them from striking a blow, and making themselves masters of Cork in two days after landing; and thus they might have destroyed twelve months provisions and stores for the navy. There was no adequate force in that part of Ireland to oppose the enemy. The right hon. gentleman seemed to think the French expedition a fortunate event, as it had proved the loyalty of that part of Ireland. Their loyalty was, indeed, meritorious, in proportion to the few obligations which the people of Ireland were under to their government. He condemned the restrictions of the Catholics, and insisted that nothing could add more to the discontents of Ireland, than the neglects which the people of that country, during different periods, had met with from administration. Mr. Windham (secretary at war) began with stating, that general grounds of presumption of neglect were a sufficient cause for inquiry. The hon. gentleman was perfectly warranted in the motion he had made, and the country in wishing to receive satisfaction. Still, however, the grounds on which such an inquiry was to proceed ought to be substantiated. The hon. gentleman had acknowledged the propriety of the instructions given to admiral Colpoys, but he blames the conduct which the admiral pursued, when he heard that the French fleet sailed from Brest. This would go to blame the admiral; but he insisted, there was no blame at all. The object of the motion was not to criminate the admiral, and therefore he little doubted but that, if the gentlemen in opposition pursued the blame to that point, they would feel no desire to run their game any farther. Mr. Windham vindicated the conduct of the Admiralty, and showed how impossible it was to keep a fleet for any length of time in such a state of preparation as to be ready to sail at a moment's warning. When government knew nothing but that the French fleet was out with sixteen sail, it would have been extreme rashness to have sent lord Bridport out with a greatly inferior fleet, and till he had been joined at St. Helen's by the rest of his squadron. Even if the enemy had landed, he denied the probability of Cork falling into their hands. He paid a compliment to the inhabitants of the southern parts of that island, for the loyalty which they manifested on the approach of the enemy, and observed, it was singular enough that those very men who were supposed to be the most op pressed in that kingdom, had manifested that disposition, while the inhabitants of the North, who were said not to have the same reason for complaint, had manifested a disposition to insurrection. This, he thought, went a good way towards proving that it was possible for men sometimes to make groundless complaints against those by whom they were governed. He did not charge gentlemen in opposition with any evil intention when they talked of those parts of his majesty's dominions that were liable to attack; they, of course, meant no more, than to enforce the charges they were pleased to exhibit against administration; but they should recollect, that observations of that kind partook of the nature of a two-edged sword: they might happen to convey information to the enemy what place they might most successfully attack, as well as expose the negligence of ministers. Mr. For said:-I shall begin, Sir, with the last part of the right hon. gentleman's speech who has just sat down with that stale and profligate argument of his, always used against those who oppose the measures of administration; that when they charge ministers with neglecting the defence of the country, they are to be considered as holding out an invitation to the enemy to attempt an invasion. If that be true, we had better at once put an end to the forms, as we have done to the substance of the constitution. If that be true, we had better leave every thing to ministers, and instead of making members take the oath of transubstantiation, suffer no man to come into the House who will not previously declare that he will never say any thing against the conduct of the executive government. The right hon. gentleman has talked of "two-edged tools." In a state of war every complaint against administration must be in the nature of a two-edged tool. If I complain that one part of the country is weak, I may be told,-Take care; you are doing that which is dangerous; you are communicating to the enemy which is the least defensible point of the empire. To whom then, am I to make the complaint? I wish to know whether ministers are the only persons to be permitted to give ad vice? Sir, I will state what my opinion has been with respect to an invasion; and will again say, that if ministers were really alarmed for the safety of Ireland, I cannot upon any possible ground, account for their conduct. I will say farther, that i they are apprehensive of any fresh danger part, I firmly believe that the grievances to Ireland, their conduct is little less than of which Ireland complains, are real, deep, insanity. Sir, I have dear connexions, well-founded. But whether they are so whose property is not partly in this kingdom, or not, we hear that the people in the and partly in that, but wholly in Ireland. South are loyal; yet all the reward they When I speak, therefore, of Ireland, speak get for their loyalty, is not a redress of with some degree of feeling; and if what grievances, not a removal of disabilities, I hear be true, that country is at this mo- not a cessation of exclusions. No, Sir, ment more discontented than she was be- the reward they get is empty praise, a fore the attempt at invasion. I suppose barren testimony to their loyalty; they I shall be told, that