jesty's expectation. His majesty trusts, therefore, that you will be able, after providing for the services of the year, and without affecting public credit, to make a further considerable reduction in the burthens of his people.

"My Lords and Gentlemen, "His majesty has commanded us to state to you, that the manifestations of loyalty and attachment to his person and government, which his majesty received in his late visit to Scotland, have made the deepest impression upon his heart.

"The provision which you made in the last session of parliament for the relief of the distresses in considerable districts in Ireland, has been productive of the happiest effects, and his majesty recommends to your consideration such measures of internal regulation as may be calculated to promote and secure the tranquillity of that country, and to improve the habits and condition of the people.

"Deeply as his majesty regrets the continued depression of the agricultural interest, the satisfaction with which his majesty contemplates the increasing activity which pervades the manufacturing districts, and the flourishing condition of our commerce in most of its principal branches, is greatly enhanced by the confident persuasion that the progressive prosperity of so many of the interests of the country cannot fail to contribute to the gradual improvement of that great interest, which is the most important of them all."

The address was moved by lord Morley, and seconded by lord Mayo. Earl Stanhope, after lamenting that there seemed no intention on the part of government to administer relief to the agri

culturists, moved that the following words should be inserted in the address "That this House views with the deepest regret and anxiety, the severe and unexampled distress which now afflicts the country, and will immediately proceed to inquire into and examine its causes; also the results which have arisen from altering the value of the currency; and the means of administering speedy and effectual relief." The speech which he made in support of this amendment, was composed of exaggerated representations of the agricultural embarrassments, feeble and illogical efforts to prove that these embarrassments proceeded from our return to cash payments, and audacious recommendations of national bankruptcy. "If we contemplate," said his lordship, "the effects which the change of currency has produced upon taxation, we find that the public annuitants now receive twice as much in the produce of the earth as they did in 1819, and nearly twice as much as they then did in other commodities. Is not this to be considered as a most nefarious fraud that has been practised on the nation, and as an act of public robbery? We hear much about public faith, but it did not, and could not pledge the nation to pay the public creditors twice as much as they ought to receive, and as they did receive three years ago. The reduction of the dividends, which is imperiously required by the safety of the country, is strictly conformable to justice, in consequence of the alteration of the currency in which they are paid."

Lord Lansdown thought, that the topics which lord Stanhope had discussed, however important in themselves, ought to be passed

over for the present, and that, in the crisis which now threatened Europe, it was desirable that the Address should be adopted unanimously. He only wished, that it had been couched in stronger terms, and that in it, as well as in the speech from the throne, there had been a stronger and more explicit declaration of the sense which this country entertained of those principles, which had unfortunately found their way into the councils of some of the great powers of Europe, and which, if acted upon to their natural extent, would not fail to involve Europe in confusion. Those principles had now, for the second time, been promulgated in a manner which left no room for doubt as to their tendency and far from thinking it expedient to palter with the sense of parliament and the country, he was of opinion that his majesty's ministers would act wisely and judiciously, to unite with the. legislature and the people in expressing their indignation at, rather than their disapprobation of, such a system, if there was any chance of thereby averting the calamities which must grow out of it. Whether or not government would declare its opinion of the conduct of the continental powers as he thought it should-and he was willing to believe that, in some degree, it already had done so he was sure that public feeling would find vent through various channels, and that every part of the country would be eager to proclaim to the world the opinion which it entertained, and the sense which it cherished, of the rights of nations, and the important interests which England had in maintaining them. At the same time, being bound to give credit to

ministers for having used their exertions to avert the calamity of a war on the continent, and for having made protestations, however vainly, against the conduct of France, he confessed that he did not, under all the circumstances of the case, think the present was a fit time for proposing any further declaration of opinion than was contained in the address already moved.

