MR. FOX'S MOTION TO ADJOURN THE COMMITTEE ON THE STATE OF THE NATION.

January 29.

HE order of the day being read for going into a committee the state of the nation,

THER

Mr. Fox said, this was the day in which it was intended to resume the committee on the state of the nation. He regretted, that when this order had been made, the circumstances in which it originated were not so effectually changed as to occasion in his mind any substantial reason against a literal compliance with it. The House and the public still saw, to their sorrow, a ministry in this country retaining their situations in direct opposition to the House of Commons. They saw the servant of the crown claiming the privilege of setting up his single opinion in opposition to theirs. They saw an obvious intention of putting all their resolutions and measures at defiance. Was it not resolved, after the most solemn and deliberate discussion of a very full House, that the continuance in office of the present ministry, who came in on secret influence, and were supported by every sort of influence except that of a public and avowed one, was dishonourable to parliament, and injurious to the service of the country?

It was on account of their occupying this very singular and unsatisfactory ground, that their conduct had engrossed so much of the attention of the House. And were matters now altered for the better? What new facts had been stated, what other reasons assigned than those already heard from the right honourable gentleman? The House consequently was reduced to the disagreeable and mortifying situation of being insulted and despised with impunity. Was this an honourable or decent situation for such an assembly to be placed in? It was a situation in which ministers could do no public good whatever. National affairs were perfectly at a stand. And why? The right honourable gentleman said he would insist that his judgment, was preferable to the collected wisdom of the House.

But let gentlemen consider what the present state of the public is. Is not the business of the public at a stand? What is it that can be carried on of any consequence to the community at large, while the ministry and the representa

tives of the people are at variance? He knew not what facts the right honourable gentleman might be in the humour to deny; but he was perfectly founded in saying, that whatever depended on the concurrence of parliament, was by his pertinacity or obstinacy perfectly at a stand:

In what business, then, were ministers engaged? The world were not to learn that much private favour had been lately distributed. But would ministers and their partizans say with what view these valuable gifts were vouchsafed? Was it not to strengthen, stimulate, and promote certain views which had excited ministers to increase a body of men which it was their object to render inimical to the constitutional influence of that House? This was a project which evidently originated with the secret advisers of the crown, whose interest it was to vilify and traduce the representatives of the crown; and those who would thus stoop to be their tools, their instruments, and their creatures, were always sure of encouragement at court. The confidence of the House of Commons, of the public, and of the world at large, was no object, no recommendation to them. But in proportion as they conciliated the good opinion of the public, in proportion as they stood well with the House, in proportion as their measures were likely to be of general advantage, in the same proportion would they be condemned, censured, and expelled the confidence, the caresses, and the favour of the sovereign. What, then, signified a majority of the House of Commons to a minister who stood on such a ground? It might serve him to carry a few necessary measures, but would never exhibit him as an eligible servant of the crown. No. It was only in so far as he deviated from the constitution, as he shewed a contempt for the opinion of the people, as he preferred his own judgment to that of parliament, that he would gain in the royal esteem, or merit the approbation and support of those who were constantly exercised in whispering the worst things of the best men.

These were the glorious and important purposes for which the whole patronage of the crown had devolved on them, and was used with all the licentiousness and partiality of private property! He always expected to be told on such topics as this, that the prerogatives of the crown were not to be impaired or restrained. He was the last man who would ever wish to see one of the three estates stript of any of those powers with which it was legally invested. But were not all those powers originally given with a view to the public service? He would be glad to know how such an object as this could be served by the late creations which had taken place. He trusted nothing he said would be understood in any de

gree as personal; but he thought it his duty to mention the interest which, as it struck him, the public undoubtedly had in whatever either directly or indirectly affected their interest. He would insist on it, that ministers were responsible to the House of Commons for the exercise of every prerogative belonging to the crown. It was in the House of Commons, or by the people in their original capacity, that every exertion of those powers which distinguished the sovereign of the empire, were ultimately to be tried, and in proportion as they answered the primary intention of their institution, be acquitted or condemned.

Now, however, the secret came out on which the present arrangement proceeded; they forfeited the confidence of the House, or, what was the same thing, treated it with the greatest contempt, because it ensured them a welcome reception from their private employers. Their conduct was therefore no longer a mystery to the public. It was written in the most legible characters. They not only opposed their own official consequences to that of the House, but by their obstinacy and temerity established a most melancholy and dangerous variance between the sovereign and the people. Through the medium of this ill-omened administration, the subjects at large and their supreme magistrate were taught to regard each other with jealousy and mistrust. This was one capital object of their system, and it was undoubtedly well calculated for attaining its end.

