to illustrate what was done at the earliest moments of the war, I have purposely assumed a shorter period of time. It appears, therefore, that the aggregate number of men raised for the public service, since its commencement, exclusive of the volunteers and the sea fencibles, amounts to ONE HUN DRED AND NINETY TWO THOUSAND, SIX HUNDRED AND SIX MEN, in a time of the greatest plenty, a luxuriant harvest, an extensive commerce, and manufactures in full activity; in other words, when no moral inducements existed for alluring men to enlist from motives of necessity.

It is impossible, Sir, to look at this formidable naval and military apparatus, without experiencing emotions of pride and gratitude; nor can any true friend to his country reflect upon it, without

assigning the highest praise to those who are entrusted with the conduct of our affairs, and expressing the warmest confidence in their energy, promptitude, and patriotism. Indeed, when we revert to the beginning of the late war, and contrast the effects of the exertions then made, with those which have been produced by the exertions of the present, we are almost led to ascribe to some miraculous interference, the cause of the striking disparity between them. But, this naturally leads me to the next, branch of the subject which I proposed to examine.

Thirdly. Of the relative merits of the present administration compared with the merits of their predecessors.

In entering upon this subject, I feel my mind disburthened of an heavy pressure, and rejoice that the day is past, when we were not at liberty to examine the measures of the ministers of the crown, without incurring the odious imputation of being enemies to the crown itself. The facts, therefore, which I am about to discuss, shall be treated with freedom,' but with becoming temper.

The first point which naturally excites our attention, is, the "tempered pride," to use the majestic phraseology of Lord Grenville, with which

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the late administration viewed all the machinations of the French anarchists, and suffered themselves to be alternately kicked, buffetted, and cajoled by the meanest of mankind. Without going farther back than the epoch of the recal of Lord Gower from Paris, to find proofs of their forbearance, and wavering, temporizing policy; I shall consider that event as the date whence I shall inquire into their vigour, promptitude, and state of preparation *.

Lord Gower was recalled from Paris on the 17th of August, 1792; and received previous to his departure, a gentle complimentary note of admonition from the minister Le Brun, in which he was

* In pursuance of this principle, I abstain from taking ad vantage of one fuct, which was, of itself, a declaration of war against this country. I allude to the address of the deputation of Dutch rebels, presented to the legislative body of France on the 19th of Jan. 1792, against the government of Holland, which was favourably received. As we were bound to Holland by the treaty of 1788, our minister ought to have been instructed to have insisted on the disavowal of that address on the part of the legislative body. But, no! Lord Grenville pocketed the affront, and it was not until the 16th of November following, that this jealous and vigilant stateman, authorized Lord Auckland, then our minister at the Hague, to inform the StatesGeneral that we should faithfully adhere to the different stipu lations in that treaty.

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assured, that “France had furnished the example of subjugating kings themselves to a salutary yoke." The circumstance of this recal, though not amounting to a solemn denunciation of war; yet, it implied a suspension of the accustomed relations of amity, of which the presence of an ambassador had been till then an evidence. At all events, it denoted a spirit of disapprobation, if not of hostility.

Shortly after the departure of Lord Gower, Manuel caused an oath to be taken, that "every. exertion should be used to purge the earth of the pest of royalty," and in October 1792, the National Convention declared itself to be "a grand committee of the general insurrection of the people in the world, whose duty it was to dissolve existing governments, and to FORCE that dissolution on those who were refractory."-I might ask in this place, of the late Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, what had become of his boastéd vigilance, and tempered pride, when this declaration of hostilities was thundered against the crown of his sovereign? did the assumption of the Presidency of the Italian Republic, the seizure of Parma, or even the flagitious overthrow of Swisserland, affect the honour and independence of this country more deeply

than the above decree? Would the weak and inefficient administration of Mr. Addington

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*On the 21st of Nov. the Abbé Gregoire, president of the National Convention, in a speech which was ordered to be translated and printed in all languages, "as the manifesto of all nations against Kings," obliged the world, and this country in particular, with the following amicable sentiments. "Since the first establishment of societies Kings have been in open revolt against nations; but nations are now beginning to exert their collective strength for crushing kings." Then, having compared liberty to gunpowder, he resumed, "it will soon explode in both worlds to overturn thrones; then will arrive the moment when slave merchants and kings shall be the antipathy of purified Europe. The respectable islanders who were our masters in the social art, are become our disciples; and treading in our steps, soon shall the high-spirited English strike a blow, which shall resound to the extremity of Asia. France now declares by the organ of her representatives, that she will act as in a common cause with all people who resolve to obey themselves alone." Nine days after, the English, Scotch, and Irish ambassadors presented their credentials at the bar of the grand committee of insurrection. They were received with, the most ardent expressions of fraternal love; and the president told them, that "England is a republic-that royalty is either destroyed, or on the point of perishing" and in answer to the address pronounced on the same day by the ministers plenipotentiary of the London Constitutional Society, the president announced by the organ of the representatives of the French nation, to Lord Grenville, while Chauvelin and Talleyrand were amusing him here, "that the defenders of our liberty (meaning French liberty will one day be the supporters of your own. The moment cannot be distant, when the people of France will offer their congratulations to a NATIONAL CONVENTION IN ENG