Lord Liverpool asserted, that there could not be a more distinct statement of the intentions of the government, than was contained in the first paragraph of the speech from the throne: "Faithful to the principles which his majesty had promulgated to the world as constituting the rule of his conduct, his majesty declined being a party to any proceedings at Verona, which could be deemed an interference in the internal concerns of Spain." Those principles were to be found in a note written by a dear and very lamented friend of his, and issued on the 19th of January, 1821. In that note, the policy of the British government was distinctly declared; and it rested on the principles of the law of nations, which allowed every country to judge how it could best be governed, and what ought to be its institutions; and if exceptions to the rule might arise out of considerations of self-defence and self-preservation, these were to be considered as exceptions, and were to stand on their own peculiar merits. He and his colleagues viewed the question of Spain as one purely Spanish, and not mixed up with any other. There had been, and he sincerely trusted there would be, throughout the career of those who had the conduct of affairs in that coun

try, a less taint of blood, of crime, and violence, than was afforded by almost any other example of a similar revolution that had occurred in modern history. The constitution had been adopted by Spain, and acknowledged by Great Britain, while war was raging in the peninsula. If it wanted correction, the monarch had the power of correcting it when he first accepted it. The Spaniards, far from wishing to interfere with other countries, disclaimed any such right. If he dreaded war as affecting Spain, he dreaded it still more as affecting France. Under such circumstances, every man must admit, that the policy of this country was, to preserve neutrality. But, while he said this, he protested against being supposed for a moment to admit the idea-that, if unavoidable circumstances presented no alternative to England but war or dishonour, we were not in a state to go to war. On the contrary, as long as parliament refused to adopt any measures calculated to sap the foundations of public credit, he was convinced, that, if a war should appear to be necessary to the preservation of our honour, the country was in a state to meet it. Still, after the extraordinary efforts which Great Britain had so recently made, and taking into consideration the present state of Europe, it was most desirable, if we could do so with regard to justice, to our safety, to our honour, and to our engagements with our allies, that we should preserve our neutral position.-The present, however, was not the time for the consideration of that question. For, whatever might be the exist ing probability of a rupture between France and Spain, he did not consider the door as yet abso

lutely closed against negotiation and amicable arrangement.

The lords divided upon lord Stanhope's amendment: and after it had been rejected by a majority of 62 Not-contents, to 3 Contents, the address was carried unanimously.

In the Commons, the address having been moved by Mr. Childe, and seconded by Mr. Wildman, Sir Joseph Yorke expressed the satisfaction with which he found ministers following the good old feelings of the country, and not advocating an interference in the internal concerns of another state. He thought this country was bound to show to France and the world, the absurdity, the impolicy, and the injustice of a declaration of war against Spain in the present moment. A more outrageous act of violence never was, and never could be committed, than the meditated attack upon that. brave nation. It should be recollected, that these Spaniards were the very men who placed the Bourbons on the throne-who seated Ferdinand himself at the head of the government, at a period when no power could have forced him upon them against their will. And was it against such men that the Bourbons of France were now going to make war? He trusted the evil might be yet averted; for who could say, when blood was once shed, and when cannon were fired on this side of the Bidassoa-who could say that this country could long remain neuter? Circumstanced as we were, it might indeed be desirable that we should be neutral; but, with a commerce extending from Pole to Pole, with interests which must be more or less affected by every hostile movement between

the powers of Europe, he would ask any man, whose breast beat with honest feelings of independence, how, situated as we were, we could keep long out of such a war, if once commenced? It was for this reason, and because he was anxious to avert the evil if possible, by a strong declaration of the feelings of this country, that he would wish every member of that House to rise in his place, and state his opinion as to whether France was right in her present course or not. To this appeal Mr. Brougham answered in a speech which was one of the happiest efforts of his manly and versatile eloquence. Scorning the rhetorical prettinesses of antitheses and metaphors, he exposed in language, in which contemptuous and bitter invective was intermingled with sound argument, the abstract absurdity and injustice of the proceedings of the continental sovereigns, and the inconsistency of their conduct with their past actions, promises, and pretensions: illustrating his argument, and giving strength to his invective, by happy historical allusions, and communicating to his words a new power, by the earnest vehemence of manner and of tone with which they were accompanied. He rose, he said, to join with every man who deserved the name of Briton, in expressing unqualified abhorrence and detestation at the audacious interference of the continental sovereigns in the affairs of Spain; or if that detestation was qualified, it was only by indignation and disgust at the canting hypocrisy of the language in which the loathsome principles of the tyrants were promulgated to the world. But he should ill discharge his duty if he did not mark his sense of the candour of the two

