Exchequer, and the Secretary of State, in their piety and due obfervance of religious rites and ceremonies, forsooth, had lately made this difcovery. He The next point to be confidered, was the opinion which the mafs of the people of a country entertained of the government under which they lived. He knew there were fome who affected to defpife that idea; but they were weak, fhallow, miferable politicians. He knew that Ireland was, in that refpect, in a dangerous condition. It had been faid, that Ireland was not in a state of rebellion or infurrection. hoped it never would; but certainly all accounts from that 'country concurred in this, that the people were in a state of the greatest difcontent and diffatisfaction; nor was this to be wondered at: Indeed the reason was obvious. It was effential to the welfare of a country, that the common people of it hould have a veneration for its laws. This was by no means the cafe in Ireland; and why? Because the law was there regarded as an inftrument of oppreffion, and as having been made upon a principle of pitiful monopoly; and not for the general protection, welfare, and happiness of the mafs of the people. It was too common for the lower clafs of the people in Ireland to refift the execution of the laws. Theft itfelf was not regarded by them with the fame abhorrence as with us. Indeed, if we would have the mafs of mankind regard our laws with veneration, we must make them feel the benefits of them; fhew them that they are equal, and alike to all without diftinction. It was this principle which made the laws of England fo much the object of our admiration; it was this which made the people parties, as it were, in the execu tion of the laws; for when any one infringed them, a profecution against him was generally a popular meafure. What he faid with regard to laws, was applicable alfo to religion. He would have religious toleration as equal as the laws of England; and that all men fhould be tried in fociety by their morals, and not by the mode of religious worship. To root out prejudices altogether, was not a thing to be accomplished at once, but it was a thing to be attempted; and every step towards it would be an advantage to the country. Such was the plan of Earl Fitzwilliam, which, inftead of aiding, minifters thwarted by their meafures. They had renewed the old plan of corruption, which had made the government of that country odious; this was too well authenticated to be doubted: It had been ftated publicly in the House of Commons there, by a Gentleman whofe talents were highly eminent, and for whom, notwithstanding fome little dif ferences' upon political fubjects, he had a high esteem (Mr. Grattan); Grattan); that Gentleman had stated that peerages in Ireland, instead of being a matter of honour, were an article of fale; that they were purchased from the corruption of feats in the Houfe of Commons. This Gentleman, by whofe noble exertions Ireland gained a free trade and more equal reprefenta tion, never was in the confidence or on the fide of any Viceroy, bating the Noble Earl in question and Lord Northington. Yet it was stated in the debate in the Lords by a Noble Lord (Westmorland), who left Ireland to make room for Earl Fitz. william, that all the changes were made to excite commotion and fedition and faction. He had heard much of the influence of the Crown in this country; and Mr. Fox faid, he believed it to be as great as it was ever ftated to be. But in Ireland corruption had been publicly avowed and acted upon. Such a government muft certainly be in a very decrepid ftate; and, therefore, any plan for the relief of the people was highly neceffary. What then were we to think of minifters who held out an encouragement at one time for fuch a plan, and afterwards recalled a Lord Lieutenant for attempting to carry it into execution? The question therefore refted upon the cause and the manner of the recal of Earl Fitzwilliam; and upon that subject it was impoffible fairly to pafs by the conduct of his Majefty's minifters, without inquiry. He had heard much faid of the danger of investigating this bufinefs; danger he admitted there was, not from an inquiry, but from abstaining from invefligation. He had heard alfo a good deal faid about the honour of his Majesty's minifters. Upon that he was not concerned; they would defend their own honour, and deal with it as they might think beft. Lord Fitzwilliam defired only an investigation of facts; in which, he faid, his honour was concerned, and alfo the intereft of the nation: And therefore he thought it imported the Houfe to inftitute the inquiry. He knew indeed, that, if Earl Fitzwilliam had adopted the plan which others had fet for him, he might long fince have been extremely eafy; he might have had an opportunity of accepting a good place; minifters would have faid-" It is true you have uttered fome hard fentences against us, but, now we are good friends, every thing is understood between us." The truth was, Lord Fitzwilliam did not enter into what is called the spirit of the prefent Administration; that is to fay, he did not facrifice his character for the purpose of putting himself upon an equality with them. He had, thank God, not entered into that fpirit: He faid thank God, for no political differences of opinion ever had, or fhould, Mr. Fox declared, deftroy his friendship. Lord Fitzwilliam had acted honour honourably: He called for inquiry; he ftated his claim to it ; he had a right to demand it of the justice of that House; his honour was in their hands, and therefore they ought to grant him an inquiry. Should the House refuse it, Mr. Fox declared, he knew not, among the various names that have been given to various Parliaments, what name to give to the prefent Parliament: It certainly was not an Inquifitive Parliament. They had feen large fubfidies granted, and they had not inquired into the fervices performed; they had known alliances entered into, and our allies defert us, and they had not inquired for what reafon; they had feen our armies defeated, and they had not inquired into the plan of our military operations; they had feen failures on our part, in almost every corner of the world, and they had not inquired into the causes of fuch failures; they had feen this empire very nearly ruined by the conduct of the King's minifters, and they had continued their confidence in fuch minifters. It was for want of inquiry we had been brought into our prefent calamitous fituation. Knowing this, he muft on the prefent occafion leave it to the wisdom of the Houfe, to reflect on the confequences of continuing to refufe inquiries into fubjects in which the profperity and happinefs of this and the fifter kingdom were fo deeply involved. The