councils, and to a war, the close or the continuation of which it is alike impossible to contemplate without alarm; they would succeed to difficulties that might confound the wisest, and to dangers that might appal the boldest statesmen; difficulties and dangers for which the emoluments of office, and the pride of party victory, would but poorly compensate to men who looked, as I hope they look, not only to themselves but to the country; to future fame as well as to present power. Perhaps it may be already too late, and we may shortly be des tined, partly owing to our own follies, and partly owing to those awful events which we could not controul, and which have made our times the beginning of a new era in the world, to share the fate of the other nations of Europe. Perhaps we are already in a situation which defies the efforts of the wisest and best men among us, and which would have defied the efforts of these wiser and greater men whom we have lost. But if the country, shorn of its honours, and humbled as it must be, can still be preserved, sure I am, that its preservation cannot be the work of those by whom it has been brought into its present situation, or of persons who proceed upon the same system with inferior ability. It cannot be preserved by the wreck and remnant of a ministry, by something weaker than that which was already supposed to have attained the utmost possible point of debility; persons whose defects are notorious, and whose very apology is shameful; who offer us their intolerance and court favour, as substitutes for all the qualities that ought to belong to an English administration. It is time to try some other remedy before the last agony comes on. If this empire is to be

destroyed, let it not be under the reign of these Augustuli. Let its end be worthy of a state which has achieved great actions and produced great men. If we fall, let us fall with dignity."

Mr Ponsonby followed in a strain not less severe. "Who was it," he asked, "that had been selected to command the greatest expedition that ever left the shores of England? Was it a general wise from long experience, and illustrious from the splendour of many victories,-one covered with well-earned laurels, the military pride of the country, who excited her most sanguine hopes, and enjoyed her most complete confidence? Alas! the flower of her forces was committed in an evil hour to the guidance of that inauspicious and ill-omened officer, of whom we knew nothing more than that he had once been at the head of the admiralty, where such was his lazy discharge of the duties of that office, that even his own brother, the minister, could not suffer the functions of the state to sleep beneath his indolence. This," said Mr Ponsonby, " is no time for half measures, it is no time for civility, or courteous compliance to the feelings of public men: it is a crisis which calls upon the House of Commons to put forth its penal powers. Had I a choice between punishment and pardon, I should prefer punishment, because the circumstances of the country imperiously require some solemn example."

Lord Castlereagh replied, that he did not fear the exercise of that penal justice with which he was thus threatened: he claimed no mercy; he requested only a fair inquiry into the merits and demerits of his conduct. He had not been ignorant of the nature of the climate of Walcheren at that season of the year; but it had

never been intended that the army should be locked up there so long; a coup de main against the naval power of the enemy was the object, not the mere capture of Flushing, and therefore it was expected that the troops would be employed in a dry country, between Walcheren and Bergen-opZoom. With regard to the evacuation of the island, that was a measure wherein he had no share, and therefore could not take upon himself either to justify or condemn it.-Mr Canning spoke more at length, calling like Lord Castlereagh for inquiry, and like him saying, that his responsibility and knowledge ceased when it was intimated to government that the objects of the expedition could not be accomplished. "He did not know," he said, "but that sufficient reasons might be produced to account for the failure; but he could not agree with those persons who represented that the calamitous failure in its main objects was in any degree alleviated by the partial success which had been obtained. He never supposed that Flushing and Walcheren were objects adequate to such preparations and expence; but he did consider that the possession of the naval arsenal at Antwerp would have been of the first importance as a British object, and that no other point could have been selected in which the force which it was in the power of this country to send could render more service to the common cause. Whether an expedition should have been sent, as some reasoners argued, to the north of Germany, was a question not altogether of policy, but of justice also. The only circumstances in which justice would allow us to interfere in continental insurrections, were, first, if the people of any country, having well weighed their peculiar circumstances,

VOL. III. FART I.

