conceived there would be, as there were, he supposed, several other resolutions, absolutely necessary to be submitted to a committee of the whole house, on the other parts of the treaty; for, those contained in the report, the right honorable gentleman would recollect, were confined merely to the articles stated in the tariff. Another matter-which he must again mention, and to which he had received no express answer, though there was something like an answer contained in one of the right honorable gentleman's speeches-was, that proposition, which appeared to him to be indispensable and incontrovertible, that a new commercial arrangement with Ireland must be set on foot as a consequence of the commercial treaty with France. The right honorable gentleman had given them to understand, that he had no objection to hear of the Irish propositions; whether that was the fact or not, (Mr. Sheridan said) he was persuaded that, when the right honorable gentleman first introduced the business of the commercial treaty, the Irish propositions had been upon his mind throughout the whole of that long speech. Certain he was, that some arrangement between Ireland and England must take place in consequence of the present commercial treaty; because, after the right honorable gentleman had himself stated, with a proper disdain of the idea which the court of Portugal took up respecting Ireland, (with regard to her not being included in the Methuen treaty, that she ought to be considered within the spirit and meaning of that treaty, and that it was a main part of the negotiation now on foot with the court of Lisbon,) it was scarcely possible to suppose that the right honorable gentleman had himself negotiated a treaty with France, without having meant that Ireland should have the benefit of the treaty, because that would have been to have excluded Ireland from the benefit of the French treaty, exactly in the same manner as the court of Lisbon had excluded Ireland from the entire benefit of the Me

e

thuen treaty. The idea of giving France privileges and advantages in Great Britain, which Ireland could not claim, was so monstrous and absurd, that he could not entertain it as possible to have been in the right honorable gentleman's intention. Another material point required some more explanation than it had received; and that was, whether or not the hovering act was not affected, and its provisions done away, by the 25th article of the treaty? A right honorable gentleman had said, it was not at all affected by the present treaty; but he had accompanied the assertion with no argument what

ever.

To this Mr. Pitt observed, that, as to the hovering act, and the idea that its operation as a check on smuggling was to be suspended, the answer of his right honorable friend (Mr. Grenville) to that question was fully sufficient. It was by no means the intention of the parties that those salutary checks against illicit trade, contained in the hovering act, should be done away or weakened; on the contrary, it was the wish of each of the monarchs to prevent, as much as possible, the continuance of any such practices between both kingdoms. With respect to the proceedings intended to be followed on the business, on concluding the treaty in that house, there was nothing more necessary for them to do, than to agree to the several resolutions contained in the report from the committee; and which only went to a confirmation of the tariff. The honorable gentleman had inquired, whether it was in contemplation to frame any new arrangements of a commercial nature with Ireland, and to make such arrangements a part of the system now to be adopted; but as that was, in a great measure, to depend on the disposition and inclination of the sister kingdom-and as it was, in all respects, to be considered in the nature of a new and totally distinct treaty-it was a subject which, on the present occasion, he thought-it highly improper to discuss.

Mr. SHERIDAN answered, that the explanation of the right honorable gentleman had not given him the least satisfaction whatever. He was a little amazed, also, at the silence of the right honorable gentleman himself, who, he thought, would have deigned, on questions of so much importance, to have favored the house with an immediate elucidation of the point. He thought it impossible that so monstrous a proposition as the giving

