་ ་ e ast se they * Stresses Aeen so it reSould re mipisters to Song Pitt claimed of submitting directly papie to his majesty such suggestions as he thought most conducive to the success of the government, at the head of which he was to be placed, was at once determined to be wholly inadmissible. He was immediately informed, that the sentiments of the ministers, as to his proposed arrangements, differed too widely from his, to admit of their advising that any steps should be taken for such a purpose. And here the whole affair is said to have dropped. It had, as is believed, never been authorized in the quarter from whence alone it should natu rally have originated: it was there fore not followed up in that quarter; and some displeasure is ever understood to have been expresse against the persons, who had treat ed on matters of such high moment without obtaining such previou warrant for it, as duty and respec were supposed to require. is is above on to their abarassment pears to have casure, which opted, in the their own g them to recal situations, at weight and influsinment, as would their highest how to have taken certainly to the totheir system, and e disinission of almost s of the cabinet.— therefore, to be lost, end to a transaction, 30 wear so unfavouryout. The step, which this purpose, was no than extraordinary, in A regular meeting of scondidential servants was in order to lay before eir opinion and advice, al which, if necessary or be made at all, could come so only, from the nepropriety of substituting ce of the persons so as, ochers of more sufficiency tuations which they there The result of such a on was not difficult to be The liberty which Mr. The ministers in the mean whil rejoiced at having for a time es caped the rock on which they ha so nearly split, and forgot in the jo of this escape the danger of the storm to which they remained ex posed. They applied themselve with unremitted industry to impres on the public as favorable an opini on of this transaction, as its circum stances could possibly admit. The hoped to derive from it this advan tage, that in proportion as the diffi culties which the state of partic presented to the formation of a efficient and comprehensive govern ment were more distinctly brough under the public view, the anxiou wishes of the country for the com pletion of this great object, woul be, if not diminished, at least in som degr degree repressed and restrained. The session of parliament was far advanced; and the character and epinions of Mr. Pitt on the one hand, and of Lord Grenville, Lord Spencer, and their friends on the other, were too well known to admit of any apprehension, that by them the spirit of the country would be checked, or that any endeavours would be omitted on their part, to animate and rouse the people to effectual measures of defence against the aggressions of an ambitous and implacable enemy. The event justified this expectation. The two parties, of whom there had been question in this negotiation, those whom the ministers had been ready to admit, only as accessaries to their own power, and those whom they professed themselves determined wholly to exclude,vied with each other during the remainder of the session, not in obstructing the measures proposed by goverument for national defence, but is endeavouring to give to them a degree of vigour, consistency, and efficacy, which those measures were from their own nature incapable of receiving. And it was not l experience had demonstrated the impossibility of producing any public benefit by this course, that those steps were taken which led the overthrow of the administratim; and of which it will be our daty to give an account among the transactions of the ensuing year. Having thus thought it necessary before we entered upon the detail of the causes of the renewal of war, that great and prominent feature of the transactions of the year) to discuss, as minutely as consisted with our means of information, and the necessary limits of our work, the political transaction, the weight and moment of which, none of our readers will estimate at a lower rate than ourselves; we shall here proceed to narrate the farther changes which took place in administration, subsequently to, and doubtless in consequence of, the failure of the negotiation, to induce Mr. Pitt's acceptation of office, which took place before the conclusion of the year. We have already adverted to the appearance of Mr. Tierney and Mr. Hobhouse in the ranks of government, on the evening of the memorable contest of the 3d of June, when colonel Patten's motion gave rise to the animated and important discussion, on the issue of which the very existence of the present administration depended:* and have also noticed the appointment of the former to high official situation, with the probability of a similar meed being extended to the latter, for the courteous and critical succour afforded on that threatening occasion. And we have also there given our opinion at length as to the probable advantages which ministers might derive from these acquisitions. We shall therefore here only add, that the now treasurer of the navy, individually considered, was rated high as a parliamentary speaker-of perspicuous and manly powers in debate-of convincing if not splendid eloquence-as a financier in Vide page 177. dustrious dustrious and well informed-And as he had shewn himself on many occasions a bitter and powerful enemy; so, from his friendship, (were his efforts on the side of government at all proportioned to his zeal when hitherto opposed to it) much valuable assistance might he expected by the minister. Of Mr. Hobhouse, it need only to be remarked, that with many, it seemed merit to have converted to the support of government, on any terms, one of those, who had hitherto in his public conduct, on all occasions, appeared as its most active and implacable opponent. In But however important this reeruit (and important to a certain degree it might have proven) in the lower house of parliament; in that of the lords, where the