which the united force of so many po. tentates could not maintain. The pecuniary resources of Great Britain were immense; but our people were too advantageously осcupied in adding to the wealth, by which our greatness was supported, to be taken from those beneficial occuptaions. It was not, therefore, at home we were to look for men to fight the bar tles of the confederacy; that task belonged exclusively to our allies: but such had been the slaughter of their own people, that they would themselves find it difficult to replace the number of the slain. In the mean time, though a competent force was necessary for the land service in this coun. try, it was a secondary object, when compared with the navy. This claimed not only our attention, but our utmost anxiety, and he lamented, that so large a proportion of the fencible inhabitants of this country were to be employed in the army, in lieu of the navy. It no less grieved him to perceive, by the tenour of the ministerial speeches, that thousands more of our people were to be sent abroad to fall in bat. tle, or endure the miseries of a prison. To sum up the conduct of ministry, they were, he asserted, equally imprudent and unfortunate; but what was still worse, they acted with an obstinacy, that no misfortunes could counteract. Experience, instead of reclaiming then from error, increased their de termination to persevere in the encountering of difficulties which eve. ry day became more insurmount. able. What name could be given to so fatal a delusion? It was manly to cherish hope in the

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midst of distress; but it was folly to persist in distresses that could be avoided. A fair trial had been made to compel France to alter the system she had embraced; the trial had terminated in her favour, and had lasted long enough to convince all the members of the coalition, the English govern. ment excepted, of the inefficacy of all farther attempts. time to follow the advice contained in the example they seemed willing to set before us, by remitting of the violence and ani. mosity with which they first en. gaged in this war. If they were not averse to its termination, we could have no reason to be more inflexibly determined upon its prosecution. Events had so decidedly declared against the probability of recovering the losses sustained by the confederacy, that they could not be censured for preferring a treaty with the French, to a continuation of the contest. Our situation afforded, undoubt. edly, a powerful security from hostile designs; but our expences were so great, and our debts so enormous, that as their increase was incessant, prudence forbad to stretch them to any farther extent, lest, in an evil hour, we might find it impracticable, at once, to pay the interest of the one, and to provide for the support of the other.

The misfortunes of the present war, Mr. Pitt replied, did not arise from the neglect or the in. capacity of ministers, but from causes which it was not in their power to obviate. Whatever depended on their exertions had prospered. The management of the navy had been such, that we

were not only masters of the seas, but had obtained one of the most signal victories that ever graced our annals. The commerce and credit of Great Britain never were on a more splendid footing, while that of the enemy had literally no existence; their commerce was reduced to a precarious communication between their own seaports, subject to a destructive interruption from our cruizers; and their credit consisted of promissory fabrications, founded on extortions from their own people. In the worst days of our adversities, no disgrace had sullied our inilitary character. We had been unsuccessful, but true courage was not to be dismayed by disappointments, while contending for all that was dear and valuable. The expeditions, so bitterly censured, had succeeded in the completest manner; and the number of troops, sent to the West Indies, had proved fully sufficient. The reinforcements intended for that quarter, had been retarded by the insurmountable obstacles of wind and weather. The disasters that had befallen the allies, in the Netherlands, certainly were not imputable to the British ministry, whose faithful performance of every en. gagement with foreign powers was undeniable, and who ought not to be blamed for misfortunes produced by the misconduct and want of punctuality in those who were bound, by every tie of honour and interest, to be true to the cause for which they had taken up arms, in conjunction with this country. The debate closed by the passing of Mr. Windham's motion.

On the 22d, when the report of the committee of supply was brought up, Mr. Fox renewed his objections to the greater de. gree of attention paid to the augmentation of the army, at the present than at any former pe. riod. Mr. Pitt replied, that circumstances required this extraor. dinary attention. The land and sea service were so much connect. ed in the operations of this war, that it was indispensably requisite to put them both on a formida. ble footing, for their mutual as. sistance. It were, doubtless, bad policy to sacrifice the one to the other; but this could never hap. pen, while able-bodied landmen entered in such numbers into the navy, and while so many soldiers, as well as marines, were conti. nually employed in ships of war, and had constant opportunities of becoming good seamen.

