The enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1804-1815, 1809-11-24


advance and preciptate retreat of Lord Wis
Count Wellington. Now, although the Con
n veDtion OF Cintra had been felt as the mos,
d'sgraceful to this country, yet there was n
man hardy enough To stand up and say, tina,
IN this, that, or any other failure, which i,
recorded in the annals of British history,
vas any thing near so disgraceful and Gala
mi,ous. as the last and most Infamous Expe-
(; dition, which was entrusted to lord Chat.
| ham. There was nobody that would say,
that the Income Tax, and the extension Of
the Excise Laws, were subjects upon which
his Majesty should be congratulated
As To the Conduct OF our military affairs,
1t was so extremely bad, that although we
have double che number of Generals on our
Staff that Bonapartc has, and maintained, We
! ry probably, at four times the expense, vet
"hen 1t comes to select generals for the coai
mand OF our expeditions, we select 4 White
lock, Dalrymple, or a Chatham. Could
the Court see. with Indifference, the waste
of British blood which was occasioned by
the folly of those who landed, Or who had
the execution of the objects OF our Expedi-
tons 1t had been said, and very truly, that
the valor of our soldiers ami sailors had been
| conspicuous IN the late wars. Ii so, the grea
ter blame rested upon the government II
we had soldiers vino would not fight the wi
sest Government might fail N its objects !;
but when II Is known that we have brave
| army and navy that will execute well what
ever they are called upon TO do, the blame
will rest exc usively on the Government
which, by the absurdity of its plans, and its
selection of officers, makes British vaiour
useless, and causes torrents OF British blood
| TO How tor no purpose Among the many
faults OF the Government, he would maintain
that although we had SO Ambassadors, who
received "a ,000l. per apnum il pensions, in
addition 20 their pay, yet in the very few
Courts in which they would be received, it
was almost always found that they were com
pletelv ignorant of their dut, We had late
ly an example of this in America, and in
Sweden, although every other man in the
country knew that Revolution was proba
Bile, the British Ambassador alone appeared
to know nothing of the matter SThere never
was great Country whose affairs had been
so ill managed as the affairs of this country
and yet ministers showed great abilities in
some things. They could easily discover all
the means that would prevent surcharges
from beng evaded and yet they never could
discover the means by which the country's
affair in other respects could be managed
with honor. At the very time that The tax
essWere TO be levied with the utmost rigor
accounts to the amount of nine millions OF
money were yet unsettled at the Victralline
Office; and above seven millions Of West In
dIa accounts were yet unexamined, notwith-
standing the expense of the Commissioners
appointed for that purpose
! In the very last year, above nine millions
were added to the yearly expenditure and
when 1t was considered, that from the wear
| 1877, to the present year, the taxes had in.
creased from twenty three millions annually
to seventy millions, without gaining q single
OBJECT Tor which we entered into the war, he
could not see how his majesty could be Goa
graduated on such Calamitous events. 1t was
evidently impossible for the country TO go on
much longer under such a progressive and
enormous accumulation of public burdens -
nose gentlemen en the other side, who were
always calling for unanimity in that Court
were acting inconsistency, when they brough,
forward perpetually motions which must lie
cessarily disturb that unanimity.
He had himself, for the whole of his poll
teal Ute, opposed, as far as he was able
he system which had brought so many c..
lamities on the country. For he greater ,s,,
of that time, lie had been butftted and :,tE.-
ed down as Jacobin. and for many years
he could only prevail on five members to
divide with him. He, however, had never
turned to the right hand or the left 4, 0u. ~
gsrdiess oil Whatever odium the gent enen
on the other side might excite aga, $ uian.
he had fearlessly pursued through lie, and
he snouIu always continue to do it, that line
or Conduct which his sense Of public duty
| pointed out, (oud applause from below the
par. The Lord Mayor called to order. y
Mr.. w said, these applauses were certain
| iy irregular, and was happy to saw, it was
an lrregnlarity which did not often AXE
place There were, however, occasions
"heh 1t was too hard for men to conceal their
| teeiings! and such demonstrations had been
heard, net.mes, in the House of Commons
itself, There were many gentlemen in that
conrt, who agreed with him n tn, most eS
sential points and yet, because there were
some shades of difference, thev upon many
occasions threw themselves into the arms Of
the enemy. Nothing could be more nischicv.
Gus or dangerous, than such Course. Mr.
| Fox had elegantly observed in his his.ory
that - was much better to concede some
thing to friend, than every thing to ane
nemy.' lie wished that those who. on i'm
Portant points, thought as he did, were i'm
pressed with the truth Of this sentiment As
to many on the other side, he might as we'll
| tax TO stocks or stones, as TO address them
with any hopes ut Convincing them They
we're evidently playing game ut ti.cirown;
they were tshing for themselves, while he
had nothing ohope for or to fear from any
government and had never OBJ aimed or
! sought fav0rS. He was astonished. that .
! gentleman who had given notice for a mott
on the present day (Mr. Deputy KEN
oie,) should now feel differently from what
he did upon the convention Of Cintra in
that occasion, he mentioned. "that his blood