I My lords, if the falsehood of this pretended disavowal had been confined to the court of Spain, I should have admitted it without concern. should have been content that they themselves had left a door open for excuse, and accommodation. The king of England's honour is not touched till he adopts the falsehood, delivers it to his parliament, and makes it his own. I cannot quit this subject without comparing the conduct of the present ministry with that of a gentleman who is now no more. The occasions were similar. The French had taken a little island from us, called Turk's island. The minister then at the head of the treasury took the business upon himself. But he did not negotiate. He sent for the French ambassadour and made a peremptory demand. A courier was despatched to Paris, and returned in a few days, with orders for instant restitution, not only of the island, but of every thing that the English subjects had lost.† * Mr. George Grenville. The state of the fact was as follows. When the advice arrived in England of the French having seized Turk's island, in the year 1764, a debate arose in the British council upon the measures necessary to be taken with France upon that occasion. The whole council, one only excepted, were for a remonstrance to the French court, and they founded their opinion upon an apprehension, lest a spirited conduct might induce that court to break the peace, and by some unforeseen means, precipitate us into measures which might terminate in a rupture between the two nations. The one who ventured to differ from all the rest was the right honourable George Grenville. He urged the necessity of a spirited conduct as the only means of preserving the peace. That France, who was unable to continue the late war, was equally incapable of beginning another That if we did not immediately show a spirited and warm resentment to her behaviour on this occasion, she would certainly repeat her insults, and accompany them with language that her pride would oblige her to support, and thus, silence or tameness on our side would infallibly lead to a rupture. Upon this, the two secretaries of state (at that time lord Halifax and lord Sandwich) committed the whole negotiation to Mr. Grenville. He undertook it, and sent for count Guerchy, who was at that time the French Such then, my lords, are the circumstances of our difference with Spain; and in this situation, we are told that a negotiation has been entered into, that this negotiation, which must have commenced near three months ago, is still depending, and that any insight into the actual state of it will impede the conclusion. My lords, I am not, for my own part, very anxious to draw from the ministry the information which they take so much care to conceal from us. I very well know where this honourable negotiation will end; ambassadour at the British court. In a short conversation which immediately ensued upon this subject, Mr. Grenville told the ambassadour in plain terms, that the French forces who had invaded and seized Turk's island must immediately evacuate the same, and restore it to the quiet possession of the English. The ambassadour said in excuse for the conduct of his court, that the king, his master, had claims upon that island, and that he was ready to enter into a negotiation upon them. To which the English minister peremptorily answered, whatever claims you have, set them up, we will hear them. But first, the island must and shall be restored. We will not hear of any claims or negotiation while the island is in the hands of the French king. It is absurd to seize the island, and then talk of a negotiation about claims. When the island is restored to his Britannick majesty, then, and not till then, will a single word about claims be heard or admitted. He concluded in a firm and determined manner to this effect. Sir, I will wait nine days for your answer, in which time you may send and receive advice from your court, whether the king will immediately order his forces to evacuate Turk's island, and restore it to the full and quiet possession of the English, or not: and if I do not receive your answer at the end of nine days, the fleet that is now lying at Portsmouth* shall sail directly to the island and reinstate it in the possession of the king of Great Britain. The ambassadour went away, and soon after returned to show the British minister the despatches he had prepared upon the occasion. Mr. Grenville gave him leave to insert the conversation that had passed between them. On the sixth day, a copy of the orders signed by the French king, for restoring the island to the English arrived. A similar measure of spirit was adopted by the same minister with the Spaniards, who had drove our settlers from Honduras, to whom fourteen days had been allowed: upon which, all was instantly and amicably adjusted. * There was a fleet then at Portsmouth waiting for sailing orders. where it must end. We may, perhaps, be able to patch up an accomodation for the present, but we shall have a Spanish war in six months. Some of your lordships may, perhaps, remember the convention. For several successive years our merchants had been plundered; no protection given them; no redress obtained for them. During all that time we were contented to complain, and to negotiate. The court of Madrid were then as ready to disown their officers, and as unwilling to punish them, as they are at present. Whatever violence happened was always laid to the charge of one