might have instructed our ministers in the mode of conducting the war. She was equally with ourselves at war with France, yet she neither expended a shilling nor lost a man. From the moment of the victory of the 1st of June, Great Britain was secure from the risk of invasion. On our natural element we were without controul, we were every where victorious. Where then was the policy of expending with a lavish hand uncounted millions in subsidizing feeble or faithless allies, or in idle expeditions, which could only end, as they did, in discomfiture and disgrace? The plea for engaging in the war from the proceedings of the seditious societies at home, is almost too puerile to deserve refutation. We have uniformly asserted that the corresponding society, and its affiliated clubs, were contemptible both as to numbers and character. The public never sympathized either in their projects, or the means of promoting them: the former were too visionary and metaphysical to engage the mass of the people; the latter were, from their violence and absurdity, calculated only to produce disgust. The multitudes who attended their public meetings were drawn together by no other motive than an idle curiosity; and perhaps the majority of the hearers would have been among the most active opponents of their measures. It was nevertheless right that these meetings should be suppressed; they were inconsistent with the peace of a well ordered community; and this part of the proceedings of administration had our approbation: but we could never discover the smallest connexion between this measure of prudence and safety, and the French war; and the remark of the republican minister Le Brun, in reply to lord Grenville's representa→ tion on this topic, appeared to us unanswerable" If you have bad citizens among you, have you not laws to punish them?" It has been supposed by men of considerable judgment, that the alarm manifested by ministers on this occasion was the stratagem of a deep policy, and not the impulse of sentiment. In this opinion we do not concur: we believe them to have acted seriously under the influence of fear; but it was a fear unbecoming Englishmen and statesmen. Whatever were their de signs, the number of the seditious was grossly exaggerated. The men in buckram consisted of a few idle schemers assembled at a pothouse; and some seditious expres sions chalked upon the walls excited a dismay almost equal to the prophetic hand-writing which predicted the downfal of the empire of Babylon. The character of Mr. Pitt's administration then has been grossly mistaken by both parties. He was neither the knight-errant of despotism, nor the cool and crafty politician. His proceedings were more the effect of impulse than of meditation; and when, six months before the war, he predicted a seven years continuance of peace, we have no doubt but he was sincere.-On another part of his public character we shall perhaps differ no less widely from our contemporaries. He is extolled as a profound finan cier. The fact however has been rather asserted than proved; and when sufficient proof shall be brought, we trust we shall be found open to conviction. If, as has been asserted, of three plans for the liquidation of the national debt presented by the late Dr. Price, he A 4 made a form in which it might have been imposed without even appearing an enormous burthen. A great and masterly genius for finance could not surely have been exercised for so long a space of time as seventeen years, without striking out something of a novel or extraordinary arrangement, without something which might be transmitted as a model to posterity. Yet of this kind nothing has been attributed to Mr. Pitt; his reputation in this line seems entirely to rest on the scheme for the liquidation of the public debt. This was not his invention, but the production of Dr. Price, and when examined and analysed appears in itself no extraordinary effort of invention. made choice of the worst, it argues little for either his knowledge or his judgment in that department. But without entering into that question, without wishing to depreciate the talents either of Dr. Price, or of Mr. Pitt, we have never been able to consider either the adoption of the plan, or even the invention of it, as any extraordinary exertion of genius. If a certain portion of the public debt was to be annually extinguished, in what manner would any person of common sense attempt it? Not surely by paying off at par, stock which was daily transferred in the public market, and the greater part of which indeed had been invested, at a much lower rate. The plain and obvious method was to take the stock at the market price, and to take it of those creditors who were desirous of parting with it-in other words, to purchase it in the open market. Thus far for the scheme on which we believe his reputation as a financier is chiefly founded. Of his plan for the sale of the landtax we cannot speak in terms of approbation. Its only effect could be a temporary rise of stock, and we much question whether it will ever be carried into complete execution. His first essay in taxation, which was termed the commutation tax, was a palpable blunder in finance, and answered no good purpose to any part of the nation except the India company. The other taxes which from time to time he imposed evinced no genius for finance. They consisted either in augmentations of existing taxes, or in fantastical forms of taxation which have been