Their loss had, of course, nothing to do with the care or negligence of the navy. Of the 172 missing, it was ascertained that no less than 94 were running ships of the rest there sailed and separated, whether from stress of weather or wilfully, no less than 38; and it was known perfectly, that no convoy returned without perpetual complaints on the part of the officers, of ships breaking away from their protection. During this time, the whole number of the coasting vessels captured, whilst under the protection of the admiralty, amounted to eleven." Lord Grenville opposed the address. -He began by alluding to the war with America, in which he admitted that America was the aggressor; "as when, by the repeal of the orders in council, the causes of war were in fact removed, America, in then making war, became the aggressor."-His lordship further admitted, that her making the grounds of war also questions which struck directly at our maritime rights, rendered it, on our part, the war of the whole country in support of our rights; but he contended, that all this was no reason why the war should not be terminated amicably by negociation. "The questions," said his lordship," which were the original grounds of the war, have passed away. If the war is continued for another object, information on that point ought to be laid before parliament, in order that parliament may be enabled to judge of its expediency, or whether it is fitting that further efforts on the part of the people ought to be called for, for its prolongation." His lordship then expressed his admiration of the gallant enterprise against the city of Washington, and his regret for the fall of its brave leader. But he commented with severity on the destruction of the buildings at Washing ton, which were not used for military purposes." I had concluded," said his lordship, "that the moment when peace was signed in Europe would have been the term of the war between America and this country. I cannot divine what grounds can subsist for the continuance of the contest between the two nations. But if, from the continuance of the unjust spirit in which the American government began the war, that war has not yet ceased, I implore your lordships not to neglect or abandon to chance these two violations of two distinct principles, on which the wars of modern times have been conducted the first, that private or non-military buildings shall be respected; the second, that the efforts of the government and the commanders should be employed to lessen instead of increasing the calamities of war; and that their exertions should be directed, not against unoffending individuals, who have no share in the hostilities, but against the governments which are the causes. In this situation, ignorant as I am of the grounds on which the war with America rests, I shall make no remarks on the great expenditure which its continuance renders necessary; but I must observe, that in this, as in the former contest with America, the difficulties of such a contest have been considerably under-rated; and that they are not yet sufficiently apprehended I have reason to believe, from the triumphant language made use of in this country; such language I have always deplored." His Lordship then remarked on the delays in the opening of the congress at Vienna, which, he said, were most detrimental to the interests of this country. He expressed his surprise at the warlike appearance which every thing still presented, and at the circumstance of the country still keeping up an army of 40,000 men on the continent. Finally, adverting to the internal state of the country he express press ed it as his opinion, that an address of unqualified exultation was utterly unsuited to our situation. "Ere now," said his lordship, "we expected to have received the price of our great exertions by a reduction from the weight of those burthens which so heavily on us. On the subject, however, of these our internal affairs, the only intimation of any change is contained in a paragraph at the end of the speech an intimation so ambiguous, that though I have attended with peculiar diligence to the speech, to the address, and to the remarks of my noble friend who seconded it, I cannot comprehend to what it refers. Some of my noble friends near me conceive it relates to the corn laws, others of my noble friends that it refers to the bullion question. If it refers to this last question, I applaud the resolution to enter into that most important subject, the state of the circulation. This, my lords, is the consuming canker that preys on the vitals of the state. The depreciation of our currency, which by gradual augmentation year after year, has reached its present state, is, I will venture to affirm, a greater cause of the depression under which the people of this country labour, than all the taxes which are paid by them. In the present state of our circulation is to be found the origin of all those difficulties which some persons have improvidently attempted to remove by imposing duties on the import of the necessaries of life. These attempts for two years together parliament has most prudently checked. I hope it will ever discourage them. I, for one, will ever raise my voice against them. I will never consent to remedy the artificial difficulties which have been created by the neglect of parliament, by imposing a tax on the subsistence of the labouring classes of this community. I will never consent to pass laws which not only are utterly impolitic and unjust to the community, but which strike at the very root of the interests which they affect to protect. For, far from assisting the farmer or supporting the landholder, I believe that if all the catalogue of proposed measures were searched, there is not one which more certainly would bring ruin on both these classes, than the imposing great duties on the importation of grain. That the agriculture of this country labours under great difficulties, I do not deny; it is unfortunately too perfectly shown by the reports on your