count for nothing fyftematic having yet been proposed to Parliament refpecting it: the rapid change of Minifters for thefe laft two years, was the reafon why nothing had hitherto been done. Various committees, he obferved, had been from time to time appointed by that House, and fuch infinite pains had been taken to inveftigate and enquire into the real ftate of our Indian territories; and fuch able and accurate reports had been made upon the fubject, that no popular affembly could poffibly be better informed, than that House was, relative to Eastern events, and the fituation of our affairs there; but from the mere accident of the rapidly-fucceeding changes of Miniftry, it had been impoffible to do any thing effential in the bufinefs. The Secret and Select Committees, who had fo remarkably diftinguished themfelves by their affiduity and ability, had both originated in the adminiftration of the noble Lord in the blue ribband; and as a learned gentleman had been appointed chairman of the Secret Committee, who lived at the time in great friendship and confidence with the Minifter, it was not to be doubted but that the learned gentleman would have propofed fomething material upon the fubject, if his adminiftration had not been fuddenly diffolved. The fhort adminiftration of the noble Marquis, whofe name cannot be mentioned without exciting the moft lively regret in the breaft of every well wifher to his country, left no time for entering upon that business; and even the noble Earl, who had been at the head of the laft Adminiftration, had not time to take any effectual measures to heal the wounds which former governors had given to India. The learned gentleman to whom he alluded lived in as much confidence with the noble Earl, as he had before done with the noble Lord, and certainly, if the time had not been too fhort, he would have brought forward refolutions on the evidence which came before him. During their continuance in office, however, it was well known that certain refolutions, touching the recall of a governor, grounded on one of the reports of the Select Committee, were propofed, and agreed to by the Houfe; that the Directors of the Eaft-India Company ordered the recall of the governor in queftion; that the General Court of Pro prietors over-ruled the refolution of the Court of Directors; and that difpatches were made ready upon the bufinefs at the India house, and upon being fent to the Secretary of State for the home department for his infpection and concurrence, agreeable to an act of Parliament, Mr. Townshend stopped VOL. XII; D

them,

them, and in his place ftated to the House what he had done, and his reafons for fo doing. In this, Mr. Townfhend, in his opinion, had acted with great propriety; but all was anarchy and confufion, both in the Eaft and in the Direction at home. What was done by the one, was undone by the other. There was no efficacy in the fyftem of the government, and it was indifpenfably neceffary that fomething fhould be immediately done: but as it then lay with the House to come to fome refolution upon the bufinefs, the fault, certainly, was not imputable to any one of the Adminiftrations he had mentioned. With regard to that, inwhich he had then the honour to bear a part, they came not into office till April; May was the earlieft month that he could have brought in any bill; and when it was confidered, that although that House was well inftructed in the concerns of India, the other had not had the fame opportunities for information, he thought it more advifeable to delay the matter during a fhort recefs, and to bring it on early in this feffion, than to precipitate a bufinefs fo extremely important at the tail of the laft, to put an end to which fo general an impatience was expreffed. To convince gentlemen, however, that it was his defign to bring it forward immediately, he would take advantage of the full House that he then faw, and therefore give notice, that on Tuesday he should make a motion relative to India.

The honourable member had faid, that with refpect to the ftate of the nation, nothing ought to be kept back, but that all ought to be fubmitted to the public eye; and that fuch burdens ought to be chearfully fubmitted to, as fhould be found neceffary to reftore public credit, and raise fuch a revenue, as would help to exftinguifh fome part of the national debt. He rejoiced to hear this language from the honourable member, because he hoped, that when the ftate of the nation fhould be laid before Parliament faithfully and fully, the honourable member would fupport Government in laying on the burdens that fhould be found indifpenfably neceffary. The public faith must be preserved inviolate; and as to all the nonfenfe of taxing the funds, and fuch doctrines as had been broached by writers, not anonymous writers indeed, but whofe names lent no credit to their works, they had his execration. It was a measure which no honeft Minifter would take, and which, if any difhoneft man prefumed to take, no Parliament would juftify or bear, Such a meafure could never be adopted in fuch a government as

