dent, and he should give direction to have the omission

rectified.

The House resolved itself into a committee of ways and

means.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer roe to bring forward his motion, agreeably to his notice on Friday, for funding eight millions of the outstanding exchequer bills. It was not necessary, he said, to speak much at length in expla nation of the principle on which he proposed to offer this measure. It was precisely the same as that on which the sum of four millions were funded in the last year. He found the proposition on that occasion was rapidly suc cessful, and he was therefore induced to hope now that it might be carried to a much greater extent. He proposed' to give the subscribers for every 1001. in exchequer bills, at their option, of either 103. 5s. navy 5 per cent. stock, to commence interest from the 5th of January last; or 817. 8s. navy 5 per cent. stock, and 26l. 5s. 4 per cent. to commence interest from the 5th of April. The subscription to remain open till the 20th of March; and as some inconvenience had arisen last year, from a delay in issuing the certificates to subscribers, which prevented them from going into the market to dispose of their stock, care should be taken in the present case, that all certificates should be issued by the 30th. By this arrangement there would be a bonus to the subscribers of about 1 per cent. There were 26 millions of exchequer bills outstanding, and therefore he had little doubt the subscription would be rapidly filled. He moved a resolution agreeably to his proposal.

Mr. Baring thought, that as this was only another mode of borrowing money, by its fixing the terms, it was not so advantageous a mode of bargaining for the public as an open loan, which, by exciting a competition in the mar ket, would procure the sum wanted on better terms.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer answered, that although his proposition certainly fixed the price, it gave no one man an unfair advantage over another. The re solution was agreed to.

AMERICAN EMBARGO.

Sir G. F. Hill presented a petition from the merchants of Londonderry, stating that they had heretofore enjoyed a very considerable trade with the United States of Ame

rica; and that in the latter end of the year 1806, they had sent orders to the different ports in America for shipments to a very considerable amount, in flax-seed, ashes, and other merchandizes in the way of their trade, which were accordingly shipped for them, the invoices transmitted, and bills drawn for the value, which were since regu larly paid; but that by the embargo laid by the American government on all shipping in all their ports on the 7th January, 1807, the goods of the petitioners were included, and that in consequence of the considerable advances they had made for those goods, the disappointment of their arrival, and their being for the most part rendered wholly useless, particularly the flax-seed, from their long detention on ship-board, whenever they should arrive, the petitioners must be considerable losers by this unjust conduct of the American government, which was sustained during a time when American vessels with their cargoes were permitted to depart unmolested from the ports of the united kingdom. The petitioners presume not to seek any interference with the orders of council, or any other measure of policy the government may deem it wise to adopt towards America; but they submit their case to parliament, and pray such relief as to its wisdom shall seem meet.

The petition was ordered to lie on the table,

Mr. II. Addington seeing his noble friend (Lord Castlereagh in his place, begged to put a question to him, to which he was sure his noble friend could have no objection to give an answer. Upon looking over the documents upon the table, respecting the late campaign in Spain, it did not appear to him, that the instructions sent from Madrid by Mr. Frere, to the late lamented Sir John Moore, when he was at Salamanca, were to be found amongst them. The question he wished to ask therefore was, whether this document was to be laid before the House.

Lord Castlereagh replied, that in his apprehension, all the instructions which had been sent to the gallant and lamented officer, whilst he was at Salamanca, were to be found in the papers already on the table. As to any communications which might have passed between Mr. Frere and Sir John Moore, he was not aware of their existence. If any had passed between them, he apprehended that they must have been of a private nature but certainly no such correspondence had been communicated to him,

CONCILIATION WITH AMERICA.

Mr. Whitbread, in rising to bring forward the motion, of which he had given notice, observed, that if any cir cumstance could have been destined by Providence to make a salutary impression upon a government, to im plant in the minds of any statesmen, who prized the permanent interests of their country, who aspired to a place amongst the benefactors of mankind, or were qualified to guide the affairs of a mighty empire in a crisis of danger, difficulty, and evil, a spirit of conciliation and forbearance, it was the allusion which had just been made to the lamented hero to whose instructions the question of the honourable gentleman applied. The bare mention of that 'name opened to the recollection a volume of serious and important circumstances, a train of awful events, which could not fail to make a deep impression on the least reflecting mind. He had to beg pardon for making this allusion, in opening what he had to say prefatory of the motion with which he should have to conclude. But really the question to which his motion referred, was of such importance to the dearest interests of the British em. pire, that he could not too solemnly claim the attention of the House to the state of our relations with Americato that chain of causes, that series of events, which had led to the present situation of the two countries, and which might terminate by involving them in a war, unless arrested by the wise and temperate, but effectual and salutary interference of parliament. America, it was true, was not arrived at the fulness of her growth, yet had she already shewn herself,

us.

