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fupplies of naval and military ftores, but at the fame time to attend to the complaints of neutrals and give them speedy redress.

Still it might be objected that now their pretenfions appeared in a different view, and that it was impoffible minifters fhould be blind to the northern confederacy: the queftion however recurs, Was this convention effentially hoftile to us? All that we knew at prefent was, that the late treaty was founded on the armed neutrality of 1780: in confequence of the acceffion of Sweden and Denmark to that treaty, not only had an embargo been laid on their veffels, but orders had been issued and carried into effect to feize on the open feas the veffels of those powers thus we had committed acts of hoftility against them.

The ground of quarrel with Ruffia was different, confequently no inference could be drawn that the northern powers were actuated by hoftile views; nay, the fignature of conventions with belligerents, when for other purposes than thofe fer which war is carried on, it is acknowledged affords no juft caufe for war. The adminiftration of lord North, though in other refpects unpopular, was never accufed of pufillanimity or bad policy becaufe the difcuffion of thefe claims for which we contend was evaded.

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If minifters knew that the confederacy was to be apprehended, why had they refufed Bonaparte's over tures? If they did not know, what title had they to confidence? Had there been no fymptoms of difcontent in the north? Had not the Swedish convoy been feized, and complaints been made? Had not the Swedith government condemned the officer to death for not making refiftance? Every thing therefore had indicate an accumulating preffire in the

profecution of the war, at the moment when minifters were employing all forts of arts and intrigues to

effect its continuance.

But to proceed on the point of national honour-It must be vindicated, we were told, against the attacks of Denmark and Sweden; and why not against thofe of Pruffia? fince Pruilia was indifputably a partner in what was termed hoftili ties? The reafon was, because one was ftrong, and the other weak; Pruffia poilerfed means of retaliation, Denmark and Sweden did not. Behold how facred was the honour of the nation, when fuch was the raagnanimous conduct of high-fpirited minifters!

But what was our fituation now, compared to what it was when offers formerly were made? We had refuted to treat when fupported by Auftria, when he was yet unexhaufted, and when the new government of France was ftruggling under financial difficulties and the difcouragement of an unfuccefsful campaign, when it was defirous of eftablishing its reputation either by peace or victory; and now that the was recovered in her armies, recruited in her finances, and ftrengthened by her alliances, minifters avowed that they were ready to treat whenever the enemy evinced a favourable difpofition. Of the internal fituation of the country, Mr. Grey briefly obferved, that the power of France and her confederates being at this period fo formidable, new meafures of internal defence would be requifite. Four years ago, en the alarm of hoftile attack, a military force was raifed for the public defence. Where was it now? It had been ditipated and deftroyed in the difgraceful expeditions in which minitters had embarked; part had been wafted in the fatal de

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fcent upon Holland, part mouldered away in the holds of transports, and the reft, after being driven about from Portsmouth to Belleifle, from Belleifle to Ferrol, and from Ferrol to Cadiz, laft of all had perished in the burning fands of Egypt. When we confidered in what manner our means had hitherto been squandered, what hope of fuccefs could be entertained by arming minifters with any fresh forces? Mr. Grey concluded with remarking, that this real view of things was calculated not to difcourage, but to roufe: much might be done under a better fyftem of policy; our refources, though diminished, were ftill great, and, with economy and uprightnefs oppofed to profufion and corruption, might be employed with effect to any purpose of national defence or national enterprife. He ended with moving an amendment fimilar to that in the lords.

Mr. Pitt, who ftill acted as chancellor of the exchequer, faid, the honourable gentleman had fallen into the fame error which conftituted the great fallacy of the arguments for the northern powers; namely, that every exception from the general law, by a particular treaty, proved the law to be as it was ftated in that treaty: whereas, the very circumftance of making an exception proved what the law would be, if no fuch treaty was made to alter it.

