relinquished. I consider it as the salvation. of the country, by calling forth the energy and the resources of the people. As a war tax, I hope and trust, if any cause should arise to call for extraordinary exertion, that it will be again brought forward, because I think it well calculated for that purpose. The hon. baronet has denominated it a cruel and oppressive measure; but he will recollect, that it originated with the city of London. It was called for by the city, and by the commercial men, who brought it before parliament for its approbation. As to the conduct of a dear and noble relation of mine (lord' Grenville) at the time to which the hon. baronet alludes, I shall say nothing; but I do, from the bottom of my heart, believe, that to the wise and upright conduct of the right hon. gentleman (Mr. Pitt) we owe every blessing which we now enjoy, and the privilege of sitting here. The country has borne witness to his abilities, and posterity will do justice to his memory. I am convinced, that to be the object of the calumny of the hon. baronet and his friends, and of their slanderous rancour, is the proudest boast of his heart, satisfied as he must be of having well earned the gratitude and praise of his countrymen. On these grounds, I shall give my decided dissent to the motion. that nothing short of revolution and a republic was their real object. With respect to our perseverance in the war with France, and the repeated failure of overtures set on foot for the restoration of peace, his majesty's ministers were equally blameless, and their conduct had been repeatedly approved by parliament. Negotiations on our part were never deferred, nor declined, but when the fugacity of ostensible power in the men who, from time to time, composed the revolutionary government of France, left no security whatever for the observance of any treaty, or the permanence of any peace which could be concluded. The last overtures at Lisle, on the ground of pacific negotiation, was for a naval armistice, which must have allowed to France the power of recruiting her navy, and left this country at the mercy of the naval coalition since attempted to be formed against her; but such a proposition could only be listened to with indignation. Parliament and the country at large with one voice approved the rejection of overtures on such a ground, and the result had eminently justified our refusal. When Buonaparte, with a rash and despotic hand, seized on the reins of government, and proposed overtures of peace, his majesty's ministers had too fresh in their recollection the short lived power of his predecessors, to warrant them in the hope that any peace suddenly concluded with him promised greater permanence. But when the people of France, tired of the horrors of the revolutionary conflict that had long torn their country, agreed to confirm his government, and such a degree of stability seemed to attach to it, as warranted a reliance upon a treaty of peace concluded with France, under his direction, overtures were accepted. He was one of those who did not approve the terms of the peace; yet it was pretty plain, that the confidence of his majesty's present ministers, who concluded the peace, was seconded by the confidence of the country, as was obvious from the promptitude of negotiating a loan for 25,000,000l. on terms peculiarly advantageous to the public. This was a true criterion that our wealth remained unimpaired. The hon. baronet, (continued the noble lord), has charged ministers with having abandoned the income tax, as being inefficacious and disgraceful to the country. It was a tax instituted for the prosecution of the war; and while it lasted, I never wished it to be [VOL. XXXVI.] Mr. Archdall begged to acknowledge the compliments which the hon. baronet had paid to the parliament of Ireland, as a cruel, and even as a suicidal body of men; as one of them, he would assure the hon. baronet, that they received all his compliments with the most sovereign acquiescence. As to the ministerial warfare levied against Ireland, it consisted in acts of concession, from the commencement of the war to the union of the parliaments-acts of repeated concession and disappointed conciliation. He then mentioned the different popular acts passed there, particularly the militia bill, to which he said Ireland chiefly owed its preservation at this moment; but which was not what the bon. baronet had recommended, a debating army; and the Roman Catholic bill, of which the Catholics had expressed an opinion, by publishing, that they should for ever remember with the most lively gratitude, the benefits which they had received during the earl of Westmorland's administration: all this war of ministry, the Irish people had happily survived, and found they were existing very well with them; yet lord Westmoreland was one of [2 M] ever heard, the speech of the noble earl was of that very description. It was not easy to sit silent after hearing the panegyric which the noble earl had uttered in defence of his majesty's late ministers, and of the whole of their measures. Among other subjects of encomium was the income tax, which the noble earl expressed his hope would always be adopted as a war tax in any future contest. But a tax so detestable, he hoped would never again be adopted. By the blessing of God, he would bring forward a question, the decision upon which, he hoped, would brand this tax with some mark of eternal infamy. Was any man prepared to say, that an inquiry should not be instituted into the conduct of a ministry, who had dilapidated 258 millions of the public money, granted 583 pensions, and created 95 peers? If inquiry was resisted, the parliament of this country would soon be. placed in the situation in which the hon. baronet had described the parliament of Ireland to have been; it would be compelled to commit an act