found either impolitic or unproductive. The income tax might have been much more equally collected than it was; nay, there is * Such as the taxes on watches, maid-servants, hair-powder, armorial bearings, &c. Such appears to us the impartial outline of the character of this administration. Mr. Pitt is in truth neither to be regarded as the saviour of his country nor the enemy of its liberties. His administration will be known to posterity chiefly by its profusion; and the mischief's which the nation has to regret from it are 280 millions added to the national debt; the existing taxes nearly doubled; and the necessaries of life (from these causes and the unnecessary extension of paper credit) raised to an exorbitant rate. It was some time before the new ministerial arrangements were announced, and probably some time before they were settled. We are unacquainted by what means the new ministers were recommended to his majesty's notice: report said, that Mr. Addington entered the royal closet as a mediator, and came out prime minister. It is however more probable that the king on this occasion consulted his old and confidential friend, the earl of Liverpool; and that the integrity, can dour, dour, industry, and conciliating manners of that gentleman distinguished him as a proper man for conducting the public affairs at a crisis when those qualities appeared to be most essential to the wel. fare of the state. Mr. Addington's appointment, as first lord of the treasury and chancellor of the exchequer, was followed by the nomination of lord Eldon to the of fice of lord high chancellor, lord St. Vincent to that of first lord of the admiralty, lord Hawkesbury as secretary of state for the foreign, lord Pelham for the home department, and colonel Yorke as secretary at war. Lord Eldon was succeeded by sir Richard Pepper Arden, who was created lord Alvanley, as chief justice of the common pleas, and Mr. Addington by sir John Mitford as speaker of the house of commons: sir William Grant was made master of the rolls, and Mr. Law and Mr. Percival attorney and solicitor generals. Before however the new ministers could regularly enter upon respective offices, and before their appointment was announced in the gazette, his majesty was seized (in the month of February) alarming illness, and continued so far indisposed as to be unable to transact public business to the middle of the month of March. Till that period the old ministers continued to hold the reins of government, with the exception only of lord St. Vincent and lord Hawkesbury, who had been in ducted into office previous to his majesty's indisposition. their with an On the 22d January the imperial parliament was opened by commission, and the lord chancellor informed the commons that they should proceed to the election of a speaker; when they made choice of Mr. Ad dington, who had not yet received the appointment which was noticed above. The parliament after this adjourned to the 2d of February, and on that day was opened by his majesty in person. The specch from the throne expressed"his majesty's great satisfaction in being now able to avail himself of the advice of the united parliament of Great Britain and Ireland. This memorable æra, distinguished by a measure calculated to consolidate the strength of the empire, he hoped would be equally marked by that energy and firmness which our present situation so peculiarly required. The court of Petersburg had treated our representations of the outrages committed against the ships, property, and against Englishmen, with the utmost disrespect; indeed acts of injustice and violence had aggravated the first aggressions. "Under these circumstances, a convention had been concluded between Petersburg, Copenhagen, and Stockholm, the avowed object of which was to renew their former engagements for establishing a new code of maritime law, inconsistent with the rights and hostile to the interests of this country. "The earliest measures had been taken to repel this confederacy, and to support those principles essential to the maintenance of our naval strength, in which firm determination there was no doubt of the vigorous assistance of the united parliament." The speech concluded with recommending an inquiry into the high price of provisions, and promises of terminating the present contest, whenever it could be done consistently with security and honour. In In the house of lords, the duke of Montrose moved the address. This auspicious union, he said, was an event which tended essentially to promote the welfare and prosperity of both kingdoms, but particularly of Ireland. It was indeed of little consequence on which side the chief advantage lay; the wealth, the strength, the population, the happiness of one, was that of the other; this great act made them an inseparable people: the benefits of union had been already tried in the case of Scotland; and though each country had enjoy ed the fruits of them, yet Scotland had reaped the greater share. She had incorporated with a kingdom of more extent of dominion, larger capital, wider commerce than her own. Apprehensions had been entertained at that time, that she would suffer under the influence of her superior neighbour, from the majority of representatives, and from other circumstances; but all those fears had been found to be chimerical, siuce, from the liberality of England to Scotland, she had not in any one instance felt the inferiority of her numbers in the legis lature. On