With every one of the three northern powers in difpute, independent of the law of nations, of our uniform practice, and of the opinion of courts, we had the ftri&t letter of engage ments by which they were bound to us; and their prefent conduct was as much a violation of pofitive treaties with England as of thefe laws. In the convention figned be

tween Great Britain and Ruffia, the latter bound herself, in the commencement of the war, not merely to oblerve this principle, but to ufe her efforts to prevent neutral powers from protecting the commerce of France on the feas, or in the ports of France. Denmark and Sweden had diftinctly expreitad their readiness to agree in that very point which they now were dif posed to contend: in the laft autump, Denmark, with her feets and arfenals at our mercy, entered into a folemn pledge not again to fend veffels with convoy until the principle was fettled; notwithftanding which, the had engaged in a new convention to maintain ftipulations by force of arms: was this war, or was it not? But it was objected, that as we did not know the precife terms of the present treaty, we ought to take no steps till we were fully apprifed of them. It is true, we did not know the precife terms; but if, on demanding to know whether they had made engagements hoftile to our interefis, they told us that they had without fpecifying what exceptions had been made in our favour, we were not bound to give them credit for thefe, or wait to defend ourselves till we were abfolutely attacked. Ought we to give them time to affemble their forces, and thus empower them to produce a fubftitute for the fallen army in France? The queftion then was, were we to permit the navy of our enemy to be fupplied and recruited; to fuffer blockaded forts to be furnished with warlike ftores and provifions; and permit neutral nations, by hoiting a flag on a fithing-boat, to convey the treasures of America to the harbours of Spain, and the naval ftores of the Baltic to Brest and Toulon? If the

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commerce of France had not been deftroyed, if the fraudulent fystem of neutrals had not been prevented, her navy would have been now in a very different fituation.

If we had no other guide but the experience of the prefent war, it was fufficient to prove not only the use, but the neceffity, of maintaining a principle fo important to the power, nay, to the exiftence, of this country.

Inquiries into the conduct of adminiftration would foon, he heard, be made, and we should then have an opportunity of ample difcuffion: none of them touched the point before the house; the amendment, as it ftood, would only be embarraffed by reference to these topics, which are calculated to obftruct the proceedings on which our fafety depended. The difpute between us and the confederated powers was of fuch importtance as to claim the undivided attention of the house.

Dr. Lawrence thought the point was not fo much, whether the practice of belligerent powers to fearch neutral veffels was founded in right, as whether it was confiftent with found policy to infift upon the right at this period: he profeffed himfelf decidedly against minifters on this occafion, and therefore voted for the amendment. If it appeared neceffary, after inveftigation, to act hoftilely againft the northern powers, adminiftration would then carry with them the fupport of the country; if the chancellor of the exchequer dif. carded this line of policy, and purfued the ruinous fyftem on which he had fo long acted, he would fatally evince, that eloquence and wifdom were not always united, and that a state was on the decline when the former arrived to its greatest height. It was the intereft

of the military defpot who now wielded the power of France to conciliate the northern allies; he had been diftorting his navigation laws to their accommodation, and had fucceeded in obtaining their friendship. Should this confederacy be driven by our minifters to unite with him, how dangerous muft Bonaparte become to England!

He conjured the house well to confider whether war might be avoided, before they recommended it; to abandon their right, at least to relinquish it in this critical moment, and not cut with the fword the knot which united us to other ftates. Forbearance had been the policy of the magnanimous Elizabeth, who claimed and exercised this right: the matter could be best adjusted by negotiation; force could never fatisfactorily decide it: the northern powers had denied that there was any thing in the convention recently figned at Petersburg contrary to exifting treaties with England. We complained of the arreft of our veffels by Ruffia, and committed an act as violent and unjuftifiable towards Sweden and Denmark. The claim of the northern powers (which was exemption of convoys from fearch) was juft; as veffels of the ftate, they were protected from examination; no precedent, political, hiftorical, or judicial, had ever fanctioned it: but were it otherwife, would it be prudent, in our exifting fituation,, when France had abforbed all the smaller states, to drive Denmark and Sweden into her arms, by urging thefe pretenfions, and when they were not difpofed to go to war with us? What could we gain by it? Some petty iflands in the Weft-Indies, or manufactories in the Eaft,

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fcarce worth retaining; and, for this reafon, he advised the houfe not to diffipate the force of the country, which required concentration a paint a formidable enemy. The objects of Bonaparte had been, to weaken the power of Auticia, and to humble the naval afcendancy of England the one he had accomplished, and had a fair mofpect of the other, if we mally plunged into a conteft with the maritime powers of the north with fuch alfitance, what fatal confequences might not be expect ed by even the moft fanguine admirers of our courage and refources!

