Blackstone "inland fortreffes." With refpect both to national conomy and national liberty, they were in the higheft degree reprehenfible. The conduct of government in the tranfport fervice was feverely cenfured by Mr. Grey. Comptrollers, he stated, had been appointed, to go through a part of the fatigue of office; a new board was inftituted for this purpofe, in which he had been informed there were five commiffioners, at 1000l. per annum each. The debt of the navy, on account of the tranfport service, he stated at 2,444,cool. This, in lord North's adminiftration, had been thought an extravagant eftimate for building 70 thips of the line. Yet our trade, notwithstanding these enormous charges, had been ill protected; and when complaints had been made, they were fent from office to office, till thofe who complained difcovered they could have no redrefs. Admiral Chriftian was deprived of the means of failing in the beginning of October, for want of readinefs in the ordnance transports. He applied to the fecretary at war -he was referred to the transportoffice and then to another depart ment. The minifter, he obferved, had on a former night unwarily admitted that the vote of credit of this year was to be confidered as applicable, in common with other votes for specific purposes, to the current service of the year. This, he contended, was a mifapplication and violation of a vote of credit, which was intended to fupply unforeseen services. There was ftill, however, a more forcible objection to the conduct of minifters in raifing money. It arofe out of the contents of papers, which ftated the amount of fums advanced from time to time by the bank, and outstanding. Money advanced to government by the bank might undoubtedly, he faid, receive a parliamentary fan&tion: but it was a mode of railing money, which had from time to time been limited by the juft and conftitutional jealoufy of parliament. When parliament recognized the establishment of the bank, they did fo upon public principles, and purely for the fake of public utility. Na maxim was better understood in the house, than "that no advance fhall be made to government by the bank in anticipation of the revenue." This prevented the minister from having a command of money without the confent of parliament, and provided that a fufficiency fhould always remain in the bank to anfwer thofe commercial dealings for the fake of which it was inftituted, Thefe falutary provifions had never been fo much infringed as by the present minister; and his practice had been greatly diftreffing to the commercial part of the country. He feriously believed this to be the caufe of the inability of the bank to affift as usual the commercial credit. December the 31ft, 1792, they were in advance to government 11,643,000l. and were in advance alfo upon two votes of credit. The fums ftated had been advanced on bills of exchange from the treasury, authorized by a late act of parliament. This practice had been provided against by the act of Will. and Mary; but when a bill upon a vote of credit a few feffions ago paffed through the houfe, a claufe was fomehow or other furreptitiously introduced, to do away the falutary effects of that act. This was, he contended, an unconftitutional mode of raising money, and noticed, that last year a loan of unusual magni tude tude had been raifed; that in September the minifter had entered into a negotiation which, in a mercantile houfe, would have been confidered as an act of bankruptcy; in October had been obliged to meet parliament for a new loan; and in February had demanded a vote of credit to pay off arrears. While the minifter contended that there were only five millions of the navy debt to be funded, ten millions of it were actually floating, feven millions of which ought at least to have been funded. The vote of credit of 2,500,oool. ought to have been provided for. The intereft alfo on exchequer bills was 260,000l. and for the management of the bank in the loan 329,000l. The ftoppage of the diftilleries could not be lefs than 600,000l. together with what was to be taken from grants for 1796. The whole would amount to 14,500,000l. which was the leaft we could expect of fervice remaining to be provided for. Inftead of what was conftitutional and what was expected, it would be found upon inquiry, that money was voted and not applied to the fervices for which it was fpecifically voted; nay, the provifions of an act of parliament had been in fringed. The difpofition paper did hot give the houfe an account it could depend upon. The money for paying and cloathing the militia, which had been voted, and ought to have been iffued at Midfummer 1794, was now in arrear. He understood, that 8oool. a year was paid to one agent for money advanced to government, and that money was due to staff-officers for duty on the continent. After a feries of accurate details, Mr. Grey contended that our peace establishment could not be lefs than 22,000,000l. a year; that our that our 9 prefent