has been transferred to the very " distant coasts of Egypt, where there has already been a pro- (t digious expenditure of English treasure and of English blood ; (t and this at a time when the hostile preparations in the ports of (t France threatened an invasion of these realms, and when our (l good and old ally Portugal is about to sink under the dominion " of the French Republic, in consequence of that army, which CAMPAIGN IN EGYPT. 403 <{ might have defended Portugal, being detached to Egypt ,• and f( moreover, when the dangerous question of the searching neutral " ships has raised up a neiv Baltic war, tuhen Prussia has u seized en the Electorate of Hanover and its treasures ; and all " these unfortunate and alarming circumstances, his faithful •* Commons humbly conceive, grown out of the breach of the Con- have acted in the apprehending, imprisoning, or detaining in custody, in Great Britain, of persons suspected of High Treason, or Treason- able Practices ,- and several Petitions against the said Bill having been presented and ordered to lie on the table, the Attorney-General moved, that the Speaker should leave the Chair. The motion having been opposed by Mr.Jekyll, Sir Francis Burdett, and Mr. Grey, Mr. WINDHAM said that he was desirous of taking immediate notice of some of the observations of the Honourable Gentleman who had just sat down, most of which, although in themselves good, were answered without much difficulty, because they were of a general nature. The Honourable Gentleman who had just sat down had arranged his subject under three heads : — the manner in which this subject was brought forward — the principle of the measure — and the arguments by which it was supported. The silence of his Honour- 4H June 5, 1801. able Friends below him, the late ministers, the Honour- able Gentleman had treated as an argument, on which he had spoke with a considerable degree of solemnity, as if he, who was certainly master of his own force, had considered it as most material in the distribution. Now, with respect to the manner of conducting this matter, he must observe upon the silence of his Ho- nourable Friends below him, which the Honourable Gentleman seemed to consider as the characteristic of misconduct, that he could not agree in that conclusion ; nor did he see the impropriety of his Friends waiting for objections to be urged against them before they offered themselves to the notice of the house ; and that perhaps answers, if any were necessary, should come from those who stood more independently than they did, or were alledged to stand, leaving it to such persons to deliver their sentiments rather than come forward themselves. Upon that subject he must ob- serve, that, in general, if ministers were called upon to answer two points, the information upon which was solely in their own possession, or if not solely, they possessed more of it than others, the grounds of argu- ment of the side by which they were to be supported, should be stated by them, to put others in a situation to argue upon them ; but the principle on which this measure was founded, seemed to him to be equally open to all the house to discuss. Nor were ministers particularly called upon to oblige the Honourable Gen- tleman with any observations : they were not in a state in which it was necessary to make any attempt at felo de se ; they were wise in waiting for others : what in- 2 INDEMNITY BILL. 415 ference, therefore, the Honourable Gentleman would draw from the silence of these Gentlemen, he con- fessed he could not see. But before he adverted to other arguments which the Honourable Gentleman had brought forward, he should take a view of the general principles and reasons that applied to the present measure. It was stated, that this was not to protect any per- sons who had done any thing which was wrong, but to prevent them from being subject to vexation upon cases in which they had done that which was right ; and that was rightly stated. — The necessity of a mea- sure of this sort seemed to be founded on the peculiar nature of the present proceeding, namely, " That those who have acted under the law, and who must depend on the information of others — (information which it is not to the advantage of the public to be made known,) have acted only in the execution of their duty, and therefore ought to be protected." — This measure, therefore, in one view of it, was to be con- sidered, properly speaking, as a measure for the pro- tection of the public against an injury which they might sustain by an individual being called upon to produce the justification under which he acted. Now he was ready to contend, that it was not to the interest of the public, that a person who had acted in the ser- vice of the public should be so placed ; and as to the inconveniences which were supposed to be introduced by this practice of taking secret infotmation for the safety of the public, he should be disposed to close with the Honourable Gentleman, and say, that the 4i*> June 5, 1801. inconvenience of putting an end to the practice would be greater than the inconvenience of continuing it; for he allowed the inconvenience was considerable on both sides. He would say, therefore, that an indivi- dual who had acted for the benefit of the public ought never to be put in the situation, such as many persons would be in if the bill now before the house should not pass into a law. The Honourable Gentleman's argument upon this occasion was not only calculated to shew that the imprisonment of persons under the Suspension of the Habeas Corpus Act was oppres- sive, but it went the length of shewing, that all proceeding whatever, upon such authority, was im- proper. It went the length of saying, that