Erfurth could have been received in any manner that could immediately have led to peace; but still the negociation might have been so managed as not to increase the hostility or rancour between the two governments. As to the second paragraph in the note of the right honourable gentleman, that his Majesty could not be expected to see, with unqualified regret, that the system devised for the destruction of the commerce of his subjects had recoiled upon its authors or its instruments,'-this was a sentiment which appeared to him altogether improper to put into the mouth of a benevolent king, nor was it a language fit for a Christian country to hold to the Christian world. It appeared to him to be indecorous and improper in every point of view. If it was meant as a retort, the retort was unsupported. France was not humbled. Buonaparte was progressively advancing in his career to the subjugation of Europe: his power was by no means diminished; and so far from the insurrections which were predicted in the south of France, there did not appear to be either insurrection or murmur throughout the whole of his universal empire. It was not till after his first communication had been answered in an insulting tone, that the French Emperor used insulting expressions. He thought it was always wrong to use insulting language towards Buonaparte; for, after all, if ever we wished for peace, it was probably with this man that we must make it; and the price of peace would be at least for us to use something like decorouslanguage to a power, which was, perhaps, the greatest that ever did exist on the face of the world. As to pledging ourselves to any point as a sine qua non, he could not avoid remembering how many of those sine qua nons the British government had been obliged to abandon since the first commencement of the war. With respect to the last note of the French Emperor, it was certainly unjustifiable; but however unjustifiable it was, it could not, he was sorry to say, be said to be unprovoked :-language, arrogant and unconciliating, had brought down an answer in a correspondent tone. The address went to applaud ministers for their mode of bringing the late overtures to a conclusion. He knew he was in a small minority, both in that house and the country; but he lamented that the offer for negociation was so abruptly put an end to: For what could be the use of commencing a negociation in terms of sarcastic recrimination, unless it was with a view to put a stop to it as soon as possible: and even in breaking with France, it was better to break with her in a spirit of as little acrimony as possible; for, let gentlemen say what they would, we must ultimately treat with France must to this complexion we come at last.' He repeated it, we must finally treat with France. The conduct of this country, in rejecting so often, on good terms, what it must finally take on inferior terms, brought to his mind the memorable incident recorded in ancient history, when, in the earliest age of Rome, the sybil came with her nine books, and proffered them for a price which was refused. She afterwards tendered six of the nine for the same price, which, being refused also, it was at last thought advisable to purchase the three remaining volumes at the price for which the first nine had been originally tendered. He hoped this sto ry would be no illustration of our fu ture destinies. France had accused us of selfishness-he feared with too much justice. We had entered into the war originally for Holland, had forsaken her, and benefited ourselves in the sharing of her spoils. It would not be easy to say when we might calculate upon even as good terms as in the late overture we had been offered. We knew not what the next news from Portugal might bring us: perhaps, before this, Portugal was reconquered. The bubble with respect to the re-capture of Madrid by the Spaniards had already burst. Buonaparte was hastening to fulfil all his prophecies:-If he had not already crowned his brother at Madrid, he yet had the power of crowning him: he had certainly—however gloriously for the British arms-he had yet, in effect, obliged us to evacuate Spain, and perhaps was now on his way to plant his eagles on the towers of Lisbon. With respect to Spain, the hopes he once had were nearly gone; and the various reports from different quarters, from some, of the want of wisdom on the part of the government; from others, of the want of energy on the part of the people of that country, were not calculated to revive them. Whether it was want of enthusiasm in the original, as some said, or, as others more plausibly said, that that enthusiasm had subsided, he had no very sanguine hopes of the success of Spain." Mr Whitbread concluded by moving an amendment to the address, saying, "that though we should have witnessed with the deepest regret any inclination on the part of his Majesty to consent to the abandonment of the cause of Spain, it did not appear to the House that any each disgraceful concession was required by the other belligerent pow. ers, as a preliminary to negociation. The stipulation, therefore, on our part, that the Spaniards should be admitted as a party, was unwise and impolitic; unnecessary to the maintenance of the great cause of Spanish independence, and obviously calcula ted to prevent all farther intercourse on the subject of peace. It appear ed therefore to the House, that an overture made in terms respectful to his Majesty, ought to have been answered in language more moderate and conciliatory; and that immediate and decisive