position would be unable to triumph. To what did the present motion tend? Not to shew that the House approved of several parts of the conduct of the late ministers, for that approbation had been expressed by their votes. Not to inform the king of their merits, for, according to the statement made by a noble lord, his majesty had expressed his approbation of their conduct up to the circumstance which led to their dismissal. The House had not been told of the answer which had been made to the approbation so expressed by the sovereign. Would it not have been proper for the late ministers, on quitting office, to assure his majesty that in retiring from his service, it was their wish still to support his government; that they should be happy of having the power to afford it their aid; that they knew their dismissal was occasioned by conscientious motives alone; and that so far from shewing any animosity against their successors, they were disposed by every possible means to contribute to the success of those measures which they might bring forward for the service of the country? Such ought to have been their language, but that such had been their language remained to be told. The general purport of the present question, was evidently similar to that which had been proposed to the House, and which had been rejected by the House. Those who were blind to the tenor of the former question, must see distinctly the tenor of the present question. For himself, he could say with the honourable mover, that he was unpractised in the ways of party; and he could also say, that were power placed in other hands than those in which he wished to see it placed, he should refrain from repining. Under the impression of the sentiments which he had thus submitted to the House, he would move the order of the day.

Mr. Ward, before he proceeded to the principal question, adverted to the gross, wilful, and malignant falshood and misrepresentation which had been employed out of doors against the late ministers. It had been asserted that they had a design to render their power permanent, and that their friends in Parliament were ready to support them against the crown. He declared, that if he had seen any thing like this in their conduct, if he had seen any want on the part of ministers of that respect and reverence due to the throne, he would be among the first to desert them. He knew with what reverence an Englishman ought

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onght to regard his sovereign, especially a sovereign who had shewn so much attachment to his people as had been manifested by his present majesty. He reverenced him for his virtues, his regard to the good of his subjects, for his age, and the long time he had reigned over a free country. This much to exonerate himself from the charge which had been made against him and his friends out of doors by those who were said to speak the sentiments of the present ministers. Their sovereign, however, had approved of the conduct of the late ministers in every instance but one; but he confessed that ministers ought to stand well as to that point also, before he could assent to a general approbation of their conduct. Fortunately for them, however, nothing was more clear and satisfactory than their conduct on this occasion, which, in a few words, was this: "they proposed to this House a measure for which they thought they had the consent of his majesty ; but it turned out that this consent was given under a misunderstanding, and they immediately withdrew the measure, stating, however, that their opinions remained the same, and that they might feel it their duty to submit to his majesty, from time to time, the situation of his catholic subjects. In consequence of this a pledge was demanded that they would never again mention this subject, nor any thing connected with it, and this pledge they found themselves under the necessity of refusing, and they were accordingly dismissed. His majesty had here acted by the advice of disinterested counsellors, who had nothing but the good of their country at heart, and who wished that the government should be in the best and ablest hands (a laugh). One of these majors of the place, instead of being allowed to continue consulting the year-books, was made chancellor of the exchequer, and chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster during pleasure, and he would have been for life had not this House interfered, and all this for the purpose of defending the protestant religion, as he himself stated in a certain paper which he had circulated with his name to it. If he had seen that paper without the name, he should not have said that it was the composition of a lawyer, and a learned and respectable man, but that of some mischievous incendiary arming man against man, and stirring up riots and animosities among a de Juded people. He did not impute this design to him, but that, however, was its tendency; and had he not done

this in a moment of ambition and aspiration, he himself would have confessed it. The late ministers sacrificed much to their sovereign: they certainly sacrificed their own feelings, and all but their honour, which they could not abandon; and he must acknowledge, that if they were blameable for any thing, it was for having conceded too much. He doubted whether they ought to have gone so far, but threw it out merely as a doubt. In better times (he did not allude to the Brentford mob, the corresponding society, or any thing of that kind; but to the sense of all the people who were not mere creatures of the court)—in better times, it would have been considered as more proper for the ministers to have retired when they were compelled to abandon the catholic bill, and not to have waited for the last disgrace, which was preparing for them. If they had done that he would have stood by them. But perhaps there was something in the times, prejudices raised by the French revolution, which, by a re-action, prevented the progress of real religion and toleration, by operating on men's fears, which would have rendered this an imprudent step. This was the consideration he was well assured, that weighed with the late ministers, and not the desire of continuing in office. Their retiring then would have enabled certain persons to have raised a clamour, which might have prevented their return to office, which was now the only hope of the constitution, of freedom and of toleration. How different would have been his feelings now, had they given up the freedom for which they so long contended, and which he, whose loss we had so lately to lament, had defended all his life? Then indeed freedom would have been extinct in this country, and it would have been nothing but an empty name in public life, and the reality would have been left to be deplored in silence by a few obscure individuals like himself. This much with respect to that transaction.

