one person in the country who would not be more safe without a military government. To the clause in question he wished to object, and to move that the treasury should have the power of drawing upon the bank for specie only, for the payment of the army and abroad.

navy

Mr. Sheridan afterwards said that, he hoped the time was not far off when he should see the chancellor of the exchequer held up as the author of all the fatal calamities which have befallen the country, and made solely responsible for them. It was on this account that he had said, in a former part of this debate, he knew but of one man in the house who had occasion to wish to pay the army in cash, in order to ensure military protection.

The clause was carried without a division. The chairman next read the clause for fixing the duration of the restriction on the bank.

Mr. Sheridan could not agree, he said, with the hon. baronet, that the bank never could pay cash again; he thought, on the contrary, they might do so very well, and in much less time than that fixed by the chancellor of the exchequer. This was, on condition that government paid as large a portion of their debt to the bank, as he understood they meant to do, notwithstanding the taunting and scornful manner in which the right hon. gentleman had, some time since, treated that proposition when made by him. He made a fanciful allusion to the bank;-an elderly lady in the city, of great credit and long standing, who had lately made a faux pas which was not altogether inexcusable. She had unfortunately fallen into bad company, and contracted too great an intimacy and connection at the St. James's end of the town. The young gentleman, however, who had employed all his "arts of soft persuasion " to seduce this old lady, had so far shown his designs, that, by timely cutting and breaking off the connection, there might be hopes of the old gentlewoman once more regaining her credit and injured reputation. In order to facilitate this, he should support the amendment of his right hon. friend. On the same ground, he thought, as to the plan of the hon. baronet, that it would be better to put it off till the committee had made its report on the causes which gave rise to the order of council. He alluded to the remote causes; the proximate causes were very plain, and well-known. Government wanted money, and could not do without it; they knew there was money in the bank, and they

laid their hands upon it; the bank knew their power and dared not refuse it. In the same way, said he, if a highwayman met me on Bagshot Heath, put a pistol to my breast, and demanded my money, the proximate cause is, that the highwayman wanted money, and had a pretty certain notion that there was a sum in my pocket. The proximate cause of the highwayman was clearly want of money; the proximate cause of my letting him take it from me is, that I feared he would take away my life if I denied him. The house were in possession, therefore, of the proximate cause; and the more distant ones we hope to be acquainted with soon. He hoped, therefore, the hon. baronet would postpone his plan till the committee had made their report on all the clauses relative to the order of council.

The clause was carried, and the report ordered to be received on the 27th.

MARCH 28.

GENERAL DEFENCE OF THE COUNTRY.

Colonel Wood moved, "That an humble address be presented to his Majesty, beseeching him to be graciously pleased to direct his royal highness the commander-in chief, the master-general of the ordnance, in conjunction with other able and experienced naval and military officers, on whose judgment and abilities his Majesty most relied, to take into their consideration the present state of the country, and to consult and determine upon any other measures of security.”

MR. SHERIDAN said that, the question to be considered in the present motion, was, whether the general defence of the country was defective or not; and whether the duty of defending it was well performed? If it was to be contended that ministers would take care to see it performed, he certainly would not depend on them. They might have information sent them from various quarters as to the place the where enemy intended to land; or where where a set of jacobins might lie in wait in this country to join them on their landing; but, at the same time, they might be guilty of misconduct, while the commander-in-chief did his duty. He did not like to hear this motion opposed, on the ground that every necessary measure was already taken for the defence of the country; and that it would convey a reflection on the commander-in-chief. If such a motion had been made in the Irish house before the French came to Bantry Bay, the same answer would have been given : "What! can you for a moment doubt the abilities and vigilance of the commander-in-chief?" But,

so far was that country from having been in a state of defence, and so far from there being any force waiting from Monsieur Hoche (or Monster Hoche, according to the very liberal expression of the Irish chancellor), that the French remained several days in Bantry Bay. It was a fortunate event for Ireland, as well as for this country, that they did not land. They had been very near coming to a right anchorage; and if they had, they might have landed and proceeded to Cork immediately. After an instance of such deplorable neglect, the house ought not, upon the assertion of the minister, to conclude that this country was perfectly secure. There ought to have been a communication between the heads of the naval and military departments, in order that their joint efforts should be combined to protect the country; but it did not appear that any such communication had taken place. For these reasons he would support the motion.