steps ought to have been taken for entering into negociation, on the terms proposed in that overture." The amendment concluded by requesting his Majesty," that he would be graciously pleased to avail him self of any opportunity which might offer, of acceding to, or commencing, a negociation for the restoration of the blessings of peace, on such terms as the circumstances of the war in which we were engaged may render compatible with the true interests of the empire, and the honour of his Majesty's crown." A speech so favourable to Buonaparte, and so suited to the furtherance of his purposes, was not overlooked by him. A very few omissions qualified it completely for the meridian of Paris: it was translated into French, inserted in the provincial papers, as well as those of the capital, and circulated through the remotest parts of France. What, indeed, could be more agreeable to Buonaparte and his basest minions, than to tell his subjects, while they were groaning under the conscription, and cursing in their hearts the Corsican, for whose family aggrandizement they were to suffer and to bleed, that an English orator,-one of the most eminent of the whig party, of the old advocates of liberty,a leading member of the House of Commons, had declared, in that House, that the overtures of peace made by France were unexceptionable, and had been unwisely, impoliticly, and unnecessarily answered with insult that Buonaparte, wielding the greatest power that had ever existed, was hastening to fulfil all his prophecies that England must be reduced to treat with him at last; and therefore that the King of England ought to be advised to commence a negociation as soon as possible. The speech provoked a severe reply from Mr Croker, who pointed out Mr Whitbread's strange misrepresentations and his inconsistency; -for in his letter to Lord Holland he had recommended that "the complete evacuation of Spain by the French armies, the abstinence from all interference in her internal arrangements, and the freedom of the royal family, should be the conditions of the negociation."-"He has set out," said Mr Croker," by doing Buonaparte the favour of trying to find a parallel for his late attack upon Spain, and he boasts of having found many; but in the register of British discussion-in the recollections of British feeling, I defy the honourable gentleman to find a parallel for his own speech, a speech calculated only to advocate the cause of the enemy. I do not mean to represent him as the intentional advocate of the enemy; but I will assert, that, whether intentionally or not, he has taken that course, by his elaborate researches for examples which might keep the French government in countenance. Whoever produces gratuitously, in the discussion of one crime, examples and instances of greater ones, extenuates undoubtedly the atrocity of that one, by a comparison with others. But even if he were not so deeply to blame for this comparison,-supposing that this course was necessary to his argument, even here he had been in error. He had produced no parallel instance; the history of the world did not furnish one; and he had fruitlessly gone out of his path, to weaken the cause of his country." Many of the members of the opposition were far from according with Mr Whitbread on this occasion. Mr Ponsonby said, that ministers had pursued a proper course, in demanding a quick explanation with respect to the admission of Spain as a party to the treaty; and if this demand had not been made in the first instance, we should have abandoned Spain in the face of the world. The same opinion was maintained by Lord Henry Petty. "It was by arms," he said, "and not by negociation, that the fate of that country was to be decided. Our character with Spain was still to be gained; and if we wished to inspire her with a belief that we meant to make an exertion in her favour, our conduct should be in unison with our declaration, and not calculated to raise any doubt in the minds of the Spanish people as to our sincerity, or that we meant to bring the cause of Spain into our market." Mr Whitbread's was not the only remarkable speech made in the course of this debate. He had spoken of Buonaparte's insulting intimation relative to the Irish catholics. "Instead of making this a text," said Mr Croker, "to preach upon as containing a good political lesson, I expected that the honourable gentleman would have mentioned it only with reprobation. To have ventured such language was the highest insult which Buonaparte had offered to this coun try; and when the catholics came to hear that Mr Whitbread had set up for their advocate, and had quoted this phrase in support of their cause, it was to be hoped they would reject his advice, and deny that he had any right to plead their cause on such grounds." The mere mention of the Irish catholics called up General Montague Matthew.