should determine that it was better to run the extremest dangers of war, than submit to the degree of oppression under which they laboured. Then it would certainly be just, and beco ming the dignity of this country, to assist them in breaking their chains. -There was another case, in which also it would be just and allowable to interfere; if we could send large armies, which were themselves nearly a match for the utmost strength of the enemy, and which we were willing to commit, as fully as the country itself was to be committed which we came to assist. We had, however, no right to stimulate other people to struggle, unless we were determined to support them with our utmost means. Considering how partial the insurrection in the north of Germany was, it would have been most unjust to the people of that country to stimulate them to insurrection, without a determination to support them to the utmost; and it would have been most impolitic to have come to such a determination in the present state of Europe. If we could send one of those great substantive armies, such as traversed Germany in the thirty years war, like a nation among nations, carrying its own magazines with it, then perhaps the north of Germany might have been the proper destination. The case was, however, now widely different. But if there was a country in which it would be perfectly just to interfere, Spain was that country. There the torch of insurrection was every where lighted and every where burning, and therefore we exposed the people of that country to no additional danger by giving them our assistance. We did not, however, pretend to commit ourselves to the same extent that the Spanish nation was committed. It +

B

was always understood that the British army was lent to them as a trust to be restored, not given as a loan to be expended. At present there was no question about raising any general confederacy against France. That would be an idle speculation. But if any country was resolved to make an effort to break its chains, that country became our ally. Most desponding feelings had been expressed with respect to Spain. We were informed, that an indisposition existed on the part of the constituted authorities there to give the people an interest in the struggle. And it had been asked, why we did not endeavour to effect a change internally? Were we then to go with the Koran in one hand, and the sword in the other, to change the habits and religion of those whom we would aid? I am not," said Mr Canning, "nice in the means which I would make use of to thwart the views of Buonaparte. I would gladly press a combination of all nations, and of all religions, into a phalanx to oppose him. I would unite with the Turk, without requiring him to lay aside the turban, and I would march to the field with the poor bigotted Spaniard, without first insisting on his divesting himself of superstition. Some were of opinion, that no aid should have been granted till the cortes were convoked. But I should be very sorry to have to answer for such conduct, as it would have been a sure way of creating intestine divisions; the clashing interests of the several provinces might have produced the most fatal consequences. Thus, had the Castilian cortes been assembled, Buonaparte, by calling the Arragonese against them, might have divided Spain within herself more completely than she was divided by the Ebro."

Mr Canning then noticed the attacks which had been made upon Lord Wellington, saying, that the ad, vance to Talavera was that general's own act, but an act of which he approved, as he did also of the honours with which that gallant officer had been so deservedly rewarded. “We ought not," said he, "to undervalue the hero's laurels, even though they may be barren. Has valour then so long been admired, and now at last lost its value? Have we on a sudden become so enlightened, that we can contemplate it with philosophic apathy? The moralist may shudder at the shedding of human blood; yet still was Lord Wellington entitled to the gratitude of his country, and the glories of Talavera were not purchased so dearly as to be for ever deplored." He concluded by referring to a subject which more particularly and personally applied to himself, his dispute with Lord Castlereagh. He was of opinion, he said, that the dignity and decency of the house, and the respect which was due to the feelings of individual members, should prevent any discussion of that subject in parlia ment; for himself, it was his fixed determination, that no provocation should induce him to enter into any such discussion.

Mr Whitbread replied, that as far as that subject respected the individuals concerned, no gentleman would wish to bring it into discussion there; but the question which Mr Canning had to answer to the country was, why he had suffered Lord Castlereagh to remain in office, after being convinced that he was unfit to remain there? This question he hoped the right honourable gentleman would be compelled to answer to the house and to the public. "One thing, however," Mr Whitbread said, " much

delighted him. Mr Canning had said that in a good cause he would seek the assistance of men of all religions; the Turk and the Christian, the Jew and the Pagan, politically considered, were to him equal. No doubt then, now that he and Lord Castlereagh were emancipated from the shackles of bigotry, they would unite with the friends of toleration in support of unlimited religious freedom." Then he adverted to the present administration, and the manner in which it had been formed. "Marquis Wellesley, Marquis Wellesley," he said, "went to Spain after delays which ought to be accounted for, and of which he should hereafter demand an explanation: there, however, at last he went, and what were his services when he got there? Why, he went through the mummery of dan cing on the French flag! He did more; he visited the junta, went through all the routine of etiquette and politics, made a speech about reform, took his glass after dinner, and religiously toasted the Pope. It was surprising indeed to see him so soon returning after his flirtation with the whore of Babylon at Cadiz ! On his return, of course, when the places were going, he came in for his share, and made one of the administration which the Chancellor of the Exchequer had at length compiled; but in what manner had he compiled it? His first application was to two noble lords, with whose principles he had been at war all his political life: they rejected the tender in a manner worthy of their dignity, and the rebuff which they gave would have daunted any man of less temerity than himself. There was not a man, from the Orkneys to the Land's End, who did not pronounce him and his administration weak, incapable, and insufficient. Even with the addition of the

two colleagues who had deserted them they were feeble, but they then stood on a principle, or rather in opposition to a principle; but now, ha ving been rejected by all who were worthy, the weak, and old, and infirm were collected from the hedges and high roads, and consorted with for want of better."

