Pagina-afbeeldingen
PDF
ePub

grounds not warranted by the constitution. He had heard, in this and other places, that the present administration ought to be systematically supported at all events in the present situ ation of affairs. He blamed not those who said so; but, with regard to himself and those who entertained that opinion, union and co-operation were at an end. He had not heard the honourable baronet say so much; for he was sure, that if the honourable baronet had done so, he could not have added that he concurred in sentiment with the illustrious characters to whom he had alluded. The honourable baronet had alluded to a noble person (the Duke of Portland) so much esteemed by him, that he could not express what he felt in speaking of him; a nobleman with whom he had lived sixteen or seventeen years on terms of friendship, and for ten of those seventeen had been in habits of the greatest intimacy and affection; and he would venture to say that he esteemed him at least as much as the honourable baronet. He could not bring himself to believe that that nobleman entertained the opinion professed by the honourable baronet; for he had heard that that nobleman, in giving his support to the present bill, had expressly declared that he could not forget the manner in which the present administration came into power, and that great part of the difficulties in which the country was now involved was owing to their misconduct. He therefore believed that no essential difference existed between that noble person and himself.

If differences did arise from doubts that were entertained, he asked only for a fair discussion, that it might be distinctly known wherein it was they differed. He firmly believed, that on all the principles of liberty, they not only agreed in motives but in actions; that they agreed in every thing except the bill. He disapproved of this bill, and they approved, which was all the difference of which he knew. But as to other differences, (and he was conscious of no other,) that subject must be farther discussed, and better understood between them. He had long acted, and he wished to continue to act with characters whom he esteemed and loved; but if he should be driven, which God forbid! to the situation of acting without, or even against those characters, he hoped and trusted he should have sense enough to discern his duty, and fortitude to perform it. Painful as such a separation would be to him, and requiring his utmost fortitude to bear, he must then consider whether he should act alone, or not act at all. He trusted, however, he should act according to his own sense of duty, if he was compelled to do the one or the other. If, on the other hand, the difference on the present bill should be the only material difference between them, they might still act

in conjunction, as they had formerly done, and he hoped that all attempts to magnify accidental differences, while they agreed on one general principle, would fail of their effect. There were other persons from whom he expected an entire difference on certain questions, and he had not been deceived. The right honourable gentleman (Mr. Burke) who had condemned his former friends to banishment in Sinope, it might have been expected, considering the desolateness and sterility of the land, would have paused, would have thought that a sufficient punishment; but he had not done so. All that he could say was, that nothing should be wanting on his part, nothing of yielding or complying, nothing conciliating or friendly, no submission that friendship and old habits of intimacy could suggest, that he should not be ready to enter into, if, in his opinion, it could operate for the public good. Upon the present bill, as nothing had been alleged that could justify the principle, which he had no hope of opposing with success, and as it contained many provisions that could be better debated in a committee than in any other stage, he should reserve what he had to say until it came to that stage.

Mr. Burke answered Mr. Fox in a very spirited but desultory speech, in the course of which, to enforce his account of the three thousand daggers manufactured at Birmingham, he threw down one of them on the floor of the House, and bid them look to it as a sample of the fruits to be obtained by an alliance with France. At the same time he exclaimed with great vehemence, that he would, to the utmost of his power, keep French infection from our country, their principles from our minds, and their daggers from our hearts.

December 31.

On the motion for going into a committee on the bill, the Marquis of Titchfield said, he agreed that the circumstances of the country were in the highest degree critical; and, in such circumstances, those who were as little inclined to think well of the present administration as himself, might be disposed to adopt such a conduct in some instances, as at other times they would not be inclined to pursue. His political sentiments and attachments remained the same that they had ever been. His opinion of the gentlemen who composed the present administration, was in no respect altered: but he felt the dangers which surrounded us, and the necessity, in that case, of giving to government such support as might enable it to act with effect; a support, therefore, directed to that effect, and governed by those circumstances, was that which he meant distinctly to give them.

Mr. Fox said, that he should trouble the House but with a very few words. What he chiefly had to observe was on what had fallen from the noble marquis in the course of this debate. He thought it rather unnecessary to take much notice of what had been expressed on the feelings of others on a former day. The whole subject had been explained by the noble marquis with so much propriety, dignity, and perspicuity, that he could not entertain a doubt as to his principles and sentiments. He had so properly come forward to state his opinion as a member of that House, that no doubt could now remain ; all that he had to say on that subject was, that he concurred entirely with the noble marquis in every thing he had said, except his approbation of the present bill. There might be some explanation upon that subject in the committee; he therefore only said, that the committee might, perhaps, be the proper stage for him to deliver his sentiments upon the subject. At present, he must confess, he was not ready to give his assent to the bill. He was not surprised that there was a difference of opinion between the noble marquis and himself upon the bill. They had formed different opinions on the state of the country: the noble marquis had thought the country in danger, and therefore very properly thought that the executive power should be strengthened, and voted for the bill. He, on the contrary, was not aware of such danger, and saw no necessity for the bill; and therefore, when the case was thus explained, it was not surprising that they differed in opinion.The bill now before the House must, he apprehended, be discussed on two grounds. The first was, whether any danger did exist in this country? If that was determined in the negative, there would be an end of the bill; if in the affirmative, then, secondly, whether the present bill contained the proper remedy for such danger? The present was not a question of general support of administration, as had been erroneously stated: it was, whether any thing was necessary in the present case; and if any thing was necessary, whether the present bill was adapted to the end proposed? He was ready to say, that if the circumstances of the times were such as ministers described them to be, it would be necessary for him to support government; and he would support government if there was really danger in this country. He was always ready to support government when he thought it wanted support. As a proof of this, he had given his vote for the augmentation both of the army and navy this year. He had done so because he believed this country to be threatened with external danger. But he did not believe there was any internal danger, and therefore it was that he opposed the present bill. If ministers would prove the in

