be awed and terrified by the vain threats and pompous denunciations of impotent vengeance.

Defpairing of fuccess in this country, they turned their thoughts to other quarters; and while the main body of the army of England under the conduct of Buonaparte himself, fo well fupport their pretenfions to the title they have affumed by an attack on the defenceless Egyptians, detachments are fent to Ireland, which country they had unfortunately too well prepared for their reception, by thofe arts which they have fo fuccessfully practifed in other parts of the world. But here even, where their profpects of fuccefs appeared moft fair, they have been completely baffled, and their forces captured, difperfed, or deftroyed. The unnatural rebellion raised and fomented by them, in conjunction with those traitors who have been detected and punished, has been, in a great measure, fuppreffed, though its baneful effects ftill continue to difgrace the Irish name, and hold out to the world, in hideous colours, the confequences of that terrible union of French principles and ignorant bigotry, which has taken place among that deluded people. The machinations of our domeftic enemies, in conjunction with a foreign foe, have, however, been happily fruftrated, and fo completely laid open to the world, that the most incredulous can no longer doubt their existence; and all who fet any value on the bleffings of good order and government, must join with your Lordships in expreffing their deteftation and abhorrence of them. The misfortunes of Ireland have also had the good effect of displaying, in striking colours, the zeal and spirit of the well affected, and efpecially of that useful body of men, the armed Yeomanry, to whofe unremitting exertions, in the hour of danger, I was myfelf a witnefs, and believe the country owes to them, in a great measure, its fafety and prefervation

There is another part of His Majefty's fpeech, which, though not immediately addreffed to this Houfe, forms too interesting a topic to be paffed over in filence, and is too flattering to the feelings of Englishmen not to be added as a distinguished feature in the pleafing picture of our prefent fituation, which I am happily enabled to draw. At the end of the fixth year of this arduous contest, of a war unprecedented in point of exertion and expence, His Majefty has an opportunity of congratulating us on the flourishing ftate of the revenue, of the national credit, and of the commerce and induftry of his fubjects. The public funds have not only refifted the increased preffure which every day of protracted warfare muft neceffarily bring, but have even rifen in a manner which muft aftonifh all those who ever doubted of the extent and variety of the VOL. VII.

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refources of this country. At what period of history, indeed, hast the commerce of any country been so great, fo extended, fo univerfal, or in fo eminent a degree, commanded the monopoly of the trade of the world?—and as if to prove by a fresh and striking instance that—This even-handed juftice commends th' ingredients of our poifon'd chalice to our lips. In the cafe of our inveterate and un-· principled enemies, by their very attempt to injure us in our valuable Eaftern poffeffions, they have annihilated the fmall remains of their almost extinguished commerce, and reftored to us, together with the undisputed command of the Mediterranean, the lucrative trade of Turkey and the Levant-When in the midst of profound peace have fuch great and valuable fleets ever reached our ports in fafety? At what period has a vast and productive capital ever been employed with fo much judgement and advantage in agriculture, and in every fpecies of internal improvements, of which a country is capable? When in the hiftory of civilized fociety, has the aftonishing fpectacle appeared, of a whole nation in arms, bidding defiance to a powerful, daring and implacable enemy, and at the fame time exercifing all the arts of peace more fuccefsfully than any other country has been able to do, amidst the most profound tranquillity and fecurity? The fyftem of finance, which was fo happily adopted laft year, and from which we have experienced fuch beneficial effects, will, I truft, be fteadily purfued. It has ferved to place, in a ftriking point of view, our unexhaufted riches, refources, and public fpirit. The voluntary contributions, and the plan for the redemption of the land tax have fucceeded beyond the moft fanguine expectations; and, together with the other favourable circumstances of our fituation which I have detailed, have raised the public funds in a manner unexampled during the period of any former war in which we have been engaged. We have, indeed, my Lords, fair and reafonable ground of hope, that if it should please the great difpofer of events to extend that protection to us which we have hitherto fo eminently received at his hands, that this nation will rife from the dangers and difficulties with which it has been furrounded, greater and more profperous than ever.

1

But, notwithstanding all this, pleafing and fatisfactory as it undoubtedly is, let us not for a moment deceive ourselves with the idea that our exertions are at an end, or that we may not ftill have many more to make, and many difficulties to encounter as great as thofe we have fo happily furmounted. But I am fully perfuaded, (I speak it with pride and fatisfaction), that His Majesty will not be deceived in the implicit confidence which he is pleased to exprefs in the continuance of our exertions. The fentiments fo well