table. But the true cause of this depression is in the state of the circulation of the country-the true remedy is, that, unterrified by the magnitude of the subject, and not on that account indefinitely postponing it, we should proceed to the discussion, meeting with firmness the difficulties which must attend it. If, therefore, to this subject the passage in the speech applies, I cannot but applaud it. Being on the ground, I must state, that though I cannot concur in the address, I do not wish to be understood to object to the general complimentary part, still less to the grief expressed at the melancholy indisposition of his majesty. Though I have objections, and irreconcileable objections to the address, I shall not propose any amendment, since my observations principally apply to the general, profuse, and warlike character of the speech." The Earl of Liverpool stated, that, as the Prince Regent had told the House from the throne, the nego ciations with America were still pending, he thought, till they had produced some result, it would be obviously improper to enter into a discussion of the subject. Notwithstanding the character of the aggression on the part of the United States, his royal highness had no wish to require more than was due in justice to the country, and to his own honour. His lordship defend. ed the manner in which the war in America had been carried on; and, with regard to the proceedings at Washington, he stated, that they were a proper and necessary retaliation for several ferocious outrages committed by the Americans. His lordship jus tified the continuance of a large army on the continent after the conclusion of the war, by the unprecedented circumstances under which the late contest had terminated. In speaking of the internal state of the country, his lordship said, that as to the state of the circulation of the country, his opinions were now as different from those of the noble baron as they had been on former occasions. He had always thought that the pressure on our circulation had arisen from the peculiar circumstances of the late war, and the events of the last six months had verified his opinions to an extent which even his friends had not expected. Even under the circumstances of the great existing expenditure of the American war, and the continuance on foot of a large army, the course of exchange had rapidly returned to its old state. On this subject he should say nothing more; there would be many other opportunities, and it was difficult to say any thing on it without saying more than the present occasion would admit of." The motion was then put and carried; and the address was afterwards voted. In the House of Commons, the address was moved by Lord Bridport, and seconded by Mr Graham, who went over the same ground with the mover and seconder of the address in the House of Lords. Mr Whitbread opposed the ad. dress at great length. He took occasion to object in strong language to the mission of Mr Canning to Lisbon; and, in speaking on this subject, he chose to indulge in a strain of ridicule which was scarcely worthy either of his own character or talents, and on the success of which he would not have had much reason to congratulate himself, had the subject of it been present. It was really beneath Mr Whitbread to make such remarks as this :—" It was probable that the Prince Regent of Portugal would not return from the Brazils for many months, perhaps years. The right honourable gentleman might employ himself in revising his early productions in the Anti-jacobin, or in producing a poem, which should rival the celebrated work of Camoens; or in compiling the memoirs of his day, after the fashion of Bubb Doddington !" Mr Whitbread attacked the conduct of the administration in the conduct of the war with America, and the destruction of the buildings at Washington, on the same grounds which had been taken by Lord Grenville in the other House. On the subject of the congress at Vienna, he expressed his indignation at the conduct of the allies, in permitting the annexation of the territories of some of the smaller states to those of their more powerful neighbours. "When he heard it asserted," he said, "that Saxony, in the most unfeeling and insulting manner, was to be divided-that a great portion of it was to be incorporated with Prussiathat such a power was no longer to be suffered to remain in Germany or in Europe-he contemplated it as a grievious injury, not to the sovereign, for that was a secondary consideration, but to the people of a country emphatically called the garden of Germany, not only in a physical, but in a moral sense; for it did not alone afford sustenance for the support of life-it was also the garden of the human mind. It was there that freedom of religion might be seen in its most attractive colours: There the subjects were catholics, and the sovereign a protest ant: There the offices of state were open to men of every persuasion, and the affairs of government were found not to be impeded by the adoption of this liberal principle. Saxony, on this point, shewed a bright example to states of greater magnitude; and it was melancholy to reflect, that they had not wisdom enough to pursue it. What, he would ask, had the Elector, or, according to the modern fashion, the King of Saxony done? And here it should be recollected, that others who had, like him, been made kings, had not given up their titles; but he, because he was the last who adhered to Buonaparte, was marked out for vengeance. Prussia and Austria had both marched with Buonaparte; they had assisted him in accomplishing his views, and did not quit him until his reverses took place. When they found he could not play a successful game, they left him. Bavaria and Wirtemburg remained true to him a little longer than the states he had just mentioned, and they still continued kingdoms. He doubted, however, whether the allies respected them the more for the part they had taken. They must all remember the speech of Philip, who declared, That he loved the treason, but