weakness of government was eminently conspicuous, some stand it was necessary to make against the individuals of that order, who, almost without exception, included in their opposition to Mr. Addington and his measures, whatever of rank, weight in the country, (arising either from birth or fortune) or of talent, were to be found in that assembly. vain were impression and conviction expected by ministers to be produced by the legal sophistry or imperious dicta of the lord chancellor and the lord chief justice of the king's Bench in defence of their measures. In vain did the lords Pelham, Hobart, and Westmoreland, aided occasionally by the financial experience of lord Aukland, expend themselves in measured, florid, and official harangues: the brilliancy and imagination of lord Moira; the experience and weight of character of earls Fitz william, Carlisle, Porchester, Carysfort, and Radnor; and the solid and perspicuous eloquence of earl Spencer and lord Minto, reduced them to absolute insignificance. Or it their whole strength were put forth on any signal occasion, and even when combating with the mighty aid of popular prejudice on their side, the single opposition of lord Grenville in some splendid exertion of his his oratorical powers, at once commanding the assent of all who heard him, and the conviction of those who were not so fortunate, like the day-spring gaining on the shades o night, chased away or dissipated their arguments into nothingness o merited oblivion. In order therefore to establish some sort of equipose in the upper house of parliament, the calling up thither of lord Hawkesbury was re sorted to, as the only remedy within the reach of administration. The minister doubtless was assured t find in the abilities of his new asso ciates, an adequate substitution fo the powers of the former in the house of commons. Some othe changes also took place about th same period in the governmen: which, at the moment that the evinced its unsteadines, marked als its feebleness in a striking degree Lord Pelham, a nobleman wh was more distinguished for his cha racter of integrity and uprightneof principle, than his talent resigned the situation of one of il principal secretaries of state, ar was succeeded by Mr. C. York late secretary at war: the place the latter was filled up by Mi Bragge, the member for Brist who had already resigned one sitation to make room for Mr.Tierney and some of the inferior seats at the Treasury and other public beards, were allotted to Messrs. Golding, Bond, and general Maitland; the latter a seceder from the oid opposition." In this multiplicity of appointments it was generally remarked, that by the change the hands of the government were not strengthened, no acquisition of talent, rank, or character, accruing thereto; and secondly, that most of the lucrative offices thus disposed of, fell to the share of the personal connexions of the minis ter. We do not pretend to enter into any investigation of the merits of administration as it now stood; indeed, like those chiefs the companions of Æneas, no discriminating epithet could attach to them individually: but we can safely assert, that towards the end of the year, the nation seemed heartily sick and tired of an experimental government, composed of "moderate men," of moderate abilities, raised from the middling.classes of society; and who, as they were avowedly without any other claim to public favor, save that of "good intentions," so did it seem, that they were determined to confine themselves to that line of conduct, which could be exactly bounded by such pretensions. : CHAP. CHAP. XVIII. Recapitulation of the relative circumstances of England en France preciously to, and trmmediately after, the Treaty of Amiens-Course of the Azgressions of France, under the heads of Commerce, the Press, Malta, Switzerland-Report of Sebastiant.-General Lasurence and Injustice. -King's Message.-Declaration of War. THE subject which we propose 1 to treat of in tills portion of the work, is of its if so complicated, involves so much of the history of Europe, and requires such accurate Tineteness of detail, that were we to give it that scope which properly belongs to it, the whole volume would not be more than commensurate with its interest and impor tance. Confined as ve and every periodical writer must be, to certain limits, we necessarily claim from the indulgence of our readers, their acquiescence in the cursory mode, with which we are obliged to treat objects of apparently the greatest concern: and we beg to assure them that in tracing the causes of that great feature in the events of the present year, namely, the renewal of the war, to its source, that however brief we may be, nothing of consequence shall be omitted; and that while we endeavour to account for the causes of this aweful and momentous event with impartality, we shall not lose sight of perspicuity and lucid arrangement. In order that the whole of the circumstances which form that sys tem of aggression on the part of France, which either insidiously proceeding by lowering our mational credit and consequence on the continent of Europe, or by avowed menace and the most undisguised hostility, had made the peace in the opinion of the world as hollow and precarious, as its most determined opposers had predicted, should be laid before our readers, we will here recapitulate some of the leading events which preceded the definitive treaty, and a short review of the state of the powers of France and England, as they remained at its conclusion. On the 10th of October, 1801, general Lauriston, arrived in London, amid the acclamations of the multitude, with the ratification of the preliminary articles of peace between the then belligerent powers. In our volume for that year we have recounted the mode of reception, which the rapture of the public at the welcome tidings, induced it in a manner sufficiently novel, to be stow upon the messenger: and in our succeeding one, we had the less grateful task of detailing the insolent and indecent impediments which |