I am holding out an have no more to expect than those in the invitation to the French. No, Sir, I am North, who are represented to be of a not inviting them. I am inviting minis- very different description. I certainly do ters to take measures to remove that dis- admire the loyalty that was shown by the content, and remedy the grievances com- people of Ireland upon the late invasion, plained of. But we find that Ireland is and I should have thought that, by libe divided into two parts-the contented and ral and enlightened minds, that loyalty discontented. Upon that subject we shall would have been deemed an unanswerable hear more in future, but let not the right reason for giving the people, without dehon. gentleman who spoke last, state his lay, those privileges to which they are enopinion as our own. I have said, that the titled. No such project, however, has Catholics were in a state of unjust exclu- been yet adopted, and that country resion; but I never have said that the Pro- mains in the same state in which it was at testants had no reason for complaint, or the recall of lord Fitzwilliam. He left that they were not excluded from the es- them, after having had the authority of sence and substance of the British constitu- government for tantalizing their expection. I conceive all Ireland to be in such a tations, and the cup of happiness was on a situation, that if a speedy remedy is not sudden dashed from their lips. What applied, the minister will not do justice may be the opinion of the right hon. gento the British empire. But the right hon. tleman I know not; but this I do know, gentleman, if there is any logic in his that if there was no reason in the time of statement, means to say, that it is a com- lord Fitzwilliam for removing the griev mon way with us to exclaim, "Make the ances complained of, the loyalty that has people happy, by taking away their griev- since been shown is hardly requited, if it ances!" If he had said that we made use is to be brought only as an argument to of an argument that was self-evident, and show that the people are not discontented. had complained of us on that account, And upon the subject of grievances, what it might have been well; but he says do the gentlemen of Ireland state? There this," May not men have unreasonable are in that country men of as great regrounds of complaint?" To this I an-spectability, and of as high abilities as any swer, Yes; but that is no reason for not removing their reasonable complaints. Does the secretary at war, then, mean to contend, that to relieve Ireland, the whole country should be put in a state of oppression? The North, he says, wants nothing, and is disloyal. The South wants every thing, and is still loyal. Here, I suppose, the gentleman means to put this paradox, and say, that we had better place all Ireland and England in the same state in which the Catholics in the South of Ireland are, and that then we may expect universal loyalty. I should have thought, that when the right hon. gentleman was attempting to prove that Ireland had no cause for complaint, he would have explained why proclamations were issuing daily for declaring parts of the kingdom out of the king's peace. For my own in this. Will the right hon. gentleman say, that those who supported lord Fitzwilliam are inclined to those Jacobinical principles with which we have so often been accused? Will he, because they did for a time give into the alarm that was raised to support the war, call them Jacobins? Look to these men! Look to the name of Grattan! of whom I never shall speak but with respect, and who, I am sure, will never err on the side on which we are said to err; look at these men, and then let the right hon. gentleman say, whether Ireland has no grievances. There is another point which the right hon. gentleman might have gone into, and I watched him narrowly, to see whether he would. It is this: he has denied, that if the enemy had landed at Bantry Bay, there was a probability of that of his predecessor, lord Chatham. The former had a majority of the House in his favour, when an inquiry was moved for to examine into his conduct, and yet shortly afterwards he was compelled to give up his office of first lord of the Admiralty. Mr. Sturt complained of the repeated insults offered to our coasts, which justified an inquiry. He asserted, that admiral Colpoys' ship came into port short of provisions, particularly of fuel. He was astonished at nothing that Mr. Dundas asserted; so great was his boldness, con ment of the security of Ireland was a misstatement. He hoped, in God, he would not much longer have the direction of naval affairs. He might twist and toss his head about; but he hoped it would be soon twisted somewhere else. Mr. Pitt considered the question to lay within a very narrow compass. A very clear and detailed statement had been given by his right hon. friend, which he had no doubt had made a very forcible impression on the House; he had also pro. posed to have a list of papers printed in support of that statement. If inquiry was the duty of parliament, it was true on the other hand, that details should be dispensed with that were useless, and might be mis Cork falling into their hands! Has he denied this? Let us institute an inquiry into the fact! He will not deny it. Will he say in excuse that it is impossible to guard every part of the empire? Shall we then forget, that on the 26th of October last, we were told of an invasion; and when we come to discuss the subject in March, we find that no part of the empire has been protected? And here I cannot help remarking upon what the right hon. gentleman, in