did pause from January 1800 to October 1801, and we have added 73 million of debt since the impertinent answer, for I can call it by no other name, returned to the overtures of the chief consul. In other words, Sir, we have added as much to our national debt in that short period, as the whole of our debt consisted of from the period of the Revolution to the seven years' war. This pause of his majesty's ministers cost five times as much as all the Duke of Marlborough's campaigns.

But it is said, that the case was altered by the defection of our allies; and the noble lord asks us, whether we would trust to the chance of reviving a third coalition, and the consequent expenditure of blood and treasure? Sir, I say the experience of the first coalition would have been quite sufficient to have deterred me from attempting any other, and the argument would have applied with as much strength many years ago, as it does at the present moment. The noble lord next alludes to the principles and power of France. For my own part, I never had much dread of French principles, though I certainly have no slight apprehension of French power. Of the influence of France upon the continent, I am as sensible as any man can be; but this is an effect which I do not impute to the peace but to the war. It is the right honourable gentleman himself who has been the greatest curse of the country by this aggrandisement of France. To France we may apply what that gentleman applied formerly on another occasion — we may say,

Me Tenedon, Chrysenque, et Cyllan Apollinis urbes,
Et Scyron cepisse.

He is the great prominent cause of all this greatness of the French republic. How did we come into this situation? By maintaining a war upon grounds originally unjust. It was this that excited a spirit of proud independence on the part of the enemy: it was this that lent him such resistless vigour : it was this that gave them energy and spirit, that roused them to such efforts, that inspired them with a patriotism and a zeal which no opposition could check, and no resistance subdue.

If I am asked what my opinion is of the future, my reply is, that, to put us in complete enjoyment of the blessings of peace, small establishments alone are necessary. It is by commercial pursuits and resources that we must attempt to compensate for the aggrandisement of our antient rival: to cope with him in large establishments, in expensive navies and armies, will be the surest way to unnerve our efforts and diminish our means. Sir, I am not sanguine enough, though I think and hope the peace will be lasting, to calculate on a

seventy years' peace. But still I am sanguine to a certain degree in my expectations, that the new state of France will turn the disposition of her people to a less hostile mind towards this country. I do think that Bonaparte's government is less likely to be adverse to Great Britain than the house of Bourbon was. God forbid that I should insult a fallen family; but the interests of my country compel me to say, that the chief consul cannot have a more inveterate spirit, and a more determined hostility towards us, than the house of Bourbon had. It has been said with truth, that the trade of France has been nearly annihilated; but I believe, the accounts from the interior of France do not represent her to be in a desolate state; and for Heaven's sake let us not forget, that the Revolution has produced the effect of removing many of those internal grievances under which France groaned under the old government. It has abolished the corvées, a most vexatious tax; the feudalities, the odious and unjust immunities of the rich from the payment of taxes; it has abolished the privileges of the nobility, not those privileges which place the nobility as a barrier between the crown and the people, but those privileges which enabled them to tyrannise over and oppress their inferiors:-in a word, the French have made those reforms which we did two centuries ago.

Sir, for my own part, I cannot help thinking that the encouragement given to the arts and sciences, the increasing patronage in France of agriculture and of commerce, will make the minds of the people more pacific. It is a notorious fact, that the joy with which the French received the communication of the peace, was quite as great and as sincere as it was in this country. The chief consul well knew, that in making peace he fulfilled the desires of the people whom he governs, as much as his majesty's ministers accomplished the wishes of the people of England. What, then, remains to be considered, but this affair of commerce? Many persons are fearful that our commerce will suffer from the competition of France. I have no such fears. As far as our trade can be attacked by the rivalship of France, I think that rivalship will do us good. If, as some of you think, the weight of our taxation will enable France to rival us, is not that, I would ask, an additional argument in favour of peace?

The right honourable gentleman who spoke last, alludes to the principles and power of France. Of the former he is no longer afraid, though he is of the latter. If this be the case, is it not rather strange that he should think of assailing principles by guns and pikes and cannon; but that, when he is afraid of the power of France, he would make peace?

Sir, principles never were, and never will be annihilated by force. I never had so much dread as some gentlemen had of French principles. I never conceived that they would have much influence in this country. I never thought that Paris, under the dominion of Robespierre, held_out a very inviting example to the British capital. Sir, the French Revolution was calculated to fix men's minds more eagerly upon the question of liberty. But, was the sword the best means of opposing it? Disgrace and defeat might have tended to weaken it in the opinion of many, but victory and glory only gave it additional currency and credit with the great mass of the people.

