where it must end. We may, perhaps, be able to patch up an accomodation for the present, but we shall have a Spanish war in six months. Some of your lordships may, perhaps, remember the convention. For several successive years our merchants had been plundered; no protection given them; no redress obtained for them. During all that time we were contented to complain, and to negotiate. The court of Madrid were then as ready to disown their officers, and as unwilling to punish them, as they are at present. Whatever violence happened was always laid to the charge of one or other of their West India governours. To day it was the governour of Cuba, to morrow of Porto Rico, Carthagena, or Porto Bello. If in a particular instance redress was promised, how was that promise kept? The merchant, who had been robbed of his property, was sent to the West Indies to get it, if he could, out of an empty chest. At last the convention was made; but, though approved by a majority of both houses, was received by the nation with universal discontent. I myself heard that wise man say in the house of commons, ""Tis true we have got a convention and a vote of parliament; but what signifies it? we shall have a Spanish war upon the back of our convention." Here, my lords, I cannot help mentioning a very striking observation made to me by a noble lord, since dead. † His abilities did honour to this house, and to this nation. In the upper departments of government he had not his equal; and I feel a pride in declaring, that to his patronage, to his friendship, and instruction, I owe whatever I am. great man has often observed to me that, in all the negotiations which preceded the convention, our ministers never found out that there was no ground or subject for any negotiation. That the Spaniards had not a right to search our ships, and when they attempted to regulate that right by treaty, they were regulating a thing which did not exist. This I take

*Sir Robert Walpoole.

This

The late lord Grenville.

to be something like the case of the ministry. The Spaniards have seized an island they have no right to, and his majesty's servants make it matter of negotia. tion, whether his dominions shall be restored to him

or not.

From what I have said, my lords, I do not doubt but it will be understood by many lords, and given out to the publick, that I am for hurrying the nation, at all events, into a war with Spain. My lords, I disclaim such councils, and I beg that this declaration may be remembered. Let us have peace, my lords, but let it be honourable, let it be secure. A patched up peace will not do. It will not satisfy the nation, though it may be approved of by parliament. I distinguish widely between a solid peace, and the disgraceful expedients, by which a war may be deferred, but cannot be avoided. I am as tender of the effusion of human blood, as the noble lord who dwelt so long upon the miseries of the war. If the bloody politicks of some noble lords had been followed, England, and every quarter of his majesty's dominions would have been glutted with blood-the blood of our own countrymen.

My lords, I have better reasons, perhaps, than ma, ny of your lordships for desiring peace upon the terms I have described. I know the strength and preparation of the house of Bourbon; I know the defenceless, unprepared condition of this country.. I know not by what mismanagement we are reduced to this situation; and when I consider, who are the men by whom a war, in the outset at least, must be conducted, can I but wish for peace? Let them not screen themselves behind the want of intelligencethey had intelligence: I know they had. If they had not, they are criminal; and their excuse is their crime. But I will tell these young ministers the true source of intelligence. It is sagacity. Sagacity to compare causes and effects; to judge of the present state of things, and discern the future by a careful review of the past. Oliver Cromwell, who astonished mankind by his intelligence, did not derive it from

spies in the cabinet of every prince in Europe: he drew it from the cabinet of his own sagacious mind. He observed facts and traced them forward to their consequences. From what was, he concluded what must be, and he never was deceived. In the present situation of affairs, I think it would be treachery to the nation to conceal from them their real circumstances, and with respect to a foreign enemy, I know that all concealments are vain and useless. They are as well acquainted with the actual force and weakness of this country, as any of the king's servants. This is no time for silence, or reserve. I charge the ministers with the highest crimes that men in their stations can be guilty of. I charge them with having destroyed all content and unanimity at home, by a series of oppressive, unconstitutional measures; and with having betrayed and delivered up the nation defenceless to a foreign

enemy.

