The Sun.
London, England, 1801-03-26 00:00:00

STATE OF THE NATION.

- - -
"Mr. GREY said, he rose pursuant to the notice he
had already given of bringing forward a Motion, to
''whieh he, trusted the House would agree, for its resol v..
itseltinto a Committee to consider of the State
`-of the Nation. -He was sensible, that under present
circumstances, he had undertaken an arduous task,
for, when Motions of this nature were made,- which
here generally done in cases of public emergency, it
.Itad been usual for the person who brought them for-
ward, to take a comprehensive view of all the -cir-
cumstanees' which had conduced to render such an
16'040Y iieefiSNer Agreeably vi this usage, be felt
=that it -would"he incumbent upon him to state to
'the House 'as reasons for going into the proposed
Inquire, die -necessity of investigating the conduft
.of the War; the relations which this Country stood
in with respect to Foreign Powers, and also the
'lnternal State of the Country.—From the view
which he was led to take of each of these, he must say,
that the Country appearTd to him to be in a situa-
tion dangerous and alarming ; at the-same time that
:411 these present circumstances of difficulty and em_
barrassiuent pressed upon the immediate and serious
- attention of the House. To enter upon so wide a field
of discussion would doubtless have discouraged him,
were it not that he trusted that the general feeling
of the difficulties in which the Country was placed,
would serve to supply those deficiencies of argu.
tient and abilities, which would be too apparent in
the Speech with which it would be necessary for
.him to trouble the House upon the present occasion.
If it had been the pradice, in the present times, of
the Constitution, to institute Committees of In-
quiry in times of national difficulty, nothing more,
he apprehended, could be necessary to ensure the
puccess of the Motion he should have the honour
to
snake, than merely to state general circumstances.
He was free to confess that, of late years, all TV
tions of this kind had been uniformly rejeded. Nor
was it from a wish of advancing any thing unplea_
sant for the House to hear, that he was obliged to
remind them, that the present was the first War in
which no Inquiry had been made. He conjured the
House seriously to reiled, whether this negled of
Inquiry might not have been one cause which had
contributed to the dangers of the present moment.
They had been told, that to institute Inquiry, was
to express a doubt of the propriety of the measures
-which had been adopted, and that, if those with
whom he generally • aEled, had any thing to state,
.; that this might be made the subjea of separate and
-• distill& Inquiry. But this was an argument at
variance with the general pra&ice of the House,
with public duty and convenience. If there was
a man present, who, upon a deliberate survey of
National Events, since the commencement of this
War, would say, that he entertained no doubt of
• the wisdom which dilated all the Measures of the
late Administration, of the economy which per-
vaded their management of the Finances, of their
ability in the prosecution of the War, and of the
Propriety -.
of their conduEl as it respected the rela-
tions of this Country with Foreign Powers, he de-
clared he should he disposed to wave his intended
N.lotion, and to decline. those arguments to which
it would be necessary to resort in support of it.
But there was one general mode of evading Ques-
tions of this nature, to which he found it necessary,
to adveit. It had not been unusual for a sort of Ap-
peal to be made to Gentlemen on his side of the
House.--A call for Unanimity had been resorted
. to, and, by way of evading Inquiry, it had been
said, " let us not inflame animosities ; retrospea is
useless ; let us wily study how we may provide for

future exigencies." But he could not consent to
such doftrine ; in Politics, as well as in Morals, he