greater privileges and advantages to France, in the home market of Great Britain, than Ireland either enjoyed, or could claim, was intended: but he could not see how Ireland could be said to be entitled to all the advantages of the present treaty, without its having been so stipulated in the treaty. Mr. Sheridan animadverted on the terms of the articles of the treaty; and contended that Ireland was no where mentioned, excepting only as to her linens in the sixth article. He instanced the article of the tariff respecting brandies, where no mention was made of Ireland; and several others. Mr. Sheridan made a great variety of remarks upon the treaty, which he termed a most incorrect production; and said, he lamented the absence of the right honorable negotiator, as he should have been glad to have heard from him the meaning which he had in view, where he had not expressed it clearly. He mentioned the part which he had taken with regard to the Irish propositions, upon which he had more frequently divided with the Chancellor of the Exchequer, than with the right honorable negotiator (Mr. Eden.) The present treaty was so directly in the teeth of the evidence given by the manufacturers at the bar of the house, when the Irish propositions were under consideration, that he presumed when the negotiator of the treaty returned to his duty in that house, he would publicly declare his conviction of the error of almost every one of the opinions which he had maintained on that memorable occasion. He supposed this right honorable gentleman had sent circular letters round to the manufacturers, and declared he had not abandoned one of his commercial doctrines, though he had, pro hoc vice, adopted new ones; and made the treaty turn upon those new commercial sentiments, of which he had probably informed his friends of the chamber; and, at the same time had said, that he would renounce them when he came back to England. He hoped that he should

hear no more of a charge of confidence and ignorance from the right honorable gentleman, who must be confident and ignorant beyond all example, if he thought that no more resolutions were necessary to be moved on the treaty with France. To convince him that there were various additional resolutions necessary, he would bring down a string of resolutions, and submit it to him and to the house, whether they were not absolutely necessary to be moved in a committee.

Mr. Pitt said, "Mr. Sheridan had found fault with him for his patience in sitting still, and not interrupting him; although, he confessed, the unprovoked asperity which the honorable gentleman had used in speaking of him, would if he could feel any thing from the honorable gentleman's asperity-have been a sufficient temptation for him to have interfered in his self-defence. He could not help observing on the instructions which he had received from the honorable gentleman';—that they were so conciliating, so winning, so sincere, and seemed to have so little of any intention of gratifying the person who delivered them, and to be so entirely calculated for the benefit of the person to whom they were addressed, that he could not but return the honorable gentleman his warmest thanks for the obligation he had conferred upon him."

Mr. Sheridan declared, that he was not conscious of having used any asperities, or expressed himself petulantly, angrily, or in a stile unbecoming any member of that house; and if the right honorable gentleman felt that he had, he had, indeed, afforded him a piece of instruction; for which, he was sure, the house would think he ought to confess himself indebted.

Mr. Sheridan now went into an examination of the 6th article of the convention, arguing from the words, that it contained a contradiction in terms. The preamble of that article set off with saying, that by the 43d article of the treaty, it was stipulated that a convention relative to that article should be concluded immediately after the signature of the treaty; whereas the 6th article of convention, does not settle the matter of the 48d article of the treaty, but talks of an ulterior

convention, to be settled within the space of two months. Mr. Sheridan contended, that the convention was not the convention which had been stipulated for, by the 43d article of the treaty ; and that as an ulterior convention was now to be settled, they ought to wait for that, previous to their decision.

FEBRUARY 21.

COMMERCIAL TREATY WITH FRANCE.

Mr. Blackburne moved an address of congratulation to His Majesty on this subject.

Mr. SHERIDAN observed, that for the present he should wave all investigation of the general argu ment of the merits of the treaty, as he conceived the question before the house respecting the address, related to a measure so violent, so unprecedented, and so unparliamentary, that no other ground of opposition ought on that day to be taken, except to the irregularity and foulness of such a proceeding. There was, however, an observation or two which had fallen from the honorable gentleman who had just sat down, which he could not be wholly silent under, though he regarded those observations as merely among the trivial endeavors which the honorable gentleman (Mr. D. Pulteney) had resorted to, in order to divert more successfully the attention of the house, from the weighty suggestions which they had just heard from the honorable gentleman who had moved the present question. For this purpose the honorable gentleman was, undoubtedly, in the right to propose any object to gentlemen's consideration, excepting the point immediately before them; to talk to them as a wool-comber, as a navigator, as a potter, or a philosopher, or in any character but that of a member of the house of commons, anxious for the credit and dignity of parliament, and attentive to the preservation of