as they would find in this island, if there are any individuals of character so depraved, and feelings so degenerate, as to join their standard, would, I am sure, rather impede than forward their progress. I cannot boast of possessing that military ardour, that chivalry of patriotism which I have heard has been displayed at some meetings in the city, where a wish has been expressed that 300,000 or 400,000 Frenchmen might land here, merely to give them an opportunity of exercising their prowess in slaughtering them; but I have no doubt that ruin and confusion will be the fate of those who may be hardy enough to undertake such an enterprise. I agree with the right hon. gentlemen in all his statements of the necessity and propriety of adopting measures of prevention and defence, if the enemy's intention be such as to warrant them. I give this qualified assent to the measures which he proposes to adopt, because I profess to have no confidence whatever in the minister. Those who implicitly confide in his judgment and sincerity, will be disposed to give him credit for the necessity of the steps which he is about to take. Those who, with me, were witnesses of their conduct during the last parliament, have so often seen the present ministers raising alarms in the country when no danger existed, merely to enlarge their own power, and to frighten the people into a hasty concurrence with their unprincipled schemes of aggrandisement, that it cannot be surprising to them if I suspect their integrity on the present occasion. I do not ask precise information from them respecting the state of France, but I wish to know, whether they are advised that there are ships collected at the different ports of the French coast, apparently for no other purpose than that of being employed as instrumental in invading this country? If their alarm is taken up on no other foundation than the empty rhodomontade of speeches, all preparation to resist an attempt, which only exists in the distempered brain of a feverish orator, is absurd and ridiculous. The idea of invasion is by no means new. We have heard in this country of a project of invading France, and the march of our army to Paris was to consummate the triumphs of the first campaign of the war. This was not lightly talked of, it was gravely stated in the gravest of all assemblies,-a British house of commons, by no obscure person, but by a gentleman of great weight, and very nearly connected with the right hon. gentleman (Mr. Pitt), and at the time

One of the

was much applauded by a majority of the house. gentlemen who proposed this daring line of operation, in the enthusiasm of the idea, entered the army, got the commamd of a regiment, and thus manifested the sincerity of his intentions. But we never heard that the government of France had taken any steps to repel the threatened danger. I will not disguise my opinion that this note of preparation is founded for a purpose very different from that which has been this day professed. We have heard that the French armies have been completely defeated, and even annihilated in Germany; and except, like the frogs in the marsh, who were afraid of being attacked by the conquered bull, ministers suppose that the French, after being routed by the emperor, are to come over and attack us, it is difficult to reconcile their present alarm with their other representations. But supposing that the French really intend to make an invasion upon this country, what is the natural inference that they will draw from the resolutions which have been opened, and one of which has been proposed for the approbation of the committee? Do we not allow that the country is not at present prepared to repel any attack that may be made against it? In the last parliament, a right hon. gentleman (Mr. Secretary Dundas) triumphantly announced, and at the time expressed his desire that all Europe might hear it, but lest even the stentorian vigour of his lungs should not have carried the welcome intelligence to the ears of all the new members who now sit in the house, I shall re-state it,— "That with the naval and military force which the nation could then command, we had nothing to dread from the united efforts of the combined powers of Europe. Such was the unexampled strength of our navy, and such the courage and loyalty of our regular troops, aided by the zeal and intrepidity of a vast establishment of fencible and volunteer corps, that there was no possible danger to which we could be exposed, whether from our foreign or domestic enemies, that we might not encounter with the most confident assurance of success." If the martial ardour then testified by volunteer associations, was not a mere spurt of loyalty, and if the persons who composed these corps had enrolled themselves not from motives of interest or from vanity, but from patriotism, or devotion to their country, why repose so little confidence in their exertions, or distrust their fidelity to a cause to which they are pledged by their honour as well as by their in