of suicidal justice. that ministry, under whose government | out proof; but of all the speeches he had more good laws had been made for Ireland, than in all the governments of all the lords lieutenant, from lord Wentworth down to lord Wentworth Fitzwilliam. After mentioning this last nobleman with great respect, he said, the next government was a government of self-defence; it was assailed by rebellion and civil war, and was obliged to repel force by force. Could the hon. baronet say, that commotion should go so far, and no farther, and that the hand which might raise a storm could be sure to allay it? As to the freequartering of the army, he should not defend nor blame it. All he should say was, that it was not an act of the late ministry, but of the regretted character who was then the commander-in-chief, sir Ralph Abercromby. The House would determine what aggressions the late ministry had committed against the constitution, when they considered the union with Ireland-a measure, which, he trusted, would transmit to the latest posterity their names, as the best protectors of an united empire. He would close what he had to say with adverting for a moment to the right hon. gentleman who had been at the head of that ministry, against whom the motion was particularly directed; he adverted to that gentleman with those sensations which inferior minds must feel when they contemplate an object so far above them; but if after a long ministerial life of difficulties, which could only be exceeded by the spirit which surmounted them; if, after years of unceasing exertions and undiminished popularity, he chose to rest from the service of a crown which he had asserted, and a country which he had saved, rich at least in the consciousness of his character, and the patriotism of his labours; if after this some one should come forward to criminate his merits in the parliament which had witnessed them, even he would presume to speak what the right hon. gentleman need not condescend to speak for himself that to this House it would be enough to say, as his illustrious father said before him, "You know these hands are clean;" and to his accuser it would not be too much to say, Lord Belgrave thought the motion of the hon. baronet should be converted into a practical compliment to his majesty's late ministers. He should say little with respect to the argument of the hon. baronet; but it appeared to him that, with the sentiments which actuated his mind, he ought to have proposed certain resolutions for the purpose of grounding on them an impeachment. The hon. baronet had not, however, been contented with censuring the conduct of the late ministers, but the present ministers, the parliament, the judges, the police magistrates, the governor of Cold Bath-fields prison, as well as other persons, had come in for a share of the censure. It was well that the speech of the hon, baronet had been made in that House; had it been made elsewhere, at least so far as it regarded the judges, it must have been treated with contempt, or prosecuted as a libel. He had been a member of the committee appointed to inquire into the economy of Cold Bath-fields prison, and he would confidently assert, that the moment the least remonstrance was made on "Disce, puer, virtutem ex me, verumque the part of the prisoners, the strictest in laborem, Fortunam ab aliis ". Mr. Jones said, it had been observed by the noble earl, that the speech of the hon. baronet was full of assumption with vestigation was set on foot by government, and immediate relief, if necessary, afforded. He could not but think that governor Aris had been harshly treated in some speeches made in that House; for no in the motion which could induce a grand jury to put a man on his trial. He had heard much of Bastiles and Cold Bathfields, but he could not discover that any abuse of power existed. The motion appeared to him to be more directed against the majority of that House than against ministers; but he had always understood that the majority ought to govern the minority. The motion was brought forward at the very moment of peace, when, whilst the hon. baronet was asserting the country to be ruined, the people were displaying the greatest confidence in its dividual had complained of oppression, | had been brought forward in support of except some of the mutineers. Had the hon. baronet simply proposed the motion, he would not have moved any amendment, but as the hon. baronet had coupled it with a speech containing the strongest censure, he thought the House should express its decided opinion as to the conduct of the late ministers, to whom the country was, in his opinion, indebted for its salvation. He would, by way of amendment, accordingly propose, that all the words, after the word "that," should be omitted; and that in the room of them should be inserted the words, "the thanks of this House be given to his majesty's late ministers, for their wise and salutary conduct throughout the late war, by which they have maintained the national honour, and preserved the constitution." The Speaker said, that such an amendment was certainly consistent with the forms of parliament, but was extremely unusual. Mr. Pitt said, he would not offer one word on the original motion, but he hoped he might be allowed to suggest, that the amendment proposed by his noble friend, though within the letter of the order of the House, was certainly against the general course of proceeding; and therefore it appeared to him better not to proceed on the amendment. The House had met with a vague and imperfect notice of some motion to be levelled against the late administration, but with no knowledge of the particular points of that motion, which manifested, as he thought, a want of that accommodation which the House at least might have expected. But his noble friend would recollect, that as to the