MR. SPEAKER,

SPEECH, &c.

IF the present conjuncture of our affairs afforded us a free option between war and peace; if the necessity which originally compelled us to engage in the present contest had ceased, and the question for our deliberation on this day were merely, whether we should return to the secure and uninterrupted enjoyment of a flourishing commerce, of an overflowing revenue, of tranquil liberty at home, and of respect and honour abroad; or whether, on the other hand, we should wantonly commit to the doubtful chance of arms all those accumulated blessings; no man could hesitate one moment in deciding on such an alternative. To us more especially no other guide would be necessary than our own recent experience. Within our own memory, the country has passed with such rapid steps from the lowest state of adversity to the utmost degree of opulence, splendour, and power, that all our minds must be furnished with whatever useful lessons are to be drawn from either fortune. We all know, and have felt what may be lost by the calamities of war, and what may be gained by a wise improvement of the advantages of peace. But whether I revert to the grounds and origin of this war, whether I look forward to the probable issue of the contest, or fix my attention on the inevitable effects of any attempt to abandon it in the present crisis, my judgment is driven to the painful but irresistible conclusion, that no such alternative is now before us. Our choice must now be made between the vigorous prosecution of our present exertions, and an ambiguous state neither of open hostility, nor of real repose; a state in which we should suffer most of the inconveniences of war, in which we should enjoy none of the solid advantages of peace, in which, even if we could purchase at the expense of our honour and of our faith, a short respite from the direct attacks of the enemy, we could never for

a moment feel the genuine sense of permanent security; unless we could contemplate without emotion the rapid progress of the arms and principles of France in the territories of our allies; unless we could behold without anxiety the rapid approaches of the same danger threatening the British dominions; unless we could sit at ease with the axe suspended over our heads, and wait with tranquillity of mind the moment, when these formidable enemies, after the extinction of every element of order and regular government in their own country, after the subjugation of every foreign power whose alliance might assist us in our last struggles, strengthened by additional resources, animated by the prospect of new plunder, and flushed with the triumphant success of their prosperous crimes, should turn their whole force against the British monarchy, and complete their victory over the interests of civil society, by the final destruction of that fair fabrick of government, under which these happy kingdoms have so long enjoyed the inseparable advantages of substantial liberty, settled order, and established law.

No part of the speech from the throne more fully meets my sentiments on this important question, than that in which his majesty recommends it to us to bear in mind the true grounds and origin of the present war. We cannot have forgotten, that before the French had declared war against us, we had seen in their conduct views of aggrandizement, projects of ambition, and principles of fixed hostility against all established government: and we had been convinced, that unless the foundation of our complaints should be removed, by a total alteration in their system with respect to foreign nations, war on our part would become at length inevitable. We cannot have forgotten, that instead of endeavouring to remove our just apprehensions, their explanations afforded fresh motives of jealousy, and their conduct aggravated every cause of offence; until at length, they interrupted all negotiation by a sudden declaration of war, attended by circumstances of unexampled

perfidy and violence. At that time we declared, at the foot of the throne, "that we considered whatever his majesty's subjects held most dear and sacred, the stability of our happy constitution, the security and honour of his majesty's crown, and the preservation of our laws, our liberty, and our religion, to be all involved in the issue of the present contest, and we pledged ourselves, that our zeal and exertions should be proportioned to the importance of the conjuncture, and to the magnitude and value of the objects for which we had to contend." Impressions conceived after such deliberate examination, assurances so solemnly pledged in the face of the nation, and of all Europe, will not be abandoned by the wisdom and firmness of this house upon such suggestions as have hitherto been offered in this debate. Before we can be justified in relinquishiug the principles by which our proceedings have hitherto been governed, we shall require satisfactory proof, either that the impressions which we had originally conceived of the views of France were erroneous; or, that by the course of subsequent events, the success of the war is become desperate and impracticable; or, that from some improvement in the system and principles which prevail in France, and in the views and characters of those who now exercise the powers of government there, the motives of justice and necessity which compelled us to enter into the war, no longer continue to operate.

On each of these propositions separately, and on the combined result of the whole, I shall endeavour to bring this question to a fair issue.

Although the question of the original justice and necessity of the war was so fully examined in the last session of parliament, yet to relinquish the blessings of peace is a measure of such serious and grave importance, that I am confident we shall not be unwilling, during any period of the contest, carefully and anxiously to revise the grounds on which it was adopted. In the present moment, however superfluous it may appear to search for any additional justification

of our conduct, or to endeavour to throw any new light on a question already so well understood, yet it cannot but prove satisfactory to us, that a variety of occurrences since the commencement of the war, and many new and striking proofs have concurred to confirm the wisdom and justice of our decision, not merely on general grounds, but precisely on the very grounds on which it was originally founded. If I could bring to your bar the most malignant, the most active, and the most able enemy of the British name in the national convention, the author of the most scandalous official libels against the views, interests, and power of Great Britain, the author of the most inflammatory speeches tending to provoke the war in which we are engaged, the author of the declaration of war itself, and the inventor of all the pretences by which it has since been palliated both in France and in England; if I could bring him to a cross examination in your presence, confront him with his own reports, speeches, and manifestoes, as well as with those of his colleagues in office, and comparing the result of the whole, with concurrent and subsequent events, convict him and his associates of falsehoods, treachery, and prevarication in all their pretended explanations, of their own designs, as well as in all their affected complaints, of the supposed views of his majesty's councils, I am persuaded that you would not reject an investigation, the issue of which must tend to confirm the confidence of the nation in the original justice of our cause: such is the nature of the proof which I am about to offer to you.

Brissot, the leader of the diplomatick committee, Brissot, the main spring of the French government, at the breaking out of the war failing into disgrace and danger, addressed to his constituents a defence of all his measures, in which he reveals the whole secret and mystery of the French revolution, and makes an ́, open confession of the principles by which France was directed in her intercourse with the other powers, of the means which she employed, and of the ends which she pursued. From the unquestionable testi

mony of this production, from the evidence of the principal actor in these transactions, I propose to examine the truth of our complaints, the justice of the conduct of France, and the validity of the arguments which have been used on either side.

The views which we attributed to France previous to the war, were views of aggrandizement and ambition, connected with the propagation of principles, incompatible with the existence of any regular government.

The particular acts by which those views had been manifested, were, 1st, the decree of the 19th of November, in which France made (according to her own language) a grant of universal fraternity and assistance, and ordered her generals every where to aid and abet those citizens who had suffered, or might suffer hereafter in the cause of (what she called) liberty. Her sense of liberty, as applied to England, was shown by the reception of seditious and treasonable addresses, and by the speeches of the president of the national convention, expressing his wish for the auspicious institution of a British convention, founded, as such an institution must have been, upon the destruction of every branch of our happy constitution.

2d. The conduct of France, in incorporating the territories of other powers with her own, under colour of voluntary acts of union, pretended to have been freely voted by the people; particularly in the cases of Savoy, and of the Netherlands, of both which countries France had assumed the sovereignty.

3d. The opening of the Scheldt, in direct violation of the most solemn treaties guarantied by France herself. And lastly, her general designs of hostility against Holland.

When the decree of the 19th of November was complained of here, the executive council replied, that, "It would be injurious to the national convention, to charge them with the project of protecting insurrections."