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odious a manner. If any charge was brought against Mr. Beresford, he defired nothing more earnestly than an oppor tunity of meeting it.

The Earl of Lauderdale faid, he meant not to arraign individuals, but the fyftem, which he proceeded to do in very pointed terms; and after a variety of very ftrong argument, much of it perfonal, paffed a warm and animated eulogium on Earl Fitzwilliam's administration in Ireland, and the characters of those by whom it had been fupported, particularly of Mr. Grattan. With regard to the Noble Earl, he faid, he had among others thought he did injury to the publie cause by connecting himself with minifters last year; he would, nevertheless, do him the juftice to say, he believed he acted in that particular on the purest motives; and in regard to the recent attempt of minifters and their agents to calumniate and difgrace him, every feature of his character gave the lie to any infinuation respecting him, that was not confiftent with the ftricteft integrity and the niceft honour. His Lordship at length concluded a very long and able fpeech, with obferving, that whether the motion were fuccessful or not, the refult must be, that the conduct of the Noble Earl, by whom minifters had dealt fo unhandfomely, would ftand unfullied in the eyes of the Public, fupported by the unanimous teftimony of the Irish na

tion.

The Earl of Carlisle said, he did not at that late hour mean to detain their Lordships by going into a difcuffion of a subject, upon which, he thought, too much had been faid already; but he felt it neceflary to fay a word or two refpecting the Noble Earl's remarks. As the Noble Earl had prepared him. felf to run a muck at the first characters in this and the neighbouring kingdom, as well as thofe whom he thought proper to reprefent as men of no character, he was not surprised at his condefcending to run at fo infignificant an individual as himself. And the appearance which the Noble Lord thought proper to make, was of a piece with the coarfenefs of his attack, having that emblem in his hand, which was the peculiar accompaniment of a convict in the cart, in his way to Tyburn *. He owned he was no match for the Noble Lord at his own weapons; he did not come down to the House with his pockets ftuffed with pamphlets, with Mr. Woodfall's Reports in one hand, and his own common-place book in the other. The purpose, however, for which he rose was, to vindicate

*Lord Lauderdale, during the latter part of his fpeech, held an grange in his hand, with which he repeatedly moistened his mouth.

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himself from the charge of having infinuated blame against his Noble Friend, in the letter which he did himself the honour to write to him when in Dublin. That letter, his Lordfhip faid, was written on the impulfe of the moft fincere friendship, from an anxious regard to the Noble Earl's honour, and with no view to infinuate, blame, or make what has fince happened inevitable; on the contrary, his aim was to render it agreeable to the Noble Earl not to quit his station. With regard to the Letter that he had recently published, his Lordship faid, he had hoped the dulnefs of it would have faved it from animadverfion; his fole object in writing it was, to ftate how unpleasant it was to his feelings to be made unwillingly the vehicle of invective against perfons of high character and fituation, for whom he entertained the utmost refpect, and with whom he had the good fortune and happiness to live in habits of intimacy.

In reply to what Lord Lauderdale had faid refpecting his conduct previous to his coming from the caftle of Dublin, and the letter alluded to, his Lordfhip faid, the Noble Earl had totally mistaken the fact; that letter was written, not on account of the reafon ftated by the Noble Earl, but merely in relation to an appointment of a Noble Duke to the Lord Lieutenancy of a county, which rendered it incompatible for him to hold the viceroyfhip of Ireland any longer.

As to what the Noble Earl had faid this day, as well as the Noble Duke who made the motion, that blame was imputable fomewhere; and that minifters, by their declarations, that whenever difcuffion came they would not be found to blame, had laid a charge at the door of the Noble Earl; he really never had conceived that any charge had been made against him, nor did he think that any fuch charge had yet been made. Without a charge, inquiry would be idle; and therefore he fhould certainly vote against the motion.

The Earl of Lauderdale made a fhort reply, in which he said, that the Noble Lord might fcatter his wit as much as he pleafed; but no application of it, which he might chufe to make to what he faid, fhould prevent him from ftating his mind freely on a public topic difcuffed in that House: And as to whether he fpoke from his common-place book, or from any thing elfe, he was glad to get information where he could find it. His Lordship again alluded to what had paffed rela tive to the Earl of Carlifle's recal from Ireland, and the letter written to a Noble Friend of his by another Noble Lord then Secretary to the Noble Earl as Lieutenant.

Lord Hawkesbury principally rofe to fay a word or two in refpect to the allufion made by the Noble Earl (Lauderdale),

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to a near and dear relation of his. The Noble Lord, he prefumed, meant his fon, when he mentioned a young Member, who was bringing up at the India Board, and had lately turned his attention to the study of military tactics. His Majesty had been graciously pleased to appoint his fon a Commissioner of the Board of Controul; a circumftance neither difcreditable to him, nor a fair ground of Parliamentary animadverfion. Since the war began, his fon had offered and obtained leave. to raise a regiment, as other gentlemen had done; and he faw nothing in his fo doing that was improper. With regard to what the Noble Earl feemed to think fo abfurd as to merit the height of ridicule, viz. his fuggeftion in the House of Commons, at a certain period of the prefent war, that it might be adviseable in the allies to march directly to Paris; if Noble Lords confidered that the idea was taken from a well-known historical fact, viz. that in one of the various wars in which France had been engaged, a General, at the head of an army, not equal to more than a third in number of the army of the Duke of Brunswick at the time the_allufion was made, did actually march from Flanders up to Paris, and took it; the idea furely would not be thought quite fo extravagant as it had been fuppofed to be. With regard to his fon's reading on a variety of topics, he really faw no great fault in that; the more he endeavoured to extend his knowledge, and add to his general ftock of science and information, the more laudably he should think he acted. With refpect to the question, he would not at that late hour enter into the difcuffion of a fubject, which he thought had already been difcuffed very fufficiently, efpecially by his Noble Friend the Secretary of State, who had confidered it in every point of view in which it could well be placed, in one of the most able, mafterly, and conftitutional Speeches that he had ever heard; he would therefore content himself with declaring, that he should vote against the motion, no charge having been made against the Noble Earl, and confequently there exifting no ground for inquiry.