To what lengths the House would be justified in going under such a circumstance, it did not become him to say; but neither would any one opposite to him pretend to affirm that parliament was not defied by ministers. Why did they not condescend to gratify the public, to meet the wishes of the people, to sacrifice their attachment to place for the sake of restoring tranquillity to the country, and confidence in an administration which might do the business of the people as it ought to be done? Who did not remember to whom the interregnum of last year was owing? How was the interval of public business then filled up? Things were then done which the nation could not soon forget; and they were done under the same circumstances of public discontent, and the same instruments which gave them their formality and effect. A similar indignity to the country in the eyes of all Europe was now going forward; was perpetrating in open day; was insulting those radical and hitherto undisputed powers which the constitution had lodged in the House of Commons. All the world were witnesses to a farce which the present actors could only submit to play. They kept the country without a government at a period when the pressure

of public business never was greater; for at this time it could not be said we had in fact any thing like an effective government. He trusted in God men's minds would soon be awake to the ridicule of their own situation, and that they would save the British name from that ignominy, that contempt, inseparable from rulers of such a description.

But how long were they destined to continue under all the disadvantages of such an executive power, which was altogether destitute of energy, of influence, of respectability? How was the House of Commons, thus irritated and insulted, to conduct itself? He had conceived from their late conduct the best opinion of their resolution, their sense of dignity, and their attention to their honour and privileges as a body; he should therefore hope they never would suffer themselves to fall into the snare thus laid for them by those who wished, and only waited to take every possible advantage that might arise from their conduct in a situation thus critical and trying. They had already disappointed those who had thus proved them, by a temper, a moderation, and a magnanimity, which did them the highest honour. This was the calm, the deliberate, and the manly line of conduct in which he hoped they would persevere, and from which no temerity, no haughtiness, no obstinacy from those individuals who had set themselves against them, would ever tempt them to depart. He recommended firmness without obstinacy, and moderation without pusillanimity, as that which, notwithstanding every consequence, would still justify the strongest measures in the eyes of the public.

He therefore proposed the House should adjourn till Monday, when if nothing occurred to give public affairs a more favourable aspect, it would certainly be necessary to resume the committee on the state of the nation. The few days respite which such an adjournment would afford might be employed as those which were passed had been. He trusted the well-meant endeavours of such as wished to produce something like an union, might not again prove abortive. But he was bound in conscience once for all to declare, that while the present ministry retained their situations, every effort of that kind, however laudable and well intended, must be useless and unavailable.

Mr. Pitt objected to the mode of arraignment thus constantly adopted by those on the opposite side of the House. Against all that very high language thus personally addressed to him, he would only oppose his simple assertion, as no more argument was used on one side than he should affect on the other. Indeed he doubted not the House would think with him that such a torrent of crimi

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nating assertions were not by any facts whatever to be established. He was conscious to himself no part of his public life or official conduct stood in the least need of any apology. The delicacy of his present situation required discretion. He was determined to sustain it with as much firmness and decency as he could. This resolution was the result of deliberation, and no invective or aspersion which the right honourable gentleman could throw out should divert him from that sort of behaviour he had already pursued; he could only act in so far as his own judgment directed him. This direction he trusted would not lead him into any very palpable mistake; and while he retained a confidence of this kind, it was in vain to expect he would be the dupe of any other.-Lord North much approved of his right honourable friend's motion for adjournment. He was certain of his proceeding in every thing with manliness and decency. He knew his sensibilities to be strong; but these were under the controul of a sound mind and an incorruptible heart.-Earl Nugent said, that he for one did not believe that a majority of that House were ready to subscribe to the administration of a dictator, and to receive again into the public service the author of the East India bill. To the right honourable gentleman, personally, he had no objection; he thought his talents were of a commanding and superior nature; that his genius was profound and inexhaustible; his mind firm and adventurous. He would go farther; he was ready to say, that in such a moment as the present, the country stood in need of such a minister. We could not go on in the beaten path; we could not be saved by the common quality of measures; we wanted the activity of such a man as the right honourable gentleman; but he wished to see him only making the part of an administration, not monopolizing the power. His aid, his assistance, would give vigour and energy to any system; but the constitution of this country would not admit that the sole and dictatorial power should be vested in one man. It was therefore his opinion that the majority of that House were not prepared to see the right honourable gentleman rise in his air-balloon, and elevate himself over the constitutional heads of the state, A great deal of clamour had been set up against secret advisers, and the secret influence of the crown: he did not believe that those who excited the clamour, believed that there was any such thing as the dangerous influence of secret advice. It was now asserted with a very high tone, that a noble earl had no right to go into the closet of the king to give his majesty advice, although that noble earl was by his rank and fortune set in so distinguished a place in the country, and though he was so deeply involved in its interests. It was the clear and indispu table right of every citizen to give advice to his majesty when he was called upon to do so; and he must be allowed to say, that the noble earl, by his high rank and fortune, was much better intitled to give advice to the crown than those who possessed not the same pretensions, and who at least had not the same reasons for exerting themselves in the deliverance of their country. God forbid, he said, that he should presume to search into the hearts and motives of men. He wished to speak of them only from ap