It was observed, on this occa. sion, by Mr. Dundas, that, so far from apprehending a diminution of the number of seamen, he found it was, upon the best information, a matter of much more difficulty to provide a sufficiency of marines. Landmen, desirous of going to sea, entered as sailors, and those who preferred the army, listed as soldiers. Hence the marine-service was recruited, with much less fa. cility than the two others. He complained of the severity with which opposition spoke of the treatment of the sick soldiery, on board the transports for foreign service, to whom, he asserted, every attention was shewn, that duty and humanity could require. Af. ter some altercation concerning convoys, and the employment of the the naval forces, the resolutions of the committee of supply were agreed to.

The expeditious manning of the navy, without the odious expedient of pressing, was, at this time, an object in the serious contemplation of government. Many schemes had been proposed, of late years, in order to avoid the disagreeable necessity of this oppressive method, but none had appeared sufficiently practicable to be adopted. The public, in the mean time, loudly condemned this violation of per. sonal liberty, and expressed much impatience at the tardiness of those whom it concerned, in bringing forward a more effectual, as well as a more humane regulation, for supplying the navy with seamen.

In compliance with the repeated desire and expectation of all parties, Mr. Pitt produced, on the 2d of February, the plan he had formed to that intent. The mer. cantile shipping of the nation was, he observed, the great seminary of our seamen: to this, therefore, he would chiefly look for the sup. port at present wanted. The proposal he had in contemplation was to levy a number of seamen, pro. portionable to the quantity of ton. nage in every vessel, on its clear. ing out. There were, he asserted, according to authentic statements, one hundred thousand seamen, employed in the service of the merchants of Great Britain. The proportion of sailors was one to fourteen tons; one man out of every seven able seamen, or two landmen in their stead, was the requisition he proposed. None would be required from vessels under the burden of thirty-five

tons; but every vessel upwards, from that measure to seventy, was to furnish one landman, and every one above that, to one hundred and five tons, was to find either one seaman or two landmen; and from all vessels above one hundred and fifty, one landınan for every fifty tons would be required. men, that might be procured by this method, was computed at near twenty thousand. But beside this supply, another was to be obtained by the intended scheme, from the different parishes in the kingdom. These amounted to ten thousand, and from each one man would be required. To the above would be added, those numbers of idle and disorderly persons, whom the magistrates would be authorized to apprehend, for that purpose.

The number of

These proposals were opposed by several members, as harsh and oppressive. Mr. Harrison proposed, that every one enjoying a place or pension of three hundred a year, should furnish one seaman or two landmen; those who had four hundred, to find two sea. men or three landmen; such as had five hundred, two seamen or four landmen; and that for every. hundred pounds above five hundred, one more should be required. Mr. Joliffe was of opinion that unnecessary men servants, menmilliners, and hair-dressers, and all men employed in occupations that might be filled by women, should, on this occasion, be called upon to find people for the service. After a variety of strictures on Mr. Pitt's proposals, they passed with a few alterations.

The

The extraordinary expences of the land-forces, for the year 1794, were laid before the house, on the 20th of February, by Mr. Windham, who moved, that three millions and sixty-three thousand pounds should be granted to detray them. Mr. Fox and others objected to several of the charges, as exorbitant and improper. But they were justified by Mr. Pitt, on the ground of expediency, in some cases, and of justice to individuals in others. To the censures, on the expences for the erec. tion of barracks, he answered, that they were of essential utility, for the health and good order of the soldiery, and relieved the publicans and inn-keepers from a heavy burden. Mr. Windham's motion be. ing agreed to, he added another for four hundred and twenty-seven thousand pounds, in order to raise a corps of emigrants.