Mr. Dundas moved an adjournment, which was carried.

MARCH 31.

ADVANCES TO THE EMPEROR.

MR. SHERIDAN said, he was extremely anxious to know when there was a probability of a report from the secret committee; because, if it was to be made soon, it would save him the trouble of moving for some information, which would be necessary, in the motion he intended to make upon the propriety of sending more money to the emperor. In the returns before the house, of the advances already made, there appeared the sum of £500,000, which had been ordered by parliament; and there also appeared an advance, since the stoppages at the bank, of £220,000, upon what appeared to him very strange security. There was, in the first place, the receipt of the agent, and the assurance of the imperial envoy, that it should be repaid out of any loan that might in future be advanced to the emperor. From this circumstar ce it appeared probable that another loan was in contemplation. He could not avoid making an observation upon the nature of the security: it was precisely the same as if a man had borrowed ten guineas, and, when asked for payment, replied, "If you will lend me twenty guineas more, I will pay the ten." He hoped that the right hon. gentleman op

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posite to him would meet this question fully; for he must have made up his mind upon the question, whether or no any farther advances were to be made to the emperor. If the right hon. gentleman would meet him fairly upon that point, he should bring forward his motion on Tuesday; otherwise there were several papers which would be material for his motion. He therefore moved, "That there be laid before the house copies of the representations made to government by the directors of the Bank of England, with respect to the advances to the emperor since the 1st of January, 1795."

Mr. Pitt replied.

Mr. Sheridan said, that the right hon. gentleman (Mr. Pitt) had answered his questions very fairly. He hoped, when the discussion came on, he should not then be told that the time was not fit; but that it would be argued on its real merits.

Mr. Sheridan's motion was not persisted in.

APRIL 3.

ADVANCES FROM THE BANK TO GOVERNMENT.

MR. SHERIDAN moved, "That there be laid before the house a copy of all communications that have taken place between the directors of the Bank of England and the chancellor of the exchequer, upon the advances that have been made to government since the 1st of November, 1794, exclusive of the papers that have been laid before the house this day."

Agreed to.

APRIL 4.

ADVANCES TO THE EMPEROR.

MR. SHERIDAN rose, in pursuance of his notice, to call the attention of the house to the subject of making any farther advances to the emperor, and proceeded to the following effect:

It is unnecessary for me to say anything upon the importance of the subject which stands for discussion this day I must, however, observe that such discussion must be attended with some embarrassment: I have before me but a choice of difficulties; for, as it is important that the discussion which I bring forward should take place as early as possible, so it is also desirable that the decision of the house should be grounded on

proper information. I believe there never was a subject brought before parliament which excited more anxiety in the public mind, or to which the nation looked with more impatience, than they do at this hour, for the decision of this house with respect to a future loan to the emperor. It is a point which, in my opinion, involves the question-whether they are to be saved or ruined? And it is to his Imperial Majesty himself highly important to know, as speedily as possible, and before he commences the most important campaign that was, perhaps, ever opened in Europe, what is the determination of this house upon the subject of sending money out of this country at this awful moment. It is essential for the people of this country to know what is to be taken from them, and essential for his Imperial Majesty to know upon what he is to rely. In discussing this momentous question, I am ready to admit that, whatever I may think of the necessity, or the prudence, of advances that have been already made by us to foreign powers, we should at all events keep good faith; and, therefore, it is highly important, indeed essential, to our welfare, that we consider duly before we encourage a hope in the emperor that he is to have any aid from us, in the future prosecution of this war. With this view of the subject, I moved for certain accounts, from which the house might collect information, and such as I took to be essential to the subject in discussion. To that motion there ought to have been made a return very different from that small scratch which is exhibited on the paper now before us, and which I took into my hand just as I came into the house. I was in hopes, when I made the motion yesterday, and I took pains to explain it to a right hon. gentleman before the rising of the house, that the whole of the information I wanted, and which my motion called for, would have been laid before the house to-day; but I understood there was much difficulty in complying with the whole request; and that great embarrassment would arise from that compliance, on account of many of the papers which I wanted being before a committee now engaged in an important inquiry, who could not deliver copies of them consistently with the secrecy which it is at present a part of their duty to observe. I determined not to press any farther now for these papers. Under these circumstances, I feel that I come forward under great disadvantages: the information upon which I must proceed is extremely imperfect. Had we the whole