no pro- ceeding whatever should have taken place upon any secret information ; although the house had always intended, and had frequently expressed that intention, that such proceedings should take place. It being so in the view of the house, it would not be incon- sistent with its duty to act upon that impression. That being the state of the case, these persons must, or they were at least likely to be in a situation in which they had done right, and what the house intended ; and yet, if they were not protected by a bill of this sort, they would be open to vexation, accusation, and pro- bably to punishment, unless they produced that which it was inconvenient to the public to have produced. This, he apprehended, was something of an evil. But the Honourable Gentleman said, we must consider, upon this occasion, the precedents which appeared in our parliamentary history j and he urged a very hu- INDEMNITY BILL. 4I7 mane maxim, to which, under certain qualifications, there could be no objection, viz. That it was'better that many guilty persons should escape, than that one inno- cent person should be condemned. In this humane maxim he agreed with the Honourable Gentleman ; but not in the application of it, because the case here was not whether any innocent person should be sacrificed ; that was impossible, since the utmost an innocent per- son could endure was imprisonment ; convicted he never could be, without clear and satisfactory proof of guilt j and here he felt himself disposed to close with the Honourable Gentleman, that the inconvenience to the public would be greater on the other side, for under the apprehension (because the thing was possi- ble) that somebody would misuse his power in some individual case, no power should be given at all to any body ; that is to say, if power be given, the person exercising it shall, at all risks to the public safety, either give up the information on which he acted, a thing most mischievous in many cases, or the party using it shall be liable to punishment, a thing most to be avoided, on account of the discouragement it would throw in the way of men who have arduous public duties to perform. He would not endeavour to shew, what indeed it was hardly possible to shew, the exact proportion there was between the inconvenience in the one and the other of these cases ; but he was deceived if there was any difficulty in deciding the matter. However, that must rest with the judgment of the house. The question to be asked of the house was this ; " Do you, upon the whole, think that the VOL. I. E E 41S June 5, 1801. evils which have resulted from the power that has been given ^0 those who have acted under the Suspen- sion of the Habeas Corpus Act have been such as that it will be better to expose to prosecution, and perhaps to persecution, those who have not only acted consci- entiously, but under your own authority ? And will you place them in a situation in which they may be punished for their virtue, (for if they are sued in a court of law for acting as some have done, they will be punished if they refuse to deliver up the evidence on which they acted, the disclosure of which may be highly injurious to the public, and therefore to punish men for such refusal is to punish them for their vir- tue,) or will you protect them for it ?" This, it must be remembered farther, was not the whimsical or ca- pricious conduct of individuals, but the conduct of persons who had acted under the authority of the house. This, he said, however, he offered to the house, and not to the Honourable Gentleman, for he had said that he would not proceed at all on information of a secret kind ; for he was against the whole prac- tice of taking information from spies and informers. This mode of rejecting all information from informers, was a sort of specific adopted of late for certain pur- poses, and to answer certain complaints, which Gen- tlemen on the opposite side of the house had taken under their protection. We know that these secret combinations are fortified and concealed by the obli- gation of the most wicked oaths, but, on those who took them, most binding : he would ask, therefore, what means were we to have of proceeding to protect INDEMNITY BILL. 419 ourselves against such evil spirits, if we had not secret information ? He vowed he knew of none : — he was ready to pay deference to political maxims when they were applicable to the subject in discussion ; but here these quoted by the Honourable Gentleman did not apply. The remedy now to be adopted must be different from any that had been formerly tried in the affairs of state, because the complaint to which it was applied was different ; and we were now in such a state, that if any man was bent on the total destruction of this country, he could not do better for his purpose than to counsel us to follow nothing but what has been the practice of former times : by sp doing, under the cloak of attachment to precedent, and reverence for antiquity, he might soon work the ruin of this country ; for, in that course, nothing could be found that was applica- ble to the present political condition of things. But it was not an unusual thing, this mode of proceed- ing on the part of some Gentlemen on the other side of the house. The vogue at present was to say, — " We ought to be tied to antient precedent, — We are to do nothing that we cannot sanction by the authority of former proceedings." The short answer to that was, that there was in fact no precedent for the present con- dition of things. We might ask, what precedent there was for rebellion of the sort which we had before us ? — We had indeed a rebellion in the year 17 15, and an- other in 1 745, and they had some resemblance