Mr. Ryder said, he little expected to have heard when the country was in such a crisis, the inflammatory language which the right hon. gentleman had made use of in the course of his speech. He little expected he would have held out such encouraging motives to the enemy, when they were meditating an invasion of the sister kingdom. He little expected to have heard from him, that the subjects of that kingdom were of no more consideration in the eyes of government than the oxen and sheep which they possessed, and that such radical reforms were necessary, just after those most loudly called for had been granted. In short, he little expected to have heard from a member of the British House of Commons, a speech which might serve as a manifesto for a French general after having invaded Ireland. From the speech of the right hon. gentleman, compared with his speeches on former evenings, he however deduced one inference; that the opponents of ministers often made use of arguments, founded upon extreme cases, for the sake of making a temporary impression, which they afterwards thought fit to abandon. When the alarm of invasion was first communicated to parliament, information was demanded respect ing the grounds of alarm; it was afterwards confessed that it was impossible to expect any detailed information upon the subject; and now, when measures were proposed to avert the threatened calamity, these measures were arraigned as having a tendency to destroy the liberties of the people, and to subvert the constitution. An hon. general had had recourse to history, and he had no objection to meet him on this ground. In 1745, when there was a rumour of some French troops having landed in Scotland, the king, in a message to parliament, informed them that he had ordered 6,000 Hessians to be brought into the kingdom, and parliament thanked his majesty for the step which he had taken. * In 1756, his majesty, merely upon some advices which he had received from persons upon whom he could rely, that preparations were making for an invasion, notified to parliament, that he had made a requisition of Hessian troops, and then, though parties ran high, no question was asked respecting the authority of the information. Nay more, the then secretary of state,

* See Vol. 15, p. 1393,

whose memory had every claim upon the respect of the right hon. member, in six days after, brought down a message from his majesty signifying his intention of introducing twelve Hanoverian battalions into the kingdom, a step which was then approved, though much more inconsistent with the principles of the constitution than the measures now proposed.* He could not perceive how the present armament could operate to the subversion of the constitution: on the contrary, if there was a plot formed against the liberties of the country, as was alleged, to arm the people seemed the most likely mode of counteracting it. They were only to be called out for a few days, a period in which they could not be supposed to contract the habits of soldiers, or to be inured to military discipline; and the expense was inconsiderable, when compared with the advantages which would probably result from the measure.

Mr. Wilberforce said, he had never felt more surprise and regret than in hearing the speech of Mr. Fox. He had often witnessed bitter contentions in that House, but he had flattered himself that it would now be the boast and glory of the country, at a time when it was reduced to a situation of danger, that all party altercation had ceased, and that every mem ber had but one heart and one mind respecting the measures proper to be adopted for opposing the common foe. At this season of danger, a danger of which the gentlemen opposite were themselves sensible, their object seem ed to be to cripple the exertions of the executive power. On the present night in particular he much deplored the exercise which the right hon. gentleman had made of his talents in delivering a speech, which, if there was any danger before, rendered it still more imminent and pressing; for if its contents went abroad, there was no calculating the bad effects which it might produce. He did not impute to the right hon. gentleman, nor to his friends, any wish for an invasion; neither could he compliment them upon their principles. On the contrary, he

It was carried, upon a division, by 259 Chatham), declared his disapprobation of the against 92. Mr. Pitt (afterwards earl of

measure. The natural force of the nation, he said, was sufficient to repel any attack of the enemy; and that state alone was a sovereign state, "qui suis stat viribus, non alieno pendet arbitrio." See Vol. 15, p. 702. す

believed they would not be displeased at any small mischief befalling the country, if they could take advantage of it to get ministers turned out of office. For to what did their arguments go? Had they not stated their continuance in power as the greatest possible calamity to which the country could be subjected? Had they not stated the constitution to be ruined by their measures? ruined almost as often as there had been bills passed for defending it? When men were in the practice of indulging in such arguments, there was no saying where they would end. He would speak out, and give his opinion fairly. That the measures now proposed would be attended with considerable expense he believed. But he believed also, that that was inconsiderable when compared with the advantages with which their execution would be attended, and that the nation would be willing to come forward in a body, and cheerfully subscribe to them as the means of securing every thing that was valuable and dear to them. He loved the constitution, but he confessed he should love it less if it wanted that energy in times of difficulty and danger that it now possessed. When the right hon. gentleman, therefore, attacked the executive government at such a period, he tended to weaken its energy, and, by diminishing its strength, to alienate the affections of the people from the source of their protection, and the spring of their exertions. He had felt himself impelled by an invincible impression, to make these few remarks.