hopes of undoing the alarm excited before Christmas, says to us, What, he asks, can you say, who always treated the idea of an invasion as a bug-fidence, and assurance. His whole statebear? Sir, I never did so treat the idea when applied to Ireland. But there is, in the argument of the secretary at war, a whimsical inconsistency. He is saying, "How can we be invaded with a superior fleet ;" and this at a time when the subject of inquiry is, how the enemy came to invade us? For one, I think, that while we have a fleet which is not, as it has been in the late expedition of the French, mismanaged, that an invasion, with respect to Great Britain, is not an evil of the first magnitude. This, I dare say now, under the wing of the right hon. gentleman, though it will be remembered, that when I said so before, I was rebuked, as if I was a person not properly feeling for my country. I conceive, however, that an inva-chievous. The general question was this, sion would be an evil comparatively small, as long as we have a superior fleet. This leads me more particularly to the present argument. The right hon. gentleman says, that though there are many chances against an invasion while we have such a fleet, yet if there be only chance in favour of it, it is right to be upon our guard. Agreed. But there is no way in which we could have been so much harassed as by the mode that has been adopted. Let gentlemen apply the argument to the naval force, and see how far it will go. A fleet was kept off Brest, and it was probable that the French fleet might not escape; but ought we not to have had a second fleet at home to have intercepted the enemy in case they had made their escape e? This is the important part of the discussion. Mr. Fox took notice of all the facts of the case, and maintained, that it was the duty of that House not to take the words of one set of ministers in defence of another. He warned them of the probable effect of such a mode of defence. It might be injurious to the reputation of lord Spencer, as it had been to whether or not sufficient preparations were made by the Admiralty to be ready against any possible expedition which might be fitted out in the ports of France? It is admitted, that either Portugal or Ireland was the point of attack; the one was our faithful ally, the other was as dear to us as Great Britain itself. What was the nature of our preparation? Why, we had one fleet actually watching the enemy on their coasts, and ready to follow them wherever they might go, in case the wea ther had permitted that we could have known their direction; and we had another fleet in such a forward state of preparation, as to have been ready to have sailed in five days after we knew that the Brest fleet had sailed, had the wind been fair. Had either fleet been so fortunate as to have met the enemy, what prodigies of valour might we not have expected? In respect to the navy of Great Britain, it ought to be recollected how many and various objects, and what rich and im portant possessions, it had to protect. This circumstance must lessen our superiority in some points, especially when the 3 agreed upon the following Report, VIZ. "Your Committee have examined the had so lately been reinforced by the fleets of Spain. What more could be done than to have one fleet on the French Coast, and another ready for sea? Having total amount of out-standing demands on no positive information of the destination the Bank of England, and likewise of the of the enemy's fleet, occasioned by the mere circumstance of fogs and tempestu-it their duty, without loss of time, to state funds for discharging the same; and think those total amounts, and to report the re sult thereof to the House. ous weather, was it extraordinary that we should have been so long in the dark, and unable to find out their place of ren"Your Committee find upon such exdezvous, when the French admiral and general Hoche, who were in possession of amination, that the total amount of outthe secret, and sailed in the same expedi-standing demands on the Bank, on the tion, as well as other captains of the fleet, 25th day of February last (to which day had, from the same causes of weather, never the accounts could be completely made been able to join it. up) was 13,770,390l.; and that the total Admiral Colpoys' fleet was in a condition to follow the amount of the funds for discharging those debt due from government of 11,686,800l., demands (not including the permanent which bears an interest of three per cent.) was on the same 25th day of February that there was, on the 25th day of Februlast 17,597,280l.; and that the result is, ary last, a surplus of effects belonging to debts amounting to the sum of 3,826,8901. the Bank beyond the amount of their exclusive of the above-mentioned permanent debt of 11,686,800l. due from govern enemy, and the papers offered to be produced would prove it. Mr. Pitt concluded with complaining of Mr. Fox's violent and inflammatory language respecting the state of Ireland, and especially of the Catholics, who had had more indulgences granted them within the last few years, than they ever had had before. The previous question being put, "That that question be now put;" the House divided: Report from the Commons Committee of Secrecy on the Outstanding Demands on the Bank.] March 3. Mr. Bramston brought up the first Report of the committee appointed to inquire into the State of the Bank, which was read as follows: "The Committee appointed to examine and state the total amount of Outstanding Demands on the Bank of England, and likewise of the Funds for discharging the same: and to