ours

ours, where public faith and public credit were the fame thing. From the general terms in which the right honourable gentleman had begun to mention the national faith and the finances of the country, he faid, he had been led to imagine, that he meant to propofe fome enquiry that would keep the fubject at a distance; but the honourable gentleman had afterwards, in a manly and open way, declared the proper remedy to be applied. It was to look the fituation of the country in the face, to determine to meet the difficulty, great as it profeffedly was, to provide for it, be the burden ever to grievous; and to take care that the debt, funded and unfunded, be ascertained; and neither to conceal the true ftate of it from the people at large, nor, what was ftill more unwife, to conceal it from themselves. There was a maxim laid down, in an excellent book upon the Wealth of Nations, Mr. Fox faid, which had been ridiculed for its fimplicity, but which was indifputable as to its truth. In that book it was stated, that the only way to become rich, was to manage matters fo, as to make ones income exceed ones expences. This maxim applied equally to an individual and to a nation. The proper line of conduct, therefore, was by a well-directed œconomy to retrench every current expence, and to make as large a faving, during the peace, as poffible. Nor was this all; he would freely own that his wishes went much farther. He should not think a profpect of recovery was opened, and the country likely to be restored to its former greatness, unlefs Minifters contrived fome means or other to pay off a part at leaft of the national debt, and did fomething towards eftablishing an actual finking fund, capable of being applied to a conftant and fenfible diminution of the public burdens. To such a purpose he should moft ftudioufly direct his attention; and he trufted, whatever might be the right honourable gentleman's private opinion upon politicks, the right honourable gentleman would lend his fupport to make a ftrong government, by which he meant not a ftrong adminiftration, for the thing was the fame, het who would be Minifters. In order to effect, however, this great, this defireable end, the dread of unpopularity must be furmounted, and the Miniftry who flinched from the bufinefs upon fo narrow-minded a principle, would not deferve fupport. The great difficulty lay in drawing the line, and diftinguishing how far the public, in time of peace, could bear to be additionally burdened, or how far it was prudent for Minifters to go. It might be contended, that the people ought not to be fo far preffed, as

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to deprive them of all elafticity and vigour in cafe of the chance of another war. This argument had its weight to a certain degree; but he should think it better policy to make them temporary than lingering fufferers. If that House would but have the fortitude to lay afide local prejudices, and the fear of a momentary unpopularity, and would look only to the general welfare, the path to prosperity would be confiderably fmoothed, and the national profpect would brighten apace. Whenever the prefent Miniftry were found to fhrink from their duty in this refpect, he defired the Houfe to withdraw their fupport; but it depended upon Parliament to give execution and effect to the plans that Minifters fhould propofe. He wifhed, however, moft earnestly to imprefs this idea upon the minds of the House, that ftrengthening the hands of government, was not ftrengthening the prefent Administration. It was not a matter of party, or of one fide of the House against another. It was effential to the deliverance of the empire; and he was ready to declare his opinion, that though our affairs were deranged and bad, they were not defperate. He did not view them with the melancholy eye that fome men were fond of confidering them withal, nor would he venture to propose the remedies which. were fuggefted. The funds, he faid, were unexpectedly and unreasonably low; they ought not to be as they were: but at the fame time he did not indulge the illufive hope, that they would fuddenly rife, and ftand at a much higher price. This, however, he was convinced might be done; our expences might be brought confiderably within our revenue and this was the profpect; the easy, fimple, practicable project upon which he would rely, in preference to all the fanguine fchemes, and to all the defperate remedies, which weak men in their ignorance might fuggeft. It was that which would give permanency and actual use to the finking fund, which would leave it annually at the difpofal of Parliament, to be appropriated as the neceffities might require, To obtain this durable fituation, great reforms muft yet be made, and much muft depend on the virtue, conftancy, and ability of government. If he could indulge himfelf with the idea, that the unanimity of this day, an unanimity which gave him the moft fenfible delight, was the earneft of future temper, moderation, and union-If he could fee the profpect, that the fpirit of diffention was at length to give way to the neceffities of the country, and that at leaft they were to fufpend their perfonal animofities till

the

the deliverance of the country was accomplished, he would, indeed, be warm in his expectations, and believe that a very few years would behold us in renovated ftrength and fplendor. He thanked the right honourable gentleman for his conduct on that day; and profeffed his happiness, that the fpeech from the Throne, and the address in return to it, met fo cordially with the approbation of gentlemen from all fides, and that the address would be carried to the Throne with unanimity.

Commodore Johnstone gave his approbation to the fpeech Commodore and addrefs; he approved greatly of what had fallen laft Johnstone. from the right honourable Secretary; and he believed that what had been faid by him and the honourable gentleman who Tpøke before him (Mr. Pitt) would greatly contribute to reftore public credit. He then adverted to the affairs of India: he faid that the news which had lately arrived from that part of the world, might with truth be faid to be the moft fatisfactory that had ever been brought from any country; the peace with the Mahrattas, from whom every thing had been apprehended, was ratified and completed; Tippoo Saib was driven from the Carnatic, and 15 of his strongest forts in his own country taken from him: all this had been effected by the abilities of Mr. Haftings as a ftatefman, before any news of the peace in Europe had reached Bengal. The peace with the Mahrattas was, of itself, fo difficult, and fo unexpected, that an honourable member of that Houfe, who imagined it would never take place under the aufpices of Mr. Haftings, having heard that it had been actually ratified, but that the Mahrattas waited for what they call a fortunate day, on which the ratifications fhould be exchanged, had often asked him when the fortunate day would come, as if he meant that it would never arrive. "I asked him, faid the Commodore, what he would say and think of Mr. Haftings, if that fortunate day fhould arrive, and that it fhould be found that nothing but that circumftance had delayed the exchange of the ratification" "I will then, replied the member, think Mr. Haftings deferving of every mark of refpect that this country could fhew him." "I hope, therefore, obferved the Commodore, that as the honourable member must now be fully convinced that the fortunate day has actually arrived, and that the ratification is exchanged, he will himself move the thanks of the House to Mr. Haftings." He denied that our territorial acquifitions in India had been made by a mere company of mer-.

chants,