Their utmost vigour has reached no farther than to a fruitless, protracted negotiation. When they should have acted, they have contented themselves with talking about it, goddess, and about it—if we do not stand forth, and do our duty in the present crisis, the nation is irretrievably undone. I despise the little policy of concealments. You ought to know the whole of your situation. If the information be new to the ministry, let them take care to profit by it. I mean to rouse, to alarm the whole nation to rouse the ministry, if possible, who seem to awake to nothing but the preservation of their places-to awaken the king.

;

Early in the last spring, a motion was made in parliament, for inquiring into the state of the navy, and an augmentation of six thousand seamen was offered to the ministry. They refused to give us any insight into the condition of the navy, and rejected the augmentation. Early in June they received advice of a commencement of hostilities by a Spanish armament, which had warned the king's garrison to quit an island belonging to his majesty. From that to the 12th of September, as if nothing had happened,

they lay dormant. Not a man was raised, not a single ship was put into commission. From the 12th of September, when they heard of the first blow being actually struck, we are to date the beginning of their preparations for defence. Let us now inquire, my lords, what expedition they have used, what vigour they have exerted. We have heard wonders of the diligence employed in impressing, of the large bounties offered, and the number of ships put into commission. These have been, for some time past, the constant topicks of ministerial boast and triumph. Without regarding the description, let us look to the substance. I tell your lordships that, with all this vigour and expedition, they have not, in a period of considerably more than two months, raised ten thousand seamen. I mention that number, meaning to speak largely, though in my own breast, I am convinced that the number does not exceed eight thousand. But it is said they have ordered forty ships of the line into commission. My lords, upon this subject I can speak with knowledge. I have been conversant in these matters, and draw my information from the greatest and most respectable naval authority that ever existed in this country, I mean the late lord Anson. The merits of that great man are not so universally known, nor his memory so warmly respected as he deserved. To his wisdom, to his experience, and care (and I speak it with pleasure) the nation owes the glorious naval successes of the last war. The state of facts laid before parliament in the year 1756, so entirely convinced me of the injustice done to his character, that in spite of the popular clamours raised against him, in direct opposition to the complaints of the merchants, and of the whole city (whose favour I am supposed to court upon all occasions) I replaced him at the head of the admiralty; and I thank God that I had resolution enough to do so. Instructed by this great seaman, I do affirm, that forty ships of the line, with their necessary attendant frigates, to be properly manned, require forty thousand seamen. If your lordships

are surprised at this assertion, you will be more so, when I assure you, that in the last war, this country maintained 85,000 seamen, and employed them all. Now, my lords, the peace establishment of your navy, supposing it complete, and effective (which by the by ought to be known) is sixteen thousand men. Add to these the number newly raised, and you have about twenty-five thousand men to man your fleet, I shall come presently to the application of this force, such as it is, and compare it with the services, which I know are indispensable. But first, my lords, let us have done with the boasted vigour of the ministry. Let us hear no more of their activity. If your lordships will recall to your minds the state of this country when Mahon was taken, and compare what was done by government at that time, with the efforts now made in very similar circumstances, you will be able to determine what praise is due to the vigorous operations of the present ministry. Upon the first intelligence of the invasion of Minorca, a great fleet was equipped and sent out; and near double the number of seamen collected in half the time taken to fit out the present force, which pitiful as it is, is not yet, if the occasion was ever so pressing, in a condition to go to sea. Consult the returns which were laid before parliament in the year 1756. I was one of those who urged a parliamentary inquiry into the conduct, of the ministry. That ministry, my lords, in the midst of universal censure and reproach, had honour and virtue enough to promote the inquiry themselves. They scorned to evade it by the mean expedient of putting a previous question. Upon the strictest inquiry it appeared, that the diligence they had used in sending a squadron to the Mediterranean, and in their other naval preparations, was beyond all example.

My lords, the subject on which I am speaking seems to call upon me, and I willingly take this occasion to declare my opinion upon a question, on which much wicked pains have been employed to disturb the minds of the people, and to distress government. My opinion may not be very popular;