But the principal subject of parliamentary debate, in the month of February, was that which took place on the 4th, when Mr. Pitt brought a message to the house, from the king, signifying the earnest inclination of the emperor, to make the most vigorous exertions, in the next campaign, against the common enemy, but intimat ing, at the same time, the necessity of a loan of four millions, on the credit of the revenues arising from his hereditary dominions. Through such assistance, he proposed to bring two hundred thousand men into the field. Great as this force was, the king was still desirous to have it augmented, and had, for that reason, commissioned the British minister, at the imperial court, to signify this desire, and that he purposed to

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apply to parliament for the pecuniary arrangements that would, in that case, be requisite.

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This message occasioned a dis. cussion on the subsidy granted in the preceding session to the king of Prussia. Mr. Sheridan explicitly complained, that the ends, for which that subsidy had been put into his hands, were not answered, and that he had employed the immense sums, entrusted to him, in services quite foreign to the intent of the treaty, by means of which he had obtained them. Yet, in the present circumstances, this ought not, he said, to obstruct a loan to the emperor, who might be expected to act with punctuality in his engagements, as more deeply concerned in the present contest. Ministry ought, however, to be more cautious whom they trusted, and to frame such stipulations, as would compel the contracting parties to a strict performance of the condi. tions to which they acceded. He blamed, as unconstitutional, the engagement entered into by the crown, to guarantee the imperial loan, without previously consulting parliament. This, he observed, was placing a confidence in the Austrian ministry, to which the fluctuation and insincerity of its conduct did not entitle it. faithless behaviour of Prussia ought to operate as a warning to beware of continental engagements. Had the stipulated aid of sixty thousand men, promised by that court, been brought to act with the forces of the coalition in the Netherlands, during the campaign of 1794, it was the decided opinion of the Austrian ministers, that Brabant and Flanders would have been effec tually

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tually protected, and that the united provinces would, of consequence, have been preserved. Such a breach of faith, after receiving twelve hundred thousand pounds for services promised and not performed, merited, Mr. Sheridan observed, to be duly noticed by parliament; and he concluded, by making a motion to that purpose.

Mr. Jekyll supported the motion; but Mr. Pitt opposed it, admitting however, that the conduct of Prussia was highly censurable, though it had contributed, in some measure to arrest the career of the French in other parts. Sir William Pulteney declared himself of the same opinion. They were vigorously opposed by Mr. Whitbread, and Mr. Francis, who considered the question before the house, as requiring the severest investigation. Great Britain was not thus to be sported with by Ger. man despots, who took its money on false pretences, and expended it in prosecuting measures not only foreign to their engagements, but odious to the British nation itself. Mr. Fox, and general Tarleton, seconded the two last speakers; but Mr. Pitt's motion for the previous question was carried, and put an end to the debate.

The minister then considered the propriety of the imperial loan, which, he said, would enable the emperor to make the most formidable exertions against France by land, and thereby empower the navy of Britain to act with the greater vigour and success. Austria was the power to which he could look with just expectation for the most effectual assistance in the present contest; the cause at issue was peculiarly its own: the house of Austria was the ancient and natural ally of England, and the peo.

ple under his dominion were brave and warlike, and remarkably hostile to the French. Now was the time to exert the united strength of both powers against France. The inter. nal pressures of that country were so heavily felt, that the principal heads of the convention had unequivocally acknowledged the indispensable necessity of diminishing them; which could be done only by a reduction of the immense quantity of paper currency that deluged the country, and banished all confidence from the common transactions of society. But this step, however necessary, could not be taken without a considerable, or rather a prodigious di. minution of the French armies, which must, at once, debilitate the republic to an alarming degree, and evidently deprive it of the power of resisting its numerous enemies. Would it therefore be policy in England, to withdraw itself from a connexion with Austria, at a time when so much wanted for our own purposes ? It was the sincere wish of France to disunite us from that powerful ally, as well as from all others, by concluding treaties of peace with them, that would leave us alone to contend with the whole strengh of France. Every motive ought therefore to induce Great Britain to come forwards with her treasures for the support of the Austrian interest, which was in fact become our own. It were even more prudent to maintain, at our expence, the whole military force of Austria, than to suffer it to remain inactive, at a time when we stood in so much need of the powerfullest diversions in our favour on the continent. But this, happily, was not the case. The loan required by the emperor was perfectly reasonable, and