to one an- other ; but he apprehended that the first elementary book which led us to comprehend subjects in the way of reason, would teach us that it was not an inevitable conse- ££ 2 420 JUNE 5, 1S01. quence, that two things must be of the same nature if they happen to be of the same name. He therefore apprehended that the rebellions of 1 7 1 5 and 1 745, were not the same as the present state of things, merely be- cause they might be both called rebellion. He maintained, that the reasoning which should be made use of was not to depend on maxims alone, but was to be considered with reference to the case before us and all its peculiarities. In the first place, it was a little odd to say, that since the French Revolution had taken effect, we were to be guided by old maxims : that is to say, we were to be guided by old maxims, when all moral principles were changed, and we were in a state of things, in which the authors of the new order boast that they wipe off with a sponge every thing that was old. It was a little hard that, while there was so much invasion of right, so much overthrow of cus- tom in the practice of the present day, there should be nothing new in the remedy that was to be applied to the evil, and that we should all at once become so much attached to old maxims of government. Besides, the thing became a little more extraordinary, when we com- pared this fondness for precedent with the opinions which had been expressed by some of our reformers. We had some principles which he hoped would be per- manent, notwithstanding any attempts that might be made to alter them j but others were changing in the variety of human affairs. The earliest usages of the constitution of our country, the purity of which was formerly proverbial, the Honourable Gentleman would have us change with as much facility as one could one's INDEMNITY BILL. 42 I garment ; but he would have no law altered. No al- teration whatever was to take place in any part of the law ; but the constitution itself, as was proposed by some Gentlemen, might be altered most readily. He knew not whether it was a toast at the Whig Club or not, but he thought it would do well enough to illus- trate the doctrine contended for to night — * Fixt Laws and a Moveable Constitution." But our laws were not to be changed ; there was nothing that should make such change : now upon that subject he could only say, that if the French Revolution had not introduced a change in human affairs, he knew of nothing that had done so since the General Deluge. Notwithstand- ing all this change, the laws were not to be immove- able j the Gentlemen were become at once mysteriously fond of old maxims, and of none more than Stare fuper vias antiquas. Our laws were become fixt and un- alterable, like the laws of the Medes and Persians ; he really thought that laws should be made to suit the af- fairs of mankind as they arose, and that which was now before the house was of that character ; he conceived that to be an answer to most of the observations of the Honourable Gentleman on the other side, as well as to his quotations from Tacitus, and from Montesquieu. — Tacitus was a luminous historian ; he wrote well from what he knew : but nothing that was to be found in his work had any resemblance to the present condition of political affairs ; and as to Montesquieu, he was a man of great learning certainly, but he was entirely a theo- retical writer, and therefore his labours should be pe- rused with all the allowances which belong to labours E E 3 42* JUNE 5, 1S01. of that kind, let the author have whatever skill he may. If, however, that author were now living, he was persuaded that he would be one of the first to admit that, although he thought his observations generally true, yet they were not all applicable to the present condition of the politics of Europe. The Honourable Gentleman had formerly dwelt on a topic which had no great influence, perhaps, on his own opinion ; he meant the mode of appointing the Secret Committee. It was true, that it was a thing to be desired that the Committee should be composed of those who were impartial, but it was desirable also that they should be enlightened. Upon that part of the subject, the very Gentlemen who had been objected to on the principle of partiality, were the fittest on the score of information. They had long been in the pur- suit of information on this subject ; and therefore, if they could be supposed to have a partiality which it was desirable to remove, so, on the other hand, they possessed advantages which made them superior to other Gentlemen ; so that, taking the thing altogether, the Report of the Committee had all the weight which the Report of a respectable Committee ought to have. But there was a point on which he had for some time wished for an opportunity of saying a word or two, and that was not so much to the credit of the Committee as for the credit of the House itself — he meant the mode of forming a Committee by ballot. That had been made a ground of charge, as if that mode of choosing a Committee did in itself lay a pre- sumption of something done unduly, or with a sinister 9 INDEMNITY BILL. 42 J design. A tolerable answer to the objection would be found in saying that such was the usual mode j but he wished to give the objection a further answer, and that for the character of the judgment of the House. In truth there was no other way. There was, he thought, in the reign of Henry IV., a Parliament which, for want of information, was called Parliament turn Indoctum ; and the present House would be subject to a similar denomination if it followed the doctrine of the Honourable Gentleman. Questions were usually answered by yes or no ; but it