abufe the royal mercy, and to form fresh confpiracies in the profpect of impunity, offended juftice will then be compelled to extend to the obdurate criminal the full meafure of his punishment. Amidst your measures either of power, of justice, or of clemency, you have not forgotten to afford confolation and encouragement to the loyal. The means which were adopted for their temporary relief, and the plan which has been devised for the further remuneration of their loffes, are highly honourable to your feelings, and muft, in every loyal breaft, excite emotions of love and gratitude to his country.

Since my arrival in this kingdom I have received the most flattering affurances of your regard and approbation, which command my warmest acknowledgments; and whilft I feel myself thus encouraged and fupported, and reflect on the loyalty which is fo generally difplayed, and on the force which is entrusted to my direction, I cannot allow myself to doubt of the fuccefs of our united endeavours for the welfare of this country.

BRITISH PARLIAMENT.

Addrefs of both Houses of Parliament to his Majefty on the 10th November 1797.

WE, your Majefty's most dutiful and loyal fubjects, the Lords fpiritual and temporal, and Commons, in Parliament affembled, have taken into our moft ferious confideration the papers which your Majefty has been pleafed to direct to be laid before us, on the fubject of the negotiation into which your Majesty had entered, with the view of refloring to your people a fecure and honourable peace. In every ftage of that tranfaction we have recognised your Majefty's invariable and unremitted folicitude for our profperity and welfare, while we have seen, on the other hand, the most abundant proofs of the continuance of that fpirit of inveterate animofity and defperate ambition, on the part of our enemies, in which the prefent conteft firft originated. Your Majefty's conduct, characterized by an unexampled moderation, openness, and confiftency, has left to the enemy no means of evafion, no fubterfuge of difguife or artifice. It can no longer be denied that their conduct is actuated by a fixed determination of excluding all means of peace, and of purfuing, at all hazards, their hoftile designs against the happiness and safety of thefe kingdoms: even the vain pretence of pacific difpofitions is now abandoned, and the real purpose of all their councils, and of all their measures, at length openly and publicly avowed. It is to our laws and government that they have declared their irreconcilable hatred. No facrifice will content them but that of our liberty; no conceffion but that of our envied and happy conftitution.

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Under

Under fuch circumstances, we feel the duty which we owe in this great crifis to God and to our country. Animated by the fame fentiments which your Majefty has been pleased to declare to your people and to the world, attached to your Majesty by principles of duty and gratitude, and fenfible that it is only from courage and firmness that we can look for prefent fafety or permanent peace, we are determined to defend, with unfhaken refolution, your Majefty's throne, the lives and property of our fellow-fubjects, the government and conftitution of our country, and the honour and independency of the British empire. We know that great exertions are neceffary; we are prepared to make them; and, placing our firm reliance on that divine protection which has always hitherto been extended to us, we will fupport your Majesty to the utmoft, and stand or fall with our religion, laws, and liberties.

The following Amendment to the Addrefs was moved in the Houfe of Commons by Sir John Sinclair.

WE beg leave to return your Majesty our most humble and hearty thanks for your gracious communication of the papers refpecting the late negotiation entered into with the government of France. When we confider the various calamities to which nations in a state of hoftility are neceffarily expofed, we cannot but deplore the continuance of a war, which has already occasioned fuch expenfe of treafure and of blood to the powers engaged in it; and we join moft heartily in applauding your Majesty's humane and beneficent exertions to bring the fame to a termination. We trust that the two nations will fee the wisdom and policy of speedily renewing a negotiation fo favourable to the interests of humanity, and of concluding the war on terms juft in themselves, and honourable to the parties interested; the only true foundation in which a lafting pacification can be expected. But if, unfortunately, fuch hopes fhould not be realized, and should the further profecution of the war become neceffary, your Majesty may be affured of the firm and unalterable fupport of your faithful Commons, in making every exertion that circumftances may render neceffary for procuring a fafe and honourable peace, on terms confiftent with the dignity of your Majefty's crown and kingdom, and the profperity and effential interefts of your people.

[The above amendment was withdrawn.]

His Majesty's Anfwer to the Addrefs of both Houses of Parliament on the 11th November.

My Lords and Gentlemen,

NOTHING would be more fatisfactory to me than the unanimous declaration of the fentiments of my two Houses of Parliament; they are fuch as the conduct and declared intention of the enemy could not fail to produce. We are engaged in a caufe which is common to us all, and contending for every interest which a free and independent nation can have to maintain. Under the bleffing of Providence, I look with confidence to the iffue of this great conteft: but in every event my refolution is taken it is fuch as I owe to God, to my country, and to myfelf, and it is confirmed by the fentiments which you have this day delivered to me. I will not be wanting to my people, but will stand or fall with them in the defence of our religion and in the maintenance of the independence, laws, and liberties of thefe king

doms.

On the 8th December Mr. Nicholls made the following Motion in the Houfe of Commons.