* "He defied any man," he said, "to say that the catholics of Ireland were rebels. The person who should presume to say so did not deserve to five, but to die by the hands of the common executioner. No communication, good, bad, or indifferent, had taken place between them and the French since the year 1796, when Arthur O'Connor met Hoche on the borders of Switzerland. Atrocities were talked of:-Never had more atrocities been committed by the most desperate despot than by the British government:-of all despots, the British government had been the worst. How they dealt with kings whom they wished to dethrone, Sir Arthur Wellesley could inform them: -in the East they did not imprison kings they murdered them. There was a gentleman in the House, who was secretary of state in Ireland in the year 1798, he could inform them what was then the situation of Ireland." Here General Matthew was most properly called to order by the Speaker:-he, however, continued in the same irrelevant strain. "Other members," he said, "had introduced Ireland, and the catholics of Ireland were alluded to in the negociation then under debate. He would tell Earl Cambden, if there was ever tyranny in any country, it was in Ireland, under his administration.” Being again and repeatedly called to order, he said, "then he must give up the year 1798, the scalping, and all the rest, and the best thing he could do, was to sit down," Inapplicable and mischievous as the tenour of this speech was, it was defended by Sir Francis Burdett. "On addresses," he said, "which were proposed to be voted to his Majesty, he understoou it to be a matter of right in any member to enter into a discussion of the general interests of the country. It might be disagreeable to the ears of Englishmen to hear the perilous situation of their country described, to hear enumerated a train of occurrences more calamitous and improvident, probably, than had ever disgraced any nation on the face of the globe; but still, had he not been instructed by the superior judgment of the Speaker, he should have been of opinion that General Matthew was entitled to have proceeded, and might fairly have introduced any parallel instances of atrocity, when told, on the other side, that the act of the Emperor of the French, by which this country was precluded from listening to his overtures for peace, was an instance of the most unparalleled atrocity which had ever disgraced any country. Whatever were the merits of Buonaparte, which unquestionably would not be fairly discussed in that house, it would, at least, be allowed, that he knew the best means of accomplishing the ob *There is a Mr Matthew Montague in the House, and mistakes have sometimes been made between Matthew Montague and Montague Matthew. This, the latter said, was very odd, as there was as much difference between them as between a borse chesnut and a chesnut horse. jects he had in view. Having, then, contest. They had trusted the Brireceived from him a taunt as to an tish character and honour on the rotunprotected part of our dominions, ten plank of the Spanish government let us take the hint, and by an act and the inquisition! The absurdity of our own render a repetition of the of acting on the divine right of kings taunt unnecessary. It had been said, had been the misfortune of this reign, that beat a fool in a mortar with a in support of it we had made an pestle, he would never quit his folly :- unavailing waste of blood and treawe have been beat in a mortar for sure, but we had never yet embarkmany years, but what had we got ed in any legitimate object. It suitbut disgrace?" ed administration now to say, that the internal government of a country should not be interfered with. How did this doctrine accord with the idea of that contest in which, for the last fifteen years, we had been engaged with the French, simply because they chose to alter their internal form of government? Instead of a monument to the memory of the minister who involved us in such a war, he deserved to have lost his head on a scaffold.-The House is called on for an address of thanks. I, for one," said Sir Francis, "have no thanks to bestow: kings are too much exposed to have adulation poured into their ears, and this has been the cause of the overthrow of too many of the thrones of Europe. We have not heard that any of the kings who have of late years fallen under the dominion of Buonaparte were in want of courtiers. It is fit that the king of England should occasionally hear the truth from his Commons, and no better opportunity than the present can possibly present itself.-Mr Canning has objected to the thought of this being a sinking country:- he himself may be rising, but the country is sinking; and there is too much ground to believe that it will sink still lower, if a reform does not speedily take place." Sir Francis then proceeded to speak of the affairs of Spain. "If we were to assist the Spaniards," he said, "it was the duty of ministers to have seen that there was a rational hope of attaining our end: if they had proceeded upon light grounds, they had been guilty of a crime of the deepest magnitude. After having obtained accurate information as to the real state of public feeling in that country, they should have seen that there were 300,000 men in arms; that all the passes were secured; that a British army would be able to fight with every advantage; that the soldiers would not be subject to the want of food; and that they would only have to fall, if they did fall, in the field of glory. If these things could not be insured, it was their duty not to have landed a single man, but to have supplied the Spaniards with arms and other necessaries, which might have prolonged the war. And with respect to sending money to them, it would well have become the ministry, before they called for a supply from the exhausted pockets of the people, to have restored the millions of which Spain some years ago had been so unjustly pillaged by the government of this country, and which had gone to his Majesty, under the name of droits of admiralty. But there was no rational expectation of success in such a Lord Henry Petty applauded the speech. "In the principal parts of its sentiments, sentiments," he said, |