might possibly hap- pen that a question might be so put as that neither of these answers could be strictly applicable to the ques- tion. Suppose a road diverged at a certain place, and branched out into several roads ; if the question were to be answered by yes or no, we should be obliged to put the question upon every one until we came to the last ; and when that came to be so, the logic of inferior animals was supposed to be equal to the task of deciding the point. — Now, supposing the course to be taken here to put the question upon each individual, taking twenty-one out of six hundred and fifty-eight, with all the possible changes that such a mode of proceeding would lead to, it would appear by a mode of calculation, which those who were dis- posed to it might find in a book of no great profun- dity, that, allowing for the interruption of a number of dissolutions of Parliament, and allowing that this world were to last a great many hundred years more than it hitherto had, there would not be sufficient time to come to a conclusion upon the choice of a £ E 4 424 JUNE 5> 1801. Committee of twenty-one out of six hundred and fifty- eight Members of that House ; that is, supposing all changeable modes were to be put, and which each individual would have a right to insist upon ; besides, there was another idea to be attended to, if a Com- mittee were to be thus nominated ; for a question might arise upon the relative fitness of a Member, in the opinion of others, as he was nominated ; • — for instance, when a Member was nominated, another might say, " I cannot agree to his name, unless I know who is to be joined to him, for Mr. Such-a-one will do very well if Mr. Such-a-one is coupled with him : but Mr. Such-a-one joined to another Mr. Such-a-one will never do, they differ so much in their way of thinking, &c." So that, upon a moderate computa- tion, allowing each individual in the house to give his opinion, and the ballot to be thus formed, several centuries would elapse before one Member could be chosen. Having treated this subject with some ridi- cule, Mr. Windham ended with an allegation, that, therefore, a ballot was the only mode of choosing a Committee. He proceeded to observe, that most unquestionably those persons who had been confined, or who might hereafter be confined, were objects of attention ; but the question was, whether, if this measure was not to be adopted, we should not lose to the public more than would be gained to individuals by abstaining from it ; for it was, after all, a matter of balance of advan- tages and disadvantages. — It was, however, not a bill for the establishment of any system j it was to be INDEMNITY BILL. 425 made applicable to facts as they should appear to arise ; nor was there any thing now to be done but what should be subject to the controul of future Parlia- ments ; and as to his Right Honourable Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer having said on a former day, that, if necessary, he should claim to be indem- nified in like manner as this bill is intended to indem- nify others, he meant by it only if he had laid the same grounds for that indemnity as are laid now. As to the complaint of Gentlemen, that there was not a greater number of them in Committees that were bal- lotted for, the thing was perfectly natural ; for the majority of the house would choose those whose poli- tics they liked, and that would continue to be the case, notwithstanding all that had been said of impartiality, unless it could be proved that the house, in order to show its impartiality, were to choose those whose po- litics they disliked. In a word, the choice was the judgment of the house, and the judgment of the house was in that respect the representation of the country ; and the minority stood in the opinion of the country in the same situation as they did in that house, as they must feel whenever they reflected upon the subject. He concluded with observing, that it did not become him to say how the power which this bill recognized was used ; it was for the house and the country to judge ; but he was convinced, that with- out this bill the sources of information would be cut up, and without applying opprobrious terms to infor- mers, he would say, that, in the present state of things, they were necessary to correct the mischief of those 10 426 JUNE 5, l8oi. criminals who wished to bring the state to ruin, but who must be counteracted by means as active and powerful as themselves. Upon these grounds, and independent of any self-interest, he gave his support to the motion now before the house. Mr. Home Tooke, Mr. Tiemey, and Mr. W. Smith spoke against the motion , the Attorney-General and the Solicitor-General in favour of it. On a division, the numbers were, For the motion - - 172 Against it - - - 38 Majority - 134 C 427 ] NOTICE OF PEACE. October 29, 1801. ±± IS MAJESTY"' S Speech, announcing that the differences with the Northern Powers had been adjusted, and that Prelimi- naries of Peace had also been ratified with the French Republic, having been read by the Speaker, Lord Louvaine moved an Ad- dress of Thanks and Congratulation, which was seconded by the Honourable Colonel Wodehouse. Mr. Fox expressed his concurrence in the Address, and his joy en the attainment of Peace. Mr. Pitt considered the event to be matter of joy to the country, and cheerfully gave his tribute of praise to the ministers who had accomplished it. Mr. WINDHAM spoke to the following effect : Sir, Having the misfortune to differ from my Right Honourable Friend who has just spoken, as well as from the Right Honourable Gentleman who has pre- ceded him, touching the cause of joy and exultation which both have expressed for the