The folicitor-general faid, that we were not in circumftances in which to paule would be politic or praife-worthy yet whilft the mover of the amendment acknowledged we were in a fituation requiring vigour, exertion, and promptitude, he had propofed doubt, inquiry, and hesitation. We had exercifed the right of maritime capture from time almost immemorial, and had continued to exercise it with the utmost moderation. Let our conduct be compared with that of France: they had confifcated the ships of their friends whenever they happened to be loaded with enemy's goods; and not merely that, but if the goods were of English manufacture, or if any part of them were fo, the whole fhip and cargo were condemned: yet France raised all the outcry againft England, whofe pretenfions were a temperate use of the general cuftom of belligerent powers, and a material qualification of the unjuft and extravagant practices of France and Spain.

But France was now an advocate for the freedom of the feas; and, to affert that freedom, had

joined Sweden and Denmark, and become a leading friend to the unmolefted navigation of neutral fhips-Why? Because, after the defeat of their navy by lord Nelfon, they recalled thefe fhips into their ports, and the policy of this meafure could not be overlooked. If we wished to defeat it, and to prevent the restoration of their navy and their commerce, we muft maintain the right of fearching neutral fhips: if we permitted the free navigation demanded, the French would foon recruit their marine; we might deftroy it again and again, they would weary us by expence if the northern powers were fuffered to furnish them with ftores, they could easily, year after year, bring out fresh fleets; and, fhould fuch a fyftem be tolerated, our naval fuperiority would be reduced to complete infignificance. By the exifting treaties, it would be fraud in Denmark and Sweden to convey enemies' goods; the prefent convention, which Denmark had figned, afferted this right; this, therefore, was a defection from treaty, and to all intents an act of hottility. By confenting to any modification of our rights, the next requifition would be, that all kind of property on board merchant-fhips fhould be protected from detention, and free from fearch, and they would proceed to infilt that we fhould not take our enemies' goods, and that the intercourfe of merchants ought not to be interrupted. Againft whom then were we to wage war? Why, against a metaphyfical being called a State-as if the itate was any thing but the aggregate of the people, and we attack their property to reduce the resources of that state which derives all its vigour from them.

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The Danes and Swedes were neutral whilst they remained at home; but when employed in tranfporting goods to our enemy, in promoting their commerce, and contributing to their interefts, to affirm they then were fo, and that we were unjustifiable in interrupting them, is too abfurd to need refutation.

There being then no doubt as to the right, where was the impropriety of affuring his majefty we would affift him in maintaining it? Diftruft and defpondency muft ne. ceffarily be excited if we defpair ed of the juftice of our claim and the fufficiency of our means: nor was it wife to dishearten that spirit on which we were to rely for effective affiftance. Did the mover of the amendment design to caft down the hopes of the people by his comparison between this country and the state of France? What would be thought of the character of that commander, who, when the battle was approaching, instead of animating his army with encouragements, fhould difplay his eloquence to exaggerate their danger, and defcribe the ftrength and formidable numbers of the enemy? Should we not pronounce him cowardly, treacherous, and impolitic? Away with thofe invidious diftinctions of party when the country is in danger! When the exiftence of our primary interefts is threatened, let there be a correfpondence in our views, and we might face that hoft of enemies which the honourable gentleman had prefented to us. If it be our determination to fight for our deareft rights, let us diffufe no doubt of our capacity for the combat: we now were called upon to affert all that was elevated in the British character, all that was denominated

public fpirit; let us then avoid that whining melancholy which could anfwer no purpofe but to enfeeble, by depicting evils in the moft glowing colours, without reprefenting any thing tending to their alleviation: 'pite of declamation, the English would not clamour for peace at the price of honour; they would not submit to French domination to obtain hread, or fell their birth-right for a mess of pottage. To bring forward a motion calculated to embarrafs thofe who were to guide us through our difficulties-to deplore our fituation inftead of exerting ourselves to remedy it-to infinuate that hope was delufive, and vigour unavailing, when we were called upon to act with vigour and unanimity-was neither patriotic nor magnanimous. For his own part, he would come forward and firuggle with his countrymen for their rights, their property, their power, and their exilence.

Mr., Tierney faid he should not have troubled the houfe with a fingle obfervation, had not the long, train of mifreprefentations and artful arguments which he had just heard tended to inflame the minds of the house and of the country against his friend Mr. Grey, by imputing to him fentiments he had never uttered. Was it exciting defpondence, or facrificing the liberties of Englifhmen, becaufe, after being eight years deceived by every promife, and difappointed in every enterprile, we refufed to entrust the remaining refources of the country into the fame hands, without making fome inquiry?

The houfe had also been called to vote on a moft delicate and implicated fubject, before any documents were produced to guide

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