THE session of parliament was opened by commission on the 7th of January; and a speech was pronounced, which, as is usual on such occasions, alluded briefly to the state of public affairs, and to the leading features of the policy of administration. His royal highness the Prince Regent lamented the continued indisposition of his majesty; and had ordered copies of the last reports of the queen's council, respecting the king's health, to be laid before parliament. Suitable provisions were recommended for the support of the royal dignity, for the care of the royal person, and for affording all due facility to the resumption of the royal authority, in the event of the king's restoration to health. The successful defence of the kingdom of Portugalthe bravery and discipline of the British and Portuguese troops-and the

VOL. V. PART I.

brilliant enterprise of General Hill in Spanish-Estremadura, were mentioned with high satisfaction. The consum mate talents of Lord Wellington-the persevering bravery of the Spaniards— the extension of the Guerilla system of warfare, and the hopes of ultimate success which so many favourable circumstances inspired, were expatiated upon, as affording strong inducements to continue the aid which Great Britain had hitherto afforded to the brave and oppressed nations of the peninsula. The great abilities of Lord Minto, the governor-general of India, in planning the expeditions against the isles of France and Bourbon-the talents and bravery of Sir Samuel Auchmuty and the officers and troops under his command, by whom the views of the governor-general were so well secondedand the entire destruction of the ene

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my's colonial power, were next alluded to; and parliament was reminded of the propriety of turning its attention towards the improvement of that mighty empire which Great Britain had established in the East. With reference to the subsisting relations betwixt Great Britain and America, it was stated, that, although the affair of the Chesapeake had been finally adjusted, the other discussions had not yet been brought to a close; but an assurance was given, that no measure of conciliation should be left untried, which might be found consistent with the rights and dignity of the empire. The finances of Ireland were represented as in a flourishing state; and the Prince Regent expressed his confidence, that, when the estimates for the year should be laid before parliament, a liberal disposition would be shewn to sustain the country in the great contest in which it was engaged.

The address was moved in the House of Lords by the Earl of Shaftesbury; the debate which succeeded was by no means interesting, except for the zeal displayed by Lords Grenville and Grey, to have their sweeping condemnation of the measures of government put upon record. These noble lords, although professing a sincere desire for unanimity on this occasion, were anxious to warn the country against reposing any confidence in the administration.

Lord Grenville, " considering the critical circumstances of the times, and the present alarming state of the country, would have been happy if the address proposed to the House had been so worded as to procure unanimity, on the present day, at least; yet, he did not feel surprised that such had not been the case, when he reflected, that the framers of the speech were the very men, who, by their obstinate blindness, had brought the country to the brink of ruin, and who, in the midst of the

distresses they themselves had occasioned, still held the same flattering and fallacious language. He would protest against a continuance of those measures which had brought such calamities on the country; calamities so real and so momentous, that they must soon press themselves with irresistible force on their lordships' attention, whether or not they were willing to give them the consideration they deserved. People might choose to close their eyes, but the force of truth must dispel the wilful blindness; they might choose to shut their ears, but the voice of a suffering nation must sooner or later be heard. The noble lord said he still retained his objections to every part of the system he had so often condemned; he still deprecated that wanton waste of money, and of all the public resources, when it was more necessary than ever to husband them with the most provident care. He still objected to those commercial measures, which were pompously announced as the most formidable weapon against the enemy, and which had recoiled on our own commerce and manufactures. He still retained his objections to a system of finance, which had forced a debased coin on the people, and had spread bankruptcy and ruin throughout the land."

Nor was Lord Grey less severe in his reproaches. "He should feel unhappy," he said, "if he departed from that house, without declaring that he retained all the opinions he had before held on subjects of great magnitude; opinions confirmed by experience and the evidence of facts; opinions which he should be ready to maintain and defend on future opportunities of discussing them. Whether the noble Secretary of State (Lord Liverpool) chose to allude to the affairs of America on which he had shewn much caution and silence, and ventured to call our transactions in that quarter a proof of the

at once novel and important; but the honourable baronet instantly descended to his ordinary strain of reproach and accusation. He admitted, indeed, that the exertions of the Spaniards against the common enemy, had been distinguished by bravery and perseverance; and he confessed also, that the British army had sustained its ancient reputation. "But where is the freedom," said he, " to which the superior prowess of Englishmen has been ascribed in the better days of our history?" He maintained, that for the last eighteen years, the distresses of the country had been increasing; that he might even go farther back, and declare, that, since the commencement of the present reign-since the beginning of the American war, every year had brought an increase of calamity; and he concluded of course, "that there was something in our system radically wrong;" that the effects of the American war were still felt in the war in which Great Britain was engaged; that the present contest was begun on the very principles of that unhappy war; that a detestation of French liberty first produced the rupture, and that, on the same principles, the war was still continued ; that no one could say what England was now contending for; that liberty had no share in the contest; since whatever might be done by England for the rights of the sovereign of Spain (who had resigned his whole pretensions in to the hands of Buonaparte) nothing had been done for the Spanish people; that even if the cause of Spain had been honourably undertaken by the British government, it had now become perfectly hopeless; that the victories won by our arms were altogether barren; that although there had been many brilliant achievements, such as that under General Hill, by which the French had suffered severely, still the invaders