income could not poffibly produce more than 19,500,000l.that, therefore, fhould our debt be no further increased, we fhould have to provide annually by taxes 2,500,000l. more than we pay already. Mr. Grey called upon the houfe, by the most powerful arguments, to enter into the inquiry he was about to propofe, and to "dread the overgrowing influence of a minifter, whose conduct was hoftile to the principles of our conftitution, and whofe influence it was their duty to destroy. Non hydra fecto corporé firmier Vinci dolentem crevit in Herculem,” He concluded by moving that the whole houfe fhould refolve itself into a committee, to inquire into the ftate of the nation. Mr. Jenkinfon contended, in reply, that the prefent pofture of affairs afforded no ground for fuch an inquiry, and that, without fuch as were peculiarly strong and fubftantial, there were many objections to one being inftituted. With refpect to the comparative expence with other wars, every war was more expenfive than the war preceding it; and, according to the wealth, profperity, and extent of the nation, this was an inevitable confequence. If, at prefent, the prices of provifions, &c. were nearly doubled to individuals, muft they not be equally fo to government? Muft not our expences and exertions alfo keep pace with those of the enemy? If the war was juft and neceffary, which he fhould always maintain, fince it had been fanctioned by parliament, then he did not fee why the expence of the war, which was alfo fanctioned by parliament, fhould be a fufficient ground for inquiry!!! The ftatements of Mr. Grey refpecting the American American war were, he contended, war at 51,000,000l. there was a : The average of the last three years of the prefent war, So that the exports of the war exceeded those of the best Average of the three laft years war, The excess of the war over peace,. The money borrowed during this war, in proportion to that borrowed, in the American war, was at an advantage of one and a half per cent. in favour of this country. At the clofe of the peace of Aix la Chapelle, the funded debt was eighty millions; at the end of the next war it was 140 millions; which, if the prefent plan of funding one per cent, had been in practice, would not have been in exiftence at this time.. This appropriation of a million annually was calculated to preferve individual liberty, the conftitution, and the very existence of the country; and the plan of paying off the national debt produced a faving to the nation fufficient to pay the intereft of the debt incurred in the profecution of this juft and neceffary war. The funded fyftem adopted by the prefent minifter would certainly leave a balance in our favour, however great might be the expences of the war. The exertions of minifters, he contended, were fully proportioned to their £.22,585,332 24,453,338 1,868,000 19.286,000 20,964,333 1,678,333 expences. In the American war there were 314 fhips in commiffion; now there were 368, and thofe larger; and our troops, amounting to 217,206, were far more confiderable than in any former war; our exertions were greater than had ever before been experienced, and the expence of fubfidies not at all too much, confidering the benefit to be derived from them. There was, indeed, a large unfunded debt; but that was provided for in the ways and means of the year. Confidering the different quarters in which the war was carried on, it was impoffible to prefent more fatisfactory estimates: this, and the compli cation of eftimates, fully juftified raifing fums without the authority of parliament! Mr. Jenkinfon ftrongly defended the fyftem of barracks, as proper to be carried to its utmost extent. With refpect to what we had gained in the war, he adverted to the diftreffed ftate of the French navy, the acquifitions in the Eaft Indies, the Cape of Good Good Hope, the Dutch fettlements, St. Domingo, Martinique, and Corfica. He contended, that, in ftead of our having degenerated from the conftitutional jealoufy of our ancestors, a larger confidence had been given to minifters under George I and II. than at prefent. A million and a half had been raised for fecret-fervice-money for ten years, and no proceedings paffed upon it; and afterwards, when parliament required an account of it, the minifters advised the king to refufe it. Mr. Jenkinfon: concluded by moving the order of the day. The arguments of Mr. Grey were ably feconded by Mr. Curwen, who infiited upon the propriety of an inquiry into the expenditure of public money for the fatisfaction of the public at large, by whom that money was raifed. The acqui. fitions to the country, which had been fo much infifted upon, he was far from confidering as advantageous to us, as he was entirely of opinion that colonization tended to weaken a country, and would finally terminate in ruin. The refult of an inquiry into the wafte of men and money in our different expeditions, would fully prove that thefe had been no advantage to the country. After entering