amendment, there had been no notice whatever; it it would therefore be an unusual course to pursue the amendment which his noble friend was inclined to propose; he hoped therefore, for the sake of the House, and of those to whom the amendment related, that he would not now bring it forward. Lord Belgrave said, he should not have moved the amendment, had it not been for the speech of the hon. baronet; but after such a violent speech, it was necessary for him, in a manly manner, to express his opinion. He would, however, withdraw the amendment. Mr. Ellison said, he was convinced the House was not to be led astray by "sound and fury signifying nothing." No fact resources. Mr. Bouverie expressed his approbation of the motion. During the late contest much had been promised, but little had been performed. It was the indisputable right of the public to inquire how their affairs had been conducted during a contest in which so much blood and treasure had been expended, and it was the object of the motion to institute such an inquiry. If on the result of this inquiry ministers should appear to have acted for the public good, they would, no doubt, receive a proper tribute of approbation; and if the contrary should turn out to be the case, it was but just that they should meet the punishment they deserved. Sir R. Buxton opposed the motion. He thought that, instead of gaining nothing by the war, we had gained our object. He admitted that the suspension of the Habeas Corpus act was in some degree an infringement of the liberty of the subject; but the question was, whether that liberty was not to give way for a time to the safety of the country? There never was a war accompanied by rebellion, in which so few persons had suffered. It was surely better to pass a few temporary acts as a preventive, than to bring a number of persons to condign punishment. Mr. Alexander said, that the speech of the hon. baronet was a charge of unqualified corruption on the parliament, and on the late ministers as the agents of that corruption. Nothing had been thrown out against those ministers which did not embrace the legislature and the government, and which did not equally tend to cast contempt upon all those persons by whom the government must be administered. Sir W. Elford said, he had attended to the speech of the hon.baronet, and not one syllable in it appeared to him to apply to the late administration: the strictures were all censures on the parliament, for enacting those laws of which the hon. baronet had complained, and for supporting the war, and the other measures of that administration; and the latter part of his speech was a gross libel on the late Irish parliament, and a tender apology for the Irish rebels. He was so fully convinced of the merits of those who were the objects of the motion, that he wished the forms of the House would admit of the motion of thanks proposed by the noble lord being now made. He had long thought, that considering the unparalleled obligations which this country owed to his majesty's late ministers, some active proof of its gratitude ought long ago to have been manifested. When he saw those right hon. gentlemen retiring from office, not with what used to be called emphatically ministerial fortunes, not with that independence which their great talents would have procured for them, had they been exercised in any other way than in the service of their country, he should ever consider it as an eternal disgrace to the country, and to the House in particular, that no one had, before this time, moved an humble address to his majesty, to implore him to bestow some signal mark of his royal bounty on those gentlemen, which that House would make good. The House divided: So it passed in the negative. Lord Belgrave then gave notice of his intention to bring forward, after the recess, a motion of thanks to the late administration. Debate in the Commons on the Militia Bill.] Mr. Secretary Yorke said, he rose to move for leave to bring in a bill to amend and consolidate the militia laws, and to augment the number of the militia. His majesty's ministers had thought it necessary, at the conclusion of the definitive treaty, to pay every attention to the defensive system of the country. He entirely agreed with what had been observed on a late occasion, that peace was to be preserved by a mixture of conciliation and firmness. No principle could be more wise than this; but the benefit of it could only be derived from placing the country in a proper posture of defence. This was never more necessary than at present, when our nearest and most formidable neighbour had received a considerable accession of power, and when the principle of her government was essentially military. With these views, it was the intention of his majesty's confidential servants in the first place to put the navy in a good state; the establishment would not only be conducted with the strictest economy, but kept up in the very best manner. He was perfectly sure there was the same disposition in ministers to turn their attention to the ordnance. With respect to the army, it stood higher now than at any former period of the war. He was persuaded that every thing which could be done in that branch of the service was to be expected from the illustrious prince at the head of that department. It always appeared to him, however, that it was impossible to come to any definitive arrangement with respect to the army on a peace establishment, till the number and organization of the militia was concluded upon. This country was assailable in many points; and it was impossible to maintain a regular army equivalent to the defence of those points, without an enormous expense. It was therefore thought expedient, upon constitutional grounds, and those of economy, to propose an increase of the militia. The points to which he wished to call the