were making regular and rapid strides towards the subjugation of the peninsula; that all these evils originated in the departure of this country from the wiser system of former days; that the policy of England had anciently been directed to the preservation of liberty throughout the world, but had of late been degraded by a feeble and base attempt to support the decrepid tyrannies of the continent; and that the progress of France was upon the whole more favourable to the liberty of nations, than the success of her rival. The honourable baronet proceeded to make an attack upon the House of Commons, which he described as consisting of "the supposed representatives of the people of England;" but the admonition of the Speaker quickly brought him to a recollection of the decency which he had outraged. He complained of the restrictions which had been imposed upon the Prince Regent, by which dis. trust was indicated of his royal highness, and professed to look forward with triumph to the expiration of these restrictions, as the era when an enlarged and liberal system of policy would restore the ancient glory of the country. Various systems of government, he said, had been approved of at different periods of society; but an oligarchy, and, in particular, "an oligarchy of rotten burgh-mongers," has found no advocates out of England. The consequences of this system, according to his view of matters, was, that abroad we had been uniformly unsuccessful; that the despotisms which we had endeavoured to support had fallen pros-· trate before our enemy, and that at home the country had been overwhelmed with the most signal calamities; that a system of taxation had been created which ruined many and oppressed all; that the lower orders had been reduced to a state of pauperism;

that fiscal tyranny had now been carried to its height, and that an Empsom and Dudley were to be found in every shire of the kingdom; that the desperate resistance which such tyranny was calculated to create, had been kept down by the terrors of a military force; depots, and barracks, and fortifications, had been established in all quarters; and mercenaries and foreigners, who had been unable to defend their own countries, had been brought over to protect the native land of courage and patriotism.-All these things were uttered with becoming solemnity; but before concluding, the honourable baronet did not scruple to descend to a vein of humour. He became very facetious about the appearance and dress of British soldiers, and followed up such jokes by the usual tirade, about "a flogged nation," as he is pleased to call England. He concluded, by descanting at some length upon the tyranny of the Attorney General, the abuse of ex officio informations, the scandalous invasions of the liberty of the press, and the severe punishments with which some libellers had been visited by the courts of justice. He then moved an address, in which the above topics were recapitulated. This address was seconded by Lord Cochrane, who made some general reflections on the impolicy of the war, the impossibility of defending Portugal so soon as the French should make themselves masters of Spain, the tyranny of the Portuguese and Sicilian govern. ments which the English were abetting with so much zeal, and the improper direction of the naval means of Great Britain, by which, if employed, according to Lord Cochrane's views, in enterprises against the coast of France, the military force of the enemy, stupendous as it had become, might have been wholly occupied in

his own defence.

When these gentlemen had finished, Lord Jocelyn rose to move the usual address to the throne, in the shape of an amendment to that which had been proposed by Sir F. Burdett. There was no disposition in the house to support Sir Francis; no member, with the exception of Lord Cochrane, had thought fit to countenance him in his proceedings; and even Messrs Ponsonby and Whitbread, the champions of the opposition, expressed their disapprobation of his conduct. Yet did Sir Francis divide the house upon the question, when there appeared one solitary member to vote for the address proposed by him. The amendment of Lord Jocelyn was then put, and carried without a division.

Although the regular opponents of ministers did not press an amendment in either house of parliament, they spoke in terms which sufficiently proved that their opinions on public affairs had undergone no change in conse quence of the events which had lately occurred. They still protested against the whole system of policy, by which the affairs of the country had been conducted; they repeated their declarations about the necessity of husbanding the national resources; and although Portugal had been saved, and Spain supported, they still persevered in their former opinions as to continental affairs. Scarcely one tribute of applause for the exploits which had already so much signalized the British arms, and not one word of hope as to the future, was allowed to escape their lips. They rose at the opening of the session merely to intimate their entire disapprobation of the measures of government, and their firm conviction, that by perseverance in the same system, the ruin of the country would be speedily accomplished. Such were the sentiments which they avowed at a time when England stood in a com