the reach of his power, tenders you its intercourse, and that you wantonly and madly reject. The folly of this conduct was something like an anecdote which he had somewhere read of a tavern brawl. A man had received what was supposed to be a mortal wound: bets were laid whether he survived or not, and to determine the wager all assistance was denied him. In this strange case we were. We had inflicted a mortal wound upon ourselves, and we seemed determined to try the result of the experiment. Continuance and perseverance were the essence of the French plan for the destruction of our commerce. America offers to trade with us, and to trade with us to an extent greater than ever she has done before, and this proposal ministers reject, and reject with insult: we refuse her offer to retire from the confederacy against us. We say to her, you entered into the combination to destroy our commerce, you shall not retire from it; you shall see the result of your experiment. He would next shew their lordships the consequence of having driven from them with ignominy and infamy the greatest commercial power, next their own, on earth. See by the accounts on your table, the effect of these measures for encreasing your commerce, and judge from them the wisdom of the men who suggested the orders in council. The accounts. of the exports and imports for three years, to 1803, were before their lordships. They would see from these, that the average of the exports, real value, for the first two years, was 48,500,000l. In the last year it was 42,300,000. being a diminution of 6,200,000l. in one single year. He did not include in this account the experts from Scotland and Ireland, which in proportion to their trade had a greater share in the American commerce. The diminution in the value of the imports was the same in proportion, so that the whole might be fairly calculated at fourteen millions. This includes four months under a different system. Nine millions of these arose from direct trade with the United States, and this in the most essential branches of our commerce, in cotton goods, iron, and the staple commodity of the country. What, but distress and embarrassment could result from so great a stagnation in our commerce. Did their lordships wish to know the details? In one district only, 42 out of 87 cotton mills had stopped. In Lancashire there were no less than 30,000 manufacturers out of employment, and

subsisting by voluntary contributions. In the north of Ireland, the seat of a great manufacture, which was accustomed to sow annually 45,00) hogsheads of flaxseed, 35,000 of which came from America, equal distress must inevitably fall upon half a million of population if an adequate supply of that article did not arrive before May. The usual price of flax-seed was two or three pounds a hogshead, it was now from twenty-four to twenty-six. See, my lords, from this what you are doing, where you are doing it, and then weigh the con sequences of your policy. It was ascertained that the corn produced in this country was not equal to the consumption of its inhabitants. The north of Europe was shut against us; we wantonly dissolved our intercourse with America; to whom were we to look if a year of scarcity should again arrive? His reasons for entering into these de tails, was to shew that ministers should not lose a moment in resuming the negotiation they had rejected; to show them, that there never was a system more fatal than that they were pursuing, and that instead of being a happy and brilliant experiment, it was pregnant with destruction. This lamentable diminution of their commerce was not a stationary point. These were progressive evils.. They were not to conclude that the diminution would not be much greater than fourteen millions next year. It was true that the West-India Islands and this country received some small supplies of those articles hitherto furnished by the United States from our remaining colonies in America. But what would become of these colonies when we are involved in war with the United States? Indeed, ministers had shewn what value they had put upon them, what hope they had of their being maintained. They had withdrawn the small force they had in them, and dispatched it against another sugar island. He was happy to find that that expedition was countermanded. It would have been a wanton waste of men and treasure. [His lordship strongly reprobated the manner in which the negotiation with America was conducted, and condemned the connecting the negotiation respecting the Chesapeake with that relating to the orders in council and embargo.] After a luminous review of all our political relations, he concluded with moving an address to his majesty, in substance as follows:-It began with noticing the French decrees, which were stated to

be the foundation of the orders in council: the measures adopted by the American government in consequence; the offer made by America, in August, to remove the em bargo if we repealed our orders in council; that it would have been highly to the interest of this country to have accepted this offer to have repealed the orders, and se cured a monopoly of American commerce; that it was still open to his majesty to renew the negotiation on the basis of the offer made by America. It humbly prayed his majesty to adopt immediate measures to re-establish the commercial intercourse with America, and to adjust all differences; and concludes with pledging themselves to support his majesty against any unjust aggression or novel claim upon the maritime rights of the country.