hon. gentlemen who had moved and seconded the address, and express his satisfaction at what, in the House, and in the country would, unanimously, be felt to be, the sound and liberal view which they had taken of this matter. Indeed, he knew not, that, circumstanced as they were, they could go farther; or that his majesty's ministers could, in the present state of this very delicate affair, have gone beyond the communication of to-day. That communication, coupled with the commentary of the movers, would be joy and exultation to England-would diffuse joy and exultation over Spain-would be a source of comfort to other free states-but would bring confusion and dismay to the allies; who, by a pretended respect for, but a real mockery of, religion and morality, made war upon liberty in the abstract, and endeavouring to crush independence, wherever it was to be found, were now ready with their armed hordes to carry their frightful projects into execution. If war were once commenced, we should soon be compelled to take some part in it; and for such an emergency, every shilling, which could be saved by the most rigid economy, should be reserved. We were bound to assist one party, our old ally Portugal, if she should be engaged; and it was not likely that she could remain neuter, if the present ill-fated conspiracy against Spain should proceed to open hostility. This view of the question it was, in which he differed from the gallant officer (Sir J. Yorke) who last spoke; and he was glad, that he could not collect from the hon. mover or seconder, the ominous words "strict neutrality," as ap plied to this country in the threatened contest. A state of

declared neutrality on our part would be nothing less than a declared permission of those evils which we condemned, and a tacit allowance of the atrocious principles which we were unanimous in deprecating. He would say, therefore, that it would be the duty of his majesty's ministers, with whom he should be glad to co-operate on the occasion and so, he was certain, would every one who then heard him to come to the resolution, that when certain things should take place on the continent, we should be ready to assist the Spaniards a measure necessary to prevent evils, which even those the least prone to war must admit to be inevitable, should a wavering or pusillanimous course be pursued. Our assistance would be necessary to avert the wicked enforcement of principles contrary to the law of nations, and repugnant to every idea of national independence. To judge of the principles now avowed, let any man read patiently, if he could, the declarations in the notes of Russia, Prussia, and Austria; to produce any thing more preposterous, more absurd, more extravagant, more calculated to excite a mixed feeling of disgust and derision, would baffle any chancery or state-paper office in Europe. In the note from the minister of his Prussian majesty, the re-establishment of the Cortes of 1812 was thus described "which, confounding all elements, and all power, and assuming only the single principle of a permanent and legal oppoation against the government, necessarily destroyed that central and tutelary authority which constitutes the essence of the mo, narchical system." The emperor of Russia, in terms not less strong, called the constitutional govern

ment of the Cortes, "laws which the public reason of Europe, enlightened by the experience of all ages, stamped with its disapprobation." Where, in the conservative character of keeper of the peace of Europe, did his imperial majesty discover, that the constitution of Spain had been stamped with the disapprobation of the public reason of Europe? The "public reason, of Europe, enlightened by the experience of all ages," happened to be that of his imperial majesty himself for the last ten years; for, notwithstanding that he had the "experience of all ages" before his eyes, he did in the year 1812 enter into a treaty with Spain, with the same Cortes, the same constitution, not one word of which had been changed up to the present hour; and in that treaty, the emperor of all the Russias, using the very word by which he and his allies would themselves be designated-the word by the abuse of which they were known-called the Spanish government of the Cortes "a legitimate government." But not only was the conduct of the allies inconsistent with the treaties of some among them with Spain; their principle of interference was wholly at variance even with treaties recently made amongst themselves. By the 4th article of the treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, dated in November 1818, it was laid down, that a special congress might be held from time to time on the affairs of Europe, or, to use the words, and borrowing the hypocritical cant of their predecessors, the three powers who basely partitioned Poland-who, while they despoiled a helpless nation of its independence, kept preaching about the quiet of Europe, the integrity of its states, and the morality and