posite alternative; for it was of all things most important, that the state of doubt which at present prevailed should be removed. He could not sit down without adverting to the reference made in the speech and the address to the relations subsisting between this country and the United States of America. He learned with great satisfaction, that the treaty with these states had been renewed; but in noticing this topic at all, it was impossible not to recollect transactions which had lately occurred, in the course of certain military operations of the troops of the United States, and which transactions were of a nature to produce no slight sensation in this country, as they involved the sacrifice of the lives of two individuals who were British subjects. He alluded to transactions which had taken place in the course of hostilities between the United States and the Indians within the Spanish settlements. Until, however, the Government of the United States avowed or attempted to justify these transactions, he should withhold any positive opinion. The principle on which that court-martial proceeded, if consistent with military law, was one which could scarcely be expected to be enforced by such a government as that of the United States. There might be a pretence for applying such a law to Ambrister, who was taken with arms in his hands; but with regard to Arbuthnot, there appeared no pretext whatever. He had no doubt, however, that a distinct explanation would be received from the United States, as the nature of these transactions was inconsistent with the genius and free institutions of that Government. With respect to the war in India, as far as he could at present form an opinion, it appeared not to have been undertaken from a

spirit of conquest, but in resistance to aggression; and the manner in which it had been conducted and brought to a conclusion, he was hap py to acknowledge, did honour to his Majesty's arms.

The Earl of Liverpool followed the Marquis of Lansdown; and after complimenting his Lordship for the liberal view which he had taken of the speech and the address, and stating the desire of his Majesty's ministers to avoid subjects on which a difference of opinion might arise, proceeded to advert to the different topics which had been brought under their Lordships' consideration. Among these topics was the evacuation of France by the allied troops, a measure on which the Noble Marquis looked with approbation. He partook, he said, in the feelings which had been expressed on the subject of the evacuation of France by the allied troops. In the first place, it was desirable that France should offer no grounds on which the military occupation of her territory could be any longer enforced. It was stipulated by treaty, that that military occupation should cease at the end of three years, if circumstances were such at that period as to render a continuance of it for five years unadvisable, when it was stipulated that at all events it should be at an end. By the most speedy termination of it, therefore, the allies showed that it was not their wish to continue it so long as they might have done, and that, consequently, the measure appeared to them originally one of necessity, and not of choice. From the time that the military occupation of France was determined on, he had always looked forward to the evacuation as a measure which, to be advantageous and agreeable to that country itself, must appear voluntary and cordial

then, and which, when it did occur, would always have its influence-he meant an unfavourable state of the exchanges. There were some who maintained, that the state of the exchanges might be altered by the Bank, and a favourable one created. Into the discussion of this opinion he would not now enter, nor would he deny its justice: but he would say, that if attempted under such circumstances, it might produce much em. barrassment and distress. The Noble Marquis had alluded to the execu tion of our countrymen, Arbuthnot and Ambrister; and the nation was aware, from the public prints, of the circumstances in which that execution took place. When the proper period arrived for discussing this subject, he would enter into the full est explanations. At present he felt the impropriety of producing details which could not be deliberately examined. To quiet the minds of their Lordships, however, he did not hesitate to state, that the execution took place without the authority of the American Government, that the act was done without their consent, and even without their knowledge.

The Earl of Lauderdale professed he could not feel the extreme satisfaction proposed to be expressed in the address, at the flourishing state of the country. There had not, in his opinion, been such pains taken. to reduce our expenditure as it was the duty of Government to have taken.

We had now L.30,000,000 of taxes, without including those war taxes which had been rendered permanent. How was it possible to imagine the continuance of such a load of taxation during peace? In the course of the American war, additional taxes had been laid on to the amount of L. 5,000,000; but so far were the ministers or the parliament of that time from considering such an

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increase of the public burdens as a matter of course, that the most rigid inquiries were instituted by committees of the house into the necessity and expediency of such an increase. There was another thing, which the Noble Lord said he must also obThe commerce of England cannot increase, without causing a corresponding increase in the commerce of other nations. The speech did, it was true, mention the continuance of a commercial treaty be tween his Royal Highness the Prince Regent and the United States of America; but it was not mentioned, that in the treaty made at Aix-laChapelle, which was hereafter to be submitted to their Lordships, any commercial arrangement whatsoever had been made with our Allies on the Continent. This was a circumstance which he could not help deprecating; for no commercial treaty could be made between two nations which would not prove beneficial to both the parties interested in it. consideration of the commerce of the country naturally led him to another subject intimately connected with it-he meant the state of the currency. He recollected submitting to the house the propriety of an inquiry into the state of it during the last session of Parliament, and he should feel it his duty to renew such a motion in the present. He recollected also, that the Noble Lord opposite had then said, that the Bank Restriction Act would expire on the 5th of July, and had held out expectations to the house and to the country that he was serious in making such a promise. He had always been of opinion that the Restriction Act could not expire at the period which was then stated. He was not singular in this opinion; on the contrary, he was supported in it by many wellinformed men; neither was it an o

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pinion which he had lately adopted, but one which he had long and uniformly maintained; because he was convinced, that until some alterations were made in the present Mint regulations, it was quite vain to expect the expiration of the Restriction Act. He trusted that ministers would not give the go-by to such a question, by meeting it, as had been of late too much the custom, by the order of the day, but would go fully and fairly along with him in such an investigation, which to him appeared of the highest importance.