THAT all falaries, fees, and perquifites of all perfons hold

ing offices under the Crown, fhall be given up towards defraying the expenfes of the war, excepting the fum of 2000l. a-year to all officers whofe falaries, fees, and perquifites fhall exceed 2000. a-year. This refolution not to extend to the Lord Chancellor, the Speaker of the Houfe of Commons, the Judges, the officers holding commiflions in the army and navy, and to foreign minifters.

[The motion was withdrawn.]

The following Message was brought down to the House of Commons on the 11th January 1798.

G. R.

HIS Majefty thinks proper to acquaint the Houfe of Lords, that he has received various advices of preparations made, and measures taken in France, apparently in purfuance of a defign openly and repeatedly profelled of attempting an invafion of thefe kingdoms. His Majefty is firmly perfuaded that by the zeal, courage, and exertions of his faithful people, ftruggling for every thing that is moft dear to them, fuch an enterprife, if attempted, will terminate in the confufion and ruin of those who may be engaged in it. But his Majefty, in his anxious concern for

the

the welfare and fafety of his people, feels it incumbent upon him to omit no fuitable precaution which may contribute to their defence at fo important a conjuncture. His Majefty therefore, in pursuance of the act of Parliament paffed laft feffion for providing for the augmentation of the militia, thinks it right to make this communication to the Houfe of Commons, to the end that his Majefty may caufe the faid militia, or fuch part thereof as he fhall think neceffary, to be drawn out and embodied, and to march, as occafion fhall require.

Mr. Dundas moved, and the Houfe agreed to the following Addrefs in confequence of the above Meffage.

THAT an humble addrefs be prefented to his Majesty, to return his Majesty our moft dutiful thanks for graciously communicating to this Houfe, that he has received various advices of preparations made and measures taken in France, apparently in pursuance of the defign openly and repeatedly profeffed of attempting the invafion of thefe kingdoms: To affure his Majefty that he may rely on the continued and decided fupport of this Houfe in this important conjuncture; and that we are firmly perfuaded that the zeal and courage of his faithful fubjects ftruggling for all that is most dear to them, will be vigorously exerted in repelling every infult, and will, under the bleffing of Providence, be effectual for disappointing the ambitious and extravagant defigns of the enemy, and turning them to the confufion of those who may be engaged

in them.

[A fimilar meffage was prefented to the Houfe of Lords on the fame day, and a fimilar address ordered to be prefented.]

On the 22d February 1798, in the House of Commons, Mr. B ker made the following Motion, which was agreed to.

THAT there be laid before the House, an account of the proceedings of the Tranfport Office, and of the Board of Admiralty, relative to the treatment of the French prifoners in the different parts of the kingdom.

On the 23d February 1798, Mr. Hufkiffon made the following Motion in the House of Commons, which was agreed to.

THAT there be laid before the House fuch extracts from the letters and correfpondence as related to the detention and confinement of Sir Sidney Smith, and the negotiation entered into between the two governments, refpecting the exchange of prifoners of war.

On

On the 22d March 1798, in the Houfe of Lords, the Duke of Bedford moved,

THAT an humble addrefs be prefented to his Majesty, most humbly to represent that, from the commencement of the war to the prefent moment, his Majefty's minifters have had all the advantages which could be derived from the entire confidence and fupport of Parliament; that this confidence and support have given them the unlimited command and difpofal of the power and revenue of these kingdoms; that, with means profufely furnished to obtain fuccefs, the councils which have had the direction of this power and the application of these resources, have been attended with no effect but to exalt France to her prefent formidable greatnefs, and in the fame proportion to impair the relative fituation of Great Britain; to expofe her, with reduced ftrength and diminished refources, to all thofe dangers which it was alleged could be averted only by an early and fuccefsful combination to refift the principles as well as the power of the French government; and, after an unavailing expenfe of blood and treasure, to compel his Majefty's minifters to open a negotiation for peace by a total dereliction of all the principles on which the war was faid to be unavoidable, and by fubmitting to abandon those fafeguards and defences, which, in the early period of hoftilities, were infifted on as abfolutely indifpenfable to the fecurity of these kingdoms.

That, without looking back to the causes of the war, or inquiring now whether it might or might not have been avoided, and referving for another moment all confideration of the charges which may hereafter be brought against thofe perfons who originally advised his Majefty not to acknowledge the republic of France, nor to liften to any terms of accommodation; we think it our duty humbly to lay before his Majefty the fituation in which we are now placed.

We are awed by the refult of the war itself, and aftonished at the conclufion drawn from it by his Majefty's minifters, who, with all the means of vigorous attack, have reduced us to a state of precarious defence, yet still have the confidence to affert, that in the fame councils which have proved fo incompetent in profperity to direct with advantage the affairs of the nation, the best means are to be found of relief and fecurity in our present difficulty and diftrefs; and that we are ftill to look to them alone for the attainment of a fafe and honourable peace.

That this House, and every member of it, is ready to provide for a vigorous defence of the country, and will not, fhrink from any perfonal difficulty or danger that may attend the performance of this duty. That whatever differences may exift, with regard to the principles and policy of our internal government, we are de

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termined