circumstances, he thought, Ireland of himself shewing that tardiness could never suppose itself fairly dealt by, if the legislature refused to make any inquiry into the circumstances of an affair so alarming to the tranquillity of that country. Lord Castlereagh insisted, that the Irish government were not surprized; that Dublin was sufficiently garrisoned; and that if it was not for the murder of lord Kilwarden, the insurrection in Dublin was not important enough to be called rebellion. Mr.Windham thought the motion, the information if sought, and the observations, made by the hon. mover, were not of a nature to do any mischief; but that, on the contrary, much good must result from it. The government of Ireland appeared to him, in spite of repeated warnings, to have suffered itself to be completely surprised, He denied that the merit of putting down the rebellion, belonged principally to the regulars; it was the volunteers, assisted only by the 21st regiment, who put down the rebellion. The plot of the rebels, was as extensive in its confederacy, as sudden in its execution; and if it had not happened, that some of the insurgents were intoxicated, and that lord Kilwarden passed that way before the time fixed for their acting, he thought it probable, that the insurgents would have carried the castle of Dublin. He then defended generally the tenor of his speeches, during the session. He was accused of alarming and frightening the people of this country; but it was in vain to attempt to rouze people to defend themselves, without pointng out the danger. The chancellor of the exchequer, accused the right hon. gentleman, and indecision; an indecision which he imputed to others, when he hesitated immediately to vote the customary address of thanks to his majesty, for the communication respecting Ireland. On such an occasion as that, delay would have been ruinous, and yet the right hon. gentleman was for delay. As to the general state of Ireland, it would be foolish to suppose, that that spirit which had before manifested itself in rebellion so widely extended, should now be completely extinguished; yet he would say, that he believed it bad abated considerably of its violence, and that numbers of persons, in that country, who were formerly disaffected, had now entirely quitted the cause of rebellion, and would be ready to join in the defence of the country, against any invader. Dr. Lawrence, in a long and able speech, recapitulated the charges which had been so often made against ministers, for want of due vigilance and system. The attorney general replied. Lord Temple supported the motion, as considering that the conduct of the Irish government, upon the late occasion, ought to be fully inquired into. He denied that the rebellion in Ireland was a catholic one, as some gentlemen had supposed. Persons of every religion were equally exposed to its ravages. Colonel Crawford said, that for the sake of Ireland, he almost regretted the act of union, if, on such an occasion as this, parliament were not to demand information. Mr. Hutchinson, made a very able reply, to the different objections that had been made to his motion, and dwelt particularly on the cruelties which, during the last rebellion, had been committed, under the mask of law, and covered by the act of indemnity. The motion was then put and negatived without a division. The next day, August the 12th, parliament was prorogued by a speech from the throne.* Thus terminated a session of parliament, which had been protracted to the very unusual period of nine months; and which, for the importance of the subjects brought before it ;-the extent and variety of the pressure of public business; -and the vigour and ability displayed in debate, yielded to none, the proceedings of which have hitherto appeared in the annals of British history. To the surprize, and perhaps to the disappointment of the country, the minister was left, at the prorogation, upheld by nearly the same numbers, in both houses, engaged to the support of his administration, which he could have counted upon at the meeting of parliament. Some defections, and those individually of the utmost weight and consequence, there certainly were; nor was there to be found that union of character and ability, conjoined to numbers in the ministerial phalanx, which would have, in all events, rendered it irresistable. Still, however, a want of connecting principle prevailed among the leaders of the hostile ranks; and though, at the period to which we advert, every circumstance seemed favourable to such a coalescence of talent and character, in the country, as must, so united, have borne down every opposition; the season for political activity closed, as we have seen, without any visible decrease of the influence of the present government, or of established co-operation and harmony among those parties, who seperately pro fessed themselves adverse from its measures. Vide State Papers. CHAP. CHAP. XVII. Negociation of the Minister with Mr. Pitt.-Conditions on which the latter agrees to come into office.-Unpalatable-and why. Rejected-and total failure thereof.-Subsequent changes in Administration.-No Ac quisition in strength thereto.-Observations. I N the course of the month of April, in this year, some steps were taken towards effecting a change in the administration of public affairs. Of these,' although they proved at the time wholly ineffectual, it naturally falls within our plan to give some account; and this the rather, as the history of such transactions is always useful, by affording some insight into the characters and views of our public men; and by developing the occasions and principles of those variations, which all free governments so frequently exhibit in the state and relation of their political parties. The frequent and unreserved discussions, which have since taken place on the subject of this particular transaction, the publications respecting it, which were supposed to be authorized by some of the parties most concerned; and the private letters of others of them, intercepted and published by the enemy, have brought the detail of this negociation, much more forward to the public view, than is usual in similar cases. The following narrative, compiled from all these various sources of information, will, we trust, be found both fuller and more accurate than any other that has yet appeared. The stability of the administration, which had concluded the trea ty of Amiens, was understood to depend on the experience which the country might have of the real merits of that memorable transaction. The extent of the sacrifices, by which peace had been purchased, began indeed to be more generally regretted, in proportion, as it was more fully understood; but credit was, for the most part, given to the assurances of its