or other of their West India governours. To day it was the governour of Cuba, to morrow of Porto Rico, Carthagena, or Porto Bello. If in a particular instance redress was promised, how was that promise kept? The merchant, who had been robbed of his property, was sent to the West Indies to get it, if he could, out of an empty chest. At last the convention was made; but, though approved by a majority of both houses, was received by the nation with universal discontent. I myself heard that wise man say in the house of commons,"Tis true we have got a convention and a vote of parliament; but what signifies it? we shall have a Spanish war upon the back of our convention." Here, my lords, I cannot help mentioning a very striking observation made to me by a noble lord, since dead. † His abilities did honour to this house, and to this nation. In the upper departments of government he had not his equal; and I feel a pride in declaring, that to his patronage, to his friendship, and instruction, I owe whatever I am. This great man has often observed to me that, in all the negotiations which preceded the convention, our ministers never found out that there was no ground or subject for any negotiation. That the Spaniards had not a right to search our ships, and when they attempted to regulate that right by treaty, they were regulating a thing which did not exist. This I take Sir Robert Walpoole. * The late lord Grenville. to be something like the case of the ministry. The Spaniards have seized an island they have no right to, and his majesty's servants make it matter of negotia tion, whether his dominions shall be restored to him or not. From what I have said, my lords, I do not doubt but it will be understood by many lords, and given. out to the publick, that I am for hurrying the nation, at all events, into a war with Spain. My lords, I disclaim such councils, and I beg that this declaration may be remembered. Let us have peace, my lords, but let it be honourable, let it be secure. A patched up peace will not do. It will not satisfy the nation, though it may be approved of by parliament. I distinguish widely between a solid peace, and the disgraceful expedients, by which a war may be deferred, but cannot be avoided. I am as tender of the effusion of human blood, as the noble lord who dwelt so long upon the miseries of the war. If the bloody politicks of some noble lords had been followed, England, and every quarter of his majesty's dominions would have been glutted with blood-the blood of our own Countrymen. My lords, I have better reasons, perhaps, than many of your lordships for desiring peace upon the terms I have described. I know the strength and preparation of the house of Bourbon; I know the defenceless, unprepared condition of this country. I know not by what mismanagement we are reduced to this situation; and when I consider, who are the men by whom a war, in the outset at least, must be conducted, can I but wish for peace? Let them not screen themselves behind the want of intelligencethey had intelligence: I know they had. If they had not, they are criminal; and their excuse is their crime. But I will tell these young ministers the true source of intelligence. It is sagacity. Sagacity to compare causes and effects; to judge of the present state of things, and discern the future by a careful review of the past. Oliver Cromwell, who astonished mankind by his intelligence, did not derive it from spies in the cabinet of every prince in Europe: he drew it from the cabinet of his own sagacious mind. He observed facts and traced them forward to their consequences. From what was, he concluded what must be, and he never was deceived. In the present situation of affairs, I think it would be treachery to the nation to conceal from them their real circumstances, and with respect to a foreign enemy, I know that all concealments are vain and useless. They are as well acquainted with the actual force and weakness of this country, as any of the king's servants. This is no time for silence, or reserve. I charge the ministers with the highest crimes that men in their stations can be guilty of. I charge them with having destroyed all content and unanimity at home, by a series of oppressive, unconstitutional measures; and with having betrayed and delivered up the nation defenceless to a foreign enemy. Their utmost vigour has reached no farther than to a fruitless, protracted negotiation. When they should have acted, they have contented themselves with talking about it, goddess, and about it-if we do not stand forth, and do our duty in the present crisis, the nation is irretrievably undone. I despise the little policy of concealments. You ought to know the whole of your situation. If the information be new to the ministry, let them take care to profit by it. I mean to rouse, to alarm the whole nation; to rouse the ministry, if possible, who seem to awake to nothing but the preservation of their places-to awaken the king, Early in the last spring, a motion was made in parliament, for inquiring into the state of the navy, and an augmentation of six thousand seamen was offered to the ministry. They refused to give us any insight into the condition of the navy, and rejected the augmentation. Early in June they received advice of a commencement of hostilities by a Spanish armament, which had warned the king's garrison to quit an island belonging to his majesty. From that to the 12th of September, as if nothing had happened, |