attention of the House were, the formation of the militia laws, and the augmentation of the number of the militia. With respect to the former, he wished to take, as his basis, the act of the 26th of his present majesty; and as, since that period, not less than twelve acts had been passed relative to the militia of England, and five for Scotland, it was his intention to propose the consolidation of these laws, with such amendments as should appear necessary. With respect to the augmentation of the militia, it appeared to him never to have been sufficient in point of number. In the American war it was found necessary to augment the militia, then consisting of 32,000 men, by an additional 10,000. During the present war, in 1794, it was found necessary to augment the militia in the same way; afterwards, when the danger of the country increased, the militia was again considerably augmented, the whole amounting to 90,000 men. Every gentleman must see that to have recourse, on the emergency of the moment, to the measure of increasing the militia, must inter fere with the regular service; while that increase could not, at such a moment, be effected without a considerable expense, and the ultimate effect of the measure would be much weakened. It appeared to him, therefore that the defence of the country ought to be taken upon a system of peace, leaving as little as possible to the emergency of the moment. He thought, that from the extent of the island of Great Britain, and the number of points which required to be defended, making every allowance for the co-operation of the navy, this powerful island ought to be able to put under arms, at the commencement of a war, for the purpose of defence, 100,000 men. He thought also, that we ought to be able, at such a moment, to lay our hands on 70,000 militia. In the northern part of the island, it was his intention to propose, that there should be a militia of from 10,000 to 12,000 men. It would be observed, that Scotland bad, till of late years, produced no militia, though she had sent forth many hardy and excellent soldiers. It became a question, whether it would be most advisable to enrol the whole of the 60,000 men, of which it was proposed the militia should consist in England, at once, or to enrol only a part, and to enable his majesty to enrol the remainder in the hour of danger. The greatest advantages would result to the country from thus having 70,000 men with arms in their hands, ready in the moment of danger; and the expense would be comparatively small; as, from the best calculation he could make, it would not amount to more than 230,000l. for the militia of England, including the whole expense of officers and men. This expense, would, however, be lessened, if 40,000 men were raised in England, and 9,000 in Scotland; and his majesty was empowered to raise, by proclamation, the remaining 20,000 in England, and 3,000 in Scotland, making a communication of the circumstance to parliament. By these means, the militia would be much better filled up than it could possibly be by raising a great number on the emergency of the moment. With respect to the amendments that he intended to propose in the existing regulations, they would embrace the following objects: the powers of lieutenants-the specified quota-the mode of inrolment substitutes-the organization of the regiments the formation of the regimental staff the training, exercising, and embodying of them. He should state the He general outline. With respect to the powers of the lieutenants, they would remain the same. With respect to the specified quota, he proposed that one-third should be added to the number of those to be furnished by each county. had endeavoured to procure accurate information from the returns made by the different counties of the relative proportion which ought to be furnished by each; but he had found those returns so inaccurate, as to be wholly useless for the purpose for which he wanted them. He should therefore propose, that the 40,000 men should be raised according to the old proportion for a limited time. The privy council would then be able to obtain correct and accurate returns, and might upon those data ascertain a quota which might remain for ten years: at the end of that period a new apportionment to take place. The House would see that this was only enforcing the original plan. With respect to the mode of enrollment, he intended to propose some material alterations. The first was, that no man should be enrolled without being examined by a surgeon: it was well known, that men were frequently enrolled who were actually unfit for service: there would be therefore a great saving, if, previous to enrollment, they were examined by the assistant surgeon of the regiment, or, if he was not near the spot, by some other surgeon of competent skill. The next regulation that he intended to propose was, that the men enrolled should be divided into classes; that in one class should be placed those who were unmarried, and under 30 years of age; in another, those who were married, but had no children; in another, those with one child: and so on; by this means, as all the classes need not be called out together, recourse might be had, in the first instance, to the youngest men, and those with the smallest families. With respect to substitutes, they should be taken from those who resided in the same county as those for whom they served. nization of the regiments, each company should have a captain, and that fieldofficers should not have companies. With respect to the formation of the regimental staff, there should not be a paymaster to any corps which consisted of less than three companies; his object was, to prevent the great expense which arose, at present, from small corps having as large a staff as those consisting of much greater numbers. He also intended to As to the orga |