terest? I am afraid that the resolutions now proposed, are calculated rather to invite than to prevent an invasion-that they tend to frighten this country, but not to frighten France. They proclaim to the enemy that till the new force which it is proposed to collect and to train is brought into action, that we are not in a proper state of defence, and thus point out the immediate time as the proper period for making a successful attempt. But I am persuaded, as I have already said, that the plan now in agitation points to a very different object from that which is professed; that it is in the contemplation of his Majesty's ministers to prolong the shocking and inhuman species of warfare, with a view of extending our possessions in the West Indies, and that it is for this purpose that parliament are called upon to sanction those measures which it is pretended are dictated by the imperious necessity of the times, and indispensably required for the safety and security of the country. I do not find myself called upon to oppose the resolutions; on the contrary, if they are necessary, let them be adopted by all means. I wish only to have some further explanation, and to be informed whether the danger of an invasion is such as to require these measures of prevention, or whether the real object of all the preparations is not the extension of our colonial possessions in the West Indies? Some of the expedients suggested by the right hon. gentleman, it was impossible to hear without a smile. We are called upon to raise a great cavalry force for a very curious reason, because the enemy cannot easily import cavalry into the country; as well, supposing them to attack us only with cavalry, might it be said, that we ought only to have infantry to oppose them. I have no objection to club for a horse, or to exercise in Hyde Park, and I dare say the right hon. gentlemen are very well acquainted with the maxim of ride and tie. I must confess, however, I cannot easily perceive the propriety of enlisting a corps of game-keepers, as if a gamekeeper only had the heart to be a soldier. Besides, this class of men are by no means the most dexterous in the use of fire arms. The squires might with more propriety be selected. I am sure I know many gentlemen who are infinitely more expert shooters than their game-keepers. Neither am I fond of the posthumous ex post facto reflection which is thrown upon the deputy gamekeepers. But, without at all entering into the detail of the intended operations, if the right hon. gentleman is really in posses

sion of grounds of serious alarm, and if the present force of the country is insufficient to avert or to repel the danger, in the choice of difficulties I shall give my assent to the resolutions.

The resolution was put and carried.

NOVEMBER 1.

BILL FOR AUGMENTING THE MILITIA.

MR. SHERIDAN said he saw no reason why the bill should be continued not only during the whole of the war, but three months after its conclusion. It was probable that the war might still be protracted long after any alarm of invasion had ceased. This bill was only intended to secure the country from the dangers of invasion. He should therefore propose, that the bill should only continue in force two months after the meeting of the next session of parliament.

Mr. Pitt agreed that the space of three months was not absolutely necessary, and that a period of one month might be sufficient for every purpose of security. The amendment of one month was accordingly adopted.

On the clause allowing men with a certain number of children to act as substitutes,

Mr. Sheridan remarked, that in consequence of this clause, a man might be tempted to forsake the habits of sober honesty, to accept the bounty to serve as a substitute, and abandon his children to the care of the parish.

Mr. Sheridan asked, what was the operation of the bill? Were not the men liable to be called out and embodied in a state of imminent danger; and so long as the war continued, what security had they that they should not every moment be taken from their occupations, and separated from their families?

Mr. Pitt replied, and the clause passed.

Mr. Sheridan said, that he now came forward with a proposition, which he would state in as few words as possible. His object was to move an amendment in the bill, for the purpose of doing away with a distinction which he conceived to be odious and unjust. It was one of those distinctions, however, which he could wish to be done away with rather gradually and quietly than by any clamour of debate. The distinction to which he alluded was, excluding persons from a share in the defence of their country, in consequence of a difference of religious opinion. In the oath taken by those who served in the militia, they were

required to swear that they were Protestants. This, he remarked, was an exclusion of Roman Catholics, inconsistent with the liberality of the present age. It was more particularly inconsistent in a war carried on for the re-establishment of the Roman Catholic religion in France, and in the prosecution of which we had been so intimitely connected with Roman Catholic allies. We ought to recollect how many individuals of that description there were in Ireland, whom it was the policy of ministers to conciliate. There could be no doubt that Roman Catholics would fight as bravely and zealously in defence of the present system as any other class of subjects. He remarked that the necessity of this oath would operate particularly hard on Roman Catholic gamekeepers; and concluded with moving as an amendment, that the words "I do swear that I am a Protestant should be struck out of the oath."

The Speaker informed Mr. Sheridan, that it was then too late to introduce an amendment, as all the amendments had previously been gone through, but that he would have an opportunity on the third reading of the bill. The bill was ordered to be read a third time to-morrow, if then engrossed.

NOVEMBER 2.

INVASION.-AUGMENTATION OF THE FORCES.

The report of the cavalry bill was brought up, and the first part of it being read, General Tarleton and Mr. Fox entered into a review of the state of the country, and spoke with great warmth against the measures of the ministry. The hon. Dudley Ryder replied to Mr. Fox, whose speech, he stated, was such as might have composed a manifesto for a French general after invading Ireland.

MR. SHERIDAN reprobated the attack that had just been made on his right hon. friend. The hon. gentleman said, he has concluded the most extraordinary and most 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 this I am sure of, 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 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 much regret at this crisis,