I proceed now to a subject connected with our domestic situation; I mean Ireland, which one noble lord seems to think has been treated with a delicate hand. Of the union with Ireland I will not at this late hour enter into an investigation; time will best shew whether it be likely to strengthen the connection between the two countries. But when we hear of this mixture of delicacy and firmness, let me ask what delicacy there was in the burnings and massacres? The noble lord has been incautious in the selection of his words; he has spoken of indulgencies to be granted to the people in consequence of the peace. Is the substitution of common law for martial law, or the restoration of the habeas corpus, to be considered as an indulgence? Sir, there were times in which these were considered as sacred pillars of the constitution, not as indulgencies. If they are restored to vigour, I shall receive them as a right. I cannot be grateful for them as a boon.

Sir, I have nothing more to say, but to thank the House for the attention with which they have honoured me, and to beg pardon for having trespassed on them so long. I rejoice at the peace-cordially, sincerely, heartily rejoice at it. I hope it will be lasting. I believe it will; but to the last hour of my life I shall never cease lamenting that it was not made years ago, when we might perhaps have had better ternis, but when we could certainly have had as good as those which have been submitted to us this day.

The address was agreed to without a division:

VOL. VI.

H H

ON

CHARACTER OF THE DUKE of Bedford.

March 16. 1802.

N the 2nd of March 1802, died Francis Duke of Bedford. His great endowments, and the premature termination of a Life, the latter part of which was almost entirely devoted to the very popular pursuit of improving the system of the rural economy of his country, caused a very strong degree of interest to be universally felt on that melancholy event. During his life, as a public character, he was connected with Mr. Fox, to whose political principles and conduct he was most warmly attached, and by which he was invariably guided. On the 16th of the same month, Mr. Fox, in moving a new writ for the borough of Tavistock, vacated by Lord John Russell, who had succeeded to his deceased brother's titles, took occasion to make an animated eulogium on his departed friend.

Mr. Fox spoke nearly as follows *:

If the sad event which has recently occurred were only a private misfortune, however heavy, I should feel the impropriety of obtruding upon the House the feelings of private friendship, and would have sought some other opportunity of expressing those sentiments of gratitude and affection, which must be ever due from me to the memory of the excellent person, whose loss gives occasion to the sort of motion of course which I am about to make to the House. It is because I consider the death of the Duke of Bedford as a great public calamity, because the public itself seems to consider it; because, not in this town only, but in every part of the kingdom, the impression made by it seems to be the strongest, and most universal, that ever appeared upon the loss of a subject; it is for these reasons that I presume to hope for the indulgence of the House, if I deviate, in some degree, from the common course, and introduce my motion in a manner which I must confess to be unusual on similar occasions.

At the same time, I trust, Sir, that I shall not be suspected of any intention to abuse the indulgence which I ask, by dwelling, with the fondness of friendship, upon the various excellencies of the character to which I have alluded, much

*This speech was printed in the Monthly Magazine for April 1802, from Mr. Fox's own manuscript. On presenting it to the proprietor of that publication, Mr. Fox observed, "that he had never before attempted to make a copy of any speech which he had delivered in public."

less by entering into a history of the several events of his life which might serve to illustrate it. There was something in that character so peculiar and striking, and the just admiration which his virtues commanded was such, that to expatiate upon them in any detail is as unnecessary as, upon this occasion, it would be improper. That he has been much lamented and generally, cannot be wondered at, for surely there never was a more just occasion of public sorrow. To lose such a man! -at such a time!-so unexpectedly! The particular stage of his life too in which we lost him, must add to every feeling of regret, and make the disappointment more severe and poignant to all thinking minds. Had he fallen at an earlier period, the public, to whom he could then (comparatively speaking at least) be but little known, would rather have compassionated and condoled with the feelings of his friends and relations, than have been themselves very severely afflicted by the loss. It would have been suggested, and even we who were the most partial must have admitted, that the expectations raised by the dawn are not always realized in the meridian of life. If the fatal event had been postponed, the calamity might have been alleviated by the consideration, that mankind could not have looked forward for any length of time to the exercises of his virtues and talents. But he was snatched away at a moment when society might have been expected to be long benefited by his benevolence, his energy, and his wisdom; when we had obtained a full certainty that the progress of his life would be more than answerable to the brightest hopes conceived from its outset; and when it might have been reasonably hoped, that, after having accomplished all the good of which it was capable, he would have descended not immaturely into the tomb. He had, on the one hand, lived long enough to have his character fully confirmed and established, while, on the other, what remained of life seemed, according to all human expectations, to afford ample space and scope, for the exercise of the virtues of which that character was composed. The tree was old enough to enable us to ascertain the quality of the fruit which it would bear, and, at the same time, young enough to promise many years of produce.

The high rank and splendid fortune of the great man of whom I am speaking, though not circumstances which in themselves either can or ought to conciliate the regard and esteem of rational minds, are yet in so far considerable as an elevated situation, by making him who is so placed in it more powerful and conspicuous, causes his virtues or vices to be more useful or injurious to society. In this case, the rank and wealth of the person are to be attended to in another and