Mr. Sheridan, with great warmth, said :Sir, the hon. gentleman has concluded the most extraordinary and unprovoked libel I ever heard in this House, by protesting that he had felt himself invincibly called upon to utter every word that he had said. Whence or of what nature, whether political or fanatical, are the calls which so invincibly govern that hon. gentleman's conduct I neither regard nor inquire; but of this I am sure, that no part of his speech, no part of his fury, no part of his pathos, no part of his invective, was called for by any one passage or sentiment in the speech of my right hon. friend. He says he has heard my right hon. friend's speech with surprise and regret. Sir, I have heard his with regret, but no surprise. I must regret at this crisis, when we hear so much of the necessity of temper, moderation, and a spirit of unanimity, to

find that there are men on whom all those qualities, when evinced by their opponents, are lost and thrown away. I must regret to find that there are such men and such tempers: that with them forbearance breeds irritation, candour is repaid by cant, and moderation encourages insult. I appeal to the House whether or not the hon. gentleman's speech justifies this observation. I appeal to them whether any part of my right hon. friend's speech justifies the manner in which it has been attacked. Mark the malice and the bitterness of the hon. gentleman's insinuations. He is graciously pleased to admit that he does not believe that we wish this country to be actually conquered by France. As one of the party to whom he addressed himself, I bow with all possible gratitude for this instance of his candour: but, says he, their avowed hatred of the present administration is such, that I believe they would not be displeased with that sort of invasion that might throw a degree of disgrace on the present ministers. Good God, Sir, what motives does he assign us, and what object does he allot us! In contradiction to all our professions, in con tradiction to all our actions, he boldly presumes that we are a set of selfish, temporizing traitors, who without meaning to destroy would wish the safety of the country to be endangered for the gratification of disgracing the present ministers; of bringing, a degree of disgrace upon them. Upon whom? Upon ministers, begrimed and black with infamy and disgrace already? We, it seems, wish an attack on our country, for the purpose of bringing a degree of disgrace on those men, as if it were possible to aggravate the shame and indignity of the situation which they have brought on themselves. On the question of the defence of the country, we have abstained from reproaching them, and they repay us with insult. I, for one, expect no credit from the partisans of these ministers, for the line we have pursued since the first serious intimation of the danger of an invasion; but, desirous as we have shown ourselves, however distrustful of the minister to strengthen the executive government in case of emergency, let them not mistake our present forbearance, let them not misconstrue it as the slightest indication of a departure from a solemn resolution, to look to a day of national justice as the only hope of national salvation.

Our intermediate moderation they may treat as they please; but it is trying our patience high to hear those ministers or their advocates arraigning us as factious traitors, if we dare to utter a sentiment that may bring a degree of disgrace on their characters. It is too much, Sir, that we should be insultingly accused of a crafty plot to disgrace men, whose want of vigour in every enterprise, and whose want of faith in every engagement, have made their administration at this moment the hope of their enemies, and the fear of their allies. It is too much that such men should arrogantly hold their heads up in this House, where I view them only as arraigned culprits, whose trial is put off. That they should presume that we are as insensible to the injuries they have inflicted, as their own hardened hearts are insensible of remorse; that they should come here with frontless inhumanity, confessing, and boasting even, that, now at last, they have expended blood and treasure sufficient to sooth their pride and palliate the concession of their adopting the advice of my right hon. friend, which, if originally adopted, would have saved every one of those lives, and every guinea of that treasure. It is too much to see such men, covered equally with crime and shame, besmeared at once with blood and mire, erect their crests, and boldly demand support from the country, because they have endangered it, and attempt to proscribe as factious traitors, those who have fruitlessly endeavoured to save it. But, Sir, the hon. gentleman has accounted for the animated, I will not call it the rancorous, manner in which he has spoken, by asserting that my right hon. friend's speech displayed, at a time when moderation is so desirable, the greatest degree of party animosity. On this charge I confidently appeal to all who sit near the hon. gen. tleman. A speech of more temperate counsel, both in matter and manner, was never heard in this House. Where was the party animosity? Yet let me retract: 1 I guess the animosity which the hon. gentleman attributes to such counsel. My right hon. friend's advice was, to change the whole system of the Irish government; to govern there as he would govern here, on the principles of equal justice, truth, and plain-dealing. This is the counsel given by my right hon. friend: this is the aggression of his speech. The hon. gentleman is right to resent it as a friend to the present minister. He is right in consi