The Earl of Lauderdale defired the Noble Lord to reft affured, that what he had faid of his near relation, was merely in allufion to matters of notoriety, and fit fubjects of political allufion in debate; as a private individual, he knew not a gentleman, in the wide circle of his acquaintance, of more amiable manners, or who was better entitled to his respect and efteem.

The Marquis of Buckingham faid, it was fome years fince he had been in the habit of addreffing their Lordships on public fubjects; and he rofe rather to declare that he had formed an opinion on the fubject of what had passed relative

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to the recal of the Noble Earl, than to ftate the grounds of that opinion. With regard to the prefent motion, he should certainly vote against it; it was not only novel in its nature, but highly objectionable. Had his Majefty's minifters. acted in any other manner than they had done, they would have been unworthy of their fituations, and given countenance to an inquiry, not only wrong in itself, but which must have induced confequences dangerous to all govern ments. He lamented the pronenefs that Noble Lords indulged themfelves in, with regard to the introduction of the names of individuals in debate, on whofe conduct and characters they defcanted with a degree of freedom and difregard of referve, that betrayed a wanton levity, bordering upon illiberality. Surely, if Noble Lords would give themfelves time to reflect on fuch conduct, and confider, that those at whom their random fhafts were thrown were absent and unable to defend themselves, they would not feel it to be either manly or honourable. The Marquis faid, he had been led into this obfervation, from having been that night a painful witnefs of the manner in which Mr. Beresford, whofe name had been fo unneceffarily mentioned, had been treated. When he went to Ireland fome years fince, and had the honour to represent his Majefty as Viceroy of that kingdom, he had no knowledge of Mr. Beresford: He found him there a fervant of the Crown-and a more able fervant, a more intelligent man, or a man who understood and cultivated the interefts of Ireland with more zeal, ardour, and induftry, was not to be pointed out in any office in his Majesty's dominions. He had experienced and profited by the labours of Mr. Beresford, and through his means had been enabled confiderably to improve and increafe the public revenue of that kingdom. As Mr. Beresford was a man of high honour and correct conduct in public, fo was he amiable, friendly, and fincere in private life. Having felt the advantage of his public fervices, and enjoyed the pleasures of his private fociety, he should hold himself the meanest of mankind. if he did not take that opportunity of making that public acknowledgment in favour of his character, which was entitled to refpect from men of all defcriptions. Of Mr. Hamilton alfo, a very old and faithful fervant of the Crown, he could with equal justice fpeak highly: Experienced in office, accommodating in his manners, no man afforded more general fatisfaction to those who had occasion to tranfact bufinefs with him; acute, able, and difcerning, he proved a moft valuable affiftant to Government in his public capacity; and the happy manner in which he conciliated and captivated VOL. III.

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all who came to his office, smoothed the path and removed the obftacles that will unavoidably occur in all tranfactions of the nature of thofe in which his duty obliged him to be engaged, and gave facility and dispatch, where difficulty and delay would otherwife have been to be encountered. To return more immediately to the fubjects in difcuffion, the Marquis faid, it gave him great and ferious anxiety and uneafinefs, when he first faw the Letters which had been published under the name of the Noble Earl. No man had a higher opinion than he entertained of the honour of the Noble Earl, of his high character, and his many virtues; but he was perfuaded, in his cooler moments, when the irritation of his feelings had fubfided, and his mind was reftored to that tone when calm reflection and unbiaffed judgment could operate, the Noble Earl himself would fee the impropriety of any man, in his high ftation in Ireland, having written fuch letters, and be forry that they had been fuffered to meet the public eye. There were certain topics within the knowledge of the confidential servants of the Crown, which fhould ever be kept locked in the breasts of thofe, whofe official fituation brought them within their knowledge: No provocation that could be stated, was fuffi cient to justify their expofure. But he would not proceed further on that point,

The Marquis then went into further reasoning on the different matters that had been touched on in the debate, and at length concluded with declaring, that he should give his vote against the motion.

Lord Auckland said, that he had come to the House that day, little difpofed to call in question the particular exercise of the prerogative which made the object of the Noble Duke's. motion, and with an opinion that it would be both unneceffary and irkfome to enter into the difcuffion. Nothing had happened to make him alter this opinion. On the contrary, every fpeech and every speaker had combined to convince him, that the debate tended to no poffible good end: It was of a nature, in all its bearings, either to give pain to private feelings, by bringing forwards the unpleasant and uncreditable difagree ment of individuals; or to compromise the public interefts by a disclosure of matters, which good fenfe, as well as folemn oaths, had configned to fecrecy, and which ought never to have been alluded to but with delicacy and referve.

Some incidents, however, had occurred, which he would not fuffer to pafs without remark. A Noble Earl (Lauderdale), who had raked up every anecdote and every allufion that his ingenuity could introduce into a defultory debate, had thought

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