172] ANNUAL RE 
the other side of the house, not to 
defend the minister, but to defend 
their country: and he called upon 
both sides to co-operate in deliver- 
ing their country from its present 
difficulties, and to act in such a way 
that every man in the house might 
be able to say, that, he had done 
nothing of which he was to be 
ashamed. Hethen moved, “that 
a humble address be presented to 
his majesty, representing to his ma- 
jesty, that, upon mature detibera- 
‘tion, his faithful commons were of 
opinion, that his gracious and be- 
nign endeavours, to promote the 
restoration of the general tran- 
quillity of Europe, had failed of their 
effect, either from misconception, on 
the part of the French government, 
or from the terms proposed having 
been ill-explained to the people of 
that country. His faithful com-» 
mons, therefore, beseeched his ma- 
jesty toadopt such measures as might 
teud, in the most speedy and effec- 
tual manner, toremove these mis- 
conceptions, and to vindicate the 
sincerity of his desire, for the rv- 
establishment of peace, in the eyes 
of Europe and of the world.” 
This motion was second.d by sir 
John Macpherson. 
Mr. Pitt was of opinion, that no 
practical benefit whatever could 
arise either from the motion itself, 
or the arguments by which it was 
supported. Apeace, he said, did 
not depend on the earnestness of 
their desires to obtain it, noron any 
previous declarations of that house, 
which were rather apt to frustrate 
than accelerate the object which 
they solicited. It depended on the 
free, but reasonable operations of 
the executive government, the dis- 
position of the enemy, and the ge- 
eral posture of aflairs, combined 
GISTER, 1797. 
with various othercircumstances too 
numerous and too complex to be 
detailed. - ‘The honourable gentie- 
man alleges, that he has reason to 
suppose, that suffering asthe French 
people must do under the inevitable 
horrors of war, they must earnestly 
and anxiously desire peace ; and, on * 
that ground, heassumes, that, a pa- 
ragrapb, which appeared, so Jong as 
December 24, in a French paper, 
tending to shake off from the direc- 
tory the odium of the breach of the 
late negociation for peace, and 
throw it on this country, musthave 
been anofficial manifesto, and pub= 
lished by special authority. He 
does not say, that he is perfectly 
satisfied of the authenticity of the - 
statements in that paper; but he 
thinks them sufficiently authentic 
for calling in question the sincerity 
of the executive government of this 
country in the late negociation 5 
and he faither thinks, that some- 
thing ought immediately to be at- 
tempted, to doaway any impression 
that the statements in that paper 
might haye on the opinions of the 
people of France, and, of Europe 
in general. But it would be sin- 
gular, by a manifesto, to refute a 
declaration which it had no autho- 
rity to consider as official; to 
expose the British nation to a fresh 
insult, and to encourage the enemy 
to defeat the very practical measures 
which it had adopted for the resto- 
ration of tranquillity. It would 
appear, on inquiry, that ministers 
had not only performed the whole 
of what Mr. Pollen’s motion pro- 
posed, but even gone beyond the 
direct terms of it. There might be 
a chance, be said, for making over- 
tures of peace, which the executive 
government only know liow tocome 
at. Break down that paling, by 
t an 