dering any advice that tends to take him from the profitable path in which he has trod, as the insidious counsel of party animosity. In corruption he has walked; in corruption he has thriven. However calamitous his course to his country and the people, nothing can have been more profitable to himself and his connections. The advice, therefore, that would tempt such a minister to wish a trial in the straight paths of truth and honour, may, for aught I know, be plausibly imputed to party animosity. This is the only ground on which I can account for what would otherwise appear a spurt of malice without a meaning. Mr. Sheridan said, he agreed in every observation and sentiment uttered by Mr. Fox on the subject of invasion, and keenly ridiculed Mr. Ryder's accusation of Mr. Fox for using inflammatory arguments with respect to Ireland, while he at the same time pleaded the danger of answering_them. The best way of preventing a French general from putting inflammatory topics in his manifesto, would be to remove all cause of discontent. It could not be denied that those inflammatory topics, as they were called, were true; it would have been better to have shown Mr. Fox's assertions to be false than to have traduced him for making them. Mr. Sheridan warned the minister of the dangerous conclusion, that there was no discontent where was no clamour. There were those who felt and were silent, and those who felt so were most to be feared. As to the bill, if meant as a measure of force, he considered it weak and inefficient; if as a measure of revenue, partial and oppressive.

The question being put, "That the said amendments be now read a second time," the House divided:

My next duty is to enumerate the taxes by which it is proposed to defray the heavy burthen which it becomes necessary to impose, in order to meet the exigency of our situation. This is a painful, but at the same time indispensable part of my duty. Every additional burthen which it is necessary to impose upon the country is a new subject of regret. But at the same time it is with peculiar satisfaction I reflect, that the period at which I am now speaking is pregnant with a thousand circumstances which at once proclaim the inexhaustible resources, and the unconquered spirit of the British nation. If we have seen the revenue of this country, even under circumstances the most unfavourable, so rapidly accumulated and drawn from such various channels, we may surely look with confidence to the capability of the country to bear those farther burthens which will be required in the present moment. The most equitable principle of taxation will be to render the objects as diffuse as possible; and with this view I propose to select a few of the different branches of the existing revenue which seem best calculated for the purpose. The first branch of the revenue which I mean to propose to your attention has appeared to me particularly eligible as a source of supply on the present occasion. I allude to the excise. The taxes drawn from this quarter have, in every instance, been so successful as to give us confidence with respect to any new experiment which we may be induced to make. The first object which I mean to suggest is the article of tea. Notwithstanding the additional duty lately imposed on this article, the sales of last year at the India House have considerably exceeded those of any former year. This circumstance points out the propriety of a small additional tax. From the extensive consumption of the article, this tax can only be felt in a trifling degree by any individual. I mean to exempt from the operation of it, the whole of that coarser sort of tea, which is the common beverage of the poorer classes, and which at the India sales, does not exceed 2s. per pound. This additional tax I propose to rate at

I am aware that at former periods it has been found expedient to adopt measures of an entirely different tendency, which at the time were highly beneficial. But, though we owe the benefit of the suppression of illicit trade to the low price to which tea was reduced by former proceedings of the legislature, it by no means follows that it is still necessary to continue the same policy. There is not the same danger to be apprehended from the attempts of smugglers after their capital has been withdrawn, their habits broken, and such regulations adopted, as must operate as an effectual bar to their future practices. Taking the additional duty on tea at the rate of 10 per cent on the average of the sales of three years, it will amount to 240,000l. An additional duty on sales by auction of 2d. in the pound on sales of estates, and 3d. on all sales of furniture, goods, and merchandise, will produce 40,000l. An additional duty of 1s. per 1,000 on all bricks made in Great Britain, I estimate at 36,000l. There is another article which suggests nearly the same considerations as the additional duty on tea. One considerable duty has already been gained on this article, and the consumption is so pernicious, that with respect to this article no man can wish that there should be any limits to the duty, so far as is consistent with the means of safely collecting it. So long as the consumption continues to a considerable extent, an addition to the duty must be highly eligible in every view of policy and morals. I propose to raise the duty on spirits in the same proportion as before, viz. 1d. on every gallon of wash, amounting to 5d. on every gallon of Britisli spirits. The duty on foreign spirits will be advanced in the same proportion. The total amount on British and foreign spirits I estimate at 210,000l. On the stills in Scotland, I propose to lay triple the present duty of 18. on the licence. The sum arising from this I estimate at 300,000l. The next tax I mention with regret, because it will fall in some degree on the lower classes of the people. I mean an additional tax of 2s. 6d. on every hundred weight of sugar. This I calcu late will amount to 280,000l. On brimstone, bar iron, oil of olives, staves, I propose to lay an addition of 10 per cent. amounting to 43,000l., and on all other customs, wines, coals, and prize goods excepted, a new duty of 5 per cent.