report the result thereof to the House together with their opinion on the necessity of providing for the confirmation and continuance, for a time to be limited, of measures taken in pursuance of the minute of Council on the 26th of February last; and who are empowered to report their proceedings from time to time to the House; have, pursuant to the order of the House proceeded to examine into the several matters referred to their consideration, and have unanimously ment. "And your Committee farther represent, that since the 25th of February last considerable issues have been made by the Bank in bank notes, both upon government securities and in discounting bills the particulars of which could not immediately be made up: but as those issues appear to your Committee to have been made upon corresponding securities, taken with the usual care and attention, the actual balance in favour of the Bank did not appear to your Committee to have been thereby diminished." March 7. Mr. Bramston reported from the Committee of Secrecy, "That the Committee had farther examined the matters to them referred, and had directed him to report to the House, that, in their opinion, it is necessary to provide for the confirmation and continuance, for a time to be limited, of the measures taken in pursuance of the order of council on the 26th of February last; submitting to the wisdom of parliament to determine for what limited time it be necessary that those measures should be continued." may Report from the Lords' Committee of Secrecy on the Outstanding Demands on the Bank.] March 6. The Earl of Chatham | discounting bills, the particulars of which presented the following could not immediately be made up; but REPORT from the COMMITTEE of SE-that, as those issues were made upon cor CRECY, appointed by the House of minute of Council on the 26th of "Ordered to report, "That the Committee having, in pursuance of the order of the House, proceeded to take into their consideration the several matters referred to them, have agreed to report thereon as follows: responding securities, taken with the usual favour of the Bank has not been matecare and attention, the actual balance in rially varied, but, if at all, has been rather increased. the second part of the order of reference, "In proceeding to the consideration of in which the committee are directed to report to the House their opinion on the necessity of providing for the confirmation and continuance of the measures taken in pursuance of the minute of council of the 26th of February, the committee have thought it right to confine their inquiries to those points only on which that necessity appeared to them principally to depend; and having examined to these points the governor of the Bank, and the said Mr. Bosanquet (one of the directors thereof), the committee find, "That the Bank of England has lately experienced an unusual drain of cash. That this drain was owing in great part, to demands for cash, from the country: such demands being made upon the Bank, indirectly from the country, but di rectly from the bankers of London, who are to supply the country. "With respect to the first part of the order of the House, by which they are di rected to examine and report the total amount of outstanding demands on the bank of England, and likewise of the funds for discharging the same, they called upon the governor of the Bank, and upon Mr. Bosanquet, one of the directors of the Bank (who attended them in the absence of the deputy governor), for an account to "That by the effect of this drain, the that effect; which account having by cash of the Bank has been of late very them, been produced to the committee, considerably reduced; that it has however, was verified by the deputy accountant of been known, by those conversant in the the Bank; and the same having been ex-affairs of the Bank, to be a great deal amined by the committee, it was agreed to report the result thereof to the House as follows: lower; but that on this occasion the rapidity of the demands has been unparalleled. "That those demands have been of late progressively increasing, but particularly in the last week; and that in the two last days of that week, the demands exceeded those of the four preceding days. "That the total amount of outstanding demands on the Bank, on the 25th day of February last, was 13,770,3907.: and that the total amount of the funds for discharging those demands, over and above the permanent debt due from government of 11,686,800/., was, on the same day of Fe- That there was every reason to apbruary last, 17,597,2807.; and that the re-prehend that these demands, and the consult is, that there was, on the 25th day of sequent progressive reduction of cash would February last, a surplus of effects belonging continue, and even increase. to the Bank beyond the total of their debts, amounting to the sum of 3,826,890l. over and above the before-mentioned permanent debt of 11,686,800l. due from go vernment. "The Committee think it right to observe, that this account is made up to the 25th of February inclusive; and that since that day, several considerable issues have been made by the Bank in bank notes, both upon government securities, and in "That by the effect of such reduction, if it were to continue in the same, or in a still farther increased proportion, the bank of England would be deprived of the means of supplying the cash which might be necessary for pressing exigencies of public service; and this led the Bank to make the communication they did to his majesty's ministers. "And lastly, that since the date of the minute of council above mentioned, no |