hated the traitor.' Saxony, however, did not abandon Buonaparte till the last moment. Now, whatever opinions might be entertained of the course originally adopted by the elector, it was impossible not to feel a little for a man, who, in the latter part of the contest, could not help himself: It was not in his power to withdraw as Austria and Prussia had done; for Buonaparte was not only in possession of his capital, but of his person. Yet it was on that ground, and that ground only, that the rights of the Saxon people were not to be attended to. He only spoke as he was informed; and he would boldly declare in the British parliament, the only place, perhaps, in the world, if the coalesced powers continued their hostility to the promulgation of unfettered opinion, where public truths would ere long be spoken, that, if Saxony were treated in the manner he had described, and as was generally rumoured, it would be as unprincipled a partition as any the world ever saw; as much so, indeed, as the partition of Poland. And again, let it be fully understood, that there were many persons who ardently wished for the restoration and freedom of Poland, not only as necessary to the preservation of the peace of Europe, but as a debt due to that much oppressed people. Neither should it be forgotten that there was one monarch, whose interest it was more than that of any other potentate, to keep Poland in a state of dependence; but that monarch had expressed himself willing that Poland should be restored; that it should be again erected into a kingdom, provided the other powers desisted from their schemes of aggrandizement in other quarters. They had often been told of monarchs who attempted to be magnanimous at the expence of others; now they heard of the Emperor of Russia, who was ready to agree to the restoration of Poland, if Austria gave up her claims upon Italy, and Prussia abandoned her designs in Germany!" Mr Whitbread concluded his speech by an eloquent invective against the government of Ferdinand VII., and a picture of the sufferings of the unhappy persons who had fallen under his displeasure from their exertions in the cause of Spanish liberty. Before he sat down, he wished to know distinctly "whether any pecuniary assistance, unknown to parliament, had been gi ven to Ferdinand VII. to support him in those despotic efforts which he was hourly making. No person could travel over Spain, after the glorious struggle she had made, and not feel indignant at beholding the renewal of religious bigotry and civil fury. Who could contemplate the restoration of the Inquisition, and the oppression exercised over the most patriotic characters, without the smallest expostulation from any neighbouring power, and not feel apprehensive that the result of the present congress would not be exactly that which they had hoped?" The Chancellor of the Exchequer gave a very satisfactory answer to the last question of Mr Whitbread, by stating, that no assistance had been given to the Spanish government beyond the subsidy which had been stipulated to be paid to it for the Spanish troops furnished in the late contest. On the subject of the internal state of the country, he said, "that as the flourishing state of our revenue was mentioned both in the speech and in the address, it would no doubt be expected that he should give some statement to justify that assertion. He would do it by giving a comparative view of the produce of the revenue in the two last years. In the quarter ending on the 10th of October, 1813, it had amounted to 18,531,2187. In the same quarter of the present year, to 19,036,985l. The revenue of the whole year ending in October 1813, was 60,876,652.; that of the present year, ending in October last, 63,461,8647. which proved an increase in the last year of two millions and about 600,000l. The receipts at the customs in 1813 were 10,157,221.; in 1814, 10,213,1741. The excise in 1813 had produced 22,560,1597.; and in 1814, 24,154,5491. He would not trouble the House with other details of this nature on the present occasion, but would proceed to show the progress of our trade since the year 1812. The returns for the present year were not completely made out for every part of the country; he would, there. fore, only notice those of the port of London, which were the most perfect. The value of the exports from that port to Europe, for three quarters of a year, were in 1812, 11,446,000l. ; in 1813, 18,916,000l.; and in 1814, 26,828,000l. So that the year 1814 almost doubled the amount of exports in 1812. It might be said, why, since the revenue was so flourishing, should money be wanted? It was natural to suppose that the want of money was one of the reasons that had occasioned the early meeting of parliament, and that want sprung from the arrears of 1813 and 1814, which remained to be paid. The necessity of providing for the liquidation of these had occurred at an earlier period than was expected. It chiefly proceeded from this, that circumstances had arisen which had led ministers to apply nearly the whole vote of credit intended for the army, to the service of the navy. This had been found necessary principally because the amount of wages due to seamen, who had been prisoners and were now returned, had far exceeded the calculation that had been made. On that account, as well as the expence of our forces in the Netherlands, the army arrears were considerable." Mr C. Grant, jun. observed, "that he had always heard it was unconstitutional to attempt to introduce a foreign force into this country, without a previous communication to parliament; but this was the first time that he had ever heard it was unconstitutional to maintain a British force abroad without reference to parlia ment. He was sorry the address which had been moved did not unite all the feelings of the House, and lamented that there was any probability of an exception to the practice of latter years, that of carrying up an address with unanimity to the throne. He delivered it as his opinion, that the |