Preliminaries of Peace which have been recently signed with France, I should not approve this address, if it went so far as to pledge this house to an approbation of ^28- OCTOBER 29, I Sol. those Preliminaries specifically. But, Sir, as it does not so pledge this house, I shall not withhold from it my support; nor should I have risen, Sir, to have troubled this house to-night, but that differing as I do most materially from those who approve this Peace, concluded under the present circumstances of Europe, it behoves me to vindicate my opinion, by explaining at least in outline the reasons why I so differ. I am fully prepared to go at length into the discussion of those opinions ; but as it seems rather the sense of the house to postpone that discussion to another occasion, I shall not push it forward now — seeing that I shall have another, and an early opportunity ; but as my Honourable Friend, from whom to differ I shall always consider as a misfortune, avows an opinion in appro- bation to the measure, I feel it necessary to declare, as shortly as possible, my reason for a contrary senti- ment. I must own, Sir, to stand as a solitary mourner in the midst of general exultation, to wear a countenance clouded with sadness, while all others are lighted up with joy, is at once rather unfortunate and ungracious. But if I differ from those Gentlemen, who have so often differed from each other heretofore upon the whole of the subject of this war, though they now coincide in approbation of this peace, it is because the event strikes me in a different point of view from that in which they see it, and because that which they consider a cause for general joy, I fear may be turned into a cause of general mourning. I would ask — Are the circumstances of this Peace the natural signs for NOTICE OF PEACE. 429 rejoicing that ha\e been wont to justify our exultations upon former occasions ? I own, Sir, they strike me in a direct contrary point of view, and when I am called on to rejoice, before I put on my wedding suit, I shall first enquire, whether I am called to celebrate a marriage or a funeral. When I am desired to illu- minate, I shall first endeavour to learn whether it is to light me to a feast or a sepulchre. For, Sir, if the solemnity of a death-bed declaration has any claims to veracity or sincerity, I should have no hesitation, were I to make it at this moment, to assert my firm persuasion and belief, that my Honourable Friends, in signing this peace, have put their signatures to the death-warrant of their country. I know, Sir, the in- constancy of human affairs, and I am not profane enough to set bounds to the dispensations of Provi- dence — neither can I pretend precisely to foresee what different changes may be wrought in the dis- positions of the people of England by intrigues from without, or convulsions from within. But upon no rational view that I can take of this subject, nor any prospect to which my discernment enables me to look, can I see my way out of the evils it will entail upon my country. The only one thing which France wanted to permit her to divide with you the empire of the seas was a participation of your commerce, to enable her to extend her navy. This participation she will have effectually secured by this peace, while, by the surrender of your conquests, you will have thrown out of your hands the only means to prevent this 43© OCTOBER 20, l80I. aggrandisement, the extension of yo€r colonial sys- tem. What the motives were that induced His Ma- jesty's ministers to conclude these Preliminaries under existing circumstances in Europe," I know not pre- cisely. Some of those motives I have heard. But they do not convince me ; on the contrary, they appear wholly insufficient. This is all that is necessary for me to say at present ; but if those who have concluded this peace will shew me it is a safe one for England, I shall ask them no farther reasons ; but if we were really driven to this Peace by any fatal necessity, if His Majesty's ministers have been forced to accept it through any inability of resorting to alternatives, their conduct is the more ex- cuseable, and we have to thank them, not for what they have acquired, but for what they have saved for their country. If they have yielded to necessity, instead of censure they may deserve thanks. Instead of censure for what they have given up, they may be entitled to gratitude for what they have preserved. If they can shew that they have, by ceding foreign colonies, saved objects nearer and dearer to us ; if they have saved Portsmouth, and Plymouth, and Ireland ; if they have preserved the soil of England from ravage and devas- tation, they will establish, not an apology, but a claim to thanks. Such a plea, however, I do not re- cognize. How far they were actuated by such neces- sity, will be a matter for future discussion: for the present I shall not feel it necessary to trespass longer on the attention of the hotse. NOTICE OF PEACE. 43 1 Mr.Additigton {Chancellor of the Exchequer) shortly defended the grounds on ivhich the Pence had been concluded, but declined discussing the Preliminaries till a future day. Mr. Sheridan said he should vote for the Address, and described the Peace to be one ivhich every man was glad of, but no man could be proud of. The motion for the Address was put and carried without » division. END OF THE FIRST VOLUME. Strahan and Preston, Printers-Street, London. /. a m 5ob THE LIBRARY UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA Santa Barbara THIS BOOK IS DUE ON THE LAST DATE STAMPED BELOW. Series 9482 3 1205 00567 3015k UC SOUTHERN HE6 ^SjmjSSi AA 000 235 046 vl I •' ! ■fi.C^' '(Vl-V* 'K.i^^ 1 (Ts-SW- "*_•>»•" ^*.<:'rr«^?r>'i •.;.sr? -> ?.*««<»» ft