ternal danger to exist, he should consider himself bound to vote for it.

January 4. 1793.

On the order of the day for taking into consideration the report of the committee on the alien bill, a debate of considerable length took place. The bill was opposed by Mr. M. A. Taylor, the Earl of Wycombe, Major Maitland, Mr. Grey, and Mr. Fox; and supported by Lord Fielding, Lord Beauchamp, Mr. Hardinge, Mr. Jenkinson, Lord Mulgrave, Mr. Windham, Mr. T. Grenville, Mr. Mitford, and Mr. Pitt.

Mr. Fox said, that the immediate question before the House had been discussed in a manner so general, and so many extraneous topics had been introduced, that he must depart from the mode in which he had meant to treat it. He would begin with the state of the country, and examine what degree of danger existed when parliament met, and what degree of danger existed now. His opinion on the first day of the session, (and he hoped he should not be misunderstood, or what he said misinterpreted now, as had been the case then,) was, that no danger existed to justify the measure of calling out the militia and assembling parliament, and in the manner in which this was done. His honourable friend (Mr. Windham) had said, that the dangers alleged in the proclamation were not to be judged of in detail; that they would make no figure mentioned individually, but were to be estimated by the impression made upon every man's mind, by the whole taken together. That they were not to be detailed he was ready to admit, for, "dolus versatur in generalibus," they would not bear detailing; if they were to be mentioned individually, they would appear so many insignificant circumstances as to excite ridicule instead of alarm, and therefore his honourable friend did right in begging that they might be so mentioned. The danger, whatever might be its degree, had two sources: first, the fear of the propagation of French opinions in this country; and, next, the fear of the progress of the French arms. These might for one purpose be taken conjointly, but he intreated that they might be first considered distinctly, for he saw them in very different points of view. The propagation of French opinions in this country was, in his opinion, so very small, so very much confined, as to afford no serious cause of alarm to any mind of rational constancy. It had been said, that the proclamation at the close of the last session of parliament had checked the growth of the evil; but this was a mere gratis

[ocr errors]

dictum, for those who said so were not able to adduce juridical, for that was not required of them, but prudential proof that it had ever existed. What, then, was the alarm? Those who thought they had cause for alarm in May, might naturally think that they had still greater cause; that those who entertained those obnoxious opinions would disseminate them with greater confidence, would act on them with greater boldness, when the French arms prospered. For those parts of the country in which he had not resided he did not pretend to answer; but, in this town at least, and, as he had every reason to believe, in all other parts of the kingdom, these French opinions had not been adopted to any degree that could be called alarming. His honourable friend had. said, let them compare the phenomena with the theory, and they could not fail to be convinced of the danger. His honourable friend's mind, he rather believed, was so full of the theory, that he could not help inferring the phenomena, instead of raising the theory from well ascertained phenomena. For his part, he had always, said, that whatever progress the doctrines of France might make in other countries, they would make but little here, where rational liberty was enjoyed and understood. He founded his hopes of this on his own opinion of the constitution, and the attachment. of the people to it; and the event had justified his hopes, instead of the fears of some other persons. If real danger had existed, if those from whom it was apprehended had been proceeding to action, if they had been rising in arms, if they had been going to take possession of the Tower, (suppositions which now no man believed,) then, indeed, calling out the militia would have been a wise and a necessary measure. But, if no such act was impending, to what purpose was a military force prepared? To repel opinions? Opinions were never yet driven out of a country by pikes, and swords, and guns. Against them the militia was no defence. How, then, were they to be met if they existed? By contempt, if they were absurd; by argument, if specious; by prosecutions, if they were seditious; although that certainly was not a mode which he would recommend, but it was a mode which ministers had before resorted to, and which they had still in their power. If, indeed, any danger did exist, it was not to be repelled by calling out the militia, and, under the pretence of waging war with obnoxious political principles, bringing bodies of them nearer and nearer to the metropolis. If, then, no act, founded on these opinions, was believed to be committed or intended, they who voted against the address on the first day of the session were right; for no good ground had been laid for the measures which they were called upon to

« VorigeDoorgaan »