narchy And if he too must be involved in this indiscriminating and injurious censure, what condemnation will not those men deserve, who, in the very moment of pretended danger, have advised his Majesty to call to his present councils, the authors, the partisans, and the supporters of Mr. Pitt's plan? A plan including all, that has been now proposed, and extending very far beyond our measure. On the expediency of these measures, Statesmen may differ. To stigmatize them as hostile to our establishment, or dangerous to our constitution, is to libel both the throne and the parliament. To calumniate the existing laws; and to impute to the most considerable public characters of our age, both the living and the dead, principles and purposes disclaimed by themselves, aud contradicted by the whole tenor of their lives. It is for the Society to consider, whether such a conduct be consonant to the character, which it befits them to maintain, or in any manner conducive to the objects of a charitable and religious institution. I have the honor to be, &c. GRENVILLE. 1807. Parliament, The advance of the season, and the pressure of Meeting of multifarious parliamentary business, urged the mi- and King's' nisters to bring their friends together with all pos- Speech. sible dispatch. Circular letters were therefore sent from the treasury to all the returned members, 1807. whose support they anticipated. Although a systematic rejection of the lawful services of above a third of his Majesty's subjects, were the real cause of the late change in his councils, and the premature dissolution of the late parliament were founded on a forced levy on popular prejudice, all pointedly aimed against Ireland; yet, when the Parliament met on the 26th of June, the King's speech, which was read by the Lord Chancellor, as the head of the commission for opening the parliament, did not in any part of it even obliquely hint at Ireland. "We have it in command, say the commissioners, from his Majesty, to state to you (the Lords and Commons), that having deemed it expedient to recur to the sense of his people, his Majesty, in conformity to his declared intention, has lost no time in causing the present Parliament to be assembled. His Majesty has great satisfaction in acquainting you, that since the events, which led to a dissolution of the last Parliament, his Majesty has receivedt innumerable ad Downing-street, June 6, 1807. * The following was the form of the treasury circular, viz. SIR, As Parliament will certainly meet for the dispatch of business, on the 22d instant, and as questions of the greatest importance will come under discussion, I trust you will excuse my expressing to you the anxious wish, that I feel for as full an attendance as possible, at the opening of the session. I have the honor to be, your most faithful and obedient servant, SPENCER PERCEVAL. + The real fact of this ministerial representation of innumerablé addresses was, that out of 119 counties in the United dresses from his subjects, the warmest assurances the present moment, of cherishing a spirit of union and harmony amongst his people. Such a spirit will most effectually promote the prosperity of the country at home, will give vigour and efficacy to its councils, and its arms abroad; and can alone enable his Majesty, under the blessings of Providence to carry on successfully, the great contest, in which he is engaged, or finally, to conduct it to that termination, which his Majesty's moderation and justice, have ever led him to seek a pesce, in which the honor and interests of his kingdom can be secure, and in which Europe and the world may hope for independence and repose.' Kingdom, 36 counties addressed the King: all of them must be presumed to have been invited or pressed to do the like; and as 83 counties did not address: the inference is obvious. There was a majority of 47 counties for not addressing. 1807. 1807. The address to the throne on the King's speech Debates on was moved in the Lords by Lord Mansfield, and and the con- seconded by Lord Rolle; neither of whom added the address, sequences. one idea differing from the hackneyed phrases and Pharisaical cant, of which that contemptible composition had been fabricated by the new ministers: all of whom, as Lord Fortescue observed, on proposing his amendment, (except Mr. Perceval) had been tried in the balance and were found wanting. That noble Lord proposed an amendment, which went in substance to lay before his Majesty the culpable conduct of his ministers in dissolving the Parliament, when there existed no just or sufficient cause for such a sudden dissolution, and which was productive of great inconvenience and mischief to the country. The debate was kept up with heat till four o'clock in the morning, when Lord Fortescue's motion was negatived by a majority of 93, 67 (including proxies) having voted for it, and 160 against it. In the Commons, Viscount Newark moved, and Mr. Hall seconded the address, when after a very long speech Lord Howick moved an amendment, almost in the same words as that moved in the Lords by Lord Fortescue, which, about seven in the morning, on the division, was negatived by a majority of 195; 355 having voted for the original address, and 155 for the amendment. It is obvious, that the then existing circumstances of Ireland constituted the real grounds of the late change in his Majesty's councils, and formed the substantial basis of those animated and important debates, yet in each house the generality of the speakers, (more particularly those on the ministerial side) appeared studiously to avoid any mention of Ireland. Lord Howick, however, made a manly appeal to Lord Castlereagh, on the effects produced on that country by the conduct of his Majesty's ministers. When he recollected the measures, which had been recommended by the noble Lord opposite, as necessary to the tranquillity of Ireland, when he recollected the declaration of that noble Lord, that Ireland could not be governed without some concession of that nature, when he recollected, that the noble Lord had pledged himself to the execution of the measure, and for that pledge had received a valuable consideration, that by it he had been enabled to complete the union of the two kingdoms; when he recollected those things, and considered the consequences, that might have resulted in Ireland from the failure of the measure, which he had proposed, his astonishment, even after the lapse of three months, had not ceased. Serious, indeed, would these consequences have been, had the attempts, which had been lately made to infuse into the people of England, a rancorous animosity against the Catholics of Ireland succeeded; had they made English and Orange a kind of Orange party against the Irish, and taught the Irish, that not trifling difficulties alone stood in the way of their claims, but the general and united opposition of the whole country. With respect to the influence of the Crown it had bsen exercised during the last election in a most unexampled manner. In this country, to a 1807. |