permanence, which were continually repeated from authority; and the country indulged itself in the most sanguine expectations of its beneficial effects on our situation, both at home and abroad. In this state of the public mind, the ministers found little difficulty in discrediting the opini ons of that small body in parliament, which had, from the beginning, openly condemned the system on which that negociation had been conducted; and had always predicted from it, the inevitable and speedy renewal of the war. An opinion began to be received, by some men, that mediocrity rather than preeminence in talent or in knowledge, P 3 knowledge, was the qualification most to be desired in the ministers of a great country. And even among many who had not yet adopted this sentiment, the continuance of the existing administration, was ardently wished for, as the best pledge for the duration of the peace; an object for which every possible effort might be expected from men, whose characters and situations were so closely connected with it, But when it became manifest, even to the ministers themselves, that the war must immediately recommence, their own situation was as much changed as that of the country. They found that they would have to encounter the reproaches of many whom their assurances had misled into a course of public conduct, or into projects of private speculation, neither of which had been justified by the vent-they would be called upon to publish the detail of negociations, singularly defective in point of ability and knowledge: and the submissive tone of which could not but prove galling, to a great and, high-spirited people-they would be required to justify the orders given for putting into the hands of the enemy, on the very eve of hostilities, those possessions, whose chief value is found in war-and, above all, they would be obliged to account to parliament for a long, session, actively employed under such circumstances, not in proposing new measures of defence, but in discharging, disembodying, and destroying the already inadequate force which before existed! In addition to these embarrassments, they would have to encounter the usual difficulties of a burthensome and expensive war.-Difficulties much increased to them, by the continual reference which they must occasion to the errors of their past policy. In this situation of things, it was. natural that the administration should look to some means of strengthening themselves in parliament, and of retrieving the ground they had lost in the estimation of the public; among whom a sense of their insufficiency had, for some time past, been rapidly, though silently growing up. There werè, in parliament, three leading descriptions of public men, unconnected with the existing ministry; from each of whom separately, ministers had much to apprehend; and whose union, even if it could be effected for that single object, would manifestly be, at any moment sufficient to overthrow the whole system of Mr. Addington's government. Of these it was generally understood that the party, at the head of which Mr. Pitt was placed, though much dissatisfied with the conduct of ministers, was however less alienated from them than those with whom either Mr. Fox or lord Grenville acted.-To Mr. Pitt, therefore, their overtures were made. It appears not improbable, that, in a transaction of this nature, carried on in a great degree by verbal discussion, and embracing the personal situations and interests of all those persons who were parties to it, some misapprehension may, even in the very outset, have prevailed: the actual ministers may, per haps, have conceived themselves engaged engaged only in a negociation for an accession of strength to the government, which already existed; while the person, with whom they treated, might believe that they had both the desire and the authority to propose to him, that he should undertake to form a new administration. The subsequent transactions render it evident, that no such desire did, in fact, exist, on their part; and it has been generally believed, that they had received no such authority from that quarter, from whence alone it could regularly have been given! Yet it appears certain, that the proposal was listened to, in that sense alone, by the person to whom it was made. Mr. Pitt's answer, as stated to the public by one of his confidential friends, was conceived in the fol lowing terms: That "he would not enter upon the question of arrangements, until he was distinctly informed, by a message from the highest authority, that his services were thought essential; that if so called upon, in spite of the precarious state of his health, he should not decline the offer of his best advice and assistance; that he was fully aware of the great and increasing difficulties of the country, and that he saw the necessity of a STRONG, VIGOROUS, and EFFICIENT GOVERNMENT." To this he is said, from the same authority, to have added, that, as one important step towards the formation of such a government, he should, if called upon by his majesty, propose to include, in a new administration, lord Grenville and lord Spencer, if, on being consulted by him, they should agree to be so included; but that he should not make their admission, or that of any other person whatever, a sine qua non condition of his own acceptance, only reserving to himself the power of declining the undertaking altogether, if he could not form such a government as might afford to the country a fair probability of success. In this state the transaction is said to have been communicated to these two noble persons, and through them to some of their friends. The answer of lord Grenville and lord Spencer is said to have been, that they could form no final judgment of the propriety of their acceding to such an arrangement, until they were informed, both with what persons it might be proposed to them to act, and on bat principles the government was to be conducted; that they entirely concurred in the opinion expressed by Mr. Pitt, as to the necessity of forme ing a STRONG, VIGOROUS, and EFFICIENT GOVERNMENT, and wished to carry that principle to the full extent, of including in the new administration, whatever was most eminent in the country for talent, influence and character; that they should, under all circumstances, openly and invariably adhere to those principles, respecting the state and government of Ireland, to which they had been pledged, on the dissolution of the former government; that this point must be distinctly explained by themselves in that quarter, where it was most material, that it should be clearly understood; and that if, on this account, or from any other cause, new difficulties shoud arise, they earnestly intreated that no consideration personal to themselves should, for a single moment, |