"Non sine Diis animosus infans."

She had risen with a gigantic strength; she had broken asunder the fetters of this country; she had, in the plenitude of British power, forced us to abandon our claims upon her, and to acknowledge her own independence of Yet had America not used that strength, which she had thus proved, to oppress Great Britain, which wished to oppress her, but to assist Great Britain in the moment of her trial. America was the power, which, if allied with us, would enable us to cope with the living world; and now that Great Britain had the living world against her, with the exception of America, there could not be a doubt of the expediency and importance of any measure

which could tend to the close and intimate union of the two countries. But the statesmen of the present day, uninstructed by experience, uninfluenced by example, unwarned by events, seemed to rush blindly into that system which had already torn America from the body of the British empire. America had proffered to us to unite with us in the struggle; and yet where the object was of such consequence, our government had rejected her prof fer, and upon a false point of honour. The result was, that we may, at this moment, be considered as on the eve of a war with America. He was aware of the great influence which all questions respecting our external rela tions had upon the interests and internal situation of this empire; and though he was ready to admit the import ance of the subjects which had been submitted to the consideration of the House by his noble and right honourable friends (Lord H. Petty and Mr. Ponsonby), he was still firmly persuaded, that the question he had that night to bring under the consideration of parliament, was of paramount interest and importance: because he hoped that the discussion of it would lead the government to retrace all its former errors, to heal all the existing differences, and to adopt effectual prospective measures for the establishment of a permanent union and good understanding between the two countries. (Hear! hear!) It became that House to interfere with its authority, because the right honourable gentleman (Mr. Secretary Canning), aided by his colleagues, had closed the door against conciliation with America, which was not now to be expected but through the authority of parliament. He well knew that he should have great authorities in that House against him on this occasion: one honourable and learned gen. tleman (Mr. Stephen) he saw in his place, and another right honourable and learned gentleman (the Master of the Rolls) he saw just entering. He was fully aware of the disadvantage under which he should labour against such authorities, because unhappily the force on his side had been diminished. He had to lament that he could not avail himself of the authority of that great civilian (Dr. Lawrence), with whom he had uniformly the happi ness to think and to act; but now that Dr. Lawrence was no more, he might be permitted to pay the tribute that as due to his integrity and his talents. Whatever dis tinguished individuals may remain, either in his particu.

lar department, or in the more extended branches of his profession, he was convinced that it would be admitted, on all hands, that in Dr. Lawrence that House and the country had lost a vast fund of knowledge, an exemplary instance of public virtue, and as large a proportion of poli tical integrity as had perhaps ever fallen to the lot of any individual. (Hear! hear!) Anxiously did he wish that be could have the support of that great civilian on this question, or that he had left his mantle to any person to supply the loss of his great authority. Yet feeble as he felt himself, and inadequate to the task as he must be, to the combat he should go forth, armed with his scrip and his sling, and enter the lists with those mighty Goliaths whom he had to encounter. But in entering the lists against them, he should beg leave, as was the practice in the chivalrous ages, to make a few preliminary stipulations. First, he should stipulate, that when he acknowledged himself the advocate of America against Great Britain, upon a conviction that justice was on the side of America, he should not be taunted, as was usual, as the advocate of the enc mics of this country. In pleading the cause of those who were right, if he could obtain for them justice, he felt that he would be pleading in effect for those who were wrong. He had pledges and connections as dear as any man to bind him to his country; and though he might plead the cause of France or America against Great Britain, when justice was on their side, he trusted that he would not be the last man to vindicate the honour and true interests of his country. Another stipulation he had to make was, that the mode of recrimination should be abstained from, a topic to which the right honourable gentleman opposite (Mr. Secretary Canning) was so fond of adverting. The House was sick of it, because it never applied; and even if it had, it would not satisfy the country to say, that one administration was justified, because another had done wrong. But he never had been a party to the measures of either; and if the right honourable gentleman should meet his arguments by quoting the order in council of the 7th of January, 1807, he minust observe that he had been no party to that order, but, on the contrary, expressed his disapprobation of it last session, though he disapproved much more of the orders of the 11th of No vember, 1807. He begged leave to state that it was not his intention to propese to the House any theoretic or