HISTORY O 
@ther man in this country. - But _ 
what should we do in the meaa 
© ime? what isthe duty of the house 
ee at this moment? to cherish the 
p spirit of freedom in the peaple of 
_ this country : not to repose a blind 
' 
and unlimited confidence in. the 
servants of the crown; but to be 
watchful and jealous of the exer- 
' fise of their power. Restore to 
them the right of populardiscussion; 
- tepeal those laws which have for- 
_ bidden the exercise of their most 
invaluable rights ; in one word, in- 
_ stead of amusing them with pane- 
_ gyrics upon the form, allow them 
_ to possess the spirit, of the oldcon- 
_ stitution of England: then will you, 
imdéed, see the energy of the people 
of England, and then you will have 
no oc@sion for adding to your in- 
| ternal military force; for, then, even 
"an invasion would never be formi- 
- dable. These are your real resour- 
_ ces;the restare allimaginary. I shall 
2 oy no opposition to the plan that 
18 now before you, in its present 
stage ; but, I think it fair to say, 
_ some of the parts of it are such, as, 
inthe detail, I shall think it my 
_ duty to oppose.” 
_ That part of the plan, which re- 
__ ferredto thegame-keepers, appeared 
_ to Mr. Fox to be a measure of vio- 
“Tent injustice ; nor could he con- 
| eive any danger to which this 
untry, under all circumstances, 
iid’ be exposed, that would make 
n ready to assent to a measure 
at had for its object the impress- 
ng of the subjects of this country 
ito the land service. The cir- 
mstance of impressing men, even 
‘the naval service, he said, 
pat and valuable as it is, would 
be the part which a judicious 
nd to it would select forthe sub- 
ject of his panegyric. 
HRA REO Pe OT Rn oe 
7 a 
7 
F EUROPE. 
Mr. Pitt regarded the declaration 
with which Mr. Sieridan and Mr. 
Fox prefaced, and concluded their 
animadversions, that they did not 
mean to oppose the resolutions 
‘whichhe hadthehonout to propose, 
as asufficient answer to the argu- 
ments by which it was accompanied. 
Tf the right honourable gentleman, 
who spoke last, thinks that the de- 
clarations Of ministers, upon the 
subject of the present deliberations, 
are not sufficient to justify the mea- 
suves whieh are to be grounded 
upon them; if he is persuaded that 
there exists no danger of the in- 
vasion against which it is. intended 
to provide ; if he is convinced that 
the preparations to be made are des 
stined to car’y on other warlike 
operations than the plan avows, or 
are employed as pretexts to cover 
designs of encroachmcut or ambi- 
tion at home; how can he recon+ 
cile these sentiments with the con- 
duct heis to pursue? or, as a pub- 
lic man, on what public ground can 
he rest that assent, which he has 
given to the measures which have 
been suggested? But while the 
right ‘honourable gentleman in- 
dulged in his ammadversions, he 
knew well that the measures were 
demanded, by the country, as mea- 
sures. of self-defence, from which 
he could not withhold his concur- 
rence. As to the pressing of men 
for the public service, the mode 
proposed of increasing the militia, 
Mr. Pitt observed, was not new in 
its principle. They were to be 
balloted for in the same manner as 
the established militia of the ¢éous- 
try: ifthe right honourable gentle- 
mau reprobates this mode of in- 
creasing our military force, what 
was the language he h:Idon another 
occasion, and when another mode 
was 
P1295 