Mr Whitbread then came to the burthen of his song. "Pompous language," said he, " is held out as to the flourishing state of our revenue; our treasury we are told is full. Aye, by the rigorous severity with which the taxes are collected, and methods by which the liberty of the subject is directly struck at. Let an economical reform be instituted before the last ounce is exacted, and the country reduced to despair! Let a government be removed to which the people have refused their confidence! Let our relative situation with the ene my be well considered! Austria gone, the French force concentrated, and Spain their only object. We are told that Portugal may be defended by 30,000 men; but would not Buonaparte know our force to a drummer, and where we had 30,000 he would have three score. Who would struggle against such fearful odds! We held our ground in that country just at the will of the French emperor, and at his option he could drive us out of it. And what could we expect from our present ministry,such a ministry,-or rather from a single man, for the Chancellor of the Exchequer, in fact, stood alone. Marquis Wellesley, of whom such account had been made, might be considered as completely insignificant. Who was he? The governor of India, the man who had scarcely escaped the censure of that house for his cruel tyranny! the man who had assailed

the press, that sacred palladium of the people! the friend of despotism! the foe to liberty! Could this man say to Buonaparte, in the noble indignation of insulted virtue, " I have not done as you have!" Alas! if such a man had strength, he would indeed be a fearful acquisition to such a government; but he was known, and therefore weak and harmless. Peace," Mr Whitbread concluded," should be the cry of the nation. Peace, particularly because the thraldom of millions of our fellow subjects was the tenure by which this incapable junta held their offices."

Mr Perceval replied to this speech in all its parts. "As to the situation," he said, "which he had the honour to hold in his majesty's council, he must state, in the most explicit and duteous manner, that it was not an object of his own desire; on the contrary, if his wishes had been realized, another person would then have held the office of first lord of the Treasury. When, by his majesty's directions, he had applied to Earls Grey and Grenville, for the purpose of forming an extended administration, the first proposition which he should have made to them, if they had given him an opportunity of stating it, would have been, that it should be left to themselves to determine who should be the first lord of the Treasury."-This was a confession of weakness; twelve months before, Mr Perceval was strong in the opinion of the people; but now the deplorable Walcheren expedition hung about him like a mill-stone, and, even in his own feelings, weighed him down. In defence of that expedition, the arguments which he adduced were, that it was of great importance to destroy the bason at Flushing; that no better mode could have been devised, not

for withdrawing French troops from the Danube, but to prevent reinforcements of 25 or 30,000 men from going thither; that Austria, the moment she knew such an expedition was in agitation, had entreated us to persevere in it; and that, within a day or two of the conclusion of the peace, she had requested us not to evacuate Walcheren. He rose into a higher strain when he spoke of the Spaniards, and the unjust and unfeeling manner in which their conduct had been represented. "Was it liberal," he said, "that the defenders of Zaragoza and Gerona should be said to have displayed no generosity, no enthusiasm, no patriotism? Well, indeed, might those persons censure what was done to aid the Spanish cause, who could assert that the cause did not deserve success. But neither in ancient nor in modern history can an example be found of a country maintaining a contest like that which this degraded Spain, and this degraded Spanish government, had so long supported. Never, in recent times, had 250,000 Frenchmen been so long in a country without subduing it. Spain was not subdued, but what effect upon the Spaniards such language as had been used that night might produce, it was impossible to predict!"

167 members divided against the ministry, leaving them a majority of 96. Ón a subsequent evening, when the address Jan. 25, was again taken into consideration, Sir Francis Burdett rose. "The result,” he said, " of all which he heard, was to confirm more and more the calm conviction with which he entered that room, of the necessity of a thorough, constitutional, and temperate reform. Never were men in such a state of self-abandon