In the House of Commons Mr Brownlow and Mr W. Peel went over nearly the same grounds with the Noble Lords who had moved and seconded the address in the Upper House. The former, after pronouncing a very animated panegyric on the late Queen, and the filial affection displayed to his royal mother by the Prince Regent, who, by his anxious and unremitting attentions, had soothed and consoled the last moments of her long and virtuous life, alluded to the evacuation of the French territory by the army of occupation, the scrupulous and honourable adherence of France to her engagements, and the consolidation of the Government of his most Christian Majesty. He then took a rapid review of our great successes in India, the suppression of the Pindarrees, and the check given to their restless and perfidious supporters, the Mahratta powers. The renewal of the commercial treaty with the United States, from which he anticipated the greatest advantages, next engaged his attention, and formed, he said, a subject of general congratulation. He adverted to the improvement in the finances of the country, which he considered an evident sign of the revival of commerce, and the renovation of the country,

exhausted by a twenty-three years' war; and stated that individual and financial prosperity were naturally to be looked for as the consequence of that system of economy and retrenchment so quickly established, and steadily pursued, after our expensive career of glory, in the reduc→ tion of the army and navy, and other war establishments of the country, in every respect as extensive as was consistent with domestic security, and the military occupation of our colonies. Mr W. Peel descanted at considerable length on the same topics, and followed nearly the same course of observation on the prospects of the country, and the bearings of its domestic and foreign policy.

The remarks of these honourable members called up Mr Macdonald, who stated that the speech from the throne, the address in answer, with the comments that had been made upon both, drew, in his opinion, an extravagant and exaggerated picture of the prosperity of the country. The House had been told that some reductions had been, and were to be made in the navy and army. Those reductions, which some time ago were said to be wholly impracticable, were now alluded to as matters of necessary economy, but which, he should contend, if not made, and made to a considerable extent, in the present state of Europe and this country, would render his Majesty's Ministers deserving of impeachment. He was, however, always glad to hear any mention of a disposition to economy come from the other side. It showed at least some respect to the principle; but he would rather, instead of those general and sweeping promises of retrenchment, hear some particular mention of what had actually been done, or what it was really meant to do. It looked like sincerity when,

after the promise, some detail was gone into for instance, he should wish to hear of some improved modification in the collection of taxes, of some retrenchment of that vast sum absorbed by it of four millions and a half yearly, which was about half of their total amount at the commencement of the war. The speech had talked in glowing terms of the great increase of the revenue. He did not mean to lessen any favourable impression which that might make. It was well to hear, that this year there was more paid into the public treasury than in the preceding; but it would be much better to learn, that there was less paid out of it.

It would be extremely satisfactory to know, that in proportion as our resources increased, the disposition of ministers to use them economically increased also-to know that reductions and retrenchments were the result, not of compulsion, but of inclination. After what he saw in the present state of the country, however, and taking into consideration the very many important facts which the speech had omitted, as well as the few which it embraced, he did not think there was such ample ground for congratulation as the address set forth; and the house could not be too guarded in their reception of these very pleasing accounts of the general prosperity of the country. It might be true, that the public revenue was last year greater by three millions and a half than in the previous one; but it was equally true, that it was less by two millions and a half than that of the year 1803; and even with a sinking fund of fifteen millions of nominal amount, there would still be a deficiency to be provided for. But admitting the prospect to be favourable, yet, while he saw it accompanied with such

evils as existed in the still depressed state of some branches of our manufacture, while he witnessed such a dreadful increase of crime in every part of the country, and such a consequent overflow in the gaols, whilst he perceived what he might call a legitimation of pauperism, and the misery which it produced in every part of the country, he could not but think that ministers might find something better to do than congratulating the house and each. other on the prosperity of the country. The address had spoken of the "intimate" union which subsisted between this country and its allies; but the word was too amatory to make a strong impression on the British public. They looked for that substantial kind of profession which, without treating of the intimacy which subsisted between this country and the other powers, might lead them to expect some substantial benefit to them, something like real and radical economy and retrenchment in the public expenditure; and for the "intimacy" with foreign powers, they wished it to be of that kind which would extend equal justice to all, whether they were strong or weak. He might be disposed to inquire, whether, in considering the interests of that chaos of minor states, whose complication seemed to deprecate discussion, a whole people had not been suffered to be annihilated by those high professors of religion and justice? He might ask, whether a member of that Holy Association-the head of a Christian country, and a Most Christian King-had not evaded the execution of that principle in which almost every power in Europe concurred-that the traffic in human flesh should cease? Whether he had had the decency to take those measures for its effectual abolition, or to disa