believed it would be found that there was no surer

way of avoiding future error, than by an acknow-
ledgment of past mistakes ; 'for without such an ac-
knowledgment, we should be in perpetual danger of
relapsing into fresh difficulties. He begged the
House to recoiled that this Country was now en-
gaged in the ninth year of War against France ; and
that we were now threatened with being involved in
a War with all the Maritime Powers of Europe.—
During this period there had accrued an increase of
270 Millions of National Debt, and an increased
Taxation of 17`Millions, whilst at the present mo-
ment this Country found itself opposed to France,
enlarged in power, in influence, and in extent of
territory beyond any other period in the days of
her Monarchy ; at the same time that she found
herself more or less supported by the other Powers
of Europe. Was it not then incumbent upon the
House to inquire into the Causes which had pro-
duce& such a situation as this Country was in at
present, as ,well as respe&ing the means by which
Security might be obtained, against recurring in
future to such measures as had produced our present
embarrassment ? Every consideration derived from
the foreign and internal situation of the Country,
particularly of Ireland, called upon the House to
institute an Inquiry. He now saw a Right Hon.
Gentleman, on the other side of the House, who,
whilst in Office, had always professed himself anxi-
ous for inquiry into the condua of himself, and his
Colleagues in Administration, who hid declared
himself; at all times, ready to meet investigation
into every year, every month, every week, of the
condua of the War. That hour was now milted.
He should, therefore, give him to-night an oppor-
tunity of proving his sincerity on that subjeEt, and-
if he continued as anxious for -Inquiry, as he pro-
fessed to be, in order that his conduct might be
cleared, he would then tell the Right Hon. Gentle-
man, that the conduft which bad been complained of,
might now be fairly investigated. In a Committee
of Inquiry instances of mismanagement, in the late
Administration, might be made the subjeft of subs
stantlve and distinEt Motions. Hitherto, in every •
Motion of this nature which had been brought
forward, it had been !net by that Right Ho-
nourable Gentleman, with broad and unqualifi-
ed assertions, that the War had been eminent-
ly successful. The only justifiable objet of
the War now was, the attainment of a safe and
honourable Peace ; but what he wanted to know
was, why this objet had not been uniformly-
pursued ? Comparing the motives which led this
Country originally into the War, with its present
situation, he challenged any man to prove, that the
War had been successful. But not only in this ge-
neral view of the War it coeld not be deemed suc-
eessfuT, but it would be found in the detail-of oar
military operations that it had proved eminently
unsuccessful. If this were stated to be a successful
War, he should like to know what would have been
an unsuccessful one ? And if vidory was of such a
nature, what then would have been a defeat ?"This
Country went to war for the professed objeEt of
preventing the aggrandizement of France. But had
it succeeded in this ? Partial instances of success
might be quote:ll ; but he would say, that the se-
parate successes of the War formed no sufficient
balance against the losses which the War was under.
taken to prevent. He could not but think that in
these respeas the measures of the late Administration
were highly impolitic with respedt to the principles
upon which they had entered upon Hostilities, as
well as in the prosecution of the Contest. It might
be said, that we had gained possessions in the East
and West-Indies ; but every Measure which had
been taken for that purpose, 'was so much a depar-
ture from the principal objed of the War, which
was to prevent the aggrandizement of France in
Europe, and the extindion of Faction. Whilst
we had been pursuing these successes abroad, France
had gained a complete ascendancy on the Continent,
and had laid all her Enemies at her feet. She was
now not only left in possession of all which she had
at the beginning of the War, but had likewise ac-
quired such an extension of territory, as even the
wildest ambition of Louts XlVth could not have
dreamt of; nor could it be denied that we were
ready to give up to France all her
.new extended
Empire for the sake of obtaining Peace. ShoUld
the Motion for a Committee be agreed to, what he
meant was, to follow the Rt. Hon. Gentleman into
a detail of military operations. It had been well-
expressed upon a former Debate, that from the
Texel to the Mediterranean, and as far as Cape
Gatta, there was hardly a shore that had not wit.
nessed the disgraces of the British Army. He
might enumerate the unsuccessful attempt against
Dunkirk—the retreat through, and evacuation of
Holland, of Corsica, and Toulon—also the dis-
graceful and wicked Expedition to Quiberon, &c.
But, oh the present occasion, he should confine him-
self to the more recent operations of the War.--L
About four years ago, an additional internal Force
of an hundred thousand men had been raised
for the Defence of the Country, against a
threatened Invasion ; but when, by the turn of
affairs in Europe, that danger subsided, this de-
fen'sive' force was converted into a disposeable one
for the purpose of attacking the Enemy. That at-
tack took place in Holland. But, in his opinion,
never was there a more impolitic attempt to put an
end to the War in Europe. If. that fruitless and
disgraceful Expedition did not demand Inquiry, none
could ; for the result was, that our Army had ca-
pitulated, and purchased its ransom to return.—
Here there must have been a disgraceful failure
either of the original plan, or of the execution
of it, which deserved to be inquired into.—At the
end of that Campaign, this disposeable Force