Chancellor of the Exchequer faid, that whatever effect might be produced in the minds of fome, by the efforts of the Hon. Gentleman who made the motion, and thofe of the Right Hon. Gentleman who followed him, to perfuade the House and the Public that his Majefty's minifters wished to avoid the propofed inquiry, from a confcioufnefs of mifconduct; he was almoft confident that he should have the sense of the majority of the Hoafe with him in the part he pro pofed to take. Feeling, as he must feel, what the ftrict line of his duty was as a Member of the British Parliament, and ftill more particularly as a Member of the Executive Government; he was convinced that he should betray that Govern ment, if he were induced to give a verbal explanation of the fubject in hand, when it could only, from its nature, be effectually known by a thorough investigation of the whole of the correfpondence which took place during the time of Lord Fitzwilliam's refidence in Ireland; a propofal to do which, he averred, could not come from fubftantial purposes of found policy, or from any well-grounded fenfe of public expediency or private juftice. Whatever the view of the motion might be-whether it was justice to Lord Fitzwilliam, or injuftice to those who compofed the Executive Government-whether it was the 4 welfare welfare of the British empire at large, or the benefit of the Irish nation-or to difcufs and take the opinion of the House on topics depending before the independent Legislature of Ireland; it was impoffible to enter upon it at all to any effect, without going at large into a complete inveftigation of the whole, without fuffering themfelves to be led away by artful reprefentations, founded on garbled extracts and vague rumours, which, however induftriously circulated, certainly were not fufficient grounds for that Houfe to form a decifion upon. And whether the House would agree to take a step at once fo indelicate and dangerous, as to open the fecret tranfactions of Government, and touch the vital parts of the British empire, by probing every little unimportant wound to its utmost extent, or not, was a queftion that he would not infult their patriotifm or their wifdom by doubting. If an inquiry, however, was to take place, it could be properly done only by application to the Throne, and not by inquifition of the confidential fervants of his Majefty, who were withheld, by the very effence and nature of their office, from the promulgation of the fecrets of the Cabinet. He affured the Houfe, that whatever advantage might be made of his filence, or however the ingenuity of Gentlemen might turn it to the purposes of bold prefumption and coarfe invective, he was too much accuflomed to fuch treatment, not to facrifice the firft feelings of his temper to the deliberate fenfe of his duty. He could well bear the uncouth ebullitions of intemperance and acrimony, and contemn the grofs mifreprefentations of his conduct, which he was fo much in the habit of hearing from the other fide of the House, because he entertained a well-founded hope of receiving a fair and candid judgment from the Public, and had, at all events, an ample refource for tranquillity in the confcious integrity of his own mind. He did not, he faid, want the candid and falutary advice given him by an Hon. Gentieman (Mr. Powys), not to be betrayed into warmth by the very provoking and unmerited expreffions which fell from the other fide; for he had been, antecedent to that advice, determined not to enter into any particular verbal explanation-and in the fpirit of that determination he would neither admit nor deny the facts or inferences fo loofely charged, but ftate to the Houfe what he conceived to be the general principle which governed the cafe, and which he was convinced would lead to the conclufion of rejecting the motion on the grounds of found policy and public fafety. Having faid fo much, he would take up no more of the time of the Houfe with preliminary matter, but proceed to the the points of the queftion, as they arofe from the statements on the other fide-and as to the affertion that no prerogative could bar the inquifitorial functions of that Houfe, he would admit it under fome qualifications. No part of the King's prerogative was more peculiarly neceffary to the existence of Government, the facility of its operation, and the security of that country for which fuch government is formed, than the power of nominating and difmifling his Majefty's fervants, without affigning any caufe: Yet he would not fay, that even this, in a fpecial cafe, properly made out, might not be properly brought before the Houfe, and. infifted on with reafon as a fit matter of inquiry. That this power of felection or rejection, without assigning caufe, vefted in the Crown, and was an indifputable part of the constitution, was prima facie evident, he would not, therefore, weary the Houfe by demonftrating it; and that the most perfect confidence in each other (not confidence of moral opinion, but confidence of having the fame views, and a concurrence of opinion on the political measures to be purfued by all) fhould fubfift between the various Members of the Executive Government, as the means which could alone enable them to conduct to advantage the public concerns, was equally obvious. Be If then motions of this kind were to be granted, and inquiries of the nature it fought were fet on foot, this great and falutary provifion of the conftitution was ended at once. fore an experiment fo hazardous could be attempted, a special cafe fhould be made out, of pofitive inconvenience, or public misconduct or delinquency, to ground it. If such a special cafe did exist as to establish that neceffity, he granted it would be wrong to refift inquiry; but he contended at the fame time, that it was much more dangerous to admit of inquiries, when no grounds whatever could be ftated for going into them, and when the fubjects with which they were collaterally connected, involved matters of fuch importance, that any disclosure in detail of the causes for appointments or removals, might be productive of the very worft confequences. What were the only pofitive grounds upon which the prefent inquiry was founded? Simply these two facts: First, it was faid to be neceffary for the juftification of Earl Fitzwilliam: Secondly, as things now ftand, it is neceffary for the public intereft of both kingdoms that an inquiry fhould take place. As to the first, the whole of it, he faid, moved on a mere groundless affumption, that the recal of Earl Fitzwilliam from the government of Ireland, implied a charge against him. But though the Hon. Gentleman who made the motion, infifted that the removal of the fervants of the Crown from their VOL. III. |