Earl Bathurst wished that his noble friend, instead of proposing to compel ministers to renew the negotiation, had fairly come forward with an address for their removal. That was the practice when the conduct of an administration was disapproved. It was not necessary now for him to discuss the principles of the orders in council. That subject was exhausted in the course of a former session; upon their consequences, however, he trusted their lordships' would indulge him in a few observations. His majesty's government had not, as his noble friend seemed to insinuate, provoked this contest with respect to neutral trade; but having been forced to enter into it, they were bound to prosecute it to a favourable issue. The principle of the orders in council was to press as much as possible upon the enemy, consistent with the independence of neutral states. That the embargo was not the result of the orders in council, the noble carl shewed from the report of the American Committee for foreign affairs, and Mr. Madison's letter. The diminution of our exports to America, he contended, did not arise from the embargo, but from the non-importation act, a measure which took place a year and a half before the embargo. If the embargo were taken off, and the nonimportation act continued, that diminution would not be removed. With respect to flax seed, he trusted that in the course of a short time a sufficiency of that article would be produced within the British empire, without having recourse to the United States. There were many districts in Ireland that were particularly favourable for VOL. II.-1809.

the growth of that article. There were speculations on foot to procure a present supply from other quarters, and a considerable quantity had been secured in Canada, but which on account of the rivers being frozen, could not reach Ireland before June. Supplies also of lumber and provisions, sufficient for the consumption of our West India colonies, could be procured from the same quarter. His majesty's late government, the noble lord continued, declared the order of the 7th January should never be repealed, so long as the French decrees existed; and the very last act of their administration was to post up the principles upon which that order was conducted. The repeal of the embargo to us, the noble lord contended, would operate as a repeal to France too; and this was the liberal and candid proposal which ministers had rejected.

Lord Sidmouth entirely concurred in his noble friend's motion, although he could not completely agree with him in the grounds of that motion. The noble viscount then proceeded to state his objections at length. He urged an adherence to the strict principles of maritime law, as the only means of preserving maritime security. The principle of the order of the 7th January was not, he con tended, an infringement of the rights of nations, because it prevented that coasting trade from being carried on, which was done in America under a neutral flag. Its professed object was to retaliate upon. the eneiny those evils, which he was desirous of inflicting upon us. The noble yiscount objected to the system of duties, and preferred an entire prohibition: the amount of the proceeds in these duties did not equal one-third of the duty on hats or hairpower; it had been only 23,000. The project of duties was adding insult to grievance. The state of our country, his lordship proceeded, would not admit of the com mercial privations sustained by, France, she was encouraged to proceed under an idea of wearying us into peace. It had been said by Burke that France was a military people, and looked to the subjugation of Europe: the terror too of the present ruler of France contributed to reconcile her to these privations. His lordship then urged the importance of having a market for our manufactures, and of preventing America from becoming a manufacturing country. He hoped a negotiation would be entered into upon the basis of the late one, to which he thought it

at the time impolitic to object; and concluded with expressing his opinion that ministers had acted unwisely, and that it was the duty of the House to offer their advice to his majesty.

Lord Melville said, that the present motion had been taken up on different grounds by the noble mover of it, and by the noble viscount. The latter had coupled with its object, the conveyance of a distrust of those persons who were entrusted with the executive part of his majesty's government. If this were the noble viscount's intention, he should have taken a more manly way of expressing it; he should first have dispatched the subject of the negotia tion, and then have impeached the wisdom of his majesty's ministers. He then went into his objections to the present address, and his explanations of the orders in council, at much length; and urged the preservation of our ma ritime rights. To check contraband trade, to enforce blockade, and to prevent neutrals from enjoying a coast-" ing trade under a neutral flag, were our three great rights and if the country maintained these, she would be always secure. The orders in council were a just retaliation; and it was his lordship's opinion that his majesty had acted with' moderation, rather within than beyond his right. Ministers were as much disposed to amicable adjustment as any of their lordships, convinced as they were, that the prosperity of America and Great Britain must for a long period go hand in hand; and his lordship deprecated the present interposition.

Lord Auckland spoke in favour of the address.

The Lord Chancellor entered into the situation of America before the orders in council, in justification of which he spoke.

Lord Erskine would assent to the present motion, supposing either the present or the late ministry to have been right or wrong'in the principles upon which the orders were made. The question was not what we were justified in withholding from America, but what we could grant her. So many changes has been rung by ministers upon the order of the 7th of January, that if ever they were to abscond (although it was no very likely suspicion) his lordship should be able to detect them under any guise, as the Vicar of Wakefield did the man in the prison, by the word cosmogony; he should talk about the council; they would immediately say, "7th of January," and he