at large into what appeared to him to have been the mifconduct of minifters, he thought, that, fhould they perfift, they would compel the people to fpeak for themfelves, not from any love of French principles, but from the burthens under which they groaned. The inquiry was further fupported by Mr. M. Robinson and Mr. Martin. It was oppofed by Mr. Steele, Mr. M. Montague, and Sir G. Page Turner, who elegantly obferved, that it was not our bufinels to confefs our poverty, nor to fpoil our own trade by crying finking fish. Mr. Steele admitted that the expences had exceeded the estimates, though not to the extent which had been stated. The navy estimates, in the three years of the war, were about 15,000,000l. the debt, during the fame period, was about 13,000,000l. but this could not be faid to be incurred without parliamentary fanction. The fum ufually allowed per man, fince the revolution, had not for fome time, even in peace, been found fufficient. The minifter, therefore, after the first year of the war, had stated this debt, and had since continued to do fo, together with the means for difcharging it. The whole of it, except one million and a half, had already been provided for; and the houfe, by its proceedings upon this statement, had fully fanctioned the tranfaction. The real amount of the extraordinaries of the army was, he contended, only 7,500,000l. Whatever difregard to the appropriation act had been charged to the prefent minifter, the fame practice had been conftantly in ufe in 1782, and for years antecedent to the paffing of that act. The provifion of the prefent year, for the re-payment of 2,600,000l. to the army fervice of 1795, with the addition of the fur. ' ther extraordinaries to be voted, he was ready to pledge himfelf, would be more than fufficient to pay the army without leaving fixpence in arrear. Large arrears had indeed been due to the staff; but there only remained 1900l. unpaid for 1793, and 16,000l. for 1794. Though he admitted it had not been usual to pafs a vote of credit fo early, yet it had been applied fix months previous to the grant. In regard to barracks, 610,000l. had been expended, and 150,000l. more was neceffary Lord Lauderdale obferved that the war had completely, failed in the two objects for which it was declared to be undertaken, the fafety of our allies, and the prevention of French principles. He infifted much upon the equi-vocal appearance of the late negotiation, and obferved, that if the republic of France had evinced an enmity to monarchical government by avoiding the mention of the word king, the government of England had with equal care, in the late pretended negotiation, avoided any recognition of the republic, or even the mention of its name. In inveighing against minifters, his lordship feverely animadverted upon their treatment of admiral Cornwallis. The court -martial against him he confidered as capriciously and unneceffarily held, and the acquittal of the admiral as a difgrace to the board of admiralty. His lordship pointedly ridiculed the idea of minifters having quietly abandoned their old ground of objection to negotiate on the fcore of the rapid fucceffion of rulers in France, and the inftability of that government, and having expreffed a defire to treat with one of the duration of five months. With respect to the length of the motion, to which minifters objected, for that they might thank themselves. It was a long and black catalogue of their abfurdities; and the matters to which it pointed were too important to be abridged. The lord chancellor ftrongly objected to the motion, and thought it would have been more confiftent with common sense, and answered party purposes perhaps more effectually, to have petitioned his majefty to change minifters fo incapable and incorrigibly, obftinate. His lordship ftrongly infifted upon the advantages we had gained in the war, and the flourishing state of our resources! went, he obferved, to condemn that very conduct, and thofe very measures, to the propriety of which the house had fo often afsented. This was for their lordships to pass a vote of cenfure on themselves. On a divifion of the house, there appeared, for the queftion 10, against it 110. The motion The fame motion, which had been introduced into the house of lords by the earl of Guildford, was brought forward on the fame day by Mr. Fox in the house of commons. He began by ftating, that, after the difappointments he had incurred in his different endeavours to ftop the deftructive career of minifters, he fhould not again have addreffed the houfe, except in expreffing his folemn proteft against the measures pursued, had not feveral events occurred during the laft year, to alter the fentiments of thofe by whom he was. opposed. The event of the greatest importance was the negotiation at Bafle, by the event of which it was afcertained that there was no immediate profpect of peace, and that it was not in the power of thofe entrusted with the adminiftration of public affairs, |