expreffed by our beloved Sovereign in the conclufion of his fpeech, are, I doubt not, engraved on the hearts of every rank and defcription of his subjects. Yes, my Lords, the people of England are fully fenfible of the ineftimable bleffings they enjoy-they know by what means they have preferved them; and, unawed by difficulties, unappalled by dangers; patiently enduring the neceffary weight of their increafing burdens as the lighter evil of the two, when contrafted with the chance of fubjugation by a foreign foc, they will (I fpeak it with confidence, from paft experience), unite hand and heart with their King in enabling him "to bring the great. “contest in which we are engaged to a fafe and honourable con"clufion." They fee the terrible example of other nations before their eyes, who, bafely or unwifely preferring patient fubmiffion to manly refiftance, have fuffered themfelves, one by one, to be ingulphed and swallowed up in the revolutionary vortex of their restlefs and powerful neighbours.-On the other hand, they must behold, with pride and fatisfaction, the contraft which their own country prefents to the aftonifhed and admiring world, by pursuing a different line of conduct, rifing greater from every difficulty, preferving herself by her valour and exertions from every danger, and holding out the glorious example of fuccefsful refiftance to the proftrate and dejected nations of Europe. Encouraged by the past, they look forward with fteady confidence to the future: they know, that great as their exertions and facrifices have been, that ftill greater may yet be required, and are prepared to make them. Undazzled by the fplendid fuccefs with which their efforts have been crowned, but firmly relying on their continuance under the favour and protection of that Providence whom they adore as the author of all good, they are determined not to relax their efforts till they have attained the great end for which they have fo long and fo ftrenuously contended-security for the bleffings they enjoy. They know the full value of peace; they have felt the inconveniences and calamities infeparably connected with a state of warfare; but they know alfo that peace without fecurity, and dictated by those enemies who have fworn their destruction, would be far more calamitous than any evils which could refult from their open enmity and avowed hoftility. They have feen the utmost exertions of their power directed against themfelves, and have refifted them with glory and fuccefs: they have feen the effects of their friendship applied to other countries, and reject the very idea with indignation and horror.-In a word, they are true to their King, to their country, and to themselves. And fhall we, my Lords, the first order of men in the country, the fupport and ornament of the

Throne, placed between the King and the People, as the natural and hereditary guardians of the rights of the one, and the liberties of the other, without invidious or exclufive privileges, poffeffing a greater fhare than any other clafs of our fellow fubjects in the bleffings and advantages of their happy land:-Shall we, I fay, be backward in following our Sovereign in the honourable career which he has this day marked out for us? At a time when it is become the fashion to decry and vilify nobility, and the pride of false philofophy has taught men to defpife whatever their forefathers have looked up to, I have fome fatisfaction in being able to reflect that we have not hitherto been backward in our exertions, that we have neither fpared our perfons nor our fortunes, or deferted our country in the hour of danger. And I feel a well-grounded confidence, that, under any circumftances which can poffibly occur, our King, whom we fo juftly revere, will find us as little disposed to desert him as I know he would be to defert us. Let us, therefore, emerging as we are from those difficulties which our energy has alone enabled us to furmount, exulting in the well-earned glories of the British name, and the proud and dignified fituation in which our country is placed, and looking forwards with hope and confidence to that period when the enjoyment of honourable and permanent tranquillity fhall crown our exertions, offer at the foot of the Throne our hearty congratulations and unanimous concurrence in thofe fentiments which His Majefty has been pleased to express, affuring him, that we not only feel their full force, but are determined to act up to them and that, at all times, and under all circumftances, in our collective, as well as in our individual capacity, His Majefty may firmly rely on the steady, active, and zealous support and co-operation of the House of Lords.

I shall therefore move, That the following humble Addrefs be prefented to His Majesty:

"We, your Majefty's most dutiful and loyal fubjects, the Lords Spiritual and Temporal in Parliament affembled, beg leave to approach your Majefty with our humble thanks for your Majesty's moft gracious fpeech from the Throne.

"We beg leave to offer to your Majesty our heartfelt congratulations on the glorious and decifive victory obtained by your Majesty's fleet under the command of Rear Admiral Lord Nelfon, over an enemy fuperier in force, and in the advantage of fituation;-an achievement which has even added fresh fplendor to the unexampled feries of your Majefty's naval triumphs. While this memorable fuccefs has, in the first inftance, turned out to the confusion of the enemy; an enterprise, not more distinguished by its injustice, perfidy

and extravagance, than by the inveterate hoftility of its authors against every British intereft, we entertain a just hope that the blow now given to the power and influence of the enemy will be decifive in its effects:that the opening thus afforded will be improved by other Powers, to the maintenance of their own independence and fecurity; and that the wife and dignified example of the Emperor of Ruffia and of the Ottoman Porte will be followed by fuch effectual and united exertions, as are alone fuited to the prefent crifis, and as are beft calculated to produce the general deliverance of Europe.

"Permit us to affure your Majesty that, while we feel our hearts and hopes thus clated by the brilliant fuccefs which has crowned your Majesty's arms abroad, we congratulate your Majesty no less fincerely on the uninterrupted state of fecurity in which this king-dom has been preferved against the vain attacks of the enemy, by the extent of your Majefty's military preparations, and still more by the zeal and spirit which animate all ranks of your Majesty's fubjects in the cause of their country.

"Nor have we feen with lefs fatisfaction the entire disappointment of the attempts of the enemy against your Majesty's kingdom of Ireland, the defeat and surrender of the force which they had difembarked for the fupport of a rebellion inftigated by themselves, and the capture or difperfion of the armaments destined for the fame object and we truft that the rebellion, thus cut off from foreign affiftance, and curbed and repreffed as it has been by the vigor of your Majesty's Councils, and the gallantry of your troops, will, ere long, be finally extinguished.

"We are anxious to declare to your Majefty and to the world our abhorrence of the views and principles of thofe, who, in concert with our inveterate enemy, had planned the fubverfion of the conftitution of their country; and we cannot but feel persuaded that the complete exposure of these treasons muft awaken the deluded to a sense of their duty, and must impress ftill more ftrongly on the minds of all your Majesty's fubjects, the neceflity of supporting against every attack the laws and government of their country.

"Convinced of the extent and value of the bleffings which, under your Majesty's happy and paternal Government, we have to defend, and confident in the refources and spirit of our country, we have encountered with chearfulness many and great difficulties. Thefe, by the bleffings of providence on your Majesty's dignified firmness and perfeverance in a juft caufe, have happily been furmounted.

"Animated by this fuccefs, encouraged by the comparative