the contrary, there had been a uniform and distinguishing attention paid to the weaker power: bounties had been granted for the encouragement of fisheries, communications by roads had been opened with the highlands, sums had been appropriated for the improvement of agriculture, the rents of forfeited estates had been applied to national advantage, money had been most beneficially lent to the completion of great works, a lower duty had been laid on malt in consequence of the inferiority of Scotland, and, much to the honour of England, the compact respecting the proportion of land tax to be paid by Scotland had not been broken; which it might have been, had she continued to bear only the relative charge settled by the union. All this evinced that Ireland had nothing to apprehend from this country exercising superior power to her detriment, but, on the con→ trary, that every thing advantageous would be conceded, and a vigour acquired by her incorporation with a kingdom of such skill and industry as Great Britain. The fertility of the soil of Ireland, its natural resources and aptitude for commerce, could not be truly ascertained until they were developed by England, and they would now receive such an impulse as would demonstrate their value; nor could the most sanguine imagination conceive the extent of riches and power, to which, under these auspices, she would speedily rise. His grace said, that on this point. he spoke the more confidently be cause in him the sentiment was hereditary. His family had taken an active part in promoting the union, at a time when it was highly unpopular in their country to do so; but they had the satisfaction of seeing all cavils against the measure die away, and every objection practically refuted. They had the blessings of their countrymen for their conduct, and all descriptions of people in both countries were long since convinced of its beneficial tendency. The first advantage to England would be a supply of grain from the superabundance of Ireland. There were immense tracts of land of such a mixed tenure, as to repress and im pede tillage; there were extensive commons; and he had no doubt but that a bill of inclosure and allotment, by which they might be brought brought into cultivation, would be a source of future plenty to the empire. The drainage of the fen lands was another source which he hoped would be opened by a public aid, and that surveyors would be appointed to inspect and report to parliament what could be done in this way. The system of the corn laws (he trusted) would be ameliorated; for though they might be right in their principle, it was a question whether the price at which foreign corn was importable did not discourage the British farmer from growing it, and induce him to turn more of his land into pasture. From this view of domestic points, his grace proceeded to examine our political affairs and relations; and here he acknowledged the aspect was somewhat dreary: but there was no cause to despond. Britain was strong in her own energies, and still more in the justice of her conIt was said to be the wish of the French, and even of the chief consul, to procure the blessings of peace; but this he did not believe the message sent by Bonaparte last year, and the whole tenor of the negotiation, proved that nothing was more distant from his heart; and he trusted that the agents and advocates for French principles would not gain prose lytes to their assertions, that the chief consul was sincere. test. He was aware that the communications made on this subject to the courts of Vienna and St. James's would be loudly spoken of; but these, instead of tending to general pacification, were for separate ne gotiations, when neither court could treat separately without breach of daith. But the French were now so situated, that they might fairly be brought to the test. The events of war had so much reduced Austria as to oblige her to treat separately: this power therefore no longer being an obstacle with Great Britain, France had an ample opportunity of evincing her sincerity as she was now greater than ever, it was more than ever the interest of the nations of Europe. to combine against her, instead of which, they had combined to destroy the maritime law in pure hostility to England: if England therefore did not persist in maintaining it, her naval prowess was at an end, and her rank and character in the scale of nations totally abrogated. To effect this, was one of the views of Russia: it appeared their aim to force this country into a war: the armed neutrality they found would not effect it; the people of Ireland and Britain, who were politically the same, were proof against this: the Russian ministers, by violating the property and treating the persons of British subjects in that country with indig nity, sought to provoke hostilities, and had proceeded to such lengths as the legislature could not endure without incurring national disgrace. There was some hope that the monarch of Russia might yet perceive he had been deluded by his ministers; and should he feel disposed to make proper reparation, it would be the best indication of a great mind. Impressed therefore with the conviction of the necessity of England defending her incontrovertible rights as a belligerent power, and that in case she did not obtain justice, every man in the kingdom would have but one sentiment, and resolve to support the councils of his majesty, his grace moved an address of thanks. The |