He regretted the late change in his majesty's councils, as we thereby lost a wise, a patriotic, and an efficient government, and because it was replaced by one directly the reverse in almost every point. The merits of the late ministers had been already stated in detail, but he would just remind the House of the steps that had been taken with respect to the public expenditure, of the plan of finance that had been brought forward, and of the abuses that had been corrected, at the expence of diminishing their patronage.

This plan had produced the most sensible effects, it had diminished the confidence of the enemy, and raised that of the country; it had saved us from new taxes for some years. He was not saying that it would do so in the hands of the present ministers-and by that means alone, they had done more than any one act of any administration whatever, to keep up the spirits of the people, and secure the confidence of our friends abroad. In the hands of the present ministers indeed it might fail of its object. Millions might be wasted for the purpose of rousing unwilling cabinets to arms. English gold, or in other words, Engglish labour, and English misery, would be applied to bring about another battle of Austerlitz, which our bulle tin manufacturers might again convert into splendid victories; and he hoped that the manufacturer [probably alluding to Mr. Robert Ward] would be brought up from the admiralty to the foreign office by a special retainer for the purpose. So many plans of finance had been proposed by the friends of the chancellor of the exchequer, that he, with great prudence, perhaps, had taken none of them. The late ministers were anxious to reduce the expenditure at the expence of their power; they set their faces against abuses, and they were too sparing of the public money not to experience the enmity of all robbers, and the whole of the vermin that lived on the public plunder. These wretches were in the utmost terror when they observed the diligence of the late ministers in their inquiries, and their ardour in detecting and punishing delinquents. But the change had relieved them from all their fears; they now raised their heads and rejoiced; the good old times were returned; Redcunt saturnia regna; the golden age was come again; and the present ministers were sensible of the advantage which they had, in this respect, over their rivals, and they were determined to make use of it. With what satisfaction must this description of persons look to the restoration of a noble lord (Melville) to the situation of a privy counsellor, whose defence, standing in this House (though it was a confession rather than a defence) was, that he had expended ten thousand pounds of the public money, of which he would render no account to the constitutional guardians of the public purse! What a glorious set-off was this to the committee of finance and others, which the gentlemen on the other side, if he might judge from the smile on their faces, would perhaps say were appointed for

the

the sake of patronage! What a glorious set-off was it against these committees which had brought abuses and defaulters to light, and he hoped to punishment, and which were in the way of doing a great deal more good of the same nature! What a satisfaction must this be to those who acted in this affair in opposition to the people, and to the dignity of the House of Commons! and how gratifying must his restoration he to those who advised his majesty to admit him again to his councils, with the resolutions of the 8th of April still on the journals of the House. The present administration, with few exceptions, consisted of those who had attempted to screen the person alluded to from censure and punishment; and now, therefore, the fear of rigid inquiry was past.

The honourable member next adverted to the measure respecting the Scotch courts of law, and mentioned that though a reform had for many years been called for, yet no former administration had taken up the subject. Of the present administration he would say little, because it was much more agreeable to praise than to blame. He must, however, advert to the means by which they got their power, and the means by which they would keep it, if, unfortunately for the country, they should be allowed to keep it. The manner in which they had come into power was the most unconstitutional he had ever heard of, except that by which lord Chatham was driven out in 1763. That change was also brought about by the private influence of which that eminent statesman always so much complained. The present ministers had abandoned their places before, on the death of that great man, who alone gave them any consideration. They then felt their own incapacity for government. and, like prudent warriors, had retreated on the loss of their leader. But they had not then, however, abandoned all the good things; they had taken care to carry with them something to comfort them in their retirement, and like faithful myrmidons they had eagerly grasped at the spolia opima of their chief. They, however, had got again into office by an appeal to a parti cular opinion of his majesty, and an opinion in which some of them coincided so little, that they had before retired from office on account of the refusal of concessions to the catholics, with this difference from the la'e ministers, hat